Christmas Craft Countdown!

The Christmas stencils are out!

The Christmas fabric piles are inviting!

I have a little ill -home-from-school-craft apprentice to amuse. I feel a Christmas Craft Frenzy coming on! Got to go and trace and cut and stick and sew...............!

No Such Thing as Too Much of a Good Thing.

I finished my PurlSoho gloves yesterday. Baby Button is under the weather so an enforced day at home meant bonus knitting time. I had reached the beginning of the wrist, was looking longingly at the gorgeous dusky pink wool, wishing it was time to swap colours. I just enjoy knitting more with the colours I love the most, don't you? Anyway, Michael Palin was being interviewed about the book of his diaries and Alan Titchmarsh asked him what he had learnt about his younger self and what advice he would give himself. He said " I would tell myself that there is no such thing as too much of a good thing. I'd say do more of what you love".

I decided that this was a message that should be heeded, and changed to the dusky pink even though it wasn't 'time to'. I love my wonky gloves, it kind of reinforces the fact they are handmade and totally mine I think. Am now deciding whether to try and embroider a flower on just sew on these silk ones pinched off of my gorgeous hydrangea.

Clearly my children already subscribe to this way of thinking. This is my superduper birthday cake they spent the afternoon constructing! I love it!

Sunshine in a Rainy Week

Yesterday was quite horridly like this..............

So we decided we needed to be doing this..................

Today it is quite deliciously sunny, so off for a walk into town. You see I need a walk and a think. When you have a small person (or two, or three) around, proper thinking can be in quite short supply. I find walking is the best time for cogitating.

You see I have a lovely problem. This pile of fabric, the beginnings of a Big Idea, and a parcel of lovely grey background fabric winging it's way from Hancocks of Paducah after a moment of quilting serendipity when reading this yesterday. Ummm I love having a Big Idea on the boil on a sunny day!

Mid Knit Crisis

Does anyone else suffer this affliction? I seem to find that about a third of the way into any knitting project I suddenly get the heebie jeebies that I'm knitting on too big/small needles or I haven't cast on enough stitches and it will never fit, or the wools too thick/thin. Then I have this sudden 'I can solve this, I know what I should do, I know best' rush and suddenly I'm ripping out rows.....! No stop! STOP! TRUST THE PATTERN!

You see I'm a complete improv quilter. Even if I start with a bit of a pattern, I just change it around as I go. Quilting is kind, it lets you do that.

I haven't quite got my head around the fact that knitting needs more discipline (at least when learning I think!).

Anyway, after you would not believe how many false starts and reknits, I have one lovely glove from my Alchemy Temple wool that I have been loving. I had promised myself I would knit my next gloves in tandem so that I finished both gloves at the same time and did not suffer this glove-longing period where I want to wear them, but I only have one! Unfortunately the other glove succumbed to Mid Knit Crisis, got pulled apart. Then I was struck by a 'Making Moment' when looking at the little oddments left over from my stripy baby blanket.

In a moment of frustration and weakness with my own glove knitting I found I had used the dpns to start another glove for a small person. Oops. Aren't they going to be lovely? They are a kind of homage to the crochet ones of Lucy's at Attic 24, I wonder if she has made small person pair too?

Love Handmade Friday

Yesterday I had a very handmade day. In the morning I visited the More Than a Mama Christmas Fayre in Berkhamsted. It's a great shopping event run by mums who make and sell items for babies and kids. Everything was lovely, from hand painted Keepsake boxes, to cushions and xmas decorations. It was a really fun buzzy morning, the place was packed out (with a few buggy traffic jams going on!). They have an evening shopping event at Berkhamsted Town Hall on Wed 9th Dec from 7.30pm - 9.30pm - we have been promised twinkly lights and mulled wine so if you live near Berkhamsted I would recommend it.

I indulged in a Lovely LOVE cushion which was destined for the armchair in my kitchen, but when I just went in search of it to photograph it, it seems it has relocated itself to The Big Little Ladies bed, fancy that.

Then in the afternoon whilst doing a speed buggy dash through John Lewis I was stopped in my tracks by a mini craft event going on! I met Pippa North who makes the most exquisite felted creations, I indulged in this gorgeous flower for my new Navy and Fuchsia Pink coat, doesn't it look fantastic. She was telling me all about her mother and daughter teaching days that she runs - what fun, I'd love to do one.

After all that excitement, I did also get a bit of knitting done and my buggy gloves are now a happy pair, meaning I can start knitting my lovely pink and purple wool for gloves to go with Navy Coat and new flower!

Autumn Leaves Quilt Blowing in the Wind

I finished the top of my Autumn Leaves quilt, which is just as well as there are not many leaves left on the trees about here with this wind blowing. Thus it was very hard to get a shot of all of it in one go, too gusty! Don't have any backing for it yet, but don't want to loose the momentum.

It started life as a very promising pile of autumn loveliness back at the start of October.

We collected a selection of different shaped leaves, scanned them, drew around the fuzzy edges to make a hand applique friendly shape, traced them onto freezer paper and then hand appliqued the shapes into a wreath shape. This image from my pin board was the original inspiration.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Now I want to back it in something warm and cosy and will hand quilt it in perle cotton, with a wool wadding for maximum chunky cosiness. I love having seasonal things to bring out each year to mark the seasons turn. I think this will live on the leather chair in front of the fire when it's all finished.

Yarnish Temptations

I must resist, I must resist.

After a long overdue tidy up and audit of my workroom this weekend it became very apparent that I am not a 'completer/finisher'. When I used to do a scary job where everyone else was very ambitious and high powered except me (I spent my time dreaming of pottering about at home in a pinny), we used to get subjected to these horrible personality audits where they would tell you 'what kind of person' you were and how you could 'flex your style'. Ooh it gives me the shivers just remembering. Anyway, they always said I was not a completer/finisher. Which if you are an optimist just means I am a very good starter/beginner!

Anyway. I now have a tidy workroom and a large pile of unfinished things that need to be finished before I start anything new. Yes I am feeling very strict with myself.

But ooh, just look at my lovely new wool, just waiting to be knitted.



I'm planning to knit this pattern for 'proper' fingerless gloves from Purl Soho. They have kind of finger bits and are knitted in the round. But before I can start I have to finish my made up gloves which I fondly call the Ultimate Buggy Gloves, or rather the Ultimate Buggy Glove as there was only one for some time as I had to track down another ball of the lovely Mission Falls wool. Anyway, it's been quite strangely mild so I haven't really missed the other glove (no, I haven't just been wearing one), but a cold snap is no doubt on it's way so a second glove must be finished first.


As part of my new completer/finisher boot camp I am also doing the Tall Grass Prairie New Year Challenge to list and finish as many UFO's as possible before the new year. I am one down, lots still to go! Seems my style is not quite flexing enough!!