A little mix

Hi Dear Friends

A bit of a lull here at the moment as I have had cramps in my fingers so it hasn't been easy to do much at all for very long. The better weather has meant more time outside as well with lots of gardening to catch-up on and also longer walks now it is sunny and warm. I expect it won't last very long so I am taking full advantage of it.

Little mittens from oddments of wool. I am thinking of keeping these until winter then taking them to the Food Bank as so many of the little children have freezing cold hands in winter and no mittens or gloves at all.

More little kitten blankets to use up bits and bobs of wool

I decided that I needed to think outside the box with the extra chunky wool that Linda brought for me. There are grey balls and pink balls so I just knitted a straight piece with both of the colours in it and folded it over to make a bag. Added to this a knitted rabbit,s head shape with a bit of stuffing and some twisted handles. Quick and easy to make and better use of the wool than the awful cushion cover. I think I will take that apart and reuse the wool.

Have a great weekend. Snooker watching for me with a walk inbetween the morning and afternoon sessions

Love Chrissie xx

Comfort blankets

Hi All

Today we are going to start decorating the lounge so I am trying to get up to date with posts before Vic gets out the paint and ladders. Every room will be disrupted as we move stuff to make way for the ladders and everything else that goes with decorating. I just 'help' by encouraging the worker and making lots of tea or coffee as required.

This week I have been making little comfort blankets. not sure where they will end up but I thought maybe a children's hospital would like them. Everything has to be sewn on really well and especially ears and arms as small children usually carry things around by the ears or the arms.

The runt of the family-first attempt.

Opened out

Linda brought some really thick wool so I thought I would try one of the balls. You need to use 00 needles that are enormous and the huge ball of wool just made the one cushion cover. Not sure I will make any more of these as it was heavy and very hard work. Maybe I will use the rest of the balls of wool to make a rug. 

Have a great weekend and thank you for calling in

Love Chrissie xx

Knitting and Crocheting

Hi All

Hope your week is going well. 

What a mixed week for weather it has been here with snow, rain and cold as well as beautiful sunshine and blue skies. I have stayed in a few days as I wasn't well for, but back to normal now and raring to go. It was to do with my balance and I have had it before so knew all would be well eventually. It did mean I had lots of time to knit or crochet so it wasn't all doom and gloom. :)

I had lots of bits and bobs of very thick wool so I made this variegated teddy. He/she is quite large so will be best used for decorating a nursery I think.

I am quite addicted to making cotton washcloths now. There is a  story to tell about the cotton and a lot of the other wool that Linda brings for me.

Over 30 years ago, when I was suddenly widowed, I needed money to keep myself going so I started making knitted garments on a machine that had been given to me by someone when I helped them pay a gas bill. I had to find somewhere to get the wool I needed and I found a little shop in our nearest small town. The gentleman who owned it was always very kind  and generous to me and when he retired his daughter took over the business so we became good friends. Before this turns into a book, my daughter, Linda became friends with her when Linda started to knit and to sew in big way long after I had left the area. The Girl, Gwyneth, decided to retire recently and Linda bought lots and lots of the wool from the shop at knock down prices. So here I knitting things with wool from the same shop as I used to buy it from years ago. Among the treasures were packets of the cotton I am using for the washcloths. Hope they go down well at Cat Protection. I make the patterns up as I go along and no 2 are exactly the same.

Here are the labels I have designed and they fit on an A4 paper if you would like to have a go at wash cloth knitting or crocheting.

Have a great day and a wonderful Easter time

Love Chrissie xx

Cards and PJ cases

Hello There

With all the snow and gusty winds I haven't been out as much as usual so it has been great to do crafting. This included making cards and knitting as well as the usual sport watching on television. Sunny today but still windy and very cold-going for a walk along the seafront to blow away the cobwebs.

Linda took all the things back with her that I had made since Christmas and I am pleased to say that the chickens sold straight away at the charity tuck shop. They sold for three times the price it had cost to make them but we don't charge for making them at all so lots of funds to boost the children's charity.

Back now to making things for the Cat Protection though I do have plans for more things for the tuck shop.

The 4 at the top were some I finished that Linda had started years ago and the others are using Mary Ellen's wonderful drawings.

