Tag Archives: Stylecraft Special DK yarn

A Wave in Passing…

…to Handmade Monday!  I shouldn’t really be here…I’m packing….. but I just had to fit in a quick post before we take off for a few days at the seaside.

I do seem to have packed quite a lot of little projects to take with me, you know, just in case.  It would be terrible to have idle hands!

So, there are the birthday socks to finish…

…a few more squares to add to the blanket…

…and if I need a change,  something warm and snuggly to made from this, I haven’t decided quite what yet…

as well as a couple of books, my camera, notebook….

I’ve just time to share the birthday cake, (well, pictures of it, that’s all that’s left!) which I made for a friend’s birthday party over the weekend.  An extremely clever friend who built his own car….

…like this…

When I come home I will share the recipe of this, the most chocolatey chocolate cake in the world…it’s called Clovis cake!

All will be explained…..

So do pop along to Handmade Monday 31 to see who else is joining in.  Sorry to be so brief, Higgins and I will be back soon with tales of holiday fun….

Byeeee! xx

 

More Hearts…More Pompoms…

Hello!!! Is it Thursday already? This week is galloping by.  Firstly, because I know you’ll want to know, Henry is still doing nicely.  The medication has been finished, and as I write he is snoring contentedly, in his bed.  This is a relief, as when he first came back the only place he wanted to be if he couldn’t have a warm lap was a warm keyboard.

The only little cloud on the horizon is the visit to vet next Monday for the removal of the stitches.  This will probably require the entire squad of nurses and maybe one or two brave volunteers from the waiting room as he will NOT be a happy bunny!

Oh, and some hair restorer…

His tummy was shaved for the ultrasound, his head was shaved for the spinal tap, patches were shaved on his legs for the drips, and his throat was shaved for the operation.  Thank goodness it’s summer, I don’t think he’s be happy in a jumper, however beautifully knitted!

But pompoms, I hear you cry, you said there were pompoms!

There are SO many pompoms!  I found this wonderful gadget…

Do you remember the Heart and Pompom bunting…

…which I made in January?

I still love it, but I made the pompoms with a little gadget which my mum had given me because she wasn’t very happy with her results.  Well, I tried really hard with it, and made so many pompoms using up my leftovers

but they were never as firm and fluffy as I wanted them to be.

Now I have found this gadget…

…and it is wonderful! The smallest sized one makes a beautifully firm pompom in just few minutes and it is so compulsive I had to pack the gadgets up and put them away as  there was a danger that my entire stash would be used up!

The solution was to make a larger version of the Heart and Pompom Bunting – the tutorial for that is here.  I just worked the last row in the pattern in the main colour and added an extra row in the contrast colour to make the hearts bigger and made the joining chain slightly longer between the hearts so I could use slightly bigger pompoms.

Would you like to see?

It was hard to find the best way to show you.  When I hung it up inside I realised how much my house needs redecorating, and the light wasn’t right so here it is outside the studio…

There’s actually a bit too much light here, it rather bleaches the colours, but I’m not going to complain about sunshine! (If you can’t find the pompom maker locally I got mine from Clothkits thank you, Kaye!)

Now we have another sunshiny day I’d better get out into the garden. All the strong wind over the last couple of days has blown my little plastic greenhouse and flowerpots all over the garden. (Higgins has done his best  to round things up but the toothmarks are a problem…)

Talking of Higgins, he’s rather had the spotlight taken off him with recent events but if you were wondering…he’s fine…

You see…?

 

 

 
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Compensations of the Season

Last year  the Virginia Creeper was a solitary, spindly strand struggling to stay clinging to the wall.  I was a little brutal and trimmed it back to door height during the winter and it’s done so well over the summer, despite being torn off in the wind several times.   Now it is truly glorious, and I have high hopes of it spreading really well next year, and hiding the join between the old house wall and the extension.

I was a bit premature in a previous post when I said how well the sunflowers had withstood the wind and went outside to find one drooping miserably over the fence.  Never mind, it’s all looking pretty good in a vase.

I’ve been playing around with my basket of Stylecraft Special DK and working on a cushion assortment to compliment the crochet blanket.  Ikea came up trumps – again – on my last visit with small cushions, 30cms, for a ridiculous price, something like 79p a piece!  I managed to hold back though and only got six. 

My first two have been a colour experiment.  A cool one…

…and a warm one.

I’m happy with how they look…

…and the quality controller is testing them as I write!

There’s another cushion in the making but for now I’ve got to persuade Higgins it’s time for walkies, just as he’s decided it’s time to get comfy…

Cue Drum Roll…

…Fanfare? …or just a plain old Da-daa?  It’s a show and tell moment. Blanket time!  I’m feeling very happy about my blanket.  As someone who has been known to struggle with finishing something (that butterfly mind thing where I find a new project before the end of WIP) I’m feeling just a little smug…

And it’s a happy blanket. Lovely summery colours which are going to be very cheering as we go into gloomy old winter.

It’s a good size too.  The right size for a single bed or a throw over the sofa and also perfect for curling up in front of the fire.  I used 17 different colours, 100grams of each and it was almost exactly the right amount.  I then bought a couple of extra balls to do the edging and I really liked the greek fishing boat blue shades.

I thought I’d do a bit of an arty shot in the garden, but I had a slight problem with my photographic assistant…

He didn’t quite ‘get’ what I was trying to do…and then got very tired…

I thought it might look rather nice in the studio…

Ahem,  excuse me, can I just get past please…? Thank you…

So if you are ready..here we are…

And also, on the bed…

I’m almost, almost but not quite looking forward to cooler weather now!Ii’m still in love with the colours so I’m very tempted to buy another batch and have a bit of fun with matching cushions.

But now I have one or two other little projects on the go so I can’t rest on my laurels.  I’ll tell you about those next time…

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...