Workshops are like buses!

It has been ages since I've seen any workshops that appeal, and then two came along in a week.

I went to Knit Nation on Saturday and took the Spinning for Knitting class with Merike Saarnit, it was brilliant. I had dabbled rather unsucessfully before, but it just wasn't the same trying to teach myself and, I discovered, having the right tools for the job makes such a difference - previously I had tried to spin with a bottom whorl spindle, but now I realise a top whorl is the way to go for me.
Merike is a wonderful teacher, patient but not patronising, kind but firm - she had us spinning in no time at all, and we tried all manner of fibres, and had a little of each left to bring home and practice with too. Sadly there were no spindles to buy in the Marketplace (missed business opportunity there, methinks!) and it has taken me a while to decide exactly what to buy online, but I am now waiting anxiously for postie so I can have another play.


Before and After

And because I am ridiculously pleased with my efforts, here's a close up...

My first Handspun

Then, on Thursday, I went down to Kangaroo near Lewes, East Sussex for a Tunisian Crochet workshop run by the lovely ladies from Denise Interchangeable Needles. Barbara taught us in the morning, again she was an excellent teacher, with a pleasant laid back style (and a lovely american accent), and we picked it up very quickly. Using an 8mm hook and Rowan Cocoon (oh so soft and gorgeous - I think I'm in love with a yarn!!!) our little bags grew rapidly, and after a hasty break for lunch there was no structured teaching so I spent a most enjoyable afternoon finishing my bag whilst chatting with the other students and to Linda (who owns Denise needles) about anything and everything, UK and USA. It was such a good day I was not a happy bunny on Friday when I had to go back to work and couldn't chat and play with yarn and hooks all day!


Bonne Bouche Bag in Tunisian Crochet
designed by Barbara Kreuter

Ten thousand gallons of 4* please!

Well despite the weather - rain, mist, drizzle, fog, downpours, more mist, oh and did I mention rain? - we had a lovely time. On board ship was, of course, superb, gorgeous food, lovely staff and no housework!! but even through the bad weather you could still see and enjoy the beauty of Norway and the Fjords, and we have a very good excuse to go back again.
As you can imagine we took tons of photo's but here are just a small selection.

Couldn't resist this shot of the Ventura berthed at Olden.




Bergen was a lovely town, the old wharf, Bryggen is so attractive even in the rain, I bet it looks wonderful in the sunshine - these old timber warehouses are included in UNESCO's World Heritage list, most are now used as artists studios or restaurants



The narrow little streets and alley ways behind really fascinated me - wouldn't fancy have to traipse all the way up these steps with heavy shopping when they are icy in the winter!


In Flaam we took the scenic railway up the mountain, with sheer drops and a very windy track it made for an interesting ride, there was even a 5 minute stop for photo's at one point, and this is a scheduled train not specifically for tourists - can't imagine BR doing that!


Leaving Olden, I just love the way the mist hangs in the valleys.


A day at sea with little to do, DH decided to be an arty photographer!


And no set of pictures from Norway would be complete without a troll - I thought this was the sweetest we saw (yes saccharine sweet I know) especially as she was wearing a traditional Norwegian cardigan

Getting my priorities right

It's tatty knicker week in the Model household - yes that's right we are off on holiday in a wee while and all the good stuff is packed, but I've made sure to get my priorities right



I have Rowan Milk cotton on the left to knit a moebius scarf from Simply Knitting, and Panda Silk from Crystal Palace Yarns on the right for Annis from Knitty, though I thought I'd use beads rather than nupps, and of course I have a knitting novel - if you like something light and fluffy with a bit of fibre thrown in then I would recommend Maggie Sefton's Knitting Mysteries.


You may have guessed from the travel sickness tablets - we are off on a cruise again, this time to the Fjords, I'm really looking forward to it, lovely scenery, a bit cooler than the melting weather we've been having here lately, and the only thing I need to think about where food is concerned is shall I have this, or shall I have that (or both possibly!)

