Yarning for Yarndale

I know many of you already know all about **Yarndale but if you've somehow missed it, Yarndale is a creative yarn festival, "a celebration of all things woolly and wonderful." It takes place here in my home town in North Yorkshire at the end of September and this will be the 7th year. As one of the the five original organisers, I'm involved with all sorts of behind-the-scenes stuff throughout the year - Yarndale has become quite a large festival with more than 200 exhibitors and over 8,000 visitors, so there is always plenty to be done.

One of my main "jobs" for Yarndale is to head up all of the creative stuff, so today I thought I'd share a few of the projects I've been working on this summer.

Every year I come up with a small pattern for the brochure. It's not always easy to think up something pretty that will photograph well and be a small enough pattern to fit on the brochure page. But my Creative Mind likes a challenge and always seems to deliver something appropriate when I need it - so far I've designed a jar cover, a birdie brooch, a small stuffed owl, a heart key ring, a felted bowl and a flower garland. I have to say I do really like the little decorative things that come forth from my imagination, they make me smile! 

This year I settled on a bag charm and I have absolutely no idea why or how this came to me, I just snagged the idea directly from my Creative Mind as I could see it so clearly. I could envisage little crochet balls and tassels (I thought about adding beads but didn't have any to hand at the time) in bright colours and a bit boho gypsyish in style? Not sure that makes sense, but I kind of knew what I meant at the time!

I went to Amazon to find the clasp, it's called a "Lobster Swivel Clasp" if you are searching online for it. I chose the pretty coppery colour, but you can get this clasp in silver, gold and some other metallic colours as well, click on the link below ::

{37mm Lobster Swivel Clasps on Amazon UK}

The clasps come in packs of ten, so they are great things to have for making small gifts, you could dangle all sorts of little crochet things from them and clip to a bag or keyring.

I bought this cute straw bag a while ago, again from Amazon {{here}}. I wanted a neat little bag to take to the park and on holidays, something I could use to carry a drink and books/mags and a little bit of crochet perhaps if I was off for a picnic or a bit of relaxing-on-a-blanket time. The description on Amazon really made me laugh.... "Special Design: This straw handbag is hand-crafted by our local Artisans, unique, delicate, and fashionable. Perfect for any occasion: beach, party, shopping, camping, and dating, it shows your special personal character" ...HA!! Love that!

You can see how the bag charm just clips straight onto the bag, I do really love the effect of the bright colours against the straw.

Making the tassels was sooo easy and super-addictive. I used cotton yarn (Ricorumi DK), wrapping a length around my four fingers (I wrapped 12 times I think). You then slip a length of yarn between the yarn-wrap and your fingers and ease it up to the top, then tie a tight knot to secure the strands.

Then use a second length of yarn to tie another secure knot about 1 cm down to form a little bobbly bit at the top of the tassel. Use a needle to thread the yarn ends down through the centre of your tassel after you've tied both knots, but leave one long end at the top that you can use to secure your tassel onto your clasp. And finally, give the tassel a neat trim across the bottom. Easy Peasy! 

The pattern for the little crochet balls will be in the Yarndale brochure and like the tassels they are very easy and addictive to make. I love the finished look I have to say.

You might remember me talking a little while ago about some stripy crochet I've been doing? During Yarndale week these long thin panels will be wrapped around the lamp posts which line the pedestrian path through the park. I've LOVED making them, the colourful stripes have really ticked all my therapeutic-happy-crochet boxes. I already showed you the YARNDALE stripes above, and I think I also showed you the beginnings of my sunflower wrap in progress.....

I made a bright sunny flower using chunky yarn and following a free pattern I found online ((here)).

The leaves were a made-up pattern (and I'm sorry I didn't write anything down for these so can't share how I made them). I think perhaps they are a bit small for sunflower leaves, but honestly I don't suppose it matters too much.

I couldn't resist adding a little flying critter too, using scraps of 4 ply wool yarn and a 3 mm hook. This is such a faffy little thing to make but it is totally worth the effort - you can find the Bumble Bee pattern on my blog ((here))

What do you think? 

I'm so happy with it! I hope all the folks who see it wrapped around a lamp post next month will stop and smile :)

For the third wrap I crocheted up a whole load of green stripes to accommodate a flock of woolly sheep, as you do. The idea sprang into my mind one afternoon and would not go away, I was powerless to resist. So I set about designing a sheep pattern to bring my idea to reality, and I'm really delighted with it.

I used scraps of Stylecraft Special DK in white, black (yes I do possess black yarn) and grey.

Oh, and pink yarn too! Baaaaaa!!!!

Love love love how this came out, I had such fun making the sheep and stitching them in place to graze on those green stripes.

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Super happy with these, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them bring some happy vibes to the park in September.

