Bed VS Sewing: Which do you need?

Well, some holiday this is turning out to be... I've been de-cluttering and shifting what seems to be piles of stuff from A to B and then getting distracted by stuff in pile C. Hahaha! My front bedroom which is a spare room with a bed, computer desk, and a sewing table was sadly in need of a declutter. The room wasn't bad; it just needed clearing up and re-organised.  To be honest, we hardly ever use the single bed except for perhaps guests staying over, so when Paul said we could get rid of it and extend my sewing area, hell; I jumped at the chance. So with the bed gone, things started happening pretty quickly. Books started moving around; fabric started getting sorted into weight and colour, sewing equipment started finding new homes and then a biggish purchase was made in the form of an overlocker.  I've been yearning for one of these babies since, well, forever.  So when Paul made a purchase of a new bike, he agreed that I should go ahead and get a new machine. Woohoo!  Who was I to ask twice, off I ran to phone Sewing Machines Direct (yes, this is my rave review).  I phoned late on Wednesday afternoon, and my machine arrived on Thursday afternoon (I live in Central Scotland, and the company is in Wales.)  How quick and cool is that?

So, since my new machine arrived I've been crafting like crazy; overlocking seams on the material for my craft room curtains and then using my regular sewing machine to embroider tiebacks which I then pleated. This was a job that was incredibly satisfying and long needed; the previous curtains were made by Paul's gran and looked a bit dated and old fashioned, extremely well made, but they had ruffles. I've also made a new vest; the tie top cami by House of Pinheiro which was featured in Sewing Network Magazine.  The fabric used is called Bittersweet Red Gingham Cotton Jersey Blend Knit by Girl Charlee. This was a relatively easy top to make, just take a few body measurements, find your favourite vest top; trace it and away you go. I did get a sweat on though when the pattern said to make bias binding; this was needed for the front and back neckline and armholes.  It took me two days to build up the courage to have a go and during that time I must have watched quite a few YouTube videos on how to start.  Verdict: even though this was my first time making bias binding, I think I will be trying this in the future, and I may never buy store bought again. Gasp!

I've also returned to making craft bags;  I put my Folksy shop in holiday mode when I lost my Rhodesian boy and couldn't face opening it again while I was grieving.  I've been thinking about re-opening for a while but life just kind of got in the way.  I've had lots of ideas and I've been busy making a few new products so, stay tuned for a big launch of new stock, different makes and a few giveaways.

The jumper in this post is Chuck and was a test knit for Andi Satterlund over at Untangling Knots.  This is the fourth version of this I've made so far, and I'm hoping to make a few more for the winter season in different colours. I already have 2 x red, cherry and blue, so maybe a forest green or duck egg blue would be a nice change.  What do you think? Colours here and here.

                                                                   xoxoxoxo
                                           

And we're off.....

 

Today is the first day of the Outfit Along (squee) a challenge that I'm going to be a part of over the month of June.   This is a two part challenge in which I have to make a cardigan and then a dress.  I should be able to manage this even though I have lots of other projects on the go.

Now, one thing has changed since last week,  I have made an adjustment to the yarn; I was originally going to use Cascade 220 but decided to opt for Cascade 220 Superwash. Why? There isn't any difference in the texture of the two yarns, just, the colour choices appeared a better match for the material of my dress. I only sat in front of two different computer monitors for half and hour ummming! And ahhing! over what colour of green I should choose and then when push came to shove I hit another button colour instead and bought Candy Pink. It doesn't go with the big star flowers in the design, but it does match the little flowers perfectly. I don't know if you can see the other feature in the pattern, yes, it's  my favourite insect of all time, a ladybird.
Also in my previous post, I mentioned that this material was destined for another dress pattern, which I think is now lost in the wreck of a room where I do my crafting.  If I remember correctly the pattern was a halter neck dress, to be honest,  I'm not really a fan of them (I have wide shoulders and biggish boobs, feels like I have a ready made table in front of me) so I don't know why I bought it.   The new pattern, well, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it suits my body image, it should look good  once I have lost a few pounds and stopped eating Jelly Tots (this weeks craving, lol) been dreaming about them all week and yesterday I decided to succumb and bought a bag, well a biggish bag.....ooppp's.

