Photo Update

Photo Update, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

Here is my recent stash acquisition and related stuff.
1. Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace (not sure of colour, think it’s autumn)
2. The Natural Dye Studio Mirage (Merino/Tencel) sock yarn
3. The Natural Dye Studio Halo (BFL roving)
(These were purchased at The Natural Dye Studio open day)
4. Rowan Summer Tweed. £1.15 a skein from Peter Jones, I bought 11, but not sure what to make.
5. Gale’s Art BFL Roving in Proud Peacock. I love this, it is natural black BFL which is then hand-dyed.
6. Sakina Needles BFL roving in Mango
(These 2 are from The Loopy Ewe)
6. Skirt made a couple of weekends ago. Pattern: Burda 8090 View A but without the contrasting bands.
7. New spindles from Spunky Eclectic. Small one is Kundert cedar (and spins like a dream) and the large is Schact Hi-Lo Large (exclusively for plying)
8. Handpsun. Spun on the Kundert and plied on the Scacht. Spun from 25g corriedale roving in Winnipeg, part of Trip to Canada set (again from Spunky)

busy weekend

I’ve been really productive this weekend, and if I could find the camera cable I would be able to show you all. Whenever I need the cable for my Palm I can only find the camera cable and vice versa.

This weekend I have been such a domestic goddess. I managed to make my first skirt, it fits and I can’t wait to wear it tomorrow. I cast on the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting, and have nearly completed the third block.

Then I cooked, a lovely quiche lorraine, pastry recipe from Nigella and filling from food bible – Leith’s. Once in the cooking mood I baked some brownies, from a recipe sent to me by Kat – OMG are they good!!!!!

My camera has photos of blanket, quiche, brownies and skirt and I will search properly for it tomorrow.

My order from Possets came this weekend and boy do they smell good – and a real bargain! I ordered 2 packs of 6 samples and they added an extra 4 free for me, all of which smell great too.

I just a great book – Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale, it was really good and I highly recommend it and I have just started The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld which I am really enjoying. I totally lost my reading mojo for a while (well, over a year so more then just a while) and am so glad to have it back. As long as I can remember I was reading, and averaged a book a fortnight from about the age of 13-14, so loosing the want to read was actually really hard for me. I found audiobooks and this helped, but listening to a book isn’t the same as reading it. I like to listen to books, as I can knit at the same time but nothing beats curling up in a chair/sitting in the sun and loosing yourself with a book. I did just this at uni on Thursday whilst waiting for Karl to finish work. I sat under the semi-shade of the tree canopy and finished Notes from an Exhibition. I haven’t sat and read a novel for more then 10mins in one go for ages and ages, but Thursday I sat for most of the afternoon.

Hope you all had a great weekend, I’m off my paint my nails to match my new skirt for uni tomorrow.

Fabric & Yarn

Fabric & Yarn , originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

I finally have the fabric and yarn for my outfit for mum’s wedding, all I have to do know is make it. The printed fabric will be used for the dress and exterior of the handbag, with a small amount of the contrasting plain fabric used on the dress and for the lining of the bag. The yarn (which is Baruffa Cashwool) is due to become Honeybee stole. The colours are more vibrant in real life, except the turquoise which seems much brighter in the photo.
I seen the most gorgeous pair of shoes that would go brilliantly with this outfit but am unsure if I can justify the price – for those interested they are Imelda in lime and can be found here.

I have also bought the same printed fabric in the purple colourway which I plan to make a skirt with, pictures on flickr.

Philosophy

I’ve been tagged by La Duchesse for this meme.

Here the rules

1. Link to the person who has tagged you
2. Post the rules
3. Share a 6 word philosophy of life
4. Tag 3 more people

so here is my enlightened philosophy of life in 6 (well 7, but ‘is’ is such a small word it hardly counts)

Anything is surmountable with coffee, knitting and friends

My exam and presentation went well this week, so I am looking forward to nice lazy crafty weekend. My Swallowtail is waiting to blocked so hopefully I can do that soon. I have cast on some socks with the Sock Hop yarn – so soft and squishy. I was going to cast on Juliet (again) but don’t have any 6.5mm tips for my options (have ordered them from get knitted) so thought I would use the Rowan Plaid I have in my stash to cast on Alexandra Ballerina Top from Fitted Knits, only to discover I needed 6.5mm for that too. I then thought I could start the Mirepoix Bodice but alas I needed 3.25mm needles for ribbing, and you’ve guessed it I don’t have any of those either. I placed a large needle order with Get Knitted and they should be here nexy week.

I also purchased the Honey Bee Stole, Bee Fields Shawl and Norwegian Woods Shawl patterns from The Knitting Zone. They have a great selection of downloadable patterns for sale. I have started the Norweigian Woods shawl buy the smallest needles I had were 3.5 (3mm were the suggested size) and the laceweight I am using is really thin, so I think I may have to frog. I will wait until the 3.25mm arrive and knit a swatch with those from the other end of the ball and see which I prefer.

