ABCs aren't as easy as I thought...

Hi guys,

Well I’ve had a productive few days, I’ve almost finished designing my alphabet and pictures for the building blocks! The pattern only comes with ABC which will make 1 block (6 sides including a picture for each letter) so I have copied the format and designed each letter of the alphabet and a picture for each…they took some deciding on I’ll tell you, to be honest I’m still struggling with a few letters to get them finished off! I'll post pictures of each square as I finish them (or maybe each few as there will be a lot....) :)

Also I’m still not sure on how I’m going to make them up as there will be 3 letters and 3 images per block which will run through the alphabet in order, I’m not going to try and get clever with how they are position to be able to spell words etc…, they are for a newborn after all :) But obviously there are 26 letters in the alphabet and this isn’t divisible by 3…..so I’ll have 8 full blocks and 2 letters and pictures left over – any ideas from anyone how to correct this? The only thing I’ve come up with is to do the old XYZ as the 24th block (which will help a bit with picture issues, but then what do I do for the picture on there as it’s only a small space?

The over the weekend I’ve finally achieved a life-long dream – I’ve taught myself to crochet!! I’ve tried so many times before but never quite managed to master it, I became a dab hand at making the first chain but the thing I always struggle with is identifying where the loops are to crochet into, but I’ve found that after your first row it’s a lot easier as you’re going through the stitch. I still need some practice because I’m nervous when it gets to the end or beginning of a row where I should be stopping, it’s still quite hard to identify the stiches around there, and of course I can only do the crocheter’s equivalent to the knitted scarf at the moment so I have all the weird and wonderful stitches and techniques to learn but at least I can do the basics now! Here's my first piece of crochet (incidentally the ideal size to sit my iPhone on for my desk at work! :)



Catch up with you soon,
Mrs K
xxx

As easy as ABC...

Hi peeps!

Firstly an apology - where are my manners!

I was shocked at myself when I had a quick look at the blog last night to see that I didn't wish you all a very happy new year in my last post (3rd January)! So here it is, wishing health, wealth and happiness to you and your families for 2012!

There, that's better - now on with the post.

Since hearing about my sister's forthcoming arrival I've found so many little things I'd like to make! Especially since last week when we found out she's team pink! (although on this note, my sister like myself isn't a pink fan as such so there will be a rainbow of lovely colours for ther nursery, toys and clothes but none of them pink...well until bump grows up a little bit and puts her own stamp on things :))

So my next project, using the wool from my earlier post that I made the monkeys with so the toys are coordinated, is this lovely building block which I'll be making 3 of to produce a set:

Of course I'll be amending the colours and using my wool and was going to put a little bell inside one of them to make them a little more interesting for the little lady.

It would be lovely to see some other creations on here too, what projects are you all working on at the moment? :)

TTFN
Mrs K
xxx

Glitzy Wrap Progress

Here's how it's looking so far......

I'm really pleased with it I've got to say, although it's more narrow than I was expeciting it will still look lovely (and I couldn't bring myself to increase the width and making it an even longer project!) :) I didn't think it would ever take off as I started making it 5 times before I got past a few rows of pattern without totally losing track and messing up, but once I got into the swing of it I've got the pattern remembered and am sailing through...well, I nearly hit a metaphorical iceberg a few days ago and had to unpick a few rows but managed to get back on track and haven't got one single error or dropped stitch....yet! :)

In fact that's my main focus to start this year, practising how to identify the stitches by paying attention to my knitting and learning how to become more methodical with my corrections and not just unravelling a few whole rows until I can pick up how many stitches I had and just squint my eyes while I re-knit a row hoping it will work out!! I'm confident I can identify which way a stitch should lie on the needle now as I've had to undo a few stitches here and there and learnt from making mistakes, always the best way I find :) Does anyone out there have any tips on how to learn from your knitting mistakes and to not be as much of a 'wing and a prayer' type of gal?

I've always loved all crafts but there's something about knitting that seems to have just got me hooked and I'm hoping, in time, I'll become a pro! I've been looking at new techniques too and have got really excited about trying some of these but am concious I don't want to start loads of separate projects and get none of them finished so I'm in the process of deciding which I'll start alongside this one I'm currently working on - the options at the moment are fairisle (which I had a bit of practice on with the stockings), intarsia (this seems to be a bit more flxeible than fairisle as the yarns aren't attached on the wrong side of the work so I might choose this method for a cardigan/jumper...) and cable knitting!....then of course there is knitting in the round and four needle knitting which I've never had a go at....so many ideas!

I was also thinking of making the site more interactive rather than just being me talking about my projects and boring you all with progress pictures :) All I've come up with so far is to start including patterns, I think I might go back and add links to the patterns I have used on each project so far and maybe add in a section for patterns I collect along the way. I could also have a little section on methods I'm collecting along the way but I feel that I should try these out myself first to see if I can understand the instruction before trying to distribute them to others - there have been so many stitches and techniques along the way which, being a novice, I haven't encountered before and have resorted to the wonders of Google and YouTube to help me out and I've struggled to find good instructions on a few of them so thought it might be useful to save them for future reference and I could pool these together for you.

What do you think and do you have any more ideas for things you'd like to see on here?

All suggestions welcomed!
Until the next time...
Mrs K
xxx