Toadstools & Mushrooms

Hello Lovelies!
How's your week going?

Ours is going splendidly!
Our week started off by making a little trip to Basel in Switzerland (that's just a 2 hour drive from us in Stuttgart) to not only meet up with close friends, but also see one of them perform as Jesus, in Jesus Christ Super Star the musical. It was a lovely couple of days, getting away from home and having a catch up with our friends. Time full of chit chat and laughter!

Today, we are back home in Stuttgart and have enjoyed a quiet day in. It's been very low key, consisting of only leaving the house to take Poppy for a walk. The rest of the day has been spent doing the boring (but essential) jobs like washing and cleaning.

Matt is off from work until Saturday and after deciding where to go and what to do with the rest of our week, we've opted for spending a few days at home. We have no obligations to be anywhere or do anything (unless we want to). That feeling of being at home really can feel like such a luxury when you've been on the go for quite some time.

Having the day at home creates the perfect opportunity for us to sit down and share with you all. Today we have a rather cute little project to share with you all, inspired by a picture we snapped whilst walking through the forest.

This rather lonely mushroom was the inspiration for us to put hook to yarn and come up with a rather cute pattern for some mushrooms and toadstools.

Matt got to work making toadstools and Dennis made mushrooms. OOOOOH aren't toadstools and mushrooms rather magical?

These teeny tiny toadstools were made using "Oslo" by Wolle Rödel. It's a worsted weight yarn, but since we wanted to keep them quite small and firm, we decided to use a 2.5mm crochet hook. Using this rather small hook meant that we ended up with nice tight stitches, perfect for keeping the stuffing from showing through!

It's tricky when working on such a small project not to get carried away and make tons of them. It really does feel like the more the merrier! Whilst working on the toadstools and mushrooms, we made sure to jot down the pattern so that you guys would also be able to make a few. We took pictures along the way to make the pattern that much clearer.

 

Before we knew it.....Matt hand made a dozen or so toadstools, complete with twine so they could be used as hanging ornaments.

Dennis' mushroom were also not looking too shabby! Aren't they rather charming also?

Dennis' mushrooms were made with earthy greys and browns. The yarn he used is: "Rico Baby Classic dk". He also used a 2.5mm hook to get nice tight stitches. Didn't they turn out lovely?!

All bundled together like they've been freshly picked from the forest.

Of course we jotted the pattern down on our pattern page so you could try making some also. Let us know how you get on.
We're thinking the toadstools may be making an appearance next Christmas, as Christmas tree decorations!
We hope you have fun making them!!!

Click here to go straight to the Pattern page and download your FREE PDF!

Pattern Highlight: Mini Hoop Flowers

Adding a touch of spring to your home, projects or clothing, has never been easier with this pattern for our rather cute Mini Hoop Flowers.

We originally designed this pattern as we wanted a set of sunny flowers to upcycle a lamp that was hanging in our apartment.
The charming thing about these flowers is that their simplicity means that they are easy to make, but their bold design is more than enough to add a touch of flair to your projects without being over the top.

The pattern involves crocheting into a plastic crochet ring, which gives the design it's splayed inner circle.
There's also an outer layer of seven identical petals.

The flowers look great as they are, but adding a button to the centre adds that extra little flair, not to mention a flash of contrasting colour and texture to the overall look.

In our FREE downloadable PDF pattern we talk you through how to make these floral treats! With step by step instructions as well as handy pictures, things couldn't be clearer.

On the Mini Hoop Flower Pattern Page page you'll find a convenient list of all the equipment that you'll need, as well as information about the yarn and hook size. You'll also find links to online shops, where you can purchase the same supplies as we've used. With all of this information you'll never be at a loss of how you can replicate these beauties!

Why not stop by the Mini Hoop Flower Pattern Page where you'll find all the information on how to crochet this charming little pattern. You'll also be able to download the pattern there, with the click of a mouse.

Don't forget, we also have many other crochet patterns available on our Pattern Page! All of our patterns are available as downloadable PDF's, making them easy to download, print and have with you as a reference in your project bag!

Sucker for Socks

Hello there!

I just came back from a week in Hamburg and was pleasantly surprised to find that Stuttgart has turned into a Winter Wonderland! Everything is completely white and it is absolutely magical! Matt was working when I came home, but Poppy awaited my arrival and gave me the highest dose of slobbery kisses she could give me! Dog owners probably know what I'm talking about: this unbelievable amount of happiness when you come home to them!

It was lovely spending some time in Hamburg again even though I had very little time to enjoy the city again. I went there to do a workshop for the cruise ship company I used to work for. They develop new theatre shows quite often and these shows need to be 'tried out'. They then hire an ensemble of singers with whom they work for the week to see if the show works the way they intended it to work, or if things need changing. It's always great fun being part of this creative process and to work with my old colleagues and directors as well!

I can't tell anything about the shows themselves since it's kept very secret until they're released to the public, but I can tell you that this time I had quite a lot of spare time during rehearsals. Spare time is one of my favourite things in the world because cause that means I get to craft!

The great thing about knitting and crocheting, is that (most of the time) you can do it anywhere! Just before I left for Hamburg I had this weird craving to make socks again. I've made a couple pairs of socks last year, and than lost interest again. My hands started to itch for sock making again though, and I bought some yarn and took it with me to Hamburg!

The Pattern I keep coming back to is Monkey by Cookie A. It's such a lovely pattern and interesting enough to not be a total snooze to knit. I decided to do the No-Purl version, meaning every time the pattern would call for a purl stitch, I would knit that stitch. I saw that a lot of people over on Ravelry had started doing this, and I really liked the results. That, and the fact I don't particularly like to purl ;-)

I guess it was meant to be, because I had just enough spare time to finish both socks within the week I was there. I made my last stitches just before getting onto my flight back home.

I can't show the socks in their full glory yet as they are blocking as I'm writing this. I always see people post photos of their socks on perfect sock blocking 'tools' (I'm really not sure what they are called) but since we don't have any of those, I had to improvise. I just drew around my sock on some cardboard, cut out the sock shape and covered it in sticky tape. Not really picture worthy but it does the trick! They're almost dry so I'll post a picture soon!

I've also been working on my own little sock pattern! I had this idea in my head that I wanted some vertical "Zig Zaggy Lacy Sripes" on my socks and I think I'm quite happy with how it's turning out! It always takes quite a while before a sock is finished, so I better get cracking!

And could anyone maybe create a copy machine for socks? It would be so great to make one sock, and than just copy it so that there's two!

If any of you have some tips to make sock knitting go faster or make it more fun, let me know! Also, I'd love to hear about your favourite go-to sock patterns! Is there a pattern that always does the trick for you? Or do you keep changing patterns every time you knit a new pair?

Hope you're all having a lovely week!

xxx

Show & Tell Sunday

Hello Lovelies!
I do hope yo hare all having a terrific weekend?

Here at Boys & Bunting we love nothing more than sharing our recent makes with you! Finishing up a crafting project and standing back to observe your creation. Having that great sense of accomplishment is very rewarding isn't it? That's why we've created this page....a chance for you to share your recent Boys & Bunting makes with us (as well as the rest of the crafting world).

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Amanda-Fremantle, Australia

Hasn't Amanda done a fantastic job with these amazingly cute star key chains!? She's really used our Simple Star Pattern to the max!

Amanda made two stars, using Gelato from Moda Vera (50% cotton, 50% acylic) in some rather gorgeous shades. She then cleverly joined them together, making sure to pop a little toy stuffing in the middle. Finally Amanda added a nice shiny keychain to produce these rather brilliant star ornaments! The perfect accessory to hang your keys from!

We think we'll be making a few of these ourselves, They'd be perfect to give as gifts!!!

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Ambrit, Oxfordshire, UK

Ambrit has done an absolutely awesome job with these Jammy Dodgers, how incredibly neat are they!

Ambrit is originally from the USA, but has certainly embraced these English treats.
Using two different sized crochet hooks for her dodgers, she has varied up the the size a little and its worked a charm!

Ambrit is really quit the crafter and has many lovely projects to admire over on her Ravelry page, if you want to be inspired go have a peak!

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Kelly-Detroit, Michigan

How cute is Kelly's "Crochet O'clock"! A combination of crochet, decoration and functionality. That's what we call ULTIMATE CRAFTING!!!

The clock has been made using various different shades of yarn, all from "Lily Sugar'n Cream Scents" range. It looks like lovely yarn!!
Kelly decided to make a bird to place on her rainbow instead of the butterfly we used in our design and it really works well.
Adding some dog and cat buttons, along with a couple of fun daisy buttons really adds to the crafty charm of this make.

