Picperfic's Blogspot

I've moved

2010-12-30T14:09:00.000Z

you can find me here

just a bit fed up of blogger crashing my browsers, whatever one I try! I have also tried to find out why it is doing this but to no avail...

Exciting Times

2010-11-30T21:55:00.000Z

My lovely Mum was having her hair done when she needed to find something from her little purse that I had made her. Pamela, the hairdresser saw the purse and asked Mum about it. Pamela is opening a new ladies hairdressing salon and thought that my little purses would suit the Vintage theme of the place.

I spoke to Pamela yesterday and she has asked me if I’ll make about 10 different styles of purses for her to sell in the Salon. I am so excited about this, especially as I was also asked to show Pamela any new ideas I have to see if they will suit the shop. What a lovely person she is to work with too

I have also been asked to do a wholesale order for my fibre, these are indeed exciting times for Fluff-n-Stuff…

My Interchangeable Needle Organisers

have had more good reviews and I have been taking orders for quite a few of these.

I still have a few spaces left before Christmas if anyone else would like one…? They make excellent presents for a knitting friend..

It was Barry’s birthday yesterday and I felt like I hadn’t given him much of present. He had had a new Sat Nav system a month or so ago which was to be his birthday present but I felt I needed to give him another present so I bought him the RAF Air force Band’s CD, Reach for the Skies. On the day, this CD seemed inadequate….

When Barry is rehearsing or playing with the band he likes to record their music to listen to again and again (thank goodness for headphones eh? Don’t get me wrong, I adore Brass Band music but there is a limit to how often I want to hear a section of music played…). The recorder he uses was in a flimsy black bag which offered no protection for the special gadget. So whilst he was at work I made him a bag he had been asking me make for ages. Black denim lined with beautiful craft cotton fabric bought from America (I really didn’t like cutting that special fabric), I love the internet for shopping! I also added a pocket for headphones and other bits and bobs and a magnetic popper to keep it all in it’s place. I am now thinking of turning this into a useful wallet/purse to add to my shop. This one is fully interfaced and padded and when Barry came home from work I was so excited for him to open this present. He was delighted with it!

Right, time to get back on with my knitting, a Christmas present for someone special…no, not Barry this time!!

Where did that week go?

2010-11-21T14:06:00.002Z

Last Saturday was spent in Exeter at the wonderful Knit Expo event…I had a great time there and met some lovely people like Denise, also known as KnittingPixie. I have chatted and worked with Denise for ages and it was great to meet in real life. My stand was next to Five Moons from whom I purchased enough yarn to make myself a Sprössling cardigan. The girls from Five Moons were so lovely, I had many a laugh with Evva For the front of the cardigan, I have ordered some beautiful Czech glass buttons from Martina from Yarn to Knit. I just need to actually make a start on this cardigan now!

My new improved interchangeable needle organiser bags proved to be very popular, I sold out of all that I took with me and took orders for more. I had a good review from a customer, here’s what she had to say:-

‘I bought one of your larger folding cases at the Exeter Knit Expo and love it. My friend and I kept commenting on how beautifully made it is and I'll certainly be pointing others in your direction for cases. I am so pleased with it Thank you. I have had 3 failed purchases for cases that just weren't big enough and didn't do the job, so I really am chuffed to bits to have found one that fits the bill perfectly’

Also, my shopkeeper’s pinnies caused a lot of interest after Suzie from The Wool Sanctuary (she also knitted the words and houses on the intro to Kirsty’s homemade Home!) sported her pinny on the day, sadly I forgot to take a photo but I gather she was delighted with it. I am enjoying a bout of sewing at the moment and once these orders are completed I intend to make myself a dress or two. I have some gorgeous red/black/grey tartan material to make a pinafore and I am eager to get it cut out…arghh all those checks to match up!!

My son in law brought my three gorgeous grandchildren to Knit Expo to see me which made my day. I understand he cut it a bit fine getting back for the girl’s ballet lessons though. Maddie was wearing one of my Aspen Cardigans…she looks so elegant. Sullivan clung onto me with his head on my shoulder, I could have stayed like that all day if he wasn’t so heavy!

We drove back to Cambridgeshire after the show as Barry was blowing his trumpet in a Memorial Service on the Sunday morning. The music from the brass band was amazing and the occasion moving...

Later on the Sunday my friend Andrea arrived and she stayed until Thursday. The highlight of our week as a literary lunch with Nigella. We found her to be beautiful, informative and entertaining. A charming woman that knows her stuff in the kitchen! I managed to spill a glass of elderflower cordial all over me, my new coat and the floor of the church where the event was held. Felt extremely clumsy that day but it made us laugh!

Before Andrea left I managed to get a few shots of her wearing the Cranford Mitts which I made for her and the Lubushka’s which are mine. The pattern tells you to use separate balls of Rowan Felted Tweed, loads of different colours which would have cost a bomb, I am delighted with the Plum Duff Plushness from Skein Queen and am now knitting another pair with some more brightly coloured variegated yarn.

The handspun Woodsmoke Scarf has now been blocked and is very beautiful to look at let alone touch! I am amazed at how the colours have stayed separate as it was a 2 ply yarn. I made this scarf shorter but wider than the pattern suggests and love it more than the original.

~*~

My Barry has been so unwell, Shingles have taken their toll on him and left him with a horrid chest infection which has caused him to need an inhaler and antibiotics. I hope all the medicines he has had to take lately will make him feel better. I bought him a heated Tens Machine which was a revelation in the pain department. Let’s hope we both get some decent sleep soon, I am exhausted so can only begin to imagine how he is feeling.

Way back Barry bought us tickets to go and see Dreamboats and Petticoats in London, sadly, Barry was too poorly to attend but tired as I was, I decided it would be good for me to get out, especially as it was a coach trip so I could relax on the journey. Heather came with me and we had a lovely time. We took our time over a wonderful Italian meal and feeling stuffed we made our way to the Playhouse Theatre. Such a charming old building and not as big as I thought it would be. The show was amazing and got us up dancing at the end..

Today I have been doing some shredding, there is loads more to shred so I could be gone for some time..

Remember me?

2010-11-07T10:40:00.002Z

Long time no hear eh?
I am at that stage of show preparation again, not one spare minute for me. If you want me I’m probably in the conservatory sewing, or else I’m in the living room labelling my fluff. Actually, I like that job, I can relax as I do it and it means that I have done the dyeing but a little voice keeps saying, maybe go and dye up a little more???

Yesterday I took a day off and went to my spinning guild at Rampton. I almost managed to spin up the last of 300g of some Oatmeal BFL and Silk ready to N-Ply it into some chunky yarn. It was lovely catching up with friends, I’m so glad I made myself go as I do get bogged down with my own company at times

The day after Knit Expo, my special friend Andrea is coming to stay for a few days. The highlight of her visit is going to see Nigella in Ely, we’re both so excited about that. which reminds me, I need to go and collect the tickets! Perhaps I’ll combine the collection with a visit to my knit group on Wednesday morning in the Ely Wool Shop.

I think Autumn has got to me, I am trying to ignore how it makes me feel but it is a strong force and makes me feel like I want to run and hide from the world. It’ll soon pass, I’ll just keep busy as usual and hope that is finally gives up and leaves me in peace with myself again. Here’s some photos of what has kept me busy lately….

Autumn Busy-ness

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and last weekend I had fun photographing this little fairy and her big brother, what a couple of cuties!

Leon and the Little Fairy

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Today is sunny, my mood is weird

When Barry gets back from band practice we are off out for a carvery at a local pub, I’d better go and make myself presentable…have a happy Sunday

Marianne x

Sewing

2010-10-13T16:07:00.003+01:00

Yesterday, after a lot of days thinking, I decided it was time to make myself a sensible case in which to store my interchangeable needles. I have a lantern moon purse which is for fixed circulars, and this served it’s purpose as long as the needles were connected to a cable. If I placed the needles in the bag without a cable attached to them, then when i opened the bag the needles fell out, grrr!
So I did some measuring, some calculating, some cutting, some sewing, ironing and came up with this:-

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Now this bag has pleased me! My needles stay in the pockets, the fixed needles stay in the bigger pockets behind the small sections and the lovely big zipped pocket stores everything else that I need to keep by my side.
Now, I played with this bag all yesterday evening, shoving it in Barry’s face to admire and putting photos on Facebook and Twitter, sorry but I do get excited when I am happy with one of my creations. However, as I was playing with this bag, I realised that I needed to improve on the design a little. The ribbon closure for a start, that had to go!! I loved the big pocket and the location of it. I three back pockets were a little too deep as were the needle pockets at the front. So today, once I was up and dressed I set to work on my next model. I wrote down all the measurements and ideas as I went along and came up with this one:

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Here are the specs:-

21cm wide x 17cm high all folded up
20cm wide x 18cm high zipped pocked, fully lined and interfaced with fabric covered ends of the zip and a fabric tab on the actual tab of the zip
32cm wide x 21cm high main part of the organiser (excluding the zipped pocket and with the top flap folded over)
3 large pockets each measuring 10.5cm wide x 15cm high, for fixed cable needles
5 small needle sections measuring 2.5cm x 8.5cm high and 5 wider sections measuring 4cm x 8.5cm high
a large flap to completely enclose everything when bag is folded so nothing will fall out
a lovely big loop closure which will extend as you fill this bag up
pretty machine embroidery which adds extra strength
all seams have been double stitched or strengthened at stress points
all quality fabrics
each piece of fabric has been interfaced with a cotton backed interfacing so where the fabric is doubled, ie everywhere,it is firm and feels substantial

I love how this folds into a neat little clutch purse shape!

All in all this is a keeper, a very useful and well made bit of kit! I enjoy well made creations and have got a little bit fussy over what I want to keep in my life. I hope the quality of my work comes across to you as I have spent a lifetime sewing and learning how to get the best from this hobby. Second best doesn’t come into it!
Can you tell that I am very proud of this creation? I am hoping to have a few of these to take with me to Knit Expo,the big Knit show in Exeter on November the 13th.
Thank you to everyone regarding my cold, I am almost better, just the occasional cough and splutter. I am pleased about that and think my speedy recovery is down to a fizzy Echinacea drink have been having every morning. Hope I’m not speaking too soon mind you…

I-Knit Weekender 2

2010-09-21T11:02:00.002+01:00

Wowee what a weekend that was! So many of you lovely people came and said hello and chatted, it was like a party! I did extremely well, maybe it was beginners luck but my fluff was flying out of the shop at a steady speed. I had help on the Friday from my friend Heather and on the Saturday, Sally and James came along to help too. I couldn’t have managed without you guys. James and Sally did some spinning on my Victoria wheel and James also did some spindle spinning, seemed to draw people to watch. I am so grateful for all the happy help I received, thank you!!

