Yarn Along......a quick update.

Hello, I'm back with a quick post as I don't have too much knitting to share, this week. I finished my On the Pier shawl, that I'll show you on Friday.

I bought this beautiful gradient yarn from Eaden Yarns, isn't it a beautiful colour? The delivery was super quick, I saw that she was having a shop update on Sunday so I stalked her shop and bought it on Sunday evening and I received it yesterday!!!

I'm test knitting the Pebble Beach Shawlette by Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade which was the winning design of the Unwind Brighton Design Competition. It's a beautiful crescent shape lace shawl, very elegant for those evening walks along the beach. It will be printed in the Unwind programme for attendees at the event and then will be released on Ravelry on Monday 14th July, there's going to be a Knit Along so keep your eyes out for that.

I've done a few more rows on my Garter Stitch Baby Blanket, I would say that I'm a third of the way through it, this is good car knitting, so tend to knit on it if we are traveling.

I'm on the third clue of the Pavillion Socks, which is the last clue. I've never taken part in a mystery KAL and with each clue, I tried to second guess what was coming next. It turned out totally different to what I had in my mind especially the last clue, the foot. I've really enjoyed knitting them and love the pattern.

I've started reading Paris by Edward Rutherfurd and throughly enjoying it, I don't usually read pre-1900's historical novels but as it's about Paris my favourite city, I couldn't resist. I've really got into the characters and all the history that goes with this sweeping saga which goes back as far as the 1300's. If you enjoy history and Paris, I highly recommend this book. I'm linking to Ginny's Yarn Along and Tami's WIP Wednesday.

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your week.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

A Summer Journal.....

 

Hello my friends, I'm so excited that Camp Aloha Friends, has kicked off. If you've not heard about it, check out the link, it's a summer camp from the comfort of your own home, full of lots of different crafts for you to try plus lots of other fun things to do all over the summer from June until September. The first activity that Camp Director Mel has given us, is to make a journal to document our journey through Camp Aloha Camp 2014 but this would be a great idea to journal your summer activities or travels.

Mel has given campers a PDF, to print out personalized Camp Aloha Friends pages but I'm low on ink and used plain photo copier paper, folded in half to make A5 size, use as little or as many as you want.

Once folded, open out and poke four holes down the centre fold, I measured one inch from the edge and then made a hole two inches from the first hole, do the same the other end.

I then binded the pages together with two pieces of twine, take a large tapestry needle and from the outside of the journal thread in and back out the other side so you can knot the ends together on the spine, repeat for second holes.

Now for the fun part, decorating the cover, I've gone for a vintage style cover and used some vintage music sheets. Cut two to the size of the front and back covers, I used a Gel Medium to glue the music sheet to the front, any glue will be fine, I just like multi medium as it doesn't wrinkle the paper as much as normal wet glue. In keeping with the vintage look, I inked around the edges in a light brown ink, you could use a wet tea bag and will get the same effect but you will have to let it dry and it will probably wrinkle a little bit, if you get it too wet.

I'm decorating the cover with a large tag, some vintage buttons, a floral image from a magazine, vintage lace and a paper doily. Again I inked all the edges and glued down the tag and button card. I attached the lace down one side of the floral image.

I then glued the floral print and doily onto the front and stamped a sentiment on to a piece of card, tying some yarn the left hand side.

I decorated the first page, covering with some pretty paper and I cut the clock face out from a magazine, adding alphabet stickers with the quote " It's time to get creative". I took some sandpaper and gently sanded over the page, to give it the shabby look that I like.

On the second page, I've stamped some leaves, post mark and ink splats, collage style ready to start filling it with all the wonderful crafty projects I'll be doing over the summer.

It's not too late to sign up and join in the fun, just hop on over to here, you can enroll anytime to the classes and if you wanted the "suitcase" option, there are a few left and will take around 10 days to arrive, if you are international. Also, don't forget to check out Mel's blog, Singlehanded Knits, to see what's going on and interviews with some of the teachers.

Thanks for stopping by.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Gramps Cardigan FO......

