Furtling in August

 Time for my August round up of project done, in progress and new stuff started.  Keeping busy as usual.

So for finishes in August I’ve finished and given Cecily’s cardigan, which was a pattern from Hobbycraft (In the shop, it’s not a aisle online). It’s a pattern which has the body knitted in one piece, then the sleeves and all joined together at the armhole shaping to do the raglan decreases and bobbles on the yoke.  I bought buttons last week so it’s completely finished!

The yarn in Stylecraft Bambino print and I used the green and pink out of yarn in my stash.  Although I was unsure how the print looked with this pattern, it turned out really well and the yarn is lovely and soft and easily washable,

Another finish was a pair of double knit socks good for keeping feet warm in the colder autumn/winter evenings (my feet get very cold and can get cramp) and these seemed just right.  The pattern is part of my Patreon subscription to the Bakery Bears, whose podcasts I watch and there is a Knitting University they run as part of the subscription.  I used some Scheepjes Colour Crafter DK that I had in my stash in Peach and Grey which is a lovely soft squishy yarn and instead of bobbles (like in the cardigan) there are knots.  A lovely pattern and a pair of socks were made in no time at all, being DK and larger needles. 

I also finished off another pair of socks that have been lingering a bit, which is some West Yorkshire Spinners yarn in the special Yarndale colourway called Barbara. Love the coloured stripes.

I had a quilting finish this month too.  This was not on my finishing radar, but I purchased a new sewing machine (below) which was a result of needing to have my Juki machine serviced and my manual machine frustrating my sewing progress.  The Second machine was used in part exchange for the new machine, a Janome, so after 10 years it was a bit sad to say goodbye, but time to move on.

So I wanted to discover what the new Janome does and I got out a quilting samples that I had from going to a quilt retreat 3 years ago.  It has been lingering in my cupboard so I got it out and started sewing and it quickly became a finished item.

It didn’t have the appliqué hearts, but I added those on with the small amount of the blue fabric I had left.  It’s now gone to the local Project Linus as a baby quilt as it’s just 36” square.  I like how the nine patch pattern looks and I might make another.

There’s been some fabric and yarn purchases this month, when a stop off on our break in Derbyshire at the beginning of August meant a mooch around the Bramble Patch and fabric packs.

The after Crafternoon Treats podcast a few weeks back I went to Kathryn’s Etsy shop and these fell in my basket. All 4 ply yarn, a 100g skein of red wine colour and some 20g mini skeins.  I want to make a shawl with the red, not sure of my plans for the minis, I’ll just enjoy squishing them.

And last week a purchase from Wool Warehouse, some King Cole Bamboo Cotton yarn to make a top, along with some circular needles and something I’ve been wanting to get for a while, a tube for my knitting darning needles (from Clover). I find a tube like this is better to keep in my knitting accessory pouch than a needle case.  A ball of some Head Over Heels yarn made its way into my basket to make up the value to get free postage (but it was half price!)

As you can see below I have a new cast on, which I wanted the Bamboo Cotton for, which is this usual top (which I don’t know if I’ll get to wear this year) called the Summerdown top, which starts with two lace panels, which run along the sleeves from shoulder to end of the sleeve from which stitches are picked up and knitted down.  This’ll be an adventure, so we’ll see how it goes.

And a bit of secret crochet, so just a sneaky peek, lots of legs,  but it’s not an octopus 🐙! 

A discovery this month, which I wrote about last week of the kaleidoscope block cut out and ready to sew which I found in my cupboard. I’ll get the other 3 blocks done along with the 5 already made and see how I arrange those.

I think I’ve surprised myself with what I’ve managed to get done this month.

I’m linking up with Mini Archie’s monthly Furtle around the Blogosphere here. 

And lastly, just to let you know if you’re in the area that Spectrum of Stitch is taking place at the Gallery Upstairs at Upton Country Park from 2 - 13 September.  I’ve got 4 items in the exhibition and hope to have a look next week. 

A New Old Project

 Amongst all the bits and bobs taking up room in my wardrobe store was a bag with black and pink fabric. The pink fabric was already cut in pieces, ready to be matched with the black fabric which had yet to be cut out.  It’s been hanging about for a few years, but not sure how many, hence why I call this a new old project.  I dug this out on Saturday and started on Sunday and this is the block.

I believe it’s a kaleidoscope block, or it could be stack and whack. I remember that my friend worked on a few of these quilt tops after being inspired by a magazine article and a few of the ladies from Bourne Quilters made quilts of this design. 

