Miss Aine

Love these gorgeous girls ❤️

#28tomake

Today's task - doodle on a photo. I tried doing it on my phone but I found it hard to do on the small screen. So instead I stuck an old photo to a page and worked from there. I probably shouldn't have tried to turn the flowers into a person , seen as I can't draw people. But the idea is there. #28tomke

I have to say, I was dreading this challenge. I am hopeless at drawing people. The task was to look at yourself in the mirror, put your pen or pencil on the page and draw yourself without looking at the page or lifting the pen/pencil. It was actually quite fun, and it's not supposed to be perfect so that worked for me! #28tomake

Today's challenge was to create drawings from scribbles. So I pulled out some pages the kids had worked their magic on and tried to work my own. #28tomake

Day 7 was a day of rest and reflection. So I'm back into the challenge today with 30 circles.  I'd say I took a bit longer than the 20 minutes assigned- I kept stopping to try and think of something else to draw. #28tomake

Day 6 for as quite a challenge- lettering is definitely not my thing. I gave it a go though, getting into the spirit of the whole endeavour. I also have a finished project to show - a crochet unicorn. Or in fact, two crocheted unicorns. I was commissioned to make one ( pattern by Marina Chuchkalova) but of course I had to make one for Emily too! It actually gave me a practice run at it as my tension changed quite a bit through the first unicorn.

Lettering is not my thing so today's task was a challenge. It did make me focus on how the letters were formed and really trying to watch out for the changes in style. It doesn't look too bad, but I won't be posting a picture of the original receipt 😂 This receipt has a nice memory- a girly trip to the newly refurbished National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin with Emily. We saw some stunning architecture, beautiful paintings and ate some yummy cake. #28tomake

Day 4, completed a bit later in the day today as I was busy this morning. There's nothing too exciting in my bag, but I am beginning to quite enjoy this creative journey. #28tomake

Today I have to draw Album Artwork. Most albums have people, which I'm really bad at drawing so I went for Lisa Hannigan's Sea Sew. I love this album, and she knitted and embroidered the all the album artwork so that makes me love it even more 😁

No houseplants in my house!, so I drew my homemade Pom Pom tree instead. I quite enjoy the cheery colours. #28toMake

After the summer of having the kids at home, and on the back of a very strange and stressful year, I've been feeling very unmotivated. On Facebook I saw a link to a creative challenge so I signed up in an effort to get the creative juices flowing. And to give me a kick up the bum! Day 1 is draw your drink https://instagram.com/p/BY2v2QWliJa/ https://instagram.com/p/BY2v2QWliJa/ My phone isn't being very cooperative this morning so I can't post a photo of my drawing, but have included a link. Probably not necessary as it's not a great drawing 😂 So for photo fun, here's one of two toy dogs wearing jumpers made from the tops of socks.

All these baby gifts are for one customer - there's obviously been a baby boom near her!!

Cake toppers from cake topper crochet pattern from Let's Get Crafting magazine, issue 90 My first crochet design. It took a lot of research as I'm not as experienced at making the right shapes, but I think I did okay.  I've only been asked to do knitting patterns since!

** Special Price for St Patrick’s Weekend!!! *** Miss Crolly, is inspired by the dolls that used to be made by the Crolly factory in Donegal. I recently was asked to make a replica outfit for an original doll and it sparked an interest in me about these vintage dolls. The factory in Donegal made toys from 1939-1970, when it closed. The toys were very popular because they were really well made, and the irishness struck a chord with people both in Ireland and abroad. Miss Crolly is my homage to the beautiful original dolls, but this version has a soft body. She wears the iconic red cape, and her outfit is completed with a green skirt and white apron. The pattern would be suited to an intermediate knitter - there is some short-row shaping, and there is quite a bit of seaming. The overall pattern is quite simple though, and has simple colour palate. As it is St Patrick’s Day on Friday I am offering the pattern for sale for €2 until 20th March (it will be €3.50 after that date...

It's quite a while since I self-published a pattern, what with making dolls, family bereavements and a husband changing jobs, and beginning some regular magazine work. But through it all I've found a little bit of time to work on my own designs.  This particular design had been floating around my head for a few months so I'm very excited to finally be able to release the finished pattern. Meet Polar Bear. He's quite large at 17 inches tall and he has a pretty rotund tummy, making him nice and squishy for hugs!  The best part has to be his removable fairisle jumper.  It really turned out well, and has a modern 'Scandi' feel - that's very hip at the moment!! The pattern can be bought on Ravelry, or Etsy. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/polar-bear-39

I'm doing lots of maths this morning trying to design a Scandi-inspired jumper for a teddy. I just need to knit it up now and see if it works.

The latest issue of Let's Get Crafting - Knitting and Crochet is now out. And it's got a fabulous pattern for a little ombré shrug designed by yours truly. It's my first published clothing design pattern so I'm pretty excited by it.

I loved working on this blanket. They mix of colours worked out great (slightly different to the actual pattern) and all the different stitches kept it interesting. It didn't take too long either - about a week and a half. Hopefully the little man likes it!

I just realised a post from Oct/Nov never published. My father-in-law died after a very short stay in hospital and the months before Christmas were very busy dealing with my mother-in-law, as well as continuing to design for Let's Get Crafting magazine and supply a shop with some toys. Things are starting to settle down now. My magazine design work is continuing, which is great. The only downside is I can't blog about the stuff I'm making most of the time. I do hope to start self-publishing again over the next few months also as I've a few ideas going around my head. Right now I'm taking some time out to crochet a blanket for Oliver's room. I'll share a picture once i can figure out how to do that on my phone!