There's an awful lot of crafting going on around chez knitting-and lately, most of it due to my deciding to knit a lot of Christmas presents, but some of it just for fun. Not that the Christmas knitting isn't fun, because I'm having a riot with that (all the Christmas projects are small!)

Having found the proper white balance setting on my camera, I am no longer relying on the really pointless "daylight" and "incandescent" settings so my colours are accurate! I've only had the camera for about 7 years... **ahem**

As an aside: If you're looking for a digital camera to take photos for your website and your budget is under AU$50, take a look on ebay for a Cybershot DSC-F505V. They're old technology and only 3.3 megapixels but they're still a great camera, especially for web photos. I paid over AU$2,000 for mine brand new when they first came out, it's paid for itself time and time again and I still use it daily.

OK, back to the fibre crafts.

Remember that blue wool that refused to be used up? It has been conquered!

Not only did a measly 168gms of blue corriedale make one large adult sized watchcap and one toddler sized jester hat but it also made some lovely stripes on this watchcap-in-progress. (Pattern from The Any Yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book)

but that's not all! Yes, even after all that stripy goodness, there was still some left over. Determined to use every last scrap, I used the very last few meters in a weavette square for the Square Deal Weave-Along, week 3. (bottom right hand corner).

I can honestly say that there is not a single scrap of that blue yarn left. Not an inch. Not a centimeter. Not even a millimeter!

These four squares are made with the "Fancy Weave" design from week 3.

And so are these:

The next 8 squares are made with the "Basketweave" design, also from week 3. They look just like the back of the fancy weave squares. I made 8 of each because I was having so much fun playing with colour.

My original intention was to make a blanket using weavette squares and crochet granny squares but I'm thinking that it might look nicer if I just use the weavette squares and crochet around each one. I'll have to get all the squares I've done so far out and have a play with them. I'm going for a vintage "scrap quilt" look, as you can probably already tell. I can always use the crochet squares in a blanket later on.

But wait, there's more!

I'm having great fun knitting a dalek or two. These are being made using the Extermiknit pattern by Penwiper. I tried to resist, but they're so cuddly and evil. Sigh. I gave in :-). What really made me cave was that the designer made the pattern to the specs in the Dr Who technical manual. Now that's dedication! I'm going to see if I can strengthen their appendages with some leftover millinery wire as these are intended for adults. I hate knitting the bobbles but they're over with pretty quickly and the end result is so incredibly worth the trouble!

Speaking of cuddly evil, I made a Kate Gilbert bunny too.

What do you mean pink bunnies aren't evil? That's what they want you to think...

I think these are nicer made with a novelty or fluffy yarn but mine is for a baby so I made it from two smooth yarns held together because it's safer. I used 2 DK (Aussie 8 ply) weight yarns on 4mm needles so the stuffing wouldn't show through. I also gathered the neck slightly after stuffing to give it a bit more shape.

The very last thing that I finished recently is a kitten pot holder made from a book published in 1946.

The book is called "The Complete Book of Crochet" by Elizabeth L. Mathieson (misspelled Matheson on the cover of my printing). It's full of wonderful vintage patterns such as this kitty pot holder, lots of bedspreads, table cloths, doilies and other wonderful things. If you like vintage crochet snap up a copy of this book! It sold so well over the years that you can still find a copy relatively cheaply even 61 years later. My copy cost me US$3 on abebooks.com (about AU$12 including postage from the US) and I'd have happily paid twice that.

Tomorrow I'll tell you all about my fantastic finds at the local book fair. Stay tuned!