☆ ✶ beadedstar ✶ ☆

Blog has now moved :)

2010-06-01T12:34:00.001+01:00

......to http://beadedstar.typepad.com

Easter Treats

2010-04-04T21:02:00.007+01:00

On Tuesday, I was busy making Easter treats for my local Mother and Toddler group. Vanilla cupcakes with butter icing and a Cadburys mini egg. Chocolate truffles made from my Granny's recipe. Mini Easter nests with tiny eggs bought from Asda.

This weekend I went to a Amigurumi Crochet class at K1 Yarns in Edinburgh. It was taught by Brigitte Read who has not long launched her new book Super-Super Cute Crochet.

It was a fun class and one that I had been trying to find for a while. We were taught how to make an Easter bunny. Mine is not perfect but I gave it to my daughter this morning and she was over the moon! :)

Brie was a great teacher and I learned many tips about making Amigurumi creations. I had a look through her book on the way home and tonight and there are many projects I hope to try. The polar bear, panda and frog are top of to do list! :)

Happy Easter everyone!

Lavender

2009-08-31T16:14:00.004+01:00

For the past few years I haven't harvested my lavender which is a shame as the plant it very big and yields a lot of flowers. I was walking past it the other day when I had finished hanging the washing out...on one of the few dry days this month...and noticed that the flowers had closed and were starting to fall off the plant. Probably a little too late and I won't get a strong scent from the flowers when dried but I decided to harvest the lot, dry them and use them!!!

Sunday morning I was up early cutting the lavender with my little girl. The morning sun was warm and I was surprised how much there was to tie in bundles.

Today I finally found somewhere to hang them...in the shed. Now to wait until they are ready. If the scent isn't very strong I have some lavender essential oil which will help.

I am now on the look out for some nice fabric....for xmas stocking fillers :)

Treats

2009-05-15T21:46:00.004+01:00

I decided to treat myself....and this is what I bought.......
....a Grab Bag from Haiku Bags. Cute small bag with room for wallet, keys, phone etc. Great for shopping trips as it can be worn around the waist or across the body.
......and Hamanaka Crochet Hooks. Very comfy to hold and I will post more shortly when I have finished the bowl I am making.

Baking

2009-02-16T16:55:00.003Z

Lemon Drizzle Loaf
(Overflowing) Red Velvet Cupcakes

Snickerdoodles and shopping

2009-02-04T14:54:00.006Z

I had read about Snickerdoodles before Christmas last year while browsing Ravelry and thought they had something to do with Snickers chocolate bars. For Christmas I was given a book called Bake by Rachel Allan which I found had a recipe for Snickerdoodles. They have nothing to do with Snickers and don't contain nuts or chocolate! After researching on the net I discovered there are several different types and the recipes vary quite a lot. The recipe that I used made soft cake like biscuits. The biscuit was flavoured with nutmeg then balls of the dough were rolled in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. They were very moreish!

Last week I ordered myself a Nostepinne from eBay and lovely sock yarn from Posh Yarn which I hope to use for Ishbel.

Time Machine

2009-01-20T15:58:00.003Z

Last Thursday while happily surfing the internet my iMac started playing up. It was very slow and I thought it could do with a restart, which usually fixes this sort of thing. Tried and failed to restart it several times. So I hunted around my workspace for the original disks when all else failed. Started from the disk, ran Disk First Aid which also failed and done a hardware test which came up with an error code. I had to wait until Monday at work until I could surf the net and try and find a solution. The results fron google did not look good and I thought I would have to send my mac away to get a new hard disk.

I have thousands of photos, music and garageband tracks (my other halfs) which I did not want to lose. Luckily I invested in an external hardrive a couple of years ago and checked while I was at work that everything was backed up properly. It was all backed up...phew.

This morning I felt confident enough to wipe the entire imac and reinstall the software. This did take quite a while. After that I was able to plug in my external hardrive and use Time Machine to restore my entire mac. It worked beautifully everything seems to be back where it was originally - files in folder, photos in iphotos, music in iTunes and bookmarks in firefox.

If you use a mac I would highly recommend backing up your files using Time Machine.

Icy morning

2008-12-03T19:07:00.008Z

This morning I woke up to find the snow which had fallen last night had frozen solid. The roads where I live are always gritted last so I knew it would be a day spent in doors. Now that everything is white outside and the advent calendar is hanging by the fire it is starting to feel like Christmas is coming.

