Coffee & Cream...Life is Better with Caffeine

Itty Bitty Bunnies

2011-04-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

Easter is just around the corner, and there's not much time left to make crafty things for it. But Anna at Mochimochi Land has generously offered a free pattern for the teeniest knitted bunnies. These take about half an hour from start to finish to whip up. I couldn't resist making a few for myself!

The smaller ones I knitted using 4 ply wool and 2.25mm needles as the pattern suggested. Mama Bunny used DK wool and 3mm needles. I did manage to snap one of my beloved Symfonie 2.25mm dpns - I am so grateful that they supply 6 of them for such accidents! You can see the broken dpn in the foreground of this shot (and you probably heard my wail when it snapped!):

I also discovered the 1000 Cranes Appeal on Miya Company's website. For each picture of an origami crane they receive, they'll donate $5 to Save the Children for Japan's relief and recovery, up to a total of 1000 cranes. If you don't know how to fold the crane, they have a pdf file you can download to help you. My son and I spent a while folding cranes outside today, although typically, a breeze started up when I wanted to photograph them, so they're all a bit less posed than I wanted them to be!

And a less pterodactyl-y shot of a couple of them...

If I don't blog again before, have a wonderful Easter everyone :)

Crafting Returns Slowly

2011-04-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

I dislike my current lethargy towards crafting. It's unsettling and I'd like to get back to "normal", please!

I have managed a couple of little projects though.

The first is a little Easter-y bunny sachet, using this great free pattern.

And secondly, some little handmade seed packets. With only a tiny garden, there simply isn't room to grow whole packets of seeds, and I end up with loads left over. Normally I keep these for the following season, but this year I've had disappointing germination results from my older seeds and it seems far more sensible to give away the excess and start each season with fresh seeds to put my energy and love into. The packets are just little rectangles of handmade paper and vellums machine sowed around three sides before the seeds are popped in and the fourth side sown. They all have little tags with the seed variety and basic sowing instructions on them.

I love the Flower Fairy vellum - how wonderful would it be to make up a little set of these and have one just purely filled with glitter as fairy dust to make the seeds grow? They'd make adorable party favours or combined with a little tin watering can and some colourful pots, a great Easter egg alternative (or in addition to an Easter egg - I do like chocolate a lot!)

Please tell me what you're working on at the moment - it'll inspire me back to my creative self again!

Gardening

2011-04-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

My desire to craft has been temporarily usurped by my desire to garden. I know that it's temporary and things will regain balance soon - or at least, I hope so because I'm missing the urge to knit, crochet or sew!

I've made a new blog purely for gardening adventures - it's here if anyone fancies a nose :) It'll be a place for me to make more detailed notes that'll help in subsequent years, and will be a good way of keeping check on how things are growing.

Having spent a few weeks warming up the soil in the raised bed, I removed the cover, dug it over and covered it with netting to stop the neighbourhood cats viewing it as a Wonderful Litter Tray. Catalpa came out and showed me just how kitty proof that netting is...

At least he's not able to dig holes in it, but it's not particularly helpful, is it?!

Rainclouds and Rainbows - Free Pattern

2011-04-04T07:48:00.000-07:00

I do like Douwe Egberts coffee. I love the taste, and I love the glass jars they come in with their chunky glass stoppers! They're brilliant for holding...stuff. I have them filled with toffees for DS, with ribbons, beads and buttons for me. They're great for holding soup in to gift to friends when they're sick. And obviously, they need cosies - dur. So here is a simple pattern to cosy up a 200g sized coffee jar :)

You'll need 4mm dpns and DK yarn. I've used a fuzzy white DK for both, teamed with a soft grey (Rowan Revive) to make fluffy clouds and bright rainbow colours to make, well, a rainbow. I've not listed gauge as it's pretty stretchy and small, but I suggest you knit loosely so that the slipped stitches create little scallops.

Abbreviations:

K - Knit

P- Purl

S1 - Slip one stitch (literally move it from the left needle onto the right needle without knitting it)

K2tog - Knit two stitches together

YO - yarn over.

Kfb - Knit the front and back of the stitch.

Cast on 56 stitches in your main colour (ie. grey or rainbow red for mine) and arrange on dpns (I used a set of five, so each working needle had 14 stitches)

Set up Round 1 - Knit

Set up Round 2 - Knit

Switch to contrast colour (white fuzzy for mine)

Round 1 - (k1,s1) repeat to end

Round 2 - (p1, sl) repeat to end

Round 3 - Knit

Round 4 - Knit

Switch to main colour

Round 5 - (s1, k1) repeat to end

Round 6 - (s1, p1) repeat to end

Round 7 - Knit

Round 8 - Knit

Repeat rounds 1 to 8 until piece reaches neck of jar, then work rounds 1-3.

Eyelet row - (k2tog, yo) repeat to end.

Next round - Knit

Switch to contrast colour

Next round - (kfb) repeat to end.

Bind off.

Weave in the ends, thread a ribbon through the eyelets and warm up your jar. Admire!

I'm working on a third one at the moment in two green yarns which don't have the fuzzy aspect. I have to admit I think this slip stitch pattern benefits from at least one of the yarns having a touch of fuzz, but we'll see when it's finished..

If you work this pattern up, I'd love to see it - either link me on here or post on the ravelry project page.

As with all my patterns, they are for personal or charity use only. Enjoy! :)

Green Stuff Makes Me Happy

2011-04-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all mums out there - hope you've been spoilt rotten by your families! I was lucky enough to get a purple poppy bucket from my son (ahem- I might have demanded it a while ago!), but he also made me a little lego planter of flowers and gifted me the velvet bag I bought him *years* ago with Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans on it (it's awesome - will take pictures in the daylight tomorrow and bore you all with them!).

I've been mainly busy sowing and growing here; I can't wait until late May when I can plant out all these new little babies. I am absolutely delighted with the new baby strawberry plants - their second leaves have just come through and they are tiny but perfectly strawberryish! Here's a picture of them, with my prune-y little finger to show how wee they are...

And my windowsill lettuces are about ready to start eating the thinnings. Grown in a catering size gravy tub I bought home from work to recycle (make brilliant handled plant tubs!). I love the way these look with the light coming through them - they really are quite magical :)

I've been searching online for a good seed supplier and came across http://www.vegetableseeds.net - they have a good range (I *need* asparagus peas!) and even better, they offer free p&p and seeds with each order. Customer comments are all really encouraging, so I'll be giving them a go. If you have a favourite flower or veg to grow in containers, shout out now!

Knitting pattern coming tomorrow; I need that daylight again to take photos in. I'll sign off with a picture of the seedy pouches I made, resting on a background of Current Quilting Project/Insanity...

Giveaway Winners!

2011-03-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

Using a random number generator, the winners of the seeds are comment 1 and 5 -tyarastarchild and Greenpixey! Congratulations! Drop me an email or ravelry message with your details, and I'll get them in the post to you both :) Big thanks to those begged to come over from Ravelry to enter ;)

Despite the weather forecaster's threats, it is beautiful and sunny here again today which makes it all the more annoying that I'm about to go off to work.

