My Blessing

Did you know that the collective noun for a group of unicorns is a 'Blessing'?  And a baby unicorn is called either a 'sparkle' or a 'shimmer'?  I did not before I picked up my needles and made my first baby unicorn, then curiosity got the better of me and I looked it up.  

This enchanting pattern from 'Knitting by Post' is called Stardust the Unicorn and is available from Ravelry.  

After I had made my first Sparkle I became obsessed and found myself making one in every pastel colour (and one or two other colours) I have in my extensive stash of knitting yarn ......

Cream ...... or is the lemon one?

Violet

Aqua

Mint

Baby Pink

Lilac

Lemon - or could this be the cream one?

Baby Blue

Magenta

Peach

As you can see they all have their own personality but, as much as I loved having them around, my work space soon became over run with little unicorns and I needed to put them somewhere same whilst I finished the project. 

I found a cardboard box, which would keep them clean and prevent them from being squashed out of shape.  The trouble was they would stare at me accusingly from across my work room, making me feel very guilty about putting them away.  I even started to imaging that I could hear their little hooves tapping on the cardboard as the jostled for prime position to look daggers at me.

I have put them all safely away now until Christmas when they will each make their way into the Christmas stocking of every little girl I know.  After all, who wouldn't want their own Sparkle?

Dionne 

A Little Taupe Set

A pinch and a punch, it's the first of the month.  A little something from my childhood, I wonder if children still race to be the first to say that?

I hope you had a good weekend, did the heatwave find you?  I think it would have been hard to miss it if you live in the UK.  Too hot for me, I'm afraid!

Today it's back to the knitting and I have another baby outfit to share with you.  This little set was made in a taupe coloured double knit yarn.  I realise that it looks more grey in these photographs but, try as I might, I could not reproduce the colour accurately, it must be some odd property of the yarn because it also looked grey in the eBay photograph (which is where the yarn came from).

The cardigan pattern is the easy to knit BHKC pattern number 3, perfect for a baby boy, nothing frilly or lacy about this design.

I based the hat and mittens on one of my other baby patterns, I left out the lacy edging so it would match the cardigan.

The buttons are wooden ones, etched with 'Handmade with love'.  The buttons are a rich creamy colour and the writing matches the taupe yarn, they compliment one another very well,

I hope that the week ahead is good to you.


Dionne

ATCs Vintage Set

It has been a long time since I made this set of ATCs and I had completely forgotten about them.  Opps! 

You may recall that I have done something like this this a couple of times before, then I used some of Teri Sherman's views of Scotland, which I called my Scenic Set and another set, which I dubbed the Coastal Set. 

My natural inclination is usually to theme my ATCs around flowers or butterflies, something pretty and feminine.  However, this time I have chosen a very masculine theme.  As before, I have used some of favourite Delicious Doodles images, reducing the digi stamp to ATC size and coloured them with my polychromos pencils.  None of these images were easy to get the size right because all of the images as different sizes and then, of course, it is a bit hit and miss lining them up on the Sizzix Bigz die to cut the ATC shape, but I got there.

All of these images are available from Esty, this one is called 'Vintage Truck'.

And this one is called 'Vintage Norton Motorcycle'.

Next we have 'Vintage Spitfire'.

Next we have the first of two vintage cars, this one is 'Vintage Jaguar Car'.

The second is 'Vintage Chevy'.

Finally I used the lovely 'Working the Land'.  The little butterfly in this one is an old Stampin' Up die.

All of the metal cogs are from my stash.

Thank you for visiting today, I hope you will leave a comment.

Dionne

Silver Grey Cardigan

Good morning, I hope you are well?

Today I have a grey baby cardigan to share with you.  Grey is not a colour I normally associate with babies, but I guess that is showing my age, as darker colors are quite on trend at the moment.

This is a very basic Double Knit pattern from the BHKC, pattern number 3, the yarn is from one of the King Cole ranges.  The best thing about this pattern is it is so quick and easy to make, you can quite literally make it in a few evenings.

I wanted a wooden button to go with this colour and came across these grey and white striped ones on Ebay.  Oddly, the stripes go in all different directions, so you cannot line them up. terrible if you have OCD.

Dionne 

Foxy

I have a quick share today.

I have been raiding my stash of 'Little Cotton Rabbit patterns again, this time I have used the Boy Fox pattern, meet Mr Todd.

I decided not to make the clothes the Boy Fox came with but instead used the Hounds Tooth jumper pattern.

Isn't he cute, from his pointy little nose to his chubby little tail?  There is a gap in the shorts for the tail to slip through - otherwise I think he might be very uncomfortable with his brush stuck in his underpants.

This little fox is stitched in Aran weight yarn and his top and shorts in double knit yarn.

Thank you for stopping by.

Dionne

ATCs Coastal Views Set

Good grief, I had completely forgotten about this set of ATC's, I made them ages ago.  Better late than never I guess.

You may recall that I did this once before when I used some of Teri Sherman's views of Scotland, which I called my Scenic Set. Once again, I have used some of favourite Delicious Doodles images, reducing the digi stamp to ATC size and coloured them with my polychromos pencils.  I made the images into two sets, I have called this set the coastal ones, and I still have the vintage set to share another day.

It wasn't that easy to get the size right because all of the images as different sizes and then, of course, it is a bit hit and miss lining them up on the Sizzix Bigz die to cut the ATC shape, but I eventually got there.

Virtually all of these images are available from Esty, this one is called 'In the Harbour'.

I have searched and searched but this one of a rotting boat seems to have been deleted from the web site and I cannot remember what it was called, sorry!

Next we have 'Sunset at Sea'.

This one gave me the opportunity to be very colourful, it is called 'Beach Huts'.

And finally we have 'Coming Home'.

The little butterflies are an old Stampin' Up die.

Thank you for dropping by today, I will be back in a few days with the other set of ATCs.


Dionne

Lucy's New Blanket

Apologies dear friends for my prolonged absence.  You know me, I have been busy, busy, busy knitting.  Unfortunately, just a little too busy to find the time to photograph the end products.

You may recall the lilac and white cot blanket I made at the beginning of the year for my eagerly anticipated great nephew.  I had so much trouble with this pattern that I swore at the time that I would never make it again.  But, you have got to agree, it does look good, so I agreed to make a blanket for my young niece and out came the knitting needles again......

My niece is a little older than the baby and sleeps in a bed so I had to make the blanket quite a bit larger and I decided to make this one more multi-coloured. - five pastel shades plus white.

The pattern is called 'Sweethearts Baby Blanket' and is by Anjel Govan.  Big surprize, this time I had no problems with the intricate pattern, well-l-l-l, virtually no problem.

I like to mix things up a bit so this version of the blanket has something called crocheted wave boarder, this was my first attempt at the wave boarder and was very pleased with the end result.

I do have a few more things to share with you and will try not to leave it two months next time.

I hope you have a good week.

Dionne