And so it has begun...

I have finally bitten the bullet and started knitting for the baby which will, hopefully, be arriving in about 17 weeks. Judging by the state my hands were in last time, swollen and painful, and unable to bend properly, I think I should have about another 10 weeks worth of knitting or crochet in me before I have to pack in. So I figured it was high time I got my finger out if I was going to produce something.

In truth I have been surreptitiously looking at patterns online for several weeks, without wanting to admit I was going to actually attempt any of them. I've been glancing at baby wool in the shop making a mental note to come and get it at a later date. Didn't want to tempt fate you see, pretty much in the same way that the pram we bought last week did not make it over the threshold before being stashed in my mum's spare room. But it takes a bit of time to hand make clothes, even little ones, and it's not easy with a toddler playing under-the-bridge with the wool, or using the needles as drum sticks, so in reality further procrastination was not really an option, at least not if I wanted to wrap my new girlie up in a lovingly handmade something-or-other before she gets too old to not want to be seen dead near something her mum made.

On the needles, and the hook, because since when did I ever do things by halves, is a cardigan that ties at the side and a baby blanket. Other items will, I'm sure, follow on. Just as soon as I find a pattern I like, or one that I can translate.
Why is it all the nice patterns online (and by nice read 'free', we are on a tight budget after all) all American? Not that I mind them being American, but it is hard work trying to translate them into Old English. What the hell is Worsted wool? And we've measured our needles in mm for millenia, why do our American cousins have to confuse matters by using their own scale? And that's before you get on to the different terms for crochet. It is even harder being confused when you have a baby brain! And so I have temporarily laid aside my plans for all the beautiful items I have found, and have resorted to the good ol' Sirdar book I bought when I was expecting Daughter No 1.
Pictures to follow once complete (Christmas then!)
I've probably told you this before, but in all seriousness if you are after a pattern, be it knitted or crochet, free or paid for, English or (shudders) American, then you could do no worse than having a wee peek over at Ravelry And if you get stuck, the forums are a good place for advice (or just a chin wag if you feel the need to procrastinate or play work avoidance!)

Til next time!

This one's for Sharon...

I will consider my hands soundly smacked. I have apparently been neglecting my blog, and my friend Sharon told me so the other day. And there was me thinking no-one read it, and it was just me sending out my words to the empty ether!

I do realise it has been a while and I'm sorry. But to be truthful, between now and Christmas there's not really been a right lot of crafting going on. You see I have discovered a tiny spanner in the craft works, and that would be a 2yr old daughter who likes to make things too. Not easy to craft with a toddler around, interfering with my crafting stuff, stealing my supplies and generally making a mess. Then there is a slight matter of a wriggly baby in my belly making it impossible for me to stay awake at night long enough to do more than a few rows of crochet or a hurridly cobbled together birthday card (Sorry Sue!)

So what have I been doing? Well like I said, not really a lot. I did manage to make a hat for my neice (not sewn together and waiting for me to finish the hat for her sister before giving it to her which might be in time for next winter!) which you can see here:

and currently in progress is a blanket for daughter number 2, just row upon row of trebles until I reach a good baby blanket size, or the wool runs out, whichever is first. I will have to put a border on it, but I am not allowing myelf to think that far ahead yet. Only room for one thought at a time in my sponge like brain atm.

I have also (rather foolishly probably) agreed to make a birthday cake for my dad's 65th birthday in May (Sorry for telling the world your age, dad, but since only Sharon reads this I should think you're safe!) It will not be the stressful performance it was of making my mum's wedding cake. For a start there's only one tier. And if all else fails I've found a fab online shop that sells personalised toppers. A nice picture of a steam train in icing and I'm sure he'll be happy. I'll also lace it with so much whiskey he won't care what it looks like! A good plan, I'm sure you will agree!

Until next time (um... June at this rate!) keep craftin'!

It's been a while....

...and you might be forgiven for thinking that I had abandoned this blog completely, or I was so totally submerged in all things domesticky and goddessy that the blog took a necessary back seat. And yet neither are true. I have been both too busy to contribute even a few words, and also a little ashamed of my lack of crafting, given my enthusiasm only a few months ago.


But in my defence I have been otherwise engaged and had my head firmly elsewhere. Christmas crept up on me so quickly and without me even really noticing, here it is! So the turkey is in the oven, the veg all ready to go, child, husband and animals all snoozing...leaving me with a few minutes peace. I could tackle the washing up but...nah, it's Christmas and I should really make the most of the little *me time* I get, shouldn't I! So armed with some hot vimto, and a tube of Pringles (Don't you love the guilt free scoffing you can do at Christmas, with every intention of sorting out the few extra pounds of weight *next year*!) here I am to finally update my blog!


I had very noble plans to hand make lots of presents this year, and in my defence I did manage some. I will not focus on the failures (of which there are several!) but instead on the few successes.
Handmade chocolates, made from good quality chocolate and a very boozy Christmas cake (I had intended to make the Christmas cake this year but that went out of the window as soon as we hit the middle of December and I had not even made a start on getting the ingredients together, so a boozy cake was never going to be made from that point on! A very tasty alternative from Sainsburys was bought, and given a seal of approval by my husband) Ounce for ounce, cake crumbled into the melted chocolate, mixed thoroughly and formed into balls.Handmade soap - ok it was from a kit but the effort and thought was there. And of course handmade cards, both by myself and my very giddy and excitable little girl.


