Hearts and Shoes

I have completed Emily's head band:

 Modelling it two ways: hair down (the pale pink doesn't go with my new hair colour, but it looks fabulous with Emily's dark hair)

Hair up and silly face! Earrings are from Miffy's shop, the make is called Ayala Bar.

I googled different cable patterns, this particular technique is called a braided cable. I knew the look I wanted to achieve so I made the pattern up using the braided cable technique. I made this one a tiny bit too big for Ems, so she's asked me to make her another one and she's chosen the wool from my stash (it's the dove grey that I used on Mini Fox). Because that wool is a bit thinner and not as stretchy I think I will adapt the pattern again, maybe even do two cable braids side-by-side. I will post my progress.

 In other news:

I benefited from Miffy's sale and generosity last night: she bought me three pairs of shoes!Here we have a little pair of mid-height espadrilles which will go with everything: jeans, cut-offs, skirts, perfect. The middle pair are Mephisto lace-ups. Mephisto is a make which focuses on comfort over style, but I think theses bad boys are pretty stylish too. Mephisto is worn by celebs such as Jennifer Aniston and Robert De Niro. The third pair are sweet little loafers, I love them because they're so Euro-Sloan.

More knitting news:

I want to find the perfect heart pattern. I think it's a really good way to use up my wool because I can make little cushions, keyrings and Christmas tree decorations with that and give them away as gifts. I prefer the one on the right because it's flatter and rounder. The one on the left is too pointy but I like the use of stockinette stitch rather than garter stitch. I have two more patterns to try out later.

Just Another Miffy Monday #2

Everyone's favourite feature is back, let's see what Miffy has been up to since the last Miffy Monday...

Miffy has been making lots of puddings lately, this one is my absolute, hands-down, without-a-doubt favourite so far: lemon tiramisu.  She topped it off with popping candy and amoretti biscuits... YUM. It was so much better than real tiramisu, the flavours were rich and refreshing. I am taking the recipe back to university with me, that's for sure.

The more I stare at that picture, the more I want to eat it... I'm craving it now. Great.

 Just to make me even hungrier, here's another photo of it, from a different angle.

Time for something less edible, but equally delicious: Miffy's completed baby blanket. She seems to constantly be making them for people. This one is knitted and so perfect for a little baby girl. It's in the softest wool too. I love the colours, they're so soft.

 Perfect tension.

 What else is Miffy up to? She's just gone mad online and bought three new crochet books...

I love the look of Geek Chic Crochet, I want that one please.

These two look so cool, there may be some good Christmas presents ideas in here that I might sneakily photocopy before I head up to uni...

What's she up to at the moment then? Look at these lovely colours, she loves Debbie Bliss, and who can blame her? 

Surprise, surprise! Miffy is making another baby blanket! This is for a little one on his or her way, I guess she knows it's going to be a girl because of the colour scheme, but hey - there's nothing wrong with boys liking pink.

That's all for this Miffy Monday, I have just been commissioned to make someone a mohair jumper, she'll buy me the wool and pay me for my time too - I love it when a plan comes together.

Favourite Things #2

In today's Favourite Things post I am going to talk about my favourite singers.

She's controversial and pretty strange, and there are times when I wonder why I like her, but I do. I've done a four year degree with this poster on my wall, and I will be putting it up straight away when I move into my house for my Masters:

She's so bizarre! I love it.

So she's back, with her latest single 'Applause' giving us a taster for her new album. I literally can't wait for it, I love all of her songs and my iTunes playcount for Lady Gaga is second only to one artist:

I've seen him live twice with one of my best friends, Sarah, and we made a banner and it was filmed on the big screen!

That's me on the left and Sarah on the right. Afterwards people kept coming up to us and saying "you're the girls with the banner! can we have a photo?" #FeltLikeCelebs

I guess you could say I have a wide range of tastes... If I had to choose one genre of music to listen to for the rest of my life it would definitely be country music. I will always love country. I love the fact it isn't old or new, the fact it's sad and happy, I love Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Shania Twain, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jake Bugg, the list goes on.

