Still here....

Although the  laptop issues are back!

The laptop was replaced, and then the new-to-us one turned out to have a faulty graphics card, and then the old one was kind of fixed by a friend but he installed a new OS which doesn't seem to have loaded all the features so I can't edit photos now until I get some editing software. Still having problems with the power  supply to the laptop too so seriously going to have to find a replacement soon.....

And even worse than all of that - I've lost all my bookmarks! All the lovely blogs I was following through bookmarks, all gone. I can't remember the names of them so I'm hoping that I will come across them again very soon. I follow quite a few on blogger but some I bookmarked instead, probably because I wasn't logged in when I first came across them and then never got round to clicking that button. Well that'll teach me......

In the meantime I have done a little knitting. I'm so glad I started late October as I am running out of time now and the days are filled with lots of crafting of a different kind, take a peek at the other blog if you want to know more! I finally finished this little set for the littlest girlie after a mini rant at the mittens that wouldn't turn out right:

Do you see the lovely scarf too, the one that I blogged about in the last post? Well of course you don't because I was knitting away and started to think how the girlie never keeps her scarves on properly, and that they always come sliding down out of her coat. So in a stroke of genius I decided to turn it into a simple cowl. No sliding off her neck, and I could cast off just over halfway through the length rather than carrying on for at least another 70cms! All worked in three shades of Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran, the cowl is a garter stitch loop in blocks of colour, the mittens are cobbled from a pattern found on Ravelry which I still can't decide whether I read wrongly/misunderstood, or it was written wrongly? The hat is the Pixie helmet from the Autumn 2009 issue of Living Crafts magazine, with a big fluffy bobble on top and cute fat plaits on each side. Overkill? - nah, it looked great when I sneaked it on her whilst she slept.....

Woohoo, another set done, just two more hat/gloves/scarf sets to go. And to finish big little boys scarf, the one in the DK rib..... And a pair of gloves for biggest girlie ..... And there's a little sewing to be done yet too..........

I hope you're all on target for a stress free handcrafted Christmas.

-x-

Stashbusting - part 3.

So if you read the other blog you'll know that I have been otherwise occupied the past couple of weeks. But I did manage to finish the stashbusting exercise and use those final scraps of Adriafil merino left over from the jumper and hat. And this is what I came up with:


The pattern is from this book. I've used the pattern before but that time for a friend so I remembered it was really quick and simple and used very little yarn so thought I would give it a go and hope the wool would be enough. Fortunately it was but with only inches to spare!
Anyway they should keep little feet warm when playing outside. And as they're so easy to make I think a couple more pairs might be useful as I imagine they might dirty pretty quickly as Heather loves to explore.

Loving crochet.

I can't believe I hid from crochet for so long, it's so portable and easy to pick up and put down, it's easy to add a few extra rows if necessary and equally easy to rip back. Unlike knitting where a mistake means unpicking stitch by stitch very slowly. And the best thing about crochet.............no casting off! Mind you I don't crochet properly I don't think. All the expert crocheters I see/watch manage to fly along just catching the wool and drawing it through the loops with the hook whereas I crochet like a knitter, by wrapping the wool around the hook and then drawing it through the loops. I'm guessing this probably makes it a considerably slower way to work but the other way is just beyond me so I will carry on plodding along in my own way.
So here's my latest crochet make - a new hat for Heather. The pattern said that this was a quick make but in reality it took me about five hours over two sleepless nights. I used Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino and a 4mm hook and worked the whole hat in half treble stitch. See I'm even learning to read patterns and use the technical terms ;-). I am really pleased with and think it looks great although I suspect that's more down to the wearer than the hat.

More hats!

A hat for a GP little one:


Debbie Bliss Rialto in baby pink with a cotton flower and button trim.

And a hat for Emma:


Cream cotton DK with matching fower and bead trim.

Cardigan is almost finished but I ran out of wool. Blast!! Not sure I'm safe to search for an extra ball as I can't afford to fall to the temptation of gorgeous yarns. Might have to ask Helen to find it online for me to help me resist the urge to browse. Although she seems to be falling under the spell of the lovely merino wool she is using to knit a hat for Heather. She is definitely noticing the difference in texture and the pleasure in working it after using acrylic yarns for her first step in knitting.......