Tag Archives: #jensewsandknits

March/April Crafting

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It’s been that time of year when time seems to get away from you , I am still crafting everyday but some days it is literally only one row of knitting. For some reason I cannot seem to finish my Anthology shawl, which at this rate will finished in December. I have been knitting a lot of brown and grey rather bizarrely as the are colours I don’t tend to wear those colours, however I had it all in stash and wanted to knit them up. I managed to finish two projects, in March I finished my Mabel, I added the beads for a bit of fun, now it’s finished I have fluctuating feelings about them. This was a lovely garment to knit and I will be knitting another one. As I work from home on the phones for 10 hour shifts it is perfect for keeping me and my shoulders warm, it doesn’t seem to matter what the weather is I get a chill across my shoulders if they are not covered.

Mabel

In April I finished the Waltzer cape which I really enjoyed knitting, as I ran out of a contrast for the final part I used green beads which I wish I’d left blank. The knitted fabric was perfect, yarn used was Istex Lettlopi with a strand of Fyberspates Faery Lace from deep stash. I really enjoyed knitting this and love the texture of the knitted fabric. It is a very clear pattern from Carol Meldrum.

Waltzer
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2021 Goals

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Around November and December you start to see posts about what peoples goals are going to be in 2021. Originally I was thinking of doing 21 a craft projects a month, I gave my self a quick reality check and whilst it is doable if sewing or card making is involved, it will make me stressed and what is the point of that. 21 projects for the year seems to easy as regularly make more than that and a goal is supposed to stretch you. With this in mind I decided on 60 projects for 2021 #60projects2021 this equates to only five projects a month on average and if I make some cards and bibs this will be achieved. I am looking forward to this as I am intending using lots of my stash and up cycling some items. This time I will try and remember to take before and after photos and details the steps more.

Some of the ideas I have are to repurpose two cardigans, make some cross stitch Christmas decorations, a Christmas stocking for a new baby, dresses for my darling Evalyn and matching dresses for her toy bunny, shirts for Harry, some garter stitch baby blankets( always have one of these on the go) and clothing for me. I have stacks of fabric and need to use it.

If you would like to join me use the hashtag #60projects2021 and #stashbusting2021 if using stash projects. I will be adding a page to list the items as I make them

Happy New Year, always look forward and look for the silver lining in every situation

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

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Okay that may be a slight exaggeration in being a necessity, I was at my desk making lists of all the projects I either had on the go or wanted to do. When I am planning to do lots of projects especially sewing, I tend to do a lot of cutting out and set them up like kits before I get to the sewing. My mind was buzzing with projects I had cut out and ones that I wanted to prepare.

Sometimes when my head is too full, I do bullet point lists for each project. For instance cut out x , get notions, sew. Lots of little notes broken down in to do lists. What I really needed was a notice board. I have one but it is buried some where. Head was still jumbled when I spotted some card packaging from a duvet cover and a light bulb went off. Right next to it was a pair of jeans that just don’t fit right now.

I found a fat quarter from Stash and bingo I had a plan. I measured the FQ around the card and it was a tight fit but it would fit. Out came the sewing machine and I sewed along one short edge and the long edge. The jeans were inserted in-between the card and the fabric pulled over the top. I didn’t sew the base up, just tucked it in like a pillow case and voila I have a mini noticeboard.

Silver Lining

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I am a realist, however I also believe that whatever the situation you can find a silver lining. It may be a tiny one

In the COVID-19 lockdown I have found a few silver linings. The latest one was getting to the last of the boxes in the old craft shed. In amongst them was a complete boxed kit for Debbie Abrahams Fish blanket. When I say complete kit . I mean complete. It has the beads, the sequins, the bobbins, the yarn and at the bottom some needles.

This is not only a silver lining because I found a complete blanket kit, this is a silver lining for another reason. Let me tell you a tale of Rowan Cotton Glacé shade 724 bubbles. I was knitting another DA blanket and needed a pink so I borrowed a ball or two from the Teatime blanket I started in 2010. This was cotton glacé shade 724 unfortunately I forgot to replace it. I am on the final two strips of the Teatime blanket and need another two to three balls of , yes you’ve guessed it CG shade 724. Now I have found the fish kit with the needed CG shade 724 yarn in it The silver lining arrives and I can finish the teatime blanket without worrying about running out of yarn. It may have gone from the fish kit but I can change the colour for this. Happy days

Needles

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In lockdown I managed to break 3 of my short 2.75mm bamboo needles. Specifically the needles for my Debbie Abrahams blankets. I bought two pairs of gorgeous Lykke driftwood needles from Tribe yarns to replace them, I cannot stress enough how beautifully smooth and wonderful to knit with these are. After knitting a few squares with them, I found that when knitting at my desk they are a tad too long. Looking online for some 20-25cm needles there just just weren’t any that made me want to buy them. Then the light bulb moment came, I have a box of beads, some 20cm DPNs and super glue. Out came my creative side -not that it’s ever in-and my DPNs transformed into short needles to continue my blanket. I have a feeling that this will be my path if short needles are needed again and I have the right size DPN.

