Aaaarrrhhh!!! Too much to do and not enough time!

I am afraid to say that i have been neglecting my blog for a while, due to the fact that I am extremely busy!! but that's no excuse really.  Nearly everyone in my close family and friends has either had a birthday, wedding anniversary, wedding, christening or the birth of a new child in the months of September and August this year, so it has been a very hectic couple of months.  I am still honouring my handmade pledge, so i have hand made gifts for all these people, but as they have been gifts and i know they all read my blog, I couldn't list any of the items I have made.  The biggest gift that is for my nieces birthday in November has taken up a lot of my time is the Babette blanket but I have crocheted all the squares now so i just need to block them and stitch them together (I say just, but this is probably the most time consuming part of the whole process).  Can you believe Christmas is just around the corner!! so October and November are going to be just as busy as I start all over again making Christmas gifts!!!!  I have also have a very hard decision to make.  I have been asked by my company if i would consider relocating to London.  I have never lived or worked in London, I love going to visit and shop but, could I stand living in such a busy city all year round?  Also my husband would need to find work and we would need to find somewhere to live and rent out our property in Manchester.  The other thing is i would need to have all this done in 8 weeks!!!  Anyway enough of me ranting on, I'll let you all know my decision when its made, hopefully I'll still have hair and it won't have fallen out with stress!!!

I'm a Speedy Hooker Too!!!

Its official i'm addicted to crocheting!!! i've perfected the granny square and the solid square and i'm now making a baby blanket for my heavily pregnant friend, using the ripple stitch. Its so much fun and i'm getting faster and faster each day. I'm only using cheap wool, as I didn't want to waste money on expensvie wool to find out I either hated crocheting or I couldn't perfect it, but now i'm making the wool into a baby blanket I'm not sure it is soft enough!! its 100% arcylic wool! I'm also wanting to make a Babette blanket like the one on Purl Bee (picture above), i've ordered the pattern from the interweave website, its only $6, i think they look amaing and are relatively easy to do. Anyway back to the baby blanket, I'm using three colours and I wanted the ripples to be random stripes and not all the same width, I stumbled on this website, which is amazing and I played with it for ages!! basically you select the colours you are wanting to use, the amount of rows you wish to crochet or knit in each colour so I selected, 1, 2 and 4 with a maximum of 100 rows all together and viola, there is your random stripe pattern!! its amazing!! everytime you click on the generate button it makes a different pattern, so you have to be careful that you don't lose the one that you love. Then you just print it out and it tells you how many to knit or crochet in each colour.

Speedy Mother Hooker

I have been working my fingers to the bone!! but unfortunately not in a crafty way.  I've not had anytime to do anything crafty for what seems like ages, but that's all about to change as my wonderful husband has just bought me knitting needles, a crochet needle and some bundles of wool!!! YEAH!! I'm so excited (it really doesn't take much) I've not knitted since i was 8 and I've never crocheted, mum used to crochet whenever there was a new baby on the way, anywhere in the world!!! and i used to watch in amazement as she was able to Crochet without taking her eyes off Coronation Street, the hook would move that fast i was surprised that steam wasn't coming off it.  She was one speedy mother hooker!!! So hopefully I'm destined to be one too. 

One Seam, One Hour Dress

Yesturday I said I was thinking of trying to make a convertible dress, well I did.  It literally took me an hour if that!! I couldn't believe how simple it was and its so versatile and easy to wear.  I think I will be making a lot more of these dresses.    It has definitely been a crafty weekend.  To see more pics check out Burdastyle

Summer is supposed to be here!!

Today for the very first time, I made a top in just a few hours.  Normally it takes me at least a day, if not two, but this pattern was so easy, even though I took my time and stopped to cook and eat dinner, it still only took me a couple of hours.  I got the pattern out of this months Burda Magazine (BWOF 07/2008 101 A) I really like it and its comfortable to wear, all I need now is some sunshine.  I might make it again but make it longer so it can be worn as a dress.  I'm also thinking of making a convertible dress, you know, the ones with only one seam.  Anything with only one seam sounds good to me.  Check out rostitchery to see how its done.  I think I might make one tomorrow. This is turning into a crafty weekend and I'm loving it.

I'm the featured member!!

YEAH!! i've finally made it, I'm the featured member on Burdastyle, for a WHOLE week.  I can't believe I was chosen, out of all the amazing and talented people on that site and they picked me!!! I feel like I should be making lots of new things to show, I wish I had the whole day to be creative and didn't have to work. If you want to read the whole piece all about me, then please go to Burdastyle Blog  Thankyou Burdastyle!!

Even Happier Days!

As I was ranting on about being Lied too in Wh Smith about the release of the Burda Magazine in my last post, I was sent a comment from Melissa who told me that they are usually in stores from the 5th of each month and to keep trying, so today on my lunch I went back to WH Smiths ............ and there it was all shiny and new, the brand new issue of Burda World of Fashion.  Even though it was chucking it down with rain and this issue is full of summer clothing, it made my day.  Thankyou Melissa I knew he was lying!!!!