On your marks, get set, knit!

Wow, in just over 2 months' time it'll be the closing date for this years Big Knit! UK knitting magazine, Knit Today, has put its usual contributors to work on some fun new patterns for tiny bottle toppers. Including... Pss Beatrice's hat from the first of this year's Royal Weddings. Brilliant!

Time to get knitting - see Innocent's website for the closing date and where to send your completed hats.

More charity knitting

Aaargh! I just remembered that I knitted up a bunch of hats for the annual Innocent Big Knit, while I was unable to do much else in the latter stages of being pregnant. Luckily, Innocent extended their deadline for submission this year until THIS FRIDAY. Here's part of my contribution ready for the post, with a couple of pairs of gloves to show you where the leftover yarn for two of my favourite little hats appeared from!

I don't think I'll be doing much knitting for a little while, so I was delighted to see this donations box at my local health centre. They are crocheting a great barrier reef to raise awareness of fibromyalgia. I've donated a small bag of yarn to help them on their way - my crochet skills are still non-existent, although I wish I had paid more attention when my friend Jo tried to teach me. One handed crafting might be the way to go with a little one in my arms!

p.s. I really am writing this at 5.45am - the joys of being a new parent!

Good causes

While I'm keeping my feet up and finding patterns hard to follow, I've been working through my stash and my odds and ends of wool and putting it to good use.

I started off yesterday afternoon with a ziploc bag full of scraps of yarn, and came up with these stripey and patterned hats for the annual Innocent Drinks campaign to help out older people.

Then, while taking a break on Twitter, Cat from Wildcat Designs pointed me in the direction of people who were looking for squares for a range of community and charity projects. So now I'm busting my stash in earnest, and hopefully spreading a bit of knitting cheer out in the world. Maybe I'll even get involved in the International Fiber Collaborative's efforts to wrap a space rocket in yarn!

If you're a bit of a knitter, like me, you have a few hours left to enter the competition over at the Glasgow Craft Mafia blog. And if you were taking part in Knit in Public Day on Saturday - I hope you had a good one!

Last minute market news!

I’m delighted to have been accepted as a vendor at this weekend’s Charity Spring Fayre in Bearsden. The charity in question is Concern Worldwide, and they have been doing sterling work in aid of the people of Haiti and Bangladesh, supporting the humanitarian relief effort in the aftermath of catastrophic natural disasters.

With homebaking, facepainting, crafts for kids, as well as hand crafted jewellery and gifts for sale, this promises to be a fun Saturday morning for everyone involved. Entry is a donation of £2.50 (adults) or 50p (kids) and this includes tea/coffee and a slice of cake. There will also be a raffle during the day, with prizes including a week’s accommodation in Nice and a night out in a top Glasgow restaurant with travel by limo. I’ll be there with a kid-friendly selection of my homewares, knits and gifts, and I’m wondering if I can get away with turning up to my bookbinding class in the afternoon with a tiger face on!

Come one, come all this Saturday morning from 10-12 at Bearsden Baptist Church, 14 Roman Road, Bearsden G61 2SL. If you can’t make it along on the day, you can also make a donation to this worthwhile cause at www.justgiving.com/charityspringfayre

And keep your eyes peeled for a Toyota-driving tiger loose in central Glasgow later on in the afternoon!

Today is Sport Relief day!

I’ve been forgoing my twice-weekly latte for the last couple of weeks to support the efforts of my friend Shonagh's little boy, Euan, who wants to help others who are in need. Click here to find out what he’s doing to raise money, and here to find out more about Sport Relief.

You can also help by clicking here - a penny is donated to Sport Relief by the company hosting the website.

Knitting for charity

It's about that time of year again when I start to think about knitting these guys on behalf of Innocent, and their work for British charity Age Concern. Innocent have confirmed that the project is running again this year, so I'll be having a good sort out of all my odds and ends of wool and putting them to good use.

The closing date is usually some time in October, so while it seems strange to be thinking about woolly hats while it's such lovely weather out, I'll need to get cracking because I'll have to post them before the wedding, or I won't be back from honeymoon in time to send them! Wish me luck!

For those of you who can't make the October deadline, and are looking for another charity project, or those of you who have a bit more time on your hands to do your bit, get yourself over to the haberdashery counter at your nearest John Lewis. If you're like me, you won't need any encouragement (my stash grew considerably during their recent £1/ball clearance sale!). Available at every counter, on a monthly basis, are patterns for you to knit up and donate to a charity for neonatal care. I've never needed an excuse to go into John Lewis, but this clever plan means I'll be in at least every month to check out the latest project.

I'd love to hear your charity knitting projects, don't be shy and post them here.

Also, I just found this great place called Yarnbank to help you find wool for those larger charity knitting projects. What a great idea!

Remember, Strawberry Jam tonight!

Well, this evening, anyway. Kicking off at 5.30pm, head along to the Panopticon for some good times in aid of a good cause. Read all about it here.

In the meantime, I'm working on my honeymoon itinery today, and am being very inspired by the lovely things in Etsy's current travel guide. We also bought my fiance's kilt and wedding ring this morning, so it's been heavy on the wallet, no treats from the travel guide for me today.

Whatever you're doing, I hope you're having a good weekend.

Support OzBushfireAppeal.etsy.com

After chatting with my friend Liv in Melbourne and watching all the TV footage of the awful results of the bushfire in Victoria, I have been mobilised to help in any way I can.

I've donated one of my products to http://www.ozbushfireappeal.etsy.com/ and will be shopping from the wide range of products on offer in this new shop. Already they have raised more than $5000 AUS and the hard work and dedication of etsy seller feliciafairy is inspirational.

To donate a product, send a convo to the shop, and verify the email address to which you will have to send your product images, description, tags and price. Your product will then be uploaded, and when it sells, you will be contacted with the address for sending. All participating etsy sellers are funding the postage costs to keep things simple for buyers.


As a buyer, all you have to do is browse, buy and wait for your goodies. It's a great opportunity to get free shipping on all manner of items, truly the best of etsy. Etsy admin have approved the appeal, and money transfers from PayPal (banked every Monday, first payment to be transferred 16 February) are shown clearly on the donation website.


For the record, I donated my most-hearted item, these upcycled envelopes made from Laura Ashley wallpaper. As of lunchtime on Saturday, they're uploaded and ready for sale.

Update on 15 Feb: my envelopes sold! Thank you to the generous buyer. Missed out? Get more here.