More clothes!

I definitely don't need to buy anymore clothes, but making them's okay right?  OF course it is!

I bought this pattern ages ago because I fancied a change from skirts and dresses.  I think it might also have been on sale which helped.

They're not the most adventurous of tops I admit, but I reckoned a few of these would be great for work.  Because I always need more work tops, don't I?  No.

This was a new one for me, cutting on the bias.  It was a right pain to fold properly to pin out the pattern pieces but once pinned it was a piece of cake really.  No zips, no sleeves, no waist bands!

One very nice (if I must say so myself) dart.

And there you have it.  I used linen, mainly because the pattern suggested it and who was I to argue.  When J took a photo of me wearing it I blended into the curtains.  Camouflage for when I need to hide from him, like possibly later in the week if when he discovers I placed an order for more Stylecraft.  Yep.

I reckon being me it could do with some livening up.  Given that I've not finished sewing the red buttons onto my skirt I don't think buttons are necessarily the answer.  I'd quite like to give embroidery a go, I have some lovely books on sewing that my Dad of all people bought for me.  He is awesome!

So perhaps an embroidery ring will be added to my wishlist.

x x x x

Projects on my needles

Just a quick post today.  I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit hungover today, the result of a lovely wedding yesterday :)  Remind me to go easy on the wine next time...

The sun in shining today though and a chinese takeaway is on the way.  Life is good!

Chunky cables using Cygnet Seriously Chunky in Fawn, knitted on 10mm needles

 A project I've been working on for a while from Knitted Toy Tales; the Owl and the Pussy Cat.  This is the owl obviously!

x x x x

Rosie elmer blanket update

I haven't posted any updates about my Rosie Elmer blanket in a while and part of that has been the constant indecision about which colours to stick with.  I honestly didn't want to keep boring people with my ummming and ahhhhing.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments on my previous posts though, it's given me a lot of food for thought, not least this website called Design Seeds. I warn you, you'll end up buying a shed load of yarn so you can whip up beautiful projects based on tropical birds, berries and doorways I tell you!

♥

Unfortunately I couldn't find a colour palette that matched mine but I do have some ideas for the future. When I've cut down my wool stash to a sensible amount I'm going to save up & treat myself to a purposeful order, but I can't get too carried away yet because I am nowhere near that stage yet!

A few weeks ago I had two ways of going with the blanket... #1 was a warmer mix of squares.  I do love the green  ♥ but I think it was the green making things difficult.

#2 worked better but felt quite dull, a bit like how things look on a cloudy day.  Does that make sense?  I don't know, but that's how it made me feel!

Then I had a look in one of my yarn boxes and it hit me that I really do have too much because I found some stylecraft that I'd forgotten I had... Honestly!

I found the lovely plum and  magenta and that's it :)  Problem solved

 

Woooooopeeeee!!!

I can't really explain how great this feels because this is exactly how I was imagining my blanket (ok, with some green) and it's just been really hard to pull this out of my head and make it. 

I even feel like I might start joining them all together soon....  Oh what fun :)

x x x x

Yarn cakes!

I will get around to sharing some crochet square soon, or maybe my button skirt (yeah, right!) but really all I want to do now is show you my YaRnCaKeS!

I bought one of those yarn winders from eBay.  I have to admit that it was after reading Lucy's post here because I thought you also needed one of those spinning hexagony things (I can't describe them properly, and I've had a glass of wine (ooops!) so I hope you know what I mean) so I was thrilled when I realised you don't because I love yarn cakes ♥ and the little ocd in me loved the idea of having uniform balls of yarny goodness

So there you have it.  I've just about wound every ball I have now, would you believe it's actually making them take up less space?  I've definitely reduced the space my yarn takes up, hurrah!  They're also great for taking out and about on trips or to work, instead of carrying around several hundred grams of wool ♥

x x x x

Liebster awards :)

Aww the lovely Jo from Three Stories High has nominated me for the Liebster award :)

I'm not sure when or how I came across Jo's blog but we seem to share a similar love of sewing (she has made some fab stuff!) and craftyness :) Liebster is a sweet award which anyone with fewer than 200 followers can be nominated for, and in return you answer some random facts & questions :)

First of all I'd like to make my own nomination and I've chosen Ladybird Diaries, which is a lovely blog, full of craft and beautiful photographs. Don't take it from me pop in and say hello :)

It was kinda hard because lots of my fave blogs now have over 200 followers, and there are so many ways people can follow your blogs now (e.g. I use Feedly) so it's impossible to really know, but I think the nice idea is it's to give recognition to smaller blogs :)

I'm not very good about random facts about myself but I can answer some of the questions that Jo was asked :)

1 :: Who has influenced you most in your life?
The most obvious choice would be my parents, but aside from them it's probably my friend CJ! We went to Primary school together and I'd planned to go to a different Secondary school but she said why not go to the open day where she'd be going. I did and completely changed my mind which I'm convinced changed my life from then on. I wouldn't have met my friends, gone to the uni I did and probably wouldn't have met J!

