End of April update

These past few weeks have flown by and it will soon be my busy May and June period when stitching will virtually dry up.

I took part in the Needlecraft Haven Spring exchange. I sent Gill a hanging ornament of the word Spring. I took this from the Just Nan sampler 'A Breath of Spring'. I also stitched an Easter card with the 2008 Dragonlet by Dragon Dreams. Of course I forgot to take a photo of that.

Spring from Just Nan's 'A Breath of Spring

Fabric: 32ct Zweigart Cream Belfast linen

Threads: DMC 610, DMC Ecru

From Julie I received this pretty rabbit spring ornament, threads, flower seeds and card.

A close up of my rabbit spring ornament.

Last week I fully finished Just Nan's 'Spring in the Square'. The other three seasons will be fully finished as the year progresses.

Spring in the Square - Just Nan

Fabric: 28ct Zweigart Light Mocha Cashel linen

Threads: Proposed DMC threads

Embellishment: Swan Lake Gold Visions charm, cording DMC 520 and 522 thread

Even though I have a couple of larger projects that I could be working on, I just want to stitch on smaller projects at the moment. That is why I started and finished stitching Just Nan's 'Summer Stroll'. For some reason I want to go through my Just Nan stash.

Summer Stroll - Just Nan

Fabric: 28ct Zweigart Platinum Cashel linen

Threads: Proposed DMC threads

Embellishment: Embellishment pack JNB34

For a change of pace, I've also picked up a knitting project that I started a couple of years ago. More accurately I should describe this as a restart because I had a partially finished sock and had no idea where I was in relation to the pattern. This is what I knitted so far and I'm determined to keep going until I have a finished pair of socks. I'm knitting the free Easy Cable Sock from Winwick Mum.

Easy Cable Sock - Winwick Mum

Needles: DPN 2.75mm

Wool: Rico Design Superba Klassig 4 ply, No. 405 (discontinued)

Have a good week wherever you are.

Gifted Gorgeousness - January 2022

During 2022 Jo of Serendipitous Stitching is again hosting the link-up for Gifted Gorgeous. What is basically allowed is anything connected to the word "gift", whether is is a gift to you or from you. 

I have taken out my Chatelaine's Alpine Seasons Garden in another effort to complete the stitching on it. I had a 'nudge' from DH who asked me at the beginning of the year when I was going to complete the project he bought me. When Clare introduced a Large Project SAL at Needlecraft Haven I knew it couldn't be ignored any longer.

Here was my starting point:

Alpine Seasons Garden - Chatelaine as at Late 2020

Fabric: 32ct Belfast Sand linen

Threads: Recommended silk threads

And here is my small progress as of last Sunday. If you look closely you can see that I've added some stitches in the upper band. There will definitely be more to show next month.

Alpine Seasons Garden - Chatelaine as at 9 September 2022

Fabric: 32ct Belfast Sand linen

Threads: Recommended silk threads

I'm also knitting a sleeveless tunic for my sister. The back is almost finished.

Zola tunic - Rowan

Wool: Katia Merino Aran, color 81

Needles: 4.5mm needles and 4.5mm double-pointed needles 

Birthday Surprises

It was my birthday recently and I received these lovely surprises for the occasion.

Julie sent me these fingerless mitts which, as you can see, are perfect with my woolen winter coat. 

Birthday present and card from Julie

Clare sent me this blackwork scissor fob and decoupage card .

Present and card from Clare

Despite the post being unreliable these days, these arrived in good time and brighten my otherwise quiet celebration.

Thank you Julie and Clare. Your kindness and thoughtfulness are appreciated.

Ready for winter

I started knitting this jumper back in February but then the weather suddenly improved and it was too hot to knit. So after finishing my shawl in October I pulled my knitting out again and finally finished this jumper last weekend. I've tried it on and I'm pleased with the fit. According to our weather forecast we are due a week of cooler weather next week (in single figure Celsius) so it's more than likely that I will be wearing it then.