Barry did a sterling job, all that driving, unpacking and assembling and kisses and cuddles and smiles and laughs..made the whole weekend special, even if it did cost us a new Nikon(or two)!

Lots of people were drawn by the colours, several asked me how they would knit with the fluff, which took me by surprise!

I am rubbish at remembering names and rather than leave people out I thought I’d best not mention those that I do remember, you are all special to me and I am chuffed that you sought me out to say hello :)

My Aspen Leaf cardigan was a great success and after the fashion show on the Friday I sold quite a few of the patterns and fibre for people to make it! Some people bought the pattern to make with commercial yarn which got me thinking that maybe I would dye some aran weight up so the kit could be purchased. I would like the yarn to have a high alpaca content so it fluffs a bit…will keep my eyes peeled. Anyone got any suggestions?

The hotel we stayed in left a lot to be desired, they foolishly emailed us asking for a review! I wrote a really good review of a bad hotel, felt strongly that things needed to be said! Not heard back from them for some reason lol…

The day after we got back from I-Knit we went on a trip to Barcelona, took loads and loads of photos which are all on Flickr but I’ll direct you to them in my next post as I wanted to direct you to the photos that Barry took on his new camera of the I-Knit weekend

All in all Barry and I both loved the whole weekend (good job we were so tired that sleeping was a priority in the hotel!). I am keen to do more events and am off to Flitwick this Sunday for The Ravelry Meet, looking forward to the whole day where I think I’ll be doing some spinning. I have been in fast forward for too long and need to slow down or I might blow a fuse! lol

I am also booked in for Knit Expo in Exeter on November 13th and for Fibre East next July…will have to get organised about other events too!

I want to do more sewing too, my little pinny proved popular and I have 2 orders already :)

Be back soon to tell you about Barcelona…whoooosh phew!!

I’ll leave you with a photo of Longdraw James and James Toft, Sally’s new Alpaca…notice the matching quiffy fringes!

Barry bought me one too, as a celebration of our first big knit event, mine’s blond and gorgeous so she’s called Posh Toft and she resides near my fireplace next to the old bobbin and shuttle displayed there, maybe a photo is needed!

I-Knit Weekender

2010-09-06T15:41:00.001+01:00

Whose idea was this exactly? When it was suggested, I agreed, it did sound like a good idea, and now I am almost ready to roll I agree again, it is a good idea, but oh my, the work that has gone on to get me to this stage has been immense!

Maybe my op back in July took it’s toll on me, but dyeing up many kilos of fibre has been hard work. It was fun too, don’t get me wrong, I love to work with this fluffy stuff and dyes, I just get lost in it, so much so that a day can disappear with me just playing in my workroom*

*for workroom read anywhere in the house that has a space, sorry honey…will all be back to normal soon

This is my banner for my stand, I am so pleased with it, really I need to zigzag around all the letters but at the moment, I will leave it as it is. I might mess it up if I try to do it quickly so I’ll sort that out after the event. I have a some more spinning/knitting events lined up and will hopefully have it completely finished by the time they come round.

Last Thursday my lovely friend Sally came round and helped me do a trial set up on my dining room table. It was reassuring to see the fluff filling the table, and to know that there was even more still in bags ready to put out. I have dyed up 3 or 4 of the same in one dye lot as I felt it would be good for spinners if they wanted to spin to knit something bigger than a scarf.

I am printing off some of my Aspen Leaf patterns to give as a freebie if 400g or more of the same fibre is purchased, also I will be giving 15% discount on 300g or more of any fibre, any colours. Hope I can find somewhere to hang everything up, I have a feeling I will be too warm to wear my alpaca version….

Oh and I’ll be taking all my made up Aspen’s too. I have just finished knitting a tiny one, to fit a 12-18month size

I used DK/Sport weight yarn and 4mm needles to knit the smallest size and got this cutie

all from 100g of yarn with a bit left over!

This morning I made myself a cute pinny to keep all my ~~dosh~~

pens and things in, I just love the funky fabric!

So, who’s coming to see me? Don’t forget to wear your badge and please don’t be shy, I love to chat..Sally is helping me on Friday and Heather is doing a stint on the Saturday, I have got some lovely friends!

See you there!!

Maisie and Kylie August 2010

2010-08-21T22:19:00.002+01:00

Maisie and Kylie August 2010
Originally uploaded by picperfic

Took my gorgeous daughter Maisie and her friend Kylie out for a fun photoshoot today..this is one of my favourite shots. You can see the rest of the album here

Aspen

2010-08-16T12:17:00.002+01:00

A simple top down circular yoke cardigan.

SIZES 30-32, 34-36, 38-40, 42-44, 46-48 ins,
76-81, 86-91, 96-101, 106-111, 116-121 cms

Actual size 35, 39, 44, 48 53 ins, 88, 99, 111, 121, 134 cms

I used my own handspun singles from some 70% Superfine Baby Alpaca 30% Blue Faced Leicester Top which I dyed myself. I got approximately 8-10wpi and used 360 metres for the 38-40 size

This pattern is knitted with a looser than normal tension for the thickness of yarn.

Pretty leaves decorate the yoke and a fast growing twisted drop stitch is used for the sleeves and skirt of the cardigan.

There are two versions, one is straight down and the other has a little shaping using some under-the-bust decreases and smaller needles to fit more to your curves.

The design shown is the more fitted version

Included are instructions for a sleeveless version as well as 3/4 length sleeves. The length of the body and sleeves are easily adjustable.

The pattern is an 8 page pdf file with clear instructions and notes throughout.

You can see more photos here

Ravelry info here

I am a published pattern writer!

2010-08-04T10:06:00.001+01:00

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I am so excited….my baby dress pattern is in the latest issue of Inside Crochet Magazine. Issue 9. I have been getting a good response from it so far. One speedy crocheter has already almost finished hers, looky! The pretty dress is very easy and a lot of fun to make. Just 100g of 4ply, fingering weight yarn with a yardage of about 400metres will make the versions shown. The one on the left was made using Posh Yarns Sylvia, the middle one was Wendy Happy and the third one is some of my own dyed up sock yarn, the one with a bit of nylon in it, it worked very well indeed :) More photos can be seen here

This is Sullivan, my delightful little grandson. He is 2.5 years old. At the weekend Barry, Maisie and I had the pleasure of looking after this little man whilst his Mummy and Daddy and two big sisters went on an adventure weekend. Sullivan was too little to join in with their fun so we had fun with him instead. He is so entertaining, funny, cute, delicious, clever….can you tell that I am smitten with him?

On the Saturday, Barry suggested we took Sullivan on a steam train journey, I was definitely up for that as I love steam trains, Barry has a bit of a thing for them too. Sullivan adores everything to do with Thomas the Tank Engine, So the steam train it was!

You can see the whole album here and there is a less than obvious ‘slideshow’ button you can click if you feel like it!

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It was such a magical day, we left a very dull Barnstaple, but saw the weather change to gorgeous sunshine as we had quite a long drive to find the train at Bishops Lydeard. Sullivan was very quiet on the journey to the train but as soon as we turned in to the station car park he saw trains and promptly announced‘I can see two trains!’ and from that moment he chatted the whole day.

On the way back, we were in the car and all feeling rather weary, so Grandma said to Sullivan, ‘do you ever stop talking?’ and Sullivan replied ‘I have one more question…’ which made us all laugh, he had many more than one more question!!

Lovely happy memories….

Designing….

2010-07-27T11:09:00.001+01:00

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I am writing up a pattern for my shop. I just need to add sleeves, although I think it looks pretty without, so I’ll do both! I am knitting this from some heavy Aran weight commercial yarn but my intention is to knit is with one of my ‘Spin-a-Cardi’ packs. I have dyed up the fibre, just need to spin it.

I would like your opinions on the pattern please, oh and suggestions for a name? I might turn it into a competition, what do you think?

I have a deal on in my shop right now, for every 300g you can choose another 100g and I’ll refund the price of the cheapest lot. You will have to hurry though, because this offer finishes when I go to bed tonight, 27th July 2010. There are more details in the shop.

I have been dyeing up some beautiful new fibres which I am testing out at the moment, delicious they are! I think it will be hard to part with them. My house is awash with yummy fluff right now as I have the mega task of dyeing up enough fluff to fill a table at the IKnit Weekender in September. This is the first time I have done a big show and I am a little bit nervous especially as I have heard that dropping off your stuff can be a bit hectic and stressful, and then of course there is the parking to think about!

Cloud Chaser Finished

2010-07-23T23:40:00.000+01:00

Technorati Tags: hampshire,spinning,knitting,lepe,andrea,lizzy,BBQ

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I loved knitting this darling waistcoat and can’t wait to wear it. I think the weather is cooling down so it’ll not be long before I am wearing my jeans again.

You can see more info here

I just love this photo so much <3

Barry and I spent a lovely weekend in Hampshire. My Mum was over from Northern Ireland and was staying with my sister in Romsey. Lizzy holds a family BBQ every year and so we decided to travel down. We dropped off a small Pavlova with Laurie, I made two, one enormous one for the BBQ and one for him. It was good to see him looking so well :)

Maisie came with us to the BBQ, she was happy and smiley, it was so lovely to catch up with family. Later in the evening, I got my Louet Victoria out and did some spinning. I do think my family think I am rather peculiar, but I couldn’t sit still a moment longer…..I love that little wheel, think it might be travelling with me to all sorts of places.

These 2 photos were taken on Mum’s camera, I love the smiley one of Maisie which Mum took xxx

On the Sunday we went to see my son Edward and his fiancé Michelle, Edd was poorly with sinusitis but he still managed to give me a lovely cuddle. I miss them very much xx

It was also my special friend Andrea’s birthday so we met up at Lepe Beach and had the best fun for 2 hours. Laughing, chatting, hugging, taking photos, we had a lot to pack in. At the end of the meeting I gave Andrea her birthday present, you can see her reaction in the photos below

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Hope you have a lovely weekend, I going to be spinning in public tomorrow, whilst Barry is playing his trumpet/cornet/flugel horn with Somersham Town Band. It’s been a lovely summer so far, long may it continue!

Tour de Fleece

2010-07-03T09:48:00.003+01:00

I have to say that this is one of the easiest cardigans to make, I actually knitted it in 4 days, well that's not strictly true as I mostly knitted it in the evenings. I love the sheen and the haze you get with this pretty fibre, it drafts like a dream and is very easy to spin. I must try it out on some fine spinning next.

I haven't been knitting so many socks as I did last year but when this pack arrived from my KnitLove sock club I immediately wanted to cast them on. They are called Caretta Caretta and are made from the most beautiful yarn with added cashmere and silk. I think it might have been the beads that was the lure for me, I can't resist a bit of glitz! The fit like a dream, I have learnt to knit my socks on a size smaller needles than the pattern says, I hate a baggy sock!!

