Bags

As we packed for the move last year, I had a good clear out too.  I've found many forgotten things including a couple of bags I made years ago.

 This first one was made from a couple of skirts which I didn't want any more (one I had melted a little with an iron!).  I loved the colour combination and deliberately wanted to show the blue lining on the seams.

I used the material you normally find in the top part of curtains to keep them from drooping to give the handle some stability.  Its not a bad bag, but I'd rather have a strap of some sort so I can keep my hands free.

 

The second was made from a pair of jeans bought cheap in a charity shop (the girl serving gave me a funny look buying size 8 jeans which I obviously couldn't fit in).  The lining from my mums material stash.

A very simple bag to make, I just wish I'd made the handles a bit thicker as they don't feel substantial enough for the rest of the bag. 

A little ladybird button just finishes it off - a bug in all those flowers.  
I do love making my own things like this.  Then you know you are getting what you want - I can never find things I want if I go looking in the shops.

Crochet Granny Square Blanket

My first attempt at a patter didn't work

In 2015 I learnt how to crochet. (I honestly thought it was longer before I started writing this post.)  Once I had learnt the basics I went back to learn how to make granny squares.  Of course once you've got a bunch of squares you have to decide what to do with them.

Still  not quite right

I decided to keep going and make a blanket.  What I really like about this project is that I could come back to it at any point and make a couple more squares, for instance after a long knitting project, before going off and doing something else again.

Nailed it!

After last Christmas (2016) I had quite a collection of squares and a friend suggested that I might want to start connecting them as it can be a bit of a tedious job.  However my first attempt at this was a complete fail!  I'd not joined any crochet together before and used a single crochet stitch rather than a slip stitch so it had lumpy bits between each square.  And the pattern just didn't work either.

I was rather glad to undo it all and start again.  Drawing out my pattern helped a lot and I ended up with a pattern I liked and was happy with.  I then started connecting the squares again, this time using a slip stitch.

 

I'd found a flower detail square in a friends book and used that as my center point.  Then added squares round it until it looked right to me.

Then to finish it off I added a border.  This was just a single stitch of each colour all the way round and I think it finishes it off really well.  I used BabyBonus extra value DK wool which is really soft and makes it a good blanket for a child.

 If I hadn't made the Frida Flower Blanket I would never have known to use a slip stitch to join squares together or thought to add a border, and yet it is these little details which really make the difference.  This has been a really long project and I am glad to see it done.  I'm really please with it and the practice it has given me for my new skills.

A laptop sock

At Christmas my sister asked me if I could knit her a 'bag' for her laptop.  It didn't need to protect it from falls or big bumps, more from scratches in her bag as she travels to and from work.

We took measurements but I wasn't really sure where to start.  Then I found this lovely King Cole Glitz Chunky in platinum.  It has silver threads running through it.  Its also super soft.  

Still being very unsure of sizes I made a tension square to see how big my rib would come up.  From this we worked out how wide it would need to be.  Too tight and she wouldn't be able to get the laptop in it and too loose and it would just fall off.

But as you can see it worked perfectly.  Tight enough to get a good grip of the laptop and give it a good hug so it shouldn't come off in her bag.  I think she was pretty pleased with it too.  It was a nice little project to work on as the chunky knitted up quickly and was lovely and soft to work with.

The Knitting and Stitching Show 2017

Last year I attended the Knitting and Stitching Show which is where A mohair bear called Cyril and the Frida's Flower blanket came from.  They were my 2 favourite projects of the year, so you can imagine I was pretty excited to be going again this year.

Woven Star Galaxy by Isobel Currie

There was a good mix of things I saw last year and new things which meant I had a lovely day walking round and looking, but I didn't really see any new projects to excite me.

The Brit and the Great Bear by Paddy Killer

But as I went with a list of stuff I wanted (a must when there is that much stuff to look at - you just get totally overwhelmed) I still found lots of treasure for my massive list of project. Which means I think I'll manage to keep myself busy over the coming year.

There were some amazing prints

Cork material!

Love the detailing on this dress

Part of the Embroiderer's Guild Game of Thrones display