I'm also working on a couple more patterns to share, the first of which makes Douwe Egberts coffee jars woolly....

Edited to add that I've sent messages to tyarastarchild through her blog and on ravelry, but had no response from her. I've hung on for two weeks, but as these seeds do need to be sown soon for this year's harvest, I've returned to the random number generator to pick another winner. Congratulations to Psychedelic Elephants - message on its way!

Spring Crafting

2011-03-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

Few crafty projects to share :) Fancied doing something with a needle and thread for a change, so I revisited my old love of cross stitching to make a rabbity lavender sachet. Was rather difficult to get a decent photo of it as the thread colour matches the aida, but here it is!

For my crochet fix, I chose a flower to hook from Bonita patterns. It's her Croco Flower available for free. It looks like a big yarny mess when you've finished hooking it, but once the petals have been smoothed down, it's sooo pretty! I edged each stitch with 2 single crochet stitches in embroidery thread to make the rainbow effect. I think it would look gorgeous with a charcoal yarn as the main colour, so a future project in store!

Lastly, I've been working a rather daft knitting project for a few days, which helps satisfy my need to cover everything with yarn! Lucy over at Attic24 handily published a free heart pattern this week which was just what I needed to complete this project!

I used the pattern to make leaves - don't they make perfect plump ones? And this is what I attached them to.....

A clock! It's a modern reproduction of a 1940s kitchen clock, but it had enamelled sides in a really odd cream colour - it was a cold cream, rather than warm and just didn't look right against the magnolia walls.

I covered the clock with a k3, p1 ribbed sleeve, with an eyelet edge, hooked some strawberry flowers and knitted lots of strawberries to decorate it with. It's been up on the wall for a couple of days, leafless and without the strawberry "seeds" until I finally worked out what was missing! Seeds are embroidery thread french knots - lots of them.

I'm really pleased with how this has turned out and a good way to mark 200 projects on Ravelry!

How are you celebrating the change of Seasons?

Free Seeds Giveaway!

2011-03-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

It's been such a gorgeous day here - Spring is well and truly arriving :) I've been pottering around outside and planted up loads more seeds ready for this season's harvest of pretties and noms. I've been happily flicking through seed packets seeing which are ready to be sown now, and which ones I need to be patient with for a little longer. There is something magical about seed packets with their glorious pictures of "when I grow up" on the front.

Anyway, amongst them I found some I'm not going to plant - either because I already have a zillion packets (rocket) or because I've already planted a different variety (tomatoes) or because I really don't like the finished veg enough to grant it precious soil space (sprouts!). They came with the seed potatoes last year, need sowing by the end of April and are good until 2012.

The seeds are: Wild Rocket, Tomato (Moneymaker), Tomato (Gardener's Delight) and Brussel Sprouts (Falstaff - a purple variety).

Um. I took a picture of them for you. But my mind was still thinking "must plant more" instead of "clean table up a bit, remove coffee mug which I was unable to carry from kitchen to garden without spilling before taking pictures". Sorry. It's my favourite coffee mug too, and very apt ;)

(ooooh, Blogger has finally altered photo-shoving-in tool to shove them in where cursor is rather than dumping them all at the top of the blog! Wooo!)

I have two sets of each of the 4 packets of seeds to give away. As they're seeds, you need to be in the UK to enter. Just leave a comment and I'll do a random drawing at the end of the week. Make sure you leave some way of letting me contact you.

I feel a bit nervous doing this - not sure if anyone apart from the lovely Anita stops by here on a regular basis!

Right, back to the garden to clean up after myself!

Edited to add - thank you to the Ravelers who've come to my rescue on this one!

2011-02-16T07:31:00.001-08:00

Macmillan Cancer Support are running a fuel poverty campaign to highlight this issue. A knitted petition will be handed to the government later on this year and everyone can get involved! Visit www.infi-knit.org.uk and simply type in what makes you feel warm and then watch it being translated into a knitted pattern by a Silver Viscount knitting machine (it's huge, impressive and speedy!). You get to see your bit being knitted!

Here's mine -cinnamon apples scoffed curled up with Rowan. It's the row of stars closest to the machine.

I've knitted my bit of Macmillan's woolly scarf petition to make sure people with cancer can keep warm without the worry. You can get knitting too.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T01:49:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone :)

Knitted heart in Marble, Rowan Revive - I had a tiny amount of this in my £1 grab bag from the local yarn store that is sadly closing down. Perfect for tiny hearts. Pattern is here.

Less is More...But More is Moooore!

2010-12-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

If you follow my flickr, I'll warn you now that you won't be reading anything new...unless I decide to sneak something in just to catch you out :p

The joys of making crackers descended today, although I've cheated a little bit this year and bought these amazing cracker "blanks" - they're musical! Woo! Because crackers should have the ability to be Incredibly Annoying I think. I've made little gifts to go inside them for my parents - an owly lavender sachet and lego cufflinks. The little notebook I knitted a cover for is too big to go inside the cracker, so I've just stuck a note in his telling him the Easter Bunny has hidden it and the first of a series of clues so he can find it again :) I don't care if he's now 16 - you're never too old for a treasure hunt, okay?

So on to the crackers. I had big ambitions this year to make them look...classy. It was an ambitious ambition for me to be honest, so have a look at how I got on...

First up is the cracker blanks - bought from the pound shop for their promise of Christmassy music!

Full of good intentions, I edged them with lace. This has been in my trims tin for a Long Time. I don't remember if I bought it new or if it's a vintage buy. Either way, it's time for it to be used up.

Then I chose some Hot Off the Press papers that I've had for at least a decade. Each paper is different, but in the same tone of red and I feel they add a touch of timeless classic (and classy) appeal. At this point I'm imagining I'm going to have the most elegant Christmas table. Ever.

I also have some gorgeous vellum paper in my stash - with gold stars on. A perfect match for the deep reds. Then the child in me started to pipe up that vellum paper would look fancier with pinking sheared edges....and each cracker needed four strips of it. The grown up part of me raised a rather worried eyebrow at this stage.

Inner child started to get more excited and stuck strips of starry peel off borders on each end of the crackers...mmmmm, shiny. You know what would go well with that? More borders for the central part of the crackers...and why stop at two when you can slap four on there!

The tops of the crackers then needed a final flourish - a star to go with the vellum! But one star was a little flat...four piled on top of each other was better...a stack of eight was mildy ridiculous but inner child was beaming at them. So eight it was. But they weren't as shiny as the peel offs which meant heaps of gold embossing powder just *had* to be melted onto them...and then some more just in case.

oooh...but I'd bought mini baubles for craft projects and red gems too. They needed to go on too! Inner child was insistent and I'm afraid...I obliged.

So there you have my Christmas Crackers all ready for Christmas Day lunch. I can almost imagine my mother looking wistfully at the dusting that will probably still need to be done as she calculates just how long it took me to produce such eye watering (and deafening) crackers....

PS. Advent candles need to warn you when they carry on burning past the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th of December.....

Snow Days

2010-12-01T05:35:00.000-08:00

Not strictly a snow day, as I'll be walking to work later on, but it is all gloriously white and fluffy out there!

Perfect weather to curl up with a bit of Christmas knitting and while away the hours.

