'I like your top'. 'Thanks, I made it myself'

Have, as usual been doing lots of everything and getting nothing finished...well almost nothing. I have managed to finish my top, which I admit, I'm right chuffed with and I wore it on the school run. It looks, am pleased to report, outrageously pretty with a pair of jeans and has left me feeling a bit smug that it cost me less than two quid to make.

I only had a metre of the fabric so thought I might have to do the sleeves in a different fabric but, I had enough for the sleeves and body and I used a bit of leftover lining fabric from my skirt for the facing, after all when it's on, nobody can see the chuffing facing anyway.


Soooo, what do you do if you have 4 projects on the go and a bag full of knitted and crocheted fabric waiting to be seamed, why of course you start another one, well you do if you're me. My attention span seems to be getting shorter as I get older. I've got a jacket thing to finish, (see previous post) a bolero type thing, a pair of socks on the go (knitted) and a crochet dress, oh and I can't count because I am also in the middle of making a skirt (sewn).

And NOW I have embarked on a bed cover thingy for my mums french chateau, which will be made from these blue and cream hexagons, that you see here. They take about 10 minutes each to make, so are perfect to just sit down with a cup of tea after lunch and amuse myself with before I go to work. I nicked the idea from an old 60s Twilleys pamphlet for a bedspread made out of hexagons. I haven't used the pattern, I used the hexagons from '250 stitch motifs to crochet' and will seam them as I go because the thought of seaming hundreds of little hexagons in one go is enough to have me running screaming for the hills!

How to buy yourself a couple of hours peace and tranquility.

It is (as some of you will know) nearing the end of the long, lazy summer holidays, I must admit I have worked whilst dh has done the lions share of ferrying to zoos and whatnot and when I've been here, we've mostly crafted together (with dd of course, the TEEN mostly does his own thing).

Dd has wanted to paint her own t shirts for a while so yesterday she did, this, dear reader is the results. I am especially taken with the flowers, so taken in fact I might pass her one of my t shirts to daube them on, as I can't draw funky flowers to save my life, she obviously gets it from dh's side of the family!!

The crocheted block at the bottom is the back of my cropped jacket, which will hopefully adorn my frame at some point this winter, it's crocheted in half trebles and I am half way through half of the front (not shown here), it's taken from a pattern in the fabulously naff CrochetWorld, although because I just can't behave myself I've not really followed the pattern to the letter and just used the idea and merrily gone my own way! Que Sera Sera.

A pyschedelic shopper fit for the 70s and THAT doll swap!

In between working overtime and prepping fabric for my skirt, I have been indulging in a little light crocheting, this lime green and lurid pink beauty was knocked up during a few commutes into work and a couple of evenings slobbing in front of the telly. The inspiration for the colours came from browsing the Purplelinda
website and happening upon the dayglo cotton yarn that I ordered from there to make it with (Anchor Style CREATIVA, in case you were wondering). I love it for its Austin Powers style retro look and I will carry it with pride, obviously ignoring the sniggers of the more staid bastions of my small community, if I were a braver woman then I would of course wear it with a knitted all in one shorts suit.


My swap partner received my doll last week, so I am now posting it here in all it's glory, unfortunately whilst trying to photograph it, the camera kept shutting off, then dd kept rearranging the feather boa and repositioning her, so the photos are not good. However I thought she turned out really well, I added the boa for a quirky 1920s touch (feather yarn does have its uses) but the original pattern belongs to the uber talented Miaou
crafting diva of the highlands, who owns the rights to the pattern, so if you want to make one yourself, contact her, I think she is selling the pattern. I will definitely be making another as dd wants one to go with the wildlife and fauna that festoons her bed.

Bags and flowers.

Well now I've dispatched my doll swap (only 6 months late!! The Shame!), I can now throw myself into a bit of dressmaking. As the old adage goes, have cash, will shop, so I have!

