Cowl-tastic!

Hi all, 

This weekend saw me ill and alone. Not a good combination, the boy was away on a stag do and I had picked up a virus from work which left me with a terrible headache and fever. After spending all of Friday, and a good part of Saturday sleeping I was feeling much better on Sunday and with time to spend whilst watching the entire first season of Downton Abbey!

A few weeks ago I bought myself a big chunky ball of wool from Hobbycraft, with a cowl pattern. They had one knitted up which was amazeballs and was just what I was looking for, so off I merrily skipped and payed my £5.

The brand I used

Sad times came when I got home and realised I don't really know how to knit. Yes, I've made scarves, long rectangles, generally full of holes, using the knit stitch and none of this new fangled 'purl' business. So, after a few very frustrating attempts to remember to k1, p1 and pick up a loop and drop a loop between each stitch (!) I gave up and made my own pattern instead!

I forgot to take any 'making of' photos - this was me checking that my phone was working, or something like that

Ta da! Last night, in one grey jumper...

And today, in another grey jumper!

From behind. Oh er missus.

Here it is:

200g of Fab Big #02350 delphinium - a lovely teal blue
10mm  knitting needles

Cast on 24 stitches
Knit 20 rows plain knit stitch
Next is slightly more complicated - knit a 'twisted drop stitch' pattern. This is really simple and even I managed to do it.

Insert needle in to back of stitch, wrap around 2 loops, not 1! pull through as in a normal knit stitch. Carry on all along the row. 
Next row, ONLY do the same, but only knit in to the first loop you made, and let the other stitch drop off your hook.

Keep going until you run out of wool, for the last two or three rows use normal knit stitch.

Crochet ends together using a basic slip stitch. I used a contrasting wool as I only had a much thinner hook than the chunky wool - a 5mm hook.

And that is it! Don't wear it to bed, your partner will laugh at you. Or if you're single, go nuts, make a giant one as a sleeping bag and live in it (now I want boy to go away for the weekend again...)

Love Ali

xx

Craft Night a la Swaddle

Hello everyone! 

We had our second Craft Night since starting the blog on Monday night. It was over to Laura's this time (we take it in turns to host, share out the cooking etc.). 5 of us made it this time, and were treated to some very lovely home made pizza, chips and salad, and a particularly lovely Chocolate Cheescake, with strawberries and cream, nom! We then made our way up to Laura's study/craft room depending on what time of day/night! 

View from Laura's kitchen, lovely sunny afternoon :)

We had a new friend joining us this time, craftertime is expanding! Laura's friend from choir Becky came over to say hi and do some squeaky knitting! It is great to have a new face, and to help us expand our crafting repertoire - Becky was knitting a doll of Audrey Hepburn! It was only the start, but she did get the body done, including some accidently inverted row we generally decided were in the right place for her boobs!

Laura was working on her beautiful granny square afghan, this has been a fairly long term project she has been returning to as an 'in betweener' and is sooo close to being done, depending on how big it ends up being. 

We had a good discussion about the relative number of blankets we have in our houses, compared with the number of people that live there - Laura's other half had assumed her blankets were gifts... no... But came happily to the conclusion that as long as we are happy, and not bankrupting ourselves/pimping ourselves out for yarn and fabric, we are all good!

Amy was starting a new project. A self confessed fan of learning a craft to achieve an end product, rather than to actually learn it, took up a challenge from Mollie Makes to make some crochet star bunting. Having been a while since Amy's last project this took a little more effort than expected! I was trying to be a good tutor, but after half a bottle of rose this wasn't the easiest! We came up with a few different versions, the pattern was not written clearly, a shame as I fancied the book it came from and have now been put off! 

I did manage to try again whilst sober, and did manage it, but pattern was still annoyingly difficult to follow!

Fiona was working on sewing a read rectangle! Early starter on Christmas crafting, Fiona refuses to go anywhere need crochet (mutterings about the devil's craft...) and started off with the border for her embroidery - watch this space for more!

I was mainly drinking wine and helping Amy with her crochet to limited success, and trying to finish the wiggly edge on my crochet blanket, I've been lusting after crocheted edged items on Pinterest for a while, don't quite know why but felt my bed blanket needed some additions! I also brought along a blanket I'm making for a pregnant friend, but as it was just sewing in the ends I didn't actually touch it all night!

And that be it! Oops, almost forgot, we had Amy's lovely little friend come to join us too! Totoro is adorable, very cute and also a fantastic back rest!

Gives you a sense of the scale of Totoro!

See y'all next time,

Ali

xx

Vintage bicycles!

Hello!

We had our first craft night since starting the blog last night, and most productive it was - who knew we had it in us!

Firstly came the food tho, me and the boy were cooking some Mexican bits and pieces from my current favourite book* Mexican Food by Thomasina Myers. It's full of very tasty dishes, and all reasonably healthy too. Highly recommended, Laura is a fan too (and we were both a bit gutted to miss her when she came up our way a few weeks ago!). We are all busy working folk so our crafting always starts with food, and bitching. Anywho, we had lavender cupcakes and some really yummy Nutella meringue made by Laura derived from the wonder that is Pinterest. Score. 

Lavender cupcakes, sounds weird but they disappeared fairly quick. Thank you Hummingbird Bakery!

Amy's and Laura with a whole bevy of foodstuff. Nom.

Laura's Nutella meringues - love meringue. And saying it mer-in-guay. Fun times. I may or may not need to get out more.

Ok, now let's pretend to do some actual crafting! Although baking does count as craft so I suppose it counts? We spent most of the evening with Laura giving all the rest of us a very good tutorial on how the hell you use Blogger - not too difficult, just needs some 'splaining.

But the other major achievement was teaching our dear Fostins how to make a teeny tiny granny square - Amy has been avoiding craft night for a while after I made her make hexagons so I'm glad to have finally been there when she broke through the craft barrier.

Look at those fingers go!

Amy concentrating uber hard on those double crochet bastards.

We spent quite a lot of time discussing our favourite blogs, mainly what it is we don't like (we're a positive bunch...). Full decision was made to be as honest as possible when it comes to how we make things, and particularly what goes wrong and how frequently! However, I don't want to take words out of other people's mouths, and write about what it is I thought they found difficult, so the self criticism shall all be my own! All other co-bloggers should be as honest as they desire :) Also, we decided there shall be absolutely, completely no vintage bicycles.

Amy and her fairly difficult quilt pattern! I'm hoping when this bad boy is complete Amy will do her own post so won't say too much now. Safe to say it is a learning experience, and that metallic thread nearly caused a divorce in her house!

Laura merrily knitting away a lovely little surprise, so again I won't go in to too much detail.

My new teapot. Bought a house last year, but this is what is has made me feel most grown up ever!

And then it was time for tea. Long but very productive night, lots of skill sharing which is what these craft night's are all about. 

Stay tuned for next time when we shall be trooping up to Laura's, and fingers crossed we will have two tiny little additions to our crafting circle!

Love Ali

xx

* Not my favourite book, just favourite cookery book!