the "two entries a year" blog....

hello again! long time no see, I know... they say that the days are getting shorter and it's true! somehow there are never enough hours in a day:) by the time I've finished everything I meant to do (and often not even that!) the day is over and I haven't blogged - again. so - I'll try to be better!

 

anyway, of course I've finished many things during the past few months. I didn't exactly count all the socks I finished, but there must have been at least 10 or more pairs... some went out so fast that I didn't even take pictures. I did a few for myself, tried out a few new patterns and one new cast-on.

difficult to see here, but I started by doing the shells on top of the rib. it's done with a cast-on over a crochet hook, easy to do, found it somewhere on pinterest. the green sock on the left has a pattern that's called laburnum, and the "christmassy" looking sock on the right - is from the same book (Charlene Schurch), but I forgot the name:) both hand-dyed yarns; I think the green was done with food dyes, and the red with the colour crabapple plus leftovers from Gaywool Dyes. 

I am also working on a men's cardigan, made from soft donegal (from Donegal Tweed Company in Kilkarra). the pattern is from the new book by Anna Zilboorg, splendid apparel. there are lots of different patterns, all shown "naked" and also embroidered, the main feature of the book. I will finish the pattern first and see how much adornment via embroidery I'll add - it's for a man, so shouldn't be overly much decorated! I did a gauge, which I often skip, but I thought that the pattern will draw in a bit - and it does!

I also used up the yarn blend yak/silk, dyed with lac, which I originally used for knitting the Morvarch shawl. it was a bit too smooth/silky to my liking for the morvarch, but it drapes perfectly for the "rosered" cowl from "enchanted knits". and it's very soft and lovely to wear. 

I wasn't sure if I could finish another small cowl with the little bit of leftover - but it worked. I had about 5 m left, when I did the cast-off on this feather-and-fan cowl. oddly enough this is my favourite just now - not quite as close to the neck, good for the not yet very cold days on the bicycle:)

 

 

this is the pattern "olive garden", free on ravelry. it drapes beautifully, esp. due to the many beads that are used in the design. I added two pattern repeats to make it a bit larger and it is nice to wear - and very nice to knit! the only drawback to the pattern is that the last row (crocheted!) takes ages - because of all the added beads. but it's worth all the work, I think! 

I also started to use up some of the "tons" of leftover bits of sockwool. I quickly got hooked on the beekeeper's quilt pattern, lots of little hexagons, filled with polyfill. I didn't think of a use for them at first, but suddenly realized that they'll make nice covers for my garden chairs. they are washable, but soft and squishy, nice to sit on - and use up bits and pieces. I need about 10 m for each and it takes approx. 20 minutes to finish one hexie. bit by bit the bag filled - and after about 100+ hexies plus a bit of sewing and an attached i-cord all around....

 

 

.... the pillows were finished:) in the meantime two more bags of sockwool bits have arrived, so that I'll probably have enough to start a small cover/blanket from it. I think I'd sort the colours a bit though, less higgledypiggledy, more colour coded, maybe mostly blues? I don't have enough of purple sock yarns for a big project:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I also finished a table mat in EPP. the recipient loves ox-eyed daisies, so I picked out different whites (some pure white, some with white-on-white prints), some yellow/orangey tones and the green/white/yellow base fabric. I didn't fussy-cut the background, but I did try to have the pattern match a little bit, to avoid odd cut-offs. after finishing the top, I made a ring out of hexies in background fabric, which followed the edge pattern. when folded over, it makes a nice edge, instead of a regular binding. another thing I found on pinterest:) there's no quilting again - I just knotted embroidery floss into the yellow middles to fuse the thermolam and the background fabric to the top. but for some reason blogger doesn't allow me to push the photo to the left, like the rest... maybe that's my punishment for not blogging for so long?:)

anyway - that's enough for now, I think. I hope to blog more regularly again now that monsoon season is upon us again!

the last entry....

