Dolly Bobbins

I have been playing with dolly bobbins or french knitting (it has lots of names) You can use a crochet hook or knitting needle. I used wire and glass beads and am very happy with the results, so will play a bit more. I hope to get a larger frame soon (psss....I am trying out a lightweight frame for a company soon, I have been told it comes in two sizes and has metal spikes or nails which would be perfect for wire) and will try the techniques out on that maybe make a wire and bead bag :)

Crochet Lites

My latest purchase via eBay (I love eBay)- crochet hooks that light up :) called Clover crochet lite crochet hooks. They are battery operated with an on/off stitch, have a nice ergonomic handle and are very lightweight.
OK they do seem gimmicky and yes even though I bought them I was a bit skeptical , but after having a play with them I can see how useful they will be for crocheting with dark colours. They really do show up the stitches.

Crocheted beads and wire

Saturday was the Knitting and Crochet Guilds London group crocheted and knitted wire & beads day. A very nice group of ladies attended.
We made beaded chain stitch bracelets, played with crochet beaded tubes and wire & pearl bead buttons. Everyone was enthusiastic, took notes, asked questions and shared ideas.



A big THANK YOU to Helda (of heldsland above) who kindly helped assist me and to Eleanor and Winifred for organising the day plus room and much needed refreshments.

Making beaded tubes
and buttons

Photos from the day and no I am behind the camera hidden :)

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I am doing a one day course for the Knitting and Crochet Guilds London group (Crocheted and knitted wire & beads 14th April near Highbury & Islington Station contact Eleanor 02089508014 for details) and decided to get all my samples ready. Arrrrrr can't find them, I think I put them in the recycling bins when I was going through a clearing mood a few months ago.

Instead of getting upset I have been making new samples :) So below is the results of the last two days of playing with beads.

I am playing with wire for the rest of the week.

Crocheted beaded tubular bracelets

Crocheted multi-beaded bracelet. This took 3 hours to string the beads onto the thread and only 25 minutes to crochet and finish. 5 metres of beads were needed.

Knitted bracelet

ChaCha rings

I bought some rings with loops at a recent show and have been playing making cha cha rings. A great way to use up any lone beads.

Total Lunar Eclipse

Wow just watched the lunar eclipse, the moon looked so big and glowed red :) eeeekkk

The London Stitch & Creative Hobby Crafts Show

I went to the The London Stitch & Creative Hobby Crafts Show at the Excel Centre today.
Got a ticket via the Internet for £7.00 (thanks to a very kind friend) and received a goody bag at the show which contained mainly food items that were very tasty (Seeds of Change organic sauces very nice) and made up for the price of the ticket and the small size of the show.

The show was so much smaller than I expected and had very little yarn or stitch related stands, I don't even buy any yarn today :( not even a magazine or book :(

There were several bead stands, which was good, I liked Totally Beads and a shop new to me, with a great range of findings at excellent prices Shop@188 :) jewellery making seems to be getting popular. And again there were lots and lots and lots....of paper crafting stands :( these shows should really rename themselves Paper craft and Hobby Shows, the stitch part is misleading.

I'll be checking out the Stitch & Craft Show at Olympia 2, Olympia , London Thursday 22nd March to Sunday 25th next :)

Chili con Quorn-i

This a is favourite recipe of mine when the weather is cold and grey.

Chili con Quorn-i

1 Medium Onion, chopped
1 Pack of Minced style Quorn (frozen or unfrozen)
1 14oz Tin Plum Tomatoes (I prefer the un-chopped ones as they seem to have more tomato)
4 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1/2 Teaspoon Fresh Jalapeno Pepper, seeded (unless you want very hot chili) & minced
1 Teaspoon Cumin Powder
1 Cloves of Garlic Crushed
Handful of chopped Coriander Leaves
1 Teaspoon sugar (makes the tomatoes sweeter tasting and less acidy. 1 Teaspoon Honey can be used instead)
Vegetable of choice (I know not many chilli have vegetables but I like the extra taste and texture they add. I added sweetcorn and peas, but you can add carrots, green beans or whatever you prefer, experiment)
1 Large Tin Red Kidney Beans
Chili powder to taste
Salt to taste



