Making - An Update

I have been making, and no, I haven't been blogging, not here anyway! I've had many distractions this last few months, one major one being the business my husband and I are setting up called Cocooned.

After caring for our daughter in hospital, having had two open heart surgeries and numerous other surgeries, it became apparent that dressing your child under these circumstances is extremely difficult, and so, we designed clothing that will help families in this situation.

We're still working on the design and should be moving into manufacture soon (fingers crossed).

So as well as making things, designing clothing and doing 'business stuff' I've also been over at the Cocooned blog, blogging about support for families who are caring for their child in hospital.


Boy have I been making though! What have I been making? Well, I have recently knit my first pair of socks!! Oh my gosh, that was terribly exciting, so exciting I've since made a second pair and am chomping at the bit to make a third!

My First Ever Pair of Socks! - Three Colour Socks

2nd Pair of Socks! - Purl Soho Pom Pom Socklets 
(sans pom poms!)
Yarn from We Love Knitting

I've made a stack of little cup cosies to support Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) research,  You may remember my post on Mel's Hats for Aleshia campaign. Well now Mel has a new campaign called Cup of Hope. Make sure you are following her on Instagram so you can get your hands on one of hers (or my) cup cosies. 

A fantastic stocking stuffer and a great cause to support. I've made my own pattern in 8ply (DK) yarn and when I get the opportunity, I will pop it up on the blog.

Stack of Cosies

Sweet!

Other makes... Baby blanket for an adorable new little man, an octopus, mittens for Lion and the Snail, a tea cosy, as well as a little (mini) faux taxidermy triceratops and a giant doughnut (really should have photographed them side by side)!

Baby Blanket - My own Pattern

Octopus - Pattern from Purl Soho
My design is a smaller version. 8ply on smaller needles.

My own baby mitten designs!
You can find them at Lion and the Snail

Skipping Girl Tea Cosy
This was my own design from an existing pattern

Mini mini Faux taxidermy Triceratops!
Pattern by Sincerely Louise. 
Made with 10 ply (Aran) on 4mm needles

Pattern from Donna Wilson's Book;
 35 knitted animals and other creatures
(or doughnuts I guess!)

Yipes, it's all very knitty, isn't it?! I do have some sewing projects I really want to get to, Mum and I did make some sewn fish together (to become Christmas decorations) that was fun.

Catch of the day!! Pattern from the book Tilda's Toy Box

I also managed a Hammered Leatherworks Whisk Luggage Tag. Which I haven't whisked away for any major holidaying as yet...

I did made a monkey 4th birthday cake too.

Monkey Cake!

Plus, thanks to the CWA, I got myself a new crafty skill. Japanese braiding or Kumihimo. 

So easy and so addictive! My 5 year old loved it too

So as far as my 2016 'challenge', make 12 items in 12 months, by my count, I've already done it! Not much of a challenge though is it?! I think I need to up my game for 2017...

Seriously, a big handmade challenge for 2017, any ideas?

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Waste free 5th Birthday Party

Felix had originally asked for a superhero party, however, without any prompting from me, decided he'd like a 'Nature Birthday' instead. What followed was a lovely afternoon tea in the backyard, and keeping it waste free, was actually very easy.

A nature birthday cake! Easy

We didn't invite a cast of thousands, this made it easier to begin with. Guests numbered 13 including kids and not including the 5 of us. For those who did attend, along with the (e)invitation, we included a note requesting no waste or low waste gifts along with a brief explanation.

The guests took on the spirit wonderfully. Books and gifts wrapped in newspaper, handmade cloth bags and hand decorated paper. On the day, his favourite gift was a terracotta pot and some plants that he immediately decided he needed to plant. 

The cake (banana) I was able to bake in my amazing silver anodised cake pan from Silverwood. I didn't line it, merely greased with a little butter and sprinkled with flour (actually Felix helped with this bit) and the cake came out fine, no waste there.

Mud Pies

Decorating the cake, I used fondant flowers and rice paper butterflies I already had on hand. However these things can be purchased from cake decorating stores loose and you can take along your own packaging to pick and choose. 



The inedible decorations and candles were wiped clean afterwards and popped back into my jar of cake decorations. I have a reusable piping bag, and the ingredients either came from bulk or recyclable packaging.

I made 'mud pie' chocolate brownies in my Tupperware tuppcakes moulds. No waste there.

An easy waste free spread

Sausage rolls baked in the oven on my reusable Tupperware baking sheet.

We had fruit and put out the compost bin for the scraps.

All food and drink was served in our crockery. No soft drinks or juices, just water and beer or wine from recyclable glass bottles. 

If I had organised myself a little more ahead, I could've made reusable napkins, however everyone seemed ok just washing their hands or just wiping them on their clothes (mainly the children!)

For the party favours / activities we cut up and stamped an egg carton with the kid's names on each little cup. My dad helped out with this one and dutifully stamped away. We then filled a tub with some seed raising mix we had in the shed and let the kids plant some seeds to take home. It kept them out of trouble for a little while, I think they were mostly happy just to run about playing in the great outdoors though.

Personalised thank you gift

Do you think you'd ever attempt a waste free kids party?