When I visited Peru late last year I brought back the most gorgeous hand-dyed Alpaca yarn. Since then I’ve been trying to decide on a worthy project for it, and I’ve finally settled on these tiiiiny, quirky, heart shaped pins.

The little bundles of love are only 1.5″ square and are available in my shop now. You’ll see from the listing that I’m donating 20% of the proceeds back to the Women’s Weaving Project in Peru, where the yarn was produced. The support that this community gets from donations allows them to maintain and expand their heard of Alpaca and gain access to schooling and dentist care. I think these fuzzy lumps look wicked pinned to the lapel of your jacket, or even attached to a long necklace chain.

I’m having a cathartic sort of all my photo’s from last year, in a bid to be more organised for 2012, and thought I’d share some of my favourite moments. This one, a quiet wander down Bristol’s waterfront on a warm, thundery spring evening. Bristol rocks!

I set aside an afternoon of research and this is what caught my imagination. Some I didn’t get round to making for a lack of time and tools, but there’s always next year! I think they’d make nice gifts whatever the occasion so here’s a roundup of how I got on. See the list below for original tutorials or recipes. There’s a full roundup over on my Pinterest account.

1. Chilli Jelly - This was probably my biggest success in the hamper of goodies. Nigella Lawson’s recipe is so good – I wouldn’t recommend altering or substituting ANYTHING in the recipe. I didn’t quite have the right ingredients for my first batch and the results were not good!
2. Caramelised Red Onion Chutney - This recipe is from the Guardian online, takes a lot of onions and crying but is very tasty.
3. Ginger Ale Syrup - This is such a fantastic idea and so quick and easy, courtesy of Vanessa at Nifty Thrifty Things. The syrup has a lovely warm kick and offers something a bit different in a hamper full of preserves. Tastes awesome with straight fizzy water or tonic water.
4. Easy Strawberry Jam - Another great recipe from the BBC website. I used a mixture of raspberries and strawberries when I made this; never realised how straightforward jam making is – I’ll definitely be making more.
5. Coconut Ice - I have lingering memories of coconut ice from my childhood living in Canada. This recipe from Two Little Dicky Birds is scrummy. I chose to use traditional pink and they came out so so pretty.
6. Flavoured Coffee Syrup - From the very talented Elsie at A Beautiful Mess, this is another brilliant idea. Sugar syrup is so versatile if you have the imagination to turn it into something. I made the vanilla version and it literally didn’t take more than 15 minutes.
7. Homemade Tea-bags - Another one from Elsie at A Beautiful Mess. I got together all the components to make these but found hand-stitching the coffee filters quite tricky; think a sewing machine will be on my list of purchases this year.
8. Crocheted Bangles - This is a really pretty tutorial from Second Sister. I do really want to try this at some point, but I ran out of time for my Christmas hampers.

I managed to find some clear sweetie bags in a local cookery shop, along with lots of empty jars and sealed bottles for the syrups. There’s all manner of ways to present a hamper of gifts; in the end I went with red and white bakers twine, scalloped luggage tags and circles of pretty scrap material to top the jars. Did you manage any handmade pressies this year?

If nothing else the Buble put me firmly in a Christmassy mood.

Tucked away up in the rafters my fellow crafters and I huddled around heaters and crafted our wares whilst welcoming happy, smiley shoppers. My wonderful sister came to help and shared part of the stall, she embroiders pretty tote bags, napkins and tea towels! I’m hoping she’ll have an online shop at some point soon so I can show you all.

I was so blown away by all the lovely comments and purchases; so much so I had to make an emergency batch of bow necklaces that evening so I was re-stocked for Sunday. My studio partner Ben Tambling made sure I had a never ending supply of these amazing business cards, which he designed for me.

I really can’t thank everyone enough for an amazing weekend. My fellow crafters were so nice in giving me advice about fairs! I think I bought something from almost everyone there. Can’t wait to get out and do some more now.

Eek Christmas next weekend – I’m attempting 100% handmade presents this year. I’ll let you know how that goes! Wishing you all a very happy christmas; stay safe and eat lots!

