The weather here has yet to turn really cold but it has been a bit wet and wintry over the last few weeks and so I'm really pleased to have finished one of my pairs of mittens at last! I love this pattern and made these in Rowan Scottish tweed (not the softest of yarns but lovely and tweedy and warm). They've been keeping my hands snug when I nip out first thing in the morning to collect the eggs - the chickens seem to admire them too!
This week has been a bit manic as I've tried to finish off some of those projects I have on the go. I have managed to finish a couple of hedgehogs that have been hanging around for a while. I thought it might be a nice touch to sell a few as ready made pincushions and it seemed appropriate to make some little leaf toppers for the pins.
If you fancy giving them a go here's what I did: used a couple of frosted shrinkle sheets and hand drew some leaves, coloured them with pencils and punched a hole in them. Then I shrank them in the oven and shaped them with a slight curl before they cooled and hardened. I've threaded a ball-topped pin through each hole to hopefully look like berries - I can't decide just yet whether to glue the leaves and pins together.
I've also been making more hedgie families by knitting my hedgehog pattern with different yarns - chunky for the largest on 4.5mm needles, DK yarn on 3mm needles for the middlesized one and 4ply yarn on 2.25mm needles for the tiniest.
I still haven't finished those gloves but hopefully the weather won't be turning too cold just yet!
Over the last couple of weeks I've had a lot of fun sorting through images of some of my favourite little cotton rabbits and putting them into a calendar for 2010. I'm going to be giving some of these to my friends and family at Christmas time but I thought I'd also make the calendar available to buy for those of you who'd like a copy.
You can preview or purchase it here over at the very excellent Redbubble.
If you've thought yourself of doing a calendar, greeting cards or T shirts with your own images then I'd definitely recommend Redbubble. Their print and paper quality are great (my photos don't do them justice thanks to a murky day!) and their prices are good compared to other online print companies. They also have a great range of existing designs for cards and calendars to buy from some very talented artists and photographers.
Anyway, I thought I'd have a little giveaway to celebrate my own little calendar launch and I have 3 copies to send out to winners. If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning one please leave a comment below and next Monday (November 16th) I'll draw the 3 winners at random.
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I don't know what is wrong with me at the moment but I just can't seem to settle to anything. I have over 20 different projects on the go and none of them getting finished! Here's a case in point - wrist warmers that I started ages ago from Eunny Jang's wonderful pattern Endpaper Mitts.
Instead of having one finished pair to wear I have the beginnings of 4 pairs! I'd like to blame the weather with it's one-minute-sunny-next-minute-wet-and-rainy inconsistency but I am beginning to suspect that it's just me and I'd better get my act together and finish off some things before starting anything else new! For those of you interested there will be some animals in my etsy shop before the end of the month - hopefully some hedgehogs too!
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PS: Earlier this week the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (CEOP) launched a new campaign to try to uncover more information about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. They've put together a video on youtube called a minute for Madeleine.Earlier in the week the postman brought me a wonderful package from Lilfishstudios containing a little present to myself to celebrate autumn.
It was so beautifully packaged in a vintage sewing pattern bound with twine, with a felted autumn leaf and owlish card as lovely little details.
Inside were pretty muslin bags topped with felt leaves and inside those a collection of gorgeous felted autumny acorns!
I've had my eye on these for a while and they are greatly admired by all here as you can see - I just hope the hodgers don't gobble them up!
Thanks so much for all of the kind and supportive messages. I'm glad now that I didn't continue festering on in silence - that old 'a problem shared is a problem halved' adage is true. This kind of thing must happen daily to people posting images, ideas, creative writing, designs on websites all over the world. Hopefully though by sharing information and shaming the people who have no regard for right and wrong we can send a message that it's not acceptable to take what doesn't belong to you just because you can.
Just for the record I wanted to say that I wrote about this because there is no doubt in my mind that those are my images and my designs. I have however never had a problem with anyone copying any of my designs for their own pleasure, to make for their own children or to give to friends and loved ones - no problem whatsoever and I'm very happy to think that others might be inspired by something I've made. Where I do get upset and angry is when others either take my images, cut and paste my writing or make replicas of something I've made in order to sell it as their own work. I do have a problem with this because it is dishonest and quite frankly stealing.
I also want to stress that I am not laying any claim to knitted animals in general, I did not invent the idea and neither did I invent any new knitting stitches or techniques. What I did do is create a pattern with a 'look' (a signature if you will) which is distinctly mine and that is all I'm trying to hold on to. There are many, many other knitters who've created their own animal patterns which are distinct to them and I know that they would defend their rights to their own designs and rightly so. I suppose the message in essence is to go your own way, make something of yours, take inspiration from others but not the whole enchilada.
Anyway, thanks again for your very kind support and comments. A couple of people asked about my bunny egg cosy situation from earlier in the year. It is partially resolved in that Tesco took their product off the shelves following my blog post but that's all I can say for now.
Well, the weekend approaches and I'll be going into it with a smile - sharing a happy after school snack with my two lovelies, enjoying the autumn sun in the garden and thinking happy thoughts (helped out by my lovely new snack tray from ISAK which makes me smile everytime I look at it.)
Hope your weekend is a happy one and once again, thanks x
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