Challenge 52 - Week 17

So, i'm still knitting the socks from last weeks challenge - as a novice sock knitter it could be a bit before you see the finished article. However, it's Saturday, so it's time for a new challenge ...

Knit Your Own Bloomin' Bluebell

The bluebells are early this year! I'm knitting a bluebell from a pattern created by Deadly Knitshade, a project that has been devised in conjunction with Visit Woods. It's a small yarn bombing project designed to encourage people to visit woods and green spaces in their local area, and has the support of The Forestry Commission, RSPB, Wildlife Trust and the National Trust, amongst other conservation and wildlife charities.

As you can see i've knitted my first bluebell and stalk, and i'm currently knitting the flowers that I need to attach to the sides of the stalk. More pictures when i've finished.

In the meantime, you can find out more about this project from Knithacker's website,

http://whodunnknit.com/2011/04/11/bloomin-bluebell/

and find out more about woodlands in your area from

http://visitwoods.org.uk

 

Tuesday Treasury - Sock Yarn

My sock yarn has been wound from the skein, and i'm just about to cast on, so I thought I would put together a mini-treasury of sock yarn this week ...

'Rio' Luxury Alpaca/BFL Sock Yarn, a love this colour combination -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/Lunayarns

'Gooseberry Fool' Alpaca/Silk/Cashmere Hand Dyed Sock Yarn, for a real luxury feel -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/WharfedaleWoolworks

Sweeties - Superwash merino/nylon sock yarn, a handpainted yarn -

http://www.folksy.com/shops/AbstractCat

Strawberry Cream Cotton Sock Yarn, a good choice for those with wool allergies -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/Knitsandnacks

I've just noticed that three of my choices have 'foodie' names ... now you know how to attract my attention on Folksy!

Challenge 52 - Week 16

Knitting and Crochet seem to have taken over my life!!! I've made so many egg cosies and flowers for Easter during the past couple of weeks. I've been knitting on the train, on the bus, in the garden!!!

It's got to a stage where I feel guilty if my hands are not occupied with needles or a hook and there are still a few projects that are half completed.
However, I have decided to take on a totally new knitting challenge - i've joined a Sock Knitting Club 'When Vampires Knit Socks' which I discovered on 'The Knitting Goddess' Ravelry page.

I'm hoping the discipline of lots of people doing the same project together will help me to finish!

The yarn for this month's socks is called St Marco, and the pattern is inspired by the St Marco Festival featured in New Moon by Stephenie Meyer.
I'll keep you posted about my progress ... or lack of it!

http://www.theknittinggoddess.co.uk/
http://www.ravelry.com/groups/knitting-goddesses-and-gods

Eggs

Just a quick blog post today with an activity sheet to print off for the little ones. Save this image by right clicking with your mouse and print it off to fit an A4 portrait sheet of paper.

Colour them in or collage with foil left over from Easter eggs and chocolates.
Enjoy your weekend everyone x.

Tuesday Treasury - Easter Chicks

Another Easter themed mini-treasury, and it's probably your last chance to order goodies from Folksy today if you need to get them for Sunday!

Little Chick Sterling Silver Ring -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/Nuadaaccessories

Zombie Easter Chicks Bookmark -

http://www.folksy.com/shops/fionaT

Chickie egg, needle felted -

http://www.folksy.com/shops/PussCatsNPookles

























Hand Printed Easter Cards (Pack of 3) -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/hannahmadden



Challenge 52, the egg cosy ...

So, last week I set myself the challenge of designing and making an egg cosy ...
First of all I tried to make a flower pot design, adorned with crochet flowers. However, my tension was all over the place and I ended up with huge roses, but a 'pot' that would not even fit over an egg! It was so awful i'm not even posting pictures!
Then I had this idea ...

The base is not too different to the rabbit egg cosy I knitted, but i've made it a bit bigger to accomodate those big panda eyes. I'm not sure about the ears, think they need to be a bit bigger, but at least this design worked out for me.

My daughter has already claimed this one, it 'matches' her River Island panda hat!

Challenge 52 - Week 15

It's been a busy week for me in terms of travelling around and getting lots of projects finished, so my weekly challenge has been posted today rather than the usual Saturday posting.
So, onto my latest challenge (which should keep me occupied for a good amount of time). It's a swap, I haven't done one for a while so i'm really looking forward to it! This one has been organised by fellow 'tweeter' Giantbutton on SwapBot. The title is Summer Time Handmade Crafts.

I've got until 6th May to design and make a Summer themed craft item that will cost no more than £5 and be lightweight enough to be posted anywhere in the world.

I've already started mind-mapping a few ideas in my notebook, so i'm going to use the next week to concentrate on this task - the only problem being that I won't be able to blog about the final outcome until it's landed with my swap partner.
If you are interested in joining in this swap, you can find out more details here:-
http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/88706

Me and Mrs Fisher

After spending sometime away from my laptop, day-to-day planner and strict day job regime, i'm starting to feel a bit more relaxed ... of course my knitting and embroidery came with me on the train!
On my travels to York I discovered this amazing tea room/vintage/craft shop called 'Me and Mrs Fisher' - yes, a shop that caters for everything us crafty types need in life, tea, cake, fabric, lovely gifts ... and a lovely atmosphere!