So those are my two favourite artists, who are yours? 

Finished!

I have finished both of my projects! Woo!

That's right, I finally made up Mini Fox:

Foxes everywhere... I got that notebook from Bloomsbury and the fox badge was a present from my friend (and first-year room mate) Emma; I wear it lovingly.

I've started playing around with the settings on my dad's Olympus camera, the above picture was taking using a lighter tone setting, I think it looks quite nice for this close-up.

I saw a T-shirt with these Doctor Who owls on it once, I really love it! This is the section with Tom Baker Owl on it and he's represented with his stripey (and longggg) scarf, it's almost like mine...

Ems being an amazing model: in this photo we went for the 'at one with nature' look. In this photo I used the 'pop art' setting which makes the colours really vivid. I don't know if it was necessary in the evening sunlight, but hey-ho it doesn't look too bad.

Here she is again (looking fabulous with her recently done hair) going for the 'classic knitter magazine model' pose (with added Spaniel).

I like this one, although Binkie looks like she's ready to attack the scarf (which she did later, but don't worry we saved it).

And finally, Emma looking her best, going for the 'scarf on face' look. Brilliant.

Next project?? Any ideas??

I was really inspired by a photo from my first knitspiration post (#appropriate, it is called knitspiration after all). 

This photo, to be precise. I downloaded some simple instructions for cable knitting last night, but it was not the right type of cable for this headband. I dug out an old Rowan pattern book that I had with a cable knit scarf in it, the scarf had two types of cable in and one of them was pretty close to this style, so I'm going to trial and error until I come up with the right look. 

If you have any ideas for some projects that I could make then please comment below!

Knitspiration #2

Last night there was the most beautiful sunset, I had to take a picture.

Thanks to my dad's Olympus camera this photo turned out pretty well.

This is why I want to learn to crochet - look at these cute crochet friendship bracelets! I will deffo be making some for my girlfriends when I learn how.

I would wear this with pride if I made it.

Another skill that I am lacking in: embroidery, I would customize all my clothes if I could do this properly.

This edging technique is inspired, I am going to try it out on the end of my scarf (which I'm a few rows off finishing...)

I love this. It's so simple and chic. 

Busy Weekend

The weekend always seems to literally whizz by, I can't believe it's Monday again already.

This weekend I went to the Jersey Live festival with my best friend and it was brilliant!

We were there just to see Bastille really, but the whole festival was fantastic. Bastille were absolutely amazing.

On the main stage before Bastille were several other bands including Deep Valley, a band that Hannah and I had not heard of before but we fell in love with them. They really have real girl power.

Here's my festival kit: I went in wearing my flower-festival headband, my money belt, and my little fake tattoos. I left with my Jersey Live wrist band, a friendship bracelet from Hannah (I got her one too) and my new DOPE cap, I felt so G.

My fake tattoos today, looking a little bit tatty...

My lovely friendship bracelet from my best friend :)

My favourite thing ever: my money belt, I safely stored my phone, ID, money and ticket in there, and didn't have to worry about carrying a bag.

The next 'Just Another Miffy Monday' will be next Monday (it's not a weekly feature). Back to knitting tomorrow!

A Very Special Day!

This is Miffy's shop, Marc2 Exclusive Shoes. It is a successful business that sells footwear for men and women.

Friday was a very special day because...

... She opened a second shop called Amélie!

There's Ems looking excited about the new shop.

She sells a wide range of gifts and accessories, from jewellery to soap, handbags to scarves, rain macs, wellies, throws, vintage things and much more. 

Miffy ordered a custom-made stamp off Not On The High Street to say 'something pretty from Amélie x' and it's on the labels and bags. She also bought a load of scrabble racks and tiles off eBay to enhance her displays.

I think Amélie is going to be a great success!