What's on my sewing table... lots and lots of yarn!

Hello there my lovely readers! I hope you all had a great weekend, I certainly did :) I had a brilliant few days off, I'll tell you more about that tomorrow, but I've also managed to fill my time with wooly projects :) Let me share with you what I've been up to...

First up I have completed my first mini crochet project! You may remember my first ever granny squares, well here they are all seamed together and looking pretty.

Granny squares, you've got to love them!

I'm really loving crochet, I already have a few project lined up for when I'm a bit better at it, I've been scouring Ravelry for pretty patterns :) Hopefully it won't be too long before I start working on the crochet blanket of my dreams!

Secondly I have started another knitting UFO, I've had this one on the go for about three years, just sitting in a box unfinished and unloved, but I've finally decided it to finish it. The original pattern was in French (eek!) but I had it translated, although some of the instructions are still a bit hard to follow. It's made by Fifi Chanchnil, and it's a cute little crossover cardigan. It reminds me of the type of thing I used to wear for ballet as a child, I can't wait until it's finished! 

The pattern, isn't it cute? 

Lacy sleeve with fancy edging!

And yes, the yarn is just as soft and fluffy as it looks :)

Finally I have a bit of a confession to make, I may have been a bit naughty on my days off. I know that I'm supposed to be focusing on Stash Busting, but I may have been in the same area as Loop on Thursday and I may have been tempted into buying some hand-spun, hand-dyed gorgeously soft, silky yarn for a short sleeved cardigan that I have been dying to make from the best knitting book ever. I'm sure you'll forgive me when you see how gorgeous this project is going to be...

Is this not one of the most gorgeous patterns you have ever seen?!

I've already knitted up my little tension square, well I say square, it's not a square shape at all! And this yarn was just dreamy to work with, I can't wait to cast on this cardigan, I'm really looking forward to some detailed knitting work, it's been a while since I've worked on something this intricate.

My tension square, or rather my tension random-shape!

Dreamy, isn't it? :)

So as you can see I'm up to my eyeballs in yarn, and I couldn't be happier about it :) Are you knitting/crocheting anything at the moment? I'd love to know what you're working on!

I hope you have a great week full of wooly projects of your own, I'll be back tomorrow to share some more adventures.

Katie xxx

Wednesday Wonderfuls #60

So... this would have been posted yesterday, but my internet died last night, naughty old internet. So let's just pretend that it's Wednesday shall we? :)

Happy Wednesday my lovely readers! I hope that the week so far has been treating you well. I am very excited about the next couple of days as I have taken two days off from the show to do with as I please, so hopefully many lovely adventures will ensue! (And yes, Jess, I'm going to see Florence on Friday too! I wonder if you're as excited as I am?!)

But one of the other main things that has been giving me joy over the past few days is Instagram. You may have noticed that I've recently been including quite a few instagram shots in this blog, I just can't get enough of it! If you want to follow me on instagram my profile is

@misskatiesquirrel

I mean, who couldn't be addicted to pictures as cute as these?!

Instagram sources, Clockwise from Top Left:
1. Pug by @dailypug, 2. Breakfast by @waterbluesky, 3. Clogs by @skunkboycreatures,
4. Outfit by boobookittycouture, 5. Paris by @bazaaraustralia, 6. Kitchenaid by @ohsolovelyerin,
7. Doughnuts by@fancytreehouse, 8. Disney Skirt by @atomic_redhead

I think these pictures make the world seem like a better place :)

And you know what else makes the world a better place? Wednesday Wonderfuls! So here are my picks of the blogosphere this week:

• First up we have a brilliant and well photographed How-To for Victory Rolls over at Midnight Maniac.
• DO you love watching films just to ogle the costumes? Then this challenge might be for you! Lovely Debi of My Happy Sewing Place is co-hosting the Sew Cinematic Challenge, when your task is recreate a look from any film of your choosing. It sounds like such fun, I'm thinking of recreating something from "The Notorious Betty Page" that I watched recently...
• I have no words when it comes to this Dino Skirt over at Did You Make That. Karen, you have my respect :)
• I recently discovered the gorgeous blog Atomic Redhead and I've been loving it. My favourite post if her's so far would have to be her Disneyland skirt, it's so kitsch and cute I just love it!
• And finally I want these biscuits, I really, really, REALLY do. 

