Perfect Sunday ....(and what I has been up to!)

So here am I, sitting in the garden, with my laptop on my lap! I can't see a thing on the screen, but I'm hoping to get the gist of a blog down, and correct it later (or maybe just leave it for the heck of it!)  The weather is fabulous, a spring chill in the air, but warm enough to be sitting out in just a cardi and track suit bottoms (Sundays are for slobbing a little aren't the?) Spot is at my side

(and just as I typed that she got up and moved! LOL - she sooooo has to have the last word) and I'm noticing that it won't be long before i have to start mowing the lawn.  I can see a robin sitting on the edge of my incinerator (mostly used for red-mite infested bedding! - sigh) and the church bell is tolling 2 o'clock. I also started (well started isn't quite right as it was 11 o'clock) but I "started" my Sunday with the most perfect brunch courtesy of Attic24, and her recently posted instructions on how to poach an egg.  As a chicken keeper i do love a poached egg on toast, and mine often come out ok, but sometimes really don't, Turns out I had all the right ingredients (water, eggs, vinegar) but in slightly the wrong ratios. - Poached eggs on toasted homemade seed bread is a good way to start a Sunday:- All pretty awesome eh?

So, the week has been pretty busy. Started on Monday with a trip up to the NEC to the CHSI trade show. (as per my last blog post!) Not much for a small trader to be able to get as all the minimum order values were really quite high, but it was good to look around and see what is available, and how the coming seasons are being interpreted.  And the feedback from the magazines was really encouraging about the Crafters' Barn, so that made me feel good about that too. (it's always so scary thinking about starting a business and then realising how much it's going to cost - It makes it a bit easier when other people think it's a good idea too!

On Tuesday, i went to visit Bruce at SKD to get some yarn for my latest commission. This is something that has been on my order books for a while but I haven't been able to source good yarn for it, as it needed to be super-bulky, specific colours, and non-itchy! Not much of a task then?! Luckily Bruce and Birgitte have just started with a new range of yarns from Sandnes-Garn and their Easy Merino fit the bill perfectly.  I decided to drive over and see SKD though as it saved on postage and meant I could have a bit of a squish of some of the rest of their range. (Who can honestly resist the opportunity to squish??!) - I also came home with 2 balls of Alfa, and 2 balls of Kashmir/Alpaca - just for research *ahem* (The kashmir/alpaca is soooooo soft and lovely, I couldn't stop picking it up and stroking it)

Finally, yesterday I went to Unravel. - Fab day, met friends, had lots of hugs, lots of squishing, and not much purchasing (which was good as I really am running out of yarn storing room!)  Saw a fabulous new range called Ruth and Belinda, really lovely yarns and accompanying patterns, well worth a look. And relented on a 24mm pair of knitting needles so I can use one for some broomstick knitting and crocheting trials.

The granny squares throw has been finished. - Would you like to see photos?????...... No???........ well look away then cos I want to show this off! :-)

(Actually not the best photos as the sun has gone in every single time I've got this baby out to photgraph it, but you get the gist!) - It's big enough for a double bed, and is crocheted in Rowan Renew.  As per usual Rowan got the pattern wrong and i sent back (luckily I finished it quickly enough that the same dye lots were still in circulation) 2 balls of Digger, and 2 balls of Trailer. I needed 3 extra balls of Tractor *rolls eyes*.  I've told Rowan, as the quantities in the book in hindsight can't possibly be correct due to the colour sequencing, and if you wanted to take your time over this project (which would be understandable as it's huge!) you'd be a bit stuffed at the end to find all the qty's are wrong. Rowan have apologised and acknowledged the mistake, so it should be in the errata soon.

Right, this post is becoming a little too epic, so it's time to draw to a close for another week or so, before I bore you all to tears. Have a good week everyone, and I hope that a little spring comes to you all this week one way or another.  'Til soon ♥

ooh P.S. Just 2 days left to vote in the poll below, please do if you haven't already. And if you have..... thank you everso x

New year - new chickens!

I lost 11 of my hens last autumn to the dratted fox. Always a possibility, something you just try not to think of. Trouble is they don't just take one - they kill the lot, so it's an all or nothing situation.  He got into my big pen by yanking my feeder/hopper off the wire wall and then pushing his way through the little hole they have to peck through for their feed.

Anyway enough about the downside, the upside is that as it's nearly spring (well you gotta look optimistically don't ya?) I have decided it was time to fix the run, clean out the house and fill it all back up with hens (this decision was in no small part due to the price of pretty pale and insignificant eggs in Sainsburys)

So the two hens and cockerel that the dear ol' fox left me with (cos they were living next door) got moved into the big pen last weekend.

