Ready At Last

I'm finally finished my mothers Christmas present at last.  Last years present!!!  I didn't have time to finish a scarf that I was knitting for her so I decided to parcel up what I had finished together with the wool, needles, pattern and a drawing of the finished piece. But unfortunately it somehow got left behind in my Mums house and I didn't find it again until last week.

I designed this because my mother dislikes long scarves that you have to wind around your neck about a million times to prevent you from tripping on it.  The buttons I added so that she can make it as close or as loose on her neck as she likes.

I really like this water ripple pattern.  It was really easy to work as it was only a four row repeat and it made the end result soft and warm.

Little Birdie Hook Pouch

It has been driving me mad lately that every time that I need a crochet hook, I'm never able to find the one that I want.  I've had to pull apart bags, boxes and drawers.  So this week I finally decided to do something about it.  I went through my fabric stash and picked out some of the pieces that looked nice and summery (to cheer me up in this awful weather).



How to make:
Firstly you need to decide the length of the pouch that you need.  I have quite a lot of hooks and because some of them are large wooden ones, I found that the best spacing was 4cm for each hook pocket.  I have 11 pockets and so my pouch is 44cm long.
Next cut out the outer fabric and the lining. They should be 30x44cm in size
The pocket material is 15x44cm in size.

Using a tight zigzag stitch, make the pockets by sewing the pocket fabric to the lining at 4cm intervals.  Do not sew this with the outer material pinned on because you do not want the stitching to show at the front of the pouch.
Handstitch a trim along the top of the pockets, ensuring that you don't accidentally close them up.

Cut out some applique shape that you like the most.  For me it's birdies.  Love em! And with a piece of bondaweb iron it onto the outer piece of material.  For decoration I finished this with a blanket stitch around its edge.
Using bias binding sew the front and the lining pieces together.
Put your hooks into the pouch and roll it up.  Mark where the side meets the back and sew on a snap button for closure.
Fold down the top of the pouch until it meets the top of the pockets and iron well.  This will keep your precious hooks safe from falling out.

CraftyRie

I've just discovered this and I think that it is great idea a directory for all the mad crafters out there.    I've just spent hours looking through the different blogs.  Inspiring to say the least.  Pop over.  Believe me when I say that it's well worth it.  http://craftyrie.blogspot.com/
http://www.craftyrie.com/2011/10/universal-craft-blog-directory.html

Taking It Easy

Life has been very quiet of late. With the kids off school and keeping me on the move all the time, I've had little time let to dedicate to crafting or baking.  The evenings are the only time I've got to mellow and sit down with a Kate Davis pattern, Manu, that I've wanted to work on for a long time.
A neighbours dog decided to have a taste of my leg last week, leaving me with stitches on both sides of my calf and so to cheer me up my husband brought us all down to my beloved Easkey to relax for the weekend.  And relax I did.  Gentle walks on the riverside and coastroad, campfires at night where we all sat around eating and telling silly stories and best of all watching the river in the hope to see the beautiful silver streak of a salmon rising gracefully from the water.  I must say that it really is a beautiful sight to see (maybe because I'm married to a fisherman!), especially as it is sadly a sight that is becoming rarer and rarer each year.
I'm going to make the most of the rest of the school hols with the kids and then go on a stitching and baking frenzy when school starts up again.

Phone pocket

I decided the other day that I just needed to have a pouch for my phone to save it from being scratched at the bottom of my overfilled handbag. I search through my fabric stash and decided on a heavy big gingham. And just as I was about to begin I spotted out of the corner of my eye some ribbon pieces that were looking for a home. I spent a lovely quiet afternoon stitching all the trim on by hand and then zipped up the lining and outer pieces together on the machine. I'm really happy with the result. Not bad work for a rainy afternoon.