Finished the handknitted things I wanted to make for my son; a balaclava and fingerless mitts. The balaclava was a request, the mitts an additional stocking stuffer (teenage boys stockings are hard!), although he prefers fingerless gloves to fingerless mittens, I'm still hoping he'll like them.

A hipflask cosy to match the mittens for my mother - she's a beater when my dad goes shooting, so this'll be ideal for hiding her tipple in.

And a cosy Christmas bauble for my tree, using the holly pattern from Little Cotton Rabbits - love, love, love this nestled in a snowy branch outside!

Bit of a catch up!

2010-11-28T06:43:00.000-08:00

Time seems to move so quickly these days, but it's good to be back with a solid internet connection!

In the last few months, I've been busy with a new job, crafting and life in general. :)

I had some wonderful news last month - I entered a gardening competition as a giggle back in April and was "judged" August. I've only been here since last Christmas, so it really was just a bit of fun for me to enter. My little courtyard garden is full of containers that make me smile.

A dismissed-by-cat litter tray planted up with cat grass and cat mint; painted tin cans with summery flowers; old baskets stuffed with carrots; my treasured fuchsia cutting from my grandmother's plant snuggles and thrives in lego, tossed out storage tubs with beans, courgettes and sweet peas;

various garlands, birds, wreath and a squirrel feeder crocheted and pinned to the fences and sheds and knitted birds and mushrooms hiding in the foilage.

Not to mention my mismatched patio set and Hawaiian style umbrella! It's a garden that makes me giggle and delights my inner child.

I was floored when a letter came in the post telling me I'd won the Best Small Garden category! £50 of gardening vouchers are now happily nestling in the back of my purse ready for me to splurge come the spring. Weee!

There's been knitting - just for me. A pair of Sourwood Mountain mittens, made in the Mode DK yarn that my son treated me to for mother's day. I've been wearing them a lot - they're gorgeous for keeping my hands warm now the weather has turned chilly. They're roomy enough with the ribbing for me to slip a pair of gloves underneath them too for extra toastiness. Perfect. I just adore the leaves on the back of the hand :) I also made a Calorimetry too, from Patons Colour Work Aran - deliciously soft and squishy and keeps my head and ears warm without having to negotiate an "up-do".

Finally, a quick little collage of the Christmas gifts I've made so far - I'm determined that I only give handmade this year (apart from a few bought bits for my son), and it's been fun to make things that the recipients have either asked for or I know will be put to good use :)

Must be time for a coffee now?

Etsy

2010-08-11T07:21:00.001-07:00

Clickety Clack

2010-08-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

My needles have been busy :) I made another sheep from Anita's pattern.

A boyfriend for Woolly, although I think she's a bit above his league!

I love the versatility of knitting - being able to switch yarns and change the eyes has made Lem have a totally different character to Woolly. I think they make a great pair!

Also on (and off!) the needles was a snuggly hat for my DS's birthday in September. Muted green colour, so I hope he'll actually wear it.

And Dad's birthday socks are *nearly* finished -woo!

For some reason I find socks daunting. And they're not really. And if I didn't get sidetracked so easily, they're quite quick to knit.

I do love working with symfonie dpns. Not only to they feel great, but they're just so damn pretty to look at. As you get 6 needles, it's been easy to knit both socks at the same time so I can keep double checking the row counts and lengths against each other. Because socks should match, vaguely!

Moving on to the garden, I planted up potatoes for Christmas this week. Charlotte, Juliette and Maris Peer - 2 bags of each. I needed some way of telling them apart, so crocheted some hearts for the bags.

They all look a bit floppy at the moment, because they're only half full of compost - I'll keep topping them up as the leaves appear, and can't wait to have summery potatoes in the depth of winter!

Finally, a quick shot of one of the many visitors to the garden. My camera is not all that wonderful, so I'm rather pleased with this macro shot :) A lovely lady came yesterday and took photos of everything for a gardening competition I entered for a giggle. Her face bore a look somewhere between being bemused and impressed. I could ask for no more.

More Test Knitting :)

2010-07-29T03:44:00.000-07:00

It's about time I did an update! My hexagon blanket is still on hold while the weather is so warm - it's just too uncomfortable to work with it on my lap, and I refuse to work on it with grouchy thoughts in my head. Instead, I'm still working through little projects including a pair of socks for Dad's birthday at the end of August.

You'll have to excuse the wrinkly cloth - I pulled it out of the ironing pile to take the shot. Shame on me! They're just a basic ribbed pattern, because I don't think he'd wear anything with cables. Since his heart attack, he's really suffered with cold feet and spends the winters fighting off chilblains and what looks like trench foot! So I'm hoping he'll find these will help keep him cosy.

Moving on, I made a little mouse as a test knit for Julie - the pattern isn't up on Ravelry yet, but will be soon. It's really cute, fast to knit and would be a great toy for a small child. She's called Pumpkin, with a little orange dress and green bag. She's filled it with catnip, because she's daring like that ;)

My second test knit was for Anita, the first time I've test knitted for her, and a super fun pattern. Look at the tubby tummy on my lamb - doesn't it make you just want to squish and squeeze her? I decorated Woolly's tummy with surface crochet and a buttoned felt flower - I just don't seem to be able to just leave my softies plain - they cry to me that they want to have pretties! Anita is just finalizing the pattern now - it'll be available from ravelry right....here!

The last of my latest knits was this little fun fungi - Mr Fly Agaric. :) I used this free pattern from Abby Kroken. I'd like to end up with a little collection of them to dot around the garden.

That's me and my knitting caught up with - what are you working on now? :)

Romantic Meal for Two?!

2010-07-16T15:43:00.000-07:00

My latest pattern!

A very good colleague friend of mine is switching jobs, and I needed something to give her so she never forgets me. We have the most wonderful relationship, based on traded giggly insults and I adore her. I overheard a conversation she had about the recession and caught her saying “We're living on beans!” (don't panic – she can still afford to heat the indoor pool and maintain the yacht...), so naturally, I figured I could treat her to lunch as her leaving present. And as she teases me over my urge to cosy everything with yarn, this humble can of beans obviously needed to be yarny too :)

Whilst this is obviously a very tongue-in-cheek present and knitting pattern, once the beans have been scoffed, it makes a pretty holder for pens, knitting needles, flowers, etc and appeals to my recycling side.

I've added a front pocket – to keep paperclips in perhaps? And one of the flowers is hot-glued to a little bulldog clip so it can be removed and perform bulldog-clippy duties.

Free pattern download can be found on ravelry - enjoy!

New Free Pattern!

2010-07-12T12:36:00.000-07:00

It's been too warm to work on my hexagon blanket recently, plus I knitted up another February Lady Sweater for a friend, so my thoughts turned to small projects that can be finished quickly. I do like almost instant gratification!

There was a thread on Ravelry about kitties who stretch in weird and wonderful ways, so naturally, this led on to the development of.....Kitty Legwarmers! Because cats need stylish accessories to work out in too. Honest. Just think how wonderfully happy your furball will be when you whip up a pair!

