Hello everyone, I hope the weekend is going well.

Been really windy here today with rain coming down hard at times. Then hot sun! It’s been a big mix of weather today! I have had a lovely, lazy day and feel quite relaxed. It’s been lovely having a day where I’ve not had to go out or do anything.

Let’s have a look at what has been covered this week then.

I started making a little crochet cardigan I had seen on Ravelry.

Baby Girl Cardigan

I followed most of the pattern but changed it a little to suit what I was doing. Instead of adding sleeves I did some mini ones to just cover the shoulders and the tops of the arms. The pattern wasn’t greatly written for the turning at each end of the shell pattern but I think it was written for people who understood how to crochet fairly well.

This is the top before all the ends were woven in. I thought that it needed a little something extra…

I’m really pleased with it – very dainty and girly. I added an SC border all around the edges.

Then I thought it needed another something extra…

A small hat to match! I’ve been looking at booties to match for ages but nothing has caught my eye so far. I tried it on Baby Doll.

The photo on the doll doesn’t show it up how nicely it actually looks. I’m really pleased with this. I wonder if I can make it in a bigger size? It seems to be a basic shoulder down pattern. I might try it.

I also got out the big box of stuff that has never had the ends sewn in, buttons not sewn on, things not sewn up, etc. I managed to get several cardigans with buttons added on, lots of ends sewn in and an entire hat and booties sewn up!

They are too big for Baby Doll but you get the idea. I love the Aviatrix hat and plan on making another one soon, I have lots of colours I can do it in.

I ordered these amazing labels from an eBay company ‘label-on.’ They were very quick in delivery and the labels are perfect!

The labels had everything I asked for and look and feel like the labels you will get in your clothes. Perfect. I wanted them to go in all of the baby clothes I had made, just to give them a more professional finish. And I loved the idea of ‘Made By Mummy xXx’ being in my babys clothes! (Not that I am having a baby yet, but when I do!)

I really am impressed with how they look. 🙂 I managed to get only five done today but I have been busy doing different things. I plan on doing some more tomorrow.

I have finally gotten round to blocking some of the pin loom squares I have piling up. I counted them and I have 28 so far! I have some skeins of wool lying around for this purpose, so there should be another few to add soon. I haven’t got any blocking boards so thought I would improvise with some thick cardboard and some towels underneath. I measure out 7″ squares and pinned them out. I only got nine done and nearly two small boxes of pins used! Some of the squares needed serious pinning out. My index finger on my right hand is soooo sore from pushing all those tiny pin heads in!

A before and after picture. You can see how crumpled some of the squares were.

So many pins!

I love how uniform they all look now. I am looking forward to putting them together to make a blanket. I would like to make a natural fleece blanket once I have finished my dyed and handspun coloured one. The yellow in the middle of the three on the left is my first hand spun yarn. I knew I would be able to use it for something one day. 🙂 I really like it and it reminds me of how far I have come. The pink one in the middle on the right is also some of my first handspun yarn. Those squares do make me smile and give me such lovely memories 🙂

I must go now. I need my sleep! I have some reports for school to write tomorrow as well as attending my mothers work to help out with one of their events. I also need to keep calm about my P3 school assembly! The children and I have been practicing like crazy and they have been doing so, so well. I am very proud of them all.

I hope everyone has a lovely week!

xXx Love Kais xXx

Hello everyone,

It’s the night before I have to finish the weekend and go back to work. I can hardly believe I have been at this job for about five months now. I love every minute of it, even though it is a lot of hard work. I’ve had a good weekend and feel like I have achieved a few things crafty wise. The photos that I will show you have been from the entire month of May. I haven’t had a great deal of crafty time, but I’m hoping to get more done on the weekends than I have previously.

I’ve been working on a crochet baby blanket. This one is SO beautiful I had to buy the pattern straight away. The words spell out ‘Your first breath took ours away.’ How sweet is that?! I am using Drops I love 5. It is 80p a ball, so I filled up the online basket to get enough to make this blanket.

I’m using white cotton from a local yarn shop. It’s dishcloth cotton, but it is so nice to use.

I also finally, FINALLY used my weaving loom! I was going to cut everything off, but then I saw it had loads of thread left to weave on. I grabbed some of my white cotton in the thought  of making some dish towels, but when the time came to cut it off and cut it into separate bits, I couldn’t do it, so now it is a nice, white cotton scarf.

I haven’t worked up the courage to thread it all back up yet…

A couple of newborn crochet hats. These crochet up REALLY quickly. I did the blue one first, then decided to reverse the colours. I like the blue one better.

I started making a sock the other day. I didn’t use a pattern or anything, just sort of made it up as I went along. I think the sole is too long and wide. Not too sure where to go with this. I will probably frog it.

