Bats and Beanies . . .

I had to take a little trip to the mainland (Scottish) at the end of last week - work-related, but quite nice all the same! It's good to be back though, even if after spending a night in a "posh-ish" hotel it reminded me of how much I have to declutter my little home - I've spent the day clearing the decks and trying to get my house looking like a little hotel-ish LOL!! It hasn't really worked, but it looks a little better now, hehe :) If it ever does look like a hotel, I'll definitely take photos and post them here!!!!

'Little S' was a little bored on Saturday afternoon/evening so he decided he wanted to make the 'bat-cookies' we'd left over from Hallowe'en - I was shocked that he didn't want to decorate them so I had to decorate my own one!!! (I copied the picture on the packet-mix - ooops!)

He was a bit 'miffed' that he was the only one in the house without a crochet beanie and asked for a black one - who am I to argue!!! Here's the beanie in progress - it's in a bowl because I was using the wool 'doubled up' as I thought it would be too thin and lacey-looking otherwise - it turned out really thick and warm but a good fit so he was happy enough!

I'm almost finished my present-making list for Xmas, and I want to spend some time making my home looking nice and cosy and Christmassy - I ordered a little booklet from Amazon on 'bunting-making' - watch this space! You never know I might manage some Christmas bunting, but it's a long shot!!

Back to a four-day week this week (but there are noises about a strike at the office-job - are you allowed to stay at home and crochet during a strike??? - it doesn't sound very militant, he he!!) Bye for now :)

A re-draw . . .

Sorry I'm a little later than planned getting back to you re the Giveaway - unfortunately the original winner didn't get back to me so I got my Other Half to draw a new name out at the weekend which was Fiona! Congratualtions Fiona - I will be in touch with you very soon :)

I'm still busy with extended office hours and gift-making - well I started, so I'm going to finish!! I'm having a ball really - lots of experimenting and playing around with different yarns- it's an excuse to have some fun to an extent, and hone my crochet skills too of course :) It's a 'win-win' situation - not sure what the recipients will think though, hehe :) Anyway, my eldest (16 year old) is wondering about the house wearing the new beanie hat I made for him over the weekend - I'm overjoyed that he likes it so much! (sorry, no pics - he's a teenager - enough said!!)

I have no crafty pictures of my own - so here's Little S's crafty 'makes' from school this week - they had a crafty 'masterclass' all this week at school and made a drawstring bag . . .

. . . a squishy fishy pin-cushion

. . . and a cute decorative celtic-inspired wall decoration

That's all from 'Little S's' blog this week, hehe! I'm going to have a hectic week this week for one reason and another so maybe absent until the weekend at least - have a lovely week y'all :) Cheerio an Drasda!

my creative space . . . jumping up and down with excitement!

Look, look - I made it! I felt like a five year old who'd just learned how to tie shoelaces, ride a bike or count to ten - or all three things together, hehe! I know, this looks like quite a non-descript sort of crafty item - it's actually a crocheted boy-beanie and I'm not afraid to say how proud I am of my first attempt . . .

I came across the pattern on Ravelry and scoured all the posts people had made on the pattern - how invaluable was that!! In the olden days you'd probably go and ask your Granny, or your Auntie or your Great Great Auntie who lives up the road - nowadays you go online and check how someone on the other side of the planet made their beanie hat - I'm so glad I did though :)

Checking out other people's posts on the pattern allowed me to avoid disappointment and make the beanie to the correct size to fit an adult/teen. Bizzarely it fits everyone in the family - from ten years old to adult - unfortunately no one would model it for me - not even me!!! (I really do not look good in a hat of any description!)

Thankyou Ravelry for providing me with so much information - here's a link to my notes on Ravelry for the pattern - what a clever, helpful site :) More 'daft' crafty types here - where would I be without them??!! :)

P.S. I'm still waiting for the winner of my Giveaway to get in touch - if you're out there Suze, please get in touch - otherwise I will do a redraw this weekend : /

P.P.S. So sorry - I'm just realising I did not manage to get back to last week's comments - this office work malarkey is playing havoc with my blogging routine - many, many apologies - that's just not 'cricket' : /

The winner is . . . . !

