Misty Mountain

Recovering slowly...

Isn't my mug absolutely lovely.  And my mug pug too!  They were both in my stocking for Christmas along with lots of other lovely goodies.

So it has been a week and we are slowly recovering, but the key word is slowly.  Almost everything we do had a dog related aspect to it in some way and it is so hard not to remember.  We have done all the "right things" as much as we can, packed away all the bowls and towels spare leads and harnesses, so now we just have gaps where all his things used to be. Yesterday I had to change the angle of the ironing board when I was doing the ironing because I always used to glance up and look out of the window to see where Phaolin was and what he was up to.  Every time it rains (which is a lot here right now) I have stop myself going to the back door to call him in.  Coming home from the knitting circle there was no big white furry presence waiting for me in the yard.  For over twenty years we have always had at least one dog in the house and now it feels very big and empty and for some reason, very cold.  But we are recovering and we will get used to gaps and the spaces and the habits will change over time I guess.

I didn't have the heart to carry on with all my crochet blankets over the Christmas period so I went back to knitting socks, courtesy of the Winwick Mum Sockalong Facebook Group I had over thirty balls of sock yarn in my yarn stash so I hunted a few out and bought myself some Addi circular sock needles to try out.  I've always used DPNS before so this was a whole new experience, also the pattern was for top down and I have usually preferred toe up.  I decided to avoid single sock syndrome by knitting the two socks at the same time and put a lot of effort into matching up the pattern.

The yarn is "Tonks" from Opal yarns Harry Potter range and I have to admit I am very very pleased with the way these have come out.

So it has been a sad and quiet start to 2016 and I have to believe things can only get better from here.  Off to finish the second sock now, then I can start wearing them.  

Oran xx

2014 in Yarn

The early part of 2014 was all about the baby.  Discovering that we were going to be grandparents was the most wonderful news and within minutes I was planning all the things I could make for the newest addition to our little family.

My most favourite piece of the whole year was this...

I was so pleased with the way it turned out. (So it gets 2 pictures.)

But it was soon followed by a whole plethora of 'little items.'

It is staggering the amount of time it takes to make teeny tiny little clothes and shoes!  And much as I love love loved making things for baby there were times when I just had to get stuck into something that wasn't miniature.  So I made a few things for me to wear.

I am so in love with that V necked cardigan and my flower decorated smock.  I actually did two smocks a navy blue one and a beige one but I only have pictures of the navy one.  I'm also rather proud of Henry Humpty.  He, of course, went to Belgium with himself for our little boy.

The biggest hit of the year for present making are those wonderful bandana cowls, there are 6 pictured here, I have made 10 in all and so far failed miserably to make one either for myself or himself :)

Probably my other favourite make is the poncho.  I am so not a poncho person but the pattern was in Simply Crochet number 25 and I just had to have a go.  I wear it as a kind of additional dressing gown and it is perfect for keeping warm late at night or for dashing out for an early delivery in the morning.

I sent a second baby blanket over to Belgium in the summer, to fulfill a need for a lighter weight one and there my baby crafting stopped.  Our grandson is a big lad so this year I will be moving on to childrens sizes to accomodate his rather rapid growth.  Oh the pattern possibilities!  And of course the blanket possibilities for a proper sized bed when he get's big enough, it's just so exciting.

However, a pre-winter Festival sort out of the yarn room revealed a number of bags with some almost finished projects in the them that got shelved when I got involved with baby stuff making so I have determined that they will have to be completed in the first half of the year.  Plus I have begun to knit two cardigans for himself, an aran and a sirdar crofter.  This is fairly major for me, because although I can knit perfectly well I have never knitted for another adult other than myself.

So there we have it, there are about a dozen or so items that either haven't been photographed yet or got given away without being photographed.  Like the scarf I made for my Mother in Law or the shawl I made for my Sister in Law.  So I reckon I made around 72 items this year in total.  I guess 2014 was a good year for crafting!

