Play and Work

It feels like this has been a very long week. Mr Magpie and I started early last weekend with a trip to London on Thursday. We were there to see a band in the evening but arrived early enough to do some sightseeing.

The weather was pretty miserable so we headed for the warmth of a museum. We chose the Imperial War Museum as we hadn't been before and what we saw of it was very impressive. We were there for about three hours but could easily have doubled that. It was the first time we'd been to London without the children (we left the little Magpies at home with Nanny) and it was certainly a more relaxed experience!

This was our evening's destination. Mr Magpie is a huge New Order fan, I'm more your Joy Division type of girl (if you like Editors give them a try).

Neither of us had been to Brixton Academy before and it was a great venue, I love watching bands in old theatres as opposed to sterile boxy halls such as our BIC here in Bournemouth. At first the sound engineer seemed to have his levels a little confused and we thought we were in for a big disappointment but about halfway through things improved and we had a great time. The band obliged me by doing two Joy Division tracks in the encore, finishing with 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. Ace.

Anyway, my apologies, you're not really here for music news are you?

After a bank holiday weekend I would rather forget, due mainly to falling victim to the rather nasty tummy bug that seems to be doing the rounds, I have been a busy little bee. I took advantage of the coach journeys to and from the capital to start my little project with the Rowan Cotton I showed you here.

I have long been an admirer of Ripple blankets and really wanted to try one myself. There are excellent instructions on Attic 24 but Lucy's version does require you to learn how to treble two together. Although I'm sure I could work out how to do this with a little effort, I was drawn instead to the pattern in my Jane Brocket book, The Gentle Art of Knitting. In Jane's pattern, you only need to know how to do double and treble crochet. By missing stitches and adding chains, you make little holes which do the work of shaping the troughs and peaks of the ripple. Simples.

I haven't used cotton for either knitting or crochet before and it does feel a little strange but I am enjoying the pattern, which is almost as easy as my granny stripe and as I am keeping things small, this will be my portable project of choice until it is finished.

After taking my crochet roll to SnB a few weeks back, I was asked to make one as a DPN holder by another member of the group. I took it along last night and I seemed to have a happy customer, which is always a great feeling.

As well as the DPN holder, I finished off a little batch of brooches.

I have also spent a lot of time ironing this week. Not the kind that makes the Mr happy because he has a wardrobe full of shirts again, but the kind that involves fusing interfacing onto fabric. I did a big batch and then got busy with the scissors snipping out lots of fruit pieces.

I think I might finally be getting my groove back when it comes to sewing. I really enjoyed stitching this lot up.

So much so that I cut these out last night in a spare half hour and will have a little play with some buttons and trim.

Well that's the news from the nest this week. I have just looked at the calendar and realised that there are only three more weeks until half term and then only four weeks after half term until Larmer Tree. My panicky levels are rising steadily, but I keep telling myself that it will all be fine.

I wish you all a lovely weekend (will it ever stop raining though?) and hope to see you again soon.

Beth x

This Week in the Nest

Finally the littlest Magpie has recovered from all his mishaps and we had a great time yesterday celebrating his birthday. As you can see, cake decorating is not one of my talents, although I can confirm that it tasted delicious and was speedily devoured by the clan.

Another little one in the family is having her birthday next week. so today I have been stitching up a teddy bear sleeping bag (designed by Florence), like the one I made one for her sister in February. This time I used another Annela Hoey fabric, from her new range 'A Walk in the Woods'. I love this fabric, and treated myself to a very restrained three half-metres from Alice at Backstitch.

Since writing the last post about my blanket, I have added another half-dozen or so rows, including my rainbow section. Work on this has got to slow down now though so you won't be seeing it again for a while.

This new granny square has taken the place of the blanket. the idea is to turn it into a cushion, along with the two other fronts already made, as these can be sold at Larmer Tree. This way I get my crocheting fix without the guilt that I am not making stuff to sell. Perfect!

I know I mentioned that I went to Ikea a few weeks ago, but I didn't show you any pictures of the fabric I bought. Ikea fabric really is great value for money, especially from the children's department. These fabrics work out at £2 per metre and they are really popular with my customers.

  The idea is to turn these into more drawstring wash bags like the ones below.

I have also been busily cutting out felt shapes to turn into brooches. At last year's craft fairs I sold pretty much every one I made, the bird design in particular was a big hit so I am planning on sewing lots of these to take with me to the festival. I'm not sure that the photo does the colours justice, but please can I have your thoughts on the colour combinations?

