Let The People Choose - Penguins

Let The People Choose is a SAL organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching, with a different theme each month. This month it's penguins! It can't have escaped your notice that I am fond of penguins. I have a lot of penguin related crafting to show.
Here we go:-

This New Year Penguin is a free design from Aliolka

I made this cuddly felt penguin from a kit from House of Zandra

Here is a silk scarf I block printed

and a little knitted penguin - pattern in 20 to Knit - Tiny Christmas Toys

bought the whole book for that pattern

A penguin Christmas Ornament (design by Cthulu Crochet)

A penguin in a Jayne Cobb hat!

Penguin walks down the street in that hat, you know he's not afraid of anything.

and this is a mixed stitch penguin sampler I designed for Stitch Magazine, many years ago.

And finally, not penguin related, but here is the February page from the subversive calendar the girls designed for me

Gifted Gorgeousness January 2020

Welcome to my January 20220 Gifted Gorgeousness Post. If you don't already know, Gifted Gorgeousness is a SAL devised by Jo, which allows us to show off pretty much anything that we can describe in a sentence using the words gift and craft. For full details see Jo's blog here.

Kicking off the Gifted Gorgeousness Year is always the easy post because of  Christmas. I already posted about all the wonderful craft related gifts I received in my Happy New Year post, so this post will be about various things that I made for other people.

Lets see... I knitted the girls a hat each. Pattern is "Head Sock" from The Purl Bug. Here is Eloise wearing hers on Christmas Day at the beach. 

I forgot to get a picture of Naomi's hat, but here she is wearing a little devore velvet slip dress I made her. 

The pattern is New Look 6347. Double GG points on this project as I was gifted the fabric by Minerva

I also made them a silver necklace each, (it's just the lighting that makes them look gold)

I made some of these star shaped fabric mats in a variety of colours and patterns for a few of my friends. 

And finally, a little Year of the Rat ornament I made Naomi for her Chinese Zodiac collection

A Bit of Sewing, A Bit of Knitting

As you may know David and I are photographers, so when I found this wonderful indigo-dyed, block-printed Indian cotton on-line I knew I had to make us a shirt each (yes, I know his and hers matching outfits are cheesy, but I kind of like cheese)

The pattern is New Look 6197, which I've already used to make the Sloth Shirt in this post, so as you can see it's an extremely versatile and very good value pattern.
I've also been doing a spot of knitting, and here are my new fingerless mitts

Knitted in Cascade  Heritage Print (colour - Tut), pattern "Bristlecone Mitts" - yarn and pattern available from LoveKnitting
A step or two outside the old comfort zone for me, as they are :-
a) 4 ply
b) Knitted in the round on double pointed needles.
I'm really pleased with how they came out though, and there was enough of the wool left that I'm knitting a pair of matching boot cuffs too.

Kicking Off Gifted Gorgeousness for 2019

New year, new Gifted Gorgeousness, same format - a forum to show of our crafting gifts and gifted crafting - for full details see Jo's Blog here.
First of all some gifts I received for Christmas
This beautiful little stitched stocking from Clare

and these lovely fabrics from Karan

And here are some things I made as gifts:-

I made Eloise and Naomi a snappy pouch each. These have strips cut from a retractable metal tape measure in the top so that they snap closed. They get double GG points because I originally received my own snappy pouch and instructions on how to make them as a gift from Julie

And here is a jumper I knitted for Naomi (Pattern and Paintbox Metallic DK yarn used available here)

This is the front - nice, but not earth shattering, however take a look at the back!

I'm really pleased with how this came out.

And finally, as she was packing to go back to University, Naomi complained that she needed something to brighten up the front room of her rented house and "make it look like adults live there", so I knocked up a little runner to go on their coffee table.

Rounding Up 2018, A Winner, and a Tree Explained

Happy New Year!

Here is my annual round-up post. The official total for 2018 stands at:-

Finishes - 78
Including these two last minute ones.