I used Sirdar Crofter in the ironic colourway "Hound Dog" for Catalpa's pair. I've had this yarn for a while now - it seemed like such an amazing yarn when I first saw it, but I really dislike how it knits up for clothes - it's such a bold pattern effect that the mid-row switches really grate on me. But it is perfect for little things, and supersoft :)

Catalpa is so laid back, he didn't mind me kitting him out a la Fonda too much, but after a few minutes he discovered that pulling them off and cuddling them was the best...

Download the pattern from Ravelry - I've finally figured out how to do a .pdf! Hmm - there's probably a way to make the .pdf available from here too...erm, help?!

(edited to add that Ravelry helpfully gives a link to the pdf files to add to my site - how simple is that?!) download now

Father's Day

2010-06-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

Today is Father's Day, so I've had my parents over today for a braii (barbeque), and general daddy appreciation. My father and I have had our ups and downs over the years, but deep down I'm a daddy's girl and our relationship has grown stronger during my adult years. In short, I dote on him. He's my hero and I love him dearly.

I find it very easy to think of things to make for my mother, but really struggle when it comes to my dad. They both appreciate useful gifts, rather than decorative, and it's hard to come up with ideas for him.

He loves gypsy tart, which takes him right back to his school days, so despite the lack of picture, a gypsy tart was duly baked and given to him today. This is a stupidly easy recipe. Blind bake a pastry case in a flan dish and let it cool. Beat 12oz dark muscavado sugar with a 14oz tin of evaporated milk - for 10 minutes (this bit is important!) and bung in the oven, gas mark 6 for 10 minutes. Chill and eat. My poor food processor does not like being switched on for 10 minutes, and 8 minutes in started to spark. I hope I've not blown the motor, but too afraid to check and confirm right now!

Onto the woolly, yarny, scrummy part of his present. I have some Freedom Spirit yarn in green, that's 100% wool and will felt beautifully. So I started knitting...

I really love this beginning part, with the little square neatly framed with the dpns, but didn't pause for toooo long to admire it before knitting onwards, testing to see if it'll fit around the (pink) grapefruit and lime soap...

Clickety, click more rows added, another twisty cable emerges... Nearly there - this soap is so soft, the needles are beating it up as I'm knitting and it is sticky too...weird soap!

Nearly there - this soap is so soft, the needles are beating it up as I'm knitting and it is sticky too...weird soap!

Weave the yarn end in and add a little label so Dad knows what it is and tada! Pictured next to the card I made him out of various papers I had lying around. I drew the tree onto card and then used images from a wildlife magazine stuck on top for the bark and leaves. Snipped them out and stuck them down onto stripy embossed white card :)

I may have forgotten to add that it's *pink* grapefruit and lime soap...because it doesn't sound manly. He'll never know the soap itself has a definite pink tinge to it too ;)

Here it is all wrapped up in dotty paper and gingham ribbon. Now, I'm rather precious over my gingham ribbons - I love them a lot. Is it very wrong that I knew he'd unwrap it here and give me the ribbon back, so that's why I used it? Shhhhh!

Pattern for the soap sweater is this one. It's a free pattern for a basic plain soap sweater. If you want to know the cable twist I've used, I've put it on my project page.

I did have to explain to him what a soap in a sweater is supposed to be for, and reassure him that it really is a Very Good Idea and not Something I Should Be Committed For. He went home smiling and with a full tummy - I guess I can't ask for more than that :)

Nearly there!

2010-06-15T05:45:00.000-07:00

I'm very close to finishing all of the hexagons for my blanket - just this last row to finish! I'm so pleased with the brightness of it, and the soft sheen of the cotton. I think it'll look even better once it's been washed to get rid of that "just stitched" look.

This last row seems to be taking me a long time to work across - I keep putting it down, browsing the web, doing a bit of housework, having a coffee etc. I think it's because once it's done I'll have to address the border. And I dont know what to doooooo. I've thought about a black border, or a white one...but can't decide. I have enough of a different cotton yarn in a bluey turquoise colour that would work, but would emphasise the blues in the hexagons and pull them to the front...hmmm.

Suggestions more than welcome - help me!

2010-06-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

Julie asked me to test knit another pattern for her - Squeaker Birds. Really sweet pattern for four different birds, designed for small children with squeakers inside.

I don't have to worry about little ones here, so mine aren't very child friendly, but will look great in the garden nestled amongst the plants and keeping my crocheted birds company.

Pattern knitted up very quickly - I finished all four in a couple of days and most of that was spent procrastinating over flower buttons ;) Each bird has a different beak, wing and legs, so the mix and match possibilities are huuuuge! They only use a small amount of yarn too. Perfect present stuff really.

Let me introduce you to my flock:

First is Rodney the Robin. Made from alpaca and wool, he's so soft and yummy.

Next is Penelope the Penguin. She has icy beads and snowflake buttons and the most adorable big feet!

Then there's Clarabel the Crow. She's made from the Wendy Mode that my son bought me for Mother's Day (he's the most wonderful son!) in a gorgeous teal colour. She has a little red gingham bow and the fattest tummy of the flock.

And lastly, Posie the baby bird who is possibly my favourite (but don't tell the others!). She's made from grey vintage yarn and pink Wendy Mode. She's covered in little button flowers and tiny wool felt leaves. I love her frilly little wings and floppy legs - she really is adorable!

As we're having really heavy rainfall here at the moment in my little corner of England, they only popped outside briefly to have their photos taken, and until the weather improves, they'll stay indoors being cared for by Gordon. He takes this job very seriously look...

Needed a little break...

2010-06-07T07:02:00.001-07:00

The lovely hexagon blanket is going well, but now I'm in the process of piecing all of them together, it gets rather warm laying it on my lap. So I'm still working on it, just a couple of hexagons at a time to avoid overheating!

Instead I've whipped up 3 more birds to flutter around the garden. I love these so much! They look so cheerful against the drab brown of the fence :) I used Lucy's bird pattern again - so simple and easy! This time I made their beaks and wings out of wool felt, and used Penny Peberdy's teeny tiny flower pattern on the strings. The red/orange one has a half treble circle, and the other two have trebles.

Decorated with buttons, beads and a few stitches :)

Hexagon Love

2010-06-04T03:08:00.001-07:00

I am so in love with my hexagon blanket :) Almost as much as I love this tubby lump of kittyness...

I've finished all the round 3 circles - look how pretty they look laid out on the floor! My organised mind demands I do 9 rows of 10 hexagons. There are 5 colour "families" so each row needs 2 from each family. Then it's simply a case of moving them around so the colours look evenly spaced :)

And here they are all in neat little identical piles before I jumbled them all up.

And finally, a shot of the blanket starting to come together. One by one the little circles magically transform into hexagons and more hexagon friends join them :)

The colours of this Muskat yarn are so beautiful - really rich and bright. It's wonderfully soft too and I can imagine this is just going to get even better once its been popped through the washer (don't make me hand wash lots of heavy cotton!) I desperately want to see it all finished, but I also want to savour the making of it - it's so wonderful to work on. I really enjoy just sitting and staring at it. I've wanted to make a blanket like this for years, but always failed at learning crochet so thought it was the impossible dream. Who'd have thunk that just a 2 hour lesson back in late March could lead to this sort of delight?

