tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83459614669240889472024-03-17T08:07:08.192+00:00Yellow, Pink and SparklyJanethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.comBlogger960125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-71876247492911720342016-11-14T14:56:00.000+00:002016-11-14T14:56:01.862+00:00Busy Being RetiredTen weeks into my husband's retirement and we have settled into a lovely routine. We potter around the house and garden, go for long country walks and watch a lot of sport on television.<br />
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We've been enjoying plenty of walks along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The canal is 127 miles long and this year there have been celebrations to mark 200 years since its completion.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lydiate</td></tr>
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It really is a beautiful and peaceful place for a stroll.<br />
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And besides all this loveliness, I'm finding lots of time for knitting. <br />
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The past six weeks have flown by in terms of my knitting projects. I've been joining in with a stranded knitting KAL with one of the groups I belong to on Ravelry. I've put links to the relevant Ravelry project pages for each project. Since chatting to you last time, and sharing my Fair Isle cardigan, I've completed <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/echoes-from-karelia" target="_blank">my first ever pair of Fair Isle socks</a>.<br />
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I can't believe I have put off knitting colourwork socks for so long, because I enjoyed knitting these so much. I'm now busy browsing all the colour work sock patterns on Ravelry and I can't wait to start another pair.<br />
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I've also completed this cute <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/bumblebee-beanie" target="_blank">Bumblebee Hat</a>. <br />
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I was inspired by one of the other knitters from the Ravelry group to make this pattern. She had had issues with the size of the hat, so I reconfigured it to match my favourite hat recipe, keeping the charts from the original pattern. <br />
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It was such a joy to knit and I couldn't put it down once I started.<br />
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So a very productive six weeks in terms of stash-busting. For the four projects I finished for the KAL, I used 532g and 35 different colours in total, all in 4 ply weight. Very satisfying.<br />
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And if that isn't enough, I knitted up<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/the-age-of-brass-and-steam-kerchief-3" target="_blank"> a shawl with the Cuddlebums yarn </a>I bought at Yarndale in September this year.<br />
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I love the little pops of colour in the pink background. I used a favourite knitting pattern (it's free on Ravelry) called Age of Brass and Steam. It's simple but very effective.<br />
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Lastly, I've been at the sewing machine again. This time I made a simple skirt.<br />
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I used the skirt sections of my favourite Simplicity 2444 dress pattern and added a waistband. I'm very happy with the fit and will be making more skirts like this in the future. I would have liked to have shown you a picture of me wearing the skirt but to be honest, I don't trust my husband's photography skills!<br />
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I've recently bought two lots of new dress fabric and one lot of skirt fabric, however, I'm in the middle of decorating one of the bedrooms so crafty projects may have to take a backseat until the decorating is out of the way. So until next time, I'm off to my pasting table to get suitable sticky. Enjoy your week.Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-67860083664356972692016-11-04T19:34:00.000+00:002016-11-04T19:34:29.962+00:00Enjoying the ColoursThere have been some beautiful colours to admire this Autumn. The trees have been just amazing. It's a delight to go for my morning walk and marvel at the gorgeous yellows, reds and oranges.<br />
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I've been knitting up some colourful goodness of my own. My<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/fair-isle-cardigan-2" target="_blank"> Fair Isle cardigan</a> is now complete.<br />
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It's knitted entirely from leftovers of gorgeous Shetland 4ply wool, a mix of Jamieson & Smith and Jamieson's Spindrift.<br />
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In total I used 19 different colours and 369g of yarn. It's a true stashbuster. <br />
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I'm really pleased with how it looks and the colour combination is just perfect. <br />
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I'm loving knitting Fair Isle (I always do). It gives me so much pleasure to see the colour patterns evolving. The only thing I have never knitted in Fair Isle is socks. For some reason I've shied away from these. I think I'm worried about the fit. Socks need to fit well and if the tension is wrong on the Fair Isle, then it could be a disaster. But I feel that the time is right for me it give it a try, so my next Fair Isle project will definitely be socks. Just got to steel myself to cast on and get on with it.<br />
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Last week was my husband's birthday. I thought I'd share a picture with you of the cake I made him (I pinched the idea from Pinterest).<br />
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He liked the surprise and the cake was delicious. (For anyone concerned, Barbie's legs fitted back on no problem afterwards!)<br />
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Have a good weekend. Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-68094007981177789752016-10-23T14:00:00.000+01:002016-10-23T14:00:03.385+01:00Living the DreamA lazy relaxed morning...<br />
An afternoon walk through woodland..<br />
or through picturesque valleys...<br />
Followed by an evening of knitting and reading..<br />
or maybe spent with a pint or two of good beer in an atmospheric old pub -<br />
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This is my idea of a perfect day. Lucky me, I've been able to spend seven such days on holiday with my husband in one of my favourite counties, Shropshire.<br />
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We had our annual holiday to Church Stretton. Usually we go Spring / early Summer time but this year we were able to enjoy the delightful Autumn colours.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This dog does not belong to us!</td></tr>
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It was lovely to have a mix of slow paced relaxation with some vigorous mountain climbing. It's just a pity it was all over so quickly. Never mind, there's the return next year to look forward to.<br />
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I took a variety of knitting projects on holiday with me, but ended up just concentrating on my Fair Isle cardigan. <br />
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It's looking lovely and colourful and it's such good fun to knit. Hopefully it will be finished sometime this week.<br />
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Before we went away, I managed to complete a pinafore dress.<br />
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It's sewn using my favourite dress pattern, Simplicity 2444 and the fabric is a fine needlework. I just love the raspberry colour.<br />
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Because I'm working monogamously on my Fair Isle cardigan, I haven't managed to finish any other projects. I did complete a shawl a few weeks ago but as it was a gift for my Mum, I haven't been able to show it to you until now. <br />
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My Mum's favourite colour is yellow, and as it is also my favourite colour, it was a delight to knit this. You can see details of this project over on Ravelry, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/spindrift-shawl-2" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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So now I'm back home, and we may not have scenic mountains and dramatic valleys, but I'm lucky that my days are relaxed and filled with pleasant moments... and plenty of knitting!Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-32892237666090183702016-10-08T15:01:00.000+01:002016-10-08T15:02:22.738+01:00So ProudYesterday, my husband and I had a trip down to London. We only had three hours there, but it was well worth the visit. <br />
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We met up with Eve and walked to the Brick Lane Gallery on ... Brick Lane. The reason for our trip was to see the exhibition entitled East End, the place we call home. <br />
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The exhibition is only at the Brick Lane Gallery this weekend. After that it goes on tour around Tower Hamlets. <br />
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We were very impressed with the colourful pictures and captions that told the story of the East End over the past ninety years. The story was told thematically around the idea of building and providing homes for East Enders. <br />
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There was also a very interesting film in which residents talked about what the East End meant to them. <br />
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The exhibition had been formally opened on Wednesday by the Duke of Kent and I understand he was very impressed with the display and enjoyed meeting many of the people who were included in the film and who contributed to the exhibition. <br />
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And one of the main people who has worked on this exhibition for nearly a year is my lovely daughter, Eve. I feel so proud of all her hard work and what she has achieved. <br />
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It was just a shame that we weren't able to spend more time with Eve, but hopefully I'll be able to get down to London and see her again soon. <br />
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We might have only had three hours in London, but we certainly had many hours on the trains! On a positive note, this did give me some extra knitting time. I have started knitting up a Fair Isle cardigan using leftovers of Jamieson and Smith 2 ply jumper weight yarn. This is as far as I've got on the sleeves. <br />
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I'm using 14 different colours so it will be a riot of colours and patterns!<br />
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The Fair Isle was too fiddly to take on the train, so I cast on a shawl with some of the yarn I bought at Yarndale. <br />
