Ch 3, 2 dc in 1st sc.* dc in next 4 dc - SPEAK ENGLISH!!

My youngest sister is, after years of trying and a little help from a man with a test tube, going to add a new family member in June.

As a joke I gave her a "Knit your own bootees & bonnet" set for Xmas, so there was many trials and tribulations as she knitted her first item in who knows how many years.

Instead of adding to the knitting mountain - as Granny (my mum) has already got her needles at work - I decided to see if I could resurrect my very basic crochet skills and make a blanket.

I started work on it whilst DD was at her Tumble Tots class on Friday. I'm still a bit unsure if I'm doing it right - the length of chains I make seem to vary enormously - and the corners don't seem quite right either.

Well at least I've got another few months to practice!!

A Bit of a Tidy

I knew I had a piece of fabric buried somewhere that I needed to photograph - so the whole cupboard got turned upside down!!

In the end I decided it might now be a good time to sort through my "stash" and I must admit there were lots of "OOHS" and "AAHS" as I can upon offcuts and remnants I'd forgotten I'd bought.

I was readily "helped" by a Rugrat who thought it was fabulous to borrow some fleece to make into beds for both her and her myriad of imaginary friends which resulted in a trail all down the front stairs - not a great idea when someone was coming to view the house the next morning.

I was quite proud of the finished result until I turned round and found a large bag that I'd forgotten about!!

Reminder to self - get DH to put up some shelves!!

All Bunting-ed Out

I decided that I was going to "make" some Christmas presents this year - and for the youngest members of the family decided upon Personalised Bunting to decorate their bedrooms.

There was 3 boys and 3 girls to make for (including DD). Added to the list at the last minute was Cameron - the newest addition to my neighbour's family.

Well everybody got theirs except DD whose I've just finished this afternoon!!

Groovy Man!!

I do wonder why I agree to do things!!

A friend's sister decided to have a 70's themed birthday party, and finding no suitable attire, asked me if I could put some flares into a "normal" pair of jeans.

After much humming and haaing (on my part not hers!!), out came the seam unpicker, the scissors and the purple satin. A couple of hours later .....

Voila - John Travolta eat your heart out!!

I finished them with a tie belt to match.

They went down a storm and as the photos from the party itself haven't been published yet (the ensemble was toped off by an afro wig I'm let to believe) - you'll just have to be content with mine.

Casualty here we come!!

A few weeks ago I got an e-mail from my sister-in-law asking if I could make a nurse and a paramedic dressing-up outfil for her 2 year old girl/boy twins.

Then as I went to answer I remembered the question: "What's the defination of Stress?" Answer: When your brain says "No" and your mouth says "Yes, I'd love to" !!!

Well I finally got round to finishing them. The nurse outfit consists of a dress and an apron. The paramedic outfit - a top and some trousers. I do think though that because of the fabric I used this outfit looks more like surgeon's scrubs!!

BUT I was able to pick up a little flourescent jacket for when he's "out on call"!!

At The Races

A friend asked my to make one of the drawstring playmats from the blog of Soozs mentioned by LucyKate (Links now in place!!)

She takes her daughters to gymnastics and he has to tag along!! As he is car/bicycle mad, I made it with some appropriately printed fabric (shows a city scene) with black and white checkerboard on the back (to look like a winning flag)

Starting them young!!

So much focus these days is on reducing our carbon footprints, and with the advent of the Anya Hindmarsh "I'm not a Plastic Bag" Bag I decided to "start them young" and design my own reusable bag for all the young girls of the world!!

They are fleece on one side and cotton fabric on the other - so can be reversed depeninding upon how theyfeel that day. They measure roughly 8" square so just big enough for life's essentials when you're a little girl!!