crochet necklace giveaway winner announced

Happy Friday folks! Hope you've had a lovely week. I have been working on pretty little things for Roath Craft Market tomorrow and getting out in the sun whenever possible! Phil had a day off work yesterday so we went to Cardiff Dogs Home and walked a couple of beautiful mutts. Above is Missy who was the most adorable and affectionate little Staffie, I wanted to take her home with us!

But on with the giveaway.. Thanks to those who entered to win the crocheted flower necklace. I am pleased to announce that the winner is..

Lizzi!

Congrats, I shall give you the necklace when I see you next week :)

xHx

march playlist

Image via

  

Click here for a Spotify playlist of what I'm listening to this month :)

xHx

Ps, my bloggy presence may be patchy, maybe even non-existent, over the next few days as I am "snowed under".

how to join granny squares

Part two: the slip stitch method

Last week I mentioned that I'm not a fan of granny squares being sewn together, as opposed to crocheted, and I shared a tutorial for joining granny squares as you go. After the success* of my tutorial on Ravelry, I'd like to share another favourite method for joining granny squres - the slip stitch method.

I used this technique for the petal cushion cover I made as a gift for my friends Charlie and Sammi and the red roses cushion cover I gave to my friends Linsey and Neil.

I love this method because it is so simple and creates a really beautiful effect. It also means you can block your squares (if you are that way inclined!) Its bad points are that you can't join your squares as you go along and if you are doing a border around your finished piece, it can look a little funny when the ridges suddenly stop..

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

tales from the weekend

Hope you had a lovely weekend dearies?

Mine was the loveliest of lovely weekends. I've been pretty busy lately and have a lot to do for an upcoming craft market, amongst other things, but decided to take the weekend off..

Friday: pub dinner with friends.

Saturday: bagels with smoked salmon for breakfast, beer and football at the pub, flea market trip, visit to Milkwood Gallery, ice-cream in the park, roast pork with balsamic potatoes for dinner.

Sunday: meeting new people at Church, leftover pork and applesauce sandwiches at the park, Homeland.

Today I make up for my mini-break.

xHx

Ps, there's still time to enter my giveaway of the crocheted necklace variety!

weekend link love

Which Came First? by Mochimochi Land

Have just stumbled upon the incredible Mochimochi Land, home to cute and strange knitting patterns for teeny toys by designer Anna Hrachovec. Love!

Hope you have a fabby weekend. We are going for dinner with friends tonight and I have plans for a flea market trip tomorrow. Back Monday and in the meantime: don't forget to enter into my giveaway for a crocheted necklace! Plus..

Would you wear these £320 crocheted stilettos by Marc Jacobs?

Painting with bleach on textiles.

Simple ideas to stay inspired.

Do you want to know the sex of your baby before it's born?

A super cute red and white party.

I'm considering wearing one of these to weddings this year.

Make a chipmunk toy from a recycled glove.

Gorgeous mini herringbone scarf knitting pattern.

Plus my favourite forty percent fringe : sixty percent face blog post from this week - how to join granny sqaures (part one).

xHx

crochet necklace giveaway - closed

I bought some beautiful Rowan Amy Butler Belle Organic yarn a couple of months ago and it's been sitting in my stash whilst I've pondered what to do with it. Yesterday I used some of it to make myself a wee crocheted necklace, with vintage buttons, and I decided to make another for one of my dearest readers!

To be in with a chance of winning this pretty necklace:

1: Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and/or Blogger (up there on the left when you're signed in).

2: If you were already doing that before today, or would like an extra competition entry, share this giveaway on your Twitter or Facebook page or in a blog post.

3: Leave a comment below or send me an email to let me know which of these things you have done.

This giveaway is open to everyone, wherever in the world you may live :)
Competition closes next Friday - 30th March - at 9am (GMT) so check back then to see if you have won.

Simples!

xHx

Edit: forgot to say, this necklace was inspired by the gorgeous crochet necklace with flower by creativeyarn.

how to join granny squares

Part one: the join as you go method

I love all things granny square. I love granny square cushions, blankets, scarves, even lampshades!

But I feel very sad when I look at a bunch of granny squares that have been sewn together, instead of crocheted. It looks messy, half-hearted (despite taking more effort) and it just ruins the overall look of the final piece for me.

With that in mind, I have decided to share my two favourite technniques for joining granny squares.

The first method, which I am sharing with you today, is the 'join as you go' method. I used this technique for the first granny square cushion cover I ever sold and the 'coming up roses' cushion I sold from my summer collection last year.

