Busy, busy, busy!!

Yes,it's been all go here recently. Some really sad things and some really nice things.

However, I'm going to bring you up to date with my crochet projects right now.

So the rather pink, pink top is still on the go but I have been sidetracked somewhat, so that's only about half way I think on the back now.
The cushion is finished, but I forgot to take a picture, so if I don't get chance to show it this time, I'll try and remember on my next post.

My lovely friend and fellow dieter gave me a challenge. To make a cosy for her large cafetiere.
Now I've never done this before and I couldn't find a pattern easily, not one I liked, so I decided to design my own.

So she told me the measurements and she wanted browns to match her kitchen with cream flowers and red to match the cafetiere itself. Also her cups are a lovely green ... so armed with all the info I set to and here's the finished result.

Tada!!

I made a flap fastening to keep it cosy and warm.

The top is a drawstring so she can have it looser for plunging or just do it right up as she chooses.

And the front comes nicely under the spout.

I'm pleased to say she was thrilled with it!!
She said she's never had hotter coffee, lol
Anyhow she must of liked it as she has asked for a matching cosy for her small cafetiere.
Well the only problem was that I hadn't written down any of the pattern, I just did it in my head as I went along.

So at the moment I am working on that and using the pictures to remind myself.
I'll show you a picture once it's finished.
The challenge with this one is getting it all scaled down but using the same yarn so the colours are exact.

More on that next time!!

So then her Dad asked me if I could make him a cosy for his 2 cup teapot.
He had tried to get one to fit and couldn't, so he wanted grey or cream with poppies on.

Again, I never used a pattern, just made it up as I went along and here's the finished result!!
As you can see, I also made a little matching mat for it.

Not sure if you can see in the picture but the poppy has a green stalk coming from under it.

The cosy has a button fasten flap and a little button at the top as well, to keep it all snug.

I made it so the lid lifts off so he can stir the tea but it also sits on snugly to keep everything covered and warm

I must admit, I'm quite proud of both of them. First things really that I've designed myself, apart from a couple of phone cosies, which weren't really designs as such.

Hopefully I'll get the cushion and the mini cafetiere on to show you in a couple of days, oh and say 'socks' to me as well. I want to remember to show you something else next time.

Take care everyone!!

:)

More hours and more hands please.

I've been quite busy this week again so not as much progress as I would like by now but I'm going to show you anyhow.

The pink crochet tee I had made a start on has now got the front side done.

I still have the back to do and I'll also be adding a nice edging to the neck/collar and arms.
I made it long enough to fit over my hips and I made it slightly bigger too, incase my hips are now even larger than I think!!!!

I'm also making new cushion covers for our living room.

When I first learnt to crochet a couple of years ago, I made crochet fronts from odd bits of yarn I had and sewed them to the covers. Now I think it's time for a change and to use colours that match in the room!!

This first one I started is going to be made in the granny stripe.

My room is a mix of creams, pinks and greens, so I will make each cushion using these three colours but will probably make each a different design.

I must get back to the other two tee's I'm knitting as well but at the moment I've become distracted by these, lol

Oh if only we had more hours and more hands!! I am itching to get back to those poor neglected things and plus I have more I want to start on as well.
I guess we're all the same though... hopefully it's not just me?!!

:)

One post or two?

I feel like I have too many pictures to show you at the moment and I can't decide which to show first, lol
So I will see how this post goes and it might end up that if it's going to be overloaded I'll do another post tomorrow or Wednesday as well.

First up I'll show you my bag, as I already said in my last one that I would.

It comes with an attached pouch in which you can carry tape measures, scissors, hooks, stitch markers, whatever you want really.

The top has holes where you can have your project nicely incased inside with just the yarn coming through to work with, but you can reach in through the slits when needed as well.

It has a large storage capacity. This shows it with 9 x 100g balls inside. I could still put things on top if needed, although not more yarn if you didn't want it squashed, just accessories.

This is showing it with two 400g balls in it or two 500g balls would also fit fine.

It has an attached shoulder strap which you can wear to suit yourself and carry it around however you prefer. This is a picture off the pack as it shows it better than I could model it, haha.

You can also see the little mesh pocket at the side to keep the pattern in or whatever you wish.

All in all, this is such a handy bag, I love it. :)


So as I said, I was sorting out my storage for my yarn and it ended up I was going to get some new see through plastic drawers to keep it in. While I was in the shop they were selling off some of the jewellery making items really cheap.
I picked up a couple of the little bits as I thought it might be fun to make some little crochet jewellery to wear.
Will let you know how I get on with that.

