Carnegie Library

In the council district that I live, we have (had) thirteen libraries.  Our local library has been in existence for over a hundred years.

In 1902 the local council approached the American philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie for financial help to build a library in our area.  Generously, he donated £4,000 of the £5,750 building costs.  In total there were 2509 Carnegie Libraries built between 1883 and 1929, of which, 660 were in Britain and Ireland.

The foundation stone for our Carnegie Library was laid on 11th May 1904 and the library officially opened on 23rd June 1905.

The building is a Grade 2 listed building.

Yesterday, it closed its doors for good.  The council, due to major funding cuts has had to take the difficult decision to close over half of the libraries in our council district.  Ours was the fifth to close with two more to close before Christmas.

A tea party was held at the library yesterday afternoon and it was lovely to meet up again with the librarians past and present who I've known over the twenty six years I've lived in the area and frequented the library.

It was a rather sad afternoon, seeing the almost empty shelves and knowing that most of the books are being sent off for recycling.

A last chance to read the newspapers for free!

The deserted children's section.

We've lost an amazing resource.

Today's Distraction

I'm not feeling too guilty about today's distraction.  After all, Mary and Jesus are more relevant to this time of the year than pigeons, so not too much of a distraction from Christmassy matters.  

Eve is home from university at the weekend but she has an extended essay to write over the holidays.  The subject is something to do with representations of the Virgin Mary in Latin American culture.  

I can't help her with the essay, but I can crochet a Mary and Jesus from a Peruvian crochet website!!!

The pattern is available for free, here.  It's in Spanish, but with the help of the photos and Google Translate, I was able to get along very nicely.  

Hopefully Eve will be so inspired she'll pick up her pen and dash off her essay in a blink of an eye, leaving us with plenty of time to have fun.  

Easily Distracted

I was supposed to be getting organised, you know, tidying the house and making space for the Christmas tree and the overwhelming amount of decorations we've accumulated over the years.  But then I saw this book in the library.

I couldn't resist the cute little pigeon.

So I didn't tidy and make room, I knitted instead.  Which was far more fun.

I fancy making this little beauty next...

but I really should get organised!!

Christmas is Coming...

So December is upon us and despite the good intentions I had last year to be more organised this year, I find that Christmas has crept up on me from behind and taken me by surprise - again.

In order to keep the stress levels to a minimum, I'm not planning any major knitting or crochet projects - yet!  Obviously something new has to be made or there would be no fun.  So I've dashed out this rather charming  Christmas Pudding tea cosy.

The pattern is by Hilary Detmers and is available for free.  Details of the pattern can be seen on Ravelry, here.

So now I'm off to get myself organised - a seemingly never-ending task!

Scatness Tam

In a bid to get organised (again!) I'm trying to update my finished projects.

Today's finished item is the Scatness Tam by Kate Davies.  Having sorted out my needles issues, I raced ahead and finished this last week.

Now that it's cold and windy in the mornings when I go for my walk, this hat has already had quite a few outings and it is lovely and snug.
 
I do love Fair Isle, it's always enjoyable to knit.

You can see full details of this project on my Ravelry page, here.

I've been promising myself that I could start a new Fair Isle cardigan for some time, so now that I have a few projects out of the way, I've cast on for that.

I had intended to plan it carefully, selecting colours and patterns - but - I was too impatient so it's going to be a "let's see what happens" type of cardigan!!  Let's hope it doesn't end up a "let's frog the damn thing" type of cardigan!

Once I've completed the first pattern, I'll take some photos of the work-in-progress.

My Snuggly, Cuddly Blanket

Last year I started a crochet- a- long with Jules at Little Woollie, to make a blanket.

I've waited eagerly for each instalment to be posted.  In the last few days Jules has added the border.  Excitedly I picked up my crochet hook for the last time on this blanket and now I've finished it.

It's a wonderful jumble of stitches and colours.

So beautifully jolly, I can't believe that it will fail to keep me warm and cheerful over the long winter nights.

Just perfect for snuggling under.

A big thank you to Jules for creating this lovely project.

Why Didn't I Think of This Earlier?

All eager to start knitting my Scatness Tam by Kate Davies, I rounded up the wool I want to use and turned to my knitting needle collection.

Normally when I knit something with a small / medium diameter I prefer to use the two long circular needles method to knit in the round, rather than using double pointed needles.  I have a reasonable collection of 60 cm and 80 cm long circular needles in various sizes.  There are lots of tutorials for this method, here, here, and here, if you are interested.

Now according to my records on Ravelry I have two 3 mm circular needles, both length 80 cm - but oops I can only find one.  I've looked everywhere but think I may have given one to Grace - I'll have to check with her.  Not a major problem - I'll use my DPNs.

The DPNs were great for the brim but once I'd increased, the stitches kept falling off the ends of the needles.  I'd started off with the stitches divided amongst three needles and knitting with a fourth but soon changed to the stitches divided amongst four needles and knitting with a fifth.

Not ideal but I was getting there.

