Go fishing

It was not long before Christmas that I got this idea for my niece and nephew directly from a Craftzine blog post.

It was pretty quick and easy, and could just about be improvised on the spot on a rainy day. For the fishing rods, a piece of dowel sawed in two, some string (4ply crochet cotton), magnets (I wanted those horseshoe shaped ones but these little rectangles were all I could find), and hot glue to secure the knots at both ends. The fish were cut out from pieces of felted fabric left from other projects. My attempts to draw more than one kind of fish shape were a bit lame, so I found a range of simple fish shapes online and made paper templates. I did a quick bit of blanket stitch around the outside, and attached the small keyrings.

I did briefly consider more elaborate stuffed felt fish. But lots of fish are quite flat, and I decided I was happy for them to be quite simple, with the idea that the kids might draw or colour in their own fish to add to the set. Just a piece of thick paper, with a paper clip attached, will work.