Wristwarmers

Wristwarmers, originally uploaded by ninethreeo.

Knitting A LOT of gloves and mittens recently, clearly I am nesting for Autumn - my favourite of all the seasons.

LOVING this new book: Knitting New Mittens and Gloves (an early birthday present) for when I'm not actually knitting

Jacket featured on The Creative JAR

The Clothkits jacket I have up for sale was featured on The Creative JAR
She's put together some lovely themed galleries of Etsy items, so click over to see the delights.

Looking at the gallery she's put together shows me I need to up my game photography-wise. Must get on to that!

Down time

Back at Mum's for a few days, and with an extra pair of hands and eyes to watch the kiddo, I get chance experiment with my phone camera when out for a walk.



My sister pointed me in the direction of some filter programmes, so I've been having a play around with them



Clearly, I don't know what I'm doing, but I am quite liking some of the effects.











I've also been to my usual second hand and vintage haunts, and my hubby really hit gold with a find yesterday. Photos coming soon!

Yarn Haul

Yarn Haul, originally uploaded by ninethreeo.

I'd been planning to knit Pebble for a friend's baby. I wanted red. There's a reason, I'll go into that later.
Now earlier this year, this friend donated me some red yarn, and I had thought how sweet it would be to make it with that. Yarn that came from her in the first place.
It was almost DK, it looked like it would work. I swatched. It was almost OK. I went with it.
Two thirds of the way through it was obvious it wasn't working. And it's not really right to hope your friend's baby is born on the small side, is it?
I tried again, with yarn held double. He can grow into it, I thought. Not so great either. Newborns don't have a lot of need for armour, and this is exactly what it was turning out like.
Frogged. Again. Admit defeat and head to the shop.
Which is where I picked up the Patons Fairytale. ahem. There in the bottom right hand corner.

oh, that other stuff? I didn't need that. I'm considering it a reward for persistance.

Smith the Hedgehog

Smith the Hedgehog, originally uploaded by ninethreeo.

Smith Finished!
Relax? or pick up another project?

Smith's bottom

Smith's bottom, originally uploaded by ninethreeo.

Ysolda has released Whimsical Little knits 2.
Smith the Hedgehog is the second design released from the set, and just what I needed when I found myself needing a new project Thursday night. Great timing.
Pic is from my phone this morning, so not very clear but hopefully you can see this hedgehog's bottom here. I had plans for this but E claimed it when she found out what it was going to be. She's taking my word for it, because her 3 year old brain can't see a hedgehog here yet. She has offered to help me stuff it, which I will let her do, but she wants to stuff it with candy floss, which I won't let her do.
I hope to get him finished this weekend.
Links:
Smith Pattern Page on Ravelry
WLK2 page on Ravelry
WLK2 page on Ysolda's Site (if you're not on Rav)

Reclaimed Tray

I found this old tray someone had thrown away



It's not a great photo, but hopefully you can see what I saw. Filthy, weird, but with some great potential, yes?

I stripped it down to it's component parts: wooden backing, glass front, dirty chrome and grubby bakelite. Each piece was cleaned according to it's needs and material.

The bakelite came up lovely:


I discarded that weird photo that was under the glass and rooted in my stash of stuff for something nice to replace it with, and found a lovely piece of thick, blue and silver paper.
Now look!


Problem is, now it's so clean and shiny it's hard to get a good picture without any reflections


Even with help on the photo shoot from my little one:


Here are a couple of close ups




I LOVE my new tray and I'm happy to have given it a new lease of life.

Progress on yesterday's soothing project continues, and I hope to get some more done tonight

Soothe

This Sunday didn't start out as relaxing as a Sunday should be.

By 6 o'clock I was ready for a soothing project.

This was how it started, albeit a couple of days ago..




Spent a relaxing half an hour stripping the lavender. The tot and I dug our fingers in, it smelled heavenly!




And here's the next step:


And now for an evening of soothing, repetitive stitches. Next steps coming soon!

After a Break

Meakin Poppy Mug, originally uploaded by ninethreeo.

Hello all, I've been on a bit of a summer break, I've had a bit of a sort out and have started adding some lovely vintage things to my Etsy shop:
http://fern.etsy.com

I love old things but I just have too many and it's time to let some things go. I'll be adding more things a few at a time so keep me bookmarked, I might just have that lovely thing you need to treat yourself! Whatever tickles your fancy: china, knick-knacks, vintage haberdashery, vintage craft magazines and books, clothing, housewares and sparklies, I probably have it and it'll be coming soon! Any questions about these items, or shipping, or any aspect of my Etsy shop feel free to drop me a line. I want you to be delighted with anything you buy from me because uniting a vintage item with a loving owner is what's important.

Hope you're all having a lovely summer!

Llandudno Pier

A photoset from Llandudno Pier (including shots from the lovely sweetie shop there!)

A Week on Anglesey

A Week on Anglesey, originally uploaded by ninethreeo.

1. Aberffraw beach, 2. Rhosneigr sunset, 3. Holiday Crocheting, 4. Ready for the beach!, 5. Aberffraw, 6. St Cwyfan's Church, the Church in the Sea, near Aberffraw, Anglesey, 7. St Cwyfan's Church, 8. St Cwyfan's Church, 9. St Cwyfan's Church, 10. St Cwyfan's Church, 11. Holiday Knitting, 12. Seagull on the Wire, 13. South Stack, Holyhead, 14. Rhosneigr beach, 15. Rhosneigr beach, 16. Amlwch, 17. Amlwch, 18. Amlwch, 19. Anglesey Model Village, 20. Anglesey Model Village, 21. Anglesey Model Village

Had a very relaxing week on Anglesey, knitting, crocheting, walking, eating, flying a kite.
and a little bit of thrifty shopping. Have some new treasures to post up soon!

