Today

At the start of the weekend I had various plans (including going to Yarndale), which all completely changed!

I decided to give Yarndale a miss for a couple of reasons.  No one in our WI craft club could make it & while I wouldn't have minded going on my own, I didn't really need to buy any wool (although it would have been nice!) & the workshops I would have been interested were sold out.

Maybe I was just talking myself out of it but I may go next year if I get myself organised ;-)

It would have been lovely to be part of it, & I'm enjoying reading everyones posts, although I think it must have been a very surreal experience as if jumping into someone (Lucy's) blog!

J & I had a call to arms to assist with baby sitting, so we spent a shattering 4 hours in the park with our nephews who were very well behaved, & we had a rather nice picnic!

♥

I've been crocheting up squares in some new colours too...  I completely caved in (September's not bad!) & splashed out on some Stylecraft, after Deramores emailed with a 20% discount.  How could I not?

I took muchos inspiration from this project of Heathers in choosing some new colours, & I've gone for raspberry, pale rose, grey & camel & then violet because I don't have it & it will fit in lovely, & pomegranate, wisteria, clematis & lavender to top up the colours I'd run out of. SO much for de-stashing!  Unfortunately Deramores were out of stock of meadow & grape :-(

Today I'd planned to go on the TUC march in town (the Tory Conference is here!) but my friend was a bit unorganised so I decided to stay put.  I'm quite glad I did really as I'm about to tuck into some lemon drizzle baked earlier today

♥

J & I also went on a long walk not far from where we live.  I'd love to live in the countryside, although I don't think we're quite ready for it yet, but I always forget about what's on my doorstep

We might live in a city but we've got some lovely places to walk.  I still remember my first wander along the canal saying to myself "I live here??"  I'l be sad to leave if we end up moving, but happy at the same time; it will be nice to move onto new places & find new things.

Time for a well deserved glass of wine ;-)

x x x x

More clothes!

I definitely don't need to buy anymore clothes, but making them's okay right?  OF course it is!

I bought this pattern ages ago because I fancied a change from skirts and dresses.  I think it might also have been on sale which helped.

They're not the most adventurous of tops I admit, but I reckoned a few of these would be great for work.  Because I always need more work tops, don't I?  No.

This was a new one for me, cutting on the bias.  It was a right pain to fold properly to pin out the pattern pieces but once pinned it was a piece of cake really.  No zips, no sleeves, no waist bands!

One very nice (if I must say so myself) dart.

And there you have it.  I used linen, mainly because the pattern suggested it and who was I to argue.  When J took a photo of me wearing it I blended into the curtains.  Camouflage for when I need to hide from him, like possibly later in the week if when he discovers I placed an order for more Stylecraft.  Yep.

I reckon being me it could do with some livening up.  Given that I've not finished sewing the red buttons onto my skirt I don't think buttons are necessarily the answer.  I'd quite like to give embroidery a go, I have some lovely books on sewing that my Dad of all people bought for me.  He is awesome!

So perhaps an embroidery ring will be added to my wishlist.

x x x x

Projects on my needles

Just a quick post today.  I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit hungover today, the result of a lovely wedding yesterday :)  Remind me to go easy on the wine next time...

The sun in shining today though and a chinese takeaway is on the way.  Life is good!

Chunky cables using Cygnet Seriously Chunky in Fawn, knitted on 10mm needles

 A project I've been working on for a while from Knitted Toy Tales; the Owl and the Pussy Cat.  This is the owl obviously!

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Rosie elmer blanket update

I haven't posted any updates about my Rosie Elmer blanket in a while and part of that has been the constant indecision about which colours to stick with.  I honestly didn't want to keep boring people with my ummming and ahhhhing.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments on my previous posts though, it's given me a lot of food for thought, not least this website called Design Seeds. I warn you, you'll end up buying a shed load of yarn so you can whip up beautiful projects based on tropical birds, berries and doorways I tell you!

