I was making an iCord recently when the idea struck me that if I made one large enough I could slide a biro inside to make a cute yarn-bombed pen. Now I don’t know about you but when I get a crafty idea I have to stop what I’m doing and try it out immediately. Away went my current project, out came some more needles and yarn and hurrah, it worked! As soon as I stitched the end up I knew it would look even better with some kind of embellishment attached. What better than a large fluffy pom pom?

What do you think of my pom pom pens? Would you be interested in a tutorial on how to make them? Let me know and I’ll write one up.

If you haven’t heard of it yet, Knitsy is a great new digital magazine for tablets and smartphones, Apple and Android alike. I installed  the app on my iPad at the weekend and really enjoyed flicking through its colourful pages.

It’s described by the publisher to be “for yarn tarts” – I’m not sure I like that term, call me a prude if you like but I wouldn’t want to be labelled as a yarn tart! Dodgy labelling aside I found the magazine to be a fun read, it’s packed full of great photography, lovely knitting and crochet patterns and interesting interviews.

Free on iTunes and £3.95 on Google Play I’d say it’s well worth a look. If future editions continue to be free then I’ll definitely be a regular reader.

Photo Source: Knitsy.tv

Feeling in a spring cleaning mood this weekend I decided to sort out the junk in the bottom of my wardrobe. Does anyone else accumulate a load of rubbish at the bottom of their wardrobe? Just me? Amongst the shoes and handbags and goodness knows what else I found a carrier bag containing a very old embroidery project.

I’m not exactly sure where it came from but I have a vague memory of my mum giving it to me as a child, she probably got it from a charity shop. If I remember correctly it was half completed when I got it and by the looks of it I only attempted a few stitches before forgetting all about it.

It’s in a bit of a sorry state, the stitching is horribly uneven and the cloth is full of stains and creases but I think with a bit of work it could be turned into something worth displaying.

The embroidery silks with it are in a bit of a jumbled up mess too!

Hiding in the mess of silks were these unfinished friendship bracelets. I used to love making them when I was about 10, looks like I suffered from project startitus even back then!

I’m going to start the embroidery piece by unpicking all of the uneven stitches or maybe I’ll go the whole hog and get rid of them all, I haven’t quite decided yet but I’m thinking it would be nice to start from scratch with it.

Watch this space to see what it becomes!

I designed this cosy case to help protect my beloved mobile phone from getting scratched in my handbag. If you’re like me, always rooting in your bag trying to locate your phone, this makes it remarkably easy to find! The finished case is stretchy and should fit most modern smart phones.

The pattern is composed entirely of knit and purl stitches and would be a great project for a beginner. It is knitted in the round from the bottom up using Judy’s magic cast on so there are no annoying seams to sew. Don’t be scared of the magic cast on, it’s super easy once you know how.

Instructions:

Cast on 32 sts using Judy’s magic cast on technique. Knit first row.

Begin pattern:

Row 1: Knit

Rows 2, 3 and 4: (P5, K3) x 4

Row 5: Knit

Rows 6, 7 and 8: (P1, K3, P5, K3, P4) x 2

Repeat rows 1-8 5 times or until the case fits over your phone with an inch to go. End in a Knit row.

The last few rows are knitted in moss(seed) stitch as follows:

Row 1: (K1, P1) repeat to end of row

Row 2: (P1, K1) repeat to end of row

Repeat these two rows until the case reaches the desired length.

Cast off in moss stitch and weave in ends.

That’s it! Please feel free to share your finished objects, I’d love to see them.

How do you keep your gadgets safe from scratches? For the first of my acrylic stash busting projects I decided to knit covers for my mobile and kindle to help protect them from keys and other pointy objects in my handbag. I think they turned out rather well. What do you think?

The Kindle cover is made from a pattern called kindle cables which can be found on Ravelry.

The mobile cosy is a pattern I devised myself (my first pattern!) which I will post tomorrow. It’s a super quick knit and can be completed in a couple of hours. Perfect for a last minute gift, maybe?

Have you knitted covers for your gadgets? I’d love to see them if you have.

Did anyone play the video game Street Fighter growing up? I loved it. Anyway, just thought I’d share this photo of my husband and I being silly last weekend. We were attempting to create our own version of the Hadoukening meme. Try not to laugh too hard…

Do you have a secret stash of poorly chosen yarn purchases? This is my embarrassing collection of acrylic. See, I have two stashes. The stash that I’m proud of, mostly composed of hand dyed sock yarn, gets treated with love and affection. Then there’s the stash you’re looking at that gets stuffed in a bag and hidden a dark corner never to see the light of day.

I’m sure I’m not the only knitter to make some dodgy purchases when first starting out. When the craft was new to me I hadn’t a clue about different fibres and weights, all I was looking for was something cheap and colourful. In fact, the cheaper and more colourful the better. So I amassed the above with grand plans of knitting all the things in an array of eye-blindingly bright colours. I soon learned the error of my ways when I felt the quality of the more expensive natural yarns compared to my cheap, man made collection.

So, what to do with all this yarn that has been sat gathering dust for the best part of two years? I don’t want to throw it away, that would be too wasteful. I could give it away but I doubt anyone would want it in the jumbled up state it is in. Only one option left then, I have to find some way to use it.

Over the next few weeks and months I’m going to make a conscious effort to find little projects that aim to use up this stash. Why don’t you join me? If you have any stash busting project ideas, please share!

Welcome to Make ALL the things, my new blog. I guess a good place to start would be to tell you about myself. Well then, here goes…

My name is Chris and I live in North West England. During the day I work full time as a web developer but the rest of the time I love nothing more than to indulge in various crafts such as knitting and crochet. I have a husband, 2 cats but no children (yet). Aside from crafting I love music, photography and long walks in the countryside.

I have been knitting (on and off) for around two years now and crocheting for only a few months but that’s long enough to have me hooked. I constantly find myself drooling over ideas and patterns and wanting to make everything all at once.

I plan to use this place to share details of my projects, photography and general day-to-day musings. Let’s hope I don’t end up talking to myself…