Walking in a Winter Moominland

Secret Santa is a thing that work does every year and most years I get someone I have no idea what they'd appreciate so either do a jokey present or go safe with bath stuff or similar. This year I picked one of my friend's names out of the hat which meant it is an EPIC year for secret santa!

She absolutely loves moomins and as the suggested amount is £5.00 buying one was out of the question. After a short search on Google I found this little beauty, I can only apologise to the author of the pattern for the differences in my finished product. I never started out to make it differently, I just ended up only being able to find a size 5.5mm hook and had to use the wool I had in my stash due to lack of funds. This meant that the finished product turned out a lot bigger than I think it probably should have!

I still love it though!

Winnie the Pooh Alphabet Sampler

Latest cross stitch finish:

I'm so pleased with it, it's turned out really well and I'm already nearly there to finishing the pattern all over again for another friend! Apparently, I had some oomph and managed to stick at it for longer than half an hour ;)

This one was lovingly made for one of my best friend's little girl and the second is being lovingly made for my godson so hoping to have that finished by Christmas.

This time scale should be doable so long as the double knitting that I have just been taught doesn't distract me too much........

Bernat Softee Baby Crochet Baby Blanket

I have a finish!!

I started this baby blanket back in May this year and had to restart it a couple of weeks or so ago as I ran out of wool. It was a pink that I had thought I'd be able to match if I needed more, but alas, no!

So I bought a three pack of Robin Bonny Babe Double Knitting in a light pink and started again.

The pattern I followed is the Bernat Softee Baby Crochet Baby Blanket found here (you may have to sign up to open it, but it's free and you don't get hassled!). As I'd already done four rows of the squares, it was pretty easy to get them done again. I had a little hiccough when I got to the border, mainly because my brain wasn't working properly due to a cold, but once I twigged that "Join yarn in
top left corner ch-7 sp. Ch 4." didn't mean join yarn, chain seven, leave a space, chain four, I was good to go!

I really love how it's turned out and highly recommend it if you're looking for something easy that looks really pretty!

It was twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play....

I finished a project last week and today I would like to share it's story with you all!

The picture I have made the pattern from:

 The Start, 17th June 2011:

 19th June 2011:

Morning of 3rd July 2011:

Yes, that is exactly how long it took me to notice that I was stitching in the wrong colour!! I was following the correct symbol for that colour, but for some reason the key chart had printed off wrong :'( and I didn't check the original picture and didn't twig that it was too green until I got to this point. So, I put it down. Had a little RAWR attack and a cry. Picked it up and unpicked the lot!

Afternoon of 3rd July 2011:

 And later on that evening after I had restarted:

8th October 2011:

2nd January 2012:

5th February 2012:

4th March 2012:

25th March 2012:

14th September 2012 - Half way!!

 29th September 2012:

 27th January 2013:

5th February 2013:

2nd July 2013:

FINISHED!!! 5th July 2013:

 And so you can see the likeness, the pic of the design and the finished cross stitch:

I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. I think it ended up taking me so long because I had to restart it - I think that played a part in me not picking it up very often. That and the million and one other things I like to do all at the same time ;)

One! Ah! Ah! Ah!

Last year I discovered some great patterns that relate to programmes, films and genres that my best friend and I absolutely love. I saved them all and decided that at some point I would make a blanket out of them all for her as she is a super knitter and crocheter but is constantly making things for others and doesn't have a lot of time to sit down and make lots of stuff for herself.

The joke, when I start a project (as can be seen by previous posts) is that I come up with great (and massive) ideas and then take forever to complete them. This year, I have decided to try and rectify this and have been trying to work on one or other of my projects each day (where possible). This, and my excitement at actually starting to knit the blanket, has resulted in the first patch being completed!

I have followed a pattern to knit The Count from The Muppets from Ravelry, designed and posted for free by a user called Roben who has kindly uploaded the pattern for people to make their own or make as a gift. Roben's Jim Henson Muppet Charts take a look, as there are more than this one and they are all brilliant!

This is my first time of knitting a pattern like this, and I have pulled the yarn too tight when wrapping it behind to take the colours along with me (I'm not sure what this is called. I tried the Fair Isle way, but didn't like it as the back of the blanket would have had too many loose/cat-catchable threads on it). As I pulled too tight, it has made the rectangle not quite rectangular, but I'm happy with the overall result.

This is the finished piece! And below is a picture of the back - if you know the name of the style of knitting with two colours like this, please let me know! 

Hmmm, what to make now, I wonder.............

My York Minster Project, here-on-in to be known as The Monster!

So my Mum loves Cathedrals and, in particular, loves York Minster.

I love cross-stitching (and craftiness in general) and have made a few patterns myself to stitch up and thought "Why don't I do York Minster for my Mum?"

Well, I picked a picture, made a pattern and went for it, before I really thought about how big it was going to be. I think the size of it stems from my love of history and such things as tapestry hangings and the Bayeux Tapestry.

This is the picture I created the pattern from:

This is the pattern:

 (Yes, that's my living room floor!)

This is the fabric with the threads:

 This is the fabric once I'd prepared it to start stitching:

(I did this by back stitching all along the two edges that weren't hemmed so as to stop any possible fraying. I then marked out the amount of fabric that I had calculated in for framing.)  

And this is what I've got after exactly 34 hours and 10 minutes of stitching:

I've been taking note of how many hours I'm spending on it as it will have a total of 788,463 cross-stitches by the time I'm finished. For those of you interested, the width is 897 stitches and the height is 879 stitches and I'm working it on 18 count Aida.

I'm pleased with it so far. I've managed to keep it neat (front and back) and not made any glaringly obvious mistakes! *touches wood for luck*

Christmas Bits

Happy New Year Everybody!

Now that the Christmas holidays are done with I can share a couple of things.

This is the cross-stitch I completed for my brother's girlfriend. She recently bought her own flat so I thought it would be nice to have a homemade picture to hang or display. Luckily she thought so too!

 I attempted to knit a Santa Suit for my friends new baby girl, however I never managed to finish the legs in time. No worries, though, the suit went down well enough as is!

And last, but not least, a Christmas present from the inlaws! I can't wait to get started with these :)

Here's hoping 2013 is a year of finishes!!!