Sampler September Progress

 In the cross stitch world Sampler September in a month when cross stitchers can focus on sampler stitching. There are no rules it's up to the stitcher if and how they mark Sampler September.

I decided just to work on my samplers over the month and see what the end result was.

The first project was Summer Quaker by Lila's Studio, which I'm stitching in the called for DMCs on a cream 40 count Zweigart linen.

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I also worked on Sampler Aux Chats by Jardin Privé. Sewn in my own DMC colour conversion, probably on a 32.count Antique White Zweigart evenweave.

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I also put some significant stitches into a secret project and couldn't not put some work in on Mini Tudor Allegory by Heaven and Earth Designs in the called for threads on 25 count evenweave.

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Socks

 In the last few months I've been on a real sock knitting kick.

Stone from 52 Weeks of Socks Vol 1

Fuelled by a large collection of sock yarn asking me to do something with it...

Weavers Socks from 52 Weeks of Socks Vol 2

...being gifted 52 Weeks of Socks Vol 2...

Flou (over a vanilla sock) from 52 Weeks of Socks Vol 2

...and the ongoing appeal of the original 52 Weeks of Socks.

Toivoharju from 52 Weeks of Socks 

That being said I have found myself suffering from a feeling of sock burn out over the last couple of weeks, with not much enthusiasm to start my next pair.  Luckily my knit-jo had not completely disappeared and my hat and jumper projects kept on getting love.

And then yesterday...

Candle Flame from 52 Weeks of Socks 

...it reappeared due to the perfect combo of yarn (a merino cashmere nylon mix) and pattern ( mini cables for interest). Hopefully it sticks around considering the amount of single hanks of sock yarn I have! 

Leftovers

Not food leftovers but yarny leftovers. I have a couple of longterm projects currently underway and one in the planning which should help ensure that I don't have lots of half finished yarn balls in my stash.

 For every 4 ply project I've finished since 2022 I have added a square to my scrappy memories blanket. I also to gather together larger quantities of yarn until I have enough to start a Garter Marler Cardigan, designed by Stephen West; I have a feeling it will be a while until I have enough leftover yarn to start this.

Unusually for me I also have completed, am working on, or am planning several DK weight projects. These leftovers will be ideal for granny squares and even more luckily I think the colours should go well together.

January FNSI - Featuring actual sewing!

 I do enjoy taking part in the monthly Friday Night Sew Ins hosted by Wendy, they encourage me to make the most of my Friday crafting time.

This month I started at 4pm and got a good mix of things done. 

I sewed two more blocks for my scrappy round the world quilt (following guidance from Quiltville Quips and Snips) and figured out the best use of pressing and seeing time in order to increase the number of blocks I can make in an evening.

Whilst I had the sewing machine up and running I zig zagged the edges of a piece of fabric for a future cross stitch (white on white so not that easy to see).

I added a couple more lengths of thread to my blackwork project; this big block isn't feeling as intimidating as it was before I started the purple stitching as the pattern grows quickly.

And I got to the halfway point on my Musselburgh Hat and added the second colour, they always seem to go faster from this point.

If you want to see what others got up to on this Friday night pop over to Wendy's blog or look for the FNSI group on Facebook.

Crafty Corner

About once a week my boyfriend plays XBox online with his friends for an evening, this gives me an evening of crafting time for myself. Often I will spend it in front of a sewing machine as it's the one type of crafting I find difficult to do of an evening whilst we are together watching tv or listeing to music! However last time the XBox session occured my sewing table was otherwise engaged supporting our Xmas jigsaw (we do all the coolest stuff!) so I decided to do some sofa based crafting in the lounge.

This was my spot for the evening and my crafty project of choice was my new cross stitch (found out that the lighting in this room isn't great for stitching on linen...but that's by the by).

When I stood up for a break I couldnt resist taking the photo above as my space was ready for almost any crafty eventuality...

Circled in red, pattern weights ready for cutting out fabric.

