Happy Christmas

Festive Knitting

Some of my festive knitting projects




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Baby Quilt

 Dear me, I haven't written a word for weeks!  It's a busy time of year - I still can't quite believe that we are in December and the year is very nearly over.  Next week marks the start of 'crazy season' in our house - a fortnight of school concerts, parties and church event.  All of these events are well loved but it will be an exhausting fortnight.

I've made the odd Christmas gift - largely knitted - over the last few weeks.  The above picture, I appreciate, is extremely unseasonal but I found the pictures on the computer the other day and realised it was a project I hadn't shared!  It's a baby quilt made for my friend Emma's little girl.  It was a simple make - the pattern can be found on the Moda Bakeshop Website - and consists of a couple of mini charm packs from the Posy line by Aneela Hoey and corresponding Moda yardage.  The 2.5" squares are sometime challenging to sew together accurately but I'm happy with the result!  This is the last thing I sewed would you believe and that was back in September!

Hopefully, I won't leave blogging so long next time and I can share some festive projects - a Summer themed quilt really seems a bit out of place as the wind blows outside!

Hansel

I completed Hansel AKA the giant bucket about 3 weeks ago.  It was very odd knitting a square blanket in the round but it worked and I love the finished result.  I had originally planned it as a baby blanket for my surprise third baby but it ended up as a gift for my friend Helen's surprise third baby instead.  Although I'd decided on a relatively neutral colour scheme involving grey, purple, green and blue it dawned on me that it was far more appropriate for Helen's little boy baby than my own expected pink offspring.

I would have liked to have added the triangular border edging included in the pattern to finish it off but it became obvious that I was running out of time and yarn - Helen was booked for an elective c-section so I was working to a definite deadline!!

I absolutely loved knitting this and I am so tempted to make another for myself.

The Wedding of the Year!

My best friend got married on Saturday!  It was absolutely lovely and such a privilege to be part of such a special day :-).  My friend Mel and I were bridesmaids together with Bev's sister and niece - between us we cried buckets!

The photographer was a certain 8 year old who lives in my house ;-)

Birthday Crafting

It's officially the birthday season.  There are so many Autumn birthdays - I blame those Winter conceptions!  I've managed to get a couple of birthday gifts made over the last few weeks especially for those who appreciate a handmade pressie!

First up is this moss stitch dishcloth with contrasting red striping:

This was so quick to make and a good use of stash yarn - the cream organic cotton I used is just so lovely and soft.  I love the contrasting stripes and I hope the moss stitch will make it practical and absorbent!

I also made this candle holder:

 

I followed Lucy of Attic 24 fame's jar cover tutorial and used some leftover yarn for some more thrifty, stash busting crafting :-).  My crocheting tension is a bit looser so after making a massive first attempt I used a shorter starting chain and the jar cover was a much tighter and better fit.

I have also finished a baby quilt which is waiting to be photographed.  It is a very dull morning here, and although I am loving the start of Autumn, my favourite season, it is not particularly conducive to photography!

Bucket Knitting

 

I have started knitting a blanket - a baby blanket as a matter of fact.  It is my first baby project for my baby surprise - good going indeed as I don't think I ever finished anything for the other two before they were born.

The pattern is called Hansel and is a traditional Shetland Hap shawl designed by Gudrun Johnson (The Shetland Trader).   Traditionally a hap was a shawl or cover up for every day wear and warmth thus differing from the more intricate Shetland lace shawls often used for Christening shawls.

The pattern consists of a central garter stitch square.  This is knitted on the diagonal, increasing a stitch per row to a point (144 stitches in this case), before decreasing again, thus forming the square.  I've now progressed on the knitted border which is providing me with a lot of pleasure and fun!  The shawl is essentially square but the border is knitted on in the round!  This took me a while to get my head around, but it is a most efficient way of adding a border as there will be no seams for me to join at the end :-).  I am constantly amused though at how this piece of knitting produced by my needles is becoming more and more voluminous - I feel as if I'm knitting a parachute or bucket!