Entertaining a 20 month old is sometimes hard work and today I knew it would be a long day. I decided to bake biscuits and came across my gingerbread man cutter that I bought last year but never used. I found a recipe here and found I had almost all the ingredients (substituted the brown sugar for golden caster sugar which worked quite well).

The recipe worked well and the gingerbread men were very tasty and crunchy. Some crunchier that others but that was due to my timing or lack of (lol). Surprisingly there wasn't much mess to clear up at the end and my little girl enjoyed making her first biscuits.

Japan

2008-11-18T13:49:00.018Z

Three years ago in November 2005 I travelled to Japan with my boyfriend for a holiday of a lifetime. And it was just that, it was a fantastic experience. Here is a few photos from our trip. If anyone is planning on visiting this wonderful country, please feel free to get in touch for any advise or tips on where to stay/eat etc.

The trip was organised by a company called Inside Japan Tours who are based in the UK. They book our tour and additional nights stay in the hotels of our choice. We booked their 9 day tour and added on an extra stay at the start of the holiday so we would be fresh for the tour and three days at the end in Tokyo.

The tour started in Tokyo where we were met by our tour guides James and Harry at the airport. Little did we know we were on the same flight as a few of the others on our tour. We were then taken by train to our first hotel and given maps etc for our stay. I had forgotten that we had also paid for an early check-in which was a lovely surprise (I think the others were slightly jealous after such a long journey).

We spent the first day wandering around the streets near our hotel in Asakusa, Tokyo.

Our holiday started in Tokyo for two nights...

we ate sushi (the best I have ever eaten) at 6.30am at the fish market in Tokyo

then travelled to Kamakura for a night

then onto Hakone where stayed in a family run guest house (best accommodation on the tour) and we saw Mount Fuji

then travelled to Kyoto by bullet train

Kyoto was a lovely city with beautiful temples
while we were there, one of our party suggested going to see Oasis. We bought our tickets from a vending machine in a corner shop!!! They were playing in Osaka which was a short train ride from Kyoto. The three of us who went to see them had a great night.

We had one day free while we were in Kyoto to do as we pleased. We decided to take the bullet train and visit Hiroshima for the day which was about 2 hours away. Here is a picture of the memorial park.

We then returned from Kyoto to Tokyo for the rest of our trip. We had a final night out with our group at a Karaoke bar!!

We changed hotels for the last few days on our own to a hotel called the Keio Plaza.

The main reason that I wanted to visit Japan was after watching Lost in Translation. This was the first time that a film has had this affect on me. Japan was exactly as it was portrayed in the film. The Park Hyatt hotel is well worth a visit even if all you can afford, like us, was a drink.

The people in Japan were the nicest, most welcoming and helpful people I have every had the pleasure to meet on holiday. The food was great and well cooked. It is not as expensive as everyone makes out. I have to say we struggled to spend money in our first week. Travel and eat with the locals and it is cheaper than the UK. We had the equivalent of 7GBP left on our last night and we managed to both have a main course and coke in a cafe and then a couple of beers later that night!!

I would recommend this trip to anyone thinking about going.

Knitting block

2008-11-17T22:58:00.005Z

Near the end of September I started knitting Liesl and it is still not finished....

I only gave myself 2 weeks to complete it from start to finish which looking back on it was stupid for a beginner. I was up late most nights and done a few rows when I could during the day. It was to be worn to a friends wedding on the Saturday but by the Thursday I had admitted defeat!!!

The pattern, as all that are written by Ysolda, is very clear and easy to follow, that wasn't the problem. I had bought the yarn in John Lewis and the circular needles (cheap plastic was the best they had) but when I got home I realised the needles were the wrong size. Next time I was in a yarn shop in Edinburgh I picked up a set of bamboo Prym circular needles which I thought would do the job. I couldn't believe how difficult they were to use. There was a bobble of plastic on cable just next to the needle join which caught every stitch.

I persevered until I was in my local fabric store which also stocked the same plastic cable needles that I bought from John Lewis, albeit in the correct size (btw I didn't have time to order online or I would have).

