To Cardiff and back again

This week I was off to Cardiff with work and I managed to get a bit of knitting time in during the journey. It was very snowy for the few days that I was there. It was nice at first because we never get snow in Plymouth because we are so close to the sea, but after the first hour of slipping around and being cold we'd had enough of it. While I was in Cardiff I managed to find a John Lewis shop and spent some time in the haberdashery. Sadly I didn't see any yarn that was in my price range and inspiring enough to purchase but I did get some funky journal cards and I lusted over the mini sewing machines that they have.

I took some Chunky green alpaca yarn with me and whipped up another version of the head bands I've been knitting recently. It came in very handy as I couldn't find my ear muffs while I was packing so at least I had something to keep my ears warm.

I've been working on more things to sell at the craft fair. I was very pleased with this crocheted rainbow scarf that I made last week. It was lots of fun to play with all the colours and what can I say, I'm a sucker for rainbows. The finished product turned out to be over 8' long!

I visited the button shop Funky Poppy on the Barbican this weekend and picked up some lovely buttons that I'm looking forward to playing with. I used the last of the left over merino yarn from my jacket to make a hat with a love anchor button accent.

The close up shows the true colour of the yarn and I think the pink and yellow really pop.

On a side note, something wonderful happened while I was out with the ladies this weekend. We were shopping at an amazing vintage clothing place on the Barbican and we were fortunate enough to be in the presence of Marilyn Monroe's original Black swimming costume. It was truly amazing and I thought you may enjoy the pictures. The first is of the inside of the costume and says 20th CF (century fox) Marilyn Monroe. I love all the boning detail around the bust...

Hope you enjoyed this weeks rant. TTFN

Busy Busy Bee

This week I have been preparing for my first craft fair of the year! The craft fair is to raise money for my friend's charity 5 Mountains For 5 Years. Gareth has survived testicular cancer and for the 5 year anniversary he will climb 5 mountains. The craft fair is on the 3rd of February at Voodoo Lounge in Plymouth and I'm really looking forward to it. There will be lots of stall holders and if it goes well I hope that we will be doing it again. 

I have been busily building up stock to sell at the craft fair. I have been making a few of my tiny owls to sell and doing a few custom orders. They have sold really well at previous craft fairs so I'm going to make sure I have plenty for this one.

I finished the noro striped cowl and I love the colour changing effect of the yarn. I'm also pleased that where I joined it together the colours blend perfectly. I've had someone request a scarf version of this so I will need to keep my eye out for more noro yarn to make another.

I have also knitted up another of the blue leaf headbands as I had some of the merino yarn left over. The pattern knits up so quickly I may make a few more. I have some chunky green alpaca yarn in the stash to use that would look good so I may whip that up  little later.

I found and app called PicsArt that allows me to make collage photos (as above). I'm really pleased as this is exactly what I needed to show different angles of the same product in one picture. I also love that I can round off the corners. I don't know why but I just love that effect. You can do many things with this app but that is my favorite thing.

Well I will be off to Cardiff for a few days next week with work so I hope to get lots of crafting done on the journey up and while I'm at the hotel so there will be lots more to tell next week to.

TTFN and keep crafting :)

Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things

Well January has been quite manic and we're not even half way through yet. The madness shows no sign of slowing down as I'll be off to Cardiff for a week at the end of January for training with work.

So I have managed to get some crafting done during the madness. I have been working on this Easy Peazy Shawl by Megan Delorme. I'm really enjoying the pattern, I have made a few mistakes in the lace parts but I'm happy with it so far. I am using a chenille yarn that I got in a charity shop. I love how rich it looks when it's knitted up and I love the colour. I have lots of this yarn so I may make matching gloves to go with it.

 I have also been working on this cowl/infinity scarf with some noro yarn striped with some grey double knit I had in my stash. I love the effect of the colour change. I plan to sell this one on my facebook page Maggie Makes Stuff or at a Craft Fair that I might be attending soon. As it's just garter stitch it is very simply so I hope to get it finished quickly.

I picked up this notebook from Paperchase recently and I have been using it to scribble down crafty ideas so I don't forget them. I had fun decorating the cover with washi tape, stencils and stamps and for some reason I really like brown paper and rounded corners. Yes I am one of those people that gets excited about stationary.

Here are doodles of some granny square stashbusting I have planned in the future. I like to scribble ideas for colour pallets for projects.

Anyway. I hope you have enjoyed this little update.

TTFN

Happy New Year

Well the month of December, as always, has been incredibly busy. With 6 birthdays, 1 anniversary, Christmas and new years. So glad to be getting back to normal and looking forward to starting the gym soon.

Well Christmas and my Birthday were very fruitful for craft related things. After talking about needle felting so much I ended up getting two needle felting sets for Christmas. I'm really please as it means I won't run out any time soon. The kits are awesome, lots of cool colours and instructions of how to use the needles. On Christmas eve (as I got one set early) I had a play and made this bunny. I'm looking forward to experimenting more with this later :)

 For my Birthday I received these amazing iron in labels for my crafty goods.

My sister in law Claire knows me very well as I love the fabric and the font. So excited to use them.
I also received some lovely buttons and yarn so I have some exciting new projects to start soon and a candle making kit.

As this festive season has been so busy I have been very organised with meal planning. I raided Pinterest for slow cooker meals, bought all the ingredients, put them in pre-prepared zip lock bags and froze them, so all I had to do was take them out of the freezer and into the slow cooker in the morning and dinner would be sorted.

I made a weeks worth of meals including:
Philly Cheese Steak *
Chilli Shredded Chicken
7up Chicken
Mustard Maple Chicken *
Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ones with Stars next to them we have tried and are Boyfriend approved. I also froze my normal Beef stew and Turkey Burgers. Last night we tried Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes They were lovely though a strange effect was that the flesh of the potato turned a golden colour. I'm looking forward to doing this more as it was only an hour of prep for a really easy and delicious week of food. Just need to find more recipes!