January

Hibernating as much as possible: evenings by the fire to warm us and lift our hearts

Listening to Cat Power's 'Sun' over and over (and over)

Holding poorly children   all    day    long

Thinking about rainbows and spectrums

Eating 'Grand Mange' sarnies with salami and spinach

Feeling the endlessly grey January sky weigh too heavily

Reading and enjoying 'Surface Detail' by Iain M. Banks

I've been AWOL for a while, sorry! All the girls have been poorly; Tula being the worst and still no cessation of snot in sight. It's been a real struggle these past few weeks: this is my worst time of year when I find it hard to be a human being let alone a mum to three little ones or a wife or housekeeper. I don't like writing negative posts, but this is just how it is.

Jess is in France with Granny and Grandad, having a fine old time I'm sure. I miss her dreadfully, especially as when she returns she'll be straight back to school.

Trying to stop myself from plunging into any new projects until I've finished something first... I'm itching to start another quilt but can't stand the thought of having yet another pile of fabric hanging around for ever. I just don't have enough hands. So, I'm determined to finish the knitted blanket hopefully in time for Granny's birthday this year. So only a year late.

Not much left to do, but then I still have to sew it all together and knit the border too:

I bought this lovely patchwork skirt in a charity shop before Christmas and then caught it on a cupboard handle, so I'm hoping to add this new piece of silk (second pic) to cover the rip, though I have to say I'm struggling already with it, silk is near impossible to keep still!

And sticking to just dreaming about future quilt projects for now...

Here's to spring on it's way!

Knitting progress, unPinning and um, backing-up

Well, I'm having (another) break from the damn blanket.... and have taken up a new personal challenge: knitting in the round! Ages ago I picked up a collection of needles and amongst them were a set of double-pointed needles which I had never used before and now finally I've discovered how to use them. I'm following a pattern found on Pinterest for some fingerless mittens, having been coveting a pair from Toast for some time which are beyond my means to purchase. They aren't quite as I would like, as the ones I had in mind had a pretty cable pattern, but I figure if I practice on these, I should eventually be able to work out a pattern of my own.

Five needles is bloody tricky!! That's all I can say. I've had to undo/redo several times and I haven't even got to the wrist yet! 

I figure, unlike the blanket which will be big enough to hide most of the smaller mistakes, these will show up every little detail, so I'm trying to be extra careful. Hard to do when you have to grab some time inbetween kiddoes to get it done! I'm using a 70/20 acrylic/wool blend which I found at the carboot a couple of weeks ago. Ideally I'd love to be knitting with some yummy merino, but hey, beggars and all that.

I adore Pinterest; I've always been a scrapbooker, collecting images from magazines and making collages or just keeping them as idea sparkers, so it's right up my street! However, the biggest danger with it is that you can easily end up Pinning endlessly without ever using any of the beautiful things that you find. It's mesmerising that way. So, I have decided to un-Pin some of the things I've found, by printing them out and working my way through the ones that seem usable.

Here's one of my kiddie/crafty pages... Feel free to come and have a look at my boards to see if anything inspires you! Let me know if you would like an invite to join, but I warn you now, you may blame me later for all that lost time spent Pinning!

In other news, the baby's getting bigger day by day! She's already 6 months, unbelievably. And weaning is going VERY slowly. She really isn't all that keen, though typically if you're munching on something, she's desperate to grab it from you!

Last but not least, a quick message to all you fellow-bloggers out there - do you know how to back up your blog? Not only was I completely unaware that you could do this, I had no idea you even should! The lovely Carina at Carina's Craftblog will show you how here - go ahead and do it now, it's easy peasy!

Take care my lovelies, have a good week x

Skitchbook finish!

Wa-hey! I have actually finished something! I can't quite believe it....

 Instead of the beautifully be-ribboned original I used these lovely fabric-covered buttons sliced from a charity shop top bought for 10p!! The same fabric patch is on the front cover. The white material is from an amazingly soft bedsheet I had in my stash which I think came from a Freecycle bundle: it's a super-fine quality cotton that had obviously seen many years use as it had been patched in the centre where it had worn out completely. It adds something quite special to the book as it is easily as soft as the fleece it covers. I'm glad it's been given a new lease of life in a context where it will still be in contact with skin and its' special snuggliness appreciated for many more years. There is something so magical about long-lasting hard-wearing fabric that manages to flourish with repeated use, unlike so many cheap modern alternatives.

Now on to the next project! I realised today (just in time, I hope!) that we're already nearly in October so I've got to get a wriggle on to get the C-word preparations underway... My plan is to get the damn knitted blanket finished for MIL then start some wristwarmers for the Aunties. Got to do something with the million-and-ten patterns I've Pinned!

Mil's birthday is also in December so I've been researching environmentally-friendly party bag gifts. I'll make some little bags and get the girls to decorate them: that way the kids can take something home that's a little bit special and can be re-used. Jess has been to two parties since school started and both times come home with a little plastic bag of throwaway junk which I don't agree with, so if I do something simple and different it might open someone's eyes. Fewer people choose to use plastic bags in shops these days so why doesn't it filter through to every aspect of consumerism?


(sorry about the poorly-lit phone pics: this is the light I often work in so I sometimes get some odd results with thread colours!) Edit: the photos were so bad I took them off and replaced them!! Left this one though :-)

Knitted Sampler Blanket

Well, the knitting is progressing, despite some hiccups along the way...

