'Woollen Woods' project

The 'Knit and Natter' group that I now go along to get involved in all sorts of events. The latest is making woodland creatures for a festival at Kirklinton Hall near Carlisle. Over the past month or so our group has been making lots of creatures - below are the ones I have been busy making…..

Then early in May, a few of us from the knitting group, went to help set up our contribution along a woodland walk in the grounds of Kirklinton Hall. It was just amazing to see how they all looked in the woodland setting, and below are just a few photos

We even had a few of our creatures in the local paper!

 It was fun making the knitted creatures, something I would never have thought of making before. The patterns I used are here for the hedgehog and here for the owl, and the caterpillar was passed on by the K&N group.

The creatures will be in the woods until the end of June, so if you are in the area and fancy a more unusual walk in the woods now is the time to visit!

'Little knitter'

I've been going through the hundreds of photographs we have accumulated. Some are from my parents and grandparents and some from J's, but we have never really taken them in hand….. now we are in a smaller home and short on storage I may well scan quite a few and store them that way and pass some on to other family members.

However, this is one I must share with you! 

This is me, I must have been about 3 or 4 years old, sitting in the garden knitting, see the ball of wool by my chair (and those Clarks sandals, or were they Startrite? do you remember  wearing them?)!! I don't remember seeing this photograph before, but it was tucked in with a lot of others from my childhood. 

I was obviously a crafter from a very early age. I just love this photo, and is one I will keep.

Yarn and fabric ….

Yarny things first. I have started to knit another wooly cowl. I have made a few of these now and they seem to disappear! The last one went back to London with Clara. I like this lime green colour and have made one in a similar shade before. The yarn is a superwash wool by Louisa Harding Yarns and the pattern is called Honey Cowl. There are only four rows to the pattern and two of those are knit rounds so it is quite a simple

This is in contrast to the second yarny project I have on the go. More concentration needed for this as I have also started to knit the the little dog that Molly gave me for xmas. The yarn is Sirdar snuggly snowflake - and to begin with I was not liking it at all to knit with, but am getting the hang of it. I tend to knit quite tightly so have had to slacken off quite a bit or else it is just too difficult to pull the wool through. 

The third yarn project is a long standing on going crochet blanket, but this has been a bit on the back burner but I will try and push on with this a little more. I started this last year when I learned to crochet and was intending to make a square every now and then as I didn't have the time for a bigger project with the house renovation we are masterminding …...

…and I still have my cottage ripple blanket to start!

I've also been playing around with fabric as I am making a play mat for my nephew and his partner for their first baby. I saw this charm pack at the festival of quilts last year and thought it may come in handy, and I will probably add a few extra fabrics into the mix.

 

The baby is due in about a month, so I really need to get on with this. I've looked for ideas on pinterest and am now having a play making a couple of different blocks. I wanted to try something a little different from just simple squares this time, and a play mat is a good size to experiment with.

If I use this block, I will either hand quilt or make an embroidery motive in the centre. I may make the blocks a little smaller as these are about 8" square.

or I may use this square pattern, and use up some of my lovely scraps of fabric - I love a scrappy quilt, so may keep this idea for me!!

So, I have lots to keep me busy at the moment…...

Fingerless gloves now finished - and other yarny projects

I managed to finish the cream coloured fingerless gloves to give to my friend as a christmas gift - but forgot in my rush to take a final photo. I bought the pattern on line from Churchmouse yarns and used alpaca dk wool and as suggested added little shell buttons on the cuffs. I did add a little extra length to the cuffs just to make sure they would tuck under the sleeves of a jacket, as I hate it if there is a little gap.

Then I continued to finished the first pair - the ones I had started when I was trying to work out the pattern. This pair were to be a birthday present for another friend!

I have another knitting project to complete - the jumper that I started last year, but had to pull back and start again as I just didn't have enough yarn to finish the very last few rows. I would like to get this finished now before I start anything else. 

Then I have a couple of exciting projects to start! I had two lovely yarny gifts from the girls for Christmas. The 'Cottage ripple blanket' pack by Lucy from Attic 24 - I can't wait to get started on this! but I think it will be a bit of a longer term project …...

