I was worried about running out of thread for the Quaker sampler, in fact I was in the process of looking for a source of Anchor thread 161 as it was getting more obvious that the floss that I had was not enough to finish it.
Then this morning, whilst sorting through a small bag of embroidery threads ( about half a dozen full skeins in total) found in my late mothers sewing box I found this.
I guess someone's telling me that I need to finish this piece!
Speak soon xx
I managed to get two pairs of the long armed fingerless mitts out of my Shetland 160gm skein with 3gm to spare !! I must admit that I did think that I would run out so popped a lifeline in the 3rd one just incase I needed to have a contrasting stripe where the fingers started.
I'm now working on the third pair, shorter this time. but I did knit a hat from the mixed left over fibre skeins :-)
The new embroidery flosses have been sort of sorted. I've grabbed the colours that I need for my project but one seems to be missing. Given that there are so many, I've probably miss-sorted it but if not I'll see if there's a close match as this is really an experimental project.
Stitching wise? nothing this week, again buried in paperwork and trying to get some sense of order in here.
Update, missing floss found ! some stitching done in the last couple of days so at least I have something to show.
Quaker sampler is coming on nicely now although I think I may run out of thread. The mystery cross stitch has been started. I know what it is but I'm not ready to show the hoped for result incase its a big failure.
18 stitch to the inch, a lot of stitches but not much to show.
Sorry this post is late, normal service will be resumed shortly ( hopefully)
Speak soon x
Hi,
Another strange week feeling out of sync with the world. Along with the sampler shown here last week I have inherited a set of 1930's tarot cards and a very useful laptop which I will drop into our nearest computer shop to have completely wiped and checked over before I set it up as my dedicated craft machine.
So much for my no spend attempt, in a moment of madness I ordered the cxc version of the complete dmc range plus cross stitch fabric... I'm putting it down to stress shopping !!
I do have a couple of projects in mind and as they are experiments involving 60 or so colours I couldn't really afford to do them in DMC, more about that later.
I've not really been able to settle down to anything crafty this week so I've just been working on my Quaker sampler in the few snatched minutes early in the morning before starting soring out various family paperwork etc.
Suddenly I've had an order for hats and handspun! I've not sold any in the last 12 monthly due to the various lockdown sand lack of tourists in general at the croft shop that I usually supply with a skeins during the year. To be honest I've not been spinning or knitting much lately, preferring to stitch at the moment however I may structure my day for the next few weeks to include both hobbies.
And I've cast on some fingerless mitts, large enough for male hands this time. Simple rib knit with short thumbs which are knitted complete with the body of them. I don't like the look of mitts with just a slit for the thumb and equally dislike knitting thumbs in so I'm trying this option.
Incase you are wondering, I keep back any skeins with knots in and also spin four ply weight for my own knitting.
Ooh and we are having a snowy day, snow forecast all days o I'm staying inside nice and dry :-)
Hi
Over the next few weeks my attention will be needed elsewhere so unfortunately my posts will probably be short and sweet. I'm hoping to still put something up each Monday but suspect that may be a little erratic at times.
OK, down to business.
Today I'm sharing 3 samplers with you, two have recently come into my possession and another is currently being worked on.
The first has been in my family for several years, I remember it being in a frame at home and once things are a little more sorted here I will be looking to get it reframed properly.
I don't know whether this is a family member or whether it was simply bought as an interesting item.
This one is a lot more recent, 1995, stitched during my first era of cross stitch addiction !
As much as I'm enjoying stitching these designs, I have an aching to design my own so that may be a project for the future.
That's about all for now, thanks for reading, speak soon and take care x
I just thought that you may like to see this small visitor to our garden, I will be back on Monday as usual x
Hi,
Yep, we finally had some snow worth mentioning. You have to remember that in parts of the UK, even 1cm of snow sparks excitement, I'm not sure that we had any around here last winter but yesterday this happened.
We had a couple of inches or so, enough to make the local kids head down to the school playing fields which have a good slope on them.
Crafty endeavors this week? some fibre prep
about 100gm of jacob which empties another of my many fleece filled pillowslips.
The inkle weaving is finished so I'm experimenting with some 'holes' and the next this will to be to see if I still have a bag of random buckles tucked away.
I forgot to show this last week, I'm intrigued by this style of sampler and found this chart on gazette 94 blog.
My book arrived.
Bargain for the price :-)
Since I bought my new desktop computer back in 2016. I haven't bothered replacing the paint programs like paint shop pro and corel. I just couldn't be bothered and frankly lost interest in that side of things for a while.
