The end of 2016

Knitting news!
I finished my nieces patchwork Weasley socks, I have to say, I didn't love these, but I hope she does :) and fingers crossed they'll fit lol

The pattern didn't turn out how I'd hoped so I just did 1 repeat and then switched to stocking stitch.

I made my mum a tree decoration :) I used the snowball buddies pattern by Susan Claudino.

I finished my 12th pair of socks for myself :) I used felt fusion sw merino/nylon in the geeks aurora colourway :)

I cast on my Dobby's odd socks number 2, I knit them consecutively till after the heels then put them on 1 cord. I love these colours :)

Spinning news!
There is non :( soon, I hope :)
Goodies!
My awesome best friend made me some Jack Skellington baubles...

And bells :) how freaking cool are these :)

The lovely Mel bought me a personalised necklace with autism awareness charm for my 30th :)

I won a Christmas necklace from bakewell hearts and she included some minis too, very generous, and pretty, also the first dye candy yarns I can try :)

My surprise Christmas box off my mum, put together by Mel of the yarn tree. It's awesome, I love the yarn and such cute extras :)

I opened my Norah George advent calendar every day and it was so much fun.
Days 1-12

 Days 13-24

On day 25 the 100g skein was this beauty. The minis I'm going to arrange by base and hopefully make more frankensocks :)

I ordered some luxury yarn from countess ablaze, alpaca/silk/cashmere 4ply, it's ridiculously soft, definitely to be worn on the neck :) I also got more of the stardust corriedale, as my son loves his handspun hat in it :)

Hope you've all had a good 2016, and happy crafting for 2017!

Toys :)

Knitting news!
I finally made the cal & mari squid for my son, he'll now get the whale, squid and octopus for Yule :) it's kinda a giant squid due to the size difference of the octopus lol

How adorable is this wee mouse..? Pattern is snowball buddies by Susan Claudino, it's brilliant, it offers multiple options too (mouse, bunny, owl and reindeer) :)

I did have problems picking up stitches, they were very visible, so I picked up using the same colour and changed it on the second round :)

Sunny the snowman :) too cute :) I love this so much, as did my son, who tried getting to it before it was finished lol its now bugging him however as it doesn't stand up on its own...needs a weight in the bottom or something...

Spinning news!
I finally plied and wound off the China blue yarn :) 126g 188m 2ply pre-wash.

Goodies!
I bought a couple of metal tree ornaments from my sons Xmas fair to raise money for the school. I got a snowman coz that's what he was in the show and a tree coz I broke the last tree ornament from school, I should add it wasn't a metal one lol

My friend Bekki made me a hat ornament...so cute :) it's been added onto my tree along with our yearly wooden ornaments from the Manchester Xmas markets :)

My Downton abbey box arrived and the yarn is super lush :) I only got the single skein option but what a skein it is, colourway is dowager countess and it came with a flapper headband, lace choker, I ♡ Downton abbey badge & matching magnet.

Happy Crafting!

Lots of finished objects :)

Knitting news!
I finished my first antler hat (designed by tincan knits), and I love how it turned out :)

I also cast off a DK weight barley hat (also by tincan knits), this was for my secret santa at craft group, along with the maize mittens I made :)

I finally cast off the (right) reunion cushion cover (by sockmatician). I like how this looks but it did take me a couple months to finish lol

I love the buttons I selected :) and I got a feather cushion to put inside :) Hopefully my uncle will like it, even though it is only one lol

I made my first cherry rascal hat (by Joeli creates), I used two colours and was unsure at first but it grew on me :)

I also cast off my first ironrath hat (by Lisa Mutch), changed the stitch count to (hopefully) fit a 2 year old. The yarn is far too busy to show the pattern but I'm hoping the little girl will still like it.

I adore this pattern, so cute :) this is Bonnie wee mouse (by Susan Claudino), knit using left over aran yarns (the scarf is DK), it turned out so sweet, I'm a little sad to see him go :)

I finally cast on the cal & mari squid (by Susan Claudino) for my son :) I've finished all the extremities and have just started the body.

I don't like doing so many of the same thing but these weren't too bad as small and fairly fast, though stuffing them was a bit awkward.

The Weasley's patchwork socks in West Yorkshire Spinners signature 4ply. I'm not loving these but I'm still persevering, in the hopes they'll be finished (and fingers crossed fit) for xmas.

Xmas gifts for the community!
I've made a total of 3 gift packs to be distributed in the community.
One: for an over 75's male, it contained:
the antler hat, gloves, dominoes, cards, tissues, sweets and a card, also the bag is a mini jute shopping bag.

Two: for a 6 year old boy, it contained:
the cherry rascal hat, sweets, two cars, captain barnacles (from the octonauts), the train driver (from postman pat), two happy meal toys and a card.

Three: for a 2 year old girl, it contained:
the ironrath hat, bonnie wee mouse, two figures (from postman pat), a happy meal toy, sweets and a card.

I'm happy with the gifts I've put together, they may not be much but I'm hoping that they will bring some happiness to people who may not have a lot.
Happy Crafting!

Update

Knitting news!
I finished the maize mittens in acrylic DK, these are for my secret santa, though I'm a little worried they won't fit lol

I cast on my first antler hat. This is for an over 75's gift bag I'm putting together as a christmas present for a community member. I'm enjoying the knit but using acrylic so wising for soft wool lol I wanted to make sure it was washable.

Spinning news!
I started spinning some fondant fibre in the china blue colourway, this was part of the sw club in 2015.

