PRETTY MAIDS SHRUG

I’ve always loved shrugs and whilst I was in Stockholm recently, I saw a pretty little one that I wanted to buy, but as it was Sunday, the shop was closed, so I made a point to go back on the Monday before I headed off home, only to find that the shop was closed then also!

On the flight back, I made some notes as I only had my memory to go on, but when I got home, I attempted to recreate the pretty little thing I saw draped over a mannequins dummy and here’s my version……they’re lovely for throwing over a nice top or dress and keep you snug and warm!

I’ve made 2 grey ones now - one initially for my friend Corina (still waiting for a photie hon!) and when I saw hers, I had to have one for myself!

And then I made another for my friend Steffi, but this time with a ribbed cowl neck top - and yeah, when I saw how hers turned out, I had to have one for myself also!

As you can see from the detailed photo, I've crocheted both edges to make it nice and fancy, as well as the addition of a little bow on the side of the shrug, as I love to embellish things and it just finishes it nicely!

Then the very last one, in cream, which I wore to bits whilst I was in Lech at Christmas!

And another in progress in a lovely bluey grey colour - can see me making as many of these as those mittens of mine! LOL.

But this one will be a present for someone or other I’m sure!

Mxx

IT REALLY IS FUN TO RECYCLE!

You know me by now, there's nothing I love more than recycling items - in fact, my Grandma used to say that I was a little magpie, hoarding things as a child, but I only ever kept the good stuff, and this lot definitely ranks amongst some of the better things I've kept.

I love to wear crocheted jewellery, especially in the summer, with a light tan, as it just looks soo pretty, so I decided to make some new stuff, but this time, embellish it with some of my stash of all things sparkly.

Crocheted chokers are very popular for sure, and this year, my offerings have been kept simple, in order to support the jewellery sewn onto them, but as usual, I've crocheted a fancy shell edging in a contrasting colour to make it all stand out.

These little gemstones were off a pair of old shoes I bought back in 2001 - I hated the shoes but loved the sparklies on them! Suffice to say, I only wore the shoes about twice and cut all the good stuff off, so the stones have been sitting in a box, waiting for me to make my mind up what to use them on - I have two sets of 5 stones and 2 sets of 3 stones, so that's two necklaces and chokers to be made - veldig bra!

So, one choker made and a bracelet too!






Crocheted bracelets are little more unusal, but you do see them around. I like the idea of this one just being tied in a knot around the wrist. This one will be winging it's way to somewhere next week!






And then there's this pretty little one, which I'm definitely keeping, as it has some of my Grandma's diamante buttons sewn onto it! I've had these pretty little things for more years than I can remember, so they're very special to me! They are the tiny round ones on each end, and the squares - the others are from more recent stashes......






I wore this one when I was on holiday last week and everyone loved it, so it looks like I've a few orders already - yippee!!






Hope they've inspired you to have a go!








Mxx

JEG TROR PA ENGELER (I believe in Angels) of course I do!

These adorable little angels live in my craft room on my winter tree, which is staying put all year round now! I believe it's a Norsk tradition, that if you leave your Christmas decorations up after 6th January, you have to keep them up till Easter - well in this case, these beauties are staying - for good!

I originally bought two of the hanging decorations in January 2009, and fell in love with them, but I couldn't source them anywhere else, then the day before I headed off skiing at Christmas, when the snow was on the ground, I went to my local garden centre to get some birdfood for the very fat birdies that live in my garden and saw a table full of sale items, and low and behold, I managed to puchase all of these decorations and the two figures standing at the bottom of the tree for next-to-nothing - talk about serendipity, I was beside myself with glee! LOL. They are made by a company called Gisella Graham.

Their detail is simply stunning and I just cannot stop popping into my craft room to look at them!

I've decided to name this one after my very best friend Corina (hope you like her hon, as she's very pretty!)

And this one is me, because she has blonde hair and wears a beanie hat, like I always do when it's cold!

And the one below is named 'Tipsy Angel' because she just sits on the tree, but keeps falling over and has her panties on show all the time! Perhaps she should be called 'Fallen Angel' instead!

I'm wondering who I should name this one after, Steffi or Susie?

You can see just why I love these little beauties so much........

They just look soo pretty, amongst the frosty branches and the angels wings,the 'Believe' sign and the frosty chiffon bows, finished off with my friend Kirsten's silvery angels and snowflakes! And I love blowing on them so that they swing everywhere! (I'm quite mad, I know!) LOL

And the finishing touch, a snowglobe, which plays the song 'Winter Wonderland'!

I love Goldfrapps version of this song (thank heavens for Shazam on iPhones!) and have been listening to it since the beginning of December!

Engeler i snoen - Angels in the snow (cue for another song methinks?!)

Klem!

Mxx

VINTER BLE VAREN......well almost!

Actually it's not long till Spring makes an appearance (or is that me being very optimistic!) but I guess I'm gearing myself up by knitting lots of pretty little bits and bobs in preparation, as there's nothing like being prepared (you can tell I was a brownie! LOL)

Anyhow, here's my latest offerings adorning the paws of all my lovely friends in a host of glorious muted spring colours!

As you can see, when it snowed here, I hibernated and did lots of knitting!

The new colours from Rowans Pure Wool 4Ply are just adorable, lovely pale colours which are a delight to knit with!

And then there's these little mamas.......





Fake socks or legwarmers - you decide!


