"This is for everyone"

©The Yarning Darling 2012

Hey everyone...first of all I'm so so sorry for going AWOL for a while, ended up being super busy this summer!  I have been crocheting and knitting but just didn't have the time to update the blog, and so I shall fill you in on why I've been so busy!

So, guess what, I performed in the Olympic Opening Ceremony in July!  I auditioned back in November last year after applying on a whim then got through to the second round.  Unfortunately I wasn't successful and got put on the reserve list.  I honestly thought that was a nice way of saying "no thanks"!  But in May, I got a phonecall from one of the Cast Co-ordinators for my section asking if I wanted to be an understudy for a role.  I took a look at the schedule and decided to go for it, then when I turned up for my first rehearsal I was told I had a permanent role!  I was soooooo excited :D

For those of you who saw it, I was in the 'Thanks, Tim' section, the part that represented the Digital Revolution thanks to Sir Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web).  The segment consisted of a boy and girl who meet and try and find each other through different clubs, each with a different music era.  I was in the 1960's section and had the most amazing costume.  EVER.

Outside the stadium!
©The Yarning Darling 2012

Me in the Peace Sign!

In action - I'm the one shaking my head in the blue wig :)

Me with some hunky military guys outside the stadium!
©The Yarning Darling 2012

With Kenrick Sandy of Boy Blue Entertainment, choreographer for 'Thanks, Tim'.
©The Yarning Darling 2012

Rehearsals were pretty long, especially coming up to the big day with dress rehearsals having a call time of 2pm and not being on stage until 9.57pm! But it was the most incredible moment of my life, me, being a dentist and occassional knitter/crocheter, getting to perform in front of 80,000 people in the stadium and the whole world!

I also managed to get my 15 minutes of fame too!
CBS News Photoblog
ITV News
ABS-CBN News (video) (A Filipino news network, as I'm half Filipino)
ABS-CBN News (written)

Through the Olympic Opening, I managed to get the role of 'Audience Leader' for the Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies.  I'm not performing but I'm up in the stands with the audience, but I still get to feel the energy and atmosphere.  However, the costumes are nowhere near as gorgeous as my mirror dress!

©The Yarning Darling 2012

Taking part in these is honestly a once in a lifetime thing and I'm so honoured to have been able to take part in them!

Baby Cardigan

So a while ago, my friend had asked me to make her gorgeous little daughter a little cardigan.  Other than a scarf and a snood, I'd never made a real item of clothing.  But seeing as my eventual aim is to make a penguin jumper, I accepted this new challenege!

One afternoon, me and my friend searched Ravelry for knitted baby cardigans.  Her only requirements were:
1. A very simple design (i.e. no fancy cable work or moss/seed stitch patterns)
2. Buttons that do up all the way down the front, not just at the top.
3. Greyish/Lilac colour.

I set to work on finding a pattern first as thought there was no point in finding the perfect yarn until I knew what yarn weight I needed!  Eventually I found a pattern through Ravelry on the Lion Brand Yarn site.   Now, their pattern requires their 'Pound of Yarn'.  It was a bit of a problem as a) LBY has no distribution in the UK and b) it's crazy expensive to get it shipped over.  Good thing is after some investigation I discovered it was of worsted/aran weight!

I wanted the yarn to be supersoft, but also breathable and hard-wearing, so ideally a cotton/acrylic mix.  I went to the first place I thought...John Lewis!  After a bit of a faff - I found my perfect yarn! It was the All Seasons Cotton by Rowan in Shade 253 (Fez).  Unsure of how many balls I'd need, I bought 8, just in case so they'd all be in the same dye lot too.  Now I say faff as the label on the yarn doesn't overtly say what weight it is and one lady in JL was convinced it wasn't as the needle requirements were 4.5-5.5mm which was what I needed anyway.  To be on the safe side, I came home to investigate and if you search yarns by weight on the Rowan site, All Seasons Cotton appears on the Aran weight.  In case anyone wants to know, I only needed 4 of the 50g balls for the 12 month pattern, which included the tails for the start/ends of a piece and sewing the seams.

I had so much fun making this, especially the pockets (cos I'm totally sad).  I need to get started on more baby clothes now...this has given me a bug for it!

Can't wait to see little J in this cardigan, she's going to look totally adorable :)

Update...

Sorry for not having posted anything in a while...I've been super busies the last few weeks as I'm going to be in the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony!

©The Yarning Darling 2012

I have been beavering away with some yarn in this time though.  Literally just finished knitting a cardigan for my friend's gorgeous little girl tonight.  Going to wait until the morning though to take some pics, will look much better under natural daylight, especially as we're having such glorious sunshine in London at the moment.

