Day Three! - 2KCBWDAY3

Day three of the annual knitting and crochet blog week

"Tidy mind, tidy stitches.
How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised? It seems like an easy to answer question at first, but in fact organisation exists on many levels. Maybe you are truly not organised at all, in which case I am personally daring you to try and photograph your stash in whatever locations you can find the individual skeins. However, if you are organised, blog about an aspect of that organisation process, whether that be a particularly neat and tidy knitting bag, a decorative display of your crochet hooks, your organised stash or your project and stash pages on Ravelry."

I have a little problem with this one! When I was planning my blog posts earlier today I took pictures of everything I needed for the post. However, I forgot I was also doing this post, so forgot to take pictures of my stash! So my plan is to tell you about my stash but show you pictures of other peoples that I like :)

So, my stash is rather small. It takes up 3 small, flat boxes. Nothing exciting, but enough for me to make things spur of the moment. (However, I plan to rectify this by buying many many more yarns as soon as I can afford to!) If I ever plan to do a specific project for a present I buy the yarn I need, so so far I have had no problems. My crochet hooks are stored in the wrap that I got with my subscription to the art of crochet, and my knitting needles are stored in a rather strange long case that came with the art of knitting!

So here are the images I found through google images!

These are loooovely..... I would love to own all these!!! *sigh*

Wow that's one tiny image! Sorry about that! However, I love the colour organisation of this!

WOW! This one looks like a shop!! (And it checked, it really isn't!!) Oh I'd sooo love to have so much yarn and have it on show....

I loved the neatness of this. I'd love to have my yarn so neatly in a wardrobe!

And I couldn't resist this when I saw it... Totally off topic, but so so beautiful! My new yarn crush!!! If only I knew where it came from....




So there you have it! My yarn stash wishlist! :)

Much love, Sam xx

Day 2! - 2KCBWDAY2

Day 2 of the Annual knitting and crochet blog week

Lets see if I can manage two posts this time! ;)
Topic for today:
"Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year?"

This time last year I was waiting for my subscription to "The Art of Crochet" to arrive so I could learn how to crochet. I had decided to take up crochet January last year thinking it would be something to keep me occupied whilst ill in bed, but due to some problems with printing the first issue didn't arrive for a few months. I finally received it in May and started crocheting my first ever square! I chose the art of crochet because I liked how it taught you how to crochet whilst making squares to eventually be put together for a blanket. You make one square an issue (weekly) and I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn! The instructions are written out simply and even have pictures to follow. The only problem I have with it is there is a lot of repetition with the squares with a lot being the same.
From squares I went on to create hats, scarves, gloves and amigurumi animals (MANY amigurumi animals!!). I have not yet ventured to make anything big, but I have a long list of things I plan to make!

This year I decided to also try my hand at knitting. As I liked the Art of Crochet so much I decided to buy my younger sisters magazines of her (she didn't really take to knitting). She had a lot of unused wool too so I had lots to practice with.  I find it much slower than crochet but still enjoyable! However I still haven't finished my first square...

Gosh that's a lot of writing! Ready for some pictures? Okay, here you go!
The most recent thing I have been making is this:

This is a scarf I am making and for the first time I have tried cable stitches! I found it quite confusing at first but picked it up fast. I also decided to do the raised bits in a very soft fluffy yarn, and I think it looks like something sponsoring Dairy Milk chocolate! I am actually testing the pattern for someone who is donating it to people to crochet, then sending them off for the survivors from the Japanese earthquake. I was meant to be finished yesterday though.... However my health had to come first and I have been suffering from a very bad virus that has left me unable to crochet anything more than a square for days :( However I am a little further on with my squares for my blanket!


The other things I have recently finished are these:

 

My bunny, bee and ladybug family :) They will all get a proper blog post in the future along with my finished scarf so watch this space! Oh, and the baby ladybug isn't quite finished, if you look carefully you will see she has no legs! Don't worry though, that will soon be fixed!

The last photo I am showing you today is my knitted square! Or rather, my half knitted square...

Thanks for popping in again! Hope you enjoyed looking through my many achievements of the year :)

Sam xx

Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week! - 2KCBWDAY1

Sorry I've been so quite recently! This is about to change as it is the annual knitting and crochet blog week, and I will be posting every single day! I've missed one day (it started yesterday) so I will be doing day one and following it by day two straight after.
For more information about the week go here, and if you take part let me know and I'll come and take a look!

Day 1

"Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them."

I find yarn magical. I love everything about it! I love to imagine the things that could be made with it, I love to feel its softness and look at the different colour choices for each set. I especially love yarn with different colours running through it, and also find it is more of a surprise as to how the finished product will look! I have a major obsession with yarn right now... Like, really major! Thankfully I have managed to refrain from buying any recently, but I have a biiiig list of ones I plan to buy! My latest yarn crush are these:

  

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They are sooo beautiful! I have never made socks, but I imagine these would make the most wonderful socks! Soooo pretty and colourful... *sigh*

Yarn that I own and love is this: Creative Yarns Reflections. I own it in green, grey, fiery, and blue! I am just mesmerised by it! Here's a picture of the fiery one :) Mine is slightly different though and has orangey sparkles through it! It reminds me of autumn, and bonfire night, and warmth...

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I want to own every shade of this beautiful soft yarn! The site I have linked doesn't have all the shades and is missing one of my favourites - Pink!

Okay, now for a yarn I don't like.... Well, I love it and hate it to be honest... I love it because its pretty, and has lots of potential to be something wonderful. I hate it because I can not work out how to use it!! I have tried many times with both of these types of yarns, and can not seem to crochet anything with it successfully however hard I try! (if anyone can help please do!!) 

Ready to know which yarn it is? Its this:

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Yep Pom Pom yarn... Sooo pretty, but it manages to beat me every time! This is not the Pom Pom yarn I own, mine is purple and much smaller, but I didn't have chance to take a picture so this will have to do! The other yarn which I completely struggle with is eyelash yarn.... I can't crochet it without causing knots!

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So there you have it :) You now all know a little bit more about my yarn obsession! I am looking forward to the tips on how to use the pom pom and eyelash yarn ;)

It is now rather late so I might do day two and three together instead of one and two like originally planned! See you all tomorrow and thank you for visiting!!

Much love, Samantha xx

I'M ENGAGED!!!!!!

It was mine and Roxi's 5th anniversary on the 25th and she proposed to me! :D I am so happy and excited! This is my beautiful ring :)

She specifically wanted a velvet heart shaped box and managed to find this beautiful one:

It is only just sinking in! We have been looking at venues and dresses so we can get an idea of what we want. Eeeeeep! Sooo excited!!

Sorry it's taken me a week to share this wonderful news with you all, I have been soooo busy!!


Love Sam (and my new fiancée Roxi!!) xxx