Oh what a sky!

The sky is very heavy with rain out there - well, it will help me when I need to get around to washing my car later.

I shocked my poor husband yesterday - I actually cleaned the inside of my car! I haven't done that in far too long. Sorry, but housework, and cleaning are really not my "thing". I now need to get the windscreens and other glass surfaces cleaned today. Then I can wash the car - with the help of the rain that looks as if it will arrive later today.

What has brought about this madness? Well, I have been sharing my car with my younger daughter. At long last, she now has her own!! Yesterday, I had great delight in emptying the boot (trunk?) of all her paraphenalia. Now I can really make my little car my own. It is a Ford Fiesta. Quite fuel-efficient and big enough for my needs, I really should look after it a bit more than I have been. I must own up to looking after my sewing machine rather better than this faithful mode of transport.

It has been rather a hectic week. I have really not got very much of my own "work" done. School has kept me rather too busy.

Firstly, I am now on to the third attempt at starting my cowl. I have kept on getting it twisted. Infuriating. This time I have started knitting it on dpns (doubled pointed needles). Hopefully I shall get it right this time. What is it they say? Third time lucky............

When I went into town yesterday, I was lucky to find a second copy of the Therese de Dillmont classic "Encyclopedia of Needlework." This copy was rather more expensive than my first. This one still has it's dust cover and must be around forty years newer. The photos on the cover seem to date from the fifties and early sixties.

Madness to buy another copy of the same book? Well, perhaps. The newer copy is one I would feel happier actually using. It is a little bigger and is in excellent condition. My older copy - well, that has such character. It has clearly seen a lot of use and I love it for all of that. However, some sections are a little fragile and I would be worried about using it out of the house. Will I ever actually use these books? Of course I will. There is so much valuable information and such a range of techniques within these pages, I shall probably not get around to trying everything.

I told you I had had a crazy week. Well, it all started last weekend, when I was asked to repair my younger daughter Rosie's favourite dress. The zip had broken and the zip needed some reinforcement since the dress also has lacing to both side seams - probably the cause of the zip breaking in the first place. It was needed for Thursday evening. A rush-job in a madly busy week................................... It got completed on time. I added a flap behind the zip with a strip of velcro as an extra reinforcement.

Rosemary arrived home on the Thursday after visiting her elder sister, Liz. "Mum...."

Yes, big sister needs me to replace the pocket zip on her favourite jacket. The jacket is leather. Not a project I have ever tried before. I bought replacement zips for both pockets yesterday, not having been able to match the zip which had originally been used. Luckily, there is no immediate rush to get this done. Just as well, since I really don't have the time.

I am extremely lucky. Both daughters are great friends, and very appreciative of my efforts.

Oh yes, I made the mistake last week of asking my elder daughter what she would like for her birthday. There was a list - she has recently moved into a flat with her boyfriend. Amidst the list was a request............ could I make her another jumper? Blue and cream this time. No hurry.

So of course, I had to go and get some colour charts. I shall have to ask the question - which blue? There are several these days. We are so lucky as knitters and stitchers to have such a wealth of colours we can add to our creative palette.

In sympathy, the rain has really started outside. The sky has gone very dark and I do not think I shall venture out until it stops.

As I edit this post, the rain has just stopped and this is the sky outside my window. I think I am being urged to get off this chair, away from this computer to get on with things! I have a feeling that the rain will not have stopped for long.

Bye for now.

Playtime.

Well, I've been having a great time this week. Its the Easter Holiday here.

On Tuesday, I ended up going to the seaside with my husband. A rather blustery day, but we went for a walk along the promenade. We took this photograph of the ferry, Riverdance which went aground some months ago just off Blackpool's north beach. The local paper also has this fascinating article on local shipwrecks on this stretch of water.







The knitting on Liz's Dickinson Sweater has kept on growing. I ended up ripping it back around four inches the day before yesterday, but have managed nearly to get back to where I had previously got to. Getting the cables round the wrong way! I did the same thing with the back too. So I've just got to the point on the front where I shall be starting to decrease for the armholes and also for the v-neck in another ten rows time.

I finished the red Japanese Folded Patchwork hanging too. It is now dangling from a red stick stuck into my notice board. The stick, with its ribbon, came from the same miniature rosebush my husband bought me for Valentines Day.







My poor sewing machine will have to go in for a service this next week since I just cannot get the stitch tensioning to work. I have been so careful to follow the manual, just in cse I have forgotten to do something. I just have this uncomfortable feeling that the stitch tension has got jammed somehow.

Well, the fact that my dear old friend is no longer working properly, has made me take out my Overlocker (Serger). I bought this three years ago. Although I have used it for three or four projects, I have never really felt completely confident using it. So now, I shall just have to get on with learning how to make things with it.

I have already started making a project bag. In one of my Serging technique books - yes, I did collect two once I bought the machine - I found a rather interesting idea. This was to make fabric using narrow strips of fabric with the cut edges bound by the Overlocker. In the book, it was supposed to be the pocket of a jacket. I thought the front and back panels of a bag would be of more use to me.

I had loads of fun cutting long strips of fabric from my stash.





The working title of this project is "Pyjama Bag". Simply because most of the fabric comes from a pair of pyjamas which used to belong to my husband until he wore out the jacket button band (for the third time - there just was no more fabric I could use to reinforce the damaged area).