... for this year:)

 

just a few more hours and the old year is gone. I had planned to write sooner, but christmas got in the way, as usual. and yesterday blogger didn't like me - I couldn't open the blog, never mind put a new entry in. it still doesn't do what it is supposed to - the new header picture just doesn't want to stay in the right size. but you can see the weather we had over the weekend - mostly sunny during the day, but pretty frosty (down to minus 6 deg.C) at night. in the morning everything was covered in white and the dogs, who like to drink "dirty" water from buckets etc., got a shock - because their lovely water was replaced by discs of sheer ice:) the look on their faces - they ran from bucket to watering can (emptied out) and to the pond - nothing! what a relief to find the water dish inside full to the rim:)

 

nothing left of that today - most of the day we had either drizzle or rain plus a lot of wind - and the rain is going to be stronger tonight. lovely - it seems we have to light our sparklers inside the porch again, just like last year! 

 

I did manage to finish all christmas gifts in time, but I only realized yesterday that I forgot to take some photos. never mind - I did take a few at least. I also spun bits and pieces - but again, I didn't take pix - yet! I hope the new year brings improvements to my forgetfulness - there's room for more!

 

anyway, here are a few of my "fiddles":

 I made a "christmas tree" in patchwork. I had planned to make one on a wall hanging, but I realized that there won't be enough space to hang it in the recipients' home, so I thought a 3-D pyramid to sit on the table might be easier to put up. originally I had planned to make a foot/trunk, but after I put the bottom in, I liked it better this way. putting on the beads was a real fiddle, because the inlay is so tough that my beading needle looks like a hook now:) but I managed with a thimble and patience... I have the base of a second one ready, but the plan is to put on more of the "chain garland" and less (or none?) of the single beads...

seems like I am on a patchwork roll just now - I also made about a ton (ok, maybe around a dozen:) of those  decos, little hexie wreaths with a christmassy charm to dangle in the middle. I made batches in red/green/gold and one in purple and neutral, all to be given as small tokens - they fit nicely into an envelope with a christmas cards.

 

I also made most of my cards, but nothing textile - and of course they went out before I took a picture....

and I knitted my very first chimney sock! I've had a book with patterns for ages, but when I need them, I usually need them urgently - and end up making one out of felt! this one is knitted with leftovers of handspun in "rosewood" and a lacy edge from handspun silk/linen. in real life it's much bigger of course - no point in making tiny chimney socks (where would you put the goodies then?)... luckily I only need one of those, given the fact that I seem to suffer from single sock syndrome at the moment. I did finish one pair for DH - out of a "new" sock yarn, 8ply, a good bit chunkier than normal sock yarn. I think it's too thick to wear the socks in normal shoes though - but they warm birkenstock-clad feed nicely:) what I didn't like so much was the ball size - way too much for all but the biggest sock sizes, but not enough to knit a second pair. I compromised and made wrist warmers out of the leftover yarn, because I only bought one ball to try - and wouldn't have any other suitable sock yarn to use it with!

as I said I made other things, spun some yarns etc. - but this will have to do for now. I'll try to be better with picture taking - but at least I took one of my cookies! most of them rather last-minute, and I didn't do a single "cookie cutter" variety this year, but at least they taste nice, even if they don't look fancy!

 

time to get ready for the changeover - no new year resolutions for me - they usually only last for a few days anyway!  I hope all of you have a wonderful year to come, always enough fibres to play with and enough time to try out all your ideas!

 

Happy New Year!

quick update

just a short blog entry - to say that yes, I am still alive - and I finished the quilt, puh:) just in time - I slightly underestimated not only the number of green hexies I'd need (easily rectified by making more) - but also the time I need to put it all together. but it's done now, so no need to complain! I think I might be taking a break with the hexies for a few weeks - a lot of stuff wasn't done lately and I'll better get up to scratch on a few things first! but the plan is to make at least one other "wild flower garden" (for myself this time!).....

