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