It's been too long...

... but I am finally BACK! Not just to blogland, but to life in general - and of course, that means lots of crafting!

I've been busy (amongst other things) turning this:

Into this:

As you can see, we are starting to settle in. Mr T was at home straight away... It took the others a little longer.
Sadly, Miss P had to go to a new home. We miss her and her fresh eggs, but we weren't allowed to keep her here, and at least we know she will be ok and with other chickens once again.

Miss P would have loved our new "blank canvas" back yard:

I managed to pick myself up a bit of a bargain last week:

Can you believe it was only 99p in a charity shop? I saw it, and knew I had to have it (useful for hiding some of my yarn stash, don'tcha know?!?) - I was expecting it to cost a bit more, so I was really thrilled!

Ok, on to the crafting!
I've been working on a promise I made a while ago - a little snowman and penguin:

My pastel squares blanket (my first attempt at join-as-you-go, so be gentle in your comments! Mr T and Mr R thoroughly approve though!):

It's not all been about using up my stash... I bought this:

To be turned into a blanket made out of squares like this:

Pretty, huh? I don't think the lady in the shop thought it would come out quite this good when I told her my plans and she eyed up my chosen colours. What can I say? I'm a misunderstood genius!!

I've been working on a few things for my Etsy shop too, which I'm planning to put up next week. A few pairs of earrings, another hat and scarf set, and a new bag based on this one:

Ok, that's all for now... I missed so much crafting during the move that I don't feel as if I've had my "fix" unless I squeeze in a good 12 hours!

I've got something really good to share with you next time... I just know you will love it as much as I do... But, I've said enough! You'll have to wait and be surprised!

Lesson learned: Always make time for crafting... If you don't, madness is only a very short step away!

Branching out

Ah, can you believe it is August already? We should be outside basking in warm sunshine, sipping cool drinks and eating ice cream... Instead we are inside huddled in blankets, gulping hot tea, and crafting! Well, maybe it's not quite that extreme... and I can't really complain about the crafting and hot tea parts!!

As you've probably guessed from the title of this post, Teesdale Treasures (ok, me!) has given some thought to new items to sell in my shop... and I came up with these:

8 pairs of earrings made with glass beads and antique bronze wires. The photo only shows 1 earring from each pair - otherwise they wouldn't have fitted on the wine glass!
I also made a pair just for me. These are a gorgeous brown colour that I would have regretted selling!

Also being added to my Etsy shop (over a few days - remember, I'm trying to add one item a day!) are these budget preserve jar covers. They are made to the same design as the more expensive ones, but use 100% acrylic yarn (to keep the cost down).

I took this picture from my living room window a week or so ago... The light was so inviting, and my camera was close by... Please ignore the dirty windows!

Lesson learned: It's always good to try something new!

All going to plan...

It seems like I finally found a balance between making things for my Etsy shop, and making things for myself!
I have a 4 day "working week" (Monday to Thursday), and 3 days for ME, ME, ME!!
It's working well so far... It means I can fill my shop with basics like these iPod-compact camera-phone covers:

While giving me time to work on larger items, and of course, to design new items.

The weekends are mostly devoted to crafting for me... although I do tend to add items to my shop at the weekends and try to write here too! This is what I've been up to today:

It's my shawl - and it's now too big to get a decent photo of! I'm hoping to have it completed by the end of next weekend, and then I'll get J to take a photo of me holding it.

I need to decide what to complete for me next - the knitted sweater, the crocheted sweater, or one of the throws... Hmm, decisions, decisions!

It's been so windy here. I'm spending a lot of time looking out of the window, watching the clouds scudding across the sky, and I thought it was time I shared with you what I can see.
This is the view from my bedroom window:

Nice, huh??

If you lean out of the window a bit, and turn to the left, you get this:

And if you look to the right, but don't lean out quite so far, you get this:

It's really worth clicking on this picture to make it bigger - you can really see the wind blowing!

I decided that these pictures didn't do justice to the colours in our village... so I took my life in my hands and leaned as far out of the window as I dared without asking J or K to hold my ankles... and took these "aerial" shots of the flower patch in front of our house:

As you can see, it's mostly orange and yellow with a bit of white and red thrown in.

In the photo below, you can just about see my California Poppy patch, on the far side of the steps - they are my pride and joy! I almost lost them due to neighbours complaining they were too bright... Thankfully, they moved and our new neighbours love them!

I'll be sad to leave them when we move (the flowers and the neighbours!), but I intend to plant again and keep in touch with neighbours who have become friends.

Lesson learned: Set targets and try to stick to them!





Stocks and shares.

Why, oh why, have I never had stocks in my home before:

The scent is astonishing - and at 2 bunches for £5 makes a lot more sense to me than one of those plug-in air fresheners! Gorgeous!

Now for the shares... My new yarn that arrived this morning - 49% acrylic and 51% recylcled cotton:

The double knit is shown above, and the aran weight is below:

I'm planning to make something like these:

This is the look Miss E gave me when I told her the yarn was not for her:

And, of course, I'm not allowed to take a picture of Miss E and not take one of Miss D too!

Here she is - she's proudly caught Miss E's latest toy!

Really, it's not been a very good week... a lot of things just seem to be going wrong (mostly it's my fault for not writing things down properly, and trying to do too much at once!).

Lesson learned: Slow down and make proper notes!!



Busy, busy, busy...

I've been so busy lately - spending around 7 hours every day working on new projects to put up for sale on my Etsy shop...
Today, I decided I needed something for ME! I came up with this:

Believe it or not, these poor flowers had been sitting for several days in an old, unadorned coffee jar! They look so much better now!

