A different kind of crafting...

Recently I've been doing a lot of baking!

I thought I'd show you all the raisin bread I made this week. I'm quite proud of it as it is lovely toasted, and I managed a plaited loaf on my second ever attempt at making bread completely from scratch!

Not bad huh?

If you fancy having a go, I found the recipe through a bit of google searching, but it is here. I didn't do the glaze partly because I'm watching the calories, and partly because my plan for this bread was toasted for breakfast and I thought the glaze might go a bit sticky in the toaster!

And for good measure, here is my first ever loaf of bread (made completely from scratch, rather than a bread mix), which I made earlier in the week.

This one was made using Paul Hollywood's recipe on the bbc website, here.

Knitting!

I have actually been enjoying some knitting this week! I have always felt like I should love it and persevered to try but it has only really clicked with this recent pattern.

So, let me introduce you to the "Lonely Tree Shawl". I first saw this pattern on not your average crochet when Hannah posted a ravelry knitting wishlist. I loved this look of it and started hunting for yarn to use!

I haven't done any sort of lace work before, or even ever worked from a chart like this does. I am finding working from a chart easy enough though, and getting hang of all the yarn overs now too! I needed a little help from my future mother-in-law to begin with, but after a quick phone call I was on my way.

What do you think of my attempt so far?

A big congratulations...

...to my lovely Mum who found out she passed her degree this week!

To say well done I made another little graduation owl for her.

This one is a little bigger than the 2 I've made before.

Mum's a big Portsmouth football fan, so I crocheted this little guy in their colours for her!

Details

Yarn: blue, yellow and orange are Dolly Mix DK from King Cole

White and Black are nameless acrylics

Hook: 4mm metal hook

Size: I forgot to measure him, but I think he's around 10cm tall

Time to complete: 3 evenings from start to finish

For the first time I'm linking up with Handmade Monday (which I always read about and follow but have never joined in with!)