 

 these are some of the work stages: lots of paper inlays:) bottom left shows the back of the top, looks very 3-D! I didn't quilt the top, I just knotted it - like flower stamen, in some of the flowers, but not all of them. I thought about sewing around it all on the green edge with multicoloured thread, but there's already so much colour in the quilt! and I've done all of it by hand - didn't want to add a bit of machine work after all:)

the bottom right are my leftovers. I made 36 flowers more than I needed (not on purpose, but I can use them for the next one!). and I've only left a handful of greens - after I made more than 100 extras! I think I might choose fewer greens for the next one though - all the different greens make the whole thing a bit too unruly:) flower garden for very wild grannies:) I counted 1705 hexies - and the whole thing took about 150 hours give or take. if anybody asks: no, I wouldn't do something like that for sale! or at least not until somebody pays me the minimum wage per hour:) which would mean 8.65 per hour - that would be about €1300 just for the work - plus of course all the materials:) I can't see anybody forking out that kind of money (or even just half of it) for a tablecloth of 110 x 110 cm....

 so this is the finished table cloth. on a nice summer day:) I put thermolam in as a waddding, but I think a piece of brushed cotton would have been enough - it's not to keep someone warm after all! but at least nothing wobbles; it's soft, but not so soft that glasses or cups wouldn't stand properly. if I had more time I would have liked to handquilt a leafy border around, but that would have been cutting it a tad too fine!

 I didn't do much beside the sewing, but I needed some relaxation on the side here and there:) so I started on another one of the pencil roving "cheeses" I ordered from Studio Donegal a while back. I love the colours, but this time the roving is extremely fine and flimsy. so much so that I had to double it up to be able to spin it. I pull out one colour and divide it - to match the colours reasonably well. but it does get mixed up a bit, so the colours aren't as clear as the last ones. if one can call tweed colours clear that is:) not sure what I'll make out of it - I think maybe a bag? it's too rough to wear knitted up and I wouldn't have enough to weave a larger piece of cloth.

 

 the last few weeks have been pretty good weatherwise and we spent a lot of time outside. I was rather surprised to find this fellow inside - he (she?) made a racket at the window, trying to get out (yes, really, it sounded like a little helicopter!). I managed to catch it in a jar to carry it outside - doesn't it have gorgeous colours? it's called "elephant hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) and I have never seen one here before! I thought they might be rare, but apparently they're not.

still, I am happy to see all the different species - to me it means that our garden is a home to a lot of wildlife.... 

 my garden isn't quite the riot of colour the quilt shows and I have to admit that some of the real plants are more gentle on the eyes:) this is the rose "New Dawn", a lovely climber with porcelain pink flowers that's been growing outside our porch for many years. we cut it back last year, because it was rather straggly, but it's been coming back nicely this summer! pity though that it isn't scented - and it doesn't do rosehips either! well, you can't be beautiful and smell  nice at the same time:)

other flowers however go better with my "wild garden" colour scheme:) this is a primula vialii - and I love how the two colours set each other off! I wouldn't want to wear a dress like this - but the flowers give a real "zing" to the flower bed. small - but bright:)

 

this is it for now from me - lots to do, places to go:)

slow progress

I've been working flat out on several projects - but I didn't finish all too many of them - yet! well, I suppose it's easier to finish socks, scarves and other small things, at least that's my excuse:) I have finally finished the peagreen monster - the recipient was happy, although I thought that the smaller size would have been large enough for her. but if she wants the cardie to wrap around her - who am I to complain. I am well known for preferring woollies to wrap in to "negative ease" garments!

I think it has been a rowan pattern, from one of their magazines... it's debbie bliss donegal tweed, but I have to admit that I prefer the finer Kilkarra aran tweed. the pattern gives the 6.5 mm needle, but I only used 6 mm, to make the gauge fit, but also because I liked the grip of the tighter knit better. the sleeves are wide, totally unshaped at the bottom, so maybe not very practical in use, and the fit is extremely loose (tent springs to mind:). the collar sits better on a real person - but unfortunately there was nobody to take a proper photo (as usual)....

the next nearly finished project on the needles is the baby alpaca cardigan - which has to be blocked before I can work out the upper sleeves... the lace pattern pulls in so much that it is difficult to calculate the decreases otherwise. 

the other main project (unfinished of course!) is the hexagon table cloth. all the flowers are finished, plus some double and triple ones and a handful of buds. those are all the greens to surround the flowers (at least I hope I'll have enough!) plus a few sets, in case I do need more small inserts.... 

I couldn't resist the stack of flowers - a hexie highrise in colour:) I don't think I'll need all of them, but it's better to have a few spare - and I want to do a second one anyway.... 

until my room is ready, I won't have the space for an upright board, so I put two polystyrene boards on a camping table to lay out my hexies. I know that there is too much room in between some of them, but I wanted to make sure that the colours are spread out reasonable well. (the green is just fabric pieces in this pic!). the colours in the back look more muted - but I put that down to the darker background fabric. I printed some close-ups and keep them close to my sewing corner. I pricked the first few hexies up on a piece of cardboard and started sewing this morning. to be continued... 

