...Norwich City bunting

I have been making bunting recently for a variety of reasons (more to follow).  As part of Dan's Norwich City themed birthday gifts I made him some 'Norwich City' bunting. 

This is one of those wonderful moments when you think of something you want to make, go into your materials and ribbons to find out that, gloriously, you have all the right stuff and it looks lovely.  Once again, bless my love of (obsession for) saving stuff!

... a mini football hat

Dan is a Norwich Fan.  A fact I have heard a lot about recently as they went up to the Premiership last year and we (meaning Nottingham Forest) didn't.

Because I am not bitter (much) I support Dan's love of Norwich City and this year for his birthday made him a number of things to help him with his support regime.  This mini football supporters hat was one of them.  For an alternative view Dan drew it yesterday have a peek - #232 birthday hat

As those of you who follow my making habits I love a good mini hat (mini jesters hat, pixie hats, mini fez, wooly hats).  For those of you who also love a mini hat and can wield a crochet hook / knitting needles it is time to get producing mini hats for The Big Knit.  A lovely coincidence is that this hat, as well as being the perfect accessory for any Norwich City fan is also the right size for an Innocent bottle.  If you are now wondering what the heck I am talking about click the Big Knit link above and find out - it's ace!

If you are itching to get started on your own crochet hats feel free to download the pattern (my ask is that in payment you make a few hats from of it for the Big Knit - thanks):

... a kneeler

So without giving too much away I think I can reveal Dan has been doing a whole load of drawngs in his studio.  As he is an old man now (he was 38 yesterday) his knees have been suffering a bit!

Kneeler to the rescue....

... Beardy Eggman

I have been so busy making things I have not got round to posting things.  This chappy is another eggman made for my Dad for Fathers Day.  He is a beardy bloke because my Dad is a beardy bloke - although my dad'd eyes don't go like that, he is not purple and does not have Don King hair.  Oh, and he is not crocheted, nor does he have a kinder surprise egg inside him (actually he probably does by now as hopefully he has eaten it).

... hairy eggman

This hairy little fella is the next in what will probably be a series of eggmen.  I made him today as I am feeling like death with an evil cold with aches and pains everywhere and needed something to take my mind off it.  I want to use the eggmen to try out some ideas I have about creating little creatures ready for some patterns I would like to publish in the future and also (and why I started making them in the first place) because it is part of a tester for something I can't wait to make but can't talk about here as it is a birthday present for someone who will be celebrating later this year.

I have a nice track reord of making slightly whacky things when ill although hairy man here doesn't hold a candle to the strangeness of one of the earlyest things I made when I was drugged up after having my nose rebroken.  Never seen by the world before (for good reason) is the 'Freakazoo'.....

Oh dear!

... Tweetie Pie

A colleague of mine was sensible enough to compliment my work before mentioning that his son likes Tweetie Pie.  I just can't resist a challenge however subtley delivered it is.

I am really pleased with him as this is all my own pattern and there is nothing as satisfying as finishing something that had a few hairy moment along the way.  There were a couple of times when i was not sure I could do it. But I did.  Hooray for me!

... eggmen egg cosies

I wanted to make cool easter egg cosies for Dan's Nephews to hold a little easter treat for them.  I devised the shape I wanted to make and decided to hinge them so they could be pulled open to reveal their easter treats.  The first one I made was going to be a chicken (eggs, chickens, seemed an obvious connection to me) which should have been a great idea.  Sadly it turned out to be a scary monster like chicken concoction which would be more likely to terrify a small child that enhance Easter bon homie.

Unfortunately, no photos exist of the chicken monster as the world is not ready for that kind of terror.  These little fellas were the next and if I do say so myself considerably more succesful incarnations.  Hopefully they are the precursor to other creative outpourings, I have not made any crocheted creatures for ages and really enjoyed doing these.  Not for a little while though - my latest project, Monster Magic is beckoning, more to follow soon......



... a shed number

I have to admit it - we have been running an illegal allotment.  We have not been displaying our plot number which is a clear breach of allotment protocol.  Before this became a matter for the allotment police I decided to do something about it as well as getting to have a play with my pyrography tool that was uncovered during Dan's mammoth studio clear out session recently.

So as part of my half term craftathon I made this.  Ok so if we wanted to we could have simply painted the plot number on the shed or a bit of wood but where's the fun in that eh? 

Pyrography is fun.  Hmmmmm what can I burn next?

... a wooly green hot water bottle cover

Dan desperately needed a new hot water bottle cover and this is it.  You could actually see the hot water bottle through the old one!  It is made from one of his favourite jumpers which had a nasty experience with the washing machine and some hot water making it a lovely felty fabric but not good as a jumper.  Lined with one of Dan's favourite old t-shirts that had also shrunk a bit this is upcycling at it's comforting best!

... truffles

Ok so I normally only blog my crafty makes but I am pleased with these babies so thought I would share the loveliness (and the recipe) so everyone can enjoy!

It is Valentines Day a day late in our house as while I was of work all day yesterday, Dan was working from 8:30 in the morning to 9 at night on the real Valentine's Day - not much room for romance there!!!  Never ones to follow the crowd we decided to have it on the 15th as we are both off work.  Lovely.

This was a present I made for both of us.  We are having an economy drive at the moment and expensive chocs were definitely not in the budget.  However, these little lovelies only cost me about £1.50 for 12 super lush truffles - that we can afford. (the eagle eyed of you might notice there is only 10 here - we had already tried them before i took the photo :) )

They are really simple to make.  I would love to tell you where I got the recipe from to credit the genius that wrote it but I got it off the internet years ago and have no idea - but whoever you are I owe you one.

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Generic Chocolate Truffle Recipe

            8 ounces of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
            1/2 cup whipping cream (32% milk fat)
            1/4 cup unsalted butter
            2 tsp vanilla OR 4 tsp favourite liquer

            Place whipping cream and chocolate in a heavy saucepan over low

            heat and stir occasionally until chocolate melts Add butter and
            continue stirring until butter is melted. Remove from heat and
            let cool to room temperature. Add liquer or vanilla (or nothing!
            Works this way also). Let sit in refrigerator until hard (about
            eight hours or so). Dig out by the teaspoon and form into balls,
            then roll in finely chopped nuts (ground almonds are heavenly),
            cocoa, icing sugar, or coconut or dip in chocolate.

(the only thing I do different is I melt my chocolate over simmering water in a metal bowl - much less chance of burning the precious chocolate)

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In this case I made orange truffles coated with candied orange peel (homemade - really easy and super gorgeous, you get candied orange peel and a fantastic orange syrup from making it mmmmmm - look for instructions on the web and never throw your old orange peel away again), orange truffles coated in orange chocolate (just regular chocolate melted with a bit of orange zest in it).  Both orange varieties have triple sec in the truffle mix - hooray!  Also there are vanilla truffles coated in chocolate surprise (the surprise being popping candy in the chocolate - popping candy is great, it is a couple of quid from the supermarket and it last for ages and ages as you only need a bit of it)

Quick tip - I froze the truffles first before I coated them in the melted chocolate - it means they don't melt and the choclate sets super quick on the outside of them.

All in all gorgeous and inexpensive - therefore excellent.