Remember This

Time to finish some projects. Started the sleeve of the jumper after some confusion over the needles. The pattern says to do it on 3.5mm whereas the back and front are on 4mm. For starters we don't have 3.5mm. Anyway going with the same as the back so that it doesn't look different.
It has been unpicked several times already to try and sort the pattern and the increases :-(So must get back to it so it looks like I have made some progress this weekend.

Yet More Purchases

Here is one of my purchases from the Bakewell Wool Gathering last weekend. For beginner to intermediate crochet skills - I think the lady was too kind - I can't imagine that I am anywhere near intermediate, but we'll see.
So far I have resisted the temptation to start them as I am going to practice first.The picture is a bit small but it is Owl Bunting - quite cute. The plan is to hang them underneath my map of 100 Aker Wood - yes really.
It seems ages ago since I finished a project so I'll keep this post short so that I can continue with a project - the other purchase from last week which I did not resist from starting.

Crochet Progress

Ok so I got a little bored just going backwards and forwards with double and treble crochet so I decided to tackle a Granny Square - after all there seems to be so many things to do with them. 

A few weeks ago when I was down in my home town I just happened to wander into the wool shop, as you do, and decided to buy some bright coloured wool - and here it is. Just 3 balls  - the photograph does not do the brightness justice but it has been dull most of the weekend and I left it a little late to get the camera out.

So here are the 3 squares I have managed to complete so far  in order starting top left, then right and bottom. I thought the first attempt was ok - following the book, then second, well not too good - maybe I should have followed the book more although it is simple once you get going but I think I have mis-counted and just been too lazy to go back and correct it hence the wonky shape And finally the third one which I think is reasonable and probably makes the first one look a little poor.

This weekend I have been to the Bakewell Wool Gathering with a friend and made a couple of purchases -one to do more crochet - more of that another day.

Hardly a new Skill!

Well some time ago I decided I would like to learn to crochet, which is a brave decision considered my mother described my previous attempts as hopeless :-(
Also a friend bought me the beautiful "Knitting and Crochet Bible" along with wool and crochet hook to make a lovely rabbit, so if ever there was inspiration that is it!
So here is my latest attempt to learn this new skill - it might be unrecognisable but the above consists of double and I think treble crochet - I have certainly done some trebles but can't tell whether this photo includes the trebles - that's how bad I am. On the positive side, it looks like I have mastered the art of shaping although this might not be a plus when I was just trying to a straight piece for practice.
I have got a little bored just going backwards and forwards so I have moved onto to something else but more of that another time.
Today I have been cleaning out the physical "corner-by-the-sofa" - not sure it looks a great deal better but at least it has been vacuumed and the projects I am not currently working on - yes there are some, honest! - have been moved to a room upstairs - probably the are now trying to create their own projects corner-by-the-bed!

New Toys

Many months ago a dear friend gave me a gift voucher for my birthday to spend at Hobbycraft and since then I have been eyeing up various items for some time. Occasionally they appeared on offer, but never all at the same time - until recently.

So a few weeks ago I went and purchased all the above goodies plus a guillotine paper cutter for my card making.

The above includes a felting kit which I must say looks really good value. I expected purple fleece but there is purple, two shades of pink, green and cream so it looks as if might be able to make more than one.

The fat quarter is to make something from the Patchwork Bags book but \I am not sure there is enough to make any complete bag just so I may have to buy more fabric in a main colour. Well what else is a girl supposed to do???

Hmm I really ought to think about completing something to post on here - it must be about time. Talking of time, as Zebedee said - It's time for bed!

Cake!

Here is Sid's last port of call with me at Peak. You can see him a little better here without his attempts at crotchet and taking a rest. He requested a visit to the leader's cafe for tea and cake and I could hardly refuse him could I? It looks like his eyes might have been bigger than his belly as he couldn't eat all his cake - so I had to help him :-) I can't exactly remember what the cake was - some sort of chocolate cake but he had very good taste as it was delicious.
It has occurred to me this week that the New Year's resolution to finish a project a month fell by the wayside very early on in the year so I have been thinking of maybe addressing that.....but then I do have a lot of new projects to do :-) - more of them in the near future.

It's so Exhausting

Here are some photos of the Guides' and Scouts' knitting and crotchet done at Peak. In the Craft Tent the children could have a go at Knitting and Crotchet - this was a bit like a drop-in session where Scouts and Guides could come along and do as much or as little as they liked. Some had never done any knitting or crotchet before and help was at hand to teach them. Others were quite competent and would sit for quite a while doing rows and leaving when they decided that was enough for a while and possibly coming back at another time. I watched one girl on Friday afternoon crotchet - I was quite envious as she was like lightening.

I only worked there on the Friday and initially I found it quite relaxing after working on Junior Peak for 5 days - it was a little like a Knit and Natter to start with then children started dropping by and some needed teaching. I did teach a few how to do a row or two during the day so I did feel as if I had contributed in some way and wasn't just having hiding in the safety of the craft tent!