 

I also received some purple fabrics - my favourite bag is slowly coming apart and I plan to make myself a new one with some purple fabrics. and maybe a little green, but I'll test that before I sew. the pattern consists just of larger squares that are put together to form a round bag - easy to sew with the machine, even for me:). and I have no idea why blogger doesn't let me write on the side of the picture....

 

on the 24th of may our group, the Connacht Textile Crafters, took part in the "Feile na Tuaithe" (good thing that I can type here, I wouldn't be able to pronounce it properly...). it takes place in the Museum of Country Life in Castlebar, where they have a lovely park to put up that festival. our group was given a marquee, so we brought a few of our finished projects for decoration. Lesley brought some of her lovely quilts, which look good even from further away.  I brought my revontuli shawl (black/grey/white, right side) and the red and green thingy (shawl), that looks like a curtain here:) we had problems with putting the stuff up so that it's visible - but doesn't cover the rest... we also had smaller projects on the tables below, peg loom weaving, embroidery, crochet, knitting etc. in the background we put up our bunting, which was made by members a few years back. each member received a felt tile to decorate with one letter of the groups' name. in hindsight we should have put it up closer to the front, because the details of each tile were too far away to be appreciated; but we were worried it might rain and end up a soggy mess!

I demonstrated bobbin lace (place on the right, only my board is there:) and ended up nearly finishing a bookmark; I did the last bit at home later. not perfect, because it's hard to concentrate and talk and explain at the same time, but at least it's usable. I'll mount it on some fabric to make it a bit sturdier.

 

Anne, another member, demonstrated how to make buttons out of fimo clay - which was an instant hit esp. with the kids, because it's colourful and fun to look at.

we were lucky that there was practically no rain, but it was windy and cool - esp. after a few hours of sitting in front of the projects...

 

so now - back to sewing hexies. I had to resort to using one of those sticky patches - after sewing about 400 flowers, my middle finger wasn't taking any more needles without "complaining":)

waiting for...

 ... better weather!

 

I should be working in the garden most of the days by now - but we have our spring monsoon time again, i.e. heavy showers or straight rain most days:( every time I put my nose out I get wet - which is quite annoying, because there would be so much to do. the soil is soggy and only the weeds are growing.... I have to admit though that I blamed the tulips for a no-show - and all I would really have needed was a bit more patience, because they flowered quite nicely, just later than I expected:) pity that they don't bloom together with the daffs, which would have been quite the spectacle in the flower beds!

at least I had sunny colours inside - when working on my flower garden tablecloth! by now I have more than 100 flowers and quite a few "doubles", only about 20 or so to go. not to mention all the greens in between of course:) 

I don't want just full flowers, I like it better if some of them overlap, have buds or are closer together without green hexies to separate them, so I put some suitable colours together. as you can see some are quite bright:) most of the greens are more muted, which will bring the brighter colours down a bit, I think.

I already cut half of the green fabrics, but I still have to fold and "stick" them, before I can start putting everything together.  

and yes, I do really just stick the fabric around the template with masking tape. there is "low tack" masking tape available, which holds together the fabric, but won't leave any residue on it. it might not last long enough, if you plan to do the quilt of a lifetime - but I have to work quickly anyway (deadline looming), so it suits me fine. and the paper templates are re-usable two or three times! which is good, because it saves me from cutting everything out again for the 2nd planned project...

