There are Cats in this Blog

There are Cats in this Blog
Originally uploaded by sparkleknits

Huge progress on the cats this week - four down, five to go! The wool has arrived to finish off all nine, so this week I'll be making cats on the train. (It does earn me some funny looks, but it's also earning me some spare change, so that's just fine by me!) In a way, I think I'll be quite sad to have finished the cats, as they've been quite good fun and I've struck up all sorts of conversations with my fellow passengers about Tiny, Andre and Moonpie!


I'm also delighted to say that I've finished the mystery beret. I'm not entirely sure that it suits me and I'd made it extra slouchy which turned out, looked just plain silly so I've put it through the washing machine on a hot wash in an attempt to make it look slightly less ludicrous... It's still blocking at the moment, so here it is looking slightly flat. If it ends up wearable, I'll post a picture of it being modelled next week!



On the button front, there's been a further sale from BelleButtons and I've got another couple of commissions to boot. And I've finally finished my latest freelance project. Hoorah!

Busy, Busy, Busy

SuperStar Button Ring
Originally uploaded by sparkleknits

Sorry that it's been a while. I've been completely absorbed by buttons while Jez and I have been setting up our Etsy page. I am delighted to say that it is now up and running, so do please stop by BelleButtons and take a look at our wares! So far we've sold five items to two different people, and as we've only been going for two weeks, I'm pretty chuffed with that! Our page isn't completely finished yet, as I've not managed to write our biography yet, but hopefully that'll be done in the next day or so, and then I'll start really yelling about it!
I've been trying uploading pictures directly from Flickr as I find it really frustrating that I have to load pictures up to (and from) different places for Blogger, Ravlery and Etsy. Hopefully, this will work okay - who knows! It seems okay so far, and I've managed to add some additional text to this post, so that's looking pretty good.

Now that I'm getting back on track a bit, I've decided to cast on a new projecct with the lovely Aran that my mum gave me before she left for India. The Mystery Beret (or Meret as it's also known) is a great pattern from Wormheads and it's really quick to knit up, which is particularly useful as it's so cold right now! Here's a picture of how it looks so far...

I am still working very hard on the cats and intend wto have the first unholy trinity completely finished by the end of this week! (So far I've got one Tiny, who has just one ear that needs stitching on and a Moonpie, with limbs but no face, who's only half-stuffed!)

I've also got yet more freelance work to do and a choker to make for the niece of one of my friends from work, so I'd really better get off this blog and go and do some work!

...and a Happy New Year!

Sorry that it's been a while since I last blogged- I've been so busy knitting and making things in the run up to Christmas that I've hardly had time for anything else! Over the last few weeks, I've made over twenty button bracelets, knitted two hats, a baby jumper, finished a shrug and I've even started a commission for three sets of knitted cats for my friend Corinne. The cats are from a children's book published by Walker Books and you can download the pattern here.
Christmas itself was lovely, spent with David's brother, his wife and four-year-old son, before moving onto my sister's place for Boxing Day. (When we met her new Deerhound puppy Loki!) I even managed an MSN webchat with Mum and Dad in India on Christmas Day, it was quite hard to keep up as my sister was online too and I'm sure that there were at least three conversations going on at the same time. Since then I've received three emails and a lovely long letter, detailing their life over there- which is certainly very different from back here.

One of my favourite gifts was a fabulous green and pink Clothkits skirt covered in pictures of cars from my sister, which I'm really looking forward to making up. I think I'll need to go back to my parent's house to borrow their sewing machine though, as I wouldn't fancy my chances of doing a good enough job by hand!

Before they left, Mum and Dad had a bit of a clear-out and I've inherited some rather lovely Aran and eight balls of an orange acrylic curiously named Torpedo Fluffy! I'm not quite sure what to actually do with them, so answers on the back of a postcard please...Finally, I've bought yet more buttons, this time two packets; one of packet of peacock coloured buttons and also a beautiful ruby red selection. I just need to get some more twine and I'll be back in production before you know it.