Proms

At the weekend, we had a fabulous evening out with friends and family. It was an outdoor classical concert. We lucked out with the weather – there was scrummy food, good music and lots of laughs too.

There was some balloon modelling going on – not sure whether the kids or the adults enjoyed that one most!

Part of the show involved a flyover by a spitfire. I would have a lovely photo of the spitfire, if I’d taken it a second later (can you see him behind the flag?)

Some people had decorated a tree in ribbons.

At the end of the evening, there was a firework display.

I did do a little bit of knitting that night on some plain socks.

I couldn’t take my current main project because of all the beading.

Orchid Thief KAL

I got a little sidetracked recently. I've participated in my first KAL (knit-a-long). Ysolda Teague has recently self published Orchid Thief shawl - it was originally available in Brave New Knits.

To celebrate this, a KAL has been organised. 

I ummed and ahhed over doing it and suddenly remembered I had the perfect handspun for the project and it sort of tipped the balance. So off I trotted and bought the pattern and found my needles and wool.

It transformed from this...... to this....

And finally to this.....

I've included a few beads that I had in the edging and used a crochet cast off edge.

Fountain of Beads

Perpignan Aeolian

Finished my Aeolian this week & I'm thrilled with it. This is the first lace shawl I've made that I have kept. I thought the green was a beautiful colour and could be dressed up or down. Quite like the idea of wearing it with jeans.


It looks so fine and the Posh Yarn Diana has blocked beautifully. I've mentioned on my project page on Ravelry that the beading though lovely is a bit too heavy for me in this shawl. I've done the yucca sections as recommended then I've changed the rest to lighten it a bit.

The beads are fantastic and I've bought them from Spellbound Beads, which was recommended to me by a friend. Must say I don't think I've had anything delivered that quickly before. I've used them twice now and each time they've dropped through the letterbox the next morning.

Got a few parties coming up so hopefully I'll get to wear my new shawl.

Golden Waterfall Shawl

I'm very lucky to have a wonderful Mother-in-Law who I get on with extremely well. I always share all the crafty things I do and I've always had at the back of my mind to make her something absolutely gorgeous. I was going to make her a handmade quilt but it generally takes several months and I've just not had the time.

So now I'm into the swing of things with the knitting I thought I'd make her something special. The only problem is she doesn't like wool! However, I found the perfect yarn. Her favourite colour is gold; shoes, handbags, clothes, jewellry - definitely the colour to go for. I bought a skein of Fyberspates Infinity Lace in gold - 3000m in all. It's 100% silk so no wool involved. It has a wonderful sheen to it too. Only downside was winding 3000m onto balls by hand but it's done now. I am using the yarn doubled because it is so thin and there's so much of it anyway.

Next issue was what to knit; initially I had settle on Fiddlesticks Peacock Feather Shawl but when I came to start I then realised that there was no download so it would have to be sent from Canada at a slightly higher cost than I thought plus I couldn't wait that long ( I have about 0% patience).

So researching away on Ravelry I found Mystic Waters by Anna Dalvi which looked to be an interesting pattern. The only fly in the ointment was I couldn't figure out which size I wanted to do and the details didn't really specify how the two different sizes of this pattern were made. Whether I had to decide from the outset or not.

I decided to buy the pattern anyway and it turns out that both the small and large size are the same up until a certain point and then for the small size it changes to the small size patterns with only 13 rows to do. Which is great because I don't have to decide on the size until I get to that point.

The other issue was I wanted to include a few beads to the pattern but nothing was specified in the pattern so I've added them in (details on my project page). Using Spellbound beads again but this time they are clear with a lustre to them and they really catch the light and add just that bit of sparkle that a I wanted.

Below is the shawl in progess: