Thursday 31 July 2008

Last-minute wedding gift

A colleague is getting married next week and I was asked if I could knit or crochet a quick gift to add to the work present. Hmm, a last-minute challenge!

After much discussion of patterns, I came up with the idea of His and Hers knitted washcloths. I've seen other wedding washcloth patterns, but not any like this, so I graphed out the design and after 3 hours of knitting ended up with this happy couple:

(Ignore the blotchy colours - they still hadn't finished drying properly from blocking.)

I used Rowan All Seasons Cotton as I hadn't got any matt cotton yarn in a suitable colour. Pretty good I reckon! We'll see how the recipients feel about them soon enough...

Monday 28 July 2008

Knitting? Oh yes, that...

Remember the Lacewing Bolero from 2006? I have worn that garment so much. So when my eldest DD decided she wanted something similar for herself, I couldn't refuse.

This is the back of the bolero, in the same lacewing stitch pattern that I love so much.

I'm using some Sirdar Luxury Cotton 4ply that I bought from
ebay in the great neutral "Vanilla" shade. This is a yarn with outrageous yardage!

My DD specified the waist length, sleeve length, front shaping, etc, and I've designed the pattern using my Knitware software as before.

The back is done, and I'm up to the shaping at the top of the first set-in sleeve. It should be a fairly quick knit (famous last words!)...

Monday 21 July 2008

Prize-winning items

Excuse me what's the date? Where exactly did the last 9 days disappear to? I'm obviously stuck in a time-warp. Or something.

Anyway, our local village show has been and gone, and was a great success. My DDs entered several categories and won prizes - and so did I!

This is youngest DD's entry for the shellcraft category. I helped her make a shell windchime.

Not the easiest thing to photograph while it's lying down, but you get the idea. Obviously the judge got the idea too, as DD won first prize in her age group!

The chime tubes were actually left over from a bought windchime kit that was never going to happen - plastic bits that had to be painted with a paint that just kept sliding off. No, I don't think so. This version looks much better and sounds lovely too. :-)

Eldest DD's entry was also great - a lovely shell necklace. The judge also liked this one, and she got first prize in her age group too!

DD has since worn the necklace several times, and it does look fabulous on.

They also both won second prize in their age groups for the decorated cakes category, but DH (bless him) forgot to photograph those entries. They didn't last long - both DDs ate them on the (short) walk home. ;-)

As for my entries, I did rather well !

My knitted welly socks got first prize (just out of shot here, but you've
seen them before) and my cashmere ripple scarf got second prize in the handknitted category.

One of my zigzag crochet hairbands got third prize in the crochet category. :-)

The prize-giving ceremony lasts quite a while as you can see!

There were also the usual cornish cream teas (yum!), bouncy castle, coconut shy, brass band, local ice creams etc etc.

A great time was had by all - and the sun shone on us all day. :-)

Tuesday 8 July 2008

Llama anyone?

Well that's it - the Llama Lland Open Day has been and gone for this year. A slightly lower attendance than last year due to the delightful weather we're having right now, but a good day anyway.

Here are some of the main show stars - although I'm afraid I'm not sure of their names. A very handsome and well behaved bunch, although I didn't manage to get any of the fibre or yarn from them this year. :-)

These little black sheep also drew lots of attention, not least from my DDs who spent quite a while feeding them.

My memory is dreadful - the lady in charge of them told me what kind they are, but the name immediately fell out of my head.

And finally a close-up of some of the main pieces of my offerings - crocheted necklaces, beaded jewellery, and llama earrings.

I was surprised that none of the llama earrings sold!

I did sell 2 out of 3 of the crochet necklaces, my crocheted pots, a couple of bookmarks, a couple of hairbands, and a couple of pairs of earrings - but almost all of those were bought by my MIL and her friend. I'm pleased that they wanted to buy them of course, but it feels like they were biased - you know what I mean, don't you?!

So I guess a few
Etsy updates are on the cards - after the local village show this weekend.