Ta Dah!

I've been determined to knit a pair of fingerless mittens for myself before I go to Germany.  I've made plenty in the past but always the simple ones that have no thumb gusset.  I was totally terrified starting this one if I'm totally honest.  Thumb gussets are one of those things that I've forever been afraid of, like fair isle knitting, aran jumpers (and people wearing them!), the size of a crocheted bedspread, the boogy man under my bed and a running gingerbread man!
But I decided that I was going to face at least one of these fears and I signed up for the 'Gloves and Mittens Galore' course on www.craftsy.com. I love craftsy courses. They really help when there are no classes available to you.  And living in the Irish midlands believe me when I say that there are absolutely NO classes being run in the area.  But with craftsy they are alwaya there whenever I have time to spare.
I was much more hopeful after watching the class and so I picked up my dpns and started a pattern that I got from ravelry by designer Susie Rogers.  Here's how the first mitten turned out:

Very blurry picture.  Sorry about that but I was trying one-handed photography.

I'm really proud of the thumb gusset.  It's not totally perfect but not bad for a first attempt.  There'll be no stopping me now.
What are you scared of?  Is there an obstacle that you've overcome lately?
Chat you soon,
Rosie xx

Insomnia and Revamping An Old Knit

With all the disruption over the last couple of weeks I've really struggled with sleeping.  Walking around the house at four in the morning looking for something to do is no fun at all!  One night my daughter put her big teddy, whom we call Abominable, into my bed so that a cuddle from him would help me sleep like it helps her.  Well I'm not joking you when I say that I squeezed that poor teddy senseless that night.  And you'll never guess what... I slept the whole night!  Needless to say I've brought him to bed every night since and I've always slept like a baby...literally.  Maybe Lucy discovered a cure for insomnia.

One of the nights I was up and looking for something to do I decided to revamp one of my handknits.  I made a short little cardi a couple of years ago from some lovely wine Rowan Cashmere chunky.  Sadly I've put on some weight since and so I haven't worn it much lately.  I crocheted on a trim and some button loops in a dark green merino and found a nice set of buttons in the jar.  

Sorry for the poor piccies. I think that its turned out okay.  What do you think?

Chat you soon,

Rosie xx

Short Row Craziness

First of all I'd like to thank everyone who left such lovely messages and words on my last post about the sad passing away of poor Nutmeg.  It was very kind of you all.

Now down to something a bit more cheerful, knitting.  I've been working on this waistcoat for some time now.  It is a beautiful design by Kyoko Nakayoshi.  And oh boy was it a learning curve.  It was a first for a lot of stitches and techniques.  It was the first time that I attempted doing a reverse cable stitch but slowly got the hang of it and by the end I didn't even need to look at the pattern.  Here I also learned to perfect my wrap and turns.  They always drove me crazy because I hated the way that they looked when I had to pick up all the wraps at the end.  And I think that I must have ripped back this knitting about five this because I was so unhappy with my short row shaping.  But I eventually got a link on the internet and it said to always lift the wraps up from the knit side and place them behind the stitch to be knitted.  On the knit side the two stitches should be knitted together from the back of the loop and on the purl side they are just purled together normally.  It leaves the wraps totally invisible.   

I'm still not sure about the colour of this though.  That's always the danger of buying yarn over the internet, you risk not getting the colour that you expect.  What do you think?

Now just being so close to finishing this, I have to put it aside.  I have a wedding coming up on the 20th October and I need a wrap to go over my shoulders and keep me warm.  So I'm knitting against the clock.  I love knitting to a deadline if I'm honest.  It makes me work a lot harder on it.

I chose the Illyia Shrug from ravelry and Garn Studio Merino Extra Fine.  I love the colour.  And it matches perfectly with the trim on my dress.  Now that was a lucky internet buy!!

Anyway I better go now.  I've got the Hubby's jeans to mend too.  

Rosie

xx

Winter Is Coming Yippeee!

My favourite time of the year.. winter.  I love that now the evenings are getting shorter and there is a slight nip in the air.  I've always thought that there is something very romantic about winter.  It makes me think of cuddles on the sofa beside the stove, walks with the kids in the frosty forest all wrapped up with woolly scarves and mittens.  I love going from a cold frosty world into the comforting warmth and love in our home.
But that does not mean that I don't want colour.  At the moment I'm gone ever so slightly pea green mad and I'm working on a scarf pattern from The Knitter and a sock pattern from Interweave.  Woolly, warm but still bright and cheery.  What more would you want.

Fishing Socks

I finished my sons fishing socks today and even though the season is nearly over now, I bet that he'll get lots of use out of them as wellie socks when the cold weather starts.  He loves them and I delighted about that because we could never find any jumper patterns that he actually liked.
I have not done out my basic sock pattern out for you here because I'm still working on one that's as clear as possible.  I'll keep working on it.

Ready At Last

I'm finally finished my mothers Christmas present at last.  Last years present!!!  I didn't have time to finish a scarf that I was knitting for her so I decided to parcel up what I had finished together with the wool, needles, pattern and a drawing of the finished piece. But unfortunately it somehow got left behind in my Mums house and I didn't find it again until last week.

I designed this because my mother dislikes long scarves that you have to wind around your neck about a million times to prevent you from tripping on it.  The buttons I added so that she can make it as close or as loose on her neck as she likes.

