Scrap Happy, Knit and Natter Friday.

Kate hosts the Scrap Happy Posts on the 15 th of the month, and as my knitting/ crochet this week has only used leftover yarn I thought I would share the link with everyone.

I am still knitting the baby toy. It will be finished before Christmas

It will be a flower grab toy!  I have to concentrate on the increases and decreases and the pattern and after three petals my brain seems to melt down, so I have been adding some crochet squares for the Repair Cafe blanket which was making slow progress when I only did at the cafe sessions.

I could see my natural tendency to stick to the same tonal range of colours was rearing its head again so added in some red which should liven it up a bit if it doesn’t completely wreck it.

Meantime while the rest of UK had snow we didn’t, which is just as well since we had a great big hole in the wall on Monday while the new door was fitted.

So much warmer now.

The Boxing Day Chutney was made on Friday, rather a lot of it. I wrote out 27 labels, but the jars are small. Here’s a link to the recipe.

Sorry about the picture , but you can see how pretty and pink it is. Just make half quantities!

Mr B came and sorted out his belongings. The dustbin is full. The shredding bin is full. I have been to the recycling centre, what else can you do with video tapes, and on Wednesday took 7 boxes of teenage paraphernalia to the charity shop. I have four bin bags of teenage t-shirts etc also to go to a charity shop, and for our pains we have a few empty shelves in a wardrobe and a bit of space on a bookcase. Not certain how he crammed all the stuff in.

Meantime I had a happy package in the post from the lovely Claire. Thank you so much Claire, so very kind of you.

Meantime thank you all so much for your kind words re Mr E, the medical appointments continue, but so far so good.

Today will be a day of little jobs about the house, bed linen changing, washing, a bit of shopping and so on.

One of the favourite things I undertake at this time of year is choosing the photos for our calendar and the ones which will go into our photo albums. It reminds me of all the happy times we had, from the big events of holidays and weddings to the lovely walks we took. My calender arrived this week and a big mountain of photos, so my happy task this weekend is to put the pictures into albums, I have separate ones for all the grandchildren, so that one day I will be able to give them an album of their childhoods. I love being able to look back on the year and recall the good times.

Hoping that amongst the business of this time of year you too have time to reflective  too.

Have a great week and Be Happy

Cathyx

 

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Sew, Knit and Natter Friday!

How is everyone? Apparently it’s the first day of Autumn if you are a weather person. Personally its late Summer as far as I am concerned.

So big question, did I or did I not buy some Cath Kidston fabric. YES I DID. Well you knew I would.

8 fat quarters for £12, which I thought was ok. See the cowboy fabric in the middle. As it happens I had a remnant of that already ,bought from somewhere or other some time ago, and looking for a project. Well it found one, I have it all cut out and ready to go, but then found myself feeling sad because I had used it. I mean just how ridiculous is that? I think I mentioned before that I have a propensity for being ridiculous. So that is why when I choose which CK fabric to buy, this was the bundle. IT HAD MY NAME ON IT!

Meantime I have been busy with some owl fabric.

Which is now a pouch for baby wipes. Owl buttons and ribbons from my stash. I mean you can’t have too many owls in one project , can you? Can You? Have I gone OTT on owls? Feel quite pleased with this, never having made a pouch before.

Knitting wise, I am making great progress with the baby blue cardigan.

A back and two fronts resting on the cowboy project. I still don’t have a picture of Little Miss F in her skirt, maybe it doesn’t fit, but I do have two of my little darlings to show you , and the children are quite nice too..

On holiday in Devon, picture by my DIL Mrs T!

And just to round off, here’s the Sunset over the hill at the front of our house, I wonder can you see the sheep?

Just about spot one under the tree to the right by the telegraph pole above the hedge. I do make you work..

And just because this is so cute

Little Miss F’s idea of heaven, Mum and a unicorn, don’t believe me, look at her little face.

Pictures by her other Nana, taken at a garden centre at Lacock.

Hope you have a great weekend full of the things you love doing.

Be Happy!

Sew, Knit and Natter Friday.

Change is in the air, have you noticed it? There is a little nip in the air in the mornings, its late Summer now for sure. Never mind, more time inside for sewing, knitting and nattering.

I have filled my little sewing caddy now with all the items you suggested. Actually that is a fib, I have still to find some fabric suitable for patching. The Snail mentioned something called Boro mending. I am so hoping someone comes to the repair cafe so I can do some. Is ripping a hole in something wrong in order to try it. I spent ages last weekend reading up on the technique. I just did plain boring patching before. I was wondering about threads to use? I have lots of cotton perle thread.

