Misty Mountain

Crochet Mandalas

Lucy at Attic24 posted a picture on facebook today of a crochet mandala that she made which reminded me that I made a bunch of the same pattern for Mother's day and never posted any pictures of them. I love this pattern and I'm sorry I never took individual pictures of all of the ones I made.

And this has also reminded me that I made a bunch of hearts and never did anything with them.  Wonder where I put them?

Well it has been a quiet but productive bank holiday so far.  This one really couldn't come soon enough. I have made two cushions and started another blanket which pleases me immensely.  All for me too, which makes a change this year as so much of my crochet seems to have been for other people.  

I also forgot to post any pictures of my Easter Baskets too...

I know they're a bit tacky but I put little bags of mini eggs in them and sent them off to my Mother and my two Aunts who loved them and so did I.  What's not to love about crochet eggs and flowers and fluffy chicks!

Love O. xx

Wonderwool Wales 2013

What a splendid day!  I guess it really is an annual highlight, a day I always look forward to and manage to enjoy regardless of the weather, or anything else.  Well after the freezing temperatures and incessant rain of last year this year's Wonderwool was very pleasant.  We had an early start.  I left home at 8am to meet my 'Stitch 'n' Bitch friends at Llandeilo wearing my new cardigan, featured at the end of the previous post, and a newish made Harmony Shawl.  I had been to the Post Office on Friday to get some cash to spend, but decided once I arrived in Llandeilo that I might need more so I stopped off at the cashpoint and my instincts proved to be correct.

We all piled into one car and continued on our merry way chattering and laughing as usual and arrived early.  There was a queue to get in!  It didn't hamper a speedy entrance but we had never managed to be quite so early before.  Anyway, we started with a cup of coffee, arranged where we would meet up for lumch and then off we went on our separate ways to look, and talk and of course spend.

So... here it is... my Wonderwool booty laid out on the bed in all it's glory!

I had gone determined to be disciplined this year.  In previous years I have bought gorgeous yarn, but often only one or two skeins and there is a limit to the number of hats, scarves, gloves and small shawls anyone needs.  So this year I was determined to buy at least some yarn in sufficient quantity to make garments with and I'm a big girl so I need a lot of yarn!

So starting from left to right...

2 lovely skeins from Willow Knits, so soft and silky

Recycled sari silk for making bags and some Opal sock yarn because it was pink!

The usual rainbow of mohair from Mobear and down at the front some sock yarn from Sparkleduck which I love, some lovely soft alpaca in blue and a pink/grey brown mix from Alexandria Alpacas and in the middle of this picture two piles of gorgeous yarn from Jon at Easyknits.  I will admit that this latter was one of the items I had gone specifically to get.  That pink is truly fabulous and I wish I had bought the plain peachy shade to match the variegated Splendour silk mix.  In fact I may just go check out the website and see if they have any...  Finally some more of those fabulous buttons I discovered last year on the far left of the pic.  Jon's partner also let me have a load of their fabulous patterns.  I was a very lucky lady!

Next...

Some Jester yarn with it's added random pom poms, no idea what I'm going to make with it but it just completely intrigued me!  Some more sock yarn, because I liked the colours and a pattern for a domino knitted cardigan that I will have to adapt and then some to get it to fit me (I think the biggest size is 42" bust which a good 6 inches too small, I did say I was a big girl.) but I already have a lot of Opal Say it with Flowers sock yarn to use on it and as it's modular it should be adaptable if I can just be patient enough to knit all the darn squares!  Below that is some fabulous cotton in a vivid peachy pink from Bulldog Crafts.  I have been wanting to make myself Jewel by Doris Chan for some time now, but I want it to be a top and not come out as a sweater so finding the right cotton yarn is vitial for it to have the right drape and be something that I can wear next to my skin and this cotton is exactly right!  I will probably have to do some serious swatching to get the right guage but I can handle that if the top comes out okay.  I am also going to try the same top in the bright pink merino I got from Easyknits.  In the middle is the bargain mohair I got from Texere Yarns.  10 balls for £20 for making christmas scarves with. 

Next...

The Natural Dye Studio on the right, patterns and some aran and dk and finally some fabulous yarn from The Old Piggery and Alpaca/Cashmere/Silk blend that is incredibly soft and for which I have plans for a knitted shawl and couple of fingerless glove kits that I bought for the patterns because I loved them.

Finally...

I simply couldn't resist this!  He's so soft and gorgeous and I love him to bits and I've decided to call him Aloysius.  Aloysius Alpaca!

It really was a splendid day.  Lovely to meet up with all the folks who's yarn I buy avidly on line, especially Jon and his partner from Easyknits and Amanda and Phil from the Natural Dye Studio. 

Well I guess I'd better go get on with some crochet.  Need to finish one or two projects so that I can start using my lovely new yarn.