Another Test Knit for Julie

2010-06-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

Just sharing another test knit for Julie on ravelry - this was good fun as I didn’t have a picture to go on and my knowledge of flying fish fin placement is, well…pants. So mine looks like a blue angel sausage. As I prefer blue angel sausages to fish this is no bad thing. Really.

I particularly enjoyed knitting all of the pieces in my squeaky acrylic yarns, sewing them together in a vaguely fishy way and then reading what I should do next. “Now we can move on to felting”. This part led to much hilarity, the kind of giggles that involve a little bit of snorting, followed by a more sober “oh”. Use wool, peeps - it helps with the felting!

Give this pattern a go - it’s ever so easy, uses up pesky scraps and is so cute (when done properly in grown up wool and not in acrylic which leads to blue angel sausages). And the pattern now has pictures and the felting hint before you start for guaranteed success :)

Mine is stuffed with catnip and thoroughly roadtested by Catalpa. He claims it's good to bat, chew, claw, toss and cuddle. And that's all you could really wish for from a blue angel sausage really.

In other news, it is absolutely freezing here in my corner of England. F-r-e-e-z-i-n-g. The sort of day where you need to snuggle up in your newly finished February Lady Sweater. Unless of course, your mother stole it yesterday and then you have to resort to putting the heating on. In June. Hmph.

Hope everyone reading this is much warmer and in possession of all their knitwear. :)

Yay! And Hmph...

2010-05-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

My parents have now been and gone. The house was cleaned in my usual style - I may have omitted to dust the skirting boards, but I did do this instead:

Loo Roll origami - how totally daft and pointless. But oh, what fun!

My parents bought wonderful presents with them for me - loooook!

Cuttings from my grandmother's hardy fuchsia - taken from a third generation plant and so very special to me. I love knowing that this little plant has survived for so long, and will continue to give oodles of pleasure for years to come. I'm not sure what variety of fuchsia it is, but it's oh so pretty and makes me think of her.

Lots of pots for me to plant up for my garden! I have mixed feelings about these pots - at the moment my little courtyard garden has a bizarre mix of containers for my plants. And these are...well, *real* plant pots. For grown ups. And as I'm determined not to spend money on containers this year, these freebies are a welcome addition - I'll be able to grow a lot more, but even so...They were going to be thrown out can you believe - what a waste! I'm sure I can find spaces for them all and learn to love their conformity.

The last picture is half a dozen very large eggs - I'm not sure why they brought them, but yum! An empty jar that will be perfect for buttons and.......an empty spool from my father's fly fishing line "you can make something with that". Um. Can I? Like what?! Anyone got any ideas?

I wore my February lady cardi while they were here. I love it, so soft and light. The first adult garment I've knitted for a good few years because I struggle to keep my mind on one project for very long. It pulls me onto the next idea, and the next...yank! So I'm proud of this cardi, really I am. My mother admired it, begged to try it on, admired the stretch yolk that meant it fits her too. And my dad admired my mother in it. And then.......she stole it. Slipped it off, and slipped it into her bag with a muttered "you can make another one for you!" The cheek! It did look pretty on her though...look! And with practise, I'm sure she'll be able to button all of the buttons properly like a big girl ;)

After the went home, I carefully propagated my new baby fuchsias

It's so easy to do - pick shoots that don't have flower buds, cut them just under a pair of leaf bracts and remove the bottom leaves. Dip them in hormone rooting powder if you want - I don't as I've never found they need it and pop them into compost. I've also put the leaf bract cuttings into a pot of water - they may root too. Then put them all on a light windowsill out of direct sunlight, pop a knitty monster chunk next to them to look after them, and in 2-3 weeks you'll have brand new rooted plants to love.

Round 2!

2010-05-31T00:36:00.001-07:00

Round Two of my hexagon blanket :) I've divided the 15 colours up into 5 groups of 3:

Yellow, Warm Yellow & Orange
Light Pink, Coral & Red
Apple Green, Green & Dark Olive
Light Blue, Turquoise & Blue
Light purple, Pink & Purple.

There are 6 inner circles of each colour and then 6 second rounds of each colour within their group, if that makes sense. Round 3 will have the last colour of the group added and then round 4 will use the centre colour again.

I'm loving working on this - the colours are so cheery, and the yarn is soft to work with. It is a little splitty, some colours more than others, but keeping an eye on the yarn getting close to the hook and giving it a twist if needs be seems to work.

Right, I have my parents coming over for a braii in less than 3 hours, so time to make the house look like I've not neglected the cleaning in favour of hooking recently!

I'll put a hex on you!

2010-05-30T09:25:00.001-07:00

Yummmm - look at all this wonderful yarn I ordered from Scandinavian Knitting Design. It's Drops Muskat - 50g balls of 100% Egyptian Cotton. It's mercerised so has a rich sheen to it, double knitting weight and gorgeous. Picking colours off the internet is never easy, and I'm not sure if that dark olive really goes with the rest, but we'll see.

I'm planning on turning it into a little hexagon blanket, using the Hexagon How-To pattern on Lucy's blog :) I think I have enough yarn to make a 90 hexagon blanket, which sounds like lots but will only make a little blanket - but that's okay.

Here are the first round little circles:

Don't they look all tiny and cute? I modified the pattern to do 6 cluster stitches - the same ones that are used in round 2 so that my centres will look like little flowery stars. I'm almost finished with round 2, and will update once they're finished :)

My thoughts are already turning to how to finish the blanket - what edging to use. I think I'd like to make half hexes and little triangle-y bits so it has straight edges. I can work out the half hexes but if anyone knows how to do the triangle-y ones, help!

Just a quickie...

2010-05-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

Quick post to share the tutorial I followed this afternoon. Took less than an hour, super easy, practical and looks fab.

It's for an eco bowl cover to replace foil or cling film. Mine will be used to keep the bugs off the salad leaves when we eat outside. To add to my green credentials for the day and for extra brownie points, I recycled the strawberry fabric (it was a baby doll nightdress that I made back in the 80's :p) Tada!

Is Attic24 a drug?

2010-05-29T03:56:00.000-07:00

My newly developing crochet skills are out of control. And it's *her* fault. That Lucy over at Attic24. I spent hours looking at all of the free crochet patterns on Ravelry, and from there visited Lucy's blog. And I am hooked (geddit?!) on her patterns and posts. I love them. Colourful, nostalgic, and as she would put it...they make you feel heart-skippy happy :) So below is a mosaic of my recent Attic24 creativeness! Ripples, squares, hexagons, stars and hexagons and the most wonderful coloured yarn. Yum. The basket of Egyptian cotton yarn (mmmmm) is destined to become a larger hexagon blanket that I'm working on now.

1. Ripples, 2. Springtime Wreath, 3. Rainbow Cushions, 4. Granny Stars!, 5. Hexagon Cushion, 6. Garnstudio Muskat, 7. Round Cushion, 8. Birdie, 9. Work in Progress(es)!

Go peek at her blog if you dare!

It's wonderful to find inspiration which help in my quest to turn my home into a riot of colour. My reserved decorating years are well and truly over!

