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.

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).

Stash busting

I have been unable to work on the blue crochet cardi for my mum as she is staying with me at the moment.  Unfortunately the cardi won't be ready for her to take when she goes, but I do have a few weeks until Mother's Day so I will just have to post it when it is finished.

In the meantime I have been looking into my stash to find out what to tackle next.  I have lots of small amounts in lots of different colours.  But I'm not sure what to do with it.  I have seen many jumpers and cardigan's with stripes or fairisle designs but I'm really not sure. 

I have bought a couple of fashion mags recently. I do this periodically to help me update my wardrobe with new clothes and also to give me new ideas on how to combine my existing clothes.  In one of these I saw a fabulous seventies inspired crochet dress, with zig-zag stripes on the skirt section and a simple striped vest for the top section.  I am trying to work out how I can create a similar item.  Watch this space for progress or news of disaster.

Crochet away

 I have been busy working on a crochet cardigan which will be a present for my mum for mother's day.


It's quite a basic net pattern which is worked with the sleeves and yoke worked as one peice.  The sleeve seams are sewn together and the body of the cardigan is then worked in one piece.


The picture abovet shows the first sleeve section and the section round the neck being worked.  Below is the sleeve and yoke section spead out to show the shape of it.  I'm making jam this afternoon (from the fruit that I stored in the freezer as I didn't have enough time to make the jam in the summer.  So I doubt the cardi will progress much more today, but there will be pictures later in the week as I will take it to work and crochet away in my lunch time.

Tomorrow, I'm planning a sewing Sunday as I haven't had one for ages.

Bad hair day

 I have an ongoing battle with my hair and I never seem to like it.  It was cut into a short graduated bob last summer and I was growing the fringe.  Then I decided that I would grow it all and it is currently about chin length all round.  It is a horrible length, but it just about goes into a ponytail.  So for days when I am really fed up with it, I decided to crochet some hair accessories.  Here are my selection of scrunchies, a hair band and a barrette clip.

 here's a picture of me wearing the hair band and my hair twisted in the scrunchie to disguise the shortmess of the pony tail.  Then I decided that scraping my hair right back off my face was not a good look.  I have a horrid 'widow's peak' hairline that is a bit vampire scary, and so I cut a fringe....

This is me with my hair scrunched and my new fringe.  It's so much better because it no longer flaps all over my face and despite how short it looks in this picture it is still long enough at the sides and back to go into a ponytail.  At the moment I'm feeling happy with it, but I'm not sure how long that feeling will last.

The Weekend

This is a two in one blog.  It shows my weekend outfit and also what I have been working on this week.  Thisblue crochet shawl was adapted from a scarf pattern, and worked up very quickly as the yarn was thick and I used a 6mm crochet hook.

Underneath the shawl is a very seventies inspired top.  Look out for this fabric in future blogs, as there was quite a lot of it and the rest is earmarked to make an easter present for my mum.

I wore these tops with my 'Miss Sixty' jeans.  I got these last summer and they were a real bargain.  The have big turn-ups at the bottom, and had obviously been too long for the previous owner and had worn a bit at the bottom wher they dragged on the ground.  This was easily fixed by ironing some mending tape over the worn patch on the inside.  I turn the turn-up's up at a differnt point to the previous owner and they comletely cover the marks.

 

I hope that you enjoyed my clothes week.  I'm off to make cards this afternoon.

More on my latest projects next week.

Wednesday

Half way through the week ..... and here's the latest outfit.  I tried to get some close-ups rather than a full length picture.  Basically it is a knee length olive wrap skirt, a cream shirt, a crochet pale sea green scarf and a chunky knit bolero.

The skirt was made from a remnant and an old pattern that I first made in about 1994.  The remnant wasn't quite big enough and I had to cut the front skirt, under the wrap over, in two sections rather than asingle peice.  As it's under the wrap it really doesn't show.

The bolero was made last January.  The yarn is Rowan biggy print (I still have some left but don't know what to make with it) and the fringing is Rowan cocoon.  Both were bought in the January sale with my Christmas money.

The scarf was my first ever crochet item last January, I had been making the bolero and had left the yarn and the crochet hook out after I made the fringing on the bolero sleeves.  It was acold snowy morning and I sat there with a patern book which contained the crochet instructions and suddenly I found that I was crocheting the scarf.

New Slipper's

My felted slipper boots, which I made many years ago are finally beyond repair.  I took off the leather soles to darn the holes (for the umteenth time) and then thought better of it.  I had a magazine from a friend just after Christmas and ever since I have wanted to crochet the slipper's from it. 

