Tuesday 26 July 2016

And It's Over in the Blink of an Eye

The three weeks of the Tour de France just flew by.  I've spent the time, whilst watching the cycling, concentrating on my stash busting and I'm pleased to say that it's been an enjoyable three weeks.

In my previous blog post, I showed you the first six projects I had completed.  I'm pleased to say that I managed to complete another six projects by the end of the Tour.  That's one better that last year.

I blitzed the Schmancy Shawl that I had started knitting.  It blocked up beautifully.  For this project I was using up some frogged Rowan 4 ply.  You can see full details of this project on Ravelry, here.




The edging blocked out beautifully and I love the drape of the shawl.


The next project completed was a crocheted basket.  I had two balls of rather rough cotton which I used doubled and it created the perfect fabric for the basket.



Next, some mittens.  I used some beige 4 ply for the cuff lining and the main body of each mitten was knitted using some unidentified yarn that I had picked up in the charity shop very cheaply.  These should be lovely and snug when it gets colder.



Some leftover angora yarn made a colourful and fluffy yarn bag.


And some leftover lace weight wool & silk yarn became a mini shawl and a doily.



In total I used 603g.  This was less than last year but in my defence, I was using much finer yarns than last year, so I reckon the yardage used this year was higher than last year.

So all in all, I'd say that Chris Froome and I have had a very successful 2016 Tour de France.


With all this successful stash busting, I'm joining in with Linda's Stash Buster Party once again.  I must admit, it has been a great incentive to me over the last few months and I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel (or even the craft room).  Next month it will be six months since I had my stash weigh in and I'm planning on getting the scales out again to see how I am progressing.  At the moment I reckon I have busted over 6kg of stash, which is one third of my starting total.  I have a few works in progress that I'm hoping to get off the needles in the next few weeks and reduce the total even further.

In other news, we had a lovely weekend down in London visiting Eve.  We went down on Friday and came home yesterday.  The weather was hot and sticky but we manged to get out and about with Eve every day.  We had a great trip to Greenwich on Saturday - so much to see and great views across the river to Canary Wharf.


It was lovely to see Eve again and to be able to explore more of London.  There's still so much more we'd like to visit, so plenty more trips down to London  are definitely on the cards.

Well the Tour de France may be over, but we have the Olympics to look forward to very shortly.  I haven't decided if I'm going to do a themed knitting and crocheting challenge for this, but whatever I decide, I'll be glued to the television for the duration!

Have a good week.  See you soon.

9 comments:

  1. What a lot of great knits. I love the pink shawl, and second favourites are the lined mittens. They look so cosy.

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    1. Thank you Ginny, they're not much use at the moment in the hot weather, but I'm ready for the Autumn now.

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    2. Wow! I bet your bottom suffered right along with the cyclists! LOL You are amazing! I really love your mittens! I have a large stash to bust so you have inspired me to get busy.
      Blessings

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  2. Wow well done Janet that's a very impressive stash bust, I love the shawl it's so pretty with the lacy edging and the mittens will certainly keep you warm and cosy in the cooler months in fact everything is just perfect. I can't wait to see what you will produce during the olympics, thank you for sharing with the stash party. :) xx

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    1. Thanks Linda, I'm still enjoying the stash busting, especially as I can see the amounts going down.

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  3. You are so talented Janet! I love seeing all your projects. I am a crocheter and a very frustrated knitter. I'm really slow at it and so far can only do the knit stitch, ha ha! But I have made two scarves at least. It takes me forever though and I am in awe of all the great knitters out there.

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    1. Thank you for your kind words. Even with just a knit stitch there are lovely things to make. Keep trying, you'll get there someday.

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  4. Everyone loved your lovely projects Janet, congratulations you have been featured. :) xx

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