I have found a craft in which I certainly have plenty of room for improvement! Needle felting is such a tricky craft - you place wool roving (free fibres of wool) onto your backing (I've used felt, but you can use anything soft I believe). You then stab these fibres with a felting needle, which has a jagged edge. This fuses your roving with the backing - creating one single piece. I've felted a picture of my lovely Whisky. 

I love the softness of this craft, I could cuddle this picture all day long - hehe! 

After taking part in the petition against pesticides which harm our bees, I decided it was time to take some practical action. Inspired by this craftster's blog post I decided to make my own bee house for them to nest in over the summer. I don't have any logs or lumps of wood hanging around, so I did a quick seach for homes which would use the supplies I do have - bamboo sticks, both the the bbc  and the RHS society have great ideas. It seems the main things are:

1. Place your bee home on a south facing wall (near flowering plants) to make the most of the summer sun - bees are cold-blooded. 
2. Some bees prefer to be off the ground, all bees prefer protection from the rain!
3. Holes should be around 10cm in length and between 2mm-12mm in diameter, to encourage a range of bee species to use their new homes.

So with this in mind, here's my take on making a home for wild bees in your garden... I'll keep you posted on any bee activity I see!

Some photos from a trip to Lizard's point Lighthouse (the most southerly point in the UK.

Two pretty dresses... right? Except the yellow's lining barely covers your bottom, and the flowers' neckline is at least 10 years too old for me.

So.. I decided to combine them by turning the flowers into a slip for the yellow.. and walah..

This is the first time I've felt happy about the end result of a clothing project. I've asked for a sewing machine for christmas so I can have another go!! :) Finally.. Whisky's feeling left out with all the photos of Scarlett and none of him!

Here's my recycled jeans rug - I made it using recycled bamboo sticks as needles, with a simple stockinette stitch, and a knit 2 border on all 4 sides to stop it rolling.

Here's the purl side.. but I like the roughness of the knit side too!

The main time issue was that I didn't get a good graduation in colour the first time round, had to frog what I'd done, and make up my jeans-yarn (jarn?!) again. It was hard using the bits where the seams were, but I powered through, because I wanted as big a rug as possible for my jeans. What you see there is 2 pairs worth of fabric, but nice and thick to keep my feet warm in the kitchen. The thinner the strips, the easier it was, any thicker and  would have been tempted to try arm knitting 

Here's how I ended up arranging my strips before attaching them together, to make sure I got a graduated ombre effect: 

It's finally starting to heat up! April has been lovely, unfortunately the mornings of last week were rainy and grey, so even though the afternoons are gorgeous, the scarf says otherwise!!

I'm following the following pattern:
http://fiberflux.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/free-pattern-tweedy-eyelet-scarf.html

Some photos from one amazing trip to Perranporth :D

Top to bottom, March has been swinging forwards and backwards.. I was in my t-shirt and shorts one week, then back to gloves hat and scarf the next. I've bought some new colours too.. I imagine this will be happening throughout the year as yarns run out and new stock comes into the shops. Cream has become white, and my pale blue has split into a lighter blue for 25-50% blue days, and a mid blue for 50-75% blue days. 

Knitting this month gave me a good chance to learn how to read a knitting pattern. March also gave me plenty of opportunities to learn about Whisky. He is one naughty poodle who needs walking EVERY day! Even at 6 he's the life of the beach party. I've found some owners disapproving of how far off he runs, others impressed at his recall on command. Who knows?! He chewed right through my laptop cable, causing this blog to go on standstill, and causing his hair to go static for at least a week! He's started to wee indoors, even though we give him plenty of chances to go outside. I think he's testing our authority, and he gets a major telling off when he does it in front of us. Here he is ruining a lovely photo my friend took of the beach last week. 

Oh Whisky.. what AM I going to do with you?!