Bad Luck Rafael

I'm not sure how widely broadcast Wimbledon is, but I for one have been totally hooked and my life has gone a little to pot over the last couple of weeks. This past weekend were the finals for the men and women..how they got there I'm not sure, because it seemed to me as soon as those covers were off, whoever controls the weather seemed to think, quick, get the fuckers, and it would pour. Covers on, covers off, covers on, a whole two weeks of it. Anyway, I was glad that Venus won the women's on Saturday, I like that girl, but I was a little gutted when Federer won. I DO like him, but let's face it, Rafael Nadal is just completely gorgeous. Better luck next year my darling. (just getting into practice in case he comes to visit me) Good match though. I only fell asleep in my new hammock for about 20 minutes of the second set.

Now then. I had some books I ordered from Phildar delivered last week. I have narrowed my next project down a little to these.
WARNING: multiple pictures from now on.







Noot sure which one to go for. I have a blanket for my sister who is expecting in August that I need to get done. It's from a Debbie Bliss book, I'm just waiting for 15 balls of white cotton cashmere to get delivered. I'm going to do it on Addi turbos as well, which I haven't used before. Looking forward to trying them.

I am on my second pair of socks..oh yeah.. I saw you raise your eyebrows. Don't call me addicted, I'm just filling in time waiting for the blanket yarn. I love them though. I'm using the Koigu KPPPM I loved so much. The socks are from the Favorite Socks book from Interweave and the pattern is Embossed leaves. I thought I'd skip intermediate and go from beginner to advanced. Why not? Never been known to take the simple route anywhere.

And a close up as they are SO beautiful

AND I have knitted my daughter a bag. We love it. Such a simple pattern, a slightly modified Jean Moss pattern. I seem to be incapable of knitting anything without modifying it a bit. It's knitted in merino brights by The Wool Boutique. The self striping colours worked really well on this size.


And then I lined it with some Kaffe Fasset I had in a stash.


See, you thought all I had been doing was laying around eating yum yums and watching the tennis.Oh no, I am a multi tasker, and I can watch the tv, eat cake AND knit! See?

Bobble Bag Progress

Hmmm, you'd think the hard part would be the knitting and felting, but no, this is the painstaking bit for me. I'm not the most patient sewer upper (made up word I think), but sewing on these bloomin bobbles is driving me crazeeeeeeee. I lined the bag with heavy buckram to give it some structure..

Then I sewed the bobbles on..on the sides where there's no buckram it's a piece of cake, but through the buckram it's so hard. I have bent a few needles, bought some leather ones and bent them as well, and look at the back of it...

I have made the lining, inserted a pocket (look away now if you are a seamstress) and I love the contrast of the bottom of the bag fabric and the shiny sides fabric.

Here's a picture of the side of the bag, most of the bobbles are now sewn on but some are still pinned on. I have one more side of bobbles to sew on and then I can put the lining in, fasteners, handles and so on. But I'm not sure if I've put too many bobbles on now, even though I've put on less that the pattern says. Some of my bobbles are huge, though, as I stuffed them too much before felting.

Oh well, you live and learn, and maybe it's that I've been staring at it all day I don't feel too in love wit it any more. I'll shut the door on it for tonight and see what I think in the morning. Hoping to finish the other front of the swing jacket tonight and then just the collar to do and the pocket linings and then I can sew that up.

WARNING:MULTIPLE UFOs

Before you embark on reading this post, I must warn you that it is full of pictures of things that aren't finished. I have a timescale, but it has been and gone...and am feeling a little like I am swimming against the tide. I shall keep going, but I am sure that there is something else waiting around the corner for me to start any day now and I am beginning to panic....
It all began when, at 10pm last night, I decided to have a clear out of the shelf(s) where the cookery books were precariously balanced. By midnight, I had cleaned the whole room and, were it not for the fact that my family had gone to bed, I would have carried on and done the entire house through the night. You know the feeling when you get the cleaning bug, you have to make the most of it because if you stop, it might not reappear again for a long time...
Anyway, I did go to bed, and woke up early with THE VERY SAME BUG. Now, nearly all of the rooms in my house are done and I went to start on the work room, when I spied the pile.....Hmmm, I thought, if I take pictures, that will stave off the need to tidy. It was then I knew..... THE BUG had gone.
I give you the list of "stuff in progress".... goodbye cleaning bug, please come back soon, but not too soon.....

This is the Phildar swing jacket. The back is finished and the right front is about a third done.

I love the pocket...

This is the Flo cardigan. You knit the whole thing in one and the hole is the sleeve opening. I've gone off this a bit, but I think it might be nice to wear on chilly summer evenings, so I'll persevere (at some point).

This quilt needs to get finished over the weekend as it's for my spare room and I have visitors next week. That's the plan for it anyway!

This is the noni bobbles bag. I love this, but you see those bobbles on the left, well, they start off like the squares on the right, and believe me, they are complete pain to do, and SOOOOO tedious. You have to make 12 squares in three sizes in a load of different colours. It's cascade 220 yarn, ok to work with, but believe me, it's a whole LOT of bobbles. I must get on with it though. I am putting it off as well because I am scared that when I felt it in the machine, the brown of the bag will run into the pinkness of the bobbles and ruin all my hard work. Any advice on this gratefully received...

This is a big quilt that, I have to admit, has been a wip for a couple of years. Enough said.

This one is a version of the green Debbie Bliss bag I knitted and felted, but I am experimenting with longer straps and a slightly bigger bag. It's not an exact science as felting in a machine is a bit hit and miss, but we'll see...

And finally, a photo of my work room. As you can see, it was really the only room in the whole house that didn't get tidied up. I'll just have to convince myself and my family that you need mess to be creative, you need mess to.........