Over the week they had produced squares or occasionally rectangles to make into blankets for an animal rescue shelter. Alas no-one seemed to know which one but hopefully some animals are snuggling up in them tonight as it has turned chilly after what has been a beautiful day. It has given me an idea as to what our Guides can do this term. :-)

As you can see in the first picture Sid had had an exhausting time learning to crotchet himself so decided to take a rest and test out some of the blankets.

Sid stays at Peak

Gosh it has been weeks since I last posted on here but life has been hectic what with the build up to Peak 2015 at Chatsworth, the camp itself, family holiday and then having a most awful cold.

During July I went Derbyshire's Guide and Scout Camp. We were staying on the Ice Age Sub Camp and an additional camper was Sid the Sloth crocheted by one of our leaders. On the last full day I had to find another job at camp and fortunately through my connections I ended up on the Knitting and Crotchet table in the Craft Tent - well just knitting in my case. During the afternoon session Sid decided to accompany me and here he is trying his hand at crotchet.

It tired him out somewhat so he needed a rest - more of that in another post.

Guess What

Having finished the vintage thing it was time for a new, or return to an old, project, so I went armed to needlework group with a number of projects to choose from. My friends there persuaded me to start a new project, even though I was all set to carry on with an existing one - so here it is. Any ideas what it is? All I will say is, I have been doing this for just over 2 weeks and it is something topical! Oh and it could be upside down.

Done(ish)

Here is the second and last 'contrasting drape' to give it its proper title. Done already. This means the vintage thing is done apart from sewing in the ends and the robust blocking. Not sure when that will be done as I need to borrow or buy some blocking wires, but I was given some training a couple of weeks ago at knitting how to do this. Hopefully it will not be long before I do this then it can be removed from the real corner by the sofa!
Ps. I have a  new project on the go - more of that next time.

A Small Ta-Dah

Here it is the Vintage 'Thing' - done. Well I say done, it still needs to have the ends stitched in and needs 'robust' blocking which I am yet to discover - robust or otherwise. I did have a setback with it recently in that I did some 'negative' or 'minus' knitting of it - i.e. I took it to  knitting group a couple of weeks ago, knitted a row and then spent the remainder of the 2 hours unpicking, and then carrying on unpicking for another 2 evenings at home!
But this morning whilst having a  relaxing time with friends sitting in our conservatory I finished it.
Just got  to block it and knit the brown scarf to go with it now. Hopefully it could be June's finished project. Or would it be April's given that nothing was finished in April or May? :-(

Vintage 'Thing'

Here is the vintage knit that I am doing - not really sure what to call it. This is from the pattern I bought in Harrogate and is the main part to go with the red 'scarf' I posted a few weeks ago.  It looks rather lopsided but the pattern says it needs 'robust blocking' - having never done blocking before I am not sure what robust blocking is - I just assume that it means stretched or blocking to its extreme. Maybe we will see that when we get there.
Sorry for lack of posts but I have been decluttering - following a blog to do a room per week over 20 weeks - next week is the last. And also a month's challenge where you get rid of 1 item on the 1st of the month, 2 on the 2nd, 3 on the 3rd etc. - giving a total of 465 items for April - phew. I did it eventually but it was tough towards the end and it became a real time consumer with many hours spent wandering the house looking for things to get rid of. Hopefully now that is finished I will have more time for craft and blogging - and house work!

A New Talent

This post is showcasing a new talent - my niece with her knitting. My mum and I have been teaching her for some time - she did make purse with some help but the picture above is almost all her own work.
What a difference a year makes and doing knit rather than knit and purl, has meant that she can do this with almost no supervision . She is getting much quicker too and the last time I saw her she doubled the size of the project in an afternoon - such a lovely peaceful time with both of us doing our knitting.
I say double the size - it is perhaps a little more as we do seem to have gained some stitches along the way when the bag is supposed to be straight! But at least when we get to the lesson on increasing that should be a doddle! :-)

Running out of Projects

Phew at last - managed to get a picture to load. I have tried many times and since I upgraded IE it has not worked.
This cake was photographed when I had no projects to show so has long since gone so no requests for a piece - you know who you are ;-).
This is from the fabulous James Martin book of Desserts - Chocolate Coca Cola Cake - it does have  rather nice sauce to go with it but alas there was none left when I was having this piece alone and it did seem a bit extravagant to make some more just for me - yes honest, it did.
Back soon with more knitting etc. and maybe a surprise project.

Progressing Nicely....

...after a setback this week. A tiny mistake and I ended up unpicking around 8 rows - not because 8 rows were wrong but because the pattern is lacy. I have learnt the hard way that even a very simple lace pattern can be tricky to unpick and you can end up unpicking rows that were right! Oh dear.

