DIY: Easy Name Canvases

I love it when you are just going about your day to day life, and suddenly you're struck by amazing inspiration! The other day I was in Pete's Emporium, trying to find some sequins for my Christmas Stocking, and I came across these wooden letters. Instantly I loved them and knew they would look cute as names on something. I got letters for my son's name and also for my nephew. I have a thing about named stuff! My Lucas has lots of things with his name on: a cup, a bowl, a train, a mini numberplate, an artwork and quite a few initials. I have no idea why I like having so many things with his name on but I think it's really cute! 

Granny Scrap Blanket: Part Two- Joining Up

Hopefully you will have seen the previous post here in which I showed you how I started making a granny square blanket from a whole bunch of scrap yarn I had lying around. The next thing to do once you have all your squares, is to join them up!

I had in my mind, an idea of how I might like to join them. I didn't want to just sew them directly together for two reasons 1- because they looked too bright right next to each other; and 2- I am not a great sewer, and my poor skills would have been exposed in this type of project. What I was thinking about was some kind of border that linked all the squares but also created a border around the whole thing while being flat, even and uniform. 

Granny Square Scrap Blanket: Part One- The Squares

After finishing my Granny Stripe Crochet Blanket I am totally hooked (excuse the pun) on crochet, and in particular, the granny stitch. I can't believe how easy it is (once you know how). I had heard this before but I wasn't sure until I decided to have a go at making granny squares myself. I found it a bit tricky to find instructions that were confusing until I came across this tutorial with PHOTOS (Hallelujah- you know how much I LOVE photo tutorials!) by Little Tin Bird. It was so straight forward and simple, before you know it I had knocked out four granny squares just like *that* (bearing in mind I had to read the instructions three times and redo my first square three times because I didn't follow the pattern correctly the first time!). I used a few scrap yarns I had lying around from last years hat and bootie projects (check out here, here and here). I am notoriously bad at buying one ball of yarn for a small project, and so I had quite a build up of bits and pieces. Then I remembered these stupid kits I had lying around. 

Completed Project: Granny Stripe Crochet Blanket

I am so proud of myself for persevering with this blanket and finishing it off (See previous post here about my failed attempts!) While it may not be perfect, it's still very usable and (I think) looks pretty great!

If you would like to have a go at this blanket, visit Maybe Matilda and check out the pattern here. The very BEST thing about this pattern is that there are step by step photos.  I don't know how many times I had to go back and refer to the pictures to see if I was doing it right. So helpful. I really don't think I would have attempted it without the pictures (so Rachel if you read this, here is one very grateful fan!)

Work in Progress: Granny Stripe Crochet Blanket

You might know they I have just started to teach myself crochet. I had my heart set on making a really cool crochet basket with this HUGE amount of t-shirt yarn (nearly did a bad yet apt typo then! ;) ) that I have had lying around (see here) but after literally a million tries, with several different patterns, I've put it on the back burner for now!
A blog I have started following for a while now, Maybe Matilda, posted a tutorial for this gorgeous baby blanket. And not only that, this tutorial has PHOTOS! The thing I can't quite get my head around yet is reading crochet patterns, so anything with photos or video, I am really into! 

However, even with this super easy tutorial, I am still foiled by crochet! I'm onto my third attempt now, having failed spectacularly with the first go:

I bought some smaller hooks for this attempt, but still failed...!

Although you can't really see, the edges were really going uneven and I couldn't continue with it being so crazy! 

This is where I'm currently at:

And already I'm a bit off track! I have no idea how one end it straight and the other seems to become uneven! (Actually I *think* it's because I made one mistake at the end of a row, I didn't think it would be a big deal, but turns out it is!) 

Hopefully as I go on I'll get the hang of it and end up with a nice even edge! I can't bear the thought of unpicking it a THIRD time when I like this version the best so far! 
Any tips??

Rainbow Layer Birthday Cake

I have been a little busy the last couple of weeks planning for my son's 2nd birthday party. We held it this past weekend at a local kindergarten. The theme was The Wiggles- basically bright colours, and an excuse for my little one to get dressed up. I didn't want anything to hard or fussy, so decided to go for a simple but effective layer cake in the Wiggles colours.