Celebrating Life.

I'm sorry I've been away for a while Hooky Pals - longer than I intended. I enjoyed a very pleasant week in Mallorca, with very warm sunshiney days and nothing to do but potter around.

Above is a view from the promenade at C'an Picafort where we stayed,  a very pleasant little town just down the coast from Alcudia.

 I just had to take this picture! So much work has gone into creating this sand dragon.

 These remaining pics are of Alcudia old town, I just love wandering down these little narrow streets.

Unfortunately, the day after I got back a very close friend and neighbour passed away, losing her short and traumatic battle with cancer. Gone far too soon........ She was a wonderful, feisty, vibrant woman who had always grabbed life with both hands and lived it to the full - something she tried to continue to do to the very end. And her premature and all-too-fast passing serves as another reminder to do the same and live life to the full, in whatever way means most to us.

And for me knitting and hooking is a BIG part of that, because I get so much pleasure from it. So. I have, of course, got several projects on the go. I will just give you a sneak peak of a couple.......

 This picture doesn't really do justice to the colours of this Hexie Hooky blanket - but then I always think that projects look so much better when you can get close up and personal with them!

 And this is my latest Hoodie Set: a little sunshine striped seed stitch hoodie and what will be a matching pram blanket with a knitted seed stitch centre panel and a yet-to-be-crafted hooky border of some sort. The hoodie just needs the sleeves to be sewn in and the buttons attached and the blanket is just waiting for me to get on with deciding on a border.

But all of that will have to wait a couple of weeks now because I'm off abroad again on November 1st, this time for a couple of weeks in South Africa, travelling the beautiful Garden Route from Port Elizabeth to Capetown! I really can't tell you how excited I am! I might not be hooking but I will be doing the next best thing which is taking lots of pics of my travels!

I'm really looking forward to sharing with you when I get back, so watch this space Hooky Pals and I'll be back before too long. BFN, Tricia xxx

Introducing 'doppelpops'! SO exciting!

I'm SOooooo excited, Happy Hooky Pals! I have a REAL treat for you today! I want to introduce to you my very talented friend Clare and her really amazing, and oh so cute, doppelpops lookalike dolls. 

Here is what she has to say about how doppelpops were born.

doppelpops were born when I couldn’t attend my friend’s Hen Party weekend. I wanted to still have a ‘presence’ during the weekend, so I created a little ‘mini-me’ to send along with her! 

She loved it, and appreciated the gesture.

I enjoyed making the doll so much, I decided to keep going and drew inspiration from the sweet-faced simplicity of Waldorf Dolls.









My favourite thing about making doppelpops is focusing on the qualities that make a person individual and then turning that into a unique portrait in cloth and yarn.


doppelpops are custom made lookalike dolls of you, or a loved one, and can match the skin tone, hair and eye colour of the subject. Check out my etsy shop for more details!

Aren't they just great! I just love Clare's unique creations. And having seen them 'in person' I can tell you that they are even more amazing than in the pictures! They seem so simple and innocent and yet each one is so full of personality. Soft and cuddly too! Custom-made, they make a completely unique gift for all kinds of occasions. So if you have a special someone, a special occasion or both or if there is a special someone you want to be reminded of, take a look at the Clare's etsy doppelpops shop here.

Well, I have a number of hooky and knitting projects on the go at the moment but I'm off on Wednesday for a little holiday for a week so I'll catch up with you when I get back. BFN, Tricia xxxx

Yarndale!!!

Well Hooky Mates, it's been a very exciting few days! The highlight has, of course, been the Yarndale event held last weekend. I had bought tickets last April for myself and the lovely E to go on Sunday and we have both been looking forward with eager anticipation ever since! And I can tell you that we were not disappointed! The entire day was a joyful cornucopia of everything to do with yarn-based crafts and a feast for the senses and creative spirit.

Our day began with a pleasant train journey to Skipton with many other Yarndalers. We were lucky enough to have a fine, sunny day and so, although there were lovely old red buses laid on to take people from the station to the venue, we chose to take the Yarn Walk through the park instead. What a joy that was! Lucy of Attic 24 has been working with local schools on 'yarn-bombing' projects based around bicycles and she and her army of helpers had done an amazing job of lining the route through the park with colourful crochet bunting, Yarndale signs and decorated bicycles like the ones below.

Aren't they just WONDERFUL! 