First stop was Betsy Ross
to buy the beautiful charmed dress pattern and the raglan top. I bought the A line skirt pattern about a year ago and made a charming skirt out of a pair of my nans old curtains but, as I tried trimming the hem with a pair of 8" shears, I managed to snip a hole in it!! Still I've kept the skirt because a) it was my nans old curtains(and they remind me of her and b) it was my first attempt at a skirt. I've made a few since but I found this gorgeous summery fabric in a shop in Walthamstow for the princely sum of a quid a metre, so I bagged a couple of metres along with some lining and I am planning to make another glorious skirt with it, minus the mistakes this time.

Speaking of old curtains, I needed another stash bag so I knocked this one up (out of, appropriately) old curtains. For some reason, the photo doesn't really do it justice (tis much nicer in the flesh), although I misjudged the firmness of the curtains and should have interfaced the whole thing, not just the top. But it will do nicely for stashing my work uniform in, when I want to indulge in a little light morning retail therapy and I'll still have plenty of space for a yarn project and some purchases.

This gorgeous blue floral fabric was hidden in my stash, much to my excitement, think I got it from Hitchin market and is going to become the main body of the Betsy Ross raglan top. There is only a metre of it, so I've carefully measured it up and worked out there is enough for the main body and the facings, I will do the sleeves in a plain material for a bit of contrast, am undecided as to whether the contrast should be blue, white or cream, so I will have to do some side by side comparisons to see which looks best. Although I think plain cornflower blue cotton would work a treat. Must remember....TRIM WITH EMBROIDERY SCISSORS ONLY!!

A PARCEL from America and a pattern of this week.

Well I got a parcel from my swap parcel in America and here is what she sent me (the cat doll), how gorgeous is that!! Dd loves it (of course, she's 'borrowed' it) and it has joined various Gingermonkey toys on her bed, she still sleeps with that lavender mouse that GM made for me. I have parcelled my swap up now I've just got to make the trek to the post office and await with baited breath the arrival of it on the other side of the pond. Thanks M.

Inbetween battling with my doll swap (the hair required tackling a sewing needle and I think you might have guessed by now that handsewing is not my favourite activity), I knocked up a cotton shopping bag. I'm heartily fed up of carrying around a plastic asda 'green' reusuable bag, so I crocheted my own, much better looking alternative to put the 'green' carrier bag in!!. It's fine for lighter shopping but I fear 4 pints of milk may end in carnage!! By the time this photo was taken it had been used for several weeks and I can roll it up and just stick it in my (not exceptionally big) handbag. Soothing therapy and usefulness all rolled up in one little package, bliss.

Inspired by a conversation on a crafting forum (and those responsible for it's inclusion here.... you know who you are ;-) ) I just had to have this charming late 60s pant suit as pattern of the week, I culled it from a dog eared booklet in a collection of patterns that my mum gave me. I do love this booklet in a deeply unironic way, not only does it include bikinis and a knitted all in one playsuit (the joy!!), it also has a crocheted mod wedding dress, complete with cloche type cap. Really it's enough to make you hyperventilate!!

A haircut to celebrate my return.

Well, it's been a while but my return to work has meant less hours crafting and less blogging time too. Still now that I've learnt how to successfully juggle, I can blog with more frequency and less haste.

First things first, a new haircut (and colour of course) to celebrate and here it is, in all it's glory, admittedly the picture is not great and first thing in the morning is never a good time to have your pic taken but what the hell, at least I can console myself with the thought that I look better by lunch time, particularly as by then I would have put some slap on and combed my tangerine coloured barnet into some sort of shape.

Of course, I needed some new accessories to go with the new hair and the two pics on the bottom show my first hard earned purchases courtesy of Whizzz
(the turquoise one) and Chickadee cards
the Victoriana style one. I don't actually feel that the pics do them justice, so I may replace them with better ones shortly but I love them.