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I love the way it's knitting up and I'm tempted to carry on knitting this now but I want to concentrate on the Fair Isle so the shawl will be put to one side for now. <br />
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October is going to be a colourful Fair Isle month. I've already made some <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/fair-isle-mittens" target="_blank">mittens </a>this month, using up tiny bits and pieces of Rowan Fine Tweed. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgymrUOdLTsn0S6vHQ7l4rB6PvPgQ_BOwkym3RYSm9qSnJ-RcZoWpvJXCJoU8TDJ0K9h4XVFvqpZgIz4U3FVPz744rRG5IguBDFIQs_X5r3cDhHSv_oKqOBrdSuR4Ri85vCh74iE4VBHM4/s1600/1475500563283_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgymrUOdLTsn0S6vHQ7l4rB6PvPgQ_BOwkym3RYSm9qSnJ-RcZoWpvJXCJoU8TDJ0K9h4XVFvqpZgIz4U3FVPz744rRG5IguBDFIQs_X5r3cDhHSv_oKqOBrdSuR4Ri85vCh74iE4VBHM4/s400/1475500563283_medium2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I ran out of yarn on the tip of the last thumb!</td></tr>
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This yarn has been a favourite of mine since it first appeared five years ago. Sadly it is now discontinued, no idea why Rowan have done this. It's so annoying when they constantly change their yarns.<br />
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Anyway, I'm getting back to my colourful cardigan. Have a good weekend and if you're in London see if you can get down to Brick Lane!Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-26493314201280471142016-09-26T13:57:00.000+01:002016-09-26T13:57:54.196+01:00Yarndale 2016I think I've finally recovered from my hangover. I've been bingeing on yarn at Yarndale and it's taken me a few days to get back to normal. We had a fabulous time at the festival. It was just as busy as last year and so many lovely stands. Everywhere you turned there was yarn. It was heavenly. <br />
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Having dieted for so long, it was wonderful to just go and overindulge. I largely kept to the wish list I had made before we set off but I did slip in quite a few treats. So here's my collection of loveliness. <br />
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Isn't it wonderful. I didn't spend as much as last year but I feel I spent my money more wisely this year. <br />
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Grace went with me again and this is her collection.<br />
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I bought some gorgeous skeins for shawls. <br />
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I love the colours and patterns of the Cuddlebums yarn, on the left. <br />
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This pretty sock yarn had to come home with me.<br />
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I also bought this lovely British Wool DK weight yarn for a cardigan. <br />
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The yarn colour is called turquoise but it actually looks greener than in the above photo. <br />
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I topped up my purchases with other bits and pieces that I can use in Fair Isle and I also bought an undyed skein of yarn that I want to dye up myself, which should be fun. <br />
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At Yarndale we met up with Instagram friends for a picnic. The weather was a bit cool and there was no sign of the sun, but the meet up was fun so that was all that mattered. <br />
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I received lots of lovely compliments on my Lily the Pink cardigan which was very pleasing. <br />
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So now I'm going to be working my way through my haul. Plenty to keep me quiet for a long time to come. I'll also still be busting the stash I already had - that's an ongoing mission. The day after we got back from Yarndale, I finished this shawl. <br />
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It was knitted with the last of the untouched yarn that was bought at Yarndale last year. I love the colours in the yarn, so I'm currently using the leftovers to make some fingerless mittens. Details of the shawl project can be found on Ravelry, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/cladonia" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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I hope you all had a lovely weekend and if you were at Yarndale, I hope that you managed to bag yourself some loveliness as well.Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-11342919743013954062016-09-17T13:06:00.000+01:002016-09-26T13:59:07.415+01:00My Very Own Craft RoomThank you all so much for your good wishes following my husband's retirement. We're settling into a pleasant routine, helped by the lovely warm weather we had last week.<br />
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As a result of his retirement, I have taken over the room he used as his "study" and it's now been re-designated as my "craft room". I had the foresight to decorate the room bright pink some years ago, so it was as easy process to convince him that he wouldn't want to use the room after his retirement. <br />
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I have collected together all my crafting bits and bobs. They were previously scattered (hidden) around the rest of the house. I must admit that I shocked myself at how much "stuff" I actually had. Craft books alone fill most of the shelves in the bookcase. I found so many duplicate items that I had bought that had been stored and forgotten about. All I can say is it's a good job that I have spent this year de-stashing my yarn, because I would never have been able to fit it in the room otherwise. It's certainly made me appreciate having a more streamlined yarn stash. <br />
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My mini sweater bunting is decorating the walls, and it's lovely to see all the different yarns and remember what I originally knitted with them (mostly socks). <br />
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There's still some more organising and tidying to do before I'm happy with everything and can remember where I've stored various things. <br />
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And because I'm no good at being disciplined, I bought three more craft books this week! I'm going to struggle to fit them in the bookcase, but they were only £1 each, so I couldn't leave them. <br />
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There's something interesting in all of them. <br />
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This week I have finished the cardigan I was knitting. <br />
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Most of my cardigans are cropped or just below the waist length. This is my preferred style for cardigans as I tend to wear dresses and skirts all the time. Occasionally I wear jeans but I don't have any longer cardigans to wear with them, so this boyfriend-style cardigan fills a gap in my wardrobe. <br />
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It's in worsted weight yarn that had been frogged from a previous unloved cardigan and the pattern is a free one by Vanessa Townley. You can see full details of this project on my Ravelry page, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/bomber" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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I'm now working on a <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/cladonia" target="_blank">shawl </a>with the last of the unused yarn that I bought at Yarndale last year. <br />
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I love the colours. The pattern is for a two colour striped shawl, but I'm just working with the one colour throughout. It's semi-circular and the body of shawl is in stocking stitch with a lace edging. The pattern is from a book by Kirsten Kapur and is called Cladonia. I'm hoping to get this finished over the next week before Yarndale. <br />
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Finally, as well as the craft books, I bought some fabric this week. I wanted something to make dresses and skirts for the Autumn. I ended up with two fabrics, one for a skirt and one for a dress. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3meHfyUF0DRJw5wa4Y54WUlSoOjL0deXtIf-KY9Mb8OHDtAgRC8WzfNu6Kwg03SOqMQW6t86IbotC4qMFikG5XCVghoC5p8YtIpSnqMDbeCRroNi-CHSUVU4h7vWVCG8cN78sm5aC7T4/s1600/1474111245440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3meHfyUF0DRJw5wa4Y54WUlSoOjL0deXtIf-KY9Mb8OHDtAgRC8WzfNu6Kwg03SOqMQW6t86IbotC4qMFikG5XCVghoC5p8YtIpSnqMDbeCRroNi-CHSUVU4h7vWVCG8cN78sm5aC7T4/s400/1474111245440.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dress fabric</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMV-D8_XsuI5Kz9J8GAaRA631ndSPW-F36bbsID0BH7B0UbKhZUhY6oRMRF_kwD5I2-dPEFJr9RyKOKRaVwQNtOQlFnuTJFgLu-S26mBESUBd1mfSnQQjV_Qa7QraLrXpvW7GiGho3w_A/s1600/1474111275671.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMV-D8_XsuI5Kz9J8GAaRA631ndSPW-F36bbsID0BH7B0UbKhZUhY6oRMRF_kwD5I2-dPEFJr9RyKOKRaVwQNtOQlFnuTJFgLu-S26mBESUBd1mfSnQQjV_Qa7QraLrXpvW7GiGho3w_A/s400/1474111275671.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skirt fabric</td></tr>
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I don't think I'll have time to make a completed outfit this week, but I'm hoping that I can get the dress cut out - ever the optimist. <br />
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Oh and finally, finally, I just remembered, Grace gave some some amazing fabric when I saw her recently. <br />
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Isn't it fabulous, Paddington Bear is my favourite character from my childhood and I still have all my books. This fabric will be made into a tote bag for a knitting project. Something else I'd like to get done this week - so long as I can find more hours in the day. <br />
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Well I had better get a move on if I want to get everything done. I hope you all have a happy and productive weekend. Bye for now.Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-21735355647774478202016-09-12T11:03:00.000+01:002016-11-14T14:56:31.146+00:00Exciting TimesSeptember has proved to be a very eventful month so far. At the beginning of the month my husband retired. It was something we've been planning for quite some time, but even so, it's a big change in our lives which we are going to have to get used to. The plan is for lots of holidays and days out, but I'm sure we'll settle into a slower routine over time.<br />
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As a celebration of his retirement, we had a holiday away with our daughters for a week. It's been a while since we've all been away together. As a reminder of holidays gone by, we booked a holiday cottage in North Wales, in Pwllheli to be exact.<br />
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It was a wonderful week, I enjoyed every minute of it. We had some lovely walks around the coastal paths on the Llyn Peninsula. The landscape is amazingly beautiful and rugged.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHv8VjK7TcSId-HpdUD81Mr_ugxWYhjKBQMeHFK6_qYldgCyIu1K1vJ-HYhJbrSSUscHRX-pvvc8yVPb2NgTFJRtfBHDihdT6uVUj78vt8aMGW_zOvWMe6E8dB1hLuKdYBf6F_wnIFAp0/s1600/P1060425.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHv8VjK7TcSId-HpdUD81Mr_ugxWYhjKBQMeHFK6_qYldgCyIu1K1vJ-HYhJbrSSUscHRX-pvvc8yVPb2NgTFJRtfBHDihdT6uVUj78vt8aMGW_zOvWMe6E8dB1hLuKdYBf6F_wnIFAp0/s400/P1060425.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hell's Mouth</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mynydd Cilan</td></tr>