My handsome boy!:
I'm afraid tho' he didn't show many manners when the new girls arrived ;) he pretty much dictated immediately what they were there for as far as he was concerned - so rude!  The new girls are a bit young yet, but when they start laying we will use him for that purpose and hatch some eggs for meat. He's a big boy so I think will produce good eating birds. (I know it sounds callous, but really they do have an incredibly good life and any hens that are particularly good layers get kept and the cockerels always have a chance to father more before their time, I'm sure the same can't be said for the birds that you buy at the supermarket)

The new girls tho' weren't sure about all the attention and took refuge behind the bay tree. They've settled in now tho' and strangely having declared his intentions so early I don't think he's been near them since They are a bit young for him though!

In other news, the crochet blanket is going well and will be finished in a week or so, I have nearly finished all the squares (yes there were 130 if you remember) and I may even be able to do an extra row as there seems to be some yarn left over - I'll have to see how that goes though.  There is an, as yet unused, oatmealy colour which is used to join all the squares together as "sashing" so to speak, so when I've finished the squares (maybe tomorrow) then the joining shall commence. I've tried to take some photos but it's a grey day here and they don't look as lovely as they should so you have to wait!  I may take this blanket out somewhere special for a photo shoot when it's finished!

The final news is that the Crafters' Barn is gaining momentum.  I have new software and new webspace for a bigger better Barn and will then be inviting many more sellers to join us to improve the range of handmade gifts we can offer you.  It's testing my tech skills though I must say - I haven't worked so hard at learning something new since I was 14 and taught myself guitar!! ;)  I'm off to a trade show in a couple of weeks so am hoping to find ways of maximising our exposure and providing the very best retail outlet for crafts that I can.

Right, it's very chilly here so I have a date with a fire, a cup of tea, a hot cross bun, the tv and some crochet.

Til soon xx

Just one photo for now

It's dull here today, grey, blustery and not very exciting at all. This has made it particularly difficult to photograph my latest finished object!! (yep, ladies and gentlemen, the blanket is finished)

So in the interests of not keeping you waiting here is a not very artistic shot of it.  Hopefully I will manage to get some nicer ones before it's all parcelled up.  There are a few ends that need sewing in tonight, but other than that it's good to go!

I've totally loved making this, the pattern is easy but not as boring as stocking stitch! I am somewhat disappointed in Rowan's technical editing though. The pattern had more mistakes than I would consider acceptable. Made worse by the fact that the mistakes were in the second and third panels which were obviously then copied and pasted down for the other panel instructions.  At one point the pattern said to repeat the last 8 rows when it meant the last 12, and at another point it said to knit rows 46-48 of pattern B, but pattern B finishes on row 40! it's not rocket science and whilst I appreciate that errata are totally understandable in something that doesn't actually make sense unless you knit it, I really think a company the size of Rowan should be able to do a bit better than this. It was an incredibly simple pattern so there shouldn't really have been any errors.

Anyway details as folllows
Pattern: Tweed Throw from Rowan Purelife Home book.
Yarn: Rowan Renew
Colours as pattern.

Knit on 6mm Knitpro interchangeable circs (longest cord I had!)
No mods made to pattern other than where it needed correcting!

Hopefully some more arty shots but this little beauty needs to be parcelled up and sent on her way.

D, I really hope you have cold winters where you are, my heating bill is likely to go up considerably now I've finished knitting this! ;)

Colour!

Today I have finished two blankets (like buses, none for ages then two at a time)

First there is my nephew's sockyarn blanket. It was made originally when he was born, but he's now nearly 4 and it needed lengthening, so here is a Big Boy's Blanket!

Made from sock yarn scraps, it's just mitred squares of 31 stitches, with a slipped stitch edging so once the first row is done you can pick up and knit on.  It's about 5ft long now, should last him a couple of years!

Secondly I have finished my blanket of sunshine:

It is the Willow Block from Jan Eaton's book 200 crochet squares. Made in Rico cotton in 15 colours. Each colour took each position in the square twice, so there are 30 squares, and 4 rows of DC around the edge.  I have more yarn to do more edging and I may well at some point, but for now it's finished!  I haven't measured it but I'd say it's around 4ft x 3ft 6.

 The garden is also really colourful at the moment, with the marigolds particularly showing their form:

There they are above, bordering my rampaging vegetable bed. Any minute now those yellow flowers will be joined by red runner bean flowers and ripening tomatoes, and the yellow courgette flowers.

The petunias are also pretty awesome now, they have a gentle fragrance, and a neon colouring - fantastic:

The photo doesn't do them any justice at all, they are deep and bright, like a perfect velvet. Amazing colouring.

I'd have taken photos of the Gazanias too as they are also beautiful colours, but they have not deemed it sunny enough today to open fully - I love how they open what they consider a sensible amount for the day - rain, and they stay tightly closed, cloudy - and they open just a tad, full on burn your bits sun - and they turn their faces up to the sun as wide open as they can be and enjoy the warmth on their petals. - It's all very clever.