After finishing the body, I started to pick up stitches for the arms. This is where I had problems and wasted a great deal of time. I should really have left it as a sleeveless cardi and would have finished it in time. I stopped after the first sleeve when I was beaten by time.

Liesl still lies in a Ikea shopping bag in my knitting box...one day soon I will finish it. :)

I hadn't touched any knitting since then....Until...

About a week ago when I picked up my copy of

Elizabeth gave me the inspiration and encourage met to pick up my knitting again!

My boyfriend had bought me a set of knitpicks harmonies for my birthday which had arrived after the wedding and had stayed untouched ever since due to my block.

Last night I took the tips out of the wrapper and attached them to the correct length cord.

Wow, what a difference quality tools can make!!! They are smooth, really smooth, lovely sharp points and the cords have very little memory. I had bought a cheap hat and mittens set from Asda last week for my little girl (I know I should have knitted them but I am a slow knitter and she needed them now). Anyway, the mittens didn't have a cord to prevent her from loosing them and the hat didn't fit quick right. So last night I knitted an i-cord (my first!!) for the mittens and little cord ties for the hat.

There is light at the end of the tunnel after all :)

***Here's to Zimmerman and Harmony Knitpicks for helping me out of my knitting block.***

Knitting Update

2008-09-08T22:51:00.003+01:00

Finally I have finished theses. I have a habit of starting new projects before I finish my other WIP but this week I concentrated on these two!!

wrist warmers - I went to a crochet class at K1yarns in Edinburgh and was taught how to make these by Vala Dóra Jónsdóttir.

The first wrist warmer that I made was far too small as I was crocheting too tightly. I made another 2 and this time they were both a better fit (although one was still bigger than the other). I had a few attempts at making flowers and finally settled on one design and attached them to the wrist warmer. The yarn is Orkney Angora St Magnus D.K. which is sooo soft and cosy although is difficult to frog if there are mistakes as it felts together a bit. A very easy first crochet project and faster than knitting.

fingerless mitts - Garter Stitch Mitts by Ysolda Teague

Another great pattern by Ysolda. Very easy to do, even for me they were only a few nights work. I added a couple of extra rows in the full mitt and a few extra in the wrist section. I plan to take these to work and wear them at my desk. I work in a cold and drafty office and these would be ideal. I would definitely do these again and there was plenty yarn leftover.

And just before I go....

I treated myself to a new book :)

...using my ipoints that I have saved up, so really it was free!!!! :)

My First Meme

2008-08-22T13:26:00.002+01:00

I saw this on littlerach's blog and thought this would be fun :)

The Concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Baking and Swap

2008-07-21T11:33:00.005+01:00

Last week I came across a mini donut tray which I bought a good number of years ago - must be at least 10. I knew I had accidentally thrown out the recipe that came with it. Now why was it I only made these the once???

Well I spent half an hour on the net searching for a suitable recipe for baked donuts...found one and set to work making them. The recipe is fairly easy and the first batch was soon in the oven. I glazed some and dipped some in sugar and the rest were dipped in dark chocolate.....

They were a *@$%!* to get out of the tin and I did grease the tin very well. Anyway I couldn't give up now so after getting them out of the tin I scrubbed it and re-oiled it and carried on making the donuts. 2 Hours later I was finished and had 40ish donuts to show for it. Didn't eat them all myself but gave them away to friends/family/work colleagues.

1st Swap - I signed up for my first swap on Ravelry - SWAP ON A BUDGET.
So far I have made a couple of knitted items for my box and have most of the box collected. Still waiting for the yarn that I ordered on the 1st July from The Yarn Yard then it will be complete and I can ship it to my spoilee...!!

Puff Candy - Made yesterday from sugar, golden syrup and bicarbonate of Soda. This is a great topping crumbled on ice-cream or broken into chunks and dipped in chocolate.

Cupcakes

2008-07-08T15:44:00.004+01:00

I haven't baked anything for a good few months now. I used to bake muffins at least once a month but have lent my favourite muffin book to a work colleague a couple of months back and he still hasn't given it back yet!

I came across cupcakes on the internet and have always fancied making them but most recipes are written using American measurements (cups) and I don't have them. The British cup measurement, i have found out, is different from the American. So after searching the net, I asked on Ravelry and was very kindly given a recipe by AugustGirl..thank you!(hope she doesn't mind linking her here) for cupcakes.

