WIP Wednesday

Not much to report here - still plodding along at my various projects.

I have made my own pebble-dressing offering: A Pebble Bunny.

It doesn't have a face yet but I'll get around to that soon.  I just improvised the design.

Also, I'm all excited again - something I've ordered from Etsy has been shipped today!  A little robot figure with its pet owl on its arm.  It's coming from Lisastarchild from sleepyrobot13 in America so it will take a while to arrive but the wait will be worth it!

Update: The Tetris Blanket

I've finally designed a pattern for my Tetris blanket so now I'm really motivated to complete it - the granny a day was becoming a chore.

So here is how the finished blanket will look (but I will put a grey border around it)

I've started sewing the squares together because I was so excited after making up the pattern so here is my progress:

It looks pretty good I think.  That isn't the full width by the way that was just me sewing whatever squares I had to hand - you can see that it's the middle part of my pattern.

When I calculated how many squares of each colour I'll need I found that I have to make 73 black squares - lucky I bought three 100g balls of wool then!  For the other colours I'll only need 16-23 squares of each colour.

In other news - My weekend summary:
The Boy took me to a swanky restaurant for Valentine's Day (it's allowed to not be on the day - it is his birthday) more details to follow!
I went to visit my parents of the weekend so:
-  I now have my knitting needles with me in the flat - let's bring Beau by Kim Hargreaves out of hibernation
-  I have some pebbles to dress (see my Mum's blog post here)
Also I volunteered to help my friend Lucy as one of here Oompa Loompas in her 'Delusions of Grandeur'

Dress Shopping

Not something I'd ever claim to be fond of but I've got a wedding coming up (The Boy's step-brother) so I needed a new outfit.

I enlisted the help of my best girlie-friend from uni and we went off shopping together.

She had taken me shopping the last time I'd needed an dress for a wedding so she knew what colours and styles worked for me.

I have to say we were the most efficient shoppers on that day - we had bought a dress, shoes, necklace, and earrings within 75 minutes (including a stop for breakfast pizza at a little stall we always visit) so now I'm all sorted for the wedding in April.

I also found out that The Boy and I will be staying in the Hilton rather than in a relative's spare room as we previously thought, which is exciting as well as the fact that I'm having my hair and make-up done by a professional on the day with the other female relatives (convenient as I don't like putting on make-up). 

So here is my outfit - the picture quality isn't great but at least the lovely colour of the dress shows up

I should blog more! - my weekend

I always get to the end of the week and realise I was meant to blog about the weekend before so this is me trying to catch up.

I spent last weekend in London as The Boy and I went to visit his Dad who I hadn't seen in over a year.  We went out for a meal at a Brazilian/ Argentinean restaurant which was fun as the waiters (in cowboy hats) bring around the meat on skewers and offer it to every table.  

Basically the weekend was a chance for The Boy and his Dad to make fun of the way I talk but it was really good fun and we watched films I hadn't seen before such as Blazing Saddles and Alien.


The first thing I did when I got back was to make myself 2 cups of tea (I haven't figured out the right amount for 1 cup so 2 is easier to make) and get back on with my crochet.

 But while I was in London I received more requests for crocheted things - a ball for them to kick/ throw around (Mum's Patchwork Ball) and egg cosies based on The Boy and his brother.

FO Friday - Valentines/ Birthday Makes

I was so proud - I finished The Boy's Valentines presents on time.  It was also his birthday on the same day so even more important to get it finished.

So I finished the 'Fight the MAN Fingerless Gloves' by Pren Wilcox.  It took me a few attempts though as I was crocheting it, trying it on me and thinking it looked big enough when I only have little hands compared to The Boy.  I haven't managed to get a photo of him wearing them yet so you'll have to make do with me.

The colour is a bit washed out though - they are a darker green in real life.

Another project I had been meaning to finish for The Boy I changed to a present - Jolly Little Goody Bags by Yellow, Pink and Sparkly as an apple cosy

The pictures are a tad blurry as I took them with my phone.

The final thing for The Boy's birthday that I made is the one I am most impressed with.  It is not crochet so a bit out of my comfort zone (I've never been good at making cards but I bought the book I Love Card Making by Amy Gooda which gave me a lot of inspiration)

And now for a non-present related project:
I made iPod Case by Brenda K. B. Anderson after seeing a mention of the free pattern Crochet Today

I made it for my little walkman that I've had for years.  The sewing isn't the best but I managed to get the song name 'It's my life' by Bon Jovi on the side because I love it!  The pattern had 'mixtape' written on it but I think it's much more personal this way.

Productive week for me!  I also did the bravest thing I have done for a very long time yesterday - months ago when I was working over the summer, I agreed to talk in one of the weekly seminars held for undergraduates in my department and talk about my experience as a summer student. 

Well, the day arrived and I was terrified!  I got up on the stage, looked at the 100-150ish students looking at me and said - 'oh wow this is scary!'  The Boy had told people about it so some of my friends turned up to watch me.  I talked for about 3 minutes, whilst trying to stop my legs shaking but at least I survived and it went ok.

I won't be doing anything like that again for a very long time!

Universal Craft Blog Directory

I meant to mention ages ago that I had joined the Universal Craft Blog Directory but never got around to writing the post so the blog sticker was never explained.

Basically the aim is to make a huuuge list of all the crafty blogs out there and then set them up as a directory for people to browse and find new blogs.

Click the image for the link up page

Why not add your blog, if you haven't already?

Weekend Projects

I got lots of crochet done over the weekend - mostly finishing off things that I've neglected.

Firstly, I finished off the  Basic Bear I started at Christmas from the book 'Toys to Crochet' by Claire Garland.

I think the pattern called for a thicker wool but I used DK so the bear ended up being 8inches tall.

The next two projects were for The Boy and are from the game Angry Birds because he is always taking my phone and playing on it.

I made him Angry Birds - Cardinal by Deborah Hutchinson

 
I also made him Angry bird cozy by Michelle Villa because he asked me if I could make him a phone cosy (at about 9pm) for him to take to uni the next morning so I rushed to make the basic shape for him then sewed on the face later.

I also started making Grandma Hearts by Michelle Kludas

And as an update on the Tetris blanket, today is Day 10 so I've made 9 squares so far:

Only 191 to go!

FO Friday - A Colourful Cowl

I've finished my lovely Snood Cowl by HappyBerry and I just love the colours - very autumny.

The wool I used was James C Brett chunky and looks a bit like the wool I used for my crocheted cardi (also James C Brett)

The cowl itself grew a tad as I was making it but it's not a problem.

WIP Wednesday

I love being able to crochet more now.

I've started making The Boy's mitts using the pattern 'Fight the MAN Fingerless Gloves' by Pren Wilcox and it looks really good

I love the texture of the ribbing and it is so simple!