I have also chosen my July challenge, but it's tucked away in my Lovely sock project bag. (Mine has meeces on, it's super cute and awesome!) and quite frankly I'm too lazy to get it out to photo - especially as I haven't even cast on yet. It's waiting for me tho'!

So there you have it, colour on a Sunday. And now the evening sun has come out and is at the best it has been all day - I feel a little garden knitting coming on, while I listen to the blackbird staking his claim to his territory!  Hope you all had a great weekend.

Return of an old friend

I made this sock yarn blanket in 2007. Finished just after my 2nd nephew was born. Well I always knew it would need making longer and the time has come. It now needs to be at least 1m50 in length cos the little man is now a wonderful 3 1/2 year old and this doesn't cover his toes any more. It's kinda nice to have it back!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Baby Quilt - Finished!

Oh my, ! I have just finished this, and now realised how much I'm going to miss doing it!  It's lasted a while, not bad entertainment value it must be said!

Now on to the nitty gritty:

The fabric is a pack of 10 Fat Quarters "Fresh 2" by Kaffe Fasset, bought from Remnant House

I cut the FQ's down into 5" squares, and first made 9 patch blocks.  I used the traditional layout for the outer 8 patches, in that they were 2 designs alternated round the outside, and then used a different square in the middle - this was mostly to get the least wastage out of the FQ's. I then cut each9 patch block in 4 to make disappearing 9 patch (also called a whole host of other names but this was the first name I heard for them so it's what I'm sticking with)  I then put them all together randomly.  The random bit was necessary because of the number of different fabrics. I couldn't quite make a proper pattern, and in the end just loved the sunshiny way that the randomness worked.

Once the top was finished, I basted it with 2oz poly wadding (it's for a baby, it needs to be washable!) and backed it with lemon fleece. The reason for the fleece backing was so that it can be used as a garden/picnic quilt, and will be water resistant if the ground is damp.

I quilted all the large patches with stitch in the ditch first. Mostly because the fleece backing had made the quilt quite thick and a bit unwieldy, so I wanted to do something to hold it together a bit better than safety pins!  Once I'd done that I free-motioned all over, starting in the middle, with a large stippling type effect.  I had wanted to do a kind of travelling daisy, but it turned out too hard on this thickness of quilt.

Then made the binding out of the scraps. Was one length short but had a batik jelly roll with a bright orange that I thought would work ok, and although I can tell it's different, I think it works ok.

So, you wanna see photos???

Really?



Ok then!

 (They're not the best actually, cos it's so sunny, you either get my shadow or slightly washed out photos, but here's the best of the bunch!)

I have to say I have totally loved making this, and I think another will be on the cards very soon. There's a tiny part of me doesn't want to give it away. (It looks awesome on my new deck) But I'm sure baby and mother will love it and it will see many happy days.

It's fairy time

My first window quilt is complete. It has taken ages, and i've learnt many lessons along the way - but isn't that always the way with crafting, there's never a time when you don't think "I could've done that better" or "next time......." but that's part of the fun. I 'm really happy with the way this looks despite there being areas for improvement, so all is good.

I have two more to complete. And when they're done they will be hung, during the winter, in my conservatory to keep the drafts out, and the heat in!

Latest crafting accomplishments

A quick roundup of my latest creations

Firstly 2 of the 3 window quilts I need to make for my conservatory.. These are only the front panels, they need to be actually quilted yet - but as I'm new to sewing I'm pretty chuffed with these so am showing them off now (before I ruin them by getting the quilting wrong!  I've tried to edit that bra out of the background but Photobucket is having none of the cropping today (it may miraculously crop at some point of it's own accord because the original has been) But I'm saying that I did it on purpose as my final salute to Breast Awareness Month, and you'll never know whether I'm telling the truth or not!)

And my Girasole Blanket. Pattern by BrooklynTweed, (available here under home and accessories)
This is the aran version (as I guess you can see by the size) and it's glorious. Just what you need on an autumn night to keep the chills at bay. The little gap at the bottom is where I ran out of yarn (*doh*) I was seriously considering undoing the border and the last pattern repeat and then reknitting the border - but it was 2 weeks worth of knitting all told, and in the end my common sense prevailed - It's a blanket!!! No-one will ever know when they're snuggled up in it.

It was knitted in Forsell Touch of Silk, 1 cone in colour Basalt, on 6.5mm needles (I think, I've taken them apart now as I used interchangeables, but I think that's what they were) and it's already one repeat short of the final pattern chart, so if anyone else is making it in that - beware!!

All in all i've been quite productive of late. ;-)