A bat and a mug cosy

Just a quick blog post to update my progress with my project-a-day challenge ...
I thought three posts in a day was a bit over the top for a Sunday, so saved my pics of these two challenges for today. I only really got enough sunshine to take the pictures yesterday afternoon!
On Thursday I made a mug hug from this month's Mollie Makes magazine, and did the embroidered decoration on Friday. It's a bit bright, but at least I won't lose my mug!

On Saturday, I was quite busy, but managed to make this cute felt bat from 'Super Cute Felt' by Laura Howard - my daughter has already claimed it for her 'vampire' collection!

 Happy Halloween x

Challenge 52 - Week 43

After a very busy week of blogging and making last week, it's quite nice to be back to one challenge per week, although this week's challenge will actually be lasting a month. November is Mystery Knit-A-Long month on Woolly Wormhead's blog. I know what size needles I need, and what sort of yarn, but I won't get my first set of instructions until Tuesday.
In the meantime I have chosen this yarn to use for the project. I bought it from Brownberry Yarns yesterday at FibreFlurry, a mixture of greys, reds and teals. I can't wait to see what i'll be doing with it ...

Fibre Flurry 2011

This weekend has been one of my favourite ones of the year, and not just because of the extra sleep-in we get with Summer ending.
Yesterday I went to Fibre Flurry in King's Norton, Birmingham - i'd been more or less looking forward to it since last October! It's a great opportunity to meet up with other knitty people, and also buy lots of goodies.
So here are my goodies ... just when you thought I was 'busting that stash' ...
Skeins and mini-skeins from the Knitting Goddess - i'd pre-ordered some of these things, but had to buy a few more mini-skeins for my hexipuffs, and I couldn't resist the pink and black colour-pop skein.

This fab collaboration between Babylonglegs, Nicsknots and Atomic Knitting. This is a photo from the Babylonglegs page on Ravelry - my daughter has already acquired the bag!!

I also treated myself to this rather wonderful project bag, also by Nicsknots ...

Then there was some sock yarn from Brownberry Yarns, some lovely giraffe shaped buttons from Injabulo, and a huge skein of white Kidsilk to knit a cowl with from Artisan Yarns.

Now I just need to find lots of projects to keep me busy during the winter ... and then I can start planning for FibreFlurry 2012!

Finally ...

One day left in my project-a-day challenge, and i'm thinking of something I can do on the train as I travel to and from FibreFlurry.
The sun finally decided to shine this morning so I had a chance to photograph my fish ...

and the Werewolf hat I knitted for my daughter ...

I used a tweed chunky yarn by an Irish company called Tivoli, i'd found it in an little yarn shop on my travels, it's a wool blend yarn, but knits beautifully (and quickly!) I'm sure i'll be requested to make it in some other colours now, although purple is her favourite.

I need to do the embroidery and applique for my mug hug, so i'll probably photograph that at the weekend.

This afternoon I made a cushion using some of my Halloween Jack fabric I designed for a Spoonflower competition.

The original design was for a Halloween wreath covered with four pumpkin plushies, but i've made my fabric into a cushion so it can be used all year round. This photo is a bit dark as the sun had finally had enough of shining by the time this was sewn up!!

Still doing projects ... but not taking photos ...

Ideally I should be blogging about the projects I have tackled during the past two days of my project-a-day challenge, but it's been so dull today that there are no photos!
Yesterday I made some little pink and white 'yarn bomb' fish that I hope to release into the wild on Saturday when I visit FibreFlurry in King's Norton. Then I cast on a 'werewolf' hat from Vampire Knits by Genevieve Miller. I finished that project this morning and the hat has already disappeared up to my daughter's room! So that's two projects in one and a half days ...
... But I didn't stop there - my Mollie Makes magazine arrived and so this afternoon I found myself making a mug hug in this rather bright orange yarn!

I hope i'll be able to photograph all three makes tomorrow, fingers crossed that it doesn't rain ...

Halloween Jack Feltie

A couple of weeks ago I designed a fabric wreath on Spoonflower called 'Halloween Jack'. I had lots of comments from friends who said they liked the little pumpkin character that I had designed, so with this in mind I designed a half-term feltie make using these pumkins ... and i've made the one with the 'face' today as part of my Project-A-Day challenge.
This little felties can sit on your desk, or you can make lots of them - and string them together to make a Halloween bunting. You could also attach a brooch back to make a little Trick Or Treat gift.

