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L aminaria After seeing the multitude of Laminarias on Ravelry, especially Clarabelle's beautiful Silver Laminaria ; I thought I had better have a go. I have recently made my first purchase from Po sh Yarn and must say I'm very impressed with the wool and the beautiful rainbow of colours that it comes in. I bought a Diana in a lovely spring green and Arabella in Jetset which is what I have made the Laminaria. Not sure I'm overly keen on winding the wool onto balls (took a few hours); persuaded my husband to make me a homemade swift. Been to the local hardware store today to get the supplies. Anyway, finished the laminaria this week and it's blocked and done - ready for a Christmas present can you believe. I love how it has turned out; ended up doing 6 star patterns and 14 blossom patterns which is a lot more than most seem to have done. Arabella is a cobweb weight yarn so think that is probably to do with it but it has made the shawl very fine and airy.

Going to veer away from knitting for this one. For the last few years I've been going to a ceramics class every Tuesday morning with my mum-in-law at Brushstrokes ceramics at Waltham Windmill near Grimsby. Thought I'd share with you a few of the projects that turned out well. First is the Christmas present that I made for Jim; he has a huge shed out in the garden which he near enough lives in, (which presumably most men do!). So I thought I'd make him a name plaque for it. It was a lot of fun because normally we just stain or glaze the pots but I made it all mushrooms and leaves etc from clay myself. The glazing turned out well too (it can be a little temperamental; you don't often know what it will look like until after it has come out of the kiln). I've also been doing a few plates with my own artwork on the first was an Islamic inspired plate that is glazed: Since I was 18 I have also been to a local botanical watercolour painting class (slipped a bit recently -

Also finished the entrelac shawl so I can wear it at the Proms at Calke Abbey in August. Thought it would be nice and warm to wear on a summer night. Really love how it has turned out; even though I can't block it I don't really mind as it gives it a 3D shape so it looks like it is woven. Plus it is definitely big enough without blocking. Absolutely adore the tassel on the bottom, it really finishes it off well. The wool has worked out well too; the changes in colour have ended up looking random and well balanced. Don't think it would have turned out that way if I had tried to change the colours intentionally.

Finally finished; I've been planning a Wedding present to give to my oldest friend. I've known him since Primary School and unbelieveably we've kept in touch over the years. He's getting married on Saturday and my husband is one of the ushers. Hopefully it will be nice weather because they are having a marquee reception. Their colour theme is chocolate brown and gold so I've used those colours to make them a cushion. It contains lots of silks to make it look sumptuous; I purchased most of the silk from The Silk Route who do a lot of coloured packs, which are perfect for Cathedral Windows. I had most of it finished early on; then just had to hand stitch all the windows in and the border on. When I came to put the back on my sewing machine decided to go poof!! With two weeks to go - aaahhh! Got it to the repair centre quick and it's all sorted now and finally able to finish the cushion; which I absolutely love (quite like to keep it myself - but I won't). p.s