Still, I figured that if I could get all the other elements up to scratch they would compensate for me, hehe! And lighting is the biggy. I live in a fairly ‘boxy’ city flat, much akin to a shoe box, so natural light and shooting space is hard to come by. I look on in awe at other peoples crispy white backgrounds so, when I saw this awesome little trick, I couldn’t resist. The photo above is the not so attractive result; please excuse the kitchen paraphernalia.

It was surprisingly quick to make and if you’ve got a cardboard box lying around doesn’t require a lot more effort. You need to create a series of windows in your box which work to diffuse artificial light and avoid those harsh shadows. I cut a 2″ border around the top and two sides of the box and taped tracing paper over the hole. You could also use a thin cotton or muslin fabric and it’ll have the same effect.

Then you can line the box with whatever backdrop you like. I went for crisp white by tacking A3 card onto the back and bottom of the box, but you could use any fabric, or string mini bunting along the back, depending on the look you want to achieve. It might be an idea to line the box with white paper first anyway to cut down on the orange-y box glow. Then light the box from the top, sides, or both. Here are my first few test shots:

I think they’re pretty good as a starting point. I’m hoping to improve the crispness by getting some daylight bulbs, and another light. The ikea halogens that came with the lamp pictured are still awfully orange. I read that an actual camera flash is the best to use but i’m sure they’re way out of my price range at the moment.

As you can see the teacup is casting a slight shadow over the actual bow on my necklace and, as I only had the one light available, I used two mirrors to reflect the light where I needed it and brightened up the bow. Tinfoil or a reflective material would be just as good here.

One top tip I learnt about my camera whilst setting this up is how to optimise the white balance indoors; if you have an SLR or are able to adjust the white balance on your compact camera, make sure it is set to tungsten (artificial lightbulb) to cut own the horrendous yellow tinge. Big relief when I found that little setting!

Then it’s just up to you to play with props, styling and backdrops to really bring out the character in your products. I can’t wait to really perfect my set up and take the stress out of shooting. Hope this is useful to someone out there and let me know if you have any top tips yourself, what do you use to photograph your own items?

P.S Preparation for the craft fair is coming along nicely. This weekend’s task is packaging and price tags. Hopefully I’ll have something funky to show you later in the week. 13 days to go!!!

Ever since I saw this post from Sophia at Iro Iro Crafts I dreamt of creating labels for my knits and now I have the perfect reason. Her tutorial is excellent, so head over there if you’d like to try for yourself. I adapted the process a little to make a large batch at once.

I spotted this cotton fabric tape in the haberdashery in my local market and thought how perfect it would be for the job – minimal cutting required! I picked up 2m super cheap, which should be more than enough. The secret to making these labels is iron-on transfer paper, which is surprisingly easy to get hold of – I found a pack of 5 sheets in Wilkinson’s and Sophia found hers in Tesco. You need to do a little bit of work on the computer before hand to prepare your image, but any basic photo editing software will suffice so long as you can create a mirror-image, or flip your graphic horizontally.

Once I was happy with my flipped image I duplicated it across 1 A4 sheet, which fit around 40 individual labels. I made mine 35mm x 13mm. I found that cutting each one so they were smaller than the area of tape made it easy to set up and iron lots at once. Make sure you only iron for around 60 seconds or else the finished image could look a little singed.

Et voila! A whole strip of labels to cut up and hand sew into my knits. I absolutely love the finished product, it gives a unique finish to your handmade goodies and makes sure people don’t forget where they came from.

Aside from visiting all the cities and tourist attractions one of the biggest highlights, for me, was doing a ‘homestay’. A lot like it sounds, you go to a local village and spend a day and night experiencing real life with the locals… and it just so happens that the community we stayed with sustains itself using textiles and agriculture – this meant yarn… and knitting… and alpaca’s!

My lovely family consisted of Mama Theodora, Matthew and their eldest daughter, Nancy. After welcoming us with lilly flowers and a huge two course lunch we were dressed up in their everyday attire and put to work ploughing a field. Their lives revolve around, and rely upon, the crops that they grow so it was a huge pleasure to help them and repay their kindness in this way.

