Some finished things and good news!

I keep promising photos, so here we go, just in time for Christmas!

 

First up is my friend Emma modelling the Space Princess hat I knitted from 'Knits for Nerds'. Fairly quick knit, although the 'braids' took a while and were very repetitive. If I made this again I'd definitely make the hat part larger, and I thought it was too small. Does keep your ears nice and warm though!

 

Next up is the completed bracelet kit from CC Box 17. Really please with how this turned out, but I didn't realise how big it would be when I added the fastening - it's now too big for my wrist! Ah well. It was fun to make, and at some point (when I have some free time!) I'll go back and alter/redo it. I'm tempted to remake it with the purple beads that came in box 16...

You might remember the scale mail wristwarmers I made earlier in the year. Here's a necklace to go with them! I volunteered to be a pattern tester for Crafty Mutt (http://craftymutt.etsy.com) ages ago, and she got in touch at the end of November with a new pattern. As you can see, it was a bit of a mash up of scales, as these were the only colours I had in, and I ran out a little bit at the end which is why there are random silver scales on the top right! This was a lovely knit, nice and simple, plus it knitted up fast which was a bonus. I'm tempted to try it again, with a bit more thought to scale placement.

And finally... A blurry photo of my newest Christmas tree ornaments. We have some glittery red mushrooms on our tree from last year (the only decorations left in the shop when we went it) and some glittery reindeer... I saw a similar thing on Pinterest and decided to get some Christmas dinosaurs done. The panther was in my CCbox 16 kit, but I wasn't keen on the necklace idea, so he was sparkled up as well. The boyfriend helped me with this one and we had a great time making them together, even if we did end up covered in glitter and glue.

Also... we've exchanged contracts this week on the house we wanted! We should get keys mid January. It's really exciting, but it does mean we have lots to do, packing up house stuff, notifying suppliers etc etc. I have a feeling that crafting is going to be put on the back burner for a while - as I also have 2 exams in January.

Right, I'd better get offline - there are still Christmas presents to be bought, and then wrapped! Where has December gone this year?

CC Box 17

CC Box 17 arrived last week, and I was really impressed, especially after the let down (in my opinion) of CC Box 16.

This month, the theme was Medieval. Not my usual cup of tea, but I thought the crafty goodies worked well!

Here's the art card, along with a fat quarter of lovely patterned fabric and the usual craft papers (I never know what to do with these, they're so pretty and I don't want to cut them up!)

There were some lovely fleur de lis charms, a couple of crown charms and 2 metal filigrees, along with some shiny red beads, siver fabric paint and washi tape, which I'm looking forward to using.

It wouldn't be a CC Box without the kit - some pretty shiny pearl beads and seed beads to make a bracelet with - I'm looking forward to attempting this over the weekend if I get chance! There were also some metallic fibres in the box - they fuse together if ironed under protective paper - no idea what to do with these, but I'm sure they'll be useful for something!

And in other good news, my Sprite Stitch swap gift arrived safely, and seems to have gone down well! I'll post pictures soon, I promise.

Long time no post...

I really did mean to write an 'anniversary' post at the beginning of the month, but things got busy and I haven't done it. It seems a bit silly to do it now, so I won't.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures for today's post - because I'm rubbish and keep forgetting to take photos! I honestly will have a picture of the Lemming blanket soon, and possibly the swap gift I sent for the Sprite Stitch swap. It went a bit late, but it's gone, and I'm just waiting to hear that the swapee has received it, which whould be in the next few days!

I've also started a new knitting project, and will have pictures of that next time - I've started a Princess Leia hat. So far the hat part is done, and I'm now working on the hair swirls. Sounds odd, but hopefully it will turn out ok.

This week is looking busy, work wise, with a course to go on, as well as the usual college work. I'm also off to watch the snooker (UK Championships) this weekend, which should be good! I've never watched it live, but do enjoy watching it on tv. It'll be a new experience and it's even better because I won the tickets in a Twitter competition!

Enough rambling, I have things that need doing (when do I ever not?!) and I should try to get at least some of them done.

CC Box 16

As promised, here's my post on CC Box 16

The theme this month? The Circus.

