Been there, done that!

 Yes, I have finished the snap pouches, but I doubt I will make any more! Much as I am pleased with the results, I think I prefer zips and it's not that much more faff.

Anyway, Chookshed Challenge #10 came in as a finish on Wednesday, so a day before deadline day, and here they are.

Four sets which have been put away to fill with goodies for Christmas gifts. I was playing chicken with the measuring tape - just had enought for these and I one I made earlier as a test!

Our challenge for May is #1. My challenge is to make something with the eco print fabrics that I bought last year at FOQs. Inspiration has yet to strike! Therefore, as time will be limited this month as we are going away, I am putting the fabrics aside for another time and will concentrate on another couple of jobs that need to be finished and maybe baste a few hexies for when  #5 comes along. When I was looking for a safe place to store the snap bags I came across this bag.

In it is part of a Kaffe Fassett tunic and lots of wool. It has been in that bag for many a year and would probably not fit me if I finished it now! So I plan to undo what is there. It is worked using one strand of DK and one strand of 4ply so aran weight I think. I have had a fancy to crochet a basket for a while so once all that yarn is unravelled that is what I plan to do with it. But no hurry, this will not be finished this month. I also have a picture that needs framing and this will be a separate post when I get there as it is rather special.

So, what other news from this week. Well of course being the end of the month there are pictures of my Stitch Journal month.

And yesterdays start on May.

Chevron stitch could be my focus for the next few days.

Two sock finishes this week. First up the Ryegrass socks from Winwick Mum are finally a finish.

These were knitted using West Yorkshire Spinners signature 4ply, Amethyst and Winwick Mum Wildflowers which I think are a gorgeous combination. Love the pattern although, as you can see, I chickened out halfway along the feet!

The second sock finish is this one.

Winwick Mum basic 4ply sock using Stylecraft Head Over Heels Colours of the World in Sacred Earth. Number 2 is underway.

Now, tomorrow, May 3rd, is a special day and not just because it is my birthday! It is also the Winwick Mum Sockalong birthday. Every year Christine asks us to let her know how many pairs of socks we have knitted in the last year, using her basic 4ply sock pattern. You can pop over to her blog here to read all about it now or tomorrow, if you have used her pattern, to add your sock tally - there is a giveaway!

Well, I think that is enough waffle from me for one day. It is raining here - and much needed as it has been dry now for several weeks. We have all our planting done and some nice gentle rain will help all our plants settle.

Happy May.

A Sunny Week

 Yes, the sun has made a happy return and although there has been a chilly wind at times and a light frost most nights, overall it has been a lovely week. Yesterday and today with temperatures over 20 degrees it has been gorgeous. We have been busy in the garden and yesterday bought tomato and cucumber plants for the greenhouse. The growbags are in place so no doubt they will be planted up this week.

The garden furniture has now been either painted or oiled so is looking very smart and I even put up the umbrella this morning.

Stitch Journal progress for this week.

The patches are hiding a ruck in the fabric and are held down with varietes of cretan stitch - always a useful stitch.

I now have a clutch of snap pouches awaiting their snap.

and there has been knitting progress with both socks now on the home run - there seems to have been a lot of football this week!

Right, I am off to the garden - lots more to do. Hope you have a great week.

What have I done this week?

 Was what I was wondering - then I looked at my diary and saw that we have had quite a busy week!

Monday saw the first day of the local Rotary book sale which happens twice a year in a pop up shop in Wellington. I say book sale but in fact the books are free - you are just asked to leave a donation. So it is all very tempting. Some times I find lots of books, others not so many. I came away with two older cookery books by Felicity Cloake whose writing I love and this novel.

A murder mystery and clutter - got to be good.

While on the subject of books,I have just finished reading this delightful one about the residents of a small apartment block in Chennai threatened with being demolished to make way for an ugly new and larger apartment block. Lovely characters and lots of references to delicious Indian food.

At the other end of the scale I have just started reading this book which was published this week. It follows a family in Nazi Germany in the mid 30's and is a follow up to last years 'The Crooked Cross'.

Written and originally published in the 1930's it should have been a wake up call to those outside Germany who had no idea of what was happening.

On to happer things and my stitch journal for this week.

I have been busy with my Chookshed Challenge - the snap top bags. I cut out 8 earlier in the week, added iron on batting to the outers and marked them up for quilting. Yesterday afternoon I got out my machine and did all the quilting and have added the linings to the fronts.

Not a very exciting photograph. The next stage is to press open those seams and then I can sew up the sides. Each pair matches - but you cannot tell that from the wrong side!

Also this week I have been knittting in the evenings. Of course I managed to reach the heel of both socks at the same time! Obviously I worked on the easier one of the two first🤣🤣

In other news we have had two excellent meals out with friends - one at a new to us pub and the second at an old favourite. Good to try somewhere new though.

