Sequined Madness

Think I'm going slightly mad. I agreed to make a lacy top for my mum-in-law for a ball she's going to. We both thought it was over a month away but it turned out to be next weekend! So we were both thinking that it wouldn't happen but we had a few snow days so 4 knitting days later we have this!

Mum-in-law had very specific ideas on what she would like and unfortunately we couldn't find a pattern that would match and would also work with the wool. So I've ended up designing it too. I used measurements from a pattern that was the correct shape and then worked it out with a different stitch pattern and needle size. There was a bit of wool left over so I crocheted a corsage to go with the outfit.

Buttons!

This arrived in the post.... A mini haul of buttons which I bought from Textile Garden.

The metal stag's heads on the left are for Moorhouse, the dark floral wooden ones are for my Hudson and the others are for a little friend of mine who loves butterflies - so a few cardigans to be made in her future!

Handwoven needle roll

It's something that I've been intending to make for awhile and finally got round to it a few months ago. I'd wanted to make a dpn case because they were stuffed in pencil cases and weren't organised at all.

 I'd made the fabric on my Kromski Harp Rigid Heddle Loom intending it to be a table mat but it was so soft it didn't seem to want to stay still on the table; so I reused it into the cover for my needle case.

I lined it with some silk left over and added in extra lines so it would fit short and long dpns.

The button is a plastic button that I covered in thread - think the technique is called Passementerie. It was something I saw on Create and Craft TV and thought it was really pretty.

Didn't follow a pattern for this - just winged it and wish I'd made it a little shorter. Also, i'm sure there was a way to sew it up differently but ended up putting binding on like with a quilt - though it gives it a nice firm edge.

Wool Notebook

Another lovely gift I was bought by my husband was this beautiful notebook from Kate Bowles, who makes handmade notebooks from recycled material. I absolutely love it and the finish to it is just gorgeous - I especially love the spine.

I'm using mine as my little Knitting Bible. There is square, plain and lined paper in so I can add little charts in too.

Woodturned Christmas

 

For Christmas, I had some very lovely surprises in my stocking for my husband. He's been getting into wood turning and I got lots of knitting related goodies!

Hand turned knitting needles

 The knitting needles are size 8mm needles made from sapele with holly tops. I haven't knitted with them yet; as they seem to be living in the beautiful spalted beech pen pot he made as well. Along with a shawl pin with a celtic knot laminated into the end which I also adore!

Hand turned laminated shawl pin

Along with these other pressies, he also made a wooden dpn case - decorated with wire burning.

Hand turned DPN case

Mince Pies

Already for that mince pie making marathon on Christmas Eve. A quick little plate I did at my local Ceramics studio this week.

That Christmas Jumper

Alas, it's been awhile between blogging yet again. Apologies.

The latest all consuming project has been a commissioned Christmas Jumper for a friend. She's always wanted a rather naff sweater along the same lines as what Bridget Jones wore in the film.

She's very tall and thin so it had to be a very long jumper too. After a bit of searching I couldn't find any ready made patterns that filled the brief so it had to be a design from scratch - which was daunting but also a lot of fun. It had to be long and include a reindeer and snowflakes and be as tacky as possible - hopefully the finished product does all that. I took her to my local yarn shop and we she bought the shop out with lots of bright and sparkly wool - I take no responsibility whatsover on the rather interesting colour choices!

There's a cheeky bit of holly on the back as well as fair isle cuffs. There's a few more details on my project page on Ravelry.

Woolfest Haul 2011

Just got back from a wonderful weekend away in the Lakes. I went to Woolfest and spent far too much money but brought back with me enough goodies to keep me going for some time.

• I got 3 rovings from FeltStudioUK; 2 were bfl/silk mix (the pink/red and yellow one and the purple and green one) and 1 Falkland (which is the bright multicoloured one)
• Two 100g pastel dyed shetland rovings and a soft green BFL and teal Shetland from Wheeldale. Planning on making a big scarf from the shetland ones and some fair isle mitts with the other two
• Two more Kromski bobbins for my Sonata from Wingham Woolworks
• Some wooden sock blockers from Laal Bear, the sock on the blockers is a work in progress. Wanida by Cookie A.
• The skein of wool is sock wool from Freyalyn Fibers and is Khaki and Grey and called Merlin which I thought would be ideal for Hubby
• A cake of striped sock wool from Sparkleduck in purple and green
• A gorgeous kilt pin and stag's head buttons from Textile Garden

• And finally my more indulgent purchase of a Turkish Drop Spindle from ITS Crafts as I couldn't stand to look at that fibre all weekend without my spinning wheel so I got a bit of spinning done while away. Plus it's such a lovely spindle too. I got one made from Bog Oak and it's a slightly more unusual way of spinning compared to the way I've done it before and really love it.

Cobweb Stole

It's been quite some time since I've blogged; never was very good at keeping a diary...much rather be doing something. Slowly gotten back into knitting again after a period of moving about interest-wise - quilting, embroidery etc.
Just finished my first Christmas present for 2011 - a fine lace weight stole which has been in the pipeline for the last couple of years but never been started. I'd spied this Cobweb Lace Stole some time ago and finally started it using Yarn D'Amour Pandora which I'd bought at a stall in the Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate a few years ago - 1200 yards is a lot to wind by hand, so much so that I've ended up buying a ball winder ( which is soooo much fun!) - seem to enjoy it a little too much. Perhaps it is the years of winding balls by hand?
Anyway, the stole is very unusual construction in my mind. For it to be symmetrical, both ends are made separately and grafted together at the end using kitchener stitch; which is fine for sock toes but nearly 160 stitches was a bit tedious.
The pattern was interesting and not the easiest I completed. It was lace pattern both sides and some unusual stitches as well. Wasn't thrilled with the drop stitches in this one but think it was the yarn more than anything; as it was hairy alpaca and wouldn't drop cleanly so the drop stitches are a little more stretched than they should be.
The miracle of blocking has done it's job as usual and the finished product is lovely and airy as cobweb lace should be.
Picked up my Mara again and well on the way with that again too.

Oh and just had to say about this book I'd seen in Waterstones in Lincoln which I thought was hilarious - Knit Your Own Royal Wedding

Galaxy of Stars

Finally put the finishing touches to my latest quilt this month. Unfortunately it's been one of those projects that has stuck around for far too long.The inspiration came from Scrap Quilt Sensation by Katharine Guerrier, which I bought from the Festival of Quilts after seeing the beautiful display of the quilts from the book. The colours were fantastic and I just had to have a go too.

The whole quilt was both hand pieced and hand quilted which is why it took such a long time to make. It was the quilting that took the majority of the time. I think i was quite ambitious to quilt a double bed size quilt by hand, as well as the fact that I used feathers as part of the quilting so it wasn't a simple design either. The below photo shows some of the quilting detail.

I made the quilt to keep for myself and it's large enough for two to snuggle underneath comfortably in the cold months.

I used all my favourite pieces of fabric from my stash and it's been quite a good stash buster using up all those little pieces of fabric that I'd been saving for something special.
Though after a bit of inspiration and some very sore fingers I have a finished quilt; with thanks to a friend for letting me use her embroidery machine to make a label for it.