We love how bright and bold Kelly's clock is, it'll certainly brighten up any time of the day!

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Have Your Projects featured on our next "Show & Tell"?

Isn’t it nice to have a look at what other people have been making? Different combinations of colour really add to the individuality off a project. Well done to all three makers, you all did a sterling job!!

If you have a Boys & Bunting make that you’d like to share with us, simply follow the link to the Show & Tell Page. You’ll be able to fill in your project details, as well as upload a photo of your project. We look forward to seeing what you’ve been making and seeing the creative spin that you’ve put on our patterns! Until next time….. Lots of crafty kisses...

A fresh start to blogging

Hello There!!
I thought I'd pop by and say hello!
I'm learning from past experiences (I was going to write mistakes, but that's really not the case) and making a point of coming by often, to share with you all. Now I'm not just talking about sharing projects and patterns, although there will be lots of that :-) I'm talking about sharing snippets from my day, my experiences and my life.

During the middle of last year, my old blog According to Matt began to waver, and I stopped writing on it.
On reflection I see that the reason I stopped posting, was because of the huge amount of pressure I put upon myself to always have a new project or pattern to share with my readers. It all became a little too much with trying to balance a job, a personal life as well as all of the online bits 'n bobs that comes with blogging.
So I'm learning from my past and I'm taking it a little easier with this blog.
Sure Dennis and I will be sharing our makes and lots of crafty whatnot's, but the pressure is off, as we try to keep this blogging thing light hearted and fun for all.
With that in mind; Some days you'll get lots of pictures of a big pattern reveal and sometimes you'll be seeing what we ate for breakfast. Today is the latter...(wink)

...and so my fresh start at blogging begins!

Already 12 days into the New Year and I'm only just getting my bum in gear!
For months now I've been telling myself that tomorrow will be the day that I stop eating junk food and finally get to the gym. Well, today I'm actually making it happen! (I'm actually sat here in my gym clothes as I write this, ready to hit it hard as soon as I post this).

Because of the fact that I work in theatre and work into the evening, my day to day patterns are probably a little shifted to that of a regular 9 till 5 job. I tend to wake up late each morning (around 09.30) but go to bed late (02.00ish). Last night however, I made a point of getting into bed early, with the thought of my new life starting today!
I woke up a little earlier than normal and made myself some breakfast, Normally I'd have a big mug of tea (with too much sugar) along with Marmite (either you love, it or you hate it) on toast, with a lot of butter.
Today (as I'm a different person) I made the effort of getting some veggies and adding them to some egg whites, for a healthier start to my day.

I'll admit I wasn't looking forward to it, but it wasn't bad. Actually it was pretty good and I do already feel mentally healthier.
The hard thing for me when trying to eat healthy is finding foods that I enjoy to eat. From my experience, "nice" healthy food takes A LOT more effort than unhealthy food. When I have a busy day, spending time preparing food is such a chore! So I realise that if I want to eat better and feel better about myself, I need to put in more effort into the making of my food, which as a result means being more organised. On that note, I'm going to try and prep my meals for the following day, before I go to bed...let's see how that goes.

A pair of tap shoes?...
Last night I started back a tap class. "Say what?" That's right, tap class.
Dennis and I our doing tap together on a Monday night.

I'm a dancer for my job and Dennis a musical performer, so he dances well, but we are both definitely not tappers! So It's fun to do something new and something together. I really enjoy it as it's a challenge for me rhythmically and the style is very different in comparison to the dance styles I've trained in.
I was alone last night as Dennis is in Hamburg working for the week. So it was me and 12 woman tip a tee tappin' away.
Not only is it great learning a new dance style, that will potentially help me in upcoming auditions, but I'm also really loving the interaction with new people. I'm getting to meet people outside of work and practice my German language skills is also a plus.

Doesn't this yarn look yummy?!
It's for my latest project, a project that I'm almost done with and will (hopefully) share with you next week.

Since staring Boys & Bunting my brain had been absolutely flooded with ideas of projects and patterns I want to design and make. So many ideas swimming around in my head.
I'm trying my best to keep calm though and do one project at a time. Once one project is done, then I'll start with the next. Well...that's the plan. Plans don't always work though and so I've got 3 projects on the go as we speak!

Finally there's this little one, Poppy!

