Hello!

Once again, I seem to have unintentionally dropped off the blogging wagon! And for so long too!

The time has just flown by since my last post.

Nothing much has been happening though - just life. 

I have another grandchild on the way, due 26th April 2019. Little granddaughter is super excited about the arrival of a new brother or sister. Her dolls are getting lots of use as she practices!

This was their baby announcement - cute, huh?!

We have a cute new kitty, Flash. He is a sweetie, even though he likes to sleep on my head at 5am!

We have had some birthdays, been to LOTS of basketball games and tournaments and just lived life.

I have dyed lots of yarn and my Etsy shop is doing well.

I have been immersing myself more and more in vintage 1940s. I dream of having a home furnished from that era and dressing 1940s. Slowly adding more clothing pieces to my wardrobe. For some reason, I adore vintage gloves and there are SO many at op shops, and for only $1 or $2 a pair. I may not have the body to fit true vintage clothing (their waists, so tiny!), but luckily I have small hands!

I hope you have all been well - and haven't forgotten me completely! I apologise for not keeping up with all your blogs, but I will try to do better in the future. 
Sorry!

Knitted Birthday Gift

It was my little granddaughter's 2nd birthday yesterday and of course, some knitted gifts were in order!

I recently borrowed Mini Knitted Woodland by Sachiyo Ishii from the library. Oh, the cuteness!

I am totally in love with this toadstool cottage - obviously! And will definitely need to knit one for my desk.

I added a pebble to the base of the stalk so it would stand up (which my son kindly painted red to match, even though it wouldn't be seen).

And a gnome to match. My daughter pointed out that the scale doesn't seem to be quite right, if this is meant to be the gnome's home! Oh well, still cute.

I am working on the forest floor still. So many green squares to knit! I'll share that next week hopefully.

I also knitted some cupcakes to go with the teaset she was being given, using the No Calorie Knitted Cupcake pattern, a free pattern on Ravelry.

I really love knitting toys and fun things like these, so it is great to have someone to gift them to.

I have also been working on an Ode To Doris, another free pattern on Ravelry. I have knitted this one a few times as it makes a great newborn baby gift.

I love my DPNs when working in the round, although I have just started using circulars as well. Maybe it is my old-fashioned streak that makes me want to stick with DPNs. Although one of my knitting goals for this year is to give magic loop a try. 
Which do you prefer?

Another of my knitting goals for this year is to make a dent in my sock yarn and sock yarn minis collection. I subscribed to Knitcrate a while ago and have collected my own crates of yarn.

I have my eye on a few patterns for the minis - possibly Free The Minis by Amy Meeks or Land of Sweets by Helen Stewart. Has anyone knitted either of these or have any other suggestions for minis?

I have also been busily dyeing lots of yarn - it is so much fun and so addictive!

I have so many ideas for colours I would like to try. The shop is getting fuller every week!

Linking today with Rainbow Hare's Wool on Sundays - a woolly link up on the first Sunday of each month.
I would love to hear what woolly things you are all up to this week.

Happy Easter!

Wishing everyone a happy Easter. I hope you have a special day.

Vintage pictures cause you know I love them!

And apologies for my absence - my technology skills are terrible and I have not been able to log into Blogger. Now I can but I don't know what has changed. I just want technology to work!

Very Amateur Video and the Shop is Ready!

I posted an extremely amateur video for my Etsy shop update on my page today.
Would you like to take a look?!

Here it is! - Well, this will take you to my Facebook page so don't click if you don't want to access Facebook.
I couldn't upload it directly to here as it was too big. And I have absolutely no clue how to edit video. Hence why it is so unprofessional! 
I need to do some research into making and editing video. Any suggestions for safe, free software would be greatly appreciated.

Here are some random yarn photos - I am so enjoying dyeing!
I was sad that some of the special yarn I ordered did not arrive in time, but hopefully it will be here next week, ready for next Friday's shop update.

That is probably enough for now!

The shop update will be going up very soon. 

My Etsy shop - Tiny Toadstool Cottage

I would love it if you would like to visit and give me some feedback. I know my photography leaves a lot to be desired compared to some people, but all the yarns are true to colour and can be seen well, I think.
Let me know what you think - what works and what could be changed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Mystery Knitting Object

Mystery knitting object.

Can you guess what I am knitting here?

Think, birthday present for this little cutie's second birthday.

Yes, daughter and granddaughter are home from their Australia trip and staying with us for a while. So it is pretty hectic here at the moment, with seven people living in the house. And one bathroom! We really need a shower roster for the mornings.

Ridiculously Excited!

I am expressing a crazy amount of over-excitement that Lincraft has come to our country town!

I know it is crazy to be so excited, but when you live in a small town and have to either drive an hour or wait for an online order whenever you need something, this is cause for major celebration!

This is me when I first went in the shop today - I had to keep my cool!

I visited today and wanted to do a happy dance at all the rows of buttons and ribbons and fabric. I have been ordering buttons from the internet and it is not the same as taking the garment into the shop and being able to try out and match the best ones.

I am so thrilled that I can just pop into town (5 minute drive - yay!) and pick up whatever I need. 
It will also save me over-buying. When I did bother to make the hour drive to Spotlight, I had a tendency to buy things 'just in case', as I wouldn't be going back there for a while. No wonder I have so much fabric!

