Black and pink

Like I was saying last post I haven't been sewing much the past wee while. In fact, the last things I sewed were before I went on holiday in July! But I am quite proud of one of them so here we are.

Here is a delightful bundle of stuff. According to Instagram this photo is from My 6th! I was a long time building this. The pattern came from a destash someone was having (on Instagram) as did the black knit with that chevron pattern. The octopus ribbon is Tula Pink and the most expensive thing of the whole project! Worth it, though. The patches from Punky Pins I didn't use in the end - it's okay, they'll go on something else.

I was pleased again with my zip insertion - I deviated from the pattern and bound it like my Halifax hoodie.

Cute octopuses, eh? (Octopus? Octopii?)

I love how the ribbon goes all round the hood. I changed the construction of that as well - it's meant to go ni with the zip but meant losing a bit of it in the seam allowance so I topstitched it on.

And I LOVE the pocket shape. Good pic of the chevron pattern, here. The cuffs are a different rib knit for snugness. They have thumbholes!

Tah dah!

Cheeky.

And to go with it on holiday I made a Renfrew tee in a very fine knit. 

And  pair of Ginger skinny jeans in black. Holiday mirror selfie!

The full outfit. Happy days!

Like I said I've another 2 Renfrew tees ready cut (I made a star one for holidays and it is quickly becoming my most-worn item) so maybe I'll get them sewn up this week.

Scrapping

Ive not sewn anything for over a month - I know, I can't believe it either. And what is the cause of this drastic occurrence? Well, I've rediscovered scrapping. *g*

I mean, I never left scrapbooking but since 2008 I've not done any layouts that weren't Chookie's birthday, her annual Christmas gift one and the little 8x8 Christmas Eve ones that get popped in our Chrimbo album. But a few weeks ago the girl herself expressed an interest in scrapping her box of tickets and other ephemera. And there's nothing like a delve through stash (and, indeed, some new stash aquisition) to kickstart a flurry of stickin' and gluein'. Heh heh. So, what have we been doing?

Chookie's 15th birthday last month. I loved that Bo Bunny octopus vellum when I saw it! The horse and cassettes are from the same range - weird but cool.

Good old Basic Grey 12x12 sticker sheet goodies!

Christmas 2016. All I wanted was one decent photo - fat chance with her! And, yes, that's a bowtie she's wearing. Bowties are cool.

More Basic Grey. I do love an acetate diecut!

Someone's 14th birthday in Yorkshire. Any colour as long as it's black, white or red. She's branched out a little this year but not much!

Fab little pops of  yellow again from - you guessed it - Basic Grey.

So far so normal, right? But I went back into my albums to find those placekeeper photos with no layout. These are from 1997 when I'm 23. Yikes.

Glitter enamel dots!!

And even older - out old dog, Dan! Circa 1989.

Very old (lets call them first age of scrapping *g*) Heidi Swapp hearts and some now defunct Sassafras paper.

Ha! There's a story to be told here about Nelly the Elephant. The old Renault got us out of a sticky mid car-restoration spot back in 2005. This is based on Studio Calico paper that I bought in a great big bundle from Ebay.

More of those Basic Grey stickers! I only bought 2 sheets - I obviously choose well!

Now. This is an old layout from about 2012. I hadn't scrapped at all for about 2 years and was very, very rusty. My lovely friend Mrs Wookie sent me some stash and this was the first page I did. I was never happy with it (although the two that followed in quick succession are favourites!) So I remade it.

That's better! A much more balanced page. I saved the Laura Ashley glassine envelope (with Chook's gifts list in) and the chipboard title is another first-age relic.

And I finished up last night with - unbelievably - the first LO I've done of my cats! They turned 5 in June so it's well overdue!

We've toyed with Project Life cards, Chook and I - that's one with the feathers on there. They are dead handy! It's covered in their favourite things;feathers, bees and butterflies!

I've filled my 8x8 postbound Christmas album and have just ordered a 6x8 Simple Stories binder so we'll see how that goes. I've been replacing my old post bound 12x12 albums with Project Life ones because - apart from liking how they look on the shelf - they are so much easier to use and look through! Fear not, though, I cut out two t-shirts yesterday. I've not abandoned sewing! *g*

my Black Isle Yarns Eathie shawl

Julie of is one of the nicest quilty people I have ever met. And since moving up north in Scotland she has started her own fab little business Black Isle Yarns taking local to her sheep fleeces and having them spun in the Borders into beautiful yarns. I bought a skein of Gotland from her first Autumn 2016 batch and when batch 2 was released in the spring she had a kit for a shawl. I couldn't resist, could I?

My new yarn spinner was pressed into service and so by the end of May I had 3 lovely caked yarns ready for knitting! 

