Bramble and Burdock

Hello to all those still checking in on this blog and apologies for the lack of updates. Hopefully I'll have some more to show you in the new year. Anyway, here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in 2012!

Here are two new crochet rabbits which I made recently. The first one is a vampire rabbit. Even though he's 862 years old, he still looks cute for his age! And this is another variation of my zombie rabbit design. This one has the added extra of a glow-in-the-dark brain! It's made from polymer clay and sewn into his head! The zombie rabbit has now been sold (yay!)

Two posts in one day - I'm getting prolific! Anyway, here's a design I did for a greeting card which fits nicely with this week's Illustration Friday topic of "hibernate" (click for a closer look). It's in the same style as my earlier design for the topic "stargazing". There are lots of hazards for a hibernating hedgehog - not least a curious fox! Hedgehogs of course like to curl up inside piles of wood, so remember to check your bonfire before you light it on November 5th!

 Not many new posts for a while, but I am still here. In fact, I've just returned from a short break in the Netherlands. During my stay I visited Utrecht, Leiden and Amsterdam. I ate lots of pancakes, climbed a very tall tower and of course floated along some canals. I also found this bridge, which had been decorated with muticoloured knitting and crochet!

I like taking photos of incidental details which I come across when I'm on my travels. I think that they are the genuinely interesting photos - the little things in eveyday life which you don't normally notice when you're busy.

My latest crochet rabbit is up for sale in my shop now sold! And here he is: He's made from recycled wool blend yarn (he used to be a sock - but don't worry, he was washed beforehand!) which I have felted to give him that fluffy look. He's a baby so he's a bit smaller than my usual design (I crocheted him with a much smaller hook too), and I used bigger eyes as well to make him look even cuter!

I had a few old, worn-out clothes lying around the place, so I decided to have a go at making a rag rug out of them. After much trial and error I just went with the simplest way of forming it which was to basically do a huge crochet circle! It's really interesting working on a much bigger scale than usual, because you can see the stitches so much more clearly that it really helps with your crochet skills. The blue and beige bits are made from some old sheets and the middle is mainly socks! It's actually very comfy to walk on too!