This week I downloaded Gimp just out of interest after finding a couple of pieces of my design work from way back when. I had a play with a couple of photos to try and find my way around the settings.
and this one of a peat stack I particularly like
The next experiment was to tackle one of my designs.
Now this is fun!!
I suspect I will be playing with this for a while :-)
That's about it for this week,, take care, speak soon xx
Hi
We are planning a couple of getaways for later in the year in the vain hope that we will be able to get the van out of storage, hoping to get back up to Scotland at some point and maybe just a few days at the coast more locally although I can think of some wonderful coastal campsite north of the border.
I'd love to go back here
or even here
But that would involve a few ferries (outer Hebrides)
Still, I can visit in my imagination 😃
Anyway, Its been a different sort of week, I still haven't left the house but Ian had a weeks holiday owing so we tackled one or two small jobs around the house. The weather wasn't the best so stayed mainly inside.
At least the sunrise was colourful this morning.
Finally, a quick crafty round up.
I've been thinking about what to do with fleece and handspun other than knitting which is my usual go to. I've come up with a little list so here is number 1
Inkle weaving or sometimes called band weaving. Woven on an inkle loom with the pattern being picked by hand with each pass. The warp is continuous and this is a warp facing weave ie you don't see the thread that is on the shuttle.
This shows that path of the warp round the loom, this is only the second time that I have tried weaving with hand spun yarn, it catches in the heddle strings but not too badly.
I only have a few inches to go so it will probably be finished later today.
I have made some progress on the garden SAL and I'm currently adding the third week.
No spinning this week or knitting. I seem to have spent more time thinking than doing if you know what I mean !
My no spend on craft supplies attempt has been redrawn at £10 per month which makes a little more sense plus makes me feel better having ordered a book for the grand price of £3.27 including delivery ( thank you Prime) more about this when it arrives.
that's about all for now, take care, speak soon x
Hi
First thing... we have had the boiler fixed temporarily and we are now waiting on a new part so we have heating !! makes life more comfortable especially as we are both at home this week.
We are back in lockdown so my time is spent baking, crafting and doing the occasional bit of housework so not much change there.
Finally my hat is finished, I never thought I would get it off the needles. I swear that this is the longest time that I have spent on just one hat.
The photos make my head look a little strange in shape but its due to having a french plait at the back, also as this is the back you can see the jog in the back where the pattern changes,.
Baking this week was mainly biscuits so hubby can grab a couple for breakfast at 3am. They are oat based with ginger and spices.
In fact its a very cold start to the year as our boiler has broken so we have no heating in the house other than a small fan heater. Ian has been dispatched to the camper to rescue a heater from there and I'm poised to ring the heating shop as soon as they open !
Other than that, the New Year started very noisily with fireworks and its been under 5c since then. We've had a touch of snow but I'm hoping for sun as it warms up the back of the house including my workroom.
I've been stitching on the Blackwork SAL, week one is now out so I'll add that later this week.
The 2017SAL also has a few more stitches on it.
My main aim this week is to spin up some more oddments and think of what to knit with them.
So I'm going to keep wrapped up, keep the kettle on, pull on a hat and do some housework to keep me warm!!
speak soon,
Hi
Well, that's Christmas out of the way, just a few days until the New Year. Theses in-between days are always a bit strange, even more so this year as hubby has a couple more days off work than usual.
This was the first time ever that I've not worked Christmas Eve or the nearest working day to it. I still find it a bit strange knowing that I left that job behind in March. Also, whether the result of finishing work or not, I'm 21 pounds lighter (yippee) making a total of 35 pounds since we bought the van !!!
In spite of all the world madness, we still managed five trips out in the van giving us the chance to explore new places.
Knaresborough
Old hobbies have been rediscovered in the form of cross stitch and blackwork embroidery and the size of my craft stash is beginning to hit home.
So, plans for next year?
Travel plans are on hold (obviously) until things improve but my biggest pan is to use up my stash and buy as little as possible in the way of craft supplies. Okay, there have been a couple more purchases since my last post but I'm planning my projects to included a blackwork stitch a long and a fleece stash busting spinning session. I dread to think what is lurking at the bottom of some of the cupboards !!
Partially complete outline for the blackwork SAL starting in January.
I'm also slowly changing my diet, hoping to drop another dress size by the summer.
I almost forgot, latest purchases,
32 count fabric and two cross stitch charts of vintage motorcycles, its ok, its only 27 December and my no spend starts on Jan 1st !!
I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year xx