I've also been making yet ANOTHER Domo.  This time it's for my boy's work colleague's daughter.  I've been taking my Domo WIP to the Olympic Park with me as they give us like 5 hours to get ready :/  Randomly, I was sitting outside our holding area with yarn and hook in hand and a guy comes up to me...

Man: "Wow, you're crocheting!"
Me: "You know what crocheting is?! People always think I'm knitting."
Man: "My sister and ex used to crochet.  So what are you making?  Looks like Domokun."
Me: *mouth drops* (especially as I'm only half way through Domo's head and body)  "I AM making a Domo!! How do you know who Domo is?! Whenever I tell people they have no idea what I'm talking about!"

So basically after me being shocked that he knew what crocheting and Domo were, he said he'd love a Domo!  So we swapped email addys, guess that's another project on the list!

Anyways, I'll be posting all about the cardigan this week if I can...I've got my final dress rehearsal tomorrow and then the actual Opening Ceremony on Friday! I know it's not yarn stuff but I feel like I should post about that too :)  I'd love to say that it's back to normal after that, but alas, I go to see my boy in LA next week, and on my return I begin rehearsals for the Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies!

Mr Giraffe & Mr Lion!

©The Yarning Darling 2012

Some weeks ago, a good friend of mine commissioned me to make a giraffe and a lion for her friend who was expecting a baby.  Last year, I had made her the same things for her gorgeous little girl and so she thought it would be a nice gift for another yummy mummy.

Mr Lion was created from a pattern bought from Etsy, and so I can't display the pattern.  But, Mr Giraffe was entirely my creation, so his crocheting DNA I can post! You'll find the pattern for him under my 'Pages' section or you can just click here for the pattern!

So, I present to you Lion and Giraffe, who are of course (after a bit of an altercation), the best of friends.

Mr Lion getting ready to pounce on the unsuspecting Mr Giraffe.
©The Yarning Darling 2012

Mr Giraffe is having none of it.
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Yay! Now they're bestest buddies :)
©The Yarning Darling 2012

The Baking Darling

I hear you all cry "these cupcakes have nothing to do with yarn!".  And yes, you will all be correct in your reasoning.

Well, I know these have nothing to do with yarn!  I just thought they looked pretty and wanted to share them with the world!  Besides knitting and crocheting, I do love to do a bit of baking.  My friend was having a birthday party for her 4 year old daughter and it was Hello Kitty themed, hence the kitty cupcake cases!

Anyway, that's kind of about it.  In case you wanted to know what flavour they are - just good old vanilla with a buttercream frosting and shimmery pink sugar sprinkle thingys.  I can't even tell how they tasted as I used milk in the cake mixture and frosting and I'm lactose intolerant :/  I have good word from my mum that they were good though!

Crocheted card for the boy!

©The Yarning Darling 2012

I know this looks extremely random...but as always, there's a background story!

Jim and I have become a little obsessed with these Japanese characters created for commercials for a company called 'Mameshiba'.  Apparently mameshiba literally means 'bean dog'.  These little beans give little pieces of nonsense trivia to an unsuspecting and hungry members of the public. Some lovely person compiled all the commercials and you can watch them here!

Anyway, I became so obsessed, that I created a mameshiba character especially for Jim, he loved it so much that he made it his Twitter picture!

©The Yarning Darling 2012

For his birthday (which was yesterday) I decided to make a little Jimshiba applique for his birthday card - and of course, he LOVED it!

It's all made from a single crochet stitch. For the body bean shape, I started off making a circle then extended one side using rows.  The black outline was also crocheted, but actually using embroidery thread and a tiny hook.  It's not perfect - the tie is a little skewed and the outlining bit on the right went a bit weird, but I guess it all adds character :/

Anyway, that's it for now. Got a couple of WIP's on the go so will update when I've finished with them!

People actually like my things!

Having just crocheted and knitted for my personal fun, I've been formally asked to make something by someone to give as a gift!  As this person is a very close friend, I offered to make it for free.  They weren't having any of it, and so we agreed on cost price.  It's a pretty weird feeling, I only ever set out to learn how to knit and crochet so I could annoy people with handmade gifts!

Ages ago, I had made my friend's daughter a lion (from a pattern) and a giraffe (completely made up as I went along). She's asked me to make the same for her friend who is due to have a baby in the next few weeks and a little cardigan for her own daughter.  The animals will be fine, the cardigan will be a bit more difficult as I can't knit on circular needles yet!  More learning for me :)

I'll keep you all updated on my progress and put up the refined pattern for the giraffe once he's done :)