Shave And A Haircut.....

There was a point last week (just after I posted the previous photo of this dog as a WIP) where I was seriously panicking.  Half way through, the dog looked like nothing more than an electrocuted guinea pig and I had no idea whether or not he would end up being a replica of someone's beloved pet or a candidate for the bin.

However, after having all his bits sewn in place, a serious haircut - there was more fluff cut off than is now on his body - he suddenly turned into this cute little Tibetan Terrier.

Phew...I should have more faith in myself sometimes!

All he is needing now is his coat to be finished and then he will be flying across the Atlantic to his new home.

If you would like your dog replicated in yarn, do get in touch - I promise I won't send you any electrocuted guinea pigs!

When Things Don't Quite Go To Plan...

Believe it or not, this is eventually going to be a small Tibetan terrier.  It has been knitted with lovely soft eyelash yarn, but the eyelash part is very long.  I have already trimmed it quite considerably but need to wait until the whole dog is complete before giving it a final haircut.  Not as easy as first imagined!

Had a bit of a disaster as far as the knitted car is concerned - I have knitted two wheel arches and a wing....then discovered I'd used the wrong yarn!  It is very similar to the yarn I had chosen, almost identical in colour but the problem is that I only have one ball of it!  That's what comes of being over-tired and not checking!  Never mind, at least it is straight knitting, nothing complicated, and easily rectified if a little time consuming.

This is my poor dog on watch yet again.  After 7 months of having builders encamped next to our house and nearly four months of having them in and out of our house (must be the longest time in creation it has ever taken to build a small porch...), he is very nervous and barks at the slightest sound outside.  We try to keep him calm as he was never like this before - I feel sorry for him and hope that when they eventually leave he will return to the laid-back couch potato he used to be.
Interestingly, I discovered the whole renovations project on our estate should actually have been finished at the end of March.  As it is now July, I'm not impressed!  No wonder we are all feeling incredibly tetchy.

We saw the first couple of wasps yesterday on our patio.  Time to get the crochet wasp[inator out and see if it works.  I must say that even if it doesn't work, I am rather liking how it looks hanging from our pergola!

Moorhen...

Finished this at 6.30 this morning - all the main work was completed last night, he just got a coat of varnish on his legs this morning.  Now he is ready to go to his new home.

This is an original design, created a few months ago for a private commission.  It is also my first attempt at anything this ambitious in felt and fabric.  So I am quite proud that it looks like it is supposed to!

I am available to make more on commission - they take a couple of weeks to make.  I'm now wondering what other birds I could design...

Yes, I'm Knitting A Car......

I don't know how people manage to cover a full size car with knitting, covering a small one takes up enough time!  So far I have done the wheels - black tyres, grey walls and silver spokes.  I'm very lucky that my partner restores vintage racing cars for a living and has therefore been able to make the basic structure for me, as well as having the forethought to drill sewing holes in the wheels for easy attachment of the knitting. I have also knitted a pair of wheel arches - the car is to be this lovely dark blue.  I chose the yarn because of it's colour but it is a thin cotton which means smaller needles and longer knitting time.  However, it looks great!

I've also received a commission for another moorhen - certainly easier to make third time round!  I did have problems with the legs though, firstly as I had run out of the really stiff wire used for the first moorhen, and secondly as all the florist tape I had bought on the internet just wasn't good enough.  I visited my local florist yesterday and managed to source a reel of the decent waxy green stuff which covers a treat. Now all he needs is a beak and his legs painted a nice bright yellow.  Oh yes, it took me three days to find his centre of gravity in order for him to stand upright steadily!

Another WIP this week is a knitted replica dog - a Tibetan terrier this time.  So far he has a bed and blanket - now to make the dog itself!  If you would like your dog made in miniature from yarn, just give me a shout!

Cockle Shells & Silver Bells....

No silver bells but plenty of shells in these garden wind chimes.  I've had the shells for a very long time but never got around to using them, so finally a couple of weeks ago (when I retrieved my drill from the porch debacle!) I drilled holes in them, found some wonderful curly pieces of wood in the bargain bucket at our local garden centre, and strung them up.  This one is my favourite, with the wood used vertically.

But this one is nice too!  I made them for sale at the summer fair I attended yesterday - once again sales were very low and I returned with most of my stock intact, which was disheartening.  I considered putting these for sale on Etsy but worry that postage would cost far too much because of the weight.  If you would like one of these and would be willing to pay the postage, do get in touch.  In the meantime, they will adorn my house instead - something I have no problem with whatsoever!

In the garden, I actually have a couple of very small tomatoes.  Despite the fact the tomato plants have been battered by wind, suffered torrential rains, and had to deal with unseasonally cold temperatures, they are now flowering so I am hopeful we might get a better crop this year than the past couple of 'summers'.  Early days yet - last year the weather deteriorated from the end of June onwards, so I could still lose them.  As far as the competition with Soggibottom, I think I have lost that already!

Bizarrely, despite the horrendous weather over the past 10 months, we have a bumper lot of figs on our tiny tree this year.  No idea why that should be, I just hope we get to eat them.

On the needles this week....car wheels.  Tedious but necessary, four down, one to go.

Well, Hello Dolly!

My fingers are stiff and the tendons in my arms ache, but I managed to finish this scarf in record time.  It  might not be to everyone's taste, but I like the little dollies scattered randomly as they come on the yarn.

This was knitted in acrylic yarn from Yarn Paradise, a veritable treasure trove for yarnoholics.  It will be for sale in my Etsy shop after it has made an appearance on my stall at Tavistock Summer Fair tomorrow - unless it sells of course!  But don't fret, of it does sell, I have enough yarn to make another one.

By the way, can you spot the small photo-bomber in this picture??

It's Going To Be A Long Road...

Here is one wheel of the knitted vintage car - it took a whole evening to make.  Hopefully now that I have worked out the logistics, the other four should not take so long.  This car could take a very long time to make...

The pink doll scarf is coming along nicely - I have turned the corner, literally, which means the rows start decreasing now.  Will I finish it before Saturday? Perhaps if I give up sleeping!

Far more enticing than the above projects is the current painting.  I have a chance to get on with this acrylic of Old Basing, using a photo I took when we visited last month.  I want it to be really chocolate-boxy, with the English countryside and sheep, a real olde-worlde picture.  Wish I could sit and paint all day but I have to go to the day job.....