Felted Market Bag with Flowers

I made a bag using the Country Market Felted Bag pattern from Marlo's Crochet Corner. I crocheted it with two strands of Paton's Jet (an Australian worsted weight, angora and wool blend yarn) and a little bit of variegated Twilley's Freedom wool.

Here it is before felting:



And here it is afterwards:

I stopped the felting process before I lost the stitch definition as I liked the texture made by the hdcs.

Here's a picture that gives a better indication of the finished bag's shape:

Finally, the felted flowers:

It was easy to crochet, fun to felt and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I posted all of this yesterday on Craftster. If you're crafty and haven't been to this site, check it out. I visit just about every day ~ it's a constant source of inspiration.

On The Hooks

These are three crochet projects I'm working on:

First of all, Nouveau lacy squares from Jo Sharp, in Cleckheaton's Country Print. I might make a blanket with this pattern. If you look at the picture in the link you'll see that the petals on the corners form another motif when they've been joined to three other squares ~ so pretty.

Secondly, a lush crocheted lace scarf from SweaterBabe, in Paton's Inca. I've nearly finished this.

And last, a Champage Wrap from elann, in Jo Sharp's DK cotton ...forty or so motifs to go...

Flowers and Shells

Yet more flowers ~ crochet ones this time.

This is a scarf I've just finished:

and a close~up:

I first saw this on Ellen Bloom's blog.
(You'll have to scroll down a bit to find a picture of the original scarf.)
Ellen, a prolific, talented and generous craftster from L.A., kindly emailed me the pattern. I crocheted it with Paton's Jet, a soft alpaca and wool mix that I loved working with, using a 5.50 mm hook. It was easy to make and I'm really happy with the end result.

Thank you Ellen!

Birthday Blooms...

A friend at work is having a birthday, so I've been playing around with Microsoft Photo Editor and some of my pictures to develop an image for her birthday card.
I love the watercolour function.

So far I've come up with this ~



and this, which I think I'll use.



I like the grainy, monochromatic nature of this last image...and daisies are such photogenic flowers.