Saute the onion in a little vegetable oil (or your preferred oil) for for 4-5 minutes until soft.
Add the quorn and continue cooking for 2 minutes.
Add the can of tomatoes, tomato paste, vegetables of choice, jalapeno pepper, sugar, cumin powder, garlic, coriander and increase the heat until boiling, if the mixture is to dry add a little water, than reboil (if required) than simmer.
Taste the food.
Add salt to taste then chili powder a little at a time until desired taste/ heat.
Simmer for a further 8-10 minutes.

Serve with rice.

Sour cream and cheddar cheese can also be added (if desired).

Tips: Make double the amount this tastes even better the next day.
If you are a meat eater instead of minced "quorn" use minced beef or chicken

Felting

I was teaching felting with wool tops today. I forgot how much I enjoyed felting with fibre and how relaxing it is. I have been doing a lot of felted crochet and knitting lately, flowers and leaves. I will make some fibre felted beads to add to them and make some jewellery. I'll post the results soon.

R U an INNIE or an OUTTIE?

R U an INNIE or an OUTTIE?
No I don't mean the belly button question, I mean the circular knitting question.
Do you knit on the inside when doing your circular knitting or the out?
Because of the cold weather setting in I have been knitting some hats in the round and have noticed many others when "out an about" knitting on buses and in cafes (most knitting socks) and some people knit on the inside others on the out. So what R U an INNIE or an OUTTIE?

Beads, beads, beads

I have been busy since I went to the Creative Crafts shows at Sandown Park. Here's some of the items I made with the weaving wire with the beads. I am also doing a small collection of crocheted wire and beads earrings, must try not to loose this batch.

Brrrrrrrrrr Coooooooooolllllddddddddddd

EEEKKKK! The snow has arrived and the freezing cold weather.

The snow does make everything look clean and fresh which I like, but I hate the cold and today is so cold I don't even feel like knitting or crocheting :(

Stitch and Creative Crafts show

Yesterday I went to the Stitch and Creative Crafts shows at Sandown Park Exhibition Centre, Esher, Surrey.
I had not been to this show for a few years and was hoping to see some stands selling yarns and just interesting crafts, it did not really matter what they were I like seeing new things.
Sadly very few yarn stands (at least trusty Uppingham yarns was there with its nice unusual coned yarns), lots and lots and lots of paper craft stands (yawn!, OK I confess to buying a half price organiser bag that came in useful for the bead stash). One lone very good bead stand (I bought lots of glass beads here, pity I forgot about the walk to the train station and than the walk home after, glass is heavy) and lots of non craft stands selling clothes, shoes, scarf brooches, hair scrunchies (mmm....disappointing).
Good points - there were several machine knitting stands which was nice to see, wooden hairpin crochet frames, large wooden broomstick crochet kits and a company selling angora yarn which had two very cute angora rabbits, plus Uppingham yarns.
Good and bad - the fudge stand, very nice tasty fudge in many flavours O the calories :( if only there had been more yarn to buy, I would have had no money left over to buy fudge.........
Bad points £7.00 to get in, not enough stands, not enough seating to eat food (always a problem), toilet queue(luckily not that many people were there as I expected on Friday but there was still a queue), not enough variety of craft stands and far too many non craft stands.....

Here hoping next months The London Stitch & Creative Hobby Crafts Show at the Excel, London is better

New Years Resolutions

New year = New calendar or calendars as I recently bought two. A crochet one and a knitting one.

EEEKKK I keep saying I must send in some patterns to these calendars, but every year seems to go just too fast. This year one of my new years resolutions is I must send a pattern in to one of them.

2007

Happy New Year 2007