A busy week in October ...

It's been a bit manic over here at Talk-a-Lot Towers this week. I've been really busy with work, but I managed to sneak off on Wednesday for a look around the wonderful Knitting and Stitching Fair up at Alexandra Palace. I came home laden with goodies. There were so many irresistible yarns and yarn-related gizmos and books. It was amazing, and now I'm all fired up with a hundred ideas for projects that I'd love to get right down to making.

Rainy day roses ...

And one of the rainy day silver linings that I'm enjoying this morning is the excuse to save these glorious blossoms from the weather.

Aren't they marvellous?

I found them lying face down in a puddle on the terrace. The rain had weighed them down and they were kissing the floor. I wouldn't have had the heart to cut them otherwise, but now that I have I'm loving their wonderful scent as I work. Happy rainy days!

All the best for now,

Bonny x

It's a dog's life ...

I've cracked it! I've got the answer to the prickly problem of how to make friends if you move to a new neighbourhood. All you need is one of these:

The bewitching Ms. Witch ...

So how do you like Ms. Witch?

I cast her off yesterday, and then showed her to Emi when he came home from school, thinking that she would be of no great interest to a nine year old boy like him, but he immediately fell under her spell. I love her, he said. Can I have her? She can sit beside Swampy, and keep him company when I'm at school.

Now I should explain that Swampy is the latest addition to Emi’s growing menagerie. Swampy is a carnivore, aVenus Fly Trap plant, who hangs out on the mantelpiece in Emi's bedroom. We got Swampy a few weeks ago by way of a Sunday afternoon bribe for doing a heavy weekend of homework. And every day since then Emi has been very conscientious about giving Swampy a drink. The plant label told us that he liked to live in swamps – hence the name, and the zealous watering regime.

Anyway I digress: back to Ms. Witch. She’s made using Worsted weight yarn. I’ve used Sublime Extra Fine Merino Worsted, which is a truly lovely yarn to work with: really soft with little tendency to split. I chose autumnal colours to match the season: Wicker (061) for the skin tones, Jet Black (013) for the black bits, Mole (056) for her brown hair and Marmalade (478) for the pumpkin orange bits.

When I’m making toys I like to use smaller needles than they recommend for the yarn in order to get a nice tightly woven knit. To my way of thinking it wouldn’t look good if we were able to see Ms Witch’s stuffing through her dress. For this weight of yarn you’d normally use 4.5 mm needles, but I chose to use 3 mm needles to get the desired result. This produced a tension of 25 stitches x 30 rows for a 10cm x 10 cm/ 4" x 4" swatch.

If you’d like to make her, she’s pretty straightforward. Just read on for the pattern.

Hello October ...

We've been cooped up for far too long, the Wonderdog and I. I've been crazy busy with work for several days now, tied to my computer and unable to go outside and enjoy this lovely late summer/ early autumn weather. Sadly the weathermen are telling us that after today we're in for a change, so we seized the initiative this morning and headed out into the elements to embrace the season.