Miss Aine

*** This giveaway is now closed *** I read only last weekend about the May Giveaway Day on the SewMamaSew blog. Its such a cool idea so I decided to take part. Up for grabs are these two little cats. I made them as favours for Smem's birthday but made too many. Two winners will be chosen at random on June 1st and I am willing to ship internationally as they're only small and are very light. Comment away! (but please make sure that I can get your email from your blogger profile so that I can contact you if you win) Good Luck!

Ariel! A pattern will be sent to you some time today. Thanks to everyone else who joined in on the giveaway. There will be another giveaway running from Tuesday in conjuction with the SewMamaSew blog(in the blogs I read section) as they have organised a worlwide giveaway day so log in then for a chance to win two tiny teds.

*** 25.05.09 This giveaway is now closed *** This month's giveaway is now open. Up for grabs is a pdf knitting pattern for ..... Kish! He works in the city in the financial district. He's very good at his job so he made lots of money, enough to buy a big house in the country. Its kinda' lonely staying in such a big house all by himself so his friends, Kapoor and Kelly, come and visit him every weekend. Leave a comment (and some way for me to contact you, either by making your profile public, giving your own blog address or your Ravelry or Etsy name - if you leave an anonymous post you can't win 'cause I can't get your details to send you the pattern) and be in with a chance to win. One winner will be picked at random on Monday morning. Good Luck!

The crying baby is still present in this house but I'm learning how to manage her better every day. Playing her cd's constantly helps! For the last week or so I've been working on a scarf. I used a recycled yarn that I bought months ago on Dwanda . Its made from silk, linen, cotton and others and is kind of shimmery. Its got a lovely weight once knit so I thought a fancy evening scarf would suit it. I got the pattern on Ravelry . It was super easy to knit and really quick. I finished that last night so today I started knitting a hairband of my own design, and actually got it finished in a few hours. I just need to get a picture of it on my head and then I may put it for sale in my Etsy shop (need to make some money!). Today I also started piecing together a baby quilt today and got the patchwork finished this evening (see what I mean about being productive!). I need to add a border and then quilt and bind it. Can't show pictures 'cause I'm going to pu...

This week I have mostly been making dolls - so much fun! (I've also been knitting a scarf, which I finished tonight, but no pics yet). I'm trying out different hairstyles so that means making lots of dolls. This is Sophie. She's got a cute reversible dress and little gingham boy shorts (to keep her modesty!) For sale now in my Etsy shop .

Yesterday C took Smem out to visit friends so I got a chance to do some interrupted sewing. I half thought about doing some dressmaking but then decided to have some fun making dolls. I came up with my own pattern shortly after Smem was born ( Molly and Sabrina ) but haven't felt confident enough to write it up into a pattern for sale. So I decided to work on this pattern some more. I changed the hair and made her dress reversible, which also means there are no exposed seams. This one has one crocked leg so she's been donated to Smem . Now its just a case of how the hair holds up when Smem plays with her - the ultimate test!

Things are starting to sort of return to normal here now. Apart from the baby who is not really sleeping (think the 'eye' teeth are coming through) and is flat-out refusing to take a bottle any more. C's former boss had a baby at the start at the week so I got busy making a present - a monkey. This is quite an old pattern I have from a Patons book 'Gift Ideas'. The pattern was okay to knit but the making-up instructions were pretty sparse - I'm spoilt doing Jean Greenhowe patterns all these years! He's a cool, old-school monkey. Smem was so out of sorts this evening that I gave her the Louise doll I made last week. First things first, she took off her shoes, then left her lying on the floor. I suppose its to be expected. Smem refusing to wear shoes (or socks for that matter) so I shouldn't be surprised that her toys are not allowed to wear them either! I still haven't got a chance to catch up with all the blogs that I read. And it won't hap...

Thanks to those who sent sympathy messages. On to a lighter note. While recovering from my food posioning I treated myself to a Wee Wonderfuls ' pattern, ' Kit, Chloe and Louise' . I've been working away at it over the last week or so in the evening while watching telly. I made the Louise doll but I didn't like how fat her plaits were so I left them as bunches. She has a cute little undershirt/vest with a little heart on my bum! And a very retro looking combo of jumper/dress and shirt. I really enjoyed making this pattern and will definitely make more. Watch this space!

Apologies to any readers of my blog for the erratic posting these days. First I was sick, and then this weekend my Grandad died. It never rains but it pours. On a lighter note, here's a picture of Smem in a dress that Deirdre bought her - baby vintage!

I had a question from Portia (angelpm) regarding the moss stitch bag: Can it be made from some type of wool that doesn't require it to have a lining? I find that wool tends to stretch so if you were to use the bag unlined I'd advise only using it to carry very light things. One way of making it a bit stiffer would be to knit with 2 strands of yarn. You'd probably want to use slightly larger needles and of course the bag would be a bit larger when finished. Or knit it twice the size and then felt it down. Any reader's suggestions are welcome!

Deirdre from Quack and Dirk sent me a message today to order more cards for her shop. The ones I had given her have gone down a storm. So, while Smem went for a super long nap this afternoon, I got 14 cards made. I made a few different types and quite like the ones I made. I have old ones in a box upstairs that I could give her but I don't like them anymore! I also have an order to make one for a lady who wants to give one to her friend who had twins so that should be fun. I've pattern work to do this evening so I think I'll tackle that while telly watching tomorrow evening.

Things are finally getting back to normal here. Both myself and C have been able to eat little by little since Saturday so that's good. God, I hate being sick! I started knitting a scarf last Saturday with wool I got in Lidl a few weeks ago. It was called 'Sensatione' and is apparently made of polyacrylic. Its really really soft which is really nice. I used a pattern from a Crafts Beatuiful magazine that I got in January 2008 (vol.15 issue 5). The scarf is called 'Amour' and is also available in 'The Very Gorgeous Sublime Mohair Book'. The pattern was really easy to do and looks really nice. I did knit it a bit long though as I didn't measure it until it was nearly 60". And finally, a picture of Smem actually wearing a hairband so she looks like a girl!

Oh my gosh, what a week. Smem was sick on Monday, as you know (Thanks Leanne for your comment. It was quite distressing. I just wanted to cry I was so upset for her as she seemed so scared. Poor baby!) Tuesday we took it easy, to recuperate from the sickness. I went to bed early Tuesday as I was pretty tired. Smem has taken to waking between 5-6 in the morning absolutely screaming and unconsolable until she gets up and is brought downstairs. She then just keeps rubbing her eyes all morning as she's too tired and goes back to bed around 8-9. Wednesday morning when I got up with her I felt awful. My stomach was all cramped but I just put it down to tiredness. Later in the morning I got sick and C said he was feeling ill too. We're blaming it on prawn-fried-rice that he cooked the night before. C took to the bed at 2.30 and didn't get up again that day so I was left to look after Smem. It was not fun. Luckily I didn't actually get sick again until that night but...