All Fingers and Thumbs

..professional sit-under-shawl-and-eat-biscuits-and-drink-tea-er! Pattern: Hay Meadow - Julie Ferguson (Girl's size) Yarn: Artsesano British Wool - Chunky (astonishingly the yarn the pattern is written for - so rare!!) Needles: 8mm, 100cm circ Started: 9 June 2013 Finished: 15 June 2013 Ravelry page I knit this shawl in a blink of an eye for me. I was slowed slightly by the cast off which required three attempts to get the right balance of some edging and enough yarn for the greedy picot bind off but then we reached 'time for blocking'. I have blocking wires, this is not heirloom lace I should be able to do a reasonable job. I managed a 'it'll do for now I want to wear it' job but with a little more patience I will tame that picot edge next time around!! Anyway I love this shawl! Just a small one, the pattern book suggests wearing it bandana style but I think it sits nicely on the shoulders. The fronts just  drape round with the weight...

Weekend craft activity has focussed around the impractical and pretty: embroidery literally just to play with ideas from the new book. And the decidedly  more functional: a Nexus tablet cover. The embroidery soothed, the cover challenged. At least that made for a healthy balance!  My poor beloved has often bemoaned the lack of knitting of items for him and sewing hasn't proved any more generous. There was a moment a couple of weeks ago when he'd lost the old padded envelope he was using to keep his Nexus safe inside his bag when I thought of cobbler's children and decided I'd better get my act together (and prove the direct benefits to him of the tools and equipment he so generously shares his living space with!). As he's not crying out to have his clothes embellished by sweet lines of daisies or loopy sheep I made myself put down my book and sew him a cover in his choice from the fabric stash. I wanted to work out the pattern mysel...

Having seen a couple of blog reviews of the new book from  Caroline Zoob  I had to have a copy, and it arrived this afternoon. One brief peek inside so far and I am sooo excited to do some more embroidery suddenly. Look at that one little snippet I had the patience to photograph for you, just so enticing to me! This chrysanthemum is not a project from the book, it is something that had been lingering unfinished after a fit of enthusiasm earlier in the year.  There was a wonderful exhibition of Japanese embroideries at the Ashmolean back in January which induced me to buy a  simple Anchor kit  in the gift shop. I had to finish it last night so I could have the hoop for whatever this book inspired me to start on next! I'm going to go and make a gin and tonic and settle in for a Friday night of embroidery, may your weekends be equally full of such daring pursuits!

This time last week Mama and I were preparing for our third crafty workshop of the year. After patchworking and machine embroidery  we thought it was time to make a bag. On our trip down to the depths of Cornwall to visit Poppy Treffry we found a wonderful fabric shop with its own classroom, Coast and Country Crafts  which is taking very good care of south Cornwall's quilters and a few more besides.  Heavier weight quilting cottons and linens make ideal bag materials and we went the day before the workshop to pick out fabrics from the huge range they have. Such fun, I could do that forever, just play around with different combinations and this project is designed beautifully to make the most of contrasting fabrics. No photos from the workshop as I was head down and hands busy! It was quite a lot of sewing to get done in the few hours we were there with lots of different pieces, wadding, lining, darts, magnetic clasps and pockets to deal with. We did...

I'm having a few days holiday from work and one of my planned treats was to go and spend some quality time at the new yarn shop here in Oxford - Oxford Yarn Store . It opened at the end of last year and I briefly visited earlier this year but not with enough time to really enjoy the experience. It's our only dedicated yarn shop here in Oxford and it's a goodie! Today I spent most of an hour there in this wee Aladdin's cave having a lovely chat with the owner who even made me a cup of tea. What service! I went in for a few blues and yellows to join in with some leftovers for a sea and sun full Bolt - I was spoilt for choice with some Cascade fingering weight running the final choices close - Artesano Alpaca and Manos Silk Blend. Perfect, and impossible not to start straight away. During my happy yarn perusal I scooped up a stormy blue mix of the new Rowan sock yarn - after Clara Parkes'  review I've been intrigued enough to swing back towards a lov...

Yesterday, after work, my little patch of play. I put this out on Instagram which is a place I'm having fun in at the moment. I decided I needed to venture out from the bounds of this blog and Ravelry with all these other playgrounds out there to explore. I've been pinning a little while but sort of tentatively, sporadically not sure how to best enjoy it, worrying I'd get overwhelmed by it of course, now I'm just embracing that one a bit more and trying out Twitter too. This is not to say that I am thinking of stopping blogging, in fact the opposite I'm feeling the need to really throw myself in headfirst to this creative sea I can best access online, I'm hoping immersion will turn to bobbing and floating merrily along and I can get back here more often. I've been feeling a lack of blogging and crafting generally in my life on and off for the last couple of years or so and what I hoped was just a lull or a rest has become more clear that the crafts w...