I could have photographed them all - but then it would have taken an hour to get to the venue!!

Once we did arrive this is what greeted us in the entrance!

Just beautiful!
But let's not linger tooooo long because there is so much more to see inside!

If you have been following Lucy's Attic 24 blog you will know that she has not only been making Mandalas herself but people have been sending them to her from all over the place. This grill, above the area where the stalls were, was decorated with literally hundreds of them!! This shot is just a very small sample. I love them - especially the first on the left of the top row in this picture.

But wait! If you think they are good just look at Lucy's GIANT Mandalas which attracted Yarndalers into the area of Lucy's Yarndale Attic, where yet more delights were waiting! If you want to know more about the mandalas check out Lucy's blog here

Meanwhile, the photos below give you some idea of just how great they are.

Beyond the Mandalas more delights were waiting........

with this AMAZING wreath created by Lucy being one of my absolute favourites! 

The prize for the most colour in one display has to go to this stall! This is a shot of just one little bit of this stallholder's display which was quite literally a riot of colour!

Well, after much pleasant wandering, lots of touching & feeling and feasting of eyes, very many ooohs & aaahs and quite a few purchases there was only one final thing to finish off our day - a special appearance of a unique sheepdog herding equally unique Swaledale sheep! 

Unique as they are, they could not compare with these little guys on the cuteness front tho'!! 

These adorable alpacas attracted a lot of attention. 

Well, it was finally time to leave Yarndale after a really great day.  And there was just enough time for cake for E and scone and jam for me, washed down with a pot of tea, all enjoyed in the quirky uniqueness of The Cake 'Ole in Skipton! You really must check it out if you get the chance! Great cake in mind-boggling surroundings, just like something out of Alice In Wonderland! And the cuckoo clocks DO work!!

 The perfect end to a perfect day!

So, that's Yarndale over for this year - can't wait for the next!!
HUGE thanks to Lucy and all the organisers for a fantastic event!

Jumping with excitement!

Oh, I'm SO excited I can barely contain myself!!! Why? Well, I have just completed what I think is my most satisfying project so far, I am about to go to a craft event that I have been waiting a whole year for, I've got two new hooky projects on the go AND I may be exhibiting and selling my creations through craft fairs very soon which I have wanted to do for ages! Let me tell you more........

Firstly, I have just finished my Flower Garden Blanket so called for reasons that will soon become very obvious!! I can't tell you how thrilled I am with it! Those of you who have been following my projects will remember me first creating my flowers whilst lounging on the beach in the Caribbean which I wrote about here. As usual, I got distracted from this project by new yarns and stitches and have completed lots of other projects before getting back to this one. But this week I came across it again in the bottom of one of my craft baskets (which are now empty of old unfinished projects -Yippee!!!) and determined to finish it. So, here it is!

Voila!!!

I think you can see why I have called it my Flower Garden Blanket! It not only has hexagon flowers in the centre but it also has green 'grass' and flower borders! I must say I just LOVE it!

Because it is a pram/ crib/ cot blanket I have deliberately not decorated the top edge and the small flowers in the border were securely crocheted in place as I went along, not sewn on afterwards.

The 'grass' fringes are also very securely attached to the bottom border.

I am so pleased with the way the 'grassy' areas and flower borders have turned out. I love the shape of the border and also the colours. I'd love to know what you think?

Although I'm always pleased when I complete a project, I honestly don't think any other project has thrilled me as much!

Still, I must move on to other things!

The second thing that I'm all excited about is this weekend's Yarndale event taking place in lovely Skipton, which is one of my very favourite places anyway. Organised by a team of local yarn-crafters, including the inspiring Lucy of Attic 24, ( you really must check out her blog if you don't already know it!)  the Yarndale event is a cornucopia of all things to do with yarn! I just cannot wait to feast on all of the wonderful, colourful creations, and the supplies to make them, that I know will be there! I will have my camera with me of course so watch out for a full report soon!

So, what else? Oh yes, two new projects! Another hexagon themed one which I was inspired to start last night, having just put the finishing touches to my Flower Garden.

I'm still experimenting with this as yet and so it all may change! These hexes are completely different from my flower ones. I like the idea of  a shape within a shape and, since all of my creations are usually so full of colour I thought I would try a neutral edging while keeping colourful centres....
Mmmmm...........

The other project is another Blackberry Bobble stitch one, like this one which hooky friends will have read about in previous posts.