Well, I had better be off to feed the family. I'm hoping to go to Stitch and Bitch tonight as it seems like it's been ages since I went to a knitting group and I'm really missing it. Pop back next week for some finished brooches and that look around the craft room I've been promising!

Thanks for stopping by,
Beth x

Knitting, Sewing and some more Knitting

This has been a week of trying to finish off some of the projects that have been patiently waiting for me to return to them. A while back, I showed you the mug cosies from Mollie Makes, and some wool I had bought at Knit and Natter to make one with. As predicted, it wasn't too difficult to accomplish, although upon finishing it I realise that I'm not actually that keen on using one, so I might adapt it to cover a jar instead.

Remember the felt I showed you in the last post? Well I have been having a great time stitching up these little birdies that were such great sellers at the fairs last year. As it is such a lovely day again today I thought I'd take my pictures in the garden.

Finally, I used the book Mum lent me (see here) to whip up these little beauties. They were really easy to make and took hardly any time, or concentration, always a bonus!

My middle son was even impressed, and requested a white version so he could have a 'Mario Ghost'. This was the result, and it's recipient was very pleased with it, praise indeed.

Last week I attended a new knitting group, as well as my regular one. The new one is held in a cafe, so no wool temptation, just cake temptation. I'm not sure which is preferable really. A lovely lady called Vanessa who goes to both groups kindly looked up some beginner crochet patterns for me after witnessing my feeble attempts last week and has offered to talk me through it tomorrow night, so watch this space!

Thanks for stopping by,
Beth x

Attempting the impossible.

I don't seem to have found my sewing rhythm again yet, there still seems to be so much going on in everyday life. Knitting has fitted in nicely around the madness and I really look forward to my evenings by the fire, when the children are upstairs. Hopefully asleep, but in bed at least. Indeed, I am enjoying them so much that last week, when an opportunity arose for me and the Mr to go out by ourselves in the evening, I practically had to have my arm twisted to leave the sofa! I was persuaded out though and was glad of it in the end.

At last weeks Knit and Natter I fell in love with some gorgeously soft alpaca wool. It is a bit fatal attending a knitting group held in a wool shop where you are sitting for a few hours surrounded by so much eye candy and I usually end up buying something. With a vague memory of this pattern in my head, and it requiring two skeins, I bought said amount with a view to making myself a lovely cowl.

After waiting a few days for a circular needle, (purchased for a snip from ebay) I was able to cast on my first ever piece of circular knitting. Aside from a  few mishaps at the beginning I was soon merrily away, finding it completely addictive, with no obvious place to stop. This stopping and starting anywhere ought to be more convenient but to me it felt a little like the time I read a novel without chapters (Moll Flanders if you're interested, it was great!) and you keep getting drawn back. Sometimes I like saying 'you'll have to wait until I get to the end of the row'!

So there I was, knitting happily. The pattern is so simple I didn't have to refer to it or keep tedious tallies and notes as I usually have to. However. I was nearing the end of my first skein with the work measuring a mere three inches or so. Given that the finished width should be about eleven inches, I realised that I would need to buy at least two more skeins to complete the project, which would make the cowl quite pricey, but as it is for me and I love it, I decided what the heck. Obviously I had misread the pattern; skeins come in different weights!

Upon returning to Knit and Natter yesterday, I asked the owner of Carly's Crafts  Michelle, for two more skeins, but alas, I had bought the last two in the brown that she had and she thinks it is being discontinued now. Aarghh!!

I tried matching in another yarn but it was too late really, and my heart had been set on the alpaca, so with a heavy heart I pulled the whole lot off the needles and in the spirit of economy bought myself these, at the bargain price of the cost of one skein of alpaca. You can see from the pictures that it is nowhere near as stroke-able as the alpaca, but at least it will be machine washable.

A quick comb of the internet has revealed that I have pretty much no chance of buying any more of the original wool, so I will have to find a pattern that uses a smaller amount.

In other news, there have been other knitted makes happening, and even a little bit of sewing for a friend's birthday, but I haven't got pictures just yet.

I did buy some really gorgeous new 100% wool felt, in a 4mm thickness from Blooming Felt so that I can start making some brooches again. Just setting out all the supplies got my craft fingers tingling, I love the process of deciding what to make and with what colours.

I have started making some brooches, so pop back soon to see how they turned out.

Thanks for stopping by,

Beth x