Love O. xx

Holiday - Day the Second

It must be nice to be able to brag about having fresh flowers in a jug on your table every day.  Sadly, I cannot.  I wish I could but sometimes life just doesn't allow for it.  But I am on holiday, so right now I have jugs of fresh flowers in my bathrooms, in both sitting rooms, and in the kitchen!  Yay!  I do, however, have a wonderful garden that brings me much happiness.  I wander out there every morning with my first cup of tea of the day.  Through the apple tree and rose archway...

Past the old grinding wheel and the old shed that badly needs painting.

And up to where the old outside loo used to be...

And over to the multi coloured hydrangea.

So I guess it makes up for not having flowers in a jug on my table every day.

I am busy making things, as usual.

My new grandson needed a lighter weight blanket for park visiting so this turned into this.

And I added in some face cloths for baby and his mummies.

Some guest soaps for the girls, a couple of hats that I didn't take pictures of and a couple of onesies from BHS and I had another box ready to send.  And the really really best thing is that on Friday I will be on my way to Belgium for the weekend to see my baby grandson.  Cuddles for me!!

Now I have mojito in hand and I'm busy knitting a teddy to take with me on Friday so... hopefully more tomorrow!

O. xx

Knitting in the sun! Oh and a bit of Madrid too!

This was the part of the garden I was sitting facing for most of the day today.  We got up early and took Phaolin out for a walk before it got too hot.  Sadly we didnt get up quite early enough to head for the sea, so that will have to wait until tomorrow morning.  Then when we got back I made the first jug of Pimms of the Summer.

We were out of cucumbers, well we needed the little we had for the salad for lunch, but we did have orange apple and mint so I chopped those up and dumped them in and... delicious.

Earlier this week I was in Madrid for work.  I love Madrid, not quite as much as I love Rome, but it is a truly splendid city.  We were staying at the Hotel Hospes in the centre of Madrid.  A five star boutique hotel that deserved every one of it's five stars.  I swear I could move to Madrid just for the food!  

This was my room

My bathroom had a double corner bath, a waterfall shower and two sinks and it was so quiet, even with the french doors open it was hard to remember that I was in the middle of a busy city.

We dined at the terrace restaurant here on Monday night.

You know that building used to be the post office!!  Now it is a centre for the arts.  The Palacio de Cibeles Restaurant is on the sixth floor terrace and well worth a visit if you get the opportunity.

I did get chance for a good walk into the centre on Monday evening before dinner and of course, some shopping.  I bought two new fans, a pink one and a yellow one, and some lovely spanish yarn.  Then I had a wander round my favourite plaza.

Then I looked at my watch and realised there was no way I was going to make it back in time for dinner if I walked... so I got a cab.

We drank Mojitos in the terrace bar before dinner.  Fabulous Mojitos!  And here is the view from the Palacio de Cibeles Restaurant, as night fell.

I will admit that one of the things I really enjoyed was grabbing a vew moments to myself, ordering a glass of wine and sitting on the terrace with my crochet.

On the second night we went to Meson Txistu a basque style terrace restaurant and a regular haunt of Real Madrid footballers and Rafael Nadal.  Sadly he wasnt there on Tuesday night and my pictures all include my colleagues and so are not for this blog.

It was a good conference, good to meet up with old colleagues, many of whom I have known for well over ten years.  We worked hard, I know that sounds surprising looking at the venue and hearing about the restaurants but we didn't finish until well after seven on Tuesday evening and I had to leave before we were done on Wednesday to catch my flight.  I arrived home at close to midnight on Wednesday and have to admit to being extremely tired.

Probably explains why I was content to sit in the garden and knit baby shoes today.

And now I am off to finish a cardigan.  O. xx

Peace, quiet, relaxation and a new car!

There are fressias in my bathrooms, roses on my kitchen table, calla lillies on my mantle, and even a dinky little vase on my bedside table, crochet and knitting magazines on my couch, raspberries, balckberries and strawberries in my fridge, interesting drinks (cherry wine) in my drinks cabinet and a new crochet project already well on its way to comletion... I'm on holiday!!  \o/ Yay! Three glorious weeks free from emails, crises, conference calls, IT and all the rest of the gubbins that goes with doing a demanding full time job!

