Flashback Friday - Wigwam

I was looking at this photograph the other day

and it reminded me of the wigwam I made for Jacob back in 2008.

Ruby played in it last summer

and now I am longing for warm days so that we can get it out in the garden again!

Knitting Nancy and Knitting Looms (with a Knitting Nancy Tutorial)

I am not a knitter. I wish I was. I was taught by my Grandma and my Mum and I can do a basic cast on, knit a scarf and cast off but that is about it. I have a collection of knitting needles and a cool case for them.

Some books, including my Grandma's knitting book dated 1939.

Apparently she knitted this jumper for my Grandad a number of times.

I'd love to knit Chris a jumper but I take one look at a pattern and see the numbers and go ugh, maths! I have tried to crochet too but couldn't get the hang of that either.

I even have a vintage knitting machine that I am yet to try out!

I can, however, use a Knitting Nancy Doll, also know as french knitting and spool knitting. These are my two and are pretty boring in comparison to some of the really cool designs available. You can even make them yourself. Check out the tutorial at the end of this post to see how and keep the kids or you busy on a rainy day. 

Just when I thought my dreams of knitting were over I popped into the Needlecraft shop in Shoreham looking for felting wool. I didn't come home with any but I did come home with a Straight Knitting Loom. I had never seen one before but fell instantly in love with the chunky knit that the shop had on display. Maybe I can learn to knit after all!

It is very similar to the knitting nancy as it uses a hook to loop the wool over the "pins". It is incredibly quick to do, much quicker than knitting the traditional way.

After a little bit of investigating I discovered that there is a whole world of loom knitting out there, including circle looms that are next on my list!

I also found this Giant Knitting Nancy on www.superblue.co.uk and now I'm thinking of a big piece of art for the garden!

I'm planning on making blankets and throws and mittens! There is no stopping me now!

My first project: a chunky scarf ready for camping trips and next winter. I just need to buy some more wool!

Did you have a Knitting Nancy? Have you ever heard of or tried Loom Knitting? Or can you Knit the traditional way?

Make your own Knitting Nancy!

The knitting Nancy consists of a tube and an even number of "pins" evenly spaced around the top. I made two different types to show you that you can make them from bits and pieces found around the house!

You will need:

A cardboard tube. I used the inside of a clingfilm or foil roll as it is a bit thicker than a toilet roll. 

Paper clips or pencils. 

Tape

Wool

A wool needle or bamboo skewer to knit with.

Paper Clip Knitting Nancy

Choose the number of pins you want to use. Take the tube and position the paper clips evenly around the top. I pushed them down so that they ends of the paper clips were below the edge of the tube to prevent scratching my fingers when knitting.

Once the paper clips are in place wrap tape around the outside of the tube to secure them into place. I did two layers of tape and used my circus print tape from Tiger.

You can also decorate your tube if you like!

It was that easy and you are ready to Knit!

Pencil Knitting Nancy

We seem to have a lot of colouring pencils that constantly break when we sharpen them so I used them for this. They just happened to be in my favourite colours of this week, yellow and turquoise!

Measure the length of the tube and add 0.5-1cm. Choose your number of pins/pencils (I used 4) and cut them to the length of the tube plus 0.5-1cm.

Measure the circumference of the tube and cut a piece of tape to fit all the way round with a little overlap. Take your pencils and evenly space them along the tape. 

Fix them to the tube making sure that the extra 0.5-1cm is above the top of the tube. I then covered the tube and pencils in tape to hold them securely in place. 

That's it you are finished!

I'll post a How to Knit with a Knitting Nancy tomorrow once I have got my head round explaining the the instructions!

Other ideas:

You could also use lolly sticks. 

Try different numbers of pins to create different thickness of knitting. 

My Mum used to use a wooden cotton reel with nails in the top.

The different sizes of pins and sizes of tubes will give you different effects.

Give it a go and see what you come up with. 

If you make one let me know how you got on in the comments section or on my facebook page www.facebook.com/craftyandcake 

Have fun!

Flashback Friday - Back to the 80's.

My Dad is on a mission to sort through 30 years worth of toys, books and other treasures in his attic. When we visited at the weekend we found a room full of books for us to claim and take home. Since Jacob was born I have regularly gone through the books but could never find my favourite. But on Monday there it was... Maisie Middleton by Nita Sowter. This booked has influenced both my refusal to get up to the kids in the night/early morning (that is Chris' job) and my love of trifle/pudding for breakfast (a childhood treat, the morning after my parents had a dinner party).