In sewing news, I ordered both of the dress patterns and the Velma bag pattern and just managed to get the fabric I wanted. They had sold out in JL in Cambridge but had some in stock in Peterborough so Mum phoned them, paid on her account card and it arrived with her today. They do however have the same fabric in Cambridge in pinks/purples and I really tempted to get some of that for a skirt on Wednesday when I go shopping.

Big Ambitions

My mum has finally decided to set the date for her wedding and I have decided that I want to make myself a dress for the occasion. I was in John Lewis recently and fell in love some fabric in there which i perfect for nice dress for a wedding. It is poplin and has a green and blue flower and leaf pattern on a white background and they also have some coordinating plain green fabric too. I spoke to mum and she says she will help me I need it. I plan to go get the fabric sometime next week so will let you all see once I get it. I have narrowed it down to two patterns and will probably buy both and decide once I’ve read the instructions etc. the choice is between this (view B) and this (view A) – both are simple yet elegant. I also want to make a matching bag as well. I have been looking at the Amy Butler patterns and settled on of two, either Kimberly or Velma. I think I prefer Velma but it looks a little more difficult, so I will probably order both from U-handbag and read through the instructions before I decide. I want a bag that is just the right size too, nothing too big but big enough to be able to put everything in. I’ve used nice little bags at weddings before and then had to carry cameras etc separately or palm them of on Karl. The wedding isn’t planned until the end of sept so there is no immediate hurry other than I want to get the fabric now in case they stop stocking it. I also would like to knit a lace stole as part of my outfit and knowing what I am wearing now allows me start the knitting sooner rather than later. I was going to knit the stole in an undyed yarn and dye it once it was finished and I had my outfit planned, but I think I will get some jaggerspun zephyr in either green or blue and use that. I am undecided about what stole to knit but my favorites so far are:
(all below are ravelry links)

Honeybee stole
Blue Ribbon Sampler Stole (I still haven’t found anywhere to buy this pattern from yet, which is a shame as I really like it)
Arabesque Stole
Lacy Lattice Stole

I have just finsihed weaving in the ends of Karl’s Cobblestone and it I am unsure if it is going to fit him. If I can block it to the measurements in the pattern in will be fine but if it doesn’t block up much bigger then I have just inherited a nice sweater. I have promised him that if it is too small I will order the the yarn for the next size up and knit him a new one. Although I started this one in October it was neglected over Xmas and more recently whilst I did other knitting so if I work on it monogamously it shouldn’t take me longer than a few weeks. I’m off to watch Dexter and block the Cobblestone – wish me luck!

I would love to hear your views on the dresses/bags I have chosen.

UK Swap Parcel

UK Swap Parcel, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

How spoilt was I yesterday! Claire (and yes we do share the same blog template, just in case it confused you) sent me the most amazing UK Swap parcel, I love everything in it.
Angels & Elephants Hand-dyed British Shetland DK in Morwenna
Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino Yarn in Maple Sugar (I think I may make a lace shawl from this, as the colours are too me to hide on my feet)
Hotel Chocolat Liquid Chocolat (Kiss Mix – Caramel Flavour) which I had a cup of last night and is officially gorgeous!!!
Tigger’s Little Book of Bounce – which has made me chuckle on several occasions.
Lush Helping Hands – which is perfect as I was just running out of hand cream and is fantastic on my super super dry hands.
Pretty stitch markers and a pretty pendant (more photos on flickr)
Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol, this book has been on my amazon list for a while and it is so good. I plan doing some sewing over the next couple of days and once I’ve finished some sewing wips, I am going to make a couple of toy turtles from some fabric leftovers I have.
Once i get the money the bank owe me (it’s a long story but they’ve owed me over £500 since January and I still haven’t received it, apparently the cheque should be with me by next week) I’m going fabric shopping. There are a couple of bags I want to make from the book and I’ve seen the most gorgeous fabric in John Lewis which I want to make a skirt and matching bag with. Also I’m going to look for some cute baby fabric as there is a pattern for baby bibs in the book which would be great for Karl’s brothers baby. Apparently his sister-in laws’ family have a habit of turning up 2-3 weeks early – Karl thought I should know so I could make sure stuff was finished, how thoughtful, I think!
Do you remember my Juliet, well, I finally got some buttons for it today, tried it on to work out placement of said buttons, only to find – it’s too big. I plan a frogging session with it this weekend, I am going to re-knit it a couple of sizes smaller as I really like the pattern in the Rowan Cotton Rope and love the buttons I just bought. Luckily I hadn’t got around to weaving in all the ends – see laziness does have a use.
Off to put the finishing touches to a couple of bags, hopefully I’ll have some sewing FOs soon.