Anyway, that is my thrill for today! Hope you are having a lovely start to your week.

Some More Knits

I promise I will start to chat about something other than knitting again soon. But I am slightly obsessed at the moment! I wish I didn't have to do anything else, to be honest.

Found this project languishing away in a bag during the week. Thank goodness for Ravelry as I had lost my hand written notes on size, etc. Luckily it is all stored in my Projects page! I do love Ravelry - it is well worth the effort of putting your information in there. And I think I have said before, how much I love to stash and project stalk and see what other people have and are knitting! 

Oh but I do! And you can find it all on Ravelry! Well, actually not all as I still have some boxes I haven't got around to photographing. I am a yarn addict, I'm afraid.

Anyway, back to the point. This project is the Amy pinafore from The March Sisters ebook. Definitely had to have patterns relating to Little Women!
My notes are here.

Definitely for someone who loves brights!
I am using my Nixie yarn base which is 100% fine micron wool in fingering weight in Shocking Pink and Lollipop colourways. I am hoping to have both these colours in the shop for the stock update on Friday.

I have also started a little project today. I wonder if you can guess what it is? Think, two year old granddaughter's birthday present - not clothing.

I really love a picot cast off edge. It takes longer but looks so effective.

I'll share some photos of the mystery finished object during the week.

I have just started reading The Boy Made Of Snow by Chloe Mayer. I am really enjoying it so far as I have no idea where the book could be heading. At the moment, there are so many possible avenues it could take. 
It is set in 1944 in England (just my era!) and is the story of a boy and his mother. She has suffered from post natal depression since his birth, but of course in those days, that was reason enough to be committed to an asylum. So she is trying to act 'normally'. The father is away at war and a group of German POWs have just been assigned to a farm near her house. 
That is as far as I have got, which is all pretty much in the blurb anyway. It could go anywhere so I am looking forward to finding out. And to discovering the meaning of the title.

I will link this to Ginny's Yarn Along for the month of March.

Maybe The Last of the Hot Weather and Some Exciting News!

Look at yesterday's blue sky! And today is just as sunny.

So I am taking advantage of the warm weather to do some dyeing. 
Lots of soft and fluffy yarn bases arrived in the mail (although I am still waiting on some gorgeous sparkly sock) and they were just dying to be dyed!

I just have so many colours that I want to experiment with - I would need hundreds of skeins!

These are some of yesterday's colours - lots of variations on the same colourway here (which I call Fairy Wings - more info to come), so not all that interesting. But I cannot wait to skein them and see how they look.

I am doing lots of tonals today, most of them brighter than these ones.

I have been getting in some knitting as well, while watching my podcasts. Sleep - who needs it?!

I have made Ode to Doris by Kelly Brooker of PekaPeka Design Studios before. It is a lovely, simple pattern that looks gorgeous. I am making it this time in my new Fairy Wings colourway, which I think is knitting up quite well.

I have called it Doris Has Fairy Wings in my Ravelry projects.

And my favourite of the week!
I have been watching a new podcast (new to me, it has been around for a few years) and I am working my way through all the episodes. That is my OCD nature - I have to watch in order from oldest to newest, not just dip in here and there. It will take a while!

It is called Give Me A Crown by Niina and you can find the Youtube channel here.

But the best thing is Niina has an Etsy shop, where you can find the most gorgeous knitting or crochet project bags. I love them as they have snap fasteners - I find yarn always gets caught in zippers - so you can snap the fasteners shut with the yarn in the bag and it will feed through the gaps. 

And Niina had two toadstool bags in her shop! Did I have to have them?! Of course! 
I am using straight needles for my Doris project and they fit in the bigger bag (which is called a 3 skein project bag). The smaller bag is a sock knitting bag.

And look at the pretty packaging. 

Even a tea bag for a knitting treat.

How did Niina know my taste? 
Peppermint, Liquorice and Lemon Balm - yum!

We went to the ice cream shop in town after dinner a few days ago, as we must be nearing the end of the warm weather, and just because.
The man in front of us ordered two scoops, one Peppermint, one Liquorice. It made me think yum, I'm going to try that. Everyone else in the family made gross faces at each other!

And now for the bags!

They are so beautifully made, the fabric is so soft. And toadstools!

I have some more bags on order from some fabrics that are so divine - cannot wait to show you those too!

I am hoping to order a bag for a special giveaway as well, to celebrate the opening of my Etsy shop.
Yes, I have finally done it! There are only a few items in there at the moment. I needed to open the shop to get the web address so I could print it on my labels and you had to add an item to open it. 
But I am dyeing away and will have an official shop update on Friday 16th March. 

My shop is on Etsy here. I would love it if you had a look! I don't have international shipping on there, but if any of my blogging friends were interested in anything, I would be more than happy to work out a postage quote for you special people!

I have also set up a Facebook page, for anyone who uses that. I will be using this for previews of new stock, competitions, giveaways and the like. And this is a great place to share any items made using my yarn. Like me on Facebook here!

I am very excited to be starting this new venture and just wanted to thank all you lovelies who read my blog and comment - I so appreciate it.