Oops - spot the accidental knit-not-purl row!

I had hoped to get finished - haha - by the end of June for MIL's birthday, but I'm just a few squares short! Like about 80... Also the finished size will be smaller than the pattern suggests because I er, forgot to do some on the first column... at least it wasn't the third!!

All thirteen squares so far!

So it will now probably be nine squares by eight (or maybe not!)

Pebbles

As you might have guessed by the unusual number of pics I've posted, I'm rather pleased with my efforts! Here are some of the trickier, but very satisfying cable squares:

Molluscs

Cables and twists

There are a few errors in the square I'm working on, but I've just been ignoring them. Maybe there's some way of sewing it up at the end to disguise these? I found the instructions for this pattern particularly incomprehensible at first (tw2l, anyone??) and almost chose an alternative instead, but I'm so pleased with myself for just getting on with it, because it actually turned out fine, despite the mistakes, even though it seemed so weird at first.

Sea wall and Cobbles

The sampler pattern is one I'm following from Debbie Abrahams book "Blankets and Throws to Knit" and the instructions are really easy to follow except for the increase rows of both cable squares I've tried so far, which don't appear to have the right number of stitches, so I've had to make it up to the right number by just adding in random stitches!

It's a shame I don't have a knitting granny to consult; perhaps I should join a knitting group, though I find the idea slightly frightening... not sure why, maybe I just don't see myself as a Knitter, in the same way I would never call myself an Artist or Photographer: they're all different facets of my personality at different times.

:-)

Knitted blanket progress report

10 squares completed: 89 to go!

Bobbles!

Bobbles!

This is my latest fixation; the first of 99 knitted squares to make an afghan as copied from Debbie Abraham's splendid 'Blankets and Throws to Knit'. Each square has a beach theme, this one is 'Pebbles', and it took me ages to get it right, but I ended up with this.

After many false starts I figured out why I was kept adding 5 extra stitches after each bobble row... such a feeling of achievement to work through a problem like that and not just give up. However, now I've finished it, I'm starting to think maybe I really do need to take the advice she gives in the book to use the right needle size for the yarn... I think the whole blanket will turn into a misshapen tent otherwise.

As you can see in the pic, my stitches are quite loose and floppy whereas in the book the knitting is firm and will hold it's shape better. Also it should be knitted in a Rowan DK cotton, but there's no hope of me justifying buying 55 balls so, as is the way with all my projects, the components have gathered themselves in a random fashion: the yarn I'm using is an acrylic/wool blend received a week or so ago from a kind local Freecycler who had originally bought it but not got round to making a second blanket for her daughter (which is what inspired me to start this project) and the knitting needles I acquired a while back in a bundle of stuff either from a charity shop or car boot. Although I have managed to gather quite a collection of knitting needles, the majority of them are nasty placky-clacky ones and these are lovely old wooden needles that are just the right length to be able to knit without disembowelling the baby on my lap. I don't know why I expected them to be right for each other but I couldn't wait to get going! So I guess I'll have to have a look on Ebay for some smaller needles.

The Jacob's Ladder is slowly coming along, but I'm taking a little break from it until I find some decent batting. The last square I pieced was starting to become a little shoddy with corners not matching up, so I figure I need a break from that and take a new approach to it, so I'd like to start the actual quilting. As I'm doing it a la 'Quilt-as-you-go' style, ie a lap-quilt, which is realistically the only way I'm going to manage to finish this project, I can quilt each block as it's finished.

Ideally I'd like to use a lovely bamboo batting which I've used before, but sadly the shop that stocks it has since closed down and the only stockist in Liskeard sells a cotton/polyester mix which it seems a bit illogical to use as everything else is (as far as I can judge) is cotton.

For some reason I'd convinced myself that I'd got the block wrong so I rather pleased to see that the pattern actually does work! I've also found a junk shop in town is selling cheap rolls of brushed cotton in a check pattern that would work well as a backing for the quilt so I'm buying as much as I can afford. I figure I could always make pj's for the girls with what's left.

This is a pile of fabric I've put together that I'd love to start another quilt with. (Like I have time). Originally I wanted a fabtacular multicolour creation, but I think these colours are great together.

The girls have been busy too, so I've finally got round to displaying all of their artwork, which is added to every day (and adjusted by Milly who likes to pick the sequins off the lower pictures!). It's so fantastic to have had a couple of days of sunshine at last so they've been able to run around outside a lot more, which means everyone's happier. Jude's done lots of work in the allotment, which is looking more cared-for at last plus I've finally got some veg into the ground at last! Broad beans, peas and courgettes so far, but hopefully some more veg and also flowers. Last year's Poached Eggs have self-seeded beautifully but little else, though I'm thrilled with a rather stunning Aquilegia which has flowered this year. Pics to follow!

Tula is doing well and putting on weight. It still freaks me out that she sleeps SOOO much, but I guess I should count my blessings: it certainly makes dealing with the other two much easier. It just seems a bit of a shame that she tires so easily and particularly feeding exhausts her as she chokes all the time, which is quite scary. The combination of my milk flow being quite fast and I suspect her small throat/airway makes it much harder for her, especially when she's really hungry. She's healthy though, and already showing a cheeky monkey streak, so that's all that matters!

Enjoy the sunshine! :-)