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

Young Stitchers

Today I would like to show you some needlework from my young stitchers. It was our village produce show over the summer bank holiday weekend and there was a handicraft class. I put in a crocheted blanket and came third but I was pipped to the post by my youngest and her demon stitchery who came second. The first prize went to a beautiful fair isle knitted hat with the most complex pattern.

They both picked up some embroidery this past week that they had started a while back and used the show as a bit of a finishing target.

Aren't they fabulous? They also do this thing that I have in no way modelled where they won't start a new thing until they have finished the last! Little M completed a cactus cross stitch but chose one of her hoops from earlier in the year to enter.

She is back on a new embroidery now...

Big girl has started an epic elephant cross stitch which will be wonderful. Look at her little magnetic needle minder, isn't it fab? Both the cross stitch kits and the magnets were sent as much appreciated gifts from their auntie.

We are getting quite a gallery above the inglenook of their endeavors. All of these were completed by the girls except the big one on the easel which is mine from about 23 years ago. 

In the end I won show champion because I entered loads of our veg, fruit, jam and baking. It was all a bit of beginners luck, that and I entered nearly everything which seemed to be a good strategy!

Our last week before the new school year starts which will be a big one for youngest as she starts secondary school. All very exciting... Jo xx

Secret Hidey Hole

 In continuation of showing you around our new place I have something today that will float some boats, I am sure. I have a studio all to myself!

Our new house is actually smaller than our old house so we knew that we would not have a spare room for all of my crafting tat. I even tried to give lots away to make it seem smaller but there was not a room in our new plan for it. My late father designed the new house and he didn't have a sewing machine!

My cousin laid a concrete pad ready to build an insulated log cabin way back in April. 

My brother-in-law, Andy and I built it in the sweltering heat of May lockdown. It became so hot that we actually had to stop laying the felt on the roof because it it was just too hot to kneel on. 

I painted it, had some carpet fitted and then dumped everything in there while we moved our house contents. 

Everyday in August, I emptied another box until I found a home for all of my things. The wooden wall blocks have insulation built inside them and the floor is also insulated so that things will not get damp.

Andy added electrics so that everything could get up and running.

Our old kitchen table makes a fabulous cutting table which I can only blame myself for if it is always full! I used to moan at everyone that the kitchen table was never empty enough for me to lay out fabric.

I have gradually added more pictures and things that make me happy.

There are little places for everything.

It is a wonderful place to hide for an hour or so. I have never wanted a flash car, or a luxury holiday - give me a shed with all my stuff in any day.

Of course, if you are truly creative it mostly looks more like this...

Thanks for dropping in. Have a good weekend. Jo xxx

This, That and Loads of the Other

Just dropping in with a little soft toy make. This is a very small bear which used up the last of some fawn yarn and miniature ball of left overs from the sock knitting bag. As with all toy knitting, the face is a deal breaker. I am not sure I have the eyes right yet but the nose was a good one. 

I will pop this in the gift box with a long piece of bunting I completed last week from some leftover triangles my aunt gave me after she had completed some community bunting. Here's hoping for a new born boy over the next year or so.

This last week or two I have lost my way a little with crafting. By finishing my epic projects of the Loki sweater and my postage stamp quilt so early on in the year, I feel at a bit of a loss as to what to choose next. Last night I had a scroll through Ravelry and a peruse of my PomPom magazines for inspiration.

Maybe the situation isn't being helped with a dog developing eczema on his undercarriage, my big girl is being tested for Lymes disease and there is only one road in and out of our town due to the flooding in Ironbridge. Making amazing things is a bit low down on our list of priorities at the moment!

Anyway, I wound up a skein of yarn last night, my last unused purchase from Wonderwool last year, and decided to start a one skein shawl. The pattern got going and I feel I will enjoy this over the next month. It also has a touch of hopeful Spring about it.

There has been sewing too but nothing to shout about, a scrappy cherry stone heat pad to finish off the bag of cherry stones that keeps leaking all over the place in the cupboard.

A top that ended up being too small for me in the arm circumference  but will make a nice gift for someone I know. The last of some fabric I made my Big girl a summer jumpsuit from.

A shirt dress nearly complete apart from a waist tie, buttons and button holes.

There was a used up bag of half made Christmas gift tags which I polished off and packed away for December. It made about 20 in 20 mins!

Starting the Indigo dress/tunic by Tilly and the Buttons.

You see, lots of things for sure but nothing that has come to a finale, a flourish or a journeys end. 

The next big thing will be just around the corner. 

Thanks for dropping in though. Jo xx

All Done #24 - Crochet

It has been a while since I have posted an All done post. They show how I use up my craft materials to the very end. I do not like having piles of half used stuff filling boxes, I like to see it all done to make way for new things.

The last of my mercerised cotton scraps were made up into teacher gift key rings. I don't know if my teaching assistant colleagues will give a present to me at Christmas (I am new to the school) but if they do, I will be right there with a little homemade crochet.

I found a use for the last two squares from my cowl by making a plain back for each one. It satisfied my inner soul to use them.

This yarn has been a joy to crochet with which is why it keeps popping up to be used. It is too nice to have stuffed under the sofa in a sandwich bag. It was called Drops Muskat and here is what I have made with it...



I bought it originally to make this baby blanket in 2018

Added to the baby gift set was this bunny.



Recently I made this cowl.

And have now stashed away a few pressies. 
Want to see what I have left?

BOOM! Nailed it. All done Drops Muskat cotton yarn.

Thanks for dropping in. Inspired to use up some stash? Jo xxx