Tuesday Treasure 31/5/11

Hello Everyone...

The sun is shining, although there seem to be some heavy clouds here and there.  

Lying in bed last night I was thinking about all the things I truly treasure having spent an evening on Pinterest coveting all the amazing and beautiful things people have pinned.  I decided that while I LOVE pinterest it can be a little bit like lifestyle programs which show you gorgeous amazing things which are well out of the reach of the average person.  

Today I woke up wanted to do a serial blog theme "Tuesday Treasures" I found this The House on The Side of the Hill

So here is mine....

I am lucky enough to be married to my bestest friend...  surely THIS is a treasure worth so much more than anything on a lifestyle program 

Purple Haze

Nothing like a birthday to get the crafting juices pumping!

After an afternoon of knitting... frogging and knitting again (wrong size needles/yarn problems) I needed a break from the pressure of knitting very plain and simple things wrong so I got the wheel out and finally plied my lovely "Jump for my Love" Uk shetland dyed my Spinning a Yarn.  I had this for my birthday and actually finished spinning it a while ago but I run out of bobbins to ply it (poor planning obviously)

so here is it's journey :)

The Fibre Braid

Bobbin loaded with single one

Single two!

First I split the fibre by splitting the braid length ways down the middle and then spun it worsted... once spun into these two singles I plied them together into a lovely fingering weight yarn...  the effect is so beautiful.

There is 120m of it and it is lovely and squishy although I have no idea what to make with it yet !

So now the blog is done I guess I should continue with the birthday crafting.... or maybe a bit of relaxation spinning :)

Counting Down....

The youngest Unconventional member turns two on Friday so I have been busy!

Last night after a few battles with the sewing machine I made this for G.... It should have taken me less than an hour but the amount of times I had to perform surgery on the sewing machine meant I was still up at 12 sewing! eek!

I have been wanted to make a pencil roll for a little while and although I had read quite a few tutorials I winged it in the end as I couldn't find my measuring tape.  

Anyway enough talking now for the pictures!

Motor Vehicles for my little man

with a little fold over flap to stop the pencils falling out when they are thrown into a bag 

 and the flap open....

Not the neatest of sewing or most precise but I am so pleased with it and I think G will really like it.

It has made me realise that the sewing machine which is almost as old as me and was my mums could do with updating or at least a service and I could do with some lessons on how to sew ~blush~

A few more projects on the go too this week to get ready for G's Birthday.... Shame I am feeling so poorly :( Yes the germs have returned so will have to try and work through them.

Hope you all are having a lovely weekend

x

Rainbow Heaven!

Well Hello!!!!

I hope your day is not as dull as ours here BUT if it is we have been up to something to brighten up any miserable day!

Having spent this morning in a very windswept field watching eldest Unconventional boy playing football I can confirm my felted hat is warm!  So warm I had to give my warm head a rest!  Oh but when I got home what a wonderful treat I had!

A new bobbin for Bertie had arrived from The Threshing Barn!  

Now I have needed this bobbin for a while as I have two beautiful shetland singles waiting to be plied but I had been let down by a different supplier so they have been languishing :(  Hope to get them plied soon!!!!

Oh and I have been playing with my new drill and saw!  curious? Well I made a rainbow!  A rainbow Necklace out of pencil crayons!

As it was my first attempt it is not as neat as I would like and I am planning on making another one over the next few days but I was so excited with the effect I wanted to share this preliminary effort!

I saw this blog... which gave me the idea I am going to get a bigger selection of colours and do some more... VERY easy to do and look lovely and fun.

And then Postie bought me THIS!!!!

 Yes! a style craft yarn pack... I don't usually buy yarn and use my hand spun but I have a yearning to make some granny squares or something lovely and needed yarn on a larger and cheaper scale really.  I think I may be browsing Attic 24 for some lovely patterns to attempt later this evening with a glass of wine in hand ~sigh~ who needs a TV?  not me!

{This Moment} ~ 27/05/11

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.


From Soulemama's blog take a look at others "moments" and share you own.

felted madness!!!! FO friday already ! 27/5/11

So here we are at Friday again! and do I have a finished object?  Oh I do indeed!

I started knitting a hat that had to be felted in my 2nd every handspun yarn.... needless to say I didn't calculate the yardage too well and ended up running out of the super squashy natural yarn....  The only other yarn in a similar weight I had here was the remnants of Energised, the wool I made my felted e-reader cover from so outit came.

