Day Away From the Office

Tuesday saw me heading out of the office with our Surveyor and heading northwards with him to go to my first ever house survey (only because 2 people had to attend and there was no-one else available but me!). The survey was in the beautiful Glenlyon - just past Aberfeldy. Thankfully it was a dry and sunny day - no snow or rain.

The scenery was just amazing. The house was a bit remote mind you - not sure if I'd like to live quite so far from the nearest coffee shop!

Speaking of coffee, we stopped on the way back for a quick cup and took this snap of a 'piper'.

On a 'making' note, I made these little booties for someone whose baby is due around now - hence the valentine's inspired look!

Hope everyone has a lovely valentine's day :)

Mich

Scarf Crazy!

Well it has been a while since my poor blog got updated! Mainly due to time restraints. However my crocheting bug has returned and I'm on a scarf making spree!

I did these 2 for myself:

Then decided that a scarf may be a nice little present for Christmas so have started a red one for a friend.

Next weekend I am helping my friend Emma from the kilt shop at a wedding fair so will be making a few corsages to take with me.  Corsage-wise, I have had a few sales - happy about that!

Have a good week everyone.

Mich :)

Handmade Monday

I am running at the last moment to catch Handmade Monday this week!  My weekend just went to nowhere - passed in a flash!

I got an order for a corsage - was really pleased as it has been ages since I've had an order for something.  The girl wanted it in the St Johnstone tartan (football club tartan) for a wedding she is going to next month.  So I made that on Sunday when I got the material - included a picture of it as I wasn't sure what the St Johnstone tartan looked like either!

I am still working on my wrap for the holidays but managed to make this little hat for the year old daughter of a friend - I have sent it off to her so am hoping it fits.  Just a change from a regular beanie hat.

Aside from the above I have been concentrating on my new gym programme and am happy to report that the  aching muscles have eased - thankfully!

Please pop over to 1st Unique Gifts to see what everyone else has been up to.

Have a good week!
Mich :)

Happy Easter!

First would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter and a good holiday tomorrow (if you are lucky enough to get the day off from work).  Starting on an Easter note - I saw this in window when I was out yesterday -

Not the best picture - I did actually go to the door to see if someone was in and ask if it was ok to take a picture but no one was in so took the picture from the pavement as opposed to their garden.

Craft wise, my friend Emma who has the kilt shop has asked me to come up with a corsage type thing for little and bigger girls. The kilt shop is mainly a male dominated area - for women there are only really tartan sashes so she thought it may be a good idea to have some little corsages for upcoming weddings.  I have been trying to come up with something incorporating tartan as opposed to just a flower of sorts.  I did get a bag of some really great tartan fabric scraps so have been trying to use them.  The problem I'm finding with the tartan material is that it is thick and also it frays easily to so use it I have to really use it doubled to avoid any fraying.  (Any suggestions on the fraying would be greatly received.)Here is one of the things I've come up with -

The other idea I had was to use tartan ribbon - not so bulky as fabric -

The advantage of using the tartan fabric is obviously firstly that the cost would be lower and also there would be a chance of matching it to the kilt tartan of the man. The ribbon is a lot easier to work with but there is cost involved and limited choice.  Anyway, that is what I've been working on/thinking about this weekend.

As my holidays aren't too far away now (only 6 weeks - it seemed to suddenly almost be here!) I decided to start a wrap that I could take with me for evenings when it will no doubt be a bit cooler when we are staggering er er sorry walking home from a bar/restaurant (more about the upcoming holiday later!) Anyway, got some cotton/acrylic blend yarn and a nice open stitch (the lacet stitch) and started it yesterday - it is coming along  and now I have the pattern rows in my head can quite happily do it while watching TV (with one eye on it of course too!)

Anyway, that is my weekend.  Pop over to 1st Unique Gifts to see what everyone else has been up to and have a good Easter Monday.

Mich :)

Spring Bracelet

Spring definitely feels like it is here!  These last few days the weather has been lovely.  Hoping it will last to the Easter weekend.