I really loved this month's art card, which is by Luke Spooner. I just wish I could get it the right way up on here, grrr!

There were lots of bits and pieces in the box, including some beautiful purple beads, wome red and white stripey buttons, a set of circus stamps (again, the picture wo't go the right way up for some reason - I really must start taking pics on a proper camera instead of my phone) some paper tickets, 3 lovely mask charms, a couple of double sided craft papers plus some temporary tattoos. I love the black and purple circus card, but have no idea what to do with it at the moment. I may just frame it, along with a couple of the art cards from the Crafty Creatives boxes.

 

 

The stamps look like they could be fun, but I'll have to go out and get an ink pad to use them with I think. I'm going to attempt to make a pair of earrings from the beads in the near future, nice and simple ones. What I'll do with the rest of them, I'm not quite sure yet!

 

As well as all of these lovely goodies, there was the kit for this month, which was to make a kitsch animal necklace. My kit contained a lovely black panther, although I'm not sure I'll turn it into a necklace.

 

 

There was also a second suggested 'kit' which was to make some circus themed coasters. The box had some card circles, some black and white circus prints and PVA glue to do this with, and they suggested using the temporary tattoos on these as well. While I may not make the coasters, I'm tempted to decorate a ccouple of plain cardboard boxes with the tattoos, possibly after decopatching them.

 



 

There were some really lovely items in the box this month and my brain is whirring with suggestions of things to do with them.

 

A quick update on the crocheted blanket - only 8 squares left to sew together, then it will be complete! Pictures to follow once it's complete, I promise. I'm hoping to get it finished before Tuesday so I can take it to the local knitting/crochet group. I'm also still working on the Sprite Stitch swap gift, and hope to have it complete this weekend. Lots of crafting to do, too little time to do it in!

 

 

Finished item and some WIPs

It's been a while since I posted, life has been busy! I've been looking at houses, and found a nice one, which has led to lots of learning about mortgages. Exciting stuff! I've also been busy with work for the accounting course I started in September, and we've had a new starter at work.

Even with everything else, I've still managed to find some time to craft! I completed my cowl in Sirdar Giselle. I really love how this turned out - Purse stitch was quite simple to pick up, and resulting in some fairly mindless knitting in front of the TV. Sewing it up was quite easy as well, especially compared to other recent projects! The copper flecks look great next to the blues, I just wish I could get a better photo of it.

And I've done some more work on the Wingspan shawl in King Cole Galaxy since this picture-I'm now on the 4th 'triangle'. I'm really liking how the colours are coming out on this, such a lovely subtle shade change. I'll try to post another pic soon showing the colours a bit better.

But the main thing I've been working on this week is the crocheted blanket. 120 squares. So far I've managed to get 30 squares sewn together (but forgot to take a photo, as I'm silly) and realised that I have a lot of ends to sew in once they're sewn together. If I ever decide to make another blanket like this again, remind me not to use black wool - it's driving me crazy!
Here's a poor picture of most of the squares... there's a lot more black than any other colour, and it makes me want to cry.

 

I'm aiming to get at least 6 squares sewn on each day, so it should hopefully be finished in a couple of weeks. But, you know what they say about good intentions and all that...

 

This weekend I really need to finish off my Sprite Stitch swap gift, which means getting the sewing machine out. I've got most of the weekend to myself, so may indulge in lots of craftyness (and square sewing)

 

The latest Crafty Creative Box arrived this week as well - I'll do a post on that next week hopefully, once everyone else has received theirs so that I don't accidently spoil the contents for anybody.

 

Final (slightly scary) thought for this post - I've been blogging for almost a year (My first post was 2nd Nov). It doesn't seem that long ago I started this nonsense!

 

CC Box 15

I'm pretty late posting this...

 

CC Box 15. I was pretty excited to receive my 3rd Crafty Creatives Box. What would it contain? What would this months theme be?

Here are the contents:

The theme was monochrome, in case it wasn't obvious!

The contents: FQ of monocrome fabric, a CC blank page notebook, art card, chalkboard clip, black and white headed pins, a graphite pencil, Stabilo Sensor pen, domino beads, polymer clay rose, teabag folding squares, some prints from Aubrey Beardsley and the CC kit - needle felting with black and white wool.