This method is a good one because it is quick to do, looks neat and pretty and it is so satisfying to join the squares together as you go along, as opposed to being left with a huge heap of them to join at the end. It is not so good because you can't block each individual square as you go along, and if (like me) you have a habit of needing to undo your work to change the arrangement of squares, you have to crochet the border up again, which can be a bit time consuming.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

fun things to knit

1 Colourful Clockwork 2 Beehive Tea Cozy 3 Paintbox Scarf 493

4 the beekeeper's quilt 5 Fiddlehead Mittens 6 City Stripes Dog Sweater

A few of my favourite colourful and quirky knitting patterns found on Ravelry.

xHx

licence to party

Hope you all had a super weekend?

As well as enjoying time with Philip during his days off work and hanging with my friend Clare and her ma, I spent the latter half of last week preparing for my auntie's surprise 50th birthday party on Sunday. She's a huge James Bond fan so we chose that as the theme and I made bunting, posters, food labels and cake toppers with a red, black and gold colour scheme and casino style in mind. I made lots of fancy food and a lemon curd cake with meringue frosting and a poor attempt at the 007 logo. My brother made yummy puddings and we drank plenty of champagne. There were fifty presents! Everyone dressed up; Phil went as Jaws and I went as Dolly, his girlfriend. My sexy mama was a Russian spy! We broke into my auntie's house and surprised her as she came home from an afternoon out with the grandchildren. Luckily she just happened to have a black and gold catsuit tucked away in her wardrobe for such occasions..

The best bit was that my sneaky Grandma had organised for my cousins (who live miles away) to come and surprise us all. Good times!

xHx

hold on to your handbag

When I was little I had a beautiful brown satchel which I loved. Then one day a girl at school, who had a modern, multi-coloured satchel, made fun of my shabby, old-fashioned satchel and I refused to take it to school ever again. I wish I'd ignored her and kept it!
I recently discovered hold on to your handbag on Folksy and fell in love with the gorgeous homemade handbags on sale. After a long weekend of making handbags for relatives' Christmas presents, Janet (along with her husband) had the idea to set up shop and has been selling handmade leather satchels and fabric bags, amongst other things, ever since. She also sells log bags, designed for carrying logs from the woodstore to the fireside - handy!
You can find more of Janet's work in her Folksy shop and over on her website. I have my eye on the soft brown leather shoulder bag..
xHx

Ps, last night I went to a free advance screening of 21 Jump Street (haven't laughed so much in a long time) and tonight we're off to see The Maccabees, courtesy of my brother. Good times!
Pps, Philip has some time off work so I'm taking a couple of days off from blogging to hang out with him; back soon :)

chalkboard picture frame tutorial

Last summer I found some forgotten picture frames in one of our cupboards. Some water had got into the frames and ruined the pictures so I thought it would be fun to paint the frames and find another use for them. I had some chalkboard paint leftover from our wedding (we ran out of time to use it) so I decided to make some chalkboards for the kitchen - handy for shopping lists and meal plans!

To make a chalkboard you will need:

A picture frame or framed mirror, gloss furniture paint, chalkboard paint, paint brushes, masking tape, chalk.

a healthy resolution

Hope you had a wonderful weekend?

This weekend I rediscovered a long-lost love: running!

Following an incident last week whereby I bought three dresses in my usual size only to get them home and discover they wouldn't go on past my shoulders and another episode where I struggled to get my previously perfect-fitting tracksuit bottoms up past my thighs, Philip and I decided to do a Cardio Box sesh, something we did a lot before moving to Cardiff. Afterwards, I felt like I hadn't worked hard enough and found myself suggesting it would be good to go for a run.

weekend link love

Have a yummy weekend folks! I am visiting a craft market with a friend and going out for curry, can't wait :) See you Monday and in the meantime..

1000 strand matress - extreme knitting!

Top tips for photographing your pet.

A photographer's colourful apartment.

Pictures from the beautiful Noa Noa spring collection.

Geometric washi tape wall art.

A crochet stool cover how-to.

C. S. Lewis inspired desktop freebie.

When I own my home I am definitely having these DIY chalkboard cabinets.

Style profile of editor at Vogue Turkey.

A DIY steamy facial in the privacy of your own home.

Recipe for biscuit cinnamon rolls.

Neon shoes DIY.

Plus my favourite forty percent fringe : sixty percent face blog post from this week - robot hat pattern.

xHx

japanese pretties

1 Vintage Japanese bead necklace by elciedesign 2 Plum & Mandarin soap by Ribbonreal 3 Washi tape magentic pegs by luluandbell

4 Washi tape notelets by Little Bobbins 5 Japanese paper bookmarks by Asking For Trouble 6 Washi bunting by Inkyprints-Originals

I've got a bit of a thing for washi tape at the moment and it inspired me to trawl through Folksy looking for Japanese-themed pretties. I love the vintage bead necklace and the soap looks divine!

xHx