I finished my MILs berry bag and this (halfway down) is the end result, I am really pleased with it (not my sort of colour, I'll admit but MIL likes it) and I am doing one in a lovely marine coloured blue and green for myself, that is once I have packaged up my doll swap and sent it off.

My swap from GM, a tag and my first pattern of the week!!

As promised I am blogging the gorgeous cat that GingerMonkey made for my dd in return for my owl (I got the best end of the bargain hee hee ;-) ). It is in fact a pirate cat but darling daughter is insistent that this week she is just KitKat and that she doesn't return in her pirate guise until next week, so if I want pirate cat, I'll have to come back next week!! Dd is seriously glued to this cat, it goes to bed with her, has been to show and tell at school and has even been known to sit and wait outside the bathroom for her to finish her bath. GingerMonkeys marvellous shop is here
should you want to peruse and buy.

In other news, I have been tagged by Dior
so here' s my answers (the more sensitive amongst you may want to look away).

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was a single mother to a 4 year old, working full time and harbouring a major crush on a man who is now my dh! And I was just getting my first promotion at work IIRC.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
Well they were
1) Do the weekly veg and fruit shop at the market.
2)Do the weekly button shop for dd's growing button tin.
3)Browse the charity shop for some clothes.
4)Take dd to the library (we didn't get there).
5)Attempt to finish MILs knitting bag birthday present.

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Marmite on toast, cheese on toast, cheese and biscuits, (bit of a theme here) sour cream and chive pringles (proper pringles, not the low fat, rice cracker jobs), anything with lime and chili in.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Buy myself a fabulous art deco house with a separate wing to use exlusively for stashing yarn and fabric.

5) Places I have lived:
Tottenham
Peterborough
Islington
Harringay
Hackney
Bedfordshire

6) 6 bloggers I want to know more about .
Hmmm, want to put Dior but she's already done, so
Overmilkwood

World of whizzz

Sew to bed

Tillyboo

Dingle

Juicy Fig



And now for my first pattern of the week.

If you've read my blog before you're probably aware of my fascination for all things retro, in the general spirit, I will be selecting a pattern from my stash of charity shop/ebay/passed down from mum finds and nominating it my favourite of the week, so ladies and (perhaps the odd gentleman) ta da, I give you the silver smock top from above. It's contained in a 1971 published book, charmingly entitled The Golden Hands book of crochet and I bagged it in our local Age Concern for the princely sum of £1.70 and it's crocheted in Twilleys Goldfingering, which is a yarn I have long had a childlike hankering for. It's twinkly and shiny, see and satisfies my inner 5 year old fairy whims. Look and release your inner Abigail, you know you want to.

Another owl and a bit of crochet lace.

That wonderful MNer known as Gingermonkey, requested another owl, so I've done another, as you can see, in return she sent my dd a beautiful Pirate Cat, will post photos, when I can actually get hold of the cat as dd has taken to carting said cat about with her everywhere, it goes to bed with her, it roams around the house with her, she is in short, absolutely smitten with it, thank you GM, it is gorgeous, although dd does swap the neckerchief around and sometimes poor old pirate cat has to suffer the indignity of wearing it's neckerchief as a pair of knickers!!

Have been working slowly on the flapper doll but, still not finished, my short attention span keeps wandering off to other things but I aim to finish it by the end of this week, crafting has taken a bit of a back seat to real life this week but I did experiment with this crochet lace pattern the other night from Lily Chin's Couture Crochet book, which if I have enough of this yarn will become a lace stole, not just any old lace stole mind, but the Molly Ringwald lace stole and I really REALLY want to crochet the Molly Ringwald lace pattern crochet dress but that will have to wait until I have enough time and money to buy the yarn!

Have auburn hair, will channel Molly Ringwald!

A PAIR of sock, yes, I've managed a pair!

