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!!!