The mini flowers are from this blog:

http://daisycottagedesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/tiny-little-flower-crochet-pattern.html

Lauren is kind enough to offer this pattern on her blog for free! I'm not the fastest crocheter in the world, but even I made 10 in no time!
Lauren's instructions are very easy to follow too!

So, I said in my last post that I would probably show you some unfinished projects... Here's a few to give you an idea of what I get up to!

This is going to be the perfect ripple afghan for me... Spice, green, brown, mustard... heavenly!

I'm working on this crocheted sweater... I have been for quite some time, on and off...

But the back is complete:

As is the front:

I'm also working on knitting this:

Again, I've done the back and the front. They are pretty rumpled and will need some serious blocking once the sleeves are done... So here's a close up of the cable detail which is on both the front and the back (you'll get an idea of the colour too):

  And do you remember this:

Well, it now looks like this:

Hope you can see the difference!

Ok, blogger has gone a little crazy, so I'm going to have to publish this and come back later...

Everything went all blurry on me, just as I was about to end. Oh well! Here's the end bit:

I managed to get several items finished for Etsy this week (visit my Etsy shop to see what's new!), despite several mishaps and near disasters.

Lesson learned: If at first you don't succeed - go away and think about it a bit before trying again!

Lost and found

I've been feeling a little bit lost lately. First there's the thought of the impending house move, then my views on Etsy dried up completely. I had no idea what I was doing wrong, so I went to the experts by posting in the Etsy forums - amazing advice! Now at least I have something (ok, a LOT of somethings!) to work on.

So, I'm feeling found now!

Do you remember my plans for a shawl on my last post? Well, I haven't managed to get very far with it... It's been too hot! Here's a picture of the progress so far:

I am so happy with the way the colours are working together :-).

So, I guess you all want to know what I've been up to since my last post? Well, not very much! I'm very slightly appallingly sun-burnt from spending hours out in the sun talking to my next door neighbour. It's such a shame to finally have really good neighbours and then have to move...

I've also been rescuing pheasant chicks from the lane along from the house. Mother pheasant had decided to move them from one side to the other, but unfortunately 2 of them decided that the grassy bit in the middle of the lane was quite nice! Here's one hiding:

Yes, that is my finger in the picture! I had to hold the grass down to be able to get a good shot!

After carefully picking them up in my overshirt (I read somewhere that you should never handle wild birds because their mothers will reject them), I let them loose on the other side of the lane... It was so sweet to hear the Peep Peeping, as they scuttled off to find their mother and siblings!

I haven't really taken many photos lately either, so I'll leave you with this one that I took a while back... Can you see the sheep??

Lessons learned: Stay out of the really hot sun, if you need help then ask for it, and enjoy the things that are here right now!

Hope everyone is happy and healthy :-)

Hugs,
Dawn.

It's not so bad...

Honestly... It's not! There are some good things... It just takes some time to find them when you are a little bit low...
Like these:

A bargain at £1 a box... And here they are "set free":

Ok, so that picture won't be used in their advertising anytime soon, but you get the idea!

Then there's the joy of having a new project to start:

This shawl is from "The Art of Crochet" issue 124. Obviously, these colours weren't going to work for me, so I chose these:

Can you see the mini cupcakes sneaking into the shot??

We mustn't forget the pleasure of having a good book to read. I just started this last night:

After dithering for an hour or so about which book to choose:

Hard to believe, but this is only about a 3rd of my book collection!

Then there's the relief of actually having something finished to put on Etsy this weekend - the rather colourful iPod socks:

Lesson learned today: I can, and I will.

Have a great weekend!

Hugs,

Dawn.

-X-

Let's go back a few months...

Nothing has really been happening here today... I caught up with the laundry, crocheted pieces for another iPod cover, ate a lovely stew made by J (my husband), read a magazine... And all this while wearing my pyjamas! You have to love a good Sunday!

So, I thought I'd take you back a few months, and show you some things that I'm really proud of.

First up is my first ever ripple afghan. I'd never crocheted anything so big before, and I hadn't intended to... But a local supermarket had started selling this really BRIGHT, BRIGHT, BRIGHT yarn, and I couldn't resist.
With my colouring, there's no way this could have been (for me) all the things it had the potential to be: cardigan, sweater, shawl. There was nothing else I could do but go to the yarn shop and buy some contrasting yarn to  calm down enhance the colours. With some help from K (my son), I chose a nice rich brown.
Here it is, complete with matching cushion covers:

I had originally planned to crochet one stripe multi-coloured and one stripe brown, but I thought it might look better with the larger bands.
Here's a close up of the multi-coloured ripples:

Before I started my ripple adventure, I decided I probably should finish off another project... What better than the sweater I had started for J? I felt like this sweater had been preying on my mind for most of my life, but in actual fact, I only started it about 6 years ago!
I will never be forgiven for this, but here's a photo of J modelling his sweater:

Unfortunately, having been washed and tumble dried several times (always following the instructions given on the ball band), this sweater now reaches somewhere around J's knees, and you could probably fit two of him in there... If I was a lot slightly braver, I could buy a nice chunky belt and wear it as a dress...

There's not much else for this time. After a lovely weekend, it's back to work tomorrow. Thankfully, I only work very short hours, but it's still enough to make sure my day is disrupted. Oh, well!

I'll leave you with a picture of my haul from the local car boot sale that happened early last month:

Enjoy your week!

Dawn.
-X-