Little shoes in little boxes

More about these down below...

Well our weather has cooled down a bit this week - not a bad thing in my opinion. Of course everyone likes to have an early summer with deliciously warm temperatures, but it seems to have sprung from winter straight into summer without passing by spring. My strawberry plants are still thriving. There are some little green strawberries on them now, but with the cooler weather, I need to find a way to protect them from the damp soil. I remember my dad used to use straw, but I don't have any straw! I'm wondering if there's anything recyclable that would do the job. Any ideas? In the meantime I took this photo a couple of days ago when it was still very sunny - I think they look lovely from this angle. Tomorrow we're planning to buy some cherry tomato plants to put in some bigger pots on the balcony, despite the cooler weather.

Today I went into the chic shop I got past every day on my way to work and showed the shop owner my rainbow sandals. It was a bit late in the day so we didn't have time to talk for long, but she admired the little shoes and we've agreed that I should pass by another day and discuss what she can do for me. She's also going to advise me of the cost and has kind of offered to put them on display in her shop, and give people details of how to buy or order a pair directly from me. Wasn't that nice of her?

I have made another pair of these baby shoes - this time with organic cotton yarn. It's a bit thicker than my usual Catania yarn, so even though I used the same size hook, the finished shoes are a little bit bigger.  They're for my friend's baby boy who is four months old.

Following a question in the comments, I've taken a few (not very good quality) photos of how I make the strap. I hope this will make it a bit clearer.

First of all, make 18 ch (and when you join the other colour, do it more carefully than I did!)

Then dc back up the chain, and onto the heel of the shoe, until the marker

When you get to the marked stitch, work another 18 ch

Then dc back towards the shoe and attach the yarn to the base of the dc remaining on the heel

Now you just need to weave in the ends and add buttons and hey, presto!

I have a very old stash of children's magazines in French that my middle daughter was subscribed to when she was about six. For a while now I've been wondering what I could do with them, and then early this morning I had a brainwave! My initial plan was to use them to cover boxes I would make with old cereal boxes. But that would mean lots of measuring and cutting out and gluing and it seemed far too much like hard work. This morning's brainwave was a single word - ORIGAMI! And look at what I came up with:

The origami pattern I found is so, so easy. Since I made the box in the photos I've made two more. It would be more accurate to say I've made six boxes, actually, as you need two boxes when you count the lid, each of which is made separately. The pattern is the same, you just make the lid a bit bigger by starting off with a bigger square. Here's the page I chose (the video is especially useful), but if you just type origami box in any search engine you'll get lots of examples. The ones I've make with my comic book pages is just the right size for the baby shoes, so I'll be able to send them to my friend in their very own box. Cost of box - nothing at all, and it's recyclable. Oh and I forgot to mention that my wrist is a lot better. Happy, happy, happy.