I am in, you know, that Tour de Fleece race! Not sure how well I'll do though, I'll do my best but as it is only 2 days to my op I don't think I'll be getting too much done for a few days after tomorrow.

I also finished this pretty dress but I don't now what planet I was on when I was sewing it cos it is too big for me!I can wrap it round with an overlap of at least 3 inches, I guess my diet is working lol. I even fitted it on busty Bertha as you can see but it is too big for her too doh! lol Anyway, I have sold it, and it is going to a really good home. I only wanted to cover the costs of the materials so that I can make myself another one. I love everything about this dress, so shapely, the fabric is very pretty and luckily, I managed to find a different supplier with just enough for another attempt. Oh and if you go to the Vogue link above, you will notice that their patterns are all on offer for a few days, absolute bargains, I have ordered three new ones, I find that I never get stung for import tax by buying three and the postage is the same whether you by 1 2 or 3! I have signed up for the newsletter so I never miss an offer but this one is exceptionally good, something to do with 4th July or something....lol Oh and they usually take just a week to arrive!

Have fun, I am going to be spinning in public tomorrow, making the most of this gorgeous weather. Barry is playing his ~~trumpet~~ Cornet again in the Somersham Town Band at 2.30pm Church Green Ramsey if anyone cares to join me...would be lovely to have some company, bring along your spinning, knitting, or anything or just yourselves, and something to sit on!

I am starting to feel a bit jittery about it all now, but also I am looking forward to being pain free again. My orders are all up to date, just got one spin a cardi pack drying on the line right now and Barry will post that for me next week.

I have cast on a darling pattern, it is called Cloud Chaser designed by the talented Amy Swenson, she knows my style that girl, I already made myself an Elswhere cardigan and love it to bits. I am using some delightful yarn, Willow Tweed by Louisa Harding in a pretty shade of aqua blue. The Yarn has tiny clouds of white throughout, which gives it the tweed effect and it is very well suited to the drape in this pattern. I am hoping the cables and clever design will keep me quiet when I am waiting to go down for my op, and again when I am recovering....

Thoroughly enjoyed watching Wimbledon so far, so sad to see Murray lose yesterday, how sad was he?!? it was quite painful to watch him being interviewed afterwards, poor chap.

I'll leave you with a photo of my handsome Barry in his rather too big Band jacket, he is waiting for a smaller one to arrive but he still looks lovely in it, well I think so xxx

Have a good weekend :)

Anyone for Tennis?

2010-06-21T19:15:00.003+01:00

I am doing too much at once...I am sure you have all done the same from time to time...? These are some batts I have created as a gift for a very generous customer of mine, I hope she enjoys spinning them. They are full of deliciousness, all hand dyed by me.

This pretty handspun was a reject from a spin a cardi pack, the pink was a bit, erm shocking! I overdyed the spun yarn with a weak night blue solution and it has worked really well. I now love this yarn and look forward to knitting it up. 340m 300g Blue Faced Leicester, Baby Alpaca and Silk, heavy aran singles

I am also in a sewing mood, and have almost cut out this pretty pattern. I love sewing, and I love vintage patterns which seem to go together so well. Beautiful tailoring and a gorgeous drape and cut of the fabric. This pattern has bound buttonholes, I am not sure I will be brave enough to do those as my machine does lovely buttonholes. I wonder if that is why the pattern uses bound buttonholes, I don't expect sewing machines did an auto buttonhole when that pattern was produced.

I just love these socks, from the Knitlove Club, beads on socks are such fun, I have started the second one and I will finish it as I just adore the pattern so much. I did a lovely stretchy Guernsey Cast on, which gives a very pretty picot edge.

and also on the needles is this mindless stocking stitch, I just had to show the stitch markers, I bought them from Fripperies and Bibelots, she has some gorgeous stitch markers for sale in her shop :) I just had to buy these tennis balls as I just love Wimbledon fortnight!!

So now, after being entertained by Federa on Centre Court this afternoon (by entertained read scared he was going to lose so i went cleaned my oven), I am now trying to get this place straight so I can enjoy the next fortnight of play. I have to say that I enjoy the men's tennis the most...

Time to go and get myself something to eat I think, oh and that's another story, I am on a low fat diet, losing weight slowly, a pound a week which is good as it soon mounts up. Unfortunately, my gall bladder decided to play up big time and I ended up in casualty a couple of weeks ago. I had a scan last week and I have multiple small stones which are just the right size to get stick in the tube, ouch, I mean OUCH!! So, no fat at all for me, well none that I can see! I am in constant pain from it and don't sleep too well but I am seeing a surgeon on the 28th and hopefully will have an operation to remove the offending article soon after. By keyhole surgery I hope.

Now about those elderflowers that I aught to go and pick...

Puppet Show

2010-06-09T19:04:00.001+01:00

How I love Oliver and S Patterns!

The designs are adorable, just looking at the cute drawings of cut out dolls on the pattern wrappers makes me want to sew them.

I bought the fabric for this outfit the Wednesday before last whilst I was at knit group. Sandra, from The Ely Wool Shop sells the most pretty fabric, she said last week when I purchased even more fabric to make myself another dress 'I think we have the same taste', I think she's right!

Rather than cutting out the exact size on the pattern sheet, I traced the pieces so I can use it again for a different size. For some reason I have 2 of these patterns, so I have all the sizes from 6 months to 5 years. I feel lucky to have them too as the pattern has been discontinued now. I never thought that any of these patterns would go out of print, they are all so classic and stylish in design.

I find it amusing that I love to sew in the summer months....

What are you all doing at the moment?

WWII Re-Enactment

2010-06-03T21:16:00.002+01:00

Bank Holiday Monday was spent at Kentwell. The weather was so dull and a bit wet but we had a good time. This is Maisie (wearing the Gaenor Scarf) and her friend Kylie. Not sure the girls enjoyed it as much as we did but they look lovely in this photo :)

I love the milk bottle in this shot, we sampled the Marmalade Bread Pudding, it was very tasty considering it contained no butter or sugar...I Know eggs were also rationed so it may have contained some dried egg. The two ladies working in the kitchen were very well informed and quite eager to chat to me about the meal they had cooked for the family. It smelled like school dinners, rather a lot of cabbage was in evidence!

We took this shot on our walk round the house, something we do if we see each other in a mirror as we go on our travels. Apparently, we started doing this in 2005!

This lovely lady stopped her chores in the kitchen to watch the Morris Dancing, did I ever tell you that i used to do a bit of Morris Dancing..never came to much as it was expected of me to be available at weekends and I couldn't leave my babies. I wonder if my friend Chris will read this, it was Chris that introduced me to Morris dancing lol. I love the look of disbelief on peoples faces when I tell them I used to do it...

You can see the whole album of photos here

Barry is playing in his band on Sunday so if the weather is good I shall take my knitting and Kath Kidson chair to sit and listen. I loves me a brass band, specially when my man is playing!

Getting up to speed...

2010-05-28T19:08:00.003+01:00

Nella is finished and blocked...more info here

A dress for one of Ali's girls, still don't know which one it fitted but I loved making it. An Oliver & S Pattern, Jumprope Dress

On 9th May Barry took me to Beth Chatto's gardens...simply beautiful, you can see some more of my photos here

I have a new baby wheel, a Louet Victoria, so I am all set for taking a spinning wheel with me to Guild and the Lexi Boeger class in July..

I think that brings me up to speed, sorry it's a bit abrupt...I was in the ED this morning at about 6am...I had been in dreadful pain since 12.30, an hour after going to bed. Apparently it is probably my gall bladder. I am shattered now, no sleep last night and a dull ache, still I have some good pain killers should it get worse again. I will be having a scan soon, just have to wait for my appointment to come through...

A Visit to London

2010-05-27T10:39:00.000+01:00

Last Thursday, my friend Heather and I travelled to London , after a lovely chatty ride on the train and underground we arrived at I Knit!

I was amazed to find it wasn't as large a place as I thought it would be but oh, was it packed to the brim with yummy stuff! I made a couple of purchases and then we made our way to the Victoria & Albert Museum where we met up with some other friends for lunch before we went in to see the beautiful and emotive Quilt Exhibition

This is the gorgeous ceiling in the cafe...

I just loved the scene and reflections in the V&A garden, we spent ages just sat with cups of tea and knitting our socks.

After a moving viewing of some amazing quilts we headed to the shop where I found loads of shopping trolleys for sale, thought they looked a bit like an army ready to invade the Dr Who set...

Three of the weary girls...

At my last visit to the V&A, I was doing an Interior Design Course and we were investigating textures but I remember being very interested in the chandelier in the reception area, it hasn't lost it's appeal.

This is most of us outside the museum after our visit. Lovely smiley faces....we all got on so well :)

This is Alice, who runs the KnitLoveClub, we met up with her at All The Fun of the Fair near Carnaby Street, it's a pretty little yarn shop and as Thursday night was Knit Night we stayed and had some food and knitted and chatted with more friends, it was such a lovely day and perfect evening but by now my hips were aching and my ankles were feeling a bit worse for wear...oh and I bought some more yarn...as a memento lol

I had intended to go and see the Grace Kelly Exhibition whilst the others were looking at the quilts, unfortunately it was fully booked for the day so I saw the quilts instead. I have until September to see it, and if I do get to London again I think I'll book my ticket in advance! There were some amazing stories to be told in there, especially from the Girl Guides that were POW's during the second world war...and the inmates from Wandsworth Prison had a powerful message to get across, I came away with a vision of tattoed men sat on their bunks doing their stitching. Hope they carry on with the creativity, it seems to have worked wonders for their emotions...

Nella

2010-05-22T20:37:00.006+01:00

Recently I hosted a Luxury Scrap Swap on Ravelry. It was only a small swap, about 13 of us altogether. Everyone sent me 100-300g of luxury fibre which I split up into usable scraps and divided up amongst us all. I then sent back the same amount of scraps as was sent to me. The fibres were amazing, we had silk, camel, angora, mohair, alpaca, cashmere, silk....silk....I have probably forgotten some...I added in some undyed alpaca/silk top and some lumpy bumpy scoured alpaca fleece and made some textured batts. Spun into fat, floofy, silky soft singles!
and I am knitting the yarn into a Nella cardigan but with a few mods, such as a bit more length and some extra shaping for the hips...
It is a delicious pattern, a bit sexy and perfect to wear over a strappy top or dress

I am loving the whole thing, from the swap right down to the knitting...I'll keep you posted of my progress.

I managed a bit of spinning int he sunshine this morning before it got too hot and then this evening I planted three hanging baskets..been a busy and productive day!

