ScrapHappy May 2023: My First Entire Bollard Cover

After the success of Dipo the dinosaur (see here), and the ability to make the base of a bollard cover, I finally went one step further and put the two together, first with safety pins and then with proper grown-up sewing. And I crocheted some slightly wonky prehistoric ferns (but all prehistoric fens were wonky, it’s a well-known fact according to the Wikipedia page I am about to create). Everything here was made from scrap yarn with a sense of bewilderment.

This month I also made a working computer out of some cardboard from a box but that is maybe pushing the ScrapHappy envelope too far…

oOo

Many other people contribute to Kate and Gun’s wonderful ScrapHappy every month – check out what they have been up to too!

KateGun, EvaSue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
JanMoira, SandraChrisAlys,
ClaireJeanJon, DawnGwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue LVera, Edith
NanetteAnn, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
DebbieroseNóilinVivKarrin,
Amo, AlissaLynn, Tierney and Hannah

 

Categories: Crochet, ScrapHappy, Sustainable Stuff | 20 Comments

ScrapHappy April 2023: A Dinosaur from the Crochetian Period

First off, welcome to new and returning ScrapHappy friends!

This is just a quick post again as, when the hour changed for British Summer Time (why? why do we keep this nonsense up in the 21st century?), it seems we actually lost one of the 24 hours in a day.

I have been using old stash yarn to continue my crocheting, this time to make a weirdly pink dinosaur for the shop. It is a diplodocus, made from a Little Green Bear pattern (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/don-the-diplodocus) and it was relatively easy to do I have to say. The thing that made it difficult was the pink yarn I used (I won’t name and shame) – it was horrible, and split the whole time. I very nearly gave up!

I also did something for the very first time – I used two different colours! I know, it was terrifying to contemplate but a good bottle of single malt later* and I was ready. Now Dipso (that could well be his name. Probably short for “Dipso Fatso, my case rests”) has orange toes on his feet. Like they had in real dinosaur times.

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Scary stuff! Using another colour of yarn in the same row…

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DIY Dinosaur kit

 

Completed pink dinosaur, looking slightly bewildered

Completed pink dinosaur, looking slightly bewildered

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Dipso has his (button) eyes on some choccy

 

You never know, I may do a bit of “hard” ScrapHappying next month!

oOo

* Just kidding. Really…

Many other people contribute to Kate and Gun’s wonderful ScrapHappy every month – check out what they have been up to too!

KateGun, EvaSue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
JanMoira, SandraChrisAlys,
ClaireJeanJon, DawnGwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue LVera, Edith
NanetteAnn, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
DebbieroseNóilinVivKarrin,
Amo, AlissaLynn, Tierney and Hannah

 

Categories: recycling, ScrapHappy, Sustainable Stuff | Tags: , , , | 31 Comments

ScrapHappy March 2023: You’re Fired!

The shop window. And Daisy.

The shop window. And Daisy.

First off, welcome to Amo and Alissa! May all your scrapping be happy!

Unusually, my post this month is a subtle blend of soft and hard scrapping.

On 1st March each year here in Wales, it is Gwyl Dewi Sant or St David’s Day. In case my reader is wondering who this David guy is, he is the patron saint of Wales, his Mum (Non) lived down the road from us (“over by there” in local parlance) and he is known for telling people to “do the small things” (in Welsh, “Gwnewch y pethe bychain”). Every year on March 1st, there are parades of children dressed as daffodils, leeks or dragons (the good children get to be dragons) and I believe in South Wales, the valleys are cleaned to ensure they are extra green*.

In Lampeter, the local Town Council ran a competition this year for the best shop window display with the theme of “Welshness”. This is a pretty wide brief, but I think they were after something more than just daffodils, leeks and dragons, whilst still retaining room for daffodils, leeks and er, dragons. The Snail and I decided on displaying some very Welsh concepts – words from the Cymraeg (the Welsh language) that don’t necessarily have direct translations in any other language, literature of a definitive Welsh nature and, of course, crocheted daffodils and dragons. We decided that a mock-up of a Welsh cottage fireside would be good and, as we didn’t have a complete Welsh cottage fireside to drop in, I built a fireplace and fake fire. Like you do.

The Snail created cushions and pictures with some choice Welsh words – you can read about that here.

We also wanted to have a themed bollard cover, so I (yes! Your truly!) crocheted its base out of a chunk of scrappy multi-coloured yarn from someone’s stash that we acquired. I am pleased with how it went (it wasn’t without its trials but I got there in the end). Jan added daffodil heads and stalks. Here it is being tested for fit:

I crocheted a bollard cover. I am quite good at treble stitches now!

I crocheted a bollard cover. I am quite good at treble stitches now!

So, the fireplace. We bought an actual grate and guard (both in good working order) from the local auction and I set about using the wood retrieved from the shop (described here, here, and here. There really is a lot of wood we salvaged.)

This will be a fireplace eventually!

This will be a fireplace eventually!

Taking shape... and possibly the right shape too!

Taking shape… and possibly the right shape too!

A walk-through fireplace

A walk-through fireplace

The Snail doing a spot of painting

The Snail doing a spot of painting

The “fire” itself used old stripboard I have had for about 35 years, some resistors I have had for about, well, 35 years and some flashing LEDs I bought, um, about 4 months ago (so not really scrap, don’t look at them).

