Little Mouse Wreath

At the weekend I swapped the hills of the Yorkshire Dales for the equally beautiful and equally hilly hills of the Derbyshire Peak District. I travelled with a good friend on Friday morning, and after three hours and three train journeys filled with chatter and a bit of sock knitting we arrived at the lovely little town of Buxton. This girly weekend away had been many, many months in the planning, a gem of an idea hatched last Summer and finally we were there......

.........this is the house with the rolling green view which became a veritable Hooky Haven for the weekend. Actually, it was a bit more than a house, it was huuuuuge! Quarnford Lodge is a rambling ten bedroomed detached residence on top of a high hill, a perfect venue for a large bunch of rather crazy hookers to hunker down for a few days. It was absolute bliss. Nothing to do except chat, eat, drink, sleep and crochet.

The living space at the lodge was large and open plan, with a wood burning stove separating the living and dining areas. As there were nineteen of us, the large space suited us perfectly and those chocolate brown leather sofas provided a wonderful place to while away the day with hook and yarn. The whole weekend was very informal - no workshops or schedules, just a huge amount of laughter, cake, wine, crochet and hilarious banter. Oh, we did laugh, I laughed so much and so hard I thought I would either stop breathing or pee my pants. Or possibly both. Such a beautiful bunch of lovely, vibrant, charming and funny ladies. As I only knew two of them in real life, it did make me feel ever so slightly nervous about spending a whole weekend with virtual strangers. I am quite a private person, verging on the shy really, and sometimes I do find social situations a little tricky. But I needn't have worried, everyone was so lovely and by the end of the weekend I knew I had made a whole big bunch of great new friends.

It's one of the things I most love about crochet - it is such a warm, creative and sociable hobby, and the friendships that grow from sharing a love of hook and yarn are just brilliant. I experience this every single day as I write my blog and share pictures and chatter on Facebook and Instagram, but there is something extra special about taking an online community and springing it into real life. Those of of us that shared our weekend together had only previously known each other via a small online group, but you would never have guessed it in a million years. The friendship was real and instant.

One of the things we had decided to do for the weekend was a hand made gift exchange. We didn't know who we would be making the gift for or who's gift we would be receiving (we did it a bit like a raffle), it was loads of fun. I was so lucky with my gift and received a really beautiful crochet shawl - can you believe I have never had a shawl before, whatever was I thinking???! It was hard to photograph to show you the pretty silver sparkle that runs through the yarn in my shawl, tis rather glamorous to have this beauty draped around my person. Warm and cosy too, I am most definitely a newbie Shawl Lover.

I pondered over what to make for my gift for all of about 20 minutes, and then as if by magic an image popped into my Creative Mind like a photograph. I could see it so clearly......and I saw a little mouse!

Actually, I decided that one mouse looked a little bit lonesome so I made him a little mousey lady friend, awwwww! I found a really delightful little free mouse pattern designed by Lucy Ravenscar, so sweet and very easy to make. I used 4ply baby merino yarn and a 2.5mm hook, and they came out quite dinky and very cute looking.

Now my little mice needed a place to live, and my Creative Mind had already provided me with a very clear picture - I needed to make a Flower Bower.

So just as I did for my Bower Bird, I used a 7 inch Flexi Hoop {you can find these on Amazon} which I covered with a length of crochet. This is very easy to do, and I've given a full explanation as part of my Bower Bird tutorial.

Once I'd made the green base, it was time to decorate............

..........I had loads of fun here and really, really enjoyed making this pretty mini flower wreath. I used some of my own small flower patterns (Teeny Tiny Flower and Daisy Flower) and added some simple leaves. I also made a few smaller/shorter versions of my fern leaf, as well as having a little go at making some approximate lavender-ish type flowers in shades of purple. 

Everything was carefully arranged, pinned, then stitched in place and finally the wreath was ready.......

................ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so pleased with this little decoration, it turned out pretty much exactly as I saw it in my mind. It was a pleasure to wrap it up and know that it would be going to a lovely new hooky home too.

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ps I want to say a huge THANK YOU to the 18 fabulous hooksters who made my weekend so special and so memorable, especially Sarah C and Mel who organised it all. It was amazing and I hope we can do it again next year. And special big hugs to Sarah S who made me laugh so hard and for so long that I came very close to having an accident. Mwah x. Hooky friends are the bestest kind of friends there are x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Yvonne]

Ah Lucy, I am so glad you had such a great weekend I think you needed that! Laughter, hook and yarn is such good therapy. 😀 Buxton is lovely too. We are off to the Breakdown Beacons tomorrow and I am so looking forward to a good break. X PS love love the mice ... got to make them.