Many of you have asked for the sheep pattern, so I did the decent thing and made a whole tutorial for you. I've just been proof reading it, and do you know what I realised??? 

Can you see what's missing???

This poor little sheep has no tail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I added a quick pattern edit to tell you about making the tail, but it's night time now and I don't have the time or energy to make a tail and re-photograph the sheep. You'll just have to imagine her with a cute little sheep tail waggling from her behind.

You can find the pattern and tutorial by clicking on the link below >>

🐑🐑 SHEEP PATTERN 🐑🐑

I've named the pattern "Sheep Appliqué" if you need to find it in my list of patterns in the sidebar of my blog.

One of my biggest jobs for Yarndale each year is to organise and co-ordinate the large scale creative display which raises money and awareness for a charity. This has become an all-consuming part of my summers in recent years and although at times it's a pretty huge undertaking I do really enjoy it. The large scale creative displays are an amazing way of bringing together our fantastic worldwide yarn community and it's something I feel passionate about celebrating. I love the idea of us all connecting together through knitting, crochet and a love of yarn (and colour!) - I'm lucky enough to experience this sense of belonging and friendship every day through my blog and social media and Yarndale is a beautiful real-life extension of our online community.

This year, the project is all about BEARS!! Aren't they lovely??

These crochet bears are very simple to make and were inspired by the old fashioned traditional knitted bears that have been around for decades. There are many different charitable organisations around the world who collect and distribute knitted bears to give comfort and hope to children in need. My job was to create a crochet pattern which matched the knitted pattern. Sounds easy eh? It took me three attempts to get the proportions right (bear number one had veeeeery long legs, bear number two had veeeeeery long arms and a body that was too short, bear number three had a head that was too small). It's difficult to tell what the different parts of the bear will look like during the crocheting process as the whole thing is constructed as a flat piece. But eventually I got it about right, and I loved the whole process of making it work. 

The construction is ever so clever - the legs, body and head are worked as one long continuous piece. It's then folded in half and the head/ears are stitched and created. Finally the arms are worked into the ends of the body rows so that there is no need to sew on limbs. This makes a strong, safe toy suitable for children.

As with all critters, it's always so much harder than you'd think to get the face looking friendly/charming/cute, especially when you aren't able to use pre-made plastic toy eyes. A length of black yarn, a needle and some simple stitching and off you go...hoping you don't create an evil monster!

Awww, I do so love the old fashioned simplicity of these bears, I think they are completely charming.

I made a whole tutorial to help with the pattern and I named it "Charity Bear" if you are looking for it in my sidebar. Click on the link below to find it >>

🐻🐻CHARITY BEAR TUTORIAL🐻🐻

 

I also made a written pattern PDF which you can download and print if you don't need all the step-by-step photos.

Click on the link below to find it >>

CHARITY BEAR PATTERN

As I mentioned earlier, this isn't just about me making a few bears to sit on my sofa - this is all part of the Creative Community project for Yarndale 2019. The display of teddies at the festival will be in support of a fantastic charity called Mercy Ships (https://www.mercyships.org.uk), and you can read more about the Bear project on the Yarndale website ((here))

As in previous years, I was able to put the call out on social media to get the project rolling and during the past month or so, bears have been arriving into the Attic from all over the world. At first there was a neat little well behaved group......

....then more began to arrive and a bear party began!

To date, almost 400 bears are hanging out with me here in the Attic, it's a riot! There is still time to join in with this project if you would like to, in fact I would be delighted! The more bears we receive, the more children will be given a very precious woolly hug in a time of need.

With J's help, we've made a start photographing each and every bear and adding them to Pinterest so that everyone who has contributed is credited. It's such a lovely, fun gallery of images, I adore it! Currently there are four separate boards (100 bears on each board), and I've got a massive stack of parcels in my hallway waiting to be opened still.

You can see all the bears ((here)) and I'll be adding more over the next few days as I try and catch up with the parcel mountain currently blockading my hallway!

I love that these bears will be seen and loved at Yarndale, but that they will then be going on a very special onward voyage. It means that every single bear that is sent in will eventually be given a forever home with a child undergoing surgery or treatment on board the floating hospital ship currently off the coast of Senegal, isn't that something?

If you are interested in making and contributing a bear, all the details for sending etc can be found on the Yarndale website ((here)). 