Look at this beautiful fleece! I visited a craft fair last weekend, but it was disappointing because it was so small. However, I got chatting to one woman there and she informed me that just up the road they had some sheep shearing demonstrations and spinning. Me and Mum went there straight away and we saw some gorgeous Zwartble sheep. I couldn’t believe how big they are! The owners were very nice and gave me one of their fleeces. It is HUGE. I took some photos of it this morning after unravelling it, but they are on the other camera. I have washed some (JUST remembered I have left it outside… I do hope it doesn’t rain!) and am just waiting for it to dry. It seemed to wash really well and was pretty clean. I look forward to carding it and spinning it.

I thought I would get the trusty drum carder up and used for a bit. It has sat on my shelf for a good few months now, which is a shame. I raided my wool tops box and found some bits and pieces. The red one is a mixture of kool-aid dyed Poll Dorset sheep fleece (prepared from raw fleece) with some sparkly trilobal nylon carded in too. The blue one is a mixture of German sheep fleece wool tops, with some blue bamboo fibre. Also, with some white sparkly trilobal nylon in too. Both have been spun up.

A very poor photo, but it is the two on the left. The two on the right are the darkest of the following photo –

It is showing a blend of colours from white all the way to blue. Very soft and smooth. It has been lovely to spin too. I simply spun the whole batt into a single, then Andean plyed it together.

It is a mixture of white German sheep wool tops, blue merino tops and white sparkly trilobal nylon. I am unsure yet of what to make with it, but I shall keep thinking!

I found out my old vintage carders this afternoon after I had a sudden craving to make some rolags! I have some alpaca fibre that needs spinning but it was quite difficult just spinning it straight from the fibre. I cleaned these up the best I could and then started on the rolags.

They do look funny in the box! I think I did fourteen altogether. I couldn’t believe how much easier it was to spin alpaca this way! However, it didn’t take too long to spin them all up. I’ve been looking at blending boards lately… they look fun!

And here is the resulting yarn! Very soft, but my hands were filthy afterwards! I’ve left it drying upstairs in the bathroom.

So, that’s been my crafty month so far! Before I go, here are some lovely pet photos of the month. I LOVE this one, it looks like me and Freddy are just in the middle of nowhere – the grass and colour is so beautiful.

Little man hiding in the field!

And a cute one of Aya, just before I left A’s house yesterday.

Look at that face!

Anyway, it’s getting late and I must go to bed. I hope you all have a lovely evening.

xXx Love Kais xXx

Hello everyone,

I’ve been back at work a week now and I’m already exhausted! The days have flown by but we are now back to normal. I was really busy on Friday trying to get displays up for this terms work. Sooner I get them up, the less time I have to spend on them later. I’ve put all the borders up and laminated most of the stuff I want on there. I’ve chosen a large section on fractions, one on childrens entertainment during WW1 and one on sound for their Science topic.

I was having a look at what my resolutions are for this year and to see if I have covered any.

• Have at least ten baby items sewn, aging from newborn to age 2/3.

Nope. None. Zilch. Disappointing really. Don’t think I have even sewn any nappy (diaper) covers. I plan on sewing some more of these in various sizes. I would love to make some mini shirts and I’ve some sewing patterns for a romper suit or two.

• At least ten baby items knitted, aging from newborn to 2/3.

Yes! I have knitted a mini hat, booties and mitten set, and also a little blue jacket.

• At least ten baby items crocheted, aging from newborn to 2/3. (Can you see the links here??)

A baby rattle (my very first tutorial on Ravelry!), two baby bibs and I also finished the crochet cot blanket.

• To get every single fleece in the shed and porch washed and carded into gorgeous, soft, fluffy batts.

Hmm… I got a few bits of fleeces washed. I think I rushed the Ryeland and Whitefaced Woodland because they still feel greasy to the touch. I’ll stick them back in the wash with some more super hot water. The Mule one is absolutely fine and needs to go into the bag with the other washed one.

• To spin up ten batts/tops/rovings that I have in my spinning box.

I also don’t think I’ve done much spinning. Well, I have dyed some plain white roving to make some yarn for my pin loom. Ooh, that reminds me, I found a load of Cheviot rovings in the cupboard. I also have spun up some of the Mule fleece.

• To spin up an entire fleece.

I’m working on this! Can’t remember the name of the fleece again, grrr. It is a mule one.

• To knit/crochet/weave something using the handspun yarn under my bed.

Yep! Most of this is gone already on the weaving loom.

• To learn to weave on my weaving loom.

Yes!! In the last few days I have had my loom out and using some cotton have made a long scarf like piece of fabric. I plan on cutting this into sections and making small flannels and hand towels. I need to work out how to thread the loom to make larger hand towels. When I have cut these out I plan on crocheting around the edges using nice, bright cottons.

• To weave on a pin loom and create a blanket from the squares using my handspun wool.

I have a pin loom, well, three now. They are really easy to make! I haven’t enough squares to make a blanket yet. When I have some more free time I will dye some more rovings. I think I must have about twenty squares now. I plan on getting some foam or something so I can block them all. Some have crumpled up so much.

• To not buy any yarn/wool until I have used up as much as possible from the cabinet. (See how long this one lasts!)

