Christmas is coming, the pickledweasel's getting fat...

I need to stop eating honeyed salted cashew nuts, or I'll not fit into my nice new Christmas skirt tomorrow :( Things are Christmas a-go-go here in the pickledweasel household, despite me having a throat infection and munchkin getting over a stinking cold. We've been making Christmas decorations:

And cards:

And hair slides for Christmas parties:

And the icing on the cake, a man-bag for mr pickledweasel:

We decided to just spend £10 on each other this year (excluding presents for munchkin), as we're a bit short after the loft conversion. The bag came in at about £7.50, although that's kind of cheating because I calculated the cost based on the material used, so the whole yard of the amaaaaaaazing coffee cup fabric cost £6.60, but I've calculated it as £3.30 because I used half a yard. And I'm not including the £8.00 postage because it came from America :D Any ideas what I can make from the leftover half yard?

The denim was an offcut from Abakhan. The slider and the d-ring were actually a bargain - I've yet to find reasonably priced ones online, especially sliders, does anyone have a secret magic website that does bag making haberdashery at sensible prices? Anyway, I found this bag for £1.25 from our local Winners:

And cannibalised it. I'll use the zips and the canvas for a pouch I'm making for my sister-in-law, so it won't have died in vain :) I've not done much more Christmas making, just a hat and snood set for my neice - photos of her modelling it to follow - and I've made a mountain of gingerbread to give to friends and family using this recipe.

So here's wishing you all a very happy Christmas, and hoping you have a lovely day with family and friends. I'll just be on this big comfy chair over here, with a scarf round my neck, a hot toddy and this family sized bag of cashews :) x x x

Last minute Christmas Making

I'm in the final week of Christmas Making, and everything's getting a bit frantic. I am meant to be sewing a nightdress for grandma pickledweasel, but my plans have been severely scuppered by this:

It may look pretty, but it's meant I haven't been able to go and buy fabric. Or get to work to do extra hours for a few more pennies in January's pay packet :( Munchkin and I ventured down to the bus stop this morning with the hope of at least going to the supermarket and back, but after 15 minutes of waiting in blizzard conditions we gave up and came home.

We have been going a bit stir crazy, and I've had to be very inventive with activities so munchkin doesn't ask for her Peppa Pig DVD every 5 minutes and I don't spend the day pulling out my greying hair. We have practiced knitting:

And made some biscuits:

Can you guess which ones were Munchkin's?

And I managed to rustle up Munchkin a fleecy hat as a last minute Christmas present from Kitschy Coo's tutorial (pictures of her wearing it when she's opened it, promise), and finish her lovely Liberty dress. Although when I asked her to try it on she ran away shouting, "No no no no!", so chances of her wearing it before she grows out of it are slim. It was another Heidiandfinn pattern, and was nice and easy to sew.

My last bit of Christmas making is mr pickledweasel's hat, and despite it being a simple k3 p2 pattern I still managed to cock it up. I started it earlier this week and I'd knitted about 3" when I realised my ribbing was out of sync, and as I tried to unravel it to find out where I'd gone wrong, Munchkin started to shout at me about something and I just went a bit mental and frogged it all in a fit of temper. I have started again, and fortunately he's working earlies this week, so goes to bed at 9pm - plenty of time for secret knitting!

Finally, a lovely bit of Christmas making that was sent to munchkin as a present. A beautiful little crocheted angel tree ornament, courtesy of Great Auntie Diane. Isn't it pretty? I am in awe of her skillz. Right, back to the circular needles - k3 p2, k3 p2, k3 p2...

Can you marry a fabric?

Is it legal? Or is it a bit of a grey area, like if you want to marry your cousin? I might look into the legalities of it all, because if I can, I'd like to buy the whole roll of this brushed cotton and get it down the registry office RIGHT NOW. And then come home and just wrap it round and round and round me and sit there. Sorry, TMI :)

This was originally going to be a Christmas present for Munchkin, but I was too excited about it and wanted to see what it looked like on her. The fabric was from New Magic Fabric Shop, and I think it was £2.20 a metre. I bought a couple of metres in black as well, only strangely the black version is a sort of linen blend, rather than brushed cotton. But it's just as lush, and I think I'll make a skirt out of it for me. The applique runs either side of the fabric along the selvedge, so will be great as a border at the bottom of a wrap skirt.