~*~

Oh and I just thought I aught to add in a photo of the sample I am sending in to the Fibreholics sample box. They are having a birthday this time, can you believe they are a year old?!?

I created a new colourway just for this celebration...Raspberry Chocolate Sundae, and the two fibres used are 18mic merino and silk or BFL, Baby alpaca and silk, both delicious and luxurious..I'll have some if this in my shop as soon as the boxes have been sent out :)

Fibreholics

All over the place and Elswhere....

2010-05-21T20:02:00.004+01:00

I have so much to show you but I decided to keep my blog posts to one item at a time. I get so confused reading blogs when they are overly busy.

I totally loved knitting this pattern. I first spied it at Wonderwool on Sarah (Woolley Butterfly) and she told me to go and look out for Sarah (babylonglegs) in her beautiful handspun version. I knew I wanted to cast on immediately.

Last year I made some bags for Sarah (Woolley Butterfly) to sell in her shop, Brownberry yarns

I was paid in yarn and recently received some beautiful, Araucania Aysen in payment. I just knew it would be perfect for this project.

Deliciously soft, Merino/Alpaca/Silk, felt like butter as I knitted

You can see more info in my projects on Ravelry

I saved it to wear to London yesterday but only wore it for a short while as Summer Has Arrived!! I meant to get a photo of me wearing it but totally forgot, something I have been doing a lot of lately...

Oh and this Pattern is called Elsewhere by Amy Swenson

Dear Diary...

2010-05-01T14:41:00.003+01:00

18th April 2010, we went for an anniversary meal in The King's Arms, Polebrook

The food was amazing, we have to go back, which is good, as I have lost the bit of paper the lady sitting the other side of the hatchway here gave me. Her name is Ibby, and she has offered me a fleece and I can go and choose my own. I was meant to have phoned her, but having lost the bit of paper this is somewhat difficult. However, we have a plan, we are going back to take part in the quiz and hopefully make contact again :)

The week before last it was Michaela's birthday and the girls came round to lunch. I made them some Melancholy chicken Soup and home-made bread and Michaela brought the cupcakes! Oh boy, were they delicious, Heather and I shared what was left after M said she didn't want to take the remains home, lucky us! Oh and thanks for the info M, I now own the Hummingbird Cookbook!

On the Friday, Barry and I travelled down to Builth Wells, Powys, for a wonderful Wonderwool Wales weekend! We met so many lovely people that I chat to on Twitter, Facebook and Ravelry, I mean, SO many, I think I spent longer chatting than I did browsing. On the Sunday, we met up with some good friends of ours, Peter and Kini, I think I enabled her a bit, sorry Kini, it was so good to have a hug and a chat xxx Oh and Brendle, he has grown up!

I finished Maisie's Gaenor and have been wearing it, sorry Maisie, I will wash it and make myself one so you can have this one when I next see you xx

Here's Helen wearing the darling hat she bought to wear to a wedding, today I think :) A while back, Helen and I were swap partners, we were rebels and spoilt each other, which caused others in the group to get a bit twitchy lol. It was so lovely to meet her, we chatted for ages with her partner Neek and daughter Sofie as well. A lovely bunch of people :)

Amongst some other bits and bobs, I purchased this darling, tiny, 12g Turkish spindle. It spins like an angel and when I'm not looking at it or stroking it or using it, I shall be admiring it on my mantelpiece :) I spun that little bit of lace-weight whilst in bed at the B&B, which was so lovely BTW.

I also ordered something naughty for me to take to London with me when I do the Lexi Boeger Class at Knit Nation in July. Barry encourages me to buy things which I would like but am a bit too scared to purchase. It is a little baby folding Louet Victoria, weighs under 9lb in it's bag, very cute!

I took this photo as we were walking around the town of Llanwrtyd Wells after our evening meal on the Friday night, at the local pub. Crikey, that meal filled us up!

We went out for a meal with Sally and her 2 chums on the Saturday and had the most delicious Indian meal, yum!

I am really enjoying knitting myself an Elsewhere Cardigan

The yarn is amazing, Araucania Aysen which I got in payment for some bags I made for Sarah's Shop

I am very happy with this deal...

And here's my latest spinning for my Benedikta Jumper, Two ply, DK weight, 290 metres 100g, only another 500g to spin, will I do it? Well I've spun up 300g so far so maybe by the autumn I will have spun it all.

So, I hope I've not bored you, I think that brings us up to date, I am going to be spinning up an order for some pretty arty singles this afternoon, what will you be doing this weekend?

Two years ago....

2010-04-18T10:16:00.000+01:00

Can you believe it is 2 years ago all this was going on? Such a wonderful 2 years it has been...always fun and always full of love, I married a darling!

Barry has found somewhere new for us to go for a meal this evening, must NOT eat any chocolate today!

~*~

Next weekend we are off to Wonderwool Wales, staying 2 nights in what sounds like a gorgeous little B&B! Full Welsh breakfast, so naughty but oh so yummy. Barabrith & Welshcakes freshly placed in our room every day!

I am really looking forward to meeting friends there, hope you all wear badges as I am rubbish at recognising people. I wonder what I'll find to buy whilst we're there? What do I need? lol

~*~

I took a day off from my shop last week and made these pretty singles for a competition. 260 metres, sportweight, superfine merino, merino, BFL, silk, cashmere and angelina. There is still time to enter, you have to sign up for Shiela's Newsletter and the info is in this months copy..

~*~
I have also been knitting a Gaenor scarf for Maisie, she chose the yarn out of my stash which is more like a yarn shop! The yarn is dkKnits technicolor dream toes, very pretty colourway!

Nearly finished then I have my heart set on knitting one of these, using some of my own hand-dyed yarn :)

~*~

I'm going to do a bit more de-cluttering today, did 2 rooms yesterday, it feels good to sit in them now!

Easter and stuff

2010-04-05T17:44:00.000+01:00

Well we travelled down to Devon to see Ali and her darling family. Well I think they are darling :) Lots of chocolate, cuddles, snuggles and laughter. However Barry came away with a little more than we went with, the horrid Norovirus that had been at the Webbs the week before and was still lingering. Maisie and I are keeping our fingers crossed that we don't get it....

It's a good name for a virus, don't you think? I am wondering if it is yarn related as I am knitting myself a Noro jumper at the moment.

Not quite knitting yet, but I have dyed up 400g of each colourway of yummy BFL/Silk fibre and spun up 100g of each. I am itching to cast on my Benedikta, but have a couple of other things to finish first. A pretty shawl, Travelling Woman, in some Fyberspates merino/silk/nylon and real silver, very pretty :) and a cropped cardigan from the Noro Mini Knits book but again, not using Noro yarn, do you think the Noro god is taking revenge? lol

Think we all need some sunshine to tell you the truth, this winter has dragged on long enough thank you. Barry is getting better, thank goodness, just wish my silly migraines would disappear, I have had enough of this latest batch thank you!!

Hope you've all had a happy Easter, I know we all have apart from the illness! x

This and that...

2010-03-27T17:38:00.004Z

I spun one of my darling Easter egg batts. I just couldn't resist, such a fluffy puff of fluff! 25g of organic baby alpaca, clipped angora, merino and silk spun long-draw. Navajo plied. DK weight, 60 metres which I think will be enough for me to make some bootees.

I love these batts, so very soft, took me quite some time to blend them but it was worth the trouble for the lovely spin it gave me..

and just because I love this gorgeous green...I'm showing you this one again.

I made this cute heart for a swap, should have been for Valentines but my arm was broke then. Luckily, I was given the same pal for an Easter swap so I got to knit it after all. I love the colours of the yarn, dyed by me :)
I also made her a couple of these dinky little chicks, hiding a Creme Egg inside. Handspun yarn again, well I didn't have any yellow in my stash so I just had to create some of my own.
more spinning, this time some adorable super wash merino with a bit of real silver sparkle running through it. I hope to be getting some more of this fibre for the shop. Love these colours..

Tomorrow should be fun, I am going to a spinning Birthday party, a day of yummy food (we all have to take a plate of something delicious) and spinning in good company, I can't wait!

Delicious Coffee

2010-03-19T19:29:00.002Z

My Maisie who is not 15 until August, has just got a 'B' in her science GCSE, a year early, I am so proud of her!! Well done Maisie!!

This afternoon I went to see my new friend Colin. Yesterday I purchased some yarn from him and as he doesn't live too far away I decided to go and collect it. Colin dyes the most beautiful yarns, of course he showed me his box of yarn and of course I just had to buy another one! These are both baby alpaca, silk and cashmere, pure beauty....I haven't decided what to make with them yet but I will! The pinky purply one is 4ply and the other one is heavy lace weight, they feel divine. You can see Colin's gorgeous yarns here

Almost forgot to tell you that Colin makes the most delicious coffee, I might try his cappucino next time....

Tomorrow, I shall be dyeing up some more of the Spin Yourself a Cardi orders that have been coming in, it would appear that choosing your own fibre and colours is a popular listing. It is on special offer for March. You can view the listing here

On Sunday, Sally is coming to pick up her order and hopefully she'll stay to lunch which I think will be roast chicken and some sort of naughty pudding. We'll be doing some weaving I think, not had my loom out for months but last weeks Mastercrafts has really fired me up!

Have a lovely weekend, what are you doing?
xx

Lunch at Michaela's

2010-03-16T18:29:00.005Z

I have had such an eventful day. This morning Barry took me to the hospital to have my smelly old cast removed. Felt a bit of a fraud having it sliced off when I could have just pulled my arm out if she'd asked. I didn't like to tell the nurse, don't know why, but she did say that it was rather loose.

My poor wrist looks all fragile and a little misshapen. The skin looked fine, didn't know why everyone was telling me it would look all scaly and dry. However, about an hour later, my skin crazed over, like crazy paving and I have been scratching it off ever since. How revolting, sorry but well, you know...

Later on my lovely friend Heather came to pick me up to take me to lunch at Michaela's. Never to be missed, she is an amazing cook, used to cook for royalty, I feel so privileged to know this knatty knitter. Oh and wow, at Michaela's Debbie Abrahams's blanket, it is so beautiful, brought a tear to my eye. She is working on another one now but we are not so sure it will be as stunning as the first but I'm sure, once she has finished it, it will be equally as gorgeous. Really, I want to knit some squares, with beads in!

Oh and then this plateful of cakes came out, how M has lost all that weight I do not know, I want to follow her diet, it seems perfect, salad and cake ;)

After lunch, we did some knitting and crocheting and lots of nattering, it's good to talk..

Thanks both girls, you are lovely x

Flitwick

2010-02-25T20:05:00.001Z

I am so looking forward to Sunday...a group of like minded people, ie., spinners, knitters and general fibre fanatics, are getting together for a day of cake eating, chatting, spinning, knitting and education. Think I've got my priorities right!

