Put Your Hands Up

All the single ladies, all the single ladies..........

Little Penguins

  

   

Two years ago for the Christmas window at Can Do Books little penguins were made, about 94 were made by 3 people.  I came up with the crochet design for the little sweeties, then had so much fun dressing them up.

Lovely Legs

I'm having fun making different shoes and sandals.

Jamie Oliver's New Book

I bought Jamie's new book, 5 Ingredients a little while ago and have been trying the recipes.  Most of the recipes are good, a couple need a few things added.  I made these Apple Crumble Biscuits yesterday and they are quite nice.  A very simple recipe, all done in the food processor.

Bottom Up

  

Working the figure from the feet up.  Shoes, shoe laces, socks, legs,.......................

A Character

I am trying to make the people I am crocheting stand up on their own.  I have been playing around with some ideas.  This made me laugh, half made, wires sticking out, and it still has a lot of character.

Doll Practice

I started making one of the dolls from Kerry Lord's new book.  Just making one exactly how it is in the book, then I will be tweaking them to how I want the doll to look.  Need to see size and how things fit together first.

In The Craft Room

The little reindeer are waiting for Christmas.

Strawberry Gnomes

I have nothing new to show today, so here is something from this time last year.  Six Strawberry Gnomes were made for the Christmas Window at Can Do Books, although only three of these were in the window, the other three were sold beforehand.  The base is the only similarity with the reindeer, oh, and I had fun making those too.

First Quilt

  

I have tidied the craft room and put away all the reindeer making bits and bobs.  I do this after each major project, clear the space, clear the mind.  In doing so I often come across projects in the stash that need working on.  I either finish the project, or work a bit on it and put it back.  In cleaning up I found this, the first quilt I made in the 1980's.  A log cabin quilt, single bed size.  I was never happy with the way I finished the quilt, backing and quilting and always intended to re-do it.  So I have removed the binding, quilting and backing.  It's funny, I thought I was quite the perfectionist and that I have relaxed a bit now, but looking at this quilt, I am more of a perfectionist now.  There are so many mis-matched seams and some of the strips are cut to different widths.  I know I have always been kind on myself when I am learning new things, the first is never going to be the best.
I was surprised to see that I had used an old sheet as some of the backing squares.
I am going to back the quilt in polar fleece instead of batting and fabric, the quilt top is quite thick already, just from how log cabin squares are made.

Last Reindeer

This will be the last reindeer, for awhile anyway.  I have enough reindeer for the window, so stopping and going to work on something else.Yesterday's book is very inspiring.  This particular reindeer is knitted in yarn from Fibresmith, hand-dyed, and the large blingy belt I found at Darn Cheap Fabrics in Port Melbourne.

New Book

Picked up my copy of Kerry Lord's new book.  She is the lovely Edward's Menagerie lady.  This one is all about crocheted people.  Hmmm, which one to make first?

Collective Noun

Tubs of reindeer.  Waiting, waiting.  5 weeks this Saturday the Christmas window at Can Do Books will be set up.

Stash Reindeer

The first reindeer is finished using one of the scarves and antlers from the wool basket stash tidy up that I posted the other day.  The blue is really hard to photograph against the cream, keeps coming out darker in the photo.

Coconut Biscuits

I felt like baking yesterday, so I made little coconut biscuits.  A Martha Stewart recipe, they are supposed to be two biscuits sandwiched together and then the coconut is pressed around the edge of the filling.  But I think I made my biscuits larger than Martha, so I iced and coconuted the top.

Wool Stash

I did a bit of a tidy up in the big basket of wool in the craft room.  I threw out lots of ends of yarn that I could easily replace if I needed to.  These two yarns were too lovely to toss, so I made scarves and antlers.  Now to make some reindeer to use them.  Already made one body.

Old Fasteners

Went for a drive to Geelong yesterday, had some lunch and a rummage in a 2cd hand shop.  Found some buttons, press studs and hooks.  They were a reasonable price instead of the usual ridiculous price.

Bowtie Boys

Little reindeer using some more fabric from Yarnsmith.  I was going to make them little bow ties to wear to match the fabric, but decided red scarves would work better.

Crocheted Reindeer

  

This little one has been crocheted in a hand-dyed yarn from Fibresmith.  He has a shawl, or is it a cape?

In The Garden

  

Yellow Clivia.  This particular plane hasn't flowered before, didn't know it was yellow, didn't know Clivias came in yellow.

Sewn Reindeer

I had an idea yesterday that I should make some reindeer in fabric.  So I ducked out to the local store, yay, there is a local store I can duck to, Fibresmith, and picked up some pieces of fabric.  I used the pattern for the felt reindeer and added seam allowance while I was cutting.

Bearded Men

The bearded men are finished.  Trousers made, and now they are comfortably sitting in the craft room.  Thank you Christina of _rockanddoll_ on Instagram, they were fun to make.

Reindeer Gnome

    

He was supposed to be a reindeer dressed as a gnome, but has turned out looking more like a gnome dressed as a reindeer.

Homemade Chiko Rolls

My son is learning to cook.  I am teaching him to work from recipes.  Think of something, find a recipe and make it.  Last night we made Chiko Rolls.  While they didn't taste exactly like a Chiko Roll, the were delicious in their own right.  Does anyone know what kind of pastry the Chiko Roll is made from, because it isn't Spring Roll Wrappers?

Christmas Window Workshop

On the first Saturday of each month we have been having a workshop at Can Do Books to work on the reindeer.  So that is where I am off to today.

Bearded Men

  



An update of the Bearded Men.  Before and after getting their hair and beards.  Had a bit of trouble with the fabric paints flooding, but nothing a bit of practice won't fix.

Reindeer Plum Pudding

This one turned out to be a little bit of a puddin'.

Cabled Reindeer

The little brown cabled reindeer of yesterday's post is finished.

Cable Reindeer in Progress

  

I am knitting another reindeer with cables.  The first photo shows when I have put the cardboard base in.  It looks rather stretched at the base and will it all work.  But once the knitting is finished and pellets and stuffing added, it all fills out nicely.

Shetland Reindeer

Inspired by the tv series, and loving all things Scottish anyway, I bought some wool that came from Shetland.  Jamieson's of Shetland is the brand, Shetland Heather the yarn, Broch and  Purple Heather the colours.  He is a larger reindeer, knitted on 4.5mm needles.  And was difficult to photograph as I wanted to show the lovely variation in the colours.

Bearded Men

The bearded men are coming along.  I started on a second one while waiting for the next instructions. The bodies are all together, now for the decoration.