Shoo Fly!

So me and my systers are doing a Secret Syster monthly swap, co-ordinated by the lovely Sabbles. My recipient for February is my gorgeous syster Sarah. I trawled her Swap-Bot profile for some ideas of what she might like, and I noticed she said she would love a crocheted Venus fly trap! Not one to balk at a challenge, I had a look for patterns but was not willing to pay for one so I decided to make up my own. Here below I present.....the finished article! I used pipe cleaners inside the stems so they are poseable, and popped them inside a plastic flowerpot. I think they turned out pretty cute :)

I hope she loves it! Blessed Be )O(

Oh, Sugar Sugar

A while ago we had a swap where we all sent our partners something sugar skull related. I made some sugar skull earrings and a pendant out of Fimo, but although the envelope I posted them in got to it's destination, the contents didn't. Here is a picture, I am glad I took it before I packaged them up!

So here is a picture of what I made for a resend. It is a small garland of cute crocheted sugar skulls. I had SO MUCH fun making these!! Definitely going to make more :)

Blessed Be! )O(

Last Dance With Mary Jane

So I am trying a different Mary Janes pattern today, as I am not having much luck with the previous pattern I posted using a different yarn. The cotton yarn is lovely and breathable but a bit tough on the feet, LOL! So I am using Rico Kids Classic Aran yarn, it is beautiful and very soft, but works up much much smaller. So even when I increased the rows in the pattern, I couldn't get the sizing right. I am trying this pattern today and I am going to size it up as I go, using my own feet as the person I am making them for has similar sized feet :) Here's hoping that I get the required results with this one :) I'll keep you posted!


Blessed Be! )O(

Time for Voodoo!

When you find out that someone you have known for nearly 20 years, is actually someone you didn't know at all, it's tremendously sad really. And that's what has happened to me this weekend. Perhaps I am karmically tying up loose ends? Anyway I know this blog entry probably sounds rather cryptic, LOL! But as you can gather from the title, I think it is time to make another Voodoo dolly, this time for myself. Not an effigy to stick pins in, that is not my style. But I need to do some banishing of bad residual energy, and so I am going to make a doll to help me. Any ideas of how to embellish or what to include? Post in the comments below :) I will upload pictures when it is finished.


Hopefully all the unpleasantness is out of the way, and so far I have had a rather pleasant day! I hope you all have too!


Blessed Be )O(

Mary Janes :)

I found this pattern and immediately wanted to try it. I have long wanted to crochet some little slippers but I am rather an impatient crafter, and I shrink instinctively from things that require much assembling or sewing up or anything :) These are perfect because they are all one piece and therefore you only have to weave the ends in and sew on the buttons - fantastic! Here then, are my first pair of crocheted slippers, modelled by my daughter Lila's feet :) made completely in dc (UK terminology) using Lily Sugar n Cream cotton yarn. I love them :)

Blessed Be! )O(

Winter is Blue

Today I made a Winter Goddess for one of my Systers. I recently received an absolutely gorgeous little felt Goddess from my syster Sabbles, and her blanket stitched were so perfect and beautiful that I wanted to have a go! Below is my felt Goddess. She is deep blue, I embroidered a silver snowflake on her belly and a gold pentagram on her breast. And if you shake her, she makes a gentle rattling sound like wintry raindrops :) my stitches are much sloppier than Sabbles's, but I'm going to keep practicing!

Blessed Be! )O(

Crocheted Goddesses for my Syster Goddesses :)

My Pagan beliefs are no secret. I was a Hare Krishna devotee for 12 years of my life (initiated by Bhaktitirtha Swami in 1999 - I was given the name Narayani-devi dasi), but before, during and after felt/feel a great connection with the Divine Feminine. I love the Goddess in all Her forms, but especially Isis, who has wrapped me in Her wings and given me comfort and love many many times when I have needed it. 


I digress of course - I love creating crocheted things but I am not much of a designer, so I found this pattern and have created many dolls since to gift and swap with my lovely Systers :) I am so grateful to the designer of that pattern for sharing it because it has given me so many hours of pleasure, crocheting and decorating these beautiful goddesses. Below are a few pictures. 

Blessed Be! )O(

Zentangle!

In my life, SwapBot has a lot to answer for - in a very good way (mostly). Despite the thieves and dishonest people who operate there, 'swaplifting' and in one case I came across, persistently lying and saying that swaps never arrived when they did (and I still want my stuff back, and I still haven't forgotten you did that to me, should you ever read this...) I have actually met some of the most important people in my life. And I also discovered crafts I never knew existed and better yet - that I actually turned out to be fairly good at!


