Quick Knit - finished.

I've just finished the little sweater I started at the beginning of the week.

I've done a 16 inch as it's for a baby due in September. I love the different look given by the textured stitching on the body, both back and front and the little fold over collar.

I added little blue check buttons in a heart shape.

I'm already planning to do it with pink buttons as I have plenty of yarn, all hidden from male eyes ;-)

A quick knit

Talking to my neighbour on Sunday I discovered her baby is due at the beginning of September.
As we are on holiday for the due date I wanted to make sure I had a gift ready but looking through my bag of already knit items I found that all the newborn things are in girly styles and colours. As they do not know the sex I decided i'd better get knitting something boyish. I was tempted to knit my 'old favourite' matinee jacket and even got the pattern and yarn ready but then decided to do something different. I found a lovely little sweater pattern in seed stitch and am using the white yarn to knit it in.

I sat out in the sun yesterday and soon got the back done and am halfway up the front. The sleeves are plain stocking stitch.

It looks far too warm and snuggly for the weather we are having now but i'm doing the 2nd size and September may be chillier.
I'll have to remember to photograph and blog the finished garment.

Waiting for the sun

Our garden is quite small and the patio doesn't get the sun at the right time of day for us to make full use of it so we decided to have decking constructed at the other side behind the garage where the afternoon sun appears.
(Sun - you know that bright globe that appears in the sky in some places.)

The actual decking was constructed in very damp weather, glad we weren't doing it ourselves, there would have been some swearing going on and it may not have been finished yet. The sun came out as the landscaper was clearing up.

It was his idea to put the railing on the end, but I suppose he knows his job because it really finishes it off.

We were told to get it stained/protected/whatever sooner rather than later. I ordered the required stain online and delivery was spot-on. Very good company to deal with, numerous e-mails and texts to inform me of delivery times etc. http://www.wood-finishes-direct.com/

On sunday the weather was perfect for the job of staining, staying dry for a good few hours after we had finished. Since then it has hardly stopped raining but we managed to get out there again yesterday and put the furniture in place and move a few plants.

 I love this angled bit at the end and that planter seems made for it.

Hopefully now we will get some sun and be able to get out and enjoy our new area, I do hope so. I can just imagine myself out there knitting.

Lime green

Commenting on a post on facebook this morning I was shamed (bullied) into finishing this lovely little cardigan. To be fair all I had to do was sew in the sleeves and put a button on but it had been lying for weeks waiting for me to do. I'd already sewn the sleeve seam and the body is all in one piece so it didn't take long to do.

I love the soft lime green yarn and bought it without knowing what I was going to use it for. I still have a bit left as it took less than 100grm to knit in this small size.

I think the little purple heart shaped button just finishes it off nicely. Ha ha my favourite papercrafting colours are coming through into my knitting now.

Illusion set.

Fed up with using silver plated findings all the time I bought some gold plated ones and some gold-tone tigertail wire to make this necklace and bracelet set for myself.

 I've used variagated large blue seed beads with gold plated crimp beads to make the spacing I needed for the necklace.

I used a double strand for the bracelet and put blue beads on each and held them in clusters by threading on crimp beads and putting both wires through.

This is something I will enjoy wearing in the summer as it's very light. While out shopping I popped into the library and found a book on ornamental knots for jewellery, so watch this space it has some very interesting things in it.

Just finished

I've just finished the book I showed yesterday, so here it is.

I used my Bind it all and originally punched just 6 holes but the weight of the covers and pages combined meant that it didn't hold together properly when opened. I was very brave and carefully lined it all up and punched 10 holes in all. Phew they all came out ok an every page! Why do I always count wrong though and cut one wire too many?

I added lengths of different blue ribbons to the wires, starting with wide ones at the top and narrow ones at the bottom.

The back cover with an enlarged version of the front picture and some lettering. I added a couple of self adhesive pearls just because they are the right colour.

A Big Adventure

I've been crafting - printing, cutting and gluing for the past 3 days and this is what I have come up with.
The pictures have been in my camera since August 2010 so before we go away again I thought i'd better do something with them.
Anybody who knows me knows that I have a Disney Stitch who goes everywhere with me, a 2 week holiday to Tenerife being no exception.

He popped up out of my bag in the toilets at the Airport.

I think this picture of him wearing my sunglasses as he lies on a towel is my favourite.

He even came out with us to the Chinese buffet one night.

I love the pic of him trying to eat that giant donut. :-)

Neither of us thought much of the meal on the way home but luckily had gooey chocolate cake to keep us going.

These pages have now been made up into a little book recording 'titch's adventure as he went on an aeroplane and a foreign country for the first time.
Thanks for looking and indulging me in with my addiction with my little fella.

Knitting again.

I seem to be spending more and more time knitting nowadays. At one time I would spend all day sitting at my craft desk stamping, colouring and assembling cards but now I seem to be knitting a lot more.
Usually it's tiny clothes for premature babies but when I find a ball of yarn I really like I usually try it out on something larger and use the 'leftovers' for tiny things.
Last month I found a massive 400grm ball of soft green yarn and i'd already got a pattern in mind for it.

This is UKHKA Pattern 85. I love the cabled yoke on it particularly as I don't much care for all the sewing up involved in setting in sleeves.

I like the way the borders are knitted on sideways, the pattern is very good at telling you how many stitches to pick up. I hate having to knit long strips and stretch them to fit - they never do.

Here all the body parts and sleeves are knit and then the cast off edges are picked up and knit on a circular needle to forn the yoke. I love it!

I took a walk round to the craft shop at our local garden centre yesterday to get the green buttons, white ones which I had were just not right for it.

This will go on ebay next time they have free listings. I managed to sell my little aran jacket last time so might be lucky with this one as well. Fingers crossed.

Daisy, Daisy .......

Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do........ How many of you are singing along now? Maybe i'm showing my age too much ;-)

Anyway 2 cards here featuring the lovely Daisy stamp.

This first one for my daughter whose birthday it was yesterday.

I used Henbury Lane backing paper on an 8 inch square card with die cut flowers and die-cut backer in a softer lilac. Lime green brads and green card candy.

She asked for something with texture and sticky out bits so I hope she was pleased with what I came up with. 

This second one was sent last month for my niece's daughter. A smaller 6 inch square card with lovely scalloped edges. Not sure where the paper is from but it's been cut with a Martha Stewart border punch and layered over pearlescent pink paper.

Both coloured of course with ProMarkers.

Recycled

I was given a couple of  elasticated bangles  which were broken/damaged and between the two managed to come up with this bracelet.

I tried to re-thread them onto elastic cord but struggled to get it to stay knotted so instead I threaded the pieces onto tigertail wire and added a little charm and lobster clasp.

Here's a close-up showing the enamelled flowers and crystals.
I think it's turned out very well and I know i'll enjoy wearing it.

Pink & brown

I made this card for a friend's birthday. The image is from the Furry Friends cd from Joanna Sheen. I added a lime green backer to each image and a die-cut flourish in silver topped off with glittered flowers in purple and white with tiny brad centres. A piece of shimmery ric-rac braid across the bottom added that finishing touch.

Don't you just love that little face.

I made a couple of shamballa bracelets in brown and pink to send with it, both use silvered glass beads with silver tone beads on the ends of the cords.

I'm really getting the hang of these bracelets now and made a couple more over the weekend.

Shamballa bracelets

Last weekend I spent a fantastic few days with some crafting friends and these are the bracelets I managed to make with lots of help. At the time I kept getting my knots twisted and got a bit confused. lol

I've since made a few more, this is one I made for my hubby to wear. Just 1 black bead and knots without beads on the end of the adjustable strings.