A Harry Potter eve

Gosh, this was an age ago... I really can't remember when, other than it was the day Bloomsbury relaunched the Harry Potter books with their new covers and it was cold and wintry - we watched the snow falling which was all rather magical, being surrounded by wizards and witches.

Patch had seen the poster for the eve in our local Waterstones and was keen to go, even though at the time we hadn't read any of the Harry Potter books. So we started the first book and, armed with the first few chapters worth of knowledge, went along to Waterstones one dark wintry eve.

 Patch happily decided on the school uniform-wearing Harry, so the trousers and polo shirt stayed on from school together with a school uniform jumper (though not P's school uniform so we purchased one), some glasses from the dressing up bag (put to use here as Where's Wally), a wizard's cape (see here) which is not at all true to the Harry Potter look but still a wizard's cape and P was happy so I wasn't suggesting otherwise, and a twig -sorry wand - from the garden. I really should have ironed that cape.

The school jumper needed something to make it more fitting for an evening of Hogwarts magic, so I made a most unauthentic Hogwarts badge, and crocheted a tie which was then mostly covered up by the jumper.

For the tie I crocheted a length of suitable stripes with a few rows of decreases and then increases in the middle, folded it in half lengthwise and stitched together so the seam is in the middle on the reverse and then made a small tube for the elastic - so really a crocheted version of this Debbie Bliss knitted tie. And just in case you need to know, the most Hogwarts-like colours I could find in the local wool shop are Debbie bliss baby cashmerino in sunshine and damson. Just in case you feel you need to make a Harry Potter tie...

Mother's Day tea cosy

Mum mentioned that she would like a new tea cosy sometime before Mother's Day. I listened, remembered the gorgeous tea cosy found on Ravelry and ordered suitable wool. The tea cosy was this crochet delight by Leah of whydidn'tanyonetellme blog. And then Mum casually mentioned that what she likes is a double thickness tea cosy, and in fact if I was to make her a tea cosy she really rather likes the one I made a few years ago now, but in different colours please. Oh.

The original pattern (from a book given to me by Mum as a non too subtle hint just before her birthday one year) suggested quite different wool from that recently purchased for the job, but happily there was something similar in the book - imaginatively called Tea Cozies if anyone is wondering. A collection of odd (the sort of cosy which might be used by the Gogglebox lady. Have you noticed how she has a different cosy each week?) and slightly odder tea cosies. I used the snappy sounding Contemporary Cool pattern for the size but not for the look. With the addition of some lovely roses and leaves - as the original crochet delight - the finished cosy looked more Granny cool than contemporary cool

 The main colour is Cascade 220 Superwash in smoke blue, with a lining made up of many different blues from the basket, and roses in Drops Karisma in the suitable dark old rose.

So maybe not the cosy I intended but I love it... as does my Mum!

And then I made some child size welly warmers

I was certainly in a everybody needs welly warmers mood when it came to making gifts earlier this year, and when I saw the leg warmers pattern in Kat Goldin's Crochet at Play I realised that this could continue for the smaller size gifts too

 I made the size 4+ for a five year old, seen here in Patch's eight year old wellies (the child, not the wellies) and they were a good fit for P. I am unsure about the wool I used as it was from the basket, though I do think it may be Rico Design Fashion Nature DK. The pattern suggests a 4ply and as I find this wool knits up smaller than a DK it worked just fine. So now both Flo and her Mummy have welly warmers

This book is a recent buy for me, found oh so cheap I could not resist. Such a shame I didn't purchase earlier as there are some sweet patterns  (P would have loved the Beastie feet, I would have loved him in the Wolf cardy) that sadly now too small for P. I may have to have a go at increasing the size of those Beastie feet though...

Eastertime

 Eastertime has been lovely... Treaty days, lazy days, wearing pyjamas, watching films, seeing friends, playing so many board games. Patch's request for holiday time was to go to Pump Street Bakery - or Pump Treat Bakery as he has renamed it. We were happy to oblige. Yum. Rhubarb jam doughnut...

There have been a few makes too

 This sweet bunny egg cosy was made for P's Easter breakfast. The pattern is from a recent Simply Crochet - issue 28 I think. I had to change the pattern slightly to accommodate a large size egg... I do like a make that uses balls of wool from the basket!

And look at that bunny tail

P and I made some delicious fudge for grandparent's Easter treats using the fudge for cheats recipe in Miss Hope and Mr Greenwood's Sweets made Simple. So moreish

Right, I'm off to enjoy the last day of the holidays with P!