Babies, babies everywhere

Not quite, and certainly not here, thankyou very much!

I found out the other day that my cousin and his wife are expecting baby No. 3 in May, and that family friends’ eldest son is expecting with his partner as well.  In addition, Mr. T (the Fella as was, but we had a discussion about this yesterday and we plumped for Mr. T in the end [although, as he said "But I'm not black, American, or into bling", this may not last a long time], what with T being his initial and all) has a godson-to-be (in that his parents still have not set a new date for his christening) who will be one in April.  So, what else was I expected to do but go out and buy this:

I’m thinking this hat for the newbies, and this cardigan for the one-year old.

I have three balls of the Cashmerino (mmmm, cashmerino…) in Navy, and one each of Teal and Olive (I think), so I am thinking of Olive for the border with some Teal fair isle bits around the bottom to break up the boring stockinette (note, please, that this is a baby’s cardigan, and I am worried about boring stockinette. Heaven forfend I ever try a grown up cardigan/sweater…what’s that? There’s one on my knitlist? Bugger.)

I know we are nowhere near ready for kids yet, so I cherish the fact that I have a lot of little people in my life to knit for (and that I can give them back when I get bored – told you, no where near ready).  That said, I would birth a bairn now just so I could knit it this coat:

Endless parcels

The Fella is getting rather concerned as to the number of parcels that are crossing our threshold at the moment. To be honest, I think I have been rather overdoing it on the swap front, but on the other hand I don’t really care as I have received a large amount of glorious loot over the past week, which I shall now proceed to show off:

Apple tote from Gavagai in OWS 17 which is glorious and my current favourite handbag. The lining is amazing as well, sort of Marimekko-ish and perfectly matched to the theme of the bag.

Knitting patterns and amigurumi from Miss Mermaid and Dulcinea. The Fella actually takes a step back from his anti-”stuff” stance when it comes to amigurumi, so if you ever want to send me a surprise package *hem*, these would go down well with everybody in my household. He even helped me name them – I would like to introduce you to Pierre le Lapin (my idea and I only noticed afterwards how strikingly unoriginal that was, even in French), grumpy old Harold the Lion, and Jean-Luc, Pierre’s boyfriend (the Fella is a Trekkie – what can I say?)

Above are shots of the papercraft supplies I received from roxybadoxy and mlsocci74, again in Craftster swaps. I have made a couple of scrapbooks for the Fella previously, but they have always been in sketchbooks, so you can’t close them properly because the spine is too tight, or they have been a bit dull. I love looking at other people’s layouts, getting inspiration on colour schemes and materials, so I think I now have enough materials to really get started with my own. I have a mini-book that I want to make into a “10 reasons I love you”, bleaugh I know, but I am a total sop at heart, affair for the Fella for Valentine’s day (yes, thank you, you can stop dry retching now, point taken). Anyway, I’ll keep you posted…

I am doing a personal swap with la_chrystelle (I say doing – whilst she has been mega-organised and finished her half, I am seriously behind) and I received her package last week. She sent a wallet and a pincushion that I had on my wists and she did a lovely job. The pincushion is just so colourful, I don’t think I can bear to stick pins in it.

Only two more photos, I promise. I previously mentioned my new addiction to etsy and the perils of my having a PayPal account. Well, I think this is actually a good thing, and I curse anyone who says otherwise. Case in point: I received the goodies I bought from Enamor and TrailMix Designs. Aren’t they lovely?!

24 Captured

I finally got round to developing the film Elphalba sent me for the Capture 24 swap on Craftster.  We both asked to send black & white (so powerful!) and she took some beautiful photos of her home town. 

 She also sent a gorgeous frame with a scrappers tag in it, but I love the frame so much as is that I think I will leave it for now.  It’s hanging in our hallway – I’m not sure the Fella is that keen, but he indulges me. 

Elphie posted the pictures I sent her here – they run a bit towards the touristy, but I think there are some good ones in there.  I especially like the one in the frame, which is of a cottage in my folks’ village, and the market shots of books and food – two of my favourite things, coincidentally!

   

Wisted!

For the 18th round of the OWS on Craftster, I claimed Samsara/Ginny for a pond bracelet inspired by one on her wist list.  For those of you who are unaware of the greed-inspired visual gluttony of wisting, wists.com is a site where you post pictures of things that inspire you/you find beautiful/you want sooooo badly, etc.  I have one, you can find the link in the sidebar to the right *cough, cough*  What’s that, you say, isn’t it your birthday soon, in August…. 

