Product Review - Pom-Pom Maker

There's nothing really complicated or difficult about making a pom-pom, however this lovely little tool from Clover, makes it even easier.

It removes the need to cut out your own templates from card and means instead of threading the wool through the hole in the centre of the card, which can become a little fiddly, you open each side of the tool and can wrap the wool around much more quickly.

Then you folds the sides back in once you have finished winding the wool around, and cut around the edges as normal and tie a piece of wool or cotton around the middle, to secure the threads together.

The tool then pulls apart in two halves so you're left with a pom-pom, give it a trim to tidy up any loose ends and that's all there is too it.


My cute little Easter Chick was made using this tool

Crochet Demonstration

Popped in to Hobbycraft for more supplies last week and saw the sign for a crochet demonstration this week.  This basically just made for a good excuse to go back to Hobbycraft again on Saturday so I could see the demo, (and buy more supplies of course!)

I've often been told that crochet is easier than knitting, but to be honest I was never entirely convinced.  However, after a few minutes of watching the demo the lady handed me the crochet hook and wool and asked if I wanted to give it a try.  That was it, I was hooked.

Admittedly I need to work on keeping the tension right, I have the same problem with my knitting, however the actual stitches are actually quite easy and the best thing is, it's so simple to undo and correct if you make a mistake!

I can see now that this is the start of a new hobby... not sure how I'll find the time to fit it in between all my other craft projects but I'm certainly going to try...

Product Review - Mini Christmas Knits (Twenty to Make) by Sue Stratford

I brought this book after seeing the lovely snowman that a friend had made from it, and wanted to have a go myself.

Having never followed a knitting pattern before I was a bit concerned that I might struggle with it, as the finished pieces look so good I figured they must be complicated to make. 

However, I created two lovely little snowmen relatively easily, admittedly they did take me a long time to finish, but that's simply down to me having too many craft projects on the go and not enough time to finish them all.

The book provides good, clear instructions and lovely pictures.  They are fun to make, and turned out really well (even if I do say so myself).  I'm looking forward to trying some more out later in the year ready for next Christmas.

Knitted Jacket

Thought it was about time I uploaded a photo of my first big knitting project...   It's a lovely long jacket from the Patons Colour Works Aran Book 3821.  It's my first knitted item of clothing (aside from scarves).

I've even started stitching it together, just one sleeve to finish knitting and it'll be ready to wear.

Okay, so technically that's a lie.  It's not actually my first big project.   The first started project is currently still taking refuge at the back of the wardrobe, where I hid it after deciding that it was a little to complicated to be the first big project I tackled.  I just dug it out for a quick photo:

Recognise it?  No?  To be honest I'm not surprised, it was a while ago I posted a photo of it.  April 2013 to be precise (I just did a double take when I looked up the date, I hadn't realised it was quite that long ago).  The scary thing is, it really doesn't look that much different...  here's a recap of the photo from back then:

And yes, it is still the same piece :(

Perhaps my joke about this jumper being finished in time for 2020 wasn't so much of a joke after all...

I abandoned this jumper when the counting of knits and pearls to get the pattern right was driving me loopy (or maybe loopier?), not helped by the fact that I struggled to tell the difference between the stitches when the were on the needle.  So I frequently went wrong and didn't realize until I got to the end of the row and the pattern called for 2 knit stitches when I only had one left on the needle...oops!

So a nice simple jacket seemed like a good idea... until I decided that it wasn't long enough and had to start over again :(  It wouldn't have been an issue with a normal pattern, I could have just knitted a few extra rows to make it the desired length.  Unfortunately, this pattern is knitted sideways which meant the number of stitches on the needle is the length that the jacket would be.  Never mind, at least it was a simple pattern, with chunky wool on nice big needles, so it thankfully grew fast (even when I was knitting it for the second time).  Who knows this jacket might even be finished this year.  How many weeks till Christmas was it again?

Anniversary Project

Apologies, I've been a bit remiss about my blog recently.  Not sure where the times goes!

In addition to workshops and filling website orders, I've been some what occupied making a cross stitch for my parents wedding anniversary.  I figured that 15 years was probably long enough for the kit to have sat unopened in the back of my wardrobe!

Based on the size of it, I see now why I left it so long, it's taken ages to make!  However its almost there :) just some text to sew on now to personalise it, a good iron and it'll be finished ahead of schedule.   Well ok, so ahead of the new schedule, rather the schedule that I had in mind when I brought it 15 years ago, I certainly hadn't planned on taking quite so long to get around to it! 

I just hope Mum still likes hedgehogs.  She was a bit of a collector of all things with cute hedgehogs on when I brought the kit.  She doesn't collect them anymore, but hopefully still finds them adorable right?

Mother's Day Cross-stitch

Thought you might like to see a photo of my finished bag, that after my last minute crafting panic, was completed in time for Mother's day, phew!

Thankfully Mum's delighted with it and is so inspired she's decided to have a go at stitching some of the other patterns in the book that these came from.  :)

New Knitting Project

Ok so I have finally finished my knitted snowmen.  Yes I know they are a little out of season.   Well actually given the current weather perhaps they're not, but I did start knitting them before Christmas, intending them to be Christmas decorations, so in that respect they are a little late - or maybe they're just early for next Christmas.....?

Anyway I know given the size of them, they're tiny, I shouldn't have taken nearly 4 months to knit them, but I only knit for an hour a week at the lunch time knitting club I go to (I have so many other crafts on the go I don't have chance to knit otherwise), and my attendance at that has been a bit hit and miss recently due to my work load.  Needless to say my knitting doesn't grow very fast.

However I have perhaps foolishly decided to progress from small projects ie scarves and Christmas decorations and try knitting my first jumper.  It's a nice summery jumper so it should be finished just in time for errr..... summer 2020.... maybe!

Last minute crafting panic....

Ok so I started making my Mum her Mother's day present at Christmas, and congratulated myself at the time for being so organised!  Somehow though it still isn't finished.  The moral of the story is next time I ask someone what they would like for a present, make sure to add the words "that I can buy from a shop", either that or I need to start even earlier ;)

Mum had asked me to make a tote bag with Winnie the Pooh pictures on (yes she's a BIG Disney fan).  My solution was to buy a tote bag, which I am cross-stitching panels for, which I will sew on to both sides of the bag. 

Stupidly decided to make the designs for both sides of the bag didn't I.  I had stopped with just one - it would be done now.  However I am running a little behind schedule on the second panel, as you can see.........

How fast can I sew between now and Sunday?  Guess we'll soon find out lol

Knit and Natter

My Grandmother taught me to knit when I was young, on little plastic knitting needles.  She and my Great Grandmother were fantistic knitters, and were always knitting jumpers for the family, the click click of the knitting needles used to drive us mad when we were watching tv!  Unfortunatley, I never really took much interest in it then, which was a shame as I could have learnt so much from them.

Last year, however, I was invited to join a craft group that meets once a week at lunch time where I work.  So we basically spend the lunch hour, knitting, crocheting or sewing and having a good old chat to fellow crafters.  Joining the group has got me to pick up my knitting needles again, and this time I'm really enjoying it.  The group is fantastic, and are really eager to share their skills, which is lucky as mine are a little rusty to say the least.  I remember how to do the stitches, it's things like fixing a mistake (usually made as a result of doing too much chattering at the same time as knitting) that get me a bit stuck.

My lastest project is a frilly scarf - what do you think?