Ooh it was a lovely sunny day yesterday, although there was a stiff breeze. Pefect for flying kites on the beach though.

And perfect for wearing your new shirt that your wife has lovingly made for you!

Have to admit that I was dead chuffed with this one!

I also have to admit that I stole this label idea from the fabulous Alicia. Of course, hers was a little more intricate than mine, but you get the idea. I wish I'd put 'by' Bridget now, would have made more sense, but there you go. You live and learn, don't you?

Have just finished that unravelling project, you might remember. I unravelled a top that I knitted a couple of years ago and never, ever wore - this ...

and have now made it into this ...

Which is much better, although I think the bottom of it is a bit baggy. However, it's really comfy to wear. I suppose it might shrink a bit in the wash ... possibly ... I don't know!

Let's hope I wear this one!

Lacy Love

So this is how the lacy top is progressing. Am really loving doing this little top, although I think I will be making it slightly shorter than the pattern so that it rests on the waist, rather than the hips. Don't need any extra bulk there, thank you very much.

There is loads of stretchiness in this Rowan Milk Cotton - much more than I thought. I tend to think that cotton is a rather more rigid yarn to work with, but this has lots of 'ease'. So far - and I say this with trepidation - I haven't made one single mistake in the pattern! Must be a first. Just goes to show that even a simpleton can do lace.

Meanwhile, hubby's grandad shirt is coming along nicely too. Will show you it when it's finished. However, I had a bit of a brainwave last night - I was thinking shirts and Christmas ... you know what I mean? I have a dad, a husband and a brother who are all pretty tricky customers when it comes to Christmas presents. My only problem would be getting some really nice shirting weight cottons. When you start looking for them, they're not that easy to source. And when you do, the choice is stripes, plaids or plain. That's it. Absolutely nothing else. On the other hand, I guess a really nice light weight denim shirt is always a winner, baring in mind it will be winter when they get it. Hmmmmm.

I don't know if it's just me, but I find it nigh on impossible to find a knitting pattern that I like. I spend ages and ages trawling through Ravelry and Knitty.com and any other free pattern sites and yet I just can't find what I'm looking for. When you think about it, there are lots of criteria to meet: a pattern you like, in the right yarn, in a flattering shape, at the right tension. And preferably not knitted in the round (why do they keep knitting things on circular needles?).


You may remember that I bought a lot of Rowan's Milk Cotton and started to knit a cable cardigan. Well, I didn't get very far with it because it requires 100% attention and, as I tend to knit in front of the telly, I just kept getting confused and frustrated with it. So I thought right, rather than let it languish on the needles forever, I'll find another pattern. Eventually, and I mean, eventually, after all the above failed, I found myself in the local library yesterday and lo and behold, the perfect pattern!! Who knew?


This is perfect because it is knitted in cotton at a standard tension (as is the milk cotton). I have enough yarn, I like it, and I think (or hope) it will flatter my figure. Jackpot! Also, it's quite nice to knit because of the lacy pattern at the bottom and it's not knitted sideways or upside down or on those stupid circular needles (can you tell I don't like circular needles?). I guess designers feel the need to shake things up a bit by knitting things backwards, etc, but I think it's just annoying. If it ain't broke, don't fix it is my philosophy.


Meanwhile, at the house of Shirts, another one has rolled hot off the press. It only took about 3 hours on Sunday afternoon, start to finish, to run this baby up. It's exactly the same as the last (stripey) one, but I put 2 pockets on instead of 1, mainly because I accidently cut 2 out so I thought I may as well just bung it on there. Boys love pockets - very handy for stashing dinosaurs, you know.

The boy was slightly hesitant at first as he thought the material was flowery, but I managed to reassure him that it was spotty and definitely not spotty. God forbid.

Keep your Shirt on!

I am in the middle of a total shirt-making frenzy. This came about, completely out of the blue, on Wednesday night when I was gathering my bits and pieces ready for my sewing class. I intended to start my mum's jelly roll quilt but then suddenly realised that I don't have a set square thingy to cut diagonal edges with - which I needed for the quilt. Bugger. What to do? With only 10 minutes left before I had to leave, I began to mildly panic. However, the boy, sensing my dilemna, simply asked "can you make me a top?". Which sounded much more like a challenge than a request to me. I remembered this fabulous book (Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross) ...



had this rather cute pattern in it ...

and I also managed to find some deck-chair stripy material which I bought years ago and never used. Lo and behold - a shirt was born!

I must admit, I've never really seen the point of making clothes for the boy because they are so cheap to buy and it's always seemed rather pointless to make stuff which is so readily available. However, what I completely forgot about was the sheer joy you get when you see someone wearing/using something you've made!

Of course, when I proudly showed his father (who was jobsmacked, it has to be said) he immediately requested one for himself. So today I've been to the market and bought some lovely boy-style and man-style material (plus a little something for moi) and I am chomping at the bit to make some more shirts! Hee Hee. I love it.

Copy Cat

It was a very rainy day yesterday - like today - so what was a girl to do but catch up on some blogs? One in particular caught my eye - this one - which is all about being creatively thrifty and which I found really inspirational. So much so that I had to immediately dash out and get myself a wipeboard for the kitchen, which has already proved a great place to jot down the 101 things that I need to remember. My previous (small) blackboard just wasn't as user friendly.