I must say, I really like the fabric, although I've not decided what I'll do with it, and the polymer rose and domino charms are pretty too. The pins will most likely come in handy when I decide what I'm doing with the fabric. The art card wasn't my cup of tea, and I'm not fussed about needle felting (although I have a friend who has wanted to have a go for ages, so she'll be having a play with the kit. I might give the tea bag folding a try, but doubt I'll make much use of the pen/pencil/doodle book as I'm not very artistic (I can draw Garfield eating a burger and that's about it!)

If I'm honest, this month's box didn't appeal to me greatly, which is a shame. My friend is happy though, as it means she can try needle felting out! You can't please everybody sadly, and I'm hoping next month's box will be a little bit more suited to me! Hopefully I'll be able to blog about it a bit sooner next time.

Wooooo!

I said I'd sort some photos out, and promise I will soon! But just wanted to say I've finished all of my granny squares! 120 granny squares in black, blue, green and 'flesh'. Now I just need to start fixing them all together...I do still have to tie in the ends of the 9 squares I did yesterday, but the actual squares are done, which is a great feeling :)

I also haven't said anything about the September Crafty Creatives box, hopefully that will be my next post.

Visit to the Black Sheep Wools

I feel like I haven't had much time to craft lately. I was away last weekend - 12 of us spent the weekend in 2 cabins at Sherwood Forest. It was brilliant! We did axe throwing, archery... and did quite a lot of relaxing in the outdoor hot tubs. Absolute bliss.

Before I went away, I went to an event at the Black Sheep Wools in Warrington. This is perhaps my favourite wool shop - they are always really friendly and helpful, and the yarn choice is amazing! Plus they have cross stitch supplies. The event was called "Behind the Scenes with the Sirdar Design team" and was fantastic. Upon arrival I was given a raffle ticket, glass of water (there was some lovely looking fizz but thought I'd better not as I was driving, and there was also orange juice - which I'm allergic to, so water it was!) and a goody bag. The goody bag was a lovely tote bag with the Sirdar brands on it, and inside was a new pattern book for the Giselle yarn, along with a pen and a retrostyled notebook.

They let everyone wander around the shop for a while, waiting for everyone to arrive, and then took us into a separate room in groups to learn more about the design team processes. It was really interesting to learn how the garments are designed and produced from start to finish and then photographed. There were some fantastic garments, and I fell in love with a jumper knitted in Giselle yarn. When other groups were in the room people were free to browse the shop and food was bought around by the staff (lovely sandwiches and nibbles). To end the evening, a raffle was drawn, and there were 2 lots of new Sirdar wool to be won. The whole evening was fantastic, and I'm hoping they do more events like this that I can make it to!

And yes, I did end up buying more yarn. Only 3 balls of Giselle in a beautiful blue/green colour though-and it has brown/copper sparkles in it, I couldn't resist! And some cross stitch supplies... And a new posh crochet hook... The Giselle is already on the needles, and I'm making the cowl from the pattern book using Purse Stitch, which is a new one for me. It's knitting up quickly and I'm excited to wear it already!

Poor photo, but you can see the copper sparkles! (I will start taking photos with a proper camera soon I promise - until then, I'll keep using the camera on my phone)

 

I will try to add some pics next week... but if you want to see the Black Sheep Wools, check out their website http://www.blacksheepwools.com/craft-barn

Lean, mean, crafting machine

I've been crafting. And not just crafting, but actually getting somewhere with things! I have started and completed projects. A fantastic feeling!

I'm going to start with a quick project I did the other weekend while the boyfriend was in Tenerife enjoying the sun

Knitted wristwarmers. With scales. A lovely pattern, which I bought from Craftymutt. Nice, easy knit and they feel lovely (I used Wendy Fusion yarn as it was cheap in my local yarn shop) I'm just waiting for the colder weather so I can get some use out of them! In case you're wondering, the right hand wristwarmer wasn't sewn up when I took the picture.

I also had a go at 'repurposing' some old jeans. These belonged to the bf, but they're too short for him.
I tried to make a bag, and think it turned out quite well for a first attempt!

I even managed to line it with my beautiful camper van fabric! If you saw my last post about the CratyCreatives box14, the 'belt' trim and studs on the right might look familiar.