But I didn't like the stark colour difference :(

so I got this....

 and did this!

simmered until the water was clear...

 which left me with THIS!

A shapeless red THING.... but felting is magic!  and after a couple of hours in the machine!  I ended up with my FO for today!

 and when I thought it was going to be natural coloured I was going to add some needle felted flowers and things but in this rich red and plum I don't think it needs it to be honest... I love it!

and in other news... I am beside myself with excitment when lovely Mr Unconventional came home with these for me ~happy dance~  

Oh the plans I have..... may be an interesting week :D

hope you have a fantastic Friday! be sure to check out other finished objects over here lots of beautiful things there already!

Confined to the house....Experimenting with colour

Good evening to you all!  

What a wind swept blustery day!  I do hope piglet was somewhere safe this evening.

George has decided now is the time to say goodbye to nappies so while we are all getting used to his cues we are staying close to home... but how to keep sane?

I love LOVE colour.... It makes me smile, bright colours, clashing colours, muted or pastel I love them all so when I saw this blog I just had to do it with the little ones!  I mean what ISN'T fun about vinegar and bicarbonate soda? Apparently there is NOTHING better when you are 4 and almost 2....

Simply add grab a couple of glasses and stand them in a tray to catch the mess (I used a lasagna dish)

half fill with vinegar, a bit was washing up liquid and some food colouring then give the reins to the children.

I gave them both spoons and free range on the bicarbonate soda....  to them it is magic! and created lots of fun which we did several times....

Oh the fun they had....

And then we noticed the colours mixing and more food colours got introduced to see what we could make.... eventually we got into a muddy mess but the boys were not ready to give in yet !  oh no! so armed with three glasses and water we mixed colours for a while....  so cheap and easy but kept them so happy!

such a lovely day!  But did it stop there?  oh no it didn't!

I finished knitting the felted hat!!!  unfortunalty I ran out of my lovely natural wool so finished it in my energised hand spun which I had left over from my felted e-reader case... but when it was knitted I wasn't in love with the stark combination

So ermmm well I had some of this....

But for the results you will have to come back tomorrow... It is my first ever dye project!

Thanks for reading

X

WIP Wednesday :D

Hello there lovely people :D and welcome to my work in progress Wednesday 

So this week I have been busy.... but not busy enough as I have 6 work in progresses on the go!  eek!  I should really pull my socks up but as they say variety is the spice of life and I enjoy switching and changing through the day.

So first up we have "the bag" which I have made a bit of progress on...  

It's slow going but thanks to my lovely project bag it is getting more love now as it lives in my work bag and comes out when I get a moment to hook away.

I also started this felted hat which started out on double pointed needles and has now progressed to the circulars   ~happy dance~  

I am hoping to embellish it with lovely things when it is felted :)

And then I turned my hand to sewing... while perusing Ikea which is one of my favourite pass times my daughter picked out a fabric and we decided it would make lovely bunting for her room...

so far I have sewn this many :)

I decided on hearts as they are much more her and I do hope she likes the finished result.

My other in progress items are spinning... I have two bobbins full of delightful singles spun from Spinning a Yarn Fibres but I don't have a spare bobbin to ply them onto!!!  I ordered one last week and was informed yesterday they are out of stock :(  boooo hissss so will need to find another.

I also started spinning some gorgeous My Heart Exposed fibre which is why I don't have a spare bobbin, When I saw the fibre I had to SPIN IT NOW! but work has been manic and it is awaiting my return.

and the spindle is till being patient, I love it so much how it awaits me to find a moment, usually while I am out and happily lets me spindle for a few moments before being returned to it's little carry tube for a day or two.  

So thats it here.... busy busy busy, variety and colour!  and lots of  new ideas for projects waiting their turn.

Want to see what others have been upto this week?  take a look here lots of links to other WIP Wednesday people :)

have a lovely Wednesday!

craft disasters....

Hello all... I do hope this finds you all well and smiling :D

I am an avid reader of craft blogs... I love them!  I love to see what everyone gets up to, to feel inspired and really to just soak up the crafty goodness but you see I am slightly craft inept....

