Garden Flower Fairies

I mentioned a little while ago, when I had made my wild flower fairies, that I was also going to make some garden flower fairies. Here they finally are. While my other fairies looked a bit like elves in the woods, these fairies do rather look as if they are older ladies, off to a wedding. Perhaps I have made myself.

I am not going to say the garden flowers they represent, but thought you might like to leave a guess in the comments box, I will reveal each fairy, with their own flower, over the next few weeks. This is just for fun, as there is not prize. But you can get a better look at their hats, here is a back view, which might help you spot the flowers.

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for July. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Ginx Woolly Linx Party July

June was a bumper month for the Ginx Linx Party, with 46 project linked up. Thank you to everyone who joined in. You are making my job of picked just four to be featured even harder.  I am away from my computer tomorrow and Monday, so hope I have set this up so the party will spring into life when it is July.

Lalka Crochet has made this Holiday Frog, who is all ready for some time in the sun with his swimming trunks.

Alexandra of Eye Love Knots is also ready for the sun, with this original idea for a Watermelon Glasses case.

I fell in love with this blanket by Au Fil de Marmita. It looks like it is made from velvet.

And finally Fanny of Yarn Around the World has made this very positive bag. Yes, let's all cut down our use of plastics.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Remember if you were picked as a feature you can put the "I was featured" button on your blog. 

Frog Baby Shoes

I have a new pattern for sale in my shops. I have made these frog baby shoes for Jennifer, who has just recently had a baby. Although we have never met in person, I have got to know her through knitting and the internet. Quite a while ago she made a Red-eyed Tree Frog, from my Frog Toy pattern. I was so impressed, and since she really seems to get my patterns, she has been testing them and proof checking. 

However thorough I think I have been she fairly often finds something. For me it is very reassuring to know that someone has tested the pattern, as before this I would often end of doing multiple test knits myself .... just one more to make sure. I used to do some proof reading myself in a previous job, but I do think that sometimes the eyes see what they expect, and not what is actually there.

So these shoes were posted to Jennifer for her new baby, and here are some adorable photos of him wearing them.

So having made the Frog Baby Shoes in one colour, my husband (who likes to give me helpful suggestions) thought that they might look nice with the frog knitted in a contrast colour. So the pattern contains instructions to make them this way as well. 

Although they are quite a quick knit because of the size, I would suggest that anyone making them has a go at the one-coloured version first. On the two colour version you also have to be careful to carry your main shade across the back. Not difficult if you are used to intarsia knitting, but it gets a bit complicated when you are also thinking about the cables. 

The beads for the eyes are not sewn on, but threaded on to the wool at the very beginning. I thought this would make them more securely attached to the shoe, so there was not risk of baby pulling them off.

So just to make sure I have done a second speckled frog version using some sock wool. Fortunately quite a few of my friends seem to be becoming grandparents, so I don't seem to have a shortage of babies to give these to. 

If you want to make some Frog Baby Shoes for a baby in your life, the pattern is available in my shops on ravelry, Etsy and LoveKnitting. It uses any brand of doubleknit wool, and ..... At the moment of pattern is only available in 0-3 months. 

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for July. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Pink Vespa

I have been busy making a Pink Vespa from my own Vespa pattern for a customer on Etsy. I will make these to order in any colour, or you can make your own. The pattern is available in all the usual places.

What was really nice with this order was that it came from a customer who has shopped with me previously. Quite a few years ago. And it was really nice to hear that she now has a new granddaughter who is now getting old enough to play with some of the knitted toys that she bought back then.
 

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for June. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Maps

On a recent visit to Orleans House Gallery in Twickenham the work I found most interesting was this embroidery map of my local area. The description says it was made on 35 cotton panels, but looking closely it is clear that these are white handkerchiefs. Perhaps that was all the ladies could get at that time. It was made in 1941 by the members of the Townwomen's Guilds of Teddingston, Twickenham, Kingston and Tolworth for the British Red Cross.

It is a bit hard to see in the top picture, so here are some panels closer up. It is said that the ladies included images of some of the older buildings in this part of the country, as they were not sure that they would survive the war. I loved seeing this shared project.

Last week was my birthday, and I thought I would show you my present from my daughter. I think she was inspired by looking at the embroidery maps, and pushed into this idea by the fact she did not seem to have much money to buy a gift. But also she had heard me and my husband talking about how nice it would be to have a work of art that reflects where we live. (We are moving house soon, so I may have a bit less time for this blog for a while.) So she has drawn me a picture map of our local area. Some bits are very personal to us, with our house being featured, and places we go to a lot. But there are also a lot of funny little details that I love. The Wombles on Wimbledon Common. So I have put this in a frame, and will treasure it as a very special present.

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for June. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Ginx Woolly Linx Party for June

Hello everyone, and welcome to the party for June. Thank you to all who joined the party in May, and especially to anyone who has joined in for the first time.

The features for May start with 

Gema of Hebra de Lana who showed a beautiful shawl, and these feline socks. My daughter (who is 16) looked at them and said "I would like some socks like that", so they must be cool.

Alexandra of Eye Love Knots has made these interesting ear rings. I love seeing crafts used in a new and original way.

I've been thinking a lot this month about ways to reduce the amount of plastic I use, and this great shopping bag by Sabine of Nephi Handmade is green in every meaning of the word.

And finally Ineke of Inekedcblog has made this beautiful dress and bolero in red and white. I love bright colours for babies.

Keep on linking up your projects. I enjoy looking at them all, and getting some inspiration for my own work. Please try and call back throughout the month, so you can see who has joined in, and share the "woolly love". 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Remember if you were picked as a feature you can put the "I was featured" button on your blog. 

Baby Button Shoes

I've been busy working on a new pattern. Baby shoes, this time with a strap. I was going to call them Mary Jane's, but in the end decided Baby Button Shoes was a cuter name. The pattern is available on ravelry, Etsy and LoveKnitting.

In fact the button is simply there as a decoration, and the shoes are designed just slip on and off. I decided that mums of new babies have enough to do, without fiddling with tiny buttons and buttonholes. But if you wanted the button to be functional, it would be quite easy to make a buttonhole in the strap. But in my samples for the pattern the buttons are just sewn in place through the strap and shoe.

They are very easy and quick to make. I think most knitters could make a pair in an evening. The pattern comes in two sizes: 0-3 months and 3-6 months. I think they look cute plain, but have also jazzed some mine up with a bit of embroidery. 

Made with doubleknit wool, they only take 14g or 20g of wool depending which size you make. So they would also be a great way to use up any wool you have left over from other projects. 

On these green shoes I have embroidered a few daisies on the straps. 

... and on these I have used french knots to make some forget-me-not flowers. It is really quite simple to embroider with wool on wool. There are some tutorials of some of the basic stitches in my sidebar on the right.

The red shoes have gone to baby Scarlet, but the green daisy ones, and the forget-me-not shoes are for sale in my Etsy shop.

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for May. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.