I think that is all my news for now - good weather ahead so looking forward to getting out in the garden, There are a table and chairs requiring paint and pots to get out of the greenhouse and plant up.

Have a good week everyone.

Summer!! came and went

 Yes, for two days this week we had temperatures of 23/24 which is very pleasant summer weather and we all cast off our woolies and socks and basked in the sun. Then spring/winter came back with a vengeance and we were back to 11 degrees along with winds and April showers. 

We have had a quietish week at home with a few short outings - it's Easter holidays so we tend to avoid anywhere touristy/child friendly. But I have been cracking on with a few projects.

First up my Stitch Journal - here is April so far.

Chookshed Challenge - this is to make some snap top bags for Christmas presents. I plan to make 8 with 4 large and 4 matching smaller ones. Not having made these before I thought a trial run would be in order. So having finally found a tape measure of the right width and ordered it, I pulled out some fabrics to make myself a small one. These pretties fell into my bag at Quilt group sometime last year and have been looking wistfully at me.

So I chose two to work with.

And made this little pouch - all by hand as I couldn't be bothered to pull the machine out.

It still needs it's 'snap' but the tape measure only arrived this morning, so that is a job for this afternoon. Once I am happy with my pouch I will pull ot fabrics for the rest and have an assembly line session with the machine later in the week.

I have been a good girl and kept up with my 'one pattern repeat a day' on the Ryegrass sock and it is coming along nicely.

I have also made a start on another Winwick Mum basic sock using some of the yarn very kindly sent to me by Stylecraft.

This is great TV knitting and I am pleased with how the colour repeats are looking. A pair for the Christmas box.

The garden is starting to grow at pace.

Grand National day here and like us, Liverpool are experiencing April showers. We just watched an earlier race happening during a hail storm! Not nice. The spectators had all disappeared inside, unsurprisingly. Fortunately our showers have just been of rain.

Have a good week everyone.

Frosty mornings

 We have had a couple this week. I had to pop out to the car first thing this morning and found these beautiful feathery shapes on the windscreen.

Aren't they gorgeous!

This week I have mostly been using some accumulated oddments of thread in my Stitch Journal - those bits of expensive thread that are too long to throw away!

And as it is the end of the month, a view of the month in stitch.

You may remember that I am using what I think was a nightdress case as the background for my roll. I unpicked the case and cut it into three 6" x 48" strips and have stitched on two of the strips. It seemed obvious to use the third strip to make a case for the finished roll. I have doubled up the strip and sewn it together and am now embellishing it before I fold it into 3 and make it into a small bag.

I plan to work my way along the strip in a rainbow of colour.

The tree skirt is finished. I used this Hatched and Patched pattern.

It is 19" across although the pattern gives dimensions of 20". However, it would be easy enough to extend the segments for a larger skirt. This will be perfect for my small tabletop tree.

Also finished this week is my first Ryegrass sock.

Not the sock I am most proud of although I do love those colours. I got bored with the slowness of the pattern halfway along the foot and you can see I finished it off with stripes. You will also notice the colour mistake when I swapped from pattern to stripe - I spotted it as I started the toe and was not about to undo it! I have done the rib for the second sock - maybe I will start on the pattern tghis week. I need to get in the habit of doing one 8 row pattern sequence a day.

I have also done some more quilting on the Dresden quilt - no pics though as you have seen enough.

We picked up a job lot of garden pots at our local house clearance depot recently, for a very reasonable price. Included was this welly boot pot which I gave a good wash and planted up with Cyclamen and ivy. Love it on my front door step.

And finally it is Advent Sunday and my Advent calendar is in position poised for tomorrow morning. The first of my Christmas decorations - the rest will come out of hiding later this week.

Happy Advent to one and all.

Chookshed Challenge #9

 It is nice to have this finished well before the end of the month. It went together well - I think because I was very careful with my cutting and machining.  The pages of this book were one per month for my Stitch Journal 2024 and each month followed the RSC colours - two birds etc. I used Karen Turner's stitch journal templates for 2023. It has made up into a nice zig zag book and will make a great stitch reference book.

The front cover opens out to reveal January and February

March and April

May and June

Back cover

July and August

September October

November and December

The front and back covers are stiffened with mountboard, but the pages are not stiffened.

Many thanks to Deana for organising the Chookshed Challenge - I will be linking up with her later in the month.

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Now to this weeks Stitch Journal.

Having completed the zig zag book I have had time to concentrate on my knitting and this sock is coming along a treat. Up to the toe now. The colour repeat is unusual and having had a pink cuff and a pink heel I was hoping for a pink toe but it looks like it is going to be mostly yellow.

I treated myself to another new start and purchased the Ryegrass sock pattern from Winwick Mum. I had this yarn left over from a previous pair of socks.

The pattern is a mosaic design which uses two colours but only one colour in each row. I am pleased with how it is knitting up.

Looking forward to getting more of this knitted up over the weekend. See you next week.