Nessie

While away I bought a crochet kit - I'm a sucker for one, especially as you get everything you need hassle free!

I'mreally pleased with the finished item too. Just need to package her up for her new home. I hope she's liked!

You can get a kit here to make your own nessie :-)

Norwich - aha!

The Artist and I had a week off - no getting up at 06:30 amazing!

We decided to go to Norwich one day as The Artist is a massive Alan Partridge fan :|  I'd read on the net that there were walking tours of the city that showed you all the sites from the recent film. So off we set...

2.5hrs later we arrived, after parking and seeing a man in the ladies (!) We found tourist information, sadly for The Artist the tours only operated during the opening weekend, luckily for me there was a gorilla hunt! 52ish decorated gorillas to be found in the city. We didn't find them all but we did spot some pretty awesome ones...

Then to top it all off Coca Cola were there and I got to put my name on a bottle - WOOHOO :-)

Distractions

I've only made 12 squares but my love for them is fading.... and fast, for bit of a distraction I've started my minion, thankfully The Artist wants a cyclops minion - less fiddly bits!

Today we went to Chatham Dockyard

I was amazed by this massive model of HMS Victory - its huge, my dad would've loved it. He'll have to make do with this pic instead.

We didnt pay the extra for the Call the Midwife tour but that didnt stop me living the bike riding midwife dream

Who knew that Selfridges isnt in London but Kent

Tomatos, sunburn & granny squares

Yesterday The Artist and I went toisntthe fusion event in sunny tunny (Tunbridge Wells). We went with our friends who are currently expecting their first delivery from the stork. The day started off ridiculously gloomy, but then made a miraculous recovery and became full on hot. Due to the early gloom I failed to slap on the factor 30 or any factor if I'm honest! I now have amazing sunburn :( I was told that a beef tomato would help - I'm not convinced. Apart from staining my flannel pink when washing the goo off I'm yet to work out any other benefit.

I've started to make granny squares for a blanket. When I first started making them I loved the shade of pink I was using, now it makes me think of blamanche - I've got 8 balls of the blooming shade!

I've made 4 squares so far and have another 58 to go! 

I'm using this sweet pattern for my pink blamanche blanket. The warm weather really isnt inspiring me to make snuggly things I have to be honest, but I'm on a tight deadline to get it finished.

Royal baby

Well, we have a future King, I was pretty convinced we'd have a future Queen called Alexandra! Its just as well I didn't place any bets :) I got a little bit emotional when it was announced - maybe because its history being made? My emotion didn't last too long, mainly thanks to the sky news presenter acting like she'd just squeezed the baby out! The beeb was definitely more reserved in their coverage.

Anyhoo I thought it quite appropriate that I finished my bib just as I heard about the royal baby. I did have a bit of a button dilemma and nearly went with this

In the end this combo won

I am more than pleased with how it turned out, it appears i can crochet rows :), this is the first time I've crocheted round something with a border.

oh my goodness there's baby's everywhere, the woman on grand designs has just announced she's having a baby, that's good motivation to finish building your house.

I used this this pattern for my bib (I'll deffo be making more of these) 

Baby, baby, baby

Between us The Artist and I have 4 little people entering our lives between now and Christmas! I thought I'd be a whizz at blankets but the pressure of crocheting in straight rows is too much! Missing a stitch or adding one in amigurumi isn't too much of a drama - straight rows it is. I've started a blanket for baby Moore but didn't use the right size hook. Ive been reassured by my crochet family at work that it doesn't matter but I'm seriously thinking about undoing it and starting again.

In light of the blanket not meeting my expectations I started looking for other baby gifts, I've got some great patterns for cuddle cocoons but need a last minute present. so I sounded out a bib pattern, this was my first pattern that wasn't a complete piece. I'm pleased to say it's turned out OK :) admittedly I've made it in a washed out blue and the baby's pink but I have a cunning plan! I'm thinking of a white boarder and a white rose to girl it up a bit, or maybe a pink boarder and rose... once I've decided I'll post pics of the finished bib.

Zingy

So...

I've finished my zingy, its a giant - a bit like marshmallow man in ghost busters :)

This is the top half, which made me think of the top of Brighton pavilion, or an old fashioned deep sea diver!

So far not so giant...

Then I added his face - a piece of felt with buttons stitched on, and a large safety eye for his nose. This was the first project I've used glue and not not stitched the whole thing.

Less deep see diver and more zingy!

Finally came the giant body

He doesn't look so big here, but he's about 8 inches tall and has a fat belly. He would have made a good door stop if I'd filled him with sand or beans, plus I used cotton so he would've worn well too.