I used polyester felt (the orange is very bright, especially on that black background), but wool mix felt would work just as well.
Just copy and paste the pattern below to fill an A4 sheet of paper and print off to get your templates.

If you have any problems doing this the pattern can also be found on my Flickr page:-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/giddystuff/6279886733/in/photostream
Another project tomorrow ...

Tuesday Treasury - Toffee (and those wristwarmers!!)

Firstly, here's a picture of the Sarah Hatton wristwarmers I knitted yesterday. They're made from Rowan Cocoon, and are sooo soft. This pair are for me, but modelled by my daughter who has decided that she really needs a pair too!

Inspired by the colour of these wristwarmers, i've found a mini-treasury of toffee-hued goodies on Etsy ...

EDITH, Handmade Eco Tanned TOFFEE leather shoes, so pretty -
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Fairysteps

Surf tumbled toffee brown sea glass button, sea glass is one of the joys of the North East coast -
http://www.etsy.com/shop/PressButtonA

Handmade Toffee Beads, good enough to eat -
http://www.etsy.com/shop/cheekycherubdesigns

Bluefaced Leicester Kid Mohair Top in Toffee, if only I could 'sort out' my spinning skills -
http://www.etsy.com/shop/JunoFibreArts

Another mini-treasury next Tuesday ...

Reality ...

My project a day challenge is going well so far ... day two and my second project is completed. However, there is a slight catch to this challenge, making something in a day is rather time consuming, and by the time the wristwarmers I have knitted today were cast off and sewn up, it was too dark to photograph them!
So, photographs will follow tomorrow morning ...

Challenge 52 - Week 42

Ten weeks of my weekly challenge left and I have to say that the creative 'mojo' seems to have been flagging lately ...
As i'm not at work this week I thought i'd set myself the difficult task of a creative challenge each day, so whether it's baking a cake or making some Christmas decorations, i'm going to be blogging about it every day this week. Seven days, seven challenges.
Today I have made a cowl for my daughter. I've used Patons Big Fab yarn which is super chunky. I had started following the pattern on the yarn band yesterday, but wasn't happy with it, so began again this morning using my own pattern idea ...

Super Chunky Snuggle Cowl

You will need:-

• 1 (200g) ball of Patons Big Fab  - I've used the 'Frost' colourway.
• 10mm needles, don't use ones that are too short.
• A tapestry needle with a large eye.

What to do:-

Cast on 26 stitches.

Rows 1 and 2 - Knit
Row 3 - Knit into each stitch but wrap the yarn around the needle twice when making the stitch.
Row 4 - Knit into each stitch, letting the 'extra' yarn loop from the previous row off the needle, this will make a row of long stitches.

Repeat these 4 rows until the yarn is almost used up, finishing with row 2.

Cast off and sew the starting edge and cast off edge together being careful not create a bulky seam on the reverse of your cowl.

Wear!

Christmas Fabric Designs - Part One

I've been using my 'spare time' this week to design some Christmas fabrics. I wanted certain colours and retro motifs, so when they're all done i'll be uploading them to my Spoonflower shop.
I also got distracted by this week's contest - to design a hanging tree ornament! That was an evening taken away from designing my other stuff.
Again, i've gone for a retro feel, one of those old-fashioned pointy globes and colours inspired by old Christmas wrapping paper.

If you like it, please vote for me, and also look at the other amazing designs in this week's contest ...
http://www.spoonflower.com/contests/104

Tuesday Treasury - Halloween Knitting

Half-term is just around the corner, as is Halloween, so I thought i'd look for some freebie Halloween themed patterns on Ravelry ...

Witches Cat Hat by Christine de Savoie -
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/witch-cats-hat

Wa na na na na na na na Bat Shawl! by Emilee Mooney  -
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wa-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-bat-shawl

'Little Pumpkins' Socks by Sabine Ruppert -
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/little-pumpkins-socks

Alice by Vickie Howell -
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alice-9

Ok, so at the speed I knit I may be aiming to finish these for next Halloween, but my teenage daughter has already put in an 'order' for those Alice mittens!
Another treasury next Tuesday.

