There's a mouse loose, about this house...

After making the felt horse yesterday I sat looking through the felt book again. There are some fantastic things in that beginners (as well as more experience crafters) can make. This afternoon I sat and made this little mouse - it's only 1.5 inches long, hence the shadow from the camera lens, but it is sooo cute.

Pickled eggs and a horse!

Today I have made pickled eggs with chilli for the hubby and I made the felt horse for my friend's daughter who will be 6 in a few days. I also managed to do a bit more on my sock this morning - haven't picked it up for ages. Forgot to bottle the beer today so that's a job for the morning.

Knitted bag

I finished the little knitted bag this evening. The picture is actually a little dark so it's not showing all the beads.

It's not my fault

Just look what I've got today. An old friend popped over on his way home from work and gave me a carry bag. He'd been clearing out his loft and found 20 balls of wool that had been his dear Mum's and he decided to give them to me. How could I refuse such a wonderful gift? I best get knitting really fast because I now have no room in my very big wool box (no comments about e-therapy please Claire - it's not my fault you see ;-) ).

I had seen this gorgeous black knitted bag somewhere (can't remember exactly) which had ribbon to tie it and sequin/beads sown on the outside, which I was going to knit. When I got the wool yesterday in the charity shop there was this gorgeous pink wool (possibly mohair although I'm not really sure as it didn't have a label) so I decided I would knit it in that instead. I started yesterday with my new bamboo needles and got just over half done. I'll hopefully finish it later.

I have to say that the bamboo needles are fantastic - I keep stroking them, they are sooo smooth and warm and lovely. Sad arn't I.

(Blushing) More Bargains and treats (blushing some more)

After taking the kids to the library today I ventured into another charity shop where I know there to be a wool box. I came out with a few balls (8) and 2 rolls of handmade paper which we shall make handmade books with. When we got home there was a parcel waiting for me from my Monday escapades on Ebay with 4 balls of gorgeous wool and my first pair of bamboo needles (all in a sale I might add). Then I come on here and read the comments from Claire and feel slightly embarrassed that my secret is out (hehe). Anyway, I've calmed down now and say proudly that I am a hoarder, but at least I use it all - it may take me a few months (or years) but I will use it ;-).

Pyjamas, brooches, wool & fabric

I finished the pyjamas this evening, and although I made them bigger for Ds3 to grow into, they have been pinched already :-).

I also stitched one of the brooch clips onto the flower I knitted at Christmas, so now I can add it to my coat.

I took apart the quilt cover I got in the charity shop yesterday. I knew that the green patchwork that I liked was only on one side but I never actually looked at the other side properly. I'm sure there will be something I can use this for.

I decided to sort out our hat rack as well. This old scarf was in there, but was too tatty really to take to the charity shop, so I decided to pull it down and reuse the wool.

Treats via the postie

On Monday evening I ordered some ribbon and buttons from Paper and Strings. Well they arrived today - yipee. More lovely stuff to drool over. Buttons and brooch clips and then all that lovely ribbon....mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Bargains

While browsing in the local charity shops yesterday I came across these bargains. Some lovely buttons (20p) - you can never have too many can you - and a single quilt cover (£1.50) which I had seen in there the last time I was in but never got it. I'd gone home and regretted not buying it, so yesterday when I went in I went straight to the sheet/quilt cover rail and there it was - lovely.

More handwarmers and some pyjama trousers

Finished the handwarmers for my sister this evening and I've finally started on the pyjamas for Ds3 - woohooo.

I laid the fabric on the floor and cut round a pair of pyjamas (x4) that he already wears. I added an extra inch and a half of fabric to allow for the seam and for bigger pyjamas.

Once I had done that I pinned 2 pieces together inside out and then did the same with the other 2. I'm now doing running stitch before I sew them properly. I'm still sewing by hand at the moment so they're going to take me a few days.

All sorts today

I've been doing all sorts today. I started off by making a cake before breakfast, then I thought I would make some beer with the hops we foraged last Autumn. It's really easy to do (instructions to follow later in the week). Later on I made a start on the handwarmers for my sister.

This is the first one finished, and I'm half way through the second one. Really want to start on the pyjama bottoms tomorrow, but we'll see what happens.

Decided on....

Well, it's been decided for me - I shall be knitting another pair of handwarmers then I shall be making pyjamas. Darling sister came to visit today, telling me that she's been telling her friends that I'm knitting her some, so I best get on with them hadn't I?!

Something else instead

I couldn't decide what to do so I did something else instead. My good friend's youngest daughter will be six at the beginning of February and she loves horses so this is the picture I have drawn for her card. I'm quite impressed with myself - I really like this picture. I love what you can do with watercolour pencils. I tend to draw first (with no water), which doesn't really look good on the watercolour paper, then I use a wet paintbrush to blend the colours as I want them. The effect is quite good I think.

Maybe start with the pyjamas tomorrow - when I've washed the other pyjama bottoms that I need to draw round ;-).

Candles

I promised my Dad ages ago that I would melt down his Yankee candles, that still had some wax but no wick, into another container for him. So, this is what I did this morning and now I have such a headache - I hate the smell of those candles. They are sooo strong. Anyway, another job done off my list that seems to have been on there for too long.

Re-melting candles

Boiling water with a pastry cutter sat in the bottom to stop the glass candle jar from cracking.


Candle happily melting away sat on top of the pastry cutter. If you've got odd bits of candles you could melt them directly into the jam jar you are going to keep them in and then add the wick once you have taken the jar out of the water.

