A little "ta-dah" for a cardigan I made earlier in the year.
The pattern is Doris Chan's Cinnabar and the yarn is Sublime Cashmere/Merino.Silk blend. I actually had tension problems with this one as the yarn is very stretchy, it took a couple of false starts before I was certain I had the right size hook and was making the right size cardigan. And this one is much more of a cardigan and less of a jacket. Very cuddly to wear and featuring some splendid polka dot buttons!
I love it!
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...
So it was another week of blisteringly hot weather! Whilst I am not quite ready for it to be Autumn yet there were a couple of days this week when I wouldn't have minded it being a few degrees cooler. I find the heat very draining and so good intentions to 'get stuff done' fall by the wayside in a puddle of melting ambition and depleted energy and at times a feeling of being almost ill. I do not do well in the heat it seems.
The work week was busy as ever, and I am still getting used to not having to look over my shoulder anymore after what happened a few weeks ago. Now I just think that it's sad that a person's major contribution to other people's job satisfaction is to leave, but it is oddly satisfying when other colleagues go out of their way to tell me how much they value what I do and that it was only a matter of time before things swung around again. I don't expect the current peace to last but it is extremely good to not be feeling on edge and worried all the time.
Life has it's ups and downs and this last few weeks have been specially down for one of my closest and oldest friends. I can't say that other folks problems don't affect me because when it's someone I care deeply about they do. I wish there was a way to fix everything for everyone, but sadly I have no magic wand, just an available ear, the capacity and strength to ask the hard questions and the offer of a place to run to should it become necessary.
So it has been a contemplative week, reflective and strangely peacful here on Misty Mountain...
at the house in the trees. I always think the contrast between our rampant over grown trees and my neighbours well manicured lawns is oddly amusing.
The weekend has actually been very restful despite the heat. Helped of course by the start of the second test of The Ashes series on Thursday. My enjoyment of cricket is one of the few things I share with my Father, so it is always cool fun to call him at close of play, or lunch or tea to discuss the day's cricketing events. Helped of course by the fact that several of the current team's stars are Yorkshire men! Saturday was truly glorious and I shared a couple of excited enthusiastic calls with Dad where we talked about Yorkshire vs Australia and the fact that Joe Root doesn't look old enough to be out of short trousers let alone scoring a hundred and eighty at Lords!
This morning we did our usual hot Sunday thing of getting up early and heading out to the beach with Phaolin so he could have a good walk before it got too hot for him to want to do any more than make a den in the shady bushes in the garden and lie in it for the rest of the day trying to keep cool.
This morning we went the other way, from the car park and along the pier to the newly painted lighthouse...
Looking very smart and rather sparkly in the morning sun.
There were a few more clouds in the view looking over the Gower this weekend.
And a little boy who has limited patience with all this view gazing lark and who is raring to get on with HIS walk along the beach.
So we put cameras/iPhones away and headed off for a stroll in my case, run and bound in Phaolin's case along the beach. There was much sniffing, some paddling and of course lots and lots of hole digging. (We gave up on the garden years ago when we realised Phaolin wasn't ever going to stop digging large holes in everything he could dig holes in including lawns, flower beds, herb gardens and shrubbery.) Malamutes are world champion diggers and the beach is the perfect place for Phaolin to get the days digging requirement out of his system!
After the beach we strolled past Shoreline, the rather grand caravan park hidden down by the beach behind the pickle factory. Yes I do mean the pickle factory, Parsons Pickles of Burry Port to be exact. Seriously good pickles if you like pickles, which I do. Walking past the really quite lovely static caravans at Shoreline always makes me wonder... should we invest in one, would it be worth it. We had a caravan at Swithland Woods when we lived in Leicestershire and it made for some great memories... or would it just be another overhead I can do without in these days of tenuous job security at best?
Anyway after the beach and the dunes and the caravans we walked back across the park past the pretty coloured houses to the car.
And home for a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea for breakfast before it got too hot! And another day of cricket watching and crocheting.
And speaking of crocheting I promised a propoer 'ta-dah' post for Tara's blanket so...
After the girl's (Tara and her girlfriend) had been home at Christmas and showed us all the pictures and plans for their new house in Brussells himself asked if I would crochet them a blanket so he could take it as a housewarming present when he went over. Yes, I said, of course, no problem, crocheting blankets is what I do! So I looked at the various pictures we had of the house and the new furniture and realised everything was very modern and... white... Well I could make a white blanket but the practicalities of using it and constantly washing it made it seem pointless. The only colour I had to go on was the rusty orange of the draft stopper they had asked for for Christmas. I thought about making something like a Flowers in the Snow blanket but that requires a variety of bright colours set off by the white border and I wasnt sure that a rainbow of bright colours was really the way to go. Bright colours in large varieties did not really seem to be the girls thing. So on a trip to Cardiff with a friend earlier in the year I took a punt and bought some Rowan baby merino silk dk in cantaloupe, strawberry and sunshine. The strawberry and cantaloupe were the colours of the Christmas draft stopper. Then I decided on Lucy's Interlocking Ripple pattern and got to work.
Here is the result!
I was so happy with the way this came out. Here it is on our bed!
And a close up of the white border.