Just visible in the orange circle, crochet books under the sofa.

The yellow circle is two full sets of interchangeable knitting needles.

Circled in green is my knitting bag with various bits and bobs of yarn and knitting notions.

In the blue circle is the cross stitch kit I was actually working on and, hiding at the back, in the purple circle is my sewing table (and jigsaw).

Plenty of crafting options in arm's length on this evening!

A New Crafting Crush

 New is probably not quite the right word for this craft but I have recently got back into cross stitching after many years break and many half finished projects and it seems that we now get on really well.

It started innocently enough with my temperature cross stitch (which still needs some finishing touches).

Then a little dalliance with Blackwork and Samplers at the stitching show in the spring. Stitching bloggers led to flosstube and suddenly I have a selection of kitted up projects.

To date I seem to be sticking with this infatuation and have my first ever completely finished by me cross stitch.

I got close once before but needed someone else to do the French knots for me.

So far I seem to be a monogamous stitcher, waiting to finish the Xmas before I started my Blackwork project.

However that might all be about to change as I've signed up to a 6 month long stitch along starting in January! 

Fighting the FOMO

 It's October and for many knitters that means Stephen West's Shawl MKAL. I have knitted a couple of these and, even though I am nervous about the unknowwn mystery aspect, I have enjoyed the knitting and the outcome. The major downside with these shawls is that they require a significant amount of yarn - five 100g fingering weight skeins for each of the last 3 shawls. This added to the mystery element and the "fear" of not liking this year's design meant that I wanted some sort of distraction project so that I didn't sign up for the MKAL (this does not mean that the shawl will not get knit at some later date*).

What better distraction from a Stephen West Mystery Shawl than another Stephen West shawl - to be specific Pierre. This DK weight shawl had caught my eye some time ago and based on an idea from the (on hiatus/ended) Wool Work podcast (formerly Knit British podcast) I decided to knit it in British undyed yarn.

(Apologies for the poor lighting I mainly work on this in the evening so photos are often taken under electric lights).

The yarn I chose was Fleece Jacob DK from West Yorkshire Spinners, taking the opportunity to work yarn from a breed I have never knowingly used before (although I have to say I generally am not great at tracking the breed of sheep my yarn comes from but anyway...).

This shawl relies on texture rather than zany colour combos for its feature. I'm liking how it's working up to date. The shawl should be thick and squishy, perfect for the threatened cold winter and all the other possible fun and games this winter. I think the colours may give it a rustic but wearable look. As to the feel of the yarn, at the start I thought it felt scratchy but I wouldn't say that now. I haven't had it next to bare skin (other than my hands) but I think it will be wearable and am interested to see what effect blocking has on the yarn texture.

Part of me thinks to go with the flow and let this be a long term project, that's the part that is aware of my two other WIPS, projects needing finishing and my long list of wanna makes. The other part of me wants this off the needles as soon as possible - winter is coming! We'll see how that goes. And either way I might actually rememebr to share the finished item!!! 

*And it also doesn't mean that I won't cave in and cast on a MKAL shawl befoe the final clue is released

September FNSI - All About the Patchwork

I joined with Wendy of Sugarlane Designs and friends around the world for this month's FNSI on, unsurprisingly, Friday night.

Having just driven 2 and a half hours home from work I thought I might be too tired for much of an FNSI but it turns out I have reserves of energy for crafting.

I started off working on a couple more blocks for my neutral scrappy Trip Around the World quilt...

and had a quick check that my planned layout would work...

This is for a king size bed and a rough calculation is that I will need 48 blocks to fit the bed - so this is going to be a long term project.

From sewing I moved onto cross stitch and my Mini Christmas Patchwork Sampler.

I'm making steady progress on this and there's a realistic chance of this being finished by Xmas (I even have a frame which might fit it).

And for the last bit of the evening I worked on the sixth square of my Cozy Memories blanket.

This is quite additictive and it's tempting to just make more squares but I'm trying to only use scraps from projects I have finished this year (and following years as this requires several more squares to become a blanket - currently its table mat size!).

