Anyone Got A Spare Pencil?

The knitting and stashbusting as been continuing at my house. Straight after I finished the midnight baby blanket I cast on this awesome scarf.

Pattern: Pencil Scarf by Zakka Life

Yarn: Marvel Basics 8ply (yellow), Carnival Soft 8ply (grey), Beige & Black unknown brands 8ply.

Needles: 5mm

Date Started: 18th July 2011

Date Ended: 30th July 2011

I used 2 balls of yellow yarn that were sitting in my stash and a little bit of each of the other colours from my stash too. So I have now used up 6 balls from the stash. I still have a few more projects up my sleeve to get this stash busting happening.

I made a few slight modifications to this pattern. Here is what I did....

CO 2
Inc 1 stitch at the beginning of each row until 7 stitches.
Knit 1 row.

Change to beige
Knit as instructed in pattern. After increasing to 28 stitches knit 1 row before swapping to yellow.

Knit yellow as per pattern

Knit grey as per pattern.

Add 1 extra decrease row into pink before binding off.

I think this scarf would make the perfect gift for a teacher, journalist or writer. It is so cute and quirky. I love it!

No. 45 Make A Fondant Decorated Cake

Yesterday I decorated my first full cake with fondant! It was my first time covering a cake in fondant and was nowhere near as hard as I was expecting it to be. I think now that I have gotten over my initial fear of covering a cake in fondant there will be more fondant decorated cakes in my future. It's not the most perfect cake but I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

There are so many possibilities with fondant and I can't wait! I really want to make a soccer ball cake for Corey for his birthday in November. That should be fun!

This cake was made for my friend Maria who writes over at Movie Mazzupial. It was her 3rd bloggy birthday and she had just arrived home from Comic Con in the US so we had a little brunch date and she caught me up on all her stories.

And check out this awesome present she brought home for Corey and I. It is from San Diego from their Dias De Los Muertos celebrations. I love it! She also bought back some amazing painted skulls that are in her garden. You put tea light candles under them and their eyes glow. So cool! So a big happy bloggy birthday to Maria!!! Duck on over and check out her blog for all things movies.

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I tried to get this post up yesterday but I started a new job this week and I have gone from part time back to full time work. It has been so much fun and I feel so much better knowing I have a full time job. Because of Corey's work (carpenter) not being 100% reliable at all times it is nice to know I can cover our bills with my wage if he has to take time off. Anyway, I digress!

This is just a quick not to let you all know our engagement photos were featured on Polka Dot Bride yesterday. I submitted them to the blog and was asked to write a post to go along with them. I wrote the story of how we met so if you would like to have a read feel free to pop on over. You will find our post here.

No. 99 - Try Embroidery

I have had this item crossed off my 101 in 1001 list for a while now but have not posted about it. That is because I have been waiting for little Miss Marlee's 1st birthday so I can give her the present I made before I posted about it.

I have to say I am pretty happy with how this worked out! I was not sure what to get Marlee for her first birthday. I wanted to try and steer away from clothes and toys since that is what everyone seems to get kids and I thought something for her room would be nice. Marlee is the only girl in her family with 4 brothers so I thought it would be nice to make her room super girly for her.

My embroidery still leaves a lot to be desired and there are a lot more stitches that I want to learn but I am glad I have jumped in and given it a go. Now that I have done it once I think it will be more likely I will do it again.

This was so much easier than I was expecting it to be and is the perfect gift for new babies. I think I will definately be making a few more of these in the future! I also think I will definitely be doing more embroidery. I have a little embroidery kit that I want to make and use as a panel for a pram quilt so that is next on the list.

Dirty Thirty Weekend

This weekend we have two 30th birthdays to attend. Last night was Corey's brother in laws birthday and we had a small gathering and a pizza party at their house. I was asked to bake a cake shaped like the number 30. My only provision was that it had to be chocolate.

I made a chocolate mudcake (recipe from Crabapple Bakery) and covered it with a basic buttercream. I was going to make chocolate buttercream but I ran out of cocoa so vanilla had to do. Then I covered in smarties! Now just a word of warning if anyone thinks of doing this I used 4 family sized bags of smarties. That's a lot of smarties to separate into colours then place one by one on a cake. It took forever!!!!

But the birthday boy was very happy with it when we arrived so that made all the time and effort well worth it. Happy Birthday Benny Boy!!!

The End of an Era

Last night we went and saw the last Harry Potter movie and it was awesome! I really enjoyed it although there were some little points I would pick on as not being explained properly but generally I thought it was great. It feels like the end of an era for me. I started reading Harry Potter in grade 8 and have loved it ever since. I have read all the books a few times and am currently rereading them again. So as a little homage to Harry Potter I decided to find all my favorite Harry Potter projects from around the net to share here....

Butterbeer recipe by Heather Baily.

Harry Potter cupcakes by Susie 99

Gryffindor House Sweater by Xarastar

Awesome Gryffindor shirt

Cutest baby hogwarts uniform ever!!! By Rae Gun Ramblings.

