19 April 2012

RUN, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN - YOU CAN'T CATCH ME I'M A GINGERBREAD MAN!

Following the phenomenal success with my knitted jelly babies for the Tiddlers, I thought I would have a go at some of the other toys in Jean Greenhowe's collection.  The obvious choice for Beth was a pink ballet dancer and I thought Ben would like Superman.  Well, the ballet dance was a definate hit, but although I made Superman with blue hair, as requested, Ben's first comment was "Is there a jelly baby for me?". 

 

So back to the drawing board and I thought for a change I would make Gingerbread men - jelly babies with a difference.


First I had to find the right colour wool.  Not as easy as I thought.  My first choice turned out to be more dough boy than gingerbread, according to my daughter.  So with the help of our very obliging local wool shop - "Is your gingerbread usually brown or more burnt?" - We found exactly the right colour and I cracked on.  After making brown jelly babies, I 'piped' round them in white using double crochet and added little buttons for sweeties, down the front.

 


















With a certain amount of trepidation, I handed them to the Tiddlers together with my family of little 'egg cups' (so cute) for Easter and ......tada! 




  



 





Success! They have joined the ranks of the much loved - sorry Superman!



16 April 2012

TURNING THE TABLES

For ages we have been looking for a circular 4ft extendable table to go in our dining room, but unless you are willing to pay a small fortune for one, it's like trying to find hens teeth.  So imagine my delight when I found one for £40 at the St. Michaels Hospice Furniture Shop. True it was in a rather sad state, but as it was G-plan it was restorable.
So it was out with the sandpaper and wire wool and off to work. 





A week later, my table is gorgeous and my bank balance still in good shape as are my abs - all that sanding saved me a fortune at the gym!

After this little triumph I decided to have a go at the G-plan coffee table I had picked up for a fiver ( another bargain).  This was also in a rather sad state, but as I had been so successful with the table I thought "nothing ventured....." and got stuck in, and Oh! didn't it come out well.  There will be nothing stopping me now - look out furniture I'm on a roll!!


15 April 2012

ONE, TWO, KNIT A FEW.......

Five and a half years ago, I started what can only be called a knitting marathon. Our first grandchild, Bethany, made her entrance into the world and so I started on the shawls.  Beth had a yellow and a pink one.

They turned out a little bigger than I expected, the yellow one being over five feet in diameter, but they really did look spectacular and have a 'secret' sewn into the middle of them (A little butterfly and a snail) 

Two years later, Ben arrived and I started all over again. He has white and blue, both of the five foot variety, with a 'secret' truck and plane.

The Tiddlers love their 'blankets' and take them everywhere ( a bit of a struggle for an overburdened mum, but Michelle rises to the occasion, bless her.) All of the shawls  have been used, loved and washed for at least 3 and a half years now, and as you can see have stood up very well to the test of time.




I've been so pleased with them, as I thought they would end up looking like rags after a few months hard labour, but they are still bright and springy and loved.  Isn't knitting wonderful!