Exploring A New City

I mentioned here a few months ago that I had received a job offer to work in Sheffield starting in September.  Since I came back from holiday, I've been searching for somewhere to live and have visited Sheffield twice.

I have to say it is a lovely city (which is a relief!) and I am starting to know my way around.  Here are a few photos that show-off the city nicely:

Nice Buildings and Open Spaces...

...Tonnes of Theatres...

...and lots of beautiful parks

Even better news is that I have signed for a flat!  Rob and I visited Sheffield at the start of this week to view flats.  Two viewings were cancelled while we were there but we still got to see 3 different flats and agreed on a favourite.

Anyway tomorrow is a big day for me and Rob as it is our graduation.  I can't believe 4 years of university have flown by so quickly.  The ceremony is at the same concert hall that Rob and I saw Al Murray at (The Liverpool Philharmonic) and my family have seats in one of the boxes

A Lovely Holiday to Italy

Last week I went on holiday with my parents and my sister to Italy (as usual my Mum managed to blog about it first - you can read what she wrote here).  I personally took about 450 photos, Mum took about 300 and Eve was taking photos on her phone too but I'll only show you a few.

We were based at Lake Garda in a little town called Malcesine but because it was a tour we had day trips arranged for us to Venice, Verona, and the Dolomites as well as a full day exploring different towns on the lake itself.

Around Lake Garda:
These photos are from our tour around the lake and our walks along the lake to the town of Malcesine

View of Lake Garda from Malcesine

The town of Salo

View from Salo across the lake

Venice:
It was lovely to see Venice again but because of the nice weather (and being tourist season) it was much busier than when Rob and I visited

The Bridge of Sighs

The Doge's Palace

St Mark's Square

The Rialto Bridge

View of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge

The Dolomites:
These photos are taken at the top of the Pordoi Pass where there was 8 inches of snow the night before we visited and it was still snowing while we were there

Me in the snow

View down the mountain from the Pordoi Pass

Verona:
We didn't know what to expect from Verona - apart from Juliet's balcony - but the city was very picturesque with lots of interesting history.

Juliet's Balcony

Statue of Dante in the Piazza dei Signori

Piazza delle Erbe

The fun of a crafty swap!

I recently received a Ravelry message inviting me to join a new group that swaps 6 inch blanket squares to create 'Friendship Blankets'.  I had been wanting to make another blanket for myself and this seemed like a fun way to do it.

My request for squares asked for bright rainbow colours and purples to be used.  I was initially bombarded with messages from people wanting to swap squares with me resulting in me having 7 swap partners simultaneously.  I managed to make all the squares for these partners (14 squares in total) and got them sent off on Thursday.

So now I'm waiting for squares in return and busy finding new swap partners.  I received my first parcel yesterday which was a bit too exciting for me!

Here is a photo of the lovely squares along with some extra treats - a sachet of hot chocolate and a few pretty buttons.

If you are interested in joining the group or finding out more information then you can find the group on Ravelry - The Global Square Exchange

My Best Friend's Birthday

Last Saturday was my best friend's birthday and so I went and visited him.  We spend the day wandering outside in the sunshine, watching films, playing darts, and eating cake.  I managed to win at darts - despite being out of practice - by hitting the bullseye twice:

For his present I decided to crochet a pattern I've had my eye on for a while - 'Fierce Little Dragon' by Lucy Ravenscar as we both play an online fantasy game called Legend of the Green Dragon.

I love how the dragon turned out - think I may have to make myself one at some point!

I also bought him some jelly beans as they are his favourite sweets and I crocheted a bag to put them in to make it a bit special:

The bag is a free pattern called 'Crocheted Treasure Bag' by Erin Kortering.

For my best friend's card, I was inspired by a geometric block card but instead of all squares I decided to change 2 of the blocks to be iconic images from the artwork of Magritte, as we went to a Magritte exhibition together a long time ago.  

I'm pleased to report that my best friend loved his presents and card.

WIP Wednesday - An Update on my Current Projects

As with a lot of crafters I have startitis - the ability to start lots of projects then forget about them to move to other projects without ever finishing anything.  I've been able to control this recently and I have cut down from 20 projects to just 9.

I'm struggling to prioritise projects at the moment as I am busy trying to pack up the house as our tenancy ends soon but I will list each project and say how far I am through it (and include a photo where I can).

Knitting Projects:

Trillian Shawl:

• Percentage complete:  10%
• Ravelry Project Page

Beau Jumper:

• Percentage complete:  60%
• Ravelry Project Page

Rob's Scarf:

• Percentage complete:  40%
• Ravelry Project Page

Present for Friend's Boyfriend:

• Percentage complete:  5%
• Ravelry Project Page

Mini Beau Jumper for Teddy:

• Percentage complete:  5%

Crochet Projects:

Ripple Blanket:

• Percentage complete:  20%
• Ravelry Project Page

Granny Square Skirt:

• Percentage complete:  10%
• Ravelry Project Page

Lark the Monster - from scraps:

• Percentage complete:
• Ravelry Project Page

Rob's Name Banner:

• Percentage complete:  90%
• Ravelry Project Page

Happy 2nd Birthday, Blog

Another year has flown by and now my blog is a wonderful 2 years old.  I've been meaning to crochet a little smiling robot to celebrate.

I'll be back tomorrow with a catch-up on my current WIPs

I'm back!!!!

Hello again!  My university exams are all over now so I have officially finished university - can't believe that after 18 years of being a student it is over!

As I'm sure you can imagine, I haven't had much time to craft recently but I fully intend to make up for it with a nice, relaxing, crafty, summer.