….. and also something quite different for me - some lovely fluffy Sidar Snuggly yarn and a pattern to knit a teddy bear. I think this will test my concentration, but the idea is that it will be a gift for a new baby due around easter time to my nephew and his partner. 

So I'd better get a move on!!

Start all over again…..

Just like the song - 'pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again' !!

 After trying to get a little extra yarn to complete my jumper, but not being able to (see last post - right at the end) I did try and pull the jumper back a little to take some length off the arms and body - but it just didn't look right proportionally - so with a heavy heart I pulled it all back and am starting again!

I would rather try again, adjusting the pattern a little to gain the extra yarn I need to complete it, than always wish I had. I like the pattern and would hate to never be happy with the finished jumper and not wear it!

So watch this space…...

Little update - how my knitting project is going…..

…..slowly!!! However, I have now finished both arms and the body and have joined it all together at the yoke.

I am now starting the decreasing stitches up to the neck. I have quite enjoyed the challenge of knitting this jumper, bottom up on circular needles - and at least I won't have to join all the pieces together when it is finished.

Nearly at the end now - just hope I have enough wool left to finish, it will be touch and go!

Quilt and Knitting update

I've been busy as a bee, and have now finished all the blocks for the red and white quilt. I did take a while to decide which fabrics to use and in the end came down with this mix, each block has mostly the same eight red fabrics, but in different positions - and just to mix it up a little I've just swapped a couple of different red fabrics in. All will be revealed when the top is complete!

 

I've never added sashing and cornerstones into a quilt before, so I've been on a bit of a learning curve. I found a really good tutorial here and it seems to have worked well for me.

 I've also taken time to do a little more knitting for my Chevy the Chevron cushion, which is slowly growing - hopefully it will be ready for Xmas!

'Knit and Cake'

Quite a long time ago now - probably about this time last year, I was lucky enough to win a give away from Mags Creative Meanderings. We discovered that we lived close to each other, so met up in January and Mags gave me a wonderful collection of goodies. It contained, amongst many other things, two balls of Noro Silk Garden wool, and I have just got around to using them. I've been wanting to make a wooly cushion for ages, and a couple of weeks ago I bought a pattern from 'Purl and Jane' for a chevron cushion - perfect!

So, I have started my Chevy the Chevron cushion, and it seems to be going ok. I bought another couple of balls of Noro wool in slightly different shades so I can do two rows alternating in each colour and get a more interesting effect. 

I think I am going to make my opening more in the centre of the cushion than at the top. I just love the randomness of the way it is growing, and the red wool is so festive.

I was also busy last Friday evening making our Christmas cake. I think I am a little bit, only a little bit, more organised this year as it was already December when I made it last year. The fruit had been soaked in brandy, and I knew I would be busy over the weekend - so it had to be made last Friday evening!  Again this year I phoned the girls to let them have a virtual wish whilst I was stiring the mix…..

…… then tipped the mix into the cake tin (square this year - J says its easier to cut!) and found the paper carrier bag that I saved from last year to tie around it to try and stop it burning.

It was quite a late night….probably about half past midnight when I first checked the cake and it needed just a little longer. My family are not that keen on icing, so I usually just add almonds on the top. I think I may just have left it a little too long as the edges look a little well done

- oh well, I'm sure it will be fine once I feed it with brandy!

Update on my Summer holiday challenge.

Back home from our wonderful trip to Canada. 

We all had such a great time, and I really fell in love with the country. I have so many lovely memories and lots and lots of photo's to remind me of our time away. Since we have been back we've been busy doing all those horrible jobs that must be done on return from vacation - like washing all the clothes, cutting the grass (I've left the flower boarders for now), re-stocking the cupboards etc. There were also some nice things like going to collect our dog 'Beanie' from my brother and sister in law who had been looking after him. They enjoy having him to stay, and have since said how much they miss him as he was so well behaved and so loveable :-). It was also great to catch up with friends, both local and in blogland.

Anyway, I thought I should report on how my holiday task went. Well, we were so busy having a great time that I only managed to sneek a little time to work on C's hat. I managed to knit the cuff and start the first few rounds of the cable 

and make the first colour change from blue to grey, but that was it!

Almost a complete break from crafty things, and it is taking me a while to get going again, but I've had a wonderfully inspiring time away and I'm sure this will feed through in time.