Just a quick one while the house is in chaos

I was working on Easter cards for the family and as I made them, I figured I might as well share them, as the painting and minor repair etc. will mean the house is chaotic and getting to do actual crafting is tricky.

eastercardDownload

I am also experimenting with a new way to add the PDFs. Not sure how much I like it but we will see when it publishes how it looks! Sometimes, “improvements” are not!

Anyway, easy peasy. Print and cut the quadrants then pop them on a cardfront. These fit an A5 card but should be easily trimmed to fit a 1/4 US letter size or perhaps even a few others.

Darling daughter is mad keen on anime, and she has been missing her annual trip to HyperJapan for the last few pandemic years. They did hold it online in 2021, but it’s just not the same. Anyway, kawaii cute cards are perfect for here, and these bunnies made me smile. Hope you find them useful if you need a quick card!

I’m curious – is it better to do a card with the front arranged so all you have to do is print and fold on plain printer paper? I always cut the high-quality printed PDF images then stick them to the front of an actual card base, either a commercial one of one made from quality cardstock leftovers. But I always wonder if more people would prefer the easiest and most basic option. LMK!

WOYWW 670 (!)

Jiminy. Every WOYWW with a zero at the end feels more of a milestone, even if it really isn’t. It did make me want to know when week 700 will be and it turns out it is the 1st November 2022. In case you wondered….

I mentioned yesterday that this week is a bit of a black hole with a lot of work going on in the house, our anniversary (yesterday) and my first face-to-face appointment with my neurology consultant in at least 3 years. Action packed for sure LOL!

Boring photo of two of the three power washed patios. What a difference and well worth having it done by a professional with actual decent machines.

Still much planting and tidying to be done before the in-laws arrive and it all looks a bit chaotic without the furniture and all the BBQ stuff in the hut, but you get the idea.

And on the kitchen table, a lovely plant and card from The Hubster for our anniversary, although the sous vide beef he cooked was undoubtedly the star gift. Gorgeous and all I had to do was make the gravy! Sadly, no photo, but trust me, it was sublime.

The little chalkboard guy is called Chunk – can’t find him on t’ internet but he was a gift from a long ago HyperJapan show and the reminder to take my meds in the morning and his charming smile is my darling daughter’s handiwork. Just to the side you can see another gift, an android tablet that is clamped on the table edge – it runs the music collection via Navidrome and I use it sometimes for podcasts as well. Super handy when stupid Alexa is misbehaving, although it isn’t hands free, which can be an issue when I am elbow deep in, oh, I don’t know, meatball mixture. Hard to identify, but there in the background you can see the side of a bookcase. The bookcase itself houses many kitchen gadgets – tortilla press, waffle-maker, crockpots in a variety of sizes – but the side is covered in whiteboard sticker paper.

You can’t read it (nosy!) but it is a handy place to add reminders that we can all see a few times a day – drs. appointments, phone numbers, etc. I usually keep a running list of dates to note for the month and it works better than my desktop calendar or phone for keeping me on track!

My desk houses nothing new, the same old shots of my current knitted shoelace obsession. As it is What’s on your WORKDESK Wednesday, I’ll add a couple of shots but you’ll have to read back a few posts of you knit and fancy having a go. For people confused by the knitting mill last week, maybe this will help you see what it is used for?

I have a LOT of leftover sock yarn…

So there you go. Happy WOYWW!

Happy Anniversary to Me and my Guy!

This week is crazy busy with houseworks and gardening and distance Drs. appointments so with apologies the blog might be a bit boring. Here is one of my favourite cards ever. I made it in, get this, 2014, and it has been waiting in my stash for the perfect occasion. If you want to see how I made it, the dets are here.

I still think it is a great card for a guy. I often use graph paper or lined notebook paper for guy cards and I think that really helps tip it away from girly somehow.

The only other item of (slight) interest is the crimping tool I used on the metal aglets for the knitted shoelaces. It was not easy to use, despite the video, and I think overall it confirms my thought that the heat shrink tubing is def. the best, easiest option. I am not a huge fan of metal tipped shoelaces but if that’s your thing, have at it.

Back for probably a pretty boring WOYWW too…this week is just not a crafty one.

{sigh}

Going to be a crazy couple of weeks….

We are having some work done around the house and things are going to be a bit crazy. It may or may not impact my ability to do crafty things, as I also have a face-to-face with my consultant, a 2 hour drive away. Not fun, but required.

I am still making laces, and have been playing with AGLETS.

They are metal tips for shoelaces. Ideally I would use a proper crimping tool to close them but while I feel pretty sure we have one I am not too sure where it is. Crimping the ends of the laces with a regular pair of pliers is possible, but not beautiful.

I had to fine-tune the crimping a bit to fix the flat bits (which do NOT fit thru the eyelets very well!) but they did fit in the end:

Over all. I prefer the clear plastic 3mm heat shrink tubes as the yarn shows thru.

I made a little PDF, cause I know people like things in that format so they can download them and save them so here it is.

I really love the idea of having laces that match my hand-knitted socks LOL!

I can see there is a new AJJ challenge so I really must try to fit that in, amidst all the work in the house!

So not quite there yet with the knitted shoelaces…

I am still awaiting the thing I need to make my laces perfect, but I will add my progress for anyone who wants to have a play in the meantime.

I tried wrapping the tips with thread and with electrician’s tape. The thread was far too fiddly and the tape was far too thick to fit thru the holes:

I tried tacky glue, which kinda worked, although it was messy and took a long time to dry.

But the low-tech solution – if all you want to do is knit the laces and thread them thru – is one of the loop-hole yarn needles – so often the easiest solution is a solution, even if it isn’t perfect!

So I am still awaiting the shrink-tubes (that are designed for cables but which look to me very like the tubes at the end of your normal laces) that will worth this out in a very professional way.

I am pretty sure an embossing gun will shrink the tubes (cause I suspect the lighter might catch the yarn on fire so do NOT do that!) and if so, I am going to make more cause they are super cute!