The tattoo heart brooch cover kit from the January 2019 issue of Cross Stitcher, which I couldn't resist starting when the magazine popped through my door 3 or 4 days ago. It is now gracing Naomi's new laptop bag
And this little chap.

I bought a whole book to get this pattern (It was only a small book, but still)
As you can imagine the really tough part was eating the two choc-ices to get the sticks for his skis. I am a martyr to my crafting.

Books read - 46
A bit down on previous years, but in my defence some of them were pretty long books

Shoes bought - 8
Yes, I was very restrained this year wasn't I?

So, that makes a total of 132, and the closest with a guess of 73, 54 and 12, was, for the 2nd year running

Jo!

Well done Jo, a prize will be on it's way. 

Please comment  on this post with your guesses for 2019 if you want to be in the competition next year.

Finally a tree explained. In my last post I showed you my Geekmas Tree - I've got so many geeky decorations that we decided they merited a tree of their own and so the concept of the Geekmas Tree was born. (we also have a much more traditional tree in the living room). I challenged you to spot the fandoms and other geekiness represented. It would have been hard to get them all as they aren't all clearly visible in the photo, but here goes.

The angel on the top is Castiel from Supernatural and then reading from the top of the tree down we have:-

An ornament made from Scrabble tiles

A Golden Snitch (Harry Potter)

An ornament made from Lego bricks

A stitched penguin wearing a Jayne Cobb hat (Firefly)

Winnie the Pooh

Iron Man 

Batman

A Chemistry bauble with an organic molecule on it (the one that gives Christmas trees their smell)

Thor

Deadpool

Donald Duck

A bauble that says "Shiny" (Serenity/Firefly quote)

A glass Dalek (Doctor Who)

A stitched Hello Kitty

Ghostbusters

Tigger

A Winchester Brothers bauble (Supernatural)

Captain America

A stitched Lieutenant Worf (Star Trek TNG)

A glass TARDIS (Doctor Who) also a gingerbread TARDIS and a stitched TARDIS

A stitched Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek TNG)

The Incredible Hulk

and an undead fairy

Gifted Gorgeousness for October

It's Gifted Gorgeousness time! You know the drill by now. (If not check Jo's blog for further details)
October isn't a particularly "gifty" month round here so there isn't much to see, but I did whip up these two little knitted skeleton dolls as Hallowe'en gifts for the girls. The pattern is by Clare Farrell and is available here)

Hopefully I'll have more to show next month.

World Cup Knitting #1

I needed a knitting project to do while the World Cup was on; something relatively simple that I could work on without really having to concentrate on it; and this shawl pattern (Curlew by Claire Slade) seemed to fit the bill.

I changed the way the central increases were worked because I found it easier to keep track of this way (remember I needed it to be as mindless as possible), and extended the pattern and just kept going until I'd used the wool. It is knitted using a single ball of James C Brett "Northern Lights".
The fact that it is now finished shows, I think, precisely how much time I have spent watching the football over the last 3 weeks.
World Cup knitting #2 is already progressing nicely.

Gifted Gorgeousness - June Edit

Well I don't know where that month went! It's Gifted Gorgeousness time again already, the blog hop, organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching, where we show our gift related crafts - for further details please see the Jo's blog.
Not much to show this month. I got the Mos Eisley sampler I showed you last time framed.

This is to be a gift for Eloise. Also for Eloise is this cat tea cosy I knitted. Pattern available at LoveKnitting

I made it ginger and white to match our two monsters.

And finally a little aran hoodie I knitted for my friend's first grandbaby

Gifted Gorgeousness for April

It's time for Gifted Gorgeousness - the blog hop where we share our gift related craft news - for more details see Jo's blog, Serendipitous Stitching
I've got a variety of things to show this month. First the Easter Exchange from Needlecraft Haven.
I received this beautiful ornament and delicious Easter goodies from Deb

and sent this ornament to Julie

The design was adapted from a larger sampler in Cross Stitcher magazine and I used the same lollipop finish as I did for the ornament in the previous post.
Next up a little baby jumper I knitted as my friend is expecting her first grandchild. The pattern and wool are by Sirdar.