Talking of food, I popped down to see Mum earlier in the week and found her cooking lunch - it does worry me sometimes that at 79 she is still deep fat frying, and when I saw her draining technique I was even more concerned - she assures me she only uses metal needles as she doesn't think the plastic ones would be strong enough!!!!!



I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!

Lace and Tea

Rather a good combination I think.

I belong to Tonbridge Lacemakers who meet on the second Saturday of the month, and we take it in turns to 'do the teas' (well some of us take more turns than others, but isn't that always the way) and yesterday I and a couple of friends had volunteered. It's not an easy task keeping everyone happy. Until I started doing this I would never have realised how easy it is to upset older ladies by not making a cuppa properly - me, I'm a tea bag in a mug girl, but oh no, that would never do, teapots at dawn if you tried that!
Fortunately (and surprisingly) it is easier to keep the old dears happy with the cakes we provide for afternoon tea - and this time I chose Ginger and Lemon





I did manage a little lace between kitchen duties, and finished a bookmark - designed by a friend, it should have been larger but I missed the bit in the instructions which said "photocopy and enlarge to 150%" - Oh dear, just as well I read small books then isn't it ;0)

Forgive me Blogger...

for I have sinned, it has been a long time since my last post....

I don't know what happened really - but I'm back.

I've still been knitting of course, made loads of squares for Knit-a-Square and lots of little oddments but my latest decent sized knit has been



Debbie Bliss' Alphabet Blanket

Using Sirdar Snuggly in Vanilla for my Little Cousin's bump due any day now - poor girl pregnant in this heat. I'd forgotten how nice it is to work in 4ply, though it was a bit of a challenge with hardly any two right side rows the same, and a little way in I didn't think I would make it in time, but having worked out a minimum row rate per week I felt more motivated and voila.

Whilst knitting it I promised myself that my next project would be something small, quick and brightly coloured, so as soon as it was off the needles I started knitting this......


Ooops! wrong on all three counts, but having seen the urgent appeal over at SANDS for blankets for their Always loved, never forgotten Memory Boxes I couldn't help but cast on - I'm enjoying the garter stitch, and looking forward to the lace border, which I will be knitting on with a little guidance from those lovely folk over at Ravelry in the British Knitter's SANDS appeal thread

And just to prove I am not completely devoid of colour in my life, though not usually given to impulse purchases, I couldn't help myself.
I've no idea what I am going to wear them with, but they make me smile when I look at them, (and I have been doing overtime lately so I deserve a treat)...Sad eh?

The quick and the slow

DH and I went up to London to walk along the Regents canal so of course I needed a little something to knit on the train, this little chap just fitted the bill perfectly, magic looped with stash DK he came out a whole 4" tall, and only took the journey to and from London to knit. Should make a nice little handful for a babe in the next Baby pack project pack.

As for the slow, well the Yarn Forward blanket had it's ups and downs, plenty of problems with the patterns but it's done - took 5 months to make but I'm really happy with the results - I think DD is too judging by the fact that she is currently snuggled under it on the sofa watching TV.

I made socks !!!

I've just finished the socks I started to take on my walking trip in May, and do you know what - I enjoyed making them! simple pattern sock stew which I adapted to knit two at a time, toe up on two circs. Rather enjoyed them, I'm beginning to think I may be converted :0)



I'm even thinking of casting on another pair !!!!

Pins and Needles

I found a lovely pincushion pattern when I was browsing the web (as you do) and couldn't resist. I used the remains of a fat quarter that DD had chosen for her GCSE textiles (their brief was to choose something to represent themselves !), and thought it would be nice to have a matching needlecase. Then I decided the original pattern for pincushion came out too big for what I wanted, and made a mini version.


I was really pleased with the results, and the pattern is written so well.

I am still knitting, honestly! I have finally finished the squares for the YF Mystery blanket, and now have to sew them all together :0( and decide on a border. I think most of us over on the Ravelry knitalong were rather disappointed at the way Yarnforward suddenly abandoned us. Five months of knitting, giving us different themed squares each month and then suddenly when we were eagerly awaiting clever ideas of finishing, we were told we could crochet them together, back stitch or mattress stitch .... oh and add a border if we liked!
Oh well, hopefully I will have a picture of the finished article soon. Having added a few more squares myself to make it bigger, I now have the wonderful task of sewing 35 squares together. (I'm sure it won't be all that bad, if only I could get started!)