 Sad news that she is stopping drawing as she feels she has drawn everything we will need now. Such a lovely lady and she will be missed a lot. Her blog will stay open

so we that we can still use her wonderful images. Link in my sidebar as well. A reminder for me to keep visiting.

Linda brought lots and lots of wool as well as craft stuff and some of it was very thick wool.

Rabbit pyjama case large enough for a child or an adult.

Cat Pyjama case

The underside of the body has an opening with a big button.

Have a great day and thank you for calling in

Love Chrissie xx

More Chicks and cards

Hi All

Such a strange week for weather here and it hasn't suited my joints at all . I didn't know I had. Still managed a walk most days and went to see MIL yesterday. Now she is off most of the medication she was taking so is different and more alert but not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing as she is now complaining more about other things. The good thing is that we felt better about going to see her and less responsible for every little thing.

Last of the chicks already for Linda to take back as she and Graham are coming to stay tomorrow until Wednesday, weather permitting that is. The last lot were knitted from  odd bits and bobs of wool and all chick colours I hope.

More Christmas cards using the images Linda bought a very long time ago. A lot of them are Lily of the Valley and are in packets or pad versions. I recall years ago helping her make kits to give to the local  brownies troop to make cards. She designed the cards and then we made all the elements needed to make the card and one of the things in the packs was an image from like these. It did mean that the cards were a variety and the girls enjoyed making them, then they sold them to raise funds. We had fun making all the packs as well:)

Have a great weekend

Love Chrissie xx

Chicks and bunnies

Hi All

The weather is snowy and icy here so I don't think I will be fitting in my 10,000 steps today. Lots of projects buzzing around in my head so I won't get bored for sure.

This week there was lots of sport to watch with the Olympic Curling and the Rugby so that meant I could do easy knitting while I watched.

I bought a few boxes of Cadbury's creme eggs and knitted chickens to hide the eggs  inside them

Just for Elizabeth some of the chickens are showing their bottoms and how the eggs get in and out. I still have loads of yellow wool from years ago so I will see if Linda thinks they will sell for the cat charity or the charity tuck shop, then I may make more of them.

I made the parts for this tea cosy a few weeks ago but never got around to assembling them. Difficult to take a photograph as the snow alters the light everywhere. The inside of the house seems dark when compared with the pure white snow.

Have a great day

Love Chrissie xx

Cards, bunny and doll's set

Hi There

Lovely sunny day here but the forecast for next week sounds awful with 6 inches of snow for us in the NE. I am sure it won't happen but you never know. I have really enjoyed this week with the new boiler working so well and a big cupboard where the hot water tank was. It is already full and very useful. Also lots of sport to watch and I always love that.

I made another little rabbit from bits and bobs of wool

A doll's coat and hat for an American 18 inch doll

Linda said that Christmas Cards sell at the charity all the year around and she certainly gave me lots of Christmas stuff for cards so I made a few of those for her to take back as they coming to stay in March.

The cards are quite large. They needed a bit of glitter I thought but still needed to be flat enough for normal postage

This was a book I bought a while ago to give to one of Vic's cousins as they have small children and I thought it might amuse them when they came to visit us.

Afraid one page will be missing when they visit and maybe another one with stars as well 

I peeled off the stars with the sticky back and dipped them into glitter sticky side down. Some gold and some silver. An easy and very cheap way to add a bit of sparkle I thought. The stars don't look very sparkly in the photographs but they do in real life.

Thank you for popping in and have a wonderful day

Love Chrissie xx

Rabbits galore and other makes

Hi All

As always more sport on television more woolly makes from me. It is great to be able to record some of the Olympics and just choose the ones we want to watch. We both love the snowboarding and the curling so great seeing those competitions. Tomorrow and Wednesday I will be bailing out for most of the day as we are having a combi boiler fitted and it seems to involve upheaval in every room and the loft!  Roll on Thursday.

For those who are wondering about my MIL she seems to be improving and I think she may have been taken off some of the many tablets she had been prescribe. She is happy that we aren't going to be going so often and said Vic and me should be looking after each other. Life has certainly taken a turn for the better for us with not so much responsibility

Made two lots of cards this week and started some special ones for friend's birthdays but not got very far with those yet

Linda is still thinking up lots of ideas for toys with a Chocolate Oranges inside and here is Oscar guarding some of them. Linda says the owls are the most sort after so she did a loads of those the other day. How she fits in an 8 hour a day job and all the other things she does I can't imagine.

