Natural Dyeing

or look at what I did this weekend....... Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! I went on a Natural Dye workshop at West Dean College and had a lovely, fascinating and educational time. I think it was great fun also because this is the first time in 2.5 years that I've managed to have some time to myself without hubby and children. 2 nights and almost 3 whole days - it was good.

I had fun learning about indigo dyeing, using different natural dye stuffs - madder, brazilwood, weld, golden rod, persian berries, logwood, marigold, using mordants and finding stuff from the garden to dye up - like using mint leaves, solomon's seal and dandelion root. Here's some of my samples.

A new hobby

On Thursday evening, I went to Socktopus to take crochet beaded bracelet class with the very talented Zsuzsana. We had to thread the beads and then crochet a spiral tube with teeny, tiny 1mm crochet hook. After about 3 hours, this is my pathetic effort. But I have to say, I am totally hooked!! I loved it and I'm looking forward to devleoping this new hobby of mine.

New hobbies aside, I'm making great progress on Keira's birthdy present. I actually knit about 8 blocks of colour (80 rows in total) before I decided that I didn't like the colour combination. So I ripped it out and reknit it. I like this much better!

Projects galore

I can't believe how time flies! Keira will be turning 5 in 10 days time. She obviously thinks that Mum is knitter extraordinaire and has asked for Snakey for her birthday, like the one I knitted for Aidan, except with more pink. Can I say No - obviously not. Dig around the stash and I suddenly realise I have a lot of DK cotton. Cast on last night and this is what I got. Can't be long on the interwebs tonight, must keep knitting......

I also resurrected the sewing machine and have been making stuff. Some's not so good, some better than others and the one thing they have in common, the sewing is sooooo bad. I'll show you a somewhat good one, pillowcase dress made for Keira.

Museum of Childhood

The girls and I had some time to kill this morning, so we made a visit to the Museum of Childhood in East London. It's a very sweet, little museum and just perfect for the children. They had a dressing up corner, sandpit, rocking horses, dolls houses, train sets all for the kids to play with. What was amazing was the Roald Dahl exhibition - lots of illustrations, books, the BFG. We had a brilliant time!



1. VA 17, 2. VA 16, 3. VA 15, 4. VA 14, 5. VA 13, 6. VA 6, 7. VA 11, 8. VA 10, 9. VA 9, 10. VA 8, 11. VA 7, 12. VA 5, 13. VA 4, 14. VA 3, 15. VA 2B, 16. VA 2A, 17. VA 2, 18. VA 1

My next post will have some knitting/craft content. Have a good weekend!

Race for life - Battersea

I had a great evening last night. I joined Team IKnit London in the Race for Life at Battersea Park. Race for Life is a women's only race in aid of Cancer Research UK. There were about 15 of us all knitting and walking. I walked it in about 1 hour and managed to knit about 8" - we're knitting pink scarves for the Jenny Chant appeal to knit the longest scarf for the record books.

This is me at the finish line.This is some of us before the race.

New hobbies

I'm been a bit unfaithful to my knitting at the moment. I am knitting but I seem to be stuck in a bit of a rut. Hopefully, I'll revive my knitting mojo soon.

But in the meantime, I'm learning a few new things. I bought a loom recently and I'm learning how to use it. Here's my first project. I'm being taught by a good friend who is an amazing textile artist. I'll show you some of her work. My sister, from Singapore, came over for a visit last week. She was on her way to Tuscany for a holiday with some friends. And like me, she is quite crafty too. She makes paper from recycled materials like used envelopes, paper and threads. So I had a quick tutorial with her about making paper. This is our first batch. the stripes were an accident - I had used some fabric quarters to couch the paper, but I forgot that I had not washed them yet. Oops. Luckily, it had a nice effect.Finally, I'm really enjoying my cooking and baking. I made banoffee pie which has caramel, biscuit base, bananas and cream - what's not to like!!! Yum!

Pretty in Pink

Amazingly, I'm going to be showcasing a few FO's over th next week. (pick yourselves up from the floor, dear readers!!)

I actually finished this last week. Molly Ringwald from Knitscene Fall 06. Knitted in RYC Luxury Cotton. I now need to go shopping for a girly top. Any excuse to go shopping.....


Not only have I been knitting this last week, I've also been experimenting with cooking. One of Kevin's favourite desserts is Apple Pie. I normally just buy something from the shops. Then, I had a thought, I could learn to make one. This is my first attempt and I'm pretty proud of it. More importantly, the family loved it.

Not so Frugal Swap

Look what arrived through the post box on Saturday. It's my swap package from Bianca. It's supposed to be a frugal swap, but look at the package I received - it's not so frugal after all. Thank you so much Bianca.

I've been meaning to post more often but haven't had the time as the kids are still on their Easter break. Thankfully, they go back to school tomorrow. One quick note to say, I've started a new project. The Garter Yoke cardigan from Knit 1 Winter 08 in purple Rowan Scottish tweed aran that I bought during the sales. It's looking good.

Happy Easter

I hope everyone is having a good Easter break. We've been having a good break. It's hard trying to keep the kids busy while they have 3.5 weeks off school. I try.....

I think it's especially hard when there's soooo much chocolate around. We've got chocolate coming out of our ears. We have chocolate bars, chocolate bunnies, chocolate eggs, mini chocolate eggs..... I, for one, am so sick of chocolate. I'm happy to give it up for another 40 days.

In order to keep the kids busy, we made chocolate nests with chocolate eggs. The nests contain Shredded Wheat and that's the only healthy bit of this tasty snack.
Can you see how excited the kids are?

Current projects

I've been working on a number of projects these last few weeks. Some have been more successful than others. I've started and frogged at least 2 projects. It was the case of wrong yarn for the project and major gauge issues.