Thank you for reading all the way to the end of this post, gosh my posts always end up waaaay longer than I anticipate, I can't seem to do concise writing, and I'm sorry about that. Well kind of. I don't know how to write any other way, so I guess it's not something I should be sorry about really. But thank you anyways. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Here are some links all in one place for you ::

💗 SHEEP APPLIQUE PATTERN

 

💗CHARITY BEAR PATTERN

 

💗 YARNDALE CREATIVE COMMUNITY INFO (includes address for posting, plus important bear making details)

 

💗 YARNDALE BEAR GALLERIES ON PINTEREST

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

** Yarndale is a for-profit organisation and I am one of the five organisers. Yarndale is not a charity. You can read more about Yarndale on the website ((here)). I know you know all this already, but I do need to be clear and honest about my involvement with Yarndale. I'm so proud of our festival and hope you've enjoyed a little bit of insight into some of the things that I've been up to. xx

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[CracksFolder]

Super-Duper site! I am Loving it!! Will come back again, Im taking your feed also, Thanks.
microtik-crack/

[saoud]

Nice Bro Thanks For Sharing Here
EFT Dongle Crack
Epic Pen Crack
Visual Paradigm Crack
SketchUp Pro Crack
Runtime GetDataBack Crack
Microsoft Visual Studio Crack

[crackfree]

Good blog you have here.. It’s difficult to find excellent writing
like yours these days. I truly appreciate

[saoud]

Nice Bro Thanks For Sharing Here
EFT Dongle Crack

[iStat Menus Crack]

You Can Also Download Free Software & Mac
https://tijacrack.com/istat-menus-crack/

[xylo]

dope ###
best 7 inch angle grinders

[Stark]

Just keep up the good work. One day you will succeed

[Jani]

I am glad for you admin here
fast video downloader crack

[Mohsin]

Nice work is done by admin here

[akcrack]

good work. thanks

[Smith]

Visit this site and enjoy it. I just was looking for such a type of site. So thank you very much for sharing this.

[Sara R]

I would love to make those little balls for my daughters backpack. Does anyone have a link to this pattern?

[Geeta Rane]

Greetings,
💙🙏🙏🙏
Much appreciated your love for art & craft and spreading it while educating all around you,
Many Thanks with Best Wishes🙏🙏🙏💙

[Jenny]

For Donna - if you address it to the UK that should be fine. Though 'England' would probably get here without a problem too!

[Donna]

Trying to mail a teddy bear for YARNDALE,but the address doesn't say what country. Is it UK or England. My post office won't mail it without a country. I am in the USA. Please help.

[Angela- Southern USA]

Has it been seven years already?! So glad to see how Yarndale has grown so, congrats to all that work hard to pull it off. Love the lamp post wraps, especially the sunflower one ( I have a soft spot for sunflowers). In fact I've just finished a few for my fall decorations by cutting narrow strips of yellow fabric and tying them onto a canning ring and adding a bit of batting and brown fabric around the canning lid and adding those to the centers, a dowel rod for the stem (painted green) and a green strip of fabric for the leaves. They turned out cute if I do say so myself. Well done with the bear pattern, super cute! xxxxxxxxxxxx

[Trisha Kuhic]

What a wonderful post! You are such an inspiration Lucy, and so generous in sharing your unique and beautiful designs.

[Sharon L DeHaemers]

I, too, am in the US. I'd love to be able to come to your Yarndale festival someday! But for now I would like to know if the brochure will be available to us, also. I'd love to make some of the little crocheted balls.

Thanks!

[Eilidh]

Just to say that in the past I've made small bears for the Baby Pack Project, in South Africa. A lovely lady called Val Bailey runs it. You can find the details here: http://babypackproject.tripod.com/

Kind regards, Eilidh

[Nancy]

Lucy I love the little purse charms but I am lost when you say bring the yarn up into the space between the two tied yarns. can you post a picture of that process??

[Dawn]

What a wonderful post! You are such an inspiration Lucy, and so generous in sharing your unique and beautiful designs. The teddies are so jolly and what a lovely thing to do. Your colourful photographs are always so uplifting and you have given people like me the confidence to learn to crochet. Good luck with Yarndale and thank you so much for all the help and inspiration you provide in your super blog!

[Ilse]

Just a quick question: in the knitted pattern a sewn bag is requested. Will you use / need these bags as well? I do have more fabric than acrylic yarn... 😀

[Maria João]

Love the sheeps! so cute!

[Stefanie]

Wow! Just came across your post and I’m so glad I did. I’m so in awe of your creative mind and energy. Love your light post wraps, everyone of them. That sunflower just makes me smile and I could see having one hanging in my home.
I also love the bag tassels. Is it possible to get the brochure with the pattern? I live in the US.
And on top of everything you do for Yarndale you manage to do such a wonderful charitable event. Those bears are too darn cute. I am going to try and make one. I’m mostly a knitter but I do dabble in crochet every now and then. 😊
Thank you so much for sharing your ideas and creativity. You are one amazing lady and I’ll be checking in often for inspiration.

[Ida]

I really really really like your
"Tadah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"-picture. And the rest!
You have an amazing creative skill.