And that's it for another week of Wonderfuls :)

Katie xxx

Adventures in Crochet

Well readers, it's happened, I think I can honestly say I've become a crochet addict. It's all come together over the last few days, and here's my progress so far...

Whilst creating the swatches of all of the stitches I had been working solely in rows, and the next exciting step was working in the round. And this was the point when the addiction really started to take hold, once you start making these pretty circles it's so hard to stop!

My first crocheted circle

And I think that looks pretty good don't you? My stitches are all pretty uniform now, so I end up with a nice flat and even circle. By the next step in the crochet school was a big one: The Granny Square. And these were the main reason I started crochet in the first place, so I wanted to be good at this stage! Well, here's my first attempt...

A rather wonky Granny Square!

It looks a bit sorry for itself, doesn't it? This particular square used lots of chain stitches in its design, that's what creates all those slightly uneven gaps, so I altered the pattern a bit in my second attempt (as suggested by the Crafty Minx) to make my second Granny Square a lot more compact:

A much neater Granny Square!

I much prefer the look of this smaller, neater and more compact Granny Square, and I think that for now, until I become more used to crocheting, this is going to be the style the works best for me. You can see how different the two square are in shape and size here:

Two little fresh Granny Squares!

I think you'll agree that the smaller of the two looks a lot prettier! So I went ahead yesterday and stitched up four of these cute little squares, and the more I work on them the more I want to make, they are just so simple and easy, a great portable project :)

My Granny Square Quartet :)

Now, for someone who couldn't crochet at all until a few days ago I think you'll agree that this is quite an achievement! The next step of the crochet school is learning how to seam these squares together, so they really will look like a mini blanket soon, it's all very exciting :)

I think I will probably soon have to develop some Stash Busting projects that involve crochet, I do have a huge stash of leftover wool so I definitely have the means to feed my crochet addiction... I'll keep you posted!

Katie xxx

What's on my sewing table (and some new skills too!)

Happy Monday everyone! I have had a really lovely weekend, mostly because I came home, which was lovely enough, but also the next venue of the tour is close enough to home for me to commute, so I'll be staying at home for the next two weeks! So so happy! I'm looking forward to lots of quality time with my beautiful family and my Sweetheart :)

This also means that I will be in pretty close proximity to my sewing machine for the next couple of weeks, so expect lots of projects coming up soon! But let me show you what I've been working on in my happy haze this weekend...

First up I have finally made some progress with my Bombshell Dress!

My Bombshell Dress Bodice Muslin, looking good, eh?

I completed my bodice muslin, using a whole bunch of fancy methods (seriously, a lot of time went into this, and it's only the mock up!), and I'm really happy with how it's come together. The bodice fits really well, but I will have to make a few bust adjustments as it seems I'm more well endowed in that area than I initially thought (well, I'm not complaining!). I'll keep you updated on the progress of this dress and share some proper photos (i.e. not instagram ones!) as soon as I have something really good to show you, like when I cut into my pretty fabric... :)

And in other news, during a fit of insomnia last week I decided to tackle another item on my 24 before 25 list and started to teach myself to crochet. I used the crochet school created by the fabulous Crafty Minx and so far I have stitched up two swatches:

Crochet! And I have to say, I'm pretty proud of my neat and uniform stitches :)

I'm about half way through the crochet school course, and I'm sorry to say I'm starting to feel a little bit addicted. I never thought that I would be able to get the hang of crochet, as a knitter the idea of only using one needle left me very confused and, to be honest, a little freaked out, but it's so much simpler than I thought it would be. It's very relaxing and I love the texture of the stitches, it's really pleasing :) I have always wanted to crochet myself a couple of blanket, and hopefully after this course I will be able to. I'll keep you posted n the crochet front too!

I'm so looking forward to this week, what with these fun projects to work on and I have some great adventures planned, including a trip to London and finally getting to see Florence + the Machine in concert! I cannot wait!

I hope you have a great week too, do you have anything fun planned?

Katie xxx

Happy World Book Day! And a question...

Happy March 1st and World Book Day to you all!

I am going to get some serious reading done today in honour of the celebration of books, I'm currently throughly stuck into "The Little Stranger" by Sarah Waters and I can't wait to see what happens next :)

However, this blog is mostly all about sewing, right? So I thought, what better way to tie in sewing and books than a little bit of 1950s book print fabric!

