Mail, hair and awards

A lovely little envelope was delivered by Mr postman today:



An old page from a Clifford book, made into an envelope?
Genius.
What's inside?



Comedy eyes?
Winner!
Many, many thanks to Melissa from All Sewn Up- your gift of sticky eyes made us laugh and laugh today.

The first recipients were very pleased:



I feel they'll be put to good use this holiday!
Thanks again, Melissa (Do have a peep at her lovely blog- it's lush. Xx)

That was the 'mail' bit of my title. Next is the 'hair' bit! - and I'd like to thank you all for voting on my little elf's barnet choice and can reveal that the winner ...is .....

...blue!



I agree, I think this looks cute and I promise, I won't let the little pink and black wigs go to waste- I'll be making dolls for them soon.

Another thank you to the marv'lus people who have given me awards. Thank you so much. I still feel humbled that anyone would read my little bloggy - do check out the side-bar to the right and take a peekie at their blogs too. (I had to hijack the Mister's work laptop to put the awards onto the blog so sorry for delay- ipads are cool, but there's plenty of stuff they can't do)

Here's a handful of interesting (?!) facts about moi:

* my actual name is Sarah
* my blog is named after my daughter's nickname
* although I love holidays abroad, i feel at home when surrounded by the green stuff - grass, trees and the like
* I'm a real autumn/winter girl- dark evenings, crisp mornings, scarves, cosy jumpers, blankets, rain, candlelight, mulled wine, fireworks, long walks, real fires (preferably in pubs on a Saturday lunchtime)
* actually, I'm a real Christmas girl - all that nostalgia above made me get my Xmas groove on. Bring on the red and gold, the holly and ivy, the tinsel and stockings.

Thanks again for the awards. If you are reading this, you all deserve one too!

Right, am off to get glass of wine and catch up with all of you, too.
Have a good weekend.
Xx

What d'ya reckon?

Well gals, I could do with your advice -

You remember the little elf I made in my last post? See here

I just need to know:

black, blue or pink?







Ta muchly!
Xx

Bits n bobs

This is one of those funny little posts where I have some odds and ends to show.

Like this crochet pin cushion/ upcycled jam jar combo.



Inspiration here
Rainbow colours to brighten a dismal day.

Here's another WIP. Another doll. [See the first here]

[And actually, I think my dolls are little Elves (not the sort that Father Christmas might employ, I might add). I like their pointy ears.]



She's using the same, modified pattern of Beth's (do see here)

Now I know that many of you wonderful ladies were a tad envious of my little Noro-wool-extravaganza-charity shop-find in my last post.

Well I didn't want to disappoint you today -
Here's my latest haul: 10 balls of mohair for 6 quid. Hmmm one ball missing from the photo. Must be camera-shy



Look at that old BHS logo on the label- it's got to be from the 80's (showing my age, now).
And here's what I made with some of it .. Can you guess what it is ...?



No?
Well they are leeeeetle wig caps for my Elf (can't decide on a colour yet- will be asking you clever ladies for some advice in my next post when the wigs are completed)
And can I say- crocheting with black mohair? Suicidal. I could not see where the stiches were and so 'used the force'. Luckily, it's turned out ok. Must be some sort of Jedi luck.

Still with me? Well I also thought you might like to see how I work. I've read a few posts by other bloggers who have shown their sketches/ drawing boards and I think it's interesting to see the process. Here's my messy notebook: anyone do something similar?


(note to self: must make copies to a 21st century computerised device to prevent getting burnt in fire/ lost in transit/ scribbled on by toddler.)

Often, I wish there were more hours in the day- mine are spent with the little'uns (priceless) and then I get some quality time to mull over the day with the Mister (sanity), and then I might just get a bit of time to crochet in the evening (restorative).
I dream about crochet/crafty projects at the moment, I guess because I don't have the time during the day, but I have to say, I am the happiest I think I have ever been.

Thank you to all who find the time to follow, read and comment on my blog.
You make this all worthwhile.

Enjoy the weekend. Xxxx

Wonderful woolly world

So there's a story behind my latest crochet project:

Being new to the wonderful world of wool, I had no idea what I had stumbled upon when I picked up a few balls of Noro Iro at the charity shop.
When I saw it, I thought it looked gorgeous- loved the colour changes and could see from the label that, being wool and silk, it must be good quality.



I wasn't sure how well it would crochet, or what I would do with it, so bought it home and had a play.
Hmmmmm.
Very nice, I thought.
I shall make myself a cowl or something.

Later on that evening I decided to do a bit of Googling to see what I could find out about this Noro stuff .. . and.... Bejaysus!...how much?...!...

I had paid the princely sum of 50p a skein and this Iro wool sells for over 10 quid a go!

Suffice to say, I was back to that shop the very next morning to buy up everything they had:



And wow! It is lovely stuff. I've nabbed some more Iro, loads of Silk Garden and a couple of skeins of Kureyon too. (see, I'm an expert now).
I think the lady in the shop thought I was a bit mad, trying to cram a gazillion balls of yarn on the top of the buggy (cue wails of unhappy child underneath the woolly mountain) and attempting to steer it with one arm (the other trying to keep the gazillion balls of yarn from spilling all over the shop).

I have no idea what to do with all of this just yet, I'm sure the inspiration will come. I feel very grateful to the lady who donated this and will do her proud.

And so, to begin, a one skein cowl, made from the Noro Iro.




I just love these colours.
I have to admit, it took a fair few goes to get this right; too long, too dense, wrong stitch etc. I finally arrived at a dc-ch1-dc (US) solution, which I think works well.





Very seasonal, I know.
If the rain keeps coming, I shall wear this tomorrow.

Xx

Handmade vintage votives

A simple algorithm:

Empty jam jars and charity shop tumblers
+ vintage lace trims and garden twine
= elegant vintage votives




Too easy. You have to try it. Look how pretty they are on my mantlepiece:



And lit? Just gorgeous!






Perfect.
Xx