This weeks makes

Well I have been a busy bee this week.  The shawl is off the needles yea :D Not quite finished as some ends to sew in, but such a relief to be almost there.  No pics yet as it's my mum's birthday present.

I also sent my advent swap parcel on Friday so I have worked hard this week to get things done, and found a few cute ideas to make.  Will share once my swap partner has opened them....can't wait to open mine, the box arrived yesterday, will take a LOT of willpower to wait until Thursday to open my first parcel.

Onto some pics I can share.......

We are making a passion blanket at my local knitting group.  The squares need to be 4inch in size and Val who is the shop owner of Made, is busily crochetting the squares together.  I have been a little late in submitting my squares and Val said she was after some with texture so I made this crochet flower square. 

I have a lovely passion flower at the front of my house which is still flowering it's beautiful purple flowers, and although this isn't the same 'flower' it gave me inspiration for the colour.

The second square is one of my favourite stiches in crochet, the bobble stitch

Neither of these squares has been blocked in the photos above, so hence the curling...I don't tend to block my blanket squares as they flatten when joined.  Although I did discover the joy of blocking this week and the difference it can make...but will say more when I reveal my swap goodies.

I've had a break off making things today and had a pj day...well sometimes it's just what the doctor ordered!!  First on my list this week is a bear hat for my cousin, so will get onto that tomorrow, for now i'm off to make some banana and custard for me and J, yummy 

Anyone fancy a Giveaway?

Anyone fancy a giveaway?  Well there are two to choose from today

The first giveaway is over on Betty Bees blog, just look at what you could win.....

two Gisela Graham tin hearts

the second giveaway is a whole bundle of things over at the Krafty Cupcake blog

Good Luck

This Weeks Makes

It's a busy time of year, with birthday's, Christmas, and 6 new baby's due in December/early Jan, oh and an advent swap i'm involved in, so excited to be swapping at the end of next week...I love receiving parcels in post :)

We went to visit one of our expectant friends on Friday and J (Mr N as previously known!!) had asked me to make a penguin hat and booties, as both mum and dad to be, are penguin fanatics.  After browsing through ravelry I thought I found the perfect hat, but looking at the pattern it was only in one size and I wasn't convinced it would fit a newborn.  So I made a basic beanie hat and similar eyes and beak to the one from ravelry and this is what I came up with

The wool wasn't baby wool, as i'm not sure whether they do baby wool in black...certainly not at my LYS anyway.  So I decided to line the hat so it was soft against babies head.  First time i've lined a hat and I was pretty pleased with myself :)
Now on to the feet, well after much searching I coundn't find a pattern and set about having a go myself.  I wanted the webbed feet, but didn't want the little ones precious toes getting 'caught' on the webbed section.  So I decided to make a sock/bootie with a separate section for the webbed effect on the end, here's the result.....

Hope they fit!!

My heart did melt a little with the two together when I was packaging them up, they looked so cute

like a little shuffling penguin.  We've been watching Frozen Planet for the last few weeks and I have grown quite attached to penguins myself.

The rest of the weeks makes have involved a birthday present for my baby (22, so not so much a baby!) sister, although can't post a pic just yet.  And a shawl for my mum's birthday which is 10th Dec and seems to be taking ForEVER....with the current 322 stiches a row it takes me about 45mins to do 2 rows (i'm a slow knitter).....only 51 more rows to go, with a few more increases yet eek.

Lest We Forget

Thinking of all our troops past and present x

Fancy a Giveaway?

Betty Bee is having a giveaway over on her blog, want to see what you could win.........................



So go over and have a look, if you're not lucky there is still a recipe for Yasmin Limberts Christmas Scones on the post which look yumdiddillyscrumptious....go, go take a peek

Handmade Decoration Swap Goodies

These are the lovely goodies I received from Debbie at Love from Poppy when I took part in the Handmade Christmas Decoration Swop organised by Lynda at hookin with laalaa
Debbie sent me one of her handmade box cards

It has four drawers underneath and she had put some choc santas in each drawer, yum

She very kindly made me two baubles for my tree

Want to see them a bit closer..........

they look like they will sparkle in the light on my tree :)

In the parcel were these choc moulds and Debbie also came up with the idea of using these as moulds for wax tarts.  I may have to keep a few for each, now just to decide which will be turned into chocs and which to same for my waxy goodness

This book is fab, there are loads of varied ideas in it.  I'm off shopping tomorrow to get some items for one of the recipes tomorrow for a gift for a friends birthday.  Will post pics when I have all the bits and let you know how I get on with any other recipes

I've not started my Christmas cards yet so these vintage stickers will come in very handy

You can't have a Christmas tree without candy canes...it's the rules!!

I have kept both the gingerbread man and the little bear in their wrappers as I don't want them to get ruinedbefore I get chance to put them on the tree



I did take a picture of all the goodies wrapped when they first arrived and you can see them in this post.  Debbie had decorated the presents with these cute hearts that I have saved and hope to use in my crafts at some point

As you can see, I am one very lucky lady and am so pleased I was paired up with Debbie, she has great taste and is very gifted with her crafting. 

Thank you Debbie :) and also a big thank you to Lynda for organising the swop 

Oh I almost forgot.....she did send me a tube of dairy milk chocs, but these have already been enjoyed by me and J ooops!!

October Photo Scavenger Hunt

This month's photo scavenger hunt organised by Kathy, go take a peek at everyone's list and get the list for November

a black cat.........................

my halloween outfit, the stormtrooper is Mr N


candlelit..................

cruchy leaves................

On a walk in our local park

fog/mist...............

Not taken this month as i've not stumbled upon any mist or fog, but this was taken at the top of Snowdon on our last trip there the white background was pretty much alll we could see due to the fog (wasn't a great view from the top that day! But great fun)


golden..................

Struggled with this one, but thought these leaves were a bit more interesting than my gold candle and they did look gold glistening in the sun


graffiti..................

Not really very pleased with this photo.  I know some graffiti can be art and is beautiful, but this graffiti is the only sort I found and it just looks like mindless vandalism to me.....might be contravertial, just my opinion.

heritage............

A monument in our local park.  This is what I love about doing the scavenger hunt, I've walked past this so many times and never really noticed it, but the hunt makes you open your eyes and appreciate things around you.

pumpkin.........................

With our trophy for the best pumpkin!

river............

the River Mersey, at New Brighton

something eerie..............

not taken as an eerie photo, but came out a bit starnge because of the movement and was as close to eerie as I could get

sunset.....................

A bit of a cheat as it wasn't taken this month, but I've had it set as the background on my computer this month if that counts!! Taken on a boat trip last year in Santorini

witch's hat/broomstick...............

 

Hanging on the door, covered in a 'cobweb' at our family halloween gathering