::One Sleep To Go!::

I think I hear Santa Claus...

::Two Sleeps To Go!::

::Three Sleeps To Go::

Not much longer to wait....

::Sharing the Hooty Love::

'Tis the season and such so I thought I'd share this fantastic link I found for a owl calendar for 2011. Three really good things about it; 1) All the picture are created by different artists; 2) you get to pick which picture are in the calender and 3) it's FREE!!!

Here is the linky-dink to the site.

Enjoy!!!

Christmas Swap Surprise!!!!

Over on Jellywares the fantastic Jodie has organised a cloth and tea swap for Christmas. Armed with secret swap partner info we needed to make a wash cloth in Christmas colours and include some of our swap partners favourite tea.

Here is a sneak peek at the parcel I sent out on Friday.

It's a secret so I'll let you know what was in it when I hear from my swap partner.

Also waiting for me when I came home on Friday was a parcel from the wonderful Fiona at bubzrugz.

A beautiful crocheted wash cloth with scalloped edging and appliquéd star - very Christmasy, and some yummy smelling Christmas tea - very, very Christmasy. But wait, there's more!!!!!

A hand made (by Fiona!) cup bag for my tea cup and tea! I think it is fantastic! It even has my initials on the tea bag, a nice personal touch. And the back has a little tea bag sized pocket for, what else, a tea bag.

This is all very much appreciated. Thank you to Fiona for putting such a wonderful gift together, and thank you to Jodie for organising it all.

Cheers::

Ta Da!!!!

Remember this fail from my last effort at dyeing some wool.

Well your lovely comments about how it was not so bad a fail gave me courage to knit it up. It is now two very "noticeable" pot holders for the microwave in our staffroom. These certainly will not get lost! Here's a pic of them being blocked.

And since there are even less days until Christmas than I thought (slight panic starting to set in!), I thought I would share the first completed Christmas present. I did cut it fine though, finished with a week to spare for a early Christmas lunch with friends.

 

It's a French Market Bag, felted for Margaret. I do hope she likes it. The pattern is available for FREE! from Knitty.com. I love this pattern and have already started another one for me! Only change is that the handles need to be longer for me.

What do we think, will Margaret like it?

Cheers::





 

Cooking up a storm!!!!

White wool + food colouring + microwave = Something shocking!!!



I think I was a little over-zealous with the colour - what do you think? I class this as a FAIL. Hmm, no matter it is destined to become pot holders now I think!

 








On a more successful note!

This is my effort with black, blue and pink food colour.

Much better I think, not as....loud? And finally using pink and a touch of blue.

Not bad if I do say so my self (insert very satisfied looking face here).

Now to decide what to make out of these.

Cheers::

Flickr Favourites!

Take a squiz at these colourful, creative inspirations. Aren't they wonderful?

By Lauri Springer

By Coffee & Cream

By Lauri Springer

  By Ruthiejoy

By bakeandsewblog

By Daniela.H.

A change is as good as a holiday...

...so they say. What do we think of the new look Cosmic Creations? Yes? No? What the heck were you thinking?!

Let me know what you think.....good or bad :)

Cheers::

Sharing the Love

Joy! Excitement! Happiness!

Remember a few months ago I shared my original pattern for Mermaid Fingerless Mitts? Well, someone has made their very own of my Mermaid Fingerless Mitts! PirateRed over on Ravelry has made a pair and I think they look fantastic!

Arr, me hearty, they look mighty warm PirateRed!


Cheers.::

Busy Little Bee

This month it has been busy, busy, busy at Cosmic Creations. One of my fellow teachers when on maternity leave to have her first child and I thought she deserved a gift just for her, so a nice snuggly shawl was in order.

Here it is pegged out to dry and drop - and yes, that is a fur-kid 'helping'. They tend to make an appearance in quiet a few of the photos.

The pattern is from Lally Lou Lou and you can check it out here. It's a really easy pattern and the instructions are very clear. I added a scalloped edge to make a bit of a ruffle/frill.