My central square is grey as is the first part of the border.  I've just started adding the colour sequence into it and have decided on a relatively gender neutral colour scheme.  Initially I had decided to hold out until my 20-week scan before choosing colours thinking reds and purples for a girl or greens and blues for a boy.  However, the knitting of the shawl has become a relative addiction and I couldn't take a break from it - patience isn't a virtue I have in great abundance.  I've settled on a scheme of teal, blue, green and dark purple so hopefully it will work whether the baby is pink or blue.

Industrious

I have been industrious - I have finished a quilt.  AND I have another pieced, layered and basted ready for quilting - yay me!

This simple charm quilt is a gift for my friend Wendy's little girl Phoebe.  She was born May/June time - the first little girl after 3 older brothers.  Although I knew Wendy was having a girl I was a bit nervous about going down the pink and pretty path as a little girl was going to be a big change after 3 boys!  I chose some beautiful, bold and colourful prints from a range by Momo - 'Just wing it'.

This is a side on view of the whole quilt - it was too blustery on my washing line the right side up:

Such a happy quilt :-)

The back is pieced with complimentary blue stripy fabric and a strip of butterfly print - I know it's a Moda print but I've had it in my stash for some time so can't remember which line it's from now.  The binding is red and spotty!

It's all washed, dried, crinkly and sweet-smelling and  wrapped up in a brown paper package (which I will probably tie with string ;-)) ready for it's journey to Oz!

Magic Balls

I had a day out yesterday - purely in adult company.  I was very privileged to attend a fabulous knitting workshop with two of my friends at the National Wool Museum - incidentally a great day out should you be in or around Carmarthen or Cardigan.

The course was run by Brandon Mably, of Kaffe Fasset Design Studio fame and was on a colourwork technique known as 'magic ball'.  As participants we had been asked to come with our knitting needles and a selection of yarn - 6 light colours and 6 dark colours - which we pooled in the middle of the class.

This proved a challenge for me before we had even cast on a stitch as it really made me think of how I perceived colour.  We were told to cut arm's lengths of 6 light colours, tying the lengths together and then rolling them into a ball - the exercise was then repeated with the dark colours.  This made me realise that Brandon Mably's perception of colour is a bit different to mine - very often he classed very bright, even fluorescent colours as 'light' ones where I would have just thought of creams, beiges and pastel colours.  He encouraged me when I was working on my swatch to include some pretty, in my opinion, crazy colours into my work.  Oddly enough it actually worked as I shall reveal later!

We all worked on the same pattern, casting on 34 stitches before following a charted design of 'Persian Poppies'.  The idea was to use our dark ball of yarn for the background and the light ball of wool for the flowers using the fairisle technique.  Primarily the workshop was to challenge our creativity and knowledge of colour rather then teaching techniques, although Brandon did show us a rather nifty way of weaving in loose ends at the back of the work and carrying our floats between colour changes.

We were encouraged to keep knitting and under no circumstances rip out our work.  I am convinced this was aimed at myself - Brandon did find me undoing a few stitches (read couple of rows) at one point but this was purely because I had dropped my pattern on the floor and got a bit lost.  I never once started again because I didn't like my work.

My swatch started out rather 'tasteful' in the words of the man himself and I was encouraged to be a bit more vibrant.  He suggested some lurid green and yellow and despite my reservations I boldly went into a voyage of colour exploration!  Here is my completed swatch:

Don't look to closely at my technique :-) but what you can see is how I improved during the course of the day.  Brandon encouraged us all to look at our work from a distance as it gave us a much better perspective of what it looked like and at the end of the workshop he put all our swatches on a board for us to view:

As you can see the work looks quite different from a distance and every swatch was beautiful and sort of 'went together'. Mine is the in the first row on the left, third swatch down.  I was a bit concerned that my top two poppies looked like breasts rather than flowers but the man himself referred to my swatch as a gem.  And praise from a word renowned designer I am more than happy to take!  It was a great day and I am determined to try this technique and pattern again in a project.

