Crafting can be like buses...

So, after not much crafting in the months after becoming a mum, I seem to have been on a roll over the past week or so! And I even managed to finish a project that has been in progress for about 2 years - a heart bauble. Now to work on the rest of the ongoing projects... Though in true me style I wrote this last month and forgot to publish it! Oops.

So one thing I've made progress on is the bag I've been making. It turned out I'd cut a couple of pieces out the wrong way (if I'd used them the elephants wouldhave been on their side!) so I've rectified that. I've also managed to make the inside pockets. There are formed by sewing the rectangle so the wrong side can't be seen, then creating a box pleat in the middle when attaching it to the lining:

So back to the bauble. This might have been a bit ambitious - I started it with little colour work experience, and no experience of double pointed needles. On the plus side, being worked in the round meant minimal seems to sew up! Once I got the hang of it, it wasn't so bad, but I must admit making several mistakes and getting rather frustrated, hence why it took so long to finish! Here's a picture of it in progress, working in the round:

I discovered when I'd nearly finished that the right side was supposed to be facing outwards. Perhaps that would have meant the joins between the needles would have left fewer gaps... Should have mentioned - the pattern is from a book called 'Knit your heart out' which is a collection of heart patterns all worked in the round. The instructions weren't most clear in places, but I eventually worked it out with a bit of help from the Internet!

The resulting piece is one that isn't my finest piece of knitting, but still something that will be proudly placed on my Christmas tree (though perhaps towards the back!). Here's the finished item:

Once I'd finished that, I decided I wanted to finish something a bit easier so chose to start a new decoration - this time a stocking from a free magazine kit. This was much more straightforward, though I managed to forget a colour change so it's not perfect! It was however quick to knit, meaning I could finish it whilst my daughter slept (on me - she rarely stays asleep when I put her down).

Here's the finished item:

Anyway I think that's enough for now, next time I'll hopefully have finished those bags I mentioned in my post way back in 2014...