Shopping for Crafty Sorts

I've still got the colouring bug but this time the result has been more productive - birthday cards. I was itching to get my hands on the Garden Grow stamp set from Altenew's new release and it arrived in the UK last week courtesy of the wonderful Make the Day Special on-line store.  This sketchy informal style is perfect for the Kurtake watercolour pens I've been playing with recently. It really doesn't seem to matter if my colouring is not perfect - in fact the more roughly I apply the colour the better I like the result!

I've also enjoyed a bit of 'me time' stamping these tags (using Knit Bits stamp set from Papertrey Ink) for my friend Jan who has been celebrating a special anniversary this week. Jan's Mum bought this tiny wool shop 50 years ago as a going concern from a Mrs Ceri Griffiths who at the time just happened to be our elderly next door neighbour. My Mum remembers Mrs Griffiths gave up her shop as she was finding the tiny staircase to the first floor difficult to climb.


 

Here is Jan with our lady mayor and in the photo you might just be able to see inside this Aladdin's Cave of delights. If you knit or crochet the shop is a must-visit when in the area.  As you can see the place is absolutely stuffed full to overflowing with yarn and other knitty delights.
 

 
And as from this week there is even more reason to visit as Jan has opened a small patio/garden area to the side of the shop through persuading the Police Station next door to sell part of their garden.  Now visitors can sit and enjoy a little yarn therapy in this secret space.... and might even be offered the cup that cheers!!!

  
So I would like to congratulate Jan on her achievement in keeping this fabulous resource open for us local crafty sorts. No mean feat in these days of internet shopping and vast shopping parks. I'm sure there are precious few local businesses can boast 50 years in the same family and even longer in the same historic building.

I pinched these pics from a local facebook page and hope they don't mind.  And you can read a bit more about the shop here.

Happy Spring, spring, spring!

Oh, the barnyard is busy in a regular tizzy,
And the obvious reason is because of the season
Ma Nature's lyrical, with her yearly miracle
Spring, Spring, Spring.

(Seven Brides for Seven Brothers)

Today is officially the first day of spring - and it certainly has been spring-like here in the UK.  Another mild, sunny day filled with birdsong and daffodils - I hope its been the same where you are.

I finished my french knitting project today too (inspired by Eline's WinterHuis).  I wound the knitted tube round and round a beehive shaped plastic honey bottle (empty of course), sticking it to the plastic with double sided tape.  I'll be able to fill the bottle with water and real flowers but for the photo I added some rather dusty silk anemones - just to get the effect. 

 














And the theme for today has definitely been anemones.  The retro anemone patterned tablecloth I recently won on ebay arrived this morning and I also found this lovely embroidery pattern when thumbing through a March 1954 Woman and Home magazine. I won't be able to send away for the embroidery transfer but with all the resources we have for reproducing images today its not beyond any crafter to copy an old pattern.  I bought the tablecloth to cut up into pieces for old fashioned peg bags but as usual I'm feeling rather loathe to take my scissors to it at the moment!

Mollie's Mice

My Mollie mice have all reached their new homes safely so I'm posting the family portrait I took before they 'left home'.  Meet Flo, Miss Daisy and Florence.  Mollie Mouse has stayed at home to help me in my craft space.  They were quite fiddly to make but I enjoyed myself, especially knitting the little cardigans and sewing the dresses.  I think if I make any more I'll have to rethink the pattern and make some alterations. I really need to make putting the heads and bodies together a bit easier.

 I wanted to send cards with my mice and had been meaning to try out this design I found on Little Birdie Secrets a while ago.  I die cut my butterflies in sugar paper.  Did you use it in school art lessons?  I bought a thick pad of the paper many years ago and I'm still using it!  I love the soft muted shades and as long as you don't want to use anything very detailed, clear stamps work well on it.  I used a reverse polka dot stamp and matching Distress Inks here.

Supplies: PTI butterfly die, Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Stamps: PTI Friendship Jar (I used the polka dot jar filler), Think Big Favorites #2

Ongoing projects.... and on and on and on!

I'm ashamed to say I've been knitting this pullover for at least 18 months! It was supposed to be my son's Christmas present 2010!  I didn't really pick it up at all during 2011 but found a new enthusiasm for it in the New Year and have finished the back and threequarters of the front.  So I'm well on the way now and want to get it done. 

Another project on the go is finding the perfect crochet heart pattern.  So far this one and this one are my favourites.  Both are similar and in the amigurami style, but one is worked from the top down and the other from the bottom up.  The loops are my own addition as I want to turn the hearts into keyrings, phone charms or fill them with lavender to hang in a wardrobe.  I might want to add some surface decoration too - a bit of embroidery, felt shapes or perhaps wooden beads.


