On My Needles....and the winners of the Curious Handmade Giveaway.

Hello my friends, today we will start with the winners of the Curious Handmade pattern giveaway........ Drum Roll.........

Reinventing Mother said...

Slip stitches are so much fun! I would love to add this pattern to my growing list! Thanks for the gmiveaway!

Caffeine Girl said...

I love Helen's designs. Afternoon Tea is one of my favorite shawls and I've knit a couple. Last week I bought Global Nomad. I would love to add Red Robin to my list!

And that baby blanket is charming.

Sarah said...

I'd love to enter the giveaway! I love the Twinkle Twinkle pattern (in fact, I think I've said so in a comment here for several weeks in a row, haha!!) but she also has some gorgeous shawl patterns! She's a new favorite on my ravelry!

Congratulations to the three winners, if you could email, please with your Ravelry name and the Helen Stewart pattern you would like, my email address is on the sidebar

My first project I've been working on this week is my Pebble Beach II by Helen Stewart, this little shawl will have lots of sentimental value as I explained in yesterday's post. I cast it on with a wonderful group of people at Unwind Brighton, there's a Pebble Beach KAL going on at the moment which is running until the 10th August. It's on for 4 weeks and each week is set out with a goal, I've reached this weeks goal of 25%, I love it when you have targets to meet, though saying that you can work at your own pace.

These are three of my purchases from Unwind Brighton, a Ysolda Teague pattern, the designer was on the stand and was so lovely and very helpful. I bought some Kettle Yarn Wimbledon Sport in Blue Pictsies. It's a 100% superwash merino in a sport weight and is very soft and squishy, perfect for babies.

I actually got to purchase some Signature needles, I've heard so many good things about them. They are as every bit as good as people say, they are comfortable to hold, lightweight and a dream to knit with. My husband asked me why they were so different from other needles, he laughed when I said they were the "Bugatti of Knitting Needles". I ended up going back to the show the following day to purchase another pair, after knitting my Pebble Beach on them!!!

I cast on last night and have finished the sleeve and front yoke, the sleeves and yoke are knit in one piece then you pick up stitches for the front and back. I've never knit a construction like this before, it's a simple knit with no seaming.

The last thing on my needles is some bunting, I got together with Mel and Sarah as part of Camp Aloha Friends , we thought this would be perfect summer knitting project. It is a free pattern called Knitted Bunting by Faye Perriam. I using some leftover Rowan Handknit Cotton.

I've started reading Secrets of the Lighthouse by Santa Montefiore as one of my favourite authors, it hasn't disappointed. I will carry on with the Zookeepers Wife but it was to big to carry around with me when I was away, also it's a library book and was worried about losing it.

I'm linking to Ginny's Yarn Along and Nicole's KCCO, I'm not sure whether I'll be back on Friday with any FO's so have a good weekend.

Happy Crafting

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Unwind Brighton 2014.....a weekend of fun, new friendships and lots of yarn.

Hello my friends, last night I got back from a long weekend break in Brighton. It was the weekend of the very first Unwind Brighton, so the weekend was arranged around it, though I wasn't sure whether I'd make it as I was ill, in bed for three days earlier in the week. I still wasn't 100% but I had an amazing time anyway, I met some wonderful people who I know through Ravelry and Instagram.

We stopped in a hotel called Five, a beautiful Georgian house situated on a Regency seafront square, directly opposite was the beautiful public gardens, perfect for some quiet time in the sunshine. As you can see at the bottom of the road is the beach, right by Brighton Pier. The hotel is very near the Laines, the Pavilion and on the doorstep were lots of bars, cafés and restaurants, saying that it was very quiet and we heard no party goers on the night.

The hotel didn't serve a traditional English breakfast but bought a picnic basket to you room consisting of toast and jam, croissants, muffins, cereals, cheese, fresh fruit and freshly squeezed orange juice. We're not fans of big cooked breakfasts, so this suited us down to the ground.

When we arrived on the Friday morning, it was raining heavily, we did have a little wonder around the Laines and through an Instagram friend's recommendation we had lunch at a little tapas bar called Casa Don Carlos, which was wonderful and very authentic.

After lunch, I could pick up my wristband and programme all ready for Saturday morning, we then checked into the hotel and relaxed for a while, it had stopped raining by early evening and we had a stroll down to the seafront. The first thing we saw was an open air cinema on the beach showing The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, it was free to get in so we took a seat and had a Margareita slushy, what a great way to spend a Friday evening!!!

