Enjoying the Colours

There have been some beautiful colours to admire this Autumn.  The trees have been just amazing.  It's a delight to go for my morning walk and marvel at the gorgeous yellows, reds and oranges.

I've been knitting up some colourful goodness of my own.  My Fair Isle cardigan is now complete.

It's knitted entirely from leftovers of gorgeous Shetland 4ply wool, a mix of Jamieson & Smith and Jamieson's Spindrift.

In total I used 19 different colours and 369g of yarn.  It's a true stashbuster.

I'm really pleased with how it looks and the colour combination is just perfect.

I'm loving knitting Fair Isle (I always do).   It gives me so much pleasure to see the colour patterns evolving.  The only thing I have never knitted in Fair Isle is socks.  For some reason I've shied away from these.  I think I'm worried about the fit.  Socks need to fit well and if the tension is wrong on the Fair Isle, then it could be a disaster.  But I feel that the time is right for me it give it a try, so my next Fair Isle project will definitely be socks.  Just got to steel myself to cast on and get on with it.

Last week was my husband's birthday.  I thought I'd share a picture with you of the cake I made him (I pinched the idea from Pinterest).

He liked the surprise and the cake was delicious. (For anyone concerned, Barbie's legs fitted back on no problem afterwards!)

Have a good weekend.

Christmas Is Coming

Hello everybody, how are you today?  I hope you're well.  I'm having a good week tackling jobs around the house and ticking them off the list - always a good feeling.

At the moment I'm reading this book -

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin - a very inspiring read and I'm aiming to put into practice some of her wise advice.  No one ever said "No" to more happiness in their lives.

So I'm tackling jobs I've been putting off, one of which was making a start on getting organised for Christmas.  I'm not brave enough to leave it for any longer.  At last, and with a sense of relief at having got started, I've conjured up some Christmas cards.

The inspiration came from Pinterest, where else? (Although I can't seem to find the original site that the inspiration came from to give it full credit)

It's a simple idea, using upturned paper hearts to create the shape of the Christmas tree with a few little sparkles and a ribbon added.

So that's one Christmas job complete - only a few dozen more to go - but at least I've made a start - and therefore it adds to my happiness!

How is your Christmas preparation coming along?

Rosie Posie Granny Bag

As you know, I spend a lot of time over on Pinterest, being inspired and drooling over the lovely pictures of crafty makes.  So much to make, so little time.

Crochet bags have been an attraction for some time - a nice big roomy bag, that will hold everything. I really need one.

In my head I have made several bags and they have all been gorgeous!  But I think it's about time I actually took up the crochet hook and yarn and made a proper start.

I have a rough idea of what I want - it'll be something like a tote bag, with a zip closing.  Other than that, I'll just have to see what happens in terms of size.

I'm crocheting squares, all identical.  I did think about varying the colours but at the moment they're all the same colour.

The pattern I'm using is Sandra Paul's Rosie Posie Grannie Square.

The pattern is beautifully explained and a delight to crochet.  So far I have 7 complete squares, there's a long way to go, but so far so good.

Little House

To take my mind off my knitting dilemma, I had fun the other day painting this little house.

Yellow and pink my favourites.

It started out as a plain brown house-shaped box.

Inspiration came from Pinterest, these lovely ceramic houses by Flossy Teacake.

So I gave my house a coat of white paint.

I drew on the door and window frames.

Then I dug out some old cans of emulsion paint and set to work.

I used little squares of acetate to cover the windows and a piece of painted card for the door.

And I'm very pleased with the result.

Pinterest - it's so inspiring

Saw this and thought it very appropriate, so couldn't resist sharing.

We can't be good at everything but at least we can try.

Pebble Penguins

Some tiny pebbles that are now penguins.

I have so many pebbles around the house (a good thing about living close to the beach - or is it a bad thing?) I may just make a whole colony of penguins!

Inspiration came, as always, from Pinterest - where we would be without Pinterest?

Christmas Dove

My Christmas makes are progressing well.  I'm working my way through the list of things I want to make.  Unfortunately, I keep adding to the list.  Not a day goes by without me seeing something inspiring on Pinterest or Ravelry, and so my list grows ever longer.

Most of my makes are totally hush hush - not to be revealed until Christmas Day, but I thought I would share this crocheted project with you.

Isn't it just so cute?

I thought it would make a lovely Christmas decoration.  The pattern is called Amigurumi Doves and it's by Karla Fitch.  It's not a free pattern but very reasonably priced and very well explained.  You can see details of the pattern on Ravelry, here.

It would be fun to make the bird in interesting colours - I'll add that to my after-Christmas-making-list.  Meanwhile it's back to the Christmas-making-list.  I do love lists - but I've a feeling mine are getting out of hand!

Fabric Frame

November here already - it's one of my favourite months because it means I'm busy getting stuck into Christmas planning and making.

The only problem is that I like to be very secretive about my Christmas makes - I love the "SURPRISE" element - so I can't share with you what I'm making at the moment as Grace and Eve will read all about them.

[Don't worry Eve, I'm not knitting any more Nativity figures!]

Fortunately, I had a break from Christmas crafts, a small diversion (I do so love a diversion!), so I do have something I can share with you today.

Here it is, inspired by something seen on Pinterest, a fabric covered frame.

I started by finding an old framed print that was no longer wanted.

I stripped it down to basics (I kept the print - it might come in useful the some other project - you never know).

I cut lots of strips of fabric from my rag bag collection.

Then I got really and truly sticky with the PVA glue.  I just wound the strips around the frame, being very liberal with the glue.

Some of the fabric strips had a decorative lace edging which I retained and I think it looks good.

All finished - but what to put inside it?  I thought about suspending something but I haven't found anything suitable yet.

For the time being I've propped it up against the window.

And maybe it doesn't need anything in it - I can just enjoy the view.

I hope you are having a jolly time crafting, whether it's for Christmas or not.  I'm back to my secret stuff but I'll try and find more things to share with you before too long.

Papier-mâché

Isn't paper wonderful!  It's amazing the things that you can do with it.  It's just so versatile.  I've recently been having fun doing some papier-mâché - up to my elbows in bits of newspaper and paste.

Here's what I made.

A rather elegant cup and saucer!

Totally useless and impractical, but nevertheless, fun to make and quite challenging to get the shapes right.

As you can see, both the cup and saucer are a bit skew-whiff.  But I think it adds character to them.

There are some lovely items made with papier-mâché to be seen on Pinterest. I'm a big fan of Julie Arkell's work.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to make a little figure, or a doll or even a head.  Something to work on - but I'll need a lot of practice!

Embellishments

Today's little diversion - buttons, felt and embroidery thread.

I saw something similar on Pinterest and couldn't resist having a go.

So I sorted through my button collection to find suitable buttons - ones with four holes, not two.

Narrowed down the candidates - a metal one, some shell ones and a few with a bit of colour.

I attached the button to the felt with a nice cross stitch and embroidered some petals.

Snipped round the outside and there you have it - I think this one looks like a sunflower.

They are so quick to make, I had three more completed in no time.

I think they would look good as brooches or they would make gorgeous embellishments on a birthday card. What do you think?