Flowerpot Doorstop

April already, i cant believe it the year is flying by!
I am pleased to say i did not get fooled today, well to my knowledge anyway...

Anyway i just wanted to share with you my latest design which is out now in this months issue of KnitNow magazine, issue 59.

Its my Flowerpot Doorstop, i was really pleased with this design as i love the bright colours and extra element the buttons add, here it is....

 

And a birds eye view...

If you plan on giving this a go, one tip i would give is to pin your flowers in place before you sew them on, it just means you can make sure you have an even mix of colour and style across the top

I was really pleased with the buttons i was able to find to add to it, if you are interested these were from a store UK called Dunelm Mill and below you can see the tub details

If you do give this a go i would love to see pictures, you can create it as a project in Ravelry or tag me in on Instagram :)

On a personal note its been back to work for me after the bank holiday weekend, it was lovely having 4 days with lots of knititng time so im really pleased now its Friday night and i have the weekend ahead of me, i dont actually have any looming deadlines this weekend so i am going to take the time to cast on some baby booties for an expectant friend, its a pattern a have made a few times and had for years, an old photocopy with no details of the original source on so a very precious pattern, i really must get round to scanning it in i would hate to ever loose it, i will be posting pictures of my progress on instagram.

 Also really want to make my friend a cross stitch for the arrival, i will include the babies name, dob, and weight, she is due in September but with all my other plans i must start this sooner rather than later, the neutral sections anyway as the sex is not yet known, such an exciting time and i am so pleased for her xx

Spreading the Bug

So last night for the first time I taught a lovely group of ladies to knit, dont get me wrong I have spread the knitting bug before to friends but thats always been a 1 to 1 lesson, last night it was to 20 keen ladies and it was so much fun.

And here they are, well their hands anyway - I didnt want to break their concentration with my camera I  their faces  :)

when i was first approached to do the evening i kept going back and forth on ideas for what they could make as the evening had other events happening they would only have an hour or so on the knitting, in the end i chose a bunny, given that its easter it seemed quite fitting and the perfet thing is its such a simple pattern to make the bunny, its just a square!!

So i put kits together with the stitches all ready cast on so it was just a matter of teaching them the knit stitch, and what naturals they were

Here are the bunny's...can you believe its just one square of yarn for each bunny

22 pompoms made for the kits

If you fancy a go the instructions are here

This Weekends Make

Well its Sunday night and the end of a lovely weekend full of knitting, my day job unfortunatley doesnt involve knitting so from tomorrow I will have to wait until the evening to get my sticks out, I hope one day I will be lucky enough to knit 24x7 but we shall see.

Anyway I just wanted to share with you my make for this weekend, I am so pleased with him. He is knitted from an Alan Dart pattern for the Pudsy Children in Need bear but I just did it in brown and didnt add the eye patch, isn't he cute!

If you havent heard of Alan Dart make sure you google him, he has some great patterns for toys which include alot of well known characters.

Here are some of my bear in the making.....

All the seams joined but not stuffed

 I use pins to check the position before I join the features

Such a cutie :)

Happy Mail Days

I have had a few days of happy mail recently both post and email! Starting over the weekend I received some more owl charms and was able to make some stitch markers to restock my etsy shop! I also got 6 different owl charms so have listed a one off set, once they are gone they are gone!!

I aslo received some new cat themed charms so if owls aren't your thing maybe cats are :) for me it has to be owls but I am pleased with how these came out

I also in the post the other day received my Jigsaw Cushion back from the publishers, it originally featured in KnitNow magazine, issue 52 but is now available via ravelry,  craftsy, and love knitting as a PDF download (see side menu bar for links) im so pleased to have it back I just love the colours and it's a great addition to my office!

And to top of the happy mail I recieved confirmation today for 2 new commissions which is so exciting as I was really pleased with my designs and had my fingers tightly crossed that they would feel the same, there will be more on these in june and July when they are published.

But my happy mail theme hasnt ended yet as on the 4th March the next KnitNow magazine is out and I have a pattern in it :)

A Proud Wife

So at 4pm on friday my husband and 3 of his friends set out to beat the current world record of doubles darts, 48hours and they did it! They did 50 hours!!! Not only did they beat this but they did it to raise money for charity and between the 4 of them across their just giving pages and buckets and events over the weekend the total is currently on about £4k for Macmillan Cancer and British Red Cross.

Such an amazing effort!! For it to be submitted to Guinness as a record breaker certain criteria had to be met like the whole thing filmed, two independent people watching at all times etc. They followed all the rules and it will be submitted so fingers crossed it gets their seal of approval! !

I honestly do not know how they managed it, I popped by at different points during the weekend and the thing that really stood out for me was the support from the local community some of them putting in +24 hours watching and cheering them on it was such an amazing event to be part of and I am so greatful for ever person who showed their support and helped them through!!

A visit from Ads nephew and number 1 fan really picked him upon the sunday morning, it was visits like this for all of them that helped them get through the darker hours

Here they are the record breakers posing for the press

A few treats were waiting for Ad when he got home

Ads just givig page for the British Red Cross: https://justgiving.com/pairsdarts/ 

January note

I can't believe we are almost at the end of January I dont know where the days have gone, this month I have had a couple of designs to do for KnitNow magazine and I have also been testing yarn for a possible kit I am looking to put together for one of my most popular designs my rib fingerless gloves,

So far this is my favourite yarn so i hope the colour choices are winners too, hopefully I will be able to share more on this soon.

With February just around the corner dont forget about my Sweet Lovehearts pattern, they make great decorations and cute keepsakes for the ones you love! Available on Craftsy and Ravelry links on the blog

Love a Hug

So yesterday Issue 56 of KnitNow arrived on my doorstep, i was so please to see that my first published pattern of the year had made the front cover.

It’s my love a hug bear!

With Valentine’s day coming up it’s a great knit to give to show someone you care! The feet of the bear are knitted in a heart shape and done in a different colour which makes it a bit different.

When designing for Magazines you actually work 3-6 months in advance, so although its cold outside I am now starting on some spring/summer designs, they all have to stay top secret until they are published so I can’t give you any clues on what to expect I’m afraid!

Here are some photos of the bear that I took before I sent if off for his professional photo-shoot for the magazine

This month’s magazine also comes with a great freebie, a selection of yarn and a choice of patterns to make with it, including a baby hat, bangles, mug hugs etc. but for me it’s got to be the owl knit. I will be posting pictures on my instagram feed so keep an eye out.     x