Frank and Josie's House

As lots of crocheters out there know there is a subscription company called Little Box of Crochet . (I've mentioned them in previous posts). I first found them on Instagram and followed their story as Amanda dealt with the terminal illness of her daughter Jenny (read more here. ) Last year I saw this on their Instagram feed: A Hygge Ponchette. Now all the other designs I'd seen, whilst I admired them and thought they looked lovely, weren't for me. Simply a matter of taste and desire. But then I saw this and thought "I've got to have it!" So I asked Father Christmas/ Père Noël/Santa if I could have it for Christmas and (lucky me!) he said yes! Now this box they called their first Not-So-Little box of crochet because the yarn was super chunky and there were six balls of it! Basically it was a super chunky, snuggly, cosy, hygge project so couldn't fit into a little box. When I opened it on Christmas day it was so exciting. I think only fellow crafters can un...

Hello all and how has your week been? It's been eventful in the Yarn household so we are all exhausted (I feel like I always say how tired we are!). Firstly the big kids started a new school. We moved them to the local village school as we felt they would get on better there. So we returned to France from the UK only to go straight in to school preparation mode. I had to make sure we'd done all the forms and the kids had the right stationary etc etc. Then, only one day after starting a new school, it was Merida's 10th birthday so the Christmas/celebration-phase couldn't abate just yet. She asked to keep the fairy lights up so we happily obliged and actually had a really good day at school. She's at the age where she isn't shy telling people it's her birthday and because of this the teacher wrote "Bon Anniversaire" on the board and they all sang 'Happy Birthday' to her in English and French in the canteen over lunch. What a lovely school we...

Firstly I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who sent me messages or left comments after my last post. Having that little extra support really helps. I'm learning as I go but am determined that endometriosis will not stop me living. Although I am also learning to allow myself to be ill. Today my hubby is working from home so I don't have to chase a toddler as I'm feeling particularly rubbish, but I thought talking to you lot and distracting myself with yarntales (yes, I made that word up) would cheer me up. So today I am talking about this: [caption id="attachment_1591" align="aligncenter" width="540"] different sized balls![/caption] Bernat blanket yarn is what I am using (or trying to use) to make the giant octopus pictured below. It's been more than a little tricky to get hold off or to be precise, to get hold of in the quantity and colour I want it. Now if you follow my blog you'll know that using the recommended yarn fro...

Finally its finished! Regular followers of my Instagram feed will have seen increased activity in the African flower crochet side of things over the last two months. I decided (just as we were moving) to crochet my youngest a turtle for her birthday in October. Now, Rose loves turtles. Her obsession started with her favourite song about a turtle called Tiny Tim who has an unfortunate incident in the bath and eats all the soap. Although how Rose sings this is "Turtle, turtle, turtle. Turtle, turtle, swim! Turtle, turtle, soap!" It's got the cuteness only a 2 year old can get away with. Anyway she's been increasing her stuffed toy turtle collection over the past few months and I thought I'd add to it with a wonderful design from  Heidi Bears Design.  Now this talented designer uses the African flower motif (see picture below of some of the motifs) in most of her designs and it creates a wonderful array of patterns. From dinosaurs to owls and camels to teddy bears th...

Well I've finally gotten around to writing part 2 of my Clover hooks etc review. It's taken a while but we went to lovely Tuscany for a week and I was recovering from an operation etc etc (to be covered in another post). Actually some of the hooks I tested whilst in hospital or Tuscany. I'm such a workaholic!! (Insert winking/sarcastic emoticon here). After my last post about these Clover Amour hooks I got a little bored of coasters and then had to try and make something of them as we had too many cluttering up our coffee table and every available surface. I am still attempting to alter some and make them into, at least part of, a blanket. Who knows if my hair brained scheme will work and it's so long now since I've looked at them that I'm not sure I've written enough details down so it's probably going to go hideously wrong. Don't worry, if it does I'll show you the pictures. Crochet gone wrong is always funny, frustrating too, but when it...

A while ago I was lucky enough to be sent some new crochet hooks to try and review. The lovely people at  Clover  sent me a total of 16 hooks (all of their  Amour range ), a set of stitch markers and a mini weaving machine! Where to start?! When I open the package my eyes lit up and I was like a kid in a sweet shop. So many colours and shiny things! Ooooh the excitement!! After I calmed myself down (it took a while) I got to crocheting. [caption width="720" id="attachment_1378" align="alignnone"] My new coasters using sizes 6.5mm and 7mm[/caption]  I've decided to split up my review in order to cover all areas adequately. I genuinely wanted to use each hook before I write about it so I have a lot of crocheting ahead before I complete my review (it's a tough life). Today I'm looking at the larger plastic hooks from size 6.5 to 15mm. For those not familiar with the technical points of a crochet hooks here's a handy diagram (left). The first ...

It's finally finished - the crochet hoodie I've been working on for months. I'm so pleased and look how gorgeous my wonderful girl looks in it! I started the journey with this hoodie in late December, post Christmas rush. My daughter's birthday is in early January and she often gets slightly overlooked due to the Christmas craziness. Family are very good at remembering her birthday but we have to be extra organised to make sure the budget stretches to her birthday. This year (technically last year!) I decided to make her something special: a fairy hoodie. Merida loves fairies, pixies, elves and all such creatures. She's forever searching for them when we go to the woods.  I set about the search, as I so often do in these cases, on Pinterest . I found amazing pictures but few patterns I could either decipher or relate to or that was the right thing. Finally I found this pattern:  Lutine des Fleurs by Sylvia Damey . There was a eureka moment when I found this. It was ...

For my sister's birthday I decided to make her something chunky and fun so I made her this big, textured cushion. The pattern came from Emma Friedlander-Collins book  Big Hook Crochet .  You may have heard of Emma from her  Steel and Stitch blog . Well, this book emerged from her love of big hook crochet. She got her first hook by asking her husband to make her one and he did with the end of a broom handle! The patterns inside are easy to follow and mostly simple pattern repeats, well the ones I've tried anyway! They're great stash-busting patterns too. Most patterns use 5 - 8 strands of yarn in various sizes. I've been trying to make myself some slippers or house boots (as Emma calls them) from this book but I've run out of yarn and can't find a replacement so one boot sits on my crochet box and looks lonely.  However, I have completed two patterns successfully from this book without running out of yarn. The first was a pair of slippers for my friend. These wer...