Knitting Worms

That's what I'm doing at the moment - knitting worm scarves for a local illustrator and author of a new children's book. How exciting. You can read more about the book here. The illustrations are amazing, full of little creatures that buzz around every page alongside the main characters. The story deals with bullying and friendship and is great for children of all ages.

Waldo the Worm lives happily in his magical, colourful world. However, there is just one thing wrong, two jealous snails called Kelly and Shelly who are a little bit mean to poor Waldo come along. But one day when disaster strikes, Waldo becomes a hero and save the day.

The author and illustrator saw my knitted cakes and asked me if I was interested in designing a Waldo scarf. So at the moment I'm frantically knitting a batch for a local craft fair in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, next Saturday 28th. November.

But, disaster struck when I couldn't get hold of the yarns I needed and had to find substitutes, which was really time consuming. I'm back on track I think, and hope to have them finished by Saturday with no doubt a few late nights thrown in.

My little boy loves Waldo and was fascinated by the illustrations and characters in the book, which are amazing. Waldo has his own website www.waldotheworm.co.uk where you can read more about the characters and the author and you can purchase the book and three different badge packs. They'd make a really great xmas pressie.......

Birthday Giveaway by Mollimoo

Mollimoo is having a giveaway for a pretty button heart wreath, made by her own fair hand. She is also throwing in a few pieces of fabric from her stash & some 'bits 'n' bobs' too.

All you have to do is leave a comment on her blog saying which is your favourite item in her etsy or folksy shop. Be warned - it's difficult to choose as they are all gorgeous and sweet.

The link to her blog is http://mollimoo.blogspot.com/2009/11/blog-birthday-giveaway.html

xx

Upcycle Christmas Folksy Competition

I've become slightly obsessed with Folksy's latest competition. Upcycle Christmas is a competition for people to take second hand / charity stuff and make it into something ‘new’ and desirable to be sold at an online. All proceeds from the auction will go to Sue Ryder Care.

I've already listed one item - a chunky neck cosy in autumn colours . I don't expect this to win any of the sections, but it's practical and will keep someone nice and warm this winter. Hopefully it will raise a few pounds. I bought the yarn in Oxfam -10 balls of Sirdar Bigga, and this cosy only took one ball. Fab bargain. I'd love it if you could support me and mark it as one of your favourites. More exciting things are in my head - hopefully I'll find the time to create some more competitive entries. I've started my second and it's going well. It involves second hand (but new) yarn bought in 'Mind', Hanley and beads from a necklace bought in Oxfam, Congleton. It's looking pretty so far......

My favourite item at the moment is the handpainted plate and napkin by Lilley's handcrafted lovelies. It's a great idea and very pretty too. I keep looking everyday to see how creative people are.

If you type 'sueryder' into Folksy's search bar and this should bring up the listed entries. What's your favourite?

Craft Magazines - what's your favourite?

I've just bought the latest Let's Knit mag and also Knit Today mag, and I wondered what everyone's favourite craft mag was? There's so many craft mags out there, you'd need a small fortune to buy them all!! Even though they are quite expensive, I buy a few each month, but I don't drink or smoke, so a girl's gotta have one vice!!

My top Five are:

Let's Knit

Sew Hip

Lets Get Crafting

Simply Knitting

Knit Today

I buy Let's Knit every month just because I love it. It's fab and funky and a great read. I often knit from the patterns too, which makes it worth buying. A few of my patterns and designs have been featured in LK, which I'm really proud of. I have all the editions of LK except the first. I've tried to buy it on ebay, but it usually goes for a ridiculous price - I'm not that desparate.

I bought Knit today too this month because it had a little free pattern book with it, with some cute designs.

I resisted Simply Knitting this month as there seemed to be a lot of jumpers and cardigans (not really my thing!). I also find Alan Dart a bit too fiddly, although his creations are absolutely fantastic. I've just used my Tesco clubcard vouchers to subscribe to Simply Knitting, so I'll be looking forward to it each month from December.

Another favourite of mine is Sew Hip Magazine. I have to say it's definitely my second fave after Let's Knit. The articles and fabric designs are really inspiring and there's always a cute little toy pattern to make. The magazine makes me want to sew, which is great, although I still haven't got round to starting a quilt yet. One day.....

