knitting

I have less knitting to show you will be pleased to hear! It just takes longer so there are less finishes.

First up - this is the best (and only!) photo of the Pebble Beach shawl I made for my sister-in-law's Christmas. The yarn is a beautiful silk blend hand dyed by a girl on Etsy. It's such a pretty colour and beautiful and drapey.

Come the early spring I wanted a nice easy pattern so opted for a Reyna Shawl - I found the pattern for free on Ravelry. I also bought myself some little scales so I didn't have to play yarn chicken towards the end!

It turned out a lovely size and is so soft - it's a Lamington Lass dye, again from Etsy.

Nice, eh? Very wearable and i did. A lot!

But I have quite the wee pile of shawls now. Hmm. Maybe I should be giving some away.

So this one was knitted for my Mother-in-law's birthday in March. From - you guessed it - Etsy. The same Reyna pattern knitted at speed in big chunks in the week before her birthday - so I know it took 29 hours!!

And another (same yarn purchasing/ pattern) for my own Mum in May.

And waaaay back in the Christmas hols I finished my lone pair of socks this year. These are Greengable socks by Louise Tilbrook. A fab cheaters cable pattern!

I'm currently working on a gorgeous shawl and I know the names of the sheep who produced the wool - but that's a whole other story. *grins*

Fade to Grey

By March things were settling down a bit. The initial grieving over losing my grandmothers was easing and we were ready to get back to the to-do list. Top of it? Chookie's bedroom. It was 3 and a half years since its last lick of paint which isn't a long, long time but enough when it's a kid's room! There's big age difference between just-turned-twelve and almost-fifteen and the blue was just too young. She wanted black - I said no. We settled on "Chantilly" a pretty grey by B&Q Colours. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking - the blue shots are the before.

A new bed with underneath storage - good old Ikea! The day bed was knackered and becoming impractical. 

The desk was her Christmas from my in-laws. It lifts up like a draughtsmans table and has been invaluable!

The big empty wall. It makes the room feel huge but I reckon will get filled up soon enough! The huge bookcases went to Spouse's work for storage so weren't wasted!

I did relax the no-black for curtains and accessories. *grins* 

I love her geeky gallery! Music, Dr Who, Harry Potter and Sherlock to name but a few!

There's a couple of framed LP's hanging above her bed now and we have an idea for a skinny shelf for her Funko Pop Vinyl collection but rooms are ever evolving, aren't they? She's really happy with it and there's been a lot of teenage girls invited in to hang out so a success all round!

Tovas and Ondees

I love the Wiksten Tova pattern. I bought my first from Emily Levey last summer and promptly made my first in a horse print. Well they get worn to death (they're a great after-work staple) so an extra couple were in order. When I spotted an online shop closing in the spring I sprung into their sale and grabbed a couple of 2 metre lengths. To run up these chaps.

I thought I'd wear the blue one more but actually this pink and white one is my favourite. It's just so clean looking!

And then I spied this lovely floaty stuff in a shop. Hmm. A Tova? But it would need a collar - so I drafted my own!

I need to wear a vest underneath but I love the effect it gives!

And also in the spring I was needing new Ondee tops for work. Emily Levey (again!) was selling a bundle of skirts made by Kerry. Two were my very favourite fitted waist full style and once I shortened them I needed tops to match. Ondees are perfect for this and I went with long sleeves since it was still really cold!

And, of course, I'm only wearing one of Kerry's skirts on my photos! The middle and on the right are old faithful Megan Nielsen Brumbys.

I am quite enjoying sewing the same pattern a few times, not only does it lock in the method but you start to tweak things as you go along!

Blackbirds fly

So I'm trying to do these posts with some semblance of date order and if that's us up to February then we're hitting the hard one. There's no delicate way to put this, really, but in the last week of February both of my grandmothers died. My Grandma Barbour first and then Wee Granny a week later.

 Neither were unexpected, they were both in the same nursing home and both had bedside vigils for the four days beforehand. But it still meant my poor parents were both orphaned in the same week right when they needed each other the most. Spouse and I were both off work sick with a flu-like virus the entire week that Grandma died (I have never been so ill) and he was working in Jersey the week of her funeral and was still away when Wee Granny passed away. And my car broke down.  *rollseyes* So I have had better weeks, to be perfectly honest.  

