Stitching Up

The camera is working, so here are some pictures of the latest sewing projects.

I'm not happy with the finished table runner, but I'm too bone idle to unpick the stitching and sew it again. So, it will do. The BF likes it though.



It's trimmed with ribbon to hide the rubbish seams. I like voile but doesn't exactly collude with the botch jobs.



Remember the other cushion I made? Here it is, without the piping... which I've discovered I prefer because it hides the zip.

Despite, running two lines of stitching up each side of the zip, some of it has started coming away at the seam, which is a little annoying, but...



...it still looks pretty good, and is going up in our bedroom.



Below is some material I've bought to make a Roman blind with. This is to go in our bedroom a long with come cream and chocolate curtains I'm planning to make. (The room is pretty neutral in the colour scheme so a few splashes of colour will look great).

Knitting Up

Here's my finished top - "Sirdar Peru Naturals". The yarn is quite similar to "Twilleys Freedom Spirit", though it's aran weight, so you can't pull it too tightly otherwise it snaps. However, it is strong enough to sew up with, which was surprising.



Finished, the wrap-over is lovely and soft, and I'm looking forward to wearing it to work tomorrow.

Below is a "Dumpling" minus the arms for Effie. I ran out of yarn after one sleeve, which was annoying. The BF suggested making it as a bodywarmer by sewing the contrast colour up the armholes, which I did, in mattress stitch. With any luck, I'll get this in the post tomorrow... but I'm so lax with actually posting items that bithday cards, bought two weeks in advance, are always late.



Here are some socks for Lois - I'm using up some leftover sock yarn for these. I think it's "Opal - Petticoat".



(My Mam was babysitting Lois and Talia this weekend. She forgot to take the Zebra socks I made for Lois, and there were complaints. Coming from my five-year-old niece, this is praise indeed).

Warmer Times

The heating is back on!!! Actually, it's been back on for a couple of days and I had the happiest shower I have ever had. Thank you for all of the warm wishes, and the hopes of a Mr Darcy, Seahorse ;-)

I'll tell you what the mistake with these socks was, now...



Look closely at the toe of the sock on the left.

I ran out of yarn twenty rows before finishing the sock, so I cut appropriate colour strands from two other balls of "Admiral R Druck" yarn that I had. I felt it was important, primarily, to get a good match of texture and, secondly, a good match of colour. So, as a result, I have worked out that I can get a pair of size 5 socks (following the "Opal" pattern) along with a pair of child-size 10-13 socks (following the "Regia" pattern, as long as I knit 40 rows from cuff to starting the heel) from one ball of yarn. That's pretty good value.

In other news, I finished the wrapover knitted from "Sirdar - Peru Naturals". It's toasty warm and only took a week of evenings to knit up. I love chunky knits...

...so I'm knitting another "Dumpling" (Rowan Babies) for my friend Rachel's daughter, Effie. It's fast and fun.

I Don't Like It

It's cold. I haven't had a shower since Saturday night. We can only wash the dishes, and ourselves, by boiling a kettle. I don't like it.



Yes, we've joined the statistics - the boiler broke down on Sunday afternoon.

Cutting a long, and frankly, boring, story short... we rang the company yesterday (as the staff don't work on a Sunday) and I'm currently working from home to wait for someone to fix the boiler. (I'm on my lunchbreak BTW).

It would appear that our model of boiler has a particular problem that crops up around three to four years after installation. So, the company are on to a winner here. Our street was built 3.5 years ago. Let's say that they were paid £1000 to per boiler to install them to all of the houses and all of the flats, and three years later...they all start going wrong. Here's another windfall as they charge a £300 all inclusive fee for a call out and repair and further one year warrenty.

(Yes, the insurance will cover this but that's not the point).

We have radiators - no fire - and the showers are powered... by the boiler.

So, here I am, currently doing an impression of Austenesque genteel poverty... I've lit as many candles as I can find (for the warmth, rather than the light) and am wishing I had knitted some fingerless gloves when I thought of it!

At least the lap top is keeping my thighs warm.

:-)

Poo, Bum, Willy, Fart!

In an attempt to reduce my swearing... the title of this post.

Thursday night's knitting group (Mad Knitters' Tea Party) held in "Starbucks" ("Borders", Stockport) was very informative.

I learned that what I should have done with that flippin' table runner was do French seams. Put simply, I think this means that I should have converted the three pieces of material to two - attaching the voile to one of the pieces of cotton, and then sewing the other piece of cotton to this as the backing... which would have hidden all the seam work. Not sure if I can work out how to put this theory into practice....hmmm.