Poppy sits quietly at my side as I write this, she's tired as we've just gotten in from a nice walk across the fields.
I can't believe that we've had her for 6 months! Time goes so fast!
I just adore having a dog, she is such a pleasure to have around and brings so much happiness to both myself and Dennis.
I think I'll have to do a Poppy post at some point, so that you can all really get to know her!
For know though, I'll leave you with that picture of her nestled on her favourite crocheted cushion. What a cutie!

Well, that's it from me today...a blog post about nothing at all really, just my day. It's nice to sit and have a real chat though and not be so light and airy. It's good to be real.

Alright enough from me, I'm off to sweat it out at the gym! Wish me luck!
Until next time!

xxx

The Crochet Library

Hello lovelies!
I do hope you are all having a splendid week?
Dennis and I have been working so hard on the website for the past months, that when we launched it on 01.01.2016, everything came all at once...a big bombardment of features!
As not to make this all so "in your face", I thought I would stop by with a rather simple post and share with you one rather special feature of our
blog.... our Crochet Library.

Now the Library was something that I wanted to do for a very long time.
I initially started working on this about two years ago with my old blog According to Matt.
The library took a lot of time to put together and after various other commitments took greater priority, it soon fell by the wayside.
It wasn't until Dennis and I both started working on Boys & Bunting, that we realised with a little more dedication and focus, we could really make the Crochet Library work. That's what we did... Dedication and focus, to bring you a Crochet Library that we are both extremely proud of!

So lets take look at what the Crochet Library has to offer... When you click on the link to the library on the main menu bar, you will be rather magically transported to our Library homepage. It looks just like the picture below:

We tried our best to make the library as user friendly as possible, so we've set up the homepage with a layout, similar to that of all the other Library pages.

On it you will find:

1. The Crochet Library name banner and website menu bar - This simply lets you know that you are in the library section of our website and the menu bar has the same categories as our regular webpage.

2. An introduction to the page - Giving you all of the information that you will find about the topic/stitch featured on this page.

3. The crochet Library Index - Here you'll find all of our stitches and tips split up into levels based upon difficulty.
GETTING STARTED - Here we cover everything that you'll need to start off crocheting; From the equipment that you'll need, all the way up to how to hold your hook and tension your yarn.
BASIC STITCHES - All of the basic crochet stitches that you'll need to know. We cover the Single Crochet, Double Crochet, all the way up to a Simple Granny Square.
INTERMEDIATE STITCHES - Some slightly trickier stitches and techniques, but still easily explained and more than do-able.
ADVANCED STITCHES - Some stitches that require a little bit of crochet knowledge. Don't be put off by the name though as these stitches are in no way as scary as they sound!
TIPS & TRICKS - A category containing some extra resources that we thought would be useful to help you with your crocheting.

These categories will definitely be something that we expand over time, so please keep popping back to see if there are some new stitches that you would like to try your hand at. Once you've found what your looking for in our library index, simply click on the link and you'll be taken to the page of that stitch or technique.

What will you find on our Stitch Pages?

Once you've clicked on the stitch that you want to take a peak at, you'll find a comprehensive page telling you everything you need to know about that particular stitch or technique. The page will look something like this:

On this page you will find:
1. Information about the stitch - Here we give you a little overview of the stitch; some information about its name and its abbreviation, some details of the type of stitch produced and also a picture of this stitch, so you can see what it will look like when worked up.
2. video tutorial - This is really the gem of our Crochet Library. We've taken a lot of pride into making videos that are easy to follow and full of information. Videos that will surely help you out when recreating the featured stitches. Our videos can be found on Vimeo, as well as our YouTube channel. Here you'll find all of our Crochet Library videos, plus extra snippets of our daily shenanigans.
3. Pictures of the stitch in action - Here we give you some examples of the stitch being used in a project. Not only is it great to see what sort of uses the stitches have, but also to inspire your future projects.
4. Extra information and useful links - Finally... If stitch descriptions, video tutorials and photographs of the stitches weren't enough, then we also have some links to similar stitches or handy references that may be of use to you.

Puh!!!! That was a lot of explaining, but well worth it!
As you probably can tell both Dennis and I are super excited about the feature of our Crochet Library. and are very pleased to be sharing it with all of you!
If you have any requests for tutorials that you would like to see appear on our library then please let us know.
That's about it for now!

