Looking for feedback!

Hello everyone!

Sorry we've been a bit quiet on the blog front again, holidays and little people's birthdays have got in the way and we've been neglecting this part of the web but hopefully you've still been following our posts on Instagram and Facebook!

We have recently been thinking up some new products and our latest have been crochet stitch markers, but with a twist...
We've made a set of 5 stitch markers in pretty complementing colours that can also be worn on a necklace/brooch/keyring. You can buy these from our Etsy shop here:

Anyway..as mentioned at the top of the post. We want to hear from fellow crafty bloggers what you think of these beauties!

So, if you would like to review a stitch marker set for us, please e-mail us at twobirdscraft@gmail.com or comment below and we'll get in touch!

Please note this is for bloggers in the UK only!

Getting ready for winter

Hello!

We are still here, crafting away incase you were wondering where we'd disappeared to!

We're both working on larger projects at the moment so that's why our Instagram feed has been a bit quieter than usual!

Both birds are happily hooking cosy blankets in preparation for the winter! And both, funnily enough, are patterns from our favourite craft blogger - Attic 24!

The pink bird is speeding through a colourful ripple blanket. The pattern for this can be found here: http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/neat-ripple-pattern.html/

Meanwhile the purple bird is also taking a colourful route but is working on Lucy's Granny Stripe pattern: http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/granny-stripe.html/

So, once we've finished our blankets, or need a break from the looooong rows, we'll be back to business creating some smaller items for the shop.

As always, we love to hear from you so please let us know what you've been making recently - see the contact us page for various methods of getting in touch!

Freebie Friday: Competition - Win a Jubilee Bunting necklace!

To celebrate the upcoming Jubilee, we are giving away one of our new bunting necklaces.

You could be the proud owner of the beauty below in time for next week's festivities..

To win this necklace, all you have to do is suggest what you'd like to see us to make next!

You can send us a comment below this post, Tweet us or send a message on Facebook to enter.
You can also e-mail us at twobirdscraft@gmail.com with your suggestions

The best suggestion will then be picked and we will contact the winner to send them their prize!

We will take on board all your ideas and try to make the things you all want to see!

Good luck everyone!

Terms and conditions:

More than one entry is permitted. The winner will need to have an Etsy account although no payment will need to be made. Entrants must be in the UK to win the necklace. Closing Date for Entries: Weds 30th May 2012.

Freebie Friday: 10% off all purchases in the TBC shop!

As promised last week, we'll be giving something away free each and every Friday!

To celebrate it being the best day of the week, we're giving a 10% discount on all orders placed in our Etsy shop today.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/twobirdscraft

To claim your discount add your item(s) to the basket, click checkout and then enter coupon code FREEBIEFRIDAY1805



Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, we'd love to hear what you get up to, whether it be craft related or otherwise!

Contact us:
e-mail: twobirdscraft@gmail.com
twitter: www.twitter.com/twobirdscraft
facebook: www.facebook.com/twobirdscraft

Woolly Wednesday: Yarn Thickness Chart

A great resource for newbie hookers...

When we were learning to crochet, we found there was a real trove of free information, patterns and tutorials to be found online. Whilst these were amazingly helpful in getting us started, there was a little confusion in using them due to the differences in terminology between UK and US patterns.

We have already covered the different stitch terms and hook sizes in tables earlier in the blog. The final hurdle was the terms for the yarns suggested at the start of the patterns. It took a while before we realised that 'DK' or 'Double Knit' yarn is the same as 'Worsted Weight' yarn over in the states! 

Here is yet another useful table to help you avoid any confusion as you get hooking.

There will be further fibre related posts each Wednesday. If you would like us to cover a particular subject one week, please comment or email us here.

Tutorial Tuesday: Crochet Flowers and more!

One of the first books we bought when learning to crochet was Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench.

The book is wonderfully laid out and easy to read and understand. The crochet terms, hook sizes and wool names are all UK terminology.

We have both made several things from the book but one of our favourites has been the crochet flowers.

These are easy to make and really add an extra something to whatever you're making. - We have used them for adornments to things like purses and gadget cases, and even made a pretty flower garland!

Here's the pattern to make these lovely little flowers, it's really quick and we've found you can use whatever wool and hook size you like - it will just mean you make different size flower!!

• Using your first colour for the inner of the flower, chain 6 then join with a slip stitch in the first chain to make a circle.
• Make 16 double crochet into the circle. Join with a slip stitch and fasten off.
• Join second colour for outer part of flower into fastened off stitch.
• *Chain 3, make 1 treble into next two stitches, chain 3, slip stitch into next stitch, repeat from * 4 more times  - this makes 5 petals.
• Pull tail to close up centre hole and sew in ends.

See, easy peasy! 

One of our favourite crochet bloggers, Lucy from Attic 24, has also written a post about a pattern in this book, you can read about that here - she, like us, can't sing this book's praises highly enough.

To end the post, here's a picture of one of our creations from the book which was easy but also very satisfying to make - a lovely crochet purse with the pretty flowers we mentioned already. 

Happy hooking!

TBC xxx

We want to hear from YOU!

We love telling you all about the things we've been making, but we'd also love to hear what you've been up to.

We'd be happy to help feature and promote any fellow crafter's websites/Etsy shops via our blog and Twitter.


Whether you've got a long term labour of love, like our crochet blanket, or you've just worked out a new pattern for something - get in touch!


e-mail: twobirdscraft@gmail.com
twitter: www.twitter.com/twobirdscraft
facebook: www.facebook.com/twobirdscraft


Have a great weekend everyone, we'll see you back here on Monday!

Freebie Friday: Free P&P on all Etsy items TODAY ONLY!!