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We had a paddle in the sea at Abersoch.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJQCHLNDDGOwRC3ch9kXw8_OtjVTIgOXTFbMb11kldKH4nH0_mOmzbbegZH4mf2hjxYxJZ9O7LOQkR4CNe3L8LSetMEGciHdb656LNXPhRv5_hHpNLex6MAywMrU81OEbxZZrIPnv8nSI/s1600/P1060276.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJQCHLNDDGOwRC3ch9kXw8_OtjVTIgOXTFbMb11kldKH4nH0_mOmzbbegZH4mf2hjxYxJZ9O7LOQkR4CNe3L8LSetMEGciHdb656LNXPhRv5_hHpNLex6MAywMrU81OEbxZZrIPnv8nSI/s400/P1060276.JPG" width="315" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So cold!</td></tr>
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And I was quite emotional at finding the gravestone of one of my ancestors in the church yard in the village of Llanengan.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Llanengan Church</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lovely old pub in the village of Llanengan</td></tr>
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It was all over far too quickly, but now that work is a thing of the past, I'm looking forward to lots of time away.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our holiday cottage</td></tr>
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The cottage we stayed in was lovely, but the internet reception was poor so I'm trying, this week, to catch up. <br />
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Before I went away, I finished my Fair Isle cardigan. <br />
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I love the colours, but I'm a bit annoyed with myself that I didn't check my gauge properly. The cardigan is a lovely slim fit, but maybe a bit too snug on the sleeves. Never mind, it's still wearable but would be just that little bit better if there was a little bit of ease around the arms. Details of this project can be found on Ravelry, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/lily-the-pink" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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I also completed the button-through skirt I had been wanting to sew.<br />
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I used leftover fabric from a dress I had made last year and buttons recycled from an old dress. <br />
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I was so pleased with how easy the button holes were to make. I'll definitely have to make more of these skirts.<br />
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It's less than two weeks to go until Yarndale and I'm so looking forward to it. My knitting mojo has deserted me lately and I suspect that the stash busting has had an impact on this. It will be lovely to have an injection of new yarn. I'm sure that will get the creative juices flowing again. In the meantime, I'm knitting up a cardigan in some frogged yarn - not very inspiring but I've only got one more sleeve to do. I'm now busy dreaming of the new yarn that'll be coming home with me shortly.<br />
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Have a good week everyone.Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-39774859171090243832016-08-24T14:22:00.000+01:002016-09-12T11:04:23.329+01:00Reliving the PastWhat another gloriously hot and sunny week we are having. I hope the sun is shining down on you, wherever you are. I've been busy again in the garden each morning, keeping it tidy and admiring my handiwork. Keep up the good work, Janet!<br />
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I've also been out and about this week. My husband had a meeting down in Hinckley, so my Mum, my Step-Dad and I accompanied him and while he was in his meeting we visited my Auntie in one of the nearby villages. <br />
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When I was younger, we used to spend a week of the summer holidays staying with my Auntie, Uncle and cousins. We would wander around the countryside and the local farms and I remember going to Burbage Woods on a nature trail with the Rector's wife. Children were so much freer to go out and explore and have adventures by themselves in those days. Memories! <br />
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I had a lovely time wandering around the village trying to relive the past. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Forty years ago, I was a bridesmaid in this church.</td></tr>
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It really is a very pretty village.<br />
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Obviously I took some knitting with me for the journey. My Last Chance Scarf has been accompanying me on all my car journeys over the last few months. It's prove to be an ideal travelling project. I finished it off once we got back home. <br />
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I like the end result and I'm hoping that I will actually wear it when the weather turns cooler. I think the colours work well in the scarf, but as the yarn has been frogged from a sweater and then from a shawl, we shall have to see if I really take to it now. The pattern is called Be Simple Variations, and it's a freebie. You can see details of this project on my Ravelry page, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/be-simple-variations" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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So I'll have to start a new project for travelling now that the scarf is completed. But first I've off out into the garden again - just to admire its tidiness!Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-11542576645255297352016-08-18T11:54:00.000+01:002016-08-18T11:54:10.897+01:00I Don't Like Gardening...It's amazing how creative I can be when it comes to making excuses not to do the gardening. Mostly I rely on the weather to back me up - it's too wet, too windy, too cold, too hot. This week has been a gloriously hot and sunny one and guilt about the garden has finally caught up with me. The flower beds are full of willow herb, moss and grass, so some action was needed.<br />
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My usual excuse for it being too hot might be worth a try but the guilt won in the end. So this week I've been out in the garden having a good tidy up and do you know what, I've really enjoyed it!<br />
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I made a point of starting early before the sun was too scorching and I was surprised at how much progress I was able to make each day. Just goes to show what you can do if you make an effort.<br />
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The garden is looking so much tidier and weed free. The flower beds, now stripped of the weeds, don't look as green as they were, so there are a few gaps that look a bit bare. But on the whole it's been very satisfying. I don't have much in bloom at the moment but here's a few photos of what there is.<br />
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I don't think I'll ever be a true gardener, but my fingers do feel just a touch greener this week. Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-72000961871414626012016-08-14T15:38:00.000+01:002016-08-14T15:38:06.517+01:00Working My Way to GoldHow are you? I hope that life is treating you well. Have you been watching the Olympics? I've tried to catch as many events as I can but it's a pretty packed programme so it's difficult to fit everything in. There's been some very impressive performances, you've got to take your hat off to the dedication and hard work that all the participants have put in. <br />
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I thought about trying to have a themed knitting and crocheting event to coincide with the Olympics, but in the end I decided I just needed to get my works-in-progress progressing! As it turns out, I'm actually doing a triathlon. I have three projects I'm working on.<br />
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The first of my triathlon projects is a knitting one. It's my Fair Isle cardigan. I'm trying to get this off the needles because it's a summery cardigan and I'd like to be wearing it sooner rather than later. <br />
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It's slow going but I've reached the armholes on the body and one of the sleeves. I need to work out my shaping of the armholes and hopefully hit the home straight soon. I have a horrible feeling that I'm going to run out of my main colour but I'm putting that to the back of my mind at the moment and just concentrating on getting as much progress made as possible.<br />
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My second triathlon project is a crocheting one. My <a href="http://www.crystalsandcrochet.com/crochets/mandala-madness-cal-2016/" target="_blank">Mandala Madness blanket</a> has been hibernating for quite some time now. I put it to one side whilst I had a sock blitz and then there was the stash busting blitz, so it has been sadly neglected. <br />
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Having picked it up again, I'm loving working on it. At the moment it's my project of choice. Such fun picking the colours for each round and seeing how it all comes together. There's still quite a long way to go with this project, but it's a super way to use up my acrylic yarns, so it all helps to reduce the stash. <br />
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Finally, the third triathlon project is a crochet pattern I'm hoping to publish shortly. It's for a colourful mandala that I designed last year. Grace kindly tested the pattern for me but I've been very dilatory in completing the pattern. <br />
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At the moment I'm working through the pattern again and taking round by round photos to support the pattern. Every time the pattern has been worked, the variety of colours used creates a unique interpretation of the pattern. It's such fun to play with the colours and see the effects produced. <br />
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All these projects will take some time to complete so there will be nothing off the needles for some time. They will eventually make a significant dent in the stash, so that's good news. I did finish my August socks last week. <br />
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Again these are toe up socks - firmly established as my favourite way to knit socks. The pattern is called Fine and Dandy and you can see full details of this project on my Ravelry page, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/fine-and-dandy-socks" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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So, now I'm back to my triathlon projects for the duration of the Olympics. I hope you have a good week and I'm looking forward to picking up my gold medal shortly!Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-53509337356476310392016-08-08T10:45:00.000+01:002016-08-08T10:45:36.297+01:00Lazy Summer DaysThe weather is warm and the days are long and I'm feeling oh so lazy and relaxed. There's definitely been a lull in activity in blogland, myself included. I appreciate the efforts of those who have soldiered on and continued with their regular posts. You have my admiration. Every day I think to myself, I'll do a post today, but it never seems to get from my head to the blog. So I'm making an effort today, to catch up with what I've been up to over the past two weeks or so. <br />
