Then one foggy Christmas Eve...

So... after major surgery to realign his little legs Rudy stood up for the first time.

Still not quite as stable as he might be, he used Andy's lovely wine table for a bit of additional support.

Then headed off to take up his position in the window.

Mrs Claus is keeping an eye on him, so hopefully he will be ready to fly in time for the big night.

( I think I might need to get out more.... keep telling myself he's just a toy...)

Windows are going to be judged this week.... ooh exciting..

My Creative Space

I learned two very valuable lessons today.

No.1 Stitchmarkers are awesome little things which help you to make less mistakes, and save you from having to count to 124 sixteen times a day. (slight exaggeration there on the actual numbers but you get the idea)

Lesson No.2 Never rush a reindeer.

Poor wee Rudy here had two front legs at the back and two back legs on the front. It was all a bit wobbly and not a good look for one of Santa's little helpers. Hopefully we're on the right track now but he's just going to have to lie down till tomorrow. It's been a bit of a day...

Time now to link up with more effective creative spaces

And there are only 24 sleeps to go.

Fiona x

My Creative Space

Mrs Claus is a wee bit fed up and could do with a bit of advice.

The question is.. How old is too old to be wearing matching outfits with your husband?

'It's all very well for these young ones,' she says but she really would like a bit of a change.

She's been wearing red all her married life and quite fancies a nice blue dress that she saw on the internet, but Santa says No Ho Ho..

She even thought a new hair style might be nice. Santa wants her to keep it white like his and wouldn't let her dye it brown, so she tried something a bit more extreme.

Shaved her head and got her nose pierced..

Not really a good look but it was worth it to see Santa's face.

It's all grown back again now, which is probably just as well.

The one thing she does like though, is her new red knickers.

I'm running  a wee bit late this week but hopefully there's still enough time to join ourcreativespaces

Blogtober 17th

So much for blogging everyday for a month. I've just gone and missed a whole weekend.

Do I need a note for the teacher or can I just tell you what I got up to?

Well... it was a birthday weekend for my daughter and since she is on school holidays we thought it would be a good idea to make a bit of a holiday out of it.

We flew from Edinburgh at tea time on Friday and headed to London.

We actually stayed in Colchester in Essex which turned out to be a really good idea as we had brilliant weather over the weekend and it was nice not to be in the city the whole time.

On Saturday we went in to the city with enough time for lunch and a bit of shopping before the main event.

We spent ages in Forbidden Planet as my daughter loves Manga, and Myths and Science Fiction.

She was in her element.

Surprisingly, even I found something which I just had to have.....

There are some truly gruesome crochet patterns in here.

I don't know why I would want to crochet a cannibalistic cockerel but you never know.

Then it was off to Her Majesty's Theatre in the Haymarket for the matinee performance of Phantom of the Opera. Awesome, is such an overused word these days, but really it was.

On Sunday we made the most of the fine weather and headed down the coast to Clacton.

I love traditional English seaside towns and Clacton has everything you would expect.

Ice cream on the promenade and frothy coffee and a fortune teller on the pier.

While we enjoyed our frothy coffees Rhona tried to beat the 'claw'.

Despite her disappointment, I was really rather pleased that she didn't manage to hook a giant fluffy bear.

After all, we did fly Easy Jet and there was no way I wanted to pay excess baggage allowance on a giant stuffed toy.

So ... that's my excuse for missing two blogs.

x

Blogtober 12th

Sometimes you see something and you just know the answer is NO.

However, if anyone thinks differently and wants a cute little crocheted bikini you know where to come.

Fiona x

Blogtober 6th

I never really understood the concept of fingerless gloves.

Surely if it's cold enough for half a glove then it's cold enough for a whole glove.

I even found a pattern for wrist warmers. Why would you want to warm your wrists and leave your hands out in the cold ?

These impossible questions were answered for me this week by a child minder from Meigle. I now know that fingerless gloves are really handy when pushing baby buggies and tending to the babies in the buggies. Childminders and young mums alike enjoy the benefit of keeping the chill off the the top of their hands while maintaining freedom of movement in their fingers. 

And  ..... on particularly cold mornings wrist warmers are great for stopping the cold wind blowing up the sleeves of your jacket when pushing the buggies.

 And so, armed with this new information, I have been trying out some fingerless glove patterns today.

This is my favourite one so far. Ably modelled by my youngest daughter, who tells me that fingerless gloves are pretty cool even when you don't have a buggy to push.

Time now to visit ourcreativespaces and see what everyone else has been doing today.

Fiona x

Que Sera Sera ....

What ever will be will be...

And whatever doesn't turn out the way I planned will just have to be taken apart and started again.

It's been a funny couple of weeks around here.

After the rush and excitement of Open Studios it all felt a bit flat for a week or so.

I'm just about back in my stride again and looking ahead to what my customers might want for Christmas. We are being told by the weather forecasters that we are in for another harsh winter so I'm hooking up a storm and crocheting the days away. At the last count there were another dozen cosy hats waiting to keep out the winter chill. So how annoying do you think it is to find that the country is being treated to an "Indian Summer" ?

The "boys on the bridge" assure us that the snow will be coming early this year so maybe I should just stick to the original plan for hats, mits, ear warmers and cosy scarfs. Mind you I do have a cute pattern for a crocheted bikini.

Procrastinating..............???

Oooh ... It's not long now.

I think I discovered a new synonym today (just checked the dictionary to be sure that really means what I think it means. My English teacher would be proud of me)

I took some perfectly suitable posters for POS

Plugged in the laminator

...... and laminated them.

Dictionary entry for the day then is...

procrastinate - verb - to put off (an action) until later

see also.. laminate, crochet

And this is how I procrastinate over the last couple of days.

To be honest, the shop is looking really good.

Stocked full of handcrafted loveliness.

There are still a couple of little projects that I would like to finish off but I'm all ready for the big week and looking forward to meeting lots of new customers.

My Creative Space

Today is the day to share my creative space with other crafty and talented bloggers.

Now the question is... what have I been doing in my space today ?

I finished off this teeny tiny newborn baby hat. I was at a little craft fair on Saturday where I had a selection of hats for adults and children and was asked if I would make a little blue one for a new baby boy who is due very soon. Do you ever feel the urge to say " No, I'd rather sell the ones I've already made. "

I actually know someone who regularly says that to her customers and surprisingly they seem happy to accept her terms. I don't think I'm bold enough to do that though.

I've nearly finished my first crocheted rattle and just have to secure some loose ends. This is a really clever idea which I found in a recent crochet magazine. The rattle bit is made by putting a few beads into a little  sealable pot. I used a plastic egg which I had left over from Easter, surrounded it with toy stuffing and stitched in the loose ends. Now all I have to do is make a matching blanket and it will be ready for the baby gift corner.

I could have finished the rattle properly if only I could stick to one job at a time. I was easily distracted by some shiny buttons after lunch and decided to replenish my stock of button necklaces and bracelets. What had been a fairly healthy display of button jewellery, was looking a wee bit depleted after some recent sales. By this time tomorrow I'll be fully stocked again, unless, of course, I get distracted again.

Meanwhile, the idea of showing my Perthshire Open Studios brochures in the window along with Andy's rocking horse is proving to be a bit of a crowd puller and I've had lots of people popping in to get more info about the event. Oh, and I even remembered to send some copy to the local paper to promote the Open Studios week.

I think that's enough work for one day and it's now a good time to visit ourcreativespaces

Join in by clicking the link.



My Creative Space.

What could be better than a little dolly to match your blanket ?

Maybe a little dolphin to match your blanket.

I decided our baby corner needed something new and colourful. These little blankets are just the right size for tucking little toes in, all nice and cosy in the car seat. And since each one has it's own matching toy they make the perfect travel set.

For once I can honestly say that I didn't go out and buy any more yarn this week. The benefits of keeping even the tiniest bits of yarn have certainly paid off and my secret stash ( the one we don't admit to ) is looking a lot more respectable.

Now I will just have to put together some other colour combinations and make some more baby travel sets.

I'm off to visit some creative spaces now. Why not come along HERE

My Creative Space

I've been a busy little beaver in my creative space this week.

I love visiting 'Our Creative Spaces' on a Thursday to see what  other crafty people are doing around the world. Click HERE to join in.

It looks like I've made a bit of a woolly club sandwich here, when really I have made nine lovely knitted and crocheted scrarfs and shawls.

Okay.. so it's summer in Scotland and even though the weather has been terrible this week, it's not really the season to be buying new scarfs. I'm calling this 'forward planning' since last winter I spent November and December crocheting hats and scarfs like a mad woman just to keep up with demand.

My Creative Space

My Creative Space today was ever so slightly hi-jacked at lunch time when a text message reminded me of a deadline I had forgotten about.