I have an idea to quilt the sides to make them more sturdy, though this will be done by hand unless the repair to my sewing machine takes much less than the last time the repairers took it in hand. (They had it for three weeks!)







Here are the handles I plan to use. The plait is made from some more of the pyjama material. I shall need to make another plait. These, when cut, will act as the holders linking the handles to the main body of the bag.

Recorders, knitting and stuff.

I finally completed my Notre Dame de Grace pullover this week. I decided in the end not to add a button, but to use my collection of brooches instead.



This second photos shows one of my home-made brooches. This was made some years ago, but the colours really seem to suit this jumper.



Today, I started work on my recorder case. I bought the fabric a few weeks ago from a charity shop. So now it begins. This first photo shows my Treble (Alto) recorder resting on the fabric. This is the true colour.



I've now got to the stage of binding the bag which will be rolled around the instrument to protect it as I carry it to rehearsals and performances. I'm a member of a local recorder group, playing mostly Treble.



This is the lining of the roll-up bag - the recorder pieces are in place. There are inner pockets to stop the smaller pieces falling to the bottom. The next photo look a bit washed-out in colour, but shows the bag rolled up with the recorder cocooned inside. I shall add a ribbon to keep the roll firmly together.



The CD case belongs to the music I was listening to as I sewed this together - Kathryn Tickell's Band. A rather nice folk music CD. Kathryn plays the Northumbrian small pipes superbly.
I had hoped to get more than one section of the binding done, but Coco decided to fall asleep on my fabric!



I hadn't the heart to move her.
The following pictures show a quick and essential repair I did to a pair of jeans. The dragonfly and flower motifs hold a piece of fabric in place on the reverse of the jeans. It all holds together a section that was going into rather a large hole.




Finally, I have started the November project for Elizabeth's Year. These will become the Moccasin socks. This time I am using the instructions printed in "Knitting Around" since this allows me to use up the remaining yarn from the open-collar pullover I finished recently.

The next photos show the completed open-collar pullover. The first shows the original buttons, the second shows the buttons it now has. These were chosen by my eldest daughter who had come to visit and rather liked the jumper. It is now hers. Well, it was her birthday! She left the house wearing it.....

Knitting and sewing.

Its been quite a busy week. The trees have all started changing colour and the hanging baskets have just about finished flowering. These amazing little flowers give a startling burst of colour to add to the visual din.

I managed to finish the machine embroidery on my jeans, though I do have a feeling that a few beads would add an interesting bit of sparkle....

During the week, I also finished the back of one jumper - the Notre Dame de Grace I started last weekend. I've now got started on the front..........

I did start my jumper for the Elizabeth's Year October project. However, I wasn't happy with the first version - I'd decided to try having a hem. It looked far too bulky, so I ripped it back. Then I started again, this time ribbing the edge. It kept getting twisted on the needles, so that got ripped back. I have started once more..... Hopefully this time it will work well.

I haven't yet started the sock yarn - I've been far too busy. On top of everything else, I was asked to help with cutting a couple of inches off the bottom of a pair of ready-made lined curtains. Rather a nice task that I've almost finished.

Last night my elder daughter asked if I could repair a pair of trousers for her....... not much, just a damaged seam and turn-ups that need a few stitches to reinforce. Oh and could I take up another pair of trousers for her? The legs are two inches too long...........

Why do I find myself saying "yes"?

Self indulgence.

I have completed this pair of socks. They are so cosy! They will be a joy to wear inside my boots this winter.



The following photos show a project which I have finally started. I grabbed this pair of jeans from some rubbish thrown out a while ago by one of my daughters. They are almost new - the only problem being that the legs have been slit from the bottom edge for a distance of roughly two inches. I have patched the cut and darned the area.



Then I have added some patterned scraps of fabric. The bits were first ironed onto Bondaweb, before being ironed onto the patched area at the bottom of each trouser leg. I shall use free-machine-embroidery to scribble a pattern over the top to secure the fabric scraps. After this I shall embroider some patterns around the fabric scraps just to decorate the area. I shall post photos when I have finished.



Yesterday, I spent a rather self-indulgent afternoon in Chester. This is a beautiful city, right on the edge of Cheshire in the UK. I was visiting to buy fabric, yarn and anything else that took my fancy.



In a Charity shop - Save the Children..... I found these pieces of furnishing fabric. There is just less than a yard of the blue and just over two yards of the cream. The blue is destined for my new recorder music bag. If there is anything left I shall be making rolled, padded, cases for my instruments.

The cream will be used to complete the task. I shall then use the remainder to make rolls to contain my collections of circular needles, double-pointed needles and straight needles. It will be so nice to be able to keep these tidy.......



Whilst in Chester I visited a favourite shop. Stash. I indulged myself, buying three different yarns for three different projects. I have already started the first of these. Its the "Notre Dame de Grace Pullover" by Veronik Avery. This is in the Summer 2007 edition of Interweave Knits. I am using Debbie Bliss' Rialto Aran. It feels so nice................

I found this lovely yarn for the October project for Elizabeth's Year, I bought some Addi bamboo circular needles for the same project.

I found this gorgeous sock yarn too. I couldn't resist..........