What's on my.... nope, can't do it!

Forgive me.  I was going to do "What's on my Workdesk Wednesday" but I just haven't had the time to get up there and make it look presentable.  I know it's supposed to be spontaneous and all that, but I am completely planning to cheat.  There, I said it.  I am going to prepare for WOMWW.   But this is not the week.

Instead, I am showing you another little crafty thing that I do when I'm making other small things.  Because one needs small boxes in which to put small things.  A 6x6 square of paper makes a lid, and about 1/4 shaved off of each dimension will give you the base.  Simple folds and a few cuts, a little cheaty blob of glue stick, and presto!  Masu boxes.  They're great for little sweets or jewellery pieces.  Got a wedding coming up?  Forget netting for the sugared almonds, make a Masu!  But maybe not with glue.

Hey, that rhymed!  

New Family Members!

We were planning on getting a cat or pair of cats from the shelter this coming weekend, but on Sunday afternoon I saw a message from a friend's daughter on Facebook saying she had three kittens to give away.

After much thought and discussion, we decided to take two of her three kittens.  I did a swift pet shopping spree and went up to London to collect the kittens.  They settled in well and have just been to the vet.  We got a bit of a surprise there... I thought we got two girls but one of them is a boy!

So here's Tiggy and Lady Whitefoot.  They're practically inseparable.

Loom band flowers

I'm trying to put different crafts on this blog during October, or at least different techniques.  This is one that I have dipped into because it is quick, cheap and fun. 

I watched a lot of loom band tutorials on YouTube, the best of which I think came from YarnJourney.  Check out her channel if you want a slightly more grown-up twist on loom bands.  These flowers are hers.  If you get the right colours of bands, you can make some pretty effective bits and pieces.

Tags!

So at Wendy's this weekend I made tags.  The ones on the left are for my son.  The ones on the right are for my daughter.  The four in the middle just are...  because, hey, extra tags.

They are made fro quite thin card, inked with Distress stain and over stamped with Distress ink and that stamp again, much like my Shabby chic samples.  I spritzer these with fine mist and allowed the ink to dissipate and the result is something that can be written on.  They are for labelling the kids' drawers so they know which clothing items go in which drawer.

Here's hoping they improve the laundry situation. :)

Shellicious

I have been buying Simply Crochet since it started nearly two years ago.  Each issue has some sort of bunting motif in it.  I tried out these shells as soon as I could get my yarn together.  I loved making them and plan to make more soon, but first I must separate out the patterns!

The pattern was written once for all three sizes of shell so the instructions are confusing, as if you don't have to do a stitch it says to do it 0 times.  That messes with my head so I am in the process of writing out separate instructions for each size. 

It will be worth it, right?

The Sock Saga

Socks.

I think it's cool to have something to wear that you knitted or crocheted yourself, but I'm an odd size and I'm getting tired of scarves.  Socks seemed a good idea, so I actually crocheted a pair a few years ago. 
I was at a knitting and Stitching show one year at Ally Pally and found this really cool variegated sock yarn.  I started to crochet socks with it and found that it was highly likely I wasn't going to have enough for a whole pair.  Crochet takes up about three times more yarn than knitting does, so I decided to learn how to knit socks.

Knitting is a very slow process for me so this sock is taking ages to grow.  Here's the last known photo of the sock.  It's not much bigger now, but I have been spreading myself quite thin lately.

Kitty Cat Crochet

I'm sure I have posted this pattern before.  I have made this cat blanket in another colourway for a friend's cat.  Now that we are planning to get a cat of our own from a cat rescue, I decided it was time to make one for myself to welcome our cat.  I made two just in case we fell in love with a pair of cats. :)

The pattern came from the Art of Crochet partwork collection.  I really learned a lot from that partwork and I enjoyed making the throw square by square.  If you want to go back and review this, most of it is in this blog with the tag crochet.

I'm supposed to embroider the cat faces on but I might not.  I'll have to give it some thought.  What do you think?