Monday 28 January 2013

A Quick Sunday Mini-Project

As much as I get a huge sense of pride and achievement from completing a big project, the quick-but-ever-so-useful ones always bring a little sunshine :) 

A little Sunday boredom struck yesterday, (we haven't been allowed our usual weekend woodland walks as Maggie was meant to be having some R+R while she recovered from her spay, poor thing), so I began trawling my boards on Pinterest for something to make. I chose this...



A nifty little wallet for storing the bags for picking up the 'little packages' that Maggie leaves!

It turned out like this:




I make no excuses for the garish colour scheme, it was, of course, made from acrylic scraps, but it will stand out should I drop it whilst wrestling with the dog lead as she fights to continue our walk before I've had chance to pick up her treasure.Although, hopefully, I'll remember to attach it to something using the loop but that may be a stretch too far.

Saturday 26 January 2013

Arm-Chair 'Catch-All' Pocket Finished!

Ok, so I've been quiet on the blog front for many reasons but the most important one being what I believe is my best crochet item yet! Not least because I have created my own design AND it actually looks good!

Here it is in action! Much tidier and prettier that what I showed you in my previous post: "In Search of an Arm-Chair Catch-All" 

The finished item, doing it's job fabulously!

Get the pattern from my Etsy shop :)


Sunday 13 January 2013

Bananas, Bananas, Bananas!

Yes, I am still procrastinating instead creating a crocheted masterpiece... (ha!)

The reason? Well, due to a very severe case of human error last week, instead of ordering 7 bananas with my online shop ... you guessed it... 7 PACKS of bananas. Far. Too. Many.

Too many bananas!
We had two options: think of the money- send them back and receive a red-faced refund OR challenge ourselves to find some inventive ways to use 50 bananas before they rotted. I wanted to take them back but I was persuaded by my home-brew-fanatic boyfriend that he could definitely use most of them in an experimental banana-brew, (not sure how it will turn out... it seems to have stopped fermenting after only 7 days....). To give him credit, he did use up most of the bananas although, we are yet to taste test the brew...


Inventing a banana-brew.
The remaining few bananas are beginning to go brown - perfect time to make a banana loaf! I trawled the internet for a simple recipe, I don't really think it's worth baking your own if there are hundreds of expensive ingredients or the recipe requires things that you wouldn't usually have in the cupboard. Eventually I found this:

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/

A basic recipe, with store-cupboard ingredients which meant I didn't have to go out or spend any more money! :D

I did edit the recipe slightly: I didn't have any vanilla so exchanged that for a little ground cinnamon to add some interest, I also added a few flaked almonds as I had some in the cupboard.

I always make a HUGE mess when I bake, but that's part of the fun!

Five minutes to throw the ingredients together. I did use my mixer even though the recipes suggests that you don't need to, and I didn't melt the butter first because I am lazy and didn't want to make an additional item dirty. One hour in the oven - I checked on it after 50 minutes and a knife still came out dirty so the whole hour was necessary. This is how it turned out:

Looks a tad over-done...


We are yet to taste test it ;) Will report the verdict shortly.

Saturday 12 January 2013

In Search of an Arm-Chair 'Catch-All'



I want to make one of these:

http://pinterest.com/pin/124130533451417379/

My mission for 2013 is to get my house organised and in order, (and my life generally - I am such a disorganised person!), everything will have a place, everything goes back in its place.


I am nearly there but, as I am sure is the case in many households, we have too many remote controls taking up valuable surface-space or piled up on the arm of the sofa where they will inevitably disappear into the infinite abyss under the sofa cushions, causing much disharmony come TV time.

The offending button-boxes...
So, an 'arm-chair catch-all' would be perfect! So, the task I have set myself is: to design and create an arm chair pocket for my many remotes which is pretty and practical. Whether it is a success or a disaster, I will share the results here!

Teaching myself to knit will have to wait for now... :)


Thursday 10 January 2013

Knitting?

I love getting presents! - Doesn't everyone?!
During my 'lunch-break' today, (sitting in front of my laptop and a pile of paperwork), a lovely colleague of mine, for whom I once crocheted a hat for her son, brought me the first issue of 'Knit and Stitch', with free Bergere acrylic yarn and a pair of 3.5mm knitting needles!
I don't knit, by the way... but what a perfect opportunity to try and learn, and such a kind gesture. The magazine comes with a tutorial DVD, we'll see how this goes!

Monday 7 January 2013

My Favourite Ear-Flap Hat.

So, after a long time searching Ravelry and other crochet sites, and a few started-then-pulled-apart trials, I found this link on Pinterest:

http://stitch11.com/blossom-earflap/

It just looked right.... I already knew what yarn I was going to use, I had some left over from a blanket I had just finished, so as soon as I had the time I got started!

This hat really is as quick to make, as the pattern suggests. Starts with the usual increasing rounds for any hat, a few one-in-each-stitch rounds, (I did one round less then the pattern suggested - I must have a small head), then the easiest flap instructions I've come across and it's done: all but any extras.

I opted to change to a contrasting colour to put on a double crochet edging, (US single crochet). I then followed the patterns instructions to add braids to the flaps, (also very clearly explained and much easier than it looks), and pom-poms on the end. I also added a pom-pom on the top :)

Here are the results:




I apologise for the model... :/

I really love it! A few people have commented, (after the familiar: 'I like your hat!', 'Thanks, I made it.'), that it looks shop-bought... I guess my other hats don't!


Saturday 5 January 2013

New Hooks!

I'm fairly new to crochet. I received a basic crochet starter set from my potential-mother-in-law-to-be for Christmas two years ago and, within a couple of weeks, wrote it off as 'too difficult' and gave up.

One whole year later, I tried again. With the help of various YouTube videos, and a little more determination, I picked it up quite quickly!

I have gradually built up a fairly large stash of various yarns, mostly from charity shops and family members who no longer knit, bought myself some comfy-handle hooks (crochet-related hand sores are the worst!) and have had one project or another on the go ever since.

Now, anyone who crochets will tell you that a chunky-yarn project is not only satisfyingly quick, but also looks pretty pro. I had acquired some chunky yarns but my hooks only went up to 6mm, so I 'suggested' to my other-half that he could get me 7, 8, 9, and 10mm hooks as a stocking filler, (he professes to struggle with stocking fillers but does a great job!)

To my surprise he got me these:
12x bamboo hooks ranging from 2-10mm - how cute are they?!

As soon as Christmas was over with I had to try them out; I'd found a great pattern for an 'ear-flap hat' on Pinterest which required using two strands and a 9mm hook. The hat turned out brilliantly and was so quick, but that's a post for another time.

The hook was great to use, it has a well placed indentation for the thumb and once I'd done a couple of rounds and got used to it, it seemed just as smooth to work with as my aluminium hooks. The only small difficulty I found was that the hook is possibly not deep enough to grab the yarn however, this may have only been because a was using two strands, I'd never crocheted with two strands before. I'll make sure my next project uses only 1 strand and see how it goes. The benefit of the bamboo, I suppose, is that I could always carve the hook more to how I want it, should it prove to be too shallow after all.


Time to decide on a new project!