I didn't have any self raising flour so I replaced it with plain flour and baking powder....worked great!

Buttercream:
3oz butter
6oz Icing sugar
a couple of drops of vanilla essence
a small slash of milk

Beat everything until pale and fluffy.

Here is my first attempt at making cupcakes:

Just out of the oven...

And iced with buttercream icing (my muffin cases are too big for my tin..lol)...

and a close up...

I also added a few hundred and thousands!

Delicious!!!

For my Pins

2008-06-30T16:29:00.005+01:00

I have put off buying a needle case for a while now and finally ordered one a few weeks ago from ebay. There was a mix up on the order but it was shipped very quickly considering it was coming from China + FREE shipping!!

Case rolled up:

Some of my needles in place, even includes space for circulars:

Above is the free gift that was unexpected. I would describe it as a fabric fortune cookie/purse.

Really pleased with my case :)

A broken promise :(

2008-06-10T09:18:00.004+01:00

When I started learning to knit a few months back I made a promise to myself that I would only have a max of 2 WIP!! Well I have just noticed that I know have 4...Hmmm
Here is the list:

My list of things to do to finish my wip's (in no particular order)

~~Tidy ends on scarf~~ and block
~~finish flowers~~ and block
attach to scarf
block bag
sew in liner
buy magnetic closure and handle for bag
attach mc and handle

Now I have a list I can see more clearly what I have to do and will ✓ them off when completed ☺

I didn't include Elijah on my list as this is my newest project.

Oops...!!!

2008-06-06T09:01:00.003+01:00

I changed my template in blogger a while back and only just realised that the subscribe button for Feedblitz had disappeared.

It's now back...on the side bar on the right ➞

So if you want to subscribe to the blog just drop your email in the box and you will get a wee email to say when I have published something new! :)

Update

2008-06-04T15:07:00.006+01:00

I finally finished my first scarf in April and tidied up all the ends.
A picture of the finished scarf can be found here.

The ribbed scarf that I am making for my daughter has now been cast off but I have the ends to hide. I have decided to make a crochet flower to decorate each end. I hope it looks nice when it is finished. I am having fun learning crochet as I go along and have ripped the flower back a couple of times but I don't mind as I can see an improvement from my first shot.

I went along to a couple of classes at my local yarn store and produced a lovely feather and fan scarf. Took a bit of getting used to learning the lace pattern but it was quickly ingrained in my head!! Here it is...

It was knit using 3.75mm needles and my tension is tighter than others so if when I knit this again I plan to use 4mm needles and double the width of the scarf.

Also knitting a noro bag but will tell more next time...!!!

At last!!!

2008-04-13T10:06:00.003+01:00

...I finally received my Ravelry invite and now joined! :-)

I have almost finished my first scarf in Garter stitch.

After a couple of weeks knitting, it's now at the correct length and I cast off for the first time last night.

I still have to tidy up the ends and put a fringe on the ends, but that can wait until I get a darning needle and crochet hook.

Now started a ribbed scarf for my little girl...

Ravelry

2008-04-11T08:20:00.005+01:00

I signed up to Ravelry on the 31st March and think the long wait is nearly over...

Only 723 people ahead of me now!!!

# 723 people are ahead of you in line.
# 6335 people are behind you in line.
# 94% of the list has been invited so far

First lesson

2008-04-03T10:15:00.002+01:00

I have just learned my first lesson when buying yarn!!!

When I bought my first ball of yarn I just intended to practice with it and try a few different stitches but didn't plan to knit something with it. Well, it was looking good so I popped back into the shop to buy more of the same wool.

I took along the label to the shop and gave it to the assistant and asked her for 4 of the same. She then looked through the wool and found the same colour. I paid for it and went home and carried on knitting with the next ball. After a few rows I noticed that it was different. Being a beginner I just put it down to using the wrong end of the ball (this wool creates a very gradually stripe when knitted).

I then checked the labels from the 2 balls that I used and realised the dye lot was different.

LESSON 1 = ✓ COMPLETE

New hobby!

2008-04-02T09:03:00.002+01:00

Well, it has now been just over a year since I had my little girl and have been looking for a new hobby. One that wouldn't take up the kitchen table, that I could do at nights in front of the tv and I could make things for my family.

I have decided on Knitting!!!

