KNITTED CUPCAKES!! Aren’t they so cute! They’re great because you can make them in any colours you want to match your party’s theme. Mine is going with the popular pink and white theme hence why I made the case white and the icing pink. I’m going to make six in totally and keep them after the tea party in a basket on the sideboard in the entrance hall. They’re a great decoration :)

All in all it took me about 15 minutes to make so they are super quick and easy. This means they are handy for last minute decoration the night before or morning of if you find you don’t have enough. I used this free pattern from Patchwork Chickens which I found via google and printed off. I will keep it forever as I know it will always be handy to have. A friend of mine said they would make great cat toys, I wouldn’t even have thought of this!

I think the effect worked very well and you could use it for many things. Obviously I used it for my blanket but you could use it for the bottom of a cardigan or jumper etc.

The pattern is as follows:

My Mum’s signature knit has always been the loopy jacket and now I see why. It is so fun to knit and keeps you interested and its not your usual knit and purl. Everytime someone announces a pregnancy the pattern is dug out and Mum is knitting her famous loopy jacket for the occasion. I hope I soon find my signature knit.

I can make these is any size and any colour so if you want to order one simply click here and email me or click here to purchase one in my etsy shop :)

Quite a while ago Varun’s Grandmother kindly gave me a whole load of left over wool and old knitting and crochet patterns as they were looking to move house and down size. I have a fairly good collection going on now which I am quietly happy about. Everything is getting stored in the spare room which we use as half computer study for Varun and half sewing table and craft room for me. I’ve got a chest of three drawers which I have re-organised and three small drawers in my sewing desk for odd bits and bobs. I will be posting soon about my reorganising tips and how to repurpose old items to help with storage. I was rooting through all the patterns from Varun’s Grandmother and came across a fairly simple baby blanket. It had rows of cable along it to create the pattern and I needed a bit of practice with my cable needles so decided to give it a go.

I used Sirdir snuggly double knit wool in white and it used just over 5 100gram balls so cost me around £20. I did buy the wool at HobbyCraft though which is fairly expensive as I wanted to get started straight away. I could of cut the costs a bit by shopping around and buying the wool on eBay. I picked it up and added a few rows now and then so took me around a month to complete. It came with me to Vegas and I finished it off on the plane home. I got a bit confused by the edging given to me in the Sirdar pattern so I created a leaf effect one myself which I had seen somewhere a long time ago. I think it actually completes the blanket quite well.

What do you think?

Tin Can Knits is giving everyone a Christmas gift – a free pattern of your choice. How awesome is that!
Earlier this year I fell in love with their Antler cardigan, so I had to choose it. I love the cream colour they have used so I’ll be making mine in 2013 :) Head on over there now to get your FREE pattern as the offer ends on the 1st January 2013.

Next to it is the Family Calender I designed and made myself (with a little help from my Dad and his printing company). It includes pictures of me, Varun and Murphy on every month of the year. I love it. Then I got a canvas printed of me and Varun in Disneyland Paris earlier this year online. I won’t tell you who from because their service was so bad I wouldn’t want to generate them any business!! *rant over*

It is placed above our little gas fire and looks very cute :) Also you may remember an earlier post of mine called Yarn Covered Letters. I made these super sweet wool wrapped letters and they ended up just laying at the bottom of my knitting basket in my sewing room. I didn’t really have any idea what I could do with them until I found a box frame in my local HobbyCraft store. It cost me £7.99 which I think was fair for a frame, especially a boxed on which I couldn’t find anywhere!! When I got it home I wrapped the back board in a cream coloured silk from an old dress I didn’t want anymore. Then placed the letters on it and hung it up, I think it looks blooming marvelous!!

I’ve used Sirdar’s Snuggly Aran wool but you could use any aran wool in any colour. I’ve chosen a neutral grey/blue colour so I know it will go with most outfits. You will need 5.5mm (number 9) knitting needles. You can refer to my earlier post Knitting 101 for helpful hints and tips when making this bracelet. I would say this is a great starting pattern for someone new to knitting.

Then simply sew three ends together with the same wool and a sewing needle. It should look like this:

You then have three open ends which you plait together to get the cable look. This should be the result:

Now sew the three loose ends to the already sewn up other end. I hope that makes sense, it does in my head! Then you have your hand knitted cable cuff/bracelet. You can keep it as it is like I have done and I find it is more casual that way, however, if you wanted it for a specific occasion or outfit then you coud sew on beads or maybe thread ribbon through it etc. The possibilites are endless which is why I like this bracelet so much :)

I teamed mine with a bunch of other bracelets and a plain tee. It looks fab!

This item is now listed for sale in my shop. Check it out by clicking on the shop tab at the top of this page.

I used Sublime baby cashmere merino silk double knit wool in Pebble. It only takes one 50g ball so I didn’t mind using expensive wool.

The pattern can be found in the latest issue of Simply Knitting on sale until the end of October. It is the November issue number 99.

You will need: