My Sausage dog jumper pattern for Caboodle Magazine

 

Anyone who knows me from Instagram will know Frank and Albert our 2 mini(ish) Dachshunds, they even have their own account @the_sausageboys ! A while back I crocheted Frank a new jumper as he feels the cold more than his scruffy long haired Brother Albert. The lovely Kayti Feather of Caboodle Magazine saw it on IG and asked if I would like to write a pattern for the Spring edition of the magazine , naturally as the theme was to be an English country garden it just had to be a Bumble Bee jumper complete with curly antenna!

This is the first time I have written a pattern and it's the first time I've had anything published too,I'm so pleased to have been included in such an awesome magazine, it truly is beautiful, definitely one for the coffee table, to be savoured over so you can  appreciate its fab articles and stunning photography!
And although Frank and Albert were not particularly chuffed with their modelling debuts, they were more than happy with Kayti's lovely Sausage dog Frank's photo shoot !

Thank you Kayti and Amy x

Caution Works in Progress !

With the rather chilly start to our British summer and our house move taking longer than we hoped My current WIPS  have a far better chance of being finished than if the sun was shinning and we were busy moving in to a new house !

My most recent project, which was started before finishing the project before..and the one before that....  is this



It is a rather old and battered Ikea rattan footstool which needed cheering up, this is the before shot



I used a pattern by the super talented Inverleith , you can find her blog at  http://inverleith.blogspot.co.uk/ , I found her pattern on Ravelry and tweaked it to fit this particular footstool.

Now it is finished I am returning to Chillis' Emo blanket, thus named for its sombre colours, and the particular Teenage phase that is flavour of the month in the long thin house !



My other WIPS are exactly that and shall remain so until the Emo blanket is finished as I am determined to finish one thing at a time and not start anything else !





Although The Baby does need more granny sandals...

where's my white wool ............

Speak soon,

Mim xx

A little bit of this and that

Now the sun has started to shine my Crocheting seems to have taken on more spring like hues





Even Crochet for Baby Ramona has turned from blankets to summery sandals





Things here at the long thin house are in a bit of a limbo, lots of things packed into boxes waiting for moving day...whenever that is !

I'm not very good at empty spaces, and now bootsale season has started again the shelves aren't looking as bare as they should !



Speak soon

Mim xx

The shape of things to come .....

It seems that I am not very good at this blogging malarkey,I am full of good intentions - and ideas for my posts - but not very good at putting fingers to keyboard !

Things at the long thin house have been a bit hectic, which is no excuse, but has led me to re evaluate my blogging strategy.

I know I would miss blogging if I stopped completely but I feel a change is needed to make me blog more, so from now on I shall be trying a new style of blogging, please let me know what you think, and thank you for coming along for the ride, it may be a little bit bumpy to start but hopefully it will settle down soon.

I shall start with a short catch up of the things that have happened here in the long thin house while I have been away.



My first Grandchild Ramona s. Broadley was born.





There has been lots of sewing.







Plenty of crochet (more of this  to come! )

and also some of this...







...Packing !!

speak soon xx

'Nan' Rules rule !

Here  in the long thin house... When I am allowed out of fairy land... I like to indulge in a spot of crochet.

I haven't been 'hooking' for long and i think i chronicled my early attempts on this very blog, but it  has led me to an appreciation of all thing 'Nan/Granny'. My Children do not understand this, when I recently offered to crochet a blanket for my soon to be here Granchild ( who we have found out since I first announced the news is a Girl ! ) I was told " I don't like crochet it looks like something Nan would have". Exactly ! How can the ways of Nan be underestimated ? I firmly believe that more Nan attitude would be a good thing. The make do and mend attitude of our Parents and Theirs before is to be applauded in todays consumer led society, I for one am really glad to see the re-emergence of crafty ways, mending ,making  do, recycling, and while I'm as guilty as the next person of buying  designer vintage 'style' products my greatest pleasure is finding that same style/type of item in a charity shop or bootsale, usually for a lot less money ! the same goes for designer mass made goods, give me handmade or vintage any day, the web is full of amazingly talented crafts people, and you get something unique and lovingly made,not factory made by people who'd rather be at home !

