Creative challenge 52 in 52 - May 2010

Wow, this was a mega-busy month. I even made some special items which I will tell you about in another post.



So the goodies I finished in May are as follows:-

• Flappy flambe. he is a crocheted hand puppet who will be having adventures on another blog. Check him out on http://handmade-in-europe.blogspot.com/ He's lots of fun.
• Two Snuggle bunnies; one pink one purple off to live in Greece. yeay for people who order things off me (easy to do, just email me, tell me what you want and I'll make it - you will see it before you buy and are not obligated to buy unless you love it.
• A footballer handpuppet. He already is in a post of his own before this one.
• A very strange and magical house elf.
• A knitted lace scarf in gray silk yarn -mmm.
• A skull bag. Yup, the head opens up and the mouth also has a zip for keeping little items in.
• A green leaf scarf. made for "knit something green grass or leafy trees related Swap" It really does look like leaves. I'm going to make one for myself too I think,

So totals again?

January = 9 items
February = 7 items
March = 9 items
April = 7 items
May = 8 items

So we have 40 items in 21 weeks - yippee I'm still ahead of 52 items in 52 weeks. I may do it in half the time (but don't hold me to it LOL)

Creative challenge 52 in 52 - April 2010

Okay Kokay so here is April in all it's glory.

These are the items I have completed this month. I have a few more on the needles, but we can't count those - only finished items.

• first you will find 2 more Zodiac crabs; these are the rest of the "5 crab order" from Germany last month.
• Tabbee cat. I was privileged enough to be allowed to test on of Bobbi Padget's patterns for her before she puts it up for sale on Etsy. It's a great pattern
• Troll doll for a swap - this was for "a wind- related" swap - how is it wind-related? Well, it is called "the wind in my hair" fun eh?
• Next is Sgt Froggee - another Bobbi pattern test. I'm getting addicted to her way of knitting. It's so fun to knit with NO sewing up afterwards
• Tea time monkey. He was much harder work - lots and lots of sewing up involved. But he is kinda cute.
• Finally an alien in a UFO. Yes I know the alien looks a little like a baby giraffe -that's because the pattern was for a baby giraffe. The UFO is all my own design. I think that the little boy who gets it will use his imagination and it will double as a boat, or a paddling pool - that's fine - I love kids who use their imagination.
• I also made 2 cross stitch pictures - but I'm not including them - only knit and crochet.

So totals so far this year?

January = 9 items

February = 7 items

March = 9 items

April = 7 items

So we have 32 items in 17 weeks - yippee I'm still ahead of 52 items in 52 weeks.

Creative challenge 52 in 52 - March 2010

So March is gone and April starts today.
Here are my finished items for March.

1. A tea cosy in the shape of a turkey (already sold)
2. A little green garden gnome made for a "package of green swap"
3. A crocheted bag (with a sail boat on it and bamboo handles) made for "make something wind related swap"
4. A knitted black and white cat - made on request and already sold
5. A colourful nursery tortiose - also made on request and already sold - and another ordered!
6. My travelling scarf. This was a group effort made by 10 different knitters, but I made a section for each of their scarves too - so although it wasn't entirely made by me, it deserves to be here as it represents the sections I made on each of the 9 other travelling scarves.
7. A red knitted crab
8. A red knitted crab
9. A red knitted crab - yes they are all part of a requested order. She wants 5 - yippee

Oh yes, I can hear you unbelievers saying , "she just used the same crab photographed in different ways.

Well, just for you, here is a picture of 3 completed crabs plus the 4th in a state of wip (incomplete) taken just before the finished 3 were posted yesterday. So at least 2 more will be in next month's chart. I do love requests.

It's been a good month. Both for orders and sales. A big thanks to my customers at http://eddyspressies.artfire.com/

The challenge then?

• 9 items for January
• 7 for February
• and 9 for March = 25 completed items in 12 weeks

Gosh this 52 items in 52 weeks is easy with a better system of keeping count.

Hooked on breaking records

Not many people know but our little town of Bridgend is in the Guiness book of Records.

We won the world record for the longest line of drinks cans in 1986

and then won it back again last November from the Home Nursing federation of Singapore

All the people of the town saved their cans so now the record stands at 106,000 cans beating the previous record by more than 15,000

Well now that I hold a world record (along with many others but I still helped to both collect and stack them)

I'm hungry for more. I'm now crocheting squares for the world's largest blanket.

Granny squares from all over the world are being collected to be put together to win this title.

Here are some of mine. all 5 inches

across. They are still looking for more. See http://planetblanket.wordpress.com/

But of course, this method of crocheting is not just for squares.

have a look at this little guy. Totally done in the same style.

Fun isn't he?

find him and more at http://eddyspressies.artfire.com/

Creative Challenge February 2010 (52 in 52)

Here we are again at the end of another month. So I will now show what I made for the challenge.



If you remember; the challenge is to make 52 items during the 52 weeks of the year. January was a great start with 9 items finished.

So here's February's calendar/chart

So what are all those funny little icons?