But I also know how incredibly lucky I have been to get to 42 years old with both my grandmothers. My Grandma was 92 and Wee Granny was 6 weeks shy of 94! And, God bless her, Wee Granny made it easier for me by having a gradual decline in her health over 18 months so I kinda lost her by degrees over that time. She was mentally with it until right before her death and still smiling and happy right til the end.

So, I need a photo, don't I? Here's the Coco dress (by Tilly and the Buttons) that I made for Grandma's burial. I needed something I could wear with flat shoes as I was recuperating from that flu-ish thing and was a cord bearer at the cemetery! 

Back to lots of clothes tomorrow!

pink and grey clothes

Right. Let's see some garment sewing.

This is an incredibly comfy Victory Patterns "Lola" dress. It's made of sweatshirt fabric and is cosy and generally a wardrobe favourite. Although I did have to replace all the trim after my lovely woolen rib stretched massively in the wash!

Chook shocked the heck out of me when she asked for a pink (PINK!!) sweatshirt. This is a much loved Linden sweashirt pattern by Grainline.

Grey Ginger jeans by Closet Case files. These are a mixed success. They are meant to be mid rise but are blatantly hipsters. and I don't mean in a man-bun no-fat soy latte sense.

But they are incredibly comfortable in the stretch denim. I just need to wear a long muffin-top hiding shirt with them! Bringing me nicely to....

...my Deer and Doe Bruyere shirt. I was attempting a girlish flannel shirt and it sort of worked. But my pearl snaps wouldn't grip through all the layers of brushed cotton so I had to make a million button holes and scramble for enough buttons! I must replace them with something nicer.

So I think this was my January sewing. Early 2017 at least - it feels like ages ago now!

Christmas 2016

Ha! Back again so soon? I am determined to get the last six (seven?) months documented. My bullet journal has a whole page of makes and events to record so there may be some weirdly mixed up posts to come. This might be one of them!

So, Christmas. We had a quiet one this year with my folks round for turkey dinner - it was rather lovely.

We also had a newly decorated living room - it's what I am referring to as a "steampunk gentleman's study" style. Think grey and leather and metal bits with tweed. *grins* I love it. And that's not a fireplace - it's the telly playing a Netflix fire video!

This is Jones' favourite spot - he thinks it's a perfectly sized cat daybed! It's actually finest Harris Tweed and opens - my knitting gear lives in it.

Anyhoo - Christmas. Chook was her usual irrepressible self. 

Me: Put your shoulders back. 

Her: Like this?

Me: Nooooo..

Her: Like THIS?
Me: !!!

Her: *fit of giggles*

Do you like her bowtie? I made it - bowties are cool. *grins* #DrWho

Oh, the Christmas Eve bauble box? Had a little goth deer from Bettis Stitches. It is perfect and she was really tickled with her. This is the "she's so cute!" face. Her main present from us this year was a midi keyboard. It's like an electric piano that you plug into a computer (my folks bought her a laptop!) so you can compose and record and stuff.

And I sewed a bit! Helen and I had an unofficial Christmas cushion-along on Instagram and I ran with it. Three of these were for gifts but one was for little old me.

As was this big one. My embroidery was mucho improved by the time I'd finished them!

So. I think that's about it - a whirlwind runaround!

A decade and a half

Well now. I disappeared there for a bit, didn't I? I can't say there was a reason behind my extended blog hiatus other than a slowing down of the general blogosphere.  But I don't blog for anyone other than me so that's not really a reason, either.  Maybe I just needed a break after 7 years. Regardless, this morning I was looking for certain photos and *knew* I would find them here.

Y'see, today my Chookie turns 15. *blinks*

And it was rather lovely to be able to look here right back to her 7th birthday. So here we are again.

She asked for a camera - her artistic pursuits are very much of the photographic persuasion currently. And yes, she's had all her long hair chopped off and dyed bright red. I can't say anything, can I? *grins* That is also Harley Quinn Cons and a Sherlock tee she is wearing (with a pork pie hat!) - we have finally geeked her out! #parentingsuccess

She asked for her first birthday shindig this year, too. A group of her friends at the local Escape Rooms and lunch at her favourite fusion restaurant. One friend couldn't make it and the three of them failed to escape (but had fun!) and a building flood meant the eatery was closed so no Japanese food was available! But we made it work - another place does fab burgers and seafood so not a bad day after all. And the sun shone!

I'll keep it short and sweet for this first entry - there's not an awful lot to catch up on this year (mostly sewing and knitting) but we did have some sad events in the spring. More on that next time, let's not dwell on anything today except my decade-and-a-half girl!