Embroidered Buttons

I felt like doing a little bit of embroidery the other day.

Onto some scraps of white cotton, I embroidered some flowers and added a border of beads.

I then sewed a line of running stitches around the edges, to gather it up, and trimmed off the surplus fabric.

I sorted out some large buttons - 2 -3 cms in diameter.

Gathered the fabric over the button to cover it and pulled it up nice and tight at the back.

I added a small circle of felt to cover the back and sewed on a safety pin.

And this is what I ended up with, some cute little badges.

I think the design needs some polishing up  - maybe I'll try a different colour background fabric and larger flowers - but overall I think they'll do.

A Little Touch of Prettiness

Whilst waiting for the evening meal to cook, I felt inspired to crochet up a little bit of prettiness.  I made this cuff that sits nicely around the neck of an old jam jar.

I added a skinny pink ribbon.

Filled it with old buttons.

And stuck some artificial flowers in.

It's sitting on the table in front of me now.  A welcome pretty addition to the room.

Olivia Revisited

Two years ago I posted a pattern for a cardigan, Olivia - very pretty, soft and gentle.

Even if I say so myself, it's a wonderful pattern.  Here's the picture of the original cardi.

However... the problem is the yarn I used.  The lovely soft yarn sheds like mad.  You just have to touch it gently and you end up with a handful of fluff.  Just looking at the picture I can see the fluff starting to shed everywhere.  

So I decided to reknit the pattern using ordinary double knitting yarn - no mohair!  Here's the new version.

I enjoyed knitting the pattern up again - it grows surprisingly quickly and the end result, I think, is so feminine.  I used Sirdar country style DK this time - it took less then 6 x 50g balls!

This version is so wearable, I should have made it sooner.  You can see full details of the project on my Ravelry page, here.

So Where Was I?

Revision and exam out of the way, I need to get organised and remember all the plans I had made during the revision period.  I must say, revising is a great way to be inspired... for everything other than revision.  I had some great ideas for things to make and do and now I have a fairly substantial list of things I want to tackle.

First of all there's all the work-in-progress that needs to be assessed.

I'm making a granny blanket for Eve for when she goes away to university.  I'm about a quarter of the way through that.

I'm knitting a sweater for Grace for her birthday.

The colouring of the yarn for the sweater is beautiful.

I'm also working on adapting a pattern from the 1950s for a short sleeved top with a cabled peplum.

And finally I'm knitting a cardigan  from my Olivia pattern.

This cardigan is now almost complete, so I'll be able to share the photos with you shortly.

Well that's just the big projects, lots of quick projects are on the list - I just need to find time to fit them in.

At the moment we have football on the the television - Euro 2012 and the US Open golf tournament started yesterday.  This all means plenty of sitting-and-watching-sport time which equates to knitting-and-crocheting time - so no excuse not to make good progress.

Having said that, I'm also back working on my family tree.  This is far too addictive to be true.  A whole day can pass tracing relatives and nothing else gets done!  But it is so much fun and I've made contact with numerous long lost relatives, discovered family members in far flung places and generally learnt so much.  Yesterday I spent working on my American relatives.  So if you're a member of the Parry family and you're reading this in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, hi, we may be related.

Revision - of sorts

The days are filled with revision... only a few more days to go to my geology exam.  Today's agenda is metamorphism and sedimentary structures.

Fossils were the topic yesterday... ammonites, echinoids and trilobites.

Does it count as revision if you knit a trilobite?

Grace found me a pattern for a knitted trilobite, here.  I started knitting it but made some alterations as as I went along and this is what I finished with.

I can name the body parts, pygidium, glabella and cephalon so it must count for something!

Little Spring Mandala

I like it when someone else does the hard work for you!  Sara over at Tangled Happy searches the web for new and interesting knitting and crochet patterns, so that you don't have to.

Recently she posted a link to a beautiful crochet motif called Little Spring Mandala by Barbara at Made in K-Town.  I couldn't resist making it.

I used a 3mm hook and double knitting weight yarn to produce a finished mandala measuring 16cm across.  It's more than just a just an ordinary, standard motif - look at the lovely use of colour and stitches.

Such a clever idea.  I've stuck it up on the wall as part of our ever-increasing woolly wall decorations.

And then I thought, I could also make it using crochet cotton...

and incorporate it in a card design.

The crochet cotton version measures 9cm across.  This card is for Eve - a good luck message for her up and coming exams.

The motif would also make splendid coasters - I'm sure I'll be making plenty more of this design.  But now, the latest edition of Mollie Makes has just dropped through my letter box.

So I'm off to put my feet up with a cup of tea and indulge in some crafty inspiration.

Titus the Barn Owl

It's exam time in our house at the moment.  Eve has her first A level exam next week and on the same day I have my Open University exam.  So it's revision all the way.  I've been studying geology this year - rocks!  I've spent most of today trying to sort out and analyse my rock samples - but I still get my dolorite and my diorite confused, and don't get me started on the sandstones - subarkose, quartz wacke, quartz arenite!!!!!!!

Any way, I found a bit of time the other day to test a crochet pattern Grace has written, Titus the Barn Owl.  We did some fine tuning of the face, but otherwise her pattern was wonderful.  And here he is...

I gave my version a sleepy face but I think it makes him look a little snooty - an owl with attitude.

I'm so proud of Grace and her creative abilities, it really is a lovely pattern.  It's available for free over on her blog, here.

Olympic Record

Just to complete yesterday's post about the World record attempt.  

They achieved it.  

6000 children formed the Olympic rings on the beach.  

Down at the Beach Today...

First thing this morning I went down to the beach in search of the crocheted iron man (see yesterday's post).

He wasn't difficult to spot.

If you're down our way, he's just by the leisure centre - statue number 64.

64

The tide was on the way out, his wet sandy feet starting to dry out.

Later in the morning we went down to the beach again.  This time it wasn't quite so quiet.

At 8am

At 11.30am

Weird looking puppets were dancing around.

The Olympic torch was on its way.

Because the relay was doing a loop, we got to see two of the runners, number 78, on the road and number 81, on the promenade.

The beach and promenade were closed to the public, we had to gather on the grassy sand dunes.  On the beach were assembled thousands of colour-coded school children.

In the afternoon they would be attempting to break the World record for the number of children forming the Olympic rings.  Whilst we were there they were mostly making sandcastles and eating their packed lunches!

A bit of excitement in our quiet part of the world, I'll have to catch the local news on the television tonight to see how the World record attempt went.

Oh and by the way... don't lean on the railings!!!