Now the pattern is right and the unpicked rows are a distant memory. Almost finished this scarf now - so I suppose it ought to be on with the April project :-)

Ahead of Schedule

Catching up now with the blog and unfinished projects - here are the slippers done before the end of the month - ta-dah! One slipper looks a bit bigger than the other but then I suppose they say we all have one foot bigger than the other.
They are really warm and toasty but they do make my feet look a bit fat - one thing my feet are most definitely not!
I have enough wool for another pair and the linings are done already but not the outer. Maybe when I have finished that pair I may put some decoration on - the pattern has a bow but that is not really me - but for now I am going to claim these are finished.
Looking forward to choosing next month's project to finish - think it will be the cross-stitch bag which I had forgotten about until I uncovered it in the corner recently.
Well for now - back to the 1950's scarf.

A Newish Project

Here is the first 'contrast drape' for the vintage pattern that I bought at Harrogate last year - not sure what you would call the overall thing I am knitting but the pattern is called 'Clemmie'. As you can see it seems to be sloping off to the right but the knitting expert at the Tuesday Knitting Group assures me I am doing nothing wrong which was what I thought as I am following the pattern. Anyway I contacted the company who very kindly replied and said it does slope a little and when it is off the needles and has been blocked it should be ok so I am carrying on regardless. That will be a first as I have never blocked anything! Or done a tension square!! I have done over half now so much  more than in the photograph above.

I have also finished the slippers tonight but it was too dark to photograph them so that will have to wait until another day and another post.

March's Project

Here is the first of my slippers - it isn't finished on the photograph but it is now. Had problems with trying to load this photograph a couple of weeks ago - might have been caused by an upgrade to IE - grrrrr.

Still got to finish the second slipper so off to do the NOW!!!!

February's Project

Here is February's Project finished just in time last night. Ok it is late for last year but well ahead for this year :-)

Not sure what we will put in it as it will weigh it down too much perhaps.  I did have it hung from the stairs but it was difficult to take a picture there  but it would mean perhaps some support for all the heavy goodies hubby will put in there for me :-)

Just been digging in the corner by the sofa for the next  two projects. Found parts of both of them but I think I am going with another Christmas project this month. Maybe I will get on a roll with them and be well ahead of schedule.

I am also decluttering and this week it is the turn of the lounge. Don't think I will be tackling my corner but I am going to do hubby's corner - he doesn't know it yet. It could be a test of whether he actually reads my blog or not!!!!!

January's Project

Not the best photo in the world but here is the project completed for January. This is a 'warm house for an old person'. We were given the pattern for this at the Knitting and Stitching Show and asked to knit house for Age UK to highlight the fact that some people are not warm in winter. They were to display the houses in their shops during the week commencing the 2nd February. So here was my house and it was handed in to the local Age UK shop a couple of weekends ago. Last week when I was out shopping, I spotted it in the window alongside one other house - just the two - they looked a little lonely - small select development rather than a large estate!

Not sure what has or will happen to the house now - possibly given to the an old people's home, but needless to say it is gone out of the corner and out of my house.

And now good progress is being made on February's project - the Advent calendar.

Progress

Another photograph of the January project - looks a little more like what it should be. You must be able to guess now?

And what is this? 3 posts in 3 days???

Guess what I have found

Well hubby found it actually - yes the camera lead :-)
So here is a picture of January's project. Any ideas what it is?
Who knows I may get on a roll and post another picture of it tomorrow!

New Year Resolutions

Sorry, sorry for my absence from here. I have taken photographs for the blog but I cannot find the lead for the camera to download them - this has been missing for sometime now - well since the week after the last post!!! Oh dear.

But I was told I could just do words and update the blog. Not quite the same is it, but here goes.

It seems from looking at other blogs that the idea is to put your New Year resolutions here - I know a bit late but they have been in my mind since the 1st January. So without further ado:-

1. To complete a project each month.
A friend of more years than perhaps we care to admit to although we frequently do, suggested this but it was on my list already. I guess with someone checking progress then I might stick to it. (In fact I can report that I have already completed something - done in January, photographed and delivered but just not posted).

2. To learn to crotchet
To help with this another friend of even more years!!!! bought me the Knitting and Crotchet Bible for my birthday, a hook and some beautiful wool, so I am going to have to do it. Perhaps need to start on some other wool first for practice Just need to find the book now - perhaps it is with the camera lead :-(

That was all I had on the list for starters - bit short but I think maybe there is another to add:-

3. To be able to crochet well enough to use the beautiful wool for that which it is intended.
The wool is mohair I think - lovely and fine and fluffy and the pattern it not a simple Granny Square  I think resolution 2 will cover the learning bit and this one is to be able to complete a proper project.

I think the above is realistic (HG would you like me to SMARTen them up? On second thoughts - NO - that is too much like the 'w' word.). I know it will get harder as the year progresses with the first goal as the easier ones projects are picked off.

Ok that's all for today - need to press on with February's completion project and find that wire!!!!

Another Unfinished Project

This is the Father Christmas I made at Buttons and Bows at the end of November. Despite Christmas being practically over he still isn't finished. All that is needed is his mittens stitching to his sleeves and then stitching to the sack. And then the brave trimming of his beard so that you can see what is in the sack. The sack looks a little plain and I think I will try and make some holly from felt but it has gone walkabout so that is the reason really why I have not finished it - honest.