Merry Christmas Everyone

This is my last day of work so I'll be feeling festive by 4.00 p.m. this afternoon:)
I've made quite a few gifts this year but I can't post any of them just incase they are spotted by the recipients!! I plan to post them here after Christmas.
These are my fav Christmas images................

found on red velvet art

my sitting room

the koolest christmas wall ever!

Our home

DECK THE HALLS

I came home from work yesterday and a tree had magically appeared in our sitting room, with the help of Dave:)

I love it our flat is super christmassy now. We also made paper decorations my first time ever making them I always thought they were quite complicated to make but they are really simple. I decided to make some festive cookies for my first day back at work. This is the high street outside work , it was raining but it still looks pretty.

ALL SEWN UP

Petrol Blue

I've always wanted a super long skinny scarf  and have seen quite a few in shops recently, but alas they are knitted in acrylic. I found this beautiful lambs Pride wool a couple of weeks ago in my local wool shop and decided it would be perfect for my long scarf project. I really love the colour and it's great to knit with.

I casted on 12 stitches to 6mm needles and continued to knit in garter stitch until nearly the whole ball was gone!! I saved some wool to add fringing to the ends. I might customise it further with buttons. This was a quick project I started it on Friday eve and finished it Sat night. 

NEW HAIR ACCESSORY

I made myself a new hair band this week! It's a moss stitch band with a flower design on the side. I casted on 10 stitches and just knitted it until it was the correct lenght to fit around my head. I wanted a thinner band as most shop bought bands are too wide for my hairstyle, I end up with crazy tuffs of hair popping out:)

MADE IT

I'm excited to announce the last stitch of my never ending jumper has been made:)
I will attempt to sew it together this eve wish me luck! I couldn't help but piece it together on the floor just to give me an idea of how it would look when finished......

NEXT

I decided to try another cable project before I finished  the never ending jumper sleeve. I found a great beginners cable bag project on ravelry which uses super bulky wool. I LOVE it just finished the knitting part now to figure out the 'putting it together' part:) It has also made me realise I need to improve my sewing skills so I can line it!! 

BACK TO REALITY


My three days are up back to work this morning. It would be amazing if we could swap our weekends to work days and our work days to weekends, then I'd have 5 days of crafting. 
Got loads done with the extra day, worked on decorations for Dave's 30th and nearly finished two Christmas pressies. I'm currently LOVING garlands, this one can be found on Etsy by http://www.etsy.com/shop/dottieangel

I can't show you the other projects until December just incase they are spotted by the Birthday boy!

LOTS TO DO!!

These are pics of my lunch time walk today, It was very cold out but I was toasty warm in my newly knitted purple cowl. I'm off for three days in a row yipee!! I'm planning on visiting an amazing wool store in Bristol on Saturday and the rest of the time will be spent crafting, I have some ideas for christmas gifts which I really want to get started on. Jumper update 1/4 way through my jumper sleeve:)

JUMPER NEARLY COMPLETE!!

I'm nearly there, starting the 2nd sleeve over the next few days. This is my first big knitting project hats etc.... are so quick to knit up this jumper has taken quite some time in comparison. I'm pretty happy with it so far, looking forward to the end result. I've spent so much time working on it I reckon I'll probably wear it all the time and maybe even sleep in it :)

Sleeve

Back

Front

STRIPEY NUMBER 2

I started hat number 2 last night after work, it's for Dave again he requesed another hat in different wool and colours. I'm using two strands of double knit wool which isn't as bulky as the last hat which was two strands of aran (super toasty). I'll probably get it finished tonight. I reckon I'll return to the half finished sleeve of my jumper I really need to complete my 1st jumper, I started it in Feb!!

       
 MY CRAFTING WEEKEND PLAN....