Shameless plug over, I was thrilled to see that the pond bracelet I made (left) has been wisted by no less than TWO people, yessiree!  What a compliment – and of course, it makes it easier to decide what to make knitting_nixxie or devilninny if I ever have the fortune to claim them  *hee hee*!

Swaps & Socks

The other day we came home, wet, bedraggled, exhausted, to find an awesome package on the doorstep from the lovely Psyche on Craftster. She picked me in the My Country Doesn’t Have that Swap, and sent a wicked package of Canadianess! Included were two mini notebooks, pencils and rubbers (erasers, NOT the other things!), lots of candy, and, the best thing of all, a huge bottle of maple syrup! I can’t wait to make pancakes and smother it all over them!

Also, this week has seen significant progress on my first ever sock, which is pretty exciting. I turned the heel last night – had a bit of a problem with it and ended up ripping it out three times, which was a pain – and I have to say I am not terribly keen on the shaping. I will have to see how it feels on, but I don’t think I will use this pattern again (it was a freebie, so it’s not as if I wasted any money on it.)

And yes, that is a pot of honey acting as a model.

Oh, dear…

I signed up to PayPal yesterday – *sigh*.  I blame you, Meshell – there are always so many lovely things on your blog that I had to pop over to some of the sellers on Etsy.  Of course, I then had to buy things – duh!  So, I am anxiously awaiting packages from Enamor and Trail Mix Designs.  Squeee!  Hope I can hide them from the Fella, though…

Etsy is going to be the ruin of me, I can tell.

2007 Knit-list

This year I want to make sure I actually sit down and complete the projects I set out to do.  So, I think having a knit-list of my top five (at least) projects will help me to prioritise my knitting.

1.  The slouchy purple cardigan from Vogue Knitting Holiday 2006 – I think it is pattern no. 18 – I have the wool for this (Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted, no less), so it’s just a case of getting started.  I think this will be a good first sweater type garment for me, because it is mostly stockinette, which, although deathly dull, will make it easier to get into all the shaping techniques.
2. Knitty’s Ivy - again, another thing I have the yarn for (some ghastly acrylic/polyester blend which was ridiculously cheap, which is why I bought it [it's very difficult being a yarn snob when you can't afford the yarn!])  I think this will have to wait until after the slouchy cardigan, though.
3. 12 pairs of socks – see previous post.
4. I really want to make my Mum a lovely shawl in a beautiful yarn at somepoint, although I think this might have to be a combined birthday/Christmas thing.  We aren’t really big gift givers, so she will only get cross with me if I spend lots of money on the yarn, but I think she deserves something beautiful from me, just for being my mother really!
5. This waistcoat is just yummy (“Provincial Waistcoat” from Interweave Knits Winter 2006), but maybe not in yak!

Sock-along

Because I have now amassed a small ship’s worth of sock yarn (thanks in large part to The Fella and my brother who were ordered to gently steered towards buying me this for Christmas), one of my resolutions this year is to knit one pair of socks a month. Quite a tall order, considering I have never knit a pair of socks in my life. To further my humiliation, I have made a public declaration about this on Craftster and invited others to participate in a Sock-along. Hardly an original idea, but I’m proud of it and there has been some interest on the forum.

January is “Any ol’ sock” month – I will be using the free pattern that came with my yarn (Jitterbug by Colinette in “Blue Parrot”), so feel free to use any pattern you like.

12 Days of Christmas Swap

 

I have been active on Craftster for a few months now, and especially enjoy the swaps. I have received some very cool stuff, and had a chance to expand my crafting skills beyond knitting (yes, I realise the title of this blog is a little confusing, that’s tough). This is a t-shirt that I hand painted for ZombieFlesh, a fellow UK Craftster, in the 12 Days of Christmas Swap. Unfortunately, I am an imbecile and missed the last post for Christmas, so had to wait until the New Year to post it to her, but she has received it now. I definitely need to work on my techniques here – if you look closely the black paint is rather patchy – but I really love the simplicity of re-conning t-shirts (hey, after knitting, anything is simple and it’s nice to get results in hours rather than days), so I will keep persevering.

Yo, ho, hello!

So, I succumbed to the inevitable and got myself a blog (actually, I think I have several dotted around the Web, all with one post on them!) In order to make this worth your while (and mine) I hereby promise:

1. I will update the blog at least once a week

2. I promise to post lovely pictures of the things I am talking about (although obviously not the people – I would rather not be lynched, thanks!)

3. I will keep the blog topics to a minimum – no rambling rants on the rise of neo-facism in Western Europe here. Just musings on my crafting and things that please me.

Anyway, glad you could join me!