We then took a walk along the pier where we ate chips and I had my fortune told by Zoltar!!!! By this time I was ready for bed, as I wanted a good night sleep before Unwind.

Saturday morning the sun was shining and Mick walked me to Brighton Dome where the event was been held, what a beautiful place for a fibre festival. The first person I ran into outside the doors was my lovely blog friend PJ from The Snail Garden.

We walked into the hall and was hit by a rainbow of colours, I dont think either of us knew where to look first, there were so many wonderful vendours, all very friendly and ready for a chat. I wandered around oohing and arrring, touching the luxurious blends of yarn, deciding what to spend my money on. It's my birthday on Friday so I'd been given my birthday money early to spend at the event, by lunchtime I'd spent it all and was very happy with all my purchases.

After lunch, I went to the Podcaster Meetup, where I met up with some wonderful people including Sarah from Crafts from the Cwtch, Kristina from Eaden Yarns, Tanya from A Yarn Loving Mama, Feltaria and Gem, Mrs Blaza who bought her adorable baby boy. All these lovely ladies, I've met through Intagram a great social media site for yarn lovers. I had a little chat with Green Triangle Girl from The Playful Day Podcast and also Helen Stewart from The Curious Handmade Podcast who I regularly do test knits for, it was a pleasure to finally meet her and she is as lovely as she sounds on her podcast :-)

I got to catch up with the lovely Zena also known as Little Yellow Uke, who I've got to know through Mel, Zena doesn't live far from me so hopefully we will meet up again soon. The photo above is of the two of us in the gardens, that we sent to Mel, hopefully next year they'll be a photo of the three of us!!!!

Zena gave me this gift, some beautiful stitch markers that she'd made with an handmade tag inspired by my class over at Camp Aloha Friends, aren't they pretty?

I got to spend some more time with Helen, Zena and PJ where we had a group cast on for Helen's new pattern Pebble Beach Shawlette which was the winner of the Unwind design competition. There was also some other ladies from Ravelry including Suddgummi and Ruthrabbit, we all sat in the Pavilion Gardens under the shade of a huge tree. I think this was the highlight of my day, sat chatting and knitting with such nice people, I could have sat there all day!!!!

Helen also gave me a gift, a gorgeous project bag and some fabulous Curious Handmade postcards, I feel really blessed to have met so many wonderful people over the weekend. Helen is having a Pebble Beach KAL over on the Curious Handmade Ravelry Group, why not join in, they are always great fun, with lots of chatter and the chance to win a prize.

This is my treasure trove of stash I bought, spread over my hotel bed. I would like to thank Dani and her team for putting together such a wonderful event, this was the first year for Unwind Brighton and hope it won't be the last!!!!

After the show I met back up with Mick and went to a few of the bars around Brighton, there's so many to chose from, lots had little hidden courtyard gardens. We finished up having dinner at English's of Brighton, a seafood and oyster bar. This is another restaurant I would highly recommend, we sat outdoors watching people walk by, listening to music played by the street musicians, eating the most delicious seafood and drinking wine. A perfect end to a wonderful day!

Sunday we spent the day at the beach, walking along the promenade, looking in the many art and gift shops along the front, stopping at the bars and cafés for drinks and snacks, we even watched a bit of the Punch and Judy show, that bought back memories of when my children were young. I also got to knit on my Pebble Beach, sat on the beach that is was named after.

 

The weekend ended far too quickly and on Monday morning we checked out of our hotel and drove further along the coast. We stopped off at Worthing and Bognor Regis, aren't the colours of the sea stunning, I could have sat there watching it all day. We finished the day off by eating chips on the beach before the long drive home. This has been one of my most memorable weekends away, I fell in love with Brighton and have left a little piece of my heart there. I'm so grateful to my husband for treating me to this weekend as a birthday treat and I hope to return soon.

Have a great week and I'll be back tomorrow to announce the winner of the giveaway.

xxxxDebxxxx

Jodie's Baby Shower........

Hello, how is everyone? I'm back today to share some photos from last Saturday of Jodie's Baby Shower. I love Baby Showers, they are so much fun, like a children's party but for grown ups, you have the party games, the prizes and I always send the guests away with a little something.

The room was all decorated with balloons, bunting, honeycomb decorations and banners.

