Treasuries!

I'm in two treasuries at the moment! Both the same item, my little red and white Christmas cardigan.

First of all this one by dalesdreams:




And then the next day, this one by auntyanndesigns:




So many gorgeous little miniatures!

Busy week

Busy busy busy! On top of the fact that the husband had surgery this week (day surgery on his wrist for carpal tunnel syndrome, so he can't drive and therefore can't get to work, so has been hanging around the house) I've had lots of orders in my shop, and have been knitting away as fast as I can to keep everything in stock. I have lots of ideas for new designs, but no time to try them out! I'm sure once the Christmas rush is over, though, I'll have plenty of time, and I'll be complaining that I'm not getting orders any more. :)

Turning this



into this



and away!

Further tininess

More tiny knitting!

Christmas stockings



And little cardigans, pink



and blue (the colour in this one isn't right - it's actually more of a medium blue, not so green)



The Christmas stockings are already in the shop, the cardigans will join them soon.

I am doing other knitting as well, but it's for a present, so I can't show it just yet. Hopefully next month. As long as I remember to take photos before I send it, which is my usual problem - last month I knitted a baby hat and bootees for a friend, and didn't take a picture, so I can't show them to you. They were cute though.

Remembrance of dings past

We went down to see my parents in Sussex at the weekend, and they've been sorting out the old toys in their loft, and gave us some for Laura. And look what I now have!



My old Fisher Price garage!

Laura has a fair amount of Fisher Price Little People stuff, thanks to birthday presents and eBay, but this one is now my favourite. Because it used to be mine, but also because of its retro charm. Look!

Petrol pump with a little face!



Lift that goes 'ding'!



Colour-coded parking spaces!



Fishpond!



Although, I think Mum got a bit confused and gave us the wrong people to go with it, because we seem to have a clown and a ringmaster, and I'm not altogether convinced they go with the garage and not eg the circus train that they've kept at their house. Not that it matters.

Also, I now have the record player that has an attached chair-o-plane or similar. Will maybe photograph that another day. Because it is also awesome.

Thank you cards

Today I had some fun making little thank you cards to pop into my parcels when I send them out. I have a black* laser printer and I was using that to make 'with compliments' slips, but that seemed a bit formal. I was sorting out my craft drawer the other day - the place I keep everything that's paper-y, rather than fabric-y or yarn-y - and I threw away a big bag of stuff, but it still seems just as full. And also it made me want to actually use some of the stuff that's in there. So I go out some pieces of coloured and interesting paper:



And I printed out the essential information onto plain paper, with a space to write a little note:



And I got together some more useful supplies:



And I made some cards!



The sticker albums are full of stickers that I collected many years ago when I was at school. Everyone collected them and swapped them and, very occasionally, stuck one or two on something. And now I am actually using them.

I don't do a lot of paper-y crafts but this was fun and I see some more card-making in my future (especially if the orders keep coming....it seems like everyone wants a tiny cardigan for Christmas!).

*I always feel silly calling it a 'black and white' printer. It doesn't print white. If I put coloured paper in, there's no white at all.

Baby book confessions

I only got this book out of the library for Laura because I like the illustrations....










....and I only bought this one in the library book sale for the title.

Behold!

I designed and made an actual garment!



It's baby-sized, clearly, but still. I'm very impressed with myself. It's a little cardigan, with short sleeves, designed to pull on over the top of whatever she's wearing, if it turns a bit colder than it was when she got dressed in the morning.



I think it turned out pretty cute!

I hope to write up the pattern and put it into different sizes and everything. I've never done that before, so we'll see how well it goes.

Tiny little things

I've been doing a fair amount of miniature knitting recently - the little cardigans have been quite popular on etsy, so I've been making them when I can.

This is the third one I've made of these:



And I've made a couple like this, for Christmas-y dollies:



I'm trying to make some Christmas stockings, now. Also I have some ideas for new cardigans - shrugs and boleros and many cabled things. Just need the time to get on with them! And I'm working on some other things as well that I will post about soon.

Also, I've renamed my twitter account (it was just being used to follow other people), and I'm going to use it to update about this blog and when I add things to the shop. If you'd like to follow me, my username is beepbeepdesigns. I contemplated a mailing list, but thought this would be easier for everybody.

Back soon, I promise.

Button Bookmarks

I've shown these bookmarks on here before, because I've been making them for a little while to sell on Etsy. And I did sell one or two. But a week or so ago the third person asked me if I had the pattern for sale, so I thought, y'know, I should actually do that. So on Monday I finally got it written up and listed the PDF on Etsy and Ravelry. And since then (so, in the last 48 hours) I've sold eight copies (two on Etsy, six on Ravelry). I had no idea it would be anything like as popular; I'm assuming that at this time of year people start thinking about Christmas presents, and button bookmarks make great Christmas presents! Really, they do.

