Scarf progress
I have been trying to find the quiet in every day. I tend to catastrophise and my response/attitude makes things worse. So I have decided I need to find some space where I can just be. I don’t want to work on anything complicated just something simple and easy to do. This scarf is perfect – looks complex, but is very easy to knit.
Filed under Knitting
Knitting and Listening
So know I am knitting and listening – I’m listening to Tess of the D’Urbervilles read by Anna Bentinck. It is very nice having someone read to you (she even sings drunkenly when Mr Durbeyfield does!).
Still working on the scarf – I seem to be a very slow knitter. I guess I should just think it is about the process and not mind too much, but we all only get so many hours in our lives and I want to get something finished.
Filed under Knitting
We’ve been away – a relaxing, wintry holiday where not a lot got done. There was even a kangaroo in the garden.
Kangaroo in our back garden
I wanted to take portable craft with me. I took the birds …
Birds …
I now only have the back ground to complete and I need to decide what stitch to use. I’ve decided to let it sit for a bit and see if inspiration strikes.
Progress on the second half
I also took this scarf away – I am now onto the second-half. It is an easy pattern to remember, which makes it perfect for movie and television knitting (currently watching The Man Who Knew Infinity), although I do often forget the P2tog at the end of every second row (not such a bad mistake I usually pick it up early on the next row).
Filed under Canvas Work, Knitting
Loop Bag
I finished the kit – it came together quite easily although I didn’t do a very good job on the straps. More particularly where the straps join each other.
I do like this design and think it would work well in an embroidered silk.
Filed under Sewing
Miss A and I had a weekend trip to Melbourne.
We went to the NGV to see the Making the Australian Quilt exhibition. It is a fabulous exhibition with some amazing pieces – I can’t believe the amount of work involved in some of the quilts. Here’s a review – https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/101-arts-update/3500-making-the-australian-quilt-1800-1950-ngv-australia – it is definitely worth seeing if you’re in Melbourne.
We also went to L’Ucello – no trip to Melbourne would be complete without a trip to L’Ucello! I also discovered the Kimono House – how could I not have known about that?
We purchased kits – this one
Japanese bag
And this one as a gift for Miss P
I decided to get started on mine straight away
The Loop Bag
I had been thinking about making one of these bags in an embroidered silk, so this was a fabulous chance to get a pattern and have a go.
Filed under Inspiration, Sewing
Silk!
Every friday afternoon Miss P goes to a different primary school than her usual one. This different school is in a suburb a long way from ours – well outside my comfort zone. I don’t know where anything is or even what there is to do. There is no point in coming home after dropping her off, so I have been exploring.
Last week I put ‘fabric stores’ into Google Maps and surprisingly there was one 7 minutes away! Fabulous Fabrics! It was fabulous – so many beautiful fabrics – the beaded ones were amazing.
I bought 2 metres of silk – the pinkish one (called peony) and an ivory one.
I plan to make an embroidered evening bag/clutch thing. I want to use some of the designs from here – I just need to decide if I want an allover design or individual designs.
Filed under Digitizing, Machine Embroidery
More of my birds …
One day this might be an amazing resource of how long one woman took to finish a needlepoint cushion cover! I am still working on it – and thinking about what to do with the background? Same stitch? Something different?
But while I am stitching this I have been watching things – The Night Manager, Nebraska (this is such a beautiful story – definitely worth watching if you like character development over plot) Gemma Bovary (this is a bit of a modern re-make of Madame Bovary and it is in French and English with subtitles – incredibly beautiful to watch (I wanted to move to France), but subtitles do make it a bit tricky to do your needlepoint!) and now Suffragette (I haven’t watched all of this, but I am impressed with what I have seen).
I have a few more things – in what Mr H calls my digital pile – The Baz Luhrmann Collection (I am sure this will be fabulous), The Musketeers Season 3, Indian Summers Season 2 and the first season of Orange is the New Black (I have to be careful when I watch this that there aren’t in little people about). I wonder if I have enough to make it to the end?
Filed under Canvas Work
Resting Bird progress – I have finished all of the light green sections
I have been working away at this – a little bit every day.
There is a huge amount still to do, but I feel that I have reached some kind of corner and then end is not too far away (although there is a lot of background to do!).
I have been watching The Night Manager – how amazing is this series? Some of the actors (Hugh Laurie, Tom Hollander) have really stepped out of their usual roles. Having just seen Tom Hollander in Dr Thorne I am amazed by his versatility. And isn’t Elizabeth Debicki beautiful?
Filed under Canvas Work
Resting Birds Progress
It is easier to see my progress when you look at the back.
So in the evenings (or during the day) when I am tired and very unlikely to do anything productive I sit down with my needlepoint and work a few more stitches.
I’m just working tent stitch (which is a fancy way of saying half cross stitch). Being an orderly type of person (some might say a bit of a control freak), I like to have an order to my stitching. Currently that order is rotating through the colours; white, light-green, medium-green, dark-green, navy blue, white, … even just listing all of the colours is mesmorising.
I have now finished all of the light-green (yay! although this is all about the process and not so much about the end product).
This particular project has proven to be easy to do and very relaxing – more people should take it up.
Filed under Canvas Work, miscellaneous
Mason Dixon Knitting – Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne
I found this while in Singapore (at Kinokuniya – well worth a visit if you’re ever in Singapore). I have been reading their blog for ages, but never came across the book in Australia.
I loved this book it was witty and light-hearted and had several projects I would like to try. It is a great mix of projects and knitting observation/lifestyle.
I am super keen on a log cabin blanket …
Log Cabin Blanket
I am also quite keen to try the wash clothes – although I find it quite hard to find cotton yarn.
Here are some of the things that made me laugh out loud
As it turns out, however, a sweater doesn’t look exactly the same on a fortysomething mother of two as it does on the leggy twenty-year-old model who is wearing the sweater (and, often, only the sweater) while cavorting on the moody, misty moors of Yorkshire.My beloved Rowenta [an iron] is right up there with my engagement ring and photo albums on the list of things I would try to grab and take with me if the house was burning down.
The television natters on,politely, as British detectives solve another of the violent murders that are such a plague upon the quaint rural towns of England
And now just a nice quote about knitting
[…] you begin to think that knitting for another human being is the best way to express love, concern and solidarity.
Filed under Book Review, Knitting
