No, I didn't make this. I have been doing crafty things this week but all of them have been middles of projects and just don't make good pictures (three-quarters of a bobbin of yarn looking very similar to half). This guy was a gift from one of my sisters a few years ago. He usually sits on top of my desk. His head bobs around when you move him and since my desk is a little on the shaky side he does it a lot - especially when I'm typing (like this).

We're just heading out for a walk so maybe I'll take the camera and treat you to some spring pictures when we get back. I saw a bug yesterday!

Just add a bit of thread and some fabric (and a little direction from a sewing book) and you can turn those into these.


Six nifty little bean bags perfect for a magician learning to juggle.

These were fun to make up. They are quite small so they go quickly and the construction is so weird that you just sort of have to trust that it will turn out. I found the instructions in The Classic Quilting of Sashiko. The shapes are a kind of twisted cube made up of four little rectangles. The directions say to sew with a machine but I thought that would be too fiddly and did them by hand; the three dimensional shape is made by sewing straight lines to square corners. I was really happy to be using the black fabric; I've had it for ages but never quite found the right project for it. What could be better than something for a magician.

Happy birthday Dad.

Pattern: Zara from The Bigger Picture by Rowan
Yarn: Rowan Big Wool
Size: 34 inch
Yardage: 5 skeins
Needles: 8 mm and 12 mm wooden straights

This yarn is so cozy. The big needles can be a bit cumbersome but the yarn is so fat and squashy it totally makes up for it. This pattern was easy to follow and quick to do. The seaming up takes a bit of time but I think it gives the sweater some much needed stability; the thick, bulky yarn produces a rather heavy sweater that I think would quickly stretch out of shape if done in the round.

My sweater is also very cozy. Even with my neck and shoulders completely bare I feel nice and warm. Like most off-the-shoulder sweaters this one wants to ride-up but it isn't too bad and I expect it will relax a bit after a few more wears. Unfortunately the collar (my favourite feature of the sweater) means that it doesn't fit under a coat very well so I probably wont be wearing it out until it is warm enough to get away with not wearing my coat.