Anyway enjoy the rest of your day peeps,  I'm going back to potter in the garden, then I'll maybe watch some catch-up T.V. and do more rows of my cardigan. 

Bye for now
Shirley xx

Much Madness!

Very excited about the outfit along! I've been following Andi Satterlund for quite some time now and have test knitted quite a few designs for her. The challenge is to complete the outfit (cardigan and dress) within one month starting on the 1st of June. I very much doubt I will finish it in time, with travelling two hours a day and working eight hour shifts, but I will give it my best shot, it will be a good motivator. Unfortunately, I can’t get hold of the specified yarn so I was going to use my favourite and much tested; Cascade 220. I will be using the pattern specified and some fabric that I bought for another project that I didn't quite get round to.
When I do start I plan to knit the cardigan during the day; lunch break permitting and the dress at night, so long as I'm not too tired, then again maybe the weekend would be better.

Wish me luck, because I think I'm going to need it.  Oh! And I promise I will take photographs of the fabric and yarn before the challenge begins.

Test Knit-Hortencia

A few weeks ago I was sent an email from Andi Satterlund of Untangling Knots requesting my skills as a test knitter for a new cardigan pattern. Well who was I to refuse, I just love Andi's patterns so I jumped at the chance to help out. This pattern is called Hortencia  "(a)  sophisticated and simple...easy to knit seamless cardigan"  (Satterlund: 2013) My version is knit in Winter Berry Cascade 220. I still need to finish the left arm and  block the garment, but this is the cardi so far.

Oh! How I've missed you knitting.

After all the studying, writing essays and attending placement for my college course, I have finally found the time to return to some of my hobbies and some much-needed care of my home. Paul and I have spent a lovely couple of very busy weeks on the gardening front, where we have managed to turn our back garden shell into something more respectable, just by laying turf and setting up a slabbed floor (latter all Pauls'doing) for a new craft shed to be erected. With so much time on my hands I have managed to pick up the needles again and cast on 3 different projects, one of which is pictured at the top of this post. This is called Hetty and is a test knit for Andi Satterlund over at Untangling Knots. I'm not sure when the pattern will be available to buy, but I can say it's a wonderful knit and very addictive, it took me no time at all to make. I used the yarn suggested by Andi; Berroco Blackstone Tweed in plum, a yarn I had never used before. I was concerned it was going to be too heavy and hot to knit with, the weather has been extremely clammy, but do you know it has no real weight at all, it's very light and quite deceiving. Anyway, enough wittering, the buttons are my own selection and are from the Rowan range purchased from my local yarn store. The other piece of knitting is part of a swap I'm involved in with the forum Pheonix Knitting.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

I have been so busy as of late, (I have 3 WIP's on the go)  keeping my little head down and ploughing through about one percent of my Ravelry queue.  Does not sound a lot but believe me, it is currently sitting at around the 2100 mark, and forever rising. I thought if I put the total in tiny letters it would deaden the blow, who am I trying to kid.  The rate I'm knitting through my queue I will seriously have to live until about 200 and that is being realistic.
So, without further a do I introduce to you one of my works in progress started at the beginning of this week.

This is number 1260 of my Ravelry queue and is Miette by Andi Satterlund.  I believe I queued this pretty cardigan pattern way back in October 2010, and I have been dying to cast it on since then, but life just got in the way. 

The yarn used is Rico Creative Cotton in colourwave Cardinal. It's not an expensive yarn, but boy knitted up in this pattern it looks fabulous.  I could have gone for a paler colour, but this jewelled, rich purple just accentuates this pattern to a tee.

This is a stunning pattern and an adorable item to make.The eyelet detail swirls around the neckline flows down the center of the cardigan and cascades around the waistline.  The cuff  features a small swirl of eyelets giving an attractive finish to the 3/4 length sleeves.  Very pretty.

So where do I go from here? Well, the item has been blocked and I'm planning on sourcing buttons and photographing the finished article this weekend, with my sister modelling it for me. Fingers crossed she doesn't try to sneak off home still wearing it or there will be a war. So if everything goes to plan the finished piece photos should be ready for my Sunday post.