2020 The Year of Blankets & Shawls

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This is the year I am aiming to complete some of my mystery blanket kits from Debbie Abrahams. I purchased them every year since she started her mystery blankets until 2018, when I thought that I had too many untouched to justify another.. I have knitted some but have too many languishing in airtight containers. In February I finally finished MB 2016 A French Romance. there was real sense of satisfaction when it was finished.

I am currently on the final stretch of the first Mystery Baby Blanket Club from Debbie. I decided to go for this one as it’s nice to have a baby blanket in store for any babies arriving and I can knit another using stash yarn. I am still working on destashing and am avoiding temptation as much as possible. I am also working through my shawl patterns and using stash to knit them up. Shawls have become my go to as they can double up as a scarf and a shawl. Currently on the needles is Learning to Cry from @curioushandmade in the gorgeous Jelly KSH and Wool Cotton

Blinded by The Light

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I love going to the cinema, I go at least once a week and see a variety of films, some of which I probably wouldn’t see if I didn’t have my Everyman membership. Blinded by the Light is not one of those films. As soon as I saw the trailer for the firs time I knew I was going to see this film. It looked funny and interesting. Friday I went to see Blinded by the light and I wasn’t disappointed, I really enjoyed it. The film blurb states “Set in 1987, during the austere days of Thatcher’s Britain, ‘Blinded By The Light’ is a joyous, coming-of-age story about a teenager who learns to live life, understand his family and find his own voice through the words and music of Bruce Springsteen. ‘Blinded By The Light’ is inspired by British journalist Sarfraz Manzoor’s memoir “Greetings From Bury Park.”

It was a joyous film, what the blurb doesn’t state is that it also show a true snapshot of the racism and the rise of the National Front in the eighties, the miners strike and unemployment. There were moments I had tears running down my face, which I hadn’t expected. One of the reasons for the tears was that my Uncle who passed some time ago was a huge Springsteen fan who would have loved this film, the second reason was for the memories it brought back. I am mixed race my mother was Burmese and my father English. Although I don’t look Asian, at secondary school, I was bullied and called a Paki. In the eighties in the suburbs, there was only one Asian person in my school so the ignorant people I went to school with picked on me. The worst was being locked in the woodwork cupboard and having to find alternate routes home, so I wasn’t jumped. There was one incident where graffitti was sprayed on my home which my father tried to shield me from. Despite this I grew up to be a well adjusted compassionate person. This is probably one of the reasons I HATE inequality and injustice and I am sucker for the underdog. Luckily this stopped when I left school apart from one incident.

I urge everyone to see this film wether you are a Springsteen fan or not you will enjoy it, and you get an insight into the music of the Boss. Support British Independent Films.

Now for the crafting part! My current cinema knitting is the Epic Scarf by Jo Storie. I am knitting it in Rowan Alpaca Colour from Stash, the colour isn’t really doing it for me but the yarn is gorgeous to knit with, if a little hairy.

Epic Shawl

This Thing of Paper Goals

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I have been listening to a lot of audio books lately, when I walk, can’t sleep and for crafting too. After watching A Discovery of Witches on Sky I wanted to read the books, I decided to go for the unabridged version of the audio books. it became something of an obsession, every waking moment where possible. The books are slightly different to the show, which is  as to be expected, and I found them  more compelling then the show. Having always been a bookworm, if I get into a book whether audio or print that’s it I am in the zone. It drives my husband mad as I will be so into the book that I literally do not hear him talking to me. He doesn’t understand how I can’t hear him, I have explained that I am so immersed in the book that I am in another world. Book fan Karina Westerman  is also a fabulous knitwear designer. Late 2017 her book This Thing of Paper  was released. I have decided that 2019 will be the year I  knit through the book. so far I have knitted Letterpress Cowl , Majuscule hat picture below and the Minuscule fingerless mitts all from stash. I have cast on Incunabula in alpaca dk from stash in a green, this will probably be a year long knit alongside other things.

Sewing Love Challenge

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I loved doing the yarnlovechallenge , it encouraged me to think about my yarn and knitting and inspired me. It was almost like an online knitting group with the show and tell. It was nice to see everyone elses projects and prompts. This inspired me to think about my sewing and in the spirit of and inspired by it, I am going to do my own #sewinglovechallenge2018  in April.  I  searched social media to see if there was something similar for sewists but I could not find any that fitted the profile exactly or closely enough. I have done the prep work, brainstormed ideas for daily subjects with friends and written them all on small pieces of paper , these are being put into a Jar and pulled out at random to choose the subjects. There will still be an intro for the first day but the rest are up for choosing, my Instagramunnamed