finding inspiration :: BIG knitting/crochet ::

I cannot get enough of giant knitting and crochet at the moment.  I love the way the stitches look so clean and tidy when the are so massive!

Here are a few of my favourites that have been making their way on to my pinterest boards recently ::

Source: awelltraveledwoman.tumblr.com via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Source: plaza.fi via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Source: nummynims.wordpress.com via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Source: lillysartcreationandcrafts.blogspot.com via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Source: sundayinbed.tumblr.com via VickiBrown on Pinterest

Source: ladiesandgentlemenstudio.com via VickiBrown on Pinterest

lego cake ::

so as you are probably aware, the toddler turned three on saturday. To celebrate this milestone, there was a very lego/duplo filled day, which included a fairly time consuming, stress inducing first attempt at a decorated cake. By decorated in this instance I mean anything that isn't simply smeared with butter icing and sprinkled with a few hundreds and thousands.

I have experience of these kind of elaborate children's birthday cakes, but only really in the receiving and eating of. My mum was a great birthday cake supplier (highlights of mine include a grand princess pony castle, cinderella complete with pumpkin carriage and sugar mice and winnie the pooh and honey pot) and my sister has continued this tradition with her own 3 children (highlights created by her include iggle piggle with blanket, peppa pig and a giant cupcake). I often receive running commentary and photographic evidence of my sister's successes late in to the night before a big event, but as with most things it wasn't until I attempted it myself did I realise quite how much work was involved in creating such masterpieces.

Don't get me wrong, I knew it wouldn't be easy and really I had hoped it would be something I wouldn't need to do for a few years yet, but Milo had different ideas (damn pinterest and Milo's overshoulder watching of it!), but I've watched Cake Boss, I hunted out a few youtube instructional videos, spent a fortune in hobbycraft, took a deep breath and begun.

For anyone interested in creating one yourself (though I promise you I'm not sure it's worth all the stress, panic, heartache, sweat and tears) here is a little overview of what I did.

I couldn't find a rectangular tin (well not one that wasn't horrifically expensive anyway) so I purchased a square tin, made a huge batch of Pam Corbin's victoria sponge mix and made two square cakes. Once they had cooled I cut one in half, sandwiched on to the other with butter icing, I then covered the whole thing with butter icing. Johnny was initially responsible for the bricks on top of the cake and decided to use rice krispie squares instead of cake for these, which I too covered in butter icing. As it happened Johnny, on out celebrating a friends birthday, the night before 'project birthday cake' broke his thumb falling off a stationary bike, therefore he spent the whole evening watching over my shoulder with unhelpful insights, unable to do any of the actual cake making/decorating.

For the fondant icing, I bought one green packet and one white packet, I then coloured three lots of the white with red, blue and yellow. If I was to do this again, I would certainly purchase all the colours, it was so time consuming mixing the colours and I couldn't get them quite as bright as I had hoped. I covered the cake with the green and the rice krispie bricks with the other colours, using a small round cutter to make the little nubs on top, attaching with a little apricot jam.

I got the idea for the lego heads from here, using marshmallows, dipped in yellow candy melts. I used a special food colouring pen for the faces, but I wouldn't do this again as the pen did not like going on the candy melts, I imagine black food colouring and a paintbrush would have been a better idea.

A friend leant us a lego mould which we used for the little chocolate blocks, so that was nice and easy!

So there we go, this was actually the very first birthday cake I made for Milo, as his first was shop bought and his second made by Johnny, not too bad for a first attempt, Milo loved it and we shall be eating cake for at least a week!

FO Friday :: Little Flowers ::

So I haven't quite finished the cardigan yet, there was little unknitting to do following a couple of silly mistakes, but I do have a finished object(s) to share today, hooray!

Namely a collection of little flowers, made for the lovely Bex of Stuffed Nonsense, who requested them to attach to a lampshade.

These are super fun and easy to make, such a satisfying little project.

I shall try and get the pattern written up in the next day or so and ready to download if anyone fancies hooking up a little extra springtime sunshine.