The thing on the left is a beaded button I had lying around and I thought it would look nice on the bag.
The bag is a good size, nice and deep, and I'm planning to use the jeans pockets as bag pockets, rather than trying to add my own. The strap was made using one of the jean legs, and there's still plenty of denim left over for me to use in the future. Everything was sewn by hand, as I didn't dare use the sewing machine on denim.

I also managed to sew up the bolero I knitted up in April (I really don't know why I waited so long to sew it up - it was pretty easy!) and hopefully I'll have pictures of that to put up soon.

The granny squares are coming along nicely as well - I've done 103 so far, and need another 17 for the Lemming blanket (at least) Hopefully I'll get all the squares done this month, and then I'll have to put them all together somehow!

DWSAL - all the embroidered squares are finished! Now I just need to put them together into some quilt-like form... I have the materials, and now just need the time.

I'm glad I've had lots of crafting time recently - the next few weeks are looking hectic, and I've just started an accounting course for work so will have homework to do on top of everything else.

And it's the Sprite Stitch swap again, Sept - Oct! I've got the details for my swappee, and now need to come up with something cunning. I have a couple of ideas in mind so we'll see what happens!

Oh, and did I mention I've started my latest knitting project? Pics to come next time hopefully!

CC Box 14

This months Crafty Creatives box arrived last week, and I've been itching to get stuck into it. I managed to take a few photos before messing with the contents this time, so... here we go!



So, what's in the box this month? The art card may give you a hint, and the checked paper.

This month the theme is Western! Some really lovely things inside the box this month, including the following:

Some lovely pieces of denim, turquoise beads, decorated craft papers, star shaped studs, suedette floral trim, printed fleece (so soft!) feather charms and a bear fetish pendant.

There were also 2 kits this month, a dreamcatcher kit and a rope basket kit - I'm looking forward to trying both of these.

 

 

I made a charm bracelet over the weekend, and included a couple of the feather charms (I'll try to blog about the bracelet in another post soon)

 

 

I'm still pondering what to do with the denim, fleece, studs and beads, but I'm sure I'll think of something soon. I really liked the theme of CC14, and can't wait to see what they do for CC15!

 



 

 

 

 

Feeling lost

Well, I finally finished off the evil scarf of fluff. I will post pictures soon hopefully. Weaving in the ends was a nightmare. I really must stop buying 'fashion' yarns. While they look and feel lovely, I hate sewing them up!

This means that I currently don't have a knitting project, and I'm feeling a bit lost. This is ridiculous really, as I have lots of other craft pieces to finish off and keep telling myself to finish a couple before starting something new. I've got M'aiq who needs to be finished, and there's lots of work to be done on the Epic Pokemon cross stitch. There's also an unfinished wizard cross stitch, and a lion cub. So why aren't I finishing any of these off? I think it's because I'm a little fed up of threads and needles and hoops at the moment. I've been working on the DWSAL quite a lot recently, and feel like I'm burnt out on needlework. On the bright side, I've done all 11 doctors, and am just finishing the 12th patch - a tardis. Once I've finished the 12th block, I'll wash (and possibly even iron) the other blocks and post some pictures. Then it's just the *small* task of quilting it (I did buy some quilting fabric the other day, so at least I'm prepared!)

Once again, I've made the post pretty word-heavy. So here's a couple of pictures showing my wizard cross stitch WIP - and hopefully it'll be clear why I put it away and stopped working on it!

The background is supposed to be half stitches... bt stupid, naive me read them as 3/4 stitches. I can't decide whether to give up completely, make them all 3/4 stitches, or unpick all of the background stitches and turn into half stitches. Dilema! It's a shame, because it's quite a nice kit (although the beads are pain to add)

I'll be thinking about my next knitting project over the weekend (while I work on some of the others!) and go through my yarn stash. So many fashion yarns to do soemthing with before I can justify buying more yarn!

The Craft Box Company - Review

I had an email alerting me a new Twitter follower last week, the Craft Box Company. This new follower looked interesting, so I did a bit of snooping (well, I checked their website) to find that they supply craft boxes with various kits inside them. When they mentioned they were looking for bloggers to review one of their kits, I volunteered straight away!

