Getting things finished.

Well, its the Half Term Holiday. A useful time to try and get some things finished.

So far. I have managed to get three items completed.

The first of these is a hat. I knitted it for my younger daughter to replace a hat she accidentally felted. The poor felted hat is shown at the top of this post.

Knitted in Sublime extra fine merino wool double knitting, I really hope she does not manage to felt this one too. It was a most enjoyable knit and only took three days to complete. The design is "Felicity" by Ebony Butterfly.

The next completed item is a felted bag which I started some time ago and then managed to lose the pattern.

I finished these funny squiggly bits the day before yesterday, then promptly lost the last of the yarn! What is it with this design? I keep losing bits and have to go searching the house for them. I found the scrap of yarn this afternoon when I was looking for something else. So now they are safely stitched onto the front of the bag.

The last thing to be finished was the first of my Nutkin socks. I have already started the second sock.

I recently bought myself some new needles. The first ones were so I could finish the hat for my daughter Rosemary. I just didn't have circular needles in the right size. So I sent off for some Addi bamboo needles and saw these:

Knit Picks dpns in a size I don't have........... I couldn't resist.

This may not seem very exciting if you are from the USA, but Knit Picks needles have only just arrived in the UK.

Now to get on with some needlework for a change. I won't bore you with the list of items I really need to get on with. Its embarrassingly long!

A new camera!

I finally have another camera to replace my old one. Sadly that one could not be repaired. It was too badly damaged. I don't think I shall let this one out of my sight for a while................ Its a Sony Super Steady Shot DSC-W200. It will take me some time to get as comfortable with it as my old one. Still it will be fun learning. My dear husband found this one in a sale of ex-catalogue items. What a find!





At present I am working on three knitted projects at the same time. This one is my main priority at present. I really need a cosy cardigan and this will be it. I am most of the way up the back now, so should be able to start one of the fronts next week.




Sorry the second photo is so blurred. It shows the colour of the yarn far better than the first picture.




The next picture is my second version of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Open-collar pullover. I shall attempt turning this into a v-necked jumper since I could really do with a warm one. I already have a bought one, but it really just isn't warm enough.



This next photo shows the progress with my Nutkin socks. The design is by Knitzi. Such a pleasant design, these are intended to be worn with my new short brown boots.



The lovely little zipped project bag was a free gift when I renewed my subscription to Selvedge. So useful! Its just the right size for the socks.

Last time, I mentioned the pattern I had bought from Sandie Lush. Here it is. The second photo shows the thread pack I bought at the same time.





The next photo shows the lovely little booklet about hand quilting which I bought at the meeting. The ISBN number is:1 870264 27 4. You can get these booklets direct from Sandie Lush.





The last photo is the Travellers Chuck pattern which I mentioned last time.



I was really intrigued by this idea and really want to make one.

A lovely weekend.

Had a great weekend. Such fun!
I spent the Saturday at the Quilter's Guild Area Day. This was wonderful. I had the chance to buy some more African fabric since Magi Relph had a stall there.
Our first speaker was the wonderful Sandie Lush. She is such a talented quilter and an entertaining person to listen to. Her talk was so informative, I was so glad that I had taken my little notebook along with me.
I bought a small booklet about hand-quilting, a thread pack and also a beautiful hand quilted cushion design called "Colonial Dahlia". These were being sold by Sandie after her talk.
It was wonderful to be able to see Sandie's beautiful quilts. Even better to be able to see them close -up.
After lunch, we had a second speaker. This was the amazing Jenny Kitoss (I do hope that I have spelt that correctly.) A prolific quilter who was happy to let us handle her quilts.
She had an amazing variation on the quillow idea, calling this a Travellers Chuck.
A quillow is a quilt which can be folded into itself, looking just like a cushion when it is folded up. A Travellers Chuck, on the other hand is rolled up and the ends held by two loops secreted on the back. I bought a copy of the pattern. It was charming to read on the back:

"NB (note) I do not need copywrite of this idea, we are lucky that early quilters weren't so selfish! Just acknowledge my inspiration." This comment was accompanied by smiley face.

Jenny had designed the original Travellers Chuck for her son who was about to travel around the world and needed something practical.

On the Sunday, I was able to indulge another passion - wool and other yarns for knitting and felting! It was the open day of bluefaced.com lots of wonderful yarns, needles, spindles, braiding tools, dyes and other goodies. I took my mum and younger daughter along. We had a great time touching, stroking and admiring the gorgeous yarns available. Fyberspates were also there with their beautiful range of yarns. Far too tempting. But oooh, what a fun time we had.

Sorry about the lack of photos - I still haven't had time to have my camera repaired / replaced.

Good weather.

Its so frustrating that I can't share any photos of my surroundings. Sadly, my dear little camera had an accident during the week. It had been borrowed and fell on some hard tiles............ a rather sad accident.


So no new photos for a while.........


All this when the weather is so nice again. Truly Autumnal weather, chill mornings warming up later into glorious sunshine.



At present I am prevaricating. I should be getting on with the ironing. Not my favourite occupation.





I have started knitting again. A red aran cardigan. I had planned to design one of my own - something I have vague ideas of. However, I need this cardigan rather urgently. The design work can wait until I have more time. This yarn started out life as a different cardigan. Sadly, I just did not like the design when I started knitting it. The buttonholes just seemed huge, so I ripped it all back. This design has pockets and will far more practical. Just what I need.







