Cables, Concentration and Chaos

I am SO distracted by packing and such - that my craft and blogging life has rather taken a back seat - much to my frustration. The movers come on Monday :-( And although I am totally in control (I'm so boring and organized) and calm about it all - but doing anything other than sorting and packing is just not happening at the moment.

I have found that unless I feel 'productive' in the craft department I get very annoyed at myself - so I have managed to find a couple of moments start some new Christmas Tree Skirts and in the evenings I have been knitting another cable blanket.
This blanket will be also be a wedding gift - and unlike the Lover's Knot Pattern - I have designed this one myself (this could lead to tears or a knitting award!) It took about 4 or 5 false starts before I got the number of stitches right (my own fault - apparently I can't count - but casting on 260+ stitches looses its appeal pretty quickly) and I found (after much experimentation) that Excel was my best friend in helping me work out this design. Who would have thought that Excel would be such a good friend to me when designing my patchwork and knitting bits!

I am calling my new blanket 'Hugs, Kisses & Cables' - due to the Hugs & Kisses (OXOXO) cable that runs throughout the blanket.
Back to packing then and I am so sorry if I have not yet responded and say thank you for your lovely comments - they really mean a lot to me. Hopefully I will be back in full crafting and blogging mode very soon!!

The Princess and the Pea

I was asked to make a wall hanging / play mat based on the tale by Hans Christian Andersen The Princess and the Pea. Can you spot the naughty green pea that made the Princess so uncomfortable all night? There is one particular line in the tale that I love 'So the prince took her to be his wife, for now he was sure that he had found a real princess' which I embroidered up the side of of the bed.
I had lots of fun making it - and I thought the perfect accompaniment would be the actual story book of The Princess and the Pea. And this is when I discovered that I'm a bit of a traditionalist at heart. I could not find a traditional copy of The Princess and the Pea anywhere - the picture books have all been 'modernized' - the text is not the same ... it makes me sad that we have to modernize everything. But as I reread the original text - I realized I too had taken lots of naughty liberties with the interpretation of the tale for my quilt!

I only made 12 mattresses and not the full 20 ... ... my Princess looks rather neat and tidy and is not in 'a terrible state' ... ... and I assumed the Princess would have had a ladder to get up to the top of the mattress pile ...... my Princess also has a very friendly orange cat ... ... and every Princess knows she should take off her crown before going to sleep!Perhaps we don't have to be 100% accurate all of the time?

Why Do Bunnies Have Hoppy Birthdays?

I was sitting very quietly in the garden - observing the wonderful nature sanctuary my lack of gardening skills have created - when I heard a little voice ...

"Hello there little bunny what do you want?"


"Well I fear I am a little lost. I am looking for Matthew's 1st birthday party ... I have a special jumper on just for him AND I made him a birthday card with my own little bunny paws."


"Well I've heard that Matthew's birthday party is actually England - which means you still have a very long way to go - but it was very sweet of you to make him a handmade card."

"Thank you - I drew a picture of my favorite thing on the front - a big juicy orange carrot."


"Shouldn't the card say 'Happy Birthday' instead of 'Hoppy Birthday?'"

"Oh no ... we bunnies are very happy creatures so we always like to give Hoppy Birthday wishes instead! Bunnies just love to hop you see, especially on exciting days like birthdays."


So I hope here today I have shed yet more light on the secret lives of bunnies!

Handmade Things are Filled with Love

One of my oldest friends is getting married and I wanted to make something special for her to mark the occasion. I didn't really want to make another love filled quilting disaster so I decided that this was the time to knit something big! Time to knit my first full sized blanket. But what pattern to knit? After much searching I found a free pattern for a Lover's Knot Afghan from the Lion Brand Yarn Company.I thought that 'Lover's Knot' was such a lovely pattern name for a wedding present. I found the most gorgeous cream and super soft (as well as ecologically friendly) wool from the YarnCountry.com. (The hanks were so enormous that I had a whole hank left over - which enabled me to knit all three of my maypole dancing bunnies!) I increased the size of the Afghan by adding an additional two pats to the pattern ... ... so my finished blanket measures approx 53" x 67" and there is a super soft 4" fringe/tassels at both ends.

