For the love of Yarn

Finished Whilemina the witch!

2007-10-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

Today i have finished Whilemina! I am not so sure about weather she has turned out as nice as i could of made her, i am thinking of making her a sister, and hopefully she will be a bit better!

Whilemina Witch!!!

2007-10-02T05:39:00.000-07:00

I would like you to meet a nearly, but not quite finished Whilemina the witch!

I am fairly happy with her, althought she is supposed to have seperate fingers sewn on to her mittens. but due to my poor sewing skills and lack of patience, i decided to leave the fingers. I got the pattern from simply knitting magazine and it is by alan dart, of course i may have to make another one when i have finished her, as whilemina is not as good as i had hoped!I hope that you like her! I need to get Whilemina finished as i have a secret pal swap which i have got to get on with! I am so excited about doing this as it is my first secret pal swap and I hope my secret pals will like there packages!

so all i have to do to whilemina is give her some hair! in the magazine she has purple hair, but i may go for green! sew her hat on and sew up her cauldron!

my other projects that i am trying to get finished is a cross stitched witch , witch i will take a photo of when it is done1 Today i may start on some more yuletide Gnomes!

Mum's birthday presents

2007-09-19T01:19:00.000-07:00

I have totally given up on the idea of making a crocheted birthday cake for mum, it just didn't look right, i don't know how or why, but i just didnt like it! so, in the end i decided to knit some fairy cakes(cupcakes) for mum instead as part of her present, there is one really cool pattern available on the web, but it involves knitting in the round, i attempted to do this, but i just ended up in a big tangle! lol so that was no good, then i discovered that i had a pattern for fairy cakes already on my pc, so i made theese, it isnt the best of pics, but you'll get the idea anyway!

As i said they are not the best of pics, I have really got learn knitting in the round! I have already posted a few pics of the mother hen I have also knitted for my mum, but now it is finished the baby chicks now have eyes and feet!

As a little extra and because i just couldnt resist making one the yuletide gnomes from simply knitting mag, I made her one of theese as well

The Crocheted Birthday cake saga

2007-09-11T02:08:00.000-07:00

As a little extra for my mum's birthday I decided to crochet a cake for her and to be honest i don't know whether I am completly happy with it, I have played about with the shape abit, this was the 1st attempt, I have used strips of cardboard to stiffen the sides a wee bit, but I decided it was to tall and a bit too stiff

I have been playing about trying to make swils of cream , to put some cherries on, but i have now decided that the cream wool I was using is to stiff and is'nt flowing enough, So I have now made the strips of cardboard smaller and put a bit more stuffing in it and I am a bit more satisfied with it now, I dont think I am going to get it perfect, but thats the way it goes!
I think it looks more like a cake now!

Mother Hen!

2007-09-11T01:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since i have posted, but i have been soo busy! In between postings, i have moved house ( never again )lol. it has taken me a wee while to get my craft stuff organized again lol, anyway, it is my mum's birthday on the 21st of September and i thought i would make her something, as she keeps chickens when i saw this in one of my old copies of Simply Knitting magazine i just knew that this would just be perfect!

This is a pic of my hen naked, but she has got bloomers on, so she has some dignity lol. I do have to admit,that if i was not making this for my mum, then i properly would of given up on it, It wasn't difficult, but it was fiddlely !

My hen is now dressed (so she can stop blushing now!) I am more or less happy with it, but i am always critical of my work, i think when you make something, you know when you have made a mistake, and they stick out a mile to you, but not to anybody else.

All that is left to do now is to add the beaks and little claws on the chicks.

Another version of the Boutique card

2007-04-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

I made this card to send to my mum, as she needs cheering up, I enjoyed making this one more then the boutique card, because, well, I knew what I was doing! I am quite pleased with this one.

Hand Made double pointed knitting needles

2007-04-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

I got the idea for this off another craft forum I visit every day, it's craftster.org and this board covers just about every craft you can think of! It's a great read and everyone on their is sooo friendly!
Anyway, You are supposed to make theese from chopsticks or wooden dowels, well after hunting everywhere for chopstiks, and figuring out that I couldn't carry a 6ft wooden dowel with my food shopping with out injuring myself or some innocent member of the public, I had a brain wave that pencils would work. I had some pencils lying around, so i sanded the paint off them and shaved them down to the width I wanted them( these are 6.5mm thick) I used a pencil sharpener to make the other end pointy and then I painted them ( their standing in blue tack drying after varnishing), then I used clear nail polish to give them a coat of varnish and to protect the paint from chipping and hey presto! I also made some 6.5mm circular knitting needles as well, I thought i had taken a pic of them, but i havn't so I will post them tommorow!