Here's the table all laid out, we even had a little Sweetie Shop with paper bags. Shaun's Mon made some amazing baby shower themed cup cakes, one even had 'Jodie's Baby Shower' stamped onto it.

We played Feed The Baby, Celebrity Baby Names, Guess How Many Skittles in the Baby Bottle, Piñata, Guess the Baby Food and my favourite game of all Guess the Mess, where I put a mushed up Snickers Bar, mustard, chocolate spread. I think you get the idea, I love their faces when they open the nappy to guess!!!! You can find free downloads on the web for different games, here is one that I used, here.

They were very fortunate and received some wonderland gifts and now have most things needed for baby...........

I sent the guests home with a little gift too, a strawberry scented candle. Everyone had a great time and we had lots of laughs, most importantly Jodie had a lovely time.

Have a great weekend.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Yarn Along....Georgie Baby Blanket and Giveaway.

Hello my friends, I'm back today to share with you, the test knit that I was working on last week, all I showed you was the yarn I was using!!!

TaDa!!!! It's the Georgie Baby Blanket by Helen Stewart, a beautiful modern deign. I love the simple graphic lines of this blanket. The main section is knit in one piece and then the border is picked up and knit in the round.

It's a very relaxing knit using slip sitiches to create the eye catching stripes so you are only ever using one colour at a time. The pattern is written for sport weight but works with any yarn weight, I used Drops Merino Exra Fine DK. The contrast colours only used about 24g each colour so great for using up those half used skeins.
If you are using a heavier yarn, check the yardage, you will probably need slightly more than the 5 that Helen used. I used 6 balls of the main colour as Drops don't tend to have as much yardage as other manufacturers. I used every little bit of it and was playing yarn chicken until the end, the problem was half way through every new ball of yarn had been joined with a knot so I had to keep cutting them out and joining back to my blanket. I would have had plenty if this hadn't happened, I know Drops is an economical brand but surely that shouldn't have happened with 6 out of 6 balls!!! Never mind, I was probably just unlucky, apart from the knots the yarn is beautiful to work with and very soft, perfect for babies.

Jodie has seen the blanket and loves it, it's all wrapped and tied with a ribbon, ready for the little man to arrive.
Now if like me and you love Helen's designs and would like to win one, she has kindly offered three single patterns for me to give away to my readers!!! Leave me a comment letting me know you want to enter and I will pick three winners who will be able to choose a pattern each, take a look here at all of Helen's beautiful designs. I would love to know you're favourite and if you've knit any of Helen's designs.

This is what I'm currently reading, The Zookeepers Wife by Diane Ackerman, it's part of the summer read over at Camp Aloha Friends, I'm linking this to Ginny's Yarn Along.

I'm now working on the Twinkle Twinkle Blanket, I'm hoping I can get some of my WIPs finished before I start something new, mmmmm I wonder if I can do it!!!! I'm linking this to Tami's WIP Wednesday and Nicole's KCCO.
Have a great week and don't forget to leave a comment if you want to enter the giveaway, I'll leave it open until next Tuesday and will announce the winner on Wednesday, good luck!
xxxxDebxxxx

What's On My Needles......

Hello my friends, how has your week been so far? Here's a selection of what is on my needles this week. I took this photo for an Instagram game, where I was tagged by the lovely Spincushions who asked "What was on my Needles". I'm working on two baby blankets, a pair of socks, Mr Bakery Bear and a 1950's vintage cardigan.

Another project I'm working on is a test knit, I can't give anything away yet but this is the yarn I'm using, it's Drops Extra Fine Merino. I started yesterday but already I'm loving it and very excited to share it with you once it's released.

I've knit some more on the Twinkle Twinkle blanket by Helen Stewart, this is the second blanket on my needles. My daughter keeps asking if they'll be finished before the little man is born, I keep assuring her they will.

I've also been working on the Calla socks by Rachel Coopey, I'm taking part in the Summer of Socks II and hoping to get three pairs finished by the end of August.

I've not taken a photo of my book this week as I'm still reading Paris by Edward Rutherford, it is a blockbuster with over 800 pages but I have nearly finished it.

I'm then going to start a book called The Zookeepers Wife by Diane Ackerman, this book has been chosen by Mel. We will be reading together as a group at Camp Aloha Friends, I'll be picking it up from the library this week, ready start once I've finished Paris.

 

I'm linking to Yarn Along and WIP Wednesday.

Happy Crafting

xxxxDebxxxx