Amigurumi

Just started my first ever amigurumi crochet project courtesy of Simply Crochet! 

Both daughters ooh-ing and aah-ing over the sweet little Tako-Yaki teddy duo, so how could I refuse?

Even found the perfect shade of Rowan 4ply Soft lurking in my project bag right next to my chair. It's destiny.

Craft4Crafters show

Yesterday I had an adventure with my eldest daughter. We went by train to the Westpoint Arena at Exeter to spend a day at the Craft4Crafters show!

It was a long but fabulous day, which resulted in some great new stash enhancement for my bead collection. I feel lots more crochet necklaces will be appearing soon!

My daughters also benefitted as we invested in a set of Majestix stamps, pegs, and ink pads from Card-IO. 

They're being well used already, so I'm sure we'll be adding more sets to the collection.

Cape success

I posted about the short-row knitting I was trying out on my Bond knitting machine - well it turned out really well!

The cape/poncho for my daughter is now finished. It's a big hit as she's worn it every day, and loves swooshing around the house dramatically in it!

I had created the pattern quickly and easily using my Knitware software. Once the machine knitting was done I handknitted a few rows of double rib around the neckline; I have always preferred handknit ribs.

The short-rowing was far easier than I'd ever thought. My trusty Bond, as ever, worked like a dream despite being unused for many months before.

I finished off the cape with simple single crochet edgings around the hem and fronts, with a couple of rows of (dc, ch1) along the hem for a little interest.

Daughter insisted on a fringe, so that last hour of the project saw that come into being too.

This project has cost me nothing to make. The yarn has been in my stash for many years, as have the buttons. They were exactly what my daughter wanted, and as she is into vintage at the moment it's gone down a storm!

Now what else can I short-row on the Bond..?!

Teenager in the house!

We had a very busy but lovely weekend - our eldest daughter turned into a teenager!

Happy Birthday Connie - we're so very proud of you.

It's addictive...

It seems that knitting is catching on in our household.

Here's my eldest daughter with the gorgeous baby alpaca scarf she finished this evening - her first ever designer knitting project!

I bought the yarn, needles, and pattern for her when we went to the KnitExpo last November, and she's finally finished it.

It's her first experience of ribbing, eyelet increases, casting off, and following a pattern. Quite a learning experience!

Job well done I reckon. Go knitter girl!

The Art of Mask-making

My daughter has had to make a mask as a piece of Art homework over the last couple of weeks. She does enjoy Art and has put a lot of effort into this.

To start with I suggested she use a flat cardboard mask with an elastic strap - the kind you can buy for kiddies parties - as a base as we have a couple left over.

But no - to her credit, she wanted to make a shaped mask - the perfect fit for her face. I could only think of one way to do that - papier mache!

So here she is at the start - we covered the eye and nose area with clingfilm and I started layering on strips of newspaper coated with pva craft glue.

Once we had a few layers she sat there patiently waiting for it to dry a little - plugged in to her mp3 player to pass the time! 

Once it held it's shape, we transferred it to my polystyrene head form to dry properly. 

She added a few more layers over several days, ending in a white paper layer.

She's spent the weekend finishing this off with paint, sequins, feathers, etc. She's used a garden seedling stake for the holder which she's wrapped in ribbons. 

Excellent effort I reckon!

If that's put you in the mood to buy one for any forthcoming parties, Grin, Grimace and Squeak! make some amazing masks such as this one available to buy on Etsy.

Swimathon

We're so proud of our 10yo and 12yo daughters this evening.

They have each swum over a mile in our local baths to raise money for their surf life-saving club.

The whole group of youngesters did exceptionally well; they just kept going for a whole hour.

We're all amazed -  including the children! Well done!

Party time

It's my youngest daughter's 10th birthday next week, so today is party time.

We've arranged a ten-pin bowling party, complete with party lights, chart music, and fast food.

Based on the party theme, I've chosen a few Etsy UK sellers wares for a new treasury - enjoy!

Peek-a-boo Project

For my daughter - using the Zauberball yarn in Fuschia and the lacy rib bias scarf pattern from the Wollzauber pattern book that she chose on our recent trip to St Ives.

I've made it narrower than the pattern states and only using 1 ball of the yarn. 

It's gorgeous - I love knitting with the transitional colours, although I have just come across a yarn splice in the ball which interrupts that a little.

What's on your needles right now?

Note to self...

... do NOT try to eat microwave-super-heated food quickly - the blisters in your mouth from the ensuing burns are too painful!

On a brighter note, take a look at these hand-dyed daffodils!

My youngest daughter repeated a school experiment to show me how the flowers suck up the water in the vase.

The red food colouring in the water shows up the network of veins in the petals and gives them a whole new look.

Amazing what your children can teach you!

Dennis and Gnasher!

I recently knitted a lovely pair of fingerless mitts as a custom order for a repeat customer of my Etsy shop.

We worked out the design between us - distinctive, funky and unique!

I used Rico Essentials Soft Merino Aran yarn for the mitts - a lovely soft easycare yarn with great colours and good yardage.

