1 done 2 to go

has it REALLY been almost a month since I last blogged?!!! Oooops... well, I have been busy since I made my bobbly bobble hat, and have made another one... only nicer, from some Aran wool for my mum who also wanted one... and a scarf! the scarf is only half finished, it seems to be taking longer than I had hoped, but it IS a lot of stitches LOL again its a pattern Ive made up as I go along and has taught me confidence making a rib pattern.

I should have added a few extra stitches onto each side to always ended in a knit stitch to stop it curling at the edges... but it is what it is... I live & learn. There's probably an easy solution to correct it, I just havnt found it yet!

I've also been playing with a few other things too, and finally framed my inchies :D the frame is from Ikea, called Ribba and was perfect for them.


some closer shots of a couple of my favourite squares


I have another box frame spare and am not sure what I'll do with that one yet... I might experiment with my sewing machine with fusible fibres and washaway stabilizer and frame the result.

I will run out of space on my walls soon methinks as not only are there plans for lots of my 'stuff' going on the walls, but I recently saw a lovely idea on Boxoftrix's blog for storage ideas for buttons... closely followed by a 50p find at a boot sale so have set to work with the transformation using this ...

and this...

(its REALLY fine paper that is both acid free and colourfast when pva/varnish is applied to it; and bonds perfectly without seams to give a nice smooth finish)

into this...

(ok,ok, so its not entirely finished...)

but I wanted to share it & I wouldn't be 'me' without umpteen unfinished things to complete LOL this WILL get done, and will become the home for lots of upcycled spice jars refilled with the many buttons that I have hidden away out of sight and mind... so watch this space!
I bought the papers when I went to the stitch n craft show recently, from 'the decopatch place'. If you want to check out their amazing stock, have a look at their website www.thedecopatchplace.co.uk but be warned, there is a lot of 'I want' stuff there!!!

oh and I have learnt to crochet... well I've been shown how to crochet and somehow managed to produce a granny square, jury is still out as to whether I actually enjoy it yet though!

tarting it up!

I've added a few extra pages, (tabs under the header) for you to see some of my other stitched 'stuff' that I've made over the years, to give you an idea of the sort of projects that take me hostage, & what kind of things you may see appearing here besides my attempts at knitting!

I have almost 'scarfed myself silly' now.... no more... ok, 2 more to do and thats it... I HAVE to move on to something more challenging!

this is yet another type of 'net' like yarn I've tried. This yarn is Katia - Triana, and unlike the Rio - Cancan yarn that you can choose to make 2 scarves from one ball or one really long one, this Katia wool is supposed to do one scarf per 100g ball, but mine seems a little on the short side to me... perhaps I should have done my stitches a little tighter together? might have gained me a couple of rows over the length of the scarf?

Perhaps I shall make a start on something from this book that has caught my imagination :o)maybe my love of miniatures draws me to it, or that it just looks so warm and summery... spring's not quite sprung enough for me... its trying tho LOL methinks I need to practice some texture squares first... no point running before I can walk eh?

1st post!

OK so here goes... another outlet for my creative activities & ramblings!

I love making my miniatures, but textiles of any description have also been the cause of much Oooh-ing and Ahhh-ing by me over the years too, so I thought about it for a while, and decided to have a seperate blog just for my stitched stuff.

For those that dont know me, I am one of those peeps that has my fingers in lots of creative 'pies'. I find some creative crafts more addictive than others, depending on my mood, the seasons, my bank balance, a spark that lands from somewhere... and many other reasons! If you havnt arrived here via my other blog that I show my miniature work on, and you'd like to have a look, it's Wendies Mini World, click the link & it'll take you there.

My other past hobbies will unfold over time, but for now, my new 'addiction' is knitting! As long as I can remember, my mum has been a knitter who's always tried to encourage me to join her in her craft. I always adamantly declined. My sister learnt from her, and the way I saw it back then was that they were both doing a fine job, I didnt need to learn! ... Now, after many decades, I'm ready!!!

During the last school holiday, a local craft centre was offering mum & daughter knitting days. My daughter & I thought it might be a bit different to our usual outings and decided to join in and I am so glad we did!

step 1 - learn to cast on ... ✔
Step 2- learn to knit stitch... ✔
Step 3 -learn to cast off... ✔
(please note - there was much cussing during the above steps! LOL)
Step 4 -Repeat step 1 and learn to purl... ✔
then we were given Homework! - knit 1, Purl 1. Also known as moss stitch.... ✔

its uneven, its messy... I'd like to think it was just the wool I was using!

step 5 - show my mum! who immediately decided this was all FAR too easy peasy and dull and taught me how to do a bobble stitch!!!! OMG, my head nearly exploded with the pressure! Luckily, we get on VERY well and had tears of laughter streaming down our faces whilst watching my attempt, but I finally got there :o)

and I was rather pleased with it :o)

I bought a book that has lots of other stitches in it, and am going to wade through it, making other 6 inch squared patterns and eventually make them all up into a blanket.

Armed with this minimal experience, I then discovered the most amazing yarn/wool/fabric!!! and made these.

The black/grey & the red/orangey yarns are both Rico Cancan, and was just so easy to knit that I went out and bought several other colours to make up for friends! The blue is a different brand, 'Butterfly' and was a little trickier to knit with.
I found this link on youtube that shows just how easy it is! hope it helps someone.




Well... I think that's 'it' for my first post, hopefully as I progress onto more difficult projects, I may even gain a few followers? :o)