Happy Halloween

I found Fairies

We went up on my mums garden yesterday and found the most amazing toadstool village so thought I'd share a few pictures (actually its a bit of a pic spam really)

I also wanted to share the following which have been taken by my 3yr old. Think I might need to buy him a camera for his birthday

WIP Wednesday 12 - Halloween is coming

Well I'm still working on the Ripple wrap shawl, I think I'm nearly there on it it just depends how much bigger I want it really. Maybe one more repeat of the rainbow.

I've also finally gotten the blanket I started for my eldest back out the cupboard and I am determined to finish it in the next week. Its quite appropriate for this week also as its very halloweeny in pattern. I've finished hand sewing the spider and hopefully will put the final piece with the spider on the front and add the two missing stripes to the back so I can put it together tomorrow.

For more WIP posts please see Tamis blog

WIP Wednesday 11

Well my shawl is going well. I'm loving how the colours are coming out on this and its a fab pattern to do in front the tele. You don't need to think about it too much which is just what I need at the moment.

(The colours are a little brighter IRL the flash on my camera is making them a little flat somehow.) 

My cushions not changed since last week as I've just been doing the shawl.

I'm also starting today making the Zen jacket for the G+ CAL. I've chosen to make it with angels and elephants 50% alpaca/50% merino yarn in mevagissey colourway that I had here in my stash.

For more WIP posts please see Tami's Blog

Erm. OK then, just one or two

I saw this evening on a friends crafty blog/facebook a post about how many of the same size crochet hook you have. Well I know I had a few so thought I'll have a look. Erm I've got more than I thought.

These are the ones I've managed to find - there's 80 hooks here across the sizes (I'm sure there are some size 4 and 5 missing I had together in a pack the boys were playing with one day and a few more are in my project bag)

In my defence nearly all of these were given to me the only ones I've bought are the knitpro set and the tunisian hooks LOL

Universal Craft Blog Directory

I have seen this on one of the blogs I follow and think its a great idea so if anyone would be interested in joining please see Rie's Blog. Below is more information about the directory (Copied from here)

Welcome to the Crafty Bloggers Link-Up.

This is (hopefully) going to be the biggest list of Crafty Bloggers out there,
it will be a Universal Craft Blog Directory!

It's easy to join....

All you have to do is add your blog to the link below
and then invite all your blog readers to join as well,
and they will invite their blog readers etc etc
and hopefully it will keep being sent forward
& all the crafty bloggers will come back here to the directory & add their name! 
Cool huh!

For now it's just under one category: Craft and as the directory list grows,
so will the categories and it will then have it's own blog site!

And to make it easy to remember where the Universal Craft Blog Directory is...
here is a button to add to your blog:

Copy & past this button to your blog & link back to this post
to help spread the word to help the directory grow!

Rules:  There are no rules... Well, I guess there is one, no two rules ... 

1.)  It's for Crafty blogs (you can determine if your blog is crafty - do you make, create or buy lots of crafty stuff?)  
2.)  You need to promote this on your blog for the Directory to work!

Step 1:  Add your craft blog name to the linky list below.
Step 2: Create your own blog post, letting everyone know that a huge Crafty Directory is being made & invite them to pop on over here to add their crafty blog & then to do the same with their bloggy readers.
Step 3: Add the button to your blog so you remember to pop back & peruse the fab new Crafty Directory!

Creative stitches and Hobbycrafts show, Cardiff

A bit over a week ago I went to the Creative stitches and hobbycraft show in Cardiff with my mum and the boys. We had a fab day there was so much to see. I thought the boys might get a little bored and show off but they seemed to really enjoy it too.

The boys really liked the All2knit above and below the waves exhibit and it was very impressive. It was done to raise money for the RNLI and had about 2000 people donating items to be used in the display.

(He loved the pirates)

They are already planning their next project which will be based around books so I am very tempted to try and make something to send in. (there's a short film here about it too, and more pics here)

On the purchasing side there was sooo much I could have come away with. In the end I bought a giant tunisian hook and some Hoopla yarn (its made from t shirt fabric remnants) from this lady. She was really helpful and had a nice setup where you could try out knitting/crocheting with the stuff before you bought.