Above is a selection of batts and fibre that I have either dyed or prepared ready to sell. I will be closing my Etsy shop for the day too, Anything that doesn't sell at Flitwick will be going into the shop on Monday when I reopen it.

Heather will be doing the driving for some reason, I have promised her first dibs into the fibre as her reward. I am so lucky to have such lovely friends.

~*~

Talking of which, I had such a lovely time on Wednesday at the new knitting group in the lovely Ely Wool Shop. We had homemade cakes and cookies and endless tea and coffee. I did my best to do some knitting but just to be out amongst people again was brilliant. If you look closely you can see Heather's hand moving at the speed of light as she knits her sock! Heather and I then went off to have lunch in the darling little restaurant down by the Maltings, Peacocks, I love the style of that place!

Hope I manage to get to the knitting group next week, I have a hair appointment the same day so will be getting the bus at 9am, popping into the knitting shop far a while and then off to have my hair done.

Shame I won't be able to make the shop opening on the 6th March, I'll be going to the first spinning session of 2010 at Rampton. Did I tell you I can do spinning? I found that I can do a forward draw using my right hand which doesn't put too much pressure on the poor wrist.

Every day I can feel I am getting more strength in the broken bone but by the end of the day it aches a lot...

Happy crafting!

It's all Gordon's fault...

2010-02-15T09:20:00.015Z

We never took to Gordon Ramsey, couldn't handle his holyer than though arogance, let alone the swearing! However, for some reason we tuned into the recent series of the 'F' Word and apart from the occasional expletive Gordon seemed different, less full of himself somehow. We really got into this series and looked forward to viewing every episode. Never thought that would happen, nor did I ever think I would enjoy a programme with Gordon as the host either, even though I admired his cooking...

As the weeks progressed we realised that one of the semi finalists in the competition was from Cambridgeshire so of course we were routing for them. The competition was tough, they were looking for Britain's best local restaurant.

The Pheasant got through every round and whilst watching the semi final, I said to Barry, who was in a hotel in Manchester at the time and we were simultaneously watching the programme and chatting on google chat, "Wouldn't it be lovely to have a meal there on Valentine's Day?" To which he replied, "Go on then, book it!" I then answered him with something along the lines of, "It's all to do with romance, where's the romance in booking this myself?" Barry slapped down his hands, (he's good at that, I knew he had done that even though I couldn't see him)...and said "have I blown it then?" to which I smiled and said "of course not". So last night, 14th February 2010 we made our way to this very special restaurant.

Barry on anti-biotics for Tonsillitis and me with my broken wrist...what a pair! He couldn't drink, I couldn't cut up anything, hilarious!

Oh but ohh wow! What a wonderful time we had, the first thing we ordered was a delicious bottle of Prosecco, quite rash really as Barry only had one glass, and now and then I get a migraine from the wrong wine, but not last night, mmmm, delicious wine, my favourite...think I giggled a lot too.

I was rather worried about Barry as Jay (the boss) uses lots of vegetables in his cooking and Barry doesn't 'do' many veg. To start he ordered Pigs in Blankets and I had a darling Chorizo Cassoulet, we then went on to the starter, where B had French Onion Soup and I had the most beautiful plate of food, the Crab with Blood Oranges pictured above. So pretty and every morsel was savoured. What was the crunchy crumbs? Intriguing....Barry found the onion soup a bit too oniony, haha, but I had a few mouthfuls of it cause I am greedy like that and I told him it was amazing, perfectly caramelised onion soup..

I then went onto a Confit of Duck Leg, oh wow, once Barry had cut the meat off the bone I was in my element, those Dauphinoise Potatoes were out of this world, just wish I had got room to finish them! My meal tasted like the best Christmas dinner, so many flavours, think it might be to do with the sprouts. Barry had the Fillet au Poivre with homemade chips, I could tell he was loving every tasty mouthful!

Really and truthfully we were full to bursting and I had finished off the fizzy stuff so was making lots of happy noises, but we just had to try the next course...everyone was whispering in there last night, do they always whisper in The Pheasant I wonder? I find it a bit hard to be quiet when I've had a bit of bubbly, in fact I find it hard to be quiet most of the time haha.

We had to try a pudding, we really didn't need one but well you know...I had Rhubarb Pavlova and Barry has the Creme Brulee followed by coffee. To tell you the truth, I thought my homemade Pavlova was nicer but Barry was impressed with the Brulee..

All in all, we had the best time and will go back again once our bank balance has recovered! Sometimes it is good to just 'Do It!'

This is me, did you guess?, after that wonderful meal...so glad I had bought a metre of that dull lime green linen to make a bag with, it was a perfect colour match for my top and made a substantial supporting sling! I'll make a bag with it once I am mended :^)

Oh and the brooch is a parting gift from Prague, it is green Amber and silver, meant to be a pendent but they added a brooch back for me, I am definitely going through my green phase...I had never heard of green Amber before, it is very pretty.

Being left-handed with my left wrist broken is pants, but at least I have managed to do a bit of dyeing for my shop with a bit of help from Barry when needed. Talking of pants, the ladies toilet in that restaurant is quite simply gorgeous, smelt deliciously of babies, due the fact that they had L'Occitaine soap and hand cream in there no doubt. (Have you ever tried to wash one hand, dry it with a paper towel and then add some hand cream from a dispenser? I was determined!) I was equally impressed by the pretty Orchid on the side which matched the decor to a T. The baby changing area was cute too with a very interest picture on the wall to keep a wriggling baby quiet whilst it's bum was being changed.

Another thing which amused me immensely was the fact that we never seemed to see the same person twice, well except for two lovely girls' which looked after us so well. Every course was proudly brought to the table by a new member of staff, I had to comment, made them smile and me giggle, I loved last night, in fact I loved everything about yesterday, starting with the card propped on the mantelpiece in our bedroom, then the flowers and raggy teddy delivered later on, how spoilt am I?

Hope you had a happy day...I know I am lucky xxx

by the way, The Pheasant was the runner up in the comp, even though we voted for them hmmph!

Oh and Gordon, if you're reading this, I still wish you wouldn't swear so much, I enjoy the occasional 'F' word myself but you seem to pop them out at every opportunity and it really gets to me! x

(photos by Barry, thank you honey, you are the best!)

Good day, bad day.....

2010-02-07T10:49:00.002Z

I managed a few rows of this yesterday, I have to do exercises which are more painful than crocheting, you know, bringing my thumb and fingers together one by one. If I keep practicing throughout the day, by the end of the day I can usually get my ring finger to touch my thumb. No way will my little finger meet up, it's my thumb joint that hurts so much and won't flex as it should. Still it is early days and I am dealing with my limitations....

~*~

I have to be creative, so I have been rediscovering some of my Photoshop graphic design stuff. I had forgotten just how much fun it can be...

I followed a tutorial with this one...will definitely be using it again...

view from Charles Bridge

Prague Castle (shudders......)

My handsome smiley husband xxxx

Grrrrrrr!

2010-02-03T11:37:00.002Z

I am broken and feeling very sorry for myself, sorry Barry, I know I am a bad patient!

I just got the urge...

2010-01-26T18:19:00.000Z

.....to make a crazy batt!

I had dyed up lots of different fibres for this purpose, in fact I have got about 1kg of fibre all ready to make into batts.

Blue Faced Leicester, silk, seacell, mohair and kid mohair curls and silk noil, all dyed by me. I also added a good smattering of glitter to the mix.

I weighed out the bits and bobs into a big mixing bowl, this batt weighs 50g. It was a lovely feeling pulling apart the fibre to mix it a little, a bit like cooking lol

This colourful mix was put through my drum carder as it came out of the bowl, slowly slowly turning the handle....

I pulled off sections across the batt, carefully , I managed to get 5 equal (ish) rolags

I pre dreafted the rolags and then started to spin some lumpy bumpy thick and thin singles. I love it! The only thing I am not so happy with is the silk noil, I will really split it up in the next batt as it seems to clump up together too much and I feel it will fall out of the yarn once i knit with it. We shall see...

So, I might be adding some of these crazy batts to my shop, just for fun! Not for those of you that want to spin a smooth yarn I have to say ;^)

SPARKLE

2010-01-25T10:39:00.001Z

I don't know about you but this time of year always gets me down....I am on my second virus since Christmas and am getting a bit fed up of coughing and spluttering. However, something inside me told me to go and do some dyeing on Saturday. I had a box full of delicious fibre just waiting for colour. I had a couple of blends made just for my shop. I haven't done anything to the BFL, baby alpaca and silk yet but the sparkle was calling me.

If you can't see my shop displayed on the right you can click here to access it

I have deliberately gone for strong vibrant colours. The sparkle is delicious and just begs to be spun.

So, today I am sewing a bag to take away on holiday, just what the doctor ordered...I might even sew a bag or two for the shop!

A Happy Photoshoot

2010-01-18T21:58:00.001Z

I knitted these mitts to match my new lime green coat. I also spun the yarn...so pretty!

I had almost half of the yarn left so I combined it with some kidsilk haze and made this pretty mobius

~*~

Yesterday I did another photoshoot for Kerrie. Five children and lots of clothes made for lots of fun

The children were so lovely, and Kerrie's Mum makes a mean bacon bun!

Reid is such a good baby, she is as beautiful as the other three children, Kerrie and Wayne do make such pretty children!

and this one was taken by Barry

Yep, I love my job! Slept well last night for some reason ;^)

Baby Cabled Jackets, spinning and...

2010-01-07T10:14:00.002Z

I made these two gorgeous little coats over the Christmas holidays, a very quick knit and a perfect pattern. I love it when a pattern works and I don't have to guess what to do next. Must have been a lovely pattern as I don't usually happily knit a second one!

The pink jacket is made from some machine washable aran with a bit of wool for warmth, surprisingly pleasant to work with. Took about 200 grammes of one of those big 400gram balls.

The other jacket is made from 3 balls of Peace Fleece in Grass Roots colourway. I had these 3 balls left over from Barry's Cobblestone jumper. Perfect for a little boy! I think that Peace Fleece is one of my favourite yarns, rustic but softens and fluffs up after washing because of the 15% mohair content. Can't wait to see the recipients in these garments. Incidentally, the largest size on the pattern is 12-24 months and I wanted to make 2-3years. Peace Fleece is a heavy worsted weight, so I made the largest size on 5.5mm needles, think it may be a little big but it worked out fine. I also made what I think is a good mod to the pattern. Instead of grafting the live stitches from knitting the body and sleeves from the bottom upwards, I simply picked up the required stitches from the yoke and knit downwards towards the hems.

Oh and if you are reading this Kyoko, I have had several comments from women saying they would enjoy snuggling up in a jacket like this, me too!