So you want to see my storage now??

These are the new drawers I bought with the big bin on top. That has a clear plastic lid, so I can see it in still.
The drawers are actually two seperate units but we just stood them on top of each other. Each unit consists of a small drawer at the top then three larger drawers underneath.

If you look at the bottom left on the picture, you can see my yarn in the boxes I previously stored it in. There was no problem and I could see through them but I had to keep lifting all the boxes off each other to get to what I wanted.


So now you can see that I have the pink box for storage and the one box under it I kept is for my cross stitch frames etc.

With the pink drawer units we ended up keeping them as one unit and Steve altered them so I have the two smaller drawers at the top.
I put a pink cover over it to protect it from the bird feathers or dust or whatever as it's situated right by my budgie.

I'm finding it much easier to get to the yarns now. No more lifting and half emptying the cupboard just to get to one ball, lol.

I still have a few things left to show you but I think I'll keep that for another post as I don't want to completely bore you!!

Take care everyone!!

:)

So I did some research

and I'm happy to report the bag is fine to use!!

From what I've found out, this started out as a law for the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act in California, which became known as "Proposition 65." It was originally, intended to protect drinking water sources from chemical contamination.
However, it's snowballed from that to include many, many chemicals and even everyday products, such as wood dust, brass, PVC and many, many other things.

I found it on shoes, note books, bags, tools, make up, luggage, furniture, lawnmowers, glassware, ceramic dishes and more.

One furniture company says that "A flame retardant upholstery chemical currently required by the state of California to be added to upholstered furniture foams is now included among chemicals that require a warning under Proposition 65".

So by law, they have to add it, then by law, they have to warn against it!!
How crazy is that??

The same company also said, "Because there is always a chance that wood dust or some other of the hundreds of ingredients listed in Proposition 65 could potentially be on our furniture or packing materials, we must include Proposition 65 warnings on our products or risk large fines under this law in California. In addition, we are required to use the exact wording for this warning specified by California: "This product contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm."

It seems that the risks determined by this research for these chemicals also come from the amount of exposure, for example to wood dust. Obviously this risk is going to be more so at the actual workplace.

Some companies say they would only place these warnings on their products for California, because to not have them there would result in big fines, but because they make their products and send them out in bulk for stock, they have no idea where these products will end up and so to comply with the law, they have to put them in regardless.

I have a friend who lives in California and she says it's everywhere, Shops, parking lots, hospitals and even on her car!!
I've also seen pictures of it on hand soaps and other every day products.

Anyhow, my bag has a pvc bottom, so it appears this is why it carries this warning.
I'm now at ease to use it, after reading up on everything and will be showing it off to you in my next post.

Just wanted to let you all know what I discovered and thank you all for your comments on my post.
Very much appreciated

:)

Never seen this before!!

Today I was so excited because my yarn bags (one for me, one for my mum) arrived today, along with a crochet book I bought.
I loved it!!!
That was, I did love it. Then glancing over the packaging I saw something I've never seen before.

It had a warning label on it, California proposition 65.
It says this product can can cancer and birth defects or some thing like that!!

I mean, really???

How can they sell something like that??

I was going to make a post showing my bag, my book and my progress with my projects. Now though, I'm just sat here wondering what to do about these bags ..................


:(

Due to my diet....

I haven't really got a lot done. I've been spending time reading up on things to remind me of what I should be doing.
More about that on my slimming blog though.

So...

I've managed to work a bit on my knitted tee. I also think I might have a picture that looks a little more teal than blue!! Hurrah!!!

I've also started another tee, but in crochet, for the summer and because I'm not sure it will work out right, I've used a pink yarn that if it all goes horribly wrong, I won't mind so much.

It's in a DK yarn and I'm using a 4.5mm hook. So this isn't going to be a quick project by any means, but it'll be nice to see how it turns out and if I like it, I'll get some nice summery colours and try out different stitch patterns, while keeping the basic shape.

Oh, and I swapped some yarn with my mum this week.
I gave her some soft baby yarn I had and also the lilac self patterning one and in return she gave me these!!!

Two large balls of aran. 400g each ball.

It's a green mixed with a little brown. I tried to get a close up for you to see it a bit better.

I'm really pleased with it anyhow.

I've been sorting out my stash as well. I'm not really happy with how I store it as it's in boxes and you can't always see easily what you want, but it keeps it clean and it's at least stored away tidy-ish.
I would love to make it look prettier though.

