Month: March 2017
NaKniCromo done !
The Ravelry challenge is over today. To finish what I started –
Day 30 – 30th March 2017 – what crafts would I like to learn? There must be a whole host of undiscovered crafts out there, ones I have never had a whiff of! I can think of a few I am not interested in but there must be so many more and I look forward to finding them.
Day 31 – today – end results – two completed baby jackets, both photographed recently, three quarters of a cardigan for me, also photographed in progress – that’s one thing I had really hoped to complete! I have sewn as well as knitted – I made felted doughnuts – 10 large, 10 small, 4 embroidery hoops with freehand machine embroidery and hand stitching, a french stick bag – oh I haven’t photographed that yet – that’s for me to take to our house in France. It’s taken 10 years of saying ‘I really could do with some kind of long bag to keep our bread in! I have semi-sorted my yarn stash, been shocked at how much I had and why I purchased a lot of it. I’ve sold 11 lots of yarn in online auctions and gifted two bags of crafting things to charity. All in all my crafting world at home has been attacked and it felt good.
Spring has sprung here in the UK. Perhaps a lot of this sorting out has been a little bit of a Spring Clean! I made an awful mess along the way!
Painted yarn bowl makes knitting pretty ! (Nearing the end of NaKniCromo on Ravelry too)
I decorated a pottery yarn bowl at a Pottery Painting shop early this month – oh what fun ! I was slightly worried my attempt at painting anything might look like a child’s artistry (my ‘skills’ tend to be woolly or in fabric) but luckily with a little help of a ‘magic’ paint I think the finished product was a success. I was reluctant to post pics until it was fired in case it was a disaster.
https://www.emmaspotteryparlour.com/
Mine’s on the left. I painted a pattern you can’t see too well(!), covered it with a white glaze that went black and ‘cracked’ on firing. My friend Susan (her bowl on the right) was painted in green/blue, then a grey glaze was painted on and the ‘bit’s in the glaze exploded on firing changing the colour and giving a lovely marbled effect.
Finished and in use !
So, Love this Cardigan is growing. 
Now I have the two fronts and almost the front. Meribel yarn by Schoeller and Stahl is lovely to work with but will be a nightmare to sew up with so I am scrabbling around in my stash to find a good sewing up yarn, one that won’t break when I pull together mattress stitch.
NaKniCromo, the yarn challenge for March on Ravelry.com is almost over.
Day 26 Projectless yarn? Yes – lots of it – here is just some ….
and currently sorting my stash so much more is projectless.
Day 27 – For those who know me, I am never working on one thing at the same time. I have ‘easy’ knitting which is portable (eg in the car or with me for knit club when I can chat, drink coffee and not go home with mistakes that need ripping out later), then slightly more difficult knitting for when I want a challenge. I have WIPs where I have got bored or stuck or gone wrong – they go into storage and often take a little while to finish or I never finish them!
Day 28 Share my Progress – see above, Love this Cardigan in Meribel teal and navy blue – love love love this cardigan is what I shall call it!
Day 29 Any Other Crafts? Yes, as blogged here, I sew a bit too. Doughnuts and Embroidery Hoops on recent posts. I have also tried others, hand felting, cross stitch, mosaics are amongst them. Oh, and I did silk painting and card making as well. I guess I have a brain that loves to create and try new things.
Day 30 – tomorrow – Crafts I would like to learn – thinking ….
Have a great day, whatever you are doing. And if anyone wants to suggest a project for that projectless yarn please feel free to do so – I have 150g/150m chunky yarn, variegated. It’s Adriafil Mistero, acrylic and wool.
Playful -Sunday Sevens
Loved this post – we should all be more playful and enjoy life !
Source: Playful -Sunday Sevens
Time For Tea, with knitting on the side, NaKniCromo update too
A truly creative week. The ideas are flowing. The needles have clicked. Thread was stitched, by hand and by machine. Work must have stemmed my creative juices – currently between jobs and I just want to knit, to sew, to play with yarn and fabric! I am so lucky to have the time to do this. Not everything has worked out, but it’s been fun all the way. 
My first top down knit – I started it a few days ago, ripped it back a little at one point to correct a mistake, but now it’s finished and I loved every minute making it. I am so glad I tried again. (Photo before blocking, hence the wiggly front flap, which will flatren out!)
And embroidery hoops with stitched pictures – a Tea Shop theme – as they will soon be available in a local tea shop for sale. 
These were a treat to make. I have in the past done a very little freehand machine embroidery – this was little of that, a little handstitching as well. I didn’t have a plan – I started and this is what I ended up with. It is a little Tea Shop in Downe, Kent, with a little dresser displaying pretty things for sale – so not making in bulk and let’s see how it all goes. And don’t get me started on pricing – wishing to keep it reasonable, not paying a wage (who can earn anything from crafting? Thinking of Etsy in future, will need to look at pricing properly one day!)
NaKniCromo – on Ravelry, again a little late with the update. This was an interesting challenge to follow, updates to fellow Ravelryers here. This is a project for March and March is soon over.
Day 21 – Share my progess. Well, If you take about 4 inches off the Top Down above then that would have been my progess on that project on Day 21!
