Shopping Trip

I went with a friend of mine to a new yarn shop on Saturday. It was about an hour's drive away, so not exactly local, but there are not really any yarn shops in Cambridgeshire, so we went to Buckinghamshire on a jaunt! It was a great drive, though, through some beautiful villages. The ladies in the shop were very patient with us as we just wanted to examine every yarn and have a look at every pattern! They stocked some lovely buttons, and I managed to get some for my Phildar swing jacket...if the pattern ever arrives..it is supposed to come back into stock tomorrow. Here are the buttons.....

I ended up with a great Sublime pattern and some angora merino yarn and have started it already. The clasp that looks like a hair clip is to hold the jacket shut.


I shall post my progress so far on it tomorrow and in the meantime hope that the pattern for the Phildar KAL arrives!

Spring has sprung!

I think I am safe to say that spring is here. In February, I know I am being a little optimistic, but I hate the coldness of the winter. I feel that I have to have something to cling onto to tell me that it won't last forever and soon the warmer (thanks to global warming-sorry soon to be extinct animals) weather will be here, and the colours that are appearing in the garden are IT, the hope, for me. I hate the feeling of being trapped-in the house, in lots of clothes, in darkness. I want to be in the summer, and, given the choice, I would live in a warm country.

There is one draw back to being well on the way to summer.....OMG, what will I look like in a bikini THIS year??????? The panic is on to get what has been hidden for months, into some sort of order that will not make people puke on sight. I'm used to looking at it, after 41years and 8 months. It doesn't mean I like it, or I need to inflict it on others. The Lent thing is going well, I did eat a bag of flying saucers yesterday...I maybe should have added sweets to my list of forbiddens as they will now take the place of the stuff I've given up. No, I shall be strong (in a weak way..)

Finished DB bag

OK, as promised some time ago, the picures of the finished article....

I used a Kaffe Fasset print for the lining and I think I love it more than the bag itself...

I beaded down one side of the front. I did felt some pink flowers to go on the front, but they didn't look right, but I don't know that the beads look any righter. Whaddya think?

The blue stripey one that I am making at the moment is a variation on a theme of the pattern and I think I will make the handles a little thicker with this one as they do feel a little delicate on the green one, I mean, you couldn't put a bottle of coke, a purse, lipgloss, a phone and a book in it without feeling like the handles might break, or at least be a little stressed out! And they are all the things I NEED to have in my bag at any given time.
Oh, Happy start of Lent. I have given up chocolate, crisps, cakes and biscuits. I normally give up chocolate, not for any religious reason, just to prove to myself that I can do it. The thing is, I don't necessarily like the other three things I have given up, but it's amazing what you can manage to stuff down your neck when chocolate isn't an option to achieve that LOVELY feeling. (yes, I know you know THE feeling!) Anyway, it might have some impact on my weight loss. (I can dream)

Painting

It was my sister's 40th birthday at the weekend. She has been looking for a picture to put on her kitchen wall which she had painted bright pink. I painted this for her and it looks good on the pink background. It is 3 canvasses, with a 8cm gap in between so that you can see strips of pink wall. I painted the pink on the picture with the same emulsion that she had used, and used pink sequins. I think it works, and she liked it. I'll take a photo of the painting on the wall at some point and post it.

Knitted Cards!

I thought you knitters out there would appreciate this knitted card...an idea I had in the middle of the night (as all the best ones are!) Yes, I DID knit it on the cocktail sticks, and YES, it was a bit fiddly, but I love it! I wrote Isabel's name underneath it and Hey Presto..an original!

Knitted bolero and beanie hat

Well, I gave up on the bootees that I was knitting..it was a pattern from an Erika Knight book, and the instructions were SO confusing. I tried every which way and made 5 different versions, but they all came out not looking much like bootees, so I admitted defeat and decided to abandon them altogether. I went for a straight forward looking Sirdar pattern and managed to knit these two little things in a weekend. I love them. I added the little flower on the hat from another pattern I had for felted flowers and I think it works well, sort of a 1940s feel.



You'll be pleased to know baby Isabel arrived in the early hours of Saturday mornig, and I am visiting her this afternoon armed with these gifts! Oh, apparently she has the tiniest feet, so it's kind of a blessing that the bootees didn't work out!!!

cakes!

I thought I would post this picture of cakes that I made for my daughter's birthday as I think it's a lovely sight! It is really snowy here today and I am hoping to get some knitting done later, although it looks at the moment as if I shall be driving around collecting children from shut schools!

I am going to light a fire later though and there's something lovely about sitting by it when it's snowing outside that's really special. My very elderly cat appreciates it as well. He lays by it when it's not alight in the hope that it will be soon, either that, or he imagines it is alight...he is rather old!

I have now beaded and lined the Debbie Bliss bag and I think I love the lining more than the bag! I shall photograph it later and try to post the pictures in the next couple of days.

Debbie Bliss felted bag

03 February 2007

Debbie Bliss felted bag

This is my first ever go at a blog and, having read so many knitting blogs over the past few weeks, I know I have a hard job to live up to all you knitters out there! I thought I would show you my most recent project and one I am really proud of.

This is the before photo.....


It looked massive and I was panicking that it wouldn't work, yes, I know I should have a little more faith....
I put it in the machine with a pair of trainers in a pillowcase and set the temperature to 90 degrees and then sat and hoped for the best...A lot of terrible noises and it did smell a bit as well, and.......

OMG it is like MAGIC!!!!!! I was so excited and so was my 15 year old daughter. We couldn't believe our eyes! I am well and truly hooked and now I am knitting a stripey one in blues and she is knitting one in red. She wants a bag that is shallower and with a long shoulder strap and so we are going to attempt to modify the pattern. I will keep you posted. I have some other work in progress, the lining of this green bag being one. I am also in the midst of a Noni "bobbles everywhere" bag, some little pink bootees for a friend of mine who is a week overdue and also I am trying to crochet. (Not much success on that one).....