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Since I last posted, I've a few finished objects, plenty of works-in progress and I've had another weigh-in of the stash.<br />
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So let's get started, and here are my finished projects. Firstly this shawl.<br />
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I just adore the colours. I wear pink and grey more than any other colours, so this shawl is perfect for me. I love the gradient colour changes. <br />
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The shawl is lovely and I used all of the 200g I had bought of this yarn, so it's a very generous size. It's Ullcentrum 2 ply sport weight yarn and the colourway is Sky Pink. It was the first yarn I bought at Yarndale last year and I'm surprised it's taken me this long to knit it up. You can see details of this project on my Ravelry page, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/campanula-in-pink-rosa-campanula" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Next up is the Block a Month Blanket I started back in January. I decided to just crochet 16 squares for this one. <br />
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Each square is 10 inches square, so it makes a lovely lap blanket. I added a fairly simple edging and I'm very happy with the result. Details on Ravelry, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/block-a-month-blanket-2016" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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Another crochet project, a much quicker one, was these cute little flowers. <br />
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They are made from a free pattern by Ali Crafts Designs. The pattern can be downloaded from Ravelry, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/march-flower" target="_blank">here</a>, and it really is a simple but very effective design.<br />
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My dressmaking is going well. Yesterday I completed my pink dress.<br />
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I'm not sure that the mannequin is showing the dress off very well, so here's a badly taken picture of me wearing it.<br />
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The dress is very simple, it has princess seams, a side zip and a gently flared skirt. It's New Look 6020 and I've made the pattern several times now - a very wearable dress.<br />
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I've treated myself to a new dress pattern, the Vintage Shirt Dress by Sew Over It. <br />
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It's the first independently designed pattern I've tried, the instructions look very detailed and helpful, so I'm looking forward to giving it a go. Before then, I want to make a button through skirt (a bit of practice at buttonholes!). So I need to make some time to get on with these.<br />
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And having finished my pink dress, I thought it deserved a pretty coat hanger, so I crocheted up this one, using my<a href="http://yellowpinkandsparkly.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/floral-embellishment-pattern.html" target="_blank"> Floral Embellishment pattern</a>.<br />
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It only took a couple of hours to complete and I think it looks great.<br />
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On the needles at present are my Fair Isle cardigan.<br />
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Some, but not a great deal of progress there.<br />
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A pair of socks. No photos yet but they should be off the needles in the next day or two.<br />
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I also have my crochet Mandala Madness which hasn't made any progress and is in desperate need of some love and affection.<br />
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So plenty to keep me busy.<br />
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Finally, it's been six months since I decided to be brave and weigh my stash (inspired by Linda from <a href="http://lindacraftycorner.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Linda's Crafty Corner</a>). In February the stash weighed in at a bouncing 18.2 kg - wow! <br />
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After being on a crash diet for six months I'm pleased to say the stash now weighs a more healthy 11.6 kg, that's even allowing for the 850g of yarn that sneaked its way in when my back was turned!. <br />
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There's still a long way to go and with Yarndale coming up at the end of next month, I need to clear some more works-in-progress, but I feel satisfied that things are reaching a more manageable level.<br />
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Well that was a packed post! I'll be back shortly (no more laziness) and hopefully with some more finished objects. Enjoy your week.Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-91128424001056885112016-07-26T17:13:00.001+01:002016-07-26T17:13:18.512+01:00And It's Over in the Blink of an EyeThe 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. <br />
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In my <a href="http://yellowpinkandsparkly.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/tour-de-france-time-again.html" target="_blank">previous blog post</a>, 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.<br />
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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, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/schmancy-shawl" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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The edging blocked out beautifully and I love the drape of the shawl. <br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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Some leftover angora yarn made a colourful and fluffy yarn bag.<br />
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And some leftover lace weight wool & silk yarn became a mini shawl and a doily. <br />
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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. <br />
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So all in all, I'd say that Chris Froome and I have had a very successful 2016 Tour de France. <br />
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With all this successful stash busting, I'm joining in with <a href="http://lindacraftycorner.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Stash%20Link%20UP" target="_blank">Linda's Stash Buster Party</a> 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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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. <br />
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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!<br />
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Have a good week. See you soon. Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-32492407498701607902016-07-16T14:44:00.000+01:002016-07-16T14:44:41.966+01:00Tour de France Time AgainHere we are more than half way through the Tour de France and I haven't up dated you on what I'm doing! How lax of me.<br />
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Last year, I joined in with <a href="http://yellowpinkandsparkly.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/crossing-finishing-line.html" target="_blank">the Tour de France group on Ravelry and did some stash-busting</a>. I managed to complete 11 items and used up 768g of very old stash. This year, although I was tempted to just work on one major project for the three week duration of the Tour (the Yellow Jersey), I decided that my stash-busting mission is still very much ongoing, so I should repeat last year's endeavours, sprint for the line and go for the Points Jersey (the Green Jersey). <br />
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So far I have made <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/cooey-the-pigeon-2" target="_blank">three pigeons</a>!<br />
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Two Coasters using my <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/evelines-motif" target="_blank">Eveline's Motif Pattern</a>.<br />
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A pair of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/sockmaticians-toe-ups-8" target="_blank">very red socks</a>.<br />
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A colourful <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/meditation-mandala" target="_blank">meditation mandala</a>. I made this up as I went along - great fun. <br />
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Some pretty bunting using my <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/daisy-chain-bunting" target="_blank">Daisy Chain Bunting Pattern</a>.<br />
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Three coat hangers, incorporating my <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/floral-embellishment" target="_blank">Floral Embellishment Pattern</a>. <br />
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I'm currently working on <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/schmancy-shawl" target="_blank">a shawl</a>. It has an applied lacy border and I'm just over a quarter of the way along the edge. <br />
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I've also recently cast on some mittens and I'm hoping to fit in a few more small items and another shawl! I've only got until 24th July, so time is of the essence. <br />
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Last month, I finished two more pairs of socks whilst watching the European Championships (congrats to Portugal). Usually I only knit one pair of socks from each of the 100g of sock yarn I have, but because I prefer to knit ankle socks, I find that I have about 45g leftover. So, these two pairs of socks are knitted with the same yarn, but for the second pair, I have knitted contrast toes, heels and cuffs. This used but virtually the whole of the 100g, so I was pleased with this. For both these pairs of socks, I again used the Sockmatician's Toe Up recipe, which is now firmly confirmed as one of my favourite recipes.<br />
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I entered my four pairs of socks that I knitted up during the Euros into The Sockmaticians Toe Up KAL and whilst watching his latest podcast I was very excited to hear my name mentioned and find out that I had won a skein of fingering weight yarn - Thank you so much Nathan. <br />
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This weekend, besides the Tour de France, we will also be watching the first cricket test match between England and Pakistan, the Open Golf from Troon and there's also some darts on. It's hard work being a sports fan! At least I should make excellent progress with the shawl.<br />
