White lace and promises

So I decided rather late in the day that I needed a shawl for my wedding. Yup, this pretty much exemplifies my approach to the entire event. As such, I decided to keep it simple and go with a (relatively) easy peasy number - which also happened to go with our beach wedding theme, being called Little Shells.

A dream to knit up in Debbie Bliss pure silk:

And it matched the dress quite nicely if I do say so myself!

The silk ensured that it was nice and light, while also protecting me from being frazzled during the ceremony. Here elegantly draped over a chair at our communal dining table:

All in all rather perfect despite the lack of planning, a bit like the actual wedding itself then :)

Spot of colour

It's the time of year when I start craving a bit of colour in my life. Out come the colourful vests and day-glo nail polish - at least for as long as I can be bothered. Colour makes me happy though, and that's a fact. What I really wanted was a colourful necklace, but was somewhat put off by the neon pink skulls that seemed to be on pretty much all colourful jewellery in the shops. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Anyway, it's also a fact that I had completely forgotten about that 'must make' necklace i saw last year on Cut Out and Keep.. It was time to get cracking, especially as I've not done any jewellery making for simply ages.

After a quick trip to the lovely Beadworks in Covent Garden, I got stringing:

Actually the hardest part was getting a hole in the other end of the piece of metal I was attaching the glass beads to. Thankfully M came to the rescue with steady hands and a slightly-too-big-but-we'll-make-it-work drill.

Ta dah!

And while I was on a roll, why not continue?

All prepped:

Finished result:

Oh, and both came in at under what one of those hideous pink neon skull and spike necklaces would cost. I'll be wearing these with smugness.

Swift hat

This was a bit of an impulse project really. I saw it, liked it, bought the pattern and knitted it up over Easter. Quick, satisfying and super soft result using more of my leftover possum yarn.

Absurdly, wearing it makes me feel somewhat like a Taylor Swift wannabe - those cool kids with their slouchy hats, worn far back on the head and hair all over the place.

I think that the parody version of Swift's '22' suits me better than the original though! Oh yes, 32..

One present, two gifts

Wow, I wish it was like this all the time! I recently made the lovely A a beanie for her Birthday, a Cataleya hat in fact - a pattern by the talented H. A very beautiful pattern in a rather zingy shade of Wollmeise I might add. Just the thing to perk up the seemingly endless winter that appears to be upon us in the UK.

Only a couple of days later I was in for a treat from T, who gave me a beautiful cowl which is wonderfully snug and warm:

And only a few days after that M's mother gave me some very squishy and pretty hand knit socks as an Easter gift!

Wonderful to have so many people in my life who love the art of knitting :)

Headcase

The other day I realised I hadn't made biscuits in ages. This happily co-incided with M stating that he really fancied some 'sand cookies', which it turns out, are happily much like the sort of biscuits I used to make with my mum when I was little. And it was Mother's Day in the UK, so everything was aligned to create the perfect biscuit-making opportunity.

I ended up using this recipe, mainly because there were no eggs in the fridge. Anyhow, the dough began as lumpy worms:

Which later became lumpy, clingfilm-wrapped worm clusters chilling in the fridge:

From there on it was easy peasy chopping them into 1/2 cm slices and toasting them in the oven for 10mins.

Ah, I had forgotten the 1st Law of Biscuits: volumes can be overwhelming:

Oh well. Anyone fancy a cup of tea and a biccy or 10? In any case they went down well both at home and at work.

In more knitting related news, I had been looking for a decent knitted ear-warmer/headband to make for a friend's Birthday for ages when I stumbled across this one. 

It was pretty straightforward, but just a touch more challenging than it appeared. Enough to keep it interesting for sure. 

My NZ possum yarn rose to the occasion:

I think this will look better on the recipient, but obviously I had to try it just in case:

 

There's also neon pink lacy beret in the pipeline for another of the March Birthday kids. More of that next time.

Monkey 2.0

There's a new monkey in the household! Yes, I had to relent and make another one.

Here he is:

Here hanging out with his big bro:

And getting up to no good of course.

It's funny, although it's exactly the same pattern he still came out a little smaller than the first. But then again, he is the little brother after all.

That's enough monkeys for the foreseeable future, those loooong limbs have taken their toll..

Menagerie a trois

Once upon a time, there was a duck-billed platypus, a blue-footed booby and a monkey.. sound good  so far? That's the story that's currently being played out in my flat as a result of my feverish pre and post Christmas knitting.

You may remember the platypus hot water bottle cover knitted the previous Christmas? Well, I decided that our household needed on of it's own. This time in more natural colours:

He's already had one test-run and it's now proven that nothing makes you feel better quicker than a hot platypus on your tummy.

 After spotting this pattern, how could I resist making this for a friend's Christmas present? This is Bob the blue-footed booby:

Booby moon walk:

 He will be handed over to his new home shortly.

And then there's the monkey. His looong limbs make it impossible not to want to bend him into comedy poses:

Hm, can I bear to part with him? Well, we will see. In the meantime, here's the gang hanging out:

Oh, and I did decide to make a little something for myself also. I was lucky enough to receive a Kindle for Christmas, so of course I couldn't leave it exposed to the elements. Thanks to this handy patten, it now resides in it's own little 'flame-lace' (Kindle, flame - get it??) cosy.

Well, that's it for now but I can exclusively reveal that I have another project on the way which could be very exciting (for me at least) indeed. Will keep you posted..