200 FOLLOWERS!!!!!!!!

Wow!
What a wonderful surprise this afternoon to log in and see that I have 200 of you lovely people wanting to see what I'm up to :) I feel so special.
I really want to celebrate now but I have derby practice tonight and work tomorrow and as I have learnt from experience drinking and skating is a dangerous combo, ha ha!

Well the Christmas crafting is coming along but is starting to drag like a dog with no legs. I have about 8 projects left to make and 11 day s till Christmas, will I get it done in time?

My mum has been dropping hints for a while that she would like a light weight shawl to take on holiday so I made her the sweet pea shawl from The Happy Hooker

I love the yarn for this shawl, Reflections, its nice and light weight with a metallic thread running through it to make it glitter in the light, also 100g of this yarn has over 200meters in it, more that enough to do this shawl. i have made this pattern 8 times now and i am currently on my 9th for my grans Christmas present. What can I say, it's a really good pattern.

I have redesigned the Kitty Hooded Scarf now with extra paws:

I'm sure I'll get round to writing up the pattern at some point and then we can have a beginners and intermediate pattern :)

In a moment of madness I decided to organise my yarn stash:

I took ages but it was worth it as it saved me buying more yarn that I didn't need and sort some of it into future projects, though trying to organise it into categories was confusing.

Right I have yet more projects to get done!
TTFN

Getting there

I knew it would be insane to make my niece's a blanket each for Christmas but by golly did I do it!

I was so glad that I got them done. Its the largest of the projects I had to get done for Christmas. I used the pattern from Angel Fire. Now it's time to get on with the ridiculous amount of cowls I'll be making for everyone.

I had some devastating news yesterday on the way to derby practice. My favorite shop the Pin Tin is closing down :'( they have such a lovely selection of yarn and fabric. I plan to go there on Friday and stock up, and also take advantage of the 20% discount that is on everything until Nov the 30th. It's such a  shame that we are losing yet another haberdashery in Plymouth, earlier this year we lost Derrys due to the recession and it is even sadder that we are losing the Pin Tin because it's an independent store. I hope that the reason the Pin Tin is closing is for something good like moving to a new premises but from the posters in the window it doesn't look like it. There is a new haberdashery opening soon in Plymouth but I'm not holding my breath for quality yarn, i have a feeling that there will be lots of synthetic novelty yarn :s

Keep Crocheting!

So the Christmas crochet saga continues. I was writing a list of all the presents I need to make then I remembered that the is also 5 birthdays in December not including my own. E'gad! I'm going to need joint replacements in my fingers in January! I am so glad i have discovered the cowl, Its so easy to make and is unisex, Fantastic!

The magazine contacted me yesterday. Although some of my patterns have been moved back i have one or two patterns in the next issue out in December and I get sent a free copy of the issue every time I am in it, gotta love the perks of the job :)

I'm trying to set up an Etsy shop at the moment but making my banner look good is driving me crazy. Any suggestions or help?

I was reading the Woo Work blog today. I love it, every post has a little story of what he has crocheted, its wonderful and definitely worth a read :)

Going Cowl Crazy

Hey there.

I'd like to start by saying I am not Simon Cowl crazy, he is rubbish and I get the impression he smells like TCP.......Anyway! I've been making a bunch of Cowls of the woolen kind as presents for Jen my graphic designer and I have decided that everyone needs a cowl in their life. Maybe its the fact that the chunky wool is so easy to work up that I love them.

Sorry I am in my bathroom taking these pictures so that I could see myself in the mirror.
The crochet cowl in the top is very simple:

You will need:
7mm hook
chunky yarn of your choice

ch48
R1, sl st into first ch, ch 2, dc in every st around, sl st to join
R2-9 ch 2 dc in every st around

Shell edging
ch1, *sk 1, 5dc in next st, sk1, sc* rep around
attach yarn to the bottom and do the same.

See, easy :)

Tales from the Knit Expo

Wow!

The Knit Expo was amazing. I've never seen so much yarn in one room. Had I all of the money in the world I could have bought enough yarn to keep m amused for a life time, but only having £40 I had to make some wise choices instead. My first purchase was from Nimu Yarns, I got some beautiful cashmere lace weight, hand dyed in a luscious Green and a mohair lace weight in a lovely rusty yellow colour. I hope to work this up into a shawl in the new year.
I got a shawl pin from the lovely Belinda Harris-Reid and she went crazy for my Knit Fast, Die Warm tattoo.
For the beautiful man in my life I got some nice alpaca and wool blend yarn in a manly grey from Heavenly Yarns who have a shop in Exeter. I'm going to be making him a cowl with that, then maybe I'll get my scarf back.
And finally an awesome mini sock knitting kit from Five Moons which will be perfect for making tiny stockings for the Christmas tree and some cute little socks for my new fairy god daughter.

This was the awesomely colourful table form Felt Folk, they have some great wet felting kits and inspired me to make some felt bunting :) There were so many people there that encouraged me not to give up on my drop spindle and I got some great tips from Sara's Texture Crafts she reassured me that she also turned the air blue when she started spinning.

I had a wonderful time and I can't wait for the next one. I'm defiantly going to put more money aside so that I can be a part of the masterclasses. This year there was a lace masterclass by the lovely people form iKnit.

Anyway I shall leave you with the rest of my photos :)

Knit Expo Exeter

So excited,

My wonderful boyfriend is sending me off to the knit expo in Exeter tomorrow. Stand by for lots of photos. I am charging my camera specially. I was thinking of taking another camera just in case but I thought that might be a bit excessive.

I was so gutted that I didn't get to go last time that I am going to make the best of it this time. I have promised myself that I will leave my cards at home as there is no way I can afford to take them with me, I'll end up buying so much stuff. I am really looking forward to showing off my tattoo as there will be so many people there to appreciate it and will get a giggle from it.

Do you like the changes? Thought I should go for something a little more modern in preparation  for the new logo. I can't wait to see it all together. Not long now :)

Anyway, i shall update again tomorrow night with how wonderful the expo was :)

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Hello there,

Exciting news! I am currently working with the lovely Jen Brookman, graphic designer, to make a lovely new logo for the blog and the future crochet ninja enterprise. It's very exciting, so far the logo does feature both a ninja and crochet hooks, very freaking awesome!

This is in preparation for my new years resolution:

Get on with plan for crochet domination!
This plan can be broken down into a few steps

1. Join Etsy and start selling
2. Start writing patterns for Book
3. Start selling at Local craft fairs
4. Ridiculous amount of self promotion

I can't wait to see my logo on my business card and on the blog banner, it's the first little steps in doing what I love full time, well thats the dream anyway. Get out of the call centre and start working for myself. If only someone could give my an £18k a year salary to play with wool, that would be very nice.

Well back on to the wool ranting.

I am loving chunky yarn at the moment, so soft and quick to work up. I have improved on the Kitty hooded scarf design for Christmas, so soon there will be a beginner and and intermediate design for y'all. I am dragging my feet a little with the Crochet Christmas presents, need to get a move on as there is no way I am putting Christmas on the credit card again.

I'll get some pictures taken of the presents so far for a Christmas Craft Showcase :)