 

Hello, I hope you've all had a good week, I'm back to show you the Gramps Cardigan that I was knitting for my nephew's first birthday.

Last time I spoke about this, I didn't have too much left to do, I wanted to finish it, ASAP, as it was his birthday the 1st June, not that he noticed that Aunty Deb hadn't bought him a present!!!

I absolutely love the style of it, perfect for a little boy but I did decide not to knit the shawl collar as written in the pattern and just did a V-Neck style cardigan. On Ravelry, I rated this as a medium on the difficulty rating as someone who hasn't done a raglan sleeve before, it wasn't the easiest knit I'd done. The cable pattern was easy enough to do until I had the whole cardigan on my needles, I had two charts to follow but also when you were decreasing both sides of the sleeves, you had to work out yourself the cable stitch pattern, once I did a few rows and knew what I was doing, it did get easier. When I got to the collar and read the pattern, again it didn't look straight forward so I decided to go with a V-Neck cardigan, I'm sure if I'd have given it a go I would have understood it but I just wanted to finish it and give it to him this week and I do like how the V-Neck looks.

I used Drops Merino Extra Fine, a machine washable wool, which is a must for a child's garment. My sister asked for beige so it would go with most things. I ordered the Light Beige Mix, which looked a beautiful soft beige but when it arrived it looked grey to me. It was so different from the colour on the screen that I checked to see if they had sent the right one, it was definitely the one I ordered. My sister was still happy with the colour though, and when I gave it to her on Wednesday she absolutely loved it and he looked so sweet, I'll have to take a photo of him wearing it.

Have a great weekend.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

 

Yarn Along......Unwind KAL's.

How is everyone today? Well I'm definitely going to Unwind, the hotel and tickets are all booked, we decided to go for a long weekend. I haven't been to Brighton since my girls were very young and I'm looking forward to exploring Brighton as well as spending the Saturday at a yarn and fibre festival. I did ask my husband if he wanted a ticket, to look around with me but declined which is probably a good thing as he won't know how much I've spent!!!!!

Over on Ravelry, there are a few different Unwind KAL's going on at the moment on the Unwind group, I decided to take part in two of them. The first is the Pavlion Mystery Sock KAL by Rachel Coopey, I finished Clue 1 just in time to start Clue 2, which was released on Sunday.

I'm not going to show the full sock as I don't want to spoil it for anyone who's knitting them and hasn't finished the leg, all I will say is the pattern is gorgeous, with lots of cables, think of Brighton Pavilion, the clue is in the name! I've finished Clue 2 on the first sock, which takes you to turning the heel and I hope to finish the second sock, before Sunday when the last clue is released.

This is my first mystery KAL and wasn't sure whether I would like the not knowing but I've really enjoyed the process, I like keeping to schedules and love that I will get a pair of socks finished in three weeks. I will definitely do another one.

The other KAL I'm taking part in is the On the Pier, a beautiful feminine shawl by Justyna Lorkowska, I chose to do this one as it's a very simple lace shawl and knew it wouldn't take long to finish as the main part was all Garter Stitch and then a simple lace border, perfect for the evening when I'm watching TV.

I'm using yarn from my stash and the main colour is Drops Alpaca in the Light Grey Pearl Mix and the contrast colour is some leftover Juno Alice in the colour Second Site. I've only got a few more rows before I start the lace section.

Jodie came down, this weekend and I asked her to look through some of my knitting books to see which baby patterns she wants me to knit. One of my favourite books is called Lullaby Knits by Vibe Ulrik Sondergaard, it's full of beautiful but more unusual patterns. One of my favourites is the Small Cable Cardigan which buttons down the side and that is one she chose, yay!!!! I wasn't sure whether she would pick it as it's modeled by a baby girl but I think it's quite unisex.

The pattern uses two balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and again I had some in my stash so I could cast on straight away. It's partly knit in pieces then you knit all the pieces together on long cable needles with a raglan sleeve.