Anyhoo getting down from my horse of extreme stature ! where was I ...  Crochet baby blanket... Well I crocheted one any way, as I enjoyed doing it, and well, I am 'Nan' so it's my job to introduce my Grandaughter to thrifty, crafty ways at every opportunity, even if she is too young to realise yet ! The blanket was met with a rather different reaction than I had expected..."oh it's lovely ! ..... can you crochet baby dresses too, they are so cute" !

I feel my 'Nan' vibes are working !

speak soon

Mim xx

New year New Plans

Well they are not really new, but they are really happening!

Since my last post a lot has changed in the long thin house..of which I shall not bore you with the details.... but the result is We are moving to Devon !!



Our 1st Granchild is due in March and we have decided to move closer to our Daughter who just happens to be living in the part of the country we have always wanted to live in  !

The second plan and probably our most ambitious is that we are hoping to open a Teashop/ craft space in or near Exeter !!

I am very excited to be combining two of my most favourite things ... cake and craft , and hopefully get to meet new friends along the way !

Well this is just a quick update to let you all know that I am still here and what plans are afoot, and I will be keeping a record of our journey from Essex to Devon and everything in between. Hopefully you will share in our adventure and in years to come I an look back and think why didn't we do this before !

Next time i want to show you what I have been up to craft wise since we last spoke and how it has led me to a brand new crafty project, all I will say for now is it's magic !



Speak soon

Mim xx

Things they are a changing!

Things are certainly changing in the long thin house ! Pumpkin decided she would rather have the attic room as her bedroom which in turn freed up a slightly larger room which I will now use as my sewing room and the smaller room shall now be a guest room (for very small guests!), now I do have some snaps of the chaos that is still ensuing, but please forgive the quality, as we speak a new camera is winging it's way to the long thin house so be amazed when future pics are perfectly exposed and professionally posed ( out of focus more like !) .
Crafting has carried on as usual amid the carrying of boxes between aforementioned rooms, and crochet is still my craft of choice at the mo, I have been experimenting with different granny square patterns, I have even crocheted a camera strap in anticipation of the above mentioned arrival although Husband doesn't seem to keen on the thought of wearing it ! Can't understand why ;) and I have started my first blanket, hopefully it will be finished in time for our trip to Oxfordshire in Sunny the VW camper fingers crossed she will be in full working order by then! ( but that's a whole other story! ) My collection of toy sewing machines seems to be much larger than I thought, so new shelving is on the cards and it's going to take a while to get everything how I like it, but it will be great to have a cutting table an a separate machine table in the same room ! And when the mundane bit of moving rooms is done I shall keep you posted with the best bit , putting it all back together to look pretty!
Speak soon x.

Make cushions while the rain falls!

Flaming June! Well what a to do, June has seen our household entering the domain of another Teenager, although I maintain she has been a practising teen for the last 5yrs! It has seen a trip to the Harry Potter film studio tour, for said Teenagers treat, funny how somethings' remain 'cool'.It has been the month where the garden has gone from lush to lush with knobs on( for lush you can substitute wild!)June was also the month that my lovely Husband ( he will probably read this ! ) gave me a 1930's Art Deco ruby eternity ring! Which i have been hankering after for many a year! It has also been a month of crochet, sometimes frantic, finishing egg cosies for the Bicycle Bazaar that fell foul of the weather, but mostly enjoyable, bags, granny squares, and my first ever circular cushion ! Oh and there was something about a jubilee and apparently more rain than than you can wiggle a crochet hook at, not that I am complaining, bring on the rain as long rainy days = crafting days I'll be humming ( singing would upset the animals! ) And to think it's only 13 days in, wonder what will happen in the rest of the month!
Speak soon.
x