Potter inspired tattoo via WeHeartIt

via WeHeartIt

And how could I not share this very unsettling photo. Voldemort smiling, Bellatix hugging Dumbledore. It's just so awkward!!!

Midnight Baby Blanket

In my post about my stash I mentioned I was working on a project that would use up some of my stash. Well this is that project. I knitted it as a present for Corey's sister who is due to have a baby in September.

Pattern: Sunny Baby Blanket by Lucy Sinkler

Yarn: Holiday 8 ply in Navy Blue

Needles: 5mm circulars (for the length)

Date Started: 2nd July 2011

Date Ended: 18th July 2011

This project was super easy to knit. I knit a bit each night while watching tv and it took just over 2 weeks. It would be a great project for a beginner because it is just knit and purl stitches but the alternating keeps it interesting.

I used up 3 x 100g balls of this yarn from my stash. I still have 4 more balls of this yarn but I do have one more project that I want to make with this yarn. Although it will probably not even use a ball. I have also started one more knitting project last night which should be a super fast knit and will also use up a couple of balls of yarn. I want to try and knit at least a quarter of my stash before I buy any new yarn. But who knows if that will happen. Fingers crossed!!!

Daily Style - Fulfilling A Childhood Dream

As a child I wished to be a ballerina as every little girl does at some point. The dream was short lived. Then when I was in high school I watched Centre Stage and again dreamed of being a ballerina even though I knew it would never happen. So when I saw this skirt on sale the other day for just $20 I knew I had to buy it and make all my childhood dreams come true.

Skirt: Alley

Top: Dotti

Shoes: Target

Brooch: Eumundi Markets

Hair Bow: Diva

Now I can be a ballerina whenever I get the urge. God I love playing dress ups! I am a sucker for a themed outfit. I figure I may as well wear as many as I can before I have kids and they become old enough to be embarrassed by their crazy mother. This outfit also gave me an oppurtunity to try out a hair tutorial I saw on A Cup of Jo. It is one of those super easy hairstyles that makes you wonder why you never thought of it yourself. My hair is still a bit too short for it to look good but its good enough.

Featured!!!

So excited!!! My 50s headband tutorial was feature on One Pretty Thing today in their Daily DIY post. Hello to everyone who makes their way over here via OPT. I hope you enjoy the tutorial.

Yarn Mountain

Last night I thought it would be a good idea to pull out my yarn stash so I could work out exactly what yarns I had and what I could use them for. I have so many bits and pieces for yarn leftover from projects that need little projects to use them up but I always forget what I have so I sat down a wrote a list.

Here is a quick picture I took this morning. Most of the yarn is buried under the other yarns so here is a quick rundown of what I have:

Super Bulky Yarns:

• 1 x Moda Vera Shiver - grey
• 4 1 x Moda Vera Shiver - purple
• 1/2 x Moda Vera Shiver - cream

Bulky Yarns:

• 1 x Patons Soft Haze - pink
• 1x Patons Soft Haze - light grey
• 1 x Cleckheaton Country Wide - mustard (used here)
• 1/2 x Moda Vera Mousse - cream
• 1/2 x Moda Vera Mousse - grey

8ply Yarns:

• 7 4 3 x Holiday 8 ply - navy blue (3 used here, 1 used here)
• 2 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - grey
• 1 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - blue grey
• 1 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - light pink used here
• 1 x Marvel Wool 8 ply - russet
• 1/2 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - cream
• 2 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - yellow Used here
• 2 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - orange
• 2 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - dark pink used here
• 1 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - light blue
• 1 x mystery 8 ply - green
• 1 x mystery 8 ply - black
• 1 x mystery 8 ply - brown used here
• 1 x mystery 8 ply - cream
• 1 x mystery 8 ply - yellow
• 1.5 1 x Carnival Soft 8 8ly - coral (used here)
• 1 x Carnival Soft 8 ply - grey

5ply Yarns:

• 1.5 x Spotlight Basics Merino Wool - red

4ply Yarns:

• 2 x Knit n Save 4 ply - light blue
• 1 x Knit n Save 4 ply - white
• 1 x Knit n Save 4 ply - yellow
• 1 x Bella Baby 4 ply - cream

Random Yarn:

• 1 x metallic gold yarn

Now that is a lot of yarn! So what I need now are some projects to use up the yarn. I am working on a project at the moment with the Holiday 8 ply but it is probably only going to use up 2 more balls which still leaves me with 3. I think it's time to do some searching through Ravelry! If you have any ideas for how I can use up this stash yarn please feel free to share!!!

50s Head Scarf Tutorial

Today I whipped up a little project that I have been wanting to do for quite some time and thought why not put a little tutorial together for you guys at the same time. This project is super quick and a great way to use up fabric scraps. This took me half an hour to make even with stopping to take photos. I hope you enjoy it!

Now the first thing you will need to do is fold your headscarf. I am sure everyone knows how to do this but just in case I put together a quick photo tutorial to help you out.

And from here it is really easy. Just follow these simple steps....

And that is just how simple it is to have a new hair accessory in no time at all. If you use this tutorial to make a head scarf let me know in the comments so I can check it out. Enjoy!