I am now a working woman, so my commute has provided ample opportunity to whittle down my WIPs and turn them into FOs. Knitting on a train has many pluses, the top one being that if someone tries to invade your personal space, you can stab them with a needle! This week I have managed to finish my cotton bedsocks, yes I now have an actual pair and I love them, the patterned cotton knitted up reminds me of sunset or a thundery sky and although the ribbing could have been a bit tighter, I'm happy with them, I will be slathering my feet in foot butter tonight and popping them over the top, my husband will be thrilled!

The wool on the right is a purchase from my short trip to iknit, the middle one is a ball of Kaffe Fassett from Regia that will be perfect for a pair of socks, (this time I am going to use short rows to turn the heel) and the other two I picked up from the bin wonderfully marked 'Don't be afraid, it's only acrylic' (have I mentioned I don't do acrylic snobbery), they are Robin, which is one of the brands I am not mad about admittedly but they do have a nice felty feel to them and will be perfect incorporated into one of my odds and ends bags that I am making.

A berry nice bag.

I realised the other day that it is my Mother in Laws birthday very soon, now she is a very lovely woman, am immensely fond of her and she hinted the other week that she wouldn't mind if I knitted her a knitting bag.

For quite a while now I have been wanting to knit this
the knitting needle knitting bag and so I grabbed the opportunity with my usual enthusiasm (which means I will work like a demon on it for a couple of days and then get bored and move onto something else for a while, then return to it with all the joy of someone being hauled up by a firing squad).

My MIL is a very pink type of lady, in fact you would have seen evidence of this in her curtains on a previous post, so I popped down to the market for a 200g ball of Bretts best acrylic (I am not an acrylic snob, in fact I think a knitting bag demands acrylic, especially if you're using a Berry stitch). The yarn is called Marble and the pinky, purply, orangey one is for my MIL, while I was there I spotted the beautiful greeny blue one the evidence of which is at the top and bagged it for myself. You can't really see the real colours from the photo but it's a lovely bluey green which I am absolutely besotted with and I love the way the berry stitch makes the colours pop. And although I now have absolutely loads of knitting bags, witness my recent bag making extravaganza, I will be toteing it along to my knitting group with cheerful abandon.

A nice lining (in honour of Chrissnow)

Along with attempting to finish all the other things in my UFO bag, I have used MILs old curtains to contain some of my needles, hooks, spare balls of wool and other assorted crafting paraphenalia. Now as I may have mentioned, I do love a nice lining and this lovely granny print is no exception, am not mad about dusky rose velour but the lining just makes me feel all warm and happy and it is (dons halo) recycled (the bag that is, not strictly speaking, the lining). And while I am not absolutely in love with the outside, I think if I decorated it with some crochet flowers made out of cream coloured crochet thread, I could rather like it.




Onto one of my neglected UFOs, I have a vintage pattern fetish, which I may have mentioned before and which is indulged quite frequently, yes I am that annoying woman taking up all the counter space with the pattern book in your local age concern! This early 70s Patons pattern is one of a huge book of 60s and 70s patterns that my mum gave me when I first started to knit and crochet and I started it an age ago, in a fit of boredom, I picked it up the other night and started on the increase rows, heaven knows when it will actually be finished, probably in time for my dd's 21st I should think but, I am rather pleased with the way it's going.

Mind you, looking at these photos it looks like I am going through a deeply pink phase, must root out that teal wool to counteract the overwhelming girliness.

Bag lady and I've been TAGGED!!

Observing my fabric mountain, I thought it would be a good time to drag out the sewing machine and whittle down my stash by making some craft bags. The fabric for this stash bag came from a reccy in Walthamstow (recommended by an MNer) which cost the princely sum of a quid for a metre!! I lined it but I didn't bother interfacing it as it's only for keeping my UFOs in, (you can just spy a bit of one poking out of the top) and I've filled it fit to bursting already, as you can no doubt see. I made full use of the eyelet tool my Mum gave me and I bought a length of wonderfully gold naff curtain tie-back to use for the handles from the habby stall at Stevenage market.