I have a secret.  I am forgetful, very clumsy and far too easily distracted and sometimes these things do not go together so what I am going to go is to not only share the successfulness which is sometimes my crafty endevours   but also to share those not so great moments....

I often think my crafty side is more fluke and I thought it might be nice to see the not so great craft which goes on and makes it easier for people to just have a go!

I will start with my upcycling efforts with crayons....  

So the moral of this story?  If you want some new cooling racks and saucepans make some upcycled crayons  ~cough~

or?  Just give things a try and if you don't succeed keep trying (maybe move onto something different)  There will be something which you will enjoy and be good at!

Don't be put off by the fantabulous blogs which show pristine crafting, it's about the fun, the experiments and sometimes the disasters which if nothing else than getting new pans are an interesting experience ;).

Living life in the fast lane or in the

I wish this has something deep and meaningful behind it... like a breath of fresh air I turn my back on the city and flounce into the country growing my own veg and things, oh how I wish but alas nope...






I learned a lesson today.  It is a good idea to check the fuel gauge before you are half way to the destination !  If you find this ------>


And you have 2 under 5's in the car, a swimming lesson to get to and it is pouring down with rain.  Well it's just not the best news in the world.  Now add to this the fact my purse is still at home !!!! argh!




Yes life in the fast lane indeed.  It did get the adrenaline pumping almost like an afternoon at a theme park.  Nothing like a bit of risk to put a bit of excitement into the day!   Luckily I managed to make it to the pool... deposited the boy in the water and rang my knight in shining armour  (Mr Unconventional) who turned up with a lovely £20 note... it almost glimmered and shone like a cartoon note....




So with that done and dusted and home without a tow truck (for a change) I carried on with the knitting! (yes crochet is still languishing under my work things in the car)


I dug deep into my yarn basket to find this....


It's the 2nd ever skein of yarn I ever spun and since January it has been waiting and waiting for me to give it a chance (I've been far too taken my beautiful fibre lately)


It's natural Norwegian white tops spun up into about DK/Arun weight and as you can see it is well very inconsistent.  It is far worse than I remember it being through my rose coloured glasses ~laugh~  I thought it was amazing at the time!So it went on the skein winder and became a lovely soft squidgy ball of yarn

Just so you can see JUST how uneven it is 

 ~blush~  any way ;)  Once that was done I finally got a chance to use my LOVELY new knit pro DPN....


the knitting is on the go now and hopefully this one won't take me an eternity to complete!  I chose a very simple easy pattern which is going to be felted to hopefully make the best use of this lovely soft yarn.  Fingers Crossed all!

And breathe.....

After the busy and emotional day of yesterday today has been a blissful day of recuperation both emotionally and well we are all shattered so we were gentle with ourselves today...

I am really in love with my 1st Craft pippy yew spindle and still going strong with my my heart exposed yarn fibre....  it is so fresh looking it makes my taste buds tingle... I think this should be my heart exposed tag line as it seems to be a common effect when spinning their fibre. 

And as I was feeling the need to open something new... I could barely contain my excitement when I opened up "Northern Lights"  I have never spun Shropshire fleece before and I am soooooo in love!  It is so floofy ( is that a word?)  it almost spins itself and the colours are delightful.  

Talking about mouthwatering?  oh yes!  almost like a tube of an old favourite sweet I used to love... fizzy refreshers YUM....

It's impossible to show the beauty of the colours and how rich they are, almost iridescent as they merge into each other.

And of course I have to have a little helper ;)

  

I don't think it will be long before he is wanting his own!  he is always so interested in the spinning wheel, erm and the spindle.....  thats not so helpful when little hands get involved though ~laugh~

12 years ago today....

My life changed forever....  I became a mother.  Looking back what a transformation that was!  12 years of seeing my daughter change and grow.  To become the kind, considerate and artistic girl she is, with her own likes, friends and amazing talents.

When she was born I looked her over and saw the unique little birth marks on her unique little body... a little stork bite on her left hand covering her ring finger and little finger.  They have gone now, faded away to nothing.  

This morning we had a mother daughter day... we went for a lovely breakfast and shopping and I looked at her, her little freckles and moles which were not there this time 12 years ago but have developed on her beautiful skin and are her, the new her, the older her... I know each of them.

Much has happened in her 12 years....  and much more is to come.  How exciting the next few years will be.

Happy Birthday Princess... you will always be my baby x