Felted Goodies

On Friday I received another package from my secret pal, Monika. This ticks lots of boxes for me: hats, handbags, and felting courtesy of pick up sticks. Take a look at this:

There is enough yarn to make a child or adult version of the hat, and I am going to claim his one for myself.

I love this bag, and have just knitted my first I-cord, so am looking forward to applying this technique to the decoration of the bag.

Thank you, Monika - you certainly know how to spoil someone, and I have been amazed at your great choices, all of which I have enjoyed.

I have also ordered myself a set of Denise interchangeable needles from I Knit (great site with a fun blog), so that I can do larger projects in the round.

I have a whole range of projects on the go at the moment (bag, cushion, rosettes, collar, cards), all close to completion, so should have some FOs to post soon. It has been a mad couple of weeks, though. My little chap finishes the reception year at school on 3 weeks, and so the school is preparing them for moving up to Year 1, and all the independence and responsibility that involves. They now gather and line up in the big playground with the other children, and are led in by their teacher. Up to now the parents have gone in with them and helped them hang up their coats, find their name tags for self registration, and hand in homework/money for events/letters from home etc. Now we have to let them go on their own, with reminders such as "don't forget your reading pack is in your bag" ringing in their ears. The children are all ready for it, I think this period of adjustment is more for the parents!

I also have to complete a lot of applications for funding for our playground project as part of my PTA duties. We have raised £4,500 this year, and our target is £10,000. This will be used to regenerate the school playgrounds following major building work in the school. It will be used to buy shelters, seating, playground and sports court markings, play and sports equipment and storage. We are going to need to do a lot of fund raising activities next school year. It's quite a daunting prospect, but we'll get there.

I haven't managed to do any painting for 2 weeks, but hope to be able to find some time for that today as well.

SP10 comes to a close

The end of SP10 is approaching for all participants. I for one have had a wonderful time. This was my first exchange of any kind, and I could not have wished for better either in terms of my pal (Monica at Knitty Goodness) or the person I was spoiling (Nephele at ADKD).

Thankyous have been exchanged all round, but you can never express too much gratitude so I would publicly like to thank Monica for the wonderful job she did of spoiling me - she sent we wonderful yarns, lovely and useful accessories, introduced me to sock knitting, and kept my little chap entertained as well with models and chalks.

I also want to thank Nephele for being so responsive to the packages I sent her. It was great fun to read about her receiving and opening the parcels, and hear the plans she has for the yarn I have sent her. I was particularly pleased to find some hand dyed yarns that from The Yarn Gallery that she had not come across before. Here are a few pictures.

Not a case of SSS (single sock syndrome) I promise!

Hey!!! The 1st sock from the lovely soya yarn that my secret pal sent me has been completed and the second one is underway.

I had a lot of fun with this... the yarn is lovely to work with and is very springy when knitted up. I really enjoyed the pattern, I love the way all the decreases work - it's a beautiful kind of symmetry and just so magical when it all comes together. I was pleased with my work... only one small error (that I know of) which happened when I was picking up stitches along the edge for the instep.

Thank you again secret pal!

Sock it to me!

Just look at this! This morning my secret pal pulled another of her wonderful tricks out of the bag... I got a fabulous sock knitting package through the post.

It contains 2 balls of yarn made from soy fibre, some beautiful wooden needles (1st I have owned) and a pattern for "beginner socks". The yarn is in beautiful soft colours of green, pink, brown and yellow and is really soft and springy. It's a knitted fibre itself, and I am really looking forward to trying it out.

I have read through the pattern, and it all seems clear enough, although turning the heel is a little daunting. I am tempted to dive in and get started on this project right away, but then again, it is just 10 days until I go on holiday, and I think this might be a nice project to take away with me.

Thank you secret pal... this is a fabulous surprise, and has really made my day.

Flotsam and Jetsam

This will be a mixed bag, indeed! For the last week or so I have felt as if my life has been tossed onto the sea and has been washed hither and thither. There is a lot to catch up on, but it has no coherent pattern and follows no particular direction. Apologies in advance!

Firstly, thanks to my fabulous sister for her great encouragement over recent weeks, and then welcome home to my Mum and Dad from their travels. I look forward to hearing more of your trip.

