Thursday 28 December 2017

Junk Model Seagull


This is the first in a series of posts about things I've made people for Christmas this year.  The only problem with making things for friends and family is you can't really blog about them until after they have received them!


This excellent junk model seagull is one of Rob Ives designs.  I love his designs for their simplicity and for the fact they are so fun.  
It actually took me a couple of weeks to put together as I hurt my finger and then caught a cold.  However under normal circumstances I think I could have done it in an evening if the glue dried quickly. 


This one went to my Dad, even though he does live at the seaside and probably has too many seagulls!  I thought he would appreciate the engineering involved.


Saturday 23 December 2017

Christmas Gingerbread Biscuits


I read a nice magazine called The Simple Things.  Last month amongst all the other lovely things were some images (and a recipe) of biscuits with patterns stamped on them.  As soon as I saw them I wanted to have a go!


But that meant finding some stamps, which proved to be more difficult than I had imagined.  Eventually I found some beautiful ones on Etsy shop SwissvintageandMore - a shop based in Hungary.  Mirtill was very helpful and somehow managed to get them to me just in time for Christmas!


So this morning I spend my time making gingerbread biscuits with a lime butter icing.  The hardest part is stamping your dough hard enough that the pattern doesn't disappear with cooking.  The stamps themselves are things of beauty never mind the fact they make such pretty biscuits.  I'm looking forward to trying out a mixture of recipes to see which stamp best.  Merry Christmas!

Sunday 3 December 2017

Knitted Chicken Jumper

*** This post was written this time last year (2016), but didn't get posted for a number of reasons. Having just come across it again I see no reason not to post it now! ***


Six weeks before Christmas, already busy packing up the house for a move date that was getting later and later, a friend challenged me to create a chicken jumper.  I don't normally take on knitting projects from friends as they often don't understand the amount of work that goes into it, and I have many other projects on my own list.


However I do love chickens and was intrigued by this project.  I looked up some patterns, they looked quite straight forward and I had some suitable spare wool.  I was also fed up of packing for something which felt like it would never happen and I had a cold which meant I couldn't go for a run.  I spent the day knitting instead.


I am so happy with the finished result.  My pattern is Nanny Norths pattern designed for battery hens, who are often missing feathers and can freeze to death at this time of year.  It was a very easy pattern to follow and I love that the tabs for the button holes are knitted as part of the whole.