For more FO Fridays check out Tami Amis' blog.

Edited to say the pattern is now available for free download on ravelry here.

a last minute easter bonnet ::

well isn't everything just a little bit last minute at the moment!

Milo had his easter bonnet parade today and at 8 o'clock last night I began to make a variety of items to attach to a pre-bought straw hat.

I crocheted some flowers tied some ribbons, filled a nest with some left over faux mini eggs and even needle felted a couple of chicks and a rabbit!

This morning Milo instructed me on where to position the items and we collected a few daffodils from the garden to add the the collection.

All in all not too bad attempt for the first of what will no doubt be many last minute easter bonnets!

Cardi in 4 days? Day 4 :: Complete ::

I did it! With a little last minute crochet on the train and some late night weaving in and button sewing, I finished the cardi, though it's probably more of a shrug. I even made the buttons myself, with a little help from the toddler.

I made it a lot shorter than I intended, not just because of the tight deadline (promise), but also because the dress had such a high waist band, I thought it would look better if it stopped where the skirt began.

I like it a lot and I think it went really well with the dress (I didn't have time to block it, which looking at the photo it probably would have benefited from) and it did it's job of keeping me warm, though it was hardly required what with it being such a delightfully warm sunny day!

This is the only picture I have, because I tend to take all the photo's and truth be told Johnny really has no idea how to use the camera, but I think you get the idea.

I am a little behind with my pattern writing at the moment, but I will write this one up when I get a chance.

Cardi in 4 days? Day 2 ::

Almost finished with the bottom now :)

In fact depending on how I go it may be finished, as on trying it on with the dress it stops perfectly at the waist. Although I am concerened that it flares out a little too much. So I'm going to work on the sleeves today and if I get them done in time I may even frog the bottom and make it a little less flouncy, you know because I haven't given myself a tight enough deadline as it is!

D ::

I did it!  I stitched together my first garment from a pattern and in Japanese at that.

I am so proud of myself, I mean the shirt itself is no where near perfect, but it is wearable, just about!

I decided that I should start with something reasonably simple looking and that wouldn't require too much fabric and I only used an old sheet.  That way if it did go terribly wrong I wouldn't have ruined some beautiful, expensive fabric.

I am so glad now that I decided to just get stuck in and have a go, because I learnt so so much by actually doing it and it wasn't until I started putting all those techniques in to practice that they started to make much more sense, some a little too late for this garment unfortunately, but that is of course what practice runs are for!

I really struggled a lot with the binding on the neck and the sleeves, it just didn't seem possible!  I actually ended up making some larger binding for the neck piece and handstitching the sleeves.  I'm not sure how to prevent this from being such a disaster next time, but I'm sure with a little more book reading and internet searching I'll get there.

I also didn't even consider raw edges until I'd finished!  For this garment it's not the end of the world, but next time I will definitely consider how to finish the edges.

I used Built by Wendy's sew u book for a lot of the technical stuff, I've had this book for ages and ages, but I've hardly even flicked through it before (I think I may have read a bad review of it just after purchase and it just got neglected after that) however it was actually really really helpful and I had it next to my sewing machine for constant reference throughout.

So next up....a dress!  Well maybe anyway.  I really want to make a dress to wear for my cousins wedding in April, but I'm not entirely sure I'm brave enough to make that big step of cutting up beautiful, carefully purchased fabric just yet!  Maybe another practice run first would be best.

• pattern D from stylish dress book 1 available here


• burdastyle notes here

mustard hearts for me ::

 

my newest short sleeved sweater is finished!  It still needs blocking (which I'm really hoping will give it a bit more length as it's a teeny bit short) but otherwise it's all finished and I'm quite in love with it.

I made a few silly mistakes with the fair isle pattern, but for a first attempt I think I did pretty well.

I have to be honest I didn't knit it all in continental style as I had intended, in order to get some practice, it was too easy and quicker to slip back in to my old habits, but I did do enough to just about justify knitting myself yet another sweater!