My last post said that I had been having trouble with my art class and felt as though I had lost direction. I made the suggestion that I would sketch every day to build up the hours, and get "back into the groove" (please don't let that conjure up images of Madonna!).

I did do a few sketches. Only 2 of which I am prepared to share. I was pleased to try branching out into a more sketchy style and try to draw people. Not something I have done before, but I am seriously thinking of signing up to a full day life class in the autumn, so wanted to give it a go.

I have to say that these were drawn from photos, not from real life, but given aside the questionable facial attractiveness of each, I am quite pleased...


and I actually think that some adjustment to the left eye of this chap would yield significant improvement...




And here is my woodland scene painted "in the field" at last week's class. I did not really feel that I caught the essence of the view, but for a first watercolour outside from natural surroundings, it was just about OK.



Next is the lovely sampler band I am knitting from one of the yarns my Secret Pal enabled me to get with her thoughtful gift voucher for my LYS. I love this mix, and am knitting a 30 st wide strip to form an appliqued band to a chocolate brown cushion cover to complement my newly decorated hallway.



It has been so much fun to knit a small amount of so many different yarns. I had trouble with the tasselled yarn - I was not sure how much to force the tassells to lay in front or whether to knit them in with the background yarn. I think I made the right decision in having them all lay forward. You can't see it, but I have 7 different bands so far, and another 5 (I think) still on the ball.

Now onto the promised pictures of the finished shrug. I am very pleased with the garment, which is warm but not at all bulky or restrictive. The photos are severely limited by the fact that I had to model the item... sorry for more visual information than was absolutely necessary!

Finally, we are tackling our eco conscience a the moment. We have replaced many of our bulbs with low energy ones. We are still left wth those where the lamp fittings won't accept a low energy bulb, those on dimmer switches and those we need to use with timers. But any such step must be a good one I think.

We are enquiring about changing our ancient gas boiler for a biomass boiler (wood pellet or wood chip) but it is a difficult area to get going in. I have called three companies today and not really had the response I wanted... i.e. I want a surveyor round here to tell us about the practical options for siting, installing and fuelling one in our house. I have also found out today about carbon rationing and amthinking about signing up for our local Carbon Rationing Action Group (CRAG).

We also had elder son's girlfiend to saty for the weekend ("meet the parents"!). But moe of that will have to wait...

Everything stops for tea

... and the odd piece of freelance work. Last week flew by in a whirl as I was working on a user interface design project for an educational company I do work for every now and then. The project was to design a website that teachers could use to analyse and report on the results of class tests that they had set. It's a lot more interesting than it sounds, honestly... I really enjoyed the week, However, it meant there was little time for anything else, least of all blogging.


However, looking back on it, there has been a lot happening... and there is plenty to tell.


I'll start off by mentioning the trip on the local heritage steam railway that my extended family took the weekend before last. It was a great day to commemorate my Mum and Dad's Ruby wedding anniversary. 7 of us made the trip and then went for a leisurely meal. I could describe it in detail, but this has been done very well already by bowledover, with a beautiful picture supplied by dancinfool.


I have finished knitting (but not blocking or sewing up) the shrug from the Ironstone wool my secret pal sent me (thank you again secret pal). I have promised myself to finish it completely this weekend, but here is a sneak view of the colours.... lovely.



I also assembled and posted my second parcel to my secret pal, which includes some lovely artisan spun and dyed wool and silk blend yarn with enticing names. I hope she likes it. I can't show pictures of that yet... but would love to.


In the evenings, I have been avidly reading Alan Alda's autobiography which my sister kindly send me as a surprise last month.




It's very entertaining, and reminds me fondly of the days when I loved to watch MASH, treating every line as deep insight into life, and hero worshipping the character Hawkeye Pierce. So, if you're looking, sis, this is for you:



...and this is for me ;-)




My little chap has made a new friend at school. The new friend (Harry) is round here tonight for tea, and the boys are playing happily with many giggles. Rather endearingly, they are taking it turns to pretend to be a dog in a pet shop, who the other comes and buys! Even sweeter, they were both caught calling me "Mrs. Mummy"!! It was Harry's birthday at the weekend, and he had a great 5 year olds' party including soft play area and face painting. Here's my little chap doing a great Tiger.



As if that weren't all, we are still decorating our hallway and stairs. The patterned wall paper is going up on the contrast walls. So 2 days this week have been dedicated to papering. Here's the paper. I love it. Bold yet simple and (hopefully) elegant. It makes the hall look so much wider and brighter (the main walls are plain cream).