In the end I hand stitched the piping cord on my UFO, the zipper foot I have, would not have got close enough for my liking. After that it was just a question of turning it right side out,  joining the gap and adding tassels.

One Christmas mantlepiece cover completed. For nearly 16 years it lurked in the sewing box. Sadly we moved house (which is why I never finished it) and the wood burning stove we have in our current home makes the mantle cover unsuitable for this cover. But it looks ok as a sofa back, well it will after a good press.

I borrowed a book from the library.

It’s a jolly good book. I have plans for at least two projects, here’s the first one just getting under way. The other involves the lovely cowboy fabric from Cath Kidston.

Master T’s jumper complete. I love the buttons. Hope this one meets his brief of another jumper in bright colours.

So now onto a little something for a baby.

It’s a very pale blue 4 ply Sirdar Snuggly yarn. Half the back done.

So many plans for projects, so many waiting to be started, so many UFOs and WIPs, maybe a good thing that Autumn is coming.

Meantime does anyone know if Cath Kidston is stopping doing fabric completely. There is virtually nothing on their web page. I was  wondering would the prudent craftist snap it up while she could/

What do you think? Do I need more fabric?

 

Sew, Knit and Natter Friday.

The Beck Isle Museum in Pickering celebrated its 50th birthday last week, and for one day there was free admission. My Dad was involved in the museum for many years, indeed, as a child, I was persuaded to loan some dolls furniture which my Gran had left me. It’s still there all these years later.

It’s the first time I have visited minus children or husband in tow and it was rather wonderful to have time to look at my leisure.

Now the knitting needles are very easy, but any idea about the gadget to the right hand side? It is a knitting sheath, carved by a chap for the love of his life, to hold the knitting needles so that wool could be manipulated with greater ease and speed. Anyone ever tried using one?

Here we have a wool winder, and on the right a stand for threads.

Now I love this toy sewing machine which looks as if it might work, and oh by the way that chair to the right is part of the dolls furniture I mentioned before.

As it was the 50th birthday all things 1960s was being celebrated, included this pink crochet dress.

Quite a snazzy little number!

Sew, what have I been up to?

This is beginning to look a little like Bunting.

And this a little like a baby cardigan, on with the first sleeve now.

Lots to keep me out of mischief, but I am always up for some should it come my way! Please join in for a natter  and tell us what you are up too. Did you guess what those museum bits and bobs were?

Here comes the sheep picture, you didn’t think I hadn’t got one. I think it looks like one of Bekki’s, don’t you?

Knit and Natter Friday!

” Nana?”

” Yes T?”

” You like making things don’t you?”

” Yes I do .”

” I like it that you make lots of different things and give them to me  and I don’t know what they will be”.

“That’s good! Now go and put a jumper on, we are going a walk.”

” Nana, can I wear one of the bright colour ones?”

“Yes you can. “.

” Nana, I really like this one. PLEASE can you make me some more jumpers with lots of colour?”

” Yes of course I can.” Please to picture me now doing an imaginary happy dance whilst punching the air and silently yelling YES.

Could there be a better compliment?

Last Saturday in the UK was apparently National Yarn Shop day. AAAHHH.

I bet you can see where this is going especially if you were here last week.

As it happens two things I had allocated funds to fell through, to the tune of £100. Now you know where we are going.

Straight to that sale at Knitwell Wool. Now I just didn’t go there willy nilly. I checked . The prices were a genuine reduction compared to other well know sites.

Oh boy did the gremlin in my computer have a field day! The package arrived on Wednesday. ” What’s that?” asks Mr E. ” Just a bit of yarn”! says I. And maybe five patterns. Naughty Gremlin. But then T had asked for another bright coloured jumper and what sort of Nana would I be to ignore such a request?

Meantime it is on with the pink jumper for Miss F. And I did the cable heart. Oh yes!

How about that then? Not only cable but moss stitch in the middle too.  So now it’s onto the sleeves and maybe a finish for next Friday. In between times I have got on with the crochet blanket for the baby.I am using left over yarn from lots of baby clothes. It’s such fun.

So what is the nicest compliment you had about your crafting? To me, T’s unprompted request was such a lovely thing to hear.

I haven’t got a sheep this week to finish with , but a bird. To be precise a blackbird, and to be even more precise the one I mentioned this week in the photo challenge who never stands still long enough for me to capture his image. Typical, walking down to the shops, who should be on the telephone wire surveying the gardens below but you know who.

