Knitting in Public Day

What a lovely way to spend a Saturday when I should have been at work. When I knew Sarah Hatton was coming to John Lewis in Nottingham for the day I had to book leave so I could be there. We were fewer than I thought but the store was busy and lots of people came over to see what was happening. One knitting person commented that she knew now what monkeys in the zoo must feel like! My Friend and I were laughing saying wouldn't it be funny if someone we knew happened to pass when suddenly there was Fran who I used to be very close too many years ago! How fabulous to reunite! I'll definitely be keeping in touch.
We had a competition to knit bunting and one for the fastest knitter. Cast on 60 stitches and knit for 3 minutes. I managed 131. Not very impressive when you know the world record is 255 but still enough to win me the prize! A set of bamboo needles, a ball of Rowan Cocoon and a copy of Sarah's book. How lovely!

Pay it Forward

I recently received a gift from Squirrel from her Pay it Forward competition.

There is a lovely lilac washcloth, stitch markers and an Aero sheep which arrived just in time to accompany a mid-morning coffee. Yum!
So now it is my turn to pass it on. If you would like to play just leave a comment on here before June 24th. I'll randomly select 3 visitors to receive a small gift from me. Go ahead. It's easy and fun.

Dabbling

Isabel and I love to dabble in new crafts. A short while ago we went to the Beetroot Tree gallery in Duffield to have a go at crocheting in wire. When we went to the Sewing for Pleasure / Hobbycraft show we tried silk painting and drizzle embroidery but I think the one that gave us both the most satisfaction was the mosaic mirrors we made at Shipley Country Park.



I wish I had thought to take a photo before I grouted it because the difference it made was incredible. I guess if you have ever blocked lace you will know exactly what I mean.

Speaking of blocking lace seems a fine opportunity to add a photo of my latest Icarus. This was for the Ravelry International shawl swap. My shawl is still travelling to me internationally. I am really looking forward to it's arrival.

Six months

It seems it is just six months since my last post here. I'm not sure how that happened although Ravelry and the Phoenix forum could be the explanation as I post my projects on the first and my thoughts on the second.
Would you like to see some projects here??



Was it silly of me to be unreasonably excited to have a message from Ravelry asking if they could use it as the feature photo for this pattern? Probably, since mine is the only finished one on there! I really don't know why. I love it. It is Glimmer by Grace Melville from Studio 20 in Rowan Denim but with plain sleeves.

Next we have Fiore di Mare.



I have knitted this twice but both have gone off for swaps. I shall do a keeper though before the autumn comes.

Another twice knit project is Sleeping Baby's Castle blanket. I did one full size and one smaller one by reducing the turret rib surrounding the picture part.



My friend for whose grandson I knitted the smaller one was showing some professional photos that had been taken of the baby and I was so thrilled to see they had chosen that blanket for the pictures.

Friendship blanket

On the Phoenix Forum some of us are knitting squares for each other, two per month for different people. I knew I was enjoying this, we send postcards too with greetings for each other but it wasn't until I was explaining to Millie why I had an envelope with 2 pieces of knitting that I realized how wonderful it is. When my blanket is finished it will be made up of gifts from online friends all over the country who I most likely will never meet in person and it will be all the warmer for that.
Here it is so far. I have asked for the colours to echo the 'Dandelion Clocks' I have as my curtains and cushions.