Following on from my necklace I have made a bracelet to match mixing crochet and metal.

I am enjoying working with cotton yarn and pleased with how this turned out.  It is really comfortable to wear and am working on a few different designs based on this basic idea.

House wise have started painting my kitchen ceiling (finally!).  It is a bit of a task as the ceiling is high and involves me standing on the top rung of the step ladder which is a bit scary and also involves an awful lot of 'up ladder paint a bit', 'down, move ladder', 'up ladder paint as bit' etc you get the idea! So its not exactly a quick job, however I have finally started.  It will unfortunately probably be 3 coats of paint.

Mich :)

Crocheting Frenzy!

As the title of this blog says, have had a sort of crocheting frenzy this week!  I got some cotton yarn from Planet Penny so have been using that and also some other yarn I ordered turned up at the same time - so for the first part of the week I had so much yarn I couldn't decide what to make!

Anyway, as the week progressed I made a few things - booties!

Also some little crocheted 'rose bud rings' - which I thought may be nice little things for mother's day -

I decided too to make a necklace - made up of 46 little crocheted circles and I was going to embellish each circle with beads or some fancy crochet stitches, however after finishing the base of the necklace, I'm not sure if I like it!

Thankfully I didn't go on and start the decoration.  I'm just not sure.  I don't know if it's the pink or not.  I will leave it just now and see if inspiration strikes!  It just took a while to make and to sew in all the ends!

I had planned to make a tiara this weekend and on Friday after work (we finish at 4pm on a Friday) cycled 'like the devil' into town to go to the bead shop - it was closed grrrrr.  I knew I wouldn't be in town on Saturday as I was looking after my daughter's dog (Jess) and when Jess and Mindy get together they are like 2 naughty school girls and not to be trusted so didn't want to leave them in the house.  If it had just been Mindy I could have taken her into town but Jess tends to bark at people who are wearing hats and then Mindy joins in, so its not exactly a relaxed visit to shops when they are there!  However, next weekend is the Bead Fair (I think) so will get some nice sparkly beads there next Sunday.

Well I think that's about all for today.  Pop over to 1st Unique Gifts and see what others have been making this week.

Mich :)

Last Week

Gosh it has been a week since I've written! It hasn't really been a noteworthy week (aside from below!) - been waiting for some supplies to come which I hate and can't seem to understand why it takes so long with some websites.

Anyway, last Friday when I left for work I noticed a big plume of smoke in the air and my first thought going by its direction was that the cycle path was on fire! However, no it wasn't but could see the smoke on my journey - then I started to hear sirens in the distance.

Got to the big roundabout at the estate where I work and could still see the smoke:

At this point I was getting a tad concerned as it looked location wise, quite near work!  (If I'm honest, I was thinking maybe another at home day was coming my way!) But no, it wasn't my work.  Was the recycling depot (1000 tons of paper and cardboard plus other stuff) that was on fire.  Here are the pictures from my unit:

Was a bit scary as things were exploding too and the noise of more and more sirens was a bit unnerving! Some places nearer had to be evacuated and due to the low water pressure on the estate, the fire brigade had to pump water from the river near by.  It took most of the day to get the fire under control. However, the main thing was that no-one was injured.

On the making front, made this from 'my stash' -

I've also been making some rings - but still to take pics so will hopefully add later today.

Well that's been my week!

Mich :)

At Home Day

Had a day at home today and took the opportunity to finish off this:

It's what I'm calling my 'Loopy Cowl/Collar'.  I made up the pattern myself - which I will try and write down - as I'll probably forget what I did otherwise!

Mich :)

Handmade Monday

Wow Monday comes around so fast!  I hope that the weather has improved for you all - strangely, we had no snow though it was cold but only until Thursday when the temps came up a bit. Today it was actually really nice here and not cold - I wore my thick jacket while out with Mindy and was actually too hot!

