Blocking my shawl/wrap

I have never blocked anything before...... but I have knitted a lovely shawl wrap with a feather and fan pattern and it has to be done!
I didn't know how to do it, so I did a bit of research and found out a bit about it.

My first problem was where I was going to pin it out????? I had no idea, I could pin it out on the mattress, but then where would I sleep if it wasn't dry?????
I finally found out a mat that was bought for camping, the foam sheet that you put under your sleeping bag, or that can be used as a yoga mat, you know the sort.

Well it's perfect and just the right length and width, I just hope I've done it right.
Here is a little peek to so you can see what it looks like.

Drawstring Pouch for your sunglasses

This is a brand new item for me, I just sat down with my knitting needles and some yarn and started to knit, I wanted something not too big that wouldn't take me too long to make from start to finish, and would be useful during the summer months, and this is what I came up with.

Simple, practical and a must have accessory for the summer, now it's getting to that time of year when the temperature is beginning to rise and the sun is out, we all need our sunglasses, and we also need something to put them in.


This handy little sunglasses case is knitted in acrylic yarn so it can be thrown in the washing machine at 40 degrees, so it's easy to keep looking new.
A lovely pale baby blue yarn knitted in moss stitch, (or seed stitch) with a drawstring cord and a wooden bead for closing it up.
see more details here

New Pictures

I have started to take a different approach when taking pictures, I'm trying to achieve a more natural look, and I think that I have vastly improved from when I first started. I love using picasa3 it's great for cropping and editing, and I'm pretty pleased with the outcome, I even made my Etsy shop banner using it, it was so easy.

Anyway now for a look at the pictures.This first one I love, it's been sitting in my Etsy shop for well over 6 months, so we'll see if the image change makes a difference, you can take a look at it here
This one has had the most interest you can see the full description for it here

I also listed a new pair of Long Cable knit wrist/arm warmers - fingerless gloves.
In varying shades of pink, in a self striping yarn, making them unique, if you look at the pictures hereyou will see that although they look alike, they are quite different in a subtle way.



So do you think I have made improvements to the way I take pictures? I would love some feedback as to what you think.

Baby Sloppy Joe Sweater

I thought I would show you what else I've been making besides flowers!

I fell in love with this sweater as soon as I saw it, it reminds me of the most expensive sweater that I knitted for my little boy last year, and I was thinking of doing a moss stitch version of it too.

I love this little sweater, it's so simple to make and looks so cute, it's a garter stitch sweater for a baby which is a little oversized, that's why I've called it a Sloppy Joe Sweater.

It has a roll neck large enough to fit over a baby's head easily and roll up sleeves, making it a lose fitting comfortable sweater, just like a Sloppy Joe.

This is not the only one I've made, but it's the only one that is complete and sewn up! One is finished but needs sewing up, and I have another one on the needles.

Thinking about spring

It's come to that time when I must start thinking about creating things for Spring. I am working on some new items, and need ideas for more, the wrist warmer sales are slowing down now and I need something to replace them with for Spring.

I have been doing a little crochet and made this cute little newsboy cap, I'm really pleased with it for my first effort. Just need a better model, I have to sack that lamp!


I need to buy some cotton yarn to make some more hats for spring and summer, which means another trip to buy yarn, which luckily is my favorite thing to do.
I am also thinking about making some reusable cotton make up remover cloths, and some dish cloths, not sure if they are in demand enough though, I need to do some more research on that one.
I may even knit some more bags, but I'm trying to avoid that until I've sold the ones in my etsy shop

Etsy site is down for a while:(

I'm a little fraustrated as Etsy is down, and I wanted to list a few more things, oh well.
I have been doing pretty well selling lot's of wrist warmers like these.Grey and cream seem to be selling the best.
You can take a look at my shop to see more http://bijouxboutique.etsy.com

I only wish I could knit them faster, they take around 6 hours to knit a pair, and I have been getting sore, stiff fingers that feel like a bunch of banana's!

I had to buy some arnica cream and that seems to be doing the trick, thanks goodness.
I don't know what I would do if I couldn't knit, although I did have to take one day off to rest them, which I spent doing nothing at all, as what else is there?

I also have an order for 2 pairs of socks, I'm just waiting for the yarn to arrive so I can start them, maybe it will come today, and I can take it with me to the knitting group this afternoon.

craft fair

Well after having thrown my dummy out of the pram, I am now doing a craft fair this Saturday at La Maison Bleu!
It's a long story but now I have to knit my fingers to the bone and make some more wrist warmers, they are quite long with a cable up the front, and come up to just below the elbow and look lovely, I would put some pics on, only my camera died and we are in the process of finding another one.
I have 4 pairs completed and would like to do at least another 2 pairs. (I had already taken 2 pairs to another shop just yesterday).
I will also be taking some scarves, hats, angel bookmarks, Christmas decorations, and of cours Christmas cards, and anything else I can fit on a 1 meter square table! Not much room but I will artfully arrange it all and hopefully it won't look too squashed.

