My Week...

This week has been a strange one. It's been complicated and I hope the coming week is a better one. There have been nice bits though - I got to spend some time with my lovely family, had a knitting session with my friend over a cup of tea, and went to see David Starkey with my husband.

My sister came home from her holidays in Whitstable with something very special for me - a SunJelly coral Dorothy bag (I love that it has a name) and my little cat was very interested in it. I also had a very kind present from my dear friend - a pretty plant and some gorgeous Rose chocolate. 

My crochet blanket is progressing nicely, I'm trying to find time here and there to add to it. I am trying to make the best of the days that are hard. 

Make on Monday

Today was something shiny and new - Make on Monday. It was the first ever, and I'm pleased to report that it went rather well. My friend and I have been plotting this for some time, joining forces to offer our crafty skills in a lovely local cafe. Becca is one of my go-to friends for knitting advice, and she has a great business called Alterknitive. 

So we packed up our bits and bobs and set up in the Baby Bird Cafe with lots of books and hooks and needles and yarny-goodness. 

We had a visitor each, Becca helped with increasing and cable knitting, and I gave a bit of advice on stitches, different UK and American abbreviations, and pattern reading - we made granny squares, following the pattern as we went along. I felt pretty proud. 

We have the next Make on Monday dates all booked in already, I have such high-hopes for our joint adventure.

My Month In Makes...

This month saw a sock knitting innovation - I picked up some Drops Big Fabel chunky sock yarn, and using a combination of two patterns I made some cosy socks! I used the Quick and Chunky Sock Pattern as a starting point, and took some bits from my favourite Beginner Sock Pattern, and now I have two pairs of very gorgeous socks, that take very little time to make! I've started another pair for my sister too.

I finished two pairs of 4ply socks - some stripy ones and some Frankensocks, and I'm working on a third pair, with Drops Fabel yarn that looks like fancy Fairisle. 

I'm making progress with my 2015 blanket, I've finished seven rows now, and I love it so much! I finished my granny square blanket, and it's currently on my sofa being adored by my kitties. At the beginning of the month I started a new stash-buster blanket, I'm not using a pattern, just making it up as I go along, and it's coming along rather nicely. 

It's been a lovely month of makings!

WonderWool Wales

On Sunday we ventured into the beautiful Welsh hills for our annual visit to WonderWool. I love this gathering of like-minded folks, where everyone is passionate about craftiness, the atmosphere and enthusiasm. There are so many talented makers there, so much beautiful yarny goodness. 

I always love seeing the beautiful fluffy critters - Alpacas, sheep and Angora bunnies, happily enjoying the attention. There were huge installations too - Alison Murray's Gingerbread house covered in cakes, with knitted walls and a cosy bed in the corner, and the Giant Cardigan for Cardigan by Lisa Hellier. It was all so very impressive and inspiring! 

I didn't take a shopping list, but of course I expected to buy sock yarn - I found bargain Araucania Ranco merino 4ply in grey pink, and some beautiful Merino/Cashmere 4ply from Rosie's Moments which was my special purchase of the day! I also picked up a Kool Aid dye it yourself kit from Rosie's Moment, I am so excited to try it out! I just love the idea of dyeing my own sock yarn before knitting it up. I found some beautiful hand-dyed wool from Eliza Conway, I went for mustard, olive and turquoise, and was kindly given a purple ball by a friend. I didn't really have a plan for it, but I bought plenty so I'd have enough for a project. It was 50p for each 50g ball so it was pretty bargainous! 

I'm already looking forward to next year, and I can't wait to start using my lovely new stash! 

My Week...

Last week was quiet and full of yarn and craftiness. 

The postie delivered a wool winder to me, and it's been the perfect little device for neatening my stash. 

My Week...

As the year continues to fly by, I am busier and busier with my little shop and filling my days with stock making and working on new ideas. The teeny-tiny bit of time I've been keeping for myself has been dedicated to yarny-exploits - I pottered around the car boot sale on Sunday in pursuit of yarny-goodness, and happily filled my little tote bag (covered in unicorns, most delightful) with pretty mustard and pink 4ply and some very splendid sheepy-wool. I also made space in my little bag for some other goodies - Ingrid Bergman's autobiography, a pastel-pink box for storing my cassette tapes (my dear sweet little car, Mavis, has a very retro and somewhat stylish tape player, given that she is a lady of 'a certain age'), and a handy-handbag for outings.  

