Preparing for Impulse Buys!

There is a slight juxtaposition in my title but read on and all will become clear. My girls and I are on the countdown to the Wonderwool yarn festival on the 24th April, 18 days to go!! Leading up the the festival, for me, means using up any scrap yarn or unfinished balls already in the basket so that I can enjoy guilt free shopping and browsing. 

I started a blanket in 4ply cotton but the yarn was too fine and the blanket was too lacy. I decided a baby would inevitably get snared up in it and it would be a thing of beauty but not cherished. 

The crochet morphed into a summer weight cowl/neck thingy instead.

I had couple of balls of macrame yarn and a pattern from 2019 when we last went to Wonderwool so I made my bestie a macrame pot hanger. I  grew on some spider plant cuttings;she absolutely loved it. It was impressive that I could find one A4 piece of paper after moving house and reshuffling my studio a couple of times since last using it. It was in a magazine folder called 'Crochet'. Just saying.

If I see this company again at Wondewool this year I will buy more of their kits because they were great. The Hobbycraft yarn was given to me later and I carried on making hangers after the kits had ran out.

My sample piece of double sided knitting was a success. At first I found it slow going having two balls of yarn on the go but I got into the rhythm of it. One side is variegated and the other is plain. I am building up to a colourwork/reversible headband as a Christmas gift for my flower grower pal.

I am also making some progress on my huge chunky throw. I still have an aching arm but I manage a couple of rows a night then put it down. This is particularly useful to get finished because both the yarn for it and the blanket itself is really bulky and takes up a lot of space. 

My mum is also beating the same drum. She has finished this moon phase cardigan and is knitting up a few baby cardigans to empty her basket for the big day. (She didn't want her face on the photo!) Simply admire her cardigan and her will to learn a new technique. She wanted a better finish on the button band and learnt to make an I-cord. It really makes it look professional.

Anyway, I haven't caught up with much blogging of late because we are lambing and time just runs away. But today, I am going to visit you all for a catch up. 

Thanks for dropping by. Jo x

March...ing

 Hello there! Welcome to the happenings of March, they are varied and colourful as we look forward to Spring.

Cooking - lots of lovely things. These will be the last of the heavy winter cakes and puddings for a while as we switch to lighter treats.

Cherry Clafoutis

Choc Chip cookies

Coffee and Walnut cake

Visiting - the Ladybird artists exhibition at Shrewsbury Museum. I loved it more than my girls who lacked the element of nostalgia that I enjoyed but Heidi is doing GCSE Art so she really appreciated the beautiful illustrations.

Buying - a couple of vintage patterns for my collection - very wearable.

Adding - door handles and stickers to my studio furniture. They are called 'decals'. The stickers have a wonderful matt finish which makes them look painted on.

Sewing - a new bra from a kit given to me by Christina from A Colourful Life. The new ones I made at the beginning of the first lockdown are getting worn out so it was time to make another...or maybe two.

Disliking - the eight trips I made to the vets in February. Beano had such a sore paw which then developed into an abscess. Eventually, after having a cut made from in between his toes up his leg they found this monster splinter tracking its way up his leg. March is the start of him running around again without a cone on his head or a huge bandage on his foot.

Loving - the dress I made for big girl to wear to a wedding in July. It is the By Hand London Anna dress. She chose the fabric and we tweaked the body to fit from a size 6.

Struggling - to knit or crochet (from a shoulder injury) but I have been doing a little stitching in very small amounts. I know all the stitches but my eyesight is not as good as it used to be so I have to just enjoy it and not worry about perfection.

Dancing - with my friends to a steampunk track at a dance event to raise money for Ukraine Disaster Emergency fund.

Feeling - ready for Spring.

Thanks for dropping by. Jo xxx

The Completion of Avena

My Avena sweater by Jennifer Steingass is complete. It has been a trial but as one of my new years resolutions was not to knowingly knit anything that I knew to be wrong; I had some unpicking to do.

I did not jeapordise my project by having a dangerously low amount of yarn which I normally do to myself. The trials of this project were that I had chosen the wrong yarn. More specifically, a poor yarn combination. I knit the whole yoke and always knew that the colourwork was sinking into the brown wool because really it was too thin. 

I took he whole lot out and started again.

The second yarn choice was a combination of Drops Nepal and King Cole Bramble in the colourway goldenberry. The bramble held its own with the Drops Nepal DK and the project was back on.

I love the way the variegated yarn creates an ombre through the yoke design and really recommend this as a way to create colour without juggling lots of different coloured balls (cheaper too).

It finishes at the high hip point as this is how I like to wear my sweaters. It was fine on me but I would say if you are small chested or small in the shoulders the yoke might be too deep for you.

I have a sore arm at the moment so knitting is out of bounds but there is always lots of other things to make. I tripped over a step in the garden and fell like a sack of spuds onto my right shoulder. Ouch!  Check out some other patterns from Jennifer Steingass, they are awesome. My mum has made a lovely Aurealis in grey stylecraft DK and a glitter yarn called Cabaret. Until next time... Thanks for dropping in. Jo x 

Old Habits Die Hard

My sewing adventures of late have been varied - a mix of new habits and the old ones I can't let go of. I make online media content for Minerva which they are going to release later in the year so parcels of wonderful fabric and patterns arrive at my house weekly. It is my job to sample up the patterns and share the process so that makers can sew-a-long. Hopefully my teaching background and endless enthusiasm will stand me in good stead. This brushed cotton winter dress has been one of my favourite garments of late. It is called the Fen dress by Fancy Tiger Crafts. The pattern has lots of variations so I will enjoy exploring more.

Sometimes however I have to make a garment out of a fabric I am not so keen on and at first this was hard for me to do. In the past when sewing was a hobby, I tried hard to make sure that what I made was a really good use of my precious time alongside my teaching job. Now I have got over this and can happily make a garment as a sample because I am being paid to do so. I have to give some items a new home but my mum and my friends are happy with that! On the plus side, it does give me the opportunity to toile a pattern using a delivered fabric and then make it later for myself in a self-chosen fabric.

The Charlotte dress by Atelier Jupe patterns was the perfect example. The fabric above was so soft, drapey and such good quality but boy, who put those colours together?! Anyway, it might be right up someone's street but not mine. I absolutely loved the dress pattern though so I made it again in a piece of seasalt fabric I had been saving for just the right thing...and this tie waist dress was it. I made it a little shorter on the second run and got myself the perfect dress.

I still hold on to my own deep rooted sewing ethos which is to sew for my family by recycling as much as I can. Here is a shirt made for Andy from a tablecloth ready for summer. Well, why not? The cotton was beautiful quality.

I also like to support local sewing shops. If we bought all our fabrics online some shops would be gone altogether...a balance is good I think.

This embroidered cotton was in the sale at Abakhan from £21.95 a metre to £6.59 a metre so I just had to have 1 metre. It's green. It's cotton. It's botanical. I love it. One metre was perfect for the Datura blouse by Doe and Deer. Such a wonderful pattern with beautiful techniques which enclose all the seams and gives a brilliant bust fit for a vest top.

And finally, a trait you will know me for if you have followed this blog for a while - the using up of all the scraps in the most creative of ways.

This is the Scout Tee by Grainline Studio. It is a mix of embroidered fabric scraps I just didn't want to throw in the recycle bin. The Scout Tee is probably one of my most expensive pattern purchases, but definitely my most used. I could wear variations of these tops everyday.

I have also been working on a wedding guest outfit for my teen but it has been quite the negotiation. Can you imagine? More on that one later when I next round up my sewing adventures.

Off to check out your blogs with a cuppa now. Jo xxxxx