[moran malron]

I loved reading this post and am going to try this little mouse pattern too.
These kind of things that our new internet life do to us - I really feel so much the same as you described here. Your Little Mouse Wreath came out pretty

[Steph]

Super cute mice. Sure beats the bad taste secret Santa we do at work!

[Jools]

What a fabulous idea! Everyone brings a gift, in the same way as a "Secret Santa", then:it's a weekend of chatting, laughter and crafting!
I'm glad you had such a fab weekend, Lucy, it will have been good for you all.
And I'm willing to bet that won't be the only shawl you own ...... your fingers will be itching to make one for yourself soon, I'm sure ;-)

[josiekitten]

Sounds like a wonderful way to spend a weekend! I have made lots of online friends through my yarny passions, and have been lucky enough to meet a few. Your little mice are gorgeous!

[Anne]

What a wonderful way to spend a weekend. The mice are soooooo cute in their beautiful bower. They are definitely on the "to do" list and may well be wiggling their way to the top!

[HJD]

Hi Lucy ,I cant believe that I was inspired and learnt to crochet, one mothering sunday by following your tutorials.I followed your blog for several years and made many of your makes.This weekend I went up to sunny yorkshire for a couple of days and you came down to my derbyshire!!!!!.Glad you had a goodtime.
Waiting for the mice tutorial if there is one?
Keep up the goodwork.

[Murphy R]

Adorable! When I got to the picture of the kissing mice, surrounded by flowers, I actually said, "AWWW!!", out loud! =)

[Angela-Southern USA]

Sounds like a perfect time of it! Dream of such things myself. The wreath and shawl is lovely!!! I too was the same with shawls, now I can't seem to make enough of them, big ones, small ones, crochet ones, knitted too... Forewarned! ; D (Some very interesting videos of large wildlife on my flickr page if you care to see.) Have a wonderful weekend Lucy!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Cyndi]

Lovely wreath. Can you pleeeeeeze put some of your mice in your shop. Love them!!

[CJ]

The wreath is absolutely adorable, I love, love, love the colours and those cute mice in their stripey tops are perfection. Gorgeous shawl as well, and it looks like a wonderful place to spend a weekend, glad you all had such a good time. CJ xx

[crafty mema]

love the wreath

xooxoxoxox crafty mema

[Linda Lambert]

I love your shawl Lucy, and I have been looking for one to make.
Is there anyway you could work a pattern out for one like yours for us to make?
Thank you, Linda Lambert.

[Jacqui]

OH THATS SOUNDS SO WONDERFUL!!! Love love love the wreath you made soooooooooooo cute x

[Corine]

I know how it feels to enter a room full of 'strangers', I was terrified when I came to your Knit 'n Natter! ;-)

Lovely wreath, very cute.

Corine
x

[Winwick Mum]

Perfect :-) xx

[Susan Smith]

Ooooh, I'd love a weekend like that, though I did sort of do that a couple of weeks ago, but with quilting. Your wreath is adorable and how lucky receiving a beautiful shawl. I can see your mind whirring away with patterns for shawls.(giggle). Have a great weekend and take care.

[Carol]

Love the wreath. If only you could come up with a lovely shawl as I have some silk yarn but can't find a pattern I like!!

[Moorecat]

That wreath is adorable!

Will there be a photo tutorial?

Pretty please?

[Caroline]

Wow what an ideal setting for a crafty weekend! And you gift, both received and given are beautiful!
A great crochet shawl is the South Bay shawlette/shawl. It's a very easy pattern, which makes it a very mobile and occasional project. I've been working on one (my second) for about 6 months and it comes out on car journeys or when I need a project that fits in my hand bag.

[Lindsay Coleman]

Such a cute wreath & what a wonderful weekend that sounds xxx

[AnneKate]

Sounds like a real tonic! Love the ironing board and iron to the ready!!

[Sarah Clay]

Had an awesome weekend with you Lucy. Hope there are many more to come. Lots of yarny love, Sarah C xxx 😘😘😘

[Fiona]

Very cute! I'm just making a spring wreath and I desperately want a little mouse in it. Yours are so cute.
I'm hoping to get to the Peak District soon. It looks so gorgeous.

[Danette Bartelmay]

I am totally in love with your little mouse wreath :-)