Day 22 – Favourite colour to work with. Looking at my stash it has many shades of purple and teal and I currently have one teal knit project on the go. Guess I’ll say those two then!
Day 23 – Favourite type of project – ones that grow fairly quickly and keep me interested. Over the last few months, definitely a baby blanket with a ripple – as blogged previously.
Day 24 – Fave project ever made – a teal short sleeved button front cardigan for myself. I used Rowan Aran Tweed, made it too short to start with, added an extra band along the bottom to make it long enough. Loved it. Wore it often. Washed it poorly once and shrunk it. Boohoo!
Day 25 – today – Favourite yarn to work with? I don’t have one. I was sorting through my stash this week, donating things to charity, ebaying others, planning what to make next – and came across a cotton/linen yarn from about 10 years ago – it was an oatmeal colour, nubby, absolutely dreadful on the hands to knit with – I remember it made me so saw, thus just a quarter of a top was finished and was in with the bag of unused balls ! So for Day 25 – I turn it round and say ‘worse yarn to work with’ !
Day 26 – tomorrow – wonder what it will be – Projectless yarn I have held on to . Well, there are several stories!
Goodbye for today, from a very blowy but sunny Kent in the UK. Happy Crafting!
No 1 Knit Top Down, More NaKniCromo and Calorie Free Doughnuts too!
Busy few days. Inspired by https://shirleycyeung.wordpress.com/ amongst others I have started by first top down knitted item and I LOVE IT ! Having tried once before and failed badly, I choose small, a new baby project from Ravelry.com – All-In-One Sleeveless Baby Top (6 months) & (9 – 12 months) by marianna mel With a little help from a YouTube video on understanding construction I totally get it now.
Here’s a little bit of my progress. 
It’s small but more projects going on at the same time.
I have also finished another baby top – bottom up construction – needs a little steaming and a button, not as pleased with the button band as I should be, hopefully that will steam out a little.
NaKniCromo on Ravelry.com – it’s take a lot of thinking about my dream project (Day 16) – not sure I have just one, just an image of several. I guess premium yarns, dreams to knit without hiccups, perhaps at least one repeat of an item knit a few years ago. Oh, and of course, the price of the wool would be irrelevant or it would have been free!
Day 17 – Dream Tools – I favour Knit Pro Symfonie needles, rainbows even when knitting with boring yarn! Day 18 – Technique I would like to master – I would like to be more adventurous with cables, though at the moment I have so much I want to knit that I choose more simple patterns that seem a lot quicker than the fantastic complicated cables I drawl over. Day 19 – More Yarn or Less yarn – More yarn, always more yarn of course. I am working on reducing my stash, whether knitting it or selling some to buy more.
Day 20 – Today – Favourite Tip or Trick – It’s ok to rip something back, don’t consider it wasted time, consider it a learning curve. Also, mattress stitch, once learned I have never gone back to running stitch or oversewing seams.
And a little sewing – remember the last post – beige and pink circles with sewing pins. They turned into these doughnuts! And now they are available to purchase at a little lovely cafe, The Teashop at Downe, Kent. I hope customers popping by for a tea and cake will fancy taking a Calorie Free/Sugar Free cake home for later!
So as you see, a busy few days here.
Meribel: Love this is Growing, Another craft and still NacKniCroMo ing
I have had more time recently and what have I done with a lot of it! Wasted it! Why is it that the more time one has the less efficient one can be? I aim to do better during the next few days. Works in progress – Love this Cardigan – it’s growing steadily. I now have 2 fronts and this much of the back of it. Schoeller and Stahl Meribel is great to work with.
Another project – this time to make a little ££ – they’re going to be calorie free, sugar free, look edible (but won’t be), available in a shop near me soon. More to follow another day …
And Rav Challenge NaKnicroMo continuing, slightly not on the same time zones, but
Day 13 Fave Tool – KnitPro Symfonie needles, prefer the straights but use interchangeables too – occasionally the screw comes undone though, which makes a knit frustrating.
Day 14 Share My Progress – see above, ML181 Love this Cardigan – I LOVE THIS CARDIGAN
Day 15 Dream Craft Storage – I look at Pinterest often and see all these lovely work and hobby stations and despair at mine sometimes! I take inspiration from those with traditional storage, dressers, wooden storage with twiddly fixings, yarn and fabric in colour co-ordinations or complementary patterns or gauges. For basic storage – this would be good, and simple 
I would love a yarn and fabric combo like this 
Mine is more like this 
Whilst functional is just not pretty.
Must get on, yarn to store prettily and projects to finish. What’s on your pins or what are you sticking with needle and thread?
When do I craft? Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Knitting challenge, etc. NaKnitCroMo
Day 9 of the NaKnitCroMo challenge on Ravelry.com – though in reality it’s actually Day 11 and I am catching up.
When? Mainly the evenings if it’s knitting. I cosy myself up on the sofa, cat to the left of me, after dinner, if I am knitting something easy then the tv is on too.
If it’s sewing, by machine, then that’s a daytime thing. I usually want to be on my own in the house, no husband to pop in and interrupt me – risking me sewing through my own fingers or going askew on the piece I am sewing. I often think he feels my sewing efforts are a waste of time – he doesn’t ‘get’ the pleasure made from handcrafting.
