WIP Wednesday

Morning! My current WIP is turning this square into a cushion cover



I've been following Bunny Mummy's tutorial for sewing a fleece cover as I am not confident at sewing at all and her tutorial has lots of pictures and makes it all look very simple.

I have already discovered that the process is so much easier if you have proper pins and sharp scissors. My next discovery was that I can still do blanket stitch the way I was taught it at school when I was about 8. My technique has about the same finesse as then too!



As long as no one looks too closely it should be fine lol. And it is for the back of the cushion anyway ;-) It's quite nice doing something other than knitting or crochet. Aside from when I accidentally stabbed myself with the needle :-S

Please visit Tami's Amis for other WIP Wednesday posts :-)

Lazy days

It's hard getting things done during the Summer holidays. Especially the first week or two. I find it takes my children a few days to settle into being at home and playing together again. We've been trying to go out for walks and have busy moments during the days but also having lazy moments where we all just chill out. This morning they were playing an elaborate game involving lego, brio and a jigsaw puzzle. I took advantage and sewed in a few ends



The vest is completely finished apart from the final button. I'm hoping to get some photos to show it off on Friday :-)



These squares have also had their ends sewn in. I'm trying be good this time and finish each square as I go. I need to measure the bed to work out how many I'll need per row. I like having a number to aim for.

I started working on my ironing pile this morning as we're going on holiday soon. I had to stop to make the children a drink and a snack. When I came back I found someone had made himself a comfy bed.



I left him to it and made myself a cup of tea instead ;-) Lazy days are good

FO Friday - Oh Summer and Wingspan

Wooo it's Friday! I'm so proud of these FO's, particularly the Oh Summer cardigan from Anadiomena's mystery Summer KAL. So without any more waffle, here it is:



I love how the lace in the body section opens up when it's blocked out, it's so pretty now. Both lace patterns were very simple to work although it did mean sometimes my brain would switch off and I'd forget a YO and have to tink back. I think that says more about my attention span than the pattern though



I gently blocked the body with slight points. Not sure why, I just liked the look of it!



The beads on the bow are such a pretty touch



I rather hope this pattern makes it into adult sizes, although all those double YO's might take a while lol



I promised you two FO's this week though so here's my Wingspan shawl. I knitted it on 3.25mm needles rather than the 3.5mm recommended by the pattern as I preferred the fabric. It also meant I had enough yarn to do a 9th triangle and work the border/neck bit twice as big so I could cast off with the bright green colour



Completely accidental but I really like how the colours are matching on both sides



As you can see, my model has claimed this shawl for her own. Whilst she wouldn't normally wear it over a cardigan (she refused to take it off!), I can't deny it suits her much more than me so she can have it :-)








Well that's the end of my photo filled post. Today I'm going to try to get the pockets done on the vest from yesterday but I think that's probably going to be it. It's the second day of the Summer holidays and I had a very late night last night. Spending the day in bed would be very appealing apart from the knowledge the house would be a mess thanks to the children.

As usual I'm linking in with Tami's Amis FO Friday posts. Hope you have a lovely day, thanks for dropping by. I'm looking forward to reading through other people's FO Friday posts :-)

WIP Mountain Thursday

Collar and sleeves done, just pockets left. Almost finished!

WIP Wednesday and Bloglovin

Hi fellow craft lovers! This week I've been working on reducing my mountain of WIP's . On Saturday I had 5 WIP's, I now have 3 :-D On Monday I finished my Wingspan shawl and yesterday I finished my Oh Summer mystery KAL cardigan.

I know 5 WIP's isn't a lot for many of you, but I was finding it overwhelming. My plan is to tackle them one at a time until they're all finished. Today's project is the Summer Storm mystery KAL:



As you can see, it needs a collar, sleeves and pockets. Hopefully this won't take me too long although I doubt I'll finish it today as I'm not going to have much knitting time.

I've also been a bit naughty and done a couple more squares for my new WIP, a blanket for my 4 year old. I'm using the Solid Granny Squares pattern from Tiny Tin Bird. I love how the lacey corners result in pretty diamonds :-)



I should probably get round to weaving those ends in soon too :-S

As usual I'm linking in with WIP Wednesdays at Tami's Amis. I'd also like to quickly post this link so you can Follow my blog with Bloglovin :-) If you're not on bloglovin then there are various other ways you can follow this blog listed along the right of the page. I personally use feedly but I'm finding it irritating that I can't view blog posts on my phone like I used to so might find somewhere else.

Anyways, enough waffling from me, thanks for visiting!

WIP Mountain Tuesday Update

Oooo my needles are smoking, I've just finished another WIP! This time it's the lace cardigan, "Oh Summer" and I'm really really pleased with it. I'll do some proper show off photos when it's been blocked but for now here's a sneak peek



Not sure what I'm going to work on tomorrow, probably the blue "Summer Storm" vest. It's the last day of school/pre-school tomorrow so I don't know how much time I'll have for knitting anyway. Still, it's nice to be making progress :-D

WIP Mountain Monday Update

On Saturday I posted about how I was going to spend this week reducing my WIP pile and already I'm excited to tell you I've done just that! My "Wingspan" shawl is now finished and just needs a couple of ends sewing in, blocking and photographing ready for Friday



I managed to get my 9th triangle and knitted a few extra rows too to get the effect I wanted. I'm pleased it's finally finished and my 7 year old daughter has already claimed it for her own!