Am now in the swing of it, so I am currently making a stiffer stash bag from my MILs dusky rose pink velour curtains (nice!!) and a denim bag using an old pair of jeans (which will no doubt be guest starring on these pages soon).

In other news, dear reader, I have been tagged by Greebos Whiskers
so if you don't want to destroy the wonderous vision you hold of me in your head, look away now.

4 jobs I have had:
A burger flipper in the, then, local Wimpy (yes I did have to wear the costume, it smelt, quite a lot as it happens).
Train Announcer (yes if you've travelled through a major London station circa 11 years ago, you have probably had the pleasure of hearing my dulcet tones. And I had the dubious honor of being the first female member of staff there for 15 years, what a trailblazer).
Booking Office Manager
Revenue Accounts Auditor (this is what happens when you are full of yourself, they promote you to head office, oh the giddy heights).

4 favourite films:
Dirty Dancing
Grease
Pretty in Pink (because Molly Ringwald is everything I want to be in this film)
Quadrophenia (love the film, love the fashion, love the music)

4 places I've been:
Hunstanton (what do you mean, where?)
Brussels (beer)
France
Spain

4 places I've lived:
Tottenham
Peterborough
Islington
Harringey

4 favourite tv shows:
Father Ted
Blackadder (the second, obviously)
Life on Mars
Buffy the Vampire Slayer

4 favourite radio programs:
Mark Lamarr on Radio 2
Radcliffe and Maconie on Radio 2
Womens Hour on Radio 4
And er.. that's it.

4 favourite foods:
Salsa with plenty of chili and lime
Pizza with chili oil
Macaroni cheese (added chili please)
Pasta with tomato sauce

4 places I'd rather be:
Loch Long
In my bed
New Zealand
Home.

Er, now I've got to think of someone else to tag, remember, it could be YOU.

Am back, I am tagging Littlegeckos.

I turned a corner....and a heel.

Well the lurgy finally caught up with me, so to while away the hours, I've done some more work on my WIPs for GM and Miaou and finally picked up the socks that I chucked onto the UFO pile sometime ago in disgust. I have made some very simple socks before but I have never turned a heel, so when heel turning time came on these I cocked it up royally, so fed up was I with the whole process that I hid the offending item at the bottom of my knitting bag with visions of ripping the whole lot out 'at some point'.
Because I needed to unearth the bottom of said bag today to look for a knitters needle, I happened upon them and decided to sit down and try and work out how to actually turn the flaming heel for once and all, and you know what, once I actually stopped to look at it properly I could see clearly how it was done. And voila.... I did it, I turned the heel and the switch in my head that insisted it couldn't be done.
I've knitted this in cotton for a purpose, so that I can swathe my manky old feet in half a jar of foot butter at night, slap above mentioned socks on and wake up with delicate, smooth as a babys bottom tootsies. Am enjoying it so much now that I have plans to knit socks for just about everyone I know, yes beware, if you have the misfortune to know me then you too could be the recipient of a pair of cotton bed socks and if you're really lucky a jar of foot butter for satisfying slathering!

Two WIPs for you to marvel at!

Ta dah!! Two amiguiri for the price of one, have started GMs owl, which is proving to be a good stash buster, it's the purply blue circle on the right and that circle ladies (and gentleman) will eventually be it's head, the one on the left is the beginnings of a flapper girl amiguiri doll, the pattern for which I am testing for another mner, the lovely Miaou, when it's finished I will post pics , here is Miaou's blog with Tilly (the flapper girl) included Miaoucrafts.com/jill
she's so lovely that I'm sure you will probably all want the pattern and you will have to contact Miaou for it. Strictly speaking the flapper girl should be cream but as my stash is bereft of cream (and overflowing with white), I've used white, after all pale was very fashionable in the 1920s, I believe.
The lovely Nbg has asked that I point you in the general direction of her doll craft swap so here it is
I am going to join, although I suspect my project may run late, of course ALL of my projects tend to run late but I do attempt not to be tardy, my life just has other ideas sometimes!