Yeah… this didn’t last long. But to be fair, this is the first lot I have bought this year! Lovely set from Wool Warehouse. Have you seen their Drops Love You 5 range cottons? 80p a ball! I bought two of almost each colour.

• To lose at least two stone.

Hrmph. I weighed myself last Monday and today. Apparently I have lost two pounds. It’s a start I ‘spose.

• To reborn at least three reborn doll kits.

I started painting one kit the other day, but I wasn’t really into it so haven’t got much done. I’m not enjoying the new paints either. I’ve got onto the blushing but not sure how it is looking just yet. I don’t really want to buy any more of these as they take up an awful lot of space.

• To go back to Germany at least once.

I literally won’t have time this year. Unless I go in the October holidays? I dunno. I’m saving up  at the moment, so I’m not sure what will happen here. I would love to go back to Cologne.

• To have something I have wanted since I was little. 

We shall see what happens in August!

• To make a baby blanket.

I finished one! Does that count? Not sure I fancy making another one at the moment, but I might feel like it later. I would probably crochet it, rather than knit it.

Hmm, I’m not doing terribly well, but it is only the first quarter of the year. I’ve done my planning for this week so I am going to relax, take a look at taking the weaving from the loom, take a bath and browse Ravelry for a while until something catches my eye.

Have a great evening!

xXx Love Kais xXx

Crochet Baby Rattle Tutorial – Part 2

Hello everyone,

Here is the final part of the Crochet Baby Rattle Tutorial. Hope this one is just as helpful as the first. 🙂

You can find the first part of the tutorial here – Crochet Baby Rattle Tutorial – Part 1 

So, you will have the completed doughnut ring from the last session. This one concentrates on lots of crochet.

Instead of putting the little bells into the head of the rattle, I have created a teeny tiny ball in which they can go. This is then put inside the bigger head of the rattle.

Using magic loop, SC (US)/DC (UK) 4 sts into the middle.

Ch1, Sc2 into each stitch around. (8)

Ch1, *Sc1, Sc2* all around (12)

Ch1, Sc into each st for three rows (12)

Push the little bells/noise makers into the middle of the ball. Bit tricky as you have to crochet it closed now.

Ch1, *Sc1, Sc2tog* around (8)

Ch1, *Sc2tog* all around. (4)

Cut yarn and thread through the remaining stitches, binding tightly. Sew ends in.

Only small!

Now to start on the head of the rattle.

Magic loop and sc4.

Ch1, 2Sc into each stitch. (8)

Ch1, *1sc, 2sc* all around (12)

Ch 1, *1sc, 1sc, 2sc* all around (16)

Ch1, *1sc, 1sc, 1sc, 2sc* all around (20)

Ch1, *1sc, 1sc, 1sc, 1sc, 2sc* all around (24)

Ch1, SC across each stitch for 8 rounds.

Now you are going to stuff the bottom with whatever stuffing you have available, or some wadding. I used stuffing. Stuff the bottom, and around the sides, leaving a gap in the middle. Put the first little ball into the middle of this stuffing, like so –

Now to crochet it closed again, just like before. We are working backwards from the previous instructions.

Ch1, *sc1, sc1, sc1, sc1, sc2tog* all around. (20)

Ch1, *sc1, sc1, sc1, sc2tog* all around (16)

Ch1, *sc2tog* all around. (8)

Make sure it is stuffed to the top.

Now, instead of finishing it off we are going to sew it straight onto the ring. Cut a long enough yarn to sew all around it.

Work out a good place to put the head on and start to sew all around, pulling the yarn tightly to keep the head on well. Sew all the way around. 

Make sure you go all the way round, leaving no gaps!

And voila! Very pleased with this. Now to add some features. You can do any you like, but this is what I have done.

I added some ears using Tunisian Crochet. There are lots of good links to do this online. I liked this because it meant I did not have to make ears and then sew them on later. You basically pick up six stitches (just like knitting) where you want the ear. You loop the yarn over once and pull it through the first stitch. Yarn over again, and over the next two stitches. Continue this way until you have finished. (Yo, pull through 2). Check picture below.

I did this three times, and then put an SC on either side to make the ears rounder. Repeat for other ear.

You can then add a little colour to the face to give it a personality.

I long stitched into the first ear, threaded the needle through the head, and then out the other side. Repeat this.

Add a little nose! I stitched a small triangle and then filled this in.

And then there you have it! A little, fully working baby rattle. I hope that you enjoy it and would love to see some photos if you decide to make it. I plan on making lots more in different colours and different noises.

Perhaps try with crinkly plastic? Seeds? Lots of possibilities. The only thing I would say is to make sure it is very securely sewn in so nothing can escape.

Have fun everyone!

xXx Love Kais xXx

Crochet Baby Rattle Tutorial – Part 1

Hello everyone,

I have seen some lovely patterns for baby toys as I was getting a little bored with constantly knitting and crocheting clothes. I thought maybe it would be nice to make some toys? I had a quick glance through patterns on Ravelry and Google, but settled on a mix of things I had seen. This rattle is easy to make and hopefully the instructions are easy to follow.