But then, I thought, wouldn't it be simpler to just get the right length circular needle for the hat - a 40 cm long needle.

So, having googled and browsed, compared and dithered, I finally pressed the buy button and here it is, my 3 mm 40 cm long circular needle.

What a cutie.

And look how much better the knittings looking already.

Now I'm thinking, I should have a selection of these little beauties in various needles sizes - my Christmas present wish list is starting to fill out quite nicely!

Celia Pattern

I seem to have a backlog of things to do, so I'm being a good girl and trying to be organised and get things done.

I have finally typed up the pattern for the cropped cardigan I made some time ago - my notes become more indecipherable the longer I leave it!

The cardigan is one of my favourites to wear.  It's very versatile and a great fit.  I'll probably knit it again in a darker colour for the winter months.

It is knitted in 4 ply weight yarn in one piece up to the armholes, and then knitted back and forth.  The shoulders are formed by short row shaping and a three needle bind off.  The sleeves are knitted flat and seamed to fit. 

It is available in one size only, to fit 32 inch chest.  The finished measurements are chest - 34 inches, sleeve seam - 18 inches and length - 15 1/2 inches.  

Full details of the pattern can be found over on Ravelry, here.

The free PDF for the pattern is available, here.

Hanging Decoration

It's surprising how addictive Pinterest can be.  I find I can't do without my daily dose of inspiration from the wonderful pictures posted up.

One such picture I spotted recently was of crochet-covered CDs made into hanging ornaments.  Good idea - I thought I'd give it a go.

First find yourself an old CD...

Can't believe I'm ever going to use this one!

Then I crocheted a plain back to cover the wording etc.

Now for the front.  Have fun  Choose your colours, I used DK weight yarn but I think sport or 4 ply would be even better for a more detailed design.   Then create a 12 pointed doily pattern, until there is only one round to go.

Place 12 pins evenly around the backing circle.  Now work the last round of the front decoration, joining the front to the back with a slip stitch at each of the pins, adding a picot for a fancy edging.

Remember to insert the CD before you finish the round!

And, there it is.

Hang it up and let it catch the light.

It would make a good Christmas decoration, don't you think?

Up to My Eyeballs in...

...paint.  Yes, I'm decorating.  Now that Grace has moved out, Eve is moving into her bedroom and a change of colour is called for.  For Grace the room had red walls and a golden yellow ceiling.  Eve is having pale yellow walls and an off white ceiling.  It's taken about 4 to 5 coats of paint to cover the old colours but I think I might almost be there!

All this painting has meant that I haven't had a chance to indulge in some crafty time as much as I would have liked.  Nevertheless I have finally finished my seamless sweater.

It's plain and boring and knitted up using cheap yarn but the idea behind knitting it was to experiment with knitting as seamlessly as possible.  It's knitted bottom-up and the sleeves and body are joined to complete the yoke.  The small seam under the arm is grafted for a nice neat finish.  There is also a small seam at the top of the shoulder that was closed with mattress stitch and the shoulders are completed with a three needle bind-off.

It all worked very well and there are maybe only one or two things I would tweak next time - if I ever decide to knit another seamless sweater.  The truth of the matter is, that I really do prefer to knit a seamed sweater.  I seem (no pun intended) to knit quicker, I guess this is down to shorter rows - always easier to say I'll just knit another row if you only have, say, 100 stitches on the needle rather over 300.  Also knitting seamlessly does require careful consideration and some recalculation of the pattern - just too much like hard work.

But anyway, the sweater is a lovely fit and at least I can say I tried.  Thankfully it's out of the way and I can start something new - the Scatness Tam by Kate Davies I've been promising myself for some time.

Tomorrow I'm painting the woodwork in the bedroom, but I'm sure I'll be able to fit in a few rounds of the tam.

Ursula Mittens

Another completed project from Kate Davies's book, The Colours of Shetland.

The pattern is called Ursula mittens.  The mittens are a lovely snug fit, but I would have preferred a longer cuff.  Also the thumb would have been better if it was more fitted.  Details of the yarn etc I used can be found, as always, on my Ravelry page, here.

I'm satisfied with the mittens but not madly in love with them.  They'll keep me warm this winter and I'm happy with the lovely Autumnal colour combination.

Now I'm off to cast on for Kate Davies's Scatness Tam - I do love her hat patterns so I am anticipating a less muted response to this project.

A Relaxing Stroll Through the Pinewoods

How about joining me on a relaxing stroll in Formby, just 7 miles up the coast from where I live.

Let's set off and explore

Through the woods

In the pinewoods - look out for any red squirrels

Emerging from the woods we arrive at the coastal hinterland

See the sandhills in the distance

Past the windswept trees

Approaching the sandhills
 

Almost at the beach

A reminder of the fragility of the environment

The beach, popular with both two- and four- legged walkers

Watching the gentle waves

So relaxing 

Feel the stress slipping away 

Time to turn back 

Past some interestingly twisted trees

And back to where we started.

What a wonderful way to spend a few hours.  Thank you so much for joining me on the walk, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.  Where shall we walk to next?