Happy Halloween

 It's that spooky time of year again and here's my small pumpkin lantern, to celebrate the occasion.

Here's this year's rather meagre selection of pumpkin's.  No where near as many as last year, but last year we had far too many.

I think I must be getting very old, because when I was a kid I'm sure there weren't any pumpkin's.  There certainly wasn't in our house.  If we were lucky mum would do swede for tea on Halloween and she would carefully scrape out the middle of the swede (which must have been really hard) and we made a lantern out of the swede.  We used to have fab Halloween parties as well where we all dressed up.  We had apple bobbing and then putting your face in flour to get sweets - without drying your face in between (very messy).  Trying to eat doughnuts hanging from string with your hands tied behind your back.  And a 'Dr. Dread', where someone set up covered bowls of stuff in the kitchen with names like 'intestines' when it was spagetti and we had to put our hands in and guess what it really was.   But this year it was just my one little pumpkin lantern.

Wind, Rain and some sunny intervals

I'm back from my long weekend away.  The weather could have been better, but a good time was had by all anyway.

The first day we went for a lovely sunny walk up the river Bovey.  The camera was still packed so we missed the best of the sunshine.

I love the sea and because we live so far inland, I always try to visit the coast whenever I am near.  On Sunday we went to Torquay we walked along the quay but nearly got blown away.  Even our sandwiches nearly blew away!

We retreated to Cockington, which is slightly inland and we looked round the crafts and exhibitions and walked the dog.  The wind was much less strong and we had a lovely day.

Monday it did nothing but rain.  This was a shame as we also had my niece with us that day.  But we donned boots and set off.  

 We needed an indoor visit so we went to Kent's Cavern which everyone from my mum to my 5 year old niece enjoyed - including a my hard to please 15 year old son.  (Sadly my choice of museums didn't meet with the approval of my children).

 On the way back we stopped near, but not too near, the sea front.  Son tried to take a picture of the waves, but spray and rain kept getting on the camera so they didn't come out well.

 By Tuesday we took the ever ready dog up to Hay Tor to blow away the cobweb's before our long drive home.

 The morning was quite sunny with just a few clouds rolling by.

We definitely had the best of the weather as the journey home was interspersed with showers some of which were very heavy and made the 4 hour drive rather difficult and tiring.  We made it home safely and didn't have too many delays.

Happy Day's

Yesterday we had a knitty lunch at work.  A group of us got together at lunchtime with our knitting and had a good knatter.  There was cake, but sadly it got eaten before I took the picture.

This is how my jacket will look

I did some more of my crochet jacket using the red Drops Eskimo wool that I bought at the Knitting and Stitching show.  Other people were knitting socks, a lacey scarf and crochet slippers.

crochet jacket in progress

When I got home I found that my new felting book had arrived

I was so inspired that I quickly whisked up a small sample of nuno felt.  I have plans for a much larger scale piece in the near future.

Then today I finally managed to get to the Post Office to pick up my parcel, and opened it to reveal these Beauties.

They are from Ren at Fairysteps (http://www.fairysteps.co.uk/) and I can thoroughly recommend her fantastic leather goods.  Superb quality, fabulous design and craft(wo)manship and totally unique. I have quite a few pairs of shoes and boots from her already and I wear them all the time, they are so comfortable and durable.  In fact I think they get better with age!

I'm feeling especially pleased with this pair as they go so well with my new bag.

I'm off to pack my bag now as I'm going to my mum's for a few days.

More felting

I've been felting again.  As usual when I take up something new I get a bit carried away.

I made this little phone pouch from wool leftover from the bag.  I added rings to it so that the bag handles from the larger felted bag can be attached to it so it can be used on it's own as a small bag.  I also added a hook inside the large bag so that it can be attached so I can always find my phone when it rings!

 That was the success story.

After that I remembered the bag of fleece that my dad gave me last year for spinning (which I never got round too).  It's been washed but has sat around in a bag for a long time now.  I thought I would try felting with it.

 So I carded a load of it and laid it out round a template to create a pair of slipper boots.

 Unfortunately it didn't felt well.  It eventually did felt but seemed to have stretched, and no amount of dunking in hot water, cold water and rubbing made it shrink.  

I'm not sure what the problem was.  Perhaps the wool needed more washing before felting or perhaps it wasn't good felting wool (it was a rare breed cross but I'm not sure what breed).  Probably both combined with my novice felting skills.

But it hasn't put me off - I've ordered a book called Felting Fashion, and I am eager to try some more projects.  So watch this blog over the coming months.

Because felt like it

I have been considering trying wet felting for a while now - trying something new is always fun!

When I saw the wool and a booklet at the knitting and stitching show last week, I knew that it was my opportunity.  I decided on a bag for my first project.