Second half of the china blue singles.

Goodies!
I took part in the instagram event of get your yarn wish granted. I granted 2 wishes, one of sock minis and one of a surprise gift. This is the gift I received and it's beyond generous :) It's mostly malabrigo yarn (in 3 weights) and my first gnome acres skein, plus a few others. I was overwhelmed by everything Jillian included :)

Happy Crafting!

Apologies and update

So sorry it's been so long, had some technically difficulties...AKA I killed my phone lol

Knitting news!
I finished the big brown bear socks, I love them, though sadly I cannot seem to get a good picture of the colours. The yarn is from Norah George on her sparkle base with non sparkle heel :) I used the Hermione's everyday socks pattern on 2mm needles.

I made a tiny acht the octopus in octopus vulgaris yarn from mothy and the squid :) I love this so much :)

I finished a queenscrown hat (by north bound knitting) in my handspun yarn, it's too busy to show the pattern really but my son still likes it :)

I've also finished some socks in countess ablaze yarn, her BFL/nylon sock base (Lady Persephone), I love these colours; the green is a one of a kind and the yellow was left overs from the sock club I signed up to a while ago in (exile was the colourway). I used the Hermione's everyday socks pattern on 2mm needles.

My uncles cushion is growing, and I quite like it, it's too complicated to knit whilst at knit n natter but it's good to knit with a film or podcast in the background. I still need the key for the cables but I think it's going well now. Wish I had time to make him both in the set but one will have to do :) pattern is the reunion cushions by sockmatician on ravelry.

Spinning news!
I finally plied the alex punis, 101g 174m of a 2ply. Fibre was from fondant fibre and is so pretty in person, my camera really can't pick up the depth and subtleties but I love it :)

Goodies!
 My hallowe'en and bonfire night box arrived from the yarn tree, and it is awesome :)
100g candy corn (sw merino/nylon/stellina 400m/100g)
100g apple sprinkles (sw merino/nylon 400m/100g)
paper pumpkin decoration
ghosts straw
treacle toffee
spider crispy chocolate
fireworks stitch markers
and a sparkler

Other crafty news!
I've made a few more cards, mostly xmas ones, my friend let me use her embossing powders again :)

I feel like I'm on a go slow at everything, just hoping I get the few things I need for xmas done in time and anything else is a bonus :)
I've started going to a yoga class once a week and I'm enjoying it :) if I keep going I'll invest in a yoga mat rather than keep borrowing one :)
I went to a cafe in Manchester with my friends, it charges by the minute and you can eat and drink as much as you want from their selection. It was fun and we all left super full lol I think we might go again lol it's called ziferblat if anyone is interested, I believe they also have one in Liverpool and London.
Happy Crafting!

Update: some card making :)

Knitting news!

Struggling a little with the reunion cushion but just doing 2 or 3 rounds at a time, had some trouble with miss twisting the cables and one round is out of line due to a little mistake with a borrowed stitch lol but I'm hoping it'll be finished in time :) the charts are still small but I've drawn lines in green every 10sts and it is helping a bit :)
The garter stitch version of the captured colours shawl is still on the needles but seem to have lost motivation sadly. It's beautiful but not sure if I'm keeping it or gifting it and had a little trouble with the cast off last time, just need to find time to pick up something with long rows again and get a move on.
My socks are growing, I'm on the gusset decreases of the second sock and loving them, the colour (big brown bear from Norah George yarns) is knitting up different to how I anticipated but it's beautiful :) 

Spinning news!

Fondant Fibre, the jazz club 2014, the maiden voyage colourway (the first shipment), this was 70% organic merino/15% bamboo/15% tussah silk, I spun 2 singles and plied them together to get, 196m from 100g

BFL humbug from (skybluepink-designs) Yarndale 2014, again a 2ply, I got 349m from 200g. One skein is 98g (170m) and one is 102g (179m) , so close to matching lol

Goodies!

Loads arrived all at once but some ordered a while ago lol
I got another skein of the autumn rainbow colourway, it's on a different base so they'll need to be used separately but still a stunning colourway :)

A while ago I saw this on the yarn tree facebook page and I loved it, the colours as well as the theme :) the skein is 75% sw merino/25% nylon 400m/100g, the bag is lined and zippered with a handle and a good size for socks/shawls or toys :)

My surprise sock box arrived, this one had the theme of the walking dead and included a sock size, zippered project bag, a stunning skein of sock yarn in the dibs is dibs colourway (I love this so much) on the 75% sw merino/25% nylon base and it came with some love heart sweets and a themed keyring :)

Other crafty news!
I had a play at stamping and using embossing powders at craft group last week. It was a lot of fun and I particularly loved the snowflake stamps and the glittery (I think it was called stardust) powder, and every time I used the heat tool and watched it activate it was awesome :)

I got a little inky but I didn't mind lol it was fun and different to my usual crafts.

I enjoyed it so much I actually went and bought a few stamps to have a play at home, minus the embossing powders lol I specifically wanted a stamp like my friends that says "winter wishes" and I had to buy a magazine to get one lol but I did lol so that is the inside message of my Yule time cards :) It felt kind of serendipitous as it was only available in the magazine and it was the last one in stock, I'd even looked online but couldn't find one so felt good to get it :) and it came as a set with the snow globe ones too :)

In other news...this week I tried my first pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks, and it was delicious :) and sent me a bit hyper lol I'm a little gutted they only offer them during October and I have to travel 5 miles or more to get one lol
Happy Crafting!