Buttons, buttons, buttons and a trip to the V&A!

Just recently I have been suffering from a severe button fetish brought on by buying some beautiful glass buttons from an MNer, this was followed by a couple of ebay purchases (the tin full of buttons in the middle pic being one of them). Of course, darling daughter has caught the bug too and rather fancied her own tin of buttons, so every week we visit the habby stall at our local market and I treat her (and me) to a few buttons, you can see a very small selection of dd's buttons at the bottom. We've also had a few goodies from the charity shops, the Sally Army shop being one of the best for real vintage buttons and she's even snapped up a few that I really want to pinch but 'she got there first'. I'm particularly fond of her big pink 60s style resin ones that she got from the habby man, so much so that after failing to prise them from her grubby mitts, I had to make a special trip to buy some of my own.'

Today, I made my much anticipated trip to the V&A, so no crafting but plenty of gawping , so much so that I managed to only 'gawp' at the lower levels. I unexpectedly, loved the Ottoman exhibits in the Middle East section, think it was the combination of the blues and greens in the tiling and textiles that did it and in case you're reading mother, blue and green are meant to be seen, not just when you're dining with the Queen! And the furniture and wall hangings in the Europe section just off the tube tunnel made me feel awed, even the ones that weren't to my taste, just because so much toil and sweat must have gone into them.

The fashion section was lovely, as expected and I did actually press my nose up against the glass trying to see the tiny stitchwork of the courturiers and I think I have a new appreciation for Vivienne Westwood, I can see where her ideas come from. In fact so engrossed was I, that time passed me by and I didn't get a chance to see the upper levels, so another trip is on the cards, I feel. I really want to see the Textiles and the Galleries, so while I am still a free woman (which is only until May) I am going back.!

Vintage Swap and a thank you for Nbg!

Drum roll please.... I have at last finished my vintage swap for Gingermonkey. In truth I doubt I could actually claim that the amiguiri owl is vintage but it was crocheted with charity shop wool (courtesy of The Garden House Hospice in Hitchin, which incidentally is an absolute treasure trove for wool and needles). I am much more pleased with this amiguiri owl than the last one, mainly because I stuffed him with a lot of stuffing (he's very firm but, as a result rather large!) and I popped a couple of curtain weights in the bottom so that he stands up better, he still topples over a bit after a while but I didn't want him to be so heavy that he caused injury if thrown at someone!

The sachets (one for GM and one as a thank you for nbg) I feel are much more in keeping with the vintage theme, you don't really see them about much in these supersonic high tech days and they are basically my MILs old curtains cut up and used as an inner lining with a couple of filet crochet panels sewn on top. Filet crochet is also one of those old worldy things that you don't seem to see much of these days and I love doing filet crochet, it feels really calming and I really enjoyed making them. And although I have done filet crochet in the past, it's a long time since I picked up a small steel crochet hook (always small steel hooks for fine crochet) and a bit of cream coloured thread and actually done some, I even enjoyed sewing the lining and I am not a lady who enjoys hand sewing much usually. Although I popped a couple of rosewood balls in with the stuffing so hope the recipients like rose, still I'm sure if not they can find someone to gift them to.

Enjoy!!

A glorious vintage treat from GM, a now battered amiguiri owl and a surprise from another lovely MNer.

I'm obviously a lucky, lucky girl this week, I got paired with Gingermonkey again for our MN vintage swap and this gorgeous bag with two lavender mice is my reward. Of course darling daughter has snaffled one of the mice to stash in her vest drawer, she abides by the mantra 'what is yours is also mine', I will get my revenge by spending her inheritance on fancy fabric! The gorgeous bag is now living in my handbag and keeps together my tissues, lippy and compact because I love the idea of nonchantly pulling out a bag made of gorgeous vintage fabric to retrieve my 'nose blowers' (copyright dd), plus it means I can easily find those bits and bobs that would otherwise entail a 15 minute hunt throught the warzone that is my handbag.