Finally, everyone has a favourite portent of Spring, and mine is newly opened beech leaves. I love the fact that the tree keeps all its dead leaves all winter, and the one day they all drop off overnight, and the next day the beech buds are unfurling, all tender, furry and such a beautiful colour.

Just like Christmas!

At breakfast time this morning, there was a knock at the door, and on my doorstep stood a courier holding out a parcel...



"How exciting!" I thought, "I wonder what it can be." The postal label gave me a clue...



My little chap was keen to share in the excitement, and gave me a hand to open the parcel.



And inside we found a whole host of wonderful goodies:



My wonderful secret pal had worked her magic again, with special treats for both me and my boy. Starting with the yarn, I found two skeins of this wonderful Ironstone "Mesa" wool. "Bright colours mixed in interesting ways" my Sp10 questionnaire said, and this fits the bill beautifully. It is already on my needles and is destined to become a spring/summer shrug so that I can wear these bright and cheery colours. There was also a replica vintage pendant yarn cutter in brass, and a wooden thimble with a flower design and the word "Texas" on it. Both of these will be very useful items. The yarn cutter in particular is practical and unusual.



There were some lavender organic bath products. I have a thing for proper hand made soap... it smells and feels great.

There was also a small box decorated with a kimono, which is now in my sewing and painting room, and will hold all sorts of little treasures and keep them close to hand. A woolly sheep which made me smile, and is very appropriate for where I live, and a hand made zipped pocket which now houses my small collection of crochet hooks.

Finally there was some polka dot "sidewalk chalk" and "Incredibles" action figures for the little chap.


He, needless to say, was delighted...

Thank you, secret pal, for spoiling us both so generously and thoughtfully! I shall keep you posted on progress with the Ironstone yarn. Those colours are wonderful.

Easter progress

Well, the cotton shawl is complete as far as the knitting goes, there are just the beads to add. I knitted it on 7mm needles this time and used 100g of cotton, but it still was not as large as I had imagined it would be. I have also found out how unforgiving cotton can be. I always thought my tension was very even, but you can see every slight irregularity in the shawl, although maybe this will settle down when I was it. I'll post a picture when the beads have been added.

Tonight I started knitting a handbag which I am going to felt. I have made a row of eyelets at the top of the side, and through this I will thread the Louisa Harding sari ribbon as embellishment... in fact, here we go, let's thread some through now to see what it looks like. I am not sure I should felt it with the ribbon in, though, so I will need some thick cord to keep the eyelets open during felting. I am pleased with the idea for this bag, and also very pleased to be using some of the yarn I got from my secret pal (by means of the gift voucher).




As well as the knitting, I am considering trying to alter a couple of old dresses of mine and turning them into skirts. I'm battling with how to do the waistband for them. My Mum gave me some dressmaking books, so I shall have to see what advice they contain on this matter. I am going to try out the process on the dress with the most forgiving fabric!

I have been spending some very enjoyable time researching yarns for the next package I send to my secret pal. I know she would appreciate yarns that are specific to the UK, and therefore that she is unlikely to be able to get herself. I have found some lovely alpaca from a UK herd! And also some hand dyed silk and a silk/wool mix produced locally(ish). It's a wonderfully guilt free way to purchase exciting yarns (i.e. for someone else)!

Little chap and I did our trial run at camping last night. We set up the tent in the garden, had a sausage and beans camp tea outside, then turned in and listed to the radio and told stories until it got dark. It all went well. He slept through, and I managed about 2 hours sleep due to louder than usual traffic noise, falling temperatures (5 degrees... brrr...) and having to check on the little fella every 15 minutes to make sure he was still in his sleeping bag and not too cold. Anyway at 6:00am this morning we decided to come indoors to defrost! But I am pleased we did it, and I now feel happy about the idea of taking him camping for real later in the year.

While we were decamping, we also noticed that our blackbird chicks have hatched (lots of chirping noises coming from the nest over the kitchen window). This is both a matter of delight and trepidation for me, given the saga of the prematurely fledged chicks last summer. I shall be keeping a keen eye on the matter.

So it has been a busy few days, but it has been so good to have my chap at home. I shall find it a wrench to take him back to school next week.