I'm making a replacement Christmas present for Munchkin - a little reversible wrap dress in a grey linen chambray with a fantastic Liberty print on the inside. It's such pretty fabric I may have to become a polygamist...

Christmas Making - Round up

I've not done much Christmas Making recently, mainly because I've reached a stumbling block - what on earth do you make for men?! Women and girls are so easy to hand make for. But boys.... and there are so few patterns out there for them. A quick search of Etsy for the words 'man' and 'pattern' brought up loads of felt gingerbread man ornament patterns, but very little else.

I have seen some projects that would be suitable for little boys, but unfortunately the blokes I buy for are all over 20. Hmmmmm. So I figured the next best thing would be to buy handmade. Not as thrifty, but at least it's getting into the spirit of Christmas Making.

My purchases so far:

This lovely bird made from London clay, by D H Painter. She still has some for sale in her Folksy shop, but they're going like hot cakes, so if you want one get it now! It's for my brother, who lives in London and a) likes stylish things b) will love the idea that there was once a warm tropical sea that covered London and left behind a load of clay.

I've also bought two pairs of these:

Both my brother and mr pickledweasel love cufflinks, and were legoheads in their youth, so they're perfect. I also bought a little lego gift box to put them in. It came flat pack and I had to build it, which was fun :)

I have found one project I can do - I'm about to start knitting this beanie for mr pickledweasel, I'm just waiting for my circular needles to arrive from eBay. The wool I've bought is a really dark slate grey with little flecks of lighter grey in it, and should look great. If I don't manage to arse it all up at the end when I need to transfer to double pointed needles. And that's all I'm doing for chaps, which is a bit pants really. Anyone have any suitably macho crafty gift ideas they'd like to recommend?

Christmas Making: Tea towel apron tutorial

Here's a quick and easy tutorial for a quick and easy apron that would make a lovely gift. You just need two pretty tea towels and some twill tape or ribbon, and a spare hour (probably less if you're a better crafter than me :). I wanted to make an apron for my mother-in-law (she cut the ties off the last one she had in order to tie up a Christmas tree. Don't ask), and I'd bought some cheap oilcloth but wasn't happy with it. I was thinking about making the tea towel apron from Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing, but wanted a bib bit at the top. So I played around with my tea towels, and hey presto! As I was putting this tutorial together I thought I might be re-inventing the wheel, and a quick Google showed that Martha Stewart beat me to it, but my version has a gathered top to save on sewing time. Plus it makes it look nicer!

You will need:

Two tea towels. Mine were from Home Bargains as part of a set of three, and were £1.49.

Twill tape or ribbon. I used tape that was half an inch wide because that was what I had in my stash, but I think 1" wide would be better.

Matching thread - you might need 2 different colours if your tea towels are different colours.

A sewing machine (optional, you could do all of the sewing by hand if you don't have a machine).

A ready-made apron to help with your measurements.

Start by laying out your ready-made apron, using it as a guide, and placing your tea towels on top. You need to take into account how long you want your apron to be, and how deep you want your pockets to be. The top of your vertical tea towel will be folded over to make a casing for your neck strap, so leave enough space for this (about an inch or two).

When you're happy with your layout, pin your tea towels together, and stitch along the lines in the diagram below.

WARNING: You'll need to take into account the wonkiness of your tea towels. They're not known for their straight edges, especially cheap ones, so be careful as you're sewing the two together. I didn't take account of wonkiness, and you can see the wonky results below :) It shouldn't matter too much if you're using a thread that's well matched to the colour of your tea towel.

Next you'll sew a line down the middle of your bottom tea towel to make the pockets. Fold your apron in half to make sure you centre the line.

You're halfway there! Next you need to make the casing for your neck tie. Fold the top of your apron over, using your tape / ribbon as a guide. You need to make sure it will fit through comfortably and won't get twisted. Now sew your casing. As the edge of your tea towel is already hemmed you don't have to faff about turning it under to neaten it :)

Attach a safety pin to the end of your tape and thread it through your casing. You'll need enough tape to fit comfortably round your neck - I cut a piece about 40" to start with, and adjusted it to the right length later.

