Saturday, March 31, 2007

Stage 1 of bag lining.............



The bag has been turned inside out, plastic reinforcement added to the sides and base and then the reinforcement stitched in place. I have shown the lining pinned in reverse onto the bag turned inside out before sewing. I'm hoping to add a pocket for a phone etc. More tomorrow. :)

Posh Emily Sock



I finally knitted my first sock in Emily (colourway = Farrago). I had to reduce the cast on stitches for this thicker yarn to 52 from 60/64. I added a lace stitch 'borrowed from Cookie's Monkey socks to make them less boring. This yarn is quite stretchy, which is the only down side cuffwise, otherwise it is my favourite sock yarn I've knit with yet. So so soft, like velvet to touch. I think that perhaps using a less stretchy yarn for the cuff would make socks knitted with this perfection indeed! :D

The material arrived today for the lining for my felted bag and I got my sewing machine back from my sister who has been using it for some time. I've not yet used it since I bought it. So hopefully more on the bag later. :)

I also had a shipment of venetian glass beads to make more stitchmarkers and key rings (possibly for a swap on Crafty'n'threads forum). They are lovely. :)

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Thank you for all the help, handles now on!




I've sewn on the handles, I need to add a lining to give the bag its finishing touches. I'll maybe do that later. :)

Thank you everyone for your help. It is greatly appreciated. :)

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Posh socks finished and indecision......



These are now ready for my Niece.

I still couldn't decide, so I took pictures of the bag with each set of handles placed as if they were sewn on. Now I'm leaning towards the Bamboo ones. I've definitely eliminated the pink handles! I've added a closeup of the Bamboo to show the colour better.





Monday, March 26, 2007

What Goddess are you?

I found this on Z Knits.

You Are Aphrodite!

A total shining star with a ton of admirers
And no wonder: you live life to the fullest!
When things get bad, you can easily take off to a happier place
But occasionally, you need to deal with problems head on

Sunday, March 25, 2007

A Birthday Surprise Planned




I'm taking part in a birthday surprise swap for someone on my Crafty Thread forum. I'm not going to show everything that I've planned for their box. I do however want to show my second foray into making Stitchmarkers. The first I sent on to my swap partner, Terri, with a far too obscure clue and I had to fess up in the end. :duh:! I really enjoyed making something pretty, useful and for someone else, so I made these too.

Something old...........something blue


I am looking for advice. I had knitted this bag some time ago. It was knit with some Kureyon and some Lamb Pride Bulky. Which has felted fantastically. Basically I was experimenting in bags at the time. I now want to actually finish the bag and thus cross off another WIP off the list. What I wanted help with was choosing handles. I have plain D handles in Black, Pink; Some Bamboo handles; or a lovely multi-coloured bead handle. I'm leaning towards plain black as the bag is 'busy' enough on its own. Any suggestions? :) Or have you seen the perfect handles for this bag elsewhere?

Here is a picture of the candidates for handles. To make choosing easier. :)

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Saturday Stash..........



The postman came up trumps again this week. I waited until this morning to show my new yarn. Claudia Turquoise Jeans from Simply Socks Yarn Co. And Emily in Posy & Farrago (red) and Lucia in Illustrious from Posh Yarns. I had extreme difficulty in limiting my buying from Dee last Sunday. Sometimes I like a few yarns/colours but last Sunday I wanted almost all of her yarn!!! Self-control was very necessary. :)

Friday, March 23, 2007

First Posh Sock.



Second is one on the needles already. My niece says she can't wait until her Birthday for these. I don't think I can not give her them when they're finished. Would you make her wait? (Birthday is in 2-3 weeks)

This yarn feels like butter when knitted. Super soft. :)

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Monkey Socks Finished.



Finished at last. They are lovely. Piece of Beauty Yarn is lovely knitted up and suits this pattern so well! :)

On the needles now is some Posh Yarns Lucia in flush for socks requested by my 6, almost 7 year old niece, for her birthday in April.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

I love my postman!!!!





Five parcels were waiting for me this afternoon. A box from BlueMoonFiberArts containing Seduction in G-Rocks,STR-Lightweight in LittleBunnyFooFoo. A bag containing Granite Falls from Kirsty at Piece of Beauty. Shaefer Anne and Lola (one off colours) from Gill at Woolly Workshop. Rodeo Cotton from Aknita in aid of Comic Relief Red Nose Day. Tudour Roses Book as mentioned here.