Find of the week for me is a pattern for making a rabbit from a knitted square you can find the pattern here Even a child could do the knitting bit but making it into a rabbit is a bit trickier

The pink and white rabbit is a pattern I downloaded and the other rabbits are all from squares of various sizes. I am hoping to add the very tiny ones to a tea cosy soon.

Also unraveling two jumpers to make into blankets as well. No wonder the time passes by so quickly as we always manage to fit in a walk most days as well

Have a great day

Love Chrissie xx

Busy Week

Hi All

A busy week for us as we were expecting to have a new boiler fitted and it involved emptying lots of cupboards in the kitchen and the airing cupboard as well. We had to even clear out the loft so that the two tanks up there can be taken out. What should have happened after that was the plumber arriving on Tuesday and doing all the work, then it was all going to be being finished in a couple of days. The plumber couldn't come as he had to have an operation on the Monday so we are still in chaos and hoping he is coming sometime this week.

Lots of sport to watch on television so my week has been productive craft wise.

 I managed to transpose Linda's crochet pattern of the bunny to a knitted version and this is the one I knitted. Had a hard time finding a chocolate orange to fit inside they seem to have gone into hiding in our shops.

The week before last I started Vic's new jumper and I finished that yesterday. He is very happy with it and wearing it today. His older one is now in the wash and then it can be unraveled and turned into a crocheted blanket.

What a bargain I found at the The Works a couple of weeks ago

Buy one box of cards for £2 and get another free. There are eight cards in each box with envelopes as well. Two designs in each box

I cut the fronts from the cards and made 16 cards for the Cat Charity. Linda provided me with all the card blanks, envelopes. coloured card, cellophane bags etc., when she gave up card making. Still lots to use up yet. I have worked through the blanks in sizes so all the ones left are really big cards. Not sure what to make of those but will get my thinking cap on.

Rugby and Davis Cup tennis again today so will find a new knitting project while I watch. Have managed to fit in a walk of 10,000 steps most days as well so I am not always sitting around.

Have a great day

Love Chrissie xx

New idea for charity cards

Hello Everyone

Hope you are all ok and not caught up in any extremes of weather at the moment. We are having a combi boiler fitted this next week so I have had to move things everywhere to leave the radiators free and also take everything out of my wonderful airing cupboard that will no longer exist once the work has been done. Sad about that though Vic says he has some ideas------?

I have been busy making cards with a twist using the fabulous designs from here at Dearie Dolls Digis. Mary Ellen gives her work freely for all to use and this time I chose some of the ones with cats on them as they are to go to the Cat Protection to raise funds.

I have called these cards 'Card and Colour' as Mary Ellen gives the colour version and also the image she has drawn so it can be coloured as you like. I added the coloured image to the front of the card and the drawing to the back of the card to be coloured by someone else. I did add the name to the cellophane bag so I hope people who buy them know they are something a bit different.

Love as always Chrissie xx

A card and knitting fest

It has been a cold and frosty week and I don't like going far when everywhere is slippery. Good to have lots of things I like doing and I have really enjoyed my crafts this week.

These are sets of clothes for the 18 inch US dolls that are very popular at the moment. I have lots of ideas for more sets 

Before I could do anything else I had to sort out my jumble of wool-it was as high as it is wide. I haven't bought any wool for a very long time as Linda brings so much when she comes and also I unpick things to use the wool again. I will be buying some aran wool soon as every two years I knit an aran jumper for Vic while I watch the 6 nations rugby on television. I can unpick the old one to make a crcheted blanket

All sorted out now into boxes and bags and different plys-not for long I imagine :)

Found a bright ball of wool so made this hat-it stretches to fit any size

Here are some special cards I made for my own collection. 5 of them have some of Valerie's amazing photographs that she had made into a 2016 calendar for me. I have only just taken it down so thought it would be wonderful to recycle the pictures for special friends and family to enjoy.

These are cards made from the remainder of the Debbi Moore calendar from two years ago

Crocheting today while I watch the snooker as it is slippery outside so far and very cold. Need to fit in some shopping at some point so I hope it warms up a bit.

Have a great day

Love Chrissie xx