Feeling festive!

Things are definitely starting to feel festive here and not a moment too soon! We are all set – Christmas fruit cake baked, chocolates made, veggies, strawberries and cherries bought and presents under the tree.

It’s just not Christmas without cherries!

I’ve recently discovered the art of dipping everything and anything in chocolate and it’s quite addictive! Today I did almonds, brazil nuts, dried mango and dried apricot – some covered in a layer of marzipan. They turned out really good and are much cheaper than store bought vegan chocolates round here.

There has also been some sewing. I made D this very quick stocking (his nickname starts with a B):

Lots of fun (I always feel I should sew more whenever I get the machine out). 

Right, off to bed. Holiday’s start as of tomorrow for us. So thanks for stopping by ye ol’ blog of mine (even tho I’ve not been posting much!) and here’s hoping you all have a great Christmas & New Years! xo

Last minute Christmas gifting

Things have been busy round these parts! Not nearly enough hand made Christmas gifts being churned out, but I did get to experiment with crafting a table mat with scraps of fabric. Quite fun!

Love is a new teapot

It’s getting colder. And I moved my desk into our other room; that’s a whole ten metres away from the kettle & tea in the kitchen. I give you, my solution:

I drink a lot of tea, yes. Currently my favourite is Rooiboss. Yum.

Ally Pally Extravaganza

Well, after the Iknit day out the other month I hadn’t planned on any more stash enhancement until well after Christmas, but it seems the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace last week was just too much of a draw card! Also meant the chance to catch up with a particular knitter from the Mt Lawley Stitch & Bitch in Perth, Australia, who I hadn’t seen for quite a while. 

It was an amazing show with ridiculous amounts of yarn, fibre, fabric and crafty stuff. As well as some really inspiring exhibits. There was big knitting (isn’t there always big knitting?):

And the crochet coral reef project:

And so many knitters and knit stuff and stash enhancement possibilities. I managed to get away with some lovely teal / green coloured cotton / linen blend yarn and (shock! horror!) a couple of balls of acrylic. Yes, I know, not particularly environmentally friendly and likely to prove a fire hazard. But it was soft, bright and £1 for a 300m ball! So I got some red and blue. Scarves or hats I think. The lovely green stuff I got about 6 skeins of, and intend to knit a jersey or a shawl of some sort. Any ideas?

None of this however will be happening until my current wip list dwindles – still going on the vest, have a baby cardi sans arms to complete, a cotton scarf, a pair of cotton socks and probably a few others tucked away at the back of my stash cupboard. Hmm. Thankfully won’t be doing much Christmas knitting as the majority of my friends and family are in NZ and will probably find it a bit weird to get scarves as gifts in mid-summer.

Town, Coast and Coutryside

Hello from the depths of cyber space! It’s been a while, but fear not – there has been knitting. Not a lot of it in this post, but I am working on another baby cardi and have hauled the long forgotten boyfriend vest out of the wip basket. Also have large plans to knit up a storm now that the weather is cooler.  

The last month or so has mostly been filled with sight seeing here in London as my Mum has been visiting from NZ. We’ve seen loads and I’m happy to say I think the English countryside has wooed me thoroughly. So much so that I can now call myself a member of the National Trust (and not a grey hair in sight!). 

The Royal residences had to be done, of course. Windsor Castle was magnificent and sprawling:

And Buckingham Palace was beautiful. The State Rooms and Banquet Hall were ridiculously lavish.

Bus tours were had and an obligatory trip on the London Eye:

We found ourselves spending a day and night in Bath (for the second time since arriving in the UK) on our way down to Cornwall. The Abbey was as majestic as ever – beautiful inside.

The Pump Room, of Austen fame:

Lovely Pulteney Bridge:

Stopped for a breather at Port Wrinkle on our way down:

Stayed here at Looe for a night, where Ella of Trehaven Manor cooked a lovely vegan breakfast:

And then drove on to the wonderful Lanhydrock House, where we toured the rooms and gardens:

Heading North over the Bodmin moors we noticed a change of scene – less seaside nonchalance and country charm and more moody atmosphere and broody outlooks.

We stayed a night in Tintagel, where King Arthur’s Castle was:

A place of rugged and bleak cliff tops, jagged rocks and cold winds, it wasn’t too hard to let your imagination run wild.

Back in London we found ourselves in the West End for Buddy Holly, at the Globe for The Merry Wives of Windsor and strolling through the many local parks and grounds. Kenwood House proved as lovely inside as it is out, with a large collection of paintings that I’ll definitely be going back to see more than once.

All in all, a great time of year to get out and see a bit of the UK and really appreciate how much it has to offer. I suspect we’ll be taking advantage of a few more attractions over the next few weeks before the winter sets in for good. Then, it will be knitting all the way!

ps – How did Christmas get to be so soon??

Impulse buys and stash busting

Woops! seems to have been a while since I posted… Poor blog, so neglected. 