Pattern: Hayfield 9219

Wool: Stylecraft Special aran with wool, New Denim

Crochet finishes and Knitting starts

In January, I crocheted a shawl for my mum and a scarf for my sister. I'm glad to say that both of them were delighted with their gifts.
I ended up crocheting each item twice! I have no idea why but even though my tension swatch was fine, the finished products ended up shorter than they should have. However, all's well that ends well, the dimensions were better second time around.

Nordic Shawl - Annette Ciccarelli
Wool: Bergere De France IDEAL wool. Colours as suggested except
 I used purple instead of light pink and navy for turquoise.
This meant changing the order of some of the colours.

Granny square triangle shawl
Wool: Mille Colori Socks and Lace Luxe No. 859.0059 - 2 skeins

I love the gold 'thread' woven through this wool and my sister fell in love with the autumnal colours.
Here is a fuller view of the final crochet if worn as a shawl.

Even though our winter has been very mild, I wanted an Aran sweater so I've started this design from Hayfield.

My mum's local wool shop didn't have the Hayfield Bonus Aran wool I wanted so I bought Stylecraft Special Aran in Denim instead. I love how this is knitting up. It is lovely and soft. I'm going to have a new jumper for next winter.

Hayfield Bonus Aran Pattern No. 9219
Wool: Stylecraft Special Aran in Denim

Happy New Year and Wrapping up 2018 finishes

First of all, Happy New Year. I hope that 2019 does not fly by as quickly as 2018 did. Last year just passed so quickly. We had a number of visitors throughout the year, especially during the summer and I think that, coupled with our own travels meant that time passed quickly.

I'd like to show you the quilted cushion cover that I finished just in time for Christmas. The design is Daybreak from Jaybird Designs. This was a trial run before I make the cushion with some daschund print fabric that I bought in the summer. I'm so glad I did as the finished cushion with border is approximately 50cm (around 19.5 inches) square! Ideally I want a cushion cover that is around 45cm (18 inches) square so I have reduced the templates to get closer to that on my next cushion cover. I didn't do the maths upfront because I lacked confidence that I would get it right because Daybreak is a hexagon design. I only made the necessary adjustments to make it a square when I got to that point and then I wanted my border. I felt it needed a border to finish it.

Daybreak - Jaybird Designs

My final finish of 2018 was a first for me - a pair of knitted socks! Many thanks to Julie (Julie's Stitchyknitter Journal) for her encouragement and Winwick Mum's easy to follow Sockalong instructions and YouTube videos. I've already got wool line up for my next two pairs of socks. I learnt a lot about using variegated wool while knitting these which I will hopefully use in the future.

Berger de France - Goomy 50, shade Imprim Prun

Winter knitting

You can tell it's getting colder as the knitting needles come out.

I recently finished this snood for my sister. I call it 'Mary's Sampler Snood' as it was knitted with a selection of stitches that I like. Fortunately my sister likes them too. I don't think the photo does it justice but it was the best I could get.

Snood - knitted with my choice of stitches

Wool: Rico Design - Ito Iro

Having admired the sock making of Julie (Julie's Stitchyknitter Journal) for a number of years I've taken the plunge and have started knitting my own socks. I'm using Winwick Mum's basic 4ply tutorial and here is my progress so far. It looks small but it fits. I've tried it just to be sure. The fun and games will start when I get to turning the heel.

Basic 4ply socks - Winwick Mum

Wool - Bergere de France goomy 50, Imprim Prun

Until next time, I'll leave you with another Christmas song. This time it is Chris de Burgh and 'A Spaceman came travelling'. As a teenager, I was a big Chris de Burgh fan and saw him play at Dublin a couple of times.

Gifted Gorgeousness - November

It's Gifted Gorgeousness time again. This is a SAL hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching where we show crafting that we are gifting to others or that has been gifted to us. Full details are here.