• owls pattern available to download as pdf for £3.50 :: here (although this is fairly modified)


• my ravelry notes :: here  

 

another short sleeved sweater for me ::

so as I said, new knitting skills require practice and well, what perfect excuse to knit myself a new sweater.

I saw this beautiful Katia Peru yarn in my local yarn store a few weeks ago and fell in love with it.  It's super chunky and soft and I imagine it will be oh so warm too.

I found a fabulous book of fair isle in the charity shop this week, it has some really interesting history of the technique along with some patterns.  I'm using Kate Davis' Owls pattern for the main body of the sweater, though I'm going to try and amend the bulge that appeared on the back of the last one I made.  I am going to be omitting the owls this time and instead working in some fair isle hearts (I think anyway), where the owls would be.

I'm really pleased with my colour choices and it just so happens they match the crocus's, that appeared on my window ledge this morning perfectly!

crochet a rainbow ::

I came across Sarah London's blog and this post in particular whilst reading meet me at mikes, she is calling for donations of crocheted granny squares, which will become fabulous handmade blankets to be gifted to those who have been affected by the Australian floods.

In her words ::

I’m asking for donations of granny squares which I will then make up into blankets to be distributed to those affected throughout Queensland and Victoria, providing comfort and colour and as a reminder that there is always a rainbow after a storm.

I think this is such a fabulous idea and very good excuse to hook up some colourful granny squares and a perfect project for craft night in this coming wednesday.

heart granny square :: a pattern ::

Please note this pattern is written here in english crochet terms,  which differ from american crochet terms, there is a fabulous table here which gives translations of all the stitches I've use here.

ingredients ::

3 x contrasting balls of double knit weight yarn.

    I used stylecraft special double knit 100% acrylic in cream (A) pale rose (B) and raspberry (C)

4 mm crochet hook

Abbreviations ::

ch        -    chain

ss        -    slip stitch

dc        -    double crochet

htr      -    half treble

tr         -    treble

dtr      -    double treble  

method ::

using yarn A chain 4 join with ss

 

round 1 :: 

chain 3 (counts as first treble) 2 tr in to middle of ring, *2ch 3 tr, repeat from * 3 times, 2 chain, join to top of first chain with a ss.


round 2 ::

ss across 2 trebles and ss in to next 2 chain space, chain 3, counts as first treble, 4 tr in to 2 chain space, 1 ch, 3 tr 2ch 3tr in to next 2 chain space (this will be the bottom tip of the heart), 1 ch, 5 tr in to next 2 chain space, 4 ch, 5 tr in to next 3 chain space, 4 chain, join to top of first treble with ss.


 round 3 ::

chain 1, dc in top of next 4 trebles, dc in to 1 chain space, dc in top of next 3 trebles, 3dc 2ch 3dc in to 2 chain space (this is the bottom tip of the heart) dc in top of next 3 trebles, dc in 1 chain space, dc in top of next 5 trebles, 2 htr 2 tr 2 dtr 2 tr 2 htr in next 4 chain space, ss in top of third treble, 2 htr 2 tr 2 dtr 2 tr 2 htr in next 4 chain space, join to first double with ss.

Fasten off.


round 4 ::


join yarn B between the 2 double trebles at top right of heart, chain 3 (counts as first treble) 2tr 2ch 3tr in to space between 2 double trebles, 1ch, 3tr in to third space along, 1ch, 3dtr in to third space along, 1ch, 3tr in to third space along, 1ch, 3tr 2ch 3tr in to space between 2dtr from previous round, 1ch, 3dc in to third space along, 1ch, 3htr in to third space along, 1ch, 3tr in to third space along, 1ch, 3dtr 2ch 3dtr in to third space along, 1ch, 3tr in to third space along, 1ch, 3dc in to 2 chain space at bottom of heart, 1ch, 3tr in to third space along, 1ch, 3dtr 2ch 3dtr in to third space along, 1ch, 3tr in to third space along, 1ch, 3htr in to third space along, 1ch, 3dc in to third chain along, 1ch, join with ss to first treble.


round 5 ::

 4 ch (counts as first treble and 1 chain space), *3tr 2ch 3tr in to 2 chain space, 1ch, 3tr 1ch in to each of next 1 chain spaces, of which there should be 4, repeat from * twice more, 3tr 2ch 3tr in to 2 chain space, 1ch 3tr in to next three 1 chain spaces, 1ch, 2tr in to next 1 chain space join to third chain of original 4 chain.


