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.

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!

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.

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.

Blossom

Well yet again I have been a bad blogger. Spending lots of time making things and not enough time telling you about them JI have really enjoyed making Blossom indeed I am really enjoying wearing Blossom as I type. In the 1980's and early 90's Kim Hargreaves was my designer of choice her designs are very wearable and fun to knit. In her latest book Misty there are several designs in the just gotta have so I should be casting on another from stash in the next couple of weeks. Anyway back to Blossom. The yarn Rowan Milk Cotton Fine doesn't behave very well.
It is splitty and in some places it actually hadn't taken the colour it also likes to tangle in the ball very annoying but, having said all of that I think that I will probably use it again. The colours are divine!!!!
The fabric is soft and floppy and has lovely stitch definition just the thing for summer knitwear. I ended up making a size smaller than I intended as by the time I had reached the length for the peplum in the smallest size I figured it looked big enough so took a gamble and cast off. As it happens the gamble paid off but I spent a couple of sleepless nights wondering if I would be able to do it up!
The photos of Blossom were taken by Oriana but, as she skipped back into the house this little one came to visit seh was right by my feet when I took this photo and I spent another 5 minutes watching her getting food ready for her babies,so sweet!

InSweMoDo2010 #10

Pattern Blossom

Designer Kim Hargreaves

Needles 2.25mm 2.75mm

Yarn Rowan Milk Cotton Fine Water Bomb 4.5 balls

Que Sera, Sera...

yep, they are both finished and have both been worn and have both now been photographed. Though not well! The sun which lets face it has been mainly absent this spring decided to turn up on the two separate days that we were wearing our new cardis ( well you didn't actually think we would wear them together did you?). I have to say I am really happy with how they turned out.
I love the short sleeved version and really think it is cute left unbuttoned. Why I didn't think of that for myself I don't know.
Mine looks better buttoned which is just as well as it is the proud owner of some fantastic daisy buttons. Now as soon as I saw this cardigan I thought ah ha I have the perfect buttons for that. Beautiful glass daisies that were once painted and could be restored!!! A rummage through Mamie's buttons and I could find only 3 buttons - I thought I had more:( So I decided to do an ebay search on glass daisy buttons QUE SERA two more exactly the same as the three I already owned.

A couple of coats of enamel paint and they look exactly as I had hoped. Perfect for a pretty spring cardigan.


Pattern Que Sera
Needles 4.5mm
Yarn Rowan Handknit cotton
Time taken :- far too much!

Mothers Ruin Has a Giveaway

Well I don't know about you but I love fabric and and Mothers Ruin is having a giveaway. A mention on your blog is all you need to take part so here is mine. I always love a new blog and a crafty male makes a nice change/ gives a different slant on the female craft perspective. So if you are looking for a giveaway or an entertaining new blog then give him a look.

Another little Owl

Well I told you that there was going to be another Owl in my future. This one I nick named Lucy as she has stars in her eyes. The little blue tortoise laid huge hints on me about the owl quilt she really liked the idea and as I really wanted to make another it seemed like it would be the perfect solution to her birthday present. She has just had her hall way decorated a lovely shade of blue.

A rummage through my scrap bag and I had found all of the blues , just enough. I think will have to start sewing with a vengence inorder to get collecting scraps again. Although this one really doesn't fit anywhere it my house I love the colours. It hung on my wall on the day of completion just so I could admire it. The little piece of Alice Butler on the wings really makes it. Will I make another owl sometime? Maybe...

Can’t quite believe I am showing you this.

I thought I would give you a knitting update. If you are ready to make oooing and ahhhing noises at a lovely finished garment I am sorry you will probably have to wait another couple of weeks. No, something else has caught my eye, Blossom from the new Kim Hargreaves book Misty.
I think it is probably smart enough for work yet pretty enough to wear out. I have to say I love pretty much everything in this book which let us face it doesn't happen very often.

MY friend Sarah and I went to the lovely BaaRamYew in Leeds two weeks ago. If you are wanting a proper old fashioned reasonably priced wool shop with masses of choice combined with Ravelry at their finger tips this is the shop for you! Anyway I digress the yarn I went looking for was Rowan Milk Cotton Fine 70% cotton 30% Milk proteins (what will they think of next) I could have come back with every colour on the shelf but I settled on what is probably my most favourite-ist colour of all time this duck egg blue. It was a hard choice especially as the pattern is called Blossom now I am home I really could have a yen for that pink... :)

A Ravelry friend also fancied Blossom so I am indulging in a KAL . She is a very organised knitter and believes – like the rest of you in swatches! I have only ever made one swatch probably about two years ago and I still haven't finished the socks that I made it for. In other words I really don't swatch but after the recent knitting lunacy and the fact that I will be really annoyed if hers fits like a glove and mine looks like a sack I thought I better make one. So here it is my second ever swatch.
The milk cotton is a little splitty which might be annoying and I think I blocked it a little harder than I need to but it looks like it should be ok so rather than being good and finishing off all of these wips that are strewn around the place I am going to cast on again tonight:

This Knitting is Ridiculous!

I thought of various titles for this blog post déjà vu, seeing double that sort of thing but when I started to take photos I realised how crazy I am beginning to look!

The beginning of the Easter holidays I cast on the Alice top but wasn't very happy with the tension from pretty much the get go the Bamboo stretches like crazy and on the lacy pattern I can fit my fingers through the holes probably not a good look for any type of top. Any sensible person would have ripped it out straight away not me it seems. I finished until it separated for under the arms before I decided I wanted to try it on a smaller needle – which I didn't have.
Feeling incredibly frustrated that my lovely Easter project wasn't going quite as I had envisaged I sent off for a new Addi needle. Whilst I was waiting for my needle to arrive instead of knitting one of the numerous wip's that live in my front room, I cast on Que Sera from this edition of knitty.