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Until next time, happy crafting to you all. Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-33523581711794859352016-07-05T19:22:00.000+01:002016-07-05T19:22:38.484+01:00I'm Sew ExcitedWe've had a mini break, not really a holiday, just a break from home. Grace went to Glastonbury (which she really enjoyed) and while she was away, we stayed at her flat in Sheffield to look after her hamster!<br />
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I don't know whether Juno the hamster appreciated us being there because she spent all her time trying to chew through the bars of her pen to escape!<br />
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Anyway, we had a lovely time in Sheffield, very relaxing. <br />
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Now that I'm settling into dressmaking and feeling more confident, I've been watching The Great British Sewing Bee on TV. This is the first time I've watched the series, which is now in Season 4. I really enjoyed watching this and feel that I've learnt quite a few new things. At the moment, my dressmaking projects can be classed as "Easy" or "Beginner" but I'm determined to branch out and tackle some more challenging projects in the future. <br />
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For the time being I'm making nice, simple summer dresses. Here is the latest one I've made. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(I never look relaxed when my husband is taking the photos!)</td></tr>
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I have again used the Simplicity 6262 pattern, but having put sleeves in <a href="http://yellowpinkandsparkly.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/catching-up.html" target="_blank">the previous version I made</a>, I have decided I'm more of a sleeveless dress person - at least as far as summer dresses are concerned. I added a ribbon around the waist this time. It adds quite a nice trim, but I could have done with applying it better - next time I'll be able to do it better. <br />
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I'm hoping for some warm and sunny weather now, so that I can wear it. <br />
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Whilst we were in Sheffield I was looking at the sewing machines in John Lewis. I thought I should maybe update my machine and I was interested in finding out more about how to do buttonholes. When I got back home, I thought I would check the handbook for my machine to see what it could do as far as buttonholes were concerned. I was amazed and overjoyed to find out that my machine does one step buttonholes that are precisely sized to the buttons you want to use. I've only had this machine a mere 21 years, and who knew that it was as clever as that! I really need to explore what else it can do, I'm clearly not using it anywhere near to its capabilities. <br />
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Tomorrow I'm planning on cutting out another summer dress, pink this time - let's hope my optimism is rewarded with some nicer weather.Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-41270802075901236742016-06-19T20:55:00.000+01:002016-06-19T20:55:28.200+01:00Socks, Socks, Socks!I think I'm suffering from sport overload! I'm enjoying the football and US Open golf, but I've reached that stage where I need to get on with other things. Thankfully the number of football matches per day reduces after today and the golf should be finished this evening. <br />
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On the plus side, I have managed to work my way through quite a bit of yarn. The yarn stash is reducing nicely. Firstly, the aran cardigan is finished. (Full details on Ravelry, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/maddalena-2" target="_blank">HERE</a>)<br />
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This yarn was leftover from a hat that Grace made. The pattern is Maddalena by Louisa Harding, a pattern <a href="http://yellowpinkandsparkly.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/maddalena-finished.html" target="_blank">I've made before</a> and worn a lot. So if it works, then I'm happy to go with it again. <br />
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The only problem I have is that it's purple. I'm strangely drawn to purple yarn - I now have three purple cardigans, unfortunately I have no dresses or skirts that go with them. I need to buy myself some purple fabric and make a coordinating dress. So let's put it on the wish list. <br />
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I've also knitted two pairs of socks. The first pair incorporates the Cobblestone pattern by Mina Philipp from her latest collection. (Details on Ravelry, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/sockmaticians-toe-ups" target="_blank">HERE</a>)<br />
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I was using the Sockmaticians recipe for toe up socks with a traditional heel turn and flap and I can say that I love it. I much prefer toe up socks (no kitchener for the toes!) and up until now I hadn't settled on a heel I liked for this method. This pattern now provides me with a heel I like and I'll be using it for most of my socks from now on. <br />
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The second pair of socks I've made also use the Sockmaticians recipe, but this time I used DK weight yarn rather than my usual 4 ply. (Details on Ravelry, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/sockmaticians-toe-ups-2" target="_blank">HERE</a>)<br />
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I used a chart from a Finnish pattern called Eukalyptus which creates a lovely lacy pattern. <br />
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This yarn has been frogged multiple times so it's a real stash buster - I'm therefore joining in with Linda's Crafty Corner's Stash Busting Party for this one. <br />
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I'm now on my third pair of socks - my aim is to make at least five pairs of socks to use up stashed yarn during the European Championships. I'm well on my way to achieving this goal and could possibly make more but I suspect that by the time I've knitted five pairs of socks I'll be ready to move on to other things. <br />
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And finally, I've finished the last three squares for my Block - a - Month blanket. The two large squares were not the ones selected for this month. I didn't like the ones selected so I substituted these because I just wanted to get them out of the way. <br />
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I now have the equivalent of 16 large squares, which is enough for my blanket. The next job, the one I really love, is deciding the placement of the squares then sewing them together. I'll leave crocheting the border until next month. I haven't decided what I'm doing for this yet, but I'm thinking of making quite a deep border. <br />
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So that's me all accounted for. I'm hoping to get some fresh air over the next week, inbetween sock knitting!<br />
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Enjoy the week ahead whatever you have planned.Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-18272710072340350682016-06-09T12:20:00.000+01:002016-06-09T12:20:13.329+01:00I'm Ready, Are You?It's been an interesting few days. My husband and I had a lovely two nights away in Oswestry, but since we got back, I have not been well for a day or two - achy and shivery and no energy. It sounds like a bug to me but my husband reckons it could be an allergic reaction to the countryside! Today I'm starting feeling more normal again - the bounce is slowly coming back. <br />
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Oswestry was a fairly last minute decision. And it worked out so well. The weather was gorgeously hot and sunny. We had picnics in the park, a walk around Oswestry, we visited Chirk Castle, lots of pubs and ate far too much. On the way home we stopped off in Rhuddlan and visited the castle - you can't beat a Welsh castle. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chirk Castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Embroidery Exhibition at Chirk Castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fox Inn, Oswestry</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rhuddlan Castle</td></tr>
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Today, I am taking it easy, watching the cricket (third test match against Sri Lanka), watching some cycling (Criterium de Dauphine) and catching up with my knitting. You know you're ill when you don't even feel like knitting!<br />
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I've been knitting an aran cardigan (in this heat!) to use up some yarn that Grace had leftover from a hat she made. I started it on the 1st June and by the end of the 2nd I had completed the back and two fronts. I was fairly optimistic that I would get it finished within five days, but sadly I had to eat and sleep, so not quite possible. I didn't take it to Oswestry with me, so I have only just picked it back up today. I just have the sleeve head on the last sleeve to do - not sure I have any suitable buttons, but apart from that it will be finished this afternoon. <br />
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For my car journey to Oswestry knitting, I frogged a shawl I made a while ago and started knitting up a scarf with the yarn. The yarn is Sirdar Crofter in lovely pinks, purples, cream and grey, so in theory some of my favourite colours. Sadly every time I knit it up, I'm never happy with the finished article. Prior to being a shawl, this yarn was a sweater - it has been multi- frogged. This is its last chance to please me. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scarf is knit on the bias</td></tr>
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In our house, we are all ready and waiting for the football tomorrow. The European Championships kick off tomorrow evening and then after that there'll be at least two matches a day for a considerable time. There will of course be lots of other sport that we will need to fit in, the US Open golf championship is on next week, there's a Formula 1 Grand Prix race this weekend and the Tour de France cycling race starts at the beginning of July - whew, that's a lot of knitting time!<br />
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For the duration of the Euorpean Championship, I have decided to knit socks - I'm hoping for a minimum of five pairs. I have three unused quantities of sock yarn, plus I would like to use some older leftovers. Each pair will involve a technique that I haven't tried yet - can't wait to cast on and get started. <br />
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I'm not going to just knit socks though. I would also like to start a new cardigan - Fair Isle - yes please. Look at those pretty colours. <br />
