Double Up with the Pinks

I was very happy to find out via the Etsy Treasury Hunt that I am featured in a beautiful treasury at the moment called "So Very Raspberry".

Do take a look if you can - there are some gorgeous items in those fab colours!

I was also pleasantly surprised to receive a message from funky diva designs to say that she has included my raspberry mohair scarflette in her "Pretty In Pink" blog feature this week.

Funky diva designs shop has some lovely handmade bags and accessories - my favourite is this Gemma Bag in some fantastic bright Amy Butler fabric.

I could see that in my life!

Accepted!

Craftgawker was brought to my attention by AMIDesign's post about her submission - thanks Alison!

Since then, Craftgawker must have got really popular as they're now only accepting one submission at a time.

After waiting a few days I've had my submission accepted - yay! 

More exposure for my Etsy shop can only be a good thing.

Commission knitting

A week or so ago a work colleague asked me to knit him a woollen hat for when he's out walking. Great! My DH doesn't go for much knitwear so it was lovely to have a different type of project.

I picked out some pattern and yarn selections, and he made his choice. He opted for the Jacques Cousteau hat which is a free pattern, thankfully with an English translation. 

The chosen yarn was Rowan Felted Tweed DK in shade Ancient (172) - a lovely machine-washable merino, alpaca and viscose blend.

It was a quick and easy knit, but not too boring either. I used a 100cm long 3.5mm Addi Turbo circular needle for the lot with magic loop. A doddle!

Wool in the news

I noticed a brief slideshow on the BBC website yesterday - How wool went out of fashion. Glad to see it's being proclaimed as coming back again!


Also there's this one - Woman's Hour - talking to Julia Hopson from the Cornish Organic Wool Company.


Very appropriate now that we live here in beautiful Cornwall!

Valentine Feature

I just noticed that the UK Handmade Valentine Gift Guide is up, so I browsed through. 

Guess what? My Red Heart Handwarmers are in there! Woohoo!

Just what I needed to brighten the day. :)

Spread a little sunshine

I was thrilled to find out that this week my shop is the topic of the Wilde Designs Manic Monday Blog Feature! Check it out!

I was also very pleased to receive the Sunshine Award from AMIDesigns - thanks Alison!

The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity & creativity inspires others in the blog world.

The rules for accepting this award are:-

• Put the logo on your blog or within your post
• Pass the award onto 12 bloggers
• Link the nominees within your post
• Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog
• Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award

I don't actually follow too many blogs that are up to date, So here are the 10 blogs I have chosen:

• Skein  
• Yarn in my Pocket 
• Boo's Jewellery 
• The Keyboard Biologist Knits 
• Crafty Peach 
• The Champagne Bohemian 
• Poppy Cottage 
• purplecats corner
• Janie Crow 
• The Pursuit of Etsyness

Enjoy!

Decorative tools

I love using decorative tools, especially in my hobbies, such as beaded stitch markers.

I sold a set of my own handmade stitch markers on Etsy this morning, and have a quick search to see what kinds other talented Etsyknitters were selling. I found a fantastic selection! Here are some of my favourites.

I adore these alpaca stitch markers from DesignsbyTami.

Incredibly cute!

Next is a rainbow of colours in these beautiful millefiori stitch markers from jeanettejedd.

The opening loops mean they can be used for both knitting and crochet - bonus!

I love dragonfly designs - so this set really stood out to me.

They are from glitterbug. Beautiful.

This Crazy Cousin Lucy set from MDKnits would make me smile each time I used them.

Unique!

Finally, as we live just 2 miles from the coast, I couldn't resist these By The Sea stitch markers from mrae123.

Just fun!

Etsy Treasury Hunt

DH and I spent some time last night creating an advertising jpeg for my Etsy shop to go onto the Etsy Treasury Hunt site. I really pleased with it! 

My photography and Photoshop skills are slowly improving - but it's a long process. There's so much to learn - and my MSc in Advanced Software Technology doesn't help one bit!

The Treasury Hunt is a gem if you like making Etsy treasuries.  It'll tell you when the Treasury (and Treasury West) is due to open - brilliant.

Now I'm just hoping to actually be able to get to the computer when I check it sometime...

Christmas card re-uses

I do like Christmas cards - probably more so after Christmas than before!