We popped in by chance one afternoon (after we had eaten somewhere else!) and bought vintage knitting needles, a sewing kit in a jar, lovely fabric and a tidy for my daughter's jewellery.

We spent a great part of that evening talking about how fab the shop was, my teen daughter stating that it was the 'best shop ever'! So, the next day we were back, for lunch this time - Earl Grey tea, hot chocolate with fresh cream and marshmallows, a red velvet cupcake and a cappuccino cupcake ... and then some pretty little jars and a new wooden embroidery hoop!

'Me and Mrs Fisher' also run craft workshops in their craft room above the cafe/shop, and workshops and parties for children. The shop is just outside the city walls, on Lord Mayor's Walk - it's easy to spot because the side of the building is adorned with a huge retro 'Bile Beans' advertising slogan (one of my favourite 'landmarks in York as a Graphics teacher).

I'm already thinking about when we can go there again, such friendly people! I'd recommend this place to everyone!

http://www.meandmrsfisher.co.uk/

Tuesday Treasury - Bunnies

In the run up to Easter i'm going to do a couple of themed mini-treasuries. This week i've picked out some Easter bunnies ...

Bunny in a Bag, very cute, made by Sew What Next -

http://www.folksy.com/shops/HelensHandMade

Bunny Purse, would be a great gift filled with little foil covered chocolate eggs -

http://www.folksy.com/shops/minifelts

Easter Bunny Bunting, I love seersucker fabric -

http://www.folksy.com/shops/TempoDesigns

Blue Tweed Bunny Purse, This one has been favourited loads of times on Folksy -

http://www.folksy.com/shops/thelinencat

Another Easter-themed mini-treasury next Tuesday.



Easter Bunny Egg Cosy

A few spare moments to myself this moring means I have had a chance to sew up my first bunny egg cosy - everyone in my family is going to end up getting one of these at Easter!

I've used Sirdar Calico yarn, and this lovely colour is gingham, a 'barely there' shade of grey/green. I've got A few more of these to knit, and i'm also sketching out a few egg cosy designs of my own for my weekly challenge ...

Challenge 52 - Week 14

It's getting close to Easter, i've got two weeks off work, and i've settle down with some knitting. I'm currently knitting some bunny egg cosies for my family from a pattern in 'The Knitter's Year' by Debbie Bliss.

Picture from The Woolie Ewe

I started to think about a challenge that I could do whilst travelling (i'm going to be a on a fair amount of trains and buses this week), and decided that the perfect challenge would be ...

DESIGN AN EGG COSY

I've got my trusty 'squared paper' Moleskine, my tiny knitting needles (I don't care if they're meant for children learning to knit), my Nicsknots project bag and lots of Sirdar Calico yarn - i'm loving this stuff at the moment, great to knit or crochet with. So off I go, pictures at the end of the week, and maybe a pattern too.

Work in progress ...

Work is over for a couple of weeks and so i'm hoping to tidy up a lot of projects that i've started during the past couple of months.
I've got little felt leaves that need to be 'distributed' as the final part of my Spring Leaf challenge, lots of part knitted projects, and also this embroidery that I started a couple of weeks ago. The design is based on a drawing in 'Embroidery - A Fresh Approach' by Alison Liley.

It's a piece of work that could go on and on, and i've had lots of other ideas while i've been embroidering too. The past couple of weeks have been very hectic, but making time to do some of this embroidery, even if it has only been a few stitches has eased some of the stress. I think I want to try a similar piece of work using coloured linen as a background.

Tuesday Treasury - Storage

The spring cleaning has been started, and i'm trying to get all my crafty stuff more organised, so this week i've collected together a mini-treasury of storage ...

Storage pot, made from Celia Birtwell oilcloth, great for keeping project 'bits' together -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/hortensia

Nest of crochet baskets, put them on a shelf and store your cotton reels and bobbins -

http://www.folksy.com/shops/mimmiesmum

Blue grey pot, perfect for pencils and brushes -

http://www.folksy.com/shops/JuliaSmithCeramics

Pink and Lime Green Fabric basket, I just love this for the combination of pink and lime -

http://www.folksy.com/shops/AlexiaClaire

Here's hoping everyone else is enjoying there spring cleaning!

A little gift ...

Just a quick blog post with a photogrpah of the little brooch I made for my Nan (for Mother's Day). I've knitted flowers before, but this is my first crochet one.

I adapted the pattern from a rose motif on a beanie hat in 'Cute and Easy Crochet' by Nikki Trench - a fab book, lots of lovely Spring and Summer patterns. I added a brooch back, covering it with a little disc of lavender coloured felt, and thankfully, she loves it and can't wait to show it off at her ballroom dancing club next week!

Hope everyone has had a lovely Mother's Day xxx.

Challenge 52 - Week 13

A very busy week here! Day job has taken over this week (my busiest time of year!), but there's still been time for some creativity, I'm still sewing little felt leaves, i've been working on the embroidery from last week's challenge, and also making some Mother's Day gifts.
Anyway, it's a new month, so a new sketchbook challenge ...

BRANCHING OUT

So, do I trying something (else) new? Do I extend what I do already, taking it into new territory? I'm thinking of taking the tree and branches idea and i'm going to try some 'never ending' sketches that branch out into other sketches, like a mind-map of imagery. Photos when i've done something ...