I'm going to come right out and say it...

...I miss the snow!!!

No, I don't miss the travel chaos and the frozen and burst pipes and other hardships people have had to endure, but I do miss the beautiful diamante white stuff itself.

Not so much on the streets of Glasgow, but definitely on the rolling hills and old woods of Galloway.

Sparkly crystalline pristine snow.

I miss the snow!

He he, that's as controversial as I get in this blog ;-) x K

Winter Warmer

Question: What do you do when you like the look of a fair isle scarf from M & S advertised in the paper, but when you see it in-store you realise that although it's lovely, there's something not quite right about it?

Answer: You make one of your own of course!

Mine doesn't really look anything like the original of course because I only used that a spring-board, but I love it all the same. And because I wanted a bolder look I used a unifying background colour (except when I felt more contrast was needed) rather than also changing background colours as in traditional fair isle knitting.

I used some patterns from the thankfully reprinted Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting, combining them as desired, although once the sequence was set, I stuck with it. It all looks different though because the colours were also cycling round too, and by design I didn't get the same motif in the same colour more than once.

I learned a lot about the reading of fair isle charts. Basically the contrast colour is either on or it's off and once I got into my rhythm I was motoring ahead.

I am on the laptop here and don't have all my photos in the drive, but there are plenty more views either on Ravelry or on Flickr for those without Ravelry accounts.

Edit: I should also add that this finished object owes something to Kaffe Fassett's Lidiya Scarf from Rowan 48. (No links but that info should enable you to find it.) End edit.

Hopefully everyone is enjoying the Christmas season. x K

Happy Christmas!

Have a lovely Christmas everyone! x K

Finishing touches

Here are my beautiful new shawl pins. I think they are so nice that even the wee prongs can be used alone on, say, smaller shawls or items which aren't even hand-knitted. :-0

I'm mostly going to let the photos and the links do the talking, but suffice it to say that it tickles me that even though I am not at home, I have four shawls to hand to model the shawl pins!
Shawl pin page on Jannette's Rare Yarns
Zeshane Indian Wooden Handicrafts

A Ravelry for sewing?

It was my intention to show you my new shawl pins from Jannette's Rare Yarns tonight, but that will have to wait...

I have spent a while today uploading my few sewing projects onto a relatively-new sewing community called My Sewing Circle. This link is the join-up and log-in page and This one is the associated blog.

There's not much to see if you haven't joined the community (free and pretty much instant) but suffice it to say it's a place where people can upload their sewing project details, photos, fabric stash and join "circles" for specific interests and locations. Sounds familiar? Well yes, it is very much like what I imagine the big R must've been like in its very early days.

It's good, and it could be very good when the membership reaches a critical mass. It has a lot of the same features as Rav and derives its good ideas from there, make no mistake, but it lacks the amazing link-tastic nature of Ravelry.

I'm glad I found it, I've been looking for something like this and I hope to see some of you in there. My username is.....KEDkrafty! I think some of you may like it, maybe my online friends like Sandra in Croatia and Yvette in France for instance.

This has come at a good time for me because I've been doing a bit of patchwork machine sewing this week. Anyway, My Sewing Circle, let's see how it goes.

New tap

Someone else has done all of the hard work this time!

This is a hand-knitted top, not by me, though. It's a former sample garment for Jaeger Handknits.

I'm really pleased with it, it's a lovely colour and it looks ok now but I think it will look even better as I trim down a bit more. I'm also happy because I don't know how to do this loopy stitch so I have no pangs of conscience that I could just as easily have made it myself.

I bought it from Jannette's Rare Yarns, a shop I enjoyed buying from on e-bay, which is now a normal online shop. Prices are shown in dollars, which is no problem at all if you use Paypal and items are shipped promptly from a UK address

Suffice it to say that I got it for a bargain price, and was quite delighted to see it because in my experience sample garments are usually seen in the first or second sizes. I do not have the pattern book that this came from, but I would reckon this would be the largest size, being a 42".