The simple question "Is your bear ready for the Teddy Bear Trail ?" lead to the one word answer "oops"

I've mentioned a few times about our various window competitions here in Alyth.

The teady bear trail is slightly different in that there is no prize for any shop keepers. The idea is that by having a Teddy Bear theme in all our windows over the summer will encourage people to take a walk around town, looking in windows and answering the questions on an entry form along the way. The hope of course is that people will become more aware of what is available in local shops and will therefore be more supportive to local businesses.

This years teddies will all have different flowers which have to be identified.

The long answer to the question was that my flower was ready but Teddy ( who I had decided, perhaps a little rashly, to knit ) only had one arm, his head was in the bag with his ears and his body was only half stuffed. Poor Teddy.

So this afternoon, instead of making jewellery, I was knitting, stuffing and sewing him all together.

Before he got down to work, posing in the window with a fetching button-hole flower, he had a wee shot on the rocking horse.

To be honest, he is a wee bit chubby, and his head is a wee bit wobbly but he is quite a cutie.

I hope people will recognise what kind of flower he is wearing because for once in my life I actually followed a pattern for this one.

Feel free to answer that one but unless you are prepared to walk round Alyth on a rainy summer afternoon there's no prize for getting it right.

Visit other creative spaces by clicking HERE



Short attention span ??

One Pattern

Three crochet hooks

Three very different yarns

Three unfinished cowl / scarfy creations.

I don't think calling them 'scowls' would be a very good idea.

I like to think that I have been product testing, or working on design development, or simply multi-tasking.

Some husbands (who shall remain nameless) simply ask if maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to finish one project before starting another one ?

Maybe a special scowl of my own is the answer to that question.

I wish I was an Aran Cardigan...

He really doesn't look very happy,does he, sitting in the corner with his arms folded.

Maybe I should go back to the start of the story and explain the title.

France '98, to many people was all about football. There was a World Cup or European Cup, or some kind of big football tournament in France that year. But that meant nothing to the Dorchester Family. For us, France '98 was going to be our first foreign holiday as a family and we were really looking forward to it.

To go back even further.. when I was a wee girl, my sister, mum and I always seemed to get a new Aran Cardigan for our holidays. Walks around our campsite after dinner were always preceded by the instruction "don't forget your aran cardigan, it'll be chilly later"

So I decided that for our first camping holiday in France I would be needing and aran cardigan. I started knitting in plenty of time, or so I thought, but it wasn't finished by the time we set off on our big adventure. Needless to say, I somehow survived a holiday without an aran cardigan.

France '98 was so much fun that we soon arranged France '99 and a couple of weeks before we set off I got my knitting out and managed another sleeve. Yet again time got the better of me and another holiday without an aran cardigan passed by. I could go on and on and on about the inch that was knitted in 2000 just before we moved house.. the time I thought about knitting the second sleeve but couldn't find the pattern... the time I found the pattern and finally, the time I admitted I had completely lost interest in the cardigan and didn't even like the pattern any more.

And now, this morning, the last of the aran wool was used to finish off this little chap.

He was allowed to climb on the back of my chair.

Had a wee shot on the rocking horse.

And yet he still looks a wee bit sad. Dreaming, perhaps, about what it would have been like to be an Aran Cardigan.

Was it all too much , do you think, for him to see me start work on a new cardigan this afternoon ?

Visit Creative Spaces HERE

My Creative Space

The last time we had a royal wedding of this magnitude I was 18 years old with a boyfriend who feared that weddings were infectious. Obviously, spending the day glued to the television watching the wedding would have given me ideas so we spent the morning climbing a hill behind the quarry nearby. The afternoon was spent listening to Elvis Costello and The Clash. A fine musical selection and well known antidote to romantic notions. This time round it will be an ordinary working day for me, but the bonus of having the shop next to the house means I shall no doubt pop my head round the door from time to time for a wee look.

So.. to get in the mood I used my creative space this morning to crochet my own little royal wedding cake.

Cute....?

More creative spaces are over HERE at Kootoyoo

Cracking up ?

Am I maybe getting over egg-cited ?

It's not long till Easter now and I think I might finally be cracking up.

These little egg heads are looking forward to hatching but I'm a bit worried about what they might turn out as. The black and white one is a bit of a bad egg and has ambitions to be a jail bird.

The red one was named Pearce by his mum, an avid James Bond fan with a soft spot for Pearce Brosnan. Sadly little Pearce, an Emo at heart, misunderstood and got his eybrow pierced. Mum was not happy.