My holiday actually started last Friday.  I slept in, actually slept for 5 hours woke up and then dozed for another 2 and spent the day pottering around, ironing, cleaning, crocheting and relaxing.  I repeated the same routine on Saturday, then on Sunday I got myself in gear and went and did the holiday shopping.  That was where the raspberries and blackberries came from and of course the magazines...

I only ever buy magazines when I'm on holiday becasue I don't have time to read them any other time.   There are some good patterns in these three and some excellent yarn sites I shall be visiting.  It's thanks to a magazine that I discovered Easyknits and the lovely John, a splended source of some of the most wonderful yarn I have in my stash.

Yesterday I went to the opticians for an eye test and ordered two new pairs of glasses.  Last time I had problems finding even one set of frames that I liked, this time, platsic frames are apparently back in fashion and before I knew it I had 8 frames in my hands to pick from.  I finally managed to narrow it down to 2, a big bright one from Osiris and a wonderful quirky one from Gok Wan.  My current frames are Gok's and they have been wonderfully comfortable and very hard wearing for the last 2 years.  So that was that done, I managed some other errands in town too before driving home in my lovely new car...

My first ever brand new car!  Never had a brand new car before, I've always bought second hand or ex-demonstrators so getting a totally new car has been kinda exciting.  I got a brilliant deal from the garage, but, I was still incredibly sad to see the old car go.  It was an excellent car, a Citroen Picasso, never once let me down, but it was 10 years old and had over ninety thousand miles on the clock and to be honest, it was starting to sound terribly rattley whenever we drove it.  So I bought another Citroen, in the hopes that it will be just as reliable.  A smaller car, diesel, with zero road tax, a 'special edition' with some great features, like bluetooth so that I can make calls directly from the car and listen to music from the iPhone/iPod, cruise control and a speed limiter which, in theory, should stop me getting done for speeding on the long drives up to see the folks.  It is incredibly comfortable to drive but it just needed that little personal touch to make it entirely mine, so I set about making something...

Yes - even the car has become part of my quest to live inside my own personal rainbow!!  I'll probably make more for it, seat covers etc in the coming months, but for now I'm happy with my new steering wheel cover!

Of course being on holiday there has to be new crochet and knitting projects on the go...

I have just one sleeve to go on a new crochet top, a couple of knitted face cloths underway and in the basket above the start of the Christmas knitting.  Aren't those needles hilarious?  15mm needles, it's like knitting with a pair of pokers.  I am using the Texere yarn I got at Wonderwool shown in my Wonderwool post here and one of their novelty scarf patterns.  It's kinda fun in a wierd sort of way!

As the weather is pretty decent we are trying to get out and about this holiday and have already had a couple of outings which I will write about in the next post or so.  Meanwhile here are more of my lovely flowers...

 

 

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 

 

 

2012 in Crochet and Knitting

Having another go with this blog and decided to start with a round up of 2012 crafting.  A poor year for blogging but not a bad one on the crafting front so here are just a few of the completed projects in 2012.  There were other items that I gave away and forgot to take pictures of and some that didn't quite get finished but I'm pretty pleased with most of the things that got made. 

The biggest item was the patchwork granny blanket and I am very pleased with the result.  I have enough yarn left to make a matching cushion so that will be one of the things on the list to make in 2013.  I guess the one I'm most proud of is the Doris Chan sequined evening jacket.  I love the sequined yarn, the jacket fits perfectly and I made it! 

Because we intend to get the bedroom done this year I have taken the rainbow ripple out of hibernation and intend to get it finished this year so that it can finally take up its rightful place on our bed...

I have decided to add a border when the blanket reaches optimum size because I think it will help it to keep its shape as well as adding about 6 inches of overhang on each side of the bed.  Looking forward to getting this one done.

I also have plans to make some fingerless mits to match the totally mad tasseled hat shown in the mosaic and maybe some legwarmers too.   I already have all the matching Mini Mochi yarn so its just a case of 'getting on with it!'

Which is precisely what I intend to do right now.  Hopefully there'll be another entry in the not too distant future meanwhile if anyone happens by this post Happy 2013!

Happy day after Valentines Day!