Long time, no post

Well hello blogland!  It has been a long time - almost a month in fact!  I seem to lose track of all time during the Summer months.  We're well into the school holidays here so children and family have keeping me busy not to mention a couple of challenging situations.  My sewing room has largely been out of action due to a little stream of Summer visitors who have come our way, and I've pretty much decided to put my Farmer's Wife Quilt on hold until September.  I have, however, been busy knitting away but progress is always much slower than with machine sewing so there is not much photographic evidence of my hard work yet!  This last week I did set up my sewing machine on the dining room table to press on with a couple of baby quilts I need to finish.  There is a sneak peak of one above and the second one is well in progress :-).  Hopefully I'll be posting some finished projects by the end of this coming week.  Baby projects are going to keep me busy for a while yet - my sister-in-law is having a third baby, my twin niece and nephew are coming up to 6 months and I have a group of particularly fertile friends!  I can also divulge that some of these baby projects will be for my own surprise little bundle - I'm nearly 17 weeks pregnant.  In the words of one of my friends: "a happy accident"!!!

Bagels

I went to University in London which is where I became properly acquainted with bagels. Not the supermarket variety which I grown up with, but the proper hot-from-the-bakery Brick Lane variety. Since those youthful days I've also experienced bagels in NYC which took bagel eating to a new level. Despite my bagel love, I had never attempted making them myself - until this afternoon. Using the recipe from the River Cottage 'Bread' book, I can report success and they were nowhere nearly as labour intensive as I had imagined. The proof will be in the eating of course - I can't claim they will be as good as the Jewish bakery ones but I'm looking forward to enjoying one with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs :-).

- Posted using BlogPress from
my iPhone

Neglect!

This blog has been sorely neglected of late.  Life is extremely busy for us as a family at the moment and I cannot even begin to remember when I last sewed at all!  Roll on school holidays and annual leave - the former is still over three weeks away and the latter more!

Even if I haven't managed any sewing (and it's not as if I don't have any sewing to do) I have managed baking and knitting.

A mountain of scones - plain and fruit.  Am thinking of making some cherry ones for the weekend....mmmm!

I've also managed to complete a pair of knitted socks!

 

 These were made as a Father's Day gift for my Dad and were well received.  The yarn is by Regia.  I must say that, in my opinion, socks are the ultimate knitting project - they are portable and quick.  The pattern is easy to remember and the self-striping yarn maintains my interest because I never know what's coming next!  I pretty much always have a pair of socks on the go as well as many other things!

Speaking of other things I'm hoping the postman might bring me some wool-containing packages later.  It is very important to start planning Summer Holiday Knitting before the hiatus starts :-).

Snowflake

Yes, this does seem an unseasonal title for a blog post what with it being mid June.  Snowflake is a lovely, lovely jumper I've made my youngest niece.  I've been knitting a lot of late - I find knitting a more portable and sociable crafting activity.

I loved every minute of knitting this jumper.  You can see why it is called 'Snowflake' what with the lacy yoke and the Christmas colour theme!

The pattern is a Ravelry download by Tin Can Knits - they have the most wonderful collection of patterns.  One of the great things about their collection of patterns is the vast size range - this one ranged from 0-6 months to adult sizes.  I think I'll be making one for my 8 year old for the Winter season! 

I used Rowan's newish yarn, softknit cotton, for 'Snowflake', it is (as the name implies) lovely and soft and contrary to a lot of other cotton yarns, is not like knitting with string!!  The whole garment is knitted in the round, even the sleeves, so there is no need for seaming at the end :-).

While knitting has been productive, sewing has been progressing slowly in comparison.  However, I do have an entire baby quilt cut out ready to piece and a FWQ block ready for sewing so I do hope I'll find some time this week to get them done.

Happy Monday!

