Men Need Scarves Too

I realise I have neglected the male contingency when it comes to my knit wear and crochet creations - I have spent most of my knitting activity on pretty in pinks, little lace numbers and flowers on hats.

So to redress the balance I knitted this chunky, unisex scarf in a neutral grey colour, made it extra wide (you can bury your face in it if the wind chill factor gets too much) and I think its perfect for the man in your life!



I've added this one to my etsy store, unfortunately its the last ball of wool in that colour in my current wool stash, so looks like I need to go on the hunt for more man-friendly chunky wool.

Let Them Eat Cake

Aided by my two little helpers I made the Christmas Cake last week - a bit of a last minute cake due to being caught up with life generally and forgetting all about cake until a few days before Christmas.



The children helped decorate it - hence some size and colour variation in the little baubles on the tree, but I think that adds to the delight of the cake. And it tasted good too - I can confirm there is very little left!

Head Turning

Skies are grey and that nip in the air is sure to tingle your ears. Me being one of short hair notices it most. Hats are a must.

I crocheted quite a few hats for the last few craft fairs I did this year and they were pretty much all snapped up - I had a colour scheme ranging from blues to lilac to pink to brown (something to suit everyone.

So I thought I'd better get that crochet hook out and make a few for my online shops:





And I have a cupboard full of more lovely wools that are just crying out to be made into a hat - though I seem to spend too much time deliberating on colour schemes. Perhaps I should just add a big sign to my shops saying "tell me your favourite colour and I'll make you a hat!"

The Reincarnation Of A Scarf

I have lots of scarves - I knit scarves, I crochet scarves, I have scarves in all shapes and sizes (one for every eventuality/weather condition/colour of coat).

But when I stumbled across a pure lambswool scarf in a charity shop I couldn't resist giving it a new lease of life - and I didn't mean for the purpose it was created for. I began by felting it to add a touch of robustness, then cutting it into squares. Add a piece of bright fabric and hey presto, 2 little purses were made!





And last but not least one for the gadget and music lovers - an iPod/moblile phone/gadget sleeve -



They are all in my folksy and etsy shops at the moment, and I feel that this is just the beginning of a venture into upcyling for me.

Oh Pretty Tree

Christmas tree decorated and I'm starting to feel festive. This year the tree could only take half of the decorations I seem to have amassed over the years, however I did manage to add some of my hand crafted felt decorations without the tree collapsing under the weight of the adornments.

(clue - my decoration is green and triangular shaped - any viewers of the Crafteroo advent calendar may recognise it!)

Picking The Right Tree

Yes it was the Family Outing to select the perfect Christmas Tree. Wellies on, gloves on, then up to the Forestry Commission to peruse the vast rows of pine trees, spruce trees, fir trees - oh which one shall it be......



C'mon kids put your back into it....



Yes, this is the one...



Homeward bound...



Now all we need to do is decorate it....

Gadgets Need Clothes Too

A while ago I mentioned the amount of phones and iPods in all shapes and sizes in our house that inspired me to start making fabric sleeves. I took some gadget sleeves on their 1st outing to a few craft fairs recently where they were warmly greeted and purchased, and this week I've been adding a few to my Etsy and Folksy shops.











I'm also offering to make these gadget sleeves to fit whatever gadget you may have - these ones fit the iPod Touch or anything else that size.
Keep your gadget warm this winter!

Double Whammy!

"Wow I'm on the front page of Etsy!"

3 hours later

"Double wow I'm on the front page of Etsy again!"

Yes it was a good day yesterday! My 1st front page glory moment was a treasury by mamabetsy full of neckwarmers and my electric blue one was featured.



The second treasury was picked by lusitania and featured one of my brooches.



Thank you for creating these treasuries and picking my items!

It's a Retro World Out There

I adore fabric shops, I adore browsing online fabric stores and I adore my fabric cupboard. I love fabrics of all textures and colours, and sometimes I stumble across one that I really like. I was totally wowed by this retro print fabric when I saw it, with its cirlces and one of my favorite colour combinations, brown and pink. I've made a few bags with the material and this is my latest one:



It's currently for sale in my etsy shop (new in today!) I've also made some brooches and iPod covers with the fabric that look suitably 70ish. I shall photograph them, weather permitting - go away grey skies I need to take photos - and put them in my etsy and folksy shops soon.

Starry Starry Night

I've been a little busy lately with wholesale and custom orders, which has been hectic but enjoyable. I'm working on my 3rd custom order at the moment and it is a great feeling creating something that someone has specifically asked you to conjure up - especially if you've never met that person! It always gives me a glow to open my mailbox and see a message that begins with "would you be able to make...."

However I did get time to photograph this starry clutch bag and list it in my Folksy shop.



It features a handle that I crocheted in a pure Shetland wool, and the fabric is dotted with little black stars. Add a little glamour to a night out! I also pleated the fabric and added a little inner pocket.

Its similar to one I have currently in my Etsy shop too.

Back to the knitting.....

Power Of The Flower

Take one crochet hook, one ball of pure wool, a box of buttons and a little thought of how to add a smidgen of cheer to winter skies - and that's where my wool flower corsages started.







Some I made with pure wool and felted, some I made with a lovely pure cotton that is the softest of softness, some I added a vintage button, some I added one of incywincy's gorgeous handmade buttons. I've put a few for sale in my etsy shop, will be creating and adding more too over the next few weeks.

How We Had Fun at Handmade

So the big day came and went - yes, the Handm@de Craft Fair took place on Sunday at Oxford and I was lucky to be one of the exhibitors.

We set off early, traffic and hassle free journey, until we had to navigate the one-way pedestrian system coupled with road closures. The sight of a row of cars parked on double-yellow lines with a flurry of boxes being unloaded led me to guess that we'd arrived at the Town Hall.

I set up stall in a state of anxiety and probably had a slightly startled look about me to begin with (apologies to anyone who spoke to me at this point if I looked a little odd!). I had remembered everything, stall set up went well, and then the doors were opened. It was a fantastic turn out, goodie-bags were handed out to the 1st wave of people through the doors - well over 1000 came to peruse. It was lovely hearing comments about my stuff, so pleased that people liked it, and I sold quite a few wool hats and corsages. Wool is the way to go this season I think!



I also met some lovely UK craft folks, many who I've chatted to on Etsy and Folksy forums, so nice to put faces to shop names. I also did a little bit of shopping and treated myself to some lovely earrings from Quercus Silver and a super pendant from pennydog.



All in all a great day, a big thank you to the organisers. And yes I would definitely do it again!

P.S There are more images on the handm@de flickr group

The Big Day Approaches

Panic and anxiety have now set in. Yes, in less than 2 days time I will be displaying my wares at the handm@de craft fair in Oxford.







So if you've nothing planned this Sunday pop down and say hello.

And if you've got things planned, cancel them and come to the fair.

*check out the handm@de blog too for a full list of exhibitors and some great gift ideas!*

Keep your iPod Warm This Winter

Our house seems to be accumulating a number of iPods, mp3 players and mobile phones, all of varying shapes and sizes, so finding compatible covers for them is starting to become a challenge. Combining this conundrum with my love of fabrics I have developed a new line in iPod sleeves/socks/cozy's - whatever you wish to call them.



I love this fabric - I've called it a Busy Ant Fabric - and it just seemed to suit the size of this iPod cover. I added a crocheted band in white and a button for the closure.



This one has been listed in my Folksy shop, I shall be displaying more at the Oxford handm@de craft fair on Sunday then adding more to my Folksy and Etsy shops next week.

Front Page Moment

Another pleasing moment - one of my brooches was featured on the Front Page of Etsy today - it was included in a wonderful wintery blue treasury created by TreasuryTown - oh and thank you to the UK Etsy folks for letting me know I was on the front page!





I'm currently working on another range of brooches in wools and cottons, hopefully they shall be in my Etsy and Folksy stores soon.

More Monkey Business!

"Mummy, for my birthday can I have a Yoda Sock Monkey?"

Hmmmmm. What is a mother to do? Well firstly send a pleading message to sian from the fantastic siansburys who came up with a great idea, went and sourced appropriate socks (green) and in no time at all had created this wonderful Yoda:



We introduced him to Lofty, who moved in a while ago:



Then made him a coat as the weather is getting chilly:



And he soon felt right at home:



And one smallish boy was very happy!

I've Been Tagged

How exciting... I have been tagged by Lazy Daisy whose blog is lazydaisyglass.blogspot

The rules are as follows:

1) Link to your tagger and list all these rules in your blog.
2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by including links to their blogs.
4) Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

Now I didn't find it that easy to think of more than a few random facts that weren't embarrassing/too revealing/dull/too weird/best left forgotten - but I've had a go and here they are:

1.My dream is to keep chickens.
2.I love buttons. I mean love to the extent of being slightly obsessed by them. I go into charity shops just looking for buttons.
3.When I was 16 I rode a Vespa scooter that had a ladybird painted on the side. I adored that scooter!
4.I tried mushroom picking last year, gathered a huge bounty and discovered that not one of them was edible. I did spot a tiny black frog though.
5. I have 2 tattoos on my back.
6. My favourite food is cheese. Hard cheese, soft cheese, smelly cheese - its all good.
7. When I was 10 I kept a diary documenting how many bounces I could do on my pogo stick before falling off. I was good on that pogo stick!