(Camera is still playing silly buggers).

One of the other things I learned was that "Borders" seems to have noticed its knitting group - not that it hadn't previously, but in terms of knitting magazines, Thursday night was a bonanza: "Knit 1", "Knitting", "Simply Knitting", "Knit Today", "Vogue Knitting", "Interweave Knits", "Knitters", "Let's Knit" and one or two other titles that I can't remember. Either "Borders" has suddenly increased its stock or it's always like this and Thursday just happened to be the first time I had noticed it. I'm the most observant person in the world.

(I picked up "Let's Knit", for the free DPNs and there are about four patterns in there that I like; and I also took a copy of "Knitters" because there was a substantial number of designs that I was rather taken with).



In current knitting news... I've done a few rows of the first sleeve all ready. The pattern is a doddle to follow and knits up incredibly quickly. (The shade is "Maccu Piccu" - a lovely deep blue).



In other sewing news... I turned the material, my friend Sian gave me, into a cushion this afternoon. This really didn't take long because I didn't make any piping. I have to admit that in future I will always do piping because I think it looks better, especially for hiding the zip... unless I sew a flap to disguise it.



Above: The material. Until the camera sorts itself out, you'll just have to take my word that I actually did turn it into a small cushion.

Me Vs The Iron

Thanks to learning how to sew, I've also had to learn how to use an iron. Laundry philosophy has always been to get the clothes on hangers as soon as they come out of the washer, so that the creases drop out. When I was a student, I used to do my laundry on the nights I went out clubbing. Get everything onto hangers, turn the heat up, go out.

Sorted.

Below is the iron that my Mam gave me when I left home twelve years ago.

It has been used approximately five times in all of those years... three of these occasions in the last four months since starting my soft furnishings course.



Also on the board is, some near invisible, cream voile patterned with glittery stars. (Not the daisy ironboard cover).



Here is the voile laid out on red cotton sheeting... to be made into a table runner for Christmas. (Am determined to get it done for the next one).



Here's the start of the sewing... a nice invisible seam... but then it went pear shaped and the bloody camera stopped playing nicely too.

Photos in the next post:

1. The nearly finished table runner with really rough seaming. Looks rubbish. I think I followed the instructions correctly. I know I was nervous about ripping the voile.

(Note to self - voile Roman Blinds might not be the greatest idea I've ever had).

2. I intend to sew some ribbon around the edge to fudge the naff finishing. Photos of before and after will be shown.

3. What is going well... my knitting! Have finished the back and one of the fronts of my "Sirdar" wrap over jacket. Aye Caramba!

SEX and Socks

Remember how I said I wasn't going to buy any more yarn, unless it was to make a gift for someone? Well, it's amazing how much yarn you can buy with this criteria. Observe...

The BF casually mentioned that if I were to knit him another jumper, he would like this one - from one of the "Sublime" pattern books. However, while the yarn is exquisite, it works out at £55.64, so I was looking for a substitute.



After some searching for a good price, I decided to substitute and "Jaeger Extra Fine Merino" seemed a good match. Having received it last week, it certainly is and I only paid £2.25 a ball for it - taking the cost of the jumper to only around £35. Discontinued lines can be a real gift. :-) (I'm also really chuffed with the bag's snap handle... simple things...)



My Mam came to visit at the weekend and we took a stroll up to Aileen's lovely "Wool" shop in Stockport. (This was after we had been on the "Wheel of Manchester" - great views from the top but as the wheel turned we found ourselves, sitting in the carriage, wondering if this had been such a good idea... not that we are big girly wusses or anything). At the bottom of the picture, you can see some lovely yarn from the Kaffe Fassett range for "Regia". The BF keeps hinting for some more socks.



I don't know if I have mentioned it but, I am a trainee consultant in public health. This involves trotting around Greater Manchester to different work places to build on my experience. I'm leaving my current placement at the end of February and three of the people I work with have been particularly supportive, so I'm making them some gloves before I go. Jeanette loves Autumn colours, Peter likes greys, reds and blues and Diane is a fan of turquoises, greens and aquas.

I'm a little bored with socks at the moment - still using up the oddments of yarn, but I was champing at the bit to get into my stash. So, last night, I started this wrap-top in "Sirdar - Peru Naturals".



It's beautiful yarn - really soft, and good and chunky. It's knitting it up really quickly too... good thing too. The office is bloody freezing!

Here's my Tiger Feet.



And here are some socks for Lois - made up with the remains of the "Admiral R Druck". See if you can spot the cock-up.



It was a very annoying one...keep looking...

:-)