I had some of each colour left over - of course I had to use it up by coming up with another item.

The colours reminded me of Dennis & Gnasher from my childhood days, so I ended up making a pair of stripy fingerless mitts - in a child size of course!

They're available in my shop now.

Dusting off the sewing machine

Quite literally. I hauled out my sewing machine from under the piles of yarn today and gave it a good clean before embarking on a mini project.

My daughters have both now got to the height where they no longer legally need car booster seats, but for my youngest the seat belt can be a little uncomfortable against her neck sometimes.

I looked around for seat belt pads but wasn't keen on any of the designs, so decided to make my own.

A short while later I have used up some leftover patchwork fabric, quilt wadding, and velcro, and we have the pads installed in the car.

They can be taken off easily using the velcro strip fastener and machine washed when they get grubby.

Very comfy they are too. :)

Summer Fete

Yesterday was our local school summer fete - what a brilliant day!

We had fantastic weather so the many stalls and activities were well-received. The Searchers wild west re-enactment team put on shows during the day which went down very well.

I was helping DH do the barbeque stand - I've had my fill of cutting bread rolls for a while!

I had made 3 crochet flower hairclips during the week - bit of a last-minute project. I sewed button centres and attached them to mini barrette hairclips.

I used my free sample pack of Moo business cards and punched holes in to fasten the clips through - worked a treat! 

I donated these to another stand and happily they all sold.

How cute?

DH's boss and wife had their first baby last weekend - a beautiful little girl. How could I resist such an opportunity?!

I've crocheted these super-cute little baby booties in candy pink and plum. I don't think they'll fit for long but they're just too sweet to resist.

Baby items are such gratifyingly fast projects!

Easter treats

I hope everyone has enjoyed the Easter break! We're still making the most of our week off work with our daughters.

This year has shown us how much our girls are growing up; the focus hasn't been so much on chocolate eggs!

They were sent some money to choose their own Easter gift from their nan, and they invested in some (more) RubyRuth dolls which they spotted at the craft fair in Truro.

These are handmade individual dolls, very unique and strangely wonderful!

I bought a treat to share with my husband - Trenance chocolate - yum.

Apparently you can walk around the factory to see the chocolate products being made - I feel a visit coming on soon! 

There are some great chocolate dinosaurs, butterflies, and teddies, and the taste is fabulous.

Right, it's time to soak my aching limbs in the bath - we walked the bridleways to Perranporth and back today, stopping at the Filling Station to enjoy their super-tasty paninis for lunch. Of course we wandered down to the sea to watch the surfers - too cold for me to go in yet though! 

It was a fabulous walk with amazing countryside and sea views - over 5 miles altogether. We're so grateful to be living here.

Sew pleased!

We were fortunate enough to be given a car booster seat for my youngest DD several years back. 

It was very tatty but useable, so I just cut a piece of fabric and glued it to the top of the cushion to make do. That's what you see here.

When the glue finally gave up last week, we decided it was time to mend it properly!

DD chose some lovely bright cotton fabric from my stash and I bought matching purple bias binding from my local fabric shop for 25p. 

The lovely lady there very kindly gave me an offcut of thick interlining to cover up the worst of the torn cushion underneath, and give it a plusher feel.

I've worked on this every time I had a few minutes spare this week, and today dusted off (literally!) my trusty sewing machine for the final part.

Tada! Here it is - beautiful.

Youngest DD loves it and now eldest DD wishes she still needed to use one!

Mothers Day treats

I hope all mums celebrating Mother's Day yesterday were made to feel well and truly appreciated - I certainly was.

We had a lovely day, some of which was spent at the beach in wonderful warm sunshine. My daughters both worked hard on making me some wonderful cards, and I was treated to two fabulous gifts.

This arrangement is just one third of the gorgeous bouquet of flowers I was given, and I can now book myself to a pampering aroma back massage at my local top2toe beauty salon via my gift voucher!

AWOL

Oops, I seem to have gone missing for a while. Been busy dealing with winter bugs, celebrating eldest DD's 11th birthday and preparing for a lovely family Christmas. Should quieten down a little just before New Year - maybe.. Merry Christmas everyone!

October treasury

I made it to another treasury on Etsy - yay! See my Red Heart Handknit Handwarmers at the bottom left. :)

I'm busy preparing for the Halloween Craft Market, although not getting too much time as youngest DD is not well - flu-ey symptoms, lots of inhaler needed as she's asthmatic, etc... Hopefully she'll fight it off quickly.

Quickies!

I've discovered a couple of quick projects that I'm loving at the moment.

These stretchy knit hairbands are made with oddments of 4ply yarn - great for sock remnants!

I'm finding that yarns with a little give are best for this. The most successful one so far has been using Panda Cotton Print which incorporates elastic nylon.

My DDs are wearing them and asking for more for their schoolfriends, and I've sold one on Etsy.

I see many more of these in my future!

The other quick project (although not a fast as the hairbands) are these ladder yarn necklaces - just beautiful!

I wear mine lots, and I'm now making other colours too. One is listed in my Etsy shop currently. What do you think?