You need –

A round ring of some sort, roughly 3″ by 3″. I used these kind of links. They are a bit wonky but you see how they work out later. I bought these from an ASDA store (I’m in the UK) but as you can see, these can be bought in the US too.

Crochet hook size 4mm. 

DK yarn x 2 colours. I’m just using acrylic, but I’m sure anything will work.

Strips of wadding, about an inch thick.

Strips of cotton or fleece, about an inch thick.

Needle and thread. I use invisible thread.

Wool or tapestry needle. 

A rattling noise! I use craft bells to make a nice tinkly rattling sound, but you can use anything.

Stuffing. 

Here is an example of what you need first. As you can see the fleece and wadding are just scrappy bits, but they work well.

Start wrapping the wadding around the link. This make it soft and squeezy, rather than hard. It does not matter if the ends are lifting up slightly, this will get covered by the fleece.

And this is what it will look like when finished.

Start the same again using the cotton. Wrap it all the way round making sure to cover up all the wadding.

There we go! Looks like a doughnut. Use your needle and thread to sew down the last flap of cotton. This should only need a few stitches, it’s just to hold it down.

Using your crochet hook you are going to make the cover for the rattle. Remember you may need to use a few more or few less stitches than me according to how big your link is.

Make a chain of 15 stitches.

Turn and SC(US)/DC(UK) back down the line. – 14 stitches. 

Continue going back and forth alternating the colours every four rows. Keep checking against your loop to make sure it is long enough. It should be able to go all the way round the link and meet in the middle too.

I did ten colour changes. Make sure to do the last colour different from your first!

Right, now we are ready! I would advise that you sew in the ends of the piece first as they tend to get in the way.

Use a wool needle to start to slowly sew the crochet piece onto the ring. It’s fairly straightforward at the start but as you continue it gets a bit tricky! I didn’t sew up the pieces to meet right until the end. I sewed the piece in the middle as much as possible to try and keep the stitches hidden.

And voila! One starter rattle handle. I’m really pleased with it.

The next part will be showing the top of the rattle and how to put the noise maker (or whatever you have chosen) into it. I will try and put that up today.

Here is the link to the next part – Crochet Baby Rattle Tutorial – Part 2

Happy Rattle Making!

xXx Love Kais xXx

Hello everyone,

It’s been a lovely holiday so far, shame it’s nearly at the end. Two more days and then back to work! I’ve realised how much I’ve been able to do when I haven’t been working. The first week I was at A’s flat, well, our flat. We gave it a huge spring clean and changed furniture around. It looks really nice and it’s very homely. It also feels like it has a lot more room too.

The first week I managed to get quite a bit of knitting and stuff done. Also got quite a bit done on the train up too, instead of working. Bliss! I had to come up on the Friday as A was filming on the Saturday and needed my help. He is currently at University studying media and editing. Part of his course this year is creating a short film (20 mins or so) and he has chosen his based on an Indie game. The actors and actresses he got were very nice and it seemed a good laugh all round.

So… photos!

I FINALLY got this finished!

I thought the best colour to go border it would be purple. It is pretty hard trying to get the correct amount of stitches up the side so it co-ordinates.

This photo is upside down but it shows the full effect. I do like it. I have sewn all the ends in now though.

I have knitted a newborn hat, mittens and booties set. I really like them and they knitted up quickly. I chose to knit these on dpns, rather than the straights the pattern called for so it would be easier than sewing up at the end. I did have to use straights for the booties though.

I started on some baby bibs when I was there too. I saw some basic ones on Ravelry and then decided to make them up myself. I had ordered some cotton online a few days beforehand and have really enjoyed working with it. Such vibrant colours.

I went around each bib with a white cotton border and finished each bib with a red apple button. I plan on using the same red button for each bib I make. I did see some with a green leaf on though, which I might change to instead. I’ve put them onto the baby doll and they fit really well. Being cotton they are easy to clean and wipe up, then stick in the washer. I’ve designed them so that they fit over the shoulders nicely rather than the plain circle. As you can see in the picture, I’ve not done terribly well, but practice makes perfect! I’m wondering whether to put some writing on it or not, such as the days of the week, or ABC.

I made this little jacket at the flat too, and finished off the buttons from my brothers house. (He has a gorgeous big glass bowl of buttons in his house). I am not a fan of the pattern and as such, probably won’t knit this again. I forgot to do a button hole at the bottom right hand corner but the button squeezes through anyway. It was knit on 5.5mm needles (size 9 US I think). I didn’t have my 5.5mm dpns for the sleeve so went round all the charity shops in the area to see if I could find any. None at all! Only two had any needles but not the size, and other charity shops refused to sell them! Dangerous apparently! That made me very angry. What nonsense! How is a knitting needle dangerous enough to refuse to sell? I’ve seen them sell knife sets, and tools. A sharpened pencil can do some damage, and a fork! Grrr…. Anyway, I checked out the proper yarn shops and the first one didn’t have any in that size so suggested the other shop. She was very helpful. The second shop was small and on my way back. The owner was talking to some customer for five minutes, and then when the customer was browsing I thought she would ask me if I needed help as she was not doing anything. I was looking through all the needles, back and forth, but no, nothing. Didn’t get a hello, nothing. Makes me mad too. I often find that since I am a younger knitter, people don’t bother with me in their shops. I was in the same shop two days previously buying cotton yarn from her! Grr… again!

