Have a fabulous day with any celebrations you may have.

Hope nothing too scary comes through the window tonight!

x

It’s half term again!  Where did that time go?

So we’re off in the stormy weather and looking forward to Halloween and Bonfire Night.  That can mean only one thing, it’s time to bake!

Baking really does seem to be the best craft with a small child.  We had a party to go to on Saturday, so it seemed only polite to make some cakes and biscuits to take with us.

Out came the ghost cake moulds, spidery cake cases and the spookiest biscuit cutters we could find – stars, cats and bats!  And how could we forget adding orange and green icing for decoration???

The biscuits are gingerbread and the recipe is from a Hello Kitty Christmas book!!  It’s really simple and makes very lovely biscuits.  The cakes are an all-in-one sponge recipe with cocoa powder and chocolate buttons added for interest, decorated with chocolate buttercream and a ginger biscuit!

They were all demolished at the party, but we did manage to sample a couple first (all in the name of quality control of course).

Next stop is carving the pumpkin and making a pumpkin curry!

Happy Halloween crafting
x

Say hello to Father Christmas, the prize for my raffle for The Christie.

Father Christmas is approximately 28cm tall and comes complete with his sack and a teddy.  He is made from acrylic yarn and the stuffing is 100% washable polyester, non allergenic, non toxic and flame retardent.

Tickets are £1 each and all you need to do is pay a £1 either to me in person, via bank transfer and I will be taking him to the Bolton School Christmas Market, so you can buy a ticket there.  I will be drawing the winner towards the end of the Christmas Market on Saturday 16th November. 

I am hoping to raise around £100 for a very worthy cause.  Please support this fabulous charity and buy a ticket, and tell your friends.

Thank you and Happy Christmas
x

I have booked myself a stall at my old school for their Christmas Market!  It will be a bit of a trip down memory lane for me I think, although it’s in a building that wasn’t there when I left in 1990!

Old Girls’ Christmas Market 2013
Saturday 16th November 12-3pm
The Arts Centre, Bolton School

Come and buy your Christmas gifts and stocking fillers – jewellery, handbags, cards, skincare products, children’s books, games and more…

Sample, buy and enjoy quality Christmas food and drink – cakes, cheese, chutneys, pies and wines…

Plus, take part in the Great Bolton Bake Off! (Contact the Development Office for further details).

Entry: £3 adults and £1 children, includes mulled wine/hot vimto and a mince pie.

Please buy your ticket on the door
All profits to charitable causes

All welcome – bring your family and friends!

I’d love to see you there, so come and say hello!

Happy Christmas (!)
x

As my fruity keyrings went down so well over the summer, I thought I would expand my range to include some for the winter months.  I originally planned to just do some Christmas stockings, but after a lot of hat knitting for the ducks and the Innocent Big Knit, I decided to add some little hats to the range.

Christmas Stocking keyring

This has been an opportunity to use up some lovely oddments of yarn, particularly cotton and merino wool.  I’ve also started to use the recycled cotton yarn I bought in Hebden Bridge for my birthday.  It’s gorgeous to knit with and feels so lovely and soft.

Recycled Cotton Stripy keyring

I’ve also scaled down my stocking pattern to make little socks / boots. I think they work quite well in pairs.

Recycled Cotton Boots Keyring

I’ve put all my recent keyrings on the for sale page, have a look and let me know what you think.

I’ve really got back into knitting recently, I think its because the weather has started to turn, and I can snuggle up on the sofa with some knitting, the cat and the tv!  It’s a real turn back the clock time, reminding me of knitting toys with my Mum or watching Grandma knit school jumpers with a cat on her lap!

Well, time to get back to the knitting needles.

Happy crafting
x

I’ve fallen under the spell of the Halloween pumpkin it would seem!  So much so that I’ve been looking for ways to make little pumpkins to use for keyrings or for potential trick or treat gifts!

Anyway, I found a little pattern for a garter stitch pumpkin in a Jean Greenhowe jiffy knit booklet.  It’s really cute, so I made one, but it wasn’t quite what I was after.  So I decided to try something else.  I knitted a strip of stocking stitch in orange, joined the cast on and cast-off edges together, then gathered up the row ends, stuffing as I went.  It made a little slightly flattened ball.  I then used some more orange yarn to make segments in the ball.  I completed the pumpkin with a crochet chain in green to make a stalk.

I took both pumpkins to school for a straw poll.  Which looks most pumpkin-like?  The one on the right was the winner, so I have made some more and added split rings for keyrings.

The original one has had a face added and been given to my daughter to play with.

Which do you think looks most like a pumpkin?  I’d love to know.

I’m going to have a go at making some more from felt and turning them into a Halloween garland!

Happy spooky crafting
x