Little Android and a New Skill

Just found a fab pattern for a cute little android like the ones from the advert on Rav and knit him up for the technophobic (at least when it comes to mobiles) Blatman. I also learnt a fab new skill of making cord with just your hands and some yarn. Here is the link for the cord, really easy video to follow and a great result.

The Wedding of the Year

As you all know, there is only one wedding everyone needed to be at this year! that was of course my mum's. It was in the south west of France, in the village of La Croix Valmer, and we were lucky enough to be able to go and share their special day, and it really was wonderful. So here are a few pictures of the area and the lovely weather, and some of the bits that were made for the wedding.
We stayed at the Hotel Maya, a lovely hotel in Cavaliare, where there are a few rooms, and the Blatman and I were right at the top. Being the youngest of the guests it was probably right, although with the hotel lift stopping working at 8pm at night, 4 floors had to be mastered. Needless to say, my shoes pretty much left my feet by the first step at the bottom

First up, as it should be, is breakfast, delivered to our room every day in the morning so we could have our fresh bread and croissants out on our balcony in the sun.

This is the harbour at St Tropez. We went into st tropez for a drink with all the guests the day after we got there, and i enjoyed probably my favourite drink, a Diablo, which is lemonade and a fruit flavoured syrup. St Tropez is known for the large boats and yachts in the harbour and it is the best place for people watching!!

 This is also St Tropez, but we went up to a vineyard right at the top of the mountain behind the city to take some of the wedding photos, so this is my picture from there, with a lot of zoom!!!So beautiful, you can see right across the bay to St Maxime.

 This is the british wedding cake, it is a normal fruit cake, very traditional to what we have here. On top is one of my kusadama toppers made to match the wedding colours. They are made from paper and have some beads in the middle of the flowers that give just a little bit of sparkle.

This is what we describe as our sea glimpse!!! It is right at the bottom of the road! This is the view from our top floor balcony. Right in the middle of the town and it was so nice to be in the middle of the hustle and bustle but still quiet and relaxing. The harbour in Cavalaire has lots of restaurants there so there are lots of choices. I ate so many new things on this holiday and I would go back just to eat!!!

This is the large traditional french wedding cake, known as a Grande Montagne. It is made from profiteroles, filled with creme patisserie, a sweetened cream, then dipped in molten sugar so they all stick together and then sugared almonds fill the gaps in the profiteroles. At the bottom is a layer of peanut brittle. It was so yummy!!! In the picture is my favourite patio heater Bruno has at the restaurant, it looks like a lovely flame, and the beautiful red roses that were on the tables.

Well these are a few pictures from our trip for the moment. Hope you all enjoyed them. It was a wonderful day and a wonderful time with family and friends.

First Sewing Projects

So its a busy week for me, my mum is getting married on Friday in the South of France, and as you may have gathered, we live in the south of England. Mum went last wednesday and the Blatman and I travel with my grandparents this wednesday. So not only do we have to deal with Ryanair baggage limits, and that wonderful sun, ive decided to do more things than I know what to do with. Last night and Today it has been sewing. So ive made myself a skirt and the Blatman a wallet for our travels. Here are the pics and links for what I can link to!

Here is the skirt. It is made from the book How to Sew a Metre, and it is a great book, with lots of different patterns, and all the paper cutouts which is so fab and Im all ready for the sun. It was made from stash that my mum bought when she was 16 for a skirt, and I now have the remnants of it to make my own skirt. It is covered in little pink flowers and so perfect for my summery skirt.

This is a great wallet tutorial that I found, and Ive made it for the Blatman for the holiday in some fabric from the stash. Here is the fab tutorial from Noodlehead http://www.noodle-head.com/2011/03/celebrate-boy-tutorial-basic-boys.html Mine is done in a turquoise cotton and black coated cotton for the outside.

Kusudama Flower Balls

So this week Ive been looking at using old stuff up, as well as planning for my Mums wedding in the South of France next week. So since she went away on Wednesday, Ive had since then to plan all the surprises for her to take with me this Wednesday coming. All of which has to fit in a Ryanair sized hand luggage. Which for those of you not aware is smaller than everyone elses!!!

So good old Ravelry to the rescue as always, and no not knitting this time. Althought the cake topper is knitted, and a pattern to follow for that when I finish them up, dearest Mother needed some sort of flower. And with a little help from Cherie over here at http://downinfairydell.blogspot.com/ I found a fab idea made from paper alone. I used this tutorial over at folding trees (among so many other tutorials) to make these amazing Kusudama flower balls. So easy and really beautiful. So beautiful in fact, not only does Mama have one, but also Granny and Me!!!! Green is for Grandma, and Bronze for mum to match her dress and one made from an old magazine for me.

