| Monday, March 28, 2005 |
| Been tidying up |
We had a bit of a tidy-up sesh on Friday which has created a totally new space in the house. The last of the bogging carpets got thrown out the window in the upstairs bedroom along with the majority of the furniture. We've got a lot more firewood now! Robert has plans (!) for the room which mainly entail the creation of a games room but it's also turned into much more of a crafty corner for me. One of the few pieces of furniture that didn't get the chuck was my 50's kitchen cabinet that stores most of my wool, material, needles and photography stuff. Not letting that go - no chance. The sofa bed is in there so I can sit up there away from the Xbox if I feel like it. Mr Orc has moved upstairs but that is mainly so we could fit the pinball machine into the office. We have it on a long-term loan until Dennis can get round to selling it. I have been very good and not played it yet as I just know I'll get addicted to it if I start.
So I had a sort out of my stash and I'm now thinking what do I make next with what I've got. I also need to get some 2ply to make a baby shawl before mid-May for a friend's baby. So what with finishing Lucky Clover, learning to crochet (going not too badly now that Theresa has shown me a few places where I was going wrong) and making the shawl I should be reasonably busy for the next wee while. And I've still got some birthday pennies to spend to so more stuff will be making it's way to my house. What fun and jolly hockysticks to be had by all - well me anyway!
Some of the current stash |
posted by Maureen @ 3:55 pm   |
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| Thursday, March 24, 2005 |
| Right front done |
Finished the front this morning while watching the breakfast news. So pretty.
Lucky Clover - right front
Learning to crochet tonight with Teresa at SnB. That could be very entertaining! |
| posted by Maureen @ 11:53 am |
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| Wednesday, March 16, 2005 |
| Slightly frustrated! |
I finished adding my lacey extras to the leafy camisole I've been making, went to try it on and have discovered that unfortunately my bossums don't quite meet with the bust measurement created - bugger! It's not really possible to rip it back so I'll just have to sew in a couple of darts under my armpits instead. A pain but I'm sure it'll work just as well if I take me time over it. And what has one learnt from this episode? To measure more accurately as one goes. I do like the effect of the double leafy straps though as one stays up on my shoulder and the other one falls off and sits below my tattoos. So it's an almost there job and will be sorted shortly. Hey ho!
Feeling dead chuffed with myself that I'm getting the hang of adding all the little extras to my sidebar. The next thing will be to learn how to add photo galleries. The challenges continue... |
| posted by Maureen @ 10:00 am |
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| Sunday, March 13, 2005 |
| Feeling chuffed with myself! |
What can I say? I finally managed to figure out how to add buttons to my sidebar. Well pleased with myself. It took a bit of trawling round the internet to find out how to do it as it isn't intuitive in Blogger but now that I've managed to get them on there it means I'm closer to figuring out how to do lots of other slightly more difficult things too to make it all look very pretty and a damn site more interesting to those who have started to pop in to see me. And very pleased I am too that some other knitters are heading my way. I love going and looking at what other folk are doing - it satisfies my eternal noseyness which is kept in check somewhat due to the fact that I mainly work from home nowadays. It gives me an opportunity to see what things others are getting up to and gives me ideas for other things I could achieve - whether it's fancy little things to do with my blog or ideas to put into practice in my knitting or just general creativeness. I love it!
I did think it was about time I added on my pictures of my version of Clapotis. I must admit having done it I really want to make a few different versions in other colour combinations. It really is so fantastically easy once you get going with it and yet looks so effective when it's done. A fantastically clever and inspirational pattern design. My version was created using some Jaeger yarn picked up in a sale years ago (like about 10 years ago) that I was using to create a bra-top in the days when I would have worn such a thing. I'm more of a coward now! So I never actually finished the thing so when I found it I had great fun (!) ripping it back and I just carried on knitting Clapotis with it until there was sod all of it left. Now I just want to find a really soft pink yarn to knit it up in. I think a few balls of Kidsilk Haze would probably make a good job of it too. I shall wait to see what the birthday pennies bring...
