Rowan where's yer troosers?

I am so sick of Rowan’s trousers constantly falling down around his knees! I've tried on & off for over a year to buy him braces (belts are useless) but couldn’t find them anywhere so finally went to the craft store to buy brace clips so I could crochet him a set. While at the craft shop I discovered that they sell braces (I’d been looking in clothes shops - silly me) but by that time I had my heart set on making ‘em myself & here they are …



The back straps are static but the front straps are adjustable so these should fit him for a good long while. Mhara now wants a pink pair so I’ll probably write out the pattern as I go along in case anyone else wants to make ‘em :0)

Back view -



So far they've been a success - the combats that kept falling down around his knees on Friday have managed to stay up all day today :0)

The pics were taken yesterday in the garden - it looks like this week is gonna be our Scottish summer as it was actually hot enough to justify ice lollies -



and shades :0)

Swapsies!

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted! Okay so I've been kind of busy but even so I am on-line most days (well okay, make that every day - I just rarely seem to get any further than ravelry these days).

Anyway, I'm on now to show off some of what I've been up to & that is - surprise, surprise - swapping (the title possibly gave you a clue).

First up there was a beverage cosy swap on the Scot Swap forum. My partner was Manoute who sent me the coolect Dr Who-inspired knit I've ever seen (as well as a load of other goodies) - my favourite Stash Vanilla Nut Creme tea (the kettle got switched straight on), fudge & cashew nuts, 100g of Lopi Roving in a gorgeous burgundy, a lovely autumn-coloured teapot mitten (that's just like a fingerless glove - totally cool) & this -



There are no words to convey how awesomely chuffed I am to have my very own felted Dalek tea cosy. In fact I'm so thrilled I'm gonna post another pic -



The DCs love it (they're Dr Who geeks too) altho' Orson the cat is a bit bemused -



And finally a pic of my parcel in all its awsomeness -



Next up there was the Igor Thwap that the Ankh-Morpork Knitters Guild did (we had to type all our posts in Igor thpeak - I spent a long time editing posts to get rid of all those sneaky esses, a thide-effect of which wath that I occathionally thpoke like that in real life too).

Ahem! My partner this time was littlelixie, a lovely lady who, it turns out, has the same penchant for over-the-knee socks that I do. This made it very easy for us to decide at least one of the items to send :0D

Here we have a group shot -



How cool is that? I have a Yarn Junkie badge to go with my blog, wee pawprints for when I finally make myself some socks (more on that to come), a sewing kit that has already come in handy several times, knitty notecards, socks (well-worn by now - it's a good job we don't have smell-o-vision), gorgeous cotton yarn & my favourites -



coolest. bracelet. evah!

and this fantastic handmade (by littlelixie) project bag -



as well as 2 spools of pretty ribbon (both sadly now used up) & some Egyptian sweets which lasted no time at all :0D

There were actually 3 balls of the yarn but I used one to make dd3 a new hat in the hope that we may get a summer this year :0P



Thirdly we had a spinner's swap on the UK Spinners forum. This swap had strict rules - 100g of roving plus another 100g where the sender had already spun 50g & sent the handspun & the remaining 50g for her partners to spin. Janice61 was my partner for this swap -



A group shot of all the goodies - English wool tops dyed by Janice herself in beautiful spring shades, 50g of handspun merino & 50g of the unspun roving, a lush scented candle & lovely personalised gifts too - a trolley token keyring & a coaster for my cuppa.



A close-up of the yarn - is that fabulous or what? I just hope I can do justice to the rest of the roving!

Finally (yep, there's even more) we had an egg cosy swap on the Knit-Crochet Kitchen Exchange board. This was a rolling rather than a straight swap & the person sending to me was the lovely rdodo. Take a look at this -



There were 2 fabulous crocheted easter bunny cosies - rdodo's first crochet work & utterly gorgeous (even tho' she doesn't believe her hooking skillz are up to much) -



2 sweet knitted chickie baskets (complete with galaxy caramel eggs which are sadly no more as dd2 & I scoffed 'em with a cuppa :0D) -



Beautiful blue roving that I'm gonna have great fun spinning -



And a totally cool crochet book with some fabulous projects, curved needles that are gonna make sewing-up so much easier, *loads* of KoolAid & some wee choccies for the littlies who were utterly thrilled to get sweeties in the mail :0D



I loved doing all these swaps & have been absolutely spoiled by each of my partners. I'm so grateful to manoute, littlelixie, janice61 & rdodo & I hope that my victims erm swap partners loved their parcels as much as I loved mine.

Now that I've shown you all this I have to tell you that there won't be any more swap pics for a while . . . .

. . . . 'cos I'm saving myself for the big AMKG Guild Swap :0D It's gonna be huge but it's not 'til the summer so at least I have a wee while to get ready!