I intended to post this yesterday, but the day just got away from me completely and in the end himself and I simply sat together to watch a few shows at the end of the day.  I was even gonna take the day off but I looked at my work calendar and realised that if I did that then all the conference calls arranged for Monday would simply be re-arranged for later on in the week which would simply increase the workload overall.  So in the end it was a normal day with the usual amounts of love and laughter but with extra cards and roses on top.

Above is a picture of my valentines day gift to himself, or part of it anyway.  I made a crochet heart for each day of the week.

In varying sizes and colours, different on each side...

Added the beaded tails.  Then crocheted different lengths of loops to make a

Bunch of Valentines Hearts

The credit for the hearts pattern goes to Art of Crochet by Teresa and the Youtube link to the on line tutorial is here.  There is a link to the written pattern under the Youtube video.

The idea for the bead decoration came from Lucy at Attic24 - her Christmas Bauble idea.

On a totally different topic the ladies on the Attic24 Ravelry group have been having a dicsussion about pattern copyright, pattern tweaking, pattern ownership etc which has been very interesting to follow.  On a personal note I do always try to give credit for patterns and yarn that I discuss on here and make it very clear that I am not passing patterns I have bought or found on line off as my own.  However, like all human beings I may forget sometimes and if its just a picture of something I made recently then I don't always see the need to go into details.

I was taught to knit, sew, crochet, embroider, cook, bake, wash and iron by my grandmother between the ages of four and eight.  She taught my two male cousins too.  I consider myself very fortunate in this and admit that I can look at a picture of finished item and usually work out how to make it pretty quickly.  However, personally I prefer to buy my patterns, where I can, because it saves time, and it keeps pattern makers employed so they come up with more lovely patterns for me to try. 

Like these from Gourmet Crochet  Aren't they just gorgeous and the two booklets cost me the grand sum of $16.  I am well thrilled with these little gems.

Of course the issue of vintage and out of print patterns is rather different and I am not sure where I stand on whether or not these patterns should be posted on the internet.  On the one hand it is great to make beautiful patterns available for people to try and to enjoy.  On the other hand are we stealing?  One assumes royalties on such patterns are no longer being paid so where is the harm?  Unlike reproducing a pattern from a book still in print from which the designer may be relying on royalty payments for their living.  Maybe I'm just over complicating the whole thing.  It was a very lively and interesting discussion that raised a lot of good points and tricky points and obvious points and points we folks just hadn't thought about at all. 

Well that's my Valentines Hearts and thinky thoughts entry for today!

Take care all.  Love O. xxx

November

I can't believe it's November already!  Where did the year go?

Just a quick update because I haven't posted in so long.  So what have we been up to since the ages ago when I last posted?

Well the weather has turned colder, that's for certain.  I've started wearing polo necked sweaters under my smocks.  Time to get the sock needles out and start knitting lovely scrummy thick socks for the winter.  Speaking of thick socks, bonfire night was something of a wash out.  We had to keep Phaolin in last night but there was really very little to see.  I felt so sorry for all the families looking forward to a  bonfire and fireworks outside and now it's still raining and the wind is getting steadily stronger. 

After the shenanigins of last week end we still had our Samhain pumpkin sitting there unused so this morning I made pumpkin cake and pie, delicious.

I have to admit the batter tasted rather good - it's a guilty pleasure and I know I shouldn't indulge but it brings back all those memories of home baking with mother and nan and being allowed to 'lick the bowl!'

I think I must be the worlds messiest baker, mashed pumpkin everywhere. 

Once that was all done I sat down with my yarn and hook and watched the Brazilian grand prix while outside it slowly became one of those nights when it's good to be inside, all cosy and warm with a glass of good wine and some crochet.

Right now I'm back to crocheting but having gotten a head start on the Christmas presents I decided I needed to do something small and different so last week I turned to the knitting and made these...

I loved this pattern when I first saw it...

I looks even cuter when it's being worn!  I'm kinda pleased with the way it came out.  So tomorrow it's back to the Christmas presents.  Himself put in an order for one of my crochet flower wreaths for his mum so I have to get on with that soon and of course we will begin our usual pre Christmas clean up this week.  I am determined to get ahead of the game this year, in case we have a repeat of last weekend or one of use catches the usual winter cold.  I'll post pictures of the completed Christmas presents soon.  Love O. xx

Vacation...