I remember reading this book towards the end of junior school and really enjoying it. I've popped it on my bedside table to re-read soon.

I was also very excited to find (hiding in my sister's toy box!) my old typewriter! I loved this and thought it was long gone. Ruby is a fan too and likes typing her name. I just need to work out how to re-ink the ribbon as you can't buy replacements for it anymore.

I also discovered my old Fashion Plates and the crayon thing still works. Me and the kids have been creating lots of outfits this week.

I've had my eye on this vase of Mum and Dad's for a long time. It is a 1970's Scheurich West German vase and one of their wedding presents. It remember it with pampas grass in it on our landing in the 1980's but it has lived in their loft for the last 15 years. I love West German pottery and have been adding to my own collection of vases and plant pots for a couple of years. I've been looking for something to store my wrapping papers i for a while, so I asked if I could have it and Mum said yes! It is now out of their attic, has been dusted and is living on my fireplace.

Do you love discovering treasures from your past or thrifting for new vintage/retro items for your home? I do. To feed my addiction I am heading down to The Johnny Loves June Vintage Fair in Shoreham tomorrow! Exciting!

Wordless Wednesday

The Sun is Finally Shining!!!!

My windows have been open all day, the kids have been outside playing and I have got three loads of washing dry on the line!

It's a little chilly but it feels like spring might be on it's way after all. Inspired by the weather I have been tackling a little bit of the cleaning I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. This is my Spring Clean Mission:

• Organise kitchen cupboards

• Buy and label food storage jars

• Bathroom and washing bins

• Kids toys

• Cleaning cupboard

• Kids craft stuff

Last week with the help of my Mum the kids rooms and toys had their spring clean. Today I have tackled the cleaning stuff cupboard. I am so chuffed with myself, I keep opening it to have a look!
So that's two down four to go!

Before Picture:
First, I emptied everything out on the floor. We have too many plastic bags! I need to remember to keep my shopping bags in the car so that I don't forget them when I go shopping.

After:
My tidy cupboard! and the Key Hanger I found at a charity shop. I love the font and numbers on this.

It's the little things that make me happy and a bag full of line dried washing is one of them. I am rather envious of the kids having clean air dried bedding to sleep in tonight. It's a bit of a random picture I know but I just wanted to share the awesomeness of the Big Blue Ikea bag. 

I have thought about making a laundry bag so many times but I can't come up with anything better than this bag. I have about three that I use for the washing and ironing. I end up buying a new one everytime I visit Ikea because I forget to put one in the car, I have even been once with one in the boot and forgot to take it into the shop! I really need to work on my memory skills! Where was I? Oh yeah! The Big Blue Bag - The best laundry bag ever!

Today's FatMumSlim April photo a day topic is something Blue to promote Autism Awareness. Here is my bit of blue. My Bitossi Owl. 

Take a Look at My Monday

The Easter bank holiday weekend is nearly over, booooo! We're off to Mum's in a bit for (hopefully) more chocolate and roast lamb. Yum.

Before we get in the car I wanted to share this little lot with you.

My day started like this...

I spent most of yesterday in bed feeling ill reading my copy of Mollie Makes Home and woke up today with the urge to make something. I was inspired by a honeycomb pompom garland so this morning I dug out these honeycomb semi circles from IKEA that have been in the drawer since last summer and strung them together to make one. It is now hung up above my Mac making me feel cheerful.

I posted on instagram and facebook yesterday that I was going to do this photo challenge that I found on Pinterest.

Then I found out that this is last years challenge from FatMumSlim's blog. I'm still going to do this challenge and post a round up of all 30 photo's at the end of the month on my blog.

This is this year's Photo a Day for April 2013.

I am going to join in with this daily challenge and post my photo's on my instagram. To join in to check out FatMumSlim's blog and tag your photo's #fmsphotoaday 

This is my photo for today. Ruby got a cardboard shop/theatre from us for Easter and we played puppet show's this morning :)

The other project I have on the go is a sun and cloud piece for Ruby's wall. We made her rainbow at the beginning of March and it definitely needs the sun and the rain to go with it. I'm hoping to get this done this week during the Easter holiday. 

What projects have you got on the go at the moment?

Happy Easter!

This is what our house looks like today...

Happy Easter!