This post is about just one of those previously-unknown crafts - Zentangle. If you are like I was, and you've never heard of Zentangle, here is a definition from the Zentangle.com website:


"Our Zentangle method is a way of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns. It is fun and relaxing. Almost anyone can use it to create beautiful images. It increases focus and creativity, provides artistic satisfaction along with an increased sense of personal well being. The Zentangle method is enjoyed all over this world across a wide range of skills, interests and ages."

I gave tangling a go, and I immediately loved it. It is very soothing, relaxing, and exciting, you never know what you are going to produce until the end; it's a surprise all the way through. And for someone like me who is totally not artistic, the fact that there are loads of tangle designs with clear instructions to follow is a great help - look here if you're interested, or check out Amazon for the great Zentangle books that are available.

So here are some pictures of Zentangles I have produced :)

Have a go at tangling - you'll never look back :)

Blessed Be! )O(

Voodudes and Voodettes

I've been brushing up on my knitting skills today. I love crochet above all other yarn related crafts, but I just fancied a bit of knitting. Only some swatches so far practising different techniques but perhaps I'll tackle some simple patterns sometime soon.


So here is another post with some pictures of things I've crocheted. One thing I love crocheting and decorating in a totally off the cuff way, is Voodoo Dolls. All made with good intent and positive energy, of course ;) Below are some pictures of Voodoo Dolls I've made and sold or gifted. I call the male ones Voodudes and the female ones Voodettes :)

'Banish the Junk' Voodude - decorated with old dolls clothes and crocheted from scrap yarn.

'I Love You' Voodette.

'Banish the Flaker' Voodude, for a Swap-Bot swap.

Happy Birthday Voodette for my little daughter, Lila!

Voodude. No theme.

Witch Voodette.

Good Luck Voodette.

Goth styled Voodette for my 'niece' :)

I love making these and decorating them! They are so much fun and I love just decorating them in whichever way appeals to me at the time. They all get their own personalities :)

Blessed Be! )O(

Crocheted Green Man

This one was inspired by this photo, isn't he cute?! As those of you who know me may know, I am not much good with painting or drawing but give me a crochet hook and some yarn and I am a happy bunny. So for a 'Welcome to the Holly King' swap, I wanted to crochet a Green Man. I may make some tiny felted holly berries and add them, but here is my crocheted Green Man:

Not bad for a first attempt, and I was completely winging it :) He is made from different shades of green leaves sewn to a circular brown background, pretty much all in triples and multiples thereof (UK crochet terms). Two buttons for eyes. I think I will make another with a few tweaks here and there, perhaps varying the size of the leaves, the placement less symmetrical, etc etc. Oh I added a loop at the top so he can be hung up, too :) He is for my syster Twilight.


Blessed Be )O(

Why are we here?

Welcome to my little corner of Blogger :) I have been crafting and posting pictures on FB for a long time now but I kind of felt like blogging about it so.....I am going to upload pics of things I have made, crocheting or otherwise, and some babble about why and how, etc :) Some other chatter might creep in there too, who knows. 


So I write my first post this morning with my small son on the couch under his Ben 10 duvet...recovering from a tummy bug that has chewed up and spat out everyone in the household except the cats (Bellatrix Le Strange and Bagpuss) and the frogs (Frogster and Frogster. We can't tell them apart.) Things are slowly getting back to normal. Well, however normal they get round here, anyway.


I have quite a backlog of things I've made....and I will gradually get them all uploaded here from FB I hope. But I'll start today with something I made yesterday. Fairly bad pics but I was unable to do any better, sorry :)) So without further ado, I present to you......*fanfare*........water element themed Dotee Doll!!

She is for my beautiful syster, Dee. I made her with a blue fabric, decided to give her a mermaid's tail and gave her sparkly blue hair and some lovely blue beads. Her face is made of air-drying Fimo which I moulded - in a mould, not by hand :) Then I gave her a blue ribbon hanger and a wire tail with seed beads, a flower bead and a silver 'water' charm. Although sewing is not a strong point of mine, I think she is quite cute and I hope Dee loves her :) I considered giving her sequin scales but decided to go for simplicity, however I might have a go at that in the not so distant future :)


Blessed be )O(