I've also bought a couple of Let's Get Crafting Mags recently - one for crochet and one for knitting. They were really expensive compared to other mags, but I had a pattern published in the crochet mag, so I just had to buy it. I tried hard to resist the knitting edition, but failed miserably. Both were definitely worth buying. The free yarn was really soft and I've made some nice little cakes with it.

So what's your favourite? and have you made anything you're really proud of?

Happy Birthday MISI

MISI is one - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISI.

I can't believe it's been a year since I joined MISI. I was one the first sellers of knitted cake patterns, which was exciting, and it's been great to see the site develop and grow. I think the home page looks fab and really professional. I really need to work on my MISI shop and have some great ideas for new projects.

I've been a bit late joining the forums, mainly due to not having enough hours in the day to join in. But I've started to join in a little and want to say a big thanks to Amy from 'Art by MIMI' at http://www.artbymimi.misi.co.uk/ who posted a blog asking for other MISI sellers to follow her new blog at http://artbymimiwinfield.blogspot.com/ and in return she will follow theirs. As a result I have a few more followers, yipee. I really want to do some give aways soon, but haven't done so far because of the lack of followers. Fingers crossed I'll get a few more soon - when I get to about 20/25 followers I'll do a nice winter give away.

I love MIMI's shop - she lives in Cornwall (I'm envious!!), and living by the sea is clearly reflected in her work. I love this painting of a Cornish Tin Mine with it's lovely rich colours.

MIMI also makes some cute hand painted pillows - they'd make great xmas pressies.

Good luck to MIMI and all you MISI sellers - here's for another great year ahead.......

Happy 40th. Grettings Cake

I crocheted two pretty cupcakes - one is for sale in my etsy shop and I gave one as a gift for a work friend who was 40. I made a lovely tag which said "Happy Birthday 40". She absolutely loved it. It was passed around the office and there were lots of oohs and aarhs and requests for more. I'm not sure when I'll get round to making them as I've been quite busy lately both designing and knitting and crocheting gifts . I've designed a gorgeous little pair of baby bootees and matching hat which I'm just writing up the pattern for along with a few other designs that I can't wait to get posted.

I also need to start making some bits for a couple of craft fairs that are coming up. Cakes seem to be really popular, so I'd better get a batch of those ready. I've seen a gorgeous cake stand that I would love to buy to display my knitted cakes. I'll check my finances later this month and see if I can buy it. I'm also working on some amigurumi toys. I'm trying to make sure they're different to what's already out there, which isn't easy. There's so many different designs out there for toys, it's hard to come up with something different.

Also, it's a long process from idea to finished pattern. I tend to start designing something, making notes as I go along. Then I re-work on the design to make sure I'm completely happy with every aspect. Then the pattern needs writing up, which takes me ages, as I include photos of the different stages. Then I have to test the pattern and I usually find a few mistakes. So the pattern needs to be re-checked and re-tested. It's a long and vicious circle. By which time I'm usually completely fed up with the pattern and I put it to one side. Not a good idea as I end up with loads of unfinished patterns.

My current task is to finish the patterns that I've started. I'll let you know how I get on..........

Gluten Free Maderia Cake

I've been using my breadmaker quite a lot recently - not necessarily for gluten free bread, as I've not yet come across a recipe with ingredients that I can use (I have a sulphite allergy too). So I often make this yummy madeira cake, using the following recipe.

Wet ingredients:
butter (melted) - 3/4 cup (150g)
vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
eggs (beaten) - 3 medium
lemon juice - 2 tsp
water - 1/4 cup (60ml)

Dry ingredients:
gluten free flour (I use doves plain gluten free flour) - 1 full cup plus 5/8 cup (250g approx)
gluten free baking powder - 2 tsp
caster sugar - 1/2 cup (110g)
chopped raisins (I use sulphite free dried apricots) - 1/4 cup (41g)

Mix wet ingredients together in a bowl, and dry ingredients together in a bowl. Combine both together and mix. Pour into breadmaker and choose cake setting. My breadmaker does a bit of mixing then bakes for 80 minutes. I presume oven baking will take about the same length of time, although I haven't tried it myself. The cake is nice and moist - you wouldn't think it was gluten free. I do not use vanilla essence and it tastes nice without it. I also use a fresh lemon, not concentrated lemon, as this has a high level of sulphites. The cake needs eating quickly as there are no preservatives, so I leave mine to cool completely, cut into slices and freeze half of it straight away - otherwise I end up eating the whole lot in a couple of days - not good for the diet or the figure!! It's great with or without butter.

Let me know if you give it a try.......