April...ing

 It's been all daffodils and lambs here. Welcome to our family and our Apriling adventures.

Picking - the daffodils that blow over on the windy days and buying some favourites too.

Admiring - the wild primroses on the bank at the bottom of our field.

Caring - for our first lamb that came two weeks early. These two are back out in the field now.

Feeding - another one. He needed feeding every 2 hours at first and now every 4 hours. This one got left by mother while she took a long time to labour her second one. He was in the field all wet and unlicked as some wintery showers with cold winds blew in and it was getting dark.

Sniffing - his new playmate. Beano the dog is beyond himself with excitement.

Taking - the lamb out for some sunshine so that we can clean out the office, it stinks in there! His horns are already starting to poke through. Both Hebridean ewes and tups have horns which they get very soon.

Sewing - a shirt dress from Newlook6449. There is a denim version of this dress in the header bar but the buttons were so stiff that eventually they split the button holes. This new one fills its shoes perfectly.

Setting - up the incubator with six eggs to hatch. We did this 21 days ago and are waiting for new chicks. I fear the office will continue to smell in the next few weeks but of a different kind of poo.

Smelling - a a nicer smell. I love the daffodils that have a strong scent. These were particularly beautiful.

Looking - under the hedgerows for wild signs of Spring. Violets, cowslips, wood anemones and celandines.

Continuing - with my strip quilt. I wrote 'one hour strip quilting' on my sewing list this holiday and managed another whole row.

Crocheting - my chunky blanket. It was a one row a night wonder which is finished except for trimming the tassles.

Hunting - out the egg decorations for my twig in the window.

Walking - down to the ford for a shady woodland splash about with the dog.

Planning - some new sewing tutorials with these fabrics; striped jersey, swiss dot, linen and the last of my cotton voile.

Feeling - Very, very lucky with our lot.

Updating - you as I write, two chicks hatched so they are basking under the heat lamp while walking though their food and water!

Bring on Spring. Jo xxxx

Spring Mornings and Afternoons

 The worst thing to do in the early warm spring days of the year is to stop in and make something to wear on a warm day! Oh, the irony of that choice. With this in mind, I have been sewing on colder mornings and gardening in the warmer afternoons.

This is the Fen Dress by Fancy Tiger Crafts. I made a winter version in brushed cotton with a round neck in January and now this summer one with a V neck. You can also make tops from the same pattern. The fabric is a lightweight cotton sateen. I thought I would choose a large print for a change which I really love.

Another successful make is this reversible Agave skirt by Deer and Doe. The one side is black linen for winter and the other is floral cotton poplin. It fastens with two buttons and has an asymmetrical wrap front. It is genius!

Then I had a go at some bag making this is a REAL handbag! It looks and feels so much like a real one. I had to use a leather needle in my machine and it sewed up like a dream. There are useful front pockets, inside slip pocket and a back zip pocket. It is the noodlehead traverse handbag made with faux leather - an absolute keeper.

I am of course true to my sewing roots and have used up some smaller fabric pieces to make a Linden sweatshirt using up leftovers. I have two of these now and I wear them regularly. I had a few handmade sweatshirts that shrunk a little after washing so these have gone to my big girl.

The view from my studio is unique and when the lunchtime hotspot lands right on the french doors it is time to stop sewing and head outside for some sunshine. 

Bloke has worked hard finishing off the steps outside which I am so happy about. I tripped up them in January which caused my bad arm which I am struggling with at the moment. The sun shines right in my eyes at the sewing table about 1:30pm so it makes me pack up and go outside for the afternoon.

It is refreshing to take the dog out, give my daughters some fresh air and enjoy the spring weather with them.

I have lambs to show you next.... exciting times.

Jo

PS. I have managed to get my blog admin all set up on my laptop so I can blog more regularly and catch up with you folks now. I only used to be able to load stuff on the main PC in the office but we have lambs in there and it stinks! 

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