Posts

Showing posts from July, 2009

Dress from a skirt 2!

Image
Made another dress from a skirt last week, just have to sew the top of the halter together now. I got the skirt while I was pregnant, bigger than my normal size to fit over my expanded hips. Its far too big now but I really liked the colour and details on it so I decided to make it into a dress. I used an old pattern of an empire line dress to make the bodice in a coordinating fabric and then sewed it onto the skirt. It'll make a really nice summer dress - if we ever see any summer again!

Stupid Wedding!

Image
I feel like I've been a bad blogger lately, but then I did have the giveaway over the weekend so that meant no posts. Thanks to 'Anonymous' for the advice about the 'stupid internet'. However, the problem also affected C's apple computer and his work laptop so he thinks it was either the router or our internet provider. Its been okay since Monday afternoon so at least that's fixed. My annoyance has now turned on to the wedding. I had asked for the rooms at the hotel to not be blocked booked anymore but guests who rang were still been directed to me. Plus some rooms I had booked weren't booked, and guests who thought they were booked were told they weren't when they were. Plus quite a few of my relations have asked me to reserve rooms for them. So I've been on to the hotel nearly every day for the past week and a half. Its doing my head in. Hopefully its all sorted now. Other wedding annoyance is the fact that my mam keeps insisting that I

Stupid Internet!

All go here this weekend. Myself and C were at a wedding on Saturday so my parents came up to look after Smem. They all had a great time, which was good! They stayed Saturday night and then on Sunday my brother and his girlfriend came over for lunch. It was quite spontaneous but lovely to have everyone together for a bit. And Smem loved it! Access to the computer has been limited. Our internet connection is acting up so sometimes I can check my email but can't get onto any other sites - very annoying. I was going to include a picture in today's post but it was loading for 5 minutes and never appeared so I cancelled it. Stupid internet!

Lacy Wrap

Image
The last few weeks I've been knitting a lacy wrap. I got some laceweight yarn as part of a swap earlier this year. I'd never knit with laceweight yarn before so it was interesting. This wrap is called 'Lacy/River Wrap'. I found it on Ravelry, but its also on the Prima website. It was easy to knit but it took a bit of getting used to. I was using 7mm needles with the thin yarn which I'm definitely not used to! It was successful though so it may have started a new trend in my knitting! In other news, I have not had any contact from the winner of the blog giveaway so I've picked a new winner at random - Melanie. She'll get a message through Ravelry today, as she left her Rav name.

Bird Brooch

Image
It was my sister's birthday last week and as well as knitting her a pair of socks and buying her a load more socks in the shops, I decided to make her a little bird brooch. I was inspired by a brooch that I saw on Cuteable the week before. I had intended to make the wing out of nice pattern cotton but wasn't bothered with turning under the edges and doing nice applique when I actually came to make the brooch, so I just made it all out of felt.

Free Pattern - Miss Mouse

Image
I finally got myself set up as a designer on Ravelry so I've been busy today adding my patterns to the database so that they can be sold directly through Ravelry. And I already sold one today. Yippee!! Just have to add my free patterns now. As I had written them on the blog, rather than as separate documents, I will have to retype them and make them into PDFs. So a few more days wait for people for those. One free pattern that is available to download now, and is my newest pattern is : Miss Mouse download now

And the Winner is ....

Image
Comment no.5 - Christine. Congratulations! I cannot contact you through your blogger profile so please send me an email and let me know which additional pattern you would like from my shop . Thank you to all who took part. Coming up tomorrow is a free pattern (and maybe a new winner if I do not hear from Christine!)

200th Post Giveaway

Image
Today is post no.200. And a time to think about how things have changed since I started. I've definitely become a lot more comfortable with writing my thoughts - although they are more random in my head. Maybe I should learn to type faster! I'd like to thank everyone who has been reading my blog and leaving lots of comments. Its always nice to hear that people appreciate your work. So, on to the giveaway. This month's new pattern is for the 'Blossom Buds'. These cute little guys are only about 9cm tall and are super quick to make. The embroidery is the only thing that takes a while to do to finish them nicely. Please a comment by Monday morning (Irish time!) and I'll chose a winner at random to win the newest pattern, and pick one other pattern from my shop to have also. Lucky person! Just remember to make sure I can contact you if you win. Good Luck

Rainbows!

Image
The weather has been so crappy here lately. It just rains all day. Yesterday morning it was gorgeous when I got up, but within an hour it had started raining and stayed down practically all day. There was a brief lull around 9pm, when I spotted two rainbows out our bedroom window. I have to make something in rainbow colours I think! This month's giveaway to come this weekend, for anyone whose interested!

Bride and Groom Mice

Image
To match the little groom mouse, I made a Dickensian lady mouse too. I think they look so cute together! A nice little mini present for a wedding at the end of this month.

Groom Mouse

Image
Finished a groom mouse to go with the bride mouse. But they don't match. The groom is much bigger than the bride :(. The groom is from an Alan Dart pattern called Dickensian Mice. I did realise that they would be different sizes, but I thought it wouldn't be as great. I'm now making a matching Dickensian mouse bride. At least they're all nice and small so they only take a few hours to make!

Marigold Socks

Image
My sister never has a matching pair of socks so I thought it would be nice to knit her socks for her birthday. I've never knit socks before, but I think these didn't turn out too bad. I used Marigold Socks which I found on Ravelry . The cast off is not great. The first one I cast off normally which is a bit tight but sits nice on the leg. The second one I cast off using a more stretchy cast off but I don't like how it lies against the leg.

WIP - Bride and Groom Mice

Image
From a Jean Greenhowe pattern - Summer Mouse

Creative Yarn

Image
I took some time out from my own projects last night to make a crochet hairband. I found lots of wonderful free patterns on Creative Yarns blog a while back but hadn't had the time to try any of them out. I'm not great at crochet but this was very simple - just lots of single chains! The knitted handwarmers look really cool. I think they may be christmas presents this year!

Doll Shrine!

Image
No crafty stuff to show as I'm working on a project with the intention of submitting it to some knitting magazines so I can't blog about it :( and the only other thing I'm doing is cutting out inserts for our wedding invitations. Not very exciting. What I did do today was nail 4 picture hooks to the wall in our spare bedroom and hang up some of the knitted toys I've designed. Can't really afford proper shelves at the moment so this is the compromise. It was a better idea in my head. The plastic bags make it look a little sinister ;)

A lovely mini holiday

Image
Back from a mini holiday with the folks in Wexford. We had a lovely time. The weather was a bit hit-and-miss but we managed to get a nice time at the beach on Thursday afternoon. Smem wouldn't stand on the sand in her bare feet. But once we put her shoes back on she was fine and ran around like a mad-yoke. And tried to steal other kids toys!

Smocket

Image
Today I made a little smocket for Smem. I'd seen the pattern ages ago over on Heather's blog but hadn't gotten around to printing it out - which I did last night. I cut out the pieces while Smem went for her nap today, and then sewed them up when she woke up. Super easy and super quick to make. I added a pocket to the front and rather than tie the straps, I added buttons and buttonholes. This one may go my godchild who I am going to see this weekend. She's 2 and a half, but isn't much bigger than Smem.