From the space left in the pink fabric two large square of four layers at the same point in the fabric where cut out and from that cut lengthways, crossways and diagonally to make the wedges.  I measured out the size of half square triangles that I needed for four of the wedges and the strips I would need for the other four to make this first block.  It’s ended up being 13.5” square.

I cut out more half square triangles and strips to make the other 7 and sewn 4 more blocks yesterday.

So now I’ve got 3 more to piece together.  How I’m going to arrange them, I’m not sure at this point.  I have got a lot of the black fabric left, but a lot of what remains of the pink fabric, so there may have to be a third fabric to make a top, but we’ll see. 

Here’s how hole-y the pink fabric is

So another quilt top in the making.

Granny Square Day

 On Instagram this week have been posts about Granny Square Day, which is today, 15August, and is promoted by Simply Crochet Magazine.  On the link there are several free crochet Granny Square patterns if you scroll down to page.  To explain what a Granny square is it is traditionally clusters of 3 treble sitiches, worked in the round.  There can be several joined together to make a larger piece or can be just one large square and have been made to use up scraps of yarn, usually wool, cotton or acrylic.  They can be made with one colour or several. There are now a plethora of designs based on the humble Granny Square, which Simply Crochet demonstrates.

I chose the one below to make, which is called Granny Florence (no. 21, from the above link).

It seems appropriate to me as my Great Grandmother was called Florence, and one of my granddaughters is Florence too.  I crocheted this square from some Ricorumi cotton yarn in my stash and didn’t take long to do.

 But sometimes I’ve just seen something and have to have a go and from this I have several Grannies in different yarns, colours and a few different shapes.

Just look at those, I’ve not even finished the ends!

Last year I made the Aria blanket, designed by Lucy of Attic 24, which I really loved making and gave to my Mum for her birthday last year.  Making this did make me think of my own Granny (or Nan, as I called her), who used to make a lot of Granny Square blankets, usually a large square and to me it was lovely to have that connection. 

From the yarn that was left I made my own smaller Aria, as there is always a lot of yarn left in the pack but had to substitute a few colours as the yarn started to run out but it was fun putting together the colour combinations from what I had left! It now sits over the back of the sofa in the living room and the co,ours are just lovely.  The kit and the pattern are in a pack from Wool Warehouse.  This September there will be a new design and yarn pack designed by Lucy in Christmas colours of which there has been sneak peeks of the project, which looks really lovely, so I think I might have to have a go at that when it’s released.

If you want to have a go at a Granny Square there is a tutorial here, grab some yarn and a hook.  

Spending, like….

 After lockdowns and not spending very much I think I am making up for lost time.  I’ve bought shoes (sale prices, so I’ve got 2 pairs of trainers and a pair of sandals), yarn and a sewing machine.

I cannot manage without a sewing machine and it was my fault that I haven’t got it serviced over the 4/5 years I’ve had it.  In fairness it never seemed the right time and I would have had to take it over to Salisbury.  I have another very basic machine, but it is mechanical and noisy so time to think about changing things.  I’ve become so used to the automatic functions on a machine so something had to change.

To this end I’m getting my Juki machine serviced locally now and I have replace my mechanical machine with a new computerised one for my second machine and here she is.

It’s a Janome 360DC.  It is light and small enough to take to workshops and social sewing events and sews really well.  There are a few decorative stitches as I like using some of those to effect and going forward I will probably swap between to two machines, than leave the second machine put to one side. The only downside is that not many of the decorative stitches on this machine can change in width/length, but that’s ok because that’s what the Juki does well.

Oh and the yarn? I bought some hand dyed from Kathryn of Crafternoon Treats, whose yarn I’ve bought before and not only bought this lovely ruby red, but also some mini skeins called Midsummer Madness.  

Perhaps I am suffering some madness with this spending.  I can’t take it with me, as they say.

But there is something free to me that I've started and that has been some socks, which I started yesterday. Ok, so I pay for a Patreon subscription, but the Knitty U course is part of that and the yarn in free because I'm using from stash, which is some Scheepjes Colour Crafter in Peach.  These are the Cosy Reading Socks by the Bakery Bears.  

As I've just finished the Bobble cardigan I seem to have a thing about bobbles.

There is something else yarny that I've also spent money on, but that's going towards Christmas (gasp!) so a sneak peak in my next post.

A Trip to Derbyshire

 

Last Thursday we went away to Ripley in Derbyshire to visit a few places in the area and stayed at the local Premier Inn.  This is the first time this year we’ve been away.  David didn’t use the motorways and en route we stopped at The Bramble Patch, a favourite quilt shop. It would be rude not to make some purchases and as I didn’t have a project in mind I bought some stash builders.  I like Moda Grunge and Pure Elements and there was a fat eighth box of Janet Clare fabrics, so all quite neutral fabrics that’ll come in handy.

