Rubbish, Revamped!

Yesterday I went along to a series of drop in workshops run by a group called Rubbish Revamped who were training some of our WI to make things out of pre-used, pre-loved and pre-worn stuff. Their motto is 'Reduce, Reuse, Revamp, Recycle' and they're a fabulous bunch of ladies who seem to be able to make anything out of anything!


My first workshop( and the one I was most looking forward to) was button jewellery ♥

I bought along some of my own Papermania buttons in red and green, the same I used for my upcycled skirt.


I can't rate these buttons enough! For £3 you get so many! I quite like that lots of them are patterned or have writing on them so you can end up with something quite funky.  I've not been paid to say that, but Papermania if you're listening feel free to send me more ;-)


I was quite excited by my creation! I've told J at least three times, "Look I made this!!" and he's humoured me so far. I hear though that there are people out there who have button phobias, and can't stand anything with buttons on them! I can imagine that would make life quite difficult. Jeans? Nope!

I bought some of the elastic so I could make more at home.  It probably only took 15 minutes and that included getting a cup of tea and chatting.  I like short therapeutic projects like this!


Moving on I started on making something called a Suffolk Broach. You only need a tiny scrap of fabric and a button for this project and it's pretty simple as well. I went for fabrics that clashed a lot but it seemed to work bizarrely.  You can make them into badges or hair pieces, anything really.  Smaller puffs make good necklaces and rings too.


I found that absolute perfect button to sew onto the top of mine, see how it's a bit like the fabric puffs?


There was also a do-it-yourself table with scraps of paper and punches of different shapes. Who'd have thought that the inside of envelopes could be so interesting! Next time you get a bill have a look, you might find something useful :)


I made some paper bunting out of the heart stamps in two sizes and it fits nicely on my greenhouse ♥

Now we weren't just learning how to make lovely things out of recycled materials, no! The ladies at Rubbish Revamped were also giving us tips on how to train others you see, because we're going to share these skills with the world*!

*maybe just a little part of it

We're probably going to run some sessions next year but it occurred to me this morning that I could also share it online with you! I need better light so I think I'll have to wait til next weekend so I can take photos as I go, but if anyone is interested then come back soon :)

x x x x

Yarn bombing!

I've never yarnbombed anything myself but last week while I was having lunch I noticed this!

It excited me a lot, and then I saw this!

Brilliant stuff yes?

There was quite a bit around the Town Hall so I think it had something to do with Manchester Day, still fun to see though :)

I've still been busy crocheting more squares for my Rosie Elmer Blanket and I've finished a knitted piece of bunting for our WI which I'm probably going to add something too because it's not very exciting as it stands!

Lastly I would just like to thank the weather for being amazing this last week, it's like FINALLY we get some decent weather here in the UK, yesssss!!  My mum & dad popped over from Sheffield and went home this evening. 

We had a nice few days while they were here, and we took a trip out to where J and I are trying patiently...  to buy... a house!! :D  Watch this space...

x x x x

Paper

I've re-written the start of this post about 12 times, I don't know what's wrong with my brain!  What it's trying to say through the medium of blogging is I went to the Manchester Art Gallery on Sunday with J.  He's not really into art and I'm also not interested in portraits or pottery or anything like that, but they had a very nice (free) exhibition on called The First Cut, which is a collection of work from artists who use paper as their medium, not painting or drawing on paper, but actually using the paper as the piece itself.


Some of the hand cut pieces are simply incredible, they must have taken hours upon hours upon hours to finish which is one of the reasons they are by far my favourite pieces, there's always something new to spot with all the detail involved.


I thought this was very clever, a map of the world according to the currency they use.  Nothing political or religious about it, just straightforward fact.  You also get a sense of quite how massive Russia actually is, in case you'd forgotten!


There were some nice trees you could wander about in, and some paper wreaths - ok not actually wreaths, but would look very cool on my door!


Some more cut birds, shoddily photographed on my phone.


And then this cool little thing with bunting!  I really love the little pencils and tulips, I notice something new every time I have a look.

So while I don't have the time or patients to be quite as creative as these clever people, telling you about our trip does lead nicely into showing you some of the paper crafting I did over Christmas :)


Now alas I have quite bad pictures, but I can't seem to get them any better so you'll have to bear with...  My mum & dad got me a big book of scrap booking type paper when we were over in New York so I made some tiny bunting that now adorns the shelves.

Notice the empty picture frame, I got that as a present last last Christmas......


It was nice to have something to put up after Christmas, probably why I haven't felt so dull or glum this January! 

They're pretty easy to make, it's a folded piece of paper so there's no back so to speak.  My mums got these weird little punch things; you roll it across the paper (with a foam board underneath) and it punches holes in different patterns.  Amazing!  I opted for a simple line so I could do running stitch, I've since discovered she's got one that makes holes for blanket stitch...