As well as the adjustable button bookmark shown above, the pattern also includes instructions for this flower button bookmark:



The pattern costs £1.50 and can be bought from my Ravelry store. If you're outside the UK, Paypal will handle the currency conversion for you. So click here to buy it now! And make sure you put the bookmarks on Ravelry so that I can see them.

Found on my camera memory card

A double rainbow over the back of the house




Wind farm off the coast at Skegness




The cat's present from my trip to Germany in mid-August




And why I was there in the first place




I finished Clothilde! Photos coming soon.

Since we last spoke, I've:

- made two and a half squares total for my Sims Blanket (possibly name change - Snail Blanket, because of all the spirals. Not sure)

- started Clothilde, a lace shawl by the Knitting Kninja. The pattern is going well, it's well-written and not too difficult for My First Lace Shawl. I'm using entirely the wrong yarn. I hope it turns out OK. More on this later

- noticed that Laura's stacking cups are the same colours as the walls of my house (pale yellow, green and pink)

- become the mother of a one-year-old.



How on earth did that happen?

Sims 3 Blanket

Here is my Sims 3 blanket:



Some might ask what the point is of playing a computer game that allows you to knit at the same time, but possibly they have more RAM than I do and therefore don't have to wait quite so long for it to load, or save, or go from one location to another. Also, I like to have something to do with my hands while I'm watching the Sims complete the list of activities I've assigned to them.

The pattern is the Ten Stitch Blanket (Ravelry link) by Frankie Brown. I'm using leftover sock wool to make squares, then I'm going to sew them together. I'll hopefully end up with a pram or car-seat blanket, maybe even a cot blanket. One and a half squares done so far!

That keeps happening

But I think now that the husband is back at work (he teaches) I'll be able to get back into my normal routine, which includes blogging!

First things first - Maddy won the competition! The answer was 12 and she guessed 14 (on my Facebook, which is why you can't see it). Maddy I will get that scarf to you at some point. Hopefully soon.

One more thing before I go (I can hear that the baby has woken up in the next room, so I'd better get to that) - here is the new dining room:



Pink! And quite nice and bright. Lovely.

Da de da

(don't forget to enter my competition!)

I don't have any photos for this post. I'm sorry. I've been working on some more dolls house miniatures, although it's taken me a while. And I started an easy project I can work on while I'm playing The Sims 3, a game the existence of which explains why I haven't been doing much crochet/knitting/general craftiness recently! Never mind, I'll get over it soon and back to my crafting.

Mark is downstairs painting the last room, the only one that hasn't been painted since we moved in - except the bathroom, which is fully tiled and doesn't count. The dining room will soon be....pink. I chose the colour (I'm in charge of colours) so I hope it looks nice! It does look quite pink at the moment, but once the curtains are back up and the furniture in it will tone it down a bit. Hopefully. I forgot to take a 'before' photo, but it was a horrible grey-green with wooden skirting boards and holes in the walls from the last people's pictures. Soon it will be lovely and all mine properly! And then I will definitely post a picture.

w00t! Post 100!

Sorry that took so long! We were in Center Parcs for a week (lovely, did lots of cycling and swimming and general relaxing!), then Butlins for a couple of days (not technically a holiday as the husband had a meeting, but the baby and I tagged along and went to the beach and the pool), then yesterday I had a migraine and didn't dare look at a computer screen. But here I am! And here is the prize for my lovely competition:



It's a Scrappy Sideways Scarf (Ravelry link), using all my aran-weight scraps and ball-ends. And it turned out really well! The colours are actually a bit more vivid than in that picture; the light here is dreadful, I'm fairly sure it isn't actually summer and the calendar is telling lies. Further proof of dishonest calendar: apparently Laura is a year old in a few weeks! And that can't be possible.

Anyway. If you want to win this beautiful scarf, all you have to do is post a comment, answering the question below. And the question is:

How many different types of yarn did I use in this scarf?

Nearest wins, if more than one person gets the right answer I will put the names in a hat. Please make sure that there is some way to contact you through your comment (either an email or blog link). Also, if you link to this competition on your own blog, you can have two goes! Closing date is one week today, Tuesday 11th August, at 12 noon BST. Good luck!

Post 99!

Three things.

1) The card-reader started working again, as mysteriously as it had stopped. So here's the photo I was saving:



Pretty ,yes? That's the lace blanket blocking. It's going up on Etsy but not just yet (see #3).

2) Next post will be #100! So I'm going to do a little giveaway, as is traditional. Not going to tell you what, though. Because I don't know.

3) Post 100 won't be for at least a week, because we're off on our holidays! Will tell you all about it when we get back. TTFN!

Gnnnaaaah

I knitted a tiny little blanket, with a lovely lace pattern, and I took a picture, but now the card-reader in my PC is playing up and hiding from the operating system. The little light is on so I know it's connected. I have a degree in Computing Science and this stuff still makes me go gnnnaaaaah. Ugh.

Also, I finished the purple lace cardigan! And you can't see a photo of that, either, I'm afraid. Hopefully soon. I had to rip out a whole big section and redo it because I did the raglan decreases all wrong; I've very little experience of decreasing in lace, and the pattern wasn't written very clearly, it seemed to assume that you already knew what you were doing. Second time worked out though, with the help of a lot of counting.