I find it very satisfying to re-use them by making them into gift tags.

This time I've done them in a Mini-Moo-inspired style. The back is left blank to write on.

Love 'em!

Chilled out

TWO whole days off school because of snow? Unheard of here in Cornwall! But when fingers and toes need to warm up, out come the face paints..

New Year, New Sale section

As part of my New Year etsy shop update, I've created a brand new SALE section!

It includes various different handcrafted items from my older stock at bargain prices - take a peek!

The old and the new

So... 2010! Another year whizzed past again. A quick round up..

I did manage to grow my nails this year - and after 33 years of biting them I'm rather pleased with my achievement. Heaven only knows why it took me this long to get around to it.

We did get the extension started - and continued much further than anticipated, despite several major problems unearthed (literally!) and rectified along the way. Our daughters moved into their new bedrooms in August, and we are really happy with it all. The main lesson learned - expect the unexpected!

My etsy shop had the best year of sales so far - mainly because I dedicated much of my crafting time to it. It has a long way to go, but at least it's heading in the right direction.

I seem to have knitted quite a few pairs of socks last year-  mainly for my daughters. 2009 also saw the rebranding of my hand-dyed yarns to Perran Yarns, and the start of my knitting and crocheting necklaces.

On the family front, I gained a new niece - Sophie May, and we have another male family member due this March - my husband's cousin's baby.

I also managed to go down the death slide - a major achievement for somebody so scared of falling as me!

This blog was fairly consistently neglected throughout 2009! I really should try to do better this year. Really.

So what am I expecting from 2010?

Well I really do want to change the shape of my midriff. I don't really care what the numbers on the scales say. I just want to be more happy with my shape. That means one thing - exercise!

I would also like to cope with our hectic daily life with a little more ease and less stress. This may in turn improve the dyshidrotic eczema on my fingers - hopefully.

And this year, definately, we are going to spend more time on the beach - after all it's only 2 miles away!

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!

This week made me say...

Pardon? Our local chemist now delivers prescriptions to our village pub for us to collect if we want! Very useful - the pub is less than 2 minutes walk from us.

Eeek! The high winds this week were scary - they whipped up our gas barbecue which broke two of our roof ridge tiles! Thankfully the tiles were spares, on the floor - and the barbecue and gas bottle weren't damaged.

Mmm... I bought some mini fizzing bath melts from Etsy seller
mmmmhandmadesoap - so cute - a fab and affordable gift!

A day at the Fair

Last Saturday I had a stall at a local Craft Fair, and we had a great day!

It's a well-established event - well organised and attended, with over 100 stalls.

My eldest DD came along to help, and was very keen to run the stall by herself whilst I went off to browse the other stalls. She did very well too! We made quite a few sales, which is really encouraging.

The necklace display stands from Boo's Jewellery templates worked really well. I learned a few more lessons too:

• My items need more labels - a pull-on cowl is obvious to me as I made it but I had lots of people asking what it was
• I need to get a better-looking piece of fabric to cover the table with - I may invest in a length of black velvet for the next fair
• My own invention of the hand display stands for my fingerless gloves worked well
• Using our bathroom cabinet without the drawers worked well to add height
• Some kind of backdrop would help to focus attention on the items on the table rather than whatever is behind it.

More thinking to do for the next one then...

Winter weddings

Tada! Here's my latest addition to my Etsy shop - and it made me very happy to make them!

Not that I'm going to a winter wedding or even know any winter brides to give them to. I just really enjoyed making them.

The Sublime Angora Merino yarn is just that - sublime to touch. I adore this stitch pattern and they are a quick knit.

I spent quite a while handsewing on the 130 glass seed beads but, strangely enough for me, I enjoyed doing that too!

I even liked staging the photographs as I had remembered that I still have my own wedding outfit pieces. I found them out, fondly looked through them, and decided to use my veil as the background. Quite romantic I think!

Alison from AMIDesigns must have been thinking along the same lines as she has just listed this beautiful bracelet too.

Gorgeous!

A November Sunset

I was very happy to receive a message on Etsy from Caitlin tonight saying that she has included me in her treasury - A November Sunset - yay!

It is a beautiful selection; those colours are gorgeous and perfect for this time of year. Dark, rich, warm, and comforting.

