Socks. Again.

I'm hoping to keep these newly finished socks since I don't actually have a pair myself! I've not been doing much of anything lately apart from watching Supernatural and trying not to murder the spouse and his awful, annoying, homicidal rage inducing cough. I'm a donkey on the edge! So it was nice to have a finish.

They were blocked at work on Monday during a quiet spell. 

I've done the pattern before but not in an acrylic mix yarn. It was actually lovely to deal with.

The good old Fleegle heel and we were done! They're a finish on my finish-along list. The original pledge is Here. I've done okay this quarter!

I've found myself back at my machine, too. This is a test muslin made from hideous charity shop curtains, not my actual coat-along coat!

Spouse tried to be nice about it. Bless his heart, he didn't know it was deliberately fugly!!

Blogtoberfest starts tomorrow - prepare for the onslaught of dribbling nonsense!

Yarny deets:

Yarn: Sirdar Crofter dk in heather. 2 balls.

Needles: 3.5mm dpns

Pattern: Knitfreedom beginners toe up for magic loop adapted for dpns. Fleegle heel with a 6 and 2 rib, knit every other row.

Stitches: 48 cast on, 34 rows to instep increases.

A shawl in green

So I've had my little shawl-along with Archie running since the end of April. And I cast off yesterday to much excitement! Time for a soak, then.

And a nice block. Eagle eyed knitters will spot that it's not a triangle. In my usual gung-ho manner I used a new-to-me supposedly stretchy cast-off. I'm obviously a far too tight knitter to make it work (Archie herself had no trouble with it!) so my sides are too short to allow a true triangle. 

This cast-off here. But it's lovely and fine looking - my usual stretchy bindoff is a bit bulkier which is why I didn't use it but I'm not too bent out of shape about it. It's just a curvy triangle. *g*

See? Not too bad.

I am very pleased with my lace work. There's more than a few mistakes but I don't care!!

Here's some scale for you. It's a nice size, not too huge!

Yup, that's almost exactly how I imagined it!

Its's also a Quarter 3 finish along finish. That'll do pig! That'll do.

Yarny deets:

Yarn: Artesano alpaca silk 4 ply in Chartreuse, 3 x 50g skeins ( just under 600m)
Needles; 4.5mm magic loop circular

Pattern: Sakura shawl by Leila Raabe

Lovely gifts

I've been the recipient of some lovely things lately. Firstly a belated birthday present from my Muckhart Quilters pal Claire. Pink and green and cats! She knows me well, eh?

In fact, it's a rather spiffing match for the travel tool kit she made me for Christmas and my Sew Together bag. So it now lives as my travel storage/thread catcher bin. Cool, eh? Thanks, dude!!

And this wee guy? Well this was what I swapped with Collette for one of my rings. She has been making the most amazing original art the last few months and this wee bird on his zentangle rock was my absolute favourite. He just needs a frame and he can go and live in my wee room. I definitely have a thing for pink and green, no?

Lovely things all round! I have met such lovely, talented people on my crafting travels. On the web and in the flesh!

Jewellery makering

Well after my lovely stash arrived a few weeks ago I started making bits and pieces of jewellery. The quickest and most rewarding are definitely rings - it's amazing what you can do with a length of wire and a bead or two! Six of these have been sent out to other peeps, some as rather awesome little swaps - I have goodies to show in another post! 

This is my first Christmas present. The agate rounds and chips were wired onto separate pieces of wire, wrapped and fastened together before winding the leather cord through the holes. The big agate connector is also wire wrapped on. It was time consuming but such fun - I have plans for a same-but-different bracelet to match, too.

And I also finally tried Kumihimo. It's basically a way of knotting cord to make a bigger cord. A bit like friendship bracelets. This is the round loom they are worked on and this is the start of the bracelet to match the above necklace. This pattern gives a round tail.

So you can make it up to look like this. Chook did this one (I helped with glueing the ends into the bullet tips) and it was incredibly quick and satisfying. More to come, for sure!

And my last goodies were these strands. That's peacock pearls, peridot (my birthstone) and snowflake obsidian. A simple strung necklace for me is planned - I seem to have bought everything else with the intention of making for others! 

There really aren't enough hours in the day for everything I would like to make! But I am only 9 rows away from finishing my lace shawl!! Whoop!!

