A Little Woolly Sheep

Hello Lovelies,

I imagine almost all, if not all of you, know of the crochet guru and all round lovely lady Lucy and her blog Attic 24.

Lucy is one of the organisers of a yearly yarn festival in Yorkshire called Yarndale.

One of the things that makes this event so special is that the organisers always invite yarny types to join in with the fun and create a little something that will be displayed on the weekend. 

In the past I have made the Bunting, and a Mandala

This year they have come up with a cute Knitted or Crochet sheep. It's such an adorable pattern, I just had to have a go at the crochet version.

The pattern called for Double Knitting weight yarn...which should preferably be wool. Hummmm...wool. It's not a thing I have much of, being a big fan of Stylecraft Special acrylic yarn, for it's economy, wash-ability and softness.

Then I remembered I had some thrifted tapestry wool in my stash...would that do?.....

I had a fancy to make a black sheep, but the nearest colour in the bag was this steely grey, well that could work......



Normally I'm happy to sit by my desktop and work at my desk, but on Saturday it was just so hot I was very glad of the printable PDF which made it easy to work in the garden......



As with all Lucy's patterns it was very well written and easy to follow. Soon I had a nose....

 Then a whole head...love those wonky ears....

It quickly became apparent though, that there is not much yardage on a tapestry wool skein and crocheting uses it up at an alarming rate. I had two skeins of the grey, but still needed to make sheepy's body in a contrasting colour to end up with 4 grey legs.........

This is my messy outdoor creating space. Oh I had so much fun. I had clean forgotten the joy of a quick, decorative bit of crochet ......

Here is my completed sheep. She's a very rare breed..a banded midland. You only see them in gardens with giant toadstools :0)..........

 I was really pleased with how the stiff tapestry wool and the 3.5mm hook made her firm and her little legs stood her up easily.

These Yarndale sheep have clothes too...how sweet. So now it was time to choose a colour for her coat. Or a few colours so I did not run out.....

 Pretty pinks and a soft peach.

The coat, like the sheep's body, was simply made in rows. Then sewn together at either end... and a neat single crochet trim added to the bottom......

Next it was time to add a little embellishment. Yikes. My embroidery skills are bad, but I managed a (rather wonky) lazy daisy flower and a french knot....go me :0)

Then I popped on her coat and added a flower from some trim I had in my sewing box....Ta-Dah...

With her legs disappearing into the grass she reminded me of Dougal from a favourite childhood T.V. programme of mine. The Magic Roundabout.

Oh, don't listen Sheepy, I know you have lovely legs and are much cuter :0)......

I'm sure there will be a huge flock of these sheep at Yarndale, and won't they look sweet all together

To make this project even better they will be auctioned off to raise money for a very worthy cause at the end of the weekend

You have till the 9th of September if you fancy joining in Lovelies. All the details and Patterns are HERE .
I think I will have to make another to keep for myself too :0)

Jacquie x