Caitlin has very kindly included my Regal Bounty hand-dyed laceweight merino yarn.

You may want to take a look at Caitlin's shop too - she has some absolutely gorgeous crochet snowflakes for sale.

Thanks Caitlin!

The high..

The last few days have been quite a rollercoaster, starting with a high on Saturday - literally, terrifyingly high!

We went out to a huge local indoor play area as the weather wasn't very good and the kids needed to burn off some energy. Whilst there I was being nagged by our daughters (as usual) to try out the death drop slide (a vertical drop to start with, then a curve to slow you down at the bottom) which they go on regularly. I decided I would give it a go - despite being absolutely terrified of falling from heights all my life.

I went to the top of the lowest slide - about 36 feet up with a bump in the middle so it's not so bad - with my two DDs. That may not seem much for most people but I get electric shocks through my hands and feet even thinking of going up high or looking at high-up scenes on the TV!

I sat at the top and could barely get my legs over as I was so terrified. Youngest DD went down the slide and waited at the bottom with DH, and eldest DD sat with me at the top. My whole body was shaking with fear and according to DH I was hyperventilating - visible to him on the ground!

Eventually I forced my body to work, started babbling to myself about it being safe etc, and lurched forward.

I have no recollection of going down as it was so fast, but when I got to the bottom I lay there and started to cry! I had done it! I never in my life thought I would be able to do that.

My family were so happy for me, hugging, laughing etc, whilst I wiped away my tears. I had to wait for a few minutes to calm down - I was still shaking so much I couldn't hold my coffee without spilling it!

The other adults in the place must have thought I was insane, but I don't care. I did it!

Sock disaster

Warning sock knitters....

If you are of a nervous disposition, avert your eyes now - graphic scenes of sock disaster coming up...

There - I told you it was nasty didn't I?

The most enormous hole in my beloved Tidal Wave cashmere socks in place of where the heel was when I put them on - and the same in the other one too!

This calls for some serious investigation into repairs.. watch this space..

Wedgewood Blue

I love wedgewood blue plates. They remind me of being at my grandmother's house when I was a child. The colours of my latest Etsy listing remind me of that plate!

I handknitted this scarf from 3 balls of variegated blue cotton yarn. That's all I had of it in my stash and I wanted to make something special with it.

I chose a lovely eyelet ripple pattern which highlighted the colour changes without giving solid stripes.

The eyelets meant I could thread ribbons through easily too. I took the scarf with me to my local haberdashery and got the perfect matching shades.

It took me ages to get around to threading the ribbons! I never quite felt like doing it, but once I did it hardly took any time at all.

I love the finished look. What do you think?

Oh yes.. knitting!

Yes, that is what I used to blog about isn't it - knitting and crochet projects?!

Well I think it's about time I showed some more progress..

A few days ago I sold the gorgeous cranberry  hand/wristwarmers which were one of my absolute favourite knits.

The yarn is Sublime Angora Merino DK - so very luxurious, like melted butter on the skin!

I love the Sublime yarns and therefore I happen to have more of this yarn - in a very pale cream shade (linen) and a rich deep purple (berry).

Of course I had to make more fabulous wristies with it.

They are a quick knit, with enough interest in the lace hand-covering part to keep them interesting. I'm modifying the edging slightly on this pair - the last one was good but a little longer than I wanted.

A current crochet project (note "a" not "the" - I like to have choices!) is a set of coasters for a family member for Christmas.

They are in her favourite colours of Rowan Linen Drape - lilac and purple.

The yarn is giving a lovely crisp stitch texture but should have the absorbancy I like of these coasters.

I seem to be almost following a colour scheme through my projects for now!

Halloween happenings

The first of the Falmouth Craft Fairs is now done, and unfortunately only resulted in one small sale so the day ended as a financial loss.

However it wasn't all well as I did learn something - the necklace stands from Boo Jewellery certainly created interest, so I'd like to come up with display stands for my cowls and gloves too. I have a few ideas to play with - more soon!

I also bought my first Christmas present for this year! It's a really lovely felt flower mobile made by the fair's organiser Amanda from her stand Lemon Sherbet. I love it and intend to give it to my adorable newest for Christmas.

After the fair we went to a Halloween Party at my in-laws' house - great fun!