I really like this water ripple pattern.  It was really easy to work as it was only a four row repeat and it made the end result soft and warm.

Little Birdie Hook Pouch

It has been driving me mad lately that every time that I need a crochet hook, I'm never able to find the one that I want.  I've had to pull apart bags, boxes and drawers.  So this week I finally decided to do something about it.  I went through my fabric stash and picked out some of the pieces that looked nice and summery (to cheer me up in this awful weather).



How to make:
Firstly you need to decide the length of the pouch that you need.  I have quite a lot of hooks and because some of them are large wooden ones, I found that the best spacing was 4cm for each hook pocket.  I have 11 pockets and so my pouch is 44cm long.
Next cut out the outer fabric and the lining. They should be 30x44cm in size
The pocket material is 15x44cm in size.

Using a tight zigzag stitch, make the pockets by sewing the pocket fabric to the lining at 4cm intervals.  Do not sew this with the outer material pinned on because you do not want the stitching to show at the front of the pouch.
Handstitch a trim along the top of the pockets, ensuring that you don't accidentally close them up.

Cut out some applique shape that you like the most.  For me it's birdies.  Love em! And with a piece of bondaweb iron it onto the outer piece of material.  For decoration I finished this with a blanket stitch around its edge.
Using bias binding sew the front and the lining pieces together.
Put your hooks into the pouch and roll it up.  Mark where the side meets the back and sew on a snap button for closure.
Fold down the top of the pouch until it meets the top of the pockets and iron well.  This will keep your precious hooks safe from falling out.

Baby Mobile

Last week a good friend of mine had a little baby boy.  Ahhhh I hear you say.
And so I set about trying to decide what on earth I could give her as a present considering that she is a master crafter herself and has been knitting cardis and blankets for months and also my kids wanted to help me make something.  So I decided that a baby mobile would be a nice idea.
(Apologies in advance for the pictures but the finished mobile was so long that the only place I could hang it to photograph it was in the kitchen).

Firstly I got a bag handle and covered it on ribbon and hid the seam with a green spotted bow.
Then the kids picked out buttons and helped me to sew them on little felt flowers and stars.  Great practice for them.

We cut out shapes in fabric that the kids thought they would like on a mobile for their room. A moon, , butterfly, fish and two different hearts.  We sat on a rainy afternoon and quite happily stitched to our hearts content.  They may not have been pure perfection but there was a lot of effort put into it.
I then laid out the pieces in rows as they would appear on the mobile and with a darning needle and a long piece of embroidery floss, I began to sew them together starting with the fabric shapes and knotting the thread under each new felt shape added.

I had some thick felt rope hanging around for ages and I knew that I would eventually find a use for it and this was just ideal.
I cut up five pieces, one for the loop and four to tie to the hoop of the mobile.
I must admit I got my hubbie to do one of his fancy fisherman knots to tie it all together and then I secured it by stitching on this fabric and felt butterfly.
I hung the embroidery floss and shapes to the hoop by stitching the end of the floss to where the felt rope is attached to the hoop, securing it very tightly.

 Oh geees, I hope that this has not been too confusing!

Er, there is no crochet? What's goin on?

This is what a friend mailed to me after she read my blog. I love to crochet but as of yet I've not put any patterns or pics up here. But unfortunately most of the pieces that I've already finished have been sold or given away.
So Pam this is all that I have to show you, half a cardi and four squares for a blanket. But don't worry there will be lots more to come.

Sewing With Little Fingers!

This week after much begging from my children, I agreed to do a craft class with some of their classmates.  I opened up my fabric box and told them to choose some that they like the best.  And before long the kitchen table was covered in squares of felt, balls of wool, ribbons, various coloured spools of thread and piles of buttons.
I never really expected to enjoy it quite as much as I did.  I put on some music and we sang along to the songs. We joked and laughed.  And indeed we prodded our fingers with sewing needles lots as we whipped stitched little fabric hearts or made felt and button brooches.
I must admit that I find it much easier to show kids how to sew or knit than I do adults.  I can't exactly explain why either.  Maybe it is because they ask simpler questions.  Or maybe it is because they don't expect any more of you than to be yourself and for you just to share with them what you know.  I will definitely be doing one again.  But maybe not three hours long again.!!!

Being Busy

My most favourite colours in the world have always been green and yellow and what else would produce a more perfect way of showing them off at their best than mother nature in this simple native cowslip. Beauty in simplicity.  Having two young kids is mad and very hectic at times but when I see something like this I'm often stopped in my tracks and I just have to take a moment to admire it.






In the last couple of days I've taken to my sewing machine and tried my hand at patchwork for the first time.  I picked a small project for myself and decided on a pot holder in some of my favourite fabric remnants.  A few short hours later I was finished totally.  And it may not have been perfect but I was quite delighted and pleased with myself.  But within a few short seconds of using it, I let it slip from my hand and it burned to a cinder on the stove top.  What a wally!!

I also made this cushion cover this week from a feather and fan shawl that I had knit but was too short even after it was blocked.  And as I hated to see all my hard work go to waste at the bottom of a drawer I decided to make it into something that I would see every day.  There is nothing better than having a piece of knitting with old fashioned stitches in your kitchen even if it's only for under your bum.