Promise I'll show some finished projects before too long!!

Knit Me a Man Please!

I went through a phase of buying old knitting patterns a few years ago and looking through them last night I was reminded of Christmas 2005 when my sister jokingly said "knit me a man" when I asked her if there was anything she would like for her gift.  So I did!  And here he is photographed just after I finished him and when my sister unwrapped him.  She named him Jim, after my Mother's wartime GI boyfriend. He's an airman - I had wanted to knit the soldier but didn't have the right colour yarn for his uniform at the time.

In case you would like to knit yourself or a friend a man for Christmas, here is the pattern. As with the cut-out crib in my last post, you can download the images by right clicking and saving to your hard disk.

As you can tell, the pattern was published during WW2 and I find the lines below each doll pattern quite touching.  I can't bear to think how many Daddies didn't come home after the war.  But in jollier mood, here's another from the same era - Father Christmas and one of his Gnomes.

Some time to myself today

I've been a bad blogger over the past couple of weeks but I have been keeping my hands busy with lots of Christmas projects. There will be stuff to see soon for those who are interested, including my second idea for those little Christmas cottages (see below). But to prove I have created something recently, I'm showing off a couple of projects here.

I finished this Cedar Leaf Shawlette for my sister's birthday at the end of October. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and will be making one for myself after Christmas. Its a gorgeous pattern I purchased and downloaded from Alana at Never Not Knitting. I love the way she presents her pattern PDFs - they are a pleasure to knit from. I've plans to knit her Shawl Collared Cowl for my nieces for Christmas.

And for any other knitters out there, I'm sharing this sweet image I used for the card at the top of this post. I made it for the birthday of one of the girls in our Knit & Natter group last week. Its another copyright-free image from one of my Dover books. Very suitable for any knitter you might need a card for. I've also used that lovely Hero Arts wreath stamp that everyone seems to have in their stash at the moment, and the knitted stitch background stamp from Claire's (Waltzingmouse Stamps) Faux Fun set - perfect for presenting all my knitting and crochet projects!
Had a few hours to myself this afternoon, so I demanded the car from my son and nipped down the valley to our local seaside town for a couple of things I can't purchase here. Its been a lovely bright day and the high wind we've had over the past few days has disappeared, so I decided to walk on the beach and watch the sunset. I love the beach like this, empty of all but a few dog walkers and the sea birds searching for their suppers.
I'd have stayed longer but it was almost dark and getting cold. I think there will be a frost tonight.

This is how you make one.....

One or two people have asked if there is a pattern for my scented sachets and I thought I should write the instructions here - but really they just couldn't be easier!
I start with a knitted or crochet pocket - the knitted ones are 40 stitches and 24 rows garter stitch. Cast off but don't tie off the last stitch and use a crochet hook to elongate it into a chain about 7" long. Slip stitch the end of the chain into that last stitch to form the fastening cord. Join the back seam and close the bottom using the same yarn and a tapestry needle. The crochet pockets are 37 chain for the foundation row, work a treble (double crochet in the US) into the third chain from hook and then one treble (double) crochet into each chain, joining into a round when you get to the end, being careful not to twist the ring - ask me how I know this! Work about 6 rounds double crochet and in the same way work a chain from the last stitch for the fastening cord. Use up all your odd balls of yarn - double knitting (I think its called worsted in the US) works best for me and size 4mm knitting needles or crochet hook.

Make a pocket about 4" square from some pretty fabric. Depending on the size of my fabric scrap I either cut two squares or a strip with the fold at the top of the sachet. Leave the base of the square open for stuffing. I use toy stuffing and a handful of lavender/spices/rose petals. Enclosing the filling in the stuffing keeps the sachets nice and soft with no sharp poky bits coming through. Close the bottom seam - I find hand sewing the easiest and neatest method but machine stitching would be faster I suppose. Finish off by sewing a matching button to the front of the pocket and hooking the chain loop over the button from the back. See - EASY!





I've also had a request for the little girl peeling apples image I used on my autumn bookmark. She's an image from one of my Dover copyright-free books so I think its in order for me to reproduce her here for sharing. Click on the image to open then right click to save to your computer. Enjoy!


PS: Just read my blog friend Yuki's lovely comment! If you can't knit or crochet what about cutting up an old knitted jumper for the pocket and using ribbon or twine for the fastening. Might try it myself to see how it comes out.

Very excited!

I really enjoy making these little lavender sachets for my local charity shop - its been a nice way to turn some of the yarn and fabric remnants I've accumulated over the years into funds for a good cause. And as the festive season is on the horizon, last week I thought I'd make some Christmas Spice versions, with crushed cloves and cinnamon sticks replacing the lavender.