2 :: If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be?
Weirdly I'd live in London because I'm assuming this question means money & employment is no object :p Most of my family and friends are there, and sometimes it's hard being away

3 :: If you went back to school what would you choose to study?
Physics. Yep.

4 :: Are you impulsive when making decisions or do you ponder things first!
Impulsive. Didn't even have to think about it!

5 :: What is your food preference when you eat out?
Indian

6 :: Looking at your average day, what do you enjoy best?
Going home from work & crocheting :)

7 :: What gives you the least pleasure in your daily routine?
Going to work ;)

8 :: Is there a famous person that you would love to meet, and why?
I'd like to have met Neil Armstrong but I gather he doesn't talk much about his trip to the moon, so I'd like to chat with Valentina Tereshkova instead

9 :: Tell us about a favourite place in your locality that you like to visit
I love the Northern Quarter in town, although it's changed somewhat since I used to work there, it's still awesome though

10 :: If you were marooned on an island what would you choose to have with you?
Knitting or crocheting materials!

11 :: What is your favourite type of film?
Comedy, who doesn't like a good laugh?

x x x x

Upcycling!

I love the ethos and mentality behind upcycling but it isn't something I have done all that much of.  Has anyone been watching Kirsty Allsopps 'Fill Your House for Free'?  I've only caught a few episodes (J thinks she sounds like she's telling people off!) and I wish she'd set up her free-stuff shop near me instead of in Scotland ;-)  I'd happily take some of that lovely furniture off her hands :)

I suppose I do a fair amount of charity shop shopping but despite my love of shopping I genuinely would like to reuse more of what I have and be more intune with the make do and mend culture...

 

Ok so I have to be honest, I didn't chop all of these buttons off of old clothes myself, but I suspect someone did though!  There were lots of brand names amongst this lot that which I picked up from my local craft shop for around £3/4. I love buttons, who doesn't love buttons, but oh my there are so many!! I love them so much I bought another pack in green, they're an absolutely bargain in my opinion.

♥

I had good fun dividing them up into sizes in my melamine Ikea bowls because I had a plan...

 

Way back in...  I can't remember when... but months ago our WI had a clothes swap and I bought this skirt for 50p, which I thought despite having lots of skirts would be okay for work.

(This is not the greatest of photographs).

 

It's not very exciting though is it...  And it was obviously meant for someone taller because it was far too long, which is why you can see the bottom is full of pins where I chopped a good few inches from the bottom.

I haven't taken a photo of the back yet but it's actually quite a nice shape so I thought there was surely something I could do to bring it to life and make it more me. 

Buttons....

Skirt....

Buttons...

Skirt....

Yep

 

Bingo!   I've sewn about 50% on so far and need to get some motivation to finish it.  J thinks it's a bit weird but he'll see.  I'm not going to do the same on both sides, I think maybe a small cluster on the bottom right to balance it out et voila!  A fairly work suitable skirt that doesn't say I work a 9-5 office job (if only that were true!)

So there you are.  Maybe not truely upcycled as I bought everything but surely a lot cheaper than buying a brand new skirt from a shop?  Someone elses junk = my treasure. As soon as I'm done sewing I'll get some proper photographs taken.

x x x x

Choosing colour

It's not working!!! :(  

I totally thought I had it, what other colour would sort out my blanket than....  

Purple!

So I hooked up these four squares and I was pretty excited until last night when I put them with the other colours & it just doesn't work for me.  Not one bit.

I tried it without the green, and it's better but I do like the green so I'm not sure now what to do.  I've decided the purple is too dark, it either needs a shade between to made it blend or it needs to go.  It's only four squares and they can be saved for another project.

I went back to my original colour palette with an even mix of colours but the problem with this is I've run out of Pomegranate, Wisteria and Meadow
so if I want an even mix this is as big as it can get!

I added in the grey, which I'm still happy with because it's not too far from the Wisteria / Lavender shades.

I might have run out of Stylecraft but I do have some lovely shades of pink sent to me by Nanita who if you remember ages ago I did a swap with? I posted about it here, two years ago!!

I haven't used all of the yarn so I'm going to see how more pink works out...  And then decide whether to go all pink or try to keep with a bit of green... This was supposed to be fun right?  ;)

x x x x

Adventures in Paperchase

Paperchase might possibly be my favourite shop...  I don't always find things I want, but when I do I DO!  They had a little sale on in my nearest shop.  I came back with a bunch of lovely things more a mere £10 :)

One of the whole points of buying a house is surely to end up with something you've created and love right?  I think so too, so I've a new scrapbook that I'm looking forward to filling with ideas & inspiration.

I also miss cassettes, no one makes mix tapes anymore :(

I've seen Washi tape all over the internet although I had no idea what it was, well apart from being tape that is.  Google it (or bing it, whatever you prefer!) there are some fabulous and I mean fabulous things decorated with it, my favourite being a Mac Book keyboard.  Possibly un-practical but lovely.

