A Week of Finishes

I’m finished with the mask making for the time being, but as masks and face coverings are required in shops since Friday, there may be more to make.  Who knows?

In the meantime I have been finishing off some projects.  You will have noticed that my monthly marker for this month was this woven embroidery 

I set to and not only got the weaving finished but also trimmed the excess fabric and backed it.  Now I have to find somewhere to hang it.  Before it was hidden I took a photo of the back, with all the starts and finishes.  The circle in different colours is the stem stitch that’s sewn for the final finish.

And below is the finished item.

I started this at West Country Embroiderers back in October at a workshop given by another member of the group. The basis of the landscape design was simple with the sky, hills, fields and road/river and as you can see I did sections at a time.  It was an enjoyable and relaxing make.

My second finish was a cardigan I started back on Christmas Eve and the yarn and pattern is by Stylecraft in their Bellisima yarn.  It was a darker red than I wanted but I liked the way it turned out.  It has a stitch pattern on the sides of back and fronts also down the middle of the sleeve, which is in the photo below.

It did hibernate during the past couple of months as I had some trouble with the stitches to be picked up and knitted for the front button and buttonhole bands, but I decided it had to be finished so I did what I had done and re did it and it worked out ok. 

My third finish (well, just finished the knitting last night) was this Spindrift shawl.  I’ve yet to sew in the starting and ending tails and to wash and block, which it needs to get into shape, but it’s looking good.

The Spindrift shawl is a free pattern by Curious Handmade and the yarn was a Flower Power charity fund yarn special dyed by Sherry Iris (on Etsy.com) in Wild Strawberry.  I’d been looking for a one skein project to use this and the shawl was just right. This picture was taken last night as I’d finished it.  There will be better photos next time.

It starts off with a few stitches but with increases in each row, there’s a massive amount of stitches at the end and a picot edge.  It feels lovely and I shall enjoy wearing.  But first, washing and blocking!

But don’t worry - I won’t have nothing to do!  I’ve started to crochet a mini Dahlia blanket with the remains of the Dahlia yarn pack, like this one below that I made earlier this year, but with a random colour selection as the yarns in the pack dwindle.  This a a super pattern by Attic 24 . The stitches used look the same on the front and back, which is really brilliant and quick too. 

I’ve still got some quilting and there’s the ongoing Sew 4 the Soul project too.

So still plenty to keep me busy!!