I am also doing some shorter fingerless gloves so hopefully they will be quicker to make, and I'm hoping I can get a couple of pairs of them done too, well I can always take them with me and knit whilst I'm there, it makes for interesting conversations and people seem more interested if you are doing something instead of just sitting there looking hopeful!

The window display is doing well, and already we have had to send more packs of Christmas cards round to Jim and Jill at Vettriano's and there has been a lot of interest in the other things displayed there.

run up to Christmas

I have been so busy with the run up to Christmas, we have so many events on I can't keep up.
I have been knitting wrist warmers, hats and scarves and I still have loads to do.

We have an exhibition for the whole of December at the Chambre des Metiers in Limoges, a shop window display, which we did at the beginning of November and will be running until January, in Bellac, as well as all the craft fairs and Christmas markets we are doing.
I am just about knitted out, well..... not quite, I do love knitting.
I am no longer doing key rings because I made so many I am sick of the sight of them, so hopefully they will all sell.

I just have one major problem, my camera died and I need to invest in a new one that will take the picture without me having to be a photographer, I am a bit of an ameture where pictures are concerned, basically I'm rubbish at taking photo's!!!!!!!!
I have loads of stock to list in my etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5536123 and I can't because I don't have any pictures, so I'm a little fraustrated to say the least.

I really must learn how to add links underneath little words, I have it in an email somewhere which someone kindly sent me, but it's lost and I can't find it. Oh well.

great find

Thanks to my friend Penny I found this great site http://www.yarndex.com/
if you need to find a certain yarn it's fantastic!
I spent ages on the site it's amazing, it lists all the yarns by brand, name, weight, fiber, texture and more. I only wish I had found it years ago.

Still working on it

I have managed to find out how to create a pdf, adobe reader has a wonderful program that turns files into pdf automatically, so I am working on 5 patterns for now to see how they look, and I will try and put some on here as soon as I can.

Other than that we have a delivery of 1,500 pairs of shoes coming this afternoon, which we have to carry up 3 flights of stairs, so I won't be doing anything else today. This is another new venture.

I am also sock mad, I started knitting socks less than a year ago and I love making them, everybody will be getting a pair for Christmas!
I am in the process of designing a pair, but it's still work in progress, so watch this space for the finished article.

Time for a change

OK I have been away forever and it's now time to revamp my blog, I have really neglected it.

I fully intend to add some of my knitting patterns at some point so it will be more of a knitting blog than anything else, I will throw in a little jewelry from time to time, trouble is my little one won't let me make much at the moment, but he will let me knit Yay!

This is one of the sweaters that I have managed to knit for my son, (not one of mine), this pattern is available on Ravelry for free, it's the child's placket-neck pullover and here is the link
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/childs-placket-neck-pullover

If you haven't joined Ravelry yet then I strongly suggest that you do, it's full of great resources and helpful advice, as well as hundreds of patterns, it only takes a few days to get your invitation so go to the site and register http://www.ravelry.com/

I have been working on some new designs and I thought it was time to start sharing some of them, so watch this space for some of my patterns.

I would also like to learn how to make pdf's and how to link paypal to my blog, so if anyone can help me with resources that would be a great help to me.

Knitted Toys and missing camera!

I have decided to have a go at some knitted toys, I have never really liked doing them in the past as they have so many little pieces, and then the dreaded sewing up bit, (which I really hate), but I wanted to try out some new things for selling on our market stall, aimed at kids with pocket money to spend, especially with the summer holidays coming up and tourists in their hundreds coming for a holiday in sunny France.

So I did a practice bunny for my 18 month old son and I really like the way it turned out, it's not perfect, and there's room for improvement, and I may have to make some alterations to the pattern, but it's really cute. I have just started on a teddy which will be bright orange.

I would post some pictures of them but the camera seems to have gone missing! It's not in any of the usual places and I don't know where else to look. Hmmm maybe my hubby took it with him to his market today, I hope so or else we have a camera thief in the house, maybe it was that stray cat we fed for a few days!

knitting socks

I have been really busy knitting, I have become fascinated with making socks! So in between knitting all my bags I now have to make time to knit socks as well.
I made a pair for my daughter a couple of months ago, and have been meaning to make myself a pair the same. Well they are almost done, and now I have ordered some sock yarn with a new pattern, the wool is an opal sock yarn called crazy, which will look a little bit more interesting than the ones here, it makes a pattern all by itself and all I have to do is knit, how cool is that!. I am really enjoying it, it makes a nice change from bags.