I'm still reading The Perfume Garden and as I get further into the book, I'm enjoying it more and more. The chapters alternate from 1936 set in Spain during the Spanish Civil War to Valencia 2002. The two eras are now coming together and the characters are intertwined, very enjoyable. I did go to the library, yesterday, and picked up this book, Paris by Edmond Rutherford. I love the city of Paris and I'm always drawn to anything Parisian, from the blurb on the back of the book it is an historical novel, I'd be interested in what you thought of it, if you've read it.

I'm taking part in Ginny's Yarn Along and Tami's WIP Wednesday, thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your week and I'll see you on Friday with a finished project.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Mixing It Up......some crochet coasters.

 

Hello my friends, how was your weekend? The weather in the Midlands was a mixed bag, one day it was glorious sunshine, next heavy rain and thunderstorms, then a mixture of both. It's been a while since I showed you some crochet projects, I thought I'd mix it up a little this week instead of just knitting,

On Friday, we had an unexpected day of sunshine so in the afternoon I took my latest Mollie Makes magazine, my knitting and a cold drink and sat in the garden.

After a while I was getting rather hot so I sat in my favourite spot, under a tree surrounded by the scent of lavender, stocks and mock orange. It was divine so relaxing with just the sound of the birds, the distant buzz of a lawn mower and a dog barking every now and then, the sounds of summer.

As I was sat there with my drink on a glass topped table beside me, the ice melting and making rings on the glass, I thought some Floral Coasters to use in the garden was what I needed. I had made my friend Kerry a set of crochet ones for her camper van so I looked up the pattern, sorted out some leftover cotton, a hook and got started.

I used a free pattern which is a vintage pattern taken from the Fancy Work Manual which was published in 1893, it has been reworked by Sandi Marshall and can be found here. I had some Drops Paris and Rowan Handknit cotton in my stash, I chose some bright, fun, summery colours. They are very quick to make, I finished a few on Friday then have just picked to up when I had a minute and have just finished my eighth one.

Before I go I just wanted to share these fun postcards, I got with this months issue of Mollie Makes. They are different pictures for each type of crafter, The Multi Crafter, The Hoarder and The Easily Distracted. What type of crafter are you? My girls said I'm the Easily Distracted!!!! I would actually say I'm all three!!!

Have a great week.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Month of Socks FO's

 

This post is all about the socks, I managed to finish three pairs during May. I'm so pleased that the Must Stash girls organised this great event. If you check back on the Must Stash Podcast Ravelry board, you can still find all of the tips, tutorials and videos for sock knitters, from beginners to intermediate.

I finished my No Purl Monkey's, right on the deadline and I love them, they are so much fun to wear. I love the sherbert colours, the yarn is Twisted Limone in Sherbert Dip. The original pattern by Cookie A which is a free pattern on Knitty, used purl stitches in between the V's but I used Crafty Pancakes version which just uses knit stitches, I also did an Afterthought heel so I didn't break up the stripes. I would highly recommend the Afterthought Heel pattern by Laura Linneman, it is very well written and was easy to follow, there is also a video tutorial to go with it.

I knit cuff down and used DPNs for the first time, thanks to the Month of Socks, and the girls encouraging us to try something new. I've got to say, the cuff down seem to fit my feet so much better, these socks are so comfy on. I will still knit toe up if I like the pattern but I prefer cuff down now and will be my sock of choice.

I also finished these stripy Vanilla socks that I started back in February, again using Twisted Limone self striping yarn. It took me so long as I only picked them up if I needed something I didn't have to concentrate on but I did find them quite boring, I definitely like something with a pattern.

Then finally the Jesse socks, which you saw here and they are the third pair completed in the month of May. I said I wanted to complete 12 pair of socks over 12 months, I've completed six pairs so I'm well on track.

Check out Tami's blog for more FO's, this week. Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Yarn Along.....A Mystery Knit Along with Unwind Brighton and Coop Knits.

 

Hello my friends, I hope you're enjoying your week, so far. I've only been knitting on a couple of things this week, so here's what I've been working on.

This is all I can show you of my first project, it is a Mystery Knit Along run by Coop Knits and Brighton Unwind so I don't want to show any spoiler photos and ruin it for other people who maybe taking part. The pattern is called Pavilion and I'm knitting them at the same time on two sets of DPNs.

