Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Inspired!



Hello again,

I was on Ravelry Yesterday and spotted this Gorgeous think I, I must own one immediately! So here it is and just in case you feel the same here are the pattern notes.

Go on you know you want one, cast on immediately!


You will need 8mm needles

Approx 200g of very chunky yarn I used Debbie Bliss Como as I had it in stash.

Cast on 60 st.

Knit in Garter stitch till you run out of yarn. Mine measured 24" and I knit 145 rows.

Cast off.

Stitch the beginning to the End. Voila you have a cowl.

Now you just need cold enough weather to wear it.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Hello again,
The summer holidays hold all kinds of happiness but, of one my favourite selfish pleasures is the Rowan Exchange. When I first started taking part it was as a member of Rowan International an exclusive club that Rowan has for getting your magazine. I still belong to Rowan international but the exchange is now open to all who join the Rowan Tree a friendly little forum on Ravelry.
I love every aspect of the Exchange from choosing which yarn and gift my victim will love, to finding little extras to pop in the parcel and then of course waiting for the post man who always turns up pretty close to my birthday! This year Skeiner Organised it we had to write an essay about ourselves, our likes and dislikes and she suggested we look at our victims favourites and queued items for inspiration.
I have to say I did struggle a bit. Other years the information that I received from my victim was more straight forward- yes no answers. By the end of reading the essay I knew she liked purple and black and from her queue I knew that she liked fingerless gloves.
A pair of Veyla gloves would be perfect for Starside and I knew I wanted make a shawl or a hat to go with them.
Now although she has made a lot of lacy shawls none of them seemed to be for her and to be honest as I had met her once she didn't really strike me as a lacy kinda girl! So in the end I settled with Damson also by Ysolda Teague. I chose Drops Alpaca to make both things in. A lovely rich purple which I knew would be right up starside's street. Anyway they are finished and sent and Starside assures me that she likes them. I love the Veyla and would definitely make them again but, Damson I have my reservations about
I don't think I will make it again it was very easy to do perhaps too easy and I think the end result is more than a little bland. Luckily the yarn is fantastic so even screwed up inside a coat used as a scarf it should be ok. Oriana liked it:)

As for my gift received... I think Gillspain found the choosing of a gift really easy! It is just perfect for me. I saw this in the Summer Interweave magazine and immediately queued it on Ravelry. The trouble is with bags I rarely make anything like that for myself especially if I have to try and work out an English equivalent yarn.
Gilspain used allseasons cotton in green. She also sent two skeins of llama yarn and an odd skein of green all seasons cotton (which I have already used) There is an unfounded rumour going around that I am obsessed with green. I am however, totally obsessed with this bag!! I literally jumped up and down when I opened the parcel. Hence the very wobbly photos. I thought I might be going to have to fight Pinkie for it but, it isn't crochet so after an initial sniff she left it alone.



Thursday, August 12, 2010

Pussy Cat


Hello again, not that I am obsessed with cats but....Continuing on the cat themeJ Last year when I went to see my grandparents I noticed that not only did they use a tea pot several times a day but, they also used a tea cosy. The one that they owned looked like it had seen better days though it was a hand knit created probably by my Auntie Sandi as she is a prolific crafty person! Anyway when I got back on Ravelry I found this great tea cozy. Obviously gonna keep the tea warm and they do love cats. Anyway I kept convincing myself that I had loads of time before I went again to Canada so it kept going to the back of the queue. About two days before I was due to go I cast onL luckily it was a very quick knit and I had finished it in time to shove into my hand luggage. By the time I got to my grandparents the original tea cozy had been replaced with another of my Aunts creations which was probably just as well as it was a little bit of a struggle to get my pussy cat over the tea pot without burning your fingers – next time I need to make him bigger!! He did however raise a chuckle from my granddad especially and has made friends with Tinker. Which if you new Tinker you would realise was no mean feat!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

It has been done a while


I have to confess Inigo's quilt has been done for quite some time. In fact I am not quite sure when it was finished certainly before the summer holidays.
I pretty much fall in love with all of my quilts as I finish them but, this one I just love, love, Love! I am not sure if it is the combinations of batiks and plaids which work so much better that I could ever have hoped for or that although it was made for my lovable boy it is sophisticated enough for him to still enjoy it when he is a grown man. I think the biggest love has to be Inigo's enthusiasm for it. Every time the fabric was laid out, cut, sewn or rearranged Inigo was there admiring it and asking questions. He was adamant from the very start that he wanted cats on his quilt. Four cats in representation of the four that live in this house!
This was my biggest worry of the quilt four cats that didn't automatically make the quilt for a small child (I really want him to still love this when he is big).
I figured silhouettes would be the best option but not in black. I spent ages looking for the perfect fabric
it eventually turned up in the LittleBlueTortoise's stash (it is great having friends with the same hobbies) at one point I thought that I had mucked up one of the cats and broke the news that it might just have three.
"Don't worry" replies Inigo "there will always be a fourth asleep in the middle of the bed".

I originally wanted to quilt it even more heavily but, I weighed up the time it would take to add the extra quilting against the immediate happiness that Ingio would have if he could have the quilt that night and his smile won out.

Friday, August 06, 2010

39!

I opened my eyes this morning and just like that another year has passed. They say the years go past quickly the older you get but really the time whizzes by so fast that my head spins. How did my baby girl, in a matter of weeks, become taller than me? I realise that it has been over a month since I last blogged, yet loads has been going on. This time last week I was just leaving my grandparents in Canada. This time last week I was finishing Anais and Starting Arielle and an Afghan inspired by the one on my grandparent's sofa. In fact so much knitting and sewing has gone on in the last month that it is far too much to tell you about in this post! I shall try for a post a day until the back log is complete, but today I shall look at my cards and eat my cake.

Other posts you might like

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...