The thing with knitting is that it doesn't always turn out as planned. I made great progress with my tea cosy yesterday afternoon. Got to the difficult part of having to purl two together into the back of the stitch and decided to leave it until today when there wouldn't be quite so much read wine in my system to confuse my brain.Sunday started early so that we could watch Lewis Hamilton's efforts to get the championship from Massa. A bit of help from the internet meant that I felt positive about the next stage so I continued. I managed the difficult ... read more
Battenberg Tea Cosy
My sister asked me a while ago to knit a tea cosy for her, after seeing one that she liked in Jane Brocket's fantastic The Gentle Art of Domesticity. A quick flick through my various knitting books found a perfect pattern for a 1940s style cosy in I Love Knitting and the search began to find the perfect yarn colours online. The Rowan website provided colour charts and a decision was made. Shopping list in hand I went off to my local John Lewis. I managed to find the Calmer in one of the shades I needed, but struggled a bit with the Carnation shade. Luckily their clearance sale was on at ... read more
Purples
As a child, if asked what my favourite colour was I was never too sure how to answer. I just seemed to go for what everyone else liked. After all, no child liked to stand out from the rest for the fear of being picked on as a result. One colour that I would never have dared respond with would have been purple - my school uniform at the time was grey and purple.Nowadays I'm still not sure how to answer the question as it very much depends on my mood. Last Thursday though, looking at the contents of my shopping bag from the Knitting and Stitching show, I must have been in a purple mood. This ... read more
Stuck socks
I've written before about the first sock that I was trying to knit, but unfortunately, since then, I've become a bit stuck and have not been able to go much further.Basically, the instructions that came with the sock knitting kit that I bought were making no sense at all. I thought something was a bit suspicious when I got to the end of the tube that makes up the top part of the sock (i.e. stopped between needles 4 and 1) for the instructions to say that I needed to create the heel by knitting along needle number 1, back again, and then along 4 and back again. I thought ... read more
Tired and happy
I feel very tired and happy this evening. I've spent the day with my mum at the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace in London and we think we must have been walking round for about five hours in total with only a short stop for a cup of tea! There were many, many great finds during the day, and some quite exciting purchases as well. Details and some photos just as soon as I've recharged my batteries... ... read more
Learning to crochet
I've been wanting to learn how to crochet for ages, so today I took a day off work and did just that.I'd booked myself a place on a Rowan beginner's crochet course that was held in the Brent Cross John Lewis and had a fantastic time. There were only six of us on the course (they limit the number of places to eight so that enough one-on-one tuition and help can be given) and I found that I was able to learn so much. I'd tries teaching my self from a book a couple of times, but after the basic chain I just found myself getting so confused about what to do ... read more
Exciting Times
I've got some exciting times coming up over the next month or so.Firstly, Mr C and I off to the River Cottage Festival this weekend. Unfortunately the weather forecast isn't looking too good, but fingers crossed. I'm a bit fan of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his various television programmes and accompanying books.The week after next I have managed to get myself booked on to a Rowan beginners crochet course that is being held at a local John Lewis. I've been wanting to learn to crochet for ages and am really looking forward ... read more
Rowan Denim Bag
Just in case you haven't picked it up from some of my previous posts I'm a big fan of Rowan yarns and get so excited when I get my hands on their latest magazine. Last month my subscription to Rowan International was up for renewal and I didn't hesitate at all before putting my credit card details into their website. The free gift this year didn't initially excite me as much as the last one, but that all changed over the weekend. I've written before on this blog about how I missed the regularity of knitting in some projects I've started recently yet this back is the complete opposite and gave ... read more
More life…
Once again those things on life that need doing are replacing those things in life that I want to do. Work and other things are still preventing me from finding the time to do those quality things that I want to spend time doing. Mr C and I spent the weekend up north visiting my mum and dad and whilst there I was able to take advantage of their garden and start my latest Rowan knitting project whilst sat in the sunshine. I've started work on the bag project that came as this year's free gift with Rowan International membership. I particularly am enjoying the regularity of row after row of ... read more
Rowan Bamboo Tape
On my way home from work on Wednesday I called in at a local John Lewis store with the hope that I might be able to find a haberdashery bargain in their famous Clearance. I'd already popped into one of their stores at the weekend and found a few things reduced, but I'd heard rumours that further reductions had been made now that they're into the final week of the sale. It seems I wasn't to be disappointed! For the grand total of £21 I managed to get 17 balls of Rowan bamboo tape in shade 714 ember. It looks simply divine and feels so so soft! In that price I also managed to get a copy of the ... read more