Russian Doll Tea Cosy

This is the first of my two entries to a local tea cosy competition, it is a crochet babushka/ matryoshka/ Russian doll (whichever term you like best!) cosy.

It was fairly quick to make, however, I was unaware that the deadline for this was being extended so I rushed the embroidery and am fairly disappointed by it.

It is based upon THIS pattern over at I'd Like To Be Original. When I made up the pattern as instructed it was huge so I adjusted it to be smaller. It is probably just me not checking tension or something, but it is easy enough to scale down.

I got to enter two cosies to the competition because of a low amount of participants, I won't have a picture of my other one until I go and collect them from the cafe at the weekend.

Any one else out there with the tea cosy bug?

The Polka Dot Trousers Conundrum

Hey guys!
I have been having a little internal dilemma for a few months now, and that is whether or not I can pull off polka dot trousers. The fabric I have is navy with small white dots on, since I got it all I can think of is trousers, trousers, trousers! I worry that it would be too faddy, or silly on a bigger figure as opposed to the more slender wear anything and look good brigade.
So I did a bit of Pinterest searching and found a few inspiration pics - 

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So I guess this is the kind of look I'm going for, wide leg, or, if the fabric will hold it, a kick flare style. I will have to some how check to see if it can hold it, but I have no similar weight fabric for a muslin, and am reluctant to just go for it! Maybe I could just cut a wide leg and try pinning it into shape? Any suggestions would be most welcome!

I still have no idea if they will look silly, or if I will just feel uncomfortable in them, I try to rationalise it by telling myself that I wear patterned skirts, so patterned trousers shouldn't be too much of a difference!
Anyone else got any polka dot/ patterned trousers? If so, or even if not, were you reluctant to wear trousers that weren't plain?

P.S. Just noticed that this is my 100th post! Took long enough to get here ha ha!

DIY Dressform

Hello everyone, this is another very quick post, and it is in response to the lovely Kelly over at Make, Sew, Do who asked in a post I just read, have you ever made a dressform?

The answer to this is yes! I made one a couple of years ago. Sadly I found the gaffer tape method to be a poor choice for keeping its shape and it has been disassembled and recycled/binned since the beginning of the year due to its lack of function.
So just for a laugh at my own expense, here is the evidence!

Apologies for the middle finger, I was not wanting to have a photo at the time!

Maybe one day I will make a gummed paper version, although maybe setting aside a little every month for a proper one some time next year is a better plan :)

Twinkie Chan's Radish Amigurumi

Hello folks!

I'm sure everyone has heard of the crochet genius that is Twinkie Chan? Well if not you are missing out!

I brought her awesome book "Crochet goodies for fashion foodies" and wanted to make something very quickly to satisfy my need to crochet. So I made a variation on her radish scarf, to be a cat toy. The radish body is the same, I just didn't make the leaves as long.

It is stuffed with a carrier bag and the eyes are just sewn on with some embroidery floss.

I only wish that I had made the leaves a little bit longer so that when I am playing with the cat she doesn't get quite so close to my fingers!

Awww.... she's so adorable! I totally did not just sneak the radish in there for a photo op......

....but it sure does look cuter than when she is trying to  kill it!

Has anyone else made a Twinkie Chan pattern?

4 Suprising Places To Buy Yarn!

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 Hello everyone!
Just a quickie here, but I thought I would share with you four places to buy yarn that you wouldn't have expected. Well, I can't promise that every store stocks it but it is certainly true for the ones in my town :)

1. Wilkinsons! Yep, the high street fave stocks yarn. Not the largest selection but you can still pick up some cheap DK weight for a bargain price, £1.35 for 100g according to their website.

2. B and M Stores - They had a good variety of colours, if memory serves right they stocked 100g DK and Baby yarn. Their website doesn't list it but I don't remember it being expensive.

3. Poundland - They stock DK weight in several colours, both in plain and sparkly. They are 3 for 2 and 50g balls. I have used this yarn and it is quite nice.

4. The Works - They stock a few different types of yarn, off the top of my head there is 100g DK and the yarn which is thin with pom pom type balls on it (I can't think of it's proper name!) along with another novelty type yarn also. The DK is £1.25, I'm not sure about the rest.

Are there any places you buy yarn that you wouldn't expect to find it in? Let me know in the comments!