Love O. xx 

 

 

Beltain Morning (and a humungous great catch-up)

So much for posting at least one entry a week!  Ah well...

Today for Beltaine I are mostly being a daffodil...

I decided in a fit of pure self indulgence to wear my bright yellow polka dot blouse and my flowery cardigan to match my flowery clogs...

And of course the inevitable bright stripey socks... wouldn't be me if I wasnt wearing bright stripey socks now would it.  Like I said, pure self indulgence.

Well we intended to get up and go to the sea for the sunrise ceremony but when the alarm went off at 5am, he, who is usually up with the lark at 5am every morning, didn't even stir!  I admit I found it completely hilarious, particularly when he finally did stir at 5.20 and declared that the alarm hadn't gone off!  That brought on the giggles which was probably a good way to start the May Day celebration anyway.  So we did the sunrise ceremony in the garden in our dressing gowns and had mugs of tea to salute the sun, which was, of course, shrouded in mist when it finally rose.  (See blog title!)  Long gone are the days of dressing up and heading to Avebury overnight with all the trappings needed for a major sunrise celebration, we are older now, that's our excuse and we're sticking to it.

Now the Beltaine breakfast table is set...

And himself is preparing the feast.

Which we have just eaten...
And yes I know it's a veritable heart attack on a plate, egg, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, black pudding, tomatoes topped with cheese, toast 'n' marmalade and coffee with cream, about the only healthy bit was the orange juice but I refuse to feel guilty.  I'm doing the Race for Life again this year so I'm getting in 10k a day on the eliptical trainer so... no guilt here.

I am also in love with my little butterfly table cloth.  I found it in a little linen shop near the market in town and just had to bring it home.

I have also been indulging my quest to live inside my own personal rainbow and gradually over the last month or three I've been buying odd bits of RiceDK because it's bright and cheerful and wonderfully colourful.  It is also part of my kitchen revamp which has been going on quietly over the last couple of months, we aren't quite done yet but I am totally thrilled with my lovely new sink...

I love the 'old fashioned' mixer tap and the new worksurfaces.  We haven't quite finished the cupboard fronts yet because himself is in the middle of the painting but it already looks so much better than the awful dilapidated old brown sink with it's peeling taps that I couldn't turn off at all and chipped and scratched old formica worktop that looked permanently dirty no matter how much you cleaned it.  And no Phaolin didn't get any eggs! 

On an entirely different tack Sunday was Wonderwool Wales and what splendid day it was.  With a bit of luck I will post pictures of all my booty some time this week because in usual Beltaine tradition I am now on holiday for a week. Yippeee!!!

There has been a fair bit of crafting going on since the snow post, not surprising I guess, when isn't there crafting going on where I'm concerned.  I decided back in January that this was going to be the year the monster rainbow ripple got finished... I have been working on it off and on for a while but because we never got round to doing the bedroom there was no rush to finish it and a load of other stuff got made in between.  The plumbing situation forced us into getting the kitchen done which was actually gonna be the last room we tackled but I am determined the bedroom will get done one way or another so, the monster ripple that began like this...

And grew to this...

Now looks like this...

I am almost halfway through the second colour round.  Ran into a bit of a problem with this blessed Biggan First Cross Merino yarn AGAIN... I love this yarn, I really do but actually getting hold of the stuff is like a major operation every time. I realised that I had made a mistake in my last order to the UK supplier and gotten a deep red instead of a lovely sage green!  (Transposing numbers in an order just sucks big time) Never mind I thinks I'll just order another ball of the right green.  So off I go to my UK supplier only to find they don't stock it anymore, and niether it seems does anyone else!  Oh well no worries Biggan have their own online shop I'll get it from there.  Which I did.  Over two hundred aussie dollars worth, in order to get free shipping, I ordered the yarn for the border as well.  And to my absolute horror then had to pay an extra forty quid customs charges and a handling fee from the post office!  Biggan, I love you, honestly I do, your yarn is some of the best available for those of us who want true dyed colours, but seriously, that made this blanket cost... well, a lot... 26 colours, 2 balls of each colour, each ball costing at least £5 plus the extra $200 AUS for the border, I'll let you all do the math!

There have been a number of other projects done this year but I guess the one I am most chuffed with is the one that I made in a week, last week to be precise.  I had some Drops Nepal aran for another project that no matter what I did just was never going to fit me so I got out my Doris Chan pattern book and hooked up this...

I'm calling it my 'Cupcake Cardi,' himself chose the buttons.  I got out all my button boxes and sifted through picking out the ones I had enough of to go down the front and then asked himself which he thought looked best and he picked the cupcakes! 

I wore the cardigan to Wonderwool on Sunday with a shawl I haven't taken any pictures of yet.

Well having not posted anything for months I seem to have managed to make up for it a little with this post, so now I am off to bake... cupcakes.  Beltaine cupcakes!  Yummy!

Take care!  O. xx