An Italian Cross Stitch Magazine that Naomi sent for me

And finally, a geeky little embroidery hoop I stitched for Eloise, based on one of her favourite films.

Extra blog bonus points for anyone who knows what the film is.

Gifted Gorgeousness - March

It's the 15th of the month, so that means it's time for Gifted Gorgeousness - the Blog Hop organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching - where we talk about our gift-related crafting and craft-related gifts.
When putting this post together I've noticed that everything in it seems to have been made for Naomi. (Note to self: make things for other daughter!)
Firstly we have a wee Year of the Dog ornament - I started making Naomi a Chinese New Year ornament every year quite a few years ago now, I think I'm definitely over halfway through the zodiac by now.

Year of the Dog Pattern from Holly's Hobbies

Next a knitted snail - she's studying in Italy this year and living in the contrada of Chiocciola (snail district) of Siena - the colours of  Chiocciola  are red and yellow

And finally a skirt I made from an oddment of Echino linen. 

front - note the jetted pocket, I'm irrationally pleased with how that came out

back

I thought the fun moped print was ideal for the girl-about-Italian-town in the spring. Hopefully she will wear it and channel her inner Audrey.

Hearts and Sloths

You may remember the sloth I knitted for Naomi in January, (pattern from Fiona Goble), no sooner had I shown it to her than one of her friends asked if I could knit her one as well, so here we have sloth #1 and sloth #2.

It's reveal day for the Needlecraft Haven Monthly Challenge. This month we all stitched this design from The Primitive Hare.

Mine is stitched in Carrie's Creations Sorbet (with the key in GAST Wrought Iron) and finished with some lovely deep rose coloured ric rac and a little black bow.
The gallery of everyone's finishes can be found here
And finally, this is the little heart shaped ornament I stitched for the Secret Sweethearts blog hop.

Design from Le Grenier de Zoe, stitched with orphan threads on Crafty Kitten Vintage Petals linen, and trimmed with some vintage lace.

Gifted Gorgeousness February Edit

Welcome to February's Gifted Gorgeousness - the place where we show our gift related crafting and/or craft related gifts. Full details on Jo's blog here
Lots to show this month. Firstly, yesterday was opening day on the Needlecraft Haven Friendship Exchange. The idea with this exchange was that we send a Friendship card and gift, along with two skeins of thread and a friendship themed chart.
I didn't remember to photograph the chart and threads I sent, but this is the gift I sent to Justine - an illustrated handbag mirror for which I made a little felt cosy

And here is the lovely hand made quilted mug rug, beautiful card and threads I received from Mary

It's been rather chilly lately so I knitted each of my daughters one of these warm and snuggly interlaced Celtic scarves.

Pattern on LoveKnitting.com here
Finally you may remember Jo won my Shoes/Books/Finishes Competition at the end of last year, and here is the prize I made for her.

It is stitched using Gentle Arts Simply Shaker threads in Schoolhouse Red and Wrought Iron, a lovely dark blue-black shade reminiscent of  old ink which I thought was ideal for the look of a hand drawn map, and finished with dark blue faux leather and a tiny loop of Hobbit ribbon that I found on EvilBay. The Lonely Mountain cross stitch pattern I used is available on Etsy here

Sloths and Challenges

Naomi doesn't just like snarky quotations from cult TV shows, she's also rather partial to sloths, so when I saw a pattern for a knitted sloth I knew I had to make her one.

The pattern is from Fiona Goble, and it's knitted mostly in King Cole Tinsel.
Also Sunday was reveal day for the Monthly Challenge. This month we had a pattern from La Contesse et le Point de Croix. I stitched mine on some orphan blue linen, and made it up into a small patchwork cushion.