I also finished off this pretty yarn. It had been sitting on my wheel for far too long. The fibre is some superwash Bluefaced Leicester from Skein Queen in her colourway, Salty Dog. I managed to get about 180 metres of DK wieght, navajo plied, which I have to say is my favourite way of plying.

and I will leave you with this close up of Sullivan's Ziggy Zag, I love the colours and the stitch definition, just hope it fits that special little man...

~*~

Thank you all for the well wishes, I am feeling a lot better now, just the occasional noisy cough, eugh! Let's get busy!!!

New Year New Logo

2010-01-05T13:43:00.008Z

I am still feeling rather poorly so, after taking down the Christmas tree and generally making the sitting room look worse than it was before I started, I decided to sit down and give my blog a new logo.

All the images are very special to me, I could have added so many more.....

From the left we have:-

Maddie, learning to knit. (Granddaughter Number 2)
The Expandable Tote, my most popular bag to date, a delight to make, even tough it takes a while and has loads of different stages. Sewing this bag sent my shop off into another direction, the Big Bobble Clutch is the next favourite!
Our wedding day....magical and perfect!
Emilia working on her knitting at Fibrefest (Granddaughter Number 1)
My darling Mum, such a happy memory on our wedding day! I love her happy smiling face xx
Sullivan doing what he does best, making us laugh! Fibrefest (Grandson Number 1)
Maisie, my youngest looking beautiful in our garden last summer
Fibre...which reminds me, I must go and dye up some sunshine!

I always feel a little low after Christmas, and hate it when I get ill to make the whole situation worse. I get so frustrated when the littlest job takes all my energy to do. Still, I will keep on crafting and resting and hope I soon feel better especially as we are off to Prague at the end of January!

Just Wanted to Say...

2010-01-02T17:02:00.000Z

Happy New Year!

Had a lovely Christmas, with family and friends but now it has gone too quiet and I am full of cold...

I have a few projects to show you and will take photos as soon as I feel better

This is Sullivan's Ziggy Zag jumper made from a kit bought from Babylonglegs, Purple Rain colourway...

more later....

A VERY busy weekend!

2009-12-03T13:38:00.006Z

They turned on the Christmas lights in out little town....it was an amazing sight. Barry is going to take a video of them and post itto his blog one of these days. Anyway, the above photos is of my Maisie and her friend Josie after they came back from the ceremony, all giggling and sparkly...made me very happy!

This is Josey modelling the felting merino scarf she made with a little help from me. It is to be included in her school project about the Rocky Horror Picture show. She added some sparkle to the lips, it really looks amazing!

It was Barry's birthday on Sunday, so after our rather large roast dinner and pudding we made him blow out the candles on his cake! Happy birthday honey! Hope your wish comes true....x Nobody had any cake though...lol

I could resist including this photo that Barry took whilst I was dishing up the pudding, isn't Miyah adorable?!?

Please don't ask me about my online shopping experience with a very well known high street store! I am only just coming back down to earth now, it was certainly a more stressful experience than going into town and facing the crowds!!

~*~

For one week only I am removing worldwide postage from everything in my shop so go and grab yourself a bargain, it makes a lot of difference to the prices of those bags you know!

Fluff-n-Stuff

()can't remove that yellow on the 'of' word above so you'll just have to live with it ok?

A very small Knit Along

2009-11-19T10:51:00.001Z

My friend Sally told me about these socks she was knitting so I went to have a look and decided it would be fun to make some too. So we decided to do a little KAL. Sally is still knitting hers but she has been incredibly busy lately and I don't know how she even manages to drop a stitch let alone knit one! They are called The Crazy Monkeys and are knitted two at once, toe up and were good fun and not too tricky.
The yarn I used is very special to me, it is the very first sock yarn I ever purchased. Koigu no less! I never thought I would actually use it as I couldn't find a pattern to do it justice. I bought it from the Ally Pally Knit and Stitch show in 2007. Unbeknown to me, I had a chat with Alice, the owner of Socktopus. I have since had lots of dealing with Alice and have been a member of her amazing sock clubs since she started them.

Forgive me if I am boring you but I am so proud of this gorgeous yarn. It is some heavy laceweight singles spun from merino and angora fibre. This is the colourway from one of the months of the Socktopus Fibre club. Sadly this club won't be running next year. My friend Jo, dyed the fibre and not all the recipients were enjoying the colours so I manged to buy 2 more of the 75g skeins and have spun up enough yarn to knit a Featherweight cardigan (Ravelry link). What's not to like?

See how prettily it is knitting up! I am delighted with it so far and amazed at how the stripes are forming, It pleases me no end. The cardigan is knitted from the top down which is suiting this yarn so beautifully. I have now divided for the sleeves and am continuing to knit the body section. I am using skein 2 of the yarn and it appears to be slightly different form the the other two skeins but I don't think it will detract from the gorgeousness of the cardi. So very soft and fluffy and knitted in a heavy laceweight on 4mm needles, it is growing quickly and the pattern is a delight.

~*~

I have big plans for Christmas but will they come to fruition? I hope so! Yesterday, although it is rather late, I got all the ingredients to make my Christmas Cake and Pudding and some homemade mincemeat. I am using Nigella's recipes for the pudding and mincemeat and a very old recipe from a Marks and Spencer cookbook for the cake. I tasted a piece of that cake at a friends house last year and asked her which recipe it was as it was so tasty and moist. I realised that I used to have the book in my other life but sadly, not any more (might ask Maisie if she can find it for me...) so she copied it down for me. It's all very well having these lovely ingredients but somehow I have to turn them into the actual goodies. Hope Barry is up for helping me!

My darling Mum is coming to stay with us for Christmas, it is a good feeling! A couple of weekends before we are travelling down to Devon to have an early Christmas with my Ali and her family,can't wait for that time either!

Right, enough of this blogging lark, I have jobs to do, catch you later xx

A proper blog post

2009-11-11T18:56:00.001Z

Well ok, a proper blog post! I have been so very busy, mostly sewing but also restocking my shop with soft fat fluffy spinning fibre.

These 'Pack it In Tote' bags sell almost before I've put them in the shop. I really lovely pattern by the very clever and talented designer, Lisa Lam. I have no favourites, I love them all!

I made a big bobble baguette clutch to go with the big bag, they'll work well together especially as the purchaser bought them both!

I love this design too, all squidgy because of the double padding and bigger than you think. I must try and take a photo of the bags on my shoulder, the size is easier to gauge that way. (why is gauge spelt that way when you say gage not gorge? oh and now my spell checker is disputing spelt, should I have said spelled? lol)

I am sorry to be showing you the things I am selling in my shop, I do realise that if you were interested you would have gone to look anyway. However, I am particularly proud of my work lately. It has all sort of fallen into place and feels as if it is working well for me. I truly love creating everything and the pleasure I get when something sells is immense! haha! I love those smileys!

And I have also created 385 metres of the most delicious pygora/silk yarn, one ply of each. Took me an age to spin but after doing the fine spinning workshop, I never lost interest at all.

I am now spinning up some nice and clean suri alpaca, which was so thick with yellow sandy dirt that I just had to wash it. Three washes and quite a few rinses later it turned into some gorgeous silky fibre which I have been hand carding into cigar shaped rolags ready for some fine spinning.

sorry about the use of the collage feature, I really like making them and I can show off more photos without uploading loads of separate photos.

Happy crafting everyone!

Marianne meets.....

2009-11-06T14:22:00.001Z

Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes!

Our latest literary lunch in the Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral! Magic!

A Baguette or two?

2009-10-29T17:28:00.003Z

Originally uploaded by picperfic

I love this photo, I love making these clutch bags....the big bobbles are such fun and the bags hold all your essentials and is a good size to pop into a larger tote bag for a day out. I have used Amy Butler fabric for both the exterior and the lining. There are two layers of fleece between the two fabric layers so it has a lovely squidgy feel to it.

I have also been spinning some delicious pygora as fine as I can as I'd like to ply it with a fine single of tussah silk so I can knit myself a Flutter Scarf. Adding a pearl and a crystal or two will only add to the loveliness!

I don't know about you but all I want to do these days is sleep, think it is something to do with the darker evenings. As soon as the sun goes down I am overcome with tiredness. Roll on the Spring! lol

Coffee and Cakes with Michel Roux

2009-10-24T11:32:00.002+01:00

It was such a gorgeous experience! Michel Roux is so charming and entertaining to listen to! He told us about the time he told his Granddaughter that they were going on a trip to Paris, no need for a suitcase, just bring your handbag...can you imagine that teenager's delight when they went shopping when they were there? They bought a new suitcase and filled it with clothes. If I had had the wherewith all about me, I would have been the person asking if I could please be his surrogate Grandchild. That question caused great amusement. Jane and I really enjoyed the intimate experience in a Church in Ely. Such a special and posh thing to do! We both queued to have our books signed, well worth the wait :^)

I've been doing loads of sewing for my shop, and am amazed and delighted at the speed with which they sell. Today I am making myself one ready for a day out tomorrow. I am going on a fine spinning workshop, I think I am looking forward to it. Still the company will be good, mostly Ravellers and my lovely friend Heather!

Have a good weekend

Marianne
x

A pig of a virus....

2009-10-14T22:09:00.006+01:00

Yep, we've been confined to quarters. The week before last, Barry developed a cold, he was unwell but kept on working, then he developed a hacking cough...a few days later I had a sore throat and a temperature of 40.5 and could not get warm!! I went to the pandemic website, filled in the questionnaire and was prescribed Tamiflu. I had Swine Flu and felt a bit alarmed....The next morning Barry filled in the questionnaire too and he was prescribed the same. How on earth were we to pick up these prescriptions? Barry phoned Tesco's pharmacy and they gave us the number of a flu friend, someone from social services came and delivered our meds with a long arm and quickly left! I recovered quickly after taking the Tamiflu but Barry was a bit too far down the line and needed anti biotics for a chest infection. His GP came round to see us at home, she came nowhere near me for some reason lol. We are both fine now thank goodness. No side effects either. It feels strange to have had the flu and not have either a sinus infection or something.

Since then I have been sewing, lots, my trusty sewing machine gave up the ghost and I now have a new one. A gorgeous machine, a Janome Dc3050

It feel like I can't sew fast enough, an amazing feeling and I am so happy that you all like my bags as much as I enjoy making them! Just wish our post was more reliable as I have got some purse frames on order and want to get on with them!

Here's some of what i have been up to:

and

Most of these bags have sold but if you see a bag you like, do please get in touch, I can make more in different colours

Hope you are all well and managing to avoid the lurgy...

oh and if you're on Facebook I am having a little competition, when I get
now I've got 30 members for my Fluff-n-Stuff group, I will be holding held a ballot for either a bump of hand dyed by me fibre or a boxy project bag. Click here
Well done Puddytatpur, you won!

