Trip to Durham

The second of our university open days was to Durham University.  I think it was the hottest, most humid day of the week - not ideal conditions for a car journey, 3 hours each way. 

The city of Durham is lovely - so picturesque.  I took the camera but forgot to use it!  So here are some pictures taken by better photographers than me. 

The city centre is made up of narrow streets and old buildings.

The cathedral dominates the centre - it is awe inspiring in its size and simplicity of design - it's my favourite cathedral - it moves me everytime I visit it. 

We had lunch sitting on the grass outside the cathedral in the shade of the trees - perfect. 

We visited Van Mildert college - a typical modern-style residential college - it didn't have a great deal of character - but the duck pond helped.

Eve loved the sound of the history course, but wasn't wowed by English. 

Here's the history department building in the centre of Durham. 

We liked how green everywhere was and it definitely has possibilities.  We're now accumulating a collection of university bags which seem to have been left in the living room together with the pile of prospectuses!

Next week we're off to Cambridge - so an even longer car joureny to look forward to!

At least the knitting is making progress - although on the Durham trip the heat made it impossible to get a lot done. 

As a treat I made sticky gingerbread muffins when we got home.

Delicious!

Marcus Finished

At last, it's done. 

The sweater for my husband is finally finished - and has received his approval!

I really pleased with the fit - just as I had planned it - but you never know until they try it on. 

The Sirdar Balmoral was a real treat to knit with - such a lovely quality to it.  You can see full details of the project on my Ravelry page, here. 

The timing of finishing the sweater was not good.  I finished stitching it up just as the heatwave arrived - but he'll get plenty of wear from it in the winter. 

I'll post the pattern for the sweater once I've typed it up and made all the calculations for sizing. 

Now, back to knitting for me!!!

On Our Travels

Open days for the universities are upon us and we're off travelling around the country to see which university Eve would like to go to.  On Friday we went to Nottingham. 

It's a beautiful campus - we loved it there.  Lots of green spaces, a lake and lovely buildings. 

This one is the history building which apparently used to be a coach house. 

Everyone was very helpful and friendly, the accommodation looked good.  Eve could definitely see herself here.  The only probelm was that she wasn't impressed with the course for the subject she is most interested in. 

So this coming week, it's Durham University and then the following week it's Cambridge. 

I couldn't take the sweater I'm knitting for my husband in the car with me as the Fair Isle is too messy for car journeys.  Instead I started a new cardi for myself.  I have had the balls of wool sitting in front of me for the past week, in order to motivate myself to finish my DH's sweater.  Nottingham and back enabled me to easily complete the ribbing for the back on this new one. 

The main colour is actually more green than in the picture and the red is a lot brighter.  For the journey to Durham I plan to do the ribbing for the fronts and as much of the sleeve cuffs as I can.  The main body of the cardi will be Fair Isle. 
Never fear, the sweater for my DH is now knitted, it just needs making up. 

There's a Formula 1 race today, from Valencia, so a few hours in front of the television should see this finished.  The irony is that following the weeks of cold and miserable weather, there's a heat wave predicted for today and tomorrow - so wearing a warm sweater will be the last thing on his mind. 

Canal Walk

Today is our wedding anniversary.  I must say, this past year has gone very quickly.  Was it really twelve months since our 25th anniversary? 

Today we decided to go for a peaceful stroll along the Leeds to Liverpool canal. 

On previous outings, we've walked the stretch of the canal around Lydiate, Maghull, Melling and Aintree, so today we decided to walk towards Liverpool itself. 

We started our walk at Waterloo, went through Seaforth, Litherland and ended up in Bootle. 

Despite going through some very built-up areas, the canal was lovely and peaceful.

There were plenty of coots and moorhens with their babies. 

The canal itself was mostly clean and looked after, but it was spoilt in a few places by swathes of plastic bottles and cans.  It always makes me sad when I see such ugliness. 

All in all it was a lovely morning.  I need to rest my feet for a while now, but we're off out later for a romantic evening together!

Our Newest Driver

Grace has passed her driving test.  After many months of lessons she finally plucked up courage to put in for her test.  I thought she would be nervous but she said the test was more relaxing than the lessons. 

I didn't make her a good luck card, instead I made her this. 

It's based on the pattern Tiny Wheels Crazee Carz by Christal friend and is available for free here. 

I modified the bottom part of the car to make it more chubby, left off all the crochet trimmings and added buttons for the wheel trims.  Grace liked the car and took it with her on the test.  Obviously having the good luck car with her made all the difference. 

Eve made a pie to celebrate her success. 

Summer fruits - delicious. 

Colour Co-ordination

I have a wonderful selection of knitting needles - mostly bamboos. 

The problem is the size that is printed on them wears off after a few uses and then you can't easily tell which size it is. 

Fortunately I have a handy little gadget that belonged to my grandmother that is great for determining the sizes. 