First off, I want to say a huge thank you to Jill over at Christmas Pie Crafts who awarded me the Liebster Award. The Liebster Award is given to bloggers who have up to 200 followers in the hope it will bring them new followers and friends. The tradition is that is is then passed on to five other bloggers to help them too. I will be doing this in a separate blog post. Thanks again Jill x

I meant to update on Mindy's trip to the vet re. her paw last week - seems to be getting better and the red patch is shrinking so think the cream the vet gave us is helping.  Mindy is not too keen when she sees me slipping on my latex gloves to apply it! I also have to watch her like a hawk that she doesn't lick the cream off!

I have been making a few recycled  'rubber rings' as I'm really enjoying wearing them and making them.  They are comfortable to wear and I'm enjoying coming up with different designs.  Not sure if I will put these on my website for sale or just make for myself.

Finally some crochet - have been 'crocodiling' again - made this chunky crocodile cowl.  This stitch does take a long time to do but I like the effect when it's done.  

Now pop over to 1st Unique Gifts and see what everyone else has been up to. 

Have a great week everyone!

Mich :) 

Handmade Monday!

Well it has been a quick and fairly busy week for me.  Monday to Wednesday I seem to have no time at all due to commitments in the evenings and so my main producing times are from Thursday night.

Got my tooth fixed on Wednesday (by the dentist who looked liked she'd just nipped out of the local high school for the afternoon) - the rest of the filling crumbled out while she was drilling so the whole tooth was filled but it does feel so much better.  Then heading home from the dentist - had a puncture on bike grrrrr so mended that when I got home after pilates.  Getting quicker at changing the inner tube now. (Too much practice!)

The cold weather we have had this week has been leaning me towards crocheting.  Made a couple of hats in the week and then made these this weekend:

Also, dropping into the wool shop on Saturday may have had something to do with it!  The red hat you can get the pattern here.

Today I had someone (Charlie the gardener) come and cut down a leylandii bush/tree I had in the garden.  I remember my mum planting it about 20 years ago and it looked like a tiny little bush thing (don't think mum knew it would get that tall!) What a difference it has made getting rid of it.  Much more light comes into the kitchen now - it will never be the brightest kitchen in the world but there is a difference.  (There will be more of a difference when I finally get round to painting the ceiling white!)

My poor little Mindy (dog) has a sore foot - I noticed her walking on 3 legs when we were out and I thought that maybe the salt on the pavements was irritating something on her foot and sure enough when we came home and I checked she seems to have grazed her paw (the black paw pad bit has been removed in one place).  Will get the vet to check this week.

Hopefully next week there will be no talk of visits to health professionals!

Have a look at the amazing plaques Wendy has been making at 1st Unique Gifts and see what everyone else has been up to.

Mich :)

Wave Pattern Crochet Beanie

I found this lovely free hat pattern a while ago (great name for a blog too!) and have been going to try it for ages. Finally did it yesterday.  I just used what yarn I had in the house though so just crocheted it in the 2 colours.  It has been a while since I followed a crochet pattern - this one isn't too hard but you do have to keep your wits about you for the colour changes!  I may try it using different colours next time as the ones that the designer made look great in multi-colours.

Happy with my effort though.

Mich :)

Friday

Friday is my favourite day of the week just now.  Mainly because its the last day of my working week and I can relax on a Friday night knowing that there is no necessary early start on the Saturday. (I usually wake at the same time anyway but for some reason it doesn't seem so bad when you don't have to get ready for work!)

Friday was coldish - but not that cold.  However the strange thing was that it was really slippy! I find it strange that it can be so frosty and cold but not slippy then not too cold and really icy! Had to push my bike a good bit of the way to work as was too scared to get on in case it slipped.  The sky was beautiful on Friday morning on the way to work - took this picture while precariously balancing my bike against my leg!

For a change I wore one of my skinny scarves to work on Friday.  Now normally my boss never comments on anything, but he had obviously not seen the pom-pom style wool before because he spent the first half hour talking about it and comparing it to various things like fruit, berries etc.  I just wanted something to brighten up the black polo neck and grey cardigan I was wearing.  This is why I like these little scarves - they just add a little cheer to what you are wearing!

