Jaden Boots

 A short while ago, a lovely lady called Debbie (rughookergirl) bought my Jaden boots pattern, and after asking a couple of questions about the pattern, sent me a picture of the first finished boot.

I love talking to my customers, and getting feedback from them, so I was delighted to receive the picture. This interaction is one of the most rewarding things for crafters of the internet age. Some years ago I used to take a regular stand at the NEC Hobbycrafts shows, which are held twice yearly in Birmingham, UK. Customers would talk a little whilst visiting the stand, and tell me what they had made, but ultimately they were pressed for time, wanting to see the rest of the show. Apart from a few rare occasions, I only heard about their creations, rather than seeing them.

It is lovely to see other people's interpretation of a pattern, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when a few hours later when Debbie sent me two more photos. She had decided to crochet a trim around the cuff, in the same boucle yarn as she used for the sole edging!

 Doesn't it look wonderful! The boot is totally transformed into a snowboot - I simply adore this version, and the natural wood buttons set it off wonderfully.

I spend my life with half baked ideas for patterns floating around in my head, and have for some time been thinking about a pieced "Ugg" style boot. I have been wary of mixing crochet with knitting, thinking the crochet would put off those who only knit, but I'm now going to launch right in and design that "Ugg" style boot - and its going to have a crochet trim!!

Thank you so much for your pictures Debbie..... and please keep them coming, folks!!

Folded Paper Posy

Its time to take the festive decorations down, and the house can look stark at first, so i've made a folded paper posy to fill the void, and will share the instructions with you here:

Cut 72 squares of paper. Mine were 3" square and were made from scrapbook paper. You can make them any size, but I wouldn't go any smaller unless you were using a more flexible paper.
You could use pages from an old book, vellum or cartridge paper.
(Having now tried for 2 whole days to get the individual stage by stage pictures of the tutorial to go where I want them to, I've given up and made a block of pics in Photoshop - how I can use Photoshop just fine, but tear my hair out with frustration with Blogger, I'll never know!)

1. Fold the squares in half

2. Fold the two outside corners to meet at the centre one.

3. Flatten the two outside triangles into kite shapes - this is a standar "tea bag folding" shape

4. Fold down the sections that protude
5. Fold each kite shape in half
6. Put glue on the outer edge of the folded square
7. Fold into a cone shape and hold with a paper clip until the glue is dry.
8. Glue shapes together in pairs.
9. When glue is dry glue 3 pairs together to form a flower.

Finally glue 6 flowers together to make a semi circular dome, holding them all in place with paper clips until the glue is dry - make two of these. Glue the two together, placing a loop of ribbon in between them so you have something to hang it by.

Hope you like it - mine is certainly cheering up the empty space left by the Christmas decorations!