It is the one craft that I never thought I would take up due to trying it as a child and never getting the hang of it due to tension being too tight. Anyway, the reason I have been inspired to give it a go was after reading the book Divas don't knit by Gil McNeil. The book is about a woman with two children who lost her husband, has been given a wool shop from her Gran and the life she now has through the people she meets in her shop.

I took a trip to a couple of local wool shops and bought some needles and yarn. Last week I started knitting a chunky scarf in garter stitch. Just started on my second ball of wool. So far so good.

I have so many ideas and projects i would love to try out but I am determined to finish this scarf first. :-)

Handmade Cards by Beadedstar

2007-06-13T09:22:00.000+01:00

I have been away from beading for awhile and have recently started a new hobby...Handmade Cards...!!!

Currently I am designing and making interesting cards for my website and will post them onto my website as soon as possible.

Shortly I will be taking orders for custom made cards and wedding stationery.

If you are interested please visit www.beadedstar.co.uk and sign up to my mailing list and as soon as I have an update I will let you know and also in the first email will be a DISCOUNT CODE to use on your first order.

thank you for reading this and hope to see you at www.beadedstar.co.uk soon.

Firefox Web Browser

2006-06-08T03:50:00.000+01:00

I have tried a few web browsers over the years and have found Firefox by Mozilla to be one of the best. I love the popup blocker. Firefox is faster than Internet Explorer by miles.

Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups. Enjoy improvements to performance, ease of use and privacy. It's easy to import your favorites and settings and get started.

To find out more and download it, just click on the button (on the right-hand side) to try it for yourself....it's FREE!!!

Change from Bloglet to Feedblitz

2006-05-18T00:58:00.000+01:00

I have been unable to access my bloglet account over the past few weeks. Since then I have found out that the guy who ran bloglet is fazing it out over the next few weeks as he no longer has the time to maintain it. He started it years ago as a hobby when blogging wasn't as popular as it is now. He now recommends moving all blogs over to Feedblitz - which I have now done.

There is no need to worry if you have subscribed to this site as I have moved everyone who subscribed to Feedblitz. You don't have to do a thing!

http://www.feedblitz.com/

Beaded Bead - from Florence and Gwen

2006-04-16T11:38:00.000+01:00

I bought a beaded bead kit from Florence and Gwen last year - Blue Raspberry, Diamond Net Beads. The kit comes with all the beads needed to make the beaded bead, thread, needle and extremely good instructions. It was fairly easy to make by following the step by step instructions. I have yet to incorporate it into a peice of jewellery. I also plan to use the technique to make a summer necklace in pastel coloured pearls.
The next one that I plan to buy is - Sea Star, when it becomes available.

Raspberry Ogalala Necklace

2006-04-13T19:52:00.000+01:00

I made this necklace last year just before christmas and wore it for the first time last weekend. It's made from size 11 seed beads in dark red, pink lined and silver lined clear beads. The accent beads and small clear drops. It really sparkles in the light and I was told by a friend it is eye catching (she didn't know that I made my own jewelry and thought I had bought it). I was over the moon with the compliment. So much so that I am in the middle of making one in a different colour for her as a surprise.

Frills Bracelet

2006-04-11T09:25:00.000+01:00

Another one of my unfinished projects - now finished!
This bracelet was made from a bead kit bought from The Bead Merchant last year. I have bought a few kits from them in the past and found them easy to work through as the instructions are well written. This bracelet took hours and hours to do but is well worth the time and effort. It uses triangular beads for the main bracelet and is then embellished with size 11 seed beads frills. Each frill is decorated with tiny size 15 seed beads and delicas and a feature bead. I don't think this photo really does the bracelt justice as the colours are a bit washed out but I am still experimenting with scanning them and using my camera. Not sure which gives the best results yet.

Unfinished project - African Triangular Rope

2006-04-10T09:54:00.000+01:00

I have just started beading again this year after having a break over the winter. My beading classes are about to start again at my LBS. I have several classes booked already for the next 2 months, but have a few unfinished projects from last year that I am determined to finish before starting anymore. The first that I have looked out of my bead box and successfully finished is an African Triangular rope necklace. Using size 11 seed beads in blue lined and silver coated beads I amended the basic stitch to achieve a slight twist. the clasp is bali silver bought from ebay.
Here it is.....