Just to show I've not just been a hooker recently, I finished transforming my dining chairs this morning. Here's what they looked like before I started....

I've had them for over 10 years, and as you can see the seat covers look...awful. I've never been precious over them and they show it. Most of their tattiness is down to raising a son on them - dinner spills are numerous, and despite being scrubbed off at the time, they've each left a ring behind. There are a couple of small holes in them for good measure where the fabric is so worn.

So I went out shopping for some more fabric for them and fell in love with an embroidered batik pattern, but couldn't decide on a colour...so bought 60cm of my two favourites. Because chairs don't have to match. Honest. Then it was simply a case of flipping them upside down, unscrewing the seat pads, using a staple gun to stretch the new yummy fabric over the top and then screwing them back to the seats again. Simple. And look how wonderful they look in the sunshine. Do they make me smile? Oh yeah... :) They can stay!

2010-05-27T01:24:00.000-07:00

Gah - I'm such a bad blogger. Once you've let a (good) few weeks lapse, it's hard to jump back in again. But I'll give it a go anyway.

I've been busy since my last post and the main culprit is taking a crochet lesson at the end of March. I don't know how many times I've tried to crochet, and it never quite worked out. I just couldn't "read" it like I can with knitting. However, a two hour lesson with a bunch of other women desperate to get the hang of it works miracles. Makes such a huuuge difference to have someone show you how to do it, look over each little stitch you create and reassure you that you're getting the hang of it. I've immersed myself into churning out flowers, baskets and oh-so-yummy granny squares!

This is the first proper pattern I tried. It's from Lollychops' blog and was super easy. Makes wonderful big blousy roses. I've made mine into brooches.

I have to share one of my recent knitting projects too. It was a test knit for Julie on Ravelry, and is the most adorable giraffe!

Look how gorgeous he is! He makes me smile every time I glance his way :) I also added him to the One Million Giraffe project - click on the link to see what the fuss is about.

I have lots more crochet to share, but it's raining hard here and not the best photography weather, so it'll have to keep for another day. In the meantime, I'm going to get back to my latest recycling/repurposing plans which involve....

Yup. One filthy plasticine box that was slung out by a teaching friend...and a catering sized bean tin (that has a few friends) The mission to make throw-away things into Stuff I Love continues...fingers crossed it's successful!

Free Pattern - Doll Outfit

2010-03-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

So here's my pattern for a doll's set - I've knitted it up as a smock top with bell sleeves, with capri pants and a headband, but the smock top could easily become a sleeveless top or a dress. Capri pants can also be lengthened/shortened to make shorts or long trousers.

It's "modelled" by a Zapf Soft Bodied Baby Born doll.

Apologies for half the pattern being in capitals - Catalpa had happily sat on my laptop while I was making notes :p

Requirements -

3.25mm US3 UK10 needles

4.00mm US6 UK8 needles

DK weight yarn

couple of small buttons, elastic/ribbon/icord for capri pants waist.

Abbreviations -

k - knit

p - purl

stocking stitch - one row knit, one row purl.

kfb - knit front and back of one stitch to make two stitches.

yfwd - yarn forward

Smock Top -

CAST ON 42 STITCHES USING 3.25mm NEEDLES

ROW 1 - (K1,P1), REPEAT TO END

ROW 2 - (P1,K1), REPEAT TO END

ROW 3 - (K1,P1), REPEAT TO END

CHANGE TO 4.00mm NEEDLES

WORK 18 ROWS OF STOCKING STITCH, ENDING WITH A PURL ROW

NEXT ROW - K9,(K2TOG)X12,K9 (30 STITCHES)

WORK K1,P1 MOSS STITCH FOR 10 ROWS

NEXT ROW - (K1,P1)X3,K1 CAST OFF NEXT 16 STITCHES IN MOSS STITCH, (K1,P1)X3, K1

WORKING ON 7 STITCHES ON RIGHT HAND SIDE, MOSS STITCH 5 ROWS

LEAVE STITCHES ON A STITCH HOLDER

JOIN YARN TO NECK EDGE OF LEFT HAND SIDE AND WORK 5 ROWS OF MOSS STITCH. LEAVE STITCHES ON A STITCH HOLDER.

BACK

CAST ON 42 STITCHES USING 3.25MM NEEDLES

ROW 1 - (K1,P1), REPEAT TO END

ROW 2 - (P1,K1), REPEAT TO END

ROW 3 - (K1,P1), REPEAT TO END

CHANGE TO 4MM NEEDLES

WORK 18 ROWS OF STOCKING STITCH, ENDING WITH A PURL ROW

K9,(K2TOG)X12,K9 (30STITCHES)

(K1,P1)X7,K1 TURN WORK.

WORKING ON THESE 15 STITCHES, WORK 8 ROWS OF K1,P1 MOSS STITCH

NEXT ROW - CAST ON 4 STITCHES, (K1,P1), REPEAT TO END (19 STITCHES)

WORK ANOTHER 3 ROWS OF MOSS STITCH

CAST OFF 12 STITCHES, PATTERN TO END OF ROW.(7 STITCHES)

WORK A FURTHER 3 ROWS OF MOSS STITCH AND LEAVE STITCHES ON A STITCHHOLDER.

REJOIN YARN TO CENTRE BACK AND WORK 9 ROWS OF K1,P1 MOSS STITCH.

ROW 10 - (K1,P1)X5,K1,K2TOG,YFWD,K1,P1

WORK 2 MORE ROWS OF MOSS STITCH

CAST OFF 8 STITCHES, PATTERN TO END OF ROW (7 STITCHES)

MOSS STITCH 3 MORE ROWS AND LEAVE STITCHES ON A STITCH HOLDER.

WITH RIGHT SIDES FACING, GRAFT TOGETHER SHOULDER SEAMS USING KITCHENER STITCH (IF YOU'VE NEVER WORKED KITCHENER STITCH BEFORE, THERE ARE SOME EXCELLENT TUTORIALS ON YOUTUBE THAT TAKE YOU THROUGH STEP BY STEP - IT'S EASY, HONEST).

SLEEVES -

WITH RIGHT SIDE FACE, PICK UP AND KNIT 34 STITCHES ALONG MOSS STITCH BODICE USING 4.00MM NEEDLES.

WORK 5 ROWS OF STOCKING STITCH

CHANGE TO 3.25MM NEEDLES

WORK 3 ROWS OF MOSS STITCH, CAST OFF.

TO MAKE UP - JOIN SIDE AND SLEEVE SEAMS AND WEAVE IN ENDS.

STITCH A BUTTON ONTO TAB AT CENTRE BACK.

CAPRI PANTS

CAST ON 40 STITCHES WITH 3.25MM NEEDLES

ROW 1 - (K1,P1) REPEAT TO END

ROW 2 - (P1,K1) REPEAT TO END

ROW 3 - (K1,P1) REPEAT TO END

Change to 4.00MM needles

Work 24 rows in stocking stitch

Next row - cast off 2, knit to end of row

Next row - cast off 2,purl to last 3 stitches, p2tog, p1

Next row - knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1 (34 stitches)

Stocking stitch 15 rows, ending with a purl row.