I found this pile of squares in another charity shop and thought I might be able to do something with them. They are not great colours but I thought they would work for a simple quilt that I could take to the beach or use outside. The squares were roughly 5″ by 5″. I sewed in columns and then rows. I then backed it with wadding and yellow fleece fabric. The fabric is so smooth!

I also changed the squares so they were opposite sides to each other, e.g. the straight up and down blue, and the across blue.

Lovely and soft and warm! Mum has been testing it out in the kitchen and she says it is very warm! ❤

Whilst at the flat A showed me his shirt and asked if I had a needle and thread so he could mend his shirt. I was impressed that he wanted to do it himself! I didn’t at the time (I did, I found some later in my bag!) so I bought him a mini sewing kit from the pound shop. I showed him how to start and stop handstitching and how to do a simple mending stitch. I’m very impressed with the good job he did.

Be prepared for absolute cuteness in the next photo! This gorgeous little lady is Livvy, my brother and his partners puppy. She is a Collie dog and is adorable. How can you not fall in love with that little face?? We had a bit of a panic with her at first. The day after he got her she started having fits which is obviously really scary. I think she had eight in five days. When they took her to the vet they had blood tests and so on and had to wait a week for the results. During that time she didn’t have anymore. We thought perhaps she was epileptic but the results showed she has no problems whatsoever! Turns out she had had a bad reaction to the worming tablets she was given by the previous owner. But now that it has worked out of her system she is a happy, healthy, chatty dog who loves company. ❤

I had a good look through all the baby stuff I’ve made over the past few years. I’m pretty impressed with it all. Can you guess how many cardigans and jumpers I’ve made altogether? 23!! So happy with them all. The only thing I found was that I’ve been pretty lazy and not sewn in the ends on quite a few items, so that needs done. I’ve put all the items that that needs doing to in a biggish box in the cupboard, right at the front. When I have a spare hour I’m going to pull out that box and try and get them all done in one go. Fun….not!

And what am I going to make next?

I’m working on making some crocheted baby rattles. I’ve actually made a tutorial for the first part as I work through it, bit by bit. It’s a little late to be doing that now (half past midnight) so I’ll try and get it up tomorrow.

Have a great evening!

xXx Love Kais xXx

Ok, so this is it. The end of 2014. Can’t believe that it is the end of the second year of my blog! Last year I wrote about things I feel I have achieved and things that I wanted to achieve.

What I have achieved this year

• I have been horse riding.
• I have wall climbed! (I am immensely proud of this one).
• I have been to the top of Blackpool Tower – TWICE!
• I finally went to Germany!
• I am now a high A2, low B1 language level in German.
• I have been abroad on my own – full independence!
• I have a new teaching job.
• I got a summer job teaching English.
• I finally went to a pub gig and did some dancing.
• I rescued some more chickens.
• My boyfriend and I got a flat.
• I learnt how to sew.

Looking back over that list I am very proud of myself.

This is last years list. I will cross out what I feel I have achieved.

Things I would like to try/ achieve in 2014.

• Learn long draw
• Dye using proper dyes
• Learn entrelac
• Crochet a baby garment
• Knit another pair of socks
• Get as many of my kits done as possible
• Finish CAL blanket
• Do something with Tunisian crochet
• Sew up my dpn holder
• Sew the Christmas advent calendar
• Create my own knitting pattern
• Make some felt kits
• Get lots of more sheep fleece prepped

Yeah, looking good! I kept meaning to sew the Christmas Advent Calendar but never got around to doing it which is a shame. Me and Mum will sew it for next year. I tried having a go at Tunisian Crochet again but I don’t think it is for me. I used the fabric for the dpn holder for making baby pants, haha. Knitting pattern, hmm, thinking about I think I did sort of adapt a knitting pattern so that is kinda my own pattern, right? As for getting kits done… urgh! Hardly any done. I really, really need to.

Ok, this is what I would like to achieve by the end of 2015!

• Have at least ten baby items sewn, aging from newborn to age 2/3.
• At least ten baby items knitted, aging from newborn to 2/3.
• At least ten baby items crocheted, aging from newborn to 2/3. (Can you see the links here??)
• To get every single fleece in the shed and porch washed and carded into gorgeous, soft, fluffy batts.
• To spin up ten batts/tops/rovings that I have in my spinning box.
• To spin up an entire fleece.
• To knit/crochet/weave something using the handspun yarn under my bed.
• To learn to weave on my weaving loom.
• To weave on a pin loom and create a blanket from the squares using my handspun wool.
• To not buy any yarn/wool until I have used up as much as possible from the cabinet. (See how long this one lasts!)
• To lose at least two stone.
• To reborn at least three reborn doll kits.
• To go back to Germany at least once.
• To have something I have wanted since I was little.
• To make a baby blanket.

