“Brewbacca” Tea Cosy

I realised a while ago that I had never crocheted a tea cosy. That seemed like it had to be some sort of crime considering the amount of tea that I drink and my love for all things handmade.

As you may know by now, I’m a self confessed massive Geek and a huge Star Wars fan. It was only proper that my first Tea Cosy creation be based on one of my favourite Star Wars Characters.

As soon as I came up with the name “Brewbacca” for my Chewie inspired Cosy I knew it had to be made! I am really pleased with the result! It’s always lovely when you create something without instruction and it turns out really well!

If you would like to own this lovely Tea Cosy you can get it here

May the fourth be with you

Get free shipping on any order over £10 until the 31st of May using the code 4THBWITHU at the checkout at my Etsy shop 

I did say I was going to make new products for May 4th but I’ve had so much going on I haven’t really had the chance! I thought I should offer some sort of deal to compensate.

Thanks for reading,

xx

Puzzlewood, Forest of Dean

(Click for more photos)

We went to Puzzlewood in the Forest of Dean today for my birthday. It’s so magical! Probably the most beautiful place I have ever been and it’s just round the corner from where we live! I really don’t think about it too much but it really is beautiful round here.

The landscape at Puzzlewood is amazing, it’s like stepping into an alien world! I took lots of photos, but really you have to see it to believe it. It had me in complete awe!

I also got to geek out a little as I know part of The Force Awakens,  the upcoming Star Wars movie was filmed there and the BBC’s Merlin and also some Doctor Who have also been filmed there and you can completely see why!

Seriously if you are ever in Gloucestershire Go and take a look for yourself. It’s like stepping into a fairytale

Very quickly….

…..Just to let you all know,

the Jon Snow and Ghost crochet patterns are now up for grabs on my Etsy and Craftsy shops.

If you do make one of them I’d love to see! xx

You Know Nothing

This week Game of Thrones came back, It’s my favourite show, I’m a little obsessed. So I decided to make Some Thrones inspired Amigurumi. I think I will probably make more eventually but I started with Jon Snow and Ghost.

I love making new things.It’s exciting to have nothing to work from and to see something evolve from a vague picture in my head. It’s nice to make things from a pre-made pattern but I like the challenge of making my own.

It is however a lot more time consuming! I jot down what I do as I go so I have a record to check whilst writing up the final draft of the pattern. I am happy with what I have made and I hope you guys like them too.

I have written up the pattern for Jon, but I still need to write the Final Draft of the pattern for Ghost. I took lots of photos whilst I was making them so The patterns will be quite pic heavy! Which is great but it means more editing. I will be posting both Patterns and the dolls hopefully tomorrow night but if all goes well. fingers crossed.

 

STRESS RELIEF

I have my driving test on Thursday. I’ve been doing a 40 hour intensive course since last Monday. I haven’t picked it up very quickly and I have been so stressed out! I’ve found it really hard to focus on anything when I get home at the end of the day and my emotions have been all over the place! I’m not getting my hopes up for a pass on Thursday, but you never know.

I needed to make some Easter presents for my two nieces. I would buy them chocolate but they get so much of it and one of them isn’t keen on it. I’m not sure how any 9 year old girl can not like chocolate but there you go! I don’t think I have the concentration for crochet this week. I have hardly made anything as my mind is mostly with learning to drive. I really don’t feel like meticulously counting stitches etc. So I decided I’d do some needle felting which requires less heavy concentration AND I get to stab things… win-win!

I bought some polystyrene egg shapes a while back with the intention of making something for Easter. I thought rather than just making eggs I’d make them into little Easter bunnies. I’m really pleased with them and they’ve really helped me relax and take my mind off of my terrible driving. 

“R2 D2 It is you!”

I made a version of these gloves for a friends birthday and I’ve finally got round to making some for the shop. They took me a little longer than my makes usually do as I’ve had a busy week. I have my driving test in a week and I have 4 hour lessons every day until then. So I’m pretty tired out after.

If you would like to buy these gloves or any of my other makes please go to The Pea Green Boat Etsy Shop. I also make custom orders, just ask ! 🙂

They’re on the small side compared to some designs. They do stretch a bit though and i do have big hands for a woman 🙂 They’re probably best for small-medium hands though.

I

Oversized bobble hat

      

I toned it down a bit for this one. I was asked by a friend if I could make a bobble hat and matching gloves for a little girl. The brief was as simple as that, and not really knowing much about the little girl it was for I went with the obvious pink and purple. I just wanted to make a nice simple, inoffensive set. 

To make the hat stand out a little bit without being too different, I made an oversized bobble for the top using yarn in 2 contrasting shades of pink and the purple yarn of the hat. I also used both pink yarns in the stripe on the gloves to tie it all together.

A Yarnicorn is born

I’ve been planning this one for some time.

