double moss sttich

doublemoss
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

I even did a tension square (wonders will never cease0 for the designing of DD's jumper so i could work out how many stitches etc. Also unbelievably remembered to knit the tensionsquare in the round LOL

lace1

lace1
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

close up of the lace pattern from Posh Yarn's Lace club free pattern

m's jumper

mjump
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Now this is a bit more interesting, remember I said I wanted to try and 'design' a jumper for M (DD) knitted in the round - no sewing up? Wel, this is where i am at so far, takes a long time to go round that many stitches but should speed up once i divide for the front and back, I hope.

angel socks 2

sock
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Not much progress here then?

k's cardi

kcardi
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

lots of knitting, not much finishing *rolls eyes*

Jomasblock1 CQRR

Jomasblock1
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Here is the latest embroidery in the cq roundrobin. This is the first time I have tried a spider and her web so I am pleased with how it came out.

The feather stitch foliage is worked in 4 shdes of stranded embroidary floss, 2 threads and the web is in rajmahal thread so it glints in the light, lovely threads but boy I am nervous of unravelling them. I need to get a new set of storage boxes and bobbins and spend an evening unravelling and winding them onto the bobbins. Maybe a winter's evening when I have nothing else to do? Yeah, right!

Meanwhile on the knitting front I am progressing with M's top. I have knitted a swatch in my chosen pattern to work out gague and used those figures to work out how many stitches to cast on for M's size. Maths bit done I am now knitting, *play interval music* I'll get back to you with progress once I have made some :o) I have already modified the bottom and I am knitting in the round so it is taking forever to do a row. It will get quicker once I divide for the front & back, I hope :o)

Also did a little of little one's ss cardi in the variegated sock wool last night.

Niece (16), who has been staying for a couple of weeks, is clicking away on a stocking stitch scarf which she is taking home with her. Click clack :o)

Feeling like embroidering again which is good as the next two legs of the CQRR are here so I need to post off the spider and get to the next one asap. Off to choose some threads.

Very nice lady from Jane's Attic. telephoned a few night ago. She had had a parcel returned by the post office as it was damaged and she was going through all hher orders for rajmahal silks to find out who they belonged to as there was no name or address on the damaged packaging. I received a part order for the complete set about 6 or 7 weeks ago and have been meaning to telephone and see what happened to the rest of the order ever since. Since getting the knittingbug again I have to confess my focus has been elsehwere and with the building work going on in the house I have been at 6s and 7s anyway, but ...Luckily she is more organised than me and it has bothered her that she didn't know whose silks they were and no one had rung (oops!) to ask where their order was. I was the third person she had rung that evening as she tried to find the missing owner. It's a good job there are honest and trust worthy people in this world and I have found many of them in conection to sewing and knitting, Here's another one, Thank you :o) The rest of my order arrived withing a couple of days of the call and I am back to my stitching. Yummy threads :o)

new beginings

I bought some lovely purple cotton DK to make something for DD - her fav colour is purple. See it here number 31. But we couldn't agree on a pattern that I had enough yarn for and that she liked! The ones she liked were not DK or they were too much yarn. I have 500g so short or sleeveless I think.

So I was thinking ... do you think I could design a top myself?

I only ask because I was browsing a new knitting stitch dictionary (not buying yarn, see) and there was the pattern fron The DB lace & bobble cardi!

I thought DB had made this pattern up but apparently there's nothing new under the sun.

So if I choose a stitch pattern, work out my tension, measure DD, decide on fit and sleeves and edging and neckline then I should be able to do it, right? I really liked knitting the DB, it was a bit more of a challenge, and I am finding the ss on the cardi for DD2 I just started a real bore, so maybe i can do something a little more difficult. The interest is in the variegated yarn, Opal rainforest parrot. Pattern here, yarn here.

I could do it in the round to avoid sideseams. If I made square shoulders I could pick up the stitches and knit down the sleeves so only shoulder seams and I could do a three needle cast off for them :o) I will use the design pages and hints in the debbie stoller book to help me. You see I have been thinking about this and ... I have his idea :o)

OK. Off to be a knitwear designer and if it turns out ok you can all share my pattern ;o)

tedsrow

tedsrow
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Not much knitting today, overdue row called and I finally finished Ted's Row. The fabrics and patterns are Thimbleberries and i will get round to making a quilt with these for myself, one day :o)

DB Lace & Bobble finished - yipee!

ETA thank you for the nice suportive comments :o) Does anyone know why my side bar stuff isn't at the top of the page?


