Shades of grey in action

Last evening my daughter came round in the new top that I knitted her.  I'd say it was a perfect fit, what about you?

BTW the new knitting group at the White Horse, Swavesey went really well, nice group of ladies, so we will be going again (-:

Its Wednesday so it must be time to share

This week I have several things to show.

Some slippers for Laurie

This cardigan again - so simple

Blackberries and apples

Laurie's ten stitch, making progress now the cooler weather is here

turning into

Granny Jam for Rufus

Rachel and I are off to a new knitting group at the White Horse Pub in Swavesey tonight, started last month whilst we were on holiday, so time to check it out.  They meet on the 1st Wednesday of the month, 7:30 in the lounge bar. Maybe see you there

The yarn fairy called today........

and left lots of bags by my door.

A friend has been clearing her loft and came across her late mothers' stash.  She had planned to throw it away - she's not a knitter.  Luckily she mentioned this find to my husband and he suggested letting me look through it first..... phew!! I have him well trained.

Anyhoo, this is what there was.  Sadly I had to throw out some of it, due to the fact that it was so old it had started to rot.  I found that anything without a bit of acrylic had to hit the dump pile.

See the grey fleck, there was at least 25 balls of this and it is all dumped!!

I was very good; I went through each bag and sorted it all into colour themes. Then I went through it again and decided what I would use in terms of types of yarn, colours, weight etc.  I now have four bags that I won't be using myself.  One has lots of small amounts which I will give to a colleague as she crochets.  The second will go to my knitting group to share out.  The third has a crochet blanket half made up, with lots of crochet granny squares and the yarn for more, all pastels not my kind of thing, so I plan to take it to the charity shop. The fourth is the rejects which will go in the recycling bin.

That leaves me with this lot, along with some patterns - which I also sorted through, there were 2 folders worth and 2 bags of toy stuffing (always handy)

I now need to sort my stash cupboard and try to fit it in.  Some is already earmarked for the Ten Stitch currently being worked on, and there is some orange yarn so I can start another Ten Stitch as requested by Rufus.

The give away pile - the pile in the middle is going to the Medway ladies

Many thanks Cherry, it is very much appreciated.

WIP Wednesday

Welcome from sunny Cambridgeshire, its lovely here today after the overnight rain.  I was going to say we had had no rain for 3 days but last night it poured.

WIP's - this week I am working on the Ten Stitch - I always panic when I add a light round, but with so many more rounds to do I know this will work in well.  As I have to make another of these matching, I am having to be careful not to exhaust all the colours.

The V necked cardigan is coming along, I still have the sleeves to knit. I am working on the front band. I would of had this done last night but realised I had knitted 2 right fronts, so needed to pull back and start again.  That's what happens when you talk and knit at the same time and don't pay attention to which side you are shaping on!  I joined a new (to me) knitting group yesterday.  They meet every Tuesday afternoon at the Dolphin Hotel in St Ives.  I'm not sure if I can make every Tuesday but its nice to have somewhere else to knit.  Thank you ladies.

On the reading front I am on the last few chapters of the Cross Country Quilters.  I have enjoyed this book.  Yes its predictable but its sometime good to have something light to read.



That's it from me today.  For more WIP's pop over to Tami's and Ginny's

Finished at last

Finally, finally. 

Started in October, this latest Ten Stitch Blanket seems to have taken forever.  However, the end result is very pleasing.  2400 grams of yarn has been used.  All of it from my stash, most of it from the charity shop, so it also didn't cost me too much.

I spent the afternoon instructing two of our knitting group on how to knit this.  We had a laugh, I'm not much of a teacher, whether or not they have "got it" will remain to be seen.  I amended the pattern to make it read a bit easier, but they were still confused.  I guess if you don't understand pattern lingo then it seems like a foreign language. 

Its funny there were 13 of us at the group this afternoon and 10 of us were knitting these blankets.  They are very addictive.  I had said that was it, but I feel the need to start another.  I have the yarn ready and bagged up, maybe I'll have a go at the circular one, if I make it thick enough I could make a mat. 

As usual watch this space for the results.