I also dug out one of my mums crafting books and found an origami tutorial to make lanterns.  Unfortunately they didn't work with my paper (and it meant cutting it into squares) so I had to drag everyone to Hobbycraft, which was a real shame.


Origami paper in hand, I made lanterns. Ta-dah!


I have more to make, and then they'll go on some battery fairy lights o brighten the place because that's what we need J, more stuff!!

I've made some decent progress on my Nan's chair throw but still need to photograph that, and I've started a new snood for a friends mum, so lots of things to come soon hopefully, and to show you the needles I got for Christmas :o  They are to die for!!!

Thanks for stopping by, as always your reading, comments or whatever you do gives me that nice warm fuzzy feeling.

Much love from me

x x x x

P.S I was right last time, we did end up at the LFS...  Meet Bandit!

Hello Twenty Thirteen

Happy New Year my lovelies :D It's good to be back but I can't tell you how much I wish it were still the holidays, even though I know it wouldn't be as special if it lasted forever. We spent a very long week down at my folks in London, although a week didn't seem long enough in the end!

Christmas Day was very chilled out and merry. I was up early to see my brother before he had to work (!!) which meant opening presents, followed by more presents when J got up (fair-isle slippers!), followed by party food for lunch, mulled wine, dinner making, a nap, plying my parents with alcohol while they were being busy, my brother coming home still in good spirits, more presents, Christmas Dinner, Christmas Crackers, Trivial Pursuit (my Dad lost) Christmas Pudding and then bed.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, or if that's not your thing a peaceful end to the year :)

I can't quite believe where the year has gone but looking back at my projects for the year sort of puts things into an order I can make sense of! I really enjoyed making little mosaics at the beginning of last year so I've done the same now, only this time I've discovered Pic Monkey which is a brilliant website for making collages, mosaics and editing photos - a huge time saver.

There are four projects from last year that I've finished which was one of my 2012 resolutions, but I've also started this year with more unfinished WIPs. Oh well!

1. Hexagon blanket - completed :)
2. A stockinette stitch cushion cover. I've cast on too many stitches for the cushion inner I have so I may start this again...
3. Spring Garden Granny Squares. These haven't worked out so well when joined, I'm wondering whether to make more squares in different colours and make a small lap blanket...!

4. Nanny throw. I don't think this is a project I've blogged about yet so more about this later!
5. Bubble Gum Ripple Blanket
6. Pomegrante snood.

7. Little Woolie Inspired Cushion. I should finish this soon, I've only got a few more rows to do!
8. Ribbed Phone Cover
9. Stripy Snood


1. Crochet hook handle, made from Fimo
2. Moss Stitch Scarf
3. Crochet owl

4. Crochet Father Christmas
5. Knitted bunting
6. Knitted cable hat

7. Bunting
8. Knitted cat mouse hat
9. Polka dot skirt


1. First pomegranate snood
2. Turquoise cable hat
3. Lingonberry biscuits :)

4. Winter striped scarf
5. Snowflake Christmas card
6. Chunky mustard snood

7. Pink fluffy scarf
8. Grass cable snood
9. Giveaway cactus

I've got loadssss of other things to show you that I started over the holidays too, lets cross our fingers for some good weather this weekend and I'll try to get some half decent photos to share :)

x x x x

Mini bunting ta-dah!

What?! What's this! Another ta-dah post? Something must be seriously wrong with me...


If that's sounding a little too smug or conceited then fear not, I'm about as surprised as anyone that I've actually been finishing stuff off this year. And to add a touch of reality to this post I thought I'd let you know I just got soaked on the way home from work (on my bike) because I'm on two wheels until my car is fixed - in a nutshell it won't start.


But enough about things on wheels! Knitting / crochet / yarn is where we're at...


Here's the all important details:
Pattern: Knitted Bunting Party Flags by Audrey Wilson
Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK (see end of post for colours!)

And now for the good bit!


^^^^^
Done!

I've joined the flags together with two rows of double crochet (that's single for you US folk!) and I've left a long tail for now until I decide where to hang it. Ooooh more clutter for my flat :-)

x x x x

Mini bunting flags

How about my little nodding Unazukin dolls!? They are cute, pointless and they nod or shake their heads! The perfect decision makers; should I buy more yarn? Nod. Should I go for a run? Head shake. Excellent.

I've been busy combining both of my loves; crochet and knitting!  Le perfect combination.  Someone (and upsettingly I can't remember who!) blogged about some bunting they'd knitted and I loved it so much so I obviously had to make to my own.  Had to.

Fortunately I book marked the pattern and it's called Knitted Bunting Party Flags by Audrey Wilson.

