It's not all cardies!

Believe it or not, I have been partaking in a little bit of non-garment crafting this week. It is true that I have only got the left front border and a small amount of sewing to do before cardie no 2 is complete, and cardie no 3 is already on the needles waiting to go. But I have to turn my thoughts to other crafts from time to time too.

In little over a week I have the dubious pleasure of presenting a cake to my dad for his birthday, as followers of this blog will already know! In my head it is all going to be fine. A schedule is going round and round in my mind and I have some idea of when things need to be done by. I have an idea how I want it to look, and those blocks of coloured fondant languishing in my cupboard are already formed into cute little decorations ready to go on top of the cake. All in my head of course. Quite when I'll have time to make said cake is another matter. Four days away in York certainly aren't going to help. But, meh! As my old man would say: it'll be reet.

In other news. it is my mum's birthday today. A l title late night crafting- whilst the Flip Flop was safely tucked away in bed, and little fingers could not pillage my craft box! - resulted in the following card:

Quite pleased with it actually. Hope my mum likes it too.

Updates on the cake and the cardies to follow. Bet you can't wait!

The saga continues

After battling with (the wrong sized) circular needle (when will I learn to read instructions properly - I'm blaming you, dad, for inheriting your Lee genes) - and picking up stitches (which I hate more than any other knitting aspect, Cardi number 1 is now complete.

I was going to add some embroidery to the bottom of it, as per pattern, but decided that it looks ok as it is, and probably far better than my cack-handed attempt at sewing. My gran, God bless her, spent many an hour trying to get me to sew in a straight line, all in complete vain I'm afraid.

Cardi number 2 is now in progress, and once again I am following a pattern in my own unique Lee way. In other words doing the bits of it I want to and ignoring the others. In this case it is colourwork along the bottom. I've chosen instead to use a variegated wool I've had in my stash for about 2 years, always liked, and never found a use for. Now I have.

In other news I was lent a baby crochet book (thanks Karen) and have seen a pattern for a lovely string of crochet'ed bunting . Brightly coloured hearts (as if I was ever going to do pale pastelly pink ones as per pattern!) will hopefully soon be adorning Caoimhe's bedroom wall. Well,as soon as I make enough of them they will be doing! Here's number 1 heart:

Most impressed with how effective it looks, and much nicer than pale pink, don't you think?! I have a stash of brightly coloured wool purples, pinks, reds, greens and yellows which will do the job nicely. Knew I'd find a use for those bits of wool that come free with knitting magazines and you end up not liking the projects they are provided to make... got lots of them!

On a culinary front I am about to start preparation for making my dad's 65th birthday cake. Does he know what he's let himself in for?

Til next time, happy craftin' :)