 

Still, there has been crafting. Knitting in particular:

 

 

I was so in love with this (ridiculously basic) pattern that I just had to make another. Brilliant stash busting exercise and very handy for getting rid of unwanted non-vegan wool. Not sure who it’s for, but my friends seem to be at that age, popping them out like there’s a sperm shortage. (Well, food, oil, why not..?)

 

 

Anyway, it’s still not blocked and I’m not sure which coloured buttons to add. Maybe purple? Or teal? I was thinking red for a while as I like the way it clashes.

 

In other craft related news, I went to the Iknit Day Out the other weekend and it was fantastic! Not usually a big Yarn Harlot fan, but found myself in hysterics at her talk. She is funny and fun and sincere and quite entertaining. Who’d have thought you could banter away about brain waves and stash for 2 hours and keep a captive audience? 

 

Fortunately for my bank balance there wasn’t an awful lot of vegan yarn on sale. I could only find one skein of cotton tencel blend in the entire hall! Quite ridiculous. Still, that did free up my pounds so I could splurge on some rather pricey L. Nichols glass buttons (no pics yet) and… a drop spindle!

 

 

Just walking by a stand, lamenting my sad and sorry yarn purchases, and before I knew it I was handing over my hard-earned cash in exchange for a lovely wooden drop spindle. Never spun a single fibre in my life. Didn’t even know I wanted to really. But still, there you go. And, after a little online shopping magic, a pile of vegan roving landed on my doorstep this morning. I got a little tencel, cotton, bamboo, black diamond, soy silk and hemp! The hemp looked the most newbie-friendly so I tried it out this morning. Voila! An art yarn.

 

 

A little thick, a little thin, and kind of, well… hempish. Maybe it will be good hat material? Whatever it ends up as, it’s keeping me well entertained for the moment. (It’s the simple things…)

Cardi for a wee Dubliner

I think I’ve discovered the joy of baby knits! Fun, fast and nearly instant gratification. This cardi was knit for a wee Dubliner who is due to join us any day now. 

 

 

I think I might knit another. Just as well my friends are all pumping ‘em out like there’s no tomorrow! Good for watching the Olympics too. I think NZ has finally nabbed a few medals. Phew!  Those zeros were starting to look quite bleak all lined up like that…

 

The Heath

I vowed at the start of Summer to make better use of the nearby heath, as it’s only 10 minutes away. Funny to think this is central London…

 

Blue sky. Finally.

Pink scarves and sunshine

The sun is shining and life is good. I’m in the process of making a quilt and would show pictures, but I haven’t taken any yet! It’s mostly floral prints, in subtle tones (well, compared to the Amy Butler quilt that is). I’ve also just finished a garter stitch scarf. Sometimes you just need a good ol’ fashioned garter stitch scarf to get lost in. It’s pink, bright pink. And made from cotton (Rowan I think). Also on the needles is a baby blanket for a friend. Stripes. I hope to use up a lot of my random wool stash in greens, blues and pinks. Photos coming soon if all goes well. 

 

In non-craft related news, it’s Summer here in London and while the locals are going round gasping for air in the ‘heat’, I’m quite content. It is after all only about 22 degrees most days (when it’s not raining that is!). I’m still trying desperately to avoid the dreaded 9 to 5 – working on the writing, but in a slightly different format than first anticipated. Something along the lines of starting my own business, but I don’t want to say too much too soon. (Not much fun, I know!). Still, you’ll be the first to know. Promise.

Quilt Bug

So, back when I decided to make a quilt a few months ago, I wasn’t really sure what I was doing. Quilt making? Did I like quilt making? Was I even any good at sewing? Where had this newfound interest come from? And why on Earth did I want to make a quilt…? Wasn’t this a knitting blog…??

Nonetheless, the quilt was made and is still holding itself together admirably, however it is a little on the small side. So, I’ve been thinking. Maybe time for another quilt?

With these thoughts in the back of my mind I unexpectedly happened upon this lovely shop in Bruges, Belgium, while visiting for the weekend (in celebration of my recent birthday) (nope, not telling how old I am!). Bruges by the way is the cutest little town and very well known for its lace making history and of course its delectable Belgium chocolate (yay for Chocolatiers on every street corner!) (and ones selling vegan chocolate at that!). 

The shop in question was quite a find, stocking everything from little rubber stamps to wooden toys to handcrafted fabric items. Some of which they had displayed outside:

These quilts were all hand sewn, and had a certain simplicity to them. They looked soft and inviting and… ‘basic’. Looking them over I felt compelled to make another, larger quilt in subtle tones like these. One that would be softer than my first attempt with Amy Butler’s heavy weighted cottons and one that would be large enough to actually be useful. The first one I made was done by machine, but for this one I intend to have a go at hand quilting the layers together. Interesting to see how that goes as my hand sewing skills are slightly lacking – perhaps it will give a rustic look?