The hook is huge (I've put a normal hook and a size 4 and 10 tunisian in the pic to give you an idea of the size) and I'm thinking on making some nice rugs with it. My eldest also picked out some multicolour yarn he wants me to make him a blanket out of. My mum bought some gorgeous silk lace from this lady, got a lace making kit after having a go at bobbin lace making on the guild stand and bought a load of bargain Debbie Bliss from theblacksheep.

WIP Wednesday 10

I've actually started a couple of new things this week.

First is a new shawl. I'm using the Rippled wrap pattern by Cheri McEwen and the rainbow Kauni laceweight I had in my growing yarn stash.

Its very easy to do and seems to be working up quickly at the moment though I think as it gets bigger it may start to get a little monotonous as its all double crochet.

Secondly I've started making a Blooming Flower Cushion following the pattern done on the Attic24 blog. Again its an easy pattern to follow especially with all the great pictures she's added to the pattern on her blog.

The yarn I'm using for this is a mixed bag of bright colours I got from natural mamas FSOT left over from another crafty mamas blanket. Looking at the amount I'm likely to use for this cushion I may have enough left over to make a lap quilt to go with it. I'll definitely have enough to do another pillow if nothing else.

For more WIP please visit Tami's Blog

FO Friday: Maia Shawl

I actually finished this a couple of weeks ago but haven't had chance to post about it. Its turned out really nice. I added in an extra row in the middle to make it a little larger, unfortunately I then ran out of yarn on the last row so had to miss off the frilly edging and leave it straight :(

I did leave some of the edging on at the tips of the shawl but am debating whether to undo the row and put it all straight instead or leave it as is

Overall I'm really pleased with how its turned out.

For more finished object please visit Tamis blog 

Hexibag and some lovely mini skeins

My lovely new project bag has arrived today, Yey

Its been made by a lovely etsy seller Picperfic. Its a hexibag and inspired by the Beekeeper quilt as a project bag to keep everything you would need for creating your hexapuffs but I think it would be good for loads of other things too. Its a brilliant size and really well made :)

And it comes with this funky little bee on the back :)

I've also had this months mini skeins through from the knittinggoddess. I've signed up to their monthly mini skeins club with the idea of doing something like the Beekeepers quilt or maybe a crochet squares sampler quilt as a sort of one a day project over the next few months/year. I've started balling them up to go with the others I already have.

I've made a start on my first Hexapuff though I think I am going to do a crochet version rather than the original knitted one as I have had a few attempts at that now and think I really am just not a knitter at heart. I'm not totally convinced I will keep doing them as a blanket yet I may switch to squares but will see how it goes for now.

Tales of the Kitchen

Well its been rather an eventful couple of weeks here with both boys being ill, several trips to the hospital and then I got it too :( But on the positive side we have started putting the new kitchen in :) though with this and the boys I have managed to do very little else hence my lack of updates on here over the past 2 weeks (sorry).

So I have nothing crafty to add this week (I do have a FO for Friday) but my new mixer arrived this morning (I'm very excited), a pressie from my lovely grandma to go in my new kitchen when its finished :)

Its a Red Kmix and its very nice. I can't wait now for the kitchen to be finished so I can start using it. 

I've mentioned before about the state of my kitchen so I thought I might put a bit more here about what's been going on.

We decided about 2 years ago we would like more space but couldn't really afford to move to a bigger house so instead applied for planning to extend out current home. Work started 4th April 2010. We are still doing it lol. We had hoped to be done by Christmas last year at the latest but looks like we may be lucky if its finished by this Christmas instead.

My Kitchen went out of action about sept/oct last year really when they knocked down the walls.

though they did leave me the units for a while.

Our new kitchen was delivered last November with the idea it would be put in fairly soon after that. How wrong we were

about 6 months ago the units went also and I was left with the cooker and a small plactic set of draws on wheels for the kitchen. About this time also I lost all the electric to the kitchen so had to use extension leads if I actually wanted to turn anything on and have been using the bathroom sink for water and washing up since then.

But things are finally looking like there is light at the end of the tunnel. The walls are all plastered and painted now. We have electric and light to most of the new kitchen.

And we now have a floor. (need a jumping smiley here really)

Finally over the last couple of weeks we have started to put together the units that were delivered 11 months ago and I have my living room back. Woohoo

Now all i need is a good carpenter to put all the work surfaces on properly for me and I can finally cook again :)