Knitting and sewing

The shawl is finished, and being worn. I am wearing it as I write this, and it is keeping my neck beautifully warm. My "Context scarf", to give it the correct name, is being worn by my tailor's dummy Aggie.

So what did I do? I went and started another one yesterday. The same pattern, but this one is knitted in a beautifully coloured sock yarn called Trekking XXL.

I popped in to my local wool shop yesterday and found the yarn amongst the sock yarns. I had wanted something with brown, orange and yellow in it since I wanted a small shawl to wear with a red jumper and brown skirt. It is lucky this design knits up so quickly.

Yes, I have been sewing too - quilting and adding beads, buttons and ribbon to my journal quilts. More hand sewing than machine work. Photos will have to wait until another time since I really need to get the first three finished and posted on the Yahoo site before posting the photos here.

I also have two blouses I really need to make for choir. I made one blouse some months ago, but it is deteriorating badly. The fabric I had used is the problem. It was a lining fabric which I hoped would be good enough and has now started stretching at the seams. I would have been happier had the stretching been caused by my being too big for the blouse. Sadly it is just pulling after having been washed a couple of times. So here you see the fabric I have bought to make two blouses. There is a rather pretty lilac and a brighter cerise colour. I bought these from the Fent Shop in Macclesfield. The fabric is a slubbed polyester and is much denser, whilst also being softer than my current choir blouse.

I shall be using one of these two patterns. Both were found in a charity shop. I shall probably use the McCalls pattern for the first choir blouse since the blouses are not worn tucked into a waistband. The Burda blouse will be so pretty for the Spring............ The next concert is next weekend, so I had better get on and make them.