I think that is enough for now! I am looking forward to the end of next year to see if I have achieved any of these! I really, REALLY want to lose two stone so will be doing (after the New Year dinner) the dreaded diet and exercise… if possible! I would like to do some more reborn doll kits but will just sell them when finished. I already have two, it’s just the crafting that I love. And sooooooooo much wool craft – it makes me so happy to think of all that lovely wool!

Now, to see some photos of what I have achieved this year. Sadly, not nearly as much as last year but I have been working an awful lot. 🙂

January

February

March

April

July

September

October

December 

Ok everybody. I hate this bit… it always feels so sad knowing that this is the end of a long year. I hope that everyone has a very, very Happy New Year.

Make sure you do all that you want to do. Love deeply, be happy and don’t regret anything.

Happy New Year!

xXx Love Kais xXx

Hello everyone,

I have another blog post to complete later but thought I would squeeze another one in before I do my last one of the year.  Just a few photos to show the last month or two.

Here I was working on a simple crochet mitten. I took some of the shaping from a simple pattern but instead of crocheting in rounds I worked in a spiral. I found that was better because it didn’t leave a line up the back of the mitten. I have finished it now and put a little bit of blue ribbon round the wrist.

Here are the first pair of mittens I crocheted. Aren’t they cute?!

I am very proud of this next picture. This is another crocheted top with a little hat to match. There was only a few metres of yarn left at the end so I was fortunate to get it all finished. I will have to find the pattern out later. I learnt some new stitches (fbhp or something like that, haha) so my crochet skills are slowly improving.

Ok, time for some pet pictures! Here is sweet Molly sitting on my spinning wheel. She LOVES sitting on it. Excuse the mess, there are an awful lot of clothes not put away!  I also have to put sheets around the table so that she and Evie do not get under the table and stay there. Gorgeous girls 😀

My beautiful girls 🙂 Grace nearest me, Donna at front, Rose at left back and Martha. All doing well and happy 🙂

I was annoyed the other day that my train had been cancelled due to flooding. I know that sometimes they seem to exaggerate these things so I was angry at the thought of it being hardly a problem. Imagine my surprise opening the paper to find this! This is my exact train I wanted to get, haha. Ok, it’s not funny but I won’t complain about flooding again! (Everyone was fine, don’t worry). I had to get the slightly quicker, but more round about way train.

There has been an awful lot of flooding round here. This is the river in front of Andrews house (Ayr river). It was very high, a lot more than usual. Sometimes the river is so low you can see the floor.

This is a long overdue photo of the latest reborn doll I have done. The pictures don’t give it justice and make it look very, very pale with very little paint, grrr. This is the Tilly sculpt, bought from Lillian Trigg of Rochester. Beautiful kit. I didn’t see any pictures of what it could look like when painted so this was complete guesswork.  This one is different too as it has eyes. What a hassle trying to get the eyes in! You have to slit the back of the eye sockets and push them in that way. It took me ages trying to go through the front which resulted in me tearing tiny, tiny marks at the corners of her right eye. Oh well, she isn’t for sale anyway. I thought she looked like a boy when I finished, but the more I look at her it’s a her. She is a full limbed sculpt.

I love the soles of the feet.

You can just see the rosey cheeks in the picture above.

She is fully weighted to have the weight of a baby. She is filled with ground glass and stuffed with polyester stuffing to make a nice squidgey body.

In the photo below you can see the difference between the Tilly painted doll (right) and the Archie unpainted doll (left). The Archie sculpt is very pale in comparison and Tilly seems to have much more skin tone, and shiny lips!

I made a terrible error when I first started Tilly though. 😦 I had got most of her painted up and she looked great, no shiny skin or anything. Then I tried putting the eyes in and realised to my horror that the paint was rubbing off! I had forgotten to put thinner/sealer in any of the paint mix. This is a must as it seals the paint to the vinyl and prevents it from ever coming off. So yeah, I was very, very disappointed as the skin tone looked a lot better than it did in the photos you can see on here. Oh well, learning curves! I won’t be forgetting the thinner again, haha.

This is my little table I was using to get everything painted up. You can see I am painting in daylight because it shows the true colours. But because of the daylight fading away at 3pmish it was hard to stop. My wonderful parents bought me a daylight lamp, yay! I’m using it right now and it is amazing. It means I can do my crafts until stupid o clock in the morning and won’t be straining my eyes. The lights I have in my room seem very orange in comparison to the daylight lamp. I love it! But what shall my next  project be? Hmm…

Here are a couple of photos of the doll wearing the recent crocheted items.

I crocheted the little hat the other night in bed as a ‘something to do with my hands’ whilst watching telly. Going to make another one tonight perhaps? I have also crocheted a little diaper cover which matches the hat.

