Wow What a View!

As a Valentine's treat for my train driver we went up the Shard. It was fantastic, London spread out under us with people looking like ants and the moving trains like worms. It was far more impressive than we thought it would be and we would love to go again perhaps in the summer when the days should be brighter so we can see further.

The most unnerving thing was seeing workmen hanging on the outside of the building 68 floors up. I'm not sure that a hard hat would do it though.

Our day out in London included a visit to Loop where I bought this lovely yarn to make Jane Richmond's Grace cardigan, which will go with the skirt I'm going to make with fabric underneath it. The yarn is Quince and Co, Finch and it's lovely.

I never go into London without a visit to Liberty's, it has to be my all time favourite shop, the building, the ambience, the goods to be bought, it has it all for me. Sadly I can't afford much of it but for window shopping it's fab. I did spend though and got a metre and a half of this lovely Tana Lawn. To be a blouse or top I think, not sure yet, there is also enough for a skirt so I'll have to make a decision, not yet though.

All in all my train driver and I had a great day out and I can't wait to do it again.

Progress with Tilly

I'm steaming ahead with the 'Tilly' jumper as I really want it done by the end of the month.  I struggled with the colour changes and will need to be a bit handy with the needle when I sew the ends in to tidy it up. It feels lovely though, Drops Alpaca is a soft reasonably priced yarn and I love the colours. The 1st of March marks the beginning of the knit-a-long with Truly Myrtle on the Grace cardigan by Jane Richmond.

Creating a Wardrobe

It's so exciting getting a parcel from Seamstar I knew what I had ordered, obviously, but I love the way it's wrapped in pink tissue with a turquoise ribbon in a bow. The fabric is Lotta Jansdotter cotton. I'm going to make this skirt . The pattern book is 'Island' by Jane Richmond, at the moment I'm undecided about whether the skirt needs a scarf to go with it,

or this lovely little cardigan. I may make both. What do you think? I did have plans to do lots of dressmaking after Easter, but events have conspired against me so again, plans on hold! Will I ever be able to retire and just knit and sew? 

Patchwork Sampler Blanket

In an attempt to get my intarsia and fair isle knitting skills ready for the 'Tilly' sweater I have gone off piste with the knitted blocks for the Patchwork Sampler Throw. See this post and this one. I still have yarn left so will need to make some more but for now this one hibernates so I can get on with other things. 

Namely this! The 'Pebbles' tapestry cushion kit by Kaffe - the colour king! It was in the sale, what could I do? I still have the Square Dance to finish but it won't take long, then I get on with it, the colours are lovely and will go so well with the Square Dance cushion. My aim is to cover my sofa with tapestry cushions. 

Working full time has meant that I have had less time to play, however after Easter I will be going back to part time so many of my half finished projects will become finished ones. Especially as I have a bit of an idea about dressmaking and creating whole outfits with knitting and sewing for myself. I have ideas in my head and on paper so watch this space.

Bits and Pieces

This blog post is a bit of a mish mash of finished projects and new projects and thoughts about them. The knitting bag I made for my lovely sister for her birthday. I couldn't post about it at the time as she reads my blog. I am really pleased with it. I just used some fabric I had in my stash.

I made two pockets for the inside, one long one and one divided into two for smaller items. We went shopping to the wool shop in Matlock!

This is my latest project, My sister and I saw the pattern in the wool shop. Sadly the yarn, Louisa Harding Kashmir is discontinued so I have chosen Drops Alpaca in rust, olive and lime. The pattern is 'Tilly' from Louisa Harding's 'Queen of Hearts' book. Rather annoyingly this is the first pattern I have looked for on Ravelry and not found and I would have loved to see how other people got on with it. The pattern book is on there but with only a few of the patterns, not all of them and not 'Tilly'!

I decided to swiss darn the flower motifs as I thought it would be neater, I think I was wrong. I also underestimated the slippyness of the yarn and my intarsia left a lot to be desired so I think this project is going to make me cross. I am spending this weekend practising fair isle and intarsia for a better finish, I'll start it again.

Silver Top Down is now finished. I have worn it but I'm not sure if I like it. There is quite a lot of sparkle in the yarn and I'm not really a bling sort of gal.

My knitting this weekend has made me grumpy so I needed to make something that would succeed and that I will like. Slippy alpaca, too much bling and rubbish intarsia. I've cheered myself up by making muffins! Thank you Attic24 for the recipe