Oh Crumbs!

A very dear friend of mine is well known for her freezing habits! Amongst the goodies in her freezer, you will find home-made breadcrumbs, crumble-mix and "emergency scone mix"! Taking a leaf out of her book, today I decided to use up some stale bread and make some breadcrumbs to go on top of a tasty lasagne. Whilst I was at it, I made a bulky bag, so that I should be in stock for quite a while...










Today I made some delicious Carrot and Coriander soup (loving BBC Good food at the moment!) which was a lovely Autumn warmer for a family who were busy doing jobs around the house (and a little boy who is currently poorly). I highly recommend the recipe (see link) as this was really good...

In crafty news, I have been making needle cases for my craft stall from a pattern in the lovely Cath Kidston Sew! book.

These turned out really nicely, but they were very fiddly to make!  I had to write some amendments onto my pattern as they seem to have missed out a few steps, however I was pleased with the end product (although I may play around with the design for future attempts).







Next up... pin cushions and some bunting....!
Happy weekend, and, for those in the teaching profession, happy half-term!

Branching out...

Over the last few weeks I have been doing a variety of crafty bits and bobs. Lots in preparation for my stall next month at the School craft Fair. Some of my projects have been...

Starting a patchwork cushion cover under my Mum's instruction....

Pinning fabric panels onto some flannels for little personalised wash cloths... These are lovely for a little gift, and you can use whatever fabric you have handy!

 

A spot of card making.... I haven't done any for ages- particularly since moving house, but I located some of my card making materials the other evening and cleared a spot on the table and set about making a batch of cards. A satisfying evening's entertainment.

And a day isn't a day in our household without a little knitting... I am currently working on a couple of different pairs of fingerless gloves and wrist-warmers.  The above pair is adapted from a pair in the "Sirdar Weekend Denim" pattern book, and have a lovely chunky effect.

I always appreciate suggestions of good fingerless glove patterns, as these are a particular favourite of mine to knit at present....

Catching up...

 As mentioned in a previous post, I have got lots of catching up to do in terms of making things for an upcoming craft stall, so, last weekend I was making fingerless gloves, thanks to a super easy pattern shared on http://tinyhappy.typepad.com/tiny_happy/2006/06/winter_hands.html
The first pair were made from a nice chunky sirdar Tweedie wool...

These gloves grow really fast and are lovely and comfy- brilliant for the increasingly cool mornings!

I have made these in several colours and sizes. Some of my favourites are....

  

I particularly like the fairisle effect Crofter Chunky wool. It knits up beautifully, and gives a bit of interest to an otherwise quite plain pattern!

In other news, I have been enjoying using a certain cooking book....

and last weekend I made a firm favourite- potage parmentiers (leek and potato soup). SUCH a simple recipe, but so delicious...

Besides making the fingerless gloves as shown above, I have been making some more of the beautiful fingerless cabled gloves as shown here. These are a lot more fiddly than the chunky knit ones, but the effect is gorgeous. They are done in DK yarn, and can be made to varying length. The ones I am currently working on are not massively long...

... and I have just discovered (thanks Mum!) Katia Ondas yarn, which makes a scarf in one ball...

FUN!

On a less fun note, this is what I am doing with lots of the rest of my time...

 Grr. Marking! 

Happy Wednesday.

Knit one, purl one, unpack one...

Having recently moved house I have been living in a state of flux or chaos for the last couple of months.  Things are starting to settle down nicely now, and yesterday I unpacked a large proportion of my crafting bits.

On the craft side of things, recently I have been working on my Chunky Tank Top (see last post) which is growing nicely, and which I will hopefully finish whilst I still have a chance of fitting into it.  I have also been working on a Debbie Bliss pattern for baby Sandals, as a commission for an expected baby.  I've been doing these in baby pink, and the result (of the one I have so far completed) is good, although I must say it has taken quite a lot of concentration and doing, undoing and redoing!  I'm pleased with the outcome, though I'm not sure if I would bother with these as a regular pattern due to the time involved.  Still, perhaps the second sandal will come very easily...

One of the down sides of having just moved, is that it can prove very difficult to find things when you want them.  I spend half an hour today looking for my jar of buttons so that I could complete the first sandal.  Finally, in a random box, I spied it...

In my early summer Crafty zeal, I signed up to do a craft stall at my School's Christmas Fayre. I hadn't been counting on a summer of sickness (and so very little in way of crafting) so now I have lots of catching up to do in order to build up some stock to sell in November. So. Watch this space.

Moving Mayhem

In the midst of moving mayhem, I have done a little crafting on the side...

I have finished my Wrist Warmers

I have started working on the tank top in the same pattern book- a first 'proper' knit for myself! (By proper, I mean not gloves or a scarf).  It's in a lovely pale grey, and knits up quite fast due to the size 6 needles and chunky wool.

I have also continued in trying out different patterns of baby-shoes and boots.  This one comes from the lovely new book I have: Vintage knits for modern babies , which was a very easy knit with faux-cabling around the sides.

Having spent a lovely evening with an old friend last night, I ended up with lots more patterns (after some exchanges) and ideas that I am looking forward to getting my teeth into after the move... Now to try and make a little more sense of the chaos around my house before the packers arrive tomorrow.  I hope you are all well, and I'm sure I shall post again after we have internet in our new house (goodness knows how long that will take....)

At the moment I am....

Crochet shoes- playing around with various patterns and trying my hand at customising them....

Making a 'Bird mobile'- project from the Cath Kidston Sew! book...

Continuing to knit my way through various baby shoes/booties.... and...

Packing up to move help, with lots of help...!

Holiday Crafting

I have just got back from a fun, yet exhausting week away in France.  It turns out, sleeping in the same room as ones toddler is not the prime ingredient for an excellent night's sleep.  Add to that lots of French conversation and (attempts at) translation and we have the recipe for a tired Mum!  However, in the relaxed afternoons I did get some time to do some knitting, and it turns out sitting and getting on with a bit of tricotage is a good way of opening up conversations with people!

So. Starting in the car on the way down from Dunkirk I got earnestly stuck into the summer jumper I have been trying to make for Élysée.  I made it out of a cotton-bamboo blend yarn as I figured that would be nice and cool.

It always takes much longer than expected to sew up, and weaving in the ends is quite a slow job, but the finished product was worth all the effort...

After this, I started the first project in a while that has been for me, and I am making some wrist warmers using Sirdar Chunky wool... The best thing about this yarn is how fast it grows...

So.  I need to get on with something else now. Time to browse my new craft books. Any good project ideas people can recommend? I'm always up for a new idea...