Planning some crafting today so better go and get things looked out.

Have a good Saturday everyone!
Mich :)

Equipment failure!

Well I missed Handmade Monday due to my camera's connection with my computer!  For some reason when I tried to download the picture I had taken the computer kept saying 'no pictures or videos detected' but when I looked at the camera I could see the picture there!  Faffed around with it yesterday to no avail, however today I tried something (copied the picture to the internal memory) and low and behold the picture appeared on the computer.  Just a day too late for handmade Monday though!

I thought I'd make something 'valentine-ish' for the website and came up with these bracelets.  I used bamboo yarn for the purple one and a crochet cotton for the black heart (not too easily seen on the picture that it is actually a heart!) and the red and black one is crochet cotton and embroidery silk.  Was pleased with how they turned out.  They are crocheted into chain. Not over-the-top valentine looking - you could wear all year round.

Yesterday was the first real day back at work after the holiday break - well actually we were back on Friday 6th but it didn't really feel like the first day back as it was only the office staff who were at work! Plus, it was a Friday so it was only one day then off again!  But we are definitely back now!  It always feels that Christmas has passed in a flash when I go back to work in January - we spend ages preparing for it then it is gone in a flash!

Ah well, roll on spring!

Mich :)

See you later alligator!

For a while now I've wanted to have a try out of crocodile stitch in crochet but the tutorials and instructions I found made it seem really complicated.  However, thanks to my twitter friend as she directed me to this blog  and I was able to finally get the understanding of it.  Tried a little sample last night and was pleased with the results.

I think this will be a good stitch to use on bits and pieces.  I don't know yet if I would tackle a crocodile stitch pattern, but will play around with it and see what I come up with!

Mich :)

Flowers!

Yesterday I found this pattern for a crochet flower so tried it out with some lilac/white wool I had.  Then using some crochet cotton I made a tiny one and attached it -

Then I wondered how I was going to use it - and thought it would look nice on a baby girl's hat - so went ahead and made one.  It is not often that I make the accent first and then the item!

Here are a couple of new designs I am going to be using for my jewellery this year -

Will be using them for all sorts of things - rings, bracelets, necklaces etc.  Really enjoy making them.  It is strange as I thought I wouldn't like working with tiny seed beads but I actually find it quite therapeutic.

Today I was supposed to be taking son back to Aberdeen but due to the horrendous winds, have decided that we will go tomorrow - too scared to risk it today!  Having said that, it has calmed down a bit here from what it was first thing, but going by the weather forecast I think the worst winds have moved to the north east which is the direction we would be going. So it looks like I maybe able to squeeze in another day's crafting!

Hoping for a calmer day tomorrow!

Mich :)

ps Happy birthday to my dad who is 80 today!

First Handmade Monday December

Time is flying and Christmas is drawing close!  Today's weather here is definitely more Winter like - very cold and was slippy in places on the pavements - as I discovered while dog walking!  Now I'm wondering if I'm going to be ok cycling tomorrow (I worry in case the roads will be slippery) so I think the plan tomorrow will be to give myself enough time to walk to work if need be. Will check the 'slippiness factor' at around 7.30am.

I've had a nice weekend.  Got the baby blanket finished so will get that posted off with the hats this week.

Today I made a face cream for myself.  I am finding that my skin is so dry with cycling now that the weather is getting colder.  I put in some nice oils - wheat-germ, almond and some hibiscus extract and also some glycerin - it feels lovely on.  (If anyone would like the recipe let me know).

I made a star decoration based on this crochet pattern . Instead of the suggested wool and hook size I used very fine crochet cotton and a 1.75 hook.  First time I'd really crocheted with this size - very strange! Like using a needle and thread! I added a few sparkly beads and a little bit to hang it up at the top.

I again adapted the pattern and made a little ring -

Thought it might be nice to wear something a bit festive!

Well that's been my weekend.  Pop over to 1st Unique Gifts to see how Wendy is getting on with her campervan clocks and to catch up on the other blogs.

