A train whistle

I haven't made anything out of paper/card for ages, but I do still love this medium, so when I saw this big train whistle on the Rob Ives newsletter I had to have a go.  
I didn't actually mean to do it this week though, I had other things on my to do list, but then I found a bit of card the perfect size and one thing led to another!

Unlike most of his projects where you just print out the pattern then cut and stick, this only had one thing to print out - a diamond shape which is a template for the bellows.  Everything else was made from scratch following his instructions.

A bit of careful scoring, sticking and folding and I had some bellows.  Add some pipes and I had a whistle.  Its pretty big, definitely a two handed job, and makes a fantastic sound! Toot toot!

A big tiny scottie dog

A couple of weeks ago I found a knitting pattern for a tiny scottie dog.  I made my boss one called Little Sniff, which everyone loved and I know I'll be making more at some point.  
Being so small though I wondered what would happen if I used a super chunky wool.  So in a stash busting manoeuvre I had a go at making another scottie dog, just not so tiny this time.

I used some left over wool from the Frensham cushion cover I made a while back and some size 9mm needles and he came out very well.
And although he is not a tiny creature, he is still a nice size and kept his shape really well.  Now I am thinking about how you could change the pattern to make other creatures...

Note: He has now been named Hector, and is living with my parents at the seaside.

George the long haired pink bear

A year after making a mohair bear called Cyril, I had forgotten most of the pain associated with hand sewing long fur.  So when I came across some gorgeous pink fur at the knitting and stitching show, I couldn't help but buy it.  When I made Cyril, I had copied the pattern a size bigger too and had hoped the bigger pattern would fit on this material, but not so.

Over the course of a week I cut the bits out and stitched them together carefully by hand.  In the process I got totally covered in fluff!
Then he was carefully stuffed and joints added on arms, legs and head before stitching up.

He's come out really well and with a bit of careful trimming round his muzzle I think he looks quite friendly.  However considering he came from the same pattern as Cyril, I am surprised how different he looks.  I can only assume this is something to do with the weight of the material I used.
I know I shouldn't have favorites, but Cyril still holds that title.  Sorry George.

Little Sniff

Last week I was using the biggest knitting needles I own, while this week I was down to nearly my smallest! 
So last week I came across the pattern for a tiny scottie dog which I fell in love with.  I adore tiny creatures so couldn't wait to make one.

And then I found out my boss was going to our Belfast office for a couple of nights and would have to leave her beloved Sniff at home.  I couldn't help myself.  The pattern said it could be made in an hour, which was about right, so I made her a Little Sniff to take with her and keep her company.  He went down a treat.

The real Sniff

Heartstrings cushion cover

This year I promised myself I would be a bit more adventurous with my knitting and try out some of the methods I've been putting off.  I've always wanted to try cable, and my friend Katie keeps telling me how easy it is. 

When I decided to make some cushion covers for the new house, I knew this was the perfect time to try cable out.  I made sure I had a special cable needle, found a pattern I liked - in this case Heartstrings cushion cover and found some wool at the local wool shop.

I chose this beautiful Creative Bonbon super chunky, although if I was doing cable again I might use a slightly more plain wool as the colour can detract from the cable a bit.

And I have to say, Katie was right.  Cable really is easy!  The pattern was nicely written, so a quick look at YouTube and I was away.  I did start with a tension square - they make more sense to me now and really do help.  But there wasn't really anything to worry about.  I can't believe its taken me this long to try.

My only real problem was a slight looseness to one side of my cables.  Apparently this is due to the tension of the wool as I do my purl stitch.  It is slightly annoying as there really didn't seem to be much I could do about it.  However the cover came out really well and still looks pretty good. Its good to see my first cushion with a friend.  And I will be trying cable again!

Bags

As we packed for the move last year, I had a good clear out too.  I've found many forgotten things including a couple of bags I made years ago.

 This first one was made from a couple of skirts which I didn't want any more (one I had melted a little with an iron!).  I loved the colour combination and deliberately wanted to show the blue lining on the seams.

I used the material you normally find in the top part of curtains to keep them from drooping to give the handle some stability.  Its not a bad bag, but I'd rather have a strap of some sort so I can keep my hands free.

 

The second was made from a pair of jeans bought cheap in a charity shop (the girl serving gave me a funny look buying size 8 jeans which I obviously couldn't fit in).  The lining from my mums material stash.

A very simple bag to make, I just wish I'd made the handles a bit thicker as they don't feel substantial enough for the rest of the bag. 

A little ladybird button just finishes it off - a bug in all those flowers.  
I do love making my own things like this.  Then you know you are getting what you want - I can never find things I want if I go looking in the shops.

Crochet Granny Square Blanket

My first attempt at a patter didn't work

In 2015 I learnt how to crochet. (I honestly thought it was longer before I started writing this post.)  Once I had learnt the basics I went back to learn how to make granny squares.  Of course once you've got a bunch of squares you have to decide what to do with them.

Still  not quite right

I decided to keep going and make a blanket.  What I really like about this project is that I could come back to it at any point and make a couple more squares, for instance after a long knitting project, before going off and doing something else again.

Nailed it!

After last Christmas (2016) I had quite a collection of squares and a friend suggested that I might want to start connecting them as it can be a bit of a tedious job.  However my first attempt at this was a complete fail!  I'd not joined any crochet together before and used a single crochet stitch rather than a slip stitch so it had lumpy bits between each square.  And the pattern just didn't work either.

I was rather glad to undo it all and start again.  Drawing out my pattern helped a lot and I ended up with a pattern I liked and was happy with.  I then started connecting the squares again, this time using a slip stitch.

 

I'd found a flower detail square in a friends book and used that as my center point.  Then added squares round it until it looked right to me.

Then to finish it off I added a border.  This was just a single stitch of each colour all the way round and I think it finishes it off really well.  I used BabyBonus extra value DK wool which is really soft and makes it a good blanket for a child.

 If I hadn't made the Frida Flower Blanket I would never have known to use a slip stitch to join squares together or thought to add a border, and yet it is these little details which really make the difference.  This has been a really long project and I am glad to see it done.  I'm really please with it and the practice it has given me for my new skills.

A laptop sock

At Christmas my sister asked me if I could knit her a 'bag' for her laptop.  It didn't need to protect it from falls or big bumps, more from scratches in her bag as she travels to and from work.

We took measurements but I wasn't really sure where to start.  Then I found this lovely King Cole Glitz Chunky in platinum.  It has silver threads running through it.  Its also super soft.  

Still being very unsure of sizes I made a tension square to see how big my rib would come up.  From this we worked out how wide it would need to be.  Too tight and she wouldn't be able to get the laptop in it and too loose and it would just fall off.

But as you can see it worked perfectly.  Tight enough to get a good grip of the laptop and give it a good hug so it shouldn't come off in her bag.  I think she was pretty pleased with it too.  It was a nice little project to work on as the chunky knitted up quickly and was lovely and soft to work with.