I ordered a book all on crochet stitches. I'm really excited to get it and hope it comes soon. I thought it would be fun to learn some new stitches. The internet is great but if you don't know the name of a stitch, you can't really look for it.

So I'm thinking I might make some new cushion covers for the living room using some of them. I'm pretty bored with the ones I have at the moment. They're from when I first learnt to crochet a year or so back, so a change would be nice.

My storage bag still hasn't arrived from the US. I know it takes awhile but I'm constantly stalking my postman and it's about time it was here!! LOL

Now I'm going shopping for healthy diet type food. I will cover my eyes when I get to the chocolate section and hope I mange to get passed without anything falling into my trolley!!
;)

Take care

:)

New blog

Today I started a new blog to keep a sort of diary account of my slimming efforts.
If anyone wants to go there to cheer me on and give me encouragement, please do!!

I really need to keep it going and not give up. Hopefully if i get some readers and you comment on there as well, it will help to keep me motivated.
Feel free to give me a shove in the right direction if I start to slip.

If anyone wants to join me, let me know.

Thanks!!!

:)

I'm trying again to do a link, this time to my blog, I hope it works!!!
My slimming blog

Also, I have added the link back to Mary's blog now in my previous post, so that you can find her lovely coaster pattern.

Show and tell!!

It's been a really busy few weeks and I never seem to get time to sit and update my blog, but this afternoon I was meant to be going out and it hasn't worked out, so I'm taking the opportunity to sit and do it now.

So a quick show and tell about the things I'm working on.

I've undone the Tee I was knitting in the special yarn I bought. The grey stylecraft trendsetter chunky.
I did the larger size in the teal yarn and had to undo it and start again as it was too big on me. So then I thought I should do this one in the next size down too ... too small!!! ARRGGHHH!!!!
My fault for never doing a swatch but always just jumping right in there and plowing on.

Will I learn from this and do swatches in the future?? Probably not. :-/

So anyhow, I made a set of wrist warmers and matching boot cuffs, which I plan to send off to a friend. I had to guess the sizes so I just went for average and hope they'll fit!!

I just put one of each there so you could see it better, but obviously there are two of each really, lol!!
They're made in a neutral shade so that they'll go with any colour she chooses.
Hope she likes them!!

Remember the headbands??

My friend really liked them a lot and has had others commenting on them as well. They look much better on than off.
Anyhow, I gave her 6 in the end. The 5 I showed you previously and this one as well.

It's a purple band with shell edging and a lilac heart which sits to the side.

I've made some progress on the teal Tee I'm knitting. I undid it all and started again! I'm a little further on than this picture. It's almost like a sampler, made of different stitch patterns seperated with st st and reverse st st.
I think it goes, triangle stitch, double seed stitch, square stitch and then the last one is a bobble pattern but I'm going to change that to a stitch pattern I prefer. Maybe andalusian stitch. Very simple but pretty.

This is TEAL. My phone seems unable to accept this and insists on turning it blue!! But it really is teal, lol.

I also tried a quick pattern I saw on Mary's blog at Crochet Crazy. She gave a free pattern for some lovely little coasters and so I decided to have a go!!

They're made in a strange sparkly thread, kept from my cross stitch days. It looks much nicer in real life.
I tried to link to Mary's blog but I don't think I'm doing it right! :( Sorry Mary if you read this.

Edit to add: I think I've worked it out now!!! :)

Mary's Blog

I tried to use the link feature on the dashboard and put Mary's blog address in it, but it never appears on here when I preview it. I hope you can all find it as it's a lovely pattern to try.


I have had two table cloths that needed a little alteration, but I liked them and thought I'd easily sort them. Well I have a sort of fear of my sewing machine, truth be told. So they've waited and waited. In the end I decided to just go for it and I pulled the beast out and set to!!

I ended up with more pin pricks than pores and the silky one was an absolute nightmare to pin!!
The good news is, they're done!!!

One of my friends who loves her machine insists I need to just jump in there and play with it. Hopefully when she feels better she'll come and help me find my way around it a bit more.

Oh one more thing. I ordered a project bag from the US, so I'm really keen for that to arrive. I have no idea what colour it will be, just whatever they send, but I can't wait for it to arrive!!
You have so much better choice than we do here.

Anyhow, that's all I have to show you for now. Now to get back to reading all your lovely blogs and wishing I had your talent!!

Take care everyone.

:)

I mustn't start anything else ... yet!!