The dental shenanigans

*this was written yesterday but only published today so some references will be a day out!*

So back in July we had an emergency trip to the dental hospital when Chookie's zombie tooth started to turn pink. The wee valiant tooth was knackered - the pink was gum growing inside it - and needed to come out and be temporarily replaced with a plate (a retainer with a tooth sort of affair) before more permanent solutions 6 months from now. Our appointment was for September 30th which was an 8 week weight but was okay, we could handle that.  Then 10 days ago I received a letter saying the procedure had to be rescheduled and now wouldn't be happening until November 4th. Aye, right.

Needless to say there were some phonecalls made and a bit of going round the houses but long story boring,  we got an appointment for last Tuesday. Spouse and I both got time off work because it was a sedation appointment and we didn't want her going on the train and having the 15 minute walk on either side of a tooth extraction! Parking can be an issue  (it's in the centre of Glasgow in Sauchiehall Street!) and a two man operation works well - one with kid, one with car. Saves any panic with appointment times and finding a parking spot! So we toddled up to Glasgow at lunchtime and you know, it went swimmingly! I mean, watching someone shove screwdrivers up your child's gum to wiggle put a tooth is all kinds of horrible (some sedation for me would have been nice!) but she couldn't have cared less, she was away with the birds on gas & air and numbed up to the eyeballs!  It came out easily (the almost no root helped!) and after some fiddling with the plate it was fitting nicely, too. It was a much less traumatic experience than watching it be shoved back in when she knocked it out all those years ago!

But. Hoo boy, there is quite an adjustment to having a gob full of plastic and metal as anyone with a brace will know!  And while I was prepared for the drooling and the lisping and the soft foods for a few days, I hadn't realised actually swallowing was going to be a massive issue. It makes sense, the roof of her mouth isn't where it used to be and your tongue not fitting takes a bit of relearning! But still, we had a hairy 24 hours where drinking (never mind eating!) was an issue and being 5ft2 but only 6 stone she can't afford to be not eating!! And this is obviously on top of having an open wound in the middle of her front top gum.

We're on day 5 now, though, and things are improving massively. The drooling has stopped, the speech impediment is more like an actual lisp and she actually managed to chew some macaroni cheese today. I think we will need to visit our dentist to have the plate adjusted since every time she jumps up and down or sneezes it comes loose and two of the brackets are giving her really achey teeth. But she's been such a wee trooper through it all I am so proud of her.  She managed a wee noise on her baritone this afternoon and was horse riding this morning (with a gap toothed gypsy grin sans plate!) and is just getting on with it with hardly a complaint. I'm pretty certain I wouldn't be so gracious in the face of pain and hunger and inconvenience. Her smile looks amazing, though. *g* Of course, I haven't a photo of her lovely new not-skanky-toothed smile to show you. So here's Nigel who was bought for her first trip to the dental hospital, 5 years ago next month.

His name is pronounce with a whinny at the start,  Neigh-gel. And he is very well loved! 

Wedding present cushions

So, I have two weddings this weekend - my cousin's and my for-decades employer's daughter. What to give, what to give. Cushions? Perfect. 

Bosses daughter is having french navy bridesmaids with orange accents. I can do that! I deliberately didn't quilt them and went with a modern improv circle to stop them being too patchworky. 

I can't resist a pretty button.

And a two fat quarter back. They are 20 inch inserts so full without being massive.

And one for my cousin. I kept to neutrals for this one purely for (hopefully) ease of use for her.

More buttons!!

And the perfect hoarded backing from my stash.

I opted for a piping rather than a binding again to keep the patchworky look to a minimum. It was sheer happenstance that it also makes them quicker to finish. 

So one has already been gifted and one is about to be. Awesome. They fell together nice and quick (once I remembered to buy the zips) which is just as well since we've been having major dental shenanigans this week. But more on that another day, this has taken all evening to write and bed is calling!

August sewing

Gosh, I'm late this month!! And there's not much to show sewing wise for the month, either. One addition to a bee block,  one cushion front...

...and one other cushion front. I must get the piping on them both, the zips haven't arrived yet.

I seem to have spent most of the month knitting and making jewellery but haven't got anything finished yet!! Hopefully tomorrow I might have my first Christmas present in the bag, though. Sorry. #notsorry