Halloween "Boo" Pumpkin

Its Halloween week!! Woop! I love Halloween. The dressing up, the fun and games, the pumpkins! Every year I make a simple pumpkin. But this year I made it a little trickier for myself.
I started off by drawing out my design and the cutting it out, making sure that it would work on paper first.

I then pinned the drawing to the pumpkin and drew around the template onto the pumpkin.

Then using only a knife (be very careful, I nearly took my finger off) I took the top off the pumpkin to make a lid and scooped out all the insides. I then carved out the gaps of the face.

Then when its done you pop in a couple of tea lights, light them (be careful again!) and you get your spooky lantern.

Boo!! Happy Halloween x

Snapshot of my week... Rome

These are some of the many places I saw and visited around Rome during my trip there this week. It is the most amazing and beautiful place. Every time you turn a corner there is something spectacular in front of you. I definitely say that everyone should experience it themselves at some point. Fabulous! x

Craft-Off!

After seeing me make my embroidery hoop, my good friend Maisie down at Life of a Rockabilly asked me to be part of a craft-off. We decided that I would make an embroidery hoop for her and she would make me some Halloween bunting :) How can I say no to that? Halloween is Maisie's favourite time of year, it would be all year if she had her way! Another love of Maisie's is Tattoo's. She wants to be a tattoo artist one day and so I pinched one of her designs and crafted it up a little.

I figured when shes got her tattoo parlour she will probably spruce it up with some embroidery, and why wait?! I'm pretty proud of it :)

Halloween Bunting

How awesome is this, I love the skull with the eye coming out. Fabulous! I demand you too try a craft-off. Swapping craft skills should be something that we all do!

Rome

Today I am super excited!! I am currently waiting to board a plane to Rome, Italy. I love Italy. I last went to Lake Garda a few years ago which was stunning. This time I am prepared for a lot of sightseeing and photo taking. I can't wait. Look how beautiful it is.

I will be sure to share my experiences when I return. :)

Moss Stitch

Those who know me, know I love a moss stitch. It is just a bit more exciting than the basic knit 1 row, purl 1 row. It takes a little more concentration for me which is good to keep me quiet.

Moss Stitch by Twohoots

Moss stitch is worked in multiples of two stitches.

Rows 1 and 3: K1, * p1, k1; rep from * to end of row.

Rows 2 and 4: P1,* k1, p1; rep from * to end of row.

Repeat until the required length.

 

:)

x

Granite Stitch

Today I am carrying on with my new stitch each day project and I have gone for a very simple but textured crochet tutorial. It's a stitch that I have been using to make a lovely snood. It's easy and doesn't take a lot of concentration which is always good for when your multi-tasking.

Two hoots Granite Stitch Snood

To start this, chain the stitches for the base chain in multiples of 2. 
Row 1: 3ch, skip 3ch sts, work 1 sc in next ch st, * 1dc in next ch st, 1sc in next ch st *. Repeat from * to * across the row. End by working 1 sc in last ch of st of row.
Row 2: 3 ch, skip 1 st, *work 1 sc over next dc, 1 dc over next sc *. Repeat from * to * across the row. End by working 1 sc in 3rd ch st at beg of previous row.
Following rows: Repeat row 2.

Hope this gives you inspiration, it's a really lovely stitch! x

Cable Owl

Being wool week I have taken on some knitting challenges. I am not sure why, but I only really knit in the winter months. Maybe it's a being cosy thing. But this week I want to try out as many new stitches as I can, and if I can I will share as many of these with you guys.

The first thing I am going to share with you is a cable stitched owl. I love owls! I just can't get enough, and luckily they are everywhere at the moment. If I could have my very own messenger owl, I would love it to little pieces. But a cable owl is as close as I am going to get I think.

Cable Hand Warmers by Twohoots

These hand warmers are something that I made last year. It was the first cable that I had incorporated into a design. Basic, but I love my owl hand warmers. The cable stitch that I used is called a link cable. The pattern is just for the cable without any border, but its simple to put one in, just add a couple of stitches and purl either end of a knit row and there is your border!

Pattern: worked over 12 stitches

Rows 1, 3 and 5 K12

Rows 2,4 and 6 P12

Row 7 C6B, C6F

Row 8 as Row 2

Explanation: C6B stands for Cable 6 stitches Back -
1. Work to the start of the cable position, slip the next 3 stitches onto the cable needle and hold them at the back of the work, Knit the next 3 stitches.
2. Knit the 3 stitches from off the cable needle. Making sure you knit them in the same order that they went onto the cable needle in the first place.
Explanation: C6F stands for Cable 6 stitches Forward -
1. Work to the start of this cable position, slip the next 3 stitches onto the cable needle and hold them at the front of the work, Knit the next 3 stitches.
2. Knit the 3 stitches from off the cable needle. Making sure you knit them in the same order that they went onto the cable needle in the first place.