It isn't in metric but the old imperial sizes so it's a case of remembering the conversions. 

Today I decided to make life easier by colour co-ordinating the needles.  My lovely girls have many interesting shades of nail polish -

-so I used these to paint the tops of the needles. 

My favourite needles sizes, 3.75mm and 3.25mm are pink and yellow - so I should remember them.  I'll just have to make sure I don't forget what the other colours stand for. 

Now it's all very colourful and jolly.

Slow Progress

Every morning, as soon as I get up, I go for a long walk around the park or along the beach.  This is my thinking time.  I can plan what I'm going to do that day, think about ideas for knitting and crochet projects, daydream and enjoy the solitude and scenery. 

This morning the weather was still miserable, no sunshine, not very warm and quite windy.  It made me think of warm sweaters and that reminded me of the sweater I'm knitting my DH.  So now it's back to work - only the sleeves to finish - c'mon girl! One last push!

No Motivation!

It may seem as though all is quiet on the knitting front but I do have a project on the go at the moment.  Unfortunately it isn't for me.  I'm knitting a sweater for my DH - I rashly suggested I knit him something but as always I am now regretting the offer. 

Firstly I find it difficult to motivate myself if the finished article isn't for me - basically I'm a selfish knitter. 

Secondly, my DH usually finds something wrong with anything I knit him - too big, too short, too long etc etc.  This time I decided to customise a sweater for him rather than using a purchased pattern.  So I'm having to write a pattern for this sweater as I go along. 

Thirdly, obviously men's sweaters are bigger than women's - so take longer to do. 

Here's a peak at the work in progress. 

I have today forced myself to sit and finish the front.  I'm trying to whip up some enthusiasm by planning an interesting cardi I can start when this sweater is finished.  What a martyr I am!!

Grace - some beginnings

An exciting day for Grace today - she starts her first ever job!!  She's working for an electronics company for four months over the summer - a great experience for her.  I'm sure she'll enjoy it.  Unfortunately she has a long train journey each way but we've bought her lots of interesting books to read and she'll be able to do loads of knitting and crocheting. 

She promised herself that when her exams were out of the way she would start her own blog - and in the last few days she has got it up and running.  It's called The Smiling Robot. 

Give it a visit - she'll appreciate it. 

Ada

How exciting - I've just bought a mannequin, to help me with my designing. 

This is how she looks in the flesh, so to speak. 

And here she is wearing a pretty dress. 

We've named her Ada.  She's currently looming over us in the living room but I'll have to find a more suitable place for her to stand because she's quite intimidating.  

Pirates 4

We went to see Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides last night. 

We had heard that it wasn't the best of the pirates films but Johnny's in it - what more do you want. 

We enjoyed it - but - it wasn't as good as the other pirates films.  So few of the cast from the earlier films were in it that it didn't have the same feel to it.  The best bits were when Captain Jack and Barbossa were together - good banter and thankfully Mr Gibbs was still in it - where would Jack be without him.  But we missed Pintel and Ragetti and Cotton and his parrot. 

A Little Ray of Sunshine

PDF version
Where has all the nice weather gone?  I think I blinked and missed it.  We're all feeling under a cloud at the moment with all the exams and misersable weather so I made a little something to cheer us up. 

This is our Little Ray of Sunshine (Ray for short).  He's very quick and easy to make and brings an instant summery smile to your face. 

If you feel you need cheering up why not make your own or give one to someone you know who needs a smile.  Here's the pattern.

Little Ray of Sunshine

To make your own sunshine you will need:

Yellow double knitting yarn – the sunnier the better

3mm crochet hook or whatever feels right

Notions – row marker, toy stuffing, oddments of black yarn

PATTERN

(English terms used)
dc (English) = sc (American)
tr (English ) = dc (American)

Finished size – approximately 14 cm (5 ½ inches) in diameter.

Back

With yellow and 3 mm hook make 2 chain.

1st round: 6 dc (US = sc) into 2nd chain from hook. Do not join at end of round, instead continue to work in a spiral – a row marker will be useful to keep track of the beginning of the round.

2nd round: [2 dc into next dc] 6 times. (12 dc)

3rd round: [2 dc into next dc, 1 dc into next dc] 6 times. (18 dc)

4th round: [2 dc into next dc, 1 dc into next 2 dc] 6 times. (24 dc)

5th round: [2 dc into next dc, 1 dc into next 3 dc] 6 times. (30 dc)

6th round: [2 dc into next dc, 1 dc into next 4 dc] 6 times. (36 dc)

7th round: [2 dc into next dc, 1 dc into next 5 dc] 6 times. (42 dc)

8th round: [2 dc into next dc, 1 dc into next 6 dc] 6 times. (48 dc)

9th round: [2 dc into next dc, 1 dc into next 7 dc] 6 times. (54 dc)

Slip stitch into next dc and fasten off leaving a long tail for sewing up later.