A few days later, I was rudely woken by the postman. I didn't mind once I opened up my parcel!

 

I received the Button Bracelet kit, and loved the contents

The kit had everything I needed - including pliers, which was fantastic. The selection of buttons was lovely as well, although my camera doesn't do the colours justice.

Bracelet, buttons, jump rings, instructions and pliers

The instructions were fairly clear - although it might have been nice to have a couple of pictures to illustrate some of the points a bit more clearly. I got stuck in straight away, and it wasn't long before I had a few buttons on my bracelet.

It was quite simple once I had the hang of it and it kept me amused for quite a while. The only problem I had was with one of the buttons which had holes a little bit further from the edge than was ideal, as you can see from the picture below.

I did manage to get this button on in the end, but it was quite fiddly. All of the others went on easily. There was just one other thing I disliked about this kit, and that was the number of pink buttons! (I'm not a fan of pink, and there were about 5 pink buttons) That's just a personal preference though, and nothing against the kit itself.

Ta da!

 

I had a lot of fun making this, and would quite happily buy this kit for crafty friends, or perhaps even a couple for a girls crafty night in. The kits aren't too pricey, and are good fun.

I've had another look at the Craft Box Company's website today, and it looks like they are adding more craft boxes to the range, I can't wait to see what they come up with next - I'm liking the look of the new Birds Nest Necklace box.

You can follow Craft Box Company on Twitter @CraftBoxCompany and visit their website http://www.thecraftboxcompany.co.uk/


For the record - I'm not being paid to review this box, and all views are my own. If I didn't like it, I'd say so with brutal honesty!

Crafty Creatives box13 and a quick update

Poor M'aiq - he's been put to one side again! I feel like I haven't had much time to craft lately, but it might just be that I've been busy with so many different things that I haven't realised how much I've been doing!

I've been considering signing up to Craft Creatives (www.craftycreatives.com) for a while now, and this month I finally did it. The company sends out themed boxes of crafty goodness to people that have signed up, and it's £10 a month plus P&P. There's lots of stuff in the boxes, so it's pretty good value for money! This month the box was a little different, as the company were celebrating their first birthday. The theme was floral, and the box contained 5 different kits to make flowers, and a few other bits (silly me didn't take a photo of the contents, but if you follow them on Twitter you can see clever bloggers that did remember!)

I'm not really that into flowers, and I'm not a pink person - it's my least favourite colour - so I was a little dissapointed by the amount of pink in my box (just realised that perhaps I should word that differently...) however, I did make a couple of things:

Firstly, a french beaded flower. I found some pearl-type beads in my stash, so used those for the stamens. Quite happy with how it turned out, and I have plenty of pink beads, and a full pack of yellow beads to make more with. (Decided to use the pink beads first to see how it looked)

There was also a kit to produce a nylon stocking flower, but I thought a butterfly might be a nice make instead. This was fiddly! Not bad for a first attempt, but I'm not sure that it's something I'd want to do again.

There were also kits for making a felt flower, paper rose hair slide and crepe paper rose ball. I'm not sure I'll make these, but I'm sure all the pieces will be useful someday.

I've also managed to complete something this week, yay! Here's my lovely Resident Evil cushion, complete with zip. I had a nightmare with the sewing machine, but got there eventually.

In hindsight, I perhaps should have made the logo larger. Still, it's lovely and soft, and I'm glad I've added something else to the 'completed' pile. (Although I may add a quote to the back of the cushion, not sure what yet).

So, what's next? I'm still plodding away with the Doctor Who Stitch Along (still need to stitch 5, 8, 10 and 11, plus 12 when it's released this week) and need to decide how to quilt it. I can see this being another large project which will take months to complete... I've also been knitting some yarn from my (ridiculously large) stash. It's a fluffy yarn, in pastel shades of blue, purple and pink (ergh). It's being made into a wrap/scarf so it's great for mindless knitting in front of the tv (Band of Brothers - amazing, highly recommend). I've decided it's not something I want to keep, but my mother has decided she likes it, so it will go to her. It takes 5 balls of yarn, and I've just finished the 4th, so I'm almost there! It'll be a relief to finish it, and then I can choose a slightly more exciting project. After I finish sewing up the bolero I made back in April of course. That must be done before starting a new knitting project. Short attention span, me? I don't know what you mean.

