And the shop has opened....

Although it only has one item listed so far, please have a browse of my online shop at folksy.  I shall be adding some new things over the next few days, so keep an eye out for some nice and individual home made Christmas presents.

I hope you are all well. It is incredibly cold here, but no snow yet....!

From Craft Fair to Christmas Crafts...

Today I had my first Craft Fair, and I was really pleased with how it went.  I shared a stall with a friend, Kate, who'd made some beautiful crocheted brooches, and I had my knitted and sewn goods.

Lots got sold, and by far the most popular items were the hand knitted Katia winter scarves.  I am in the process of setting up a little on-line shop, but whilst I am still sorting that, I have a small number left, and so if anyone is interested in them (or other items featured on my blog) then do email me at caroline [at] almcnicoll.co.uk  - they make great Christmas presents, and I still have the scarves left in two styles- Triana and Ondas in a variety of colours (see picture below for some of them on the stall!).

I hope people are well. Anyone up to anything nice this weekend? It's very cold here so I'll be staying in the house as much as possible, and wrapping up warm!

It's all in the detail. The discipline of patience.

In hoping to become generally aware of my own strengths and weaknesses so that I can generally grow and mature in life, I have become rather clear on one thing- I am not always very patient! I'm quite good at it on a good night's sleep and when all is peaceful and calm, but on a broken night's sleep/late night and in a slightly higher stress situation I find that I lose it surprisingly fast!

This can also apply to various craft projects. I like doing something, and then moving onto the next thing really quickly! Today however, I have forced myself to slow down and spend a large proportion of my evening painstakingly sewing bias binding into the insides of my little coin purses so that the seams won't fray.  Slow work, and not as satisfying as making the purses in the first place. But. Good practice for my patience!

During the whole process I had to keep reminding myself not to take short cuts, but now that they are done, I'm pleased with the result (and I'm sure my Mum will be proud that I've not cut the corners!)- I think they look almost as pretty on the inside as outside now!

I had a fun trip to the local (or most local to us!) haberdashery today, although when I arrived there (about 20-25 minutes in the car), I arrived in the pay and display car park to realise that I had taken my wallet out of my bag, and put it into another one over the weekend. I could have cried! However, I decided to try rummaging around to see if I could find enough loose change for the (cheap) car park fare. Alas I was not in luck, and had a toddler who was rapidly losing patience.
So, after praying and hoping for some miraculous answer, I decided I needed to swallow my pride and ask someone if I could borrow 60p! (or write them a cheque!). I had to explain my predicament to the car park attendant and then I went over to a kindly elderly lady who told me she would happily give me the money I needed (the idea of a 60p cheque being rather ridiculous!) and no sooner had she started rummaging around in her wallet than a Dad who'd been loading his toddler into a nearby car came over, confessed to having overheard, and offered me his ticket which had two hours left on it.  On my way back to the car I was offered yet another ticket from another kindly passer by.  Hooray for answered prayers, and the small yet significant ways we are looked after by God!

I had a lovely little visit after all that, and- hooray- the shop accepted cheques!
Here's some of what I bought...

Some rather lovely fabrics...

And plenty of zips!

A lovely friend and I also made some labels for my upcoming craft fair. Who knew label making and pricing could be such fun?

Right. Bed now, as school tomorrow. I hope you've had a lovely start to the week.

Little purses and big scarves...

Today I have made some zip-up purses.

I've wanted to make some for ages, but have always been put off by thinking it would be rather difficult.

However, it's actually pretty simple, and they are quick to make. So I've made a few little purses and tomorrow plan to visit the lovely haberdashery in a near(ish) town to buy some more zips and bias binding...

Here's what I have made today...

Three little money purses (following a rather floral theme!) and (half of) a scarf.

 Have a lovely week.

Beavering Away

I have mostly kept up with my ambition to do something new for my craft fair stall every day over the past week, but due to a busy time at work and home, posting my progress has been a little slow...
Some of the things I have got done are...

Some more of the button boots as featured here. The design is so lovely and easy, that once knitted once, it's virtually memorisable (is that a word?) by the second or third knitting.  I lined the red ones with a fairtrade cotton lining to give a little extra winter warmth...

I found a lovely old flower press I was given years ago my a Great Aunt, and have been enjoying putting some onto some cards...