One of the less complex builds I have ever done! There's only another four LEDs to add.

One of the less complex builds I have ever done! There’s only another four LEDs to add.

The final fireplace looked like this…

If you hold your hands to the screen, you can feel the warmth

If you hold your hands to the screen, you can feel the warmth

…and here is a video of the fire effect at night. I think it worked OK!

Fire thumb

oOo

* This may not strictly be true.

Categories: recycling, ScrapHappy, Sustainable Stuff | Tags: , , | 26 Comments

ScrapHappy February 2023: Overcrowding for toadstools where there’s not mushroom

First, a warm scrappy welcome to Karrin! May all your scrapping be happy!

As my reader will know, last month I embarked on a “soft” ScrapHappy project so, because I have so woefully neglected to notice how far into February we already are, I thought I would show you the completed effort as another ScrapHappy post.

And here it is, in the wild…

… and in the shop…

And now, I have made this* for our St David’s Day shop window display…

Made from a stash someone brought into the shop for us to repurpose, it took me a while to get right but The Snail guided me (whilst she knocked up half a dozen!). I feel quite happy about my crochet development!

oOo

* The daffodil, not the dog.

Many other people contribute to Kate and Gun’s wonderful ScrapHappy every month – check out what they have been up to too!

KateGun, EvaSue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
JanMoira, SandraChrisAlys,
ClaireJeanJon, DawnGwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue LVera, Edith
NanetteAnn, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
DebbieroseNóilinVivKarrin,
Amo, AlissaLynn, Tierney and Hannah

 

Categories: Crochet, recycling, ScrapHappy, Sustainable Stuff | Tags: , , , | 21 Comments

ScrapHappy January 2023: It’s Time to Cro(chet) or A (Slip) Stitch in Time

The dodgy Crochet Clock says it's after midnight - and time to get a new clock

The dodgy Crochet Clock says it’s after midnight – and time to get a new clock

First off, a Happy New Year to my reader, I do hope the next revolution of our flaming star gives you what you want and need.

“What”, I hear you mutter to yourself, “is going on here? Mr Snail has gone soft in the Scrappy department*? Has the Universe lost all sense of up or down? Where’s my wine?”

The answers to the last two questions are “there is no up or down in space” (see The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy for clarification) and “So, you think it’s your wine, eh?”

The answer to the first question is slightly more involved.

A couple of months ago, the Snail and I decided that it would be good if I opened the shop (see here for details) on a Friday to give the Snail a well-deserved break after the rigours of Thursdays which include Knit Knight, er, Night after the shop has closed. It soon became apparent that having me open the shop meant that the Snail had a rest and I got to give dubious crafting advice to unsuspecting customers (“no, wool makes a perfect addition to a soufflé”). Armed with some notes for the novel I have managed not to publish (something that I have been greatly helped by agents’ complete lack of interest in it), I decided that I needed another procrastination activity to prevent me from actually accidently publishing it when I wasn’t looking. So I decided to teach myself crochet.

The Snail has, in the past, attempted to teach me but it has never really stuck and I have always ended up splitting the yarn, hooking my finger or accidently setting fire to the sofa. This time would be different, because we don’t have a sofa in the shop. I took** a second-hand crochet hook and some string-like yarn that we had acquired from someone’s stash, and found a book in our pre-loved book section that purported to teach you everything about crochet. It wasn’t very good if you didn’t already know exactly how to crochet so I struggled on for a bit. My plan was to make something, nothing specific, but something and present it to the Snail as a surprise. I needed another guide…

As luck would have it, a customer brought in a Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amigurumi. This book spoke to me because a) I had slightly overdone it on the sugar that morning and b) because I am a complete amigurumi. No wait, idiot.

I started again and by the end of the day, I had crocheted a thing which I decided was enough to show off to the Snail. Also, there was a term used in the book that I couldn’t find the definition of and I wanted to know. The Snail was indeed surprised, although that may have been due to the wine which I had plied her with beforehand. She explained some more things about crochet and I was away again, the following Friday.

It's a thing, you know, a THING

It’s a thing, you know, a THING

I found some different yarn from someone’s old stash, and made another thing, this time whilst practising a variety of stiches. The internet decided it was a thimble, a cyan raspberry, a tiny todger cover. I decided it was just a thing, It’s now in the shop, on a shelf, defying classification.

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It’s another thing, you know, ANOTHER THING

Next, I decided to teach myself how to read patterns, and then follow one. The first thing I made was this:

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What could this be? Is it a beret for a hamster?

This seemed to work, although it was supposed to be a hamster. Just kidding. The other part of the pattern has gotten me this far:

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Another beret? For, say, I don’t know, an octopus, perhaps?

I am betting you may know what it is! I will post when I have completed the beret-wearing hamster, er, I mean, the thing.

oOo

* Oooh errr Missus…

** Perks of running a craft shop, and not theft from my employer in any way, shape or form.

Many other people contribute to Kate and Gun’s wonderful ScrapHappy every month – check out what they have been up to too!

KateGun, EvaSue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
JanMoira, SandraChrisAlys,
ClaireJeanJon, DawnGwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue LVera, Edith
NanetteAnn, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
DebbieroseNóilinVivKarrin,
Amo, AlissaLynn, Tierney and Hannah

 

Categories: Crochet, recycling, ScrapHappy | Tags: , , | 21 Comments

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