So on here I can now put up my weekly menus, things to remember and stuff for the shopping list. Simples!

The other idea was a pretty simple one - one of those ideas that as soon as you try it you wonder why you didn't do it years ago. Mrs Thrifty is a very organised lady with her laundry and has set days for each type of wash, e.g. darks on Monday, handwash Tuesday, etc. I admit I'm not that organised (yet!), but the idea of having separate bags for each wash - instead of a laundry basket in each bedroom - seemed like a good one to try. So I did. Firstly I very thriftily made some laundry bags from old duvet covers. I've only made 2 so far and I'm using an existing laundry basket for sheets and towels. I think I may need another bag to keep downstairs in the utility room for tea towels and table linen. What I like about the bags is that you can immediately see how much washing there is, and then you can just pick up the whole bag and take it down to the machine, instead of dropping socks all the way downstairs with your arms full. As you can see, I still have quite a lot to plough through, despite every basket being empty last week ... such is life.

Meanwhile, one thing that is currently a little obsession of mine is pretty bed linen. Until a few weeks ago when the weather turned hot, I would not have been parted from my snuggly feather duvet. However, after searching the house high and low for the summer weight duvet it has mysteriously vanished and so an emergency sheet and blanket had to be found. And do you know, I actually quite like the old fashioned way of doing things! Somehow, the weight of the blanket and the crispness of the sheet is - perhaps - reminiscent of my childhood, I don't know. Anyhow, only having one flat sheet to my name, I realised that if I was going to spend the summer like this, I better invest in some sheets. And why not pretty ones? And I also have a bit of a thing for pillowcases. These (above) are Cath Kidston ones that I picked up for £6 A PAIR (yes!) from Holker Festival last weekend. Flamin' bargain if you ask me, I love them.

Well last night I decided to pick up this tapestry again. My brother gave it to me for Christmas and I went at it all January and then of course, such is the creative mind, I dropped it like a stone. But last night I just felt in the mood to do a bit more.

It will make a lovely cushion cover.

By the way, remember the sofa we bought on ebay on Sunday? Well we've contact the sellers and had no response at all! What does that mean? Does it mean they don't want to sell it anymore? Most strange.

And breathe out

Breathe in ... hold ... and breathe out. Phew. Half term over and the grandparent's 3 week stay is over too. There is now a faint chance that, after all the washing of sheets and towels and straightening of the house, I may, just may, get back to 'normal'. It is lovely to see my parents, but of course, everyday life changes when other people are in your house and speaking as someone who loves being at home, on their own, let's just say ... well, need I say? You know what I mean.




The only thing I've managed to achieve, creatively, is to finish the crochet blanket. Here it is folded in half (lengthways) on the back of the rocking chair. I blocked it last night, which has helped, as it was rather higgeldy-piggeldy when I finished it. It is beautifully warm, I have to say, thanks to the Debblie Bliss Cashmerino that I used.


I'm not sure what project I'm going to start next. My mum bought me a jelly roll to make her a quilt with, so I will start that at sewing class this week, plus I have a short-sleeved jumper which is nearing completion on the needles. I'm still plodding along with the hexes, although progress is slow. Perhaps a cushion cover will emerge soon.



Yesterday I did something I've never done before - bought something on ebay! I really do not like our lounge at the moment, the main problem being the 3-piece suite (which was bought quickly, in an emergency). It's far too modern for our cottage really. I'd rather not show you a picture because it really is not very nice. Anyhow, in my mind I have a picture of 2 lovely wing-back chairs, complete with blankets and cushions, plus a lovely sofa, ditto. So I started to look for a sofa, and there was one, cream, just right, only 15 mins left to bid and no bids! So I bid (encouraged by hubby). And now it's ours!! £50 and in mint condition (I hope). When we got the email which said Congratulations, we both looked at each other and said 'we've just bought a sofa', in a sort of state of shock! Of course, now I that I've started along this path - which, let's face it, was a bit of a whim and one which we cannot really afford - I now have to get some chairs and the walls will need papering and ... oh dear, what have I done?

Tragedy

It's a sad post today, I'm afraid. Yesterday, a man went on the rampage in West Cumbria and shot 12 people, injured 25, all at random. We were caught up in the proceedings. The whole area was in lock-down; people told to stay at home, don't go out on the roads. We were enjoying a day out on the Ratty railway and were suddenly beseiged with police and helicopters as they tried to catch the mad man. The boy and my dad were on a train and my mother and I were waiting at the other end with a picnic. The train was stopped - because it went under a road bridge and they didn't know where the man's car was heading, so decided to stop the train (it's an open-top train). We were trying to phone each other, but all the networks were busy, as people started to panic. A policeman told us, 'there's a major incident, people have been shot' and that's all we knew for about an hour, until more rumours and details were slowly emerging. In the end, after a couple of hours, the man was found (dead - he shot himself) about 100 yards away from where they had boarded the train.

Later, at home, we watched the news and began to realise the enormity of it all and the lucky escape we'd had. I phoned my friend, a midwife - she'd been taking a clinic yesterday morning in Seascale where this guy killed 3 people, pretty much yards from the doctor's practise. The doctors and health workers there had to go and deal with it all - totally traumatic for all concerned, as they knew the victims.

My heart goes out to the victim's family - one woman was simply on her way home with 2 shoppping bags. So random. So pointless. So tragic.