Tour de France Time Again

Here 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.

Last year, I joined in with the Tour de France group on Ravelry and did some stash-busting.  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).

So far I have made three pigeons!

Two Coasters using my Eveline's Motif Pattern.

A pair of very red socks.

A colourful meditation mandala.  I made this up as I went along - great fun.

Some pretty bunting using my Daisy Chain Bunting Pattern.

Three coat hangers, incorporating my Floral Embellishment Pattern.

I'm currently working on a shawl.  It has an applied lacy border and I'm just over a quarter of the way along the edge.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Until next time, happy crafting to you all.

Socks, 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.

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, HERE)

This yarn was leftover from a hat that Grace made.  The pattern is Maddalena by Louisa Harding, a pattern I've made before and worn  a lot.  So if it works, then I'm happy to go with it again.

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.

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, HERE)

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.

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, HERE)

I used a chart from a Finnish pattern called Eukalyptus which creates a lovely lacy pattern.

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.

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.

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.

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.

So that's me all accounted for.  I'm hoping to get some fresh air over the next week, inbetween sock knitting!

Enjoy the week ahead whatever you have planned.

Happy Sunshiny Days

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog post.  I hope you all had a lovely weekend.

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.

First of all, I'd like to share with you my lovely finished shawl.

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.

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 HERE.

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.

So now I really, really do need to get back on track with my other works in progress - until the next distraction!

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!

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.

pic from www.lythamtowntrust.org

We called into the windmill to see the museum run by the local heritage society.

pic from www.lythamheritagegroup.co.uk

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).

A very relaxing day and it's always nice to visit somewhere new.

When I got home, I was watching one of my favourite podcasters, YarnderWoman, 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.

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!!!

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.

Have a good week. X

Enjoying the Sunshine

There are times when I feel that I devote too much attention to the weather - but I'm British and that's what we do.  So yesterday was gorgeous and unbelievably hot and sunny.  Yes, I should get outside and do some gardening.  Well I made it outside, but somehow the gardening just didn't happen.  It was far too nice to worry about gardening, instead I sat and read and did another row of knitting... and another.  So the gardening never got a look in.  But I did get my first suntan of the year!

Anyway, enough about the weather, let's move on to more important matters - knitting and crochet!

This week has been another productive week. I'm in such a good creative place at the moment, everything seems to be flowing along.  Firstly, the socks for April were finished. I used the yarn Grace bought me for my birthday.

I endeavour to try something new each month with my sock knitting.  It's just over a year since I started knitting a pair of socks each month and I feel I've still got so much to learn.  This month I was trying a new heel.  I find I'm drawn to toe-up knitting rather than cuff-down, so I'm trying to find a heel that works best for me with this method.  So these socks were knitted with a Fleegle heel.

And I must say I loved it.  It was a great heel to knit, I loved the process.  I'm not sure about the finished look of the heel yet.  I think I need to explore some more styles of heel before I settle on my perfect sock "recipe" but this is one that I will knit again.  You can see full details of this project on my Ravelry page here.

I've got the sewing machine out at the moment.  There's a dress in progress, but still a way to go with that.  I'm taking a leisurely approach to sewing it up so that it doesn't feel too stressful - it just means the dining room is littered with fabric and sewing patterns.  In between sewing the dress, I ran up a work-in-progress bag for one of the shawls I'm knitting at the moment using leftovers from last week's Dottie Angel dress.

I also found a sample of some crochet flowers I had made years ago that was hanging around, being idle, so I put it to use as an embellishment for the bag.

I should then have been concentrating on completing one of the two shawls that are on the needles, but there was a distraction!  And I blame Meredith - yes, you Meredith.  I sat drooling over your South Bay Shawlette and saw that you were making another one (and had got Lynne to join you).  How could I resist making another one myself.  It is a great pattern, so easy and it grows quickly.

 I had some lace weight yarn in my stash that needed some attention.  I knew it wasn't enough to make a full sized shawl, but there was still enough to make something of a decent size that would satisfy my South Bay Shawlette distraction.  And here it is.

It took two evenings to make and used up 27g of Regia Lace.  It's just the right size for a doll or Teddy Bear and I know just the bear who would appreciate it.  So I'm gifting it this weekend to someone's well-loved and cherished companion.

The squares for my crochet blanket were also completed this week.

I have 11 squares in total now, only 5 more to go to get the size of blanket I want.

So that's it for now.  The sun has come out again, so I'm off into the garden - to actually do some gardening this time.  Then later it will be back to the dressmaking and in-progress shawls.  (Actually yesterday I started a new crochet along for a blanket, but I'll tell you about that another time).  I hope the sun is shining for you.  Enjoy your week.

Where I'm At

April already, this year is just whizzing by.  It's a rainy day here today, so a quiet knitting day is planned.

I had a bit of a mad cast on, yesterday.  Having finished a number of projects earlier in the week, I felt I could treat myself to some new ones.

Firstly, I couldn't wait to start knitting some socks with the yarn Grace bought me for my birthday.  Just look at the gorgeous colours in this.

Totally delicious.  It's Wendy Roam Fusion in the Force colourway.  Here's what we have so far.