Sorry to leave you in suspense - the winner of my Giveaway (as picked by my Other Half from a 'bowl' - he's very reliable as he has absolutely no idea what I get up to on my blog, hehe!!) is Suze! Many congrats Suze - please get in touch with your contact details, as I don't see an e-mail link on your blog, but I'll leave a comment there in the hope that between 'here and there' you'll get the happy news. Thanks to all who entered - I appreciate it, and it has indeed had the required effect of keeping me connected with my lovely blog-readers :)

The other 'winner' of the day is 'Little S' as he managed to complete the Cross Country race held at the Castle Green, Stornoway, this morning. It was freezing, wet and generally pretty miserable weather but there was a great turnout. He got a medal for competing as everyone did, and although he was nowhere near the real winners I was pretty impressed that he completed it as he had done NO training whatsoever for it - well done kiddo!! :)

I'm off to 'chillax' now - it was really exhausting watching all that running this morning LOL!! Have a lovely weekend :)

Giveaway Closed

My Giveaway is now closed - many thanks to all who entered it! I'll announce a winner over the weekend - if you haven't left contact details, please keep a tab on my blog for the next couple of days so you'll find out if you've won or not :)

Cheerio an Drasda! x

my creative space . . . just an idea

I'm plodding on with making a few crochet christmas gifts - every so often, taking a wee side road to some other experimental crafting. I had an idea in my mind to try sewing onto card - a really simple idea but I'd never really done it much apart from a brief foray into making gift tags with sewn on tweed/fabric.

I'd love to make some handmade festive cards this year (this may never materialise!) so I had a go on Monday and machine-sewed some cream tweed onto a pre-folded card . . .

. . . and then made a very rustic attempt at hand-embroidering a christmas tree - it's pretty 'pants' as far as embroidery goes, but I did it free-hand and I think it will lead on to more attempts with a similar idea ie.sewing onto card, embroidered motif, etc. It's quite nice just to have a little 'acorn' of an idea - you never know, I might get to take it to another level . . . or not, hehe! :D

My extended office hours will possibly take me to the end of the year, or very near to it but I'm holding my own and keeping my little 'crafty' head above the water, just about! I think I'll have lots of new ideas to work with when I get back to having more crafting time though.

My Giveaway is open until 5 pm Thursday 10th November (British time) if you want to enter - it's open to anyone, anywhere!!

More creative ideas over this way - byeeeee :D

my creative space . . . and a Hebridean Giveaway! :)

I'm showing a creation from a couple of weeks ago as I'm currently working on some Christmas gifts - sssshhhhhh, Top Secret!! This was a prototype version of something I thought might make nice gifts . . .

It's a little 'woollie' crochet coin purse made from a simple pattern I came across on 'Ravelry' (thanks to 'J' over at TartanKiwi for pointing me in that direction!)

I wasn't sure what to do with it once I'd finished it because I wanted to make more of them in slightly 'funkier, colourful' yarn for giving to younger family members, so I thought it might make a fun Giveaway gift, along with these other items . . .

My blog is a little oasis of calm and creativity for me at the moment, at a time when I'm unable to be as craftily productive as I'd like - so thank you for still bearing with me :) I'm hoping my Giveaway will keep me feeling connected to the crafty world while I'm working my extra office hours this month!!

If you'd like to win this little Giveaway package - (it seems to have a particular Hebridean twist, what with the sheep and the croft houses!!) just leave a comment (it's open to anyone in the world). My giveaway package seems to sum up what's currently inspiring me - crochet, embroidery, silvery bling, . . . em . . . sheep??!! (perhaps not, hehe!!) What's inspiring you in the crafty world right now? I'd love to hear your comments :)

I'll leave my Giveaway open till this time next week, 5 pm Thursday 10th November (British time). Make sure your comment enables me to contact you if you've won!

More creative peeps over this way - Byeeee :)

P.S. Apologies I've been unable to make time for much commenting myself recently - I have been reading though, honest!!! :D