Stood at my sink armed with hot soapy water, a piece of netting and some old cloths, I started making the felted strap.  I moulded it round a piece of hemp string for added strength.

The bag is formed by moulding the felt round a plastic template,  The wool roving is laid over both sides of the template and wrapped round all sides

Apparently everyone felts differently this is what I do. Dampen the wool with warm soapy water and gently knead  the fibres together.  When the whole shaped is damp and beginning to felt, cover it in the netting, wrap round a rolling pin, wrap the whole thing in an old cloth and roll vigorously.

After a while of rolling and adding more water, the fibres mesh together to form the felt.

The plastic template is removed by cutting the top of the bag open.  The felt needs to be fulled by working it in hot and cold water and squeezing and needing.  Then rolling and stretching item out.  When the fabric is quite firm and has shrink about 30% lay it out to dry

 I'm going to be honest here, but the bottom and one side edge didn't quite mesh together as it should have.  The sides are closed so nothing falls out of the bag, but some of the wool slipped out of place and felted into these gorgeous shapes.
Although it was a mistake, I love the ragged edge.  Its so organic and makes the bag even more individual.

 I lined the bag for durability and included an inside pocket.

 and attached the handles with rings and clips so that they are adjustable  

I had felted the red splodges into the bag and I finished off the pattern by needle felting.

I am really pleased with the way my first felted item has turned out. 

Cape revamped

I made this cape last year - you can find the blog here link .  I wore it a lot, but I was never very happy with the hood or the belt.  Then earlier this year I lost one of the buttons and didn't have a replacement. 

I found some fur fabric and cream cotton to make a new collar and lining, and some rather nice buttons left over from a suit that I made.

I wanted to make the belt neater.  The fabric is very thick and the tie belt didn't sit well.  I couldn't find a proper buckle the right size but I found these two large gold rings that I bought for bag making, together they were just right.

and here it is.  

I just need to knit the slouchy beret and the long fingerless gloves from the yarn I bought on Sunday.

A lovely day

I had a lovely day out yesterday.  I went with a friend to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in London.  My friend had been quite a few times before, but this was my first time and it was definitely worth getting up early for (the journey from my house was about 1 1/2 hours).

We perused all the stalls before making up our minds what we wanted to buy.  It was like a dream - fabulous yarns, fabrics and other scrummy, crafty items all over the place.  Then we stopped for lunch before diving back in, and revisiting all the stores where we wanted to buy things.  I was trying to be restrained.

My purchases, shown above were:

Drops Eskimo in berry red to make a crochet jacket - the pattern and chunky 10mm crochet hook were also purchased.

3 balls of Drops Vivaldi in a gorgeous bright blue, to crochet a shawl from a Ravelry pattern.

3 skeins of beige yarns, that is ohh soo soft, to knit some fingerless mitts and a slouchy beret to go with my revamped cape (blog on cape to be posted later this week).

Some carded wool in blues and greens and a book on wet felting so that I can try something new!!!!

Over a quick reviving coffee and cake, we examined our purchases and talked about our intended projects.  My friend wanted a last look at a couple of stalls, then we headed back home tired and happy (and just in time for supper).

One pot supper

Chicken, barley and lentil stew

When I've been out at work all day, there is nothing nicer than coming home to a dinner that has been happily cooking itself on the slow cooker all day.  All I had to do tonight was peel some spuds to make mash to go with the stew and steam some cabbage.  Fabulous.  It's a bit of a rush getting it organised before work in the morning, but the effort is so worth it.

The Shrimp Pink Jacket

Here it is, the result of my Sewing Sunday,

I know I should have made more of the sunshine but dare I say it, it was actually a bit too hot this afternoon - I did go out this morning when it was cooler.  Also I have been promising myself a Sewing Sunday for ages and it had to be today because Sunday's are a bit booked up for the next few weeks.

 Here is the picture from the magazine, and the pattern pieces.  It's a asymetrical double breasted unlined jacket.  The right front forms a soft drape above the fastening.  The fabric that I used was a lovely shrimp pink cotton, that I haven't known what to do with. The jacket is unlined as I didn't have any suitable lining in my stash.

 I only had two metre's of fabric and the pattern requirement was 2.45m, but with a bit of careful positioning I got all the pieces out of my fabric.

I was doing really well the main seams were sewn, including the collar.  Then I set it the first sleeve.  I was very pleased with how it went, until I turned it right side out and realised it was back-to-front.  I was most annoyed to have to waste time unpicking the seam.  Both sleeves were set eventually.

The seams and pocket flap are all topstitched.

and I finally used the self cover poppers that were in the box of treasures that came from my nan.

I am enormously pleased with the result. It needs a good iron (unfortunately doing the ironing is my next job). I have an important meeting at work on Tuesday and I plan to wear the jacket then.

I must hunt out some of the thicker material from my stash.  I now have so many ideas, I do have time to make them all.