More pics, less text

Me again! I feel like I write lots and don't have many pictures, so I'm going to attempt to change that. I've taken photos of all the completed DWSAL so far, which have all been washed (but not ironed, which is probably quite clear!) I've also managed to get a photo of the front of the Resident Evil cushion cover I'm working on (hoping to get the sewing machine out again in a couple of weeks to finish it off).

So, enough text, here are the pics! No idea why they're sideways...

I still haven't touched doctor number 5 - but I have started on number 9. I will go back and start/finish numbers 5 and 8, promise!

DWSAL and Beer Festival

It's been a couple of weeks since my last updatw, and things have been busy! I've been stitching away with the Dr Who Stitch A Long, current progress stands at doctors 1 & 2 completed and washed, with doctors 3, 4 and 7 stitched and doctor 6 is currently being stitched. It may seem like an odd order, and that's because it is. I couldn't find my print out of 5, and need to copy 5 and 8 onto fabric soon. I'll try to post pictures soon, once I've washed some of them. So far I've used back stitch, chain stitch and split stitch, and so far I've avoided French knots. There do seem to be a lot of French knots for doctor number 6, wondering whether I should attempt them, or come up with an alternative...

I've also made progress with the Resident Evil cushion cover - as in I've attached the logo to the fabric and added the bias binding. All I need to do now is cut the fabric down to size, and attache the front of the cushion to the back! I think I've decided to go with an envelope opening rather than a zip, as it looks much easier, and I have some large black buttons I can add to the back.

It's also nearly time for the beer festival, which is next weekend. I feel sort of on top of it at the moment, which is unusual! I've ordered the beers, and the ciders, and this year have also made the programme (I did cheat and used last years format - made it much easier) This weekend will be spent helping put up marquees, and next week will involve checking the beer that arrives - not by drinking it sadly! Then next Fri/Sat/Sun I'll be helping at the festival, as per usual. It's good fun, although the days are long. I'm hoping that a few of my friends will make it over this year, and that I'll have time to see them!

Sadly, this means that not much crafting will get done over the next couple of weeks. I'm hoping I'll find time to take some photos and upload them though!

New project and M'aiq update

Ooops! I meant to post a couple of weeks back, but then... life. It's been a bit hectic, as per usual!

Here's an update on M'aiq, taken at the end of May. Since then, nothing/very little has been done.

He's starting to look a little more filled in! I really like filling in the small gaps of stitches, it feels like I've accomplished something.

So, what have I been doing, if not working on M'aiq? Well, as I wasn't going to start any new projects in May... I saved one of them for June. I found a Dr Who SAL over on www.fandominstitches.com and this has been keeping me plenty entertained! To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dr Who, the blog is releasing a pattern to embroider over 12 weeks. The 6th pattern will be announced tomorrow, and I'm a little behind, as I only started in June. So far, I've done the first 2 patterns, and am working away on the 3rd. This is my first foray into embroidery, and I'm enjoying it so far. The final item should be a good sized quilt - having never quilted before, this is a little bit daunting! Still, you have to try new things, right? I decided to do everything on plain cotton - it's cheaper than the patterned stuff, and it's a lot easier to trace the pattern onto light fabric!

Here are the first two

I also went away for a weekend, as I won tickets to the Eden Festival, up in Scotland. It was a fantastic weekend, the weather was beautiful, everyone was jolly, the atmosphere was brilliant. It was just me and the bf, and we had heard of almost none of the line up, and were a little dubious about going. We bought a tent, and some other camping bits and pieces, and off we went. The highlight for both of us was seeing Mr Motivator on stage on Saturday afternoon. He got the whole crowd moving and laughing, and he's in pretty good shape considering he's 61 this year! The choice of food at the festival was brilliant, and very varied, and the drinks weren't badly priced which was a bonus. We'd taken some drinks with us, and had no problem getting into the festival with them. Although we didn't know much of the line-up, we had a great time, and there was always something going on. I would whole heartedly recommend this festival to almost any of my friends.