Jewelled Door Curtain

Jewelled Door Curtain, originally uploaded by ninethreeo.

Thrifted this jewelled door curtain for just 20pence. Needs a little work to detangle, but will hopefully keep the flies out when done!

Ships

Ships, originally uploaded by ninethreeo.

Things have been a bit busy here. Will be back on track soon.
In the meantime, thrifted ships in my bathroom. Both from different jumble sales

Stay Tuned

Having let the blog be a random scratchpad for a few months, it's time to become a bit more specific. I've been having a little think. What are the main things that interest me here? There seem to be three:

1) Vintage. I love old stuff. Old fabric feels better. Old china sounds nicer. Old stuff has a history you can feel in your hands. I'm addicted to seeking out new treasures and I'm going to share them with you here.

2) Repurposing and recycling. I've been trying wherever possible to buy/find/be given pre-owned stuff to make into new stuff I need. It's keeping stuff from landfill that still has some life in it, it means I don't need to have something else made, and hey! sometimes it saves me a bit of money (though weirdly, not always). I'll share some of my makes with you

3) Home made. I rarely buy new craft materials as I often find vintage notions and haberdashery on my treasure hunts (See 1), or deconstruct sweaters for yarn to knit with (see 2), but sometimes I use new supplies and these things fall into this third category. Like gardening. Or cooking. I'm definitely a learner at both, but I'll share my attempts with you here.

So, that's it. I'm trying to specify
Vintage. Repurposed. Homemade.

Please stay tuned!

Thrift Crazy

At Mum's for the long bank holiday weekend I have been merrily thrifting away my hard earned wage packet.
Something about the car repair bill, boiler service and kitchen tap repair I've had to pay for this week makes me want to spend some on little pretties. Of course, this is retail therapy thrift-style, so really wasn't all that bad.
Here are some of this weekend's pretties. This might be veeery picture heavy. For the full extent of my thrifting madness this weekend, see my Flickr pics!



Pretty Wedgwood plate. The pink and blue look so pretty together.
Here's a close up of the motto



I think this might be pretty old, but I'm no expert on Wedgwood backstamps. Anyone know?


Meakin Celeste platters. Two of


Alfred Meakin Thistle plates. Three of. I love love love these


Losol Ware plate. Know nothing about this. Except I like it!


Sadler Roses teapot. I'm not kidding when I say I've really not spent all that much this weekend. I can't possibly reveal my sources, but this teapot was less than 30 pence.


Such a pretty shade of pink


Two pink and black chrysanthemum cups


Turquoise teardrop shaped bowl.


Looks like something from Nigella Lawson, but I think it's older than that. Here's the back:


Finally, I think my favourite find of the weekend. Sadler mug:

Beautiful!

J&G Meakin Blackberry side plate

J&G Meakin Blackberry side plate, originally uploaded by ninethreeo.

Back to my love affair with J&G.
Last night's jumble sale turned up the following side plate, which I had to bring home to stay for a while with it's J&G Meakin siblings.
Such a pretty shape and design.

A bit on the side

My love of J&G Meakin pottery is obvious the moment you step in the door of my house.

But...

Sometimes..

I'm very tempted by a little affair with their brother, Alfred...



Alfred Meakin tea set


Alfred Meakin Cactus side plate (and Battenburg!)

Tuesday Thrifty Finds

Popped out on my lunchbreak for some recreational thrifting, and found these lovely buckle. Whole bag for a pound.



And just before I left, nearly overlooked: This cotton tape. One and a half reels for £1.



I have crafty plans for this...

Broccoli

ahem.
hi there!

here's some of the purple sprouting broccoli that I grew in the garden



and here it is cooked, with just a little butter, lemon juice and black pepper



delicious!

Map of Australia Sock Hanger - a how to!

You know those hanging dryers for socks and smalls? I went through three of the shop bought versions last year. They were always snapping and breaking and I resolved to try to make something more hardy. Or at least easier to mend. And less plastic-y

I had been scouring charity shops for an old picture frame for the top part, I was envisioning something chunky and gilt for laundry glamour. But then I saw this:

How fun! £1.55 from the hospice shop. A roll of string, a pack of clothes pegs and a dremel drill and I was ready to go to work. I cut the string off the back and marked evenly spaced holes with tippex

After I drilled holes in the board and the pegs, I threaded the string through one hole in the board and through the peg....

I tied a knot in the string.


I trimmed the knot, and tied another knot about 5-6inches in on the fancy side, this is for the board to rest on when it's hanging. Sorry about the quality of the next photo. I hope you can make out that knot.


On the flipside I measured the length I wanted the hanging string to be, then added another 5-6inches and cut the string.


I threaded this end through a point on the opposite side to the one I'd already done. (Australia is an irregular shape so I balanced the board on two fingertips to see where I should thread the string through. If you're using a regular shaped frame, go for directly opposite).
After threading, I tied a knot 5-6inches up from the end, on the picture side, then threaded the end through the peg, and again tied a knot near the end.

Again, sorry about these next few photos, it was getting late and the light was terrible. I hope you get the idea!


Repeat that process twice more, positioning the strings in a 6 point star shape. Tie a knot in all three strings to make a little loop



In the remaining holes, thread a string with a knot in the end. Thread through the frame, then through a peg, and tie another knot on the other end.


Wash a load of socks! You're done!