♥

Unfortunately I couldn't find a colour palette that matched mine but I do have some ideas for the future. When I've cut down my wool stash to a sensible amount I'm going to save up & treat myself to a purposeful order, but I can't get too carried away yet because I am nowhere near that stage yet!

A few weeks ago I had two ways of going with the blanket... #1 was a warmer mix of squares.  I do love the green  ♥ but I think it was the green making things difficult.

#2 worked better but felt quite dull, a bit like how things look on a cloudy day.  Does that make sense?  I don't know, but that's how it made me feel!

Then I had a look in one of my yarn boxes and it hit me that I really do have too much because I found some stylecraft that I'd forgotten I had... Honestly!

I found the lovely plum and  magenta and that's it :)  Problem solved

 

Woooooopeeeee!!!

I can't really explain how great this feels because this is exactly how I was imagining my blanket (ok, with some green) and it's just been really hard to pull this out of my head and make it. 

I even feel like I might start joining them all together soon....  Oh what fun :)

x x x x

Yarn cakes!

I will get around to sharing some crochet square soon, or maybe my button skirt (yeah, right!) but really all I want to do now is show you my YaRnCaKeS!

I bought one of those yarn winders from eBay.  I have to admit that it was after reading Lucy's post here because I thought you also needed one of those spinning hexagony things (I can't describe them properly, and I've had a glass of wine (ooops!) so I hope you know what I mean) so I was thrilled when I realised you don't because I love yarn cakes ♥ and the little ocd in me loved the idea of having uniform balls of yarny goodness

So there you have it.  I've just about wound every ball I have now, would you believe it's actually making them take up less space?  I've definitely reduced the space my yarn takes up, hurrah!  They're also great for taking out and about on trips or to work, instead of carrying around several hundred grams of wool ♥

x x x x

Liebster awards :)

Aww the lovely Jo from Three Stories High has nominated me for the Liebster award :)

I'm not sure when or how I came across Jo's blog but we seem to share a similar love of sewing (she has made some fab stuff!) and craftyness :) Liebster is a sweet award which anyone with fewer than 200 followers can be nominated for, and in return you answer some random facts & questions :)

First of all I'd like to make my own nomination and I've chosen Ladybird Diaries, which is a lovely blog, full of craft and beautiful photographs. Don't take it from me pop in and say hello :)

It was kinda hard because lots of my fave blogs now have over 200 followers, and there are so many ways people can follow your blogs now (e.g. I use Feedly) so it's impossible to really know, but I think the nice idea is it's to give recognition to smaller blogs :)

I'm not very good about random facts about myself but I can answer some of the questions that Jo was asked :)

1 :: Who has influenced you most in your life?
The most obvious choice would be my parents, but aside from them it's probably my friend CJ! We went to Primary school together and I'd planned to go to a different Secondary school but she said why not go to the open day where she'd be going. I did and completely changed my mind which I'm convinced changed my life from then on. I wouldn't have met my friends, gone to the uni I did and probably wouldn't have met J!

2 :: If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be?
Weirdly I'd live in London because I'm assuming this question means money & employment is no object :p Most of my family and friends are there, and sometimes it's hard being away

3 :: If you went back to school what would you choose to study?
Physics. Yep.

4 :: Are you impulsive when making decisions or do you ponder things first!
Impulsive. Didn't even have to think about it!

5 :: What is your food preference when you eat out?
Indian

6 :: Looking at your average day, what do you enjoy best?
Going home from work & crocheting :)

7 :: What gives you the least pleasure in your daily routine?
Going to work ;)

8 :: Is there a famous person that you would love to meet, and why?
I'd like to have met Neil Armstrong but I gather he doesn't talk much about his trip to the moon, so I'd like to chat with Valentina Tereshkova instead

9 :: Tell us about a favourite place in your locality that you like to visit
I love the Northern Quarter in town, although it's changed somewhat since I used to work there, it's still awesome though

10 :: If you were marooned on an island what would you choose to have with you?
Knitting or crocheting materials!

11 :: What is your favourite type of film?
Comedy, who doesn't like a good laugh?

x x x x