• A 12" purple pony - made to order - people seem to love the purple
• Lilac and cream baby cuddle blanket - made for a swap.
• red striped scarf with celtic knots and cables - yes another swap - I got a lovely scarf back
• A Walrus crocheted in the "granny square" style - I'm really into those granny squares lately
• A baby and her bunny - that's for a givaway on another blog - you can enter and win this and lots more prizes too - more on that later.
• Small ladybird wrist purse - yes, for a "make something red" swap
• A knitted crab - so cute but already bought and paid for - I'll make another on request though.

That's 7 for February to add to January's 9; making 16 so far.

And next month promises to be better because I have so many items "on the needles" that just need finishing off.

I'm really enjoying this.

Creative challenge 52 in 52 January 2010

OK so last year I tried this creative challenge to

Make 52 items (knitted or crocheted) in 52 weeks.

I got a little bogged down with other things and found that keeping count got really hard - especially since I started partway through the year.

So this year I'm going to try it again.

Each month I will show you what I made, and with my new chart system, keeping count should be easy

Some of these items are for sale in my Artfire shop, others are for swaps or challenges or even myself.
So here we go with the counting;

1. 12" tall Pink sparkly pony
2. Purple knitted piggy bank
3. 9" tall Pink dragon
4. orange knitted piggy bank
5. sheep teacosy
6. little knitted firebird
7. snowflake hat
8. snow princess doll
9. baby security blanket - polar bear.

Yeay 9 items in the first 4 weeks we are off to a great start - I really hope I can keep this up.

Time to slow down...and speed up!

SLOW DOWN?
Well yes, I'm absoloutely terrible for seeing a new pattern or having an idea and going "Wow, I want to make one of those."
The problem is that I now have so many projects "on the needles" that I'm running out of places to put them and NOTHING is getting finished.

So speed up?
Yes, I must try my best not to start anything new for a while (but it is sooo hard)
I MUST finish more of my projects
I tried a "WIP Wednesday" which means every Wednesday I must try to finish as many WIPs (Works In Progress) as possible. But it doesn't seem to be working. I think I need to have more days in the week dedicated to finishing items.
How many projects did I finish yesterday (Wednesday)? One. Only one.
I crocheted this dragon from this to this....

Not bad, but not really making a dent in my list. What does my list look like?

Ooh, er, don't ask, Ok here goes...

1. A blanket for christmas for my daughter - OK so that was a BIG project and was a knit along so I couldn't go faster than 2 squares a week - but I am way behind if it is to be finished by Christmas.
2. A crochet scarf - another crochet along but not really putting the effort in that it needs.
3. Psyduck - yes, the Pokemon. He has alot in common with my son and will be holding his copy of "Pokemon Platinum Version" on Christmas morning.
4. Sean's Alien- This is an incredibly cute illustration drawn by his mother that I am trying to make into a toy. I've knit his feet and hands just fine but I've made his body about 3 times and ripped it out again - can't seem to get it right. Next try will be the last - however it turns out.
5. Corn cob critter - Yes he is a little man made from a corn cob. I started knitting him for Thanksgiving but he was bigger and had more parts than I thought so he is still in bits with no boots yet.
6. Scarf in Merino - I got some lovely soft Merino wool in a swap - It's just begging to be made into a scarf; so I'm doing about 4 rows a day on that one - fun pattern though - it looks like waves.
7. Bright Scarf - In a different swap I got some fun fur yarn with lots of colours in it. I would have loved a scarf in that fur but not enough was there, so I've trawled the yarn shops and found regular yarn in the same colours. I will have a scarf after all. A block of fun fur on each end and then blocks of each colour between until it is done. I've done about 20" so far - so it's going well.

So as you see, I need to concentrate a bit - one at a time huh?

I'll post pictures as I finish each one. That's a promise to you and to me.

Autumn fun

I've been doing some swaps with friends on the internet, where you make a little creature on a given theme and then send them to each other with some goodies like chocolate, bath products or something else small and really nice.

So what to make on the theme of Autumn? Why squirrels of course. What else says Autumn like these little guys scampering about collecting nuts and fattening up ready for the Winter?

The lovely lady I sent these to said that her twins loved them so much that I have put them up for sale on my Artfire Site They are just big enough to fit into your pocket to carry around and give a secret cuddle to. Hee hee, yes, they are Secret Squizzles!

week 16 - knitting challenge

'Aint she sweet? hee hee. She's a prototype or a test piece, if you like. I was asked to make a set of little cheerleaders for one of the students at the University of Maryland. Their team is called the terrapins and so the cheerleaders are the "Terps"

I made this little one to test if I could reproduce their contest uniform well enough. The actual ones to be sent will have longer legs, slightly longer skirt and better hair/lettering

I do love a challenge; and this little beauty brings my total of completed goods for this year (since January) to 23

23? Have I missed something out? lets see

20 was the sailor top -which has it's own post

21 was Billy and his crochet bag and goodies - the post before this one

22 is the Terps cheerleader

and 23? Oh yes, I did another test knit. this time for Befriendmantic. It was an Easter bunny all crocheted. He was sweet.

The only thing is, I made a mistake when making him up and so you will see a series of decreases across his chest. They should not be there, they should be under his arm!

Well no one is perfect. He is a twisted bunny but I love him anyway. I'll make another when the corrections come through.

23 for week 16 is pretty good going I think. I'll soon have those 52 items in 52 weeks.