🧶 June Update 🧶

June has definitely flown by for me, I was sort of wishing the first three weeks would go rather quickly as I went on holiday in the last week of June, and I couldn’t wait! At the start of this month, I was mainly focusing on my sewing projects, as I had a couple of things that I wanted to finish so that I could take them away with me! All in all, in May and June, I made: a white striped jersey top, a pink longline cardigan, a pair of black linen trousers, a cross body sling style bag, a floral patterned grey dress and a white slip dress. Our holiday was very relaxed which meant that I took photos of me wearing some things, but not others! Here's me in my pink cardigan and my sling style bag, I love the fabric of this so much!

I've also started the Scheepjes Hygge CAL from 2017 in the Rainbow colourway. I must have missed it somehow when it was first released, and then found it on the Scheepjes website and knew that I had to make one too! Embroidering onto a crochet background is another thing on my long list of techniques that I want to try, and I thought that this would be perfect! I've only done about 15 rows so far, so I've not even started embroidering yet!

Before we went away, I bought a hank of the new West Yorkshire Spinners Exquisite Lace Yarn in the colour Savoy, it’s a beautiful teal green shade. I’ve never bought a hank of yarn before, so it was my first time hand winding into a ball! I’ve thought about buying a ball winder in the past, but always put it off as I’m not sure how much use I would get out of it. I’ve watched so many YouTube videos, and saw an interesting comment on one, in the video a nostepinne was used, and someone had commented that they used a turkey baster to wind their yarn around. It sounded great to me, and it only cost me £1 to buy one! I was a little bit nervous in case I got in a big tangly mess, but it worked so well! It took me two nights in total to wind it, and I ended up with this big egg shape of yarn!

Slowly getting bigger!

I decided to use the WYS wool to try a bit of lace knitting. It’s something I’ve tried once before but in a pattern that only had lace parts in a couple of sections across rather than the whole length. I found a free pattern via a google search, which didn’t look too difficult and I leapt straight in! We did one big walk on holiday, up Easedale Tarn, and I had my knitting with me, so I had to do a couple of rows while we were up there! Quite possibly one of the first people to knit up there, but we’ll never know for sure!

🧶 May Update 🧶

This last month, I’ve been busy continuing with my WIP - the Designer Knitting Fall 18 Fair Isle scarf, I’ve made some nice progress with this, and I’m really pleased with how easy this technique has been. This is the first time that I’ve attempted a fair isle knit with more than two colours, and while I’m still extremely nervous for when the time comes that I have to steek it (eeeeek!) it’s all turning out rather well so far. Apart from a few severe tangles leading to some knots and a couple of breakages, luckily only on my extra section for steeking, I’ve found knitting with the Rowan Felted Tweed DK to be really easy. I love the colours of this scarf, they’re bright and beautiful, but the Felted Tweed isn’t in your face, it’s muted and has some tone to it, making it perfect for a project like this.

I’ve also had a go at something a little bit different this month, we bought a bookcase for the lounge, and I knew that it needed something a little bit special to go on top, there’s got to be something handmade and yarny everywhere right?! I found a small weaving loom that I had bought a couple of years ago in Edinburgh, I think it’s really aimed at children, but it’s the perfect size to practice on. I didn’t really have a colour theme in mind, just bright and bold! I used some Cygnet Utopia DK and some Robin Paintbox DK, along with a mix of single colour DK acrylic yarn that I had, unfortunately all the labels have been long lost from these. I also made some tassels to tie onto each end of the weaving, mainly to cover up the warp yarn, as it’s been many years
since I have woven anything, I couldn’t remember what to do when I had finished!

I’ve also completed a couple of sewing projects this month as well, I didn’t think that I had finished much but looking back I guess I’ve been pretty busy! I’ve made a boho/ sling style bag for my holiday, I saw Kimmy wearing one in an episode of ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ and since then I have been desperate to make one similar. I’ve tried to find a picture to go from but I can’t seem to find one, so it’s a bit like I dreamed the bag but I know that I definitely didn’t! I went into Abakhan in Manchester, straight to the craft cotton section, and this fabric was right on top, perfect for a bag! I bought a 16” dress zip, and I used this to draw the line to base my pattern from. I used my everyday handbag to get an idea for the dimensions that I was looking for, and just went for it! I’ve made quite a few bags in the past, and in terms of sewing, they’re definitely an easy project to make up as you go along! The bag has a zip fastening, two inner pockets, and a wooden ring so that the straps length can be easily adjusted. I love this bag so much, it’s not heavy at all, and it will be perfect for summer.

I also made a dress this month too, I wasn’t lying about being busy! It’s from a Burda Plus magazine, which is a German edition, I can’t seem to find it in English, so that was fun translating the pattern! I used dress fabric from Abakhan in Liverpool for this one, The fabric is a lightweight dark grey with a vintage style floral pattern, and I love it. The dress shape is very loose fitting, with a belt to cinch in the waist and add some shape. Unfortunately, I haven’t got a photo of the finished item yet, I want to make a slip dress to go underneath, which I haven’t started yet!

Overall, May has been a varied month for me, using different crafts to create all my projects and I’ve loved it! I love knitting so much, but there’s definitely something about sewing that really speaks to me, when you can make an entire outfit in a couple of days!

Grasmere Socks 🧦

I bought some sock yarn back in June last year on our holiday to Grasmere, I actually bought it in Keswick, but I’ve decided that these will be my Grasmere socks! I made two pairs of socks at the end of last year for Christmas presents, the second pair were rather rushed and had to be knitted on my breaks at work as they were a pair of secret socks! After that, I wanted to make a pair for myself again, as hand knitted socks feel so lovely to wear. I also wanted a bit of a challenge on this pair, so I decided to add some cables down the front. I used Winwick Mums Easy Cable Socks pattern, and I don’t know why I thought these would be harder, as I found them to be a breeze! I definitely think having the two cables down the front made things easier, as it broke the knitting up a bit, rather than just using a knit stitch all the time. I used King Cole Zig Zag sock yarn in the colour way Autumn Glory. It knits up so lovely, the colours are so vivid, and I got lots of comments whilst I was knitting! 

This is the first sock finished! I love it so much! Now I’m off to knit the second sock as I will look rather odd with just one sock on!

Sophie’s Stool!

I definitely arrived at the party quite late for this one, I only found out about the Sophie’s Universe blanket when I saw the stool kit being released, and I couldn’t believe what I had been missing out on! As I had just moved into a new flat, I thought that a colourful stool would be perfect to brighten up the corner of the living room. It was only when the parcel arrived at work, that I realised that I somehow had to get the huge box home! Before this, this wasn’t at all what I was thinking about, more like oooooh, I can’t wait to get started! I had to carry this huge box on two buses home, and I got more than a few funny looks! I didn’t start making the stool cover for another couple of months, as I had a few WIPs that I wanted to start first. As the Eastern Jewels blanket had taken me a few months to complete, I thought that this may take quite a while as well, as although it was a lot smaller than the blanket, the stitches looked more complicated! It only took me just over a month to finish, although in the last week, I just had to sew in all my ends! 

I LOVED making this stool cover! The bright colours work so well together, and definitely helped to brighten my mood. I enjoyed trying the different stitches that this design uses, and the texture that they create. 

I’m now going to be on the look out for more overlay crochet projects, as I just love this technique! It looks like it’s hard to achieve, but once you get the hang of it, it’s so simple!