Tuesday, 1 March 2016

The Crochet Express Blog Tour 2016

https://www.facebook.com/groups/nationalcrochetmonth/

My second piece of news is that I am taking part in the CROCHETVILLE 2016 BLOG TOUR (click on the link for more info)
Or join the Crochetville Facebook group - HERE
Its all very exciting and as you can see I have a special ticket to my destination :-)


To celebrate the US national/international crochet month I have decided to run a "Buy one, get one free" discount for the whole of the tour duration (1st to 31st of March 2016).
The discount is already up and running, so simply go to my Ravelry Pattern Store HERE add 2 patterns to your basket, add the following code - Crochetexpress2016 and you will only need to pay for one of the patterns.
Incidently the offer also applies to the e-books in my store.

I will be publishing a special blog post on the 19th of March, I still haven't decided what its going to be about, but I suspect it will be Exmoor Star related as I'm completely obsessed with stars and outer space at the moment.


Have fun :-)
Love Amanda

Ariana crochet scarf - Pattern of the Week

I was going to write one long blog post this morning, but I think my two news items this week deserve their own post's.
 So the first post is Pattern of the Week.

Its Pattern of the Week day and this week's pattern is my Ariana crochet scarf, which you can find on Ravelry HERE
Don't forget to use the code in the photo at checkout to be ble to buy the pattern for the special price of £2.

I like making scarves as they are basically small slices of blankets, they are also really useful for my design process, I have so many blankets in my head and no where near enough time to be able to make them all.
I design as I crochet and am always dreaming up new variations of the design I am working on at the time, so I've recently decided to turn some of the the variations into scarves because it means I won't end up remaking variations of the same blanket over and over again and so theoretically I can publish more designs.
I'm actually making a scarf at the moment, but I'll tell you more about that another day.
Anyway back to Ariana which was inspired by warm spicy desert colours, I can't remember the exact time that I started designing it, but I suspect in was in the winter when I was dream of the summer sun :-)





Wednesday, 24 February 2016

Unravel exhibition 2016

This was going to be a gigantic blog post, but after 2 day's of post show chaos, trying to tame my in-box and playing catch up I seem to have run out of steam.
So its not going to be quite as big as I originally thought.

Last weekend I exhibited my blankets at the Unravel show in Farnham Surrey, UK, the show was on for 3 days and packed with knitters and crocheters from far and wide.
I've exhibited my art work before but a long time ago and not on such a grand scale, so I wasn't really prepared for the reaction of all the lovely visitors who came to look at my blankets (I would of been happy just to hang them on the wall and just look at them myself).
My blankets were hung in the Long Kiln room, which was also being used for talks, as its name suggests it is a long room so was perfect for the blankets :-)
So without further ado here are the photo's

One wall had my newest blankets, the 3 star blankets and Kissing Kaffe at the far end.

These 3 blankets need to be seen together as they are an ongoing project.
From right to left and in date order they are Zodiac, which inspired Stargazer. Stargazer the first of my Exmoor Stars series & Sagitarrius A the second Exmoor Stars blanket, Sagitarrius A is so new I haven't even written the pattern yet, I finished it on Monday night and we traveled to the show on Thursday.
I'm hoping to self publish all the Exmoor Stars in a booklet late spring.

Cornucopia and Ermintrude during set up.

 The second wall were all older blankets made during my NDS years and all made with NDS yarn.
Lily, Kaleidoscope, Twinkle Twinkle and The Rising Sun

And Rita and Supernova in their own special corner.

Unravel was the first wool show that I have had the chance to be a punter, I've always been tied to the NDS stand so being able to wander around and look at wool and chat to all my woolly friends was amazing.
There are far too many freinds to name here, but I did spend a lot of time annoying Janie Crow, The Little Grey Sheep, Tall Yarns, Easyknits and of course John Arbon Textiles :-)

I finally had the chance to met Dedri Uys of the Sophies Universe fame, it was lovely to be able to chat with fellow crochet blanket designer.
I really miss being a part of the indie dyer network due to the fact I don't dye or sell yarn anymore, so my contemporary blanket designers are really special, it would of been even better if Dedri, Jane and myself had been able to sit down for a proper chat, but maybe there'll be a chance at another show at sometime in the future...

And a massive THANK YOU to Gemma and her amazing team for giving me the chance to exhibit and for putting on a fantastic show, I know it was difficult for them because it was their first Unravel, but it was a huge sucess and I'm sure next year will be just as good if not better :-)

And lastly another massive THANK YOU to everyone who came to see the blankets, for all your kind comments, enthusiasm and encouragement. It means the world to hear that you like what I do and to be able to inspire you to take up your hooks and maybe make a blanket of your own :-)

Tuesday, 23 February 2016

Harlequin Crochet Blanket - Pattern of the week 8

I have got a big Unravel blog post in the pipelines which I was hoping to publish today, but time has run away with me this morning, too busy doing book stuff and post show chaos, so today's post is short and sweet and just about my Pattern of the Week.
Which is my Harlequin blanket.

Harlequin was designed and made last summer, as a Thank You to my lovely friend's and yarn enabler's John Arbon Textiles.
It's made with John's Knit by Number's DK which you can find HERE
The yarn is 100% merino, super soft and crochet's like butter :-)
You can find the pattern HERE, don't forget to add the discount code in the photo at checkout so you can buy it at the special £2 price.
(Incidently the small pointy dog in the photo is my monkey showing off her whippet heritage on the windy moor)