This is my first mystery knit along and for those who aren't sure what it is, the designer releases part of the pattern each week, until the pattern is complete so we start knitting along only knowing basic information. The only thing I knew about this pattern was they were cuff down socks by Rachel Coopey with some cable and twisted stitches in the pattern. This MKAL has three clues over three weeks so I'll hopefully have them finished by the end of the third. If you want to join in the fun you can find the two Ravelry groups here and here

I'm so excited, it looks like I could be going to Unwind which is a knitting and fibre festival been held in Brighton. I've never been to a yarn and fibre event before and I was telling my husband about it and he said if I want to go, book some accommodation and we'll make a weekend of it. It's my birthday week so this will be my birthday treat!!!!

There is so much going on, not just in the main part where there are stalls and workshops are but all over Brighton such as knitting in the Pavillion Gardens, to see everything that's happening, look here. There are a few knit alongs over on the Ravelry board going on, with patterns from some of the designers who will be there.

I'm still reading The Perfume Garden which I started last week but I'd thought I'd share this new magazine I bought from Amazon. It's called Bustle and Sew and is full of beautiful sewing projects, very vintage and whimsical. I haven't had a good read of it yet but I'll let you know what I think of it.

I'm taking part in Ginny's Yarn Along and Tami's WIP Wednesday.

The other thing I've been working on is the Gramps Cardigan by Kate Oates, I'm knitting this for my nephew's first birthday which was on Sunday. I haven't finished in time as I had to wait for some DPNs to arrive, last week to start the sleeves. I was quite sure I had some 4.5mm but I couldn't find them so I ordered some new ones.

This has probably been the hardest pattern I've knit, I'm fine with lace, cables and charts but I really struggle with raglan. I attempted one before and ended up frogging it but I have persevered with this and I think I've got it now.

I think I must have been wearing my lucky pants this week as I've won two giveaways!!!! Tin Can Knits were hosting a Big Destash Giveaway and I won two skeins of this gorgeous Show Pony 4ply by Pony Yarns. It is a massive 874yds of yarn plus I won the Made in the UK ebook which I already had but they kindly offered to gift it to one of my Ravelry friends.

I also entered a giveaway on A Playful Day's blog, who has been having lots of giveaways and is continuing too as part of the Unwind event. I won Through the Loops Mystery Shawl Pattern by Kirsten Kapur, another mystery pattern which runs for five weeks. I'm hopefully going to cast this on, once I've finished the Gramps Cardigan.

Thank you for stopping by, have a great week.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Velvet Rose Shawl......

Good morning, I hope you've had a good week. I'm back to show you the test knit I did for Helen Stewart of the Curious Handmade Podcast.

The pattern is called Velvet Rose Shawl, and is a stunning semi circular lace shawl using sock/4ply yarn.

It looks a very intricate lace design but is deceptively easier than it seems and after a few rows of lace was easy to memorise and very intuitive.

The pattern calls for 150g of yarn but I actually only used just over 90g of Artesano Definition Sock Yarn, just under 400m but this all depends on the yarn you're using and tension.

The finished dimensions of my shawl were 48" across the top straight edge and 19" from the centre neck to bottom edge. I love the picot edge, along the bottom, it's so pretty and delicate.

It blocked out beautifully, I usually block my FO's on the spare bed but I bought myself some children's foam blocks. I never seem to get a straight edge using just pins but I found a great tutorial over on the Yarn Harlot's blog without the use of blocking wires. Instead of the blocking wires, she uses yarn, threaded through the top of the shawl and pulled straight and pinned. It worked a treat and I absolutely loved how it blocked, showing off the gorgeous lace.

Camp Aloha Friends is coming around really quickly and in less than a month the fun will begin!!!!! Mel from Single Handed Knits has been interviewing the Camp Counselors this week. So far you can check out interviews with Deborah Moebes and Melody, if you can find some time, please check it out, they are two very crafty, interesting people.

Here's a couple of photos from our camping trip, we managed to spend a couple of hours on the beach. I love this photo of myself, my daughter, niece and brother in law, the bookworms.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend.

xxxxDebxxxx