Apple cosies

♥

With crochet blankets having always been my number one love, not for one minute

 did I  imagine that  I would be happily sitting working away to design a crochet apple cosy ! 

But that is one of the things that I am loving the most about having been asked to 

design patterns and put together tutorials for lovecrochet.com 

- I have had to totally come of of my little comfort zone, 

not only in the things I have been asked to make but also in the 

colours and yarns I have been working with.

It's been both rewarding and refreshing and I shall never scoff at an 

apple cosy again as they have been SOOOOO much fun to do ! 

The full pattern and tutorial is available completely free here at lovecrochet.com

but I just thought I'd give you a little taster here.

The yarn I used was Rowan Handknit Cotton - if you haven't used this yarn before all

 I can say is it is such an absolute treat to work with that you have to give it a try ! 

It's as soft as cotton wool , yet gives you all the weight and

 definition needed for a good bit of structure.

 

The apple cosies are worked in a round, 

with a top half and bottom half that are hinged at the back with a row of over sewing.

I then worked a bobble in to the last few rounds of the bottom half 

and a chain loop in the finishing edge of the top half to create a fastener.

With a little stalk and a couple of leaves added as the finishing touch

you have the smartest little apple cosy to happily grace any desk or lunch table.

And then .........

woo-hoo, the fun starts , 

as the possibilities to add a bit of 'je ne sais quoi' are endless !!

From pink piggies,

  

to high tec ( ! ) robots,

  

to the cuddliest of penguins ...

  

... these cannot fail to help sneak in those 5 a day.

And it should certainly put a smile on your face

 every time you walk past the fruit bowl.

One little word of warning though - 

you may not be the only one who falls in

 love with your new apple cosy !

♥

♥ Meg and Adams Wedding ♥

♥

Oh, I just don't know where to start ....

to try and put Meg and Adam's wedding day in to words seems an impossible task.

It was the best day, the most emotional day, the funnest day.

It was non-stop, it went too quick, I wish we could do it all over again.

All shared with our treasured and loved family and friends, all together in one place.

And .... it was sunny !

 I know, in the wettest August ever we had the most perfect sunny day

 ... and the sun shone exactly when it was meant to.

In total the photographer took just under 400 photos,

here are just a few.

Our three beautiful girls ready to go.

One proud, and very smart, Dad.

One last quick family photo when we arrived at Wick Farm.

The utterly beautiful Wick Farm.

The barn itself is so perfect that all that was needed were fairy lights on the beams

 and on my big wicker heart in the wall alcove,

 big jugs of Summer flowers,

 candle jars and lanterns 

and the simplest of bunting.

The vintage suitcase, suitably dressed for the occasion, 

was placed on a table by the door 

  next to the up-cycled steps, 
decorated with photos of Meg and Adam
 and loved ones that we wished could be with us.

 

    

There were tiny tin buckets of confetti

                                     and tissues ready to hand for those teary moments.

 ♥

There were smiles and tears,

and memorable moments. 

Meg was christened by my Dad and now here she was with Adam 

being blessed by him at their wedding.

Confetti was thrown ...

air was punched !

Sensible photos were taken ...

along with the fun ones

whilst inside, 

the barn was being transformed in to a dining room.

The knitted rose garland was hung

and tables were beautifully laid.

Homemade carrot cakes were piled high

     

and favours were opened.

♥

Speeches were all before the meal 

so that everyone could relax and enjoy themselves

and that's exactly what we did.

We ate, 

we danced,

more photos were taken ....

and we all got a little bit blurry round the edges.

The best day ......

EVER.

♥

Bobbly Tote Shopper

♥

Well, the last week seems to have flown by and I cannot believe that 

Meg and Adam have now been married for one whole week !

We all had the most wonderful day and as soon as all the photo's come back

 I will put together a whole post chock full of photo's 

of all the little things that made the day so fab.

Life is beginning to get back to normal here and

 after having had a week off work while annual maintenance was carried out 

at the Nursery we are rapidly heading towards Tuesday 

and the start of the new academic year. 

 I think this Bank Holiday weekend is mostly going to be spent getting

 the house straight again after all our visitors and trying to get back in to a bit of a routine, 

but before all that I couldn't resist putting together a quick post about my last pattern

 and tutorial that went out on lovecrochet.com last weekend.

 In amongst all the excitement of the wedding it went by completely unnoticed

 but as this was such a fun make I really wanted to share it with you.

The full details are all available completely free over on the Blog

 at lovecrochet.com and I'll make sure I include the full link

 at the end of this post.

Anyway ...... here it it....

... my Bobbly Tote Shopper !

If you're anything like me you will probably have several bags around the house, 

of all varying shapes and sizes, 

but this one is certainly up there with my favourites.

I've always been reluctant to put hours of work into making a crochet bag

 up until now as I worried that in no time at all the yarn would stretch

 and the bag would loose its shape .... 

so, after a bit of head scratching I came up with the idea

 of  making a crochet bag with a hessian bag inside it, 

that not only gives the bag a solid framework and extra strength

 but also provides you with the handles !

The hessian bag is just one of the reusable bags that you can get

 very cheaply at the supermarket and my one came from Sainsburys. 

I chose this one because I particularly liked the round handles.

The crochet part of the bag is made up of a front and back panel and

 a long strip that makes the two sides and the bottom of the bag.

I added a few little finishing pieces around the top edge

and ta-dah ..

... you have one very super stylish and unique bag !!

If you fancy giving it a try full details can be found here:

http://blog.lovecrochet.com/crochet-with-kate-bobbly-tote-shopper/

♥