We played mummy wrapping and marshamallow bobbing, and had lots of great food.

I think the preparation for Halloween parties is as good as the evening itself - pumpkin carving and baking. Now I really must use a pumpkin for soup!

Boo!

I have struggled to find an inexpensive but effective way to display my crochet necklaces for a while. I purchased some bust displays from ebay only to find they are tiny and not at all useful for my long necklaces.

During my Etsy wanders, I stumbled across Boo Jewellery and her blog, where there are several very useful tutorials. One of them is a tried and tested necklace display stand template has been developed and is freely available for all to use.

I first tried it on thick mounting card and found that it didn't work (the bottom flaps to stand it up broke off as the card was too thick to be flexible). Then I read the note about not needing thick card!

This time I've used a pack of A4 240gsm silver card - 99p for 4 sheets. I enlarged the template a little to get one stand instead of two from a sheet of A4, to accommodate the length of my crochet necklaces.


Here's the result in very little time - great! I'll be using these at the Local Crafts and Gift Market I'm doing in Falmouth on Halloween.


Thanks Boo for sharing your experience and template - I can recommend it.

Moo!

I recently received my order of Mini Moo cards and I'm really pleased with them!

The pictures have turned out really well, and the design is clean and modern, as I hoped.

I'm busy hole-punching lots of them to use as tags on my items for the upcoming Craft Market in Falmouth.

We may be well into autumn, but today has been stunning.

After a very blustery night, the clouds left us with a beautiful blue sky and brilliant sunshine to show off the seasonal plants.

Gorgeous!

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.

Free worldwide shipping

..this weekend on all items in my Etsy shop!

Oh and here's the other hand-dyed wool/silk/bamboo I did last weekend - Denim Daze:

Mmmm, sheeeny... 

Some news too - I'm doing a craft market in Falmouth on 31st October - woohoo! It's in the WI Hall in Webber Street (behind Tesco's) - come and see me if you can!

Groovin'

My youngest daughter and I had some "us" time together at the weekend, and she decided that we should dye yarn! Not a bad choice for an 8yo...

This was the result - the fabulous Groover superwash wool/silk/bamboo fingering/4ply/sock yarn which I just listed in my Etsy shop. Those colours sure do groove!

Makeover time

Time for a blog makeover! I'm not 100% satisfied with it yet but it's a start. I still don't seem to be able to get away from the pink yet though.

Now time for bed. Late. Tired. Poorly little finger. Ow!

I think I'm addicted..

..to knitting and wearing these ladder yarn necklace/cowl type thingies!

I have my own in the Autumn colourway which I'm wearing LOADS.

These are the latest two versions in my Etsy shop.

They are so light and soft when they're on you forget they're there, but they still keep a little warmth around the neck.

Perfect for these autumn days as they get cooler.

Go Knit!

Help a bumblebee by knitting a scarf and getting it to a Seasalt store or HQ by 1st October!

Late Summer Garden

There is a dye-along on the "I'd Dye For Britain" group on Ravelry at the moment with a theme of "Inspired by flowers". I quite fancy taking part, so I took some pics in our garden yesterday.


They reminded me how lovely the plants still look, even as they turn towards autumn.

Anniversary time

I'm very happy to say that today is our 13th wedding anniversary!

We could never have predicted, back in 1996, that thirteen years on we would be living in our lovely home near the fabulous Cornish coast with our 2 beautiful daughters. I couldn't imagine it any other way, nor do I want it to be.

Apparently the 13th anniversary is associated with Lace, Furs and Textiles, Hollyhocks, Citrine, Malachite and Moonstone. I think I'll stick with the Textiles bit..

Happy anniversary hubsta!

I'm in a Treasury!

Woohoo, my ladder scarf made it to the beautiful "Autumn Splendor" Treasury in Etsy!

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?

Two of three

Remember I said I had 3 FOs to show off? Well here's the second...

It's Sirdar pattern 8877 - which I've managed to lose. I never lose patterns. Good job it's finished.

It's knitted in Sirdar Just Bamboo, shade Driftwood. I have to say that when I bought the yarn (online) I didn't really expect it to be quite so grey.

I guess I was thing of the "wood" part more than the "drift"!

I do love this yarn though, despite having to oversew all the ends with sewing thread as it's so slippy.