Change to 3.25mm needles

Next row - (k1,p1) repeat to end

Next row - k1,p1 (yfwd,k2tog,k1,p1)repeat to end of row.

Next 2 rows - k1,p1 rib

cast off in rib.

To make up - stitch seams on both inside legs and then join pieces by stitching centre front and back seams.

Thread ribbon/elastic or icord through eyelets at waist.

Headband - cast on 6 stitches

Row 1 - K1,P1

Row 2 - P1, K1

Continue until work measures 27cm.

Buttonhole row - k1,p1,cast off next 2 stitches,k1,p1

Next row - p1,k1,cast on 2 stitches,p1,k1

Next - k1,p1

Next - kfb,k4,kfb (8 stitches)

Next - kfb repeat to end of row (16 stitches)

Next - k

Next - kfb repeat to end of row (32 stitches)

Next -k

join contrast yarn and kfb into every stitch (64 stitches)

cast off

To make up - tease ruffle edge with your fingers to make a flower. Sew on button.

Dolls Clothes

2010-03-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

Last week, I offered to fulfil a ravelry RAK and knit doll clothes for a raveler's neice. I knew I had several vintage patterns that I inherited from my Nana.

I happily knitted up a set in 4ply sock yarn, thinking to myself at the time that it wasn't the fastest project in the world because of the thinner yarn. One set complete, I returned to rummage for a different pattern to use. I found another one in 4 ply...and then a set in 3 ply...and then one using 2 ply yarn...what the heck?! These are to dress a doll, not a baby! Impatient, I bought a modern pattern, and coupled the cardigan with a free (lovely) pinafore dress pattern on ravelry. I spent a morning knitting up the t-shirt vest from said pattern to discover it wouldn't fit over my dolls head - and not just a little tight, this was way out.

So another pattern started to form in my mind - something versatile, in double knit, quick and cute. Initially I thought this could be offered on ravelry as a pay-to-download, but I'm not quite confident enough to do that yet, so it's another freebie and hopefully it'll be enjoyed :)

Pattern coming up in next post :)

2010-02-28T15:43:00.000-08:00

Liquid Soap and Wash Cloth/Dish Cloth Set

Simple, but pretty pattern for a Liquid Soap Sleeve and matching cloth. Would make an ideal Mother's Day present, or housewarming. I used cheapish hand soap - I was really going for shape of the bottle, rather than breaking the bank. Try to pick ones up that you can soak the labels off of, rather than bottles that have printing on. When I gift mine, I'll add a handmade tag - "moisturising hand soap", rather than "Sainsbury's Bargainous Soap" ;)

For the beige kitchen set, I used Anchor Magicline, 100% cotton in Beige Block. It took over one ball to make the pair, but I did get the tawashi out of the second ball too. The tawashi is not my pattern, but is wonderful, simple and available free on ravelry here.

For the Beige Soap Sleeve -

Needles - one pair of 4.00mm, UK8, US6.

Cast on 18 stitches.

Row 1 - (K1, P1), repeat to end.

Row 2 - (P1, K1), repeat to end

Row 3 - as Row 1

Row 4 - as Row 2

Row 5 - K1,P1,K1, k2, (yo, sl1, k2, psso the 2k sts), repeat to last 4 stitches, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1

Row 6 - P1, K1, P1, purl to last 3 stitches, K1, P1, K1

Row 7 - K1, P1, K1, K1, (sl1, k2, psso the 2k sts, yo), repeat to last 5 stitches, K2, P1, K1, P1

Row 8 - P1, K1, P1, purl to last 3 stitches, K1, P1, K1

Repeat Rows 5-8 until work will fit around liquid soap, ending with a wrong side (purl) row, then finish off with the buttonhole band as follows -

Row 1 - (K1, P1), repeat to end.

Row 2 - P1, K1, P1, cast off 2 stitches, continue in moss stitch to last 5 stitches, cast off 2 stitches, K1, P1, K1

Row 3 - K1, P1, K1, cast on 2 stitches, (P1, K1) x4, cast on 2 stitches, P1, K1, P1

Row 4 - (P1, K1), Repeat to end

Cast off in moss stitch.

To finish - weave in ends and sew 2 buttons to correspond with button holes.

Cloth -

Needles - one pair of 4.00mm, UK8, US6.

Cast on 54 stitches.

Row 1 (K1,P1) repeat to end.

Row 2 (P1, K1) repeat to end.

Row 3 - as row 1

Row 4 - as row 2

Row 5: k1,p1,k3,*yo, sl1, k2, psso the 2k sts* K1,p1,k1,p1

Row 6: p1,k1,p1,p to last 3 stitches, k1,p1,k1

Row 7: k1, p1, k2 *sl1, k2, psso the 2k sts, yo* K2, p1,k1,p1

Row 8: p1,k1,purl to last 3 stitches,k1,p1,k1

Repeat rows 5-8 12 more times

Repeat rows 1-4, cast off in moss stitch and weave in ends.

Block pieces if necessary.

My cloths measure around 7" square, because I prefer a smaller cloth. If you'd like to make yours larger, increase number of stitches cast on in multiples of 3, and adjust the number of rows accordingly.

The green set has a slimmer sleeve on the soap - 15 stitch cast on. I was experimenting, but prefer the sleeve to be larger - might try a 21 stitch cast on next time. The Green Set is destined for my bathroom, rather than kitchen and therefore the cloth will be used on my face. With that in mind, I used Rowan Luxury Cotton DK - 50% cotton, 50% viscose and 5% silk - it's wonderfully soft and kind to my skin.

Finally, I used Regia 4ply bamboo sock yarn to make a sleeve for a candle jar (I think I just spent a few days totally addicted to the lace mesh pattern to be honest)

Holler at me if there are any glaring errors - there shouldn't be, I've checked it carefully...but if there are, yell. Loudly. Edited to add that there was an error, that has now been corrected...many thanks to SouthernComfortKC on Ravelry for pointing it out :)

2010-02-24T05:39:00.000-08:00

I'm so bad at blogging! Lots of knitting has been cast on and completed since my last post. All of them are little projects and spurred by Ravelympics 2010.

I set a personal challenge to myself to complete 20 projects and enter 10 different events (without entering a project in more than one category). I'm getting there, I think!

Must work out how to make a photo mosaic on flickr of progress so far.

In the meantime, have a picture of liquid soap, both cheap and cheerful - I think the Sainsbury's one was 50p and the Baylis & Harding one set me back a whole pound :p -

New knitting pattern coming soon to posh them up a bit! I'm determined that all gifts this year will be handmade, and will not tax my bank balance, but instead have love and thought in them.

2010-02-15T06:24:00.000-08:00

Stripey bunnies! Another half a dozen bunnies for the Cats Protection centre, this time in stripes. Same pattern as below, but I changed colour every 4 rows (apart from the green stripey bunny, which changed ever 2 rows). Pictured with an itty bitty heart for Valentine's Day :)

This kicked off Ravelympics 2010 for me beautifully.

Started and finished a few more projects - a cupcake pincushion, a little grey rabbit and a new blanket for Catalpa, which is made of the sort of yarn you're embarrassed to admit you've bought but is perfect for a kitty blanket...