The next we have a yummy cupcake! Not for eating though, it's a pincushion for a swap on Ravelry.

Again, another wonderful FREE pattern this time from Bitter Sweet. Although it is in US crochet terms, all you have to do is remember that a SC = a double crochet (UK/Aust). A very easy pattern that took less than an hour to make and that included stuffing it! To add the cherry on top I made a single bobble and sewed it on.

For Leah, a wash cloth for another Ravelry swap - Cloth and Soap Swap.

A simple square using 3.5mm hook and double strand 4ply cotton. Super easy and super quick, completed in a weekend. The pattern is from the Leisure Arts Big Book of Dishcloths.

And the final project completed is a Damson - actually it was finished months ago but I forgot where I put it! Found it though, sewed in the ends and here it is pinned out for blocking.

Well that's all the completed projects, next instalment will be the yarn that I dyed too!

Cheers.::

Rambling Cowl

The time has come to unveil the finished product of my latest creation - the Rambling Cowl. As I mentioned in my last post the yarn is from Jo at The Fish and the Bird and knits up sooooo beautifully. While it is not a traditional cowl, it is also not a mobius as it is not twisted, instead I have made it longer so it can be doubled around the neck without being too constricting.

The pattern is extremely easy and would be good if you're trying knitting in the round for the first time. Here is a link to a guide on knitting in the round if you need it.

It's a simple eyelet row that gives the cowl the pattern. Here's a close up.

 
One more selling point, it only took 70 grams! Great for stash busting or a quick knit, of course you can make it wider by repeating the pattern rows or shorter by casting on less stitches.

So here it is, the Rambling Cowl pattern.

------------------------

Rambling Cowl Pattern

**This pattern can be worked in any weight yarn with correct size needles to maintain correct tension.**


Cast on 84 stitches on circular needles. (Cowl can be made to any desired length as long as an EVEN number of stitches are cast on.)


Firstly, place stitch marker. Join stitches so as to work in the round. Knit this row.

Row 1-6: Knit all stitches, slipping stitch marker when needed.


Row 7: Purl all stitches.


Row 8: *K2tog, YO. Repeat from * to end of row. Don't forget to do the last YO before the stitch marker.


Row 9: Purl all stitches.


Repeat rows 1-9 to form pattern until cowl has reached desired width. 


Finish by repeating rows 1-6 to form edge. 


Cast off.

------------------------

So there it is, what do you think? Worth a shot? Let me know....

::Sneek Peek::

I have a new pattern in the works for a cowl. It's not quite ready for unveiling but here is a sneek peek at the yarn I'm using.

This came from Jo at The Fish and the Bird. It's a beautifully soft hand-spun 4 ply called Rambling and knits up wonderfully. The finished pattern for the cowl will be up in a couple of days.

Mermaid Mitts

Just in time for winter the Mermaid Mitts have been finished!


















They're made from Noro Silk Garden and only took 1 ball. I halved the ball before I started so I could just knit until each half was used up. The colours remind me of a mermaid, so the name stuck.

::Pattern::

Yarn: 8ply/worsted weight. 1 50gram ball.

Cast on an even number of stitches (I cast on 40) and knit 2x2 rib until desired length or you run out of wool ;). Make 2.

To sew up, start at the arm end and sew until half way. Then try on your mitt and measure how far up your fingers you want it to go - this will determine where you leave a gap for your thumb. Now continue sewing up to where your thumb will be, bind off. Now sew from the top down to the beginning of your thumb opening.

Congratulations, you now have a pair of fingerless mitts!

Enjoy.

Watermelon anyone?

I signed up for a pink swap over on Ravelry. My Swap partner didn't crochet so I thought I'd make her a scarf inspired by one of Lucy's but with my own spin.

