Summer requested a rainbow penguin for her birthday.

I’m not knitting or crocheting too much at the moment as it’s just way too hot. But just before Christmas I had a bit of a brooch frenzy for an online Secret Santa I was involved in.

I sent the bird, the coloured anenome (it’s supposed to be a chrysanthemum, but it looks more like an anenome) and the pink fuzzy flower  (This one was my favourite).The sparkle flower I gave to Mum, and I made an extra anenome for her as well. Brooches are  a nice bit of almost instant gratification.

I’ve also made 2 Fat Bottom Bags from the Stitch and Bitch Happy Hooker book (the bird brooch was from there also)

The small green one looks great. It just turned out a bit smaller than I expected.

Ieven lined it:

The big one I made with two strands of 8-ply acrylic, and it’s just a bit daggy, but I like it.

Current projects at the moment include a purple Fat Bottom Bag, it will look more like the green one only a bit bigger and probably with black handles. I’m also working on a vest for me. I’ve almost finished Willow’s cardi. As soon as we get a coolish day I’ll attach the collar and do the front bads and that’ll be it.

My rather late New Year Resolution is to be a more diligent blogger in future!

Here’s a progress pic:

This is only the first sock. And they’re knee highs. I’m still not convinced it’s worth continuing,  but I’ll keep going for a little while.

Her dress is a 2 metre length of cheesecloth I bought years ago for some long forgotten purpose. I cut a hole in the middle for the head, and tied it at the waist with a sash that rather conveniently matched the light sabre.

Summer’s hair isn’t quite long enough for what I considered to be an adequate Princess Leia hairdo, plus I am completely incapable of doing things by halves so I made her some buns.

I plaited several lengths of black wool into two long plaits, rolled them up, hand sewed them into position and then sewed them on to a head band I made by cutting a strip off the leg of a pair of pantyhose that was fairly close to Summer’s hair colour.

She looked gorgeous, of course.

It’s not the thing you knit, but the knit itself!

(with apologies to Chris-in-the-morning. Yes I’ve been having a little Northern Exposure revival)

And here’s a close-up

Crafty-wise, I’ve been busy. I did a class on continental knitting, which was fabulous. It makes 1×1 ribbing absolutely zip along. My tension is still a bit off, mainly because when I hold the wool in my left hand it wants to crochet, not knit.

I crocheted a lovely stole for Grandma for her birthday, but I forgot to take a photo (Oh, the shame!) I will remedy that next time I see her.

It’s in a similar wool to this, which is a scarf I made Mum last year. Mum says she gets endless compliments on it, which is rather nice for the ego.

I’ve been working on a couple of things for the girls. I’m still going on Willow’s cardi, and I’m frantically trying to finish it so a) she can wear it while there’s still a bit of cardi weather (though I made it nice and big so it will fit her next winter) and b) so I can get going on my next project, which is the tree jumper. Mine will be in green, of course. I’ve also started a crocheted vest, mainly for a break from knitting.

This is Summer’s vest. There’s no point making her jumpers as she just gets too hot, but she does like a hoodie. The pattern is a plain hooded vest from a Panda kids 8ply pattern book. I added the cables in. The cables are hugs and kisses (X and 0), with sparkles in the cables and edging, as per Summer’s request. The rainbow wool was her request also.

That’ll do for now, but I promise to be a more diligent blogger in future!

Still on a pink theme, here is the bag I crocheted for Willow’s 8th birthday last week.

It’s made from weird corn-fibre yarn I found at Spotlight, with some metallic thread here and there for added sparkle. I pretty much made the pattern up as I went, based on several other bags. It was expertly lined by the magnificent Cylie, to whom I am very grateful indeed (I am a sewing dunce. It would have taken me an entire day and lots of swearing to line it, and I would have done a bodgy job).
Willow loves the bag; the picture was taken by her with her new camera.

I had to tweak the sleeves a bit as the pattern was written for lithe young things with skinny arms.
I am not lithe, I am not young and my arms are not skinny!
I may have to do another one day soon, in another colour.

Meanwhile, I am filling orders from the children, but for my next project, I think I’ll do this
I’ll do it in either mauve or green, and I think I’ll change the spider on the back to something else, and I may not do the shaping at the waist. Plus I think I’ll change the hem as well, but you get the basic idea. It’s the tree and the cabled hood that I really like.

Why “The Grey Wool of Dooooommmm” I hear you ask?
Well, I decided I needed a hat, and that this wool would do nicely. It’s a good neutral hat colour, and it’s nice and soft and drapey.
I have started no less than four different hats with this wool, and none of them have worked. Too big, too small, awkward pattern … they’ve all been doomed.
In the photo, to the left  is a slouchy hat that turned out too small.  To the right is a beret that I have made twice before and it’s worked out beautifully. This time, the first one worked out way too big, and the second go worked out too small.

So for now, I give up. The wool is obviously doomed.
It can skulk in the back of the drawer for a while.