Casting my excitement to one side for the moment, I'll show you a couple of things I've made recently. You'll have to forgive the lower standard of photography, but I left it too late in the day and the light had disappeared - leaving ghastly colour photos, not true to life at all! A little computer magic and they look a bit better, but still not as good as daylight - come back sunshine!
My recent makes have all been made from the wonderful Lily Sugar 'n Cream cotton. I know I rave about it, but I love it, and it is my favourite yarn. I think. It's just so bright and cheery and nice to work with. First up was a couple of coasters for the desk I'm sort of borrowing from my Brother (I was under strict instructions not to mark the surface of it, so better not put hot mugs of tea on there!) I just wanted a simple little pattern, free of course, but not a circle. After looking through Ravelry, I found this one by ChirpinBirdie. Perfect. And it was also made using Sugar 'n Cream, bonus!
I love the little coasters, so quick to make, endless colour combo's and they do the job well, and protect the desk. I hooked up 3 whilst watching some crime drama on the telly box!
I also whizzed up yet another Made in K-Town Mandala, just incase I needed a bigger coaster, and well, cos it looks nice!
That's before I blocked them, but there would have been even less light if I had waited any longer to take pictures!
A while back, I received a message on Ravelry from a member, asking if she could translate my Monty Moo pattern into Danish, so it could be used for her Facebook group's 'animal of the month CAL'. Of course I was only happy for Monty to go Danish! I had a snoop at the Facebook group the other day, and was pleased to see a fair few Danish Montys taking over the world, or at least a few homes in Denmark. Some people have also adapted him in various ways to turn him into a baby snuggler, how cute! I'm so proud of Monty for going global! I have no idea what is being said about him as it's all in Danish, but there are several smiley faces and hearts, so I think they like him, and this makes me very happy! Go Monty!
Due to high demand (well, 2) I've adapted the laptop cozy into an iPad cozy. The first I made exactly the same way as the laptop cozy. Only problem was the drifting seam. On the laptop one, which is thicker, it was disguised more easily, but the iPad one, with it's thin sides, was proving a problem. I'm not sure how many times I frogged it, and how many round-joining techniques I tried before I got it to a standard I was happy with. I wasn't obviously overly happy still, as I've gone on to improve it... with the moss stitch. What else? I loved using the stitch on my bolster cushion and was looking for an opportunity to use it again. It turned out much better too, the joins are pretty much invisible, it looks nicer, all round winner really. I WILL write up the tutorial soon and it will appear here in the near future. So here it is...
Of course it's made from Lily Sugar 'n Cream. Here's a close look at that moss-iness...
I received some exciting post last Friday too... I treated myself to a jewellery tree as I'm sick of my necklaces getting all tangled, and wanted to display them nicely. I've seen a few in shops but nothing stood out - they all looked like glorified mug trees. I had a bit of a look around the internet and came across this Baobab Jewellery Tree sold by Out of Africa Gifts - they have an Etsy and eBay site. I have to admit, it was bigger than I imagined, but it's perfect. It's different, a beautiful, functional item which is a centrepiece in it's own right. It's handmade in Kenya with wood bound tightly with banana leaf, and wired branches so you can bend them for your every need. It's also fairtrade, and a portion of the sale goes to a Christian aid charity in Nairobi. So not only do you have a beautiful jewellery tree, you feel good about buying it too!
Now I must go, Little P is tucked up in bed, the football is on, and I'm going to crochet whilst I watch it, so until next time...
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