As with many of my designs it all started with a light bulb in my head and a crude doodle in my sketchbook. I don’t see the point in spending ages carefully drawing out a design. I’d never actually get to making it if I did that. I don’t always end up with exactly what I had on paper but it’s a good rough idea of what I’d like to make.

It’s been a couple of months now since I drew this up. I didn’t have all the colours that I needed and I was trying to use up some yarn before I went and bought more, I really don’t have much space. Originally I wanted to make a pink unicorn but the pinks I found in the shop weren’t quite what I had in mind (I’m sure other crafters will empathise) I find it so frustrating when you go into a shop with so many shelves stocked full of different yarns but still can’t find the one you want! Anyway that rant is kind of irrelevant. Chris suggested I make it in cream. So I did.

I used a mixture of grey and white sparkly yarns for the hooves and horn, because you can’t have a unicorn without sparkles. I decided the black safety eyes I normally use looked a bit boring on their own, so I added a little bright blue to make them stand out. I thought about making the mane like an extended pom-pom, but I decided the crocheted strands would survive wash and wear a little better.

I’ll take some more photos and list him on the shop later in the week. I’m really pleased with how he turned out. He looked really strange before I attached the mane. I’m fairly sure he’s part Moomin. Sadly I didn’t think to take any photos at that stage so you’ll just have to trust me.

Don’t forget…

The give-away on Facebook ends next week. I’m giving away a pair of fingerless gloves to one lucky person, I’ve added 4 designs for you to pick from. You just have to like The Pea Green Boat on Facebook and comment on the post with your favourite design and you could win it!

Wibbly, Wobbly, Jiggly, Wiggly

The Giveaway

How it’s going and why I am doing it

I’ve been running a giveaway/competition on my Facebook page over the last week. I asked my followers to Pick from 4 of my fingerless glove designs to have a chance of winning their chosen design. This gives me an opportunity to:

1, connect with followers on my page. Normally I get the odd comment from family and friends and a couple of fans who interact with the page on a regular basis, but in general everyone is silent. But it’s really hard to create for an audience that you on the whole know very little about.

2, find out what people like and don’t like. This follows on from the previous reason but differs slightly. What better way to get a little market research done than to offer free stuff for it? It’s kind of a win win, I get to know what works and the fans on my page get something in return, well one of them does.

3, build upon my audience. Market research is important but it’s also important to try and expand audiences. I spend a huge amount of my time on social Media trying (often failing) to figure out how to get myself out there. I sometimes feel like my efforts are in vain, but I suppose I have to persist or I will never get anywhere. I have learned just offering freebies is not going to get you noticed, you have to have some sort of a plan in place aswell, which I’ll admit I didn’t really have.

This is all seeming rather negative but it isn’t all that bad….

Since Monday last week when the competition launched I have 25 new followers on facebook, it sounds like very little but compared to my usual increase that’s pretty awesome. Also my post reach has grown by an extra 50%. My views on Etsy have also increased

I’ve had Loads of feedback and found out which designs of the 4 I picked were most popular. By far the Pikachu/Pokeball gloves have the most votes so far.

It seems really funny how hugely popular Pokemon characters are and I think it has alot to do with internet/nerd culture.. I guess even though I am still stuck (in the nicest sense of the world) In excited fandom of stuff I liked when I was a kid, it surprises me how many other people my age are too. Which the older generation definitely on a whole finds hard to stomach. That’s probably a rant for another time but I love being the nerdy fan-girl that I am, It doesn’t mean I can’t function as an adult.

The Tardis gloves have also got lots of votesso far, I gathered that the Doctor Who gloves would be a popular choice, The weeping angel pattern I wrote last year did really well. Apparently you can’t go wrong with a madman in a box.

Gotta catch ’em all

As The Pokemon gloves seem to get alot of attention. I have drawn up lots more designs for Pokemon accessories which I am excited about making. I also made these Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff gloves. Aswell as having any Pokemon with a Pokeball I thought making a pair with the Pokemon in different Evolutions would be a fun Idea to play with, I’m sure I’ll do some more on this theme. I chose the Jiggly Puff design because I’m running low on yarn and I had alot of pink, but I have plenty more exciting ideas that hopefully I will get a chance to make soon!

Note the relevant nerdy T-shirt in this photo, I knew I was going to be taking these photos when I got dressed in the morning and the T-shirt was somewhat near the top of the drawer, it seemed rude not to. And the Ukulele? I hear you ask, oh that’s just because, also I am really good at doing stupid stuff with my hands in photos so I thought props might help. But of course it doesn’t really help you to see the gloves very well… I don’t know *facepalm*

I’m going yarn shopping tomorrow so I can get to work on some more of my designs, I feel like I’ve been ranting a bit so I’ll go away now, but not forever, I’m totally coming back to rant some more next time I make something. For now please enjoy some Jiggly-Wiggly photos!