2007-04-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

Another veiw of the card

Boutique Card

2007-04-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

As well as knitting, I also do a bit of card making , I made this card about a week and a half ago, yes, it has taken me this long to get around posting a pic. This is my first time making a card with this style, and , even if I do say so myself, it's quite good! I downloaded the template from a card making forum called imag-e-nation.co.uk. It's a really good forum where you can chat with other card makers and crafty people!

2007-04-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

and another!

2007-04-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

Some more close up pics of the front.

Front peice of Meadow Sweet sweater finished

2007-04-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

I have finally completed the front peice of the Meadow Sweet Sweater. I foun the fron quite boring to do, it's nothing wrong with the pattern, it's me, I get bored easily and it's a lot of stocking stitch!But I am really happy about the way it's been working! I am now working on one of the sleeves, it seems quite wide, so I am crossing my fingers a bit as I am no way experienced enough to alter the pattern!

Meadow Sweet so far

2007-03-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

This is the front of the meadow sweet sweater, I can't take pics of the back as it is on a stitch holder and is all folded over so it wouldn't be clear , I am about halfway through the front now, about 2 inches to do before i start to shape the armholes!

My Yarn stash so far!

2007-03-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

I thought i would take a pic of my yarn stash so far! It's becoming quite a good stash, but i think that i definitly need to buy more yarn for it to become a good stash!

Meadow Sweet Sweater

2007-03-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

front

back

This is my currant knitting project I have on the needle's so far, i have completed the back and i am halfway through the front. i know that summer will be here soon, but we don't really get a summer here, well maybe a day! so I thought this would be a nice project for my first attempt at a sweater. The pattern is really easy to follow and I love this magazine!

Short and Sweet bolero from the Happy Hooker

2007-03-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

This is another wip,as you can proberly see it's the short and sweet from the Happy hooker book. I love doing this pattern, which suprised me as I thought the lace pattern would be difficult to do, but I have found it ok to do and the pattern easy to follow, i have had to frog a few rows here and there but apart from that, I am enjoying making this, i had to go down to a 3mm hook for this and i used a dk weight(light worsted) to get the gauge! I have just got to finish the sleeves and then its done, i will post a pic of me wearing it when it is completed! and yes there's no sewing wooooooohooooooo! ( i don't think!)

Prepster jacket from the Happy Hooker

2007-03-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

This is the back of the jacket.

A close up of the stitches.

The back from a different angle.

The back and the right front completed.

I have been eyeing this pattern for a while and then I found this yarn in my stash and I thought it would be perfect for this Jacket! I bought this wool from my local post office ( a post office that sells wool, how perfect is that!) It was a bargain, 15 50g balls for just £7.99. I think it must have been lying in the sun, because parts of the wool are faded, but maybe it's meant to be like this, anyway, I like the effect as it gives a washed out effect, which I think suits this jacket! I have been having trouble sleeping at night, so I have been doing this whilst in bed watching a movie or tv (is that sad?) I had to go right down to 2.5 mm hook to get the gauge for this ( I must crochet really loose)! The pattern say's to use a arun/worsted weight yarn, but this is a dk weight(light worsted) i think this is going to look good with a nice pair of jeans!

The sqaure so far!

2007-03-30T06:56:00.000-07:00

Here are the squares that I have made so far for my throw. Most of the square patterns come from the part-work magazine called The Art of Knitting. basically you collect 90 issues and in each issue there is a pattern for a new square for your throw. With each issue you get a ball of yarn for your square. In theory, this is an expensive way to make a throw! but I am using other stitch patterns from books and from online as well, as I want to make a Throw big enough to cover a double bed.Granted it's a really long term project, but the squares are good to do when you just fancy doing something quick. i havn't blocked the squares yet, so they are not as flat/square as they should be! For some reason I have great difficulty in doing the moss stitch and double moss stitch even though I write down the rows as I go it always ends up as ribbing lol! Some of the squares are supposed to have embroided designs on them, but I havn't had the patience to do this yet, as sewing and I don't really work together, but I must try as it will be a new skill to learn!

Sooo many patterns!

2007-03-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

I am sure all yarn lovers, knitters and crocheter's go through this, but there are so many patterns that I want to start, like now! I have definitly got what is widely known as startitis! The thing is, I keep starting new projects, but I am not getting anywhere with them! I just seem to be casting on, then frogging them because I have gone wrong! /here is a list of some of the patterns that I really want to make

Meadow sweet sweater from simply knitting mag (have done the back, just started the front).
Sexie Halter from Stitch ' n' Bitch Nation(have started this many time just can't get it right).
Lacy bolero from the art of knitting part-work mag.
Glorious Glade antique lace cardigan from simply Knitting mag(really nervous about starting this one).
Tequilla Sunrise layer top from Simply Knitting mag.
Beautiful Berry from Simply Knitting mag.
Waistcoat from the art of knitting part-work
Baker boy cap from the art of knitting part-work
Ultra Femme from Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation
Squares for the throw.

There's more, but you get the idea!