Adiós, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye...

Sniff sniff. It's a sad day. Off the hook! is no more. Well, that's not entirely true. I'm moving to...

The Pigeon Loft. Hope to see you there!

Did you know...

Did you know that most cars come equipped with pigeon holders? I wonder where 007 is going in his swanky Skoda...

...ah. I thought so.

Have some pictures...

Hola! Not much has been happening in Spainland. My poor dying camera will be brought back to life next week when the parents come to visit and I can't wait. There are lots of fancy buildings to be photographed.

Here's Mr.P 007 (minus face of course). He'll hopefully get eyes next week.

I bought this little whale badge today from a charity stall thingy on my way to buy cakes (no cake pictures as I ate them all very quickly- sorry) because I liked the colours, got excited that it was hadmade and it was for a good cause (although I'm not entirely sure what cause it was because the woman spoke very fast).

...and here's another pre-cake photo. It's the town hall of Salamanca and part of the Plaza Mayor. If anybody's thinking of visiting, there's a good cake shop (one of many) on the left there where you see the tables and chairs.

I've just bought some new wool so expect more photos of crocheted things soon. Hasta pronto!

The rain in Spain falls mainly on Charlotte

I couldn't help letting out an involuntary snort of laughter when I read an article the other day attributing the abundance of meat in the Castilian diet to the region's "cold, dry climate". I've been here a mere 14 days and have experienced sunburn, 4 thunderstorms, 2 days of solid rain and a hailstorm with hailstones the size of ping-pong balls threatening to smash the rattly window of my ex-flat.

Just the sort of weather to make you stay inside and start making an ark. I got the pattern free with a magazine (I'll add a photo later) and it's amaaaaaaaazing. The plan is to finish it before I graduate and make an animal a month. Here is zebra 1 minus eyes and legs as straws and felt are hard to come by here...

Mr P 007 is looking rather swish in his bow tie but unfortunately his eyes are back in blighty. Not sure how to crochet a tiny martini. Any ideas?

Saludos dedse Salamanca!

Hello! Sorry about the HUGE gap between posts. I've just moved to Spain where I'll spend the next few months struggling to improve my Spanish before moving on to Germany to do the same. Here's a picture of where I am (taken shortly before my camera ran out of battery and the first of many thunderstorms started).

It's a very pretty city with some stunning architecture (and a wool shop :) ) but unfortunately the weather's been a tad crazy. On saturday I froze in the morning, got burnt at midday, got rained on 10 minutes later and then at about 6 a hailstorm started with hail the size of ping pong balls. As you can imagine with so much excitement and confusion not much has happened on the making things front.

These 10 little hats were posted off to Innocent for the smoothies to wear to raise money for Age Concern.

Two more pigeons flew the nest before I went away. Mr Pigeon 004 is enjoying life in California whilst Mr Pigeon 006 (pictured sunning himself in a tree) is no doubt pecking at churros at his new home in Madrid.

The name's Pigeon........Mr.Pigeon (i.e. Mr.P 007) is currently sitting unstuffed in my suitcase because I still haven't found a shop that sells toy stuffing in Salamanca.

Hasta luego!

Sewing, knitting and "card-ing"

It's been a busy few days of making things...

Mum has started making cards:

So I joined in:

And I've been making more bags to sell, give as presents and use myself. These two (unfinished in the photo) feature an applique cake and a monster. Two more (cherries and teapot) can be found in the shop.

Finally...

Every year the Innocent smoothie people sell smoothies in little woolly hats and for each one sold donate 50p to Age Concern. You can read all about it here: http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/thebigknit/ so this morning I've been knitting smoothie hats. If you fancy knitting some hats too, there are three patterns here: http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/thebigknit/?Page=how_to_knit (for beginners, intermediate and advanced). They only take 1/2 an hour each and are handy for using up left over yarn.

Jake the Woollysaurus

Meet the latest addition to the crocheted family - Jake the woolly dinosaur! If you would like to make your own Woollysaurus, I've put his pattern in my shop.

...and here's a look at what's coming soon...

I made this canvas bag (complete with lining and front pocket) for a friend's 21st birthday as she loves bright colours. It was so fun to make that I've developed a slight bag-making addiction. I've also just come back from Norfolk where I spent ages stocking up on fabric and bias binding for them at "SewSimple" in Taverham. If you've never been then go! It's an amazing place :)

Two Fat Pigeons

Finished at last! These two have turned out to be quite a bit more 'rotund' than the first two pigeons, I think it may have something to do with varying tension :S Never mind, they're in my shop at the mo looking for new homes. Here they all are perching in and around a tree...

p.s. Apologies for the dull photos - it's raining AGAIN.

Mr. Pigeon Cloning

Following the sale of the last ready-made Mr.Pigeon from my shop, I decided it was time to make some more. I've really started to wish that pigeons didn't have feet - they take forever to crochet and sew together! These two are sitting on their purple pigeon pouches...

This Mr.Pigeon is now called Miss. Pigeon and is enjoying life in America. S/he is pictured here pre-being-shut-in-a-little-box with his/her label, pouch and passport so s/he could get through US security quicker.

The evolution of Mr. Pigeon...

The last one is a mini Mr. P keyring. I plan to sell it but have a habit of getting attached to things :)

Little Pink Space Mice

Anybody familiar with British children's TV cannot fail to recognise these little chaps...

Clangers! I wanted to knit something for my mum while I was away and came up with the idea of making her a clanger (as she is a child of the 70s). I was lucky enough to find this page (http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Clangers/Makeclanger.htm) which gives the original clanger pattern and features a gallery of all the finished woolly clangers. They take quite a while to knit and I ended up with many a pipe-cleaner-related injury but it was worth it!

The Crafter's Companion

I just had to dedicate a post to this amazing book - The Crafter's Companion (edited by Anna Torborg). It looks at the crafting culture with contributions from many crafters and each one gives a pattern. I couldn't wait to try the bag (for keeping wool, hooks, scissors etc. in) from the pattern by Sarah Neuburger. Not as good as the original but not a bad first attempt!...

POST NUMERO UNO!

Hello! I have finally given in to temptation and joined the wonderful world of crafty blogging. I am a student with far too much time on my hands and love creating all kinds of things. To give you an idea, have some photos....

I started sewing properly about 5 years ago when an amazing quilting shop called Ring-a-Rosie opened nearby:

Then I went away to University, had to leave my sewing machine behind and so took up knitting instead....

(these three are from a pattern by Alan Dart in Simply Knitting)

Having given up on trying to make my own knitting patterns I decided to try crocheting. It took a while to get used to but now I'm addicted and have designed Mr.Pigeon, Walter Melon and Coco the Clownfish. The patterns can be found in my Etsy shop :)

...and there are many more crocheted creatures planned for the future!