I like to have a project where I can get into a flow of continuous happy hooking without having to break off, change colours, join bits together etc and this fits the bill perfectly! I love doing this stitch and the multi-coloured yarn does the rest!

And the final thing that has got me all excited is the possibility of doing Craft Fairs! I have been thinking about this for ages and it looks like it might actually happen quite soon! And in two of my very favourite places - Skipton as I mentioned before and Saltaire where I used to live! Skipton is a lovely market town on the edge of the beautiful Yorkshire Dales here in England, whilst Saltaire, now a World Heritage Site, is the prettiest Victorian Industrial Village, with the most amazing architecture steeped in history. Preparations and discussions are underway, dates are being considered etc so we'll see!

Well, I think that's far too much excitement for one day! I need to go lie down in a darkened room to calm down!! Look forward to hearing from you! Bye for now, Tricia xxx

On A Roll!

I really am on a roll as far as finishing projects are concerned, with another one finished while watching TV last night! My two project baskets, usually full to overflowing, are looking very tidy and manageable now - quite satisfying but also a little disturbing! I now have only one on-going project - my Flower Garden Blanket - and I can once again see all of the colours of the balls of yarn that still fill my baskets!

So, here is the latest! Voila!

 I have called this one my Turquoise Blush Baby Blanket because of the combination of turquoise and soft pink which I think is very unusual and beautiful.

The blanket began as a collection of small traditional Granny Squares in pink and turquoise, as seen above and below

I alternated the colour-ways for variety before joining them together and surrounding with a simple border of turquoise trebles followed by a few more rows of pink

and finally a few more rows of turquoise trebles before finishing it off with a final row of Puff Stitch in turquoise.

I must confess that I would have liked to have done a final row of Puff Stitch in pink but I didn't have enough of exactly that same pink yarn left!



So, there you have it! The Turquoise Blush Baby Blanket is pram/ stroller or small crib size and you can find full details here and here if you are interested.

Well, what next? Now that I can properly see all of those delicious coloured yarns in my baskets I can't wait to choose for my next project! And I have some new yarns too which I would not let myself begin with until I had completed all of those unfinished projects. So, whoopeee! I can now try out some of those new yarns too! I'm SO excited! And that idea of combining rippling with bobbling, which I mentioned in my last post, is still very appealing - I might just have to try that out!

Bye for now, and Happy Hooking!! Tricia xxx

Blackberry Bobble Baby Blanket Finished!

Hi again! A little while since I have been here but it's been a happily busy time during which several projects have been completed and new ones begun!

First, I can show you my Blackberry Bobble Baby Blanket. Voila!

I just LOVE making all these rows of Blackberry-like bobbles! I think an older baby or toddler will love feeling at these as much as I do! There is just something very pleasing about their beautiful bobbliness!

I love these soft pastel shades too. All in all I'm very pleased with how this turned out, especially as I had no idea how it would look when I started and I just made it up as I went along.

But that's not all! I sold my Rainbow Ripple Cot Blanket this week but finished a smaller pram/ stroller sized one! 

I cannot tell you how much pleasure I get from rippling and bobbling and watching a blanket grow as I'm doing it! 

Maybe I can combine rippling and bobbling into one fabulous creation! Now there's a thought!!! Watch this space!

But hold that thought because I have still not finished revealing! 

Last, but not least, I have also finished the only blanket I have ever made using a new-to-me chunky yarn appropriately called Baby Chunky. It's really thick and soft and incorporates a range of lovely soft pastel shades twisted with white. Which is why I have called it my Candy Twist Chunky Baby Blanket - it's the blanket that's chunky of course not the baby!! 

Anyway, here it is......

After all that rippling and bobbling and because of the extra thick yarn I was using, I decided this time to do giant Granny Squares with a very simple trebles border

Unfortunately, the pictures cannot convey that velvety thickness nor how lovely these subtle, soft pastel shades are.

This is why I love hooking SO much - because there is so much variety in the colours and textures of the yarns and also there are so many stitches to choose from. So every project is a completely new and unique experience and each time I complete one I can't wait to begin another! And in fact, as many of you know, I usually DON'T wait to begin another! Which is why I always have several projects on the go at once!

Well, that's three more down - off to the craft basket to see what I fancy doing next! Mmmmm, that ripply-bobbly idea is calling to me...! Catch ya later, Tricia xxx