Toe cosies!  And even better, they match!  The colours are about to change to a lovely deep blue, so that's what I'm going to be working on this afternoon.

I've also cast on for another cropped cardigan.  Using this wool.

Yes the labels are correct, it was only £1 per 50g ball.  The wool has no label but it is soooooo soft.  I bought nine balls altogether when I was at Yarndale last year.  I've knit 6 rows of rib so far and it really is beautiful to knit with.

And then, just because I can, I cast on for another shawl.  Yes I now have more shawls than I need but I love knitting them and it's nice to have a variety of course.

I'm using Knit Global 4 ply yarn in the Summer Berries colourway - there's no way I can ever resist a colour that has "berries" in its name.  It'll be a simple feather and fan shawl, very easy to knit.

So that's my knitting projects all up to date.

As far as my stash busting goes, I'm pleased to say that March was a very successful month.  In total I busted 1410g of yarn, and that's allowing for the 200g of new yarn that found its way into the stash.  Obviously things were helped along by the generous donation of yarn to Grace, but it all counts.  So my running total of stash that has been busted since the weigh-in in February, is 2.165 kg - that's just under 5 lbs in imperial weights - so I'm very pleased.  It's 1/9th of my total stash.  It's all looking good for Yarndale later in the year!

I haven't mentioned my embroidery project for quite a while, so I thought I'd give a glimpse of where I'm at.  If you remember, I was embroidering 54 squares, while I was still 54.  And amazingly, I did get them all finished before my birthday.  I got into a lovely rhythm of a square a day, and it was a very pleasurable project to work on.

So now I have the task of joining them all.  I'm using the English Paper Piecing technique to make three inch squares.  I've tacked them all up and here they are.

Here's a close up of some of them.

Plenty of variety in them.  I'm now looking forward to planning the layout of the squares to make my wall hanging.  There's still a lot of work to be done, but it's coming along nicely.

And finally - gosh I have had a productive week - I made some spicy fruity biscuits.

They have nearly all gone, so delicious.  So that's me, keeping busy and enjoying my creative life.

Have a lovely weekend, may your days be filled with love and inspiration.

Make a List...

Isn't February flying by!  As usual I've set myself so many goals and targets, I'll be lucky if I get even half of them done.  I have so many knitting and crocheting projects on the go now that I need to stop creating new projects and concentrate on getting some finished.

So, obviously the first thing you do in this situation is draw up a list (I love lists).  I've split all the wips into three groups: short term, medium term and long term.  I maybe should have a fourth group called open ended but I'm not too worried about the long term projects at the moment.

For the medium term projects, shown in the baskets and bags above and taking up a significant amount of space in the living room, I have -
Eve's Fair Isle cardigan,
Grey cardigan for me,
Hansel Hap,
Leftie shawl,
Granny Square bag,
Aran Sophie blanket.

The last one is something I started earlier this week.  It's the Sophie's Universe blanket that I made last year, but using up my leftovers of Aran weight yarn.  It'll be a modified version, as there isn't that much yarn to work with.

So I'm hoping to get maybe two of these finished during the course of the next week - although I haven't decided which two to work on yet, so I'm flitting from one to another at the moment until I decide (which probably means that I won't get any of them finished!)

In the short term category I only have one project and that's my February socks.  I've been using my new basket for this project.

I've been asked by a number of you for instructions on how I make my basket liners, so I'll write up some notes and share them with you shortly.  But back to the socks, and at last  I have something finished to show you.

They are just plain vanilla socks, cuff down, using Regia 4 ply.

I love the colours, they remind me of the rows of lipstick testers on the cosmetics counter.

Full details of this project can be found on my Ravelry project page, here.

So now I'm going to sit down and work out which other projects I want to concentrate on and hopefully finish - before I get tempted to start something new!

Wet and Windy January

With this miserable damp weather we're having at the moment, we haven't felt inclined to venture out much.  It's been far nicer to stay warm and cosy in the house.

January seems to have got off to a slow start.

This has given me plenty of time for knitting and crocheting over the past week, but I'm determined that I should make time for other crafts.  I think tomorrow might be an embroidery day.

The colourful socks I cast on on New Year's day are now complete.

I love the way the colours pattern around in a spiral.  You can see full details of the yarn I used on my Ravelry page, here.

I've knitted these toe up again and I'm finding it a very satisfying way to make the socks.  I had said that I wanted to be more adventurous and try different techniques, so I'm glad I tried this.  At the moment I'm limited to the fish lips kiss heel because I don't know how to do a heel flap for a toe up sock, but I've found some patterns that will help, so next month's socks will see me trying yet another new technique.  That's the great thing about sock knitting - there's so many different ways to knit a sock, it's never boring.

I've also been doing some crocheting - another basket recycle.

I deliberately chose colours I don't usually go for and I like the combination, it makes a nice change.  I used Stylecraft Special DK in Storm Blue, Teal, Sage, Claret, Sherbet and Lime.

So now I'm back with my Fair Isle knitting - a few rows each day means that it is moving along and growing quite nicely.

It looks like it's going to be a quiet January but hopefully a very crafty one.  Enjoy your weekend.