Chicken Pox and Etsy

That is quite the mixture isn't it?! But those are the two things my week has been taken up by. The week started off with me finishing up a batch of crafty makings and taking photos for my Etsy shop. Dinogirl had been off school as she wasn't feeling well, and on Wednesday afternoon asked me if she had something on her neck as it was sore. Yup. Chicken Pox. Darn it. It is doing the rounds at her school, so I was expecting it at some point! So far, Tiny Dino doesn't seem to have caught it. I'm not sure if I'm happy about that or not.
So the house smells of camomile lotion, all sense of routine has been lost as Dinogirl keeps sleeping LOADS (Which is very unlike her!) and she's hardly eating anything. Poor grumpy girl. We decided to cheer her up a little today. She's been asking for Minecraft on the PS3 for a while now, as her best friend has it on the PS3 and not the Xbox. So, not only did I buy her the game and two texture packs, but we moved the PS3 into her bedroom in place of my old PS2. She is now a very happy, if spotty, hatchling!

On Thursday I sat and uploaded a load of things to my Etsy shop (Which you can find here or if you're viewing this on a computer you should see the little Etsy widget on the side of the page!) I've already had 5 sales! it's fabulous! I've also joined Instagram to help network a little bit, so check me out there too if you'd like to (@corasclipsandknits)

Knitting wise, I've been busy working away on a pair of Rose City Rollers with the Poison Ivy Vs Harley Quinn yarn I got from The Yarn Tree comic book yarn box last year.

I don't think I would ever have picked this yarn if I had been looking at it in a shop, it's just not colours I would go for usually, but it's one of my favourites! If you haven't, check out Mel at The Yarn Tree over on her Facebook page.

Sorry for the super duper short post this week! But I must go and run the girls a nice bath with a sock full of oats!

A month?!

My word, how has it been a month since my last post?! The hatchlings' Christening, then poorly children, meetings/appointments and my anxiety and depression have gotten in my way for the last few weeks.

So, I don't have any finished objects to show yet. I do have a couple of new yarn purchases though and a new project. Let's start with new yarn! Nothing like a new yarn purchase to cheer you up!

Firstly some Definition Sock yarn from Artesano, in colourway Kimono. It's a gorgeous bright bright fuchsia which is looking a little washed out by my rubbish phone snap.

And some gorgeous Muddled Rainbow from Rainbow Fusions on her sock yarn base.

I also got two yarn boxes from The Yarn Tree! 

I got the first of her Sock Yarn Boxes, which is a skein of yarn, a stitch marker and a project bag with a theme. This box's theme was The Big Bang Theory. The yarn is called Bazinga! Here's a better photo of it.

And the second box was her January yarn club which was Game of Thrones themed

With some gorgeous sparkly self striping yarn from British Bea Knits, a yummy kitkat and some stitch markers which include a wolf, a sword and a "winter is coming" charm! Adorable!

Next, projects! So I had started some socks with my Flash yarn blank from The Yarn Tree, but I wasn't happy with how the texture was working up on the pattern, so I ripped it all out. I then decided to start a pair of tube socks for the Tinydino. Which I don't appear to have a photograph of! They're pink and turquoise striped, two at a time with a turquoise toe and I plan on giving them turquoise cuffs too. I'm doing 8 rows pink, 2 rows turquoise.

I also started a For The Love Of Rainbow shawl, by Mina from The Knitting Expat Podcast. She's currently running a couple of KALs (That's a Knit A Long for anyone who doesn't know the lingo) in her Ravelry group and one of them is the #KESHAWLKAL (or Knitting Expat Shawl KAL!). It's a really fab pattern! Good for a beginner shawl knitter like me, anyway! 

I didn't have a gradient so used my Bazinga yarn, along with some Jarol grey sock yarn. (The funny face is just to cover the pattern that was visible as it's not a free pattern!)

I'm currently on row 102 or over 300 rows and the KAL finishes at the end of the month. Hopefully I'll finish in time to enter it and might win a little prize!

If you don't already, you should give Mina's podcast a watch! I've almost watched all of her old episodes now. Her and her husband live in the Middle East, hence the Expat, and they do so much travelling! Makes me jealous. She's so lovely to listen to and her podcasts are always so interesting. Such a talented knitter too, especially considering she's only been knitting for a couple of years! You can find her on youtube, here.

Non-knitting crafts, but still knitting related, I made myself a little chain row counter to use with the shawl. As you can see on the photo above, I have a traditional number row counter. But I kept forgetting to turn the numbers and it was confusing me. I've wanted to have a go at making a chain counter for a while so decided why not!

Because I have to slip it across the needles whilst I'm knitting, I'm remembering to change it with each row. Love it! Think it will become another little item for my shop too. Just need to work out some pricing for it.

I also made Dinogirl a bookmark, as she keeps using scraps of paper as bookmarks. Used my last little dino charm! But more are on the way! Hehe

But now i must get myself to bed. We have an important meeting tomorrow about Dinogirl's statement at school (A statement decides how much one-to-one help she is entitled to) so must get myself off to the land of nod early and try and get a good night's sleep!

I shall sign off with a photo of the cake my amazing mum made for the girls' Christening (Which was on Valentines day, we thought the hearts were fitting for the Tinydino given her heart defect). I hope everyone's had a lovely Mother's Day :)