Pale Green Fingers and the Orange Tree

I got married just over a year ago and my siblings bought my husband and me this beautiful orange tree as a gift -

It is totally lovely, but I was really worried that they had obviously had a brief moment of madness, and forgotton how I can kill anything pot-based in a matter of months! The omens weren't good when it started to wilt and drop leaves a few weeks later.....

However, a move to the kitchen did wonders for our little tree and this is how it looks today -

A little bit sparser than the same time last year, but definately still alive, and even with a few new oranges! Though somehow they aren't as orange as they were the first time around.

While I am pretty pleased with myself for getting the orange tree this far, I am not really sure what to do next with it. I was wondering if there was anyone out there with some proper green fingers who could give me advice?

Do I prune? Do I never prune? When do I take the oranges off? Should I replant (this is something that has never gone well for me before)? What next????

All thoughts gratefully received!

Bees Go Buzz.... My first etsy treasury

I seem to be a bit insect obsessed at the moment!

I have finally got round to curating a treasury on etsy, and it is all bees, butterflies, dragonflies and ladybirds! I know insects are funny things that inspire a great deal of fear sometimes - personally, I have a spider-thing (shiver down my spine just thinking about it), but I know plenty of people with bee, wasp, and ladybird things too - still, some of these items are really lovely, so if you can bear it, check it out!

Backlinking - a good idea

I just read about this in an etsy forum post, and it makes a lot of sense - backlinking at the bottom of an item, to help viewers find relevant items. It might be obvious to you, but it has just never occurred to me before!

For example, I make some Swing Earrings with pearls, and list them.

A few days later I make the same style earrings but with turquoise, and list them.


If I put at the bottom of the listing 'I also make these earrings with pearls', and add a link to the earrings directly, then people can check them out directly if they want to without going through 3 other links to find them.

Clever. See an example here

I am off to go through all my listings and backlink where appropriate!

Showcase - Butterflies

I don't know about where you all are, but the sun has gone in today, and the sky is grey grey grey. So I decided to cheer myself up by looking for some lovely stuff on etsy. I was reading a caterpillar book to Alice earlier and they all turn into beautiful pop up butterflies at the end which she loved - so I decided to search for some other beautiful butterflies to cheer all of us up too. These are my favourites:

A gorgeous silver and titanium butterfly locket by anitacurtis


A bright and cheerful felt brooch by lupin

A lovely silver pendant by AliBaliJewellery (I love love her coral pieces)

And some cute and dainty cards by RUBYrecycled

Mmm, lovely. Once I've done all the data entry I am currently supposed to be ploughing through, I might even be able to buy myself one of these lovely things!

Work in Progress - Alice's Silver Box

Work continues on Alice's silver box - all the soldering is done, and now I just need to 'finish it off' - on a project like this, that is at least half the work! There is filing and sanding and polishing, and maybe a bit of hammering to try and harden the gold wire that forms the branch and the spiral (in the photo below) that stops the lid from spinning round and round. And then there is some platinol to paint on and polish off. I've got three and a half weeks to get it finished!

Free Knitting Pattern - Zig and Zag Snakes

These are two dinky snakes I knitted using some yarn I had left over from socks. Zig is the plainer snake with the sewn on pattern and Zag the stripy one. They are a perfect size for little baby hands to grab, and light enough to be waved around. They also appear to be a hit with kittens!

Size: approximately 22cm long

Yarn used: Rowan 4ply Soft in 2 colours. This pattern used Cream and Linseed. It is best to use this pattern to finish up left over wool as you don’t need much of each colour – each snake uses around 10g of yarn.

3.75mm needles

Tension: 25 stitches and 30 rows of stocking stitch = 10cm²

Abbreviations:

S1 = Slip one stitch
PSO = Pass slipped stitch over knit stitch
K2tog = Knit 2 stitches together
M1 = Make 1 stitch

Pattern:

Both snakes – CO 10 stitches with Main Colour (M).

Row 1: Knit
Row 2: (and all even rows): Purl
Row 3: K1, M1, K3, M1, K2, M1, K3, M1, K1 (14 st)
Row 5: K1, M1, K4, M1, K4, M1, K4. M1, K1 (18 st)
Row 7: K1, M1, K5, M1, K6, M1, K5, M1, K1 (22 st)
Row 9: K1, M1, K6, M1, K8, M1, K6, M1, K1 (26 st)
Row 11: K1, M1, K24, M1, K1 (28 st)
Row 13: Knit
Row 15: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K7, S1, K1, PSO, K4, K2tog, K7, K2tog, K1 (24 st)
Row 17: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K6, S1, K1, PSO, K2, K2tog, K6, K2tog, K1 (20 st)
Row 19: K8, S1, K1, PSO, K2tog, K8 (18 st)
Row 21: Knit

Zig Snake – continue using M
Zag Snake – Row 23, join in Contrast Colour (CC) and then alternate colours every 2 rows.

Pattern block A:

Row 23: K4, M1, K9, K2tog, K3
Row 25, 27, 29: Repeat Row 23

Pattern block B:

Row 31: K3, S1, K1 PSO, K9, M1, K4
Row 33, 35, 37: Repeat Row 31

Rows 39-46 : Repeat pattern block B.

Rows 47-62: Repeat pattern block A twice.

Rows 63-70: Repeat pattern block B.

Row 71: Knit
Row 73: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K12, K2tog, K1 (16 st)
Row 75: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K10, K2tog, K1 (14 st)
Row 77: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K8, K2tog, K1 (12 st)
Row 79: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K6, K2tog, K1 (10 st)
Row 81: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K4, K2tog, K1 (8 st)
Row 83: K1, S1, K1, PSO, K2, K2tog, K1 (6 st)

Break off yarn with a c.40 cm tail. Thread yarn through remaining 6 stitches,and sew up snake body seam to head, and then stuff the body. I used Minicraft Supersoft Toy Filling (100% HiLoft Polyester). Sew up the head to the mouth and stuff the head, finish by sewing up the mouth.

Zig Snake: using CC sew eyes on either side of head, and also make body pattern at random points by sewing over individual stitches.

Zag Snake: using CC sew eyes on either side of head.

Flickr UK Etsy Challenge

The flickr group UK Etsy Challenge pretty much does what it says on the tin - challenges UK based Etsy sellers to create an item based on a theme. Just for the heck of it, really - and what better reason than that? It is always interesting to see the variety of different objects that are made.

The theme for this quarter (which closes this Sunday, 4 July - so get your skates on!) is Fairgrounds. This is my Helterskelter necklace, made from silver and copper wire, hanging on a leather cord. I love slides, and I am pleased with the way the bands of copper, and the little bit that flicks out at the bottom, really brings to mind (my mind, anyway!) the feeling of whizzing down the slide and whooshing off the end!



These are a couple of examples of other lovely objects that people have made - there are more on the site itself too. I'm not sure why the pictures are so tiny (I am a bit technically incompentent with blogger at the moment, being still a newby), but please follow the links to see them in all their colourful glory!

This is a brilliant crocheted mat by Six Skeins

And this is a gorgeous silver, glass and porcelain pendant by c-urchin

There will be a new theme for the next quarter soon, so if this Sunday is a bit too close a deadline, why not think about joining in the next challenge? The more the merrier!