It's been a couple of weeks since I last blogged because it's been quite busy here with taking Joe out on trips for his lessons, some things going on with a family friend we look after (he has been diagnosed with alzheimers and dementia) Joe's trip back to get his brace tightened and just everyday life, including the dreaded housework, haha!!

However, I have managed to get a couple of things to show you.
:)

A pair of warm fingerless gloves for an older friend who admired Tom's. I tried to make her's a little prettier for her by adding the flowers on. She chose red for her pair.

I added a flower to the loomed hat, just to make it more feminine. do you think it looks better?

And a friend told me she loves headbands and was really happy when I said I'd make some for her.
Well I sent this pic to her via instagram of five that I've made for her and although she shows as having seen it, she hasn't commented at all, so I hope it's not because she hates them and doesn't like to say!!!!

I do stress a bit making things for others as it's hard to be sure if they're going to love or hate them!!
I had to guess those as well as I had no measurements, so I just made average sizes and hope they'll fit. lol

So as you can see, serial startitus still has me in it's grip, but I have managed a few rows of the jumper in the yarn on the yarn butler. So I comfort myself with that at least, although it's not enough to really show you yet. It's not very much at all if I'm honest. (Blush)

Oh I know what I wanted to ask as well ... has anyone ever used the symfonie crochet hooks and if you have, what are they like?? I was thinking of saving up for a set of interchangeables and those and the bamboo sort look the nicest but having never used either, I don't know which would be best.
I thought it was better to buy interchangeable as they come in useful for tunisian and afghan's. That's in the future though, not anytime soon, so plenty of time to find out about them.

I'm loving using the loom. Has anyone else done any projects on them. I've only attempted the hats so far but I've found I like looming far better than I thought I would.

I am itching to try a baby hat now, but I have had to take myself aside and point to those started projects and I've come to an agreement that I will make myself get some progress to show with at least one of them before I touch anything else!!
well I might touch but I won't actually start, I really won't!!
Oh isn't it hard not to though.

Well that's all at the moment. I hope you are all keeping ok.

Take care everyone.

:)

I've been afflicted ...

With serial startitus!!!

I don't know what's going on with me, I mean, yes, I've been known to have a project or three on the go at one time, but this is taking things to a whole new level!!

So I went away for a week with my family and we took my mum with us to give her a rest ... bad combination!! We were delighted to find some real bargains and there was just no stopping us!!
Well of course, once you have that lovely yarn in your hands, how can you resist???
I couldn't.

So here's a few pictures of my lovely yummy delights and a few also of what I've been doing with it as well.

2 balls of cotton for dish cloths, a 400g light brown aran that I want to do some wrist cuffs and things like that with, a chunky yarn, mix of grey, black and white to do some fingerless gloves for my eldest son and a really soft chunky blue yarn to use on my loom to see how it knitted up as a hat.

So here are the chunky fingerless gloves ... very cosy and warm.

The blue yarn on the loom.

Well at least I got that finished!!! lol

Here's the strange thing though. It appears a chunkier yarn than the first loom hat I made, but it isn't. I can tell by the stitches once I got it off. It's wonderfully soft though.

This yarn is absolutely beautiful. I fell in love with it and I don't generally pay much for yarn if I can help it but this was the exception.
Stylecraft Trendsetter chunky.

I couldn't resist buying it and I couldn't resist starting it either!!
Hopefully, if all goes well, this is a tee style jumper for me.

I couldn't leave these behind!! At 2 balls for £2 it would have just been a crime!!

And yes, I've started on these as well.
The red, green and brown are being turned into a set of apple coasters!! First one completed ...

I've got my eye on a few baby patterns for the pink and white as well but I'm trying to be strong and not go there yet!!

I started this as well. It's another tee style top for me, in a lovely teal yarn, although it's come out blue in the picture!! lol

Does anyone else use a yarn butler? I love mine!!

Hot off the hook, a little thread coaster sized doily. Not blocked yet as you can see. It looks real sorry for itself there, poor thing!!

A few little accessories found their way home with me as well. Some stitch markers, some yarn needles, 2 bargain packs of buttons for decoration (flower centre etc) at only £1 per bag and a crochet hook. It's a clover soft touch. I've never used one of these before, I tend to use metal or aluminium, so this is going to be quite exciting to try.

I also got two little knitting books.

I feel quite shocked myself looking at all this!! I'm SO bad!!

The holiday itself was lovely, although my mum overdid it a bit and did have a quite bad angina attack. She rested the next day though and has been fine since I'm glad to say!!

Hope you are all well.

:)