Progress Report

(some of you might recognise my @Librarymaid  'Twitter' icon!)

I know I've been neglecting things here - holidays and a family bereavement are my excuse.

Anyway - progress report on the blankets - both of the large 'charity' blankets have been completed.

Alas, probably too late in the season for them to be sold at this summer's music festivals (even assuming that what passes for summer improves!) - but I can maybe sell them on eBay and donate whatever they fetch.

The remaindered yarn from these two projects was going to be used on a crocheted 'ripple' blanket - but instead I've decided I wanted something smaller to carry around so they're being made up up into 'granny' squares.

Our holiday in Ayr afforded us a trip to the New Lanark Heritage Centre - an 18th Century cotton mill that has been preserved and tours explain the process of spinning and how the whole enterprise created employment and accommodation for the surrounding populace (click the link to learn more).
They now also produce their own yarn so I splurged and bought some cotton/silk mix - not sure yet what I will create with it!

Another purchase, from a different source, was this 'bobbly' wool! I've often toyed with the idea of making something with this, so I bought a multicoloured ball with the idea of making a cushion cover.
This test swatch shows the effect - but the technique of knitting between the bobbles will take some getting used to!

Having helped a (fairly) novice knitter by un-picking several rows of cable on a cardigan she was knitting for her daughter, earlier in the week, I've realised how long it's been since I knitted an actual 'garment'! I have an unfinished lace jacket in a bag somewhere that's crying out for attention, but I need some 'mindless' knitting for in front of the TV. After all, the (dreaded) Olympics will be upon us soon and I need a project to keep my hands busy whilst occupied with 'alternative' viewing - my daughter has declared her house an 'Olympic-free' zone, so we are planning to work our way through 'Band of Brothers' (an almost annual event), possibly followed by Downton Abbey (both series!).

I suppose it'll be another blanket, then.......!

All things bright and beautiful....go well with coffee!

Being somewhat disenchanted with one of my other hobbies/blogs (writing....don't get me started!) I thought I'd invest more time in this blog instead! I've a few updates with the on-going projects - more on that later - but first, a bit of indulgence! Well, it is Saturday! ;-)

This morning, daughter and I took a wee ride across the county border (all of about a mile from home!) and visited The Garden Barn for coffee, cake and inspiration.

I've driven past this on many occasions but today was my first visit - and what a treat it was!

So many lovely things to look at - both inside and out!

I think this part was a former milking parlour!

And who wouldn't want to enjoy their morning coffee sitting here.....

.....looking out on this!

Project update:

The red blanket is nearing completion:

 - although I won't get it done before we go on holiday next week, which is a bit of a bummer because I wanted to use the remaindered wool from that and the green blanket to do some crochet granny-squares and that would have been small and easily transported!

Instead, I've picked up something I started a while ago that really needs some attention:

The blue wave wrap is at the half-way stage, and as it's a simple 6-row repeat (4 of which are just plain garter stitch!) it'll be easy enough to take about with me!

The cream lace shawl is still in it's infancy -

 - not even halfway along the border yet! Far too intense and fiddly to cope with distractions, this will have to wait for times of uninterrupted calm and quietness, as I count the rows!

In the meantime, I've also been experimenting:

These coasters were crafted from some soft string! I'm thinking of trying them out in dishcloth-cotton - they'd be easy to wash!

So - plenty to keep me going, as you can see! ;-)

Distractions.....

I'm ploughing my way through the pink charity blanket - mindless knitting for in front of the TV but I needed another challenge. I spotted the crocheted 'ripple' on Roo Knits blog - and she kindly pointed me in the direction of Lucy at Attic24 - wherein she descibes( in very easy instructions!) how to achieve this ripple effect!

Needless to say, I couldn't wait to have a go - here my test 'sampler :

This was using the leftovers from the green charity blanket - I might use up the remnants from the pink one when that's finished......!


........and onto further distractions! I happened to rest my gaze upon one of my stash boxes this morning and noticed some cream 3ply I bought ages ago with a vague idea of knitting something fine.

On Ravelry I found this - called 'My Heaven', by Patusha.

So, I've started the outer lace edge.......followed the instructions to the letter and after pinning it out to see, I think it matches the original (although that was in blue and seems a much finer yarn, even though the pattern says 3ply......!)

No doubt there will be many more 'distractions' along the way.......!

WIP Progress - all nicely wrapped up!

Ta-dah!

I finally (FINALLY!) finished the green chequered charity/festival blanket!

I have to say, these mitred squares are great for having something to knit while watching TV and because you pick up stitches for each new square there are no seams to sew up; plus I wove in the ends as I went so it wasn't too annoying to neaten up when finished!

I've already started another, in shades of pink:

You can see I was knitting in the car as we drove home from holiday last week!

The plan is to offer them to OXFAM - they sell them at music/arts festivals to raise money for their relief projects worldwide.

At the moment, life is hectic enough without going back to the lace knitting I was doing - the Summer cardigan WILL be finished (but not necessarily for THIS summer! )

Meanwhile - back to the blanket...... ;-)

In your dreams.....

If I won the lottery, I'd.......      How many day-dreams begin like that?

Well, my personal day-dream involves sheep - no, not counting them!

I'm fascinated by the whole cycle of 'growing' yarn (fleeces), 'harvesting' it (shearing), 'processing' it, (spinning) and finally 'utilising' it (knitting)! My daughter and I have this dream that would involve a small-holding and some rare-breeds sheep and producing some quality yarn.

Sounds fine in theory, but in practice I'm sure it wouldn't be that easy. After all, you need capital, first, to purchase land/stock. Then there will inevitably be vet's bills and shearing costs. On top of that, it would be necessary to learn the skills of spinning and all the other processes to turn dirty raw fleece into a usable product. Then comes marketing and advertising.....

Still, it would be nice to have a go - if we had the money!

Then again, we'd like to have a bookshop. Alas, with the mighty online stores threatening the income of established booksellers what chance would we have? Quaint little bookstores are disappearing fast enough as it is!

Pity.

We often look at empty shops and imagine a combined venture of wool AND books. We even have the name ready - 'RIPPING YARNS'!

Oh well, when the oil runs out and society is plunged into the dark ages of no electricity and the internet dies, people will be seeking out those with the simple skills to create things from scratch - maybe a spinning course would come in useful then after all!

Testin, testing - playing with the new blogger interface and trying to work out how to do everything!

WIP catch-up!

Finally completed the 'squares' blanket! Well, it's sort of finished - may add a border later.....


Loving the ease of construction with this mitred-square technique, so I'm well under way with a charity blanket in shades of green:

Also, on the second attempt with the lace jacket in 4ply - I aborted the first one in favour of a simpler plain long waistcoat. However, that turned out way too big - after I realised I'd been following the wrong size instructions! So, it's back to plan 'A' and it seems to be working out much better, although I have to concentrate too much to allow watching TV or other distractions.

....and while I'm here, this is how my 'New England' blanket turned out! (not sure if I ever got around to showing it off....!)