Holiday Greeting

Glitter Text Maker

 
 
If you celebrate Halloween, then I hope you have a fun-filled day (I will be watching Casper and Ghostbusters with my other half :-))
If you don't celebrate Halloween, then I hope you have a great day doing whatever you do :-)
 
Louisa xx

Granny Cushion

Here is a granny cushion I have made as a Christmas present - Its 40cm x 40cm. I don't know if you can see very clearly, but there are 3 little flowers in the top left hand corner :-)
I've made another one, in green, lemon, cream and white, but I havent finished that one yet.

I can't wait to make more like this!!

Things I Love Thursday

I'm posting this from my iPhone so this weeks Things I Love Thursday is pictureless - sorry :-(
So here we go!

1) Presents from the other side of the world.
A few months ago I helped a fellow Ravelry member with something, and as a thankyou she sent me a ball of yarn. She lives in Australia, and I am in the UK! She sent it via SeaMail and it took 3 months to reach me! I love this beautiful ball of Australian yarn - I will have to think very carefully about what to make with it - it's so well travelled!

2) Making Lists.
I love making lists - for all kinds of things! My other half laughs at me, but I don't care! I'm organised! I especially love yarny related lists and my amazon wish list :-)

3) Days Off
Although I only work mon-fri most weeks, I still feel I don't get enough days off! I'm particularly looking forward to next week - I have 2 and a half days off work! Yay!! And that doesn't include the weekend!

Well that's all for this week! I will write a proper update soon, I promise!!

Louisa xx

Things I Love Thursday....

Hello! Time for another Things I Love Thursday.... this week we have:

1) Drums.
To be more specific, my boyfriends drum kit (well one of them!) This is it all set up for a gig he was playing at the weekend - its the smaller of his drum kits, but its my favourite because its all silver and glittery and sparkly :-)

Isn't it beautiful? He gave me permission to post this photo, so massive thankyou to him! (he reads this blog too - *waves*)

2) Doris Day.
Doris has been my idol since I was a little girl watching Calamity Jane over and over again! I just love her sense of style and her wardrobe and her voice - she's great! I have a degree in Film and Media Studies, so it was only natural that when the time came to write my dissertation, that it would be about her!
I emailed her once, and I recieved a lovely letter and a signed photograph, which is framed and on my wall :-)

My favourite films are the ones she did with Rock Hudson :-)

3) Live music.
I love live music - especially rock and metal - there's nothing like the atmosphere at a gig! I have been to more gigs than I care to remember, and I have been to at least one festival every year since I was 16 (I actually went to 3 this year!) Me and my other half travel all over the country to see bands - we're actually off to Manchester in a couple of weeks, and we were in London last month for Ozzfest! Here is a photo from the last band I saw live - Alter Bridge at Newcastle Academy last Sunday - it was great!

Well thats it for this weeks Things I Love Thursday - I hope some of you start doing this too, then I can read what you love! (apart from crocheting of course!)

Louisa x

My other hobby...

On Monday, I told you that I would give you a peek at my other crafty hobby.... well here it is - Hama beads!
Not just any Hama beads though - I use the mini ones, that are 1/4 of the size of the midi beads (which are the common ones in the UK) The mini ones are only available through one website - luckily its an excellent website!

I make jewellery with these beads, and I have a website and etsy shop to sell the jewellery. I mainly make video game characters (such as Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog etc... but as you can see in the photo, I do make other things too!
All you do, is use the beads to create the design on a special pegboard, then you cover the design (carefully!) with special ironing paper and gently iron over the top until the beads are fused together. Then you peel the design from the pegboard, and do the same to the other side.
Its very relaxing, and a lot of fun :-)

Louisa x

Monday evening ramblings....

Hello :-)
I was hoping I would have some more of my scarf to show you today (actually I was hoping I could show you the finished thing today!) but i'm only 3 squares along...
It's been a busy weekend! However, I did manage to get some hooky time in on saturday afternoon, sitting in the empty function room of a social club (think Phoenix Nights x1000! - if you don't know what that is, youtube it!) while my other half was setting up his drum kit and soundchecking with his band for a gig they were playing that night. (i'll ask him very nicely if he'll let me post a picture of his drum kit up on here - its very pretty and sparkly!) so that was a good hour and a half of crocheting :-) I managed another scarf square, and a whole round on my giant blanket!! I'm really loving this blanket, I can't wait until it is finished, and I can snuggle under it!

Something that surprises me (in a nice way) is that I don't really get any disparaging remarks about only being 26 and crocheting in public. There are a couple of people who sort of make fun because they think I should be out getting drunk and 'having a life' - excuse me, firstly I don't drink and secondly I happen to think I have a pretty awesome life! Other than that though, I just get compliments, and i've even inspired a couple of people to learn to crochet! I saw a woman sat in a camping chair at Sonisphere Festival this year, knitting a pair of socks!! Do any of you other bloggers get any negative attention about your crafting, especially if you do it in public?

