Making A Mess

I have been having a bit of a sort-out.

Sometimes what you want is at the back of the cupboard!  And you realise that it really is time things were a bit more organised.

Unfortunately downstairs looks like this

and the dining table looks like this

All to make some birthday presents for Scary!

Can you guess what it is?

What have you been up to today?  Hopefully you haven't made as much mess as I did!

Giveaway Make

Can you guess what it is yet?

I bet you can.

Fancy a nice hot cup of tea?

So along with the sign and cards

I will be offering my homemade tea cosy to one lucky winner on Monday.

Just leave a comment on this post, or the original one here, to be in with a chance!

See you tomorrow.

Two New Projects and Some Graffiti

I'm very good at starting projects.  I have started two this week.  Both for Scary.  Poor Starfish - still she did get some nice woolly socks in the height of summer!

Project number one is a nice woolly pair of socks for Scary (hopefully for her birthday but don't hold your breath), using the Crofters pattern but some different wool.  Sorry, I can't find the ball band and have no recollection of what it's called.

No, I can't tell you what colour it is.  It's ... weird.  Sort of a pinky, purply, orangey affair.  I didn't choose it so the blame is not at my door; she chose it herself.

The other project is more challenging.  In the latest issue of my crochet magazine there was a pattern for this shrug/hoodie thing which I thought Scary would like but I have never crocheted anything to wear before, so dismissed it, even though I secretly wanted to make it.

Well, The Runner took me to Sidmouth today, for a coffee and a nosey round the shops.  It was raining but, hey ho, got to seize the opportunity, haven't you?

I went into this funny little shop which sold wool amongst other things and there, right in front of me, was The Most Gorgeous Wool I have ever seen!  The colours were just fantastic and just what I had envisaged making this shrug/hoodie with.  Well, you cannot resist that amount of fate, can you?  I mean, seeing a pattern one day and The Most Perfect Wool on the Very Next Day!  I'm afraid I didn't even know if it was the correct ply or anything.  I just bought two balls to be going on with.  I know I will need more but The Runner was with me and I didn't want to have a domestic in the shop so I will have to work out a way of getting back there soon before they sell out of that batch!  Am I wicked?  Probably.  He doesn't know you can't make a hoodie out of two balls of wool.  I do tend to work on a 'need to know' basis with my crafting (and maybe clothes and chocolate).  If it's only going to upset him, then why distress him with the information in the first place?

So now I'm into the realms of tension squares and working out what size needle I need.  I can feel a bit of swearing coming on with this project.

So anyway, while we were in Sidmouth, The Runner had to visit the Little Boys Room, and found this written on the toilet roll holder:

There's a more middle class tone to the graffiti in Sidmouth, isn't there?

50p Well Spent

How is it possible that it is WEDNESDAY?  It shouldn't even be Wednesday Last Week, let alone the Nineteenth of Flipping January.

I have been a Little Bit Productive though.  Just a bit.

I've learnt to play 'We All Stand Together' (with both hands!) on the piano.  Woo hoo!

Yes, I know, doesn't exactly get the dinner on the table though, does it?  As far as time wasting goes, the piano is nearly as bad as spider solitaire!

I have got the sewing machine out, gasp.  Look what I made!

I bought a couple of pieces of material (looked like old curtains with the lining and header tape ripped off) from a charity shop for 50p and used one of the pieces to make this bag.  I used some green cotton from my stash to line it and still have some of the flowery left over!

Scary's got her eye on it but it's All Mine.

I am hoping that 2011 is going to be more productive, in a crafty way!

I also managed to find this tin for 50p.

You can't turn down something that that, can you?  No matter how many humphs you know you're going to get when they all come home.

Wrist Warmers #2

Finished Scary's wrist warmers at last (well, a few days ago actually but have been waiting for them to be modelled). 

I really like the Crofters DK wool and it knits up so quickly, I think I might have another go!

See you soon.

Wrist Warmers

Just a quick photo of the wrist warmers I made for Starfish.  They weren't quite finished for Christmas but she seems to like them.

Now Scary wants some as well!

To Do List

I've been a naughty girl.  I've started something new.  And it needs to be done for Christmas! 

Some wrist warmers for Starfish.

The wrist warmers for Scary are half done, ie I've finished one!  (Still got the ends to sew in!)

Shhh, I've also bought some more wool to start something after I've finished the ripple.

Not sure whether it's going to be for Scary or for the living room.

The ripple is coming on and I'm on the 80th stripe; only 10 to go (and about a hundred ends to sew in, yuk!)

I don't know how I managed it, but I've landed myself with mending tall boyfriend's shirt.  It's lined with fleece so not the easiest thing in the world to mend.

And I've also got these trousers to shorten for Scary.  I hate shortening things.  They've been hanging around for a while now so I guess I'd better get on with it.

We've also got another Christmas Fair on Saturday, so a few badges need to be organised.

Good sentiments but I am beginning to panic.

Is what I've been saying until recently, but I do seem to have found a little enthusiasm for the season.

Well, maybe not completely, but I am getting there ....



Scarf #2

Yay!  Managed to finish the fluffy scarf!

I managed to mostly rip out the yarn from the previous attempt, with one little lump at the end that I couldn't unravel.  I looked for some help on the Internet and it told me that I should be using it double.  No way was I going to rewind that blessed stuff into two balls (I was beginning to be sick of the sight of it) so I decided to mix it with something else.  I had some undefined black wool (4 ply I think) so I had a go with that.

