Meep meep

Here are the irish ladies socks. I think my photography skills are getting worse.

The pattern is almost like a mock cable when blocked. Very sweet and lovely to wear. Yarn is Artists's Palette Smootherino . Lovely to use. Project on Rav here.

I'm now about a third of the way through the 3/4 Hap Shawl - so maybe I'm actually about 1/4 through the whole shawl? (Maths joke) (kind of). I dithered about the second yarn and have gone with this orangey red one I got from a seller I met on twitter.

Details of yarns and pattern on Rav. The Solstice Yarn (red one) is a relatively thick fingering weight and has a lovely woolly, bouncy feel.

I thought I'd have a go at some distractions other than knitting. After the success of my resin experiments a few weeks back the bracelet blanks I ordered duly arrived and I poured my WWE bracelet last night.

It's not fully cured yet but I am rather excited about it. I'll describe who is who once it's done. I also had a go at a bit of hand stitched crazy patchwork last night. It's for an old fashioned letter pouch to keep my correspondence in.

I used whatever small bits I had left over - including some Liberty swatches Purlpower gave me in a swap. These swatches have been so useful in lots of projects and are not something I ever would have bought myself. It just goes to show how swaps can introduce you to something new. I also used them in a couple of xmas presents I'm not sure I ever blogged about.

I made these little sewing sets for my sisters out of used pasta sauce jars by adding a little pincushion to the tops. Neither of them do more than sew on the occasional button so I thought these were more than sufficient for that. They each contained a little felt needlebook with their initials embroidered on. I wish one/both/either were crafty - but then I guess they'd just steal my stash. Swings and roundabouts.

Time Flies When You're Going Through It

Slight pause in blogging there. I had another 'depressive episode'. Or in layman's terms - went a bit loopy for a bit. As a result I am now mid-med-change and having therapy again and so on. One of the silver linings of this particular black-dog-shaped-cloud is that I am spending weekends at Mater's. As an example of the joys of staying there here is the cat giving us the quintessential money shot.

She's no lady.

On my most recent stay we went on a jaunt to Wiveliscombe (pronounced will-less-coom, I think, who knows) and found a place very similar to Liberty in London.

Inside, a staircase ran around what seemed to be the inside of the walls all the way to the ceiling. But then when you ventured up there were lots of tiny rooms all packed full of pretty fabric and kooky furniture. It felt like a house from Bramley Hedge. The coffee shop was very nice too and you should have seen the cake selection.

On the way there and indeed on my way pretty much everywhere I took pictures of clouds.

This isn't for the cloud jumper I will one day get on with. Oh no. For about 5 years now I've had an idea of a fairisle based on the colours of clouds and landscape and have been taking pictures accordingly. The first time I remember doing this was on the way back from a long distant SkipNorth with Nickerjac. I have quite a collection now.

I've been doing a lot of comfort type knitting - here are the socks in all their glory which I finished two weekends ago.

I've since done another pair which reside on my tootsies right now but of which photos there are as yet none. I've also just cast on the 3/4 Hap Shawl this evening and am using some Old Maiden Aunt in Bramble as the first colour. I haven't made a shawl for...I can't remember when I last did actually. Have a feeling it was a p-hop patterns about 3 years ago. I've had this one queued for a while so thought I'd give it a go.

My Mum has had these patchwork placemats since before I was born.

I adore them and have always had it in mind to copy them. I tried a few years ago but it didn't work out. It might be time to consider having another go. The finishing on them is just beautiful.