Sad sewing and Beautiful butterflies

Every so often I feel the need to do some 'sad sewing' I'm beginning to think it could be related to anniversaries of my own losses, but I don't wish to dwell on that and work it out, so I just do my sewing, send it off to Bonnie Babies and get it out of my system. So this is the current sad sewing


burial gowns
Now onto more cheerful things. It was such a beautiful day yesterday, the sun was shining, the bees were buzzing and the butterflies were having a wonderful time on and around my buddleia, so I got out DH's posh camera and had a play





And the last one is not for anyone who dislikes insects - this butterfly looks quite evil in close up, it's face when it fills the screen is sooooo ugly!!!

Strange thing for a knitter to buy

Well that's what DH said anyway, but I was browsing in a charity shop and saw this bag of knitted squares (well moss stitch rectangles actually but let's not get picky) and decided they needed to be put to good use. When I went to the till the lady said " Oh, I'm glad you are buying them, they must have taken someone a very long time to knit" to which I politely agreed and somehow managed to refrain from adding ' but it didn't stop you only charging 50p for them did it?'

Anyway, after playing around for a while I came up with a layout I was happy with and a couple of evening later I had this....



which will wend it's way with my next Baby Pack Project pack - Very satisfying to have created a brightly coloured little blankie and put someone elses hard work to good use.

Back to the real world

Shame... I'm back in the real world having just had 8 days on board..

and those two little dots are DD and I! And the little orange dot in the distance is the security man running up to tell us we were too close to the quay side!
We had a wonderful time, even considering the weather - as it was mainly France and Spain and not too exotic the weather thought it would be rather English just to make us feel at home, not that warm and lots of rain. The Bay of Biscay was entertaining too - a force 8 thank you very much, though it didn't trouble us too much, (good old sea sickness tablets) and DH and I quite enjoyed our walk round the deck, leaning at a 45` angle just to stand up, and experiencing near weightlessness as the ship pitched!

Well I only did a little knitting, some sock! and 4 squares for my Mystery Blanket - one to replace that naughty number 4 of colour work


One using the yarn I bought in Lisbon

A stripy one using odds and ends and the 6th of the beaded patterns from issue 15, so the next set looks like this


The reason I didn't do as much knitting as expected was that the day before the cruise I went on a workshop to learn to make Armenian Lace so I was happily practicing my new found skills - it is a knotted lace so only needs thread, needle and scissors and here is what I achieved.

and a close up because I am proud of my new found skill



Suffering from post cruise blues I have ordered 2 books on Armenian Lace and with a few more weeks til I go back to work I am planning to do more.

The prom

They never had proms when I was at school but it seems to be 'in' at the moment. DD wasn't too keen at first but then when she found 'the' dress, she was a lot happier. Friend was supposed to be arranging the limo - but as soon as I knew which friend, I had my doubts, and I was right. A couple of days before the prom, she admitted she had done nothing about it! So most of the girls were taken by parents in their cars, but fortunately the uncle of DD's closest friend came to the rescue and took, friend, DD and another in his jag - he even dressed in a suit and got out to open the doors for the young ladies, so that they could arrive in style.

I didn't expect to feel emotional - I mean I think DD is beautiful all the time, but in her posh frock all ready for the prom I felt a great surge of pride (and a little sniffly too), so being the proud mum I just had to share a couple of pictures. DD is in purple, and friend with uncle is in the middle.



DD is lucky in that she has both male and female friends, and I rather liked this picture which shows how comfortable they all are with each other - they are just friends not couples, and I think that is great

Unlucky number 4

I hadn't realised that number 4 is considered to be an unlucky number, but once I started the Mystery Blanket from Yarnforward magazine I started to wonder.
Cable pattern number 4 was incredibly difficult to get square - it was determined to stay kite shaped and had to be blocked to within an inch of it's life to get anything near a square.
Lace number 4 was a bit of a so and so as well - whilst I ended up with a pattern I liked, it doesn't seem to be quite what the designer had in mind!
And as for colour work pattern 4, well! I still haven't mastered it, I fiddled, I tinked and eventually I frogged and I am still trying to pluck up courage to start again.