Mr Soaring Sheep has been wonderful and sewn on 7 of the 8 buttons needed for the "Summer Storm" vest. He would have sewn on the last one too but I've not yet knitted that bit. Hopefully it will be done very soon :-)



My project for today is the lace cardigan "Oh Summer". I've not really done that much yet to be honest as I keep forgetting YO's at the end of the row and then having to tink back. Hopefully after a cup of tea and with some peace from the little ones who are currently having a nap, I'll be able to make some decent progress on it :-)



As you can see I'm magic looping because... well I guess because I can and I'm too lazy to find my 3.5mm 30cm circs! I've also just noticed the feather on the carpet in the picture, I think the little darlings have been having pillow fights again...!

Hope the sun is shining where ever you are :-)

WIP Mountain

I have got too many WIP's at the moment...



I've got this crochet ripple pattern which needs to be turned into a cushion. I've got the cushion, I've got a fleece blanket I could sew the square onto and then sew into a cushion cover. But I haven't because it involves hand sewing which for no logical reason gives me the heebie jeebies!



I've got my Wingspan shawl which is on probably it's final triangle. I might be able to get a ninth out of it but I haven't tried yet. If I just decided to stick with the 8 triangles in the pattern I could probably get it finished in an evening or two...



I've got this beautiful lace cardigan that just needs the sleeves lengthening to elbow length and a pretty tie detail. But it involves transferring the saved stitches onto a circular needle and attaching the yarn and then lace knitting... It's easy lace, it's just the effort to get there...



This vest needs a collar, short sleeves, pockets and then buttons sewing on. I bought the buttons today and I'm sure Mr Soaring Sheep would sew them on if I asked him nicely. But the knitting is going to involve picking up stitches so I'm putting it off.



Instead, I've taken the completely logical step when one is feeling overwhelmed with WIP's. I've started making squares for a single bed sized blanket!



This is why I try not to have more than 2 projects on the go at a time! I need an early night to stop me feeling so tired and then a kick up the bum so I get some of these projects finished! Next week I'm going to dedicate myself to one project per day and get them FINISHED!

For now though, I'm going to finish my pink square :-) Does anyone else want to join me with a bit of WIP wrestling next week?

Fluffy post

I've had some lovely fluffy post recently, some beautiful sock yarns :-D



Two are from Flamboyance Yarns, they are called "Giftwrap" and "Top of the Pops"





The other two are from Sparkleduck who I've not bought from before. The first one, "Mint to Jade" is a lovely mint green, I'm imagining it in some sort of lacy pattern



This one is my favourite though, it's called "Neptune" and is a gorgeous rich blue/green colour with silver sparkles. Yummy!



I'm still trying to decide if I want to take socks to knit on my Summer holiday or start a crochet blanket for my youngest son. I did enjoy working on my blanket last year in the evenings with it draped over me to stay warm. Socks are more portable though. Tricky

WIP Wednesday

Hi everyone :-) It's so warm here at the moment, it's lovely although I would quite like an occasional breeze... I'm still working away on the two mystery KAL's. I'm up to date with the girl clues, the next one is out on Friday. It's a lovely open fronted lacey cardigan. Perfect for Summer weather :-)


And here's the front


The boy pattern is turning into a vest. I've worked the left front, now I'm doing the back



It's fun not knowing how things are going to turn out. I'm wondering if the boy design will have a collar and possibly some sort of short sleeves. The girl design I had to buy some pony beads for but I've no idea how those are going to be used. Exciting!

I'm linking in with Tami's Amis as usual. Enjoy the sunshine if you've got it :-)

Silent Sunday

Fluffy post!

I'm going through that stage which many knitters go through where you have no time to knit but you keep buying yarn as if it will some how result in more time! I bought these two beautiful sock yarns last week from the lovely Kirsty at Wharfedale Woolworks. I'd highly recommend checking out her twitter feed for some offers ;-)

This first yarn is called "Poison Ivy". Both it and the other one are a bfl/nylon mix with a high twist so perfect for socks



The other yarn is my favourite though. It's called "Heatwave" and it's just gorgeous. I can't wait to knit this one up. It was skeined much more neatly than it is in the photo here. My 2 year old decided to help unwrap the parcel...



I might also have two more yarns each coming from both Flamboyance yarns and Sparkleduck, sock yarns again. Think I'd better get back to my knitting before all that extra yardage arrives! Enjoy the sunshine everyone :-)

A sunny weekend break

I'm finding life very busy at the moment and not having much energy for blogging, knitting, cleaning... Not sure if it's related to the heat or just because it's a busy time of year. Either way, a short camping holiday really appealed so I was so happy when Mr Soaring Sheep booked one last weekend :-)



We had such a lovely day on the beach on Saturday and then came back to enjoy the sunshine at the campsite





Despite appearances he did have a good time! I think he was just tired out and ready for bed by this point!



All the children had their own little rucksack with their clothes in. My littlest was very proud of hers :-) I think when we go on our main holiday I'll put some snacks, toys and book in their rucksacks instead and the clothes will go in a suitcase





On our way home on Sunday we went to Tattershall castle for a wander round



We climbed all the way to the top



And admired the view





We even had our own private fly past!





It was a wonderful and much needed break. I am looking forward to the Summer holidays which start in a couple of weeks time, I think some lazy days with picnics and walks in the sunshine will help us all recharge a bit. For now though, I'm going to do a little knitting, have a cup of tea and probably go to bed early!



Home is definitely my favourite place to be though :-)