Signs of spring

After weeks of mild weather we awoke to a bright and frosty morning

The bulbs are emerging. The aconites have been out for a couple of weeks now, their bright little heads a welcome sight in the past dreary days

Flame berries in the seed pods of the iris.  I love how they are decomposing, leaving a casing of chiffon

I have the day to myself. No plans. I have put a wash on. Waiting in for a parcel to be redelivered.  My cold is progressing, more irritating than anything.  Funnily, 35 years ago, on the eve of our wedding, I had a really bad cold, feeling rough, not that it marred the big day.  35 years - Coral or Jade depending on whether you are traditional or modern.  We won't bother with either on Sunday, just a nice lunch out, time to ourselves to reminisce.

Hubby just sent a text - puncture on the M11 southbound, not a good start to his day.

Judy, hope you are feeling better today - she has a cold virus too.

Also - I'm wondering about starting a knitting/craft group in my garden room.  My worries, that no one would come.  Should I do it?  How often should it run?

I won!!

I can't remember the last time I won anything - on Saturday I won 1st prize in the Unity Community draw.  The tickets - some I which I sold, were in aid of the Medway Users Group and a local charity - decided on MAGPAS.  The single sized quilt and a wall hanging were made as prizes by the ladies of the Medway Craft Group, of which I am a knitting member - I will get round to trying out quilting at some point, honest!  The Mayor of Huntingdon did the draw so there was no fix. I picked up my prize this afternoon, and I hope you'll agree its beautiful, thanks ladies. I plan to use it as a topper over cream bedding as I don't have any single beds.

If you would like to learn how to make something similar then why don't you come along and join us, we are a friendly group who meet once a fortnight.  We are now on our summer break but meetings resume in September, revised dates below.  Any craft is fine - this afternoon we had ladies working on tapestry, embroidery, knitting, sewing, quilting, whatever floats your boat.

September: 8th, 22nd
October: 6th, 20th
November: 3rd, 17th
December: 1st, 15th

Lack of momentum

Things are going very slow on the knitting front this month. I feel like I haven't really acheived anything apart from add to the stash. My ten stitch is coming along albeit slowly.  The trouble is the bigger it gets the longer it take to do each side.  I still have plenty of yarn so will just keep going, though with the return of the lighter evenings the garden will be taking top priority. I also have another unfinished project and that is the short row scarf but that will do to take to my craft group on Thursday as its light and portable.

Jobs for this afternoon will be more seed sowing - the tomato seeds have germinated as have the lettuce, these will need potting on in a day or two.  I have sweet pea seeds in soak so these will be potted up and I need to sort out the seed potatoes. 

I lost all my begonia tubers to the cold winter and am still mourning the loss of all my cordyline trees.  There is still lots of clearing up around the barn and garden in general. Peter dug out the area for the new steps and I barrowed it to the end of the garden, so now we have a huge heap of soil in the veg plot! There is a low brick wall to repair. So many jobs so little time

I'm done.......

I've been very busy this week on the knitting front. I have completed the replacement Breton Jumper for Master Rufus, I think I actually prefer this one.  I've also completed my Celebration Swap package, which has gone in the post this morning to Noreen.  I will be turning the felted Breton into a textured bean-bag, as suggested by Mummy Jones.

My next project, which I will start this afternoon at my knitting group, will be a fairisle tank top, again for Master Rufus, I have sorted out the 5 colours required but need to decide which will be the main. I really enjoy having a knitting project on the go, its good for concentration, stops me eating and keeps me awake in the evenings!



Bah humbug

yesterday I went Christmas shopping. The shops were heaving, the assistants ignorant, the shops over-heated and under-stocked, making it a truly miserable experience, I will be doing the remainder on the net, soooooo much easier.

I also found out how to become invisible - I went to a meeting of the local knitting group - I have never felt so unwelcome in my life. I was more or less ignored when I turned up. I introduced myself, they just said hi and carried on their conversations. I sat down got my knitting out, they carried on, one asked what I was knitting then turned her back. Some other arrived said hi to everyone, me included, but never asked my name or introduced themselves. In fairness the lady that sat the other side of me did introduce herself, chatted a bit then got into conversation with others beside her. I tried to introduced topics, but had them hi-jacked never coming back to include me, so in the end I gave up, sat with my knitting, alone in a group of about 15 women. When 4pm came round I packed up put on my coat, said good-bye, not one person responded. Needless to say I won't be returning. Thanks Ktog Cambridge.

So as you can see yesterday was a real write-off