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So that's the plan for the next month or so. Will you be watching the football? Who will you be supporting? I will be cheering on Wales (Land of my fathers!). Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-55105894108771089522016-05-29T15:27:00.000+01:002016-05-29T15:27:34.025+01:00Catching UpThe sun is shining, England are winning easily in the cricket and my crafting is all going well. My husband and I have just come back from a lovely couple of days in St Albans. <br />
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The weather was a lot better than when we visited last year in November and Eve got the train out of London to meet up with us - so a perfect time we had. <br />
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We had a lovely walk around Verulamium Park, a visit to the cathedral and a relaxing lunch. <br />
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It was all over so quickly but such a great time. <br />
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This past week I've been busy with my dressmaking. I'm definitely growing in confidence now and enjoying the process more rather than just finding it stressful all the time. <br />
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I made a practice dress for a pattern I had recently acquired- McCall's M7116, using a bedsheet in a lovely aubergine colour - I made view B.<br />
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I liked the style of the dress, it's different to the usual dresses I make but there were a number of issues that I wasn't happy with. The sleeves were rather short, the bodice also too short and the neck too wide. I think I could probably address these issues without too much difficulty but in the end I went out and bought a new pattern that is more to my taste in style - Newlook 6262. I particularly like view B with the short sleeves (shown in yellow on the pattern envelope) - all my dresses so far have been sleeveless.<br />
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I didn't feel I needed to make a full practice dress but I did want to have a go at fitting the sleeves, so I used some leftover sheet and I'm so glad I did. The sleeve went in no problem, but the neckline was surprisingly high and uncomfortable. I altered the pattern to lower the neck and now I have a dress that it very comfortable to wear.<br />
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The fabric is from my stash, bought sometime last year and it's so pretty and very summery.<br />
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So happy happy happy. I have three more dress lengths of fabric in my stash so now that I'm on a roll with the sewing I'm hoping to have some lovely additions to my wardrobe. <br />
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I could do with knitting up a light coloured cardigan to go with the summery dress, but instead I've just finished a navy coloured cardi. It's just a plain cropped style - my favourite and it goes well with a number of dresses I wear a lot, which is why I made it. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Please excuse the bad photographs -<br />they were taken in the hotel room by my husband !!</td></tr>
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I don't have enough light coloured wool in my stash to make a plain cardigan and as I'm on a yarn diet, I'm restricted to knitting from stash. I reckon I have two more cardigans worth of stash knitting to get out of the way and then I'm going to treat myself to some nice cream wool. Looking forward to that. <br />
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As I find it almost impossible to not use up every scrap of yarn, I've made six more little sock yarn sweaters to add to my bunting. <br />
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So that's what I've been up to. I'm planning on spending the rest of the bank holiday weekend working on my Mandala Madness blanket which hasn't been shown any love for some time. I'll also be catching up on all the sporting events that are happening this weekend on the television. A nice relaxing few days ahead of me. I hope plenty of relaxation comes your way too. Bye for now.Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-19833619199872466372016-05-22T10:25:00.000+01:002016-05-22T10:25:30.828+01:00Now That I'm 55....Now that I'm 55, I have finally finished the embroidery wall hanging. As a recap, the plan was to embroider 54 little squares whilst I was still 54, sew them all together and make a wall hanging. <br />
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Well, I did manage to get all 54 squares embroidered whilst I was still 54, but the sewing them together and making a wall hanging took a bit longer. <br />
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But finally, it's done and here it is.<br />
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I'm so pleased with it. Each square is 3 inches square. I used English Paper Piecing to join them together. Each intersection of the squares has a button attached.<br />
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I love looking at it, and every time I pick a new favourite square. Which one is your favourite?<br />
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So now I'm 55, I don't think I'll be making 55 of anything this year. Maybe next year I might plan something around the number 56, but for now I think I've got enough stuff progressing without making any more work for myself.<br />
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I'll let you see what other things I've been making this past week in my next post. In the meantime, happy crafting.Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-3976788707546047592016-05-16T13:33:00.000+01:002016-05-16T13:34:14.279+01:00Weekend in LondonWell I finally it made it to London for the weekend to see Eve. And what a wonderful weekend it was. It's always lovely to meet up with my daughters, I miss them so much. Eve is very settled now in London and it's good to see her happy and enjoying her life. <br />
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We spent most of our time chatting and laughing and just enjoying each other's company, but we did manage to fit in a trip to the <a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/" target="_blank">V & A Museum of Childhood</a> in Bethnal Green. <br />
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There was a very moving special exhibition on Child Migrants, as well as one on the Clangers and Bagpuss. <br />
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There were also cases and cases of toys, games, dolls and teddy bears. <br />
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A great afternoon out. <br />
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On my way to Eve's on the Friday, I walked via King's Cross Station to see Platfrom 9 & 3/4. There were plenty of people queuing to have their photo taken. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(I don't know who this person is, <br />
she just happened to be in the queue for the photo!)</td></tr>
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I then walked to Angel. A very interesting area of London with many small and quirky shops. I loved the angel wings statue at the entrance to the shopping arcade. <br />
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My main reason for wanting to visit Angel was the gorgeous knitting shop, Loop. I have heard so many wonderful things about this shop that I just couldn't resist a visit. As usual, my photos were all shaky, so these are images I googled.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture by Homegirl London</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture by Wonderwoof</td></tr>
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I knew that I would have to exercise extreme self-control when visiting, so I thought in advance what I wanted to buy in terms of yarn and browsed the online shop, so that I wouldn't start impulse buying yarn when I got there.<br />
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And I'm pleased to say, as far as yarn is concerned, I was very very disciplined. I bought the 6 balls of Sheltand Spindrift I wanted for a Fair Isle cardigan and no other YARN !<br />
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HOWEVER, I did get a bit carried away with knitting needles and knitting patterns - but they are all so lovely. <br />
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Whilst in the shop I was lucky enough to meet the lovely Juju Vail. She was very chatty and we talked about knitting top-down sweaters, about Fair Isle knitting and she helped me select the colours of yarn I wanted. <br />
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It was a really memorable and pleasant visit. Even if I did spend far more than I should have, I'm glad I visited and maybe one day, I'll make another trip there. <br />
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Now I'm back home, I need to clear the backlog of yarn, so that I can cast on for the new Fair Isle cardigan and knit up some of my lovely new patterns. Have a good week. Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-91178824591700648642016-05-09T11:53:00.000+01:002016-05-09T11:53:32.917+01:00Happy Sunshiny DaysHello everyone and welcome to this week's blog post. I hope you all had a lovely weekend. <br />
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I've had a great weekend. Plenty of knitting got done and we had a lovely day out. I have also been lucky enough to have two patterns gifted to me over the weekend. <br />
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First of all, I'd like to share with you my lovely finished shawl. <br />
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I can't begin to tell you how pleased I am with this. The beautiful gradient yarn was a gift from Grace and it's called Antarctica (she picked it deliberately for me because she knows I'm interested in anything to do with the South Pole). It's very hard to get a picture that reflects the true colours. It starts as a deep teal, lightens and changes to dark grey, which in turn lightens to cream. <br />
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I used a pattern by Helen Stewart called Spindrift. The pattern is a paid for pattern, but you can sign up by email for a free workshop and the pattern comes as part of the package. The link to the pattern page on Ravelry is <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/spindrift-shawl" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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It is a well written pattern and is great for assessing your yarn usage. I particularly wanted to maximise my use of the yarn so that I got the full splendour of the gradients. It's also a nice quick knit. <br />
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So now I really, really do need to get back on track with my other works in progress - until the next distraction!<br />
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Yesterday was such a lovely day, weather-wise, that my husband and I decided to have a day out, so we drove up the coast to Lytham (about an hour and a half away). As my husband is retiring later this year, we called this our practice retirement day!<br />
