At the moment there is very little I can do other than a little knitting and lots of reading. There’s only so much television a person can watch.
At the beginning of the year had all the best intentions. I was going to make all my Christmas presents throughout the year so December would be a nice quiet month. Well we know how that went. I managed to make one pair of socks and have fallen way behind on my friends present for her fortieth as well as the mystery blanket. I had also planned to regularly update this blog but time got in the way. There have been times when I could have updated it but it would have been gobblygook.
I have managed to make lots of items in 2013 but not as many as I would have liked. Why do we do this to ourselves? We have a long list of things we would like to make, mainly for other people but keep adding to it. No one expects us to do it all, well not everyone, but we still do it year after year.
I have bought a few bits and have decided that the ones I don’t manage to make will get gift tokens with a picture of their item to be made.
As it’s the first day of advent I am going to try and blog a bit each day even if its only a couple of sentences. Just in the run up to Christmas. This will hopefully encourage me to continue this in the new year.
Shopping from the stash
After sorting through my knitting books to see which ones I should keep I decided to reorganise my children and baby knitting books. As my grandson is 16 months old I have put them in age order so that I can knit patterns from the books with the smaller sizes first. I really want to knit two sweaters from Zoe Mellors Nursery Knits but as this goes up to age three I am starting with the patterns in Little Rowan. All of these patterns are knitted in 4ply so I went to the stash cupboard and found some gorgeous RYC Cashcotton. I had red and a lovely royal blue. I gave the balls to my grandson who decided on the blue.
I am still working on Jo Stories Ash in Rowan British Sheep Breeds chunky. this should have been a really quick knit because it is all knitted in garter stitch on large needles. I however get bored knitting garter stitch so this has been delegated to be my knitting group project, as truth be told I can’t do much more than garter stitch when at knitting group. I only have the front to do now so it may be finished by the end of the year
I thought I was on top of it.
I have been having a bit of a sort out which is good. I have unearthed so many bits and pieces that I have looked at and thought what was I thinking.
On the plus side I have given three huge John Lewis carrier bags full of fabric, yarn and various other craft bits away to my knitting group. Unless I have some one or somewhere that will use the fabric or yarn I am not very good at getting rid of it. Whilst sorting out I came across a lot of unfinished projects, both sewing and knitting. It made me stop and think and for the first time I have come to the conclusion I have enough fabric, yarn and craft books. I definitely have too many books and am trying to be ruthless in the destashing of them.Even if I live to be a hundred I would not be able to make even just one project from each of them. There are some books I won’t be getting rid of , the Rowan magazines, my baby and children pattern books and any technique books.
In another post I will write about some of my favourite craft books.
August
August was supposed to be a quiet month but it has proved to be a little busy. I was due to have surgery at the start of the month but it was cancelled as my consultant is on sick leave. Making the most of my time while looking after my gorgeous grandson I have been prepping for new workshops I will be teaching.
Busy , busy, busy
It’s been a busy few months. One might even use the word hectic.
I’ve done lots of crafting, been on a mini holiday, caught up with friends and family and lots of work.
There’s also been lots of time spent with my wonderful grandson who is becoming even more of a character.
Sewing seems to have the main craft over the last few months although I still got lots of knitting done.
Although I have made lots from my stash I have made a few bits for work which I used new fabric for. I made some project bags from the gorgeous Rowan laminate. My favourite is the blue one which is an Amy Butler Alchemy design,there is a matching cotton fabric so I used this to line my project bag. It’s not like standard oilcloth it is much softer and as it is designed for sewing it goes through the machine easily and is soft. I really enjoyed making them the only problem was that I ended up buying some to make presents with.
I also made a cover for my Filofax. As much as I am fairly tech savvy I still prefer a paper diary. I used all my odd bits of fabric to create a patchwork piece of fabric big enough to make the cover. It was a very random pieces of patchwork no two bits were the same. I them experiment with my machine and embroidered various stitches randomly over the fabric. Before I did the embroidery I appliqued a tulip from Amanda Addisona
I normally think too much about the placement of pieces so this free form patchwork was a nice change.
<
Do you think they noticed.
Today is knit group. As usual I was rushing around before hand and on leaving I just grabbed the bags I had been using at various times this week. As it is a bit chilly I also wore my snuggly big wool sweater with the heart. Whilst waiting for the others to arrive I spread my bags out to save the seats. I got my first project out and that’s when it hit me. I have five hand crafted bags with me. Do you think anyone would realise I’m a crafter?
February Aims
I know it’s a bit late in the month to write about aims for February, but I have had them since the start of the month. This year I want to use as much of my stash as possible. If I need something that I don’t have , my first point of call will be my friend Zoe’s stash and the same for her. If she doesn’t have what she needs she will raid my stash for it. We both have large stashes and are going to set each other targets each month to use as much of our yarn and fabric stashes.
My targets for this month are:
Finish the 2012 mystery blanket
Finish baby Zozo’s bibs
Knit a top for Harry FINISHED
Knit Brit lace kit socks
Zoe’s targets for February
Finish Dresses
Finish rabbit
Some of my Christmas Crafting
These are the cushions I made for my daughter and son in law for christmas, The beige ones are for the sofa and the purple with embroidery are for their bedroom,
January Aims
This month I hope to:
Knit an item for baby zozo DONE x 2
Knit something for little man DONE
Harrys first knitwear of the year
Sew three MB2012 strips together DONE
Swiss darn relevant squares on strips HALF DONE
Knit Brit Knit Club project Gave up on this will start again after blankets are up todate
Finish sewing bibs
Finish knitting cable samples DONE
Look Back through the year
Although I didn’t manage to make an item for every letter of the alphabet I did manage to make 38 items, knitted or sewn so I am still pleased with the result.
Next year I have different targets. I am still going to knit and sew lots from my stash but this time I am thinking of setting my targets monthly.
For the year I want to knit at least one shawl, finish the 2012 mystery blanket and cushion, make at least 6 items for my grandson Harry and my friends baby girl, I am thinking of make one for Harry, then make one for Baby Zozo. I also want to keep up todate with the Mystery Blanket 2013 and make my daughter Jemma a quilt topper for her bed.
Jen Sews and Knits 