Been busy

Been busy today. I've made the pink knitted monster for my niece, made a tiny knitted chick and I've nearly finished a knitted duck. The chick and duck are from The Children's Year. Quick to do and quite effective. The chick is so small that he won't photograph properly (he has actually got blue eyes) - I'll show you the duck tomorrow as he is only half stuffed.

I also bought some more fabric off Ebay (no comments please Claire ;-) ). They arrived this morning. More green paisley by Vera Bradley, some green polka dot and a gorgeous pink fairies and dandelions.

Couple more done (or, I'm rubbish at titles!)

Done the gnomes and a made a suprise for someone. That's something else off the list (although these haven't actually been on there for long).

Another monster and sock progress

Here's the latest monster that I've made for my Mum's partner. We're going to sort out the last few bits of my Mum's tomorrow so I'm taking T a little pressie.

Thought I'd show you how I'm progressing with the socks. After pulling it all down and starting again a few days ago I think I've got quite a bit done. After doing the cuff I've doubled the size of the ribs to make my own pattern for the sock. Looks ok so far.

Arn't old sheets great?

It's been a very productive day today - we do get them sometimes. After making the wrapping paper bag I got carried away slightly and made the dog bed cover (yes it does have cats and mice on it), re-made the felt sausages as we didn't like them in a string and re-stitched the eyes on the green mini monster (yes this is the 3rd set he's had). That's a couple off things of my list.

And, Hubby is happy with this pile of soft rags that were left over from the sheet as well.

2 of the sausages sizzling in the pan ;-).

Mini monster

After sorting out Ds3's bedroom and wardrobe I took these out as they have a couple of stains on them so they are no good for the charity shop. I'll try and think of something to make them into. The last t-shirt that we didn't want to part with was made into a cushion which sits on his bed. (I'll try and remember to post a picture). Any suggestions very welcome.

Changed a mini monster

We (hubby and I) decided that the green mini monster looked too much like a frog with his button eyes so we've changed them to stitched eyes like the other 4. Looks much better.

Santas and Monsters

I meant to add these pictures earlier but I forgot. My favourite is the bottom one because he is nice and simple.

Well, no.3 and no.4 are very pleased to meet you all. Just one more to go.

Santa and mini monster 2

Well, here's monster no.2 - no.3 has arms and legs so far, so hopefully by the end of the day he'll be ready to meet you ;-).

Just wanted to show you a couple of cross-stitches that I've made in previous years (think they both took about 3 years each to make). I tend to get fed up doing cross-stitches, they're great to start with then it's just a bit repetitive. The top one is a hanging one and the bottom one is a bell pull which I bought at a stitching fair in Harrogate that I went to with my Mum and Nan many many moons ago.

Monster Pattern

I got the pattern for the monster from Usbourne How to Knit. Here it is (forgive me for no proper abbreviations - it's a kids book and I'm just learning ;-) ).

1 x 50g ball of aran wool (doesn't use much though)
4.5mm needles
stuffing
sewing needle

For the body (make 2)

Cast on 20 stitches.
Stocking stitch (knit a row, pearl a row) until the knitting measures 7.5cm.
Next row, K2, slip the first stitch over the second one then K to last 2 stitches, K2 together.
Next row, P to end.
Repeat last two rows until you have 12 stitches left.
Next row, P to end, then cast off.

For the arms (make 2)

cast on 5 stitches.
stocking stitch until knitting measures 7cm, then cast off.

For the legs (make 2)

Cast on 7 stitches
stocking stitch until knitting measures 10cm, then cast off.

Pin the two parts of the body with the right sides together. Sew together (back stitch) using the thread left from the casting on. Leave bottom for stuffing. Turn the body inside out then stuff with stuffing wool. Sew up the bottom. The edges of the arms will have rolled in, so they don't need to be stitched. Use small stitches to attach to the side of the body. As the legs are wider they may need small stitches to sew them (I didn't do this as mine were rolled in like the arms).
Attach to the body. Use ordinary sewing thread to make eyes and a mouth, or use buttons/beads.

Bags again and a mini monster

Here's the second bag complete. Thought I'd better do the design different as one is for my sister and the other is for my sister-in-law. Probably should have chosen different material too but never mind ;-).

And here's the finished mini monster. I halved the size of the main body (20 to 10), decreased the stitches for the legs by 2 (7 to 5) and left the arms the same (5), then I just knitted the length I wanted. Just got 4 more to do to fill the Christmas crackers.

Spent the rest of the evening getting party games ready for tomorrow and blowing up balloons - 3 for me 47 for hubby ;-), hee hee.

Preparing for tomorrow's birthday

As we have a birthday in the house tomorrow, I've got the bunting and happy birthday sign that I made. The bunting is pieces of fabric cut to shape with pinking shears. I then tacked them inside a cotton strip and then hand-sewed them altogether. It's about 14ft in total.

I made this sign a few years ago. We used to hang one of those plastic 'throw-away' happy birthday signs. This was made using the word processor for the letters, which were cut out and then I laminated them (4 laminates in total). Much longer lasting and much nicer to look at.

I've been terribly grumpy the last few days and needed to 'make' something yesterday so I sat and knitted 3 leaves (one has mysteriously vanished) - not very exciting but, hey, something I'd not done before, and they only took about 10 mins each. I've also started some mini monsters to go in the Christmas stockings - managed to get 1 body, 2 arms and 1/2 a leg done - still 6 days to go so should be plenty of time, right ;-).

I also succummed to a 15% discount that ebay were offering me and bought some cocoa butter - not organic but something to get me started. Might just make some vanilla ones first as I have some vanilla extract in the cupboard - hope that works the same.

Little Monster!

Well, I managed to get this started AND finished yesterday. Don't quite know how as Ds3 went to bed at 7.30pm but was then up again at 8.20pm. Kids are great aren't they ;-). Had to take him to bed with me at 11.30.

So here's the little fella - destined to wait patiently in someone's stocking on Christmas eve.