Another Finished Project

Baby Rudolph  didn't  take  long  at  all, started  one day and finished the  next. He  was a  little  late  for  Christmas  but  at least he did  get to spend  a few  days hanging on the  tree  before  being  put away  until  next  Christmas.

Baby Rudolph

I had a few days over Christmas  and New Year of finishing  things  off. This  little kit was  purchased  at last  year's  Bakewell Wool Gathering. Sadly  I  don't  think  I  could  make  another  as you need the wooden reindeer. He  was really  quick to do  - started  one day, and  finished  the next.  Will  post the completed  project this week.

Autumn Ta-Dah

When I came back to my blog a couple of weeks ago, I was reading the side bar to see what unfinished projects I still had when I spotted 'Autumn Scarf'. I was initially puzzled as I couldn't think what this was but then I remembered the wool from Bakewell. Surprisingly this didn't take very long to knit and it was a real pleasure to make.
So here it is, the finished scarf which has been worn several times.

Harrogate - Post 2

I found this lovely little book late in the day. After thinking about it whilst exploring the rest of the hall, I went back to purchase it only to  find it was the last copy with no more due to be delivered until next February. Phew - would have been upset to miss out.
I fell in love with the penguin on the front - think it is the jumper that sells it. There are nativity characters and a herd of reindeer to make plus a turkey! There is something really quirky about the turkey and I feel the urge to knit one but not really sure why and what I will do with it. Meanwhile all these cute knits will have to wait until I have finished some other projects.

Harrogate 2017 - Post 1

This year I was quite restrained with my purchases at Harrogate - owing to the vast number of projects from previous visits and various other shopping expeditions that remain incomplete :-(
The above shows the knitting project I purchased - interesting pattern name - the Star Wars Shawl so named as it was knitted during a marathon event where the designer was watching all the Star Wars films! Perhaps I could do that to knit this too :-)

Final Bakewell Purchase

This was the last item I bought at the Bakewell Wool Gathering - cute little fruit stitch markers - if I use them does that count as part of my 5 a day? Or is it 10 now - good grief! Not sure whether to keep these myself yet - I have some plain ones but they fall off the needles - or whether to gift them to some knitter. Decisions, decisions.
Need to download more photos before I can update the blog again. Not sure how many I have in the camera but certainly made some progress on projects this year :-)

Shopping

Some months ago, October to be precise, I headed off early one Sunday morning to beat the crowds at the Bakewell Wool Gathering. And of course you have to buy - it would be rude not to - so here is purchase 1 of 3. Some beautiful wool/silk in 'my' colours. This was bought to knit a scarf which is finished and has been worn - photo of that to follow in another post.
I also bumped into some friends there, which was an added bonus and lovely to catch up with them.

Twiddlemitts - 3

Here is a Twiddlemitt before it is double-layered. Finished knitted length and stitched down the long side. Then it is pulled back into the tube to halve the length before stitching the ends together and decorating.

Twiddlemitts - 2

Here is another twiddlemitt. It might not be obvious from the picture but it is a double layered knitted tube and includes bits inside the tube to twiddle with as well as outside. This one I think had a pom-pom inside and would definitely have had a button or two on the inside. Just visible at the top is a bow - probably from an old cracker - you know, the sort of thing crafty types keep - just in case it has a use - well, yes they do - on twiddlemitts!

Twiddlemitts - 1

Quite some time ago now a friend told our knitting group about Twiddlemitts. These are given to dementia patients to use/play with as a means of occupying their hands and relaxing them. I am not really sure of all the benefits - there are probably much better websites out there that explaining that but the only real criteria we had was to attach items to the mitts that can be fiddled with.
I made a number of these last year, and dutifully photographed all/most of them but then seemed to forget my password for my gmail account and hence no blog postings for months.
So today as I was soooooo bored I decided to see if I could resurrect my account and lo and behold within minutes of trying 4 combinations of a password, I was in - so what were all the problems last year -the only excuse I can offer must be age!
So above the first of a series of twiddlemitts that were long since delivered.

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.

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.

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! :-)

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.