I started out and after only a few rows I decided it was looking quite cute as it was but I wasn't happy with the finished flags.



It took me a while to stop the edges from being so lumpy and bumpy after doing the kf&b stitches but practice really does make perfect (ok, near enough!).



I decided to do a round of double crochet to finish off each flag, and blocked them with my iron to get a flatter shape.



And because they are so quick to whip up I have quite a lot of little flags now!





Although I can't share the pattern here (you should go to Ravelry for that, it's free!) I can tell you I knitted until I had 12 stitches on my needles and then I knit 3 more rows before casting off. My needles are 3.75mm :-)

x x x x

Knitty business

Good evening all! I just wanted to pop in and see how everyone was doing. It's the end of the weekend and I've only made one hexagon, no knitting, sewing or anything! I don't like these weekends. I can't even say we've been busy with amazing trips or visits to friends but we have just cooked a roast dinner!

Yesterday J and I rearranged our livingroom because we were bored and it had been the same for two years. We learnt that we'd put things in their old places for a reason but at least things look a little different now :-)

What have you been upto? Maybe it's still your weekend and you haven't finished. I'd love to hear!

I'm still loving this wool, it's absolutely beautiful. It's actually 50% wool 50% acrylic which is great because it was probabl y50% cheaper and seems to be 50% less itchy. Win win!

I frogged the straight garter stitch scarf I'd been working on and now I have something that looks like this




It looks a bit wonky but I can assure you my stitches are exact so I'm going to block it at the end. What do you think? I really like it! It's still garter stitch but with an increase and decrease on either end which makes it just a little bit more complicated and enough to keep me interested.

My lunch break Moss Stitch scarf is also coming along nicely too. I make sure this is the only project I take to work because I know it will be forgotten and never finished!

Time to get another hexagon done! Good night and thanks for visiting, it means very much :-)

x x x x

When I'm sewing bunting

Hellloooooooooo!

Whoever sent us beautiful sunshine thank you!! It's been so lovely today :-) I met a friend for lunch and gave her the baby granny stripe I'd been working on for her absolutely gorgeous little son J! He is the most beautiful little baby e-v-e-r!



Bye bye blanket! I'm pleased to see it go, it was made for someone else & is now with its rightful owner. I just hope he doesn't dribble on it toooo much!

I'm super excited about the end of this week, we're off to Sicily for the bank holiday weekend for a friends wedding! My friend's a very lucky lady (marrying an Italian and all that!) and I've known her for years yet I had no idea what to get her. I also never got her a present when her daughter was born (we live far away!) so there was only one thing for it...

Bunting time!



I know one should be quite humble about ones projects but I really really love this and I have to give it away!!! What I really love is the fabric & the colors, which I didn't make, so I'm actually loving someone elses creativity instead. I have quite a nice stash of fabrics now in greens, reds & blues, some of the patterns (like these dots) are reoccuring so this kinda just happened!



The tape at the top has worked really well. Normally I use bias binding but I bought this huge roll of tape for some ridiculously cheap price (10 zips and this for £2!) and it's going to last me ages so I'm very happy! It also works quite well in white. Like I said, love it!



But guess what... I made a lot more triangle flags that I haven't sewn together yet so there's more bunting to come! I might keep it or I might sell it again :-) Or I might do both!

When I get back from my hols I'll show you something else I've been learning. *Cough* knitting with DPNs *cough*!!

See you soon!

x x x x

My new Etsy shop!

Ok ok... It might be a little early to say "shop". It might even be a little early to have one! But I got a little fed up recently of working for other people and doing a job that I don't love. I love having a job, don't get me wrong, it's just what could be better than working for yourself and loving it!



So in a moment of madness I whipped up some bunting and decided to sell it. I doubt this will make my millions, I doubt I will even be making any money from this but I might be able to buy a couple of balls of yarn which would make me a very happy bee indeed!



I haven't put much into advertising this as yet but I'm hoping one day I might be able to make custom bunting for people :-) This has been hand lovingly made by me (of course!!) and I have one similar to match, so whoever buys it (ok if...!) will be like my bunting buddy or something ;-)

My shop is here so have a visit - there's no obligation to buy, I won't even know you've been :-D

x x x x

Garden bunting

I haven't been able to blog about this yet as it was a present for my mum who is a reader (possibly my only reader!) but now I've given it to her I can share it with the wider world!



It's very easy to do. Zig-zag stitch the triangles and cut them out after, I find this makes it easier to machine sew because you have more material to hold. Do as many triangles as you like! The more the better I think.





Experiment with the order you like the best by laying them next to each other.



The finishing touch it to sew bias binding to the tops of the triangles, and sew the ends into loops for hanging. Voila, beautiful bunting, and at a fraction of the price in some stores, even though bunting is probably worth every penny.