Friday, 23 December 2011

More festive surprises

And again...

I arrived home from work to find our Christmas decorations had been put up around the house! Just the tree left to adorn, with a note on it that it had been left for us to decorate together as a family. :)

This was such a relief as this year everything has been so busy I was feeling quite stressed about not having time to get the house looking festive.


Apparently it was the Cornish Christmas Fairies who did it this time...!

Wednesday, 21 December 2011

An early Christmas present!

My daughters came home from their nan's today with an early Christmas present for me and hubby. 


They had both seen busy baking and brought us a box of homemade mince pies! Scrumptious. :)

Monday, 19 December 2011

Teal Dreams

I recently was offered the wonderful opportunity for a custom yarn-dye order. It was very special as the yarn wanted was pure cashmere laceweight to match a dress fabric sample for a wedding shawl.

I've never tried to dye a yarn to match anything specific before, but there was plenty of time so I was more than happy to accept the challenge!

We settled on two laceweight yarns - a pure cashmere and a cashmere-silk blend. They both have their own special qualities - the pure cashmere is sumptuously soft, whereas the cashmere-silk almost glows with a gorgeous sheen.

I settled on three different combinations of two dye colours (teal and turquoise) in the dye bottles and, with a little trepidation, set to work!

I'm so pleased to say that the yarns turned out beautifully. They were both slightly variegated, as intended, and both yarns took up the colours amazingly. The colourway named itself - "Teal Dreams".


The result - one happy customer and one happy yarn-dyer with a little more experience gained!

I'm looking forward to more of these opportunities, so if you'd like some custom-dyed yarn for a specific occasion just let me know!


Monday, 12 December 2011

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.

Monday, 21 November 2011

Marshmallow scarf

She's done it again...

It took my daughter a year to knit her first scarf. The second one has taken just three days!

Just in time to wrap up and stay warm on the way to school.

Check out the Gok-style needle hairdo!

Tuesday, 1 November 2011

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!

Sunday, 16 October 2011

Decommissioned

It's time to call it a day for the old mini-greenhouse.

This has been worth every penny - I've lost count how many years we've used it!

I can look forward to treating myself to a new one next Spring.

Wednesday, 5 October 2011

A late bloom

Look what finally appeared in our garden!

These seeds were potted up in a named brand compost that I bought this spring. I won't be buying that one again. 

Every pot filled with that compost this year was stunted and the plants have barely grown - and there were a selection of different types, so I would have expected something to thrive!

These sunflowers finally started growing when I gave up and planted them directly in the garden, not thinking they would survive the slugs and snails. 

I'm so pleased they did.

Happy sunflowers, happy me!

Monday, 3 October 2011

and finally...

...the third scarf, using the King Cole Twist Aran yarn.

Drop-stitch this time - enough ripples for a while!

I love the way this has turned out. I think the yarn looks so much better knitted up than it did wound into the ball.

It's available to purchase in my Etsy shop - why not start your Christmas shopping?!

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Some kinda magic

I used to have a manager at work who though that knitting was some kind of magic - he used to describe it as something along the lines of twiddling about with string and ending up with something you can wear!

Yep, I guess that about sums it up.

So cast your mind back to last month's bits of string i.e. my yarn purchases from St Ives.

I've been twiddling - or more specifically, knitting - and now 2 of the finished scarves are listed in my Etsy shop just in time for the early winter we're forecast to get this year!

The first scarf uses the soft and cosy James C. Brett Passion yarn.

This is so colourful I'm finding it hard to keep it out of both my daughters' grasp!

It's a lovely chunky scarf which shows off both the lace stitch pattern and the colour graduations beautifully.



The second scarf has the most beautiful colours, I just couldn't resist buying this yarn! It's the King Cole Riot, also super soft and non-itchy.

I chose a slightly different stitch pattern, but stayed with the ripple effect. I just love the way it highlights the colour transitions.

The crochet flower button fastening is completely removable. I sewed a long thin button across the back so it can be threaded through the scarf layers wherever you choose - or used on a different scarf altogether.

As for the third scarf - watch this space!

Friday, 23 September 2011

Happy 2nd Birthday Sophie!

Today is my little niece Sophie's birthday - she's 2 years old!

I won't get to see her but we sent a parcel of goodies including
Sophie's present - a sweet little poncho as requested by her mum.

I first knitted one of these for her sister Sara two years ago - she's still wearing it and apparently the girls were arguing over it, with Sophie deciding that she wants it for herself!

Her mum asked for a pink and green combination so it's different to Sara's but still co-ordinates with the vast quantities of pink clothing that Sophie has.

I used a combination of Sirdar Summer Stripes and Stylecraft Special Twirl DK yarns knitted together for the bosy, with Sirdar New Fizz for the edging and the Summer Stripes yarn for the flowers around the neckline.

Full details can be found in Ravelry, but I'll include the pattern here too:

Use Summer Stripes and Special Twirl yarn together throughout on 7mm needles.
  1. Cast on 3 sts
  2. Inc 1, knit to end
  3. Repeat 2 until 80 sts
  4. Knit 27, cast off 26, knit 27
  5. Knit 27, cast on 26, knit 27
  6. K2tog, knit to end
  7. Repeat 6 until 3sts remain
  8. Cast off
  9. Crochet around neck edge with double yarns
  10. Crochet around outer edge with New Fizz yarn
  11. Crochet flowers with Summer Stripes yarn and sew around neckline
All done!