You can just about see his white tail feathers!

So over to you now for some knitting and natter. Please leap in with whatever you like in the comments and with each others comments. I do love my new Friday posts , and if anyone would like to use the knit and natter idea for a post of their own, well that would be simply spiffing.

Happy nattering!

Knit and Natter Friday!

Please join in at any point for a bit of natter, with me and each other.

I was listening to a radio programme ( Radio 4, of course) on the subject of birds, and what is the difference between a Bird Watcher and a Twitcher. A bird watcher is someone who wants to know about the life cycle of the birds, their song, their nesting habits, diet etc. A Twitcher on the other hand is someone who goes bird spotting a bit like train spotting* and has lists to tick off and competes with others to get the most ticks. They twitch apparently with excitement at the news that a rare oopjamaplip bird was spotted off the south coast somewhere near Bournemouth (Sorry Bournemouth, simply the place that came into my mind first), and off they all rush twitching with excitement. Of course a bird watcher can be a bit of Twitcher at times and vice versa.

It struck me that knitters can be divided a bit like this. Yarniestas being like the bird watchers. They want to know which breed of sheep the wool came from, what the sheep had for breakfast,  who the farmer was ( I exaggerate a tad) , who span the wool etc. And as for acrylic , forget it. And the clickers ( not quite certain I have the best name for this type of knitter, please suggest a better, squealer came to mind, but that made me think of pigs not sheep). I am probably a clicker. We seek out yarn shops with a determination  that defies the imagination of non knitters. When we get there we immediately want to buy knit everything straightaway, if not yesterday. We squeal with excitement, and if we hear there are two shops in town we are in heaven.

The internet is our undoing. We sign up for news letters and those special deals are an open invitation to the Gremlin that lurks in the key pad who will just keep on buying yarn.

Yesterday I got a knitting catalogue through the post. It said Knitwell SALE. One hour of happy squealing later (that is a better name than clicker), I had drawn up a MUST HAVE NOW list. I added up the cost. Now seriously £97.14 isn’t too much to spend at one sitting. I know I said no yarn this year, but it is a sale and some items would be knitted for Christmas, so it’s a BARGAIN. Right? Mr E would think it perfectly ok don’t you reckon?

OK enough jibber jabber ( Mr T, the A Team), from me. The pink jumper for Little Miss F is progressing slowly.

There may be a degree of procrastination going on here as I head for the cable heart pattern half way up, but I prefer to think not. I have a large bag of leftover sirdar snuggly yarn , which I am going to crochet into a blankie for the new baby. I am doing small granny squares and using the Joining as I go method which I used on the Cherished Scraps blanket. I am certainly not avoiding the cable knitting. Perish the thought!

Before I go I thought a nice sheep picture would be in order again for the Yarniestas. Sorry I don’t know the breed and I think the brown one is a goat! Expect you can knit with goat. I once saw a woman demonstrate spinning Alsatian dog hair- it was at the Weald and Downland museum in Sussex, if you don’t believe me.

ENOUGH! Over to you, love to know what you are knitting, crocheting, squealing about, please join in the comments/ natter or I will feel very silly. And feel free to leave a link to your yarn related obsession.

*No offence to train spotters intended.

 

Knit and Natter Friday!

One of the best things about Spring is the lambs in all the fields.

When I was a little girl not so many moons ago , my parents told me that black lambs were the first to be introduced to mint sauce as their fleece could not be used. Certainly there weren’t any black sheep in the field and so I resolved to have a black lamb only farm, with black sheep. I still love a black lamb, even though I know better these days. Mean parents.

Meantime thanks everyone for last week. I loved the way Kate and Wild Daffodil started nattering in the comments. It was brilliant, just what this post is all about, nattering with each other. Please keep it up.

Also thanks for ideas for my message with the lap blanket. I went in the end with “Cherished scraps cover with kindness”. The Make it Shop in Chorlton has called its craftactivism event The Tree of Kindness, so it seemed appropriate to include the word kindness. Anyway the blanket was posted off on Thursday. I want to give time for it to arrive and will post a final picture on the 15 May as part of a Scrap Happy post.

I bought myself some new bamboo needles in the end to replace this sorry pair.

I can’t do justice in describing the joy of having a new pair of needles. Suffice it to say the yarn just glides along.

I have finished the back of the jumper I am knitting for Little Miss F and am on the front ribbing now. 183 stitches! That’s a lot.

Anyway enough from me, what yarny chatter do you have to share? Love to hear from you all.