Cathedral Windows Yet again

I seem to have a thing for Cathedral Windows. I've made lots of different projects with them. 

My favourite is this wall hanging (the photography is dire and you can't see the detail, the entire hanging is quilted and the windows are metallic fabrics and look amazing). 

Then there is this cushion

 and my little needle case. 

There's been lots more too that I haven't blogged about like one year when everyone got a cathedral window pincushion and the next when it was Christmas decorations.

I had a weekend recently when the sewing machine came out and there was lots of industry.

Secret Garden block during sewing. The block starts in a similar way to Cathedral Window but the "windows" are put in a different place.

Finished needle case

I've had a project sat for awhile, and I finally had some down time so I got cracking with it. It'll be a cushion when I'm finished similar to the one above. Here's my progress so far:

Cathedral blocks sewn together before ironing.

All the blocks ironed flat.

I've used what I had leftover from the wall hanging for the windows. With better photography you can see the fabric is really stunning. 

It took awhile to figure out the arrangement for the fabric as I didn't have enough to do many squares in just one colour. I just have to sew them all in now, which is the time consuming part. 

Woolfest Haul 2013

Another year at Woolfest and it was just as fantastic. Here are links to previous years 2011 and 2012. It seemed busier this year.

 I went with the intention of buying no spinning fibre at all, as I had a lot bought me at Christmas, but.... Well, hilltopcloud fibre is so gorgeous, it just "had" to be bought. There was a beautiful blue and orange batt and some Southdown dyed in a gradient. Southdown is meant to be a fantastic fibre for socks and I've been wanting to try it for awhile. I love how the fibre was presented it looked like a fluffy octopus!

Eden Cottage Yarns and a mini skein set from Natural Dye Studio

Cute little sheep from Hestascene. Need to think of an appropriate name for her.

Gorgeous buttons from Textile Garden

Embroidery silks from Natalie Fergie aka Yarn Yard. The orange 4ply in the top picture is from her too.

This is what I got most excited about. It's a Lilly Brush which before the show I thought was only available from the US at super high postage rates, so I didn't think I'd be able to get one easily. Tall Yarns have them in stock at the moment. Basically it's a de-piller and lint remover and it's fab.

Bedecked Basket

My mum bought me a basket from the local farmer's market as a present. The idea being I can keep all my current knitting bits in so they don't end up everywhere.

It's a lovely basket but I thought it needed a bit of decoration. I've not done any crochet for quite some time.

I used Attic 24's May Roses pattern and did a htr circle for the liner.

Not sure whether to add any more, so I'm leaving it for the moment.

Bo likes it.

Dyeing Workshop

At the weekend, I went to a workshop at A Good Yarn, Cleethorpes. It was a "Dye your own yarn" workshop with Jonathan from Chroma Yarns. It was great fun and everyone made gorgeous coloured yarn.

The dyes

The aftermath

Everyone's gorgeous yarns

My finished yarn

Yarn wound into a cake

Hopefully, it'll find itself made into a pair of gloves (for a friend) at some point.

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Bo in Blue

Conception to....

acquisition to...

creation.

He keeps taking his hat off. I've had a word with him about it.

I especially love his tail

The pattern is Bo Rabbit by Susan Hickson. My ravelry project page for Bo and more details.

Lindisfarne

Here are a couple of vistas from near Berwick-Upon-Tweed.

Berwick-Upon-Tweed

View of Berwick-Upon-Tweed & Bamburgh Castle in the distance

On our way home, we got to Lindisfarne (Holy Island) when the the tide was out - so we had time to cross, have a walk around and get back before high tide.

There was plenty of wallflowers out...

...even some in the church walls.

There was a lot of old ship hulls that have been made into huts

Lots and lots of lobster pots

Sea thrift

We were sat on the coastline and I'm sure I could hear seals. I took a photo of another island nearby. It looked like it had a rocky coast line but it was seals. About a minute later, there was one bobbing it's head up on the coast where we were sat.

Stained Glass in the church

Lindisfarne Castle

The weather was pretty decent too, and I have a load more photos. For such a small island, there was plenty of interesting scenery. The ice creams weren't half bad, either.

