This Week!

I have been keeping out of trouble this week with all my crafting. I have been baking too. I baked two lots of my peanut butter cookies. The first was for my knitting group who celebrated running for three years this week (we even have our own blog which you can see here). The second lot was for my sister coming over. I was also commissioned to knit some baby socks for my friend Dawn. She requested green and white, non stripey. She ended up buying the mint and white stripey too.

My friend Roberta then asked me to knit a set of stripey socks in pink and white.

I also knitted another set. This time in lemon and white. I just fancied knitting a set in colours I hadn't used before.

I have also updated my Folksy store, Karensi. I have been meaning to do this for some time now. Decided that since I was knitting all these baby socks now was the time to do it. All of the sets in the above photo are on there. I have reduced the prices slightly and there are more images of the socks.

No definite boy colours at the moment as they all sold. Will fix that soon. Seems everyone is having boys just now.

Other than that I have been working on baby shower gifts and started work on socks #6.

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter everyone! Every year my sister and I always go mad with chocolate presents for each other. This year we decided that instead we would make something. This is what I came up with. As you can see I still managed to get some chocolate in there. The bag is just a basic drawstring bag with some big red buttons up the side.

Cross stitch book mark backed onto red and white spotty fabric. I made this extra long as my sister is more likely to read large art books.

She's also been sewing a lot recently, mainly for work. So thought she could do with a pin cushion. The cross stitch bunny was a free kit from Cross Stitch Cards.

The socks I did quiet a while ago and I already posted on them. Had to show them off again though.

Craft Purchases and socks #5

So rude of me not to show what I bought at the craft fair. I picked up these lovely, fairy sun catchers from Fairy Glass Scotland. They make lots of lovely fairy and witch sun catchers. I was also enamoured by their fairy doors. You can see them on facebook and on the web. Definitely go have a look.

I just finished April's socks (I know there is only one in the photo but I did do both, honest). My knitting group had it's Spring challenge recently and I decided to use my socks for this month. I picked a pattern called Hexagon Socks from Think Outside the Sox. I actually bought the book just for this pattern alone. It's certainly a very different way of knitting socks. Made up entirely of hexagons (including the heel). It was also challenging. The hexagons are knitted on the round and once you start with them they are fairly straight forward. Turning the heel was the difficult part. The photo chart in the book was a lot of help but when I thought about it too much that was when I tended to get stuck. Basically I would make it more complicated than it was. Anyway I am pleased with the end result but I doubt I will do another pair. There are two things I love about knitting socks; no sewing and very few loose ends to tie in. Not so with these ones. There were about a zillion of them (or so it felt).

The book is fantastic. It's filled up with patterns from a knitting magazine contest. There are some weird and wonderful designs in there. I could easily knit the rest of the years challenge using this book alone (I won't though). In fact, in a few months I will be doing another from this book. My sister insisted she wanted to pick one. So look out for that. If you are a sock knitter and would love to try something a little bit different then definitely pick this book up. I wouldn't if you are a beginner though.

Easter Eggstavaganza Craft Fair

Yesterday I was one of twenty stall holders at the Crafty Critter Craft fair held in Glasgow. This is why I have been so quiet of late. I have been working towards this.

This time I made some cards. You have already seen most of them but I also added some black and white themed cards. It was really an excuse for me to buy this fabric as I loved it.

I also managed to get a few more sock sets done although not as many as I would have liked. And of course I had my usual sock keyrings.

The fair itself was very quiet. There were about 20 stall holders and such a wide range too. Lots of different jewellery stalls, card makers, knitted Daleks, stained glass sun catchers, cupcakes, wood crafts and a few artists. The event had been well advertised by the organiser and everyone had done their best to help. It was just one of those things. You never know how they are going to turn out. I did meet a lot of great people though and for that alone it was a lovely day.

I was also productive and managed to finish these whilst I was there.

Socks #4

I finished knitting these on the last day of March so I am still on target for a pair of socks a month and with one pair extra should I need to miss out a month. I found this pattern in a book that I bought not that long ago. It's called "Around the World In Knitted Socks" by Stephanie Van Der Linden. This particular pattern is called 'It's Tea Time' and was inspired by English Fisherman Sweaters. I loved the pattern and I actually picked this to go with the yarn (rather than the other way about). The yarn is Schoppel Zauberball and the colour way is called Shadows. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and have been saving it for the right pattern. Normally I love bright colours but I liked the changes of grey into black. I've used this type of yarn before and it's lovely to knit with. It's also lovely to wear on your feet.

I did have to pay attention to the pattern until I got used to the flow of it. I also had to concentrate on the heel as the fisherman pattern follows down the heel which is unusual. When I don't pay attention I usually automatically work heels with the basic pattern as it's usually the most popular way to do them. The instructions were easy to follow and there were no stitches in there that I hadn't done before. Although, if you are not a fan of following charts it doesn't have a written out alternative as I have found in some books (I personally prefer charts but not everyone does). I love the patterns in the rest of the book and I already have my eye on a few of them. A few for presents but I have another put down for another pair in my challenge.

Happy Mothers Day

I know you have already seen this card but this one was made especially for Mothers Day.

I offered to bake for my mum and said she could pick what she wanted. Initially it was going to be my peanut butter cookies. After last weeks cheesecake she changed her mind but wanted the chocolate one. Again the recipe is from the Hummingbird. Thankfully the base is different. This one is made from digestives, butter and cocoa powder.

I also knitted my mum a lace scarf. The pattern is a freebie and is called the Travelling Rose. I came across it on ravelry whilst looking for something else and knew straight away it had to be done for my mum. She loves roses and her favourite colour is red. I used Zauberball lace weight yarn because of the colour changes. I also love their sock yarn and wanted to give the lace a go. Glad I did. The pattern was relatively easy to follow but I did find I made mistakes when I was tired. Also it calls for 13 repeats of the pattern. Had I given myself more time I would have added a few more to make it longer.