Baby Blanket

Just a quick update- here's a crochet baby blanket that I've just made for some friends who are expecting!

Yes, I'm Still Alive!

Hi everyone, sorry for the delay in updating things but time has gotten away from me a little lately, and then I had some issues with accessing my account on here! Anyway, I'm back now!

Here's one of my biggest pieces of crochet work to date, a small pink bag that I made for my lovely online friend Rita. I added some tatted flowers to it too, and also sewed a lining for it, so I got to use three crafts in one small project!

Autumn's Coming!

My favourite time of the year is on it's way- Autumn then Winter, when I can get all my best dark clothing out and wrap up warm in it, and not look

daft trying to be a Goth in the height of Summer anymore! So with that in mind, I've knitted myself a pair of nice deep red armwarmers, which should go nicely with all manner of my clothes- most of which seem to be black...

I've not forgotten the next tatting video, either!

Are You Reddy For This?!

Just a quick post, as I thought you all might enjoy seeing the current colour of my hair! Unfortunately I can sometimes suffer from hair loss, so when I've got some, I like to make the most of it- what do you think?!

Craft-wise, I'm hoping to have another tatting video ready for you very soon- watch this space!

The Secret's Out!

For a while I've been working on something for 'Boston Becca', my 'secret swapper' on the Knitting Help forum, so I've not been able to show you what I've been doing for a while. But now that she's received her parcel, I can show you! I made her a beaded capelet, into which I threaded something like 2,000 seed beads as I went along knitting it!


As I had some yarn left over, I also made a matching bag to go with it! Hope you like them, Becca!

I've Been Published!

I've been lucky enough to have something I made picked to be a 'Star Letter' in the September issue of 'Knitting' magazine! The star letter prizes are sponsored by Rowan, and I've won some lovely prizes from them!
Maybe they liked it because it was a Rowan pattern that I knitted from, from their beautiful 'Beads, Buttons & Lace' book.

This 'Move Star Dressing Gown' is a full length cardigan/gown type garment, which took me five months of hard work to knit up, and I'm thrilled to beans to have something published in a magazine like this!
In the meantime, I've been busy knitting something for my secret swapper from the Knitting Help forum, so there'll be no photos of that until she's received it!

Second Tuition Video!

Here's my second tatting tuition video clip, made this morning. Rings and picot stitches; again, I hope it makes sense and is clear what I'm doing! Let me know what you think!

Mind Your Place!

Just a small update, to show some more finished tatting- this time, a bookmark. In the meantime, I had a nice evening out this week attending the local group of the Ring Of Tatters, and I'm constantly working on more knitting and tatting projects, so I'll have more work to show you soon. And I've not forgotten about doing another tuition video, either!

More Finished Tatting

Here's some more of my recently completed tatting work. This is a bridal hoop, tatted from some pretty peach thread, with ribbon bows and beading added also. I thought this was rather pretty, and I'm very pleased with it.

Capelet Finished, Hooray!

Here finally is the capelet I was having trouble with! But, I wasn't going to let it beat me! I made this for the Knitting Help forum's monthly challenge, which was lace knitting, with the lovely yarn coming from my secret swapper. I didn't like the pom-poms on the ties as in the original pattern, so I replaced them with some pretty beads, and in the end I was very pleased with the 'spider web' stitches. It matches a dress I have very well so I've worn it out to town already, and I'm really pleased with it now it's done!

I've got nothing on the needles at the moment, but will certainly have more tatting to show you soon.

First Tuition Video!

Here's my first tuition video- some very basic tatting. It was fun for me to make, and I do hope that it makes some kind of sense, and that maybe it will help/inspire someone to have a go at doing some tatting for the first time themselves. Let me know what you think, and how you get on! I'll be making some more as time goes on.

So, turn your speakers on, and off we go!

Tatting Day Out

Well, what a lovely day out that was! Today I went off with a packed lunch and I attended a meet organised by the 'Ring Of Tatters' group, where we all met in a nice hall and tatted together, bought and swapped threads and shuttles, had drinks and displayed our work. There was some really gorgeous work on display, and I came home with some lovely new threads to work with and some new tatting pattern books. That wasn't all I came home with- for the first time in my life I actually won something in a raffle, and I came home with a bottle of one of my favourite perfumes and some further threads, so I was a happy girl! Plus, I learnt some new tatting methods that had previously had me stumped, so all in all, it was a really productive day with some lovely friendly ladies!

Grrr!

A brief update on the capelet. Almost half a dozen times I've gotten so far with it, and have had to frog it and start again! Okay so it's my first go at knitting a lace stitch, but I was sure I was doing it right, and sure enough, some online investigation turned up some corrections for the pattern as printed in the book, so I got on my way again, and for a while, it was so far, so good.

But then when I was 'finished', it seemed I had an awful lot less knitted up than I thought I would- turns out, I was using the wrong kind of yarn, too! Oh well, back to the drawing board...

Tatted Collar

Another project finished! Here's a couple of photos (click to see full size) of a tatted collar from a pattern named 'Eunice' in the Lyn Morton book 'Tatting Patterns'. I used a lovely red Flora '50' thread to keep it nice and fine, and this is the largest and most complicated piece of tatting that I have done to date. I found it a little difficult and there's the odd error here and there, but I'm still very pleased with it and the finished piece is only going into my scrapbook, so it doesn't matter too much this time!

I'm still working my way through the patterns in the book and learning different things, and next Saturday I'm hoping to go to a tatting day here in Newport, so I'll report back and show some photos from that if I can.


The 'Knitting Help' forum has a monthly challenge and this month it's 'lace knitting', so on the needles right now is a 'spider web' capelet from the 'Stitch & Bitch Nation' book. I'm using some gorgeous 'Knit Picks' yarn that my lovely 'secret swapper' sent me, (Hi, secret swapper!) so I'll post some photos of it soon.

Finished!

Just a few hours after starting my blog and taking that first picture, I've rattled off the second armwarmer, and have a finished pair to show you! (Click on the photo to see it full size) I really got stuck into these today and they knitted up really quickly; you can't quite see the stitch pattern in the photos, but I'm very pleased with them anyway! These will keep my hands nice and toasty warm in the Winter- and for the rest of the year for that matter! (I have really cold hands!)

Next up I'm going to do some tatting, and plan to try and make a decorative collar, the kind of thing you'd see on the edging of a nice historical dress. Previously with my tatting I've mostly made variations of motifs, and things like bookmarks, so this will be quite a challenge! So, stay tuned to see how I get on!

First post!

Hello and welcome to the first post on my craft blog. Here I'll be showing you my current craft projects, be they knitting, tatting, crochet or beading, as well as things I've made previously, and talking about things I would like to make in the future. Sometimes I might even talk about myself!

To get us started, here (Click to see larger) is what I've got on the needles right now; a pair (well, it will be!) of 'Hurry Up Spring Armwarmers' from the excellent 'Stitch & Bitch Nation' book by Debbie Stoller. I'm using a multi-coloured 'Noro' yarn, which was sent to me by a friend on the excellent 'Knitting Help' forum. (See links, right)This is my first attempt at using double point needles, which so far has been fun and not half as scary as I thought it was going to be! It's also my first cable project, so talk about jumping in at the deep end! As you can see one is nearly done, so hopefully it won't be long before I can get a pair completed and posted up on here.