Front

Work as given for back but do not fasten off after ninth round.

10th round: [1 dc in next 3 dc, 1 ch, miss 1 dc, 1 dc in next 2 dc] 9 times.

11th round: [ 1 dc in next dc, miss 2 dc, (3 tr, 5 ch, sl st into 4th ch from hook, 1 ch, 3 tr) all in 1 ch space, miss next 2 dc] 9 times, sl st into 1st dc and fasten off.

Making up

Using black yarn, embroider a very smiley face on the front piece. Sew the back to the front leaving a small gap for stuffing. Stuff and then close the gap. Attach a hanging loop made by either a twisted cord or a crocheted chain.

Hang up your sunshine and see how it brightens your room.

Spider Web Doily

Isn't this doily just wonderful?  Just my idea of what a doily should look like!

This is the one I started in Madrid but didn't quite finish.  When I resumed work on it I wasn't happy with it - no matter what I did it wouldn't lie flat - no amount of stretching and pinning out was going to make a difference.  But I loved the pattern so much so I ripped it out and started again.  The pattern called for 16 repeats in the round but I altered it to 12 and hey presto! it worked.

All I need now is a nice vintage plate to put it on - Oh and some delicoius cakes to display on it. 

It only took two evenings to make and was an easy pattern to follow.  The pattern dates from 1951 and you can find the pattern for free, here. 

Good Luck Cards

Yes, it's that time of the year again - exam time.  It always seems to come round really quickly.  The girls have been studying and revising very hard over the past few weeks (months infact) and now the dreaded exams are upon us. 

Here are the cards I made for them. 

I used organza fabric for the background.  Then used decorative paper to add edgings and to make the bunting.  Finally I used stampers to add the flower borders to match the colours in the paper. 

Good luck girls - you've worked hard so I'm sure you'll be fine. 

Teatime Treats

Shortbread buttons and mince pies.  Someone has been busy. 

Russian Dolls

I've just had great fun making these lovely crocheted Russian Dolls. 

They took a few days to make because of all the embroidery detail but they were a great way to use up oddments of yarn.

The pattern is by Nicki Trench and is in the magazine Woman's Weekly Knitting and Crochet Special April/May 2011.  The pattern also features in Nicki Trench's book Cute and Easy Crochet. 

We've named the dolls Ada, Lily, Sally and Nancy.  A very colourful and jolly addition to our household.

Happy Birthday Mum

A big special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Mum today.  "I hope you have a wonderful day - be good to yourself - you deserve it".

Here is the card I made for her. 

It's a very pretty and dainty design. Unfortunately the photo is a bit pale.  The central motif is slightly raised and I've added a ribbon bow.  I'm really pleased with the stamped flowers in the corners - I think I matched the colours of the central design very well.

And most importantly, my Mum liked it.

Temptation

I am being led astray!!  My friend Angela from Coventry sent me a message yesterday morning to say that Deramores has a sale of Sirdar Countrystyle yarn.  This is one of my favourite yarns - great value -usually around £4 for a 100g ball - now on sale for £1.79 per ball.  WOW!! How could I resist - and with free delivery in the UK on orders over £15. 

I deliberated  - could I justify buying more yarn - no contest - of course I could.  So I sent off my order and less than 24 hours later the yarn has arrived - how's that for service.

I see some lovely Fair Isle cardigans appearing in the near future - so exciting.

New Pages

Hey!  I've finally worked out how to add new pages to the blog - a bit slow on the uptake, I know. 

So I have been busy and organised all my free patterns with pictures so that they are easy to view. 

Check out the tabs at the top to see the selection. 

Snow Doily

Despite being away on holiday and having a wonderful time, I did not neglect the crafts.  Crocheting is the easiest activity to take away - very portable.  So I packed my thread weight crochet cotton and three doily patterns. 

I only managed to complete one doily whilst away.  A second one is half-way done and I'll hopefully get around to finishing that shortly. 

Here is the finished one. 

It's called Snow Doily.  The pattern is by Priscilla Hewitt and is available for free, here. 

Quite a quick pattern to make but it's a bit too 'round' for me - I like a nice 'pointy' edging!!

Catching Up

This year seems to be going so quickly.  I blame my birthday, which took up so much time and energy - not that I'm complaining - it was the best birthday ever. 

But then Easter happened and I wasn't ready for it.  The holiday to Madrid, although anticipated for months, suddenly arrived and caused a major diversion. 

Now I'm back I realise that the house is missing all the usual Spring / Summer decorations.  We still have many of the Autumn / Winter decorations up - and this will not do, especially now that the sun is shining and the garden is starting to look so colourful. 

So out have come the sunny decorations. 

Pretty yellow and blue bunting, sunshine hanging decorations, knitted strawberries, bees and lots and lots of shells from the beach. 

So now I'm off to spread the summer sunshine throughout the house.