Have a great week (and start searching for your hats and scarves now - Winter is coming!)

Mich :)

Crochet Star

Today I have been too busy watching figure skating to do much! However I came across this pattern for a crocheted star and decided to try it out -

The green wool has some sequins in it (can't remember why I bought it! But it was the only 'festive' colour I had!)  The pattern is very easy and clear and if you can crochet a square you should be able to rattle these out no problem! They would look good strung in a little garland.

Mich :)

3 days of Bliss!

Am just enjoying my third day off from work - bliss!  (I had holidays to take before the 23 Dec so took Tues/Wed/Thurs this week).

It has been great to have time to do things.  I got a couple of orders for the skinny scarves so finished those off this morning.

While I was at the wool shop yesterday,  picked up some wool to crochet an ear-flap type hat for the website.  (Now that its going to get colder tomorrow according to the weather report - maybe some snow up here eek!)

My dad wanted a couple of raffle prizes for something he goes to so rustled up a couple of snowflake decorations for him.

Been great too to meet up with friends for coffee.  Yesterday met up with my friend Emma from Strathearn Kiltmaker. It has been a while since we have managed to grab a quick coffee in the week.

All this of course will end tomorrow when work beckons! Am going to enjoy my last day of freedom though.

Have a great day!
Mich :)

I Love Cambridge!

Got back last night from my trip to Cambridge.  Had a really great time.  The journey down was a bit of a constant 'train change' but its a nice journey down the east coast - especially when you hit around the Berwick area.

I crocheted a baby hat on the way down for a friend who is having a little girl in the new year.  Crochet is quite good to do on the train as you don't need much - one ball of wool and one hook! And of course if you haven't got much 'elbow room' it doesn't matter too much.  The other hat in this picture I crocheted while there.

I had one woven style bracelet to do on the train on the way down for my nephew.  I had just finished it as we were coming into Newcastle.  A lady sitting behind me was obviously watching and she asked if she could buy it!  Unfortunately it was for a gift and I was worried that I might not have had time to make another one - and couldn't turn up at my brother's with one gift short! So had to decline.  Gave her one of my cards though so maybe she will order one.

Gifts - well I mad bracelets for my brother, 2 nieces and said nephew and they liked them.

I made a crocheted circle scarf for my sister in law (I have these and I like wearing one while cycling as no flapping ends.  My sister in law cycles too - well actually seems like most people in Cambridge do!)

They all liked their gifts so that was very pleasing!

Thursday I went to the Beaderie.  What a great shop and the girl there Sally was just so lovely and very helpful.  Spent ages chatting to her and looking at the amazing beads they have.  The shop is set out really well with all the beads displayed grouped by colour so it is so easy to shop.  I bought lots of things - had to drag myself away from the purple section!

 

I was a fairly long walk to the shop from where I was staying, however its never bad walking in new places and where there are lots of things to look at en-route.

Friday morning it was raining! However by lunchtime it had stopped and the sky was blue so had another walk to the Beaderie and bought a few more things as I knew it would be the last time this visit I'd be there.  Anyone in the Cambridge area should drop in - its really worth the visit.  They should be starting an on-line shop in the new year too.

As if the excitement of the Beaderie wasn't enough, discovered that a new Hobbycraft store was opening on the Saturday and that it was close to where I was staying.  So we (minus the children - I should say teenagers) headed there on the Saturday around lunchtime.  What a great store too!  It would be great to live in Cambridge, there are so many places to get things and also lots of craft fairs.  On Sunday we went to the market in town which is a craft market on a Sunday.  Was lovely to wander round the stalls.  

When I wasn't out buying supplies, I was making things - 

Before I knew it, it was Monday and time to travel back.  Not so many train changes this time - only Peterborough and Edinburgh.  I got going with some squares which I am going to make into a blanket for said friend's forthcoming arrival.  Managed quite a few on the way home!

Really enjoyed my trip away.  It is so nice to spend time with family who you don't see in person too often.  Back to reality tomorrow though when I return to work.

Mich :)