Our first visit was to the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway at Wirksworth.  Rain was forecast, but it was heavy rain, so not much opportunity to explore the area, just a train ride to Duffield and back again. There is a small museum which was worth visiting. 

We headed to Denby, near Ripley, famed for its pottery.  There is a retail village there where we stopped for a late lunch and some shopping. 

David didn’t want to pose for the above photo, given the weather I’m not surprised.

Saturday was a better day and we went to Ambergate and a new motor museum, focussing on British cars called the Great British Car Journey. Not only remembering the cars we grew up with, but also cars we’ve driven ourselves over the years. We spent quite a bit of time there before venturing to Bakewell later, which was very busy and touristy, but it’s a place we won’t be in a hurry to return to.  While in the park eating ice cream, a wedding party arrived to have photos taken.

Going through the park we found a community hall which had panels of embroidery in the far corner made by members of the local U3A.

Sunday saw us back at a favourite haunt in the area, the National Tramway Museum at Crich.  Sunday 1st August was Yorkshire Day and there was a Sheffield tram in operation.  As well as that

were trams from  Blackpool and Chesterfield.

There were also some MG sports cars on display from the local owners club.

There are rides up and down the line, and on one of the return journeys we stopped at Wake Bridge to go on the woodland walk.

Along the route there’s some wooden sculptures to spot along the way and some views across the dales.

Also this stone and glass sculpture, liking to look of the lichen

We treated ourselves to a lovely Sunday dinner at a pub near Duffield, which finished off our weekend away, before heading back down South on Monday.  I hope we can get another break away in the autumn.

A July Furtle

 July has been a busy month, with some sewing and knitting mixed with a bit of cross stitch.  And also the month David and I get to go away for a few days after weeks or shall we/shan’t we?  As I start typing this we are staying at a Premier Inn in Ripley in the Derbyshire Dales and have visited Ecclesbourne Calley Railway, a car museum called The Great British Car Journey and Bakewell.

In view of the hot weather earlier this month I made a sun hat.

I used some Lewis and Irene fabric that I had in my stash, with a grey cow parsley print for the lining.

I’d also finished two more hats, but knitted this time.  The patterns were from Jen Arnall-Culliford’s Year of Techniques book.  I posted about these earlier this month here.

Earlier this year my daughter in law wanted to know if she could knit a cardigan for her daughter, but she’s not had time to learn. One of the patterns she liked was this one from Hobbycraft.  I couldn’t get hold of it either in the store or as a pdf, until I saw it on a visit there earlier this month.

The skill level is intermediate and the needle size I didn’t have., using 3.5mm, which is an unusual size for double knitting.  I had trouble trying to find circular needles for the yoke, but one shop I visited did needle tips in that size which I could use with the Knit Pro cable that I already have.  So I’m glad that she hasn’t tackled this.  The body is knitted to the armholes, then the sleeves are knitted to that point too, then joined together for the yoke with the raglan decreases and bobbles. Below is one of the sleeves.

I’ve done some Amigurumi crochet, with a pattern by Ali of the Little Drops of Wonderful podcast, whose pattern is on Ravelry.  They looked sweet so I gave them a go.

I’m sure I’ll find a happy home for these two.  

I made a few blocks for this month’s Siblings Together Bee Mama, Kerry, who wanted some cross blocks. Unfortunately I have a problem with my main machine, so my little mechanical machine came to the rather noisy rescue with sewing these together.  I don’t think it’s been used since before the first lockdown, so a bit of oil helped it along and it did the job well.

Progress has been coming along on my cross stitch and the cannon looks less like a tractor now.  I’m working on the lower end of the shield.  Still chipping away.

As we’ve been able to out and about a bit David and I visited Bicton Garndens, at Budleigh Salterton, which I wrote about here, which was just delightful. We actually went away to stay in Derbyshire this last weekend and I will write about this in the next post in a day or two, so watch out for that.

Meanwhile during July I have been enjoying lots of sweet peas.  They are passing over now but it’s been lovely to see them in vases and to give some away. The packet of seeds were in the Mothers Day card from my daughter Sarah, as the day was during lockdown in March.

Just gorgeous and the smell was delightful. In the last pic I gathered some along with rhubarb and strawberries.  Even made a small batch of strawberry jam, which I’ve not tried making before.  It was lush!

So there’s been a bit of everything in July.  I’m going to link up with Mini Archie’s July Furtle Around the Blogosphere.  

I’ll be back soon with our trip away.