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There isn't a great deal to do in Lytham, but it was lovely to just walk along the coastal path. I hadn't adjusted the exposure on my camera, so my pictures are very bleached, I've used some pictures I found online so you can see what we saw. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pic from www.lythamtowntrust.org</td></tr>
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We called into the windmill to see the museum run by the local heritage society.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pic from www.lythamheritagegroup.co.uk</td></tr>
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And we had a picnic in Lowther Gardens (these are my pictures - it had clouded over a bit so the exposure isn't as rubbish). <br />
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A very relaxing day and it's always nice to visit somewhere new. <br />
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When I got home, I was watching one of my favourite podcasters, <a href="http://yarnderwoman.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">YarnderWoman</a>, Melinda from Perth in Western Australia, whilst doing some sewing. I was absolutely thrilled when my name was read out as a prize winner for her Hat Knit Along that ran last month. My prize is a beautiful shawl pattern and I'll show you the details when I receive the copy.<br />
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The same evening, Grace got in touch with me to say that she was gifting me a new pattern by the Sockmatician. He has written a toe up sock recipe that incorporates a heel flap and gusset. This is exactly the construction I want to try next. So I'm really delighted to receive this. Now I can't wait to cast on for my next pair of socks - but didn't I just say, no distractions!!!<br />
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So everything is wonderful here in Yellow Pink and Sparkly land. I hope that the sun and happiness are shining down on you, wherever you are. And if there are clouds, both literal and metaphoric in your life at the moment, I hope that they pass over as quickly as possible. <br />
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Have a good week. XJanethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-7539245293092556672016-05-05T14:52:00.000+01:002016-05-05T14:52:58.118+01:00Socks, Sun and ShawlsHello everyone, I hope you're enjoying this lovely spell of warm weather we are having here in the UK. Makes a nice change.<br />
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I've been enjoying knitting up my socks for May. I used West Yorkshire Spinners Yarn in the Goldfinch colourway and they just flew off the needles.<br />
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I just love the colours. These could be my favourite socks of all time. <br />
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I had planned that this month I would try knitting my socks two at a time (I like to try something new each month). I knit these socks toe up - this is now firmly established as my favourite way to knit socks. I got as far as part way up the foot, knitting two at a time, before I lost patience and gave up.<br />
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I found it was taking me longer to do a round for two at a time than it did for me to knit a round individually on both socks. I tend to knit my socks simultaneously, so I don't have a problem with second sock syndrome, which seems to be the only reason to knit two at a time. So at least I gave it a try, in the end, it's all about finding the right sock recipe for me. <br />
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You can see full details of this sock project on my Ravelry page, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/vanilla-latte-socks-5" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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As the weather has been so nice, we had an afternoon watching a cricket match. We watched the last day of the three day match between Lancashire 2nd XI and Derbyshire 2nd XI at Northern Cricket Ground (a lovely small ground with about twenty spectators!)<br />
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It's very relaxing, sitting in the Sun and getting on with some knitting! I worked on my navy cardigan, just to try and make some progress. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh76LGnS7hKPKAuPPTTzLNrSftTVwE6Whi5BdPXTqP4cAz_icXODOC8F5UXxVQQqOLWAZ4wncbKK8SApRKNUB_eJKhFjj5Hzzn4HaYkToiEAt_DHg-Cq26hmlb49wtAYRtYkxdVJgnw4ho/s1600/1462441814436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh76LGnS7hKPKAuPPTTzLNrSftTVwE6Whi5BdPXTqP4cAz_icXODOC8F5UXxVQQqOLWAZ4wncbKK8SApRKNUB_eJKhFjj5Hzzn4HaYkToiEAt_DHg-Cq26hmlb49wtAYRtYkxdVJgnw4ho/s400/1462441814436.jpg" width="355" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It may be sunny but I'm not taking my cardigan off yet!</td></tr>
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I'm aiming to have this finished this month, but...<br />
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...there's always a but , and it usually means a distraction. So this week's distraction is a lovely shawl pattern by Helen Stewart called Spindrift. <br />
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I received a gorgeous ball of gradient yarn from Grace for Christmas, and I've been agonising ever since over which pattern to use for this special yarn.<br />
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So this week I finally decided to go for the Spindrift pattern. The main reason I chose this one was that I wanted to be able to use the whole ball of yarn. With some patterns I wasn't sure if I would end up with yarn leftover or actually run out. With the Spindrift pattern, percentages are given throughout as to how much yarn you have used. So far I have knit 20% of the pattern and this ties in exactly with the amount of yarn I have used, so I feel very happy. <br />
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I can't wait to see how the colour changes progress. At the moment it's essentially stocking stitch. Here's how much I did on the first evening of working on it.<br />
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It's very addictive. At 50% the pattern changes to eyelets. <br />
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I hope to have this finished over the weekend - but if this lovely weather continues, we might have some days out, which might slow me down a bit. <br />
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Then, hopefully it will be back to the cardigan and the other neglected shawl. With that, I'll say bye for now, and get back to my lovely Spindrift shawl. Happy days everyone.Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-1741326410637501872016-05-02T16:11:00.000+01:002016-05-02T16:11:36.556+01:00Some of My Favourite ThingsI have very kindly been nominated for a Liebster Award for my blog by Jo from <a href="http://awholeplotoflove.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/liebster-award-x2.html" target="_blank">A Whole Plot of Love</a>. What fun! Jo has set ten questions that I have to answer. Here are the questions -<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">1. Favourite season?</span></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">2. Do you eat breakfast?</span></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">3. Starter or pudding?</span></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">4. Favourite childhood author?</span></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">5. Seaside or countryside?</span></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">6. Favourite beverage?</span></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">7. Do you have a pet?</span></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">8. Favourite way to serve vegetables?</span></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">9. Do you grow your own?</span></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">10. Dark, milk or white chocolate?</span></b></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">So now to answer them -</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">1. <u> Favourite Season?</u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">My favourite season is Spring. I love the bright and beautiful colours of the Spring flowers; the sense of an awakening world and new life; the hope that warmer weather will soon be with us; longer daylight hours - just</span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;"> perfect. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">2. <u>Do you eat Breakfast?</u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">Yes, I eat breakfast. It's my favourite meal of the day. As a child I had a bowl of Ready Brek every morning (central heating for kids - as the advert used to say) ...</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">...and fifty years on I still have a bowl of porridge every morning - sprinkled with dried cranberries. And accompanied by a good book.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">3. </span><u style="color: #333333; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">Starter or Pudding? </u><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">I don't consider myself a food lover. I eat because I have to and I'm quite a fussy eater. I do have a sweet tooth, so pudding will always be my choice over a starter - and if given the choice I would also skip the main and go straight to the pudding. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">4. <u> Favourite Childhood Author?</u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">I've been an avid reader ever since I was very young. As soon as I finish one book I start the next. I couldn't imagine leaving home without a book in my bag. The first book I read that made me cry was The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. I also loved the books of Nina Bawden. My favourite author as a small child was Michael Bond - I still have all my Paddington Bear books. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">5. <u>Seaside or Countryside?</u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">I am lucky enough to live by the sea. Every morning when I go for my walk, I see the beach and can look out over the Irish Sea to the North Wales coast. I can't imagine being landlocked, I just wouldn't like that, but I do enjoy a holiday in the countryside. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">6. <u>Favourite beverage?</u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">Tea - always tea, I never drink coffee. Just plain ordinary tea with milk, no sugar. The best drink of the day. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">7. <u>Do you have a pet?</u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">No. I had a cat many years ago but it ran away when my husband (boyfriend at the time) came on the scene. Maybe it's time to swap my husband for a cat. I'd like to be a crazy cat lady when I grow up.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">8. <u>Favourite way to serve vegetables?</u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">As I mentioned above, I'm not really a food lover, so I can only answer this question by saying - on a plate!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">9. <u>Do you grow your own?</u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">In an ideal world, I would be growing lots of lovely vegetables and fruits, making jams and interesting meals - but in reality, the only things that grows well in my garden, are the weeds.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">10. <u>Dark, milk or white chocolate?</u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">Yes Please!!!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 24.64px;">I've enjoyed answering these questions. So it would be fun if as many people who want to, join in and answer some or all of them as well, either in the comments section on this blog or on your own blogs. I look forward to reading your answers. </span></div>
Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-28062302456368902592016-05-01T09:00:00.000+01:002016-05-01T09:00:16.980+01:00Not in LondonThank you all for the lovely comments both here on my blog and on Ravelry about the Fair Isle Hat pattern. It really is a pleasure to share my patterns and I hope you enjoy them. <br />
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As mentioned earlier this week, I had planned to be in London this weekend, catching up with Eve. Unfortunately, it being a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, there are extensive engineering works on the rail line around Stafford. This means that it would have taken me nearly six hours to get from London to Liverpool on my way home. So I've postponed the trip for another two weeks, when hopefully the weather might, just might, be a little warmer. <br />
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So it's been another quiet week. My husband has had a bad cold all week, so we haven't even made it out to the pub for a pint this week! On the plus side, my manic creative activity is still ongoing. I'm sure I'm going to burn out soon, but I'm making the most of all my energy to just get things done. <br />
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This week, I have completed my dress. It's a beautiful pale green in a light cotton, ideal for summer weather - which we might get one day! My husband was responsible for taking the photos but out of the many that were taken, this was the only one that wasn't at a strange angle or very blurred!<br />
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The pattern is Simplicity 2444 and this is the fourth time I've made the pattern. I just love it. It's a perfect fit and so easy to wear. <br />
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I have also finished my Leftie, that I had been working on at Grace's last weekend. This is more of a scarf than a shawl. <br />
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The colour is actually dark grey, not blue, and the stripes and leaves are more colourful than the pictures sugest. It's a very addictive project and I wish I could have continued knitting it but it was big enough, so I sadly had to cast off after 32 leaves. <br />
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The pattern is by Martina Behm. It's not a free pattern but it's an excellent pattern and I'll be knitting it again at some point in the future. Next time I'll use a softer yarn for the main part, the one I used was from stash and a bit on the rough side. The gradient yarn was some leftovers that Grace gave me from her own Leftie. You can see full details of this project on my Ravelry page, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/leftie" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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And now it's May, and I do love the beginning of each month, it's a joyful time. It's a time to plan the month ahead and think of the possibilities. I have two projects already in progress, a cardigan and a shawl, that I would like to get finished this month. I will obviously be casting on for a new pair of socks. This month I will be knitting with this gorgeous West Yorkshire Spinners yarn in the Goldfinch colourway.<br />
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It's all ready to cast on. I'm going to use the same recipe I used last month because I loved it so much - toe-up, fleegle heel with Vanilla Latte pattern. But, as you know, I like to try something different each month. This month I'm going to try knitting my socks two-at-a-time - that's both socks on the same needles, knitted simultaneously. It should be interesting, and hopefully fun. <br />
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Right, that's me up-to-date. I'm off to cast on my two-at-time socks. I hope you are having a good weekend. See you soon. Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-54771348073496365022016-04-29T17:14:00.000+01:002016-04-29T17:14:36.814+01:00Fair Isle Hat PatternJust popping in today to share the pattern for my Fair Isle Hat. <br />
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I've completed the second version and written up the pattern, so I'm feeling very pleased with myself for getting it all done so promptly.<br />
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This version was knitted with Rowan fine Tweed - leftovers from <a href="http://yellowpinkandsparkly.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/knitting-for-my-big-girl.html" target="_blank">the cardigan I knitted Eve for her birthday. </a><br />
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It's lovely and bright and I enjoyed knitting the pattern just as much as <a href="http://yellowpinkandsparkly.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/fair-isle-hat.html" target="_blank">the one earlier this month</a>. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNIMnKm5vXk1_9MEEGwK141wDeTKTETu7ERBxN9fm5laK2JGpvWn-SZYJbRq5LPBbyeaWN93Ci60dte1Gg5HJFm_97ecF8z26A9mz-iOdKKLNZDqxFoFRaTyaflcuTGVGqa3sdrHZkmI/s1600/1461926270651.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNIMnKm5vXk1_9MEEGwK141wDeTKTETu7ERBxN9fm5laK2JGpvWn-SZYJbRq5LPBbyeaWN93Ci60dte1Gg5HJFm_97ecF8z26A9mz-iOdKKLNZDqxFoFRaTyaflcuTGVGqa3sdrHZkmI/s400/1461926270651.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Version #1</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGF6IzhSJwL4pZ4B3ZLyw0yHFIscxnSEDe01Q74Hpz_O6VObKo24LKoSjcw2AVKqdmHakxAAPhSCZ6GslgmVLFunX0ifv8zzK9UbrGoZftu4-cz-xnmcQpwoRkvda4wKzrJ1RtEhDVtY/s1600/1461925511981.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGF6IzhSJwL4pZ4B3ZLyw0yHFIscxnSEDe01Q74Hpz_O6VObKo24LKoSjcw2AVKqdmHakxAAPhSCZ6GslgmVLFunX0ifv8zzK9UbrGoZftu4-cz-xnmcQpwoRkvda4wKzrJ1RtEhDVtY/s400/1461925511981.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Version #2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Details of this version can be found on my Ravelry page, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yellowpinksparkly/fair-isle-hat-3" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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The pattern can be downloaded for free, of course, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/dls/janet-mcmahon-designs/332398?filename=Fair_Isle_Hat.pdf%22%3Edownload%20now%3C/a%3E" target="_blank"><b>HERE</b></a>.<br />
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Alternatively you can add the pattern to your Ravelry library by visiting the pattern page, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fair-isle-hat-34" target="_blank"><b>HERE</b></a>. <br />
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Have a lovely weekend everyone. Bye for now.Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345961466924088947.post-16831011091480477022016-04-26T15:24:00.000+01:002016-04-26T15:24:12.832+01:00No Ends, But Plenty of BeginningsHello Everyone, I hope you all had a good weekend. We had a lovely spontaneous trip to Sheffield to see Grace. Although it was still very cold and windy at the weekend we did get out and about in Sheffield. <br />
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On Saturday we visited the cathedral. Grace has lived in Sheffield now for two and a half years, but this was our first visit to the Cathedral and we were very impressed with the interior. From the outside it doesn't look very exciting, but inside there is a lovely mix of ancient and modern architecture, plenty of interesting side chapels and, my favourite, lots of lovely angels to spot. <br />
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On Sunday, we walked to the Botanical Gardens. <br />
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It's always good to meet up with Grace, because we have plenty of knitting chat to catch up on - comparing works in progress, yarns and discussing future projects. For the trip, I took my Leftie Shawl. This had been languishing at the bottom of the works in progress pile, mainly because it's a good travelling project so I was saving it for the next long car trip. I managed to get lots done on this, more than I thought I would. I could quite possibly finish it this week - I'll have to find a new travelling project for future trips. <br />
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The other shawl I have been working on and had intended to finish this week has been put to one side because I've cast on another Fair Isle Hat. <br />
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I want to get the pattern written up and the best way to check what I've typed up is to knit it up again. I'm using leftovers from the cardigan I knitted Eve, so it all helps towards stash reduction.<br />
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I've also been doing some dress making - little and often, so it's coming together nicely, without any stress. <br />
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Neckline and armholes to finish off, zip to insert and then only the hem. <br />
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I've also joined in with a new crochet CAL. This one is called <a href="http://www.crystalsandcrochet.com/crochets/mandala-madness-cal-2016/" target="_blank">Mandala Madness</a> and it's by Helen Shrimpton. The pattern is being released over 18 weeks. So far the first 6 weeks are available. Here's the pattern picture of what's been released so far. Isn't it gorgeous. <br />
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The finished object will be a very large circular blanket. I've only just joined in but I'm part way through the second part. <br />
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I would have made more progress but my eye strain problem flared up again - you would think by now I would have learnt that trying to read complicated crochet patterns on my Kindle late at night is not good for my eyes. Anyway, I've had to put it down for now, but as soon as my eye recovers, I'll be back with it - but only in good light!<br />
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I've just remembered that I do have something finished after all. I've been continuing to make my mini sock yarn sweaters to add to my bunting decoration. Here's another 7 that have been completed recently. <br />
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<span id="goog_1522793046"></span><span id="goog_1522793047"></span><br />
So that's what I'm up to at the moment. I'm off down to London on Friday to have a girlie weekend with Eve. Can't wait for that. I'll have to sort out a new travelling project for the train journey. <br />
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Enjoy the rest of your week. Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15477500174163532806noreply@blogger.com8