DBbob4
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Here it is modeled by my DD - slimmer than me :o) and the back

Lovely, needs blocking, but I couldn't wait :o)

And on me ... well I need to loose weight *sigh!* but here it is

and


very annoyingly I think you can see on the back where I sewed in a couple of ends.

Secondly the pattern for the front corners completely escaped me so I improvised -guess this makes this an original and there wont be any others like it - i.e. wrong! VBG never mind my adaptation worked, the corner was turned.

So what next?

Row to finish for the row by row swap, cq blocks to work on and pass on in the RR. Then - clapotis OR lace, dither, dither.

Posh Yarn Lace Club

DSCI0029
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Look what I got! Discovered on the AY forum today that club members got a variety of yarns rather than all getting the same one. This has made for a lovely 'show and tell' as we showed out treasure to each other.

Yummy! Details of Seraphina on the Posh Yarn website. and all about the lace club here. We also got a free pattern for the yarn to make the lovely shawl on the lace club page. I am not sure if this is available to non-club members, as I can't find it on thewebsite so I will check with Dee and post a link once I have her go ahead to do so :o)

So I need to hurry up and finish DB's lace & bobble cardi so can get started on a shawl, again. i will use a lifeline this time so I don't loose it all when i make a mistake *rolls eyes, in an i've been there done that kind of way*. I still have Bertie to finish, a pair of socks I started on holiday barely begun, and, the Colinette cardi to finish - if I ever summon the enthusiasm to get it out of the plastic bag after all this time!

I was wondering, should I have a knitting blog and a non-knitting blog? Or shall I continue with this as it is? What do you think?

I have also joined the Yarn Angels Club at Angel Yarns. So 'clubs are me' at the moment! This 10% discount has already encouraged me to spend more :o) well, need to get my tenner's worth LOL.

Knitting - none
Sewing - none
Shopping - Lots!

But also sold some yarn I will never use but it is way too good to bin, on the forum tonight so feeling quite holy. New yarn comes in one door as other yarn goes and out the next. a Yarn-go-round? Stash-a-bye?

PS Northumberland has LOTS of castles, I'm sure we could spare a few, any you fancy in particular :o)

PPS BD cardi now has rib on back and one sleeve, getting there, getting there.

DB lace & bobble and happy hloidays

DBbob2
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

I found out how to get knitting time - go on holiday! This is where I'm at on the DB Lace & Bobble cardi pattern here. I need to add the ribbing, but I didn't take my Denises with me so couldn't change needle to start the rib. Very pleased with how it is coming along and no further problems with the pattern, yet :o) So I plan to start the rib tonight.

Row by row due for Ted very soon, I had intended to get this done before I went away but didn't *rolls eyes* so I must start soon. Ted is using Thimbleberries fabrics and likes sew a row patterns so that's where I start :o)

I took the kids ( 3 teenagers and 1 age 3) to the cottage near Longframlington, Northumberland. This used to be a farm workers cottage on a lovely quiet farm where they 'bring on' cattle, so apart from the gentle lowing [and the noise we all made (!)] it was lovely and quiet. No traffic noise and as we live on a main road that is the major attraction for me.

It would have been green too - it was last year - but because of our heat wave (it officially got hot enough this far north too this week!) it was all looking a bit scorched! Anyway, still lots of green trees and the heat wave broke yesturday (according to the weather man) and we had some rain.

All home safely but I am missing the knitting time already :o)

Knitted this

at Alnwick Castle whilst the kids jousted! As you can see I didn't get much done but that counts as my knitting in public for this week :o)

Little one had a great time in the water garden getting completely soaked - I had a change of clothes ready! read more about Alnwick Castle and garden here and here.

we also went to heatherslaw light railway and had a good time.

Back to reality and squeezing the craft time in around everything else - ah well, until next year...

butterfly2

butterfly2
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Here it is, ah that's better. I feel as if my posts are not complete without a photo :o)

This is how the butterfly sits on the block


sorry it is so blurred, scanner still jammed by crayon *rolls eyes* but camera reclaimed - he'd put it away in it's case so I didn't see it although I was looking straight at it!

This block and Dreamer's other one are now on their way, Geminista coming to a letterbox near you soon :o)

Digital cameras scanners and wax crayons!

Hello all, I have finished the first front of the DB cardi, I am well on the way to finishing the second side and then I will be onto the back and as the sleeves are knitted in with the fronts I shall be 'nearly finished' well trying to be optimistic. I'm not looking forward to the ribbing but we'll cross that hurdle when we reach it.