 

I only sew, when I sit at a table - which doesn't work in front of the tv for me. I usually either spin or knit there... I did spin a skein of dark grey, three-ply gotland, but haven't taken a pic, not very exciting anyway:)

I did knit some smaller projects on the side, when I had to stop with the beige cardie (which only needs a little more work, blocking and finishing). I made large potholders in black and white, with the chinese symbol for "luck". looks to me like a human standing in front of a house? which might be considered very lucky - esp. if it is your own house:)

 

 there were some leftovers, so I used the yarn up by making matching dishcloths. my favourite "no-think" pattern is the circular saw...

so I made another three for a small mother's day gift, together with a hand-made (not by me!) piece of soap. and was rather surprised, when my mother claimed that she was delighted to receive three pretty doilies:) well, it's not up to me how people use their gifts, but I don't think I'd like to use those as doilies (but maybe that's because I am not really a "doily person"). I find them quite nice to use as dishcloths myself, though I changed the original pattern a bit by wrapping the short-row stitches and knitting the wrap and the stitch together to avoid holes in the fabric. there are still the lace holes along each stocking stitch part on the outside (the zig-zag of the "saw blade"). but at least there are none in the middle, which wouldn't be very practical when in use... perfect for leftovers of multicolour cotton I think!  

one month later...

typical for spring are days that are too short to put in everything I'd like to put in! so no blogging.... there's still too much work leftover, when the day is already gone:) of course I still knit/sew/spin etc. but gardening work takes over the regime. the weather dictates inside or outside work and lately we did have quite a few drier spells.

 

last week we had to go to Galway. we went very early and took some time out to walk down to the sea first. another day of lovely sunshine - first we fed some birds (swans and seagulls mainly), then we went down to the water to collect some shells and sea glass:) the header picture goes out towards Galway Bay (famous from several songs:). the rest of the day wasn't quite as idyllic, a lot of running in and out of shops, waiting in lines for the till etc. - walking from one shop to the next is far more tiring to me than walking hours and hours through a forest or on a beach!

 

Galway Bay 

Galway Cathedral

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yesterday I went on a longer drive with a friend. I was asked to choose a birthday present - a special one (the big Five-O looming:). I decided that I'd like to go to Lough Key Forest Park - quite a drive from here, nearly an hour... not doable without a car and train and bus connections don't seem to exist either. we watched the forecast for a while, but I didn't really fancy going during the last 2 weeks of easter holidays. there's a lot of stuff on offer for kids and when the weather is reasonably good, it can get quite crammed. we were lucky to choose yesterday - today it's been raining on and off! yesterday we drove in brilliant sunshine, warm, but not too hot, not much wind - the perfect day. this park is an old family estate, taken over by Coillte. hard to believe that one family should have owned so much land - it's huge (I think 800 acres or so?), with the lough right beside it and access to boat tours etc. we didn't come for boat tours though, we came for some greenery:) the park is literally covered in wild garlic, and we went and picked some leaves... and enjoyed a walk through the forested area. at this time of the year it's the perfect walk, the trees are not as dense as they are in summer, there is dappled sunlight everywhere, but it's sheltered and "wild" - esp. after the recent storms we had. we enjoyed some coffee and brownies and sat outside, watching the birds all around....

 

 Castle Island in Lough Key Forest Park

the Fairy Bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't just drive around all month, I did some work as well:) I am still working on the hexagon table cloth - haven't taken any new pix, but my stack of finished flowers is growing, I need about 100 - 120, but I have sewn more than 50 plus some "extra shapes", where flowers overlap. plus some "buds", so I reckon I need another 35- 40 maybe...

the first batch of flowers - picture taken several weeks ago:) I was worried that I might end up with a sore finger, but I only did 4 or 5 a day max., so it wasn't that bad. I bought some of those "patches" you can stick to your finger, but so far I didn't need them. I hate thimbles and try to work without them if I can....

I think this was my "hexie collection box" at its fullest -  most of them already in sixpacks (new meaning to the word?:); on the right are the ones where I only have a few or leftovers from cutting (I got 8 out of a charm 6x6 in, so I always had two spares that I could use for a middle patch).

so far I only washed and ironed the green I need between the flowers. not sure if I really should use the light green (bottom right), because it has red dots... and the more blueish green (larger piece in the middle). but there are plenty of different greens in the charm pack and I also have some greens already in stash. I separated the more khaki green ones, somehow they don't seem to fit the colourful flowers of a flower garden? maybe I should do a desert garden next:)

 

thanks to a friend, who collects FQ's, I had a large choice of colours for the flowers, but I also ordered stuff from "planet-patchwork", a mail order company from Berlin (yes, it's silly, but it's cheaper and faster to order from germany than from the UK; over here there isn't all that much choice in PW mail order companies:( at least I didn't find any online that offered enough choice of what I wanted....)