Right, time for some percussive maintenance on my card reader. Wish me luck.

Treasury!

This morning I happened upon an Etsy Treasury for the first time, and to celebrate my joining TeamMIDS (Miniatures In Dollhouse Scale), I've filled it with lovely things made by the other team members. To help me narrow it down (so many gorgeously-made tiny things!), I chose a colour theme.



(click on the picture to see the actual treasury)

Little Mittens

Laura is going to a birthday party on Saturday - four babies that we know are turning one, and having a joint party at a local village hall. So we needed a quartet of baby presents.

What do you think?



Yes, I'm quite aware that it's July and not exactly mitten weather, so I've tried to make them toddler-sized, and the pattern is quite stretchy so hopefully it'll work out.

The pattern is Sucky Thumb Mitts (Ravelry link) by Marianne Cant.

(just noticed this is post 96 - hmm, have to think of something for post 100!)

$$$

Mum sold that tiny pink jumper for me on eBay and I made £3! Very exciting. I immediately went out (to the craft shop at the garden centre) and bought something I have been needing - a knitting needle guage.

That's not a typo! That's really what I bought. See?



I believe one uses it in a similar fashion to a knitting needle gauge.

We had a lovely weekend, had some friends round for dinner on Saturday and then on Sunday we went down to Sussex for a family barbecue at my parents' house. Saw the sibs and the neph, which was nice. Also picked up a big bag of 2-ply wool so you can expect to see many more dolls house miniatures in the near future! As well as the me-designed baby top, which is nearing completion. Hopefully Laura won't grow too much in the next few days, although I get the impression she's gearing up to it. Fingers crossed it will fit for long enough for me to take a few photos at least!

The sun has got his hat on

Lovely hot weather this week - I do love the sun! Unfortunately my skin doesn't so I've been applying plenty of sun cream (to the baby also). That's the only thing I dislike about summer, really.

I've been doing some designing lately - a new top for the baby (hope to get the pattern written up for that and put it up on Ravelry), and a dolls house bedspread (which is on hold because I've run out of the 2-ply yarn - fortunately I'm going to see my supplier (Mum) next weekend). Designing is fun! But can be frustrating. Especially when I learn that I and my maths A-level can't count to 4.

And because blog posts are better with pictures, here's the skirt I sewed a few weeks ago, the last time the weather was hot. I sort-of followed a pattern (a Simplicity one I think....no idea on the number) and simplified some bits.



I like this picture because I look very slim. Also short-legged, but I'm used to looking short-legged by now.

How My Garden Grows

With roses...




And apples...




And sweet peas, holding hands.

Weekend Knitting

On Friday, about 5pm, I cast on for the Mossy Jacket by Fawn Pea (Ravelry link). And by the middle of Top Gear on Sunday - so about 8:30pm - I was sewing on the buttons. I love knitting baby clothes on 6.5mm needles!

Here it is in all its glory:



I really liked this pattern. It was quick, easy and looks good. And it is slightly on the large size of fitting, which is what I was aiming for (these babies and their growing, honestly). This is the 12-months size, on a nearly-ten-month-old baby:



Cute! And she knows it.

Teeny Tiny Update

I've put a couple of dolls house bits in the shop - this blue stripy jumper:



And this white lacy cardigan:

Further received gift-ery

The other piece of present-knitting has reached its destination, and the recipient has very kindly taken a photo of it for me to share with you (I lose at photographing things before I post them).



This is My So-Called Scarf (Ravelry Link). I used some Red Heart SuperSaver in Blueberry Pie, that was sent to me by an American friend a year or two ago. It's the same yarn that I knitted up into a pinwheel blanket last year, but I ended up undoing it and winding the yarn back up into a ball to wait for another project. I still have nearly half of it left, I think. The repeats of the colours worked really well with this pattern; there's a small amount of pooling, which is nice, but not too much, which might not be. Wish I could remember how many stitches I cast on. But the chunky wool and big needles (8mm I think) mean that this was a nice quick knit, especially once the pattern was memorised (after about two rows).

Pattern: Knitted Belt

Playing about with some knitting books from the library led to this belt.



The pattern is so ridiculously simple that I had it memorised after about an inch of knitting, and I share it here with you:

Cast on 6 stitches
Row 1: Knit three, yarn over, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit one
Row 2: Purl three, yarn over, purl two together, purl one
Repeat until it's as long as you want it. I found it easy to remember by thinking 'three stitches, increase, decrease, stitch'.

You can then either cast off normally, or to make a pointy end, I did the following:

Row 1: Knit one, knit two together, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over, knit one
Row 2: Purl all stitches
Row 3: Knit two together, slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over
Break yarn and pull through two remaining stitches

Ta da!



I used Patons Washed Haze Aran (an aran/worsted weight cotton and acrylic blend) and 4mm needles. And a buckle I found in my button box.