I got the tension for the Rowan Handknit cotton on the recommended 5mm but it looked like a string vest so I decided that I would do it on a 4.5mm. Excellent plan except in order for this to work I would have had to go up a dress size which I didn't do so now I have half a cardiganwhich though it will do up makes me look like a blue sausage!
Would be a shame to rip it out especially as I have done so much work thinks I. So I have left it and yes you guessed it cast on again hoping against hope that I have enough yarn to make two pairs of sleeves. Then my Addi's arrived so I have again cast on Alice I definitely like the tension on this version better though I must remember to go up a dress sizeJ

 

64 Paddy Paws!

Way back in July 1996 when Elenya was a tiny baby. I was walking through Brugge when I stumbbled upon my first patchwork shop, Pineapple.

It was a funny shop in one of the back streets by the gates of the old town. After I had struggled through two doors with a pram and the shop assistant had watched me I realised that they really didn't sell much! A few fat quarters in baskets dotted around the vast white interior and a pile of old Quilters newsletter. Now I would probaly walk straight back out but, I wandered around collected a few fat quarters which were a wonderful 1930's chintz and then I spied the April 1996 Quilters newsletter.
The beautiful quilt on the front "Chaco's Paw" captured my heart and the story of how the designer had named it after her kitten who had helped make it captured my imagination. Though as I had never made anything remotely patchwork before I definately didn't have the skills to make one of my own.
The fat quarters were made up into a feedsack quilt ( my first quilt) when Elenya was three and the magazine was stored for safe keeping.
Then last year when I asked Inigo what sort of quilt he wanted he was definate that he wanted a cat one. Now as an eight year old boy I can see the attraction but, I hope that as a grown man he might still like the quilt that his mama makes for him and I felt that a seriously cat one might not make the grade.
Then I remembered "chaco's Paw" I was happy and so was Inigo though he still wants it to have at least one cat. It was a bit optimistic to think I would have the whole thing complete by last week however I have broken the back of it now with a little quilting help from Molly!

My Giveaway Quilt

I keep seeing Owls every where in the craft world.Little fabric sculptures. logos, fabric and knitting patterns though unlike the 1970's no macrame yet!
I think it is rapidly becoming synonimous with anything crafty which is why I decided on a wise old owl for my little quilt. It has been ages since I designed something completely from scratch but I felt as I was giving it away it had to be all my own work. An hour later and the whole thing was mapped out on brown paper( brown paper that somebody in this house has tidied up). I also wanted the fabrics to be cheerful, spring, Eastery type colours which took some serious scrabbling through the scrap bag.
I am pretty pleased how he turned out. I almost whipped up something else as he looked gorgeous on my wall! I think I might make him again as soon as I find the brown paper!

A hive of industry.

It is amazing how much you can get done when you don't have to work. I promised myself this holiday that we would have stay at home time and no visitors as every break we have I fill it with too many activities and too many guests. I love house guests you don't even have to procrastinate about things because you really can't do them when you are entertaining can you? Anyway this holiday is different. We spent a lovely planned weekend with our good friend J and all of her wonderful furry friends she has a huge kitchen and her and the kids got down to some serious baking. Then we have come back I have started clearing some of the wip's that are scattered around my house.
Yesterday with help from Molly,I finished Jo's give away quilt and parceled it up ( I have decided that I will show it once she has it) and I finished my quilt started last summer and then shelved when time became a premium commodity. 100 nine patches and countless other squares
we snuggled under it last night and I felt proud of my day's accomplishments. Today I have been working on a quilt that I started for Inigo, just as I finished Oriana's. I am hoping to have a quilt top complete by the end of the week. Or at least some interesting patches. A few more patches tomorrow but, for the rest of the day we are going to find out how to tame our dragon! What have you got planned for the rest of your holidays?

An Easter Greeting to Every Child Who Loves "Alice."

An Easter Greeting to Every Child Who Loves "Alice."
DEAR CHILD,

Please to fancy, if you can, that you are reading a real letter, from a real friend whom you have seen, and whose voice you can seem to yourself to hear wishing you, as I do now with all my heart, a happy Easter.
Lewis Carroll Easter 1876

Maybe Lewis Carroll was the worlds first blogger it certainly sounds like it.
For the last couple of years I have treated myself to a Christmas Day project. Something really special that I anticipate for a couple for weeks before casting on. This year I decided why not give myself the same pleasure for Easter ( a lot less calories than and egg!).
I had queued the pattern Alice by Katya Wilsher a couple of months ago and I thought it would be perfect.

Cheerful, summery and perfect for warm spring weather. From reading the information on her pattern I know she was influenced by Alice's apron.I think you can really seen a modern day Alice wearing this . But, when I think of Alice I think of her in Disney blue. Sirdar Snuggley Baby Bamboo DK was on my list of yarns to try this year and they had what I consider to be the perfect colour. Sailboat 156. It is what Mamie would have called cornflower blue slightly purple reminiscent of Spring and Easter and perfect for a project called Alice.

Drum roll please

Wow thank you all for entering it was so sweet of you to take the time to enter. I have really enjoyed all of your comments but without further ado And the winner is ....







.

Congratulations Jo! If you could let me know where I am sending your little quilt ( because that is what it is) It should be ready for posting by the end of the week:)