Sourdough Lunch

Behind

I've fallen behind with my Farmer's Wife Quilt. I don't know when I last made a block before today. Last week was half-term holiday so little sewing was done. Also we've had nearly a week of glorious weather making it very difficult to sit inside at my sewing table! This afternoon I had a little hour to spare after a lovely lunch out and the busy boy slept. And here is the result:


It's known as Country Path and was a joy to make! I probably need to give attention to a couple of points (maybe...) but I love the red, white and blue scheme.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sourdough Love

As you may already know I love baking my own bread. I've increased my repertoire from the basic loaf to include focaccia, ciabatta, baguettes, tortillas and flatbreads and lots of other bready goodness! I can
recommend Paul Hollywood's 'How to Bake' and the 'Bread' River Cottage book for great recipes and invaluable tips.
I've entered a sourdough phase in my life most recently. It never ceases to amaze me that natural yeasts in the atmosphere can not only make the bread rise but also give it such a wonderful flavour. Yesterday we enjoyed this fabulous white chocolate and raspberry sourdough for breakfast:








I mixed the sourdough starter with the salt and bread flour at about 5pm on Saturday evening, kneaded it and left it to rise in my warm kitchen. Just before bed I kneaded in the white chocolate chips and raspberries and placed it in a proving basket. I left it wrapped in a plastic bag until morning when I turned the dough out onto a baking sheet and baked it. There is something truly wonderful about freshly baked bread in the morning - especially with home made damson jam.

(Recipe by Paul Hollywood, available on BBC website)

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Century of Progress

Well, it didn't take me a century, but it was a challenge and it did give me quite a headache.  'Century of Progress' is completed and I am very pleased given how many times I unpicked the thing! If you look very closely (maybe don't!) the points don't exactly meet in the middle, but given the number of triangles and templates involved I am overlooking this issue ;-).  I did iron it VERY badly and I even scorched one of the pieces, but it remains as it is - there is no way this one will be redone.

Ribbons

Hello!  Just dropping in to share this one block so far this week.  It is called 'Ribbons' and I am ecstatic to say that this is my 60th block! 

I think this means there are 23 left to make and I'm about two thirds of the way through.  Happily,after a quick flick through the book, I've realised that the remaining blocks I have to chose from are not all horrendously difficult!

There's a bit of white fabric love going on in my last few blocks so I'm hoping to move away from that and introduce more colour.  The block I'm currently working on is called 'Century of Progress'.  Aptly named - seems as if it's taking me a century to progress at all.  It's a template job - there is no getting away from it.

Slow

Craft life has been so slow these last couple of weeks.  I blame The Party - build up and recovery - as detailed in my last post.  Today has also yielded little time in that respect because of a husband on call and a house in chaos!

I can't remember if the FWQ blocks I am sharing belong to this week, last week or the week before but share them I will.  Hopefully I can find some time for catching up post -weekend!

 (Flock of Birds)

 (Cats and Mice - possibly my New Favourite!)

And finally, I redid the 'Bouquet' block:

Sooooo much happier with this version :-D

Party Time

Crafting hours were far and few between last week.  This is because it was the week leading up to The Party.  My seven year old became an eight year old and left me wondering where the time had gone, not to mention the fact I don't feel old enough to have an eight year old!  In a moment, in which I must have completely lost all my senses, I consented to a four hour party in my own home for eight little girls plus birthday girl on a Saturday afternoon.  By this morning I am nearly recovered.

We had definite activities plus adult help to marshal the troops which I think made the experience a lot less stressful than it could have been.  After an initial welcoming period and present opening time the girls spent an hour decorating cupcakes:

Followed by film watching and popcorn:

And hot dogs, chips and birthday cake to finish!

Whirlpool III

I have started re-doing some of the blocks in my reject pile - to be honest it is not a very large pile.  I really struggled with the 'Whirlpool' block.  The first attempt was before Christmas and it didn't even make it onto a post - it went straight in the bin.  A few weeks ago I had a second attempt which was a lot better - however, during the time I fell out with the FWQ a few weeks ago, 'Whirlpool II' also joined it's first cousin in the bin!

A few weeks and a lot of spray starch later, I present 'Whirlpool III':

Soooo pleased ;-)

And here are two more blocks for the week:

 (Temperance Tree)

(Steps to the Alter)

Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend whatever you are doing!

For Mel :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Inventory

I love lists so I thought it would be good to write a list of all the Farmer's Wife blocks I've made - a sort of inventory.  To date I have made 54 blocks!  By the end of today I may even have 56 ;-).  Writing the list made me realise two things - firstly, just how far I've come in the project, and secondly, all the blocks in the book are arranged alphabetically.  Goodness knows why I didn't notice the latter before!  It was also helpful to see exactly which blocks I had or hadn't made - some of them are so similar I had been getting confused as to which were actually completed.  I am well over half way in the project now which makes me very happy.