Being quite pleased with them myself, you can imagine how excited I was to receive an email from a lady who had bought one and asking if I could make some for her small shop. Don't you love it when someone likes what you've made. I almost feel like I've won a prize or had a promotion! But I'll be busy, busy, busy over the next few weeks as I've also landed myself a little part-time job, and what with my voluntary commitments too, it will almost seem like I'm back in full time employment!

My little note books have also sold quite well recently so I made a few more with an Autumn theme using my lovely Papertrey Friendship Jar stamps. And what do you think to these Halloween gift tags - I thought they would be ideal to turn inexpensive sweets into Halloween 'trick or treat' ammunition easily and cheaply. We don't go overboard on Halloween here in the UK but its nice to give any small members of the family a little something on the night.

Just Enough Ruffles at dawn!

Much too late I decided to knit Laura Chau's Just Enough Ruffles Scarf for my niece's 15th birthday tomorrow. The sun was rising when I finished it and apart from being so last minute, another trauma arose - I didn't have enough yarn to complete the pattern! But I found adding a couple of rows in white didn't look too bad, although I would have preferred it all one colour. And when I tried it on it felt very comforting and soft around my neck so I think I can call it a success and all it needs is for my niece to like it too. Being last minute also means I have to rely on the Royal Mail to get it there in time but I have to say they've not let me down in the past.
I bought this Rowan Cotton Rope yarn at a car boot sale a couple of years ago and it knitted up beautifully but I think next time I'll use a double knit for a softer, more open fabric. I enjoyed the pattern but at 5.00 am I thought I'd never finish casting off (binding off) the 600 stitches!

Granny's Bonnet and Shawl

Its months since I've even logged on to Ravelry, let alone added anything to my page but I might just show off my latest project as I really like the way it turned out. Ysolda Teague's Damson shawl is perfect for my Mum as she has taken to wearing the lap blanket I made last year round her shoulders and of course as its a blanket it keeps falling off - but this little shawl is the perfect size and should stay put when she wears it. Its knitted from top to bottom on a circular needle and I used a ball of sock yarn I've been hoarding for a couple of years. I liked the finished project so much I started another straight away!

And to go with the granny shawl, the garden is absolutely full of granny's bonnets at the moment - Aquilegia. It self-seeds all over the place and is such a fabulous plant at this time of year I let it go wherever it wants to - only pulling it up from the paths.

As usual they have crossed with eachother and produced some gorgeous blue, purple, white and violet bonnets - I think this is my favourite this year.

Creative Weekend

I love the face of this Painted Lady butterfly I snapped in the garden yesterday. It was very hot in the sun and the pink geranium is rather over exposed but I really like the way you can see its 'tongue' sipping nectar. Hard to believe this fragile creature migrates from Africa to spend the summer in our gardens. I believe there has been a huge explosion in their numbers this year and you can find out why here
I really enjoyed Springwatch this year - there were some beautiful films and some of it came from here in North Wales.

One of my great-nieces is 3 tomorrow and I knitted this little bag for her. Little girls always seem to like bags and purses. The stamps on the tag are from Claire's Gingerbread set at Waltzingmouse Stamps. I wanted to put a gingerbread man inside the bag but didn't have time to bake some and couldn't find any in the local shops, so she has a chocolate shortbread cookie instead.

I've been quite creative this weekend as a friend had asked me to make her some wineglass charms (she's posh and entertains a lot - nothing like me!) and I hope she likes them. I've had these plastic beads for about 20 years and they were just waiting for the right project. I wound the silver wire round a very thick knitting needle to make the ring and used a head pin to attach the beads. Then I formed the hook closure with a pair of round nosed pliers. The container had hair clips in it and I sanded the top to remove the maker's logo. The circle stamp is from a Papertrey set - Holiday Tags.

How much???!!!

I made this card for a friend in Denmark who collects stories written by the author Rosamunde Pilcher and were published in Woman & Home magazine in the 50s & 60s. We both collect the mags and I had 6 to send to her today. I expected to pay around £12-15 postage but it was £28.99!! I nearly died! I could probably have flown there to deliver them for less!

I've had rather a miserable weekend with a heavy cold and spent most of it knitting by the fire - which gave me a chance to finish the lap blanket for my sister. I made one for my Mum for Christmas and she's used it a lot during this cold weather. I bought 2 cones of this yarn in a charity shop some years ago and until now never found the right thing to make with it. I'm very pleased with they way they've turned out. I used my favourite Addi circular needles. The gathering bands stop the blanket constantly falling off your knees. Lovely to cuddle up with. On to the next project....