I completed another knitting needle case...

I have also been trying my hand at some knitting on circular and double pointed needles.... with varying success. I am not quite there with it yet!

Other things are in the pipe line, so I'll add some more crafts tomorrow when I have a little more time.

Enjoy the rest of your Weekend!

Winter Warmers

Today I made Steak and Kidney pie. It is cold outside, and horrible weather, so I thought I should opt for a nice, warming, Traditional English meal.  Pastry isn't my forte, but I was largely pleased with how it turned out (although my Mum's is better!).  We have a Belgian lodger, so I am trying to show him that there is a lot of Good Food to be had in England....!  My 20 month old however, was in a contrary mood and wanted Marmite Toast. You win some, you lose some.

I also made some fudge this evening. I'm planning to do parcels of fudge for some of my relatives that I see less frequently, and so have no idea of what to do for them for Christmas.  It's only right that one should test the recipe out beforehand, and this was a nice chance to test-run my new sugar thermometer too.

It tastes SO good. Al and I had to test some out with our post dinner tea/coffee....

On the craft front- For yesterday/today's Craft Fair contributions I have made some knitting needle cases. These always seem to be exorbitantly priced for something which is so simple, so I looked at the one I have (which was passed on to me by my Granny-in-law) and roughly copied the design. I'm pleased with the results, and am just putting some finishing touches on a second one.

I haven't decided what is next on the crafting agenda for tonight/tomorrow. I'd welcome any ideas... Hope you are all well and having better weather than here in Oxford....

And on the menu today....

Cafetiere cosies...  With buttons....

And with reversible ones with ribbons...

Fun!

Pre Craft-Fair challenge!

I have decided to set myself the challenge to make a different thing every day over the next (almost) two weeks leading up to the Craft Fair...
Yesterday:  Some lovely baby shoes from my vintage baby knit book in turquoise.

I love this pattern- it was really easy to knit, and the results were beautiful- and they are perfectly possible to make a pattern in an evening! This size is 3-6 months, but they are big enough to do older than 6 months. I'm now doing another pair in 0-3 months in red.

For the close of last week, I made some hand-sketched Autumn note-cards. This was lots of fun, and not something I've done before:

Next up. Some Cafetiere cosies, and knitting needle cases.

Also today, I enjoyed some lovely time with friends and their little ones. A particularly gorgeous moment was when two of the littlies were chatting to each other whilst looking out of the window into the Autumn/Winter mist...

Happy Monday, and have a lovely week.

Autumn evenings

I am hugely enjoying spending my evenings (after marking and housework!) getting on with crafts for my upcoming stall at a Craft Fair (please contact me if you would like details about when and where it is). At the moment I am loving getting some daily inspiration from this fabulous crafty blog.

This week I am pleased to have finished some bunting...

I started this a few weeks back, but wanted to borrow a friend's machine for the zig-zag stitching.  

I was also glad to complete some reversible fabric tissue box covers, which were mostly fun to make, but with a few frustrations when trying to complete the machining. That said, I'm generally happy with the result...

I have been hugely enjoying knitting fingerless gloves recently- somehow they seem to cheer up Autumn and Winter days with a splash of colour. I've been branching out on patterns, and the below pair were initially intended to be one colour, but I finished the ball about two rows from the end. I decided that instead I'd redo the last few rows in both hands another colour, which I think looks really nice!

I've had a busy day of cooking (making a post-natal meal for a friend who has recently had a baby), and enjoyed making some Chocolate Crumb Cake. Whenever I used to go and visit my Grandparents, Nanna would always have made this, complete with chocolate sprinkles on top! It never failed to delight us, and, quite frankly, still tastes amazing as a "grown-up"! 

Also on the cards today was volunteering at the Baby Cafe, always a fun time of cups of tea, getting to know more people, holding some new-born babies, and helping ladies with their breastfeeding!

Right. Up next- finishing a patchwork cushions, and making some cafetiere covers (as inspired by this blog tutorial).

In other news. Al and I found out this week that we are having a little girl in the Spring. I am eagerly anticipating getting knitting and sewing, although I think I will be waiting until Christmas presents have all been made first...

What are other people making? Enjoy your Autumn evenings...