Edinburgh

I was a bit quiet last week because we had a few days in Scotland, including a day trip to Edinburgh.

We really lucked out with the weather - clear blue skies most of the day. I had my camera with me and was snapping photos. Mr thought it was hilarious the looks I was getting for taking pictures of manholes and cobbles; especially with all the beautiful scenery around and I was taking pictures of the floor!

Edinburgh Castle

Found a wool shop

Look at those blue skies

Everything was in bloom

How many fires did this house have?

We had a fab day - lots of walking, lovely food and beautiful weather. Plus a little bit of wool too! I even heard a bagpiper play the Star Wars Theme.

Wonderful Wonderwool

Sorry for the alliterative title, couldn't resist.

With an offhand comment to Mr, "That it's Wonderwool Wales this weekend and wouldn't it be nice to go." His response being, "Why can't we?". So we did. Bit bonkers. 10 hours of driving in total but it was lovely weather and we had a good day.

I was relatively restrained with my purchases. Here's what I bought:

Rachel Coopey's new book, Coopknits Socks, and some sock yarn. The bronze one is Fyberspates Vivacious 4ply and fivemoons Luna 4ply 50g hanks in Denim and Pumpkin and a little mini one too.

The scotch eggs were fab!

I can finally show you a finished project, which just happens to be a Coopknits pattern! 

John Huston in Posh Yarn Megan 4ply, just in time for a birthday present.

Day Seven: The Year Ahead

"One year from now, when the 5th Knitting & Crochet Blog Week rolls around, where do you hope your crafting will have taken you to? What new skills, projects and experiences do you hope you might have conquered or tried?"

From Eskimimi Makes 

Knitting TechniquesWelcome to Pro! | Create infographics

On a whole, I've done a good majority of the different knitting styles out there. The one I've been meaning to do for a long time is to try Double Knitting. I've skirted around the technique, such as knitting two socks at a time (one inside the other) which is the same way of knitting but you keep one yarn to the front and one at the back at all times (instead of swapping the colours) and I've done brioche knitting too.

I've got two Zauberballs sat waiting in anticipation and that's something I'd like to do sooner rather than later.

The other technique I would like to try is on the crochet side. I'd like to cover a piece of furniture in crochet motifs. I have a footstool that was my Grandad's that's looking a bit tired, I covered it in fabric awhile ago but it needs re-doing. I thought crochet would lend itself well. For an idea of what I mean, try these searches on Ravelry, stools or chairs. This one in particular was what got me interested in the idea.

I'm not sure whether either of these will happen in the next year, but I do want to try them at some point.

This is the first time I've done Knitting and Crochet Blog Week and it's been a lot of fun. I hope I have time next year to participate.

Day Six: Favourite Tools

"Write about your favourite knitting or crochet (or spinning, etc) tool. It can either be a tool directly involved in your craft (knitting needles or crochet hook) or something that makes your craft more pleasurable – be it a special lamp, or stitch markers."

From Eskimimi Makes 

My favourite tools... I'm not sure whether I have favourites because everything I use has its purpose. If I'm in a hurry and want the bare minimum with me, then I would grab my scissors, my sewing needle case and my favourite crochet hook (as well as my knitting, of course).

I've had these awhile, so excuse their condition. The scissors are little Fiskar ones: I have two pairs. One in my knitting bag and one in my sewing bag. The first pair I've had for at least 12 years and they are still as sharp as when I bought them. Attached to the scissors is a hardanger scissor keeper that I made a long time ago at a workshop. Originally, it had a tassel but that's long since disappeared.

My needle case is made of two little folded fabric squares sewn together. It's a similar block to cathedral window but is contained to one square. The instructions for the square can be found in  Cathedral Window Quilts: The Classic Folded Technique and a Wealth of Variations by Lynne Edwards. The book is fabulous and I've made lots of different things from it, including some lovely little pincushions. Here's a few bits that I've made using Cathedral Window blocks - cushion and a wallhanging.

There's a needle for all occasions. Several knitting sewing needles, darning needles, tapestry needles, betweens, sewing needles, glass headed pins and knitters' pins.

I'd not really noticed that there was a bit of a purple theme going on.