The T-shirt is called "Sym", and was designed by Amanda Griffiths. It was knitted in Jaeger Albany, colour Damson #270. It comes with a code number, JHGB1113, which I think refers to the pattern book. I can't seem to find it, but my mooching around has thrown up that you can still get Jaeger Albany yarn in selected colours at English Yarns (sidebar).

Lovely new tap, lovely new tap, lovely new tap.

Mantilla

This headscarf has been finished for a couple of weeks but I haven't had any decent photographs to show.

Actually I don't event think these photos are any great shakes, apart from number one, the shadow one.

This is the lovely Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark, from Interweave Knits, fall 2006.

This is not the first time I have made this pattern but it is the first time I have done the Lily of the Valley section with the nupps.

It's made with Patons 100% Cotton 4-ply left over from this headscarf from last year.

I really enjoyed making it and I will doubtless enjoy wearing it. Hope you are having

a good crafty week. x K

A Wii cloth

I've never really understood how people can spend hours making cloths just to get them manky on dishes and grimy kitchens.

Face-cloths and shower puffs I can just about handle.

So, to practise my crochet I've made a little cloth to mop my fevered brow when using the Wii Fit Plus. I'm trying to improve my fitness, and using the Wii is one of the ways I'm doing it. Also watching the food and using the bike, taking a Pilates course, walking more etc. Wii Fit Plus on Nintendo page

I've now got a Gold Fit Piggy because I've been exercising on the Wii for more than forty hours. (A Fit Piggy is an on-screen piggy bank of your accumulated exercise minutes, every time you finish say, thirty minutes of Step on the Wii, it tallies up your thirty minutes.)

It's made from King Cole Bamboo Cotton Ravelry link which I had left over from a headscarf from last year. It's proving very useful because I do *glow* a little when I put the Riser on the Wii Balance Board and do a good session. If I dab myself it stops my glasses falling off when I try to do the yoga poses!

It washes like a ribbon in the machine, dries very quickly and has helped improve my crochet as well as my fitness. I have trimmed down a bit and am determined to continue getting healthier. x K

Thank-you

Thanks for all your lovely comments about "Green Shoots" on here, on Facebook, on Ravelry and by e-mail. You are very kind. x K

Green Shoots

I am delighted to present a shawl I improvised myself from the beautiful Bitter Bug colour Bamboo and Merino sock yarn from Old Maiden Aunt which I got in the yarn preview club which ran last winter to give a taster of the different shades and sock-yarn bases available for this year's collection.

I knew this yarn could make a lovely shawl after having used it last year for a well-loved project .

I like it even more than the yarn I used last year because the colour is even more up-my-street, I adore this type of green and the variation in the hand-painted yarn gives it a multi-faceted look.

The little "Bitter Bug" was a charm which came as one of the extra goodies with the yarn preview club. I used him as a stitch marker while I was making the shawl and he looked so good with it I had to incorporate him into the shawl itself.

This project means a lot to me because it marks a bit of a renaissance of my interest in things crafty and after a rough few months it marks the first times in ages I've felt inspired and enthusiastic about *anything*, hence the name "Green Shoots".

It starts with stocking stitch then moves into a chevron stitch and was a delight to work with, in this top-notch yarn.

I'll be working with this yarn again, no doubt, and may have another go at this "pattern" too.

Green Shoots, aaah! x K

Cheeky Pandas

Behold a mini-quilt made to the nine-patch pattern.
I'd had the panda fabric for a while, and held onto it until I could make good use of the small quantity I had.
Our new six year-old niece is getting great use of it for playing with dollies and soft-toys.
Quilted on the diagonal using my (then) new walking-foot attachment.
It seems that JANOME accessories can be used on ELNA sewing machines, in fact for some models the JANOME fittings are now the only option.
Musical note backing fabric and silky bias binding from Mandors if my memory serves me well. x K

Sneak Preview

Here is a sneak preview of a recently finished object I am absolutely delighted with.