I also managed to spend 150€ on wool for my bags this week, I bought a kilo of yarn and some!!!!! So I now have lots of colours to play around with, I just need to create a new pattern for a small bag and I'm away.

Other things going on the last couple of weeks, well yes quite a few, one of which is that I have been painting for a friend of mine, she has just had work completed on the upstairs of her house and I have been painting it for her, I have really enjoyed doing it, one room is completed and the other is still work in progress, she is going to the UK for 10 days, so I won't be doing any more until she comes back.
This is my youngest son Sébastien, and he's been poorly again, this is the 3rd time in 6 weeks that his glands have swollen up, he has an ear infection and a sore throat poor little fellow.

Free Shipping

Ok so I decided to jump on the self promotional band wagon and offer Free Shipping until the end of March......That's a $5 saving on most items in my store
So why not take a look and see if anything grabs your attention while the offer is on.

OK so that's the sale pitch over, I don't know if it will increase my sales or not, but it's worth a shot, it's been pretty slow since I opened my store in January and I'm hoping that the free shipping will pay off.

I am also knitting bags like crazy for spring and summer. Here in France we have the spring fairs starting at the end of March and I want to get as much stock together as I can manage, so I have 2 bags ready to sew up, 4 need the handles knitting, and another one on the go, so I have been really busy. My hands are paying for it though, boy do they ache!

Bag for my niece

Well I finally got some pictures done and after 3 attempts of downloading them into different folders, I actually found them! Woohoo!
I made this bag for my great niece who will be 6 next week, so I must hurry and get it in the mail so it arrives in time.
I had a little woven straw bag with flowers on it when I was little, so this bag was designed with that in mind.

I use 2 strands of yarn throughout to give the bag some strength, it then doesn't need lining as it is quite a tight weave, the handles are made by knitting i-cord which is a bit fiddly but well worth the effort, in fact the i-cord takes almost as long to knit as the bag!
The bag is knitted in the round so there are no seams to sew up, which is a bonus for me as it's my least favorite part of knitting. The top edge is made using a picot row and then folded over to get the nice effect around the rim, otherwise it looks a bit not finised off.
I added flowers to this one as it's for a little girl, but would still be suitable for an adult who likes fun accessories, the flowers are really easy and take about 3 minutes to make and I think they give it a finished off look.

The purple bag without the flowers, will be added to my store today, I also have done a larger version which is a shoulder bag with longer handles and is more practical for an everyday bag.

I really love making these bags as they are so easy to make, they just take a little time, but I spend most of my evenings knitting, and most of my mornings sewing them up and making the i-cord.

The small bags take around 4 hours to knit, and the larger bags take around 6 hours, so it's time well spent while I'm watching something on the tv.

Just giving my blog some love

I'm not really very good at keeping my blog up to date, I never seem to get the time, so I am going to try and post something everyday, even if it's just my ramblings, which I do quite often anyway, and sometimes get very carried away!

I have been really busy knitting, I have completed 4 bags all except the handles which I make in i-cord, which is pretty slow going as they need to be around 6 feet long.
One of the bags is for Jessica, my great neice, who will be 6 in a couple of weeks, so I really need to get it finished. I am also making some knitted flowers to sew on to the front of it, it looks really pretty so far so I hope she likes it.

I have also had my order of rings for making chainmaille jewelry, I have made a sterling silver Trizantine weave bracelet for my friends son, luckily he's only got a little wrist as it took 138 rings to make it to 6", but it looks wonderful, it's the first time I have done this weave, I found it a little tricky to start with and had to undo and redo it twice before I finally got it right.
I have also just started to do a stainless steel byzantine 3 weave for my husband, it's tough going and makes my hands ache, so I do a little at a time, can't afford to damage my hands as then I won't be able to do any knitting!

new bags

Well I have been really busy knitting new bags, I have done 3 in the last 3 days, so I'm really pleased, although I have yet to sew them up!!!!
I love the knitting part but just hate the sewing up, so that's my job for today.
I really love doing these bags they are so quick to knit, I use 3 strands of yarn for thickness and strength, and the colors can be all the same or all different, giving them each a unique look.
I have taken a couple of pictures of work in progress and the finished bags will be put in my etsy store later today or tomorrow.I also received my copper toggles for the chainmaille bracelets that I made, I ordered them from hodgepodgerie she made them herself and they are lovely, I'm really pleased with them so thanks Stacy.
This bracelet will also be listed in my store.