Fasten off.

round 6 ::


Join yarn C in to 2 chain corner space, 3ch (counts as first treble) 2tr 2ch 3tr in to 2 chain corner space, 1ch 3tr in to each of next 1 chain spaces, of which there should be 5, * 1ch 3tr 2ch 3tr in to 2 chain space, 1ch 3tr in to each of next 1 chain spaces, of which there should be 5, repeat from *  twice more, 1ch, join to top of first treble with a ss.

Fasten off.


Weave in any loose ends and admire your handy work!

a blanket for the rug ::

well a blanket version  of the rug at least.

Ever since we got this rug I've intended to crochet a blanket which matched in some way.  Originally I was just going to use the colours and do a traditional granny square blanket.  But the more I've admired the rug and thought about the blanket to accompany it, the more I thought an exact replica might be the way to go.

I finally purchased the yarn on Saturday.  I decided to use the fabulously cheap stylecraft 100% acrylic double knit.  Yes I would love to make it a beautiful organic cotton, but realistically I just can't justify spending that much on yarn at the moment.  After hearing about Lucy of Attic 24's love for this yarn, in this post here, I thought I'd give it a go and actually it really is OK.  Plus it comes in so many colours!

After many different attempts (I even considered knitting it) I decided to work each block in straight trebles, working each colour as I came to it, rather than working from the middle out.  This way I can join each block as I go.

So I've only done 3 blocks so far, but so far so good!  Though I do get in a fairly massive tangle, trying to use all those colours at once!  My aim is to complete 7 blocks a week, if I stick to this, I should be done in a month and a half!  I won't be holding my breath!  But I shall keep updated.

new necklaces ::

well maybe not so new, I've been making a squirreling these away for months now!  I finally got round to photograhphing them all today.

Hopefully they will be in my shop sometime over the next few days.

owls for me ::

I was asked to knit something for a twitter friend.  I've never been asked to knit something for someone before (normally I just inflict my creations on others) so I was hugely flattered.  

The pattern in question was owls by Kate Davies.  I had never heard of Kate Davies and her blog needled before, but my am I glad I now have, she has some beautiful patterns!  I completely adore these gorgeous paper dolls.

So anyways...as I have never knitted anything on request before, I thought it a good idea to make one for myself first (just as a practice run of course!).  Off I went in to town on saturday morning (sans baby, bliss) and headed straight for the yarn shop!

Since my last visit they have had delivery of some utterly delicious new chunky yarns, which I was oh so very nearly tempted by, but having promised the Mr I wouldn't spend too many pennies and after a quick calculation, 14 balls of beautiful teal tweed at £3.10 each just wasn't going to make its way in to my basket on this occasion when compared to 7 balls of the 100% acrylic, fairly soft, a lovely colour and a snip at £1.99 each.

I cast on Saturday afternoon and I knit and knit and knit, quite solidly, breaking only for a little sleep and to occasionally tend to the toddler.  At around midnight on Sunday I was so close to finishing, as I started on the neck ribbing I decided although I was eager to get it completed, I would be furious at myself for making a foolish mistake because I was tired, so I put it aside and headed to bed.  I finished off the neckline and stitched the the underarms, plus weaved all the ends in, whilst watching Milo play on Monday afternoon and put it on straight away!

I don't think the pattern is perfect, there appears to be some flaws in the shaping on the back as I have a bit of a back bulge!  But otherwise I really love it!  The pattern suggests buttons for eyes on the owls them selves, but I have yet to decide whether or not to add these.  I'm thinking I may just put them on one?

I'm afraid the photos of the finished item aren't fabulous, I'm rubbish at trying to take photos of myself! 

• pattern available to download as pdf for £3.50 :: here


• my ravelry notes :: here