Once it had melted I put on the oven gloves and poured it into this old golden syrup tin (jam jars will work just as well). I had tied the wick to a spoon to stop it from falling into the wax while it cooled, and then laid the spoon across the top of the tin.

To help it cool down quicker I stood the tin in a pan of cold water (not necessary at all).

Voila - one candle ready to use.

Another hat!

I finished the day-glow handwarmers yesterday (Ds2 has disappeared with them) so I thought I would start on a hat for myself (not the first one - I just never seem to get the sizing right) with the same wool that I made my thumbless handwarmers with. I used Soulemama's hat pattern and added a few more stitches so the gauge was right this time, then knitted away. I finished it this evening but the bloomy thing still doesn't fit!!!!! I like my hats to cover my ears and come down to my eyebrows at least but it's too short. I'm just not meant to have a hand knitted hat for myself :-(. Maybe it's because I haven't found the right shade of wool yet - purple really isn't my colour. I'll just have to look much harder won't I.

Can't decide whether to try the pyjamas next or knit the handwarmers for my sister :-/.

I love knitting

I sat down yesterday evening and decided I would knit myself some handwarmers with some of the wool that came in the bag of bits from Lucie. I managed to get one finished and another one started (I had to force myself to go to bed). I decided that my second pair would be thumbless, so following the pattern mentioned, I cast off the four stitches then carried on knitting. On the next row round I cast on 4 stitches using the backward cast on method. The wool is gorgeous and just makes you want to keep knitting. I finished those this afternoon and then started on DS2's pair (I got told off yesterday because I hadn't started his after I'd finished Ds1's warmers). So I got that finished and have now started on the second one. Must photograph the other handwarmers as well.

While sorting out all my stuff over the weekend I found this bag of rose petals that I'd been using for making cards. I'm going to use these smaller ones in some more bath melts with some rose essential oil.

Busy weekend

Well I've spent a very busy weekend trying to juggle children and re-arranging/incorporating all my craft stuff with my Mum's craft stuff. I've had to take out the material from my drawers and buy a box (plus one for the wool) because I just couldn't fit it all in the drawers. I've now got my cardmaking/scrapbooking stuff in the drawers (and a few bits left at the side of the bed) and the new boxes. Sorted through the kids stuff as well - blimey they do make a mess of it all :-) - looks tidier for 5 mins at least. I've had no chance to do any knitting or anything so I'm making myself sit down tonight to do some.

I would also like to have a go at making some pyjamas with the material I got from Lucie on the GP forum.

Back to yesterday

After spending another hour this morning cleaning up the mess left by my brother's children (aaarrgh) I needed to come on and unload some of the stuff from my head. I'm the one who kept Mum's personal cards that she had been given as the other two couldn't see the point in having them. Maybe it's just me clinging on to her but I feel every need to keep things like this. The sorting out was difficult because we were all being very polite and saying things like 'I don't mind...' so we probably didn't end up with some of the things that we really would have liked. Anyway, it's easier to do the piccies as a list so here goes:-

1. Ribbons
2. Flowers, cords, bows and bells
3. Chalks, glitter and glues
4. Stamps, punches and scissors
5. Peel offs
6. More paper, embellishments, stickers and rub offs
7. Christmas fabric panel and Christmas tree skirt panel
8. Christmas fabric
9. More paper and bits

There is still some bits to sort out. We also decided that the parchment stuff would be left together and then used by whomever wants to use it as we felt it was something that couldn't be split. The same goes for the brass stencils.

Right, back to tidying the house........

What a day

A lovely lady from the GP Forum was selling a load of material so I bought some for my stash. It arrived today in the post - how lovely it all is. It includes some blue velour, some from Laura Ashley and some from John Lennon. She also had 'free for postage', a bag of wool bits which I grabbed with both hands ;-). How gorgeous, thanks very much for the bargains - just need to find somewhere to house it all.

My brother and sister also came round for tea so we could sort out my Mum's craft bits. I'll go into it more tomorrow as I feel drained, but just to say that we didn't get it all done (in 4 hours)!

I will just add that my sister wants me to knit her some handwarmers, so that has made me feel really good.

Keeping busy

Had to keep busy this evening otherwise I would have ended up in a terrible mood. I'd started some more handwarmers yesterday after I finished that hat (just had to keep knitting) so I carried on with them. Got one finished and I've started the 2nd. My eldest has claimed them already. There are actually 3 more pairs that I have to knit for people, then I would like to experiment and knit some ribbed ones and some with just a hole instead of a thumb piece. I've actually bought some 4.5mm DPN today to see if they knit tighter with this wool as I don't know the weight of it. I'm actually not that sure what size needles I'm using now - I thought they were 5mm but they look so much bigger than the 4.5s. Must get a better ruler to measure them :-).

Fed up

I'm really fed up today - just need to winge I think. Tomorrow is the day we are sorting out all my Mum's craft stuff. I don't know how we are going to manage splitting all the different things so that everyone is happy. The paper and envelopes were relatively easy to do but rubber stamps, pens, inks, fabric box, parchment tools, etc are much more difficult. I know it will be alright in the end but I just want it over and done with.

Raverly

I've joined Ravelry today. I went to look a couple of days ago, then had to wait for my invitation to join, which came today - YIPEE. Went and had a quick browse around and found some fantastic toys - wow - there are some very talented people out there. Can't wait to have a proper look round it.

http://ravelry.com/

Another hat

Well here's hubby's hat. He requested a rib pattern so that what he's got - he says he likes it so that's a positive :-).

This is the first hat I've knitted on DPNs and I didn't really have a pattern, so I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I'm quite impressed really.