Works in progress

Although it's been quiet on the blog front, I've never stopped crafting, don't you worry! Two projects are for friend's babies and so I can't show you the full finished item, though I can offer you a sneaky peak...





I'm still struggling away with Coraline, I'm stuck on the short rows (only 20 rows to go until it's finished!) and my knitting guru has gone back to the States for a while so I've been forced to put it aside until I'm in a better head place to deal with counting stitches and working through the smocking pattern. In Ysolda's defence, it's not the pattern that's the problem, more my stressed, tired brain that can't handle anything vaguely complicated at the moment. I'm on intensive care starting tomorrow, so I've started a Selfish Crochet project to keep me entertained in the hospital flat - an autumnal themed blanket made from crochet hexagons.



The tweedy brown wool is a HUGE cone Andrew's Dad bought me from the car boot sale in Inverness, I'm edging each hexagon with autumnal themed colours from my stash and once they're used up I'll be on the hunt for some more thrifted wool. I'm loosely basing the theme on these lovely blankets I've been seeing on Pinterest, though I think this will be a more organic project that will develop over time, depending on what I find in charity shops and car boot sales to make it up as I go.

Source: thecrimsonowl.blogspot.com via Second on Pinterest

Source: meme-rose.blogspot.com via Victoria on Pinterest

Mini Maciver knitted goodies

I knitted these over Christmas for Heather's baby. I've been so excited to give them to her for over a month now and on the 3rd of February baby Alma finally joined us!



Apparently I have no concept of the size of a human newborn (even though I could tell you the weights to the nearest 5kg of newborn lambs, calves and foals...) so sadly neither of these fit her just now but in true parental style, "she'll grow into them".



For those of you on Ravelry, the pattern was a Looking Glass Knits affair and the yarn was Twilleys of Stamford DK. The yarn was lovely to work with actually, I'd definitely use that again. I bought it while I was down visiting my Grandad in Stockton just before he died so I thought of him while I knitted. Circle of life and all that.





Forward facing sheep!



The panda hat was in honour of the pandas arriving at Edinburgh Zoo (he has a smiley face!), I used yarn given to me by Smokey Mo, thanks love!

Cards

I've been playing around with some old maps and Where's Wally books I had lying around the house and made these simple little cards. I'm quite pleased with them, so quick and easy but I love the look of the paper! I've got some vintage annuals and old sheet music, I'm going to try with them as well and experiment with different shapes.



I've had cold for the past 3 days so these were the perfect little pick-me-up project without needing too much brain power or hand-eye coordination!

Dinosaurs

I bought this amazing pillow case from a charity shop for 99p a while back and had to make it into a zippered bag for my friend Danica's birthday. It took me two attempts (sewing whilst drinking wine and tired is not the best plan) but I'm definitely improving at zips! Once again I used the tutorial for a simple cosmetic bag from Sew Happy Geek, I can almost do it off by heart now. I popped a pair of chunky woolen wristies in the bag, she seemed happy with them both!





I still plodding away at the Coraline cardi, I'm only about 25 rows away from finishing but I need to concentrate on what I'm doing so I've not had a chance to do much on it recently. I'm also working on a cabled baby jumper for another set of friends having a baby, I've had to take it out once already, the pattern is more complicated than I realised!





- The colours I'm using

My next big project for me is a crocheted blanket out of Donegal Aran Tweed yarn. It arrived last week through the post and it is scrumptious, I want to rub it all over my face. I'm planning on doing these 12" granny squares to make a blanket for our next house, since we're planning on moving once I graduate. It's going to be a housewarming present to ourselves, to replace Little Ugly Blanket, who'll be downgraded to the dog's blanket.



- The granny square pattern


Must crack on with the cardi first though, I've been at it since September 2010...

Sleep mask

I had sudden inspiration to make a sleep mask the other day, mainly after finding this super easy tutorial on Whipup.net, via Pinterest.

I've been planning on making one for a while, since Andrew started a new job last year and now gets up an hour before I do to commute to Glasgow. Once he's awake and switching lights on, I find it hard to carry on sleeping, meaning I lose an hour of sleep a night. Which isn't a huge amount, but it's enough to make me crabby.



This little mask is backed with cream boiled wool, a remnant from my Birds wrap for Frances' wedding. It's so warm and completely blacks out any light, I slept right through until Andrew brought me my morning cup o'tea this morning, amazing!

These would make cute gifts for folk, you could make them in so many different colours and styles. This one is pink velvet with 2 vintage doileys hand-stitched on the eyes.

Drawing

A slightly off-the-wall craft post today, since I barely ever draw, but I'm strangely proud of this little sketch I drew while waiting for Andrew to play his turn at scrabble. He takes absolutely AGES to put down a word (though granted those words are then high scoring long words like 'roosted' (50 point bonus for using all 7 letters) as opposed to my quick play words that are invariably no longer than 4 letters like 'yams') so whilst bored waiting, I drew his face on the scorepad. Which is why, for the eagle-eyed among you, there's the top part of the Heinz logo adorning his chin, it was a free pad I scored from some promotional thing going on at the supermarket.



I tried to find a photo of him that looks vaguely similar to the concentrating-on-scrabble-in-an-attempt-to-crush-ones-girlfriend-on-points face he was sporting and this was the best I could come up with.



Wow, I draw so infrequently that I don't even have a tag for it so I'll have to use 'art' (ha!). I'd like to practice drawing more in the future, when I have a bit more spare time. It's quite relaxing, even when you're being thrashed at scrabble

Owl jumper

There's a bit of an owl theme going on with the 2012 posts at the mo, how strange. Anyway, here's the finished owl sweater I knitted for Vicky from her Mum for Christmas (incidentally, that's Vicky of the amazing rose teacosy fame. She's hoping to start a blog soon so watch this space, she crafts beautiful things and takes lovely photos so I'm sure it'll be a feast for the eyes!).



I love this pattern with a passion, it's so simple but so effective, I'm planning on knitting one for myself and my Mum this year. Sadly I didn't manage to get any photos of it on, but maybe Vicky will take one at some point! I'd like one in a tweedy green for me and I'm planning a raspberry or paler pink version for my Mum. I'm going to get some New Lanark wool for both projects I think!