Challenge 52 - Week 41

Christmas is not that long away (Sorry to mention it!!) I've been looking for some fabrics to make some tree decorations, but haven't really found anything that is exactly what I want ...
... So I thought I could set myself the challenge of designing a range of Christmas fabrics on Spoonflower. Last year I designed some printable paper chains for my blog and really enjoyed it, so I think this will be a fun challenge ... plus i'll have some fabrics to work with!
I'll report back when i'm done!

Fabric I designed for bunting last Christmas

The Big Knit 2011

The Big Knit, organised by Innocent Smoothies and Age UK raises loads of money every year which in turn helps the elderly keep warm during winter. This year I had aimed to make loads of hats, but last weekend I realised that I hadn't got the 'loads' I had wanted to make (blame the day job), anyway, I stitched them together and hear are the results ...

A proper Autumn harvest of pumpkins, berries and turnips - yes, turnips!!!

My plan for the coming year is to knit hats as I finish projects, using up the oddments of yarn I have left, that way I hope i'll have a much grander total next time!

Tuesday Treasury - Flame Orange

I love Autumn colours, so i've done a quick trawl of Flame Orange goodies for this week's treasury ...

Handmade Copper Earrings, a perfect Autumn colour combination -
http://www.etsy.com/shop/WeeSparrow

Shoulder Bag with Chain Strap, this makes use of some fabulous vintage fabric -

http://www.etsy.com/shop/blackcactusinlondon

Red Fox Print, I love the detail in this print -

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AlicePotter

Burnt orange Chunky Neckwarmer, knitted with Rowan Aran pure wool yarn, mega-snug -

http://www.etsy.com/shop/rebelrose68

Another treasury next Tuesday ...

Challenge 52 - Week 40

Forty weeks of weekly challenges - some i've coped well with, others are half finished in carrier bags or in my sketchbook ... which brings me to this week's challenge, my monthly sketchbook challenge.
I just couldn't get into last month's challenge, and many of the ideas I mind-mapped remain 'undone' in my sketchbook, but there for future reference I guess ...
This month's theme is 'View' - i'm going to look at views and composition in my environment. I was hoping that the 'view' out my window would be a little more Autumnal for the start of this project, but as you can see, the sky may look a bit grey, but it's 19c and the leaves do not want to fall off the trees.

I'm hoping to use these views that I photograph and draw as a starting point for some textile or jewellery work - breaking down the 'view' into colours, tones and textures.
Here you can see i've taken a thin strip of the photograph I took this afternoon and i've picked out the colours in it using my Paint.NET software.

I may photograph the same view several times over this month just to see how it alters ...

Tuesday Treasury - Etsy Local

I always try to promote UK makers in my Tuesday Treasury post, and this week i've taken it to the extreme! There is a search on Etsy which allows you to input your postcode and find local craft ... so that is what I have done ...

Spearmint glass opaque earrings with antique copper ear wires, green always looks so amazing with copper -
http://www.etsy.com/shop/izadora

Hand Knitted Owl Tea Cosy, you may have admired this cosy in your local branch of 'White Stuff', here is the original -
http://www.etsy.com/shop/jacksknits

Greyhound Picture, I love these embroideries, so serene -
http://www.etsy.com/shop/cloudhopping

Handspun 100% Norwegian Wool Yarn "Hydrangea", pure luxury, there are so many hidden colours -
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ButterflybushYarns

Challenge 52 - Week 39

I've had a busy week, so decided to have a weekend of knitting -there's my shawl started last weekend (I've not done a lot, but do want to get it finished for when the weather does decide to get cold), some Innocent Smoothie hats for The Big Knit, and this week's challenge - October's Mystery Knit-A-Long.
As usual it's a one skein project, and instructions are given throughout the month. This month's project required a brightly coloured double knit acrylic yarn. I've got lots of acrylic yarns I use for yarn bombing, but settled for a red one. The photo makes it look like that dayglo red that I remember from childhood cardigans, but in actual fact it's a nice cherry red.

As usual i'll post photographs on Ravelry and blog about the finished project when I know what i've knitted.
If you want to join in, click on the link below ...
http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/one-skein-kals/1849944/1-25