In the Making...

I have a finished object to show you. My Vitamin D cardigan. The pattern is by Heidi Kirramaier  and it was very easy to follow.  Turned hem - right side I did make one or two little alterations. The main one is the sleeve hems, which I changed from garter stitch to turned hems. I thought it would give it some weight and stop them from flipping up. I worked the sleeve until the length I wanted then purled one row. I switched to smaller needles and worked 6 rows and cast off. Finally, I sewed them down. I was really thrilled with how neat the sewing on the inside is. I lined up the cast off stitches with the ones  directly above it and used a whip stitch. I made sure the stitch was identical each time and I'm glad I put in that little extra effort. Turned hem - wrong side I was really worried when it came off the needles as the garter hem was flipping and wonky. I normally don’t worry but the yarn has a very high proportion of acrylic and I wasn’t sure h...

I promised to show you my finished teaspoon stand from when we went mug painting . It was awhile ago but it had to be refired and then I started a mug with a similar design so thought I'd show you them together. Here's before firing:  And after. The colours become really vivid. I'm not as pleased with the mug, the shading wasn't dark enough so it doesn't have that 3D effect. If I do it again it will definitely have 3 coats of the grey. The mug is a Christmas present for a friend and the handle says "Hot and Dark", which is what he calls bad coffee.

I seem to have a thing for Cathedral Windows. I've made lots of different projects with them.  My favourite is this wall hanging  (the photography is dire and you can't see the detail, the entire hanging is quilted and the windows are metallic fabrics and look amazing).  Then there is this cushion  and my little needle case .  There's been lots more too that I haven't blogged about like one year when everyone got a cathedral window pincushion and the next when it was Christmas decorations. I had a weekend recently when the sewing machine came out and there was lots of industry. Secret Garden block during sewing. The block starts in a similar way to Cathedral Window but the "windows" are put in a different place. Finished needle case I've had a project sat for awhile, and I finally had some down time so I got cracking with it. It'll be a cushion when I'm finished similar to the one above. Here's...

Another year at Woolfest and it was just as fantastic. Here are links to previous years 2011 and 2012 . It seemed busier this year.  I went with the intention of buying no spinning fibre at all, as I had a lot bought me at Christmas, but.... Well, hilltopcloud fibre is so gorgeous, it just "had" to be bought. There was a beautiful blue and orange batt and some Southdown dyed in a gradient. Southdown is meant to be a fantastic fibre for socks and I've been wanting to try it for awhile. I love how the fibre was presented it looked like a fluffy octopus! Eden Cottage Yarns and a mini skein set from Natural Dye Studio Cute little sheep from Hestascene . Need to think of an appropriate name for her. Gorgeous buttons from Textile Garden Embroidery silks from Natalie Fergie aka Yarn Yard. The orange 4ply in the top picture is from her too. This is what I got most excited about. It's a Lilly Brush which before the show I thought was o...