Crochet Star Blanket

I started making this Blue star blanket while still pregnant

even though we didn't know if we were having a boy or girl

I was pretty sure there was a little boy inside me!

Pattern is the Rainbow Ripple Blanket
by Celeste Young Designs
and here is my Ravelry Project Page

More Beanies

Here are some more beanies I've made and sold recently.

The above beanie pattern is the Fauxlyn Slouchy

by The Velvet Acorn Designs.

I used Lionbrand Heartland Tweed which sits

so perfectly for this slouchy style.

This super simple knit beanie was made using

Lionbrand Heartland Tween as well.

This Fauxlyn Slouchy was made in a Toddler size

with James C Brett Chunky with Merino.

Petit Giraffe

Look what I made!

This oh-so-cute Giraffe was quite fun to make and

I just love his chubby little legs and body and butt.

He will be for sale very soon in my Etsy store.

Pattern is from Marike van Loo - Gigi Giraf

Ravelry project page

CAL Blanket

Back in October last year I received an email from Love Crochet about a Crochet Girl Gang Crochet-a-Long (CAL) they were hosting and offering colour packs for.  The CAL was hosted by Love Crochet and designed by Steel & Stitch and Potter & Bloom. See Blog Post Here

I instantly fell in love with the blanket they were making for the CAL and the pastel colour scheme selected by Emma from Potter & Bloom and decided I wanted to make something big, bright and fancy for myself (for once).

I substituted the Mandarin Orange from the Potter & Bloom colour scheme with Pale Lilac and ordered my pack, ready to begin.

My yarn pack arrived a few days after the part one of the pattern was released but I caught up in no time. This is one of the first projects I've made where I really needed to block the squares as they tended to pucker a little. The stitches relaxed a LOT once they were blocked and resulted in a more relaxed blanket.

The last pattern part was released on 30th November and I was ready to join my squares and triangles together when I realised my triangles (all 16 of them) were too big. For some silly reason I didn't think about needing a matching amount of stitches along the sides of the triangles and squares.

I then had to get to making Christmas presents in December so my CAL was put aside until I had finished those (see last post).

In the end, I finished this just after new years but I hadn't had a chance to take any decent photo's of it until now. My border was 5 rounds of stocking stitch as I love how it looks like knit stitches.

Isn't it Just. Gorgeous! 

I am so incredibly pleased with how it turned out, I can't stop showing pictures of it to people. I've been crocheting for about 13 years now but this is the proudest I've ever been to complete something.

This project also goes to show I can finish a crochet blanket (never done that before!) and be happy with the results (because my perfectionism often prevents me from being truly happy with outcomes). I can see myself making more blankets when they look this fantastic and are so easy to construct.

Crochet Butterfy Shrugs

Well it has definitely been a while!
But I've got some goodies to show off because that's why we are all here, isn't it?!

With three beautiful neices I decided to make them a matching shrug for Christmas, to keep the cost of buying presents down at this time of the year.

Little Addy in her purple bamboo cotton shrug, with room to grow! Yarn was Moda Vera.

Scarlett in her bright red pure cotton shrug. She even chose the colour herself! Yarn was Paintbox Yarns.

And Isabella in her daffodil yellow, cotton shrug, colour also self chosen. Yarn also Pain Box Yarns.

Pattern can be found HERE on Etsy.

Love Emily

Luna of the Land and Sea

I LOVED making Luna of the Land and Sea.

I upsized her as I wanted her to be quite big.

I forgot to measure her before she was gifted but if I had to roughly guess,

she is about 50cm tall.

I love that I can send her off with her tail on and then you get surprised to find out

she also has legs, a cute dress and a stylish bikini!

Pattern is from The Merino Mermaid on Etsy

We've moved

I am now selling my creations through Etsy.

I feel like more people are aware of and trust Etsy 

as it has been around for so long

that I might have better chances of getting 

Chunky Stitches out there via Etsy.

You can check out the store HERE

Another Mermaid Tail

Yes, I know this is identical

to the previous Mermaid Tail Blanket

but they loved the colours so much

that they wanted it to be the same!

Either way, 

here are some photo's!

(Taken with my phone as camera has retired)

Blogging?

It appears with the demand of keeping up with
social networking, making things to sell, studying and working
that I've fallen out of love with blogging all the things I make lately.

