Pin Cushion Swap

So as part of my effort to be more crafty, I joined a swap. More particularly a pin cushion swap run by House of Pinheito and Sew Far Sew Good...

We were each paired up with another pin-cushioner and left to our own devices to chat and make.

I was paired up with Jess of Knitting on Trains (fantastic blog name!)

I already had an idea in my head about what I was going to make and I found out from Jess that her favourite colour was yellow.

I tackled a crochet tea cup :)

Apart from granny squares this is I think my first ever crocheted item, so I am quite pleased with it. 

It is a little wonky donkey so I decided to include a couple of tea related items with it.

A variety of herbal teas - Camomile, Redbush, Cranberry and Mint.

And... 

A tea pot and hematite bracelet :)

And here is what I received earlier today...

I love the birdie wrapping paper too.

Jess crocheted this gorgeous pink pin cushion which is also stuffed with lavender. It smells lovely :)

Thank you Jess! :)

Busy Bee

I haven't posted lately because I have had a lot going on but I am still here :)

Here is what I have been up to...

I finished the Rowan Felted Tweed 'Fyne' sweater vest and I love it.

I wanted to bake a cake! I had recently seen a rather tasty one featured over on One Sheepish Knit of a Zebra Bundt Cake. I have never made a bundt cake before nor what we call a 'marble cake' over this side of the pond but I gave it a go...

And it's rather tasty too!

I won this bundle of crochet goodies in a competition run by Maria of Maria in the Wood There are so many nice things to make in the book too :)

With the sweater vest finished I need a new project and as some of you already know, I had the Fawn-cho from Tiny Owl Knits lined up in readiness...

I can't believe how quickly it has knitted up! I like a challenge and this had a few new ones. Working with circular needles, working intarsia in the round and contending with a variety of colour-coded stitch markers.

But I have to say that they weren't as bad as I anticipated! In fact I loved working on circulars. It never occurred to me that working stocking stitich on circulars meant that you only ever knit (you didn't have to turn to purl). I think this is why it knit up so quickly.

I did make a couple of adjustments to the pattern as it was a little bit short. I added a few rows in under the cute fawn and then several under the armholes too. Now it fits perfectly.

Its not completely finished as yet though. I have to block, sort out the back of the intarsia, add some stitches to the fawn and stitch up the arm-hole flaps too but it is sooo snuggly :)

I'm off to knitting group shortly so am taking this to do there :)

Thinking about the next project at the moment but I may open it to a vote as I have several possibilities :)

What have you been up to lately? 

Can you crochet?

I recently read a blog post that has spurred me to learn how to crochet...

Penny of Planet Penny recently posted on her blog about some mice that she crocheted from Nicki Trench's Super-Cute Crochet and I was visually 'hooked' :)

Oh so cute!!

I've got the book...

I've got the yarn and hooks...

I just need to teach myself how to crochet now :)