Harbour blanket ta-da!

I have, at long last, finished my Attic24 Harbour blanket. Lucy released the pattern for a crochet-along back in January 2022. The pattern was shared over several weeks, with the aim of completing each week's rows in time for the next block. I got behind and the blanket got consigned to a project bag by the side of the sofa. In no time at all, it became buried under more project bags and I only got round to digging it out again after Flo was put to sleep. The colours in the blanket were inspired by boats and other seafaring bits and pieces and looking at some of my photos of harbours (mostly in Cornwall, a couple in Whitby and one from Greece), Lucy has the colours nailed perfectly.

Although Flo is no longer here to give it her seal of approval, she did give it the paws up early on in its making. I'm glad it's had a squish from Flo 🐾🐾🐾

It's currently on the back of one of the sofas, but I plan to use it out in the garden when the days get a little cooler, so I can be nice and cosy while I'm reading. You can find details of the pattern here on the Attic24 website and yarn packs are available from Woolwarehouse if you don't have a bricks and mortar Stylecraft stockist close by. Have you ever made any of Lucy's blankets? xxx

Grannies-in-a-Row socks

I was lucky enough to be part of the test knitters for a crazy new sock pattern called 'Grannies-in-a-Row' which has been designed by Jen Yard who is Every.thing.Shapes.Us over on Instagram. The design uses both crocheted granny squares and traditional sock knitting to create a really fun sock. The first sock was made using lots of oddments of West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply yarn.

I wanted to knit a pair using self-striping yarn, so I used leftovers from my Advent skein from The Yarn Badger and made the granny squares one solid colour. 

Copyright Jen Yard

Jen is running a KAL over on Instagram which starts today and ends on August 31st, so there's loads of time to join in. The pattern is currently on sale until this coming Monday (June 26th) from Jen's Ravelry store here. I will be joining in and hope to knit a matching sock for each of my test knits as well as another pair or two. There will be prizes too and I am donating something! I really hope you come and join the fun! xxx

 

Free Motion Stitching

I took part in a Zoom stitching class with Janine Pope earlier this year. She creates a very distinctive kind of figure and the class was learning about her drawing style and teaching the basics so that we would be able to create our own figure. I can't find a website for Janine, but she does occasionally post on her Instagram page and it was there that I found out about her online classes. You can find her Instagram page here. It was a completely different way of doing free motion stitching for me. If you have been following me for a while, you will know that I have made cushions in the style of Poppy Treffry in the past. Using Poppy's technique, fabrics are cut to the right size and shape and stitched onto the front of the backing fabric. With Janine's approach, you stitch on the wrong side of the fabric, attaching fabric in different layers on the reverse (the right side of the fabric) and then trim the fabric close to the stitching. The workshop was several hours long, but it certainly didn't feel it as we were so busy drawing and then stitching. You can see my first effort in the photo above. I definitely want to try again. I think that they would make perfect presents for people, making personalised portraits of them, don't you? xxx

 

Farewell dear friend

I had to say goodbye to my beautiful Flo last week. She had been unwell for the last couple of weeks and an ultrasound scan showed several masses in her abdomen as well as enlarged lymph nodes. The vet said that there was nothing that could be done to help her so I made the decision for her to slip away while she was still sedated from her scan. She was my best girl and constant companion, especially after Mr JK died and throughout lockdown and the house feels horribly empty and quiet without her. I hope that she's curled up on Mr JK's lap with unlimited cheese Dreamies close at hand. Sleep well Flo. xxx

 

Julia and the hat

Once upon a time there was a girl called Julia. She very kindly offered to deliver a hand knitted hat to a friend for her birthday. The knitter was extremely grateful.

Julia loved the hat and thought that it suited her so well that she tried to take it away with her after giving it to the birthday girl!

The knitter was a kind-hearted soul and so she promised to knit Julia a special hat of her own in her favourite colour, purple.

Julia loved her new hat very much and wore it straight away. It was so warm and cosy.

She wore it every single time she went swimming in the sea, right through the year. (Yes, even in the winter!)

One winter's day, when Julia was swimming in the sea, a huge wave crashed into her. The force of the wave was so great that it knocked her off her feet and her precious hat got swept away into the North Sea. Julia was very sad.

Luckily for Julia, her knitter friend offered to make her a replacement hat. Julia was happy once more. She promised that she would never wear this special hat in the sea.

So if you ever come across a seal wearing a purple knitted hat, you know how this happened! xxx

 

A spot of stitching

I have been meaning to share these pretty stars with you since January! As part of a friend's birthday present, I arranged for an online Zoom stitching workshop with the designer Anna. You can take a look at her Instagram page here. Anna sent me a materials pack in advance so we had everything that we would need to make our own decorated stars. The hour's workshop went by so quickly, but we were all able to complete one star. My knowledge of embroidery stitches was a little bit rusty and I eventually managed to crack French knots! We added beads and sequins to our stars for some extra sparkle. I have plenty of felt left to make more stars - I should crack on with them now, rather than leave it until towards Christmas when I will no doubt have a gazillion other things to be doing! Watch this space! xxx