I love this fabric! Some of the titles of the books read "Shakespeare", "War and Peace" and "Romeo and Juliet"

How beautiful is that? And it's perfect for a book worm like me! :) However, I'm now rather at odds as to what to use this fabric for. That's where you lovely people come in!

In an ideal world I would love to use this fabric for a 1950s style shirtwaist dress, but I'm not sure whether or not I have the yardage. This fabric is quite narrow, at a guestimate 30/35 inches, but over 4 metres in length, so maybe a shirtwaist dress with a narrow skirt wouldn't be out of the question? How you seen any patterns that might be suitable?

If you think you have seen any patterns or looks that this fabric would be suitable for then please get in touch, I'd love to know what you think. I really want to use it for something special, it's just so unique and pretty I want to get as much wear out of it as possible!

I can't wait to hear any suggestions you have :)

Katie xxx 

February - The Best Bits

Sources, Clockwise from Top Left
1. Scout Bow Tie from A Beautiful Mess, 2. Cupid's Arrow Sweater from Elegant Musings,
3. DIY Shoes from Cassie Stephens, 4. Sunday Pictorial Beret from By Gum, By Golly,
5. Wiggle Dress from Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing

Once again it's been a great month at The Little Red Squirrel, I've had more page views than ever before and have some lovely new readers too, so welcome! I hope you are enjoying what you see here as much as I enjoy putting it all together :)

Highlights of this blogging month for me are:

*I'd just like to say... growing up is optional*

*My first ever tutorial: A Perfectly Personal Valentine*

*Organising the first UFO/Stash Busting Project Monthly Round Up*

And now an update on my two current projects:

24 Things Before 25 - Update

I visited the Pottery Painting Cafe in Brighton and made egg cups!

I created and post my very own tutorial, and I can't wait to do some more :)

UFO/Stash Busting Project - Update

I finally completed my Swing Dress, one of my oldest UFOs.

I finished the epic challenge that was knitting my own dressing gown, and I love it so much!

Thank you so much for reading my blog this month, it's been a good one, and hopefully March will be even better :) Onwards and upwards!

Katie xxx

Wednesday Wonderfuls #59

Hello lovely readers! A happy Wednesday and also a very happy Leap Day to you all! I wonder if any of you ladies reading are thinking about getting down on one knee today, hmmm? :)

Can you believe February is practically over? I can't, this year is zipping by very fast, I'm finding it hard to keep track! March is coming, and hopefully with it a bit of sunshine and slightly warmer weather. Also, did you know that tomorrow is National World Book Day here in the UK? It's all about getting children into reading, it's brilliant :) I used to love celebrating this day at school as a child, so I thought that in it's honour I would share some of my all time favourite books...

Images Sources, Clockwise from Top Left
1. The Lord of the Rings, 2. Les Liaisons Dangereues, 3. South Riding, 4. Shakespeare's Sonnets,
5. Dracula, 6. The Crimson Petal and the White, 7. Beauty, 8. Jane Eyre

I intend to see in March with a good book, are you reading anything thrilling at the moment? But whether you're a book worm or not, let's welcome in the new month on a high note, let's have some fabulous Wednesday Wonderfuls!

• I love picked up new and nifty sewing techniques, and here's a great one from House of Marmalade: How to cut silk on the straight grain. A method well worth knowing, methinks!
• If you've ever fancied creating your own unique fabric then this tutorial is definitely for you! How to hand stamp fabric, a DIY tutorial from A Beautiful Mess.
• And yet another tutorial from A Beautiful Mess, this time how to colour chalkboard paint. Am I the only one who can't get enough of this beautiful blog?!
• The amazing Tilly interviewed the amazing Sarai of Colette Patterns for a very inspirational "Day in the Life", fascinating reading :)
• Tasha of By Gum, By Golly is at it again with another beautiful knit, a stripy version of the sunday pictorial beret. All I can say is I want one...
• And I just had to link to this, it's too beautiful not to. Strawberry Moth's wedding has been featured on the 100 layer cake blog, and it may be the prettiest wedding I have ever seen, swoon!

And there you have it! I hope you have a great leap day and do something special with this extra day of February :) Bring on March for more adventures!

Katie x