Hiding in the shadows..

Hello out there! I am still here, bobbing around the internet, keeping up with the blog I follow on bloglovin.

In fact, I've actually got my "to-read" list down by quite a lot recently.. it's consistently below 50, which is marginally miraculous!

So I'm still here, but I'm also still crafting. I'm branching out as well, really.

My lovely in-laws (hi Emma, Sue and Mark.. if you're reading) bought me a sewing machine for my birthday (last weekend) and I've been attempting to get to grips with it!

Never one to take the easy route, I decided to make a bra for my first project... yes really.

I don't know what I was thinking.. there are no straight lines.. it's 3D, there is lots of zig zag sewing..

Then again.. I suppose it's easier than the suit Mark requested I make him!

For once, I'm actually being relaxed about the quality of what I do. As long as this thing is functional I'll forgive myself some wonky stitches, and that bit where the zig zag didn't quite catch both pieces of fabric...

Maybe I'll show you how I'm getting on soon :)

Selling for charity!

I haven't posted on here for a few months because there's been a lot going on.

I mentioned the Mad Hatter's Tea Party on here before, and said that my Mum and I were going to host a stall with all our proceeds going to charity (Cancer Research UK). 

My family and I went to Mad Hatter's on 8 June with a stall full of baby dresses, cardis, hats and blankets as well as earrings, bookmarks and a few kittens. We had an amazing day with lots of support and lots of money being raised.

(Photograph by Tigerfly Photography)

There is still some stock left over and I'd still like to sell it on for charity, so I've taken advantage of eBay's selling for charity feature, and listed some of the spare stock on there (I may not list it all this month, as I'd also like to take advantage of the 20 free listings per month).

Please, please, please take a look at what I'm selling on there, if it isn't appropriate for you, maybe you could share it with someone you know.

I'd really like to raise as much as possible for Cancer Research UK. It has always been a charity close to my heart as many people in my extended family have been affected by cancer. I think I've mentioned on here before about my Mum's struggle with the disease too.

Sadly Mum never made it to Mad Hatter's as she was taken from the world far too soon, on 6 June, aged just 43. So now, more than ever I want to keep fundraising for Cancer Research, so that no-one else has to struggle the way she did, and the way my family does!

With Race for Life happening around the country most weekends at the moment, let's all tell cancer to jog on!

Stall stock

Hello out there, I'm sorry I haven't written for a while. To be honest with you all, I haven't really had the motivation to sit down and type. Finally, it's sort of back, so I thought I'd take some time to show you some of the stock I've been building up ready for the charity stall I mentioned here.

I've been very lucky in that my nan-in-law told me that she would like to help out and make something for the stall. She asked what I would like her to make, but since we are doing it because we enjoy it, I said she could make whatever she wanted to.

My husband, my sister-in-law and I went up and stayed with her and her husband at the weekend and she gave me a couple of beautiful baby blankets, and a baby hat.

I can't believe she made them all in 2 weeks. I still haven't ever finished a blanket yet!

Does anyone else put off finishing a big project because smaller ones are so much quicker?

Charity makes

You may remember that I told you about my cupcake hat about a month ago (oops.. I've left it too long again!).

I'm now glad to say that it is with my mum's friend Jill (aka The Mad Hatter) and here is her picture from the day she wore it.

I also mentioned that Jill is going to auction off all the hats she's been wearing, and give all the money away for cancer research.

At the event with the auction, Jill is allowing people to set up stalls, for a fee of £5 (which will also be paid over to the charity) so that they can sell their items, and keep their own proceeds.

My Mum and I have decided that we would like to have a stall at the event, but instead of keeping our profits, we would like to give all our proceeds (not profit) over to the charity.

That means, that I now need to plan and make lots of lovely bits, so that the charity gets as much money as possible!

I have had a play around today with a lovely teddy bear granny square (the pattern can be found here). I'm thinking of turning these squares into nappy bags, or cushions, any other ideas are welcome though!

I would also appreciate any pointers to lovely free patterns that have permissions for sale of items created!

Thank you all in advance :)

The cupcake hat

Hello, I'm just popping over here to show you a super quick hat I made (2 days start to finish) and the reason behind me making it.

First things first, the pattern, I searched ravelry on Saturday to find a "novelty hat" pattern for this particular project, and settled on a cupcake hat.

The ravlery pattern redirected me to Crochet Geek's blog here.

I found the written pattern quite difficult to follow, however the video was quite clear (though perhaps not for beginners?).

Having (finally) taught myself how to hold my yarn "properly" (as I like to call it.. as opposed to my weird throwing method, which I will try not to return to) I found crocheting this hat to be much more comfortable and faster than anything I've crocheted before (yay!)

I haven't yet had a chance to take some proper blog photos for this project, as it is literally straight off my hook, so I apologise if you follow me on instagram as you will already have seen these pictures, but I just had the urge to write here.

This hat is for one of my mum's friends.

Her friend, like her, is undergoing chemotherapy treatment at the moment, and as a result has suffered from hair loss. As I understand it, she is using hats to cover her head, and is wearing a different hat every day. She wears them once, and then will sell them on for charity. So I thought I would contribute, and I seem to be seeing a theme with her photos on facebook... novelty hats!

This hat will be making its way to her, via my mum, very soon!

New socks!

I finished my first pair of socks!

I finished them Friday night, and then wore them all day Saturday. I have since decided that they should probably be inside socks (for keeping my feet warm in the evenings) as my feet got so warm wearing them all day.

I am pretty happy with these, but I'm looking forward to making some with a lighter weight yarn.

Speaking of which, I have ordered a beautiful new yarn (and the needles suitable for it) from Deramores.

I picked Red Heart Sports Sock Colour, in Funny Red.

I'll show you a pretty picture when it arrives, but it is a lovely variegated yarn with red, yellow and blue running through it!

Sock questions..

I'm in the process of making my first ever pair of socks at the moment! So far I've finished one sock, and I'm part (2/3rds maybe?) of the way through the second.

I chose a DK sock pattern, as I had plenty of DK yarn in, and I already own 4mm DPNs, so it meant I didn't have to buy anything specific!

I'm wondering now though, whether I should move on to more traditional hand knit sock patterns.

I've been having a look at this, which is a sock kit which contains 2.5mm DPNs, some stitch markers, a pattern, and some yarn!

It is rather tempting..

Have any of you ever used Opal yarn? Or bought the kit with this pattern?

(My first sock... I'll do a proper post sometime soon!)