I'm not sure what I'll do with these yet, but they're quite nice.

Lastly my favourite and best bargain a pencil crochet hook case!  The knitting needle rolls I've sewn aren't really suitable for hooks, especially as mine all have handles but this is PeRfEcT!

 

It's got lovely little side pouches too for my hooks that haven't yet been introduced to Fimo :)

 

Too dark to photograph now, but during the week & at our WI Craft Club I started hooking a new colour for my blanket and I think it works!  This might just be the missing link...  

Much love 

x x x x

We wanted to be the sky

Procrastinating
I have been very good at this lately & I can't quite put my finger on why.  I haven't written in weeks, I've got lots of things I've been meaning to sew but just don't 'feel' like doing them, I've been putting off sending emails, phoning friends or sending messages for 'another day', I haven't checked Feedly since before Glastonbury; I have 394 unread blog posts.  Crappity crap!

I've decided enough is enough!  This will not do...  No...  

I'm going to fix a skirt that I sewed up pretty badly later this evening and I am blogging as we speak!!  I've sent messages to a couple of friends that I'd been meaning to catch up with and I've read some of my fave blogs which has massively cheered me up - well, made me feel better, I have to say I'm pretty cheery as it happens, just a bit off balance maybe?  I do have a lot to catch up on though so here goes...

Crocheting

Today would be 'Tuesdays Tallies' if only I'd kept up, but hey I'm still going with this one right?  I ran out of a few colours which I mentioned in my last post so I've introduced some light grey.  Unfortunately it's just a cheap acrylic yarn & I've no idea where it came from or who it's made by but it's fairly soft, just not Stylecraft soft :(

 

I think it's working quite well but I've definitely got too much of the pale pink going on (I just have a lot more of this left!) I'm going to have to raid more of my yarn stash I think to find a new colour to add, but for now one thing is clear; I need to stop with the pink!

One of the reasons I have such a pathetic number of squares is I've been knitting up a super teddy bear from Knitted Toy Tales (which is my new favourite book)

She was originally intended for my friends baby (she's due in November!) but while sewing all the legs, arms, ears & patches on a little voice was saying "this might not be baby safe!" and another voice was saying "keep it!" and another voice said "I'll have it!" - that last one was my mum.  Ok, those weren't her exact words, it was something along the lines of 'maybe it should be for an older person' and a certain someones age might have been mentioned.

Well, bear who has not yet been named - or photographed even - went home with my mum & dad yesterday morning when they left ours after a lovely long weekend.  My mum is under a promise to take some lovely photos to share with you all.

House

   

I would quite like to own one of these (houses, not the vase because I own that, isn't it cute?) it would seem that luck isn't on our side.  We thought that the house had just been over-valued but actually it's much worse!  

It's worth bang-on what we've offered, if we get a full structural engineers survey done because the chimney breasts were removed & therefore the chimney isn't supported.  Oh, and if we get the wall built up in the loft so we can't climb into the neighbours house.  And if we get some cavity wall ties checked.  And have a damp, timber & electric check done.

HUH? When was I informed that house buying would be this complicated?!  Needless to say things have stalled to pretty much a halt.  Infact we've gone backwards in as far as we've started to look at other houses, just-in-case.  Bummer!

Everything else

Maybe everything else would be too much, probably best to be shared another time - like the promise of teddy bear photos, or the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show, or shopping bargains :)

x x x x

Back, of sorts :)

I'm not going to lie here, life post-Glastonbury is not good.  That's not because life isn't going well in itself but nothing will ever live up to being here

I tried two years ago and failed to explain it.  There's something about The  Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (trying to do it justice) that is magic and unless you've been you can't understand it.

Being back home, back at work, away from the outdoors, the music, the atmosphere, the being-yourself; it just makes things seem so blank! If I could I would live, breathe and work this place.

So to answer my top questions I've had in the last week
- yes I saw the Stones (but only for an hour, then we went to have fun elsewhere)
- Chic were the highlight
- you had to be there ;-)

Anyway, apart from being dead melodramatic what else has been going on... Well, as we're being honest I haven't checked my Feedly (blog feed) since being back and I'm dreading it! I think I may follow too many blogs now and I know there's going to be too many to catch up on. Rather than it being a pleasure I've actually been worrying about it? Which is silly I know, so I've in turn buried my head like an ostrich in the sand, except I think they do that to keep cool.

It is hot here though isn't it?

Before I went away I decided to yarn bomb my bike lock to stop it clanging & chipping at my paintwork!

 

And I had to use up bananas and eggs so they didn't waste, so I made a yummy banana cake :)

 

House hunting took a good turn up but we may have hit a snag!  We've found a lovely terrace, had an offer accepted, got a mortgage but then!  They valued it lower...  So we're just waiting to see what happens next :o

Over & out for now 

x x x x