My first quilt top

My first quilt top, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

I was convinced I had blogged about this, but i haven’t. I think I may uploaded the photos when our internet connection was playing up.
I cut and pieced this over the 2 weekends and really enjoyed it. It is a kit by Moda (Splish Splash) which I found at an online shop (can’t remember which one) for half price and thought it would be a good way to try my hand at quilting.
The kit contained a charm pack (5″x5″ squares) and full instructions. It is far from perfect and more like a crazy log cabin due to the numerous unstraight lines. However, for a first attempt I am pleased and Karl has already asked that be included in the hamper for his Brother’s baby (due in June). I just need to find the perfect material for binding and backing. I am thinking either a yellow or orange and these are pretty unisex.

I bought two appliqué/quilting kits which arrived yesterday. Both are by Rachels of Greenfield, the Cat Tails is hopefully going to be for part of my Mum’s birthday’s present (as long as I can get it done my the end of March) and Best Friends is either for me, or whoever I decide might like it. I have cut out all the pieces (cotton and woolfelt) for mum’s and pieced the cotton background together, I just need to take some of the felt into John Lewis to get some coordinating thread for the appliqué.

I also started a new bag today as the Carpet Bag (pics on flickr) is in time out after misbehaving whilst I was trying to sew the ribbon on. I have cut out all the pieces for the Amy Butler Drawstring bag (2nd pattern in the In Town Bags pattern). I have found a new love for this pattern now I realize it can be made with 5 (or more) fat quarter pack. I bought fat quater pack of pink, blue and purples (pink & purple are batik) from John Lewis for about £10 and probably have enough left to make another of these bags but with fabric in different order. The looks like it will perfect as small knitting project bag.

I’ll take photos of the sewing projects over the weekend, as well as blog about my Hot Cocoa Swap parcel.

p.s it looks we are going to get a new oven!!!

 

Not your ordinary stitching

Not your ordinary stitching, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

I am so addicted to this! I love my sublime stitching kit and book, and have more on the way, as present it is still between US and UK somewhere.
My first attempts weren’t so bad, but for some reason the photos were, these three were done over the weekend, whilst listening to the last few chapters of Outlander.
They are on a basic teatowel which I will show when finished.
I still can’t seem to get chain stitch and at present am happy using back stitch, split stitch and french knots. The french knots on the centre cake were my very first ever! No practicing just straight in.

Thank you to everyone for the kind words on my bag, they were greatly appreciated.

I am feeling really good today and put it down to my new diet. I had a really really busy day yesterday as I was in university all day. Yet although having a lie in today (and expecting to have to spend the day in bed) I just couldn’t lie around doing nothing. I felt I had to get up and do stuff. So if i feel like this every week, Saturday will officially be Craft day. I can do uni work on Sunday and Monday and have Saturday solely for knitting and sewing.

To make things better the Six Nations has started, so I get 3 rugby matches a weekend to watch. My plans for this Saturday are:

Finish Miss Bean for my Hot Cocoa Swap pal

Start the body of Cobblestone for Karl

Work on my Carpet bag Well worth looking at the one’s that Lisa (shop owner) links to. They are amazing and the reason I chose to make this pattern.

Karl has just popped out to Tesco’s but when he gets back I’m going to see if he can take some pictures of me modelling my finished Central Park Hoodie. I wore it to uni yesterday and although it was a really cold day, I was nicely snug. I love weather like that as I get to wrap up in handknits and not be cold. I was really wearing the hand knits yesterday, I had 4 hand knits on: Foliage hat, Clapotis scarf (knit with the oh-so-soft Malabrigo), Monkey socks (knit with Fleece Artist Seawool, from my Monkey Swap pal) and my Central Park Hoodie. I did notice however that I am lacking in some handknit mittens. I have some orange and brown DK yarn that I am thinking of using for the Squirrel & Oak mittens from Hello Yarn.

We have new additions to the family too, yesterday we got two female roborovski hamsters. Haven’t got any pictures yet, but we will be adding to their cage tomorrow (we didn’t want to overwhelm then with huge cage at first, so let them settle into a just the base unit for a couple of day) so photos should be posted then. They are so sweet and Karl and I both came up with the same names for them. I had thought of Sugar and Spice but decided to let Karl choose the names, as I came up with the names for the gerbils, and whilst walking to bus stop last night he said, “shall we call then Sugar and Spice?”

Ok, back to Miss Bean and the Rugby – perfect!

Pink Frenchy Bag

Pink Frenchy Bag, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

Pattern: Amy Butler Frenchy Bag
Fabric: A seletion from Moda Quilt Pink II range
Mods: The inside only has one pcoket rather then two (purely due to lack of fabric as I was using stuff from my stash)

This is my latest finished sewing item. It took no longer than a weekend to make. I love it. I plan on gifting it to my Hot Cocoa Swap pal, as a small project bag. I think it will be perfect to use a sock bag.