This morning I have finished making Rob's name banner that I started a very long time ago (the time gap meant I struggled to get the gauge right at first).  Now I just need to sew in the ends and make the chain.  I also have finished crocheting my Christmas stocking garland and just need to sew on the numbers.

Because I have been banned from starting new projects my queue has built up a bit so I am excited to be able to start new projects.  My friend asked me to make a little present for her boyfriend so I will be busy.

I did complete one project recently, a knitted cosy for my new hard camera case.  The screen of my camera recently got damaged in my bag so I replaced the screen because it was cheaper than buying a new camera. After that I was determined that the camera should not be broken again so I bought a hard case for it.  The problem is that the case was boring and black and white so I decided to knit a cosy for it.

Prepare for a lot of geekiness about the design.  It looks like stripes but it is actually binary (ASCII) code for the word 'SMILE' where the 1s are purple and the 0s are grey.  I used this website to get the codes for each letter.

The cosy is worked in the round top down, starting with 5 rows of ribbing, then I knitted 47ish rows of the pattern, then I ended it with a very neat (if I do say so myself) 3-needle bind-off which I learnt from this Knitty.com page.  Also the colour changes are pretty neat (below)

What I've been making recently (Photo heavy)

I've got a huge backlog of finished projects forming so I really need to blog about them.

I haven't shown what I made for Eve's Birthday (over a month ago!).  Here is the card I made her:

I also made her some bear ears - because I love wearing mine so much.  

Eve's Bear Ears:

• Craft: Crochet
• Pattern: Bear Headband by Kala Hotakainen;
• Yarn: 3 Strands of Stash DK 
• Weight: DK - combined forms yarn thicker than 'bulky'
• Hook Size: 6mm
• Ravelry Project Page

The rest of the presents I made here were little items that were quick to make such as a tiny knitted penguin:

Tiny Penguin:

• Craft: Knitting
• Pattern: FREE Penguins by Wendy Phillips
• Yarn: Scraps of DK 
• Weight: DK
• Needle Size: 2.5mm
• Ravelry Project Page

And some of my soot sprites:

More Soot Sprites:

• Craft: Crochet
• Pattern: Mini Soot Sprites by Grace McMahon
• Yarn: Sirdar Persia
• Weight: DK
• Hook Size: 4mm
• Ravelry Project Page

I managed to cross another item off my to-do-list - Heart Bunting

Heart Bunting:

• Craft: Crochet
• Pattern: Grandma Hearts by Michelle Kludas 
• Yarn: Red and Pink stash DK
• Weight: DK
• Hook Size: 3.5mm
• Ravelry Project Page

The Scrap-a-long over at Freshstitches is now over and I managed to make 2 of Stacey's monsters - one for me and one for Rob because we couldn't decide which pattern was the best.

Mixtro the Monster:

• Craft: Crochet
• Pattern: Mixtro the Monster by Stacey Trock
• Yarn: Scrap DK
• Weight: DK
• Hook Size: 3.5mm
• Ravelry Project Page

Bixi the Monster:

• Craft: Crochet
• Pattern: Bixi the Monster by Stacey Trock
• Yarn: Scrap DK
• Weight: DK
• Hook Size: 3.5mm
• Ravelry Project Page

I loved learning how to do the Russian Joins to link up the different scrap yarns and the scrap-busting project was rather addictive.

I'm not starting any more projects until my exams are over at the end of May - which is sooo hard to stick to!  I've been working on a few of my WIPs:

Rob's scarf:

Ravelry Project Page

Ripple blanket:

Ravelry Project Page

Beau:

Ravelry Project Page

I have made a huge amount of progress on this jumper for Rob as I took it back to my parents' house while Rob was away skiing.  I only have the sleeves and sewing up the jumper to do now.  The other two projects are the ones I work on while I am at uni or sat at home in the evenings.

I'm demonstrating my final year project on Thursday so I've been working on my A1 poster that will be displayed on my bench -  as I spend all day in a hot lab being quizzed on my progress.

After that I have to finish off my thesis, hand in another 2 courseworks, and then exams start - it feels weird knowing that my time in full-time education is almost at an end.

Just Checking In

I'm busy revising for my last ever university exams at the moment so I am not doing much crafting but I just wanted to pop by and let you know what I'm up to.

I've decided to join in with my first ever crochet-a-long with Stacey at FreshStitches.  This month the project is to make one of Stacey's designs but using scrap yarn.  You can read more about it here.

I've decided to make one of Stacey's adorable monster patterns - Mixtro (Ravelry pattern page here) and use my scraps in any old order.  The monster is looking really good so far but I haven't done that much.

I can't wait to see how the colours turn out - I can't even remember the order I wound the yarn in so it will be a nice surprise.

Wordless Wednesday - Me summed up on a mug

FO Friday - 15-3-13 - Autumn Leaf Garland

I think I may have actually finished this last week and forgotten to post about it.  It was one of those projects I started a long time ago and then put into hibernation because Autumn had passed.

I love the colours used and the variegated bulky wool ties in all of the colours nicely.

Autumn Leaf Garland:

• Craft: Crochet
• Pattern: Birch Leaf Applique by Rhonda Rowley
• Yarn (Leaves): Stash DK 
• Weight: DK
• Yarn (to join): James C Brett Marble Chunky
• Weight: Bulky
• Colourway: MC7
• Hook Size: 4mm
• Ravelry Project Page

I also can't believe I didn't mention that for my Christmas present Rob got me tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Liverpool Empire.  

We went to see it 2 weeks ago and it was so good!  The Empire was the perfect place for it too - the theatre is so grand that it feels like you are in the opera-house from the musical.  Here are some (blurry, sorry) pictures I took while we were there.

FO’s 2013 = 14+3 =17

WIP’s = 10-1 = 9

Queued = 12 +1 = 13