 

I also nearly finished the beige cardie; I just need to finish both arm shapings and put everything together. and I finally knitted the black and white potholders in double knitting I wanted to send off as a thankyou. I chose the chinese symbol for (good) luck instead of a sanquhar pattern - but didn't have the time to take a pic yet... next in line will be the green monster (a cardie in frog green donegal tweed I promised to knit for my friend) - and hopefully finally the rest of the FIA I started last year (good thing that UFO's don't need feeding and watering:)! unless - I can't help myself and start on one of the purple donegal tweeds that look so tempting every time I pass the cones....

preparations....

after several days of really yucky weather with torrential rain, storms and frost at night today is a quiet sunday. earlier the sun peeped out for a bit, but we have more rain in the forecast for tomorrow and the clouds are already gathering... never mind, the weather after tomorrow is supposed to be "picking up"! hope dies last:) of course a few days of nice weather and the daffs think it must be spring. they are blooming everywhere and all nearly at the same time - and I think there'll be none left to flower around easter as it is so late this year (they are called "easter bells" translated from german - but over here they're usually gone by then!).

I love all the spring flowers, but in contrast to tulips, which only flower really strongly in the first year (unless you dig them out and replant them) daffodils increase without me doing anything about it - perfect for lazy gardeners:) pity that the muscari aren't flowering yet, the "swedish" look with yellow and blue gives the flower beds a real boost! the only downside to the long-stemmed daffs is that they break easily in our strong winds. I just spent a nice 15 minute break in the garden, collecting all the broken ones to put into a big bunch inside! they are so cheerful - even a hole in the flower from a greedy slug can't change that!  

I am also doing other flowers, the "grandmother's flower garden" kind! I checked through my stash to dig out fabric for a larger project - and couldn't resist making two smaller mug rugs first. of course eedjit me sent the finished ones off before taking a photo. I made them "egg-shaped" with a bias-taped edge in green....  I bought thermolam as wadding for potholders last year, but it worked nicely for mug rugs, too. it's heat resistant, denser than normal wadding and not too thick - I did all the sewing by hand and it was very easy to work with.

 

 this is the first step for the bigger project! I am going to need about 1100 of those for my idea! couldn't get the 0.75 "easily as pre-cut, so I took thicker paper and copied 25 pages of them... a lot of cutting involved, but luckily I don't need all of them before I can start! we have our craft meeting next saturday and I plan to have enough hexies prepared to do some sewing. I don't want to make a very orderly flower garden, I'll include some partial flowers and a lot of different greens in between (have to order more fabric for that of course....:) to make a square table cloth out of it. the first 300 are cut!

 

I also finished the baby booties - as usual knitting the base was done in an evening - fiddling about with the dogs took ages... to make them stand up nicely - I filled them with kiwi fruit:)

the green is much more yellow in reality though.... 

 ... this comes closer, esp. the upper skein. I am just spinning the last bit of the fibres, two skeins are ready to go for the baby cardie. I think I won't double the yarn up as I did for the booties though - or the sweet pea pods will look like broad beans:)

 

I didn't finish the baby alpaca cardie yet, so the sweet peas have to wait a little while longer until it's finished. no pix yet, don't want to spoil the surprise for the future owner:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 on one of the rainy days last week I finally used up my own lemon "harvest" - I made jelly out of my 7 lemons. I gave one each of the irish bio lemons to mother and mil (as proof that there are home grown lemons available in ireland:) - and used the rest with a little bit of "help" (aka lemon juice) from 3 shop bought ones. I cut the peel into very fine strips and simmered it with a bit of water for a while. it turned a very deep yellow! then I used the peels, all the juice and slices of the smallest fruit with jam sugar to make the jelly. it's very tasty - not really very sweet, but full of aroma! perfect on a fresh buttered roll - yum!

 

and now I better get started - I have to iron a gazillion of little fabric pieces to start the patchwork! and finally get out the order for more fabric, esp. in greens....

funny....

