My new Etsy shop

I have decided to take the plunge and open my own Etsy shop! I really love making things and the only way I will be able to keeping making things is if I sell them as I have already filled the house up! I am planning on mainly stocking my shop with hand sewn items. so far I have mostly been making knitting project bag kits, which contain a project bag, notions pouch and DPN case in matching fabric and a set of progress keepers. Here are some examples....  

I love using knitting project bags myself and I have had lots of practice making them. They are a little different from other knitting project bags out there because they are free motion stitched in all over quilt patterns, this gives them strength and durability. 

I have also got some progress keepers on sale. I like these because you can mark your knitting without using stitch markers on the needle. My favourites are the bicycle and star progress keepers.

I have a few other items for sale which include some placemats and another handspun, hand knitted notions pouch and I am hoping to have some other items up there soon. You can find a link to my Etsy shop either in the shop tab at the top of the page or the Etsy link to the right of this page. I am very happy to answer any questions. I can also make bespoke peices if you have a specific idea of what you want, just let me know and I will see what I can do. 

Addicted to knitting socks and shawls

I came across fondant fibre while listening to their little bobbins knits podcast. I just had to order some yarn from them. It came package so nicely with a cute little lip balm. The yarn I ordered was superwash Merino with nylon and stellina. The pattern I chose was from a book called sock archetecture, checked and squared socks by Lara Neel. The yarn knitted up wonderfully and the pattern was very easy to follow. Here are the finished socks...

 

 

 

The shawl I knit was also in fondant fibres spangle base in the harmony colour way. The pattern was called Frisson by Brittany Wilson. Again I had lots of fun knitting it and can't wait to order some more! I would definitely like to knit this pattern again, once I had done a few repeats I was really into it.

Flower garden cardigan for Darcie

I wanted to make a cardigan for my niece. So I adapted a pattern called Relish by Kim Hargreaves (from Rowan knits). I had knitted the pattern before and it was a great fit so I used the shaping and added a different trim on the sleeves and around the bottom. The yarn I used was the double knit from King Cole in a lovely petrol blue colour (named topaz). I added some little hand embroidered flowers in red as I loved the combination of the red and blue. Here is how it looks...

I am now working on another shawl. It is knitting up really quickly so it should be done for Christmas. Ta ta for now.

His and hers hand knitted socks

I have got a bit of a thing about knitting socks. They are really handy little projects that you can carry around and they don't take too much room. I found a fantastic pattern in Socktopus by Alice Yu. I have had the book for sometime and could not decide which of the patterns to start with first. The patterns have really cool names as they are named after characters or concepts from programmes like true blood and supernatural, of which I am a great fan. The pattern I chose is called V junkie, inspired by the series true blood and the idea that the vampires in the series were addicted to this synthetic type of blood. Anyway I digress. The waffly pattern creates such a lovely squidgy texture and I used a really lovely yarn called Special merino lace in a gorgeous bright pink colour. I can't wait to try another of Alice's patterns. I knitted these socks for me, but I felt guilty as my fiance needed some new socks too so I knitted some plain socks from a really colourful yarn called Lanas stop iris sock yarn. I improvised the pattern, it included a slip stitch heal to make them a little more durable. I love the colours in this yarn, although they did seem to shed quite a lot of fluff on the first wear. Anyway enough chatting, here they are....

Texture adventures

I attended a really great class a few weeks ago by Mary Mcintosh. You can check out some of Mary's work on her website the copper queen. The class was organised by the Norfolk quilters and consisted of a whole day of playing with texture. It was very inspiring, I am looking forward to trying out more creative ideas in the future. This is my finished piece, an eight inch square. I am planning on framing it at some point, but I am looking for the right frame.

Bye for now! 

Confetti and organza needle case

A little while ago I went to a course lead by Margaret Currie about using fabric confetti and organza to make new fabric. I used this technique to make a little needle case. I wont go into too much detail as it would spoil your experience of going to one of Margaret's classes, she is a fabulous teacher! The needle pages are made from felt and simply sewn in along the spine and I added a satin ribbon as a closure. You can never have too many needle cases!

Waterfall ripple blanket

I was inspired by Tilly Trout from Ravelry to have a go at one of these blankets. I follow her video blog on you tube and she was really enjoying crocheting it. I am a big fan of blues and greens, as you may already have guessed! I picked up a few different shades in the stylecroft special double knit acrylic, great for blankets so it can be thrown in the washing machine! The pattern is called neat ripple by Lucy from Attic24, you can check out the pattern here. I used 6 balls of yarn and ended up with a good size lap blanket. I edged the blanket in a couple of rows of triple crochet to finish it off.  My fiance has already decided that it is his blanket as it is so warm! For more details see my ravelry page.