The pattern size was unfortunately a bit too small for me, but after a few attempts and a change to the hook size I have managed to get them coming out the correct size.  The yarn was again taken from my 'inherited' stash and is one of my favourite colours.  When they are complete I will put a leather sole on them as this protcts the slippers from being damaged too much by the tiled floor in my kitchen, they also stop me slipping on my wooden floors.

Crochet Irish Rose Bookmark

Here's a quick  photo of the croch irish rose bookmark that I have just made as a little present for my friend.  It was ever so simple to make a three layered crochet Irish rose and then attach it to a jumbo paper clip.  I glued it on and backed it with a bit of card for support and then some felt to make it look tidier.

Update: the crochet waistcoat from the last blog is nearly finished, I just need to crochet round the armholes.

Pumpkins and presents

Here are the pumkins, and thats not quite all of them. Rain delayed collection of the final few, and I couldn't quite fit them all into this picture (even though I stood on a wall to take it). Most of them will be given away or sold to raise money for the allottments - where some of them were grown.

As usual I eagerly await the next seasonal product and then after a few weeks of eating nothing but it, I'm heartily sick of it. However it's the start of the pumkin season and I eagerly spent my afternoon making the season's first pumpkin pie and stuffed pumpkin (stuffing mix made with lentils and chilli's and tomatoes - we have a glut of the later two items as well).

Enough of pumpkins, now for the presnts.

The slippers for mum are finished and have been completed with a crochet edging and crochet butterflies, I was going to add flowers but daughter said that she thought it should be butterflies. (there are two slippers but could only get the butterfly if I photographed from the side.)


There was pleny of yarn leftover and so I made a pir of fingerless gloves and matching scarf for a birthday present.




and here's the birthday card

Must add a little thank you here to daughter for being a hand and foot model for the gloves and slippers in the above pictures.

I have been busy...

I know I have been neglecting this blog. I knew I would when I started it, but I have been busy. I have been crocheting a batch of string shopping bags. I create little material pouches for them and they make quite nice little presents. Here's the latest batch, the blue one is complete with it's pouch but the mauve and beige one's will have to wait until I next have the sewing machine out.

My daughter is very sporty and after having an emergency operation for a burst appendix in March she is just getting fit again. Yesterday was her first Karate competition for a while and we had to spend the day at a sports centre in Guildford. These event's aren't really my idea of fun, but the weather yesterday was horrid and I consoled myself by taking my latest crochet project. I was rather naughty during the week and one particularly frustrating work day I went out at lunchtime and bought the latest Rowan summer crochet book and enough cotton yarn to crochet one of the patterns. A rather nice little cap sleave cardi in a blue grey. It is much more blue than the picture shows it. I have some rather lovely white material with ditsy blue flowers and once the crochet is finished I will make a summer top or a dress from the material, I can't decide at the moment.

Sewing Sunday and other things

After going round the shopd on Saturday (son needed new tracky bottoms)I was inspired to make a white suntop/dress. White isn't really my colour, but there's lots of it in the shops and I had a nice piece of white embroidered, seqined cotton in my stash so I decided to use it. I have been thinking about making a top crochet straps for a while any excuse to practise my crochet skills, and I had some pewter coloured Rowan shimmer leftover from a scarf I made as a christmas present.

Saturday night I found out the crochet necklace pattern that I wanted to adapt and began the cochet

Sunday morning the chickens woke me up nice and early - I didn't see it this way at the time!!. I made some bread (I usually do this on Saturday but the shopping trip prevented me doing it) and cut out the material.

Then went for an eight mile run whilst the bread was rising. I'm still running very slowly, eight miles took me 1 hour 20 minutes. When I came back I settled down to sew.

The simple sundress soon came together and after trying it on and making adjustments, I was ready to attach the crochet.

and here is the finished item, hanging up and ready to wear.
The picture doesn't really do it justice - I must get one of me wearing it!

Crochet

This is my first real blog. I have thought all week about what I am going to blog first and until ysterday it was something very different to this, but then the weather warmed up and I felt all summery and the blog needed to be about my new summer crocheted cardi.




Here it is spread out flat as its crocheted in a pentagon starting with a five petal flower,

I only taught myself to crochet in January and so I am very proud of it. The yarn was Debbie Bliss Cashmerino chunky which I bought in a sale last year to knit a repacement for a cable sweater that I had carelessly felted. But the new knitted sweater didn't happen and the yarn called out to be made into a crochet cardi. By the way I made a bag out of the original felted sweater and of course it goes very well with the new cardi. The bag is lined with some material I had left over from a shirt I made last summer.




I had a new dress for my birthday which also goes well - infact it was the inspiration for the cardi. I wore it today with a pink crochet scarf I made earlier in the year and a string of 'pearls' that I strung together several years ago.