Easter is coming - and we don't want eggs!

OK, so Easter is coming fast, but many ladies are on diets or are detoxing or just wouldn't appreaciate a chocolate egg. so what can you get for them?


Well I've had a wander through Artfire's shops to find some lovely presents that would really be happily recieved by any lady.


first how about some Jewlery? It's always a great idea. Here's a wonderful piece by alibalijewellery from Scotland The Red Sun Ray necklace. Made from fine silver and utterly beautiful.




How about something beautiful to hang on the wall?
This 5X7 print by soundslikerain
So wonderful and is actually called "sail away with me, honey" Maybe a little extra message there? Couldn't you just disappear into it?


And now for something really different; handmade clothes from Berlin. the ladies at m.i.p.h.i.a
have the most wonderful selection including this Jersey wool sweater with a collar. Mmm, stylish.

Is she a craft lover? In which case maybe she'd like the supplies and patterns to make something for herself? How about this clever purse making kit put together by U-Handbag from London. Isn't it just the sweetest? and you can never have too many bags!

Or maybe just something so very cute and Springlike. This little felted fairy carries a Snowdrop and is just one of many flower fairies made by Ignisfatuus from Norway. They are just so pretty and would look great on a dresser or on the table at a Springtime dinner party.

If you just take a look at the wonderful artists at Artfire you are bound to find something just perfect for your lady - and it's not chocolate!!!

Knitting Challenge - Week 9 - Monkeys and Daleks

OK so I've always loved those little dollies that old ladies tend to have in the bathroom hiding the spare toilet roll. So dainty and pretty and wonderfully "old fashioned" but I always thought of myself as being "too cool" to actually own one!



Well now I do! I knitted this great dalek out of sparkly lustre yarn (the label says it's beige but in real life I think it looks a great copper.) the pattern is for a fully stuffed dalek toy but I never made the bottom so he sits in the bathroom on his spare roll. pattern? well, it was a free one but it's become unavailable at the moment.





Oh I do hope the BBC (who make Dr Who) have not got to her! They've been having a clamp down lately on people selling homemade Dr Who merchandise. They've been doing this by targeting the pattern makers and asking them t0 remove the patterns from the internet. There really is no need to do this. We all know that licenced characters like Daleks and the Antropose mustn't be sold without permission. But this stops us from making them as presents and homewares too! How unfair.





Anyway, I also made this cute monkey. He's a cowboy yee-haa! I made
little yellow boots for him and a vest. This one was made as part of a
challenge on Cafemom. My linky to my Cafemom page is in the margin on the left.

The knitting and crochet group made him as part of a "Knit and crochet along" challenge. Not many of us did it but hopefully more will join in next time.

My monkey is named Monk Mick and he is sheriff of the toy box. I put pipecleaners into his arms legs and tail to make him super-posable. He is going to a teenager so I know they won't poke their eyes out with it! It's also very well stuffed and padded; those wires are not coming out of there no matter how hard he's played with.

Oh yes, patterns, I nearly forgot. The knitted monkey I have here is a clever adaptation of a crochet pattern that is also available for free
Knitted: http://knittedtoybox.blogspot.com/2008/04/monkey-moo.html
crochet: http://quesera.ojaru.jp/ don't be scared off by this crochet pattern; it is not all in Japanese you just click on the size of monkey you want to make and the instructions are all pretty self-explanitary. Clever Chimmu Chimmu made this pattern and keeps all the copyright rights to it - even in it's translated and knitted forms.

I think it is super that we can exchange patterns from different countries without having to learn a new language - it's a real internet world web family.