Last week I finished my first attempt at amiguiri, this owl was featured in Crochet Today last year, I'm fairly pleased with it but my next attempt will involve more stuffing, I think. That aside I was rather chuffed with her obvious delight at receiving it and it hasn't left her bed since.

Another kind mner, this time Nbg, offered up some leftover fabric on our craft board and kindly said I could have it. It's perfect for lining bags, I do love a nice lining in a bag. Of course dd has her eye on it to make flowers with, so I might save her a square!
This week I've mainly been finishing my swap(s) for Gm, which are nearly done, of course I need to go to the habby stall at Hitchin market (it's my new addiction) for a couple of things and then, I'm done. Will blog results at the weekend, hopefully, along with a few photos of our growing button collection (courtesy of every charity shop within a 20 mile radius of us).

A pressie from the divine Gingermonkey and a ramble about other stuff.

Thought I 'd show you one of the things that I've been up to in the last few months, here, modelled by my very own handsome ds (it's in the genes you know!) is the cuff that he nagged me to make, it took me longer to thread the beads onto the wool than it did to actually knit it but it was my first real go at knitting with beads and it was blissfully easy. It's a pattern from the ubiquitous Debbie Stoller, think it's the Stitch 'n' Bitch tome. Unfortunately he showed it to his mates and now they all want one!! They're Emo's you know!

As part of the Emo thing, he's had me rooting about in charity shops for suitable t- shirts (which is obviously a real hardship ;-), he really wanted a Slipknot t-shirt and I explained that you can't always find exactly what you want , it doesn't work like that. And would you believe it .... after a few weeks of dedicated charity rummaging, yes I found one, along with a couple of punk rock festival t-shirts and one with nirvana type doodlings on. You can crown me queen of the charity shop rummage if you want. While I was there I picked up the 2mm needles I needed for the cuff, I'm sure I have some but they're currently in hiding. Of course, he's picked up the charity shop habit now and can be found amongst the boxes of old LPs , searching for hidden treasure, when he's not mugging old ladies , of course.

On to this delightful chick, courtesy of the divine Gingermonkey, it was my swap in return for my knitted breast, sorry I meant cupcake. To avoid the hassle of prising it from the grubby mitts of my dd, I waited until she went to school to take this photo, it should be noted that she's also appropriated the lavender sachet that went with it (which I was going to scent my undie drawers with) and put it her wardrobe to make her clothes smell nice! I got my revenge by nicking one of the chocolate eggs that came with it.

A little swap for the glorious mner that is GM.

Whilst I have been absent from my blogging, I have been far from absent with my crafting, over christmas, managed to make all sorts of knitted and crocheted bits for family and friends, more of which later.
On mumsnet, that hallowed website where mums judge each others lifestyle choices, sorry I meant support each other ;-), there is a busy corner named the arts and crafts section, which boasts the nicest bunch of mners you are ever likely to meet. In the general spirit of bonhomie which occurs on this corner of the site, one of the arts and crafts ladies decided to set up a craft swap, swappees were decided by lottery and there was a theme, although I didn't, in true rebellious spirit, stick to it and I couldn't think of anything suitably 'Easter'.
Knowing my swap partner is a keen and talented softee maker and knowing she does so with bare hands, rather than machine, made me think she may like a pin cushion. So voila!
I used the pattern from last months issue of Knit Today and although I had a bit of a wrestle with the top icing, due to the stuffing, which led to a few stitches being looser than I would have liked, I'm fairly chuffed with it. Well I was until darling husband said it reminded him of a breast!
I crocheted a bag to put it in with some stash wool and bought a metre of ribbon from the local market to top it off with. Hope you like it GM!