Guest Blogger Week 76 Wild Daffodil

I would like to say a huge welcome

to Sandra

 from Wild Daffodil

Hello from England!

I am pretty new to blogging and Etsy etc, so I am thrilled to be included in Susan’s Guest Blogger Spot. Thank you Susan!
My Mum taught me to knit when I was 5 and I taught myself to crochet from a book in my 20s.

I am now a Granny of 8, all under 7 years of age and they provide me with masses of inspiration for knitting and crochet. They come up with some marvelous ideas, some of which I share on my blog Daffodil Wild.












When she was 5, my granddaughter requested a cushion with big flowers and little flowers on it and a pocket on the back to keep a toy in, she was also particular about the colours used –

                 
You can follow the story of the cushion and the one her brother requested on my blog:
http://stonechatchat.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/cushion-with-a-pocket/

The blog gives me an opportunity to share my many and various creative interests and Etsy provides an outlet for some of them.
The shop is called Wild Daffodil because I’m half Welsh (and very proud of my Welsh heritage, the daffodil is the national emblem of Wales) and half Wild!!! And I once lived, for a fabulous 10 years, next to a field of wild daffodils in the Marshwood Vale: (http://www.imagesofdorset.org.uk/Dorset/005/intro.htm).
My daughter has a business called Wild Strawberry (not on Etsy) and this feels like a nice connection to have.

Although knitting is my main love, crochet is great because it grows so quickly and is easy to be experimental with. I often make crochet flowers to decorate knitted items. Such as the Little Fairy Jacket I have designed:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/155523379/jacket-for-a-fairy-princess-1-to-2yrs

Here is the same pattern knitted for a Fire Fairy. The pattern for this will be appearing in Wild Daffodil very soon.

And the Garden of Flowers jacket you can see in the Etsy shop

I am currently having fun designing both knitting and crochet patterns and creating photo tutorials to go with them. What a job it is!!! I never knew! I am full of admiration for knitting and crochet pattern designers. It takes me ages to get the pattern right and then to test it afterwards just to make sure it all works.
The Fire Fairy jacket was made for my 1 year old granddaughter who was christened a couple of weeks ago – it was fun to make some crocheted daisy bunting for the occasion.

Crocheted daisies seem to be creeping in everywhere at the moment.

The knitted wig (on the left of the picture) has got a lot of attention locally, on Ravelry and on Etsy. Being asked to contribute to Susan’s Guest Blog Spot inspired me to create a crocheted wig, which has set me off on a whole new adventure in fun and funky hat/wig making.

To me this one has a Jane Austen feel about it – would you agree?

I am struck by what fun it is to design and make and what concentrated real work it is to get the pattern to a point where others can recreate the design.
I am keen to make my patterns easy and fun to work with and welcome helpful feedback on how they can be improved. I also am really happy to offer email support through the process and will answer questions just as soon as I can.

My latest crazy adventure with the crocheted wig is still work in progress:

This is the fun part when the spark of an idea starts to pour forth into a mass of crocheted bits in fabulous colours

Then I try it out by pinning all the bits onto a model head

 

Then I have to make some ordered sense of it to form it into a pattern I can put into words that others can follow

I try this out again with more order and method just in one colour to see if it works as a pattern, writing it all down as I go (this process in itself sparks off other zany ideas that are now trying to distract me from the task – focus!!)

Modelled here by a 3 year old elf who was passing. 

And hopefully, soon I will have two or 3 more patterns as PDFs with photo tutorials to share with all you wonderfully creative fellow hookies out there.

This has been fun!
I do hope you have enjoyed this peep into my crocheting life and look forward to you popping in to the blog or shop very soon – you are very welcome – and the virtual kettle is always on and at the ready for a cuppa and a chat about hooky delights!

Happy Hooking!

Links:

Website     Etsy

You can also see Sandra's latest design on Etsy:
 

Thank you ever so much Sandra

I love your use of colour!

You are so much braver than me!

I hope you'll all join me in thanking Sandra and go and take a look at her sites.