One thing I do need to work on is starting my crochet much, MUCH more loosely. It’s far too tight and pulls the stitches in, distorting it.

Right, I’m off to get photos and things ready for my final post of the year. Sobering thought, huh? I’ve now been doing this blog for two whole years. Never, ever thought it would get this far. But I love it, and I hope that everyone who reads it has enjoyed it too.

xXx Love Kais xXx

It’s certainly been a while since I lasted posted. The longest gap yet I think. I have had a few reasons for this though. First is that I was in Germany for a month. Gosh… that doesn’t seem real really. It was only a few weeks ago I came back and it hardly feels like I was there at all. I miss it so much, but I know I will be back there one day. Maybe next year, if I am lucky.

Here are a couple of my favourite photos.

Koln am Rhein. This bridge was very long – the Hohenzelle Brucke. Absolutely stunning. If you lean over the side you can see the ships and boats going underneath. The first few times that I saw it, the bridge was pretty empty except for a few tourists. The next time I went it was so busy I could barely move! I love the idea of the locks on the bridge. You put the name of your lover or loved ones on the bridge. You lock the padlocks (which are engraved or written on) and then throw the keys into the water below. This symbolises ever lasting love. (Apparently, if you split up, you have to dive into the water to retrieve the keys). I, of course, had to join in this beatiful tradition.

 

Me and my boyfriend, my parents, my beautiful, beautiful dogs, and above, my wonderful family 🙂 I took a photo of the surrounding area and the number above the bridge so I can hopefully find them the next time.

Here is a quick picture of me on the way back home (after a 24 hour bus journey!!) I was almost home… I look so tired.

If you would like to see some more photos of the Cologne trip you can view them here –

https://adventuresincologne.wordpress.com/

I created a little blog so I could show the photos to my family whilst I was away. I was there for a month but have only sixteen days worth of photos up. I need to get around doing the rest later.

I saw some beautiful craft shops in Germany, and the craft book section in Mayersche book store was beautiful. They sold sewing patterns too.

I loved this sign on a clothes shop window!

Knit Club!

I bought a fantastic crochet book from Mayersche shop. It is a pattern book for a really cute set of dolls with an entire wardrobe.

It was E12,99, which is kind of expensive. Ah, who am I kidding, it IS expensive. I worked out though, it was the same price if I had bought it online at home. I think it works out to about £9/10. The illustrations are so pretty. As soon as I got home I found out my favourite Patons Smoothie yarn and started. (After I had translated several of the instructions). It didn’t take me too long to create the basic doll.

After that I created some mini pants (whilst watching The Apprentice. Anybody been watching the UK Apprentice show? Last one was horrendous, was so annoyed with it) and then a little jacket.

I haven’t done any features on the face apart from a teeny yarn nose. I think she is cute. And it gives me a great excuse to buy some more Patons Smoothie. I cannot rate that yarn highly enough!

Mum had bought back my jumper knitting project from my Nans house and it was waiting for me in my room when I got back. It didn’t take me too long to finish the sleeve and sew it up. It was a little too tight the first sleeve I sewed, so I unpicked it and sewed it as loose as possible. Still a bit tight but wearable. I love it.

I had planned on knitting some socks when I was away but never got around to doing them. I started them a week ago and have them finished. I’m wearing them right now actually.

I used Sirdar Crofter yarn that I had been given ages ago. I used Silvers Sock Class tutorial to make these.

http://www.cometosilver.com/socks/

Absolutely fantastic tutorial for anyone who would like to learn how to knit socks, either on four needles, two at a time toe up or one sock at a time on circular needles. I think I can remember how to do it without a tutorial now which is really helpful. This is my second two at a time toe up socks on circular needles. Invaluable. I don’t think I would like to knit socks singly anymore, haha.

I added a bit of cabling and a picot edge bind off. The cabling was my own design. Not fantastic, but I like it. It might have worked better on non stripy yarn.

I bought some mini Christmas decorations back from Aldi in Germany. They were E2,99 and you could make six little people from it. It had an awful lot in the pack!

I love the little knitted hats. I did a bit of one and Mum did the rest. They look so cute! She put our initials on each of the angels.

They are hanging on a little tree in our hallway at the moment. They look so pretty. I need to get a photo of that.

The following pictures are of the little project I finished today. I fell in love with it when I saw the pattern online. It did not take too long to make and I want to make loads!

I then put it on Christina doll.

Haha, I love it. The pom pom took aggges. I haven’t made one in such a long time!

Anyway, I’d better go. Here are a few pictures of my babies… I was so happy to see them again. I couldn’t believe how much I missed them. It’s Alfies birthday today too, exactly one year old! Happy Birthday Alfie!

Alfie fell asleep like this…

Gorgeous boys together. Love you Freddy and Alfie.

Have a great night everyone,

xXx Love Kais xXx

Hello everyone,

Just sat relaxing in bed listening to the heavy rain outside. I love listening to rain, it’s so relaxing. The more wild and loud the better. I love hearing the wind and rain. I do not however, like how it is for my poor chickens! Poor things were drenched when I went to see them in the afternoon. I decided to do them some porridge which they all tucked into happily.