Clapotis
Clapotis (close-up)
So what else have we got today? I've added a couple of galleries of my other creations from 2004. I was quite stunned when I got Robert to photograph all of my makes a few weeks ago to see just how many things I had made. You can tell the colours I prefer (and managed to get bargains on as well!) - you won't find too much blue in my repertoire, mainly because it doesn't go with my Scottish peely wally skin tone. This is a skin tone that has to to turn from blue to white before it even tans. Something I used to think was a pain but now it's something I try to make the most of instead as avoiding the sun (no other option in Orkney really) has meant that my skin looks much younger than most of my mates of the same age - bonus! Grey hairs can be dyed over but there's no way I want to have to fill in wrinkles with Botox - icky!
So what are my faves out of "last season's catwalk collection"? I love my long cardigan made with Jaeger Celeste. It was so simple to knit and whizzed up in not time. It's also one of the things that I get the most compliments for - folk actually ask where I bought it from, not if I made it. So cool! As far as my pink/red palette goes I would have to say that Peppermint Twist from the first Stitch'n'Bitch is my fave. I did some "interesting" raglan decreases the first time I did it which meant things had to be frogged and done again but overall it was a fantastic way of using up loads of pink leftovers sitting in my cupboard. I also really love my little capelet made from Colinette Isis. I just made it up as I went along but it's so annoying as I've had sod all chance to wear it. One of the downsides of staying at an old farmhouse rather than in town but it's a downside I can definitely live with.
Going green - completed 2004
Pinky palette - completed 2004
And what else can I add to a lovely day? Well when I downloaded my emails this morning I had a fantastic surprise from my Dad as he had ordered my a gift certificate from Amazon for £100 - ya beauty! I've gone and done some damage to it, and decreased the size of my wish list a peedie grain, and have ordered 5 books, 2 DVDs and 1 CD. How ace is that! I've still got about £30 left and it's not even my birthday yet. That's not until Thursday - St Patrick's Day. I'm leaving the celebrations until Sat 19th when I've invited a few folk round to go for a walk down the beach first - my 'private' beach, well nobody else is hardly ever there as it's too difficult to get to - then it's back to the house for afternoon tea with loads of homebakes. Suits me to a tee and since it's my birthday I can do it the way I want to. Happy, happy, happy! Long may it continue... |
| posted by Maureen @ 3:37 pm |
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| Monday, March 07, 2005 |
| A poem for knitters... |
The Praise of the Needle
To all dispersed sorts of ARTS and TRADES,
I writ the needles prayse (that never fades)
So long as children shall be got or borne,
So long as garments shall be made or worne,
So long as Hemp or flax or Sheep shall bear
their linnen woollen fleeces yeare by yeare:
So long as Silk-wormes, with exhausted spoile,
Of their own Entrailes for man's gaine shall toyle:
yea till the world be quite dissolv'd and past;
So long at least, the Needles use shall last.
JOHN TAYLOR, London 1640 |
| posted by Maureen @ 2:53 pm |
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| Tuesday, March 01, 2005 |
| Mr Orc helping! |
A good day for post today as I received my parcel of wool won off Ebay. The most gorgeous skein of hand-dyed 4 ply yarn - a whole 750g of it for £15 including the postage. It was made all the better when I saw the label on it with an orginal sale price of £38. Definite bonus! The only thing that was a bit daunting was when I saw the size of the skein as I was wondering how the hell I was going to wind it up into balls until I thought "wait a minute, here's a use for Mr Orc". Who would have thought that a character from Lord of the Rings would be so useful in a knitting capacity. The skein lends itself to lovely delicate things but I have to do a few other things first.
Mr Orc helping!
Finished my leftovers vest at the weekend - still have to take photos of it so I can add it. Robert was even quite complimentary about it and said he liked it (shock! horror!). So could I sit with nothing to do for even a day or two - nope! I've got 3 balls of Jaeger Albany (in cream) which I got in a sale so using a fancy border out of my Nicky Epstein book, and a bit of thinking, I'm in the process of making a delicate camisole-type top. My first design from scratch in ages. Could be a disaster but then it could be rather lovely. We shall see how it goes... |
| posted by Maureen @ 8:49 pm |
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Name: Maureen
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- 1940's lacey jumper: 50%
- Flicca: 60%
- Ogee Lace Skirt: 10%
- Wavy Scarf: 20%
- Blackthorn: 55%
- French Wraparound Gilet: 10%
- Paton's Aran Cardi: 25%
- Strawberry Hill: 15%
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