That's enough randomness for one blog post!

I am going to tag the following bloggers:

1)www.boulieblog.com/
2)hippiedippydesigns.blogspot.com/
3)www.allthingsglassandbeautiful.blogspot.com
4)www.flurogoddess.blogspot.com
5)www.ajournalofdreams.blogspot.com
6)www.the13thgypsy.blogspot.com
7)www.oldbagcrafts.blogspot.com

Phew! That wasn't so easy!

Etsy Front Page!

Delighted to find my Heart On Heart Clutch Bag featured on the Front Page of Etsy this morning:







Thank you illusio for creating the treasury and including one of my clutch bags in it.

Making Sense Of It By Alice (aged 5)

Explaining to the children why Billy Cat was no longer with us. Billy was black and white. Alice, aged 5, sat quiet for a while.

"Every time I look in the sky and see a cloud with a little bit of black in it I shall know that that's the cloud Billy is on".

I think I shall do the same too.

Birthday Treats Galore

My friends and family all know my love of hand crafted delights and so it was a joy to receive a bundle of such loveliness for my birthday last week. And I must share some pictures of the little gems I received from my family:


Soaps by Soapychica that smell soooo good, incredibly chic and delicate ear-rings by Moments By Martha and the prettiest bangle by Twinklyspangle.



Also received a lovely chunky bangle, which coordinates with my latest hair shade (deep autumnal brown) and this fantastic print by Askey (who also happens to be the designer of my etsy, folksy and blog banner).

A Happy Birthday indeed! Thanks guys!

Featured!

Received a lovely message today from the folksy guys - "You're a new Folksy Featured Seller!" Every 3 weeks the folksy staff pick 4 sellers to be "featured" and I was so chuffed to be one of them (in fact I nearly choked on my museli)

Here's a little shot of the featured sellers page:



(That's me in the middle - the description on the side reads "Using wool and fabric to create richly textured accessories, Lin's stuff 'feels' warm and well crafted."

There's a little more about it on the folksy blog too with a lovely write-up of my work - "so full of texture you want to touch them".

Thank you folksy!

Tea, tea and more tea

I love looking for unusual and unique fabrics and on one of my many hours spent browsing rolls and rolls of cottons, linens and other delights of the haberdashery world, I was immediately drawn to a lovely lime green fabric. It features pink prints of teapots, milk jugs, cups spoons and forks. And when I started making some clutch bags for my folksy shop I thought it would be perfect for one.






I added a crochet band using a lovely soft pure cotton wool - I love mixing fabrics and wools together - and lined it with a pink fabric.

Perfect for afternoon tea!

Thank You PJ

So my humming PJ Harvey's song (C'mon Billy) for the last few days has paid off and Biily Cat has come home from the vets this evening.

Cat home = hurrah!!!

Vets bill = waahhhh!! *throws self to floor and sobs*

so I shall take a deep breath, listen to the cat purring and know its all worth it.

C'mon Billy

Billy Cat has been in the animal hospital for 3 days now.

And the only thing that I can think of to help is to wander around with the words of a P J Harvey song swirling around in my head:

Come along, Billy, now come to me
Come along, and come to me.

I hope it helps.

Belt Up!

Along with my button addiction I am quickly developing a liking for belt buckles - particularly vintage ones. There are some good supply shops on Etsy - such as the englishbuttonco - that can feed my habit on a regular basis ( strange things happen to me if I don't get my button fix...)

My last buckle purchase was a selection of blue, red and cream buckles,just waiting for the right fabric or wool to marry to. On a recent trip to Hay-on-Wye I came across a lovely wool shop where I found a pure, unbleached, thick chocolate brown wool and the Belt Idea was born.






The Vintage Buckle Wool Belt is currently for sale in my Etsy shop.

How We Love Howies

So my little Contemplating Cowboy Purse is currently sitting in the Howies store in Carnaby Street, London, as one of the 9 short-listed items in the Folksy competition. As I haven't been able to get there myself I have been begging all and sundry to send me photos, and here are a few of the store and the competition display:


the shop - you can just see the Folksy display through the door



the Folksy display with the entries - my purse is there at the back. Love this display!

You can see how the Folksy sign was created on the Folksy blog.

The competition ends this week, voting has been going on in the store since Friday - good luck to all!