Thats pretty much it for my ramblings tonight. On wednesday i'm going to give you a peek at my other crafty hobby.... so watch this space!!

edit - just noticed i've had 200 views of my blog! not bad for only 1 week!! 

Granny Square scarf - square one!

Don't worry, i'm not going to make a post every time I finish a square for this! I just wanted to post the first square!

Made out of stash yarn (was so very happy when I found the purple at the bottom of the box!!)
I havent blocked it yet, so please excuse the wonkiness of it!!
What do you think?

Louisa x

Crochet on the high street....

So my other half and I were in Newcastle city centre last night for late-night shopping, and we were in Eldon Square when I spotted something rather familiar in Accessorize, under a big 3D sign saying 'Knits' (you can guess whats wrong with this scene in a moment.......) so anyway, I race inside to find them selling this.....

and they were charging £22 for it!!! (the quality was pretty shabby too....)
I was astounded (but also secretly pleased that granny squares have made it to the high street!)
There were loads of other crocheted items there too, in fact, most of the items there were crocheted!

(and the thing wrong with the scene.... that they were advertisng them under 'knits'. Oh dear accessorize... you really should do your research!)

Anyway, at work today, i was just sitting doodling on my pad of paper, when i decided I would make my own uber-fashionable granny square scarf, except mine would be all kinds more awesome, and be much much cheaper! So watch this space for progress!

Louisa x

Things I Love Thursday....

Every Thursday, I am going to make a post describing 3 things I am currently loving.
So for this weeks Things I Love Thursday, we have:

1) My coloured crochet hooks.

I got these from eBay, because you can't actually get them in the UK!! (apart from online of course...) They are beautiful and I love them :)

2) The King of Queens

I only own seasons 1-4 of this comedy (hoping to get more for christmas though!) and it's absolutely hilarious. I'm re-watching season 3 at the moment. Kevin James plays Doug Heffernan, a delivery driver for IPS living in Queens, NY with his wife Carrie (played by Leah Remini) and her father Arthur (played by Jerry Stiller). It's so funny!

3) iCrochet
http://i-crochet.blogspot.com/
I discovered this blog a couple of weeks ago, and it's amazing! It has linked me to most of the blogs I now follow daily! If you havent been there already - why not?? It's great - you can post a picture of your project, and link it to your blog or flickr page, and you can look at all kinds of other crocheted loveliness too!


Ok well thats all from me for my first Things I Love Thursday - Hope I haven't bored you too much!!

Louisa x

5 things about me...

Just as a little introduction to myself and my blog, here are 5 random facts about me!

1. I am obsessed with Hello Kitty. I own hundreds of items, including a guitar! (which I cannot play!)

2. I love colour - especially rainbow colours, pink and purple. Funny thing is though, 95% of my clothing is black!

3. I live in North East England. It's a beautiful place (in some areas!) but I would love to live in either Yorkshire, Scotland or America. My dream house in the UK would be a cottage with a thatched roof, lots of land and lots of rooms in the house. It would be in a small village that has a cute little cafe and a local yarn shop, and not too far away from a Lakeland!!

4. I love lots of crafts, especially crocheting and making jewellery with mini Hama beads. There is a link to my website on the right there -->

5. I have one treasured ball of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino that I keep in a zip loc bag. I occasionally take it out to look at it and stroke it. I want to be able to eventually afford more colours then I can make a beautiful cushion cover for a very BIG cushion that will be mine-all-mine :-)

Louisa x

First Post!

Hello! First post on this blog! I have been inspired to start my own blog after reading so many amazing blogs out there in the land of tinterwebs. My favourites are listed on the right there ---> 

I thought today would be a good day to start, as it has been exactly 1 year to the day since I started to teach myself how to crochet!

I will never have a blog as fabulous and interesting as some of those, but what the hey?! This is my little corner of the internet, and I'm going to do my best to make it warm and welcoming and very much 'me' :-)  

The first picture I would like to post is my 'long-running' project - my giant granny square blanket. It's not really giant at the moment, but i'm hoping with a lot of patience and more yarn, it will be HUGE! 

I'm using mainly Stylecraft Special DK (it's my favourite!) but there are a couple of colours that are Bonus DK and Woolcraft New Fashion DK. Future projects will all be Stylecraft (simply because its the best 100% Acrylic, budget yarn there is! Plus they have a fantastic colour range, and I love the names they give to each of the colours!)

Ok, so here it is - the giant granny!

I love this picture - I took it with my iPhone last weekend, and I love how the colours have turned out! I'm a little bit further on with it now, I have just started a dark purple round. 

Ok, well thats enough from me!

Louisa x