The quilt I showed in last weeks Blog has now been collected in and will be given to St Lukes Hospice soon. It was nice to see all the quilts together. We had our photos taken with them.

At school, I have started a Craft Group. The projects we shall tackle include knitting, sewing, felt-making, card-making, and many others. Last week I started showing them how to knit and start French knitting and making woolly bobbles. (Like the one on the pink bobble hat shown.)

It was so nice that some wanted to take the French knitting away with them! One or two took the knitting needles off with them too. They have relatives who can help with teaching them to knit at home. Very excitingly, I have two boys in the group. One of them was delighted to take one of the home-made bobbles home with him. I do hope they enjoyed themselves as much as I did. For next week, I have bought some more French Knitting Bobbins. These are in the shape of little people. Such fun!

I've been bad.

Oh dear, I really have been naughty. I went and bought some more fabric! The trouble is I have such a large stash already! I do have plans for the new fabric. The idea at the moment is to make fleece-backed lapquilts using the fabrics as features.............

I went to Knots and Needles, a local stitching group, on Thursday evening to hear Magie Relph speak about African fabric. I just couldn't resist, so I bought some.

I bought some Shwe-shwe. One of Magie's Mini Adventure Packs - 20 pieces each 10 x 8 and a half inches. Its such beautiful indigo fabric. At present, because I have not yet had the time to wash it, it is as stiff as cardboard. Once the excess dye is washed out, it becomes very soft, I am told........ (I've just placed the different designs on top of each other in the photo.)

The other piece is a lovely brown fabric I found on Magie's store, which she brought along to the meeting. I couldn't resist. Its soft and delicious.

The frog fabric was one I bought to share with a friend some time ago. We finally got around to sharing it out at the same meeting. (I photographed it with the brown fabric shown above, but it made the darker fabric look very very dark indeed.)

Then, oh dear, today I went to Hobbycraft. I needed some extra knitting needles for a Craft Group which I am starting at school. I saw some John Louden fabric bundles on sale. Last time, because they were full price, I managed to leave again without buying. This time, they were reduced......... I couldn't leave them there. Indian cotton. Nice.............................

The nearest I got to any knitting was buying two magazines. There are some beautiful projects to be considered in these pages. I just loved the cushion cover on the front of Piecework. And oh, Debbie Bliss............ Who could resist? I couldn't.

My only excuse is the sunshine. I hadn't seen much for a few days......................... These were taken in the car park close to Hobbycraft in Stockport.

Oh yes, I finished knitting a bag some days ago. This has only been languishing because I have managed to lose the pattern! Why does something always go missing when I have been tidying my workroom?

This has been felted since the photo was taken. It just needs the flower adding and a ruffle round the flap. So frustrating!!!

Busy, busy, busy................

Well, I have been really busy doing a lot of sewing lately. This first image is of a skirt I made. Well, reconstructed out of a pair of trousers that was languishing in my wardrobe. The trousers had really wide legs which was probably why I hadn't worn them in a very long time. It was so easy to turn them into a skirt. I shall use this skirt a lot - some really useful pockets.





A very simple dress, with side pockets. Why do women's dresses and skirts usually not have any pockets? This was made to get myself back into making my own clothes and using up some of my rather large stash. The pattern is Kwik-Sew 2677. A really comfy dress, I added darts to the front to give the design more shape.






The Hospice quilt is finished and the binding is done. I shall be handing this over on Wednesday. It will be fun to see how all the other lapquilts turned out. There are four (or is it five?) in all.





These photos show just how daft I went with the free-machine quilting. I covered the design with flowers and leaves in resonse to the mostly floral patterns used in the fabric choices. There are a few squiggles too for variety. The backing is a gorgeously soft fleece. Warm, cosy and washable.
I can see myself making one of these for myself (unless it gets claimed by someone else) one day.

The last two of my projects recently do not have any photos...... yet. The first of these was a fully lined cloak made without a pattern for my younger daughter. "Mum," she said. "Can you help?" This was a Friday. The Fancy dress party was on the Saturday evening. Bless her, she did most of the sewing, I did the cutting out and working out how to make the thing and how much fabric we needed.
The fact that it was fully lined was my own fault. She was going as "Little Red Riding Hood", but wanted a full cloak and not a cape. (She is 23.) I suggested that since we were going to be making a cloak, wouldn't it be more practical to make something she would wear again? I suggested lining it in black so that it could be fully reversible........... I think my sanity must be in question here.................She loved the idea, and looked magnificent setting out for her party.
Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of her setting out and I have not seen the cloak since. It will be safely stashed somewhere............

Since then, I got involved in helping a neighbour. Her young daughter (aged 15) had just been named as the Rose Queen. A really pretty girl, she had been given a lovely boned strapless and sleeveless evening dress. It was too big around the bodice. I spent a fascinating and nerve-wracking few hours, fitted in around work (school had just started again), working out how to alter the dress. In the end I summoned up the courage to take the side seams apart, deconstruct the boning in that area, take in the seams, recontruct the boning and hand stitch the lining back in place. Sadly, no photos yet, but apparently the dress now fits beautifully. She had her first public engagement as Rose Queen yesterday.

My fingers are now itching to get knitting again, and I have some fabric poised ready to be made into a dress...... I may not have time to cut it out today, since I also have a few items that really ought to be mended............. There is a box of schoolwork to attend to as well. Now what shall I do first?

The bauble completed.

A quick post to show the completed Christmas bauble. The first photo shows the knitted base. The second, the filled bauble hanging from the shelf above my desk.