There was a crocheted hat for my niece (you'll get it as soon as I remember where I put the damn thing Lucy!) and a half made scarf for my sister-in-law - which I promise to complete before next Christmas!


Tonight will see my first attempt at making a Key Lime Pie. One of Nigella's recipes, and hopefully a lot more successful than the chilli jam I made from her Christmas book a couple of weeks ago. The least said about that the better.... I am hoping for oohhhs and ahhhhs of appreciation, but in reality will happily accept empty plates...


So I will now take my leave and wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year. Here's to a good 'un filled with love and a few handmade things thrown in for good measure....

Proving it isn't all knitting and fairy cakes

This domestic goddess business is not all about woollen garments and that box of beads desperately waiting for my attention. Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall and Mr Oliver have this week inspired me to return to my old kitchen habits and dig out the slow cooker (those of you who are my Facebook friends will know the disastrous consequences of that) and fling in some vegetables and meat for my husband's tea. The little girl wasn't too impressed with my offering, but since she has had very little exposure to beef I am not entirely surprised by that. And of course since no meat has passed my lips since about 1990 I wasn't about to taste it either. But Himself was happy enough with the resulting stew and a good job it is too since I made enough for about a week.

I cannot extol the virtues of a slow cooker enough and I must urge everyone to get one. It really is a simple matter of taking all your left overs, or that bit of meat you have and those old, tired looking vegetables at the bottom of the rack and flinging them in with some good stock or gravy (or instant granules if that's all you have and it is usually all that is in my cupboard if I'm honest) Brown the meat if you must but I draw the line at peeling the veg other than a cursory removal of the brown papery onion skin. A bit of a bay leaf, a smattering of parsley or thyme, or both if you're feeling generous and leave well alone for at least 8 hours. Barely more than 20 minutes work, and your other half will reward you with a sloppy kiss and proclamations of endless love. Or something similar.

See, this domestic goddess malarky is a bit of a cinch really, isn't it.

And you've been waiting for..

...news of how the Big Day went?
Well, due to unforeseen circumstances (which will not be discussed here, so don't ask!) I was unable to finish the wedding cake, and my poor mum had to ice the top two tiers herself. She did a very good job! Unfortunately I haven't got a photo of the cake but I will make every effort to get one (just as soon as the gallivanting bride and groom are back from Kenya) It was a stressful event, much worse than I anticipated, although I daresay circumstances made it a bit worse for me.
There were 3 attempts at the middle layer, and to this day I have absolutely no idea what possessed me to make it in the way I had decided to... ie in one layer. For future reference, it doesn't work! Well it probably does but it would need a lot of experimentation to get the timings absolutely spot on, and a few days before a wedding isn't really the right time to be trialing stuff like that! Once sanity and sense had been restored and I made a good old fashioned Victoria sponge - in two layers - it worked perfectly well. I assume it was a hit since I didn't get any cake - there was none left!
The favours seemed to go down a treat, although the loot bags for the children - although good to keep them quiet - did cause a couple of squabbles. And I was quite pleased with the effect of the centrepieces as well. Just the right size I felt.
Pictures as promised:

The favours (for the ladies, the men got cacti )

The table centre pieces:

And a little display for the table with the guest book on:

I have to say I really enjoyed helping my mum plan her big day, and it was lovely to see her enjoy it so much. Will I do it again for someone else? Mmmmm only if they paid me a LOT of money! And gave me more than a few months notice as well.

It is Caoimhe's birthday next month. We're having a shop-bought cake!

And the countdown begins...

... Just under a week to the Big Day and it's going to be a busy week. I have 2 cakes to make and 3 to ice...but the cakes are sponge so really needed to leave them as long as possible.
But I can confidently claim to be on track and not stressing out...(well not much anyhow!)
Favours - done, centrepieces - done. All that remains is the cake... and a small matter of some jewellery for me to wear on the day too!
I have ordered some lovely cotton dk (God bless ebay) and am itching to start on a brooch to wear, and my lovely husband has offered to make my earrings...although I'm half tempted to have a stab myself. Perhaps I will get that box of beads out when a certain miss is in bed.
I have several cards to make as well this week. Why are there so many people with birthdays in October!My sister's scarf is all finished now and I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out. I have to say The Happy Hooker is a fab book for anyone who isn't that confident with crochet, you just have to remember to translate the terms from American to English which actually isn't as hard as it seems. Thanks for the tip Sharon!
So no pictures this week but I promise plenty after the big day!

Punk'd!

Well not exactly, but something a bit different was needed for my friend Paul's birthday (you can take a look at the jewellery he makes here: Clockwork Zeppelin ) He's very much into Steampunk and although it's not a style I know a lot about, I thought I would give it a try! So armed with some lovely card stock (amazing what you can get from Costco these days!) and a handful of watch parts, I came up with this:

I still have some parts left so might think about using them in different ways.

Other than that, it's been all about crochet this week. I'm crocheting madly to get a few things done ready to try my hand at other projects, There's a big box of beads urging me to have a try and jewellery making, and a trip to Selfridges for a fascinator for mum yesterday has put a few seeds of inspiration in my head too. Not to mention I've been challenged to get a children's story published in People's Friend in the next 6 months... does writing count as a craft???