Photo Shoot part 2

In the next installment of M & F's photo shoot of their xmas pressies from me, here's M in her bed socks - she makes them look sexy, don't you think?

Photo Shoot part 1

I asked M & F if they could take some photos of the things I made them for Xmas. M got some bed slippers, and F got a hat (very similar to mine actually).

They went all out and took some lovely lovely photos, so I had to put them all up here, as they make me laugh, and they'll make you laugh as well. 

First up, here's Feeb in her hat:

Am loving the nativity scene. 

back in action

so, we're home from our holidays. france was lovely. I was planning on doing loads of crocheting while chilling in our mountain cabin but for some reason I didn't get around to doing much. i'll get back into it all now i'm home, and looking for work.

new winter hat

I finally got around to making something for myself... yay.
a new hat

I've actually made one like this for Feeb for her bday / Christmas pressie. but i added a little crochet flower on this one. Luke thinks its a bit dorky. i kinda like it. the photo is kinda bad... sorry

it's from a Garnstudio Drop pattern.. I'll write more about it later, as I'm rushing to get packed and head off to France for our xmas adventure.

so I'll see you in the new year. 2009. i can't believe it.
see you later

Christmas Present Success

Here's M in her xmas pressie from me. I think she's pretty happy with it, and say she keeps getting comments about it, which is nice. And how cute does she look?

Crochet present success, I'd say.

I've asked everyone who I've made something for to take sexy pics and send them to me so I can put them up here. There's a few more to come in, I hope they come in asap before L and I head off on our French Christmas Adventure tomorrow (which I'm very excited about by the way)

wasted rainy day? I don't think so!

I feel like I've just spend ages today looking at different blogs. Blogs blogs blogs. You really can spend hours and hours going from one to the next. Today's activity was much more appealing than the other home activity that was going on - L is obsessed with "end of the world" movies, and at the moment he's watching Zardoz (again). Despite the lovely 70's knitwear and crochet that it features, I'm leaving him to it.

I'm on the hunt for UK based stuff as I feel like so many of the blog I look at are from the US of A. There's absolutely nothing wrong with them, I like them a lot. I just want MORE.. MORE MORE MORE stuff to look at. And I also want to find some kind of UK network thing going on.. not all of them are UK based, but they're lovely all the same.

I really like this blog, Needled. It has a really lovely inspiring feel to it.. its on my daily read list now.

Sofia Barao's work is lovely.. it has such a dreamy feel.

Wee Birdy (a fellow aussie in London) seems to keep her finger on the pulse of things in London. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

Resurrection Fern has some lovely things on Etsy. And some nice post on Lyon, where I'm heading to next week. Handy to discover those pointers this weekend!

I'm loving roman sock's work. I'm totally going to make the frog, and owls (they are so cute)

Some foodie things at Orangette and Pictures & Pancakes (they have such lovely photos on here!)

I could go on.. but I won't - there are already loads of links in my blog roll.. Inspiration is good.

Shhhhh.. another secret

Here's another xmas pressie I've been working on. I think its really pretty..mmm

Xmas party food

Here's some pics of my cookies.. they all went down rather well it seems. Even my German Taste Tester was impressed. I was a bit nervous that they wouldn't work very well.. but I needn't of been.


I also made some mini pies (no, they're not traditional xmas mince pies - which I don't particularly like), Savoury pies - one with mushroom, spinach and feta. The other with a mince-meat kinda thing. People seemed to like those as well!

Christmas Cookies

In prep for a little Christmas/birthday party we're having I've been making Christmas cookies all week.

Hope they come out alright. I guess the Europeans will let me know if they pass or not.



Have made four different types: Vanilla Crescents, Pepperkakor (Swedish style cookies that are good by themselves, or with blue cheese...mmm), Zimtsterne (very hard to make) and Basler Brunsli.

More Craft - Rosette Making

The other day while I was at the Hidden Art UK Design Fair at the Truman Brewery, I pick up this rosette making kit from Barley, who runs Fabrications on Broadway market. She's promoting these as part of her Christmas present wrapping workshop thingies. Basically - wrapping your pressies out of recycled things - scarfs, ribbons, buttons. All sorts.


I thought these little kits were cute, so I picked up one, here's my first attempt, I think i need a bit of practice. But not bad for a first try ( it actually looks better in real life than in these pics - I gave it to Feeb for her birthday yesterday, well as part of her pressie.)

I think I want...

I think I want to subscribe to Interweave Crochet magazine. Some of the designs look really great and surprisingly modern. I like the look of the Ridge Swing cardi, looks exactly like the kind of thing I want to make, now that I've set goals to make more "serious" things. This jumper looks cute as well. There are loads of other projects as well. mmmm, I might consider this purchase - sounds like a useful thing.

Alex's finished scarf

He sure did finish that quickly - and here it is. Alex's scarf. Looks amazing actually. I think I might commission him to make one for a certain someone I know who needs a scarf.  It looks good. Props to my knit group peeps!

I wonder what he'll make next - will it be the jumper with the baby dear/bambi on it? Or a hoodie with lightening? 

Getting my head around the Granny Squares and discovering a new yarn

I've been practising my granny squares. Here are a few I've made recently. I think I'm getting better.

They still look a little rough around the edges - have much more practise to do.

Ages ago when I was down at I Knit London I picked up some Rowan Milk Cotton yarn. I think this is my new favourite to work with. I love how it feels so earthy and natural, and it is made from 30% milk protein - which is pretty odd when you think about it. It comes together really well. I only wish it came in a thicker weight - as then it wouldn't take so long to crochet things up. Here's what I've been doing so far.


The colourful one is actually the Koigu fingering yarn I picked up at the Knitting & Stitching Show. It looks pretty like this I think.

This one is actually a little xmas star decoration. It looks pretty hung up.

some xmas decorations

This one is my favourite - he's cute and ugly at the same time. Was meant to be a snowman, but is more like a elfish scary xmas character.

I've been running rather late with all my xmas presents. There seems to be so many people to make things for. and with all the weekends away, and things happening I decided to go the easy peasey route. I've been making a few xmas decorations. They're nothing very special, but are full of Han-Made charm, I think so anyway.

A Christmas tree made from semi-fluffy yarn that gives it a kind of tree like feel.

A Christmas tree - complete with stitched decorations.

A silly little granny square star.. I think its kinda cute.

Shhhh... don't tell anyone

I posted a while ago about xmas pressie things.. well here are some sample secret shots. You can't tell what they are.. one day you'll get the full picture...

New Camera

I got an early birthday/xmas present from L. I am the happiest girl in the world. I have a brand spanking new canon G10. I'm totally in love with it. We picked it up in duty free (well, tax free) on the way to Aberdeen for the weekend. It takes lovely pics, so hopefully from now on my photos on this blog will be excellent! Here are some nice ones I've taken.

check out the macro- taken at the Aberdeen Maritime Museum

Lovely Light.

I really like this shot of G&S

This is one of the cats that visits my garden. There are about 5 different ones that come by every day to say hi and play with each other.

Crazy Scottish person - going surfing in the snow.

We made some snow men in Aberdeen. Snow is a real novelty for Aussies.

My moment of happiness when I got my hands on my new camera.

A lesson and some lunch

D and I had an impromptu knitting day and some lunch on friday.

Firstly I taught her to crochet, and she made a great hat from Garn Studios / Drops Design (I've made it before as well, but more on that later). She used the yummy maggi knits tweed and it came up really well. She's a natural. Hope to see more of her creations in the future. She picked it up in no time, and was totally surprised when she finished the hat before she went home. Crochet is pretty quick sometimes.. even for a beginner.

We then headed out to Shanghai on Kingsland Rd for Dim Sum (or yum cha) happy hour. Everything is just under 2 quid each, and it totally yummy and fresh. The place is pretty cool, it's build in an old eel and pie shop, so looks kinda old-ee english cutesy. with nice tiles and mirrors. Very strange for a yum cha place. We've been a few times now and it's always been pretty good.

Vegetable dumplings made with carrot juice.

Strange goopey prawn and chive things - I think they're called Fun

Turnip cakes - they were ok, one of D's favs.

BBQ Pork Buns. They're pretty good.