The following morning, after lots more food, dancing and music, we were given a demonstration of their knitting and weaving process; from the Alpaca and Llama’s wandering around the main square, through the spinning and dying, to the finished product. The wool is spun still unwashed from the animal as this makes it easier to work with.

The dying aspect was the most impressive; I couldn’t believe the vivid colour yarns hanging to dry were all produced from local plants and natural minerals. The darker green shades are achieved by boiling the spun yarn in a cooking pot with Eucalyptus leaves.

The intensity of colour is determined by how long the yarn is left to steep and the colour is then set and yarn washed by adding crushed rose quartz and lime juice to the mixture.

This amazing mustard colour comes from a small tree indigenous to the surrounding valley called Qolle. The flowers are used in combination with salt and lime juice to produce the vivid yellow. I’m not sure why but apparently sheep’s wool produces the brightest yellow. Maybe it has something to do with the oil content of the wool?

The pinks and reds are produced in a slightly different way. Peru is well known for the dye produced from a small parasite that thrives on the leaves of cacti. The Cochineal parasite is a small white insect which is harvested from the plant and dried. When ground up it produces a bright red, which is used most widely in lipstick colouring as a natural alternative.

The different shades are produced by combining salt and lime juice again, allowing anything from a bright orange to a deep purple depending on the yarn and size of batch.

The women are taught to knit, crochet and weave from a young age by their mothers, usually around 9 or 10. They participate in markets to sell their wares to tourists and provide the village with clothes and blankets. Any one takes up to a month to weave, using Alpaca bone to tighten the threads on the loom.

Aren’t they incredible? Each family has to spin and dye their own stash; I couldn’t control my excitement and bought a 100g ball of Alpaca died with the cochineal parasite from my host, Nancy. I’m already thinking up something special to do with it that will hopefully involve a donation back to the community. Watch this space if you’d like to be involved!

I’ll leave you with my other most triumphant moment on the trip. Concurring Dead Woman’s Pass, the highest point on the Inca Trail at 4600m after an 800m vertical climb! God damn, that was hard work!

Documentário Helen Rödel – Estudos MMXI (english subtitles) from Helen Rödel on Vimeo.

An inspiring collection of crocheted clothes from Portugese designer Helen Rodel. I find crochet really mesmerising to watch and do, note to self – practise more. The electric colours and 60′s vibe in Helen’s work is really motivating and it’s refreshing to see such a thorough, but relaxing working process. I was entranced watching the video and below is a couple of my favourite pieces.

I really like the texture and shape of the popcorn stitch.

Usually I’m not that thrilled with the turn in seasons and depleting daylight, but somehow this year seems different. The cool breezes, warm clothes and autumnal colours in shop windows are getting me really excited to knit and layer up. It may have something/a lot to do with the fact that I’ve taken the plunge and signed up for my first ever craft fair. With no real plan in mind I whizzed off the application form and let the pressure inspire me. Best. decision. ever.

So every spare minute I have is being spent knitting, or thinking about my stall. I need to train an army of elves to help me get ready… or learn how to knit with my feet. Hm, I like the sound of the first one. A few choice selections are already making it into my shop, so please go and have a look around. I’ll post a few more details for the market nearer the time, even for me September is too soon to start mentioning the ‘C’ word… (Christmas!)

I spent a lovely day with friends in Wells yesterday painting pottery, which is a lot trickier than it sounds. Hope you’re having a good weekend. What have you been up to?

I’ve been meeting so many lovely, sweet people through Etsy recently. It feels so great to be surrounded by such talented people. Sophie at Onetenzeroseven is a shining example. Her jewellery shop is bursting full of simple yet iconic pieces. I had spent days trawling through the goodies on offer, trying to pick two pairs of earrings to buy, when I discovered that Sophie quite liked my little bows. It was then that a swap, of epic proportions, was born.

To top it off my little bundle of pretty arrived on my birthday last weekend. I wore them all day and showed them off at every opportunity. I have to admit I’ve worn them (almost) every day since. So I urge you all to go and visit her shop and indulge. I’m already eyeing up another acquisition!