Knitted mobile phone cover

I just upgraded to a 'smart' phone, and while I'm finding it is awesome compared to any other phone I've ever owned, I am also paranoid that I am going to scratch or crack the touch screen in no time at all. Apparently the model of phone I bought is too new to have a specific cover available to buy so I decided to knit one instead. And a knitted one will be a lot nicer than a boring shop-bought one anyway. I searched on Ravelry and found a cute free pattern for a knitted smart phone cover on this blog site.

The phone cover is a mix of moss stitch and 1x1 rib stitch, and didn't actually take very long to knit. I'm happy with how it looks, but I will find out how effective and functional it is in the next week or so I'm sure. It may need a drawstring or something to keep the phone from slipping out in my bag.

I've also made some progress with my crochet blanket (getting a bit quicker at it!) and now have 3 squares completed.

Learning to Crochet....and Preserving Lemons

Apparently the number of craft activities I can become obsessed about is ever-increasing. The latest is learning to crochet. I have wanted to know how to crochet for ages....I have a lovely blanket that my Nanna crocheted probably even before I was born, and it's my favourite blanket that I pull out each winter. I'd love to make one myself. So with some (very patient) help from J's mum combined with some useful instructions I found in a lovely craft book: "Meet me at Mike's" by Pip Lincolne, I have finally managed to complete my first crochet 'granny square'! This will be the first square of my blanket. I have chosen a random assortment of wool to make the blanket so that I dont need to worry if I run out and have to buy different wool. The only restrictions I'm putting on it is that it has to be some shade of blue, and it needs to be 8ply wool (real wool not synthetic crap). Not sure how long it will take to make a whole blanket, it took me a fair while to make the first granny square but hopefully should get quicker as I get more experience...

Also we were recently given a massive bag of lemons from someone at J's work whose lemon tree had a glut of fruit. So I have made a couple of lemon tarts in the last week or so (but that only used 2-3 lemons per tart), so today I decided to use up a lot more of the lemons before they spoil by trying to make some Preserved Lemons for use in Moroccan recipes. I followed instructions in one of my cookbooks: "Cooking Moroccan" (ISBN 1-74045-448-0). Now I just need to wait about 4 weeks to see if it worked! :-)

Craft in May

May has just been so busy, haven't had a chance to update my craft blog. I did find some time to finish off a few projects, just haven't managed to take photos and upload them until now. I finished the sunny yellow 'little sisters dress' (with some help from J's mum with the crochet button loops since I haven't learnt to crochet yet) and attached some cute little red heart-shaped buttons. I also made another little plain vest, this time in a sage green colour. I still need to sew some buttons on, but as it's for a baby that is due at the end of June I am waiting to find out if it's a girl or boy before I decide which buttons would be best. I also knitted another pair of baby booties for another friend's baby due in September.

Autumn is here

I had planned a whole heap of outdoors activities for this weekend including a bike ride, but the weather turned grey and rainy and pretty much canned those ideas. Instead went for a little drive around the Willunga & McLaren Vale region and enjoyed the beautiful autumn scenery - all the leaves on the grape vines are turning golden yellow and red colours.

On the knitting front I finished another pair of booties (yellow ones knitted in a cotton blend rather than wool), and am about half way through knitting my first project knitted 'in the round' on circular needles. The pattern is 'little sister's dress' by Tora Froseth (http:/knittingalot.blogspot.com). It's very cute, but although I have learnt a lot by doing this pattern there are quite a few little bits I stuffed so this might have to be a trial run - I'll see how it turns out in the end though! I'm sure the next time I try this pattern it will be a lot easier :-)

Magic Yarn Vest

Back in 2009 my friend Kira sent me a 'magic yarn ball' for my birthday. The wool was hand-dyed by Kira and looks lovely - and she had wound it into a ball with lots of little knitting tools embedded in it, so as I knit and un-wind the ball little presents are revealled. It was such a cool present. However back in 2009 I had only just started to learn to knit and hadn't progressed past the basic scarf design, so I didnt get very far with it and the half-made scarf sat in my craft drawer for ages.

Earlier this month I unravelled the scarf and decided to use the magic yarn to make a cute little baby vest. The pattern is available free from Pickles website. I modified the pattern slightly (by mistake, but then I liked the effect my mistake had and decided to go with it rather than unpicking it). My modification made the little ridge of different stitches around the middle of the vest. I found the little flower buttons at Spotlight. I'm very happy with how this vest turned out, and I still have a little of the magic yarn left over! :-) Thanks so much for the great present Kira - sorry it took me sooo long to actually use it to make something!

Scarf weather

Making the fingerless gloves inspired me to finish the matching scarf last week. It had been sitting neglected and half-made for months in my craft project stash, so it felt good to finally finish it. I love the colours (they seem to match the colours in the ocean) and the merino/silk blend is so soft and warm. And now I have a lovely matching scarf and gloves just in time for the cooler autumn weather we are having now :-)

Fingerless gloves and a vintage find

As a bit of a change from the bootie madness of the last couple of weeks, I made a pair of fingerless gloves. The pattern was really quite easy - following instructions from TinyHappy's blog. I used 4.5mm needles and Moda vera Picchio fusion wool (it's lovely and soft, made up of merino and silk), and matches the scarf I started making last year. Now that I've made the gloves I better make an effort and finish off the matching scarf, especially now that it's starting to feel like Autumn here.

I also had a great find at a local op shop this week - a whole heap of 'vintage' knitting patterns, which from the looks of them date back to the 1950s and 1960s. Some of the prices on them are written in shillings and pence. They are classic, some great patterns, plus it's just fun looking through all the pictures with the hairstyles and props for the models. I can't decide which pattern to try out first! :-)