I found more yarny-goodness on a little charity shop mooch on Tuesday in a rather fetching peachy-pink, and adopted a doily that looked lonely all on it's own in a basket. I came home to two little parcels - a book of poetry by Patti Smith, which I devoured over a cup of tea, and a light-up crochet hook, which was a lovely surprise from my lovely husband. I was gifted a bag of fabric and bits-and-bobs of half-done projects on Wednesday, and found the back of a jumper all knitted up, but sadly that was all there was of it, so with the help of a friend it was unravelled and made into a thoroughly useful ball of foxy-orange yarn.  

 

I have been busy working on a knitted blanket in lovely summery bright colours in the evenings this week, I am knitting strips that I will stitch together. It is a nice and easy project, garter stitch and not too stressful, unlike the little project that I started this evening, which involved the learning and understanding of the "Magic Loop" technique. It was necessary so that I could finally start one of the Knitted Monsters from Rebecca Danger's fabulous book, and I must confess that after getting past the scary learning-something-new bit, I rather like it and it isn't nearly as complicated as I had led myself to believe.

My Week...

This week has flown by in a whirlwind of crochet, tea and spending nice bits of time with friends. I found a delightful pattern for making little fingerless gloves, perfect for my newly-acquired sheepy-wool which was crying out to be cosy mitts, so I settled in on Saturday evening and crocheted away. I worked my way around my blanket a couple of times on Sunday, and I'm sure that one day soon it will make a very warm little bed cover.

I am utterly thrilled with the progress of my windowsill garden, now flowering away nicely with pretty little white Gypsophilia. The next one that looks ready to bloom is the Delphinium, and I have high hopes for my tiny greenhouse plants. 

I found some lovely charity shop treasures this week, with the thrifty luck on my side for more fabulous sheepy-wool, some pretty coral 4-ply, and crafty books (Amy Butler and Applique). The yarn was put to good use quick-fast, and during an afternoon of excessive amounts of tea I made another pair of cutesy mitts, using strands of both coral yarns together to make a rather splendid blend. This afternoon I enjoyed a rare catch-up with some of my dear friends, and taught their sweet little girl how to crochet, and we made friendship bracelets, because we are best friends - As always my week has been full of tiny moments to treasure, but none more so than a seven-year old telling me that I have a special place in her heart. Such sweetness. 

My Week...

Another splendid week has passed, and there have been many delightful moments to look back on and smile a little happy smile. I spent a jolly evening at a birthday gathering for a friend in the Welsh hills, where I had a bit of time watching the world go by with some of the local livestock who were happily mooching around, and had a little chit-chat with the farm cat, Puss. Sunday was a perfect Sunday of crochet, cats, and mid-morning macarons made in one of my favourite little tea shops and enjoyed at home with a big cup of tea. 

On Monday I ventured to the big city, for theatrical Japanese food preparation at Miyako Teppanyaki followed by Gruff Rhys at the Glee Club. Wednesday was a day of chatting with friends that visited my little shop, talking about crafty adventures, swapping fabric and yarn and crochet tips. I also discovered to my amazement that some tiny seeds that I had planted had actually grown and grown and made little delicate white flowers. As a somewhat unsuccessful gardener I was thrilled and amazed, and am overjoyed to see more and more little flowers unfurling daily. 

Today has been a knitting day. And a knitting day is never a bad day. 

Some Makings

My granny square blanket is growing slowly, it's at a stage where I barely see any progress because it's already so big, but it still has a long way to go! I am hoping to keep going until it is the size of a double bed, so there will be extra cosyness as the winter approaches, and I have decided that the combination of losing stamina and running out of the right colour and shades of yarn will not defeat me!

As usual, the plan is to run down my yarn stash (it's getting somewhat out of hand) but my blanket plan left me with a quandary over lengths that are too short for a round but still have usefulness. I've gathered together all of the odds-and-ends, and I'm making pompoms and mini granny squares. This however may end up becoming a project...

Last week I finished Groot. He's utterly splendid, and has a very fancy pot and bit of grass to sit in. He has his own shelf and seems to be settling in quite nicely.

Thanks to Twinkie Chan for the "Grootorial", it was really fun and easy to follow!