I have at last finished the cardigan for my mum and it is in the post on its way to her. I liked this design and I have plans to knit this again but next time it will be for me.

Flat Collared Cardigan

Stylecraft Alpaca Tweed

Gifted Gorgeousness - October

I'm a little late but it's time to show my Gifted Gorgeousness for October. This is organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching and if you are not familiar with Gifted Gorgeousness and how it works, full details can be found here.

I'm still knitting the cardigan for my mother. Between family visits, a deep cut on my right forefinger and burning my left hand, I've had limited time to knit. Nevertheless, I've now only got the neck band to knit, then sew it together and it will be finished. Since I could, I've laid it out as if it were a finished item in the photo below.

Flat collared cardigan

Stylecraft Alpaca Tweed in Duck Egg

When finished, the WIP shown below will be gifted to a friend who owns a dog kennel. I think she will like 'Noah's Welcome Mat' by Plum Street Samplers (PSS). Here is the link to the PSS blog post showing the finished design with a link to a pdf copy of the chart.

Noah's Welcome Mat - Plum Street Samplers

Fabric: 32ct Zweigart Belfast Platinum 

Threads: Suggested DMC threads

Gifted Gorgeousness - September

Gifted Gorgeousness (GG) is the brainchild of Jo (Serendipitous Stitching) where we show our gift related crafting (made and received). You can read about how GG works here.

Between holiday visitors and the hot weather I've done very little crafting during the past month. However in the past week, I've knitted on the cardigan for my mum. I'm now on the second sleeve and once that is done, I will start sewing it together to add the border for buttons.

I love the basket stitch on the sleeves but I really have to concentrate to ensure I make the increases as instructed while keeping the pattern. It doesn't help that I sometimes forget to change my row counter at the end of each row.

Flat collared cardigan

Stylecraft Alpaca Tweed in Duck Egg

In Needlecraft Haven's 2017 Valentine Exchange I received some DMC threads as part of my exchange from Clare (blog post here). Using these, I stitched a  free friendship design from Passione Ricamo (found here). I'm undecided as to how I will finish this but as it has been stitched for a few months I thought that maybe by posting it, it will give me the necessary push to finally finish it.

Amitie - Passione Ricamo

Fabric: 40ct Edinburgh Natural(?) linen

Threads: DMC 776 and 777

Until next time, I hope you all find some time to spend doing what you enjoy.

Gifted Gorgeousness - July

Gifted Gorgeousness is the brainchild of Jo (Serendipitous Stitching) and if you are not familiar with this monthly blog post, you can read all about it here.

This month I start with a belated 'Thank You' to Julie of Julie's Stitchyknitter Journal. Julie had offered this Silver wedding anniversary pattern on her blog and I received it in late May. I have a family Silver anniversary next year and this design will be perfect. Thank you, Julie.

After a wet June, summer is definitely here! It's very hot and we've had some thunderstorms. It's probably not the best weather for knitting but that is my current gifted gorgeousness project. I am knitting a duck egg coloured long cardigan for my mother (photo below). I've completed the back and the front left side is almost finished. Finishing this will keep me busy for a few weeks.

Flat collared cardigan

Stylecraft Alpaca Tweed in Duck Egg

Until next time, I hope that everyone enjoys pleasant weather.

In time for next winter

Winter is nearly over and I've just finished knitting myself a bobble hat. It was my first time using double pointed needles. I found that they took a little getting used to; but I got there.

Before I started knitting I read a number of comments from other knitters who made this hat. They suggested making the rib as well as the body of the hat longer. Therefore I decided that my first knitting of this pattern would be a test version. So I bought some inexpensive wool from B&M (in the UK). I made the hat slightly larger than the pattern suggested and it took less than one 100g ball (250 metres) of wool. Next time I will follow the pattern dimensions as I think I would prefer a slightly smaller hat. Nevertheless it's lovely and comfortable to wear.

