Sunday 25 September 2016

This week .....




Florence has declared that Autumn is officially here, and has taken up residence in her furry igloo for the duration!




We travelled to Portsmouth for the weekend to celebrate my auntie's 99th birthday. She had a lovely day and was in great form, enjoying all the attention!






We spent a couple of hours going through some more things in my auntie's house - Mr JK sorted through boxes of sheet music and song books while I continued looking through cases of sewing paraphernalia. I was very interested in the sewing kits dating back to the Second World War (I assume), the colours of the sewing wools as vibrant as the day they were sold. One sewing project is partly done, it would be lovely if I was able to finish it one day! I am intrigued by the needle in the second photo - it's about 7-8cm long and looks like it could be made from either bone or ivory. I wonder what it was originally used for? I smiled at all the little rolls of silk thread, presumably for mending silk stockings! Life is definitely too short to do that these days, not that I wear silk stockings! 





The journey to Portsmouth gave me lots of car knitting time when I was able to work on a secret project for the forthcoming Stylecraft Blogtour. I can't tell you any more than that, my lips are sealed!

I am away all week on a school trip, so will see you all, rather bleary eyed, next weekend. Before I go, I want to share with you a very exciting Designer Knit and Crochet Along which launches tomorrow. KnitPro is holding its first ever knit and crochet along in aid of global charity Knit For Peace, called the KnitPro Designer-along. Having seen some of the pre-launch photographs, I am really excited about this KAL/CAL. You know how partial we are to blankets and cushions here in the josiekitten household. Well, KnitPro has worked with a number of high profile designers and magazine editors who have created 12 gorgeous blanket squares. I love these tempting photos that they have released to tease us with!




They include Debbie Bliss, Arne and Carlos, Erika Knight, Jane Crowfoot and Debbie Abrahams. Each week for six weeks one crochet and one knit design will be released. The patterns will be downloadable from the Knit For Peace website in return for a donation of £1 – all of which will go to the charity. Each launch will feature a giveaway of products from the new KnitPro collection. At the end of the six weeks KnitPro will also be releasing all the designs in an e-book with ideas for blanket layouts using the squares and instructions for different borders. Check out KnitPro's Facebook page here for more details and competitions. I am going to try to take part and hopefully improve my crochet skills. I hope some of you will join me! I'll be downloading the first patterns next weekend. See you next weekend. xxx

6 comments:

Una said...

I never could get either of my cats to sleep in special cat beds. Well done for training your Flo. As for knitting on car journeys, well done again. I simply can't read or knit in a car. Listening to the radio is as good as it gets.

VeggieMummy said...

Look at Flo; so sweet in her furry igloo. We bought one for Hamish a few winters ago, thinking that he would like a furry burrow - he refused to go near it! xx

kjsutcliffe said...

Not only my cats have declared it is time to start winter-bulking and hibinating but I am seriously considering joining them this year!

helenpollard said...

Wow, congratulations to your Auntie for her 99th birthday! Hope she had a wonderful day. The Designer-Along sounds great - Knit For Peace is an amazing charity.

Also, do you have an email address I could contact you on? I'm working with an online knitting and crochet retailer called Laughing Hens and from time to time we get products for bloggers to review. If this is something you'd like to do, please feel free to get in touch with me - my email is helen@laughinghens.com. It'd be lovely to hear from you!

Helen :)

snoopydogknits said...

You had a busy week! Thanks for sharing the Knit for Peace KAL sounds brilliant. I shall go and investigate right now XX

Helsie said...

That marmalade cake sounds interesting. I might give it a try. Have to take some cake to an elderly aunt for afternoon tea soon. Animals like little enclosed places like Flo's igloo don't they? Especially cats.