Saturday 22 October 2011

A Pretty Little Ta-Dah!

Finally I've started and finished something!!  A cute little cup cosy - and I love it!




Made with King Cole Bamboo yarn.




Lovely stripes in bright pink, light pink and white.  A mixture of single and double crochet. Although I wish I'd done it all in double crochet, as less rows would have been needed - making it quicker and leaving less ends to sew in!!  There were a total of 26 ends to sew in, in total!  A ridiculous amount for an item so small!!!  (Although I do like the look of wider and thinner rows together - so I guess it was worth it!)





Look at those gorgeous pale pink polka-dot buttons!  (Part of my giveaway from Jackie of Sew Special Bears - thanks Jackie!)  And bright pink polka-dot ribbon for an extra bit of detail!  Not at all because the join between the white border and the stripy ends looked like a big pile of poo - all gappy and holey and horrible, and I had to cover it up!  Not at all because of that....  (Sometimes the best "design features" are accidents or cover-ups!)










I love it!


Although, it really took rather a lot of time to make, considering what a mini project it is.  I had some grit stitch involved at one point, which I frogged as it just wasn't going right.  Then what with having to sew all those ends in, and keep fiddling about with and re-doing the white border before I eventually came up with the ribbon idea, which then had to be sewn on - well, it wasn't as quick as it should have been!  But, at least I'm happy with it!!


(I'll try not to think how many squares of the baby blanket I could have made while I was messing around with this unnecessary item!!)  :o)



Friday 21 October 2011

Stupid Cowl!

Yes, stupid cowl!!  (And that's 'cowl', not 'cow', Jenny!  Hehe!  Although a cute little crocheted cow would be cool!)




It's too big now!  The first attempt would have been too small to get over my head - this one is too big!  Also, I'm not sure the stitches/yarn/hook size (something!) is right.  I just don't think it's working as a cowl.  I'm fed up with the whole idea!  I'm going to "frog" it.  (First time I've used that expression - look at me getting all "crochety" - picking up the terms!!)




Ah well, you live and learn.  Although not sure what I've learned?!  Not to make a cowl?!



Monday 17 October 2011

What I've Been Up To...

Well, I've been busy painting my living room!  I'd been thinking of doing it for months, but couldn't bring myself to go through the hassle of actually doing it.  I was lying in bed on Saturday morning and I suddenly decided that the time had come!  Off I went to Homebase, bought a pot of paint and got to work!


I am loving it!  It is a Crown Naturals colour called Snowdrop, and looks so light and bright!  My living room doesn't get a lot of light (you may have read me whinging about my dingy flat in the past!) so this light colour really brightens it.  It was a light beigey colour before - which did look nice, and I did like it, but this is just lovely!  And it was time for a change, as I last painted it 5 and 1/2 years ago when I moved in.


I've still got one more coat to go on one wall - the most fiddley wall which has the window and the radiator on - lots of awkward places to try to paint around.  Typically I had painted that one wall a bit of a darker colour last time, so it needs three coats.  It would be the tricky wall that needs an extra coat - delightful!


I also had a family meal yesterday, to celebrate my brother's 30th birthday, which was lovely.  He is a big fan of sweets, so I made him this as an extra present:




I filled the bowl with blue shredded tissue paper and sweets.  I made the letters out of card and stuck them onto acetate, so that they were bobbing about above the bowl.




A bit more crochet has been done on the cowl and the baby blanket - but I will save that for another post!


Bye for now...



Tuesday 11 October 2011

I've Started a Cowl!

I know I should be working on the baby blanket, but I had a sudden desire to make a scarf!  I'd seen this lovely scarf on Cupcakejojo's blog, which got me inspired!  I have also seen quite a few lovely cowls at Annaboo's house, here and here.  Check out both those blogs, they're amazing!

Well, I decided I wanted to do stripes inspired by Cupcakejojo, but a cowl inspired by Annaboo's house!  (Also, I thought a cowl would require less length, therefore less work, and there might be a slim chance I'd finish it!!)

For a while I've been loving ripple blankets - the pattern is from Attic24's blog.  I love this ripple blanket!  I've seen it on a few blogs, and adore it!  My lovely blogging friend Becky is actually making one over at The Fluff Pot!


So I thought maybe I'd make a stripey rippley cowl!  But things did not go to plan!


I don't really know what I was doing, but I got this far:




...then I realised that it wouldn't actually go over my head to get to my neck, once it was joined together!  I'd made it too small!  I'm not sure what was going on in my simple little brain!!



(Pictures aren't great as always - especially now it's getting dark earlier!)

So, I ripped it apart and started again!  (Annoying, as it took me ages to get that far!)  I decided that maybe the ripple is better left for a blanket or cushion... and have decided on a different design.  It's one I'm kind of making up as I go along.  I hope I will be able to show you a finished item at some point in the not too distant future!  For now, here is a glimpse...



Sunday 9 October 2011

A Few of my Favourite Things...

Hello!  I was just looking through my blog at some of the things I have made this year, and I thought I would do a post about a few of my favourite things.


I've not been making (or finishing!) much lately, so it was good to see some of the things I had finished when I was more 'in the zone'!


This post is like one of those episodes they do in a series, where they just recycle a load of clips from other episodes - I always hate those!  Oh dear, what a cop out!  :o)  Well, here goes...


The PE Bag I made for my friend's daughter: (post)




The funky cafetiere cosy: (post)




I really love that cafetiere cosy - I am extremely careful when making coffee, as I still live in fear of spilling anything on it!  (Not sure how washable it is!)


African Flowers which got turned into a hanging: (post)




Lavender heart: (post)




A couple of things I made for a Button Swap I was part of - a drawstring bag and a lavender bag: (post)




And that will do for now, as I can't be bothered to do any more!  :o)


Hope you're all having a great weekend!



Sunday 2 October 2011

Baby Blanket Progress

Here is the latest progress with the baby blanket for my nephew, due on Christmas Day.  I've got a way to go.  I'm not sure how many squares I'll need to do, but a lot more than six!







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