Wedding comedown

Well, after a week in which I attended no less than three weddings, I am looking forward to a month off, enjoying some gentler pursuits such as finishing some of the many quilts that I have started and admiring the one that I have finished!

It's made from Moda Charisma and was incredibly easy since I bought a jelly roll - minimum of cutting required! I used my new darning foot to stipple it and love the effect.

The fabric on the back is by Amy Butler and wasn't quite wide enough - hence the strip down the middle!

As you can see, it fits our office furniture style sofa perfectly!

Socks machine

I am completely addicted to knitting socks at the moment. I love self-striping yarns and on a recent trip to visit friends in Germany I bought a quite ridiculous quantity after discovering that they were rather a lot cheaper there.

They are the perfect portable project and I now have the pattern practically memorised after knitting pairs as presents for friends. I'm thinking about knitting this pair next and hope that I will finally master lace, once I finally master the stripy Regia Jacquard Las Vegas ones I'm working on at the moment. Pictures will follow :)

Wedding presents on a budget

Someone once told me that in everyone's life comes the year of weddings. Mine is definitely this year, with seven weddings altogether, starting with my own just before the start of the year, just over 7 months ago now. This number of weddings can become rather expensive, and we were racking our brains to work out how we could give wedding presents to everyone without going bankrupt.

We came up with the idea of 're-gifting' some of the bottles of champagne that were given to us, since my husband doesn't like it and I am unlikely to drink it on my own unless I have a really bad day! I felt that a bottle of champagne on its own has a slight feeling of petrol station gift. That's when I came up with the idea of glass painting a pair of champagne glasses for each couple.

I bought these glass painting pens this morning and stopped off for some inexpensive glasses on the way home.

I was so pleased with the results!

Fabulous and flirty pink mohair jumper

I love this jumper - the pattern is from Fabulous Flirty Crochet and it was surprisingly easy to make once I got used to the stitch pattern. The only problem was the crochet ribbing for the cuffs and hem, it looked as if it was going to be much too tight but actually was really stretchy and fits brilliantly.

I really like cowl necks and find them quite flattering. This one needs a bit of arranging before it looks ok, but cowl necks are one of those things that you could rearrange endlessly I think! It does have a tendency to roll up, so any suggestions for how to overcome this are very welcome...

The yarn cost me £1 from a second hand shop, it came on a massive cone and I've still got loads of it left after making a ballet wrap cardigan that unfortunately made me look very much like a gorilla, and this jumper. It's very similar to Rowan Kidsilk Haze in terms of how it knits/crochets up, and I love this raspberry colour.

This was one of the best patterns in 'Fabulous and Flirty Crochet', I haven't been tempted by any of the others yet. I'm not a big fan of crochet skirts and a lot of the other patterns were made from very bulky yarn, which I find always makes me look about twice my normal size. There is a nice pattern for a flutter sleeved top but I don't know if I'd wear it enough to make it worth while and I don't have any suitable yarn in my stash. I've made a slightly rash vow to knit only from stash until I have cleared a bit of space under my bed (and in the top of my cupboard, on my shelves, in my brother's room etc). There are also some good patterns for belts and scarves, and a lovely bag pattern.

And here's the (slightly strangely photographed!) action shot!

Fluffy bunny slippers

Aren't these scrumptious? I finished them a while ago and love waking up and snuggling into them on a cold morning - it makes it a bit easier to get out of bed if you, like me, are not a morning person! The pattern is from Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker (full of patterns that I love) and they would make a great gift - when people saw me wearing them at uni they always asked me to make a pair for them.




The ribbon around the ankle is my own addition - when I finished them I discovered that they kept flapping off so I tied the ribbon around to make them stay on. I think it looks quite cute too :) I just weaved it between the stitches when I finished. Apart from this the pattern worked really well, grew quite quickly, and was very easy to follow.





I keep meaning to make a little pom pom tail to go on the back as well, but have not got around to it yet. I thought I might make it out of the same fluffy pink yarn that the insole and the nose are made out of ( I ran out of charity shop white mohair!). I'm thinking about making a pair of black ones too, then I can choose when I wake up!





The best thing about them is that they are almost 100% recycled - charity shop yarn, ribbon that came as part of the wrapping for a pair of pyjamas, buttons from my grandma's button collection (ok, the last were more inherited than recycled, although knowing her they had probably dropped off something before ending up in her button box!) And anyway... look how cute!!! What do you think?