Day 10 of the NaKnitCroMo challenge – What’s my crafting fuel?
Coffee, decaff and when trying to be good – water. If I have the odd evening tipple, I end up putting the knitting down as I can’t concentrate – or I think I can but looking at anything I’ve knitting the next morning can be slightly shameful, and I might not have the right number of stitches on each row still! Never say never though – I was invited to a Craft and Cocktails event yesterday – didn’t go as I had other plans – looking forward to hearing how friends got on – and if anything crafty was achieved. I suspect there was more giggles and drinking than crafting – but that’s not a bad thing occasionally. Shame to miss it. (Memories of being a teenager, moons ago, hemming a skirt one evening, whilst fuelled with cider – argh, the finished hem was soooo bad!)
Day 11 – today – What do I listen to when crafting? As I said, when knitting, it’s usually the tv. When sewing, I love catching up on BBC London Radio (JoAnne Good in the afternoon, particularly The Barking Hour on Thursday afternoons or I love a bit of Robert Elms and his listed Londoner slot), or my cds – a bit of retro 1980’s/1990s’s – my era, when I knew all the words and sang along – maybe that’s why I sew alone at home – then there’s no shame in singing along out loud and out of tune, ha ha! Depending on the mood of the day – Fleetwood Mac, for a singsong, Enjya for thoughfulness, Cher for a jig about when ironing fabric, bit of newer stuff, eg. Mumford and Sons – husband would definitely head out of the house for Mumford – he hates them. Loving this challenge – it really makes me think how and why I craft.
Wool ….
Latest knitting news – I guess part of the March challenge but this might slip into April. I have finished both fronts of my ML181 Love this Cardigan. I have sold some of my stash which has been quite carthartic – you know those yarns you have had for ages and just aren’t going to be turned into something as you have either gone off them, or just don’t have enough in quantity? – they’ve gone to good homes. I have (accidently) purchased some yarn for a couple of baby projects. A friend in Belgium is due in May – I haven’t started anything yet – got to get my sticks clicking – not sure if it’s a boy or a girl, hoping this lovely shade of yellow will be a good choice. DROPS Merino Extra Fine in light yellow. (Great local yarn store – http://www.littlewoollie.co.uk/ – always a warm welcome from the owner Trudy.) ‘Accidently’ purchased as I have plenty of yarn still in my stash – but this was irresistable and DROPS is reasonable prices and good quality.
NakniCroMo on Rav Day 08
Day 8 – popped a pic on Ravelry.com, can’t put another on a fellow member of this group’s blog post, so here’s a mini post from me. Today, in my sitting room, knitting a bit, and this is where I usually prefer to wield the needles. My ‘helper’ is Mercury, one of my moggies. His sister, Matilda, escaped the photo session. And Yes, I like teal but it wasn’t until I brought home this yarn purchase that I realised I might just ‘disappear’ into the furniture in future when I am wearing the finished cardigan!
Ripping is not as satisfying as knitting: Meribel but this time not in France.
Schoeller and Stahl Meribel – Shades 19 (the teal one) and 4 (the navy one). I decided to knit this
Pattern ML181 Love this Cardigan Ravelry.com. Meribel’s great to work with , it’s soft, it grows quickly on big needles, it sheds a little but not too much. I made the first front in speedy time. I began the second front. I usually compare the two as I go along, especially when there are colour changes or shaping – but I didn’t this time. (Why?? I can’t actually answer that!) I measured the two against each other only when I reached the armhole shaping and realised I’d not done enough stripes on piece two (how did I miscount when the stripes are in bands of 2? I know my 2 x tables!) and the pocket was placed too low down. Duh! So I had to rip down a couple of hours of work, undoing this slightly fluffy yarn whose fibres cling to each other, and started reknitting, surrounded by teal fluff.
We knitters know ripping is quicker than knitting! Ripping is satisfying to me only if it doesn’t mean it’s a current mistake than needs fixing quickly. I really want to finish this cardigan to wear this season and I have so many WIPs that this was a little ‘treat’ to myself. Dare I carry on today for a while or do I need to switch to a much more pressing time restrained project (eg. a friend’s baby may arrive soon and he/she needs something to wear much more than I need to add to my own wardrobe)? I guess my knitting time today will be shared between the two.
And before I go – Meribel, France, not been there, just quoting yarn name vs place name. I wonder why ‘Meribel’ as Schoeller and Stahl is a German yarn brand. Just wondering …
Here’s how far I got to last night, pocket back in, stripes of the right number. Bye for now. Got to go, got to knit!
Where do people write? Large or small desk space? Empty or cramped table? Inside? Outside? Anywhere?
I came across this slightly historic blog, found it interesting, thought I would share. My space is not defined yet. I enjoy peace and quiet. I like to be outside in warm weather.
“I seek a place free from distraction allowing me to be alone with my thoughts and the blank page.” Five bloggers tell us about their writing spaces.
via A Place to Find Our Words: Bloggers and Their Writing Spaces — Discover
handmadehomemadeknitstitchdesign 