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Monday, 24 March 2014

Sorting, packing, knitting



The imminent house move dictates a massive attack on the detritus of 25 years. When we first moved here we had 3 small children. Even though they all left home some time ago their presence here over the years is still evident. Fourteen years between them at university generated an awful lot of ring binders - all of which came home in holidays and somehow never left. "Cute" collections lined shelves in childhood and remnants hid themselves away at the bottom of drawers, wardrobes, desks, beds. Birthday cards, postcards from friends on gap years, boarding passes from their own travels, all such items secreted themselves in little opened cupboards, only to be discovered in the light of The Imminent House Move (TIHM)!
Tackling this major sort out has necessitated a major action plan. Spreadsheets identified rooms and within rooms items of furniture and within these items smaller target areas - drawer 1, cupboard 2, shelf 3 etc. Names were allocated to each task - more in hope than expectation, but, broken down, the task seemed daunting but not insurmountable.
The only issue that I had not planned for was knitting.
I did recognise, very early on, that my knitting paraphernalia was going to produce a large a number of packing boxes but I had not really given serious thought to what my thoughts would be when coming across long hidden items of furniture.
From the loft came my son's old drum kit. It was all there apart from the drumsticks and the foot pedal for the bass drum. Drumsticks were retrieved from a bookcase - of course and I had vague recollections of the whereabouts of the bass pedal. Many years ago my mother had given me a Lloyd Loom linen basket. This was a tiny basket, not a lot of use for linen but useful to pop things into to hide them out of the way. Its contents:
Lego Technic - 3 boxes
Silk scarves - 4
Microscope in box
Drum Bass pedal.
Once empty I gave this linen box some thought. It had originally been a dusky pink colour but my mother had sprayed it some 30 odd years ago. I have no recollection of the original lid covering but as of last week it was bare wood and that is all I remember it ever being. I had been knitting a throw for my daughter in beautiful greys and pinks - a great 100% merino wool blnd too. Unfortunately, my mind probably more on TIHM than knitting, I had miscalculated the amount of yarn needed and so the throw became more of a chair cover - the chair being a Lloyd Loom nursing chair that my godmother had given to me many years ago - see where this is all going now. This chair had also been sprayed by my mother and was in serious need of a new covering for the seat. The daughter's throw became the seat cover and the yarn remaining was used in an improvised pattern sort of way to make a lid cover for the linen box. Of course, these had to be finished before I could proceed with the spreadsheet. Quite pleased with the results but now I feel I should pack away all knitting whilst continuing with sorting as time is limited - this is the most difficult aspect of the task in hand.


Thursday, 30 January 2014

Yet more log cabins

Life is stressful at the moment. The house is up for sale and a move away is a distinct possibility. To keep myself calm in this time of change I have been furiously knitting yet more log cabin blankets. I think I have enough yarn for quite a few more and fully intend to finish off the yarn I have before buying more - famous last words, I know!!



Saturday, 9 November 2013

I just love this log cabin


My young friend, Kirsty, got married at the end of September. It was a glorious wedding on a beautiful day and one abiding memory is off the stunning bouquets and table decorations of wooden flowers. Kirsty and her friends and family had been very busy.
Inspired by the colours of the flowers, I made another log cabin throw. I happened to have the yarn in stock but would never have thought about putting this particular range of colours together if it had not been for the wedding so- here it is - and its inspiration:






Sunday, 3 November 2013

Buy a ball of yarn.......


Whenever I visit my favourite little yarn shop I always buy something which I have no particular plan for but just like the look of it. So it was when I bought just one 100gm ball of King Cole Flash in shades of yellow, pink, blue, orange...... One thought was a baby cardigan - it would easily make a small one - possibly even up to about 12 months if the right pattern, but I wanted to knit something mindless so I got a pair of 4mm needles and decided to go with the flow.
A vague pattern for a baby blanket using one ball of yarn and some bits and pieces.

Cast on 10 stitches and knit 20 rows. Cast off but don't break off the yarn
Turn this little square one turn to the right then pick up 10 stitches along the side edge. Knit 20 rows. Cast off.
Turn again. Pick up 20 stitches and knit 20 rows. Cast off. Turn....
Continue until you run out of yarn.
Using co ordinationing colours pick up stitches along each edge and knit 20 rows, increasing at each end of each right side row. Cast off and join corners.
Result:-


Just right for a buggy blanket or a car seat blanket.

Thursday, 31 October 2013

An interlude of baby knitting



Tension before the wedding was inevitable and, to take my mind off things, I agreed to knit for a 6 month old baby. 
I adore King Cole Bamboo cotton so the purchase of a few balls came easily. The trip that this necessitated to my favourite little yarn shop - Knit Nottingham, meant that I just had to add a few additional odd balls so the baby knitting extended to four cardigans - to give the Mum a choice, of course. 
I still prefer knitting log cabin blankets but baby items do have advantages:-
Quick
Easy
Tiny
Gratifying


I like the navy - such a good colour for a baby girl!

Monday, 28 October 2013

A Wedding!

My eldest daughter married her wonderful fiancé on Saturday near to Abergavenny. It was just the most perfect day, planned meticulously by the couple to be everything they wanted it to be. From start to finish it was a spectacular weekend. The storms waited until after the photographs, the dresses looked amazing, the speeches brought tears, the dance floor was never empty, the food was great and the bride had a smile on her face from early morning to well after midnight.
I think a list is required:
Venue - ideal, comfortable, intimate, beautiful - and all to ourselves for the weekend
Flowers - just right - colours perfectly matches to autumnal leaves
Cake - yummy - simply decorated by florist totally appropriately
Hairdresser - excellent start to the day - great salon, great styles and they stayed in
Dresses - wow!
Food - we want to go back and eat some more from the chef - wonderful
Speeches - tear jerking, funny, well planned, emotional, just right
Band - great sets, great dance music
Bridesmaids - beautiful
Children - well behaved, funny, delightful
iPad FaceTime guests - in Florida and Staffordhshire - virtual guests welcome
Wedding romance? - yes - one boy totally smitten..............
Hand knitted owl favours - went down well
Families - happy