That's right, you read it correctly. Free postage and packing! But only for today, so be quick and visit our Etsy shop here - even multiple purchases will be posted free of charge, how generous are we!?
All you need to do is enter the coupon code FREESHIPPING at the checkout.

And as we are super lovely, if you pay us a visit every Friday, then we will have some sort of freebie every week!

Freebie Friday is part of our new way of posting entries - you may have noticed Woolly Wednesday and Thrifty Thursday already.

So remember to come back and see what the other days of the week bring, especially next Friday for more freebies!

Woolly Wednesdsay: Giant crochet lions

Mr Pink Bird stumbled across this video yesterday about an artist who has created 3 GIANT crochet lions to celebrate the 2012 Olympics. They are truly spectacular, and make our granny square blankets seem minuscule in comparison.

That's some good hooking!

Here's a BBC news acticle about it for more information.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17915318

Some of our newest creations

What we're up to this weekend...

What a week it has been!

We've only been up and running since last Saturday but we have been amazed at the amount of followers and page views we've acquired so far!

Thank you so much to everyone who's taken time to read our posts and tweets, we hope you've enjoyed them.

We are loving our new blog and being a new part of the crafting community. We have met some lovely people online already and hope to meet many more.

This weekend the two birds are getting together for a good old shop for some more supplies in the morning, then we will be having a brainstorming session over lunch, followed by some crafting in the afternoon.

Top on our making list this weekend are:

- Animal Keyrings
- Pretty Hairclips and..
- Buttony Bracelets


Please check back with us from tuesday for some information on our new creations! No doubt we'll be posting pictures of our progress on Instagram as we go.

Have a brilliantly long Bank Holiday weekend everyone!

Love
TBC xxx

Rave Reviewers

Are you hatching a new product, pattern or idea? If you have anything craft related which you would like field tested or reviewed by real people, we would be happy to have a go and let you and our followers know what we think. We would give a fair and unbiased review and promise we won't peck it to pieces!

Our specific areas of expertise are Crochet, Knitting, Jewellery Making, Felting and Beading, but we are constantly expanding on that range so if you have any books, kits or products which are targeted at beginners in a particular craft then we would love to have a go!

Get The TBC Rating!

Contact the birds by email, twitter (@twobirdscraft) or comment on this post to talk about your ideas and see if we can help.

Crochet Blanket - Flowers in the Snow

Both us birds have had our beaks into Crochet for several months now. We started with online tutorials and free patterns, bought some books and are now designing our own patterns and devising exciting ways to use crochet to brighten up our lives! 

Along our journey to crochet enlightenment we have found lots of sites, blogs and information online. To help any trainee hookers out there we will be placing as much of this information as possible here on our blog so you can use it as a resource whenever you get your yarn in a tangle!

If there is anything in particular any of you think would be a valuable addition to our trove, please comment or pop us an email.

Some of our crochet items will be made available for purchase, along with patterns and kits of our own creation. The blanket featured here, however, is very much a work in progress and a labour of love. It will not, suffice it to say, be appearing in our Etsy shop but will instead festoon a sofa or bed back at the nest when it is finished. But when will it be finished I hear you ask?!

Ahem!

We love the way this pattern allows every possible colour combination we can possibly think of, whilst still maintaining a softness and subtlety with the white edging to each square. 

As you can see we have gone into major production of the inner circles as we need so much variation to avoid the same shades turning up together. Looking at these pictures though, we agree it is time to start adding some of them into the blanket now!

We are using DK acrylic for all the inner colours. This is a thrifty way of getting the varied spectrum we need for such a large project. The overall quality and softness of the blanket is not something we wanted to compromise on though, so the white edges are done in Rowan pure wool 4 ply which is divine! We bought this and most of the yarns from www.rucraft.co.uk an online retailer with an outlet shop near to our nest.

The pattern for this blanket is named 'Flowers in the Snow' and we stumbled across it a while ago on www.ravelry.com where it is available as a free link. The designer of the pattern is Solveig Grimstad who is a lovely and talented lady. She has provided the instructions in both Norwegian and English! Here is the direct link to the pattern.

When we finally do finish the blanket and have fought over where it will live, we will add a snapshot for your comments. Of course if any of you fancy a go at this pattern and want to show us how you get on, please send us your photos or tag us on instagram. You will no doubt put us to shame with your speedy progress!

Happy Hooking!
TBC

Useful and related links

www.ravelry.com

A valuable source for all things yarn related - you can set up a free account and there are many free patterns for those who are experimenting)

Flowers in the snow pattern

Solveig Grimstad

Two Birds Craft Etsy shop
RUCraft Craft Supplies

Stitch terms US/UK

Hook Sizes US/UK

Two Birds Craft

Welcome to the online home, or the nest if you will, of Two Birds Craft.

We are Anna and Jennie, two birds originally from Preston and Reading, who are now residing in lovely Devon.

In the past year we have both caught the crafting bug and decided it was about time to show off our crafty skills to the world! Our hobbies range from crochet, knitting, jewellery making and gardening. We hope to be able to include all of these on the blog!

Our blog will contain tutorials and pictures of things we’ve been making, reviews of things we’ve been using and links to other crafty sites we’re enjoying at the moment.

We’re also opening an Etsy shop soon where you will be able to buy our handmade creations including home accessories, jewellery, baby items and any other treasures we feel like making!

If you like the look of what we do but would prefer a different colour, a bigger bead/button, or the addition of customised hand stitching then please let us know and we will try and cater to your needs.

We are also on Twitter and Instagram. Our username for this is: twobirdscraft or you can e-mail us at twobirdscraft@gmail.com

Please keep checking back on our blog as we will be updating it regularly with what we’ve been up to.

Thanks for visiting,

Anna and Jennie