I've created a list of what I need to make before Christmas!! So this wkend I plan to make two hats and finish one arm of my never ending jumper project. I also have one gauntlet glove nearly finished. I tend to have 2 or 2 projects happening at once. Here is another project I plan to do when I have time:)

CRAFTATHON

Just got back from a fab weekend crafting with my bestie Jill in Dublin:)
We were knitting ,dyeing , sewing , grafitti spotting,and eating yum food all wkend. Here are some of the highlights more to follow.......

Stripey Hat done!

I finished Dave's hat on Wednesday eve, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm gonna make another one in different colours and maybe just in bulky wool instead of knitted double with aran, it would make it easier and quicker to finish. It's knitted in an alpaca/wool blend so it's toasty warm:) I might make a trip to the wool shop this afternoon , want to make a few as christmas pressies:)

Gauntlet glove project

I'm very excited about this project, it is the first project i've attempted with alot of shaping, which turns out is easy but looks kool:)

This is the project so far, next step button holes, which I'm you tubing to learn how to do it!!

EVENTUALLY...........

I started the stripey hat project! Just as I got to the end of the decreases it started to get near impossible to knit in the round. So I decided to change to DPN's, then I suddenly realised I don't have 6.5mm double pointed needles:(  I've put out a call requesting a loan from  fellow knitters (my boyfriends mum and aunt), fingers crossed someone has them , if not I'm off to the wool shop.
Besides that I'm pretty happy with it so far, it's lovely and chunky, and the colours are great:)

LACE BEANIE DONE

Yey it's finished :)  it's the first hat I've made for myself on double pointed needles and it fits really really well. They are more difficult to knit on but they give the hat an amazing shape. It's just not cold enough to wear it yet:( I better not wish the last few weeks of warm-ish weather away!! I've a new camera , it's super kool. The polaroid style pic above was taken with it. it's a fujifilm instant camera, the pics are small like a credit card size, I LOVE IT:) 

CHANGE OF PLAN

I sat down yesterday and attempted the stripey hat only to realise I didn't have enough wool!! It's a chunky hat that needs to be knited with two strands of double knit wool, so I'll have to make another trip to the wool shop. I didn't feel like working on the jumper, I'm 3/4 ways through the front of it, so I decided to knit myself a quick hat:)

Here it is so far, it's a lace pattern , it's meant to be a summer hat knitted in cotton but I decided to change it to lambs pride wool , so it'll be perfect for these cold mornings. It's made on double pointed needles 5mm I don't want to go to work so I can sit at home and finish it!

MY FIRST JUMPER

I've progressed to the front of my jumper, this is the pocket pouch. It took me a while to figure out the pattern ,after reading it a few times it clicked and I'm happy to say its turning out quite well:)

I bought a few super kool sewing patches while I was shopping in Berlin with my friend Jill. I love them but I stopped knitting during the summer so they got packed away. I reckon its about time I popped them on to one of my new projects. I think the stars might work quite well on this jumper once it's finished. I have a project list that is growing daily, I love this time of year , the upcoming cold weather is a great excuse for me to knit some kool mittens and a new hat.

MY FIRST JUMPER

I started this project about 7 months ago. I was doing quite well, I had almost knitted half of the back piece when I lost one of my needles?!! I still haven't found that needle, I think it may be living with all my missing socks.

This wkend we had the first real signs of Autumn, short sleeved weather is officially over so I decided to get a replacement needle and get back to it.

I'm happy with my progress so far, however I decided to change the pattern slightly, instead of a standard rib I have done it in Moss (seed) stitch, so far so good!!

The original pattern is from my boyfriends mum, it's 80's tastic and knitted in a very bright yellow, I decided to go with a more Autumnal colour , purple.

I love this bag and he may be smiling, but this side doesn't seem to be quite as finished as the other side.

I've been too busy recently to knit!! Not good, so I decided this week I need to start planning a few projects for the Autumn.

I made this giant bow a few months ago and never actually used it for anything. It was originally made to wear as a hair clip , but I don't think that's a good look for me:) No need to panic I have solved this problem.I have found a fab use for it..................