Thankfully, it hasn't been all bad. Molly Ringwald has been progressing well (well, in comparison to the other projects!!). I had to reknit the straps twice. But I think it's going to work out OK now.Next up, is my Gryffindor socks (yarn from Kathy - thanks!!) I'm knitting the Diagonal rib socks from Knitting Daily. It's been a bit slow going as I'm trying some 12" circulars and I'm not really enjoying the needles. I think the pattern is great, so I'm going to need to find some 2.5mm dpns from some where.

Offline for this week

Hello
I'm offline for this week as I am on a little holiday in Switzerland. Yay!!! See you all shortly.

Z is for Zebra

I've been practising my sewing skills again this week. Aidan has a special assembly on Friday where the children perform a little piece and parents are invited to watch the performance. Unluckily for me, he's a zebra. Zebra costumes (along with most other costumes) cost a lot of money, so I decided to make one. £4 for the material and some free resources from the internet and pattern from this book. A few hours later, voila!!!

More new things

I know I'm inspired by something floral, something spring but I didn't start anything floral. Instead I started something spring inspired that has been in my queue for ages! This is Molly Ringwald from Knitscene Fall 2006. I decided to knit this in the round and so far I'm about 30% done. Going well.........


I'm also under a few deadlines. My neighbour will be celebrating her 60th birthday at the end ofthis month and I thought I'd like to make her a lap quilt. She likes bright, vibrant, strong colours. I had a hard time choosing the colour scheme, but I think I'm happy with aqua and red for the quilt. Now, I just need some time to make this.I'll also be going on a Cookie A sock design workshop this Saturday and I need to do some research on patterns for my own sock design. Any hints and tips would be most welcome.

Socktopus Sock club socks - finished

Wow - try saying that quickly!!!

Finally finished the socks. I love the pattern. I love the squishyness to the yarn, but I'm not loving the inconsistencies in the yarn - variation in the thickness of the yarn, variations in the colour, knots in the skein. Ho hum.....



Pattern : Om Shanti Bed socks
Yarn : Chameleon Colourworks, evolution
Needle size: 2.75 mm dpns

Inspiration

My lovely neighbour bought me these flowers.........
I rediscovered a vintage top for Keira to wear. I wore that as a child in the 70s.

Makes me think of flowers and spring projects. Hmmm, what to cast on??? Some of the considerations from my Ravelry queue:

Cabled Rangoli Hat

Fairytale Dress

Prickly Girl Tank

Rambling Rose

Eden scarf

Guess what

I have a pile of WIPs to finish, both knitting and non-knitting, but I decided to start a new project instead. I really like the look of the Reaglan Jacket from the newest Vogue Knitting and decided to cast on for it. I'm not entirely sure that it'll suit me but here goes anyway. I have lots of Rowan Big Wool in the stash and decided why not just cast on. One evening later, I'm pretty much done on the the lace section. I will have to shorten the jacket because if I followed the instructions, the jacket will be past my knees. Not a good look for a shorty like me. I also think I need to lose a bit of fat around the tummy to carry off the jacket. Oh well.......

It's all about hats

The kids have been on half term. I have had no time to myself. thankfully, they are back in school tomorrow. I have managed to knit a few hats. The 2 for me are because I'm growing out my hair and it looks pretty grm until I can get to the hairdressers.

F is for ....

Focus, Finishing and Frenzy and Fabulous. Well, only one of the projects is fabulous. The other one, I just don't want to talk about it!

First up, Dumpling from Rowan Babies. I made one pink for Keira about 3 years ago, but I accidently felted it. So I decided to make another one for Zoe. I don't often reknit things, so it would have been helpful if I kept some notes from the last time. I forgot the sleeves didn't fit into the armholes. 3 attempts later, I got that to work. The yarn is Rowan Big Wool in Mulberry which I had leftover from my project, Tess. I didn't have quite enough to finish the project, so the cuffs and the tops of the sleeves are in Sugar Spun.

Anyway, here is Zoe working her charm!

Finally, I finished my Embossed Leaves socks. I started them in August 2008 and finished sock one. Cast on sock two, and forgot about them. I was desperate to use my 2.75mm needles, so I thought I might as well finish them rather than putting them on holders. 3 nights of knitting later, I finish them. Can you guess what's wrong with them???? I accidently added half a repeat to the leg pattern, so 1 sock is slightly longer than the other. Doh!! I'm just going to live with this mistake. Moving on.....

Socktopus House Quiz

SOCK(topus)CLUB House Sorting Quiz My Result: Yarnacre Cottage socktopus Welcome to Yarnacre!  A Yarnacre loves life, enjoys the good times and rolls with the bad. You're easy going, love love yarn, and don't mind taking a risk now and then (ever finish a knit with 4 cm of yarn left? Oh yeah, you're definitely one of us!).  Adventure! Daring! Lots and lots of yarn!  Yarnacre Cottage's mascot is a monkey.  The House colours are cinnamon and granite. Quiz School Take this quiz & get your result

SOCK(topus)CLUB House Sorting Quiz » Quiz Maker

Snow, snow and more snow

Today, London has had the most amount of snowfall in the last 18 years. Schools were shut. Public transport ground to a halt. Shops and offices didn't open. The theatre had shows cancelled. The economy suffered. And the kids rejoiced.

We spent our day having snowball fights.............
Building a snowman(or at least attempting to build one - sorry kids, your momma grew up in the tropics and has no idea on the proper construction of snowman, snowball or anything to do with snow!)
Posing with snowman (obviously, not built by me!).....................
Feeling stranded in the snow......................
This was what it was like when I drove home from knit night on Sunday.