The yarn itself is really special - I'll let Julie herself explain.

"The remaining wool came from one, very eclectic, flock.

‘Orrinside Flock’

Jane is someone who is passionate about livestock and the land – not only does she work in a farm advisory role but she has a huge range of animals on her smallholding, including some very lovely sheep.  Her land is on the edge of the Black Isle, not far from Beauly, and has beautiful views inland to Glen Affric and Cannich – a very lovely area with hill after hill on the horizon.

Her core flock consists of North Country Cheviots which are the main sheep around here. They’re not generally thought to have particularly exciting wool and it is often written off as being fit for carpets only. This is most definitely not the case with the fleeces I chose from Jane’s flock!

Alongside her Cheviots Jane has some really special mixed breed ewes.  You can tell from their names how much she loves and enjoys them! The three ewes whose beautiful wool I picked out are Horse (Bluefaced Leicester-Cotswold cross), Monkey Face (possibly Gotland-Hebridean cross) and Frankenstein (Bluefaced Leicester-Cotswold-Cheviot cross) – shown left to right respectively (although Horse, as an old lady who wasn’t at all willing to cooperate, has a stand-in by way of her daughter aptly named ‘Horse’s Daughter’!)."

How cool is that, eh? So I started knitting and figured out the colour change and everything - turns out spit basting is your friend!

A little bit here and there soon added up and it was amazing to see it growing. This is right before casting off at the beginning of August.

And it really benefits from a good wet blocking!

Tah daaah! Isn't it lovely?

I'm so chuffed with the wavy edge and the not-too-delicate lace.

So now I eagerly await Julie's next batch! And in the meantime I have some of Horse, Monkey Face and Frankenstein's yarns left over and think I might make something small and flowery to go on something else. Maybe a hat made from Julie's Autumn batch Gotland? That sounds just about right. 

Chook's hair

I was clearing out my phone and found these photos - Chook's before and after hair pics!

You can't see but her hair is about 6 inches longer than it looks here - the bottom is black and doesn't show against her any-colour-as-long-as-it's-black wardrobe. *g*

In the hairdressers. Long time since we had a wee bob like this! This is before dying.

Red dye on!

And a massive chop. *g*

Our hairdresser had never done a chop so drastic as this before. Most people go from very long to shoulder or chin length (I did) and then onto very short the next cut. Chook knew exactly what she wanted! And it's a bit shorter than this, now. Every cut a wee bit more comes off the sides. *g*

Birthday

I'm not doing very well with this keeping up with blogging, am I? *g* My birthday was the first of this month and, unusually, I was working. And for the first time ever Spouse was off while I was working (he'd had an accident involving a vase and his foot and was off sick) and so Chookie and him baked! Heh heh. They were delicious little mini Victoria sponges. 

And I was an extremely lucky girl and received a fabulous array of very thoughtful gifts. A jewellery box from Spouse for my Trollbead collection, smells for me and the house, fabulous hummingbird artwork from my Chook, beautiful objects, and geeky goodness including a Firefly compendium from my wee bro and a Hodor door stop from a dear friend (Game of Thrones watchers will get the joke. *g*)

But check this out! It's an over the door ironing board for my wee room!!! 

Thank you, Spouse, you rock. 

Yorkshire

So our summer holiday this year was a week in beautiful North Yorkshire in the same village (same cottage!) as last year. Barn Cottage was as sweet and lovely as we remembered.

Our first full day on Sunday we took a run to the Fox and Hound for Sunday lunch. It was fantastic and ridiculously large! The veg just kept coming out of the kitchen.

I still had room for pudding, though.

A wee wander round the village found us some sheepy pals.

And my wee photographer was having a field day.

Monday saw us having a lazy day with a wee wander round Northallerton where we fell into Betty's tearoom.

What a cracking scone and cuppa - courtesy of my Mum's holiday pennies fund. *g*

Tuesday was a beautiful day spent doing the red bus tour of York. Chook *loves* a bus tour (weird, right?) and we lucked out with the weather although we had no hat for Spouse and had to buy sun cream! 

One of the stops was near the transport museum so that necessitated a wee visit, too.

Wednesday was quiet - late breakfast and shopping in Bedale (our nearest town 2 minutes away) and I had vegetarian eggs benedict!

Thursday was a slow start - again with breakfast in Bedale.

In the afternoon we were back in York for some shopping up the Shambles.

And then a walking tour with Mad Alice, "The Bloody Tour of York" and she was fantastic.

Friday was quiet again - a wee trip to Masham for some lunch and a wander. We did find a fab artist studio and bought some prints. 

And then home on Saturday. And 10 minutes after arriving home I was rushing Spouse to A&E to get stitches in his foot. But that's another story!