I did manage to get out at the end of last week though and had coffee and cake with Michel Roux, he is such a charming man!

I have been....

2009-09-20T17:01:00.001+01:00

I have been:-

designing this little jacket

knitting these cute little dungarees

and these Target Socks for Barry

and this Roaring Meg cardigan for Emilia

spinning this lovely merino fibre

having lunch with Antonio Carluccio in Ely Cathedral

and having tea in Toppings Bookshop in Ely with my special friend Andrea

(Ely Cathedral in the background!)

what have you been up to?

I haven't got an Inkling!

2009-09-14T10:29:00.004+01:00

Meet my latest craft addition! An inkle loom, bought for £10 from the Loom Exchange, I have yet to find the time to warp it up. As usual I have been watching you tube videos to get me in the mood and Ali has ordered me a book to help me on my way...I'll be sure to keep you posted of my progress!

Here's me proudly wearing my Liesl Cardigan. I spun the Seawool fibre, Navajo plied it and then with my 8oz of worsted weight yarn I created the cardigan. Don't look too closely on the back will you, I must have had a lapse of concentration as the pattern goes slightly askew after the division of the armholes after the yoke. Never mind, I just love it and have made a few notes on my Ravelry Project page so that when I make myself another it will be even better than this one,hopefully!

~*~

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to take some photographs for Toppings Bookshop in Ely in exchange for some events tickets. I love this sort of photo shoot, just left to my own devises to wander around and click when I feel a photo is appropriate.

The outside of the shop is deceptive, looks very narrow...

however, once you step inside this amazing shop you soon realise that the whole shop is packed from floor to ceiling and everywhere in between, with books. Not only that but there are three floors of the same!

I had to use my fish eye lens to get a whole room in, you can see what I mean?

If you look out of the top window you can see Ely Cathedral, now that is a special view.

Imagine sitting on the window seat, browsing books and drinking a complimentary tea or coffee, does life get better than that?

So, I took loads of photos, had the best time, and got tickets to have Coffee and Cake with Michel Roux (the only useful link I could find is a book link, but the picture will remind you who he is) in St Peter's Church Ely and then later Barry and I are off to meet Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in Ely Cathedral for an evening of entertainment...

~*~

Today is a tidy up the spare room day, I have my lovely friend Andrea coming to stay for a couple of nights on Wednesday. On Thursday we are off to Ely Cathedral to have lunch with Antonio Carluccio, he is also giving us a cookery demonstration, so excited!

I wonder who won the P-hop blankets??

Can you see your square?

2009-09-10T08:52:00.000+01:00

Two beautiful blankets ready for the I-Knit weekender! These are to be raffled on the P-hop stand. If you can't see your square, don't worry as I had a few left over, if I get enough stragglers then I will make a cushion cover from them and post about it on here. There are some great prizes in the raffle apart from these two beauties so if you are going to I-knit either Friday or Saturday then do go and buy a ticket or two!

I love both of these blankets, they feel so lovely and drapey and look so pretty! Makes me want to knit myself one, well I will if I don't win one! haha!

Think I need to blog more often as I can't keep up with myself!

2009-08-28T00:19:00.008+01:00

Barry, Emilia and I spent Saturday at Fibrefest. What a wonderful location. We didn't get too far into the marquee before we got stopped. You see, Emilia was wearing my Aurantium Shawl around her shoulders and looked like the bees knees.

So many links ahead, I am going to be spoiling you so I hope you come back to read the rest of this blogpost?? (if you hold down the ctrl key as you click the links they will open in a new window, you can read them later lol)

Millie loved the attention she was getting and proudly showed interested onlookers the contents of her knitting bag!

We met, Megan from The Thylacine

Sam, Gemma, Julie (she can sell snow to Eskimos!), Helen and Sarah from whom I bought some yarn for Maisie to knit a hat (she got the knitting bug watching us all knitting!) and for Madeleine to learn to knit with

I am very proud of the fact that I taught Maddie to knit her first stitches, she is a very quick learner!

I also met Joy and Tamsyn and said hello to a few others, including Anni.

This is Pete from the P/hop appeal, he is being sponsored to do his knitting! Go Pete!

Millie knitting in the P-hop marquee and also asking questions about the lovely deep sea display (she came away with a pattern leaflet!)

This is Rosemary (Ravelry Link)and her daughter (Ravelry link)

Rosemary sent me some knitting patterns a while ago after I sent out a plea on Ravelry, but the funny thing is that I was chatting away to Snowbell (sorry can't remember your name) and she introduced me to her Mum, Rosemary!

I am sure there are more people but I can't remember them!

Oh and this lovely lady is Suzie Johnson, I asked her if I knew her from somewhere and she told me she had helped Kirsty to knit on Kirstie's Homemade Home. Ahh yes, I had watched every episode of that lovely programme, I knew I knew her!! lol I did buy something from her attractive stall, but it's a secret!

On the Sunday, Maisie, Ali and Sullivan came with us and we totally enjoyed the bits we missed on the Saturday, and seeing the stalls at a more leisurely pace as it was quieter on the Sunday...Sullivan was a little darling and entertained us no end!

Cute little man!!

and here's my loot! Love everything so much, including those gorgeous over 50 year old bobbins, older than me!! Amazing!

P-Hopping plus

2009-08-18T16:43:00.007+01:00

I visited my friend Heather on Sunday afternoon, Ruth was visiting too and they had already made a start on deciding which square was going where....

The day before, Ruth had taken her turn on the 4th Plynth in Trafalgar Square, you can read about her hour on the P-hop website! These squares are so famous, and I am sewing up one of the Afghans!! I am so proud of Ruth and all she has done lately...I even got to touch her amazingly beautiful hand knitted wedding shawl, it twinkles and glistens and makes your heart stop it is so beautiful. You can read more about Ruth here. Ooh nearly forgot to tell you, Ruth got married only a few weeks ago, congratulations Ruth and Tony!!

The Afghans are made up of squares, kindly knitted and donated to the P-hop campaign raising money for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

You can donate to this cause by visiting the P-hop website or by the Just Giving Widget in my sidebar.

I am going to donate my 'Have a heart Socks' pattern.

P-hop stands for pennies per hour of pleasure.

There are patterns to download for free and it is left to you to donate what you think the pleasure you have had from making these items, is worth...easy innit?

There is also a P-hop group on Ravelry

The completed blanket/s will be raffled at the iknit weekender on the 11th and 12th of September and all money raised will go p/hop

~*~

Look at my gorgeous Maisie, she wanted me to take some photos of her in her new glasses, don't they suit her? Maisie and I both had a birthday last week and we had such a lovely couple of days and were both spoilt rotten!...I will post about that next time as I have some lovely photos to show you...

Not to be outdone, Barry took some photos of me as I was lying on my tummy taking photos of Maisie, you should have seen the pair of us getting up afterwards, hahah, would have made a good video!

~*~

Lastly, I just wanted to show you the fibre I have dyed up for the Second Fibreholics Boxes. Lots of UK Indie Dyers have got together to make these boxes containing either, 20g of handspun yarn, batts or hand dyed fibre. You can read about them here.
The second boxes go on sale sometime in September I think...I'll keep you posted about that.

~*~

Right, now I would like to do some weaving but I have far too many other things that are needing my attention.

Oh just before I go I wanted to show you Imogen'd Dress and Bolero all finished and ready to deliver on Thursday. On Friday we are going to Devon to stay with Ali so that the girls (and boys) can go to Fibrefest! Woohoo, I can't wait to get my hands on that family!!

I Can't Think of A Title

2009-08-09T10:32:00.004+01:00

I recently purchased Mason Dixon Outside the Lines and immediately had to cast on The Jane Austin Dress and Shrug for Imogen. A very quick knit using sock yarn and Rowan Kid Silk Haze. (not the yarn called for in the pattern I hasten to add) I have yet to sew the skirt bit on. I think she'll like it as her favourite colour is 'red' which translates as 'pink' according to her Mum!

I couldn't resist crocheting these little shoes for Miyah, love her toes poking out! With all her wriggling shemanaged to make her toes come out a bit too far lol. I do love a bit of crochet, it grows so quickly...

Here's my girl, Maisie, snuggling that little bundle Miyah. She is such a sweet little baby. We had her to stay for 2 nights to give Laura a break. Maisie did the first night shift and was a brilliant little 'Mum', never woke me once! The next day, Miyah developed a bit of colic which was a bit unsettling for us all. I've never had to deal with colic before so didn't realise what it was until after the event. I had Miyah the second night as she was getting a bit upset and so was Maisie. She soon settled down to sleep though and the pain passed and we had happy little Miyah back again!

Miyah is modelling her Judy's Grandmother's Baby Sweater which can be found in Greetings from Knit Cafe. Laura told me that she puts the cardi on Miyah the other way round as the straps are long enough to go round the back and then to the front again! She like the pretty crossover bit to be on show. I love the feel of the synthetic soft, machine washable baby yarn and I am ashamed of myself haha. I used Sirdar Snuggly Kisses DK.

I have been weaving again, it keeps me sane when Barry disappears on business. This time I made an open weave scarf and although I didn't enjoy the weaving too much, I adore the finished article.

It is alpaca/merino, fulled and slightly felted to make the fibres grip each other. Super soft and very pretty, I love the fringe too. I used a hair braider to do the twiddled ends. After felting, I just cut the knots off the bottom. Will make more of these no doubt....I love the way all this weaving is eating into my far too big stash of pretty yarn!

On the needles right now is a hoodie for Sullivan, using Rowan Luxury Cotton...very posh!

Barry has written a lovely blog post about his exploits in our garden, you can read it here he'd love to hear from you!

Right, time to get this day going, we're off to photograph a naming ceremony this afternoon. Looking forward to both the ceremony and the 'do' afterwards! The baby is the Granddaughter of a couple whose wedding we photographed last year.

Hope you all have a restful day...oh and if you're looking for something a bit different in the spinning department then check out my shop, I have added a new line called Take 3

Alpaca, Cashmere, Textured Weaving

2009-08-04T12:31:00.001+01:00

I am really enjoying weaving and have just finished this delicious textured scarf. I didn't realise it was possible to create textures using aheddle loom until a friend on Ravelry pointed me in the direction of this pattern, PDF Link. It took quite a lot of concentration to do and looking closely at the scarf I can see some errors. This one is for me though, deliciously soft after a short tumble dry to fluff it up. Alpaca warp and Cashmere weft, can you just imagine how soft this is?

Hope you are all being creative out there...