Fingerless Mitts

These are some brand new fingerless mitts, the pattern is for the mitts themselves, the paw pads are from a lions brand pattern, so you can search on Rav or lions brand for those. These have been knitted for my little sister, and inspired by their cat Monty Moonshine, who is a little grey kitten!!

Ok so here we go again, hope you love them!!

You will need:
3.25mm needles
3.75mm needles (if you need a bigger mitt for hands then go for 4mm needles instead)
DK yarn of your choice, (you will probably need about 50gish but to be honest I havent weighed these) I have used 3 colours here because I didnt have enough of the darkest grey so I used 2 shades of grey and one of pink- pick any colours you fancy)
Tapestry needle

Abbreviations
sts- stitches
K- knit
P- Purl
st st- Stocking stitch (knit one row, purl one row)
Rib- (K1,P1) across the row

Pattern (make 2 or how ever many hands you have!)
Using 3.25mm needles, cast on 42 stitches (if you want to go bigger, you can, use an even number of sts)
Rib pattern for 18 rows
Change to 3.75mm needles and a contrast colour
Knit 1 row
Change to other colour
St st for 26 rows, ending with a K (RS) row
Rib (k1,p1 across row) for 4 rows, ending on a P (WS) row
Cast off in pattern (K1,P1)

with the wrong side facing, sew up the seam using a tapestry needle, leaving a gap in the seam at the side for the thumb. Turn them the right way round and wear them and keep warm! Hope they brighten up your otherwise grey winter

Camera Cosy Pattern

So my mum is one lucky lady and won a new camera just before christmas, but as we all know in winter they can get all kinds of chilly, plus my mum's handbag is most definately one that may belong in Mary Poppins wardrobe so it had to be very bright so here is what I came up with.

So this is pretty much a great stashbuster, as you knit only 4 rows in each colour, so you can use any colours you fancy. So if your little camera is a bit chilly, or for that matter any small gadget, (it also fits my husbands blackberry, and my blackberry style phone!) then this is a great little knit. So here goes

You will be needing:
4mm needles
3.75 crochet hook (for button hole, if you cant crochet then Gaugeplait some strands to make the button hole)
7 different colours of DK wool (you can use less and make a pattern instead, totally up to you)
Tapestry needle

Abbreviations
sts- stitches
st st- stocking stitch (knit one row, purl the next)


Cast On 28 sts on 4mm needles
St st 4 rows in each of the 7 colours ( this gives you a total of 28 rows)
Cast off in the last colour you used.

Making up
Fold in half with the wrong side facing out.
Sew up the main seam using the colours you have used (I leave quite a bit when I change colours and then use these ends to sew up)
Sew in the ends
Sew up the bottom seam with the long seam in the centre back
Turn the right side out

Button
Crochet a chain of 15 links with a 3.75mm hook (or make a plait with 3 strands of about 3 inches)
Sew to the inside seam at the back of the work
Sew a button ono the bottom of the second colour stripe from the top.
Put your camera in and do the button up

Hope you all have nice cosy cameras!

Traffic Cone

Happy New Year!!! To celebrate, the first pattern of the year is my little traffic cone.

Here's the pattern

Needles- 3mm
Yarn- DK scraps, orange and white (i had a remarkably bright orange in my stash for this project, but who says cones have to be orange) and a strand of black for his face
Gauge- not really important, but make sure that the needles you use are smaller than those recommended to make a tight fabric
Other- tapestry needle, stuffing,

Cone
With orange yarn, Cast on 30 stitches
Starting with a Knit row, stocking stitch 2 rows
Next row: *k2tog, K8* to end (27 sts)
St st 2 rows
Next row: *P2tog, P7* to end (24 sts)
St st 2 rows
Next row: *K2tog, K6* to end (21sts)
Change to white yarn, St st 2 rows
Next row: *P2 tog, P5* to end (18sts)
St st 2 rows
Next Row: *K2tog, K4* to end (15 sts)
St st 2 rows
Next Row: *P2tog, P3* to end (12 sts)
Change to orange yarn, st st 2 rows
Next Row: *k2tog, K2* to end (9 sts)
st st 2 rows
Next row: *p2tog, p1* to end (6 sts)
K 1 row
Cut, leaving a tail of yarn to sew up, thread through the remaining 6 sts on the needle and pull tight. Sew up the seam of the cone, leaving the bottom open.

Base 
With Orange, cast on 15 sts
Garter stitch 25 rows
Cast off

Stuff the cone lightly (he doesnt need a bulge) and sew the bottom of the cone onto the base. Embroider the face onto the cone and you have a little traffic stopper. Hope you like him.