Bluebell throw

This is the first time I have designed a throw from scratch. My idea

came from the picture of our own Bluebelle in the woods. She just adores being outside and takes the strangest things on her walks. I am going to use the multi-colour purple yarn for the centre of each granny square. This will be followed by the four rows suggested by the random calculator and the join row will be in green. This is an experiment so may change as it goes along.

Blossom time

My big throw is finnished. It is such a simple

pattern and I really enjoyed it. 23 different colours so probably about 800 ends to sew in but worth it.

Liesl 2

I am really pleased with the blue version of this cardi. The 3-4 size is a little big for Lyla, aged 2. I now have yarn to make two more.

Ice Dye Day

I had another go at ice dyeing. I wanted to try out some odments of lace. I bought a bag of cotton threads in the charity shop and wanted to dye those too as they were horrible colours. I am thrilled with the results and have learnt again from this experience. Next time not so much pink/purple dye.  I wasn't sure what material some of the lace was but it all took the dye well. The pieces of tatting look great so I must have another go at trying to tat. I can crochet now so maybe the tension won't be such an issue.

 

Now to use it on some stitchings.

 

 

Safe Haven

My big, big, big stitching is done. It contains all my treasured fabrics, lace, beads and buttons. It is 2.5 metres long and 32cms wide. It took 12 weeks to complete and the slow, slow, slow stitching anchored me during these strange times. I have hidden lots of sea words in the depths and many of them also describe emotions during this time. It will be wound round a large bobbin for display.

 

What now? I have lots of knitting and crochet to do and a bit of ice dyeing too. I have ordered another smaller vintage bobbin so a companion piece might be on the cards. I am thinking bluebell wood colours.

 

 

 

Liesl

I am in love with this little cardi. The swing shape is created by increasing on the pattern rows. It's complicated because ever row is different but it was worth sticking to. There is no sewing up because the sleeves are knitted on double pointed needles. I have already started on the next one which will be in a cobalt blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cocoon

We have been told cocoon and not go out during this strange time. I saw a textile project that Anne Brooks was doing and felt inspired. The only problem was I didn't have a 4" bobbin to fix it to. I did have and 18" one that came from the old Macroom Carpet factory so my piece is going to be fairly large. I wanted to keep some of my special pieces of fabric, lace, threads and other treasures. It now has a title. I am calling it "Safe Haven".

 

I still don't know exactly where it is going but it will have lots of stitching and hundreds of french knots. There are also lots of suffolk puffs.  I think it might be finished when there is no more room for more. Here are a couple of photos of the beginning of the work.

 

 

 

Alliums again!

I found some gorgeous dark fabric and couldn't resist doing another allium stitching for one of the long frames. This one is going to stay on my wall for quite some time.

 

 

Pom poms

 

I had to get my pom pom maker out and work out how to use it again. I used yarn left over from Marion's dune blanket to make a poncho that Lyla can wear in her She Shed.

 

The pattern was for a 4 year old. I did a chain of 72 sts with size 4.5mm. I did a single crochet all round with a 4mm hook and carried on from there with granny stitch and a single chain  increasing at each V.  22 rows in total and finished off with a scallop edge which was 5 trebles, miss a stitch and a chain in the next stitch. I probably have just enough left to make one for Maisie.

 

 

Bo goes walkies

Bo the dog is having lots of nice walks. Lyla is very fond of her scarf and she tells him all about the birds she sees on her walks. Bird is her favourite word at the moment.

 

 

 

Circle challenge

My stitching group challenged ourselves to take a photo every day during February. We were given a prompt for each day and the results were so different. I missed it in March so when I came across this challenge I had to have a go. The challenge was to take 9 photos of circles  where you were that day. You were not able to go outside. I really enjoyed this activity which only took 15 minutes.

 

  Here are the results.

 

 

Toasty warm

I made some socks for two of my favourite people to keep them warm during this difficult time. Beautiful hand dyed yarns that were a joy to knit with. The green one was called "Swampy" but I prefer to see roadways filled with montbretia. The sea one needs no explaining.  

 

 

Present for Maisie

Maisie had a new sister in January. I did some knitting for her but I couldn't forget little Maisie either and made her one of my little jumpers. It has my favourite (easy!) lace pattern on it and a nice simple neck. I choose this blue to match her gorgeous eyes.

 

 

 

Regatta

 

I found a beautiful new yarn from Stylecraft. It's a cotton mix in gorgeous colours. There were lots of bright ones but I choose this muted mix for a simple little baby cardi with short sleeves. My baby box was empty after three new baby girls so it is nice to start filling it up again.

Texture and more texture

I knitted a textured throw from a KAL pattern in Simply Knitting in 2019. There were 28 bands of stitches with 12 rows in each. The individual rows were not difficult but they were nearly all different. I lost concentration through too much sea and mountain gazing so there was a lot of ripping out. my favourite stitch was raisin stitch. A few rows would make a lovley border round the edges of a plain baby cardigan.

 

The finished throw looked good and the plan is to give it to my sister as a lap blanket. There is a slight hitch because my suitcase with the throw has gone missing so fingers crossed it returns from its travels soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coping with a large needle

I did a sashiko workshop while I was in Spain. Jill talked us through the history of sashiko and showed us some interesting samples. We were then given a sample to stitch. I struggled to make tiny stitches with a big needle and 8ply thread after using a beading needle and very fine thread. We stitched on the diagonal and then moved to the next line. We left loops of thread on the edges of the fabric on the back. This meant we could pull the stitches if our tension was too tight.

 

After a delicious lunch and chat we tried reverse applique. We drew some flower patterns on bondaweb and attached this to the back of our fabric. We then stitched on the bondaweb side  with small stitches and larger stitches on what would be the front of the fabric. A few of us struggled to get our heads around this, but it came eventually. 

 

We were given a choice of 4 kits and I choose the Iris one which included the pattern and the fabric. I didn't really enjoy the reverse sashiko but loved the classic geometric patterns. The Iris pattern will be winging its way to Madelaine and I have ordered a cushion kit. This will be my holiday project next year.  I LOVE trying new things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting ready for Christmas

My knitting group is planning to make a huge christmas tree that will be displayed in the centre of town. They need about 600 squares so I did a few while I was with them. The plan is that they will make lots of ornaments to go on the tree and they will then sell these for the dog charity.