Valentine Love

CraftBritannia team treasury game featuring TheSequinnedSheep,
WharfedaleWoolworks, AislingDezines, Shalotte, ColourMeFun, Loutul & TheFeminineTouch

New Year crochet

Happy New Year!
I have a feeling that 2013 is going to be a year of change, for the better of course!

I have started to replenish the beaded crochet wrap necklaces in my shop; they sold really well leading up to Christmas.

These are lightweight (making them a great gift choice for posting!) and suitable for anyone with metal allergies as they are purely made from hand-dyed cotton and glass/ceramic beads.

Craft fair season done!

Nearly there! A couple more work days, a visit up-country to see family, then it's home to relax over Christmas and New Year.

All my craft fairs have been done for this season. On the whole they were worthwhile, although the recession has obviously taken hold this year.

I'm pleased with my revamped knit & crochet kits, which proven very popular.

I'll be expanding the range next year with kits for the long wrap crochet necklaces, plus some completely new patterns & kits for both knitting and crochet.

The new kits will all include my hand-dyed Perran Yarns, although the patterns will still include alternative yarn suggestions.

I also have plans to change my stall display equipment again; tweaking this to get it right seems to be a never-ending task!

I'm pleased with the extra height that the shelving unit has given me, but a collapsible equivalent would be much easier to transport & store.

A new display item would be useful too - a tall collapsible coat-stand type with short 'branches' sticking out at various points to display my scarves and cowls. Designs are underway!

Packing up

Lovely Perran Yarns being packed ready to find their new owners in Sweden & the UK!

Sneak peek

What's brewing?

Fabulous merino tencel sock yarn in shade Hydrangea!

Looking forward

Thinking ahead to the warmer months next year already! Thought I'd better start this now as it will take a while to do..

Of course it covers some of those gorgeous Pantone Spring 2013 fashion colours that have been forecast!

Nature's colours

Breakfast!

Mmmm, this has to be my favourite breakfast - Jamie Oliver's simple breakfast pancakes with blueberries, bananas and honey. Delicious!

no 58 sew street

Had a lovely surprise today - one of my Perran Yarns has been included in a post on Leanne's fabulous new blog!

no 58 sew street: Colour Crush: Coral Pink

Leanne runs Etsy shop Ello Design which sells cute handmade cards and stationary products which can be personalised, such as this one.

Check out the shop!

Enough rain!

OK I've had enough of grey cloudy days and rain. We need some sunshine and warm days on the beach!

Bring out the WIP

I knit therefore I have several unfinished projects. Ask any knitter. It goes with the territory.

I have just picked up one of these projects again and resumed work on it. According to Ravelry I started it 2 years ago; really?

It is the lovely February Lady Sweater pattern, which I am knitting in a gorgeous deep teal shade of Debbie Bliss Cathay.

Well that's the plan anyway.

Fly the flag

With the Queen's Golden Jubilee and the London Olympics happening this year, everyone's gone Union Jack crazy. So I decided to join the party!

I've crocheted one of my Galaxy brooch designs into a patriotic brooch to clip to your top, bag, hairband, or wherever you feel the need...


Here is a small selection of many other fabulous handmade ways to fly the flag this year!

Mighty 17

I'm in a few teams on Etsy including the Supporting Artists team. They're a fabulous group of sellers, very supportive of course!
Today I'm taking part in a team treasury game called Mighty 17 - here's my collection of finds from my fellow team members. Enjoy!

The UK Beat

Great UK finds on Etsy!

Hooked on garters

Candy garter - sweet!

Crochet always gets me in phases.

Currently I seem to be going through a garter phase - it's all I want to crochet, using pure silk yarn with lots of different bead and ribbon colourways!

Last weekend I enjoyed choosing more beads for them from GJ Beads in Truro - I love browsing around in there - so much choice!

We ended up talking about my hand-dyed Perran Yarns as one of the ladies from Truro Fabrics was in there too. A good shopping trip!

Something blue!

I'm currently waiting for my latest order of hand-dyed ribbons from the talented Abby and Ellie - they're always so lovely!

Necklace Giveaway!

Cat's Ceramics is having a free giveaway over at her blog - the prize is your choice of one of her gorgeous unique necklaces!

Go on over and get your entry in before 25th March!

Gift for Mum

It's Mother's Day here in the UK this Sunday, which is perfect timing for me to get the clip earrings done that my Mum mentioned she would like a while ago.

I made her some clip earrings a couple of years ago; she loves them and wears them regularly. Time to increase the selection!

I bought the earring backs very reasonably from ebay - clips as she doesn't have pierced ears, gold as she wears that more than silver, and nickel-free as I'm allergic to it and don't want to cause anything like that for my Mum!

Then was the fun part - browsing through my bead stash to find the perfect combinations, and making the earrings up.

I had the jewellery presentation box from a previous ebay purchase, and cut more slots in the foam lining to accommodate all the clips. 

It didn't take long at all, and I'm really pleased with the results. I'd better get it packed up and sent off to my Mum in time for Sunday now - hope she loves her gift!

How are you celebrating Mother's Day this year?

It's been a while...

...but I'm on the Etsy UK Front Page today in this great treasury by Katiedidonline - woohoo!

You can see one of my gorgeous new hand-dyed yarns there - Barley Fields - which has actually shown me that I love this rich sunny yellow!



I bought a fabulous pot holder from Katie recently - it really is a lovely item and very well made. It's now in daily use in my kitchen.

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..?!

Love dyeing yarn!

 

No words required :)