I originally came up with these little flowers as a way of using up scrap yarn and thread - but since then I've become addicted and keep going and buying more and more thread!





I'm hoping to sell some at a craft fair in the autumn so as well as the brooches, I've been attaching them to hairbands and hairslides for little girls.





Do you think they'd sell well? It'll be my first craft fair in over two years (I took time out to have a baby) so I'm a bit nervous!

Anyhow, if anyone else fancies making some of these I've posted the pattern on my blog here: http://littlesliceoflife.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/a-lovely-bunch/

Thanks for looking!
 

My daughter is fond of hiding and making dens, so Mum and I decided to make her a teepee style play tent for her 2nd birthday....



The pattern is from a book called Sewing in No Time by Emma Hardy. Mum and Dad used to own a carpet and fabric shop when I was little and Mum found a leftover roll of lovely apple green fabric in the attic which we used for the tent. The fabric is from the 1980s and is seriously gorgeous! It's heavier than the type of fabric used in the book (more suited for curtains probably) but we modified the pattern and used thicker poles so that they wouldn't bend under the extra weight.

As you can see, the tent has proved popular with daughter and daddy alike!     

My husband has managed to smash his iPhone twice in the past few months - the most recent time resulting in a rather hefty repair bill - so when I spotted this pattern I knew I had to make him one.



I used some scraps of naturally coloured rare breed wool plus some of my handspun alpaca. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and my husband has been using it since we gave it him this morning - so I guess that means he approves!

Thanks for looking!

Oooh, I get to kick off this week.....

Just one offering today as I'm spinning some very fine yarn at the moment and it\s taking forever!

Anyhow, here's some navajo plyed BFL spun from some lovely Spindlefrog roving. I've named it 'Flirt':







It's the best navajo plying I've done so far and I'm really pleased with it - it's one of those handspun yarns I have to keep digging out and looking at and thinking 'wow - I made that!' 

Right, sorry for all the waffle - looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been up to.

x

A little while ago I dyed some wool with onion skins (my first foray into natural dyeing) then spun it to a laceweight yarn. There wasn't a huge amount of it so I wasn't sure what to use it for at first but then I decided I could do with a new headscarf and made this:





The main panel of the scarf uses the stitch pattern from the Alpine Frost Scarf from Interweave Crochet Winter 2008. I then made the back part in plain dc and treble crochet, reducing the stitched so it's fairly narrow at the back of the head. Not sure if I've explained that very well (!) but if you're interested, there's a few more details on my blog here.

Thanks for looking.

xxx

Hi folks,

I've been continuing my dalliance with natural dyeing - here's my recent results:





I premordanted the wool with alum and cream of tartar then dyed it with 100% madder root to the weight of the wool. Although I think I let it get a bit too hot which brought out some brown tones, I'm pretty pleased with the colour. It reminds me of autumn leaves. I've written up the process on my blog here if you're interested...

The other lot of dyeing used nettles. Here's how it turned out:



Quite a subtle colour but it looks nice (imo) when spun:



Again, I premordanted with alum and cream of tartar but used 200% nettles to the weight of the wool.

Thanks very much for looking.

I recently had a go at dyeing some wool tops using onion skins. This was the result:



It wasn't entirely successful as I did felt it a little in places as I couldn't resist prodding the wool from time to time - I'll know better next time! This is how it looks spun:



If anyone's interested, I've written up a detailed step-by-step guide to how I did the dyeing on my blog here.

Thanks for looking! Comments / thoughts / questions welcomed!

xxx

Hi folks,

I finished off my first ever shawl this weekend and I'm feeling very pleased with myself! Have a look...







I guess I've not made a shawl before as it's not really the sort of thing I usually wear - but when I saw this pattern I fell in love!

Anyhow, the details...

Pattern: Armorique by Eclat Du Soleil
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze
Colourway: Meadow
Hook: 3mm

There are more photos and ramblings on my blog here if you fancy taking a look.

Thanks very much.

xxx

Hi there,

I made this little coaster for a green-themed giveaway on my blog (along with a few other bits and pieces). The pattern is from a fantastic Japanese crochet book - Lacework Mini-Doily - I so much prefer working from symbol patterns rather than written instructions!





The yarn is Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton 4 ply in Rhubarb. I love it - it's a lovely subtle colour and drapes really nicely too. Might have to get myself some more soon.....

Anyhow, thanks for looking!

xxx

Hello lovely crafty people,

I'd like to share a picture of my very first plied handspun yarn which I made a few days ago. I am very excited about spinning, in fact I think I'm in danger of becoming completely obsessed....



It was spun and plied on a drop spindle



The pink was spun from some lovely hand dyed corriedale wool and the purple is some less lovely commercial merino.

The yarn is far from perfect - the thickness is quite variable - but who cares, I MADE YARN!!!!