 After the first few motifs were done it was dubbed "The Watermelon Scarf" and the name stuck. But once finished it needed something extra so a little pink butterfly was added. Can you see it? Just there on the end. The butterfly pattern is from Suzann Thompson's book 'Crochet Bouquet'.

It's really a very good book. It has both written instructions AND graphs!

::While I'm on a roll with finishing things, here is the 'Nice 'n' Spicy' bag I finished crocheting awhile ago (quite a while ago!) and procrastinated about doing the lining for.

  The pattern is by Jackie Ebdon and can be found in Simply Knitting 55, June 2009. It really is a very easy pattern, I was able to make it while watching t.v. I used Anchor Magicline which is about 8ply/worsted cotton - very nice to work with.

Cheers!

Ripple, Ripple, Ripple.........

As promised, and I know it was a while ago, here is the finished ripple cushion! Ta Da!!!

Yes, that is the tail of a fury helper. Basil decided to lend his artistic skills. :)

The multi-coloured front is made from Moda Vera Bamboo/Cotton that I found at Spotlight on sale for $2 a ball. It actually only took one ball of each colour with some leftover. The back is made from purple Patons DK Smoothie and took two balls. I had planned to use the other half of the recycled cotton jumper but decided to save that for another cushion.

Crochet Flower Squares

Look what I discovered! Beata over at Rose Hip has written the pattern for the most amazing crochet flower square. Here's a peek::

 

::Photo courtesy of Beata @ Rose Hip::

There is also a pattern for just the flower itself which can be found here.

::Photo courtesy of Beata @ Rose Hip::

New project just added to the list! I think a bag or cushion is in order.

What do you think? I'm off to stash-dive to find something to turn into these fantastic creations.

Did you miss me?

Oh dear, oh dear, where has the time gone? Unfortunatley Cosmic Creations has had to take a slight break while I organised myself for the begining of the school year. I had to get my teacher-y hat on and plan for the semester head. But enough of THAT! Back to all that is yarny/knitty/crochety and the like.

::I came across these wonderful Japanese books in Kinokuniya over the January holidays. I know, I'm very bad for not sharing sooner. Here is a sneak peak at some...


This one is my favourite. It's full of scarfs, bags, wraps, and hats and the motifs are all join as you go :: no sewing together at the end!! It's a Japanese book but all the patterns are in diafram format and it is really easy to follow.

Here's another Japanese one, but this one has 100 motifs! All different shapes and sizes for the imagination to play with - the possiblities are endless.

And lastly, I can't forget the book of crocheted flowers. This one isn't Japanese, it's American and has some very inspiring ideas!








 

Now that I'm back into the swing of things I'll post some pics of the ripple cushion soon. In the mean time, here's a pic of Alfons the Pin-eyed Bear (so called as his eyes are held on with sewing pins - don't worry they'll get sewn on soon).

Must dash, just remembered the cotton yarn I had dyeing - oops.
Cheers.

I dyed... yarn that is.

As well as making Lucy's Granny cushion I've had the urge to try my hand at dyeing some yarn. My very first attempt was a complete success!!!! I used Moda Vera Supremo (100% cotton). It started out like this, a very boring beige colour...

...and then the magic colour was added and this is what it turned into...

 ... a wonderful "Pergoda Red", at lest that's what the colour is called on the dye packet. It took darker in some places than others, but I like the effect.

I'm just so dash-gone proud of how it turned out that here are some more photos of the skeins, 5 in total.









And because my first attempt was such a ripper I did it again with some Heirloom 4ply cotton. It went from this...

... to this after I suspended half of it in violet coloured dye.

It's not a really intense colour but it is darker than the pictures show. This cotton is destined to become some fingerless gloves - pattern from Tess Dawson's Crochet Designs: 25 Must-have Items to Make. There will also be plenty of yarn left over to make a shawlet, perhaps an Ishbel by Ysolda.

For both lots of yarn I used Dylon on the stovetop.

I've now been bitten by the hand dyed yarn bug!!!

Cheers.