Cushions cushions cushions

I ordered some cushion pads from eBay and they arrived the other day. So I started work on a cover for one of them. I went through my DK yarn and dug out all the different shades of green, and have started making little squares, inspired rather by this crochet blanket I saw on Pinterest.



I'm not sure if the holes in the corners of the squares are large enough that I'll have to line the cover. Hopefully not because that would be a faff.

Incidentally, have I ever mentioned how much I love my Kindle? I've had it* for over a year now and am still completely in love with it. You can put it on your knee and read while you knit/crochet! You can hold it in one hand and read while you cook! You can read weighty tomes without giving yourself wrist sprain! Oh how I love it.

In other news, the husband has taught Emily (18 months) how to high-five and it's just as hilariously adorable as you think it is.

*I'm actually on my second Kindle because when the first one was nearly a year old, I put it down on top of the fridge, then later I opened the fridge door and sent the Kindle flying across the room and broke the screen. Amazon replaced it free of charge even though I told them it was my fault, and it was seriously eleven and a half months old (I only rang up because I was wondering how much it would cost to have them repair it maybe). Amazon customer service is amazing. Seriously.

BJD sweaters

Here Felicity models the bolero cardigan from the in-progress Pukifee knitting pattern book, Simple Sweaters (UK working title: Just Jumpers)



Dress and accessories model's own.

Listography - Top 5 Biscuits

I haven't done the Listography from Kate Takes 5 before, but when I saw that it was favourite biscuits, I couldn't resist. Biscuits are my favourite snack and narrowing this down to five was very difficult! But here goes.

1. Tunnock's Tea Cakes - same as Kate I know but they are lovely!

2.Chocolate Hob-Nobs - I only buy these when they're on special offer, because they're a bit pricy, and also because if I bought them every time I went to the supermarket I would eat nothing but Hob-Nobs. I am serious.

3.Chocolate Digestives - the biscuit I probably eat most of. Tesco Value chocolate digestives are 44p a packet and still very nice. Yum yum.

4.Bourbons - bourbons are nostalgic for some reason. Make me feel like a little kid. Drink-and-a-biscuit always seemed to be a bourbon.

5.Custard Creams - sometimes I'm not in the mood for chocolate (it's very rare, but it does happen) and a custard cream is just the thing.

Rubbish toys for children

or, Adventures in the Recycling Bin



Packaging polystyrene, cut into half-inch cubes, with a pot of cocktail sticks. This kept Laura quiet for hours. The cocktail sticks push into the polystyrene easily and stay in place to make sturdy constructions. The only problem is that you will end up with little white bobbles everywhere.




Four-pint milk jug, cut the bottom off, put some electrical tape round to cover the sharp edges. This was used as a ball-catcher for ages. The other day I made a big pompom and tied it onto the handle to make more of a cup-and-ball style of thing. Emily likes playing with this too, putting the pompom in the jug and then tipping it out again.

And I forgot to take a photo of Laura's boat - a large, flat cardboard box that was part of the packaging for the new kitchen cupboards. It's been painted and decorated with pictures. She sails about the kitchen in it, accompanied by a crew of soft toys, and sighting through a toilet roll telescope.

WIP Friday

It's Friday, so here are my Works In Progress!

First up is Emily's blanket. Still working along on this, trying to do a square or two every day. I laid out all the colours in rainbow order the other day and I think I need some more yellow, other than that the colours I have are pretty balanced. I have a lot of green to use but that's a good thing because this is the same yarn I'm going to use for the green cushions in the kitchen.

And I cast on some socks with my new Regia sock yarn. I chose Kalajoki by Tiina Seppälä because I wanted something fairly plain, to show the colours of the yarn, but not completely plain, so I didn't get bored knitting them. These socks are mainly stocking stitch with a rib 'river' meandering down the front, which is perfect.

And finally it's the miniature knitting again. Still working on my sweaters knitting pattern book for Pukifee. At the moment I'm working on a lacy cardigan for spring, then I plan to chart up some different motifs for the front of a picture jumper.

My little corner

The new arrangement of the downstairs rooms means a new home for my computer. It's tucked in a corner of the kitchen/dining room, which means I am typing away here while Emily plays on the floor to my left.



Also I now have a nice set of shelves above my desk. They used to be in Emily's room, but all the furniture in the girls' rooms has been moved around and she doesn't need these ones any more. So I can have them for myself.



There's not much up there yet, just my dolls, my Russian dolls, some pretty postcards, my calendar and some bits and bobs. The little jar is going to get a crochet cover soon too and then I can keep some pens in it. And hopefully I can get some more things off my desk and up there so I can reach the keyboard a bit more easily!

And more baking

Laura doesn't know about my baking resolution, but she still seems very keen for me to keep it. Nearly every afternoon she asks, 'Mummy, can we BAKE?'. So far, in the last week and a half, we've made chocolate shortbread, chocolate brownies, oaty biscuits and this lovely Victoria sandwich cake (bad photo, sorry):



I think I know what the attraction of baking is, though:



Sometimes it's all I can do to get her to leave off licking the spoon while I finish weighing out all the ingredients.

Crochet blankets

While we're talking about crochet blankets, I must show you my favourite Pinterest board, my crochet blankets one. I don't like to put any of the pictures here because they all belong to other people, but go and look at the board. I love it so much. All those amazing colours and combinations, stripes and spots and squares, brights and pastels and darks and lights. Although mainly brights. They make me want to do nothing but make beautiful colourful crochet blankets for the rest of my life. Although my hand would probably fall off.