This was the last rose in the garden, from an old old rose bush that really needs to be dug up, but I just can't bring myself to do it, when each year it produces a half a dozen beautiful, deep jewel toned, perfect roses.  *sigh*

So after the bank holiday health scare I am just over half way through my three week vacation and I have been thoroughly enjoying myself doing... very little.

 

This picture is of the nightdress case and coat hangers I made for my friend from Colombia.  She fell in love with the granny stripe blanket but there wasn't enough time to make a blanket and anyway it would have required a suitcase all to itself, so I made her a nightdress case and a couple of coverd coat hangers instead, using some left over yarn from the blanket so she still had all the pretty colours.

I lined it with some pale yellow cotton and used some of my polka dot buttons for the fastening.  Overall I was kinda pleased with the result.

I have also gotten a head start on the Christmas knitting and crochet... for which I am very pleased with myself.  One item is already completed and several others are well under way, including another granny stripe blanket but for himself this time in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK.  Stupidly expensive I know, and in shades that are not necessarily ones I would normally use but they are colours that himself likes, so that's all that matters.

 
I added a couple of mid-dark purple shades to the mix, to lift the colours a little and the result is exactly what I was looking for,  Lovely stripes in heathery shades that are not too bright and 'girly' and just right for a bloke!  :)

 
And of course being cashmerino the whole thing is lovely and soft and snuggly.

The hat is a Christmas present already completed for a friend of mine, knitted in some of the welsh mohair I got at Wonderwool there are some wrist warmers and a scarf to go with still to be finished.

I am planning to have the blanket and the hats and scarves done by the end of October if I can then I'm pretty much ahead of the game in terms of Christmas present stuff, which will please me immensely.

The weather here has been mixed over the first week and a half of the vacation and Phaolin has developed a limp again which means that adventuring out doors has been limited for both of us.  The sun is coming out now though and makes for lovely walking weather - except for the limp of course.  Not entirely sure quite what to do about it yet.  Instinct tells me to keep him quiet (yeah, try and keep him quiet) and let it get better of its own acoord, but the 'worried Mum' in me wants to rush to the vet, again.  *sigh*  He's a worrisome little monster in every way.  We're just getting over a series of broken nights, which we're putting down to teenage angst and insecurity.  I swear he has more moods and personality in two years than Callanish had in 13!

Yesterday we had a stroll up the lane...

 
In the sun... after the recent trauma it was a good for me as for the dogs... and I took pictures of a couple of the trees...

Because I liked them...

 
I've also had a couple of trips out to stock up on yarn.  I needed more Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino for the Christmas presents so on Monday a friend of mine from the Stitch 'n' Bitch went off to Port Talbot to the yarn shop there.  We had a truly splendid time, finished off with lunch in the coffee shop where we normally meet on a Wednesday evening.

Besides stocking up on the Debbie Bliss I also bought some Noro - Silk Garden Lite.  I know opinions about Noro vary but I wanted to try it for myself and so far I'm reasonably happy.  No it isn't the softest yarn in the world by a long shot but I have it on good authoirty that there ways of softening it during blocking and the long colour runs are ideal for shawls like this one started below...

Not the best display background and the shadows don't help but I'm only about a quarter done and there'll be better pictures later.  I just love the colour runs and I love this particular pattern. Seraphina's Shawl It's versatile, not too hard and very quick.  Once you've got the beginning sorted and all the increases happening in the right places.

Then yesterday I went for lunch in Llandeilo with another S'n'B friend and after an excellent burger and chips for lunch we went to the yarn shop there where I bought a whole bunch of fat quarters to do some patchwork with and then treated myself to a 17 shade rainbow of Sublime DK merino and cashmerino silk.  A truly excellent afternoon, gossiping and yarn buying.  Oh! and I bought a new handbag too, which I love almost as much as the yarn.

The yarn stash is growing out of control.  I really do need to put a stop to the buying and get a whole load more things made.

Anyway, we have cleared up the leaves outside while it is dry and now I am going to go sit and crochet for a while. 

So I'll leave you with another picture of my fabulous 'last rose of Summer.'

Love O. xx