It's Wendy Velvet Flake, bought in Kemp's sale for......79p a ball. Catalpa loves it. Such a manly colour for him too *snigger*

I'm just in the process of knitting a baby hat and all-in-one and then I might have a go at writing another pattern that's forming in my mind (and will be another category to enter for the ravelympics :p)

2010-02-08T05:23:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much for the lovely comments on the bunnies - I can't tell you how thrilled I am :) First picture from someone else was posted on Ravelry yesterday - I literally bounced!

Last week led to some tough decisions, resulting in us returning Juniper to the shelter. He had a few personal hygiene problems (refusing to wash himself, rubbing his feet in the litter tray and then decorating the house with poo paw prints...). It seems such a trivial thing, but when you catch yourself sitting on the floor in tears at 1am for the third night on the trot cleaning up kitty poo, you realise you just can't cope with that for potentially the next decade. Despite the shelter's reassurances, I am racked with guilt for returning him although I know it's the right decision for him and for us.

Catalpa continues to settle into our home with ease. In contrast, he is a darling cat. DS has always tolerated my love of cats, rather than sharing it, but Catalpa has changed all that and is currently upstairs curled up on his lap while he studies.

In other news, I have completed a few more knitty projects - the Zinnia dishcloth and my first KAL from KrisKnits. Love them both :) I've signed up for this year's Ravelympics on the Knitted Toy team, so just deciding what to knit for the duration. I'd like to make some stripey catnip bunnies, and I've a copy of Debi Birkin's new pattern, Pip to work up. Mother's Day is looming in the UK too, so a suitable project for my mum will need to be sourced too - so if anyone reading this has any ideas, please share!

Catnip Bunnies

2010-02-02T03:18:00.000-08:00

These are the bunnies I've been knitting for Cats Protection. They're small, quick to knit, ever-so-simple 2 needle affairs with only the tinsiest bit of seaming required on the ears. Perfect for using up scrappy bits of yarn, and spreading kitty happiness :) I thought I'd offer my pattern for anyone who'd also like to give them a whirl. This is the first pattern I've written up, so apologies for it being so waffly. I've included lots of photos to help you decipher what I'm talking about!

Pattern is available as a free pdf download on ravelry right here.

This pattern can be printed for your personal use, but please don't sell or copy it. Finished pieces may be sold for charity fundraising.

Knit, knit, knit....

2010-02-01T16:18:00.000-08:00

Busy with the knitting needles recently :) First a little notebook covered in yarn, felt and tiny buttons. Yarn is vile acrylic, but perfect for this little project. I had some red dotty felt that was ideal for the fly agaric cap, embroidered the stalk and sewed on tiny little blue and yellow flowers. Undecided yet to have this as a handbag present for me or to give it to my sister for her birthday in March...

And 3 little catnip toys knitted and presented to Catalpa and Juniper - a mouse, an egg and a heart. Here's Catalpa showing his appreciation for his new friends...

I've also been busy knitting little catnip bunnies for Cats Protection - a whole rainbow of them. Just working one more and taking pictures at each stage so I can write up the pattern and offer it on here and on ravelry.

2010-01-30T04:24:00.000-08:00

The plan is to make and donate 50 kitty related things to the Cats Protection to use in their shelters or to sell as fundraisers - my way of helping them to keep going.

So to kick it off, here are 3 fleecy cat blankets -

The fleece was a total bargain - Asda sofa throws, £2 each...or 2 for £3! How ridiculous is that? I should get 4 blankets out of each throw! The red are backed with a cotton fabric, the white has an appliqued heart and machine blanket stitch edging. They're big enough to line blankets, cover "their" side of the sofa - kitty sized!

Then I made 8 catnip sachets -

Fleece back, Laura Ashley's mimi fronts with appliqued felt hearts. Stuffed with a little polyfibre fill and lots of catnip. :)

Total of 11 down, 39 to go!

Meet Juniper and Catalpa!

2010-01-29T07:11:00.000-08:00

Kitties were collected at the weekend, and are settling in well :) Juniper has been on antibiotics for a stomach problem, so kitty litter tray has been vile to put it mildly. I'll be pleased when his tummy is back to normal - this has been a baptism of fire into the world of having house cats!

The pair of them are nosey, exploring everywhere they're allowed to right now. I still have them confined to the kitchen and living room but they'll be allowed free run of the house next week.

I've been busy making them more kitty toys, as well as knitting up a batch for the Cats Protection to sell or use in their fundraising - will blog about those later on.

In the meantime, my life is full of furballs and I'm loving having them around.

New Family Members!

2010-01-16T13:14:00.000-08:00

Before I moved, I lived in the middle of nowhere, and adopted a stray middle-of-nowhere kind of cat. Semi feral, he happily ate all the food I provided and stole as much heat in the house as he could. We loved him to bits :) Our new house is pretty urban, surrounded by other houses, with main roads less than half a mile away. Sadly, it was not the kind of place Cat would enjoy or thrive in and with a lot of tears, we gave ownership of him to a couple in the lane who promised to look after him. He's obviously happy to be able to stay put on the same cushy deal that we offered him, and in typical feline fashion, he misses us...not.

Today we took a trip to the Cats Protection League rehoming centre to see if the void could be filled. We looked at cats and kittens, some miaowing for a fuss which we duly gave them. All shapes and colours - a kitty for every occasion! And it was great, but each cuddle was definitely a "I'm cuddling a cat in a rehoming centre" moment.

Then the staff led us to a small building with an outside run a little distance away from the other cattery buildings. No individual or dual compartments here - just one big living area for the four cats that they currently have that qualify. Immediately, a cat invited itself into my arms and butted my chin with his head. In that instant, he felt like he was mine. DS occupied himself with a large tabby in the corner, and we were both smitten - we'd very much like these kitties to adopt us, please. Nobby (what a name!) is very tiny, black and white, 12 years old(!)...bear with me, it gets better...only has one eye, his ears have bits missing and has a dribbling habit. Benji, DS's playmate is a tabby at the spritely age of 8. Both are fiv positive, the feline equivalent of hiv. They will always be indoors cats because of the fiv. Between them, they've spent 18 months in the centre, overlooked.

They are beautiful boys, Benji is a little shy but Nobby will help him settle in. I can't see Nobby having any problems at all. I've never known such a friendly, trusting cat.

It was only after I came home, having arranged for the home visit on Monday, that their ages really played any part. I know they're both middle aged, but there is no reason why they shouldn't live until they're 16 or more. Not as long as we'd like, obviously, but we all have plenty of time to enjoy the time we have :)

Once the home visit is over, we can bring them home when we like - it'll be better to wait until the weekend, so I'm not flitting off to work, but I'm not sure I can wait that long!

Squeee!

2010-01-15T15:46:00.000-08:00

New to blogging, and I suspect this will just be a record of my own collection of ramblings, and a place to easily bookmark those blogs that I visit regularly.

Hopefully it'll also be a place where I can keep track of some of my projects too, and smile (or groan) when I look back on them all.

I have recently moved house, still in the hell of having boxes to unpack so this initial post should make me guilty enough when I see it in a few months time to finally shift my arse and complete the unpacking process...