Patchwork Project Bag

I've got a bit of catching up to do here to update you on some recent crafty makes.

Here's a patchwork project bag I made this spring.

The block itself is nothing new but I followed a diagram in February's Patchwork and Quilting Magazine and then improvised the bag design round the patchwork block.
I had made the "Shoo-Fly" block before but without the central contrast section.
Because I am inexperienced in patchwork I find some blocks fiddly, so I upped the size to make it less of a fouter.
It is wadded and quilted with a zig-zag stitch over the seams on my Elna.
I added a lining and handles in the marbly green fabric. If for any reason I feel the quilted side is too "loud" I can easily use it inside-out.

Overall I am very pleased with it and it makes a good knitting project or magazine bag.
Fabrics were fat quarters from the Galloway Gem Shop, King St, Castle Douglas.

Tempting new patterns

While we've been out discovering the historical sites of Galloway like the Chambered Cairn at Cairn Holy, the folks at Knitty have been cooking up a new issue called First Fall so we can get more goodies per year.
Some of the patterns are lovely, and a lacy scarf named Lamina is calling my name really loudly. Very pretty indeed. x K

Beautiful prize

Look at this beautiful prize I have won!
It's an Ishbel shawlette, in Malabrigo Sock yarn, Tinzano red.
I was knitted by Paula, A Celtic Stitcher , who made it as a prize for those who donated to her Race for Life fund-raiser.

I am absolutely thrilled with it- the yarn is luscious, the stitching is immaculate, and the pattern is a modern classic.

Here's a link to the page where P outlines the project and has some lovely photos. Linky














Real-life friend Paula has produced some beautiful knitting, as well as raising funds for a great cause. Thank-you very much for both :-D
If you see anyone swanning about wearing an RFL Ishbel neck-kerchief style, thinking she's the Queen of Sheba- that'll be me!!!
Aren't I the lucky one? x K

Happy Easter Everyone!

With very best wishes for everyone this Easter. x K

Funny doll

This is a wee doll I made for the Children's Liturgy at church at the beginning of December.
I had committed to do it and I did as much as I could although circumstances changed big time between me saying I would do it and the due date.
I handed it in in bits and the lady organising it had to sew it all together before the 15th when they were doing their Nativity play.
I think this guy looks like he would be a good Innkeeper.
Yes, his hair and beard ARE supposed to be that bushy!
This is a dodgy mobile phone pic of it taken at the last minute.
I used Patons Diploma Gold DK which is a wool-synthetic blend, as it had to be washable. 2 balls Cherry, 2 balls White, 1 ball Cocoa and 1 ball Soft Caramel.
Apparently it was very well received and I'm on the list to help again next year, which is a kind of a compliment I'm sure. x K

Not late for Christmas '09, just organized for Christmas '10.

Here's another Christmas holiday make, this time it's for my new five-year-old niece who joined the family in December.

It's a stocking of about 28cm tall and 22cm across the foot.
It's not pieced, it's just fancy pre-printed faux patchwork cotton fabric I got at the SECC Hobbycrafts in 2007. The boot shape for you to cut round is printed on the cloth, and there are still three more boots of different designs left on my fabric piece.

The lining fabrics are gold on green, one having decorative smudges and the other "merry christmas", all lower case.
The wadding is a re-purposed padded pillow protector, and I machine quilted it with straight stitches along the grid pattern of the design.

The hanger is a little strip of spare fabric with musical notes on it which was an off-cut from my main piece. That little hanger was a devil to turn the right way out, even with sock knitting needles to help!

The recipient wasn't exactly enthusiastic, but I was showing her it on New Year's Day, maybe next Christmas when it's stuffed with goodies it will come into its own! As she joined the family in mid-December I didn't have the chance to finish it in time for the big day.

I hand-stitched the red bias binding round the top. It wasn't exactly quick but it has given it a good finish.

There will be more patchwork and quilting in my coming posts this week, but don't worry if you're all Christmassed-out, there won't be any more Christmas projects for a while yet. x K