Meanwhile I have also finished a gorgeous wonderful beautiful butterfly motif for the CQRR. I can say this without fear of contradiction because I can't find the digi camera (kids!) and the scanner isn't working since it was forced to swallow the wax crayon by the 3 yr old (kids!) so I am unable to post a piccie. Grrr! Very frustrating. However I will not let the butterfly out of my hot little hand until I have captured it's brilliance (it's going to be something of a disappointment now isn't it?) for posterity. I really wanted to post today too as we are off on hols for a week tomorrow VBG but the best laid plans and all that.

Maybe more later with piccie when teenage DD returns (kids!)

Debbie Bliss Lace & Bobble Cardi - progress

DBbob1
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Doing ok on this one, but have to concentrate on the pattern, Tiredness caused lots of frogging tlast night, but here's the story so far. :o)

Bertie2

Bertie2
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

More camera shake but good enough to see that she's coming along nicely! I have ordered some more beads LOL only down side is that the scarf is seriously curly when hanging otn rather than flattened out to take a photo so i am hopeing that blocking will sortthis out.

bertie is growing!

bertie1
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Here's that scarf I am making to use up the Debbie Bliss Pure Silk. Bertie by Bronte of Confessions of a graveyard Gypsy is a knitalong (blog here).

So far so good. One small mistake :o) didn't read the instructions properly so missed off the garterstitch border along the bottom. Additionally I only have 200 beads not the 250 recommended. I will knit until the beads run out and then see how long that makes the scarf. It doesn't take long to get the beads from Beads Direct but I may add a fringe to disguise the edging error along the bottom.

I am enjoying the beads and the pattern is easy to learn and the errors are quickly spotted in the next couple of rows so the tinking isn't too bad. Without the beads the repetition of the lace would get a bit monotonous I think but the beads add another variable to keep me awake.

Colour of the photo isn't accurate - the yarn is lilac and the beads are silver. Pure Silk is lovely and soft. I am using bamboo needles and not finding it too slippy, only complaint is that it splits a little if I go too fast but on the whole nice yarn which shows the stitch definition wonderfully. Might be a problem in a larger garment with lots of stocking stitch as my knitting is not always very even but for something like this it is fine. :o)

i am a little further than half way through the first ball - those beads are disappearing fast. Think i should order some more? Fingers crossed they breed over night and i find there are plenty in the morning :o)

Debbie Bliss cardi

DBbob
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Hello! Had a lovely surprise today when I went to cross the christmas deccie off my do to list and discovered the deadline was 20th July and not 10th as I thought. So instead of being late (again!) I am early - feeling very virtuous so I've had a sewing day off and done some of the deamon knitting instead. Mastered the sleeve increases wit the help of the forum knitalong and some king lady who worked out the spacing for me - not clear in the DB pattern :o(

Coming along nicely - just another gazillion pattern repeats to do :o)

from Lyn

fromLyn
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

I have been beavering away on the DB cardi but spent a large part of today tinking yesturdays work - I managed to loose a stitch in the pattern pannel somewhere - 1 yo too few! Fixed now but also found I couldn't do the increase row as a pattern row with the way I had counted the rows so had to add a purl row first. Guess my trusty piece of paper wasn't so trusty *rolls eyes* I am so glad i am doing this project as part of a knitalong as I think i would have big problems understanding the pattern without help.

For example, it says "mark side edge of last row with a coloured thread". Fine! But ... which is the side edge, the side with the sleeve on - i.e. the outside , or the side with the button band on. Ok, so the button band would be the centre of the cardi right? So it must mean the other side. But, if this is the left front is that the left as you look at it when someone else is wearing it, or is it the left when you are wearing it yourself? You see, not clear, written for hard of understanding knitters, instructions! So I marked both sides and hope all will become clear once the sleeve cast ons are knitted.

Some kind forum members of the knitalong have also worked out the spacing between the pattern panel is 7 stitches for the size I am doing (36-38) otherwise who knows what might have happened when I got to that bit as the pattern doesnot make the spacing clear.

Meanwhile back at the non-knitting front I have made some decorations for Lyn, *waves to Lyn* who sent me these in a recent Christmas in Jult swap. Aren't they pretty? Will reveal mine later when Lyn has received them.

Tomorrow the pictures for the cqrr of the next blocks I need to work on. And probably more knitting.

Bertiealong

Do you remember the lilac Debbie Bliss Pure Silk skeins in my stash picture?

Well, I have found the perfect project.

I belong to an excellent knitting forum .