Happy hooking!!!

xxx

#instapincushion

Hello everybody!
Let me first start by saying a great big THANK YOU!!!
As you all know, with the passing of 2015, Matt and I launched Boys & Bunting. The site has only been up and running for the past few days, but we have gotten some great responses and a lot of support from you guys. It really means a lot to both of us to receive so many well wishes and tons of encouragement. So thank you to each and every one of you.

As for the past few days... My week has gotten off to a smashing start and I do hope yours is going just as splendidly?
For a lot of people I imagine that today was probably the first real day of getting back into the swing "normal life" after the Christmas break. It's tricky when the holidays are over and that magical buzz of the new year starts to fade. That's why it's mega important for us to jump on the "New Year, New Me" slogan and use the fresh dose of New Year energy to maximum effect!

I'm putting my New Years energy into focusing on getting back in shape. I've been trying my best to get back to the gym and so far succeeded. I am however putting the fact that I've lost a few pounds down to the fact that I've been crocheting up a frenzy!! Seriously....us crocheters should bring out a fitness video!

My latest project takes inspiration from the fact that Matt and I have been getting back into posting, tweeting and sharing on social media.
It's a project that I made a little while ago, but finally sat down over the past days to tweak the design. I wanted to make it as perfect as possible, not to mention find the time to write down the guidelines for a pattern.

The project is based upon Instagram, the photo sharing app. It's a rather fun pincushion, based upon the logo of the app.
It took me a little bit of browsing around before I really found the correct colours of yarn to use for this project. I finally settled for Universal, by Wolle Rödel in a nice beige, dark brown and black.

Once I had my yarn sorted, I got to work! I made sure to work through my design carefully, taking it nice and slow so that I could work the rows nice and neat, making sure I noted every detail.

This dk weight yarn, along with a 4mm crochet hook meant that my work was nice and tight. The changes in colour contrasted well with one another and made for the starts of a rather striking Instagram logo.

Once I was finished with the design of the main body, I worked up some logo detailing by embroidering scraps of cotton to the front of the pin cushion.

I stitched the lens to the main section of the pin cushion. It was really starting to take shape and started to look just like a camera.

Not too bad eh? Now I just needed to sew the back to the pin cushion and stuff it firmly with toy stuffing.

Of course I couldn't let the opportunity of having a camera at hand pass me by...

I'm rather chuffed with the outcome of this pattern and hope that you guys like it also. If you fancy making your very own Instagram pin cushion, then pop on over to our #instapincushion Pattern Page where you can purchase the pattern.

Also we'd love to see you what you are up to on your Instagram profiles, so why not find us on Instagram leaving us a little note and we'll come and see what you've been up to.
Until next time!!!

xxx

Welcome to Boys & Bunting

The boys from Boys & Bunting would like to wish you all a
VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
We hope that 2016 brings you a year of colour, craft and creativity!

Along with the ticking over of the new year, we are jumping with full force into our brand new website.
We've been working awfully hard over the last couple of months to get everything spic and span as we awaited your arrival. If you're into crafting as much as we are, we think that you are going to love what we've come up with!

Boys & Bunting began about 6 months ago with the concept of the two of us (Dennis and Matt) joining together to create a space that combined all of the things that we love: Interaction with fellow crafters, informative tutorials and patterns, regular blog posts and all of that in a fun and light hearted environment.
We hope that boysandbunting.com is the kind of place you will want to stop by and visit often, with a hot cup of tea and a plate of cookies as you browse over our colourful pages. We also hope that we can create a space that is a little more personal, a space where you can get to know the real us and put a face to the names.

Blood, sweat and tears have gone into the making of Boys & Bunting, but it's definitely been worth the hard work.
We are especially proud of our brand spanking new CROCHET LIBRARY, a useful resource for the "newbie" crocheter, as well as old time "hookers".
It contains tons of handy video tutorials, plus lots of tips and tricks that will surely bring out your inner crochet star.
The Crochet Library will be a constant work in progress and will frequently be updated with new techniques and exciting (and ever so fancy) stitches.
Entrance to the Crochet Library is free and we're open 24/7, just remember to bring your Library books back on time!

Being the modern boys that we are, we can also be found on these rather clever social media platforms. So why not follow us to get all of the latest Boys & Bunting insights.

	Facebook		Twitter		Bloglovin'
	Instagram		Pinterest		E-Mail
	Etsy		Ravelry		YouTube

This is just the beginning of what we hope will not only be a successful collaboration, but also a superbly smashing year for all of us!