Book Review – Yarn Whisperer by Clara Parkes

The Yarn Whisperer - Clara Parkes

The Yarn Whisperer – Clara Parkes

I haven’t heard of Clara before, but when I pre-ordered Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting Amazon suggested I might like this one – I do like Amazon’s recommendation system usually I do want it or I already have it.

This book falls into what I call Knitting Lifestyle or Knitting Humour – the Yarn Harlot’s books are in this category too.

This book is a series of essays on various different life experiences using knitting as a metaphor or analogy. For example, there is a chapter ‘A Good Steek’, which is about dramatic life changes and that there is a way to do it safely – like a steek cut things apart once the edges have been reinforced so the whole thing doesn’t unravel.

Occasionally I thought the knitting metaphors were a bit laboured particularly the ones about traffic, but mostly I enjoyed reading about knitting and the place it holds in Ms Parkes’ life.

If you like reading and you like knitting, then I think you will like this book.

More reviews …

http://blogs.mycentraljersey.com/institches/2013/09/04/book-review-the-yarn-whisperer-by-clara-parkes/

 

 

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Another Quilt Block Finished

A Finished Bachelors Puzzle Block

A Finished Bachelors Puzzle Block

I finished the block a few weeks ago, but it has taken me a while to photograph it (not sure why it really doesn’t take that long).

This block consists of 4 smaller sub-units and then each sub-unit consists of two smaller units – does that make sense?

I used my embroidery machine and the whole block took about an hour to complete – I am not sure if this foundation piecing by embroidery machine is such a good idea. Sure it is very accurate, but it is fiddly and time consuming and I can never work out how big to make each piece because you have to stitch and flip.

Next up the final version of Bears Paws – although I suspect there will be some procrastination in the way! After all I do have a sock to finish.

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Best Laid Plans

Owl Socks for Miss P

Owl Socks for Miss P

I have started a new pair of socks for Miss P. She is the only one who likes my hand knitted socks – and fortunately she has little feet.

My plan was to have owl cables around the top of the sock – like this …

Owl Cable Knitting Chart

Owl Cable Knitting Chart

You might even be able to see the owl cables on my sock. What didn’t occur to me was that I needed to knit the owl upside down so that it would be the right way up when you where the socks! Now my owls are hanging upside down like bats.

I have been able to squish a bit of extra knitting time into my day. I have a stress fracture in my foot (5th metatarsal if anyone is interested) and instead of running I have been using our stationary bike. I have discovered it is possible to knit while exercising (although my hands to get a bit sweaty!). Talk about multi-tasking I;m riding my bike, knitting and watching TV (I just finished watching this – very good it reminded me a bit of A Dance to the Music of Time).

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A Pair of Socks!

Two Socks!

Two Socks!

I have been away to here …

I was in Paris!

I was in Paris!

IMAG0477

Glastonbury Abbey

We spent all of July travelling – Paris, London, Bath, Cornwall and Hong Kong! We had a fabulous time. The weather was amazing – three weeks in England and only 1 day of rain!

I did take my knitting with me and did little bits here and there and finally finished the second sock at home.

The patten is Almondine from Sock Knitting Master Class and I used a Madelinetosh sock yarn (I think it’s Jade), which I got from here.

I have never been a fan of knitting charts – not that I have done much knitting that requires a chart – but this pattern has converted me. It was much easier to glance at the chart for instructions that to read the various Ps and YOs.

My next knitting project is another pair of socks for Miss P using this yarn. I’m going to make up my own pattern, but I plan on having owl cables like these (I was so disappointed that this jumper didn’t fit either of my girls).

 

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Free Motion Machine Embroidery

I have signed up to do a free motion machine embroidery course at Craftsy.

I’m only up to Lesson Four (of eight), but I am very impressed. You can watch the videos whenever you want and then complete the home work in your own time.

I’ve already picked up some useful tips: You can just use over-locker thread as bobbin thread (must be cheaper than the special bobbin fill) and you can use non-woven interfacing as a stabiliser.

I haven’t got any pictures to show yet because my free-motion leaves a bit to be desired, but I’m definitely improving and I have learnt it is better to go slowly rather than super fast!

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Half a sock

image

Half of my second  sock is finished.

I had a little bit of trouble with this sock – I kept knitting only half a round before moving to the next round. In the end I had to rip what I had done and start the whole thing over again. I just couldn’t seem to maintain focus.

While knitting I have been watching the The Paradise on DVD. Definitely recommend it if you like bonnet dramas – it was beautiful to look at, had a bit of romance and intrigue. Now I am going to watch Mr Selfridge .

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And so it Begins …

Altar Steps Block

Altar Steps Block

So I have finally started the sampler quilt. The above is an Altar Steps block, which consists of four smaller blocks (see here). There will be five of these blocks in the quilt.

I’ve discovered it is quicker to cut all of the fabric for one smaller block before beginning the block. If in doubt the piece of fabric is going to be too small!

The final quilt consists of five of each of my sampler blocks (there are 12) and an extra 3 blocks ( I haven’t decided on the extras I suspect it will be the easier to make blocks!), so that makes a total of 63 blocks (5 × 12 + 3). Only 62 blocks to go …

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Bear’s Paw Block Finished

Bear's Paw Block Finished

Bear’s Paw Block Finished

I stitched this out yesterday and it worked the first time so rare!

This is the last block I wanted to digitise for my sampler quilt. Now it is simply a matter of getting on with it.

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Bear’s Paws Block Being Digitised as a Foundation Block

Today is the last day of school holidays. I like school holidays – not having to be anywhere by a particular time, much more relaxed mornings, but it is a bit more difficult to get any jobs done that require concentration.

I want to digitise one more block for my foundation block quilt. I’ve spent a bit of time considering different traditional blocks – Arkansas Star, Attic Windows, Birds in the Air, Fox and Geese, Jacob’s Ladder – and rejecting them as too hard or requiring too many stitch outs.

In the end I decided on Bear’s Paw, which requires two stitch outs.

Bear's Paw Block

Bear’s Paw Block

The above image is four bear’s paw blocks – with some extra bits in the middle.

My block is more like this …

Bear's Paw -  One Block

Although it is all straight lines and you would think easy to digitise, I did need to think about how to split it and then what dimensions to use to get this block to be the same size as my other blocks – I knew that maths degree would come in handy some time!

I split into two sections …

Bear's Paw Split

Bear’s Paw Split

And then used Embird Studio to digitise each stitch out (I did this separately).

BearPaw_01 BearPaw_02

And then joined them using the merge feature in Embird Manager. Once I had the numbers sorted, it was all relatively easy. Now I just need to test it out!

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Digitised Bachelor’s Puzzle Quilt Block

SewWitty's Bachelor's Puzzle

SewWitty’s Bachelor’s Puzzle

This is 1/4 of my Bachelor’s Puzzle block.  I did this in two pieces and then joined them, which means the finished block will have 8 pieces – I might be getting a bit carried away.

I have one more block to go to make 12, but I haven’t got one in mind yet.

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