It's my ambition to really get to grips with making socks this year.....well it was last year also, but I got sidetracked! LOL. But seriously, I have master using small DPNS, as I just find them very fiddly and if something's not perfect, then I will keep frogging until I get it right, which usually drives me mad in the process, but to me, it's not easy making sure you don't get 'ladders' when using smaller needles - guess I need to attend a sock workshop and soon!

So then, where was I? oh yes, these little offerings above are what you could call 'fake socks' as I tend to wear them with chunkier ankle socks, to keep my feet warm, whereas these are very light, so I can wear them tucked into my boots, without creating too much bulkiness on the leg!


However, they do look good as legwarmers also - just not slouchy ones!


Hope you like them.....



Spring has almost sprung! :-)



Mxx

ENGEL I SNOEN

Or should I say ‘Angel In The Snow’!

Aaah, at last I got round to uploading the photies and saying something about this fabulously pretty scarf, which I wore for the first time on Christmas Day!

Where do I start with the number of yarns used in this massive item - hmmn, well perhaps I will come back to the list as I remember them!

This scarf was inspired by one of my all time favourite songs by my beloved band ‘a-ha’ called ‘Angel In The Snow’ and as I my other love is skiing, I wanted to create something that to me, expresses just how wonderful a nordic sky can look, from dark and imposing, to sparkly bright, with what I call ‘angel dust’ falling from the sky (others might call it light refraction, but I’m nothing if not verbose! hehe)

That plus I love nothing better than hearing Morten sing “Angel, Angel or so…………” (steady girl!)

Anyhow, I had this wonderful idea in my head for over a year, but was slowly gathering all kinds of yarns (some discontinued and therefore cheap!) into my stash, when I stumbled across ‘Authentic Fictions’ Silver Frost’ on Etsy, but realised that it had been sold, so I contacted Kerstin to see if she would recreate it for me (the poor girl had to listen to me groan on about what I was endeavouring to create!) and when I opened the package, and all the wonderful little silvery angels and snowflakes fell out of the bag, I was thrilled to bits- then I saw the wonderment of icy prettiness that she created for me, and I knew I had the most perfect skien of yarn in my hands!

For a while all I could do was look at the wonderous ball as I was too frightened to start the scarf, for fear that I wouldn’t do it any justice, but I think I may have done so - however, that’s for you folks to decide!

As it was, I took my time knitting and embellishing it, as truth be told, I just didn’t want the project to finish! :-(

But emebellish I did! I crocheted the edges in a tiny shell pattern using Rowan Cocoon (Polar) and finished if off with tiny Tibetan Silver snowflakes and angels wings, and adding the final touch of Swarovski angels wings to the centre of the scarf, attached with a little mohair bow, crocheted in Rowan Kidsilk Haze

This is a scarf for very special occasions, suffice to say tho, that I had enough yarn left to make a little neckwarmer version for everyday wear, which has been put to very good use last week!

'Angel Delight' Scarf

Gosh, I can't believe how long it is since I was in here last, so I thought I'd start posting my blogs again, and begin with a worthy cause.

A while ago, after stashing soo many wonderfully pretty yarns, I decided to make a rather different scarf, which was an 'homage' to one my friend Stephanie Dosen (Tiny Owl Knits/Owl In The Dark Blogspot) made and posted on her Ravelry page (for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, it's a knitters forum! LOL)

Anyhow, mine turned out quite different, but hey, it was mean't to be freeform anywy, so after making another rather glorious scarf, I decided that I should put this one up for sale, given that the pretty pink shades were perfect and it is the month of October, so it seems fitting to donate 100% of any money made to the 'Breakthrough Breast Cancer' charity.

The yarns I used were the following....

PATONS MOONGLOW - 01/WINTER WHITE

ROWAN ROMANCE - 091/TWINKLE

PATONS SHIMMER - WHITE

RYC LUX - 01/PEARL & 03/CASHMERE

ROWAN COCOON - 01/POLAR

SIRDAR ZANZIBAR - 825/TURKISH DELIGHT

PATONS COAST - 03/TUDOR ROSE

ROWAN KIDSILK NIGHT - 607/STARLIGHT

FEZA ‘ALP DAZZLE’ - 506/CREAM

ROWAN BABY ALPACA - BABY PINK

DROPS VIVALDI - 01/WHITE

CRYSTAL PALACE PARTY RIBBON -STRAWBERRY PINK

RYC LUX - 03/POWDER

LANA GROSSA PEP - 201/WHITE GOLD

As you can see, it's a bit 'out there' and different, but that's what makes it special I think!

I've tied it in random places to make it look a bit different, and have added a number of embellishments like crocheted bows and flowers as you can see in the detailed pictures here....

And to add the finishing touches, I crocheted the edge and added tiny little Tibetan Silver angels wings, which seemed rather appropriate for a scarf named 'Angel Delight'!

This item is now for sale in Ebay and you can see the listing here....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200526040325

For those of you interested, 'Happy Bidding'

Many Thanks

Mxx

SWEDISH LOVELY

I recently made a version of this sweet little tunic for my dear friend Steffi and once it was finished, I thought "I must have one!" and with that, I reproduced it - only to realise that I cut it out too large for myself - doh! Just as well I have enough material to make another one then!

Once again, the material is pale yellow broderie anglais, the same as the Midsommer Nights Dream Babydoll dress, and the edgings are my usual white broderie anglais, which have been finished off with pale blue satin trimmings, to give it a Swedish air. The photographs don't really do it justice, as the colours really are super-pretty - even if I do say so msyelf! ;-)

And finished off with my trademark label - even if it is Norwegian!

This item is now available for sale in Etsy

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29088893