First Ever Weaving Project

2009-07-20T11:08:00.001+01:00

I have been feeling so poorly lately, I thought they were constant migraines but after some research I have come to the conclusion that I am now the proud sufferer of Cluster Headaches and I ain't happy! Three weeks of headaches, sometimes 2 a day, had left me worn out and tearful. However, today I feel ok for now, so let's hope I have weeks/months of headache free time now!

Meanwhile, Barry kept asking me what I wanted for my birthday and I kept changing my mind until I started seeing all the wonderful weaving projects people we making. I knew I wanted a loom and was aiming for a 20" Ashford Knitter's Loom. A few days later, I noticed that someone was selling their heddle loom and I mentioned it to Barry. He just wanted me to be happy and suggested we bought it. I love that man!

We were meant to be going to Devon for the weekend so that I could do some spinning at the Green Man Festival in Pilton but I got a tearful phone call from Ali on Thursday, saying that her health visitor had just told her that Sullivan had got Swine Flu. On hearing that, and coupled with the fact that I was still in the middle of a cluster attack and felt awful and that the weather forecast was for rain, I made the decision not to go to Devon, especially as I thought that Ali would be nursing her poorly little boy.

Barry then suggested we drove to Sheffield to pick up the loom instead of paying the £20 postage. So I made the arrangements. Then on the Friday, Ali let me know that Sullivan was fine, no temperature and just fine! He didn't have swine flu, that health visitor made us all worry so much. I had stopped getting my fibre shop up together for Devon, nothing was packed and I'd made arrangements to pick up the loom so still we didn't go to Devon. As it turns out, Ali had a brilliant day, taking part in the parade and then did some spinning in a tent with a girl doing some felting. I am so glad she enjoyed the day although I am a bit peeved at how it all turned out. I just didn't have the energy to do it, let's hope we can do it next year.

We drove to pick up my almost new 32" Kromski Harp Riggid Heddle loom on Saturday. Someone was selling it on Ravelry and I told Barry about it, such a bargain, especially as the stand came with it too.

(don't look too closely at this photo, you might see that I was rather wobbly on the first end of the scarf!) The yarn used was some lovely merino/silk fingering that I dyed myself...

I had read loads about weaving and watched a few videos on You Tube about doing the warping, so Sunday, I got up early and started to play. I had to start early you see, because if I was going to get a headache, they seemed to appear in the afternoon.

So, after a few false starts, I was off, wasn't sure if what I was doing was correct or not but I am overjoyed at how it has turned out.

I have already got my next project on the loom so I must dash, it is beckoning me!

This and that..

2009-07-13T21:23:00.000+01:00

My friend's friend's daughter came round to play in my craft room last week, she had just finished her second year at university and wanted some ideas for her third year. Her chosen subject was embellishment. Alisha jotted down lots of ideas and drew plenty. We spun, dyed and searched through sewing and knitting patterns. Great fun! Actually, I knitted as she rummaged, I think she had a good time!

Anyway, the reason I told you that is because I tidied my craft room up because of my young visitor! The next day I decided that I would actually complete my Amy Butler top. I started making it in April but ran out of time as the holiday to Italy approached. My craft table had got overloaded with mess and stuff since we returned so sewing had been put on the back boiler. I had to alter it a little as I have lost weight since I cut it out. Now that is a good feeling!

I actually used Amy Butler fabric and it is beautiful.

I am not sure I actually like the top on me, almost feels like there is too much material going on around the neck area but I really enjoyed sewing it! I have some lime green cropped trousers that might look good with it, I'll let you know.

Now I have finished this top, I am eager to do even more sewing. Hopefully I might get a project bag or two made by Friday.

I have also been spinning for Tour de Fleece on Ravelry. This is the April Socktopus Club Fibre. Merino and Angora, dyed by the talented Jo of Limegreenjelly.

Highly sprung laceweight singles!

Lightly fulled in hand hot, then cold twice, then snapped and squeezed in a towel. 350 metres, 75grammes

These singles are gorgeous! This is my second skein and I have one more bump of fibre on it's way. Easy to spin from the fold, short forward draw. I am going to make a Featherweight Cardigan from it. I will be knitting my cardigan about 2 inches longer

We are off to Devon on Friday evening, staying with my DD Ali because on Saturday, Ali and I are spinning in public at the Pilton Green Man Festival, Barnstaple. I wonder if any of you out there will be going? Do say hello if you are, I'd love to meet you..

Lastly, a friend of mine Shani, put out a plea for a spindle bag and I think I have come to her rescue! I posted it off to her today, hope she likes it. Embroidered red linen and some purple cotton for the lining. I quite like the colours but wouldn't have put them together myself had Shani not told me her faves!

Summer Whisper

2009-07-06T11:21:00.006+01:00

What can I say!! Over on Ravelry, in the Posh Yarn Forum they are holding a laceweight cardigan KAL. I dyed myself some merino silk yarn in this delicious aqua colourway and just couldn't wait to get started.
This is the Whisper Cardigan in the Spring issue of Interweave Knits
I had a bit of trouble with knitting the sleeves in the round, first of all I don't do 4 needles and using a 12 inch circular needle really stretched the knitting too much for my liking, so I opted for my favourite method of the magic loop. I found that my addi lace circulars were too sticky at the joints for this fine 2ply laceweight yarn so I changed to my absolute favourites needles, harmonies and I was off! I found that if I held the cord and the needle together the stitches slipped over the join more easily, I soon got into a rhythm. I did get a slight problem with laddering but not enough to spoil my experience. I delightful knit all in all and I feel sad that I have finished it. I made the body 10 inches long instead of 8 inches that the pattern says. A bit more flattring for me I reckon.

I used about 95g of yarn for the whole cardigan, a real bargain for something so wearable!

Thank you to my photographer for taking these lovely photos! I think you need to update your blog honey...

The yarn is the same base yarn that Dee at Posh Yarn used for her Diana yarn, so I feel well and truly posh in it! Shame it's too warm to wear it at the moment ha ha, no doubt that will change soon.

I hope to be having a Summer Affair with this soon...but Spinning for Tour de Fleece is going to be using up my time for a while, and it will good to use up some of my ever growing fibre stash!

A Day Out With Heather

2009-06-25T14:00:00.009+01:00

I made this little yoked cardigan for Miyah out of some stash yarn. You know that feeling when you just have to knit a pattern but can't find quite the right yarn? This yarn is a bit busy for such a pretty design but it looks ok, well I think so. I added 6 stitches to each underarm, both on the sleeves and the body, I don't like patterns that have no shaping. I decreased the stitches on the sleeves every four rows to get back to the original number. The buttons are some antique ones I bought a while ago. I have realised that unless I actually use my precious stuff it will just sit there to eternity!

Looky! Barry has grown some amazing strawberries. The flavour is out of this world and we have loads to come.

He is also growing me some runner beans, oh how I love runner beans and I can't wait for them to appear. We have loads of pretty flowers in the garden too. Such a joy to work in, and to sit in and relax. Neither of us have had such a lovely garden to play with before, it is a new experience for us both.

~*~

Yesterday was such a beautiful day. Heather and I went to Bury-St-Edmunds in Suffolk. It was Heather's suggestion, so glad we went!

I was very naughty and bought loads of stuff I didn't need.

This obviously, some undyed yarn, ready for me to dye up. In there is some fine merino angora yarn, enough to make me a cardigan of some description, will definitely need swatching.

I also bought some pre drafted merino/silk fibre in a delightful hand painted colourway. Love the subtle bits of pink in it. I am waiting for the Tour de Fleece to have a spin up of all my special fibre. I wonder how much of it I will actually get done whilst the racing is on?

The amazing shop is run by the very talented Paula of The Yarn Gallery

Well worth a visit but it is best to phone first to check she is open..It is like an aladdin's cave in this old smithy's shop, think Heather and I might be moving to Bury soon...haha

We found a stall on the market selling pretty baskets at ridiculously cheap prices. I was encouraged to buy this one to put my undyed fibre in so my workroom would look a bit less messy. Looks lovely doesn't it?

I also bought this pretty basket with the intention of making some bits and bobs and giving it to the new mum. However, I'm not sure I can part with it as it is a perfect store for all the pink stuff I bought yesterday. I noticed that I really didn't have much or even any, machine washable, pink yarn so after a visit to the amazing Wibbling Woolshop, I think I made up for it!

There is a skirt draped over the side of the basket which I purchased from the market for £8. Not tried it on yet, hope it fits as I bought some sugar cane yarn from the woolshop to knit myself a top. The owner (sorry forgot her name) was knitting herself a Ms Marigold from the same yarn so I thought that maybe I would do the same. Don't think I'll add the ruffle at the shoulder though.

I have already cast on another little pink thing for Miyah, it's the Sugar Plum Cardi in the Sublime booklet. I am knitting it all in one rather than the separate back and fronts, I hate seams, especially in cotton yarn, they always look a bit loopy! I think that this little baby girl has made me go even more pink than usual, so sorry for all you people out there that don't like pink, I have to say that I love it!

When we were trying to find Wibbling Wools, we went into a sewing shop for directions and I came out with these beautiful linen fabric remnants. Perfect for some bags for my shop. Talking of which, as long as the UK has a player left in Wimbledon, I will remove the UK postage off everything and dramatically reduce it to everywhere else.

Miyah

2009-06-19T19:47:00.004+01:00

Need I say more?

OK then, this is Miyah, Barry's latest Granddaughter. I took these photos this afternoon. The top photo is of a cute little cardigan I knitted for her out of some very pretty handspun yarn. The fibre is superwash blue faced leicester and was purchased from The Natural Dye Studio.

We now have SEVEN Grandchildren between us, not bad eh?

If you'd like to see more photos then click here for an online album of gorgeousness!

Have a lovely weekend

....I was just wondering, what happened to the cat?

2009-06-07T09:28:00.019+01:00

Well, yesterday was wet, dull, cold....but oh what a happy day it was! Barry Heather and I had such fun! Don't think I saw a sad face at the amazing UK Ravelry day, aren't crafters' the best? So many smiley faces, I hope I don't forget to name everyone.

The first person I met was WoollyWormhead, it was lovely to meet you Ruth...see you on twitter? I must get on and knit a Dulcie Hat, it is my favourite!

As we were about to venture out into the wet, I bumped into Debbie, Skein Queen. Our second meeting, this time she was a visitor as usually, Debbie is busy selling her wares at functions like this. I have to say Debbie, you must be the most speedy spinner I know, I only posted your fibre out on Wednesday I think, so you received it on Thursday and there you were, showing me your yarn. Glad I wore my necklace as it was the inspiration for the colours in that Shetland!

I have posted these photos in the order in which they were taken...first off is the lovely Sarah, what a darling she is! She came round and gave me a most lovely hug, I forgive you for the wet woolly coat cuddle! Sarah sells gorgeous hand dyed fibre from her shop Babylonglegs