If you want to see what everyone else got up to visit Wendy's blog or look up the FNSI Facebook group.

Newark Park and the unheralded quilt

 I'm currently on a stint of working away from home from Sunday night to Friday evening, so me and my partner/boyfriend/other half (not sure which term I prefer, probably should decide) are trying to make the most of the weekends.

Last weekend we paid a visit to nearby Newark Park (near Stroud and Tetbury), which is a National Trust property. Despite it's name there is a park, garden and house to visit.

It was a really interesting place - built as a tudor hunting lodge (though not visited by a Tudor monarch - I suspect not many of them were*), modified and extended several times and finally lived in by two Americans who restored the building on behalf of the National Trust and were living there to the early 2000s.

As well as beatiful location and views...

It was possible to see some of the original tudor structure, giving a feel for the original building; this was helped by a really interesting talk with a model of the house demonstrating the phases of the building.

It's not a massive property and very little of the contents are original to the house, and as such there is little explanation of the furniture etc.

One item did catch my eye...

This quilt was evidently random scraps of fabric...

Hand sewn onto a blanket. 

Maybe technically not a quilt as that generally sugests three layer of fabric but I'm not picky! Absolutely zero details about its history but interesting notheless.

If you're ever in the area I recommend a visit, and a walk in the grounds if you have time.

* The original builder's main property, Acton Court in Iron Acton, was visited by Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn - we haven't visited it (yet).

A Break in Cumbria

 We've just returned from a very relaxing few days in Cumbria with my family. Here follows my random (but scenic) holiday snaps... 

The only knitting I managed was in the car on the way up. 

From the 1900ft summit of a pass we could just about see Scotland.

Hidden away in the village we were staying we found this miniature village all made by one may over 25 years and now raising money for the Great North Air Ambulance. 

The final full day was dedicated to waterfalls... 

Low and High Force

And a rather gnarly Juniper tree (probably)... 

Knitting Pile

 Showing off WIPs either artistically staged or one be one seems to be a thing. Due to some TV watching last night I had dug around in my knitting back for some suitable projects and when I looked next to me on the sofa* I saw the following...

Almost all my current knitting WIPs in a pile with the exception of two that are NSFTV**. There are the TAAT socks, a Musselburgh hat, my Tree Tram Tro slipover and to at the top left is a previously unmentioned project. 

This is the start of a scrappy blanket based on the Cosy Memories Blanket pattern. No definite plan for this but I think I'll use leftovers from 4 ply projects as I finish them, I've also got some other plans for 4 ply/fingerings weight leftovers but more about that another day. 

*couch or settee 

** Not Suitable For TV

FNSI - Best Laid Plans

 Actually despite the title I didn't deviate too much from my planned FNSI.

I had Friday afternoon off work so amongst running a couple of errands I manged to start crafting early in the day.

I got totally sucked in by a cross stitch which hadn't received much love recently.

I probably need a larger frame for it, as I'm having to move my round one frequently as can be seen from the creases. I think its called Mini Christmas Patchwork and there's a chance it might be complete by Xmas. 

I finally got round to seeing in the threads on a t shirt I have recently seen. 

Then I moved onto cutting up strips for my low volume scrappy trip around the world quilt. 

I think I need to cut 38 far quarters into 2.5 inch strips to have enough to make blocks for a king size bed. I'm a few fat quarters short, but I have enough to keep me busy. 

And this is the point my plans changed.  I had intended to have dinner and then continue pressing and cutting fabric, maybe sew in the threads on a pair of trousers and then knit. 

What actually happened was an impromptu trip to a couple of bars in Cheltenham.  A very enjoyable distraction, but we were back early enough (and sober enough) for a few rows of knitting for me and a bit of X Box for my partner.

All in all I think I had a bumper FNSI. 

If you want to see what everyone else got up to pop over to Wendy's blog Sugarlane Designs

Snaps From The Weekend (13/14 Aug)