Friday Link Love...

Happy Halloween! 

Well, the pumpkin is carved, the candy is ready by the door, and I'm sporting some rather fabulous bright orange Halloween tights!
All that's left is to enjoy these Friday links :-)

I've made some of these this morning... yum!

This would look really pretty...

If you could facepaint as well as this, who would you dress up as?

As a fan of colour, I thought these charts were really cool!

These rooms... can I put them together in one big house to live in?

As if autumn leaves weren't beautiful enough... here's a way to decorate them...

So. Pretty. Anne and Gilbert forever.

I'm so glad I learnt how to crochet - now I can make these!

And finally, some inspiring words...


Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!

Preemie Project...

So this has been my view this afternoon...

Buttons...

 Sewing them onto a button band...

... and a finished preemie jumper! 

This was knit from a pattern provided by our knitting group, which I only realised later was loosely based on this one. If I was to do this again, I think I would follow the original pattern (the variation where the button band is knit at the same time as the fronts...). As the edges of the fronts were uneven due to increases and decreases right on the edge, it made it very difficult to pick up the button band stitches neatly. I'm thinking I would get a nicer result if the button band was knit as part of the fronts... and if all the edging was either ribbing or garter stitch... I'm not a fan of it being mixed...

Ah well! All a learning experience, right?? Not to mention it gives me an excuse to make another one - it was so fun!

Besides, I think it's quite darling anyway :-)

Snapshots...

I've been having fun with taking photos this past week, as I have discovered Instagram! (Click to find me - thetangledknitter).
I'm quite enjoying it, as it's encouraging me to look for the pretty things in life so I can take photos to share with you all! Here are just a few things which have made me smile... not all were taken with Instagram, some have just been taken with my phone camera :-)

Found this pretty flower growing on my spider plant... 

I love that it's the time of year for Pumpkin Spice Lattes!

An interesting book found in the library...

 Aren't granny squares pretty?? They've been sitting waiting for inspiration, think I may have to make a few more just to be sure...

I love that I get to read this book for schoolwork... such an interesting read!

Cookies and Hot Chocolate to help with studying...

Afternoon knitting...

Really looking forward to using Instagram more - combined with blogging, it's so nice to have so many ways to connect with my blogging friends!

Friday Link Love...

I'm so happy it's Friday, are you?
It feels like I've not done a Friday Link Love post in a while so thought I would share with you just a few things that I've found interesting or pretty :-)

These are cool... linking two of my favourites - clothes and books!

Some lovely words.

I adore following this pinner - eye candy for any knitter/crocheter!

Clever crafty ideas... corks as needle point protecters? Who knew?

Wishing I could spend my autumn evenings here or here...

Speaking of autumn... it's so nice to be pinning on this board again! I love this time of year!

Have a lovely weekend!! :-)

Not another granny blanket!

I could never get sick of crocheting granny squares... seeing the piles of them grow, knowing they are going to be turned into a lovely snuggly blanket makes me very happy!
For this blanket, I'm trying to make every square different, which means when I'm working on it, my floor gets covered with crocheted squares while I try not to duplicate any!! :-P

One thing I am unsure about is the setting... I quite like them when they are all next to each other, like this...

But to me a whole blanket in that setting could look too busy, considering how small they are. So I have thought about checkerboarding them with white squares, like this...

I think it could make the blanket quite light and fresh looking... but I can't decide!!

What do you think would work best?

Around the World Blog Hop...

After seeing my mom's post for the Around the World Blog Hop, I decided I would do my own post... I'm not quite as prolific as she is, but I'd say by looking at all the balls of yarn around my room right now I do my fare share of crafting as well!

What am I working on?

This is pretty much everything on the go... Are you surprised there aren't any socks there? :-P
A baby sweater, some granny squares, and you see that navy blue ball of yarn? I'm hoping to cast that on soon - with the autumn weather well and truly here, I'm beginning to think I need a hat!
I'm a fairly monogamous crafter, and so I never have too many things on the go... although while writing this I am remembering I have 2 quilts currently in progress too! I like to have little things I can work on now and again when I have the time :-)
I have lots of other projects and a few designs of my own in the works... I just need to actually work on them, instead of just keeping them as ideas in my head!

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

I would say that I stick to traditional designs and techniques, but my colour choices are perhaps a bit more modern! I LOVE bright colours - anything to make the world a brighter place :-)
Above is a bear paw quilt that I started a while back... I have always loved hand-dyed fabrics and batiks, and I love this design, so why not combine the two?

Why do I write/create what I do?

One of my favourite quotes is by Elsie de Wolfe - "I'm going to make everything around me beautiful - that will be my life."
This is probably one of the main reasons I knit/crochet/quilt... I like pretty things, and I also love the sense of accomplishment I get from making things - It's such a nice feeling to be able to say "I made that!".
I also find it very calming... there is nothing better than sitting down with a cup of hot chocolate, some good music, and my latest WIP to relax with at the end of a busy day!

How does my writing/creating process work?
Oooh, this is a tough question!
In most cases, my ideas for what I want to make will either be inspired from something mentioned in a novel, or will come from me doodling in lectures... I then look on Pinterest or Ravelry to see if someone has already made something like what I'm thinking of, and if they have, I might follow their pattern (although I wouldn't be me if I changed something - I never quite stick to the instructions!) and if not, I think about how I could make my own version...
I love to read anything and everything, novels and blogs and tumblrs and magazines, and so I'm always collecting inspiration from somewhere! :-)

So yes! That's me! What about you?
I'd love to read about your creative process - feel free to do a post of your own, answering the questions and then let me know!!

WIP: Preemie Baby Sweater

As you know, as part of our knitting group, we do a lot of charity knits... after working on a couple of blankets (see HERE and HERE), I've now turned my attention to making preemie knits for the babies at our local neonatal unit. I've done several hats, so decided to turn my attention to a preemie sweater. Having not made this pattern before, I didn't know what to expect, but it seems to be working up rather quickly! I'm currently in the mood for quick knits - with schoolwork, I don't have much time to knit, so when I do have time, it's nice to see progress so quickly!
Pattern found on Ravelry here.

What WIPs do you have on the go at the moment?

Fresher's Week... Phew!

Hello!
I'm still alive, don't worry! A very busy couple of weeks, combined with no internet, has meant that I haven't been able to share with you all the exciting things that have been going on around here!

Firstly, I shall share with you what took up most of my time...
What do you get when you cross a row of Innocent Smoothie Hats...

With a hand-knitted and crocheted banner??

Tada! Our Freshers' Fair Stall! That's my friendly society president face - hopefully it encouraged lots of people to join :-P

For those of you who don't know what Freshers' Fair is, it is an event that happens in the first week of the academic year at universities in the UK, and it allows student groups (or societies) to showcase what they do and talk to potential members. You'll be happy to hear knitting and crochet generated quite a lot of interest! Yay!
(We'll just ignore those who laughed at the stall, obviously thinking knitting wasn't cool - they obviously haven't been enlightened yet! :-P )

I have been working on a few other things too, which I hope to share soon!

How have you all been? I've missed my blogging friends!