Sunday, 11 September 2011

Rediscovering tie dye

Many years ago I used to be made for tie-dye clothing - tops, skirts, leggings, the lot. It worked well with the tight jeans and leather jacket biker chick thing at the time!

That was all long forgotten until a distant memory inspired me to transform a couple of forlorn summer tops in my wardrobe.

I had bought these in a bargain offer from Matalan a couple of years ago. There were 3 for some silly price - so I bought one each in white, turquoise, and pink. I'd hardly worn them as the straps were just that bit too long, which meant I was forever hitching them up at the bust!

This summer I finally got round to unpicking the straps at the back, shortening them and sewing them back on. Great! I wore them a couple of times, but still knew I'd wear the coloured ones more if they were patterned...

Enter 1 sachet of Dylon cold dye in "Vibrant Purple", 3 rubber bands per top, 250grams of salt, and a saucepan of cold water. 

One hour of dyeing later, plus almost another hour of much rinsing, these are the results!

I gathered the pink one lengthways and wrapped the rubber bands around sideways.

With the blue one I did the more traditional circle tie-dye where you grab a piece of the clothing and pull it upwards, wrapping the rubber band around so the whole thing ends up looking a bit like a jester's hat!

I love them and have worn them so much already. Now my eldest has seen the results, she wants to have a go too. It's a great (and cheap) way to transform plain tops - so why not grab a couple in the sales and have a go yourself?!

Saturday, 10 September 2011

Destash time

I'm clearing all my glass seed and bugle beads that are too small for my requirements - basically anything that's too small to thread onto 4ply yarn!

I have bagged up various colourways such as this selection of blues and greens.

You can find all the available ones in the Destash section of my Etsy shop.

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

Multistorey car park woes

Just got back from a nightmare trip into Truro...

Me & eldest daughter drove there in my little old Megane and parked on the ground floor of the multistorey car park, got the parking ticket & then realised I couldn't lock the car as the remote locking had stopped working - which meant that I couldn't start it either as I have to use the same signal to switch off the automatic immobiliser!

I phoned hub who drove to us with youngest daughter, and he played around with locks whilst we did the stuff we needed to in town. Still no joy when we returned so he phoned the vehicle recovery people to come out to us.
 
He also phoned the car park helpline to see about the parking ticket expiring but they had no sympathy - we had to keep feeding the machine every hour until we got the car (well 2 cars now!) moved...
 
2 hours later the vehicle recovery people still hadn't arrived. I finally drove hub's huge Volvo estate for the first time ever (not stressful at all!) through the holiday traffic to get to my doctor's appointment near home - just made it in time.

We got home after raiding the cornish pasty shop just as hub arrived back in my car!
 
The problem? Apparently the remote control locking system on my car is infra-red, just like the flourescent light in the car park I was parked underneath... They had pushed my car back 10 feet & it all worked fine...!!!

Thursday, 25 August 2011

Front Page

Woohoo - I made the Etsy UK Front Page again - this time in Onetenzeroseven's gorgeous collection - thanks Oneten!

Saturday, 20 August 2011

Mouthwatering!

I have to share this lush treasury with you that I've been included in... mouthwateringly good!

Tuesday, 16 August 2011

Woolly Warmth

I've been included in this gorgeous woolly treasury by bebbyjumpers today as part of the current Knit1Treble2 team challenge - so cosy!


Here's a quick look at the woolly goodness that I treated myself to yesterday too:
Look out for some new knitted lovelies using these yarns in my shop soon - or I might just keep them myself...!

And finally, the gorgeous moonstone stud earrings that my daughters treated me to for my birthday. 

They were bought from my favourite local jewellery shop - Velvet Crystal.

Exactly what I wanted - thanks girls!

Monday, 15 August 2011

Happy Birthday to me!

Yes it's that time of year again...

We went off to St Ives for the afternoon by train for a family day out and had a lovely time despite the weather trying to lightly rain for most of the afternoon.

We had a most excellent lunch at the Fire House Restaurant, then strolled around the beach and harbour and paddled in the sea.

The tide was coming in fast so we made our way back to the shops where I stopped in at House of Bartlett and G J Beads. Well a birthday without buying yarn and beads just wouldn't be right, would it?!

You can see me here with my dear hubby - I'm wearing my new Weird Fish fleece that he bought me - so warm and cosy, and I love that deep teal colour!

Then it was back home on the train and off to my in-laws for a cold buffet dinner, topped off with chocolate birthday cake.

A lovely family birthday!

Sunday, 14 August 2011

Toasty!

We went for a great bike ride today at Bissoe, and then on to Truro to see a freestyle motocross event.

Sadly although we waited and went back twice we missed all 3 shows as the times were changed from the ones announced! Grr....


So to cheer ourselves up we went home, got the chiminea going, and toasted marshmallows in the dark... lush!