I wasn't happy with the increases for the waist shaping as directed by the pattern instructions - they left big holes.

I did it my own way for the front, and they look better IMO. I also added more length as usual, and it's worked for me.

I attempted to try this on when it was half-seamed, and felt very unhappy that it seemed too small and showed up whatever underwear I had on at the time.

Thankfully now it's all done, it does fit as it's so drapey and stretchy, and the right colour underwear just blends right in.

I do love the hem and sleeve edgings - very pretty.

I think I will wear this after all!

Birthday Pics!

It's my 43rd birthday today so here's a picture round-up of the highlights.

Our two clever and thoughtful daughters first presented me with a homemade gift. Our surname is Thornton, so they had spent several hours hand-making (with nan's help) my very own box of birthday chocolates!

They include chocolate covered brazils, chocolate covered marshmallows, chocolate covered ginger, chocolate covered nougat, and chocolate truffles!

Each one is so amazingly delicious - and I have 3 layers in a hand-decorated box too! What a fabulous gift. :-)

Then I had my first ever knitting gift from my DH (as requested) - a beautiful sunflower swift from Purlescence!

I've already put this to good use this evening, and re-skeined two skeins of my hand-dyed 4ply yarn ready to list in my Etsy shop.

I wanted us to have a family day out as we all seem to be so busy all the time, and I wanted us to go somewhere there would be things for all of us to do - but not too expensive of course.

So we ended up using our Muller vouchers to get a reduced-price entry to Springfields Fun Park and Pony Centre.

It was indeed lots of fun as the adults could go on nearly as many attractions as the kids!

I went on the astraslide - several times. Good fun, but the indoor one we went on later was so fast it took my breath away!

Also every photo of the faster one came out blurry, so this one will show you the idea.

Then there were the big see-saws.

For some reason every time me and DH got going on this I ended up in hysterics!

I don't quite know what I found so funny, but I had to get off in the end as my sides were aching too much from laughing. :-)

Finally there were the huge trampolines.

I've never been on one of these before. I couldn't believe how much energy they took. Only a couple of minutes in, I was out of breath! Amazing exercise and great fun.

I ended up with sea-legs when I got off - the ground felt like it should be moving like the trampoline!

It was a really fun day out - just what every 43yo should have. This evening was rounded off with a family buffet, and tomorrow me and DH are off to Carbis Bay Hotel in St Ives for a Sunday Dinner for Two that I won in a raffle! :-)

One, two, three, go!

OK so now I've swapped the crochet hook for a darning needle, and I've now got not one, not two, but THREE FOs to show for it! Here's the info on the first of the trio - the Beachcomber Tunic:

This is a pattern from Interweave Crochet Spring 2007 using Garnstudio Silke Tweed yarn. I managed to drop on that exact yarn in the pale rose shade I wanted on ebay.

Although I started this back in March 2008, this has taken an age to finish - but purely my own fault. I just couldn't face seaming for a long time and I don't think there's much point trying to do it when you feel like that.

I lengthened the top knitted bodice as I wanted thew whole thing longer and wasn't keen on the knit/crochet split being right across my bust - the model in the original pattern is fairly neutral in this area.

I've been noticing this a lot recently - garments modelled on fairly small-busted women, which makes the finished item look very different on me - and not usually better!

Other than that, it's a great pattern, and very easy to do.

Now I want to wash the tunic a couple of times to soften up that silk/lambswool yarn before I actually wear it.

Hooked on crochet

I seem to be hovering on the darker side for the time being - happy to be using a hook rather than needles for now.

I've been busy making sets of coasters such as the vibrant "Can Can" set here.

There is another set is a different colourway but those are a special gift for a friend.

I've moved on to washcloths - crocheted in different stitches with various cotton blend yarns.

These are intended mainly for my latest niece (and her siblings) who is expected around the end of August, although some will stay with us.

My DDs have been dabbling too, although we've only done chains so far. The next lesson is imminent as they're keen to learn!

Made it!

Phew - the cabled tank is finished. Despite posting it the day before my nephew's birthday it arrived a day late, but that was quicker than he expected to have it so all is well.

It is liked and looks like it will fit - although it's been too warm to try it on yet!

Since then I've finished the split-toe socks for eldest DD and also one of the year-old projects for myself, but more of that later...