These photos were not from today but I think they are gorgeous.

Grace sitting on my hand in the left picture with cheeky Martha sitting next to me in the right hand picture. I love these two so much, as well as my other two gorgeous girls. I love the way they greet me when I go into their run. They all crowd round and they jump up next to me when I sit on their jumps. I kneeled down to see them the other day and Grace jumped on my arm. I turned to see what they others were doing when Rose leapt up next to her 😀

So, what craft things have I been up to? I decided to get some carding done finally. I chose to do my laundry bag of natural cream Jacobs fleece. It took a good while and I was getting fed up towards the end. The end result is always very pleasing though. I carded each of these batts twice to make them nice and smooth and then they were tied with orange ribbon.

I washed another fleece too. It was so big that it took five dryers to hold it all outside. It is a Whitefaced Woodland sheep. Here it is fully unrolled outside. It was huge!

I think this only had two hot washes and two hot rinses before it was ready to be spun in the washing machine. I might dye some of this later.

Ooh, I’ve finally knitted something else! I seemed to go off knitting for a while (I haven’t touched that baby cable cardigan in aggges) so I am amazed I finished these.

These were knitted Two At A Time using a circular needle and the magic loop method. I LOVED this method and will certainly be doing this again. I’m thinking of buying some specific sock yarn next time – something bright and cheerful. Also, when I made socks before I knitted back and forth and picked stitches up the sides. On these I wrapped stitches and continued knitting in the round. Love them. The yarn is a recycled dress which possibly was blogged about a long while ago. The socks are way nicer than the dress!

I crocheted this little hat too. I think it’s really cute and want to make some more in bigger sizes. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it seems very open at the back. I love the white trim detail. I also crocheted a top to match. I followed the instructions for a newborn crocheted sweater but as you can see it was ridiculously small for baby doll.

I really want to get another reborn doll. This time one with their eyes open I think.

I thought I’d try out something different yet again. My Mum and I visited a friends house and she had done the most amazing work with loom bands. I instantly wanted to do some too. The friend generously gave me a really good loom. I had left some bands at my Nannys house but wouldn’t be getting those back for ages. We nipped into the shops on the way back and this is what I got –

I haven’t done too much with them as I find you need to have intense concentration and everything seems to be making my eyes ache at the moment. I also find that I always leave one loop left unlooped which wrecks the whole of the item. I managed to do one though – a fish!

I am going to put a keyring on him and attach him to my keys.

Now… as you will have seen I’ve been really getting into my sewing. My sewing machine has been an amazing piece of machinery and I am so grateful for it. I think it was one of the cheapest models I could find but I have absolutely no complaints. Here are some of the things I have made very recently. . .

Dungarees (0-3 months)

Shirt (12 months) I still need to do the button holes for this. I hadn’t actually learnt how to do them at that point but I know now. The collar is definitely not right but it doesn’t matter.

This was already cut out in a kit but all the sewing was done by me. I changed the way it closed a little bit and I really like the end result. I also added in some plastic at the bottom to give it some more depth and structure. I would like to strengthen the buttons on the side a bit more though.

Pants, pants and more pants! (0-3 months) I adore making these. I absolutely love this pattern. Whenever I feel the need to sew something I grab the simple paper pattern and getting pinning. I’m glad I bought so much elastic when it was cheap.

Don’t I look grumpy? This was a mock dress I made to see how a pattern worked. I’ve added in boning and a zip at the back. I’m really proud of how this turned out. It fitted very well and wasn’t in the least bit uncomfortable. The only problem I think was the zip bunching at the back. I intend to remake this dress using a gorgeous silky pink fabric with a black lace overlay. I can imagine the silky material is going to be very hard to cut if it keeps sliding about.

The black lace is simply pinned on the top of the dress as I was seeing how I might like it to go. I like it very much and so does Freddy 😀

As for my future crafty plans?

I’ve started cutting out the pieces for this and plan to start sewing them up tomorrow.

I’ve cut out the pieces for six, yes, SIX, more pants. Told you I can’t get enough of these! I made this little one up very quickly too. I might time myself actually… They all look very dark but some of the colours are nice and bright. The nice blues are not showing.

The party dress on the right in the bottom right corner is how I want my dress to be. I bought this pattern last week along with the one next to it. Can’t wait to do the little sailor outfits 😀 I borrowed the top middle from my brothers sewing pattern collection, the right one he bought for me from a charity shop for 49p (its the wrong size so I shall just trim it down and adapt it) and the one on the right was bought for me by my Mother. Such funny little teddies and toys 🙂

As for knitting and crocheting I am unsure of what to do next. I would like to get on with knitting the cable cardigan but I seem to have such a mental block whenever I pick it up. I’ll find something. I have shelves full of beautiful yarn all wanting to be made into something nice.

Anyway, have a nice night everyone.

xXx Love Kais xXx