The only problem is I want to knit with it all. The Shaefer Anne and the Seduction feels like silk!!!!!!!!!! I have to finish the last few inches of the second Monkey Sock! :)

Monday, March 19, 2007

Which Austen heroine are you?

I found this on Art in Reality blog. If only Mr Darcy was for me ;) :)

I am Elizabeth Bennet!


Take the Quiz here!


Saturday, March 17, 2007

Paddy's Day stash enhancement



I got Regia silk from Web of Wool to knit Cressida [EDIT:correct spelling is Clessidra, duh!] (when I get the courage ;)), Mountain Colours Bearfoot in Indian Corn from Jon at Strawberry Tree for 3 pairs of socks for my boys and buttons from MacCulloch and Wallis to choose some to finish my Rock'n'Weave socks at last. There are no decent button shops where I live unfortunately.

What Tarot Card are you?


You are The Empress


Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.


The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.


The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.


What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Happy St Patrick's Day :)

I found this on a fellow Rockin Socks Club blog.

Look at the list of (100) books below.
Bold the ones you’ve read.
Italicize the ones you want to read.
Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
Movies don’t count.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell
)5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien
)6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)

9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)

14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)

24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)

48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Friday, March 16, 2007

I found it, thanks to Aknita!



I finally found a copy of this thanks to Aknita who signposted me to Jannette's Rare Yarns (ebay) on Crafty Threads forum. I have coveted it since seeing Elizabeth 1 on Maggan's blog. When I looked for it on the web it was being sold used for silly money.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Tiny toes .......

3 single skeins for boys socks arrived today, they are so vivid! Apparently I have to rinse them seperately as the dyes may run. I'm not surprised the Interlacement yarns is fabulous and soft. I got it from the Loopy Ewe.

Good weather has its effects...........


My Garden is coming into bloom! I am rescuing it from wilderness bit by bit each couple of years. This is the last bit I rescued and it's paying me back. These are 2 Camelias I have had for years, they have never looked so good. There is another but it's only in bud at the moment. :)



Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Mini Me.......all mine!!!

These were finished this morning so they could be put on at the 2 year old's insistence! They were to match his big brother's and I couldn't knit anything until they were on his feet. :)


Monday, March 12, 2007

Rockin' Sock Club February Set arrives!!!!! pic heavy!!!

I think I may be one of the last to get these so spoilers are perhaps unnecessary








but








just









in case







:)







Isn't it lovely. The pattern is a toe up, inside out sock. Another first for me. :)

Sunday, March 11, 2007

What flower are you?


I am a
Canna


What Flower
Are You?





"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."

Saturday, March 10, 2007

I've made progress but not finished anything .........


I have now knitted the back and 2 front pieces for Tintagel. The little sock is the first of the matching socks my 2 year old wanted so he could be just like his big brother. :)

Monday, March 05, 2007

Jitterbugs done.


All done, now 2 year old wants a pair the same for him. I hope there is enough to do this.

I really need a new camera.........

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Noo is right, scarily accurate!!

I found this on Noo's knit site and was sceptical until I put in my own birthday, remember I am Hermione! Scary isn't it? Have a go and see if it's as scary for you too. :)


Your Birthdate: April 28

You have a Type A personality so big it makes other Type A's shrink away in shame.
You never shy away from adversity - and you love to tackle impossible problems.
Failure is not an option for you, and more than a few people are put off by your ego.
You tend to be controlling, and you hate leaving anything up to chance.

Your strength: Your bold approach to life

Your weakness: You don't accept help

Your power color: Bronze

Your power symbol: Pyramid

Your power month: October

I do knit things other than socks.....




Tintagel. I've completed the back and started on the front. It is nice to knit with bigger needles, like changing shoes when you get home from work. It exercises other muscles in your hands. :)

I'm not convinced that I like the Romance yarn, I'll reserve judgement until it's finished. I might not even like the garment now I've started. The glossy picture looks very different to the knitted pieces. Ah well we'll see.............

Friday, March 02, 2007

First Jitterbug sock now done


These are for my older son. He 'likes' them, praise in deed! :)

Thursday, March 01, 2007

New arrivals..............



These all arrived safely. The little hand in the picture is telling me which one is mine! :)