A February Furtle

 After a loooong January, February has disappeared in a flash! Only a couple of posts this month and it’s the end of the month already.  So, what have I been up to to?

There’s not been a great deal of sewing done, which is unusual.  Just a couple of blocks for the ‘Block Mama’ for this month with these cross blocks..

A postcard...

This a swap on UKQU postcard group on the theme of Mardi Gras,

And a badger (yes, that’s right)

For the postcard above, I got out my glittery fabrics from my Unusual Fabrics drawer and did some fabric weaving and reverse appliqué for the black eyes.  I had some sticky gem dots for extra decoration and bound the card with some lace strips.  It was good to make a postcard after a long period of not making any, but I made an error in the measurements, which means it’s slightly too big to go in a cellophane envelope, so it’ll have to go to the recipient in a normal one.

As for the badger,  this is another make from the Autumn Craftpod box and he was really tiny so I took the pattern and scanned it in to make it a bit bigger and expanded by 175%.  There was enough felt to do this and I used all the stuffing that was supplied.   Even so, he is just 4.75” from snout to bum (not counting the tail.  Here he is on top on one of my units.  I think there may a be a problem with scale here.  He is tinier that the knitted blue tit!! And next to the badger is an owl, which I’m sure should be smaller.  And then there’s the giant rabbit and chicken! 

So this month has mainly been knitting.  The cardigan in my last post is coming on nicely. I’ve now made both fronts and and onto the sleeve and ribbing has been done for the second sleeve so that’s good.

I’ve also started a small project last week on the Year of Techniques book and making the wristlets using the helical stripe technique, which has been easier that I thought.  Basically it changes the stripe without having a ‘jog’ so there is no thick bit where the yarns are changed. The wristlets are for an average ladies’ size and my hands are small. Even though I checked my tension the number of stitches turned out a bit baggy for my hand. So for my second wristlet I reduced the number of stitches from 72 to 68 and it’s a better fit, I also made them shorter before the thumb gusset. 

The two yarns used were remnants from previous sock making, the pink/beige is some Stylecraft Head Over Heels Yarn mixed with Strawberry Fields cream with speckles, so two different forms of variegation.  I’ve now frogged the first one to knit up like the second.  

It’s been a lovely time for Spring flowers and although my walks a week or two ago have been chilly ones, the weather the last few days has been a lot brighter and warmer.

Even primroses out in the local woods

Some snowdrops and hellebores

My friend bought me plant display last years and it’s flowering outside out back door

Even a roundabout at the top of our road has a lovely display of daffodils.

Oh yes, I had the jab last week and all went well.  Let’s hope things are looking up.

Keeping Going in February

 

A crochet blanket is just what I need and I’ve been working the last couple of weeks on another Aria blanket but on a smaller scale.  The original, which was a birthday gift in November for my Mum, after it was finished had over 400 grams of yarn left.   Its not enough for another full size blanket but enough for a small lap sized one,  I loved the colours and the granny squares you see above are the middle ones. 

This where I've got to with the what I had left.

I thought I had finished, but it needs to be longer so I will take the red I used for the outer border off and would add granny stitch rows top and bottom with some of the remaining yarns then redo the border.  This is how much yarn I have left.

So I'll use the larger amounts - Sage, Pistachio, Wisteria and Purple.  The balled up red in the top row is the colour used in the border, so I have plenty of that for re crocheting the border afterwards. Other bits and bobs may go into a scrap blanket.  See how it goes.

A finish for this month has been this little embroidery from a Craftpod kit, which I bought back in the Autumn.

This a a 4” hoop and was worked with one strand of embroidery cotton, so it has taken a while, been left a while, and went back to stitching at the end of January. Its effect is lovely although I wouldn’t attempt anything as small again, with needing lots of light to be able to do it.  There is also a badger to make with felt in the kit and I have sized the pattern up a bit more to be able to make this.  The body and the head are sewn together separately and at the point of joining the two together.

I’ve knitted a hat for myself from a pattern I saw in Let’s Knit, issue 167, on the Readly app.

This is mosaic knitting.  Sort of colourwork but instead of working with two yarns at the same time, it’s working one colour for 2 rows, then the other colour for the following 2 rows and alternating with the unworked stitches being slipped (hope that makes sense). Not tried this process before and it does create a dense fabric which will need blocking. It took 4 days to make and finished it on Wednesday.  As it’s got colder there’s been no time for blocking, so I’ve been wearing it and it’s lovely and warm!  I've used double knit yarn from stash, a lilac colour and a multicolour yarn.  This was a selfie I took (my sister called it a 'hatfie').

A new project that I’ve started this week is a ‘coatigan’ for my daughter Sarah.  It's a King Cole pattern in Aran yarn which I purchased and downloaded from Wool Warehouse.  The darker colours have been difficult to get hold of as they were out of stock on the usual online suppliers, but in the end I found a Claret colour in Deramores and the order came really quickly - ordered last Friday and delivered Monday! 

I started on Monday with the left front and I've got to the armhole shaping so far.  I thought it would take ages but it isn't.  That might be a different matter when I come to work on the back!

So this is what is keeping me busy so far in February and its nearly halfway through the month!