I arranged all the blocks in order in a nice little pile.  It it dawn on me that two or three blocks might need a re-do.  I know a couple of blocks are a bit off in their measurements while at least one has questionable fabric choices so I should probably work on re-doing these at some point soon.

Here are last week's blocks - they were made early in the week but only found time to photograph them today:

 (Homeward Bound)

(Windblown Square)

It is a very sunny day here so every single crease and stray thread has shown up in both photos, not to mention the fact that these blocks haven't exactly been ironed flat!  Never mind!

Baby Knitting

My friends are quite a fertile bunch it seems - I always have some sort of baby gift on the go.  March/April has been no exception and I have made a couple of  baby knitted items.  Sometimes a handmade gift can be a bit hit or miss , but thankfully my friends are also an appreciative bunch too ;-)

This is the raglan sweater I made for baby Levi (and I love the name) the offspring of my very dear friend Hailey.  The pattern is from one of Debbie Bliss' baby books and is knitted with aran wool on 5mm needles - a very quick knit indeed.  The beauty of it is that the back and front instructions are exactly the same so quick to memorise.  I know not everyone likes a raglan shaping but I do very much - I also find raglans much easier to seam together.  The yarn I chose for this project was Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran in this lovely Indigo colour.

My second baby knitting project is this lovely 'Little Scallop' hat made for baby Eliza - truly the teeniest baby I have ever met at 5lb 3oz birth weight!  She has some growing to do before the hat will fit I think!  The pattern was found on Ravelry and the crochet flower and button detail is my own addition.  This is just the start of a baby knitting spree - I have projects on the needles for my twin niece and nephew too!

On a roll

I am on a roll this week with my FWQ!  I have made this week's two blocks and it is only Wednesday.  Time will tell if I am as organised and productive next time!  This week I've departed from using the template method for making my blocks.  I am completely convinced that every time I use those templates I shave off a little with each cut thus making them less and less accurate.  The two blocks I've made this time has involved some basic maths, a bit of drafting (I so love graph paper), a ruler and a rotary cutter - it has been a bit like coming home for me as I soooo prefer this method :-).

So without further ado I present my blocks!

Chequerboard

Hovering Hawks

I love arranging the blocks on point (which is how they should be in the finished product) as they look so different!  Also I love this aqua Bambi print that has made it into the last few blocks I've made.  It has always been part of the bundle I am using for the FWQ but it had been forgotten at the bottom of the box - what a travesty.  I will be making up for it from now on.

Falling out

I have fallen out with the Farmer's Wife Quilt this week.  She has been most demanding and I have been quite down in the mouth about it.  A few things have contributed to this, the first being lack of sewing time.  Second is the development of a 'reject pile' when I discovered two of my blocks are half an inch too small and third is the fact that there are a lot of very proficient quilters out in the blogosphere who have beautiful, accurate blocks!  I have been feeling a teeny bit discouraged and frustrated.

If the truth be told, I am a perfectionist at heart and i get annoyed when things don't turn out as I had hoped.  One of the blocks in my 'reject pile' is 'Whirlpool' which was already my second attempt at the block!  It isn't the most difficult of blocks but I cannot get the seam allowance or the points right!  In a fit of frustration I threw it in the bin and ended up joining the Farmer's Wife Quilt Yahoo group.  This is not something i would not ordinarily do as these sorts of things scare me a little.  However, it has proved to be a wealth of tips and encouragement and I have found the will to get back to it this week.  The two blocks took me absolutely ages but I decided they would NOT defeat me.

I am thus pleased to share:

Block number 100 - Weathervane:

I LOVE it and it was such hard work!

And here is block 25 - Cups and Saucers:

Bear in mind that this is the unfinished block so the step in the pink spotty fabric will be (hopefully) eliminated when I add the borders and sew it into the completed quilt.  I cannot begin to contemplate when in time this will be!

For now I have gained a second quilting wind :-)