I do have some more crochet planned, though. We bought some chairs for the new kitchen (it's so big! There's room for chairs!) and they're cream and quite plain. Ikea Poang chairs for those as are interested. We've (I've) chosen green tiles so I'm going to make some green crochet cushion covers for the chairs. Once I find a pattern, and some cushion inners, and the right yarn. Husband says, 'Can't we just buy some green cushions?'. The answer is No.

Emily's blanket

I was looking for the post where I first talked about Emily's blanket and I can't find it; obviously I didn't write one! Woops. Anyway. Emily's blanket, which I've been mentioning for the last month or so, is being made as a throw for her Big Girl Bed, which she doesn't have yet but should do by the summer. I thought if I started early, then it might be finished in time. Maybe.

I decided on the Summer Garden blog pattern from Attic24. It's a variation on the granny square, with a circular shape in the middle that makes it look like a flower. I'm going to make some larger blocks too to make it a bit different. And this is what I have so far, yesterday, when I was laying out the small blocks I'd made on the floor to see how I wanted the colours to go.



But there was one problem.









It's a good job she's so cute.

New yarn

I got some money for my birthday and I have been converting it into yarn, which is what it wants to be really. Yes it does.

First I bought some Debbie Bliss Rialto 4-ply in cream.



This is the same wool I used for the Pretty Thing I made last year, and that is deliberate, because I want to make some matching gloves. My favourite pattern so far is Veyla by Ysolda Teague but they are fingerless and I want fingered gloves. I may try and adapt them or I may keep looking. At this rate I hope to have a finished pair of gloves by about June.

Then last week Laura and I went to Hobbycraft and we bought some more colourful acrylic yarn for Emily's blanket:



and also some lovely sock yarn. In 2009 Mum and I went to Germany for a couple of days, and in a yarn shop there I saw some gorgeous sock yarn that at the time I had neither the cash nor the suitcase space for. When I saw the same range in Hobbycraft, with birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, I knew I needed a ball. So this is my next pair of socks, and also I promised to make a little pair for Laura as well, so I hope there will be enough!

Etsy treasuries

I've been lucky enough to be featured in a couple of Etsy treasuries this week!



Felicity models my rainbow scarf in Honey I've Shrunk The Rainbow

and



Para quedarse con todo features my miniature fair-isle cardigan.

It's always so nice to be picked, and those two treasuries are full of so many other beautiful things as well! There are so many great miniature artists on Etsy.

Look at my brilliant calendar

This is January:



I have the 2012 Edward Monkton calendar and I love it. Expect to see more of it.

Daddy Scrapbook

Blogger tells me this is post 200, but I haven't planned anything for it! I have blogged quite a lot this week. I've had a few shop things to post about, though.

Anyway, this post is about something I started with Laura a year or two ago. I got the idea from an online friend. I've called it a Daddy Scrapbook, because that's who ours is for, but you could just make one for yourself!

You need:
A scrapbook or large notebook
A4 paper, pens, pencils etc
Camera
Small child

We started our book for I think Father's Day 2010, when Laura was a bit under two years old. On each Father's Day, Christmas and Daddy's birthday, I ask Laura to draw a picture for Daddy on a sheet of A4. I take some photos of her drawing and get them printed. Then I mount the picture and the photos in the scrapbook, on facing pages, and label with her name and the occasion.



Laura doing her Christmas 2011 picture, um, yesterday

This Father's Day I'm going to get Emily to join in. We've not done a huge number of pages so far, but it's already fun to look back at the pictures and the photos, and I know it'll make a wonderful keepsake for my husband (hopefully he'll always let me look at it too).

Another January sale!

I just realised I never blogged about the January sale I am also having in my Folksy shop! How negligent of me. Over there, I have discounted everything by 20% for the month of January.

Including such lovelies as this bracelet, now only £4:



This pretty keyring, now £2.40:



And this crochet bowl, now £3.20:



And lots more! Sale ends 31st January.

BOGOF Sale in my Etsy shop!

I'm sorting out my craft things and shop stock and I've decided to have a special January sale in my Etsy shop. Lots of clothes and accessories for Pukifee and Lati Yellow are now Buy One, Get One Free! Buy any two items marked 'BOGOF' and I will refund the lowest-priced item by Paypal. But four to get two free, or six to get three free, and so on. Sale will run until either the end of January or until everything goes, whatever happens first!

Included in the sale are such delights as this pink sun dress:



This pink and green outfit (cardigan and leggings):



And these hats:





So why not take a look and grab a bargain!

Baking

Laura got some pretty sprinkles from Father Christmas so she's been dying to bake some fairy cakes. We finally got round to buying some eggs a couple of days ago and here are the fruits of our labours.



(same recipe as always)

I took the photo immediately, even though it was dark enough to need the light on and I knew the cakes wouldn't look their best, because I didn't think the cakes would survive very long. They never do round here. And have, in fact, all already been eaten (two days later). But it's OK - Laura tells me we're going to bake biscuits tomorrow.



Emily likes cake.

New Years Resolutions

1. A fair amount of my house is currently all shiny and new. While I do not anticipate this state of affairs lasting indefinitely, I would like to prolong it as far as possible. This may be more possible than in the past as Laura will be at pre-school five mornings a week this term (previously she only did three).

2. Due to the size and beauty of my new kitchen, I think I should use it as much as possible and do more baking. Possibly I may decide upon one afternoon a week when Laura and I can bake together (Emily sleeps in the afternoons so will not need entertaining or distracting).

3. Try and do something creative or crafty every day. I pretty much do anyway so this one should hopefully be easy, unless I'm ill or completely ridiculously busy.

Oh and

4. I really need to do some ironing tomorrow because the husband is back at work on Tuesday.