On a happier note Ike, in the fetching stetsun, wants to be a country and western singer.

Wee Morag in the tartan bow just wants to look nice.

Not sure what to eggspect from the other two girls but I think the will be just fine.

On the other hand, I may need to have a lie down somewhere calm...

Bunnies Galore

There appears to be an abundance of bunnies in Alyth today.

We have just enjoyed a beautifully sunny and warm weekend and I'm full of hope for a lovely summer this year. I do hope I'm right.

With only two weeks till Easter, and full of the joys of spring I decided that today was the day to start putting my Easter Window display together. Oh yes.. there's another shield at stake but I fear the competition will be fierce this time round.

So would you like a sneak preview ?

I'm not quite finished and I think I will rearrange things a bit more until I am satisfied but here is the progress so far.

I've been crocheting bunnies and carrots and daisies to my heart's content for the last couple of months. I think somehow I would like to create a hill for the little guys to play on though that's going to require some thinking about.

I love my 'easter tree' decorated with eggs and ribbons. It reminds me of our holiday in Eastern Europe this time last year, where the trees in the town squares were decorated in ribbons, and where the fabulous Easter markets were an absolute treat.

I'm not liking how bad the paintwork on my windowsill looks. A reminder of how harsh our winter was and a reminder that I need to speak to my painter to get things tidied up again. 

And here are some more bunnies along the street in my friend Mel's window.

I love her daffodils on the back cloth. They are made from cut out paper petals and fairy-cake cases.

It's such a simple idea but they are really effective.

Hopefully I'll have some more windows to show in the next few days.

My Creative Space.

This weekend is the annual Federation show for Angus SWRI. It's open to the public on Friday and Saturday at the Reid Hall in Forfar. Today was set up and judging so my creative space was cleared out this morning when my friend Cathy came along to collect my entries. If you were reading here last year you may remember me saying how bad I am for leaving things till the last minute. The schedule for the show comes out in September, and like last year I ticked off a few things I would like to enter for and this time told myself that I would work at a steady pace and get everything ready well in advance.

So ... what do you think happened ?

Well I finished off my 'Novelty Doorstop' on Monday afternoon.

My 'Button Necklace' wasn't so much of a challenge as I make lots of these to sell in the shop, but I did have a bit of a challenge just choosing which one to enter.

My 'Knitted Toy' was a bit of an afterthought.

 I have been busy crocheting bunnies for Easter and had kind of forgotten that I had said I would knit a toy.

This little guy was knitted on my day off on Tuesday, sewn up and stuffed on Wednesday and has his nose and eyes sewn on at 11pm on Wednesday night. I really should be better organised in future....

And finally this 'Christmas Themed Cross-stitch' was re-framed on Wednesday afternoon as I realised the original frame exceded the size specified in the schedule.

I think I now qualify for a big fish supper from the chippie for tea tonight. Or does that sound like a reward for being disorganised ?

See Creative Spaces from all over at kootoyoo

Happy Bunny

He looks a little bit startled actually, but I'm a happy bunny to have finished this little chap.

Does anyone remember me talking about the window competitions that we have here in Alyth ?

I may have mentioned that I won the Christmas competition...

I was rather chuffed about that.

Last year we had a competition for valentines day which I didn't win BOOO !!!

This year we an Easter competition and I have been giving a lot of thought as to how my window should look. Obviously, big bunny here will have to take prime position. I still have about a month to let my imagination run wild so who knows just who or what will be there in the supporting roles.

Any suggestions will be gratefully received as I have a tendency to get a bit silly.

Can't believe I just admitted that ...

Fiona x

Recycling update

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Me and pencils don't really work together.

I have a lot of stuff going on in my head but as soon as I try to illustrate it with a pen and a piece of paper it just seems to get a bit lost in translation.

Anyway, I have done my best and hopefully these pics show how to cut fabric strips as I did yesterday. When you finish cutting the fabric you can roll it in to a great big ball of yarn-like stuff and crochet it into a mat or whatever takes your fancy.

I've even recycled and old receipt for the purpose of this demonstration. A bit easier to photgraph on the kitchen table than an old teletubby duvet cover which I am in the process of cutting up now.

And now the clever bit with the guide lines drawn in  .. tee hee..

Obviously there are wee kinks in the yarn where you turn the fabric but they crochet in quite nicely and I think they kind of add to the effect.

If you change colours  along the way the ends will have to be worked in but hopefully that won't put you off.