...how half of europe is covered with snow - but not us! ok, during the last two days we did have a few sprinkly showers, but I wouldn't even call them flakes and they melted on impact. today we've had a few rain showers, but it's lovely to be outside and feel the sun on your back - for most of the time:) I hope my remarks about being snowfree aren't premature - but I think I am not alone in saying that we've had enough of winter by now (and over here we really didn't have all that much!).... slowly but surely our garden is waking up:

 the buds on my blueberries are opening - in different stages, because all are different varieties. one of the fruits that provided pickings last year, despite the miserable summer weather

easter is coming closer, and the daffodils are trying their best right now - at least the smaller flowered varieties are. the large ones take a bit longer, but there are feisty buds all over the garden!

 

spring is a good time for new plans - not only in the garden, but also where textiles are concerned. I would like to make a grandmother's flower garden quilt in the future - with all kinds of purple/lilac fabrics. not in a hurry, I still have to collect a load of fabric, but yesterday I received the first instalment - more by accident than by design, but I am going to keep those for my future project:) I have a few leftovers and a larger piece or two in stash, but I want it to be a big quilt and with lots of different fabrics, so I'll collect for the time being. btw, if you like hexagons, have a look at this

 

 remember the oddly shaped "sock" I showed you earlier? this is the result.... a pincushion granny:) when I saw that design on ravelry, I knew that I had to make one myself. a friend of mine loves nicknacks like that, so I made one for her birthday. the knitting isn't really difficult, the design runs over 24 pages, but it's very detailed and you can mostly work a whole page in half an hour or so; the body is done in one piece, with a lot of increases and decreases (even the nose is knitted in like that!), only the arms are done separately. the garments are a different story - it's quite fiddly to pull everything together and I took the liberty of changing some of the works. in the original the sleeves are knitted with the arms inside, which means that you don't only have to battle your dpn, but also the rest of the granny:) I decided after one sleeve that this won't do and knitted the other sleeve from the bottom up (see below) and fixed it by sewing it to the top. actually this was far easier and it looks just the same....

 of course it's not nice to have pins in your bottom, so the granny looks rather dismayed:) it was great fun to make her bun (handspun samojede dog's hair), to crochet a lace collar and the lace on the dress - but the best bit was making the glasses from wire! maybe that was because it was the last thing I had to do?

anyway, I think at some stage I'd like to make another "autsch" - but next time I'd make the base larger, choose nicer yarns for maybe a period dress design, maybe even make the lace in bobbin lace instead of crochet. we'll see - another future project:)

as you can see working the sleeves was fighting a hedgehog - the needles are 1.5 mm - and unfortunately rather too long for this tiny project. if I did do another granny I'd buy more suitable short dpn for this!

 

 I also worked some wearables - this is a collar by Andrea Delhey, done in crochet, in black handspun merino. I changed the size slightly, but the pattern is the same - you can find it here

 detail of "baroque collar"

 when the winter grey was at its worst, I decided I needed some colour for a perk-up, so I grabbed all the reds I could find, corriedale, throwster's waste, merino etc. and spun it all up whichever way it came.

the plan was to make a 2ply in exchange for the "poison" wollmeise skein I received as a surprise mailing ages ago. I read in Kristin's blog that she loves red, so I thought that it would be perfect to cheer her up a bit after an operation she had to have. I spun the leftovers into a second skein, but there wasn't enough silk left, so the 2nd one has less sparkly in it. the problem was to catch the right colour - no luck in rain or sunshine... the slightly fuzzy one on the left shows the colour changes better, but the right one hits the colours! traffic light red:)

 

 

when I sit down for a tea break at the table I need to have a small, simple project on hand to work a few rows here and there. after collecting a weekly mag incl. a small ball of yarn for a long time, I packed all the yarn into a bag and forgot about it for a year or two. it was meant to be a knitted afghan, but I didn't like knitting the squares much, so I decided to make a granny square blanket instead. the yarn is sheer poly, which I would never ever use for a garment - but I think it'll do for a simple blanket (might end up in the dog's box though:)

 

 

I've also done several pairs of socks in the meantime, I am working on a "fia" (with lots of changes:); I have to start on several gifts soon - and of course gardening is starting in earnest now. but I'll still be able to make a hexagon here and there I think.... off to swing the needles:) oh yes, and I have to finish my 2nd "deluge" - I love that pattern, but I am going to knit the next pair without the fussy different toe shapes (for left and right foot).