I'm quite pleased with the 5 colour work squares I have completed, even though I've decided it isn't really my 'thing' ( note the technical blocking system again)




Anyway I have now been told that 4 is the most unlucky number in Japan (and it's pronounciation is similar to the word for death) - so that explains it, and as in Japan they often miss out room or flat number 4 (in the same way as we do 13) perhaps that gives me permission to miss out square number 4 and replace it with one of my own. But knowing me and the fact that I don't like being beaten, I may have to win this battle yet.

The next installment

I've been busy with the next installment of the Yarn Forward mystery blanket squares, this month it was lace - much more my cup of tea I have decided, thoroughly enjoyed these and there were far fewer errors in the patterns this time than in the previous set which helped me whizz through (whizz being a relative term, I was probably far slower in completing them than most people would be, but at least I had them all finished with plenty of time before issue 14 hit the doormat)



In fact enough time between finishing and issue 14 arriving to knit a few more rows on Buttony (my! those rows are long) and for a bit of instant gratification I made these

BSJ Inspired bootees - Quick, easy and so cute. The pattern is written for worsted yarn, but being a 'relaxed' knitter, I used DK and 3.75mm needles and they still came out new baby sized.
I have now made all the bits to assemble another Baby Pack Project pack, so these will be on their way to South Africa shortly.

One track mind

I think I must be obsessed. We have just booked a short trip in the Lake District, DH and DD will be coming down from Scotland where they are visiting relatives, and I will go up to meet them in the Lakes, a 5 hour train journey on my own, and my first thoughts – yes you guessed it – KNITTING TIME, woohoo!

So the second it was all finalised I dashed into my work room to choose a project – I have to carry everything including heavy walking boots in my rucksack, so weight and space are an issue, but I will have two long train journeys and the spare time when I am there, so it needs to fill enough time..… Now I know my choice is going to come as a surprise to anyone who knows me – but I have decided to knit socks! I know to most people it is the obvious choice, but I don’t do socks, not that I haven’t tried, I’ve made 3 (and a half) pairs, I’ve tried dpns, two circs and magic loop (and with the last ones DD banned me from ever making socks again because apparently I moaned the entire time I was knitting them), but time is a great healer, and recently I have found that I love wearing the offending pair (the other two were for DD) and I really would like some more, and for a non-sock knitter it is surprising how much sock yarn I have in stash. I searched Rav, and found Sock Stew , adapted it for two circs, my preferred weapons of choice, and cast on ready as I needed to follow my step by step instructions which are spread over several pages and didn’t think that would be very practical on a bumpy train. So I’m all set to go – the only problem is I’ve got 4 weeks to wait!




I’ve just had a thought though - I’m quite happy travelling on my own but with all my luggage and no one to keep an eye on it, it could make it more difficult to go to the buffet car or the loo …..though come to think of it, if I don’t go to the first I won’t need the second !

Two cuties

Lucy Lamb - (you may well have seen her in M&S) DH bought her for me for easter -he thought she was appropriate given my knitting and the fact that I had a lamb to bottle feed most years when I was young. Only trouble is, I don't want to eat her!

And perhaps I shouldn't say this is cute, but I'll say the pattern is instead



It's the Baby Pack Project bear. This one is made from one strand of something soft, fluffy, variegated and label-less which was acquired from a charity shop for 10p, together with a strand of a harder boucle (again details unknown) from the bottom of the stash. My knitting sat down between the bedside cabinet and bed, and I knit a few rows while drinking my morning cuppa each day and it soon grew into a soft squishy little friend for someone.