The ease of Instagram means I can upload a photo quick smart from my phone
or tablet anytime or anywhere and not have to worry about formatting an entire post,
editing photos from my camera memory card and
making sure the batteries in my camera are charged etc. etc.

I would encourage you to check out my other social networking profiles
 if you really would like to know about the things I'm making.

Ravelry 

Instagram

Facebook

Chunkystitches Online Store Re-Launches Tomorrow

Re-launch tomorrow - a small amount of items will be for sale and 

I'll be adding items all the time!

Check it out from 7am EDST tomorrow - 30th January!

Mermaid Tail Blanket

I have just finished crocheting my first

Mermaid Tail Blanket!

This was a custom request by a family member

who chose the colour scheme herself.

This tail measures 52" or 132cm from top to tip of tail.

Excluding the tail, it is 38" or 96cm long.

The waist circumference is 47" or 119.5cm 

The recipient is 6 year old but I wanted it to be big and cosy for her

(I can just fit in this one)

I've got two more to make, these ones a bit smaller though!

Yarn Haul

My LCS (local craft store) Spotlight has a pretty disappointing 

range of yarn on offer and nothing really suitable for the knit beanies

I've been making, other than Lionbrand Heartland (which is imported anyway).

So, I've taken to buying yarn from www.loveknitting.com.

The postage is extremely reasonable and the variety on offer is awesome!

In this yarn haul (my second from love knitting)

there is:

King Cole Big Value Super Chunky

King Cole Big Value Chunky

James C Brett Chunky with Merino

The Fauxlyn Slouch Progress

All I've got to show lately is progress shots

because I don't want to give anything away

before I launch my new and improved Made It Store.

So, here's another progress shot of a beanie I've made.

Pattern is the Fauxlyn Slouth by Heidi May

I didn't like this pattern at the stage that the above photo was taken

but by the time I finished it and put it on, I have fallen in love with it.

This one has been made in a merino acrylic chunky blend and

sit's wonderfully and slouchy on your head.

I can see this beanie being quite popular for adults and kids

and am thinking of some faux fur pom poms.

A ChunkyStitches Announcement

Special Announcement!

I'll be launching the New and Improved 

ChunkyStitches Made It Shop

in 1 month! I know it's a long wait but

by then, I should have plenty of items to offer!

And in celebration of the re-launch I'll be offering a

special deal for the first few days or weeks.

Stay tuned for more info closer to the date.

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays

Sneak Peaks

Currently working towards getting awesome things

made for a new Made It shop launch.

My goal is to have my revamped shop

go live by the end of January.

This gives me roughly six weeks to make

as much as I can to fill the shop.

In the meantime, here is a sneak peak at two of the beanie's

I've knit up over the previous few weeks.

Chunkystitches Labels

I've been seeing these type of labels

on hand made knit and crochet items

all over Etsy and Made It for a while now.

I really like the finished look they give

these items so I decided that my brand

needed something similar.

Most of the labels I've seen are wooden ones

but I felt that ultra-leather would suit

my items a lot more than the wooden tags.

So I jumped on Etsy, found "Grain Deep"

and ordered a handful of labels with

Chunkystitches on them 

Aren't they just the best!

And they make the beanie's I've made

look 110%, instead of just 99%!

The name is actually burnt into the leather

and these are super soft and flexible.

I love, love, love them!

Knit and Crochet

I've been knitting and knitting

with a tad of crochet!

Here are three beanie's I've made so far

and the cream one of the left is a combo

of crochet and knit!

I'm hoping to add a special finishing touch to these

as well as make a whole heap more over the next month 

with the aim of re-opening my Made It story

in January with a whole bunch

of hand knit and hand crochet beanies

and accessories for sale!

Cable Knits

I knit some cables!!

I borrowed a book from the Library

to help with my knitting and this 

cabled hat pattern was inside!

I love the look of these cables and working with super chunky yarn and

10mm needles, whilst working flat was pretty easy to get used to!

It worked up fast and I've order some more luxe

yarn to make some more chunky cabled beanies

to hopefully offer for sale shortly!

Knit Beanie WIP

Here is another knit beanie in the works

I'm making this one for myself because I LOVE 

the colours in this yarn and the way 

it looks so delicate on the tiny needles.

I'm not rushing this one, as I've had to pull out

several rows already and re-started it about 7 times

just to get this far!

But, I'm loving it and loving knitting!