For the owl I repeated this pattern 2 and a half times. Then I stitched some tiny beads for eyes.
Beautiful.
x

Wool Week

The Campaign for Wool is a cross-industry initiative from HRH the Prince of Wales. He wants to make Wool a great part of our lives, not just to help our wardrobes, but also to help the farming industry. Personally I think it is great! I love wool. It comes in all sizes, colours, textures and there is just so much that can be made from it. So what better way to celebrate wool week than to buy an amazing piece of knitwear. So here are some knit crushes that I have my eye on...

H&M - Angora Fluffy Jumper / Cable Knit Jumper

H&M - Embroidery Jumper / Bat Jumper

Topshop - Sheepish Jumper / Fluffy Jumper

River Island - Pointelle Jumper / Heart Knit Jumper

Every single one of these jumpers I love, each has its on uniqueness and all should hold a place in my wardrobe. Better start saving. x

Focaccia

On Friday night we had a couple of friends round for dinner. We decided to go Italian for the menu, and what's more Italian than scrummy bread! For the starter, we did a bit of Antipasti, a spread of meats and breads, olives etc. I decided to make my own Focaccia.

I have been making bread a lot recently and I have really enjoyed it. So I pulled out my Baking made easy book by Lorraine Pascale. I have also found the recipe here.

The bread went down a treat but we made so much more than we needed. So what is a girl to do other that waste it? Well today I knocked up a scrummy (even if I say so myself) sandwich! I took two pork chops, then in the pestle and mortar I ground up some rock salt and sage. Then on a board I coated both sides of the chops with olive oil, rubbing it into all the cracks. I then sprinkled the salt/sage mix and rubbed it all over the chops, before popping them into a really hot frying pan until crispy.

The Focaccia I warmed up a little in the oven to make it softer and cut in half through the centre. I spread over some apple sauce and then popped on some left over stuffing from last nights dinner.

When the meat was cooked I sliced it up and added it to the sandwich. I was given a large compliment by my man so it must have been good. Very stuffed now though. Time for an afternoon nap I think!

A little Welcome!

Hey,
I decided to put a little Hello by my front door for all the people who come to visit us! I am hoping to build up a little collection of fabric happiness :) It was really simple, I popped down to my local haberdashery and purchased an embroidery hoop. I used a left over cut off of the fabric from my cushion and popped it into the hoop. I then took some embroidery threads and with just basic stitches I embroidered the word hello into my fabric. To embellish it I decided to pop some vintage buttons on there. There you go, just tuck in the back edges of the fabric and your done. Beautiful fabric to brighten someone's day :)

 

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

I am sitting here with a knitting project on the go and listening to some Beatles songs. Such a nice day I thought I would share it :)

Radiohead

Well, my excitement has been building for months and months, and then the time for me to see Radiohead live in Manchester was taken away from me by illness! :( But my lovely man and writer of blog Something for the CV went and had an amazing time (that makes it worse really). Give it a read, it sounds like it was an amazing gig!

Bread

 

 

 

Making bread is something that I love to do. The smell of freshly baked bread is one of my favourite smells. I decided to test out the theory that you can get bread to prove in the bottom of a fridge overnight, not just in a warm place. It works, it's not a myth! I found this recipe and purchased my ingredients, getting a huge bag of flour so I can make lots more bread. The only change I made was that I mixed it and left the mix to rise overnight in the bottom of the fridge, it tripled in size, amazing!! I shall be making more x

Street Spirit (Fade Out)

My man and I are very excited! This Saturday night we are going on a journey up to Manchester to see Radiohead live!! We have seen them twice before, and they are amazing!! Super exciting :)  I thought I would share with you one of my favourite songs by them, and will hopefully have some pictures to share over the weekend!

Vintage Button Cushion

With Winter on its way I am trying to make my home as cosy as possible. I am looking forward to coming home in the cold to a warm and snuggly sofa, with a big bowl of homemade soup, a lovely warm blanket and some snug cushions. So, I bought a few cushion fillers and needed to sew up some cushion covers. I liked the chair cushions that I made before for the dining room table, but this time I wanted to use buttons to do up the cover.

I measured out a long piece of fabric and, folding it inside out, I pinned it together with the opening edges overlapping on the front of the cover, not the edge. I sewed it all together using my sewing machine, then hand sewed on some vintage buttons and made some hidden loops in which to do up the cover. I love my collection of buttons. I have a massive Kilner jar full of buttons, both vintage and new, and I like to use them as embellishments as much as I can. I recommend starting a tin, jar or box yourself, they can be used for so many things :)