Playing with my new toy

I've finally given in and bought a new sewing machine - my old one, an 18th birthday present from my dearly loved and long departed Nan, has finally given up the ghost, it's been on it's way out for a very long time and I've limped on for sentimental reasons. Twenty seven years is a long time to have a machine, and it has had a lot of use, but it has now been replaced by a rather swish Pfaff, not a computerised one, but top of the range mechanical one, so I have been playing with it's stitches and generally getting used to it and created a little project bag - like I need another one but hey,it was fun, and having also bought a new larger handbag I now have room to carry a little knitting something so it seemed the obvious experimental project.


On to another machine - a knitting one - which I have had for many years but only sees the light of day occasionally. Inspired by those folk over on CT'n'Y I decided to have a little go again recently and created a baby gown for Bonnie Babies.


It was ok, but it's back in the cupboard again and the needles are out in preference. I am thoroughly enjoying making the Mystery Blanket from Yarn Forward Magazine despite all the errors in the patterns (there is a very useful KAL thread over on Ravelry if anyone is interested). Here are the first months, cabled, squares (please excuse the expensive and technical blocking system).
Having now seen the pictures in issue 13, three out of the six were exactly as they should be,one I knew I had done extra repeats (the only way to get it big enough), one is not quite right, though it will do, and one is, in my opinion better. It definitely made me realise just how much we rely on pictures as well as instructions.

It's lace this month, and the proof reading seems to have improved (she says tempting fate) and I am really enjoying this. It is a very long time since I have been so enthused with a project, I like the manageable deadlines, I'm using up stash and I have always wanted to make a sampler type blanket but never got round to working out the squares.

Dish cloth swap

Now that it has been sent and received safely, I can post a piccy of the cloth I made for the CT'n'Y dishcloth swap

I have to say, it nearly didn't get made, there were several errors in the lace pattern, the stitches just did not add up - at one point I even screwed up the pattern in disgust and threw it away, but I liked the design, I thought my recipient would too, and I am a very stubborn determined person and it was niggling me, so I smoothed out the pattern, got out my fingers and toes and did some counting, and hey presto!

The cotton is Anchor Magic (which sadly I believe has been discontinued) and there were some little gifts that went with it too, in matching colours, which I didn't think to photograph.

In my lovely parcel from Aknita there was a beautiful cloth in Rowan Handknit cotton, a lavender bag (I love lavender) some chocolate (ditto, but not together - have you ever tried Lavender chocolate - I thought it was weird!) a sweet painted bookmark of the Malvern Hills and some stitch markers in a cute little box.



She had clearly stalked me and put together a lovely package just for me.

Not afraid anymore

I may have been knitting for ever, and I don’t think I am too bad at it, but it’s the sewing up that lets it down, I’m not sure whether I never liked it because I wasn’t any good at it or if I wasn’t good at it because I didn’t like it (iyswim), but I’ve seen the light, or rather been taught it.

I attended Jane Crowfoot’s finishing course at Kangaroo at the weekend and it was brilliant, there were several occasions when a little light bulb came on ! Jane is an excellent teacher and showed us so much in the day. The setting is good too, once I got over the shock of going down an unmade lane past small industrial units and a scaffolders – I have to admit that it was then that I severely doubted the ability of my sat nav, though I did it a disservice as it delivered me right to the door. The class was in a nice workroom with plenty of natural light above the shop (very handy for shopping and the kind lending of needles when I discovered I needed to change sizes and had only brought what was on the list – typical me, any other time I would have brought everything but the kitchen sink)

As well as sewing up using mattress stitch (easy when you know how rather than guessing) she taught us different types of increase (found a new one) and decrease (discovered a variation that makes it sit better) how to do neat button holes and picking up stitches round a neck line plus several other little tips. And as for short row shaping, it actually makes sense now!

My little samples don’t look much but I really benefited from the day and am quite chuffed with my efforts.

Would you believe this is sewn up using orange yarn!

And no those aren’t mistakes on the ‘sleeve’ it’s where we practiced increases and decreases, and the buttonholes are examples of the good, the bad and the ugly, though not necessarily in that order!

And of course with a 10% discount I had to do just a little shopping - well it would have been rude not to wouldn't it?