one good apple

This time tomorrow I’ll have finished my first day back at school.  That Sunday feeling just doesn’t go away.  You know the one, where you think about getting up and getting ready and that bit of homework you were meant to do on the first day of the holidays but put off and put off and put off…  At least tomorrow the kids won’t be there so we’re sort of eased back into the whole thing.

The stupid thing is that the year goes by ridiculously quickly.  One moment it’s September, dark and cold and dreary, and the next you’re saying year 11 kids, ‘Only six more weeks till your exams start so let get busy!’ *yeah right*  Time goes too quickly and you don’t even notice it’s happening.  Oh, for a time machine…

Blustery is finished up and blocking at the moment, with it’s mismatched buttons.  It wasn’t meant to have mismatched buttons, the one I was going to use were too small for the button holes I made so I had to resort to my stash,

The lack of sleeves in a waistcoat are an obvious bonus when you’re desperate to finish a piece before the evening is out.  I also made these slippers with a pattern from Burdastyle,

Tha Wizard of Oz, Japanese style.  These were incredibly easy to make although I did make two left feet by accident, hence the reason one inside is red and the other patterned.  More a testament to my stupidity than anything else.

I’m going to combat those back to school blues now with a little embroidery and some telly.  Oh, and some rabbit snuggling x

I set up an etsy shop this weekend!  Ooooh look at me!  Pride of place are these fingerless glove/hand warmer type things,

in a couple of different yarns.  I’m actually really nervous about whether anything’ll sell but I figure if I don’t try I’ll never know.  There are some of my bunny softies in there too, hopping along waiting to be adopted.

Other than that I’ve been plodding along quietly and making the most of my last few days of holidays.  I finished off my lino prints and I’m quite pleased with how they’ve turned out

I like the idea that you could write something in the speech bubble, like the owl is hooting some kind of message to you.  I also made my first sock monkey,

although he has no facial features yet.  That was meant to be a job for this weekend but I got caught up in the vintage vertical stripe afghan knitalongweekend challenge on ravelry and the poor faceless thing got pushed to one side.  That’s not to say that I’ve achieved anything remotely near what I was supposed to with the afghan.  I’m going to slope off in a minute to try and do a few more rows before bed time.  Sock monkeys are great though aren’t they?  I mean, he looked rubbish before I sewed his little snout on - like, well, a pair of socks -  and then a few stitches and woosh! instant personality.  And that’s before he even has a mouth or eyes and stuff (see how he’s a ‘he’ already?).

Okay, I can hear my afghan calling, might as well make the most of my freedom before tomorrow starts again x

I got my final Secret Pal parcel last week and boy was it a good one!  I got some beautiful Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK

Peaches and Creme, think these will end up being some fingerless gloves,

and that’s just for starters!  I also got an advent calender, chocolate coins, a magnetic shopping list, some gorgeous soap.  But best of all these,

Two amazing facecloths!  Far too good to be used, I think I might get these framed and give them pride of place somewhere in the living room!  Mandy has been the most amazing secret pal a girl could ask for, check out her blog to see her in all her crafty glory!  Thanks Mandy, you’re the best *^_^*

I put the Christmas tree up this week, Donald has found in particularly interesting, think he’s getting back to his roots. 

We’re thinking about getting him a friend at the moment, we’re both out of the house for a lot of the day and it would be nice for him to have some rabbit company.   He’s such a loving and friendly thing I think he deserves a mate to hang out with.  And speaking of rabbits, I made this young man last night,

with some fabric that my sister brought me back from Japan.  He was so easy to make that I think he’s going to be a stocking filler feature this year.  Time to finish off that Christmas scarf x

Another lazy Sunday, making the most of the reasonable weather while we still have it. We spent the morning in a local flea market, parting with our hard earned cash in small doses. We took John’s nephew Dan along who is great fun, mainly because he isn’t yet at that awkward teenage boy stage and will do pretty much anything you want him to for a giggle. A case in point…

I also rooted out a throw that I’ve been working on - the edging in blue is all that needs finishing but I was desperate to see what it would look like all together so I sewed the edging that i have finished onto the main pink part of the throw in order to make it look like this,

And my socks using the yarn from my secret pal, it feels gorgeous, can’t wait to wear them… 

Here’s the quilt I was talking about earlier in all its clashing glory,

I think I’m going to try and find a single duvet in Asda and sew it into the cover in order to use it as a counterpane or some such thing.  In fact I’ve been buying so much knitting, crochet and sewing supplies that we ended up taking a trip out to Ikea a few weeks ago and buying shelves to store everything!

Other exciting news is that I’m now on ravelry - my username in emilylikesto - feel free to add me and look at the stuff I’ve got on there so far!

I’m being incredibly slack with posting at the moment due to the back to work rush and with it the huge pile of marking that ends on up on my desk every day.  I don’t know where it all comes from but I’m seriously considering buying a rubber stamp with a tick on it in order to prevent repetitive arm strain!  Still, we’re half way through the term already so it’s not all bad news…

My socks using the yarn my secret pal gifted me are well under way, I’m going to take some photos of them this week.  The yarn is totally gorgeous, much nicer than anything I’d usually buy for myself.  It’s funny how buying for someone else gives you the incentive to splash out - my secret pal sendee will soon be receiving some yarn it was very hard to part with!  I also spent age last week making a double duvet cover and pillow cases for our bed only to find when I went to put the duvet cover on that it was about a foot and a half too short.  Humph.  In my excitement I only measured the width of the duvet, not the length which is quite obviously going to be longer.  There were some anguished cries coming from the bedroom when I found out, Donald ran for in his cage and John sat quietly watching the telly trying to figure out what he done…  I suppose eBay came to my rescue as I’ve decided that I’m going to just buy some wadding, sew that it and have it as a coverlet on top of the duvet.  We’ll need it anyway as it starts to get colder - our bed is under the window and it lets in a healthy breeze on an alarmingly regular basis.  I’ve also been teaching myself German after falling in love with Germany on holiday.  I’m making slow but steady progress and hopefully next time I go I’ll be able to say something useful to the locals.

We went out for a walk around Liverpool today whilst the rain held off.  It’s funny how you go to all these places and take lots of photos but you never look on your own doorstep.  We walked down by the India Building and the business area of the city before walking across to the docks to have a look in the Tate.  Rodin’s The Kiss is in there at the moment so we had a look at that, had some lunch and reminisced briefly about our second date there when we found ourselves watching incredibly frank Tracy Emin film whilst simultaneously cringing with embarrassment.  Will upload some pics and post them tomorrow.

The weather here is miserable at the moment, rain and more rain.  I had visions of a summer in the park, drinking iced tea and reading in the sunshine.  Why do I still live in Britain??  All this indoors time has meant that I’ve been spending my time using up oddments of yarn and fabric to make quick fix things - instant gratification!

My sister sent me the flowery red fabric from Japan two years ago and now I’ve finally got round to using it.  The cushion is made using remnants and a ball of Debbie Bliss Superchunky (off of the felted bowl that was never to be…)  Sewed them all together and used some velcro for the top flap,

Donald decided he’d get in on the act though and now everything is covered in tiny white hairs.  It seems that despite the fact it is winter weather, someone’s furry body clock is telling him that fur is out out out.  But then, how can you get mad at this face?

Just been to get my euros for Berlin - only four days to go!  I made this travel wallet with a pattern from Adorn magazine.  Mine is slightly smaller than it should be but it still fits my passport, money and bank cards in comfortably.  I love the mix of different flowery patterns, very chintzy.