Runkle up your casing until you're happy with the gathers, and then pin your tape either side. Make sure you have an even amount of tape either side of the apron top.

Now sew the ends of your casing in place where you've pinned it.

Next you have two options. You can leave the ends of the tape free, which will mean you will have to tie the apron at the neck and the waist when you put it on. I recommend you do this if you're making the apron as a present for someone, unless you know their exact height / shoulder width / neck girth etc. :)

Or you can join the two ends together, making a loop that you pull over your head when you put the apron on. If the apron is for you then this is the best option. Put the apron on and put the tape around the back of your neck. Make sure you have enough tape to be able to pull the apron on and off over your head, and pin the tape together.

Cut the excess tape off, and join the two ends together. I folded each one over and then sewed them on top of one another, if that makes sense.

Next you need to add the ties for the back of the apron. Take your tape / ribbon and measure out enough to go all the way around your waist and tie comfortably at the front. I used about 55". Cut your tape in half, and attach each piece to the sides of your apron, where the two uppermost corners of the bottom tea towel are. Make sure you sew the tape on well.

Now neaten the ends of your tape by folding over twice and sewing. If you're in a rush (or are fed up with sewing fiddly little bits of tape) you could tie a big knot in the end instead.

Finished! Sit back and admire your handywork :)

No, I haven't suddenly got a lovely new big kitchen, the photoshoot took place at grandma pickledweasel's, with munchkin as assistant (she sat in an armchair eating raisins and shouting encouraging things).

Christmas Making - Neckwarmer no. 2

This one's for my mum, and is in a lovely soft maroon wool. She recently had a big wardrobe clearout, and the button is salvaged from a cardigan she got rid of. Bit cheeky, giving her back her own button, but it went so well I couldn't resist :)

When I was at the shop choosing the maroon wool I saw this lovely purpley-blue and couldn't resist as it was in the bargain basket. But what to knit with it? I really want some wrist warmers, but looking at all the patterns it seems I'll need to use double pointed needles, and I think they're a bit beyond my skills at the minute.

Even though in this video, the lady demonstrating at the end says, 'It's that simple!' It really doesn't look it. It looks like it could end in tears and possibly some eye gouging with the spare needle. I'll just have to put wrist warmers on my Christmas list :)

Christmas Making - Knitted neckwarmer

I love my cobbled together neckwarmer so much, I thought I'd make a couple as Christmas presents. I finished the first one yesterday, and I'm really pleased with it.


It's for my brother's girlfriend, and I think the blue will be perfect for her colouring, as she has olivey skin and lovely dark brown hair.

It's knitted all in mock fisherman's rib, from a really chunky wool. It didn't take too long to do, so I'm going to start on my next one tomorrow, which is for my mum. I had said I was going to make one for munchkin, which I did, but my measurements came out all wrong and it's far too big, so I'm going to have to unravel it and start over again.

I shouldn't really be here blogging, as I have a job application form to fill in for tomorrow, and so far I've just done the easy bits, so you ain't seen me, right? ;)

Christmas Making...

...as opposed to Christmas shopping. Sorry to mention the 'C' word in September, but as I'm aiming to make at least one present per person I kind of need to prepare in advance :) This'll be a regular(ish) slot, so as I finish making presents I'll tell you all about them.

This first one is a test - I don't think this present would remain uneaten in my fridge until December :) My brother's girlfriend is a self-confessed chocoholic, so I thought I'd try my hand at making her something sweet. This recipe was in Olive - I've tried to find it online but it's in this month's issue, and I think they don't put the current recipes on the website until next month.

It's Rose, Fig and Pistachio Chocolate bar and it's flippin lush! The rose bit comes from Rosewater, which I've never used before, and it gives it a slightly alcoholic flavour. The recipe says you can use dried rose petals as well, but I've given those a miss mainly because I couldn't find any in my local shops. I used half the quantities in the recipe, and it made more than enough to fill a gift box for someone. It's passed the mr pickledweasel taste test as well, so I'll be knocking a batch up closer to Christmas. Next on the list - a neckwarmer, all in one piece this time though, not cobbled together from squares.