I also embroidered a little label that I sewed on to the back of the blanket. (I saw this idea on the lovely Julie's blog back in June and knew I had to make something similar for my blanket.)

I wish the bride and groom a life time of happiness together - as well as many winter evenings feeling warm under the love of one very special blanket!

Heartbreak and Distraction

It is true - my heart is aching ... we have sold our beautiful house - and until we find our next house having my own little room to use as a dedicated work space is doomed - I shall be 'craft camping' ... by that I mean I have to decide what craft items will be going into storage and what craft items I can take with me so I can continue working.

The house has been so much more than a place to live for me - since I have been in the states I have been so homesick and this is the first place - since leaving the UK nearly 5 years ago - that I have called 'home'. It is cute, beautiful, warm and cosy, old fireplaces and floorboards, the garden has been fabulous for bunny photo shoots, the community is wonderful ... it is going to be very hard and very very sad to leave.
But my husband spends his weeks in the city and I spend a lot of my week in the country - we always spend our weekends together - we recently decided that we should try find a home that was the 'grand compromise' - close enough to the city for commuting and enough out of the city so I don't go crazy. So I'm off to the big apple to stay with my lovely husband (it will be nice to see him during the week) - and I know a stint in the big apple would be a treat for some - but if I'm totally honest I am not a city girl in the least ... unless it is for a little shoe shopping expedition!

So what do I take? Obviously Bernie has to come with me and my bag of knitting needles ... but what about ... ...the boxes of ribbon ... ... lace ... ... buttons, sewing needles, cord ... ...bias tape, scraps of material or just the big bits? Will I need my box of felt? What about all the ties and shirts I have to recycle? How much yarn should I expect to use? Which books to take?

It is all seeming a bit much to choose from ... where do I start?

How do you work?

My creation process goes something like this. I get an outline ... patchwork playmat/wall hanging, fairy, Paper Bag Princess, non Disney, some light green and some sparkle ... so I got a copy of the Paper Bag Princess ...
... I did some very wonderful artwork (the MoMA will be begging me for these sketches one day!) ...
... I refined the drawings some what ...... then I cut out all the little bits and sew them all together - hoping it looks something like I had planned!
The story is that the little Princess is happily dancing through the grass picking up flowers as she goes.
I used gold and silver thread to add the sparkle as well as a little gold material for her crown.
And worried that I hadn't used enough light green in the piece - I used some lovely white and light green fabric for the backing.
How do you work?

Tutorial: Simple Knitted Ball

I find it hard to throw away any material or yarn - and I have lots yarn remnants that are too small to be incorporated into new projects. So over the weekend I made this pattern for a simple knitted ball - a fast easy project - and the ball is suitable for all ages. I used my left over Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky yarn (sometimes I think this is the softest yarn ever invented - but it has proved to be too expensive for my constant knitting habits!)

Simple Knitted Ball
You will need:
- yarn remnants (various colors or same color - this is really your choice)
- knitting needles
- some sort of stuffing - I used Poly-fil
- yarn needle for sewing pentagons together

1. Knit 12 pentagons following this pattern:
cast on 6
row 1: inc, knit 4, inc (8 stitches)
row 2: p
row 3: k
row 4: p
row 5: inc, knit 6, inc (10 stitches)
row 6: p
row 7: k
row 8: p
row 9: k2tog, knit 6, k2tog (8 stitches)
row 10: p
row 11: k2tog, knit 4, k2tog (6 stitches)
row 12: p
row 13: k2tog, knit 2, k2tog (4 stitches)
row 14: p
row 15: k2tog, k2tog (2 stitches)
row 16: p2tog and tie off


2. Sew your pentagons together to create a ball - I hope this diagram helps to show how this is done. I used a contrasting yarn in blanket stitch to add an additional decorative element.
Remember to leave at least one seam open so you can stuff the ball!

3. Stuff the ball and stitch remaining seam(s) shut.Then all you need to do is find someone to play ball with you ... Castro didn't seem to want to play ball - but he did agree that it was a very soft!