PondHopper Hat - Alicia Plummer

Variegated grey double knitting wool from B&M (1 x 100g ball)

Needles - 4.5mm and 5.0mm

PondHopper Hat - Alicia Plummer

Variegated grey double knitting wool from B&M (1 x 100g ball)

Needles - 4.5mm and 5.0mm

A scarf and other knitting

I decided I wanted a simple, long scarf so I knitted a single rib scarf in Anny Blatt fine kid wool. It took longer to knit up than I thought it would but it was perfect for working on in the evenings as I didn't have to concentrate too hard on what I was doing.

Single rib scarf using one each of 2.75mm and 6.5mm needles
Anny Blatt fine kid wool, Carmin

I also wanted a simple sweater that would knit up quickly so I'm knitting this sweater in Anny Blatt fine kid, Genepi. The back is almost finished. As I am a tight knitter, I am using 6.5mm rather than the recommended 6mm knitting needles for this jumper.

Jumper using Anny Blatt fine kid, Genepi on 6.5mm needles

Needless to say with all this knitting, I'm doing very little stitching at the moment. However, as my Granny used to say 'A change is as good as a rest' and I find it hard to sit in the evenings and not be doing something with my hands.

One ball of wool = one finished scarf

Once I got into the pattern on this scarf, I didn't want to put my knitting down. So here is the completed scarf. It looks shorter than the model but I had the recommended tension. My sister will be happy with this length as she didn't want it too long. I just need to buy more wool so that I can knit one for myself.

Albertine - Louisa Harding
knitted with Louisa Harding Pittura wool

One ball of wool = one scarf

Last week my sister and I were in a lovely little wool shop, Tricot & Co, in Mirepoix. She fell in love with some yarn and a scarf pattern so I agreed to knit it for her. I bought this ball of Louisa Harding wool ...

... to knit this scarf.

I have until the end of the year to complete it and based on my sample knit of the pattern, it will take me that long. It will be a pick up and put down project for when I'm in the mood for knitting.

Mid January - already?

I'm still in a flitting mood as I move from one project to another.
I've stitched a little more on the border of Alpine Seasons Garden. It's rather creased at the moment. Can too much ironing distort the fabric? I mean ironing the non-stitched area.

Alpine Seasons Garden - Chatelaine
stitched on 32ct Summer Khaki Belfast linen

I know two little girls who are mad about anything to do with the Disney film Frozen, so I thought I'd earn myself some Brownie points by stitching them each an Elsa and an Anna ornament. I'm not so keen on stitching 'characters' so I'm now thinking that one set will be made up as ornaments and the other as key fobs. I'll stitch the key fobs over one. Here is my start on Elsa which is a free design available at Crafty Guild. I'm stitching the mini versions.

Elsa - Crafty Guild
stitched on a 28ct White evenweave

I've also stitched my card for the Sweet Feet Valentine exchange on Needlecraft Haven so I can't show that until next month.

I'm still stitching my jumper but I think I've ripped out as much as I've knitted. Just when I think I've got the hang of the cable stitch, I knit it in the wrong direction! Knitting was supposed to be what I did when I didn't need to concentrate so much. Obviously I should have stuck to stocking stitch if I wanted to do that. I'll post a picture next time. Hopefully I will have completed the back by then.

A bit of this and a bit of that

During this past week, I found it difficult to settle to one thing for any length of time. That also includes my housework - well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
I made some progress on my Alpine Seasons Garden by completing what is currently an outer border and I've just started to fill it. I can already see that my progress on this is going to vary quite alot, week on week. I think there will be times when I have to remind myself that some progress is better than none.

Alpine Seasons Garden - Chatelaine
stitched on 32ct Summer Khaki Belfast linen
as at 11 January 2015

It's ages since I've done any knitting and having seen some jumpers that my sister-in-law knitted recently, I got the knitting bug again. Here is my limited progress on a cable knit sweater. If it's not finished for this winter, at least I'll have it for next.