Enjoying the Colours

There 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.

I've been knitting up some colourful goodness of my own.  My Fair Isle cardigan is now complete.

It's knitted entirely from leftovers of gorgeous Shetland 4ply wool, a mix of Jamieson & Smith and Jamieson's Spindrift.

In total I used 19 different colours and 369g of yarn.  It's a true stashbuster.

I'm really pleased with how it looks and the colour combination is just perfect.

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.

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).

He liked the surprise and the cake was delicious. (For anyone concerned, Barbie's legs fitted back on no problem afterwards!)

Have a good weekend.

Living the Dream

A lazy relaxed morning...
An afternoon walk through woodland..
or through picturesque valleys...
Followed by an evening of knitting and reading..
or maybe spent with a pint or two of good beer in an atmospheric old pub -

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.

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.

This dog does not belong to us!

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.

I took a variety of knitting projects on holiday with me, but ended up just concentrating on my Fair Isle cardigan.

It's looking lovely and colourful and it's such good fun to knit. Hopefully it will be finished sometime this week.

Before we went away, I managed to complete a pinafore  dress.

It's sewn using my favourite dress pattern, Simplicity 2444 and the fabric is a fine needlework.  I just love the raspberry colour.

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.

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, here.

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!

Yarndale 2016

I 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.

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.

Isn't it wonderful.  I didn't spend as much as last year but I feel I spent my money more wisely this year.

Grace went with me again and this is her collection.

I bought some gorgeous skeins for shawls.

I love the colours and patterns of the Cuddlebums yarn, on the left.

This pretty sock yarn had to come home with me.

I also bought this lovely British Wool DK weight yarn for a cardigan.

The yarn colour is called turquoise but it actually looks greener than in the above photo.

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.

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.

I received lots of lovely compliments on my Lily the Pink cardigan which was very pleasing.

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.

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, here.

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.

Weekend in London

Well 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.

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 V & A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green.

There was a very moving special exhibition on Child Migrants, as well as one on the Clangers and Bagpuss.

There were also cases and cases of toys, games, dolls and teddy bears.

A great afternoon out.

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.

(I don't know who this person is,
she just happened to be in the queue for the photo!)

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.

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.

Picture by Homegirl London

Picture by Wonderwoof

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.

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 !

HOWEVER, I did get a bit carried away with knitting needles and knitting patterns - but they are all so lovely.

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.

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.

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.

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

Some of My Favourite Things

I have very kindly been nominated for a Liebster Award for my blog by Jo from A Whole Plot of Love.  What fun!  Jo has set ten questions that I have to answer.  Here are the questions -

1. Favourite season?

2. Do you eat breakfast?

3. Starter or pudding?

4. Favourite childhood author?

5. Seaside or countryside?

6. Favourite beverage?

7. Do you have a pet?

8. Favourite way to serve vegetables?

9. Do you grow your own?

10. Dark, milk or white chocolate?

So now to answer them -

1.  Favourite Season?

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 perfect.  

2.  Do you eat Breakfast?

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) ...

...and fifty years on I still have a bowl of porridge every morning - sprinkled with dried cranberries.  And accompanied by a good book.

3.  Starter or Pudding?  

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.  

4.  Favourite Childhood Author?

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.  

5.  Seaside or Countryside?

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.  

6.  Favourite beverage?

Tea - always tea, I never drink coffee.  Just plain ordinary tea with milk, no sugar.  The best drink of the day.  

7.  Do you have a pet?

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.

8.  Favourite way to serve vegetables?

As I mentioned above, I'm not really a food lover, so I can only answer this question by saying - on a plate!

9.  Do you grow your own?

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.

10.  Dark, milk or white chocolate?

Yes Please!!!

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.    

Serendipity

Well the New Year has got off to a good start.  I'm getting myself organised and managing to find plenty of time to knit and crochet.

As an added bonus, I have had the good fortune to acquire a significant number of craft magazines that were no longer wanted by the previous owner.

What treasure!

This little lot will keep me quiet for a while.

I shall saviour them and browse them slowly and carefully, enjoying the inspiration that arises from them.  How fortunate I am that these came my way.

The work on my leftovers Fair Isle cardigan continues, although, at what seems like a slow pace.  Because I'm knitting all the pieces concurrently, it doesn't feel as though it's growing much, but I'm loving the way it is turning out.

I hadn't intended to join any crochet-alongs, I have enough to be getting on with at the moment, but I received a message on Ravelry inviting me to join in again with the Block-A-Month CAL for 2016, and I just couldn't refuse.

This year I'm going for a muted palette - last year's colour choices were bright and "in your face" - so for 2016 I've picked colours that are more unusual for me.

I'm using Stylecraft Special DK in cream, stone, pale rose, cloud blue, wisteria, silver and grey.

Here's this months' squares - firstly the main square, which is called Stars Aligned.

The filler square is called Larksfoot.

And the small square is called Circled Granny - as last year I have made four of these to make them up to a large square.

I'm very pleased with these squares - I'm sure the blanket will be lovely when it's finished - but that'll be months away.  For now, I'm back to some Fair Isle knitting.  Enjoy your crafting time.