Next on the needles

After finishing an actual item of clothing I have realised that knitting is rather addictive. So I have been looking for a nice pattern for my little man.  My lovely hubby bought me this wool on a trip to HobbyCraft:

Chunky

and yesterday I found this lovely pattern:

This looks really nice and easy as it is knitted entirely in garter stitch.  The only thing that looks even remotely complicated is the hood but I will cross that bridge when I get to it.  I started this last night after doing the tension swatch and I have already done 20cm of the back piece. 

Update: My Practice Blanket

I have been AWOL recently due to a mysterious illness which left me in hospital for a week and doctors quite confused. However as I have been mostly sofa bound I have got an update on my "practice blanket".  This is what I have been knitting for a while, more than anything to practice knitting on small blocks.  Well it is now big enough to have on your lap and I am going to continue adding blocks as I can, this is very much an ongoing process as I can always add more blocks.

Latest block

My Practice Blanket

North Country Quilting Part 2

This Saturday was the second day of our North Country Quilting course.  After finishing our homework of designing our quilt tops we were to put the layers together and learn the quilting stitch used to sew our designs through all three layers.  

Image courtesy of http://pendlestitches.wordpress.com/

The really lovely thing about this session was how we worked together.  We worked one quilt at a time, layering the bottom fabric, wadding and top fabric, ensuring that all layers were smooth and flat and then working from the centre we all took a corner to tack.  This also meant that we all got to have a look at what each other had designed. Interestingly although we all were given similar ideas and all had the same guidance we had all created something completely different to each other.

After a lovely picnic lunch we learnt what can only be described as the "rocking" stitch.  I must admit that I'm not entirely sure that I have this right, but with practice my stitches are becoming smaller and more even, so hopefully I am doing something right.

My Centrepiece so far 

Thank You very much to my wonderful Grandma who booked this course for me as a "Welcome to the North" gift!

Last Day

Today is my daughter's last day at pre-school!
They are having a fancy dress party and then after the summer holidays she will be in "big school".
Where does the time go? Not long ago she was a tiny bundle that I bought home from the hospital.  She is very ready though, and very excited, I'm just not entirely sure that she is aware of how long six weeks is......

'Peppa Pig' Costume

North Country Quilting

On Saturday 2nd July I went along with my Aunt and Grandma for the start of a two day course on North Country Quilting. I have no previous quilting experience at all, however it is something that I definitely want to start.
So after lots of tea and cake and a lot of changing my mind and driving everyone crazy I have my first ever quilt design.

It is quite hard to make out the pattern because I chose a darker colour material, (just to be different :D I'm pretty sure these are normally on beige/cream colours but I'm just not a beige kinda girl).
But I am finally quite happy with it.  This weekend we will finish the course and learn how to put it all together and start actually sewing :D I will keep you all updated on how this goes, but I get the feeling this will be just about ready for the winter.

Join the rebel alliance.

Fantastic protesting by Greenpeace, I suggest everyone has a look.

May the force be with you