Himself took the blanket with him when he went to Belgium at the start of the month. I will admit that I was vrey nervous as to how it would be received. I am very aware that not everyone likes hand made things, many people consider them a cheap alternative when you can't affford to buy something rather than the labour of love they actually are. So I was really chuffed to receive a very enthusiastic thank-you phone call after he had handed it over, pointing out that the colours I had been so concerned about toned in perfectly with the natural wooden floors throughout the house. But what really had me dancing with glee was when the girls called the other week and talked about how lovely it was to sit side by side on their new couch late in the evening watching TV snuggled together under their handmade blanket! I was just so pleased!! I have since received a lovely thank-you card so I am pretty sure my work is well appreciated. It's kind of a good thing seeing as I have already made their Christmas presents for this year!
And one final picture of the blanket all folded up ready to head to its new and very appreciateve home.
The other thing I managed to get done was my Yarndale bunting. I only did a few triangles because I had real problems with the tension but I was rather pleased with how they came out.
I need to get them in the post this week now there is an address to send them to. Not going to bother to try and personalise them. I am sure I'll have better things to do that weekend than spend time trying to spot one of my triangles amidst the thousands that will be fluttering at the Yarndale venue. I am strangely looking forward to my solo visit back to the Dales. It's been years! I will stop off at the folks on the way and then head off to Skipton on the Friday. I'm staying at the the Woolly Sheep. I really couldn't resist, although its actually a pub and I'm a bit concerned about how good the accomodation will actually be, but I figured I'm going for the event and to see the Dales again not to spend hours in my room!
Well the weekend is nearly over so I'm going finish off my weekend jug of Pimms.
And settle down for a bit more hooky time before bed. So I'll leave you with another picture from our morning walk.
O. xx
What glorious weather!! So much to post about and yet so little time to actually post about it all. Splendid weekend, England going okay in the Ashes and something happened at work a week ago that has made life much improved, for now anyway and I finally finished Tara's blanket but I think it deserves a post all to itself because I really am very please with the way it came out.
The above was taken yesterday morning on our walk. We left it too late, my fault entirely, and by the time we were halfway along our usual walk on the coastal path it was far too hot for Phaolin so we turned around and came back.
A very hot dog, just before we turned around and headed back.
Needless to say I spent the rest of the day with my lovely crochet, in front of the Ashes. Got a bit worried there for a while but the latter end of the day picked up tremendously.
And so, not wanting to make the same mistake as yesteday we were up at 6am today and by 7 we were on our way to the sea for an early morning walk in the cool(er) part of the day.
We parked the car and headed towards the marina... I didn't have my camera with me so these pictures were all taken with my iPhone!
Which looked really lovely and sparkly in the early morning sun.
Round the marina and down on to the beach where Phaolin wasted no time in finding a 'paddling pool' to cool his hot doggy paws.
The tide was out so we didn't go right down to the sea, it wasn't really necessary when there were plenty of pools and channels for Phaolin to play in.
Because it was so early we had the beach mainly to ourselves...
It really was a beautiful morning...
The view across the bay to the Gower Peninsula...
Back towards the lighthouse and pier at Burry Port...
And further round you can just see the taller masts from the marina...
Finally it was time for a drink and to turn round and head back along the coastal path towards the car.
A quick look back towards the Gower...
And then it was back to the car and home for breakfast in the garden with an early treat of one of the classic tastes of Summer...
And a brand new crochet project - well 2 actually... aren't those colours absolutely yummy!
O. xx
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
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
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
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
So it's half way through January 2011 and this is my first post of the year. I intended to be so good this year and try to post at least once a week but it looks like I fell at the first hurdle. Ah well, never mind. the world won't end for lack of a blog update from me, that's for certain!
The picture above is one of my Christmas presents from himself. I bought myself a swift in Autumn last year and for Christmas I was given the ball winder to accompany it. I love love love love love it! I gave himself a few links to try to get one but it was the lovely ladies at First 4 Yarns who helped him out and ensured that the winder was here in time to be in my stocking. As you can see I have already put it to good use winding a dozen or so skeins of my gorgeous Natural Dye Studio Dazzle DK. A job that used to take hours is now done in a matter of minutes with no mess, tangling, swearing, and/or the general frustration that can accompany hand winding skein after skein for a blanket.
Another christmas present I received from himself was a 'Kindle.' I had asked for it because holding bigger books, especially in bed, to read for any real length of time has become increasingly difficult. However, a bit of investigating showed another splendid use for it. All my dowloaded crochet patterns can be sent to the Kindle which means no more carrying around crumpled sheets of A4 that get torn and spilled on and lost. Now I can send them to the Kindle and that's all I need to carry with me.
Splendid device!
Of course having gotten the Kindle I had to crochet myself a case for it didn't I...
Here it is on the sofa, along with my latest Cath Kidston catalogue.
In return for the above himself deserved something truly special and I think the completed blanket fitted the bill perfectly.
It's made from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK in heathery colours suitable for a bloke! And he loves it. It has taken up permanent residence on the back of the sofa...
And gets used every day. If you ever want to make a luxury blanket for a special person then this yarn is the one to do it in. It's so thick and soft and makes for a very very snuggly blanket.
I made a selection of other Christmas gifts for various people and some of Lucy's Christmas Baubles.
This is the first collage I've ever done and it isn't very good, but you get the general idea. Anyway, himself is away visiting his folks this weekend so I have loads of hooky time all to myself. Hopefully I will manage to update faster next time. O. xx
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
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