Woolly Adventures!

I'm finally able to tick something off my bucket list. That thing is 'to knit a pair of socks'! And here they are! I even managed to match the stripes. I actually knitted another pair straight after these, too, to use up the yarn.

This is a different photo of the same pair. I didn't take any of the 2nd pair. They are almost exactly the same - just a little shorter, to be sure I didn't run out of yarn. Talking of yarn, this is knitted in West Yorkshire Spinners, Mallard, 4ply. And the pattern is from the Winwick Mum blog Sockalong, although it's not a pattern, as such, but a series of instructions on how to make a sock that fits YOU (or anyone). I found the instructions really straightforward to follow, apart from the Kitchener stitch to join at the toes, which I could not get the hang of. So, instead, I found a tutorial on You Tube which really helped.

In other woolly goings on: a few weeks ago, we had a try at needle felting at the craft group I help to run. One of our members brought along all the equipment and showed us how to do it. We all started by covering a polystyrene egg, and this is my effort. Most of the members finished their eggs and were well into the flat, needle-felted landscape by the end of our meeting. I, however, had only managed the green under-layer on my egg, and the orange and pink rings! I did use the last 15 mins to make a start on my landscape, but had no idea where I was going with it.

A few days before the craft group next met, I thought I'd better finish the landscape, especially as I'd asked everyone else to bring theirs for me to photograph. And here it is. It looks almost acceptable from a distance.

Bye for now
Teresa x

Bags of Style!

At the end of my last post I showed the early stage of a slow, mindful project I was working on. Well, it took a while but here is the finished result. It's a lovely hand-stitched patchwork bag. It's made from a pattern in this book. Actually, it's made from two patterns - the patchwork design is from a different bag in the book. I've used it a couple of times and had lots of lovely comments.

Next, I wanted to try something much simpler, but just as useful. This slouchy boho bag is made from a single piece of heavy furnishing fabric. The strap is long enough to go across body so I want to make one like this for myself to replace my current everyday bag, which is wearing out.

Finally, I had this gorgeous Australian design, linen tea-towel in my stash (I can't remember exactly but I think I must have bought it from a charity shop as it still had the original sale label on and I've never been to Australia!) and decided it needed showing off on a bag. It seems I wasn't the only one to appreciate it, as it sold on it's first outing! Oh, and I added the brown canvas-type fabric and hand embroidery in complimentary colours.

In between sewing projects I'm still hooked on corner-to-corner crochet. After trying it plain, and then stripy, I'm now working on motifs. One more square to add, then a border and this will be done.
Sounds straightforward but, once again, I'm limited with the yarn left and will have to do some working out.

The craft group I mentioned last time, that I had just started with a friend, has met again, and all who came seem to be committed, which is nice. We've had a break for August, and will get going again at the end of September. The members are all working on various projects (cross stitch, knitting, patchwork) that they don't seem to find time to do at home. At the last meeting I was working on knitting face cloths. I made 4 in total (not all at the group, obviously), gave one away with a gift and the rest have sold in sets with my daughter's handmade soaps, so I'm working on some more of those too!

Bye for now
Teresa x