Christmas presents
Guess what horrible task I had to do on Saturday, go on, here’s a photo to help…
If you can’t guess I’ll let you know at the end of this post!
I’ve been very organised this year, mainly due to not having the computer for a while and have made quite a few bits for Christmas. Unfortunately I can’t show any pictures yet, the various people not having received them yet! I’ve signed up for a couple of swaps again both over on the wonderful crafteroo forum, a Christmas bauble swap and the secret santa so I have been beavering away!
A couple of pictures I can show though are of a pressie for my boys. They have been asking me to make them something for a while and while I know they are being lovely, I wanted to make something they would actual wear! So I decided on a scarf each, but what colour, wool and stitch to use? I can safely say this has been the most thought about and experimented on present this year! I decided on sock wool as I didn’t want it too chunky and I thought a variegated one would look nice, but finding colours that are really boyish isn’t that easy. After lots of internet searching I came across this
regia galazy sock wool. There are various colourways, but they are all supposed to knit up in this sort of galazy, swirly effect. So I got 2 ball of this one and 2 balls of a slightly darker blue, they can’t be the same!
Wool sorted, but what stitch? I was worried that I wouldn’t get the pattern so I rang my mum and asked the average stitch number in a knitted sock, 40ish it turns out so fine, that how wide it was going to be. So first I did a sample of hdc’s hoping it would be enough to get the pattern but also nice and quick to do.
No. So then I did a sample of dc and where I was seeing the pattern (ish) the stitch just didn’t look right.
So I next tried a rib, but in a finer wool it didn’t look right either. I was wanting a stitch that didn’t look to ‘handmade’, I know, its shocking isn’t it, trying to make something look machine made so they will wear it – what have I produced…
Anyway, while I can knit, technically, it would take me forever to do and would almost definitely look handmade, I remembered that Tunisian crochet has a knit stitch and that is on my list of things to do too!
So I taught myself Tunisian crochet! I thought it would be quite complicated, keeping all those stitches on the hook looked frighteningly like knitting – but I was wrong, its really quite easy! So this is the basic stitch
and this is the knit stitch! Perfect! So I have ordered a tunisian hook from purplelinda, as if I want the scarf bigger than 10 stitches I will need a proper hook!
I’ll post more pictures when I get started, fingers crossed the post is okay.
Oh and that photo at the top, I had to wash and bleach the santa wigs and beards ready for the round table christmas float, which starts going around Barry again this week – god they were manky!
Hunkering down for Christmas
I love this time of the year, I love wrapping up and walking in the crisp winter sun and I love the dark nights when you put the fire and everything glows with warmth. Its snuggly weather and I love snuggling. I love the warm colours of Christmas too, there are bits of deep red, rich greens and warm browns already making their way into our house, I know its too early for the tree, but surely not the odd decoration, we need time to enjoy them!
Jezzabel my amazing crocheting buddie has just written her first pattern on her forgeous blog for an eight pointed star and I love making these, they are so quick to whip up and it is such a nice pattern, what do you think? (and after waxing lyrical about how I love the dark winters, it is now trying to snow so it is so dark, great for taking pictures!)
I pinned them out and pva’d them to give them a bit of stiffness
And one for me too, I was messing about the other week and found a pattern in ‘Beyond the Square, crochet motifs’, that looked a bit different. Its very simple, you just increase 2 doubles in each stitch on each round for 6 rounds, then do a sort of reverse double for the final round. With the addition of some beads on wires for a bit of rigidity I was quite pleased with it, though it does hurt the hands after the 5th round!
Right, I need to crack on with the advent calander, its looking good!
I’m still here!
Its been a while, we had a computer virus that messed EVERYTHING up and it took a fair while to sort. But I always say every cloud has a silver lining and not being able to access the computer for a couple of weeks means I have actually accomplished quite a bit! It has been quite liberating, almost like a detox, initially I was so frustrated not being able to chat with fellow crafters on crafteroo, read blogs I love, just wander around for general inspiration, let alone get on with my NIGHTMARISH maths course (more about later, though it won’t be pleasant) sorting out football stuff for my youngest team (i’m the secretary, please don’t laugh) and also panicking that I may sell something from my shops and not know, so the buyers think I’m a complete shoddy operation…
However, I am back in the land of the living and having just uploaded my camera programme on the computer I can also show you some pics of recent activity.
First up, I’ve been wanting to make a reusable advent calendar for the last few years but never really had the time. Also the boys are getting older so sooner rather than later was the idea! Nothing too big otherwise I would spend a fortune filling it, but big enough to be an actual decoration.
So I cut out 50 (I know 24 seems to be the norm, but 24, that just seems odd?) red felt stockings, got my bits and bobs out, beads, thread, trimmings and started playing!
So what do you think? I’ve finished 20, the last few are going to have a bit more embroidery on, sort of Scandinavian type style I think. I am imagining pinning them to some twine with wooden clothes pegs that I may stick numbers onto, I’m not sure yet, but more photos when its finished!
I received my suprise gift from spoiltpig, remember Chrissy is doing that fantastic idea of donating all proceeds to Oxfam in return for a surprise gift, isn’t it fabulous!
Aside from feeling all warm and glowy, I get this gorgeous gift that I would never have chosen myself, but I absolutely love, its chunky and sparkles and feels wonderfully smooth in your hand like a worry stone almost. If you still haven’t bought all your xmas presents yet I do suggest you pop over to her site, she has raised £301 so far for Oxfam, like I said, its win win!
I spent last weekend making the most stunning mincemeat, really its the best I’ve ever tasted, and I made it!! Its from Ali over at very berry handmade , its so easy to do and the house smelt wonderful for the whole day! I used a variety of jars and it made 7 and should last for a year, though really it has little chance in our house. Mince pies are a favourite of my boys and every year I think that I should make these more often, why only in December? So 2011 is going to be the year of the mince pie in our house!
Finally, for now, I’ve just had my latest turorial published in Beads and Beyondmagazine. Though I can’t show you a picture as I can’t find it, when we lost everything due to the virus our friend said he managed to save the pictures, but they are hidden somewhere in the depths of the computer… but I’m not thinking about that or I may start to panic, suffice to say they are a gorgeous cluster of bangles, crocheted in cotton then stiffened to maintain their shape and they are quite vintage in style.
Well, I’m sure your cup of tea has gone cold, I’ll be back with more pics of what I’ve been creating soon x
Crafting for Charity
Spoiltpig, a crafting buddie from crafteroo makes gorgeous, original and well made jewellery in resin and I can say this with confidence as I have bought from her in the past for various presents.
Well Chrissy has come up with an inspired idea for this Christmas.
This season, in a bid to raise money and awareness for some of the great things that Oxfam does, I shall be crafting for charity and for YOU. For every donation made to Oxfam via my virginmoneygiving page (like JustGiving, only even better), I will send a surprise present from SpoiltPig Jewellery. Everything from stocking fillers to one of a kind Couture pieces!
If you go to her page craftychristmas2010 there is lots of info on how much she has raised so far and where the money is going.
So if you fancy a gorgeous suprise and to feel really good about it too this christmas, pop over and have a look, it’ll get you thinking!
The Forest of Dean
Just one picture and a few words, we’ve just had a week of this along with lots of food, drink, great company, exhausting cycle rides and wonderful hikes. We didn’t want to come home…
