Finished project - a knitted teacup

Time for tea?

Or perhaps a better question would be, why have I knitted a teacup?

Not a clue, it's certainly not my most practical knit, but I think that's okay sometimes. Now that it's finished I'm not too keen on the fact it's neon green. It seemed like a good idea at the time to use up the leftovers, but I think a slightly daintier colour would have worked better.

The pattern is from the fab craftseller magazine. The 'tea' is just a needle felt circle, which isn't included in the craftseller pattern, but you can't have a teacup without tea - it didn't look finished without it!

So, milk and sugar?

Bracelet holder – a DIY

I love a bit of recycling, and when hearing news of the upcycling competition hosted by Claire from claireabellemakes happened to coincide with another morning of knocking my bracelets off my dressing table, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to make some sort of bracelet storage. Because I refuse to have to fish bracelets out from down the back of my chest of draws every few days.

The challenge is to re-use leftover building materials for your upcycle, my local source of leftover building material is my parent's garage - luckily they're in the middle of doing up the kitchen and I quickly found some plastic tubing perfect for a bracelet holder (I did ask before upcycling it!). I also found an old map to jazz up the tube and some string to hang it with. Meaning my upcycle was completely free too – the best kind.

Find out more about the competition here and check trade and construction training provider AbleSkills who are kindly providing the prizes!

Before

During

After

florals and feathers: the October edit

A collection florals and feathers to be admired this month.

florals

Floral rug / Urban Outfitters
I really struggle to find rugs I like, but being both floral and my favourite colour – this one’s a winner!

Crochet feather pattern / Messyla
Having only discovered La’s amazing blog earlier this week, pretty much all of her crochet patterns are now on my ‘to make’ list. Seeing as I’m still new to crochet and this one has simple in the name, it looks like a good one to start with.

feathers

Feather stamp / Extase / Etsy
Perfect for adding the finishing touch to cards and gift tags, I really want to start building up a stamp collection, and of course there’s room for a feather one.

Lace feather pen / DIY / Crafty Endeavor
Another possible use for my constant feather collecting, these would be great fun to write with too!

Finished project - a knitted dinosaur!

Remember a few weeks ago when I shared the progress of my knitted dinosaur, well here's Dino in all his finished glory! Seriously, this might just be my favourite knit so far.

The pattern was really easy to follow, and free, find it on ravelry here.

I was almost sad to give him away, but I'm sure my friend's new baby will have lots more fun with him. Although probably in a few months time, as currently both baby and dinosaur are the same size!

Knitted on 4mm round needles / Wool is stylecraft DK, leftover from my crochet cushion.

The forgotten garden – a book review

Yet another book involving historical houses and mysteries spanning several generations, I seem to have a bit of a theme going on at the moment... anyway...

Title: The forgotten garden

By: Kate Morton

What happens?: Cassandra’s grandmother, Nell, dies leaving Cassandra a mystery cottage in Cornwall. It soon becomes clear that the cottage, once home to a mysterious Authoress, is the key to a long lost family secret.

The story moves through the Victorian era to the 1970s and finally the present day, while the characters cross Australia, London and Cornwall to unravel their family secret. An unusual feature was the extracts from the Authoress’ fairytales scattered throughout the book, each fairytale was clearly inspired by her own life and acted as little clues to help the reader to unravel more. But, just when I thought I’d got it figured out there was a brilliant, unexpected twist.

Now that the evenings are getting darker (and colder) I'd definitely recommend it as one to curl up with in the candle or firelight!