It worked really well and although not easy to knit, it was certainly 100 times easier with the 4 ply.

I'm afraid the pictures do not do the yarn justice.  In the turquoise there are also patches of purple, sea green and grey and it is so soft and not at all itchy.

Anyway, I couldn't find a pattern online that I liked, and I didn't just want to do garter stitch as I thought that would take too long, so I just made it up.  (Well, actually I started following a simple lace stitch in one of my books but I was watching True Blood at the time and forgot to do row 3 of the pattern!)

I had one skein of Colinette SilkyChic in colour Jay.
One ball (approx 100g but I only used maybe just over half) black 4 ply.

Cast on 24 stitches loosely on 10mm needles, with both yarns.

Knit one row.

Row 1:  K.1, (yrn, K.2 tog) repeat instructions in brackets until last stitch, K.1.
Row 2:  Purl.

Repeat these two rows until desired length; I did about 60 inches and then knit another row at the end.

Cast off loosely.

Please remind me not to buy fluffy wool again!

Squeaky Saturday

Today has been busy shopping with children. Exeter was heaving with people and Scary needed some new jeans. Well, I say needed. She needs new jeans like I need more material in my stash! Anyway, we went in for jeans and came home with an item of clothing loosely resembling a coat. Hey ho!

Consequently, not a lot else has happened today. So I will show you a little something Mad Child is working on. I gave her a sewing box for Christmas; one of those that opens up into different layers. So she is making herself a pin cushion.

First take one piece of cheese:



and then some little mices:

I wonder who will get the cheese?

See y'all tomorrow!

Eleanor the Emu

I've been working hard to finish Eleanor today so it's already 11.30pm and I'm only just starting my post!

I think I might give her some eyelashes, just so it's obvious she's a girl!

It was quite an easy pattern but the feet just took forever!

Ever Seen A One-Legged Emu?

Well, you have now!

Do you remember the "Super Cute Crochet" book I bought last year? My friend's birthday is next week and she said how much she liked the emu when she looked at the book so I'm making this one for her.

This book has peculiar little biographies of each character, the funniest of which is about Andy the Alien. He came to Earth because they don't have cheese on his planet. There are also the Sugar Mice, so named because they think they look like the pop band, Sugababes. You get the idea.

My friend and I were sniggering at the descriptions and so I think I will have to write one particular to my friend. She is very eco-conscious so I think we will go along the lines of: Eleanor the Eco Emu. She doesn't fly because of the carbon emissions and she runs really fast to minimise her footprints.


What do you think?

Snotty Sunday

I don't get colds. Really, I don't. Can't remember the last time I had one. Must have been at least ten years ago.

But ... I've got one now. I think it is making up for lack of snot for the last decade.

I'm lying on the couch alternately shivering and sweating, trying not to look at the cobwebs on the ceiling.

So forgive me this short post.

The only plus side is that Marathon Runner is cooking the tea, everyone is staying out of my way and I'm getting a bit of crochet done, in between wiping my eyes and nose!

Look, he's made chicken pie!

And I'm making an emu! As you do, when you're not feeling well ...

Silent Saturday

I've seen some people do 'Wordless Wednesday'. Well, this is Silent Saturday!

Do you like it?

First, Take One Ghastly Vase ...

Someone gave this to me a few years ago and I'm sorry but I've never liked it. I have lived with it in the downstairs loo (or 'cloakroom' if you're posh) for ages, waiting for her to use the loo and see it but she must have the constitution of a camel because no matter how many coffees I pour into her, she never 'goes'!

I've perched it precariously on the windowsill and placed tall flowers in it, secretly hoping someone knocks it off. I have treated it rather shabbily and plopped it in the sink rather roughly and the wretched thing is still haunting me. I put it into the charity box, and Marathon Runner brought it back in because 'he likes it'!!!!

So I give up.

I do like the shape however, so maybe there is hope.

Attic 24 does some lovely things with jamjars here. It gave me an idea.

Marathon Runner is still complaining that he likes it the way it is and that he doesn't see why it needs a tank top. We'll be eating chicken in a basket and wearing flares next, he says.

However, I have reached the point of needing to decrease and I've made the bottom of it too tight to fit over the middle of the vase!

Would it be cheating if I did 'back and forth'/flat rows and then sewed it up?

Think I'll leave that problem for tomorrow!

Valentine's Day!

He knows how much I like magazines and how hard I try to resist them!

Then he made me scrambled egg, grilled tomatoes and bacon for breakfast! Yum!

My name is Ellouise and I am addicted to making garlands! I was still making them this morning!


I put these beads on the bottom as Mad One is rather keen on penguins. I think I have had these beads ForEver. I remember playing with them as a child in my Mum's button bottle.


Yes, I know the gun's a bit weird but it's a family heirloom! I found my crochet hearts from last year and other bits and pieces that I have collected on a red theme.

Remember those little heart shaped silicone cases that I bought? I filled each of the six with different sweets. Lovehearts, of course

and some gobstoppers and heart shaped things and letter shaped things and sour things and more sour things.

We also had some Lindor chocolates in a little dish bought from Paperchase last year.

And not forgetting a bumble bee, synonymous with Valentine's Day of course - not sure where he came from!

Don't forget some sweet treats to eat!

I managed to save some of those ginger nuts I made yesterday.

And does anyone fancy a slice of chocolate cake?

Guess what, I forgot to take a picture of The Pie!!!!!!! Duh!