One of the other members entered a competition in one of the UK hand knitting mags and was one of the winners. Her design, Bertie was in this months issue of Simply Knitting and we are having a knitalong. I have ordered my beads and I will be ready to go when they arrive. Why not join us? Instructions for joining the knitalong are on the website (click on the knitalong link). Bronte's blog can be found here. There is a free download for her pattern on the blog.

I have never knitted with beads before so this will be somethig a bit different. Should I thread or hook? :o) This scarf will be for me to keep :o)

PS the swatch turned out to be the right size (18 x 26 - near as damn it) once it was washed and blocked so I started the DB Lace & Bobble cardi. Pattern repeats being differnt numbers to the row repeats and increases, is a little confusing so i am knitting with trusty pen and scarp of paper at my side.

Just thought, it probably wont be long until I loose that scrap of paper! VBG

swatch1

swatch1
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

This is the first ever swatch to check my tension prior to knitting a garment :) It is for Debbie Bliss' cardi pattern here. I am knitting it in Cotton Angora so I thought I had better check my tension. It had to happen sooner or later, I've been knitting since I was 6 so it's about time I made a tenson square. The pattern tension is 18 x 28 the swatch is 20 x 27 so now I am stuck, do I use a bigger needle or a smaller needle or shall I just revert to type and knit it whilst hopeing for the best? LOL VBG, off to knit a jumper.

PS might get round to finishing the Colinette cardi I started last year sometime, only need to do the button bands and sew it up! Languishing in a corner!

Naughty non-finishing knitter woman!

ETA cotton angora is from my stash - I haven't been buying agin. Will show you what I bought which isn't in the stash photo tomorrow :) Last of the buying until September - on a stashalong - again! But this time I am sticking to it - honest :)

maureen's seam & those berries again!

maureen's seam
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Finally finished my additions to Maureen's autumn themed cq blocks.

The first additions were the blackberries and then tonight I added a seam treatment which started out as a simple double herringbone in oranges but I added some french knots to represent seeds and then decded to widen out the seam and spill the seeds across the edge of the fan.

Also please note how the photo of the blackberries is better when i am trying to photograph the seam than it was when I was trying to photograph the berries themselves! Sods law! Click on the picture for a larger photo.



Here is the other doodle on the other block.

This block really stumped me, all the pieces are small and the colours are very strong with lots of pattern on most pieces. I umed and ahed and was just about to chicken out and not add anything to the block when I spotted this little patch.

The material is textured so i made the blackwork stronger by using two strands of thread for the outline. Something quintessentially (sp?) English for you Maureen, acorns.

Autumn, love it! Mists og mellow fruitfullness. I hope you like what I have added to your block. I found your blocks rather difficult to work with but in the end I am happy with what I have acheived and I enjoyed the challenge.

In the post back to Aus in the morning. :o)

Is this craft?

yarn
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Here is the other thing I have been doing! Spending money! Does that count as craft?

The stash photographed has only one ball of each, but I have lots of the DB cotton Angora (caramel), lots of the other angora (dark green) more of the fairytale (white) 4ply, a couple of the DB pure silk (light purple) and a couple of the fibrespates (varigated purple/blue and red/orange). If I had photgraphed it all it would have looked much more out of control (remember the yarn fast? No, me neither!) this way with one ball of each it's almost respectable VBG Special mention goes to the posh yarn here seen on the right ofthe photo 2 x 100g hanks - about to learn to do laceweight knitting. Well, when I say about to - I mean "one day i will..." :o)

So that is 3 shawls, 1 stole, 1 cardigan (nearly finished), 3 pairs of socks, a bolero, a jumper, a jumper for little miss 3, and something as yet undecided with the silk.

Hmm! Think I need to sell off some of my back stash to make room for this lot!

Oh and I also bought the whole Rajmahal threads collection too and some DB Cathay - well, it was on sale! So I had to. Profligate consumption. Will be knitting for ages, no more yarn, i keep filling my virtual baskets and then emptying them now, surely that little lot is enought, right? Yeh, right! VBG

Guess it's back to buying books from now on - anyone got any suggestions? Oh, knitting books? You think so? OK!

blackberries2

blackberries2
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Maureen's cq has an autumn theme so I chose to bead some blackberries. The photo fails to show the different colours of irredescent beads used, but does give an idea of the 3 dimensional nature of the fnished berries.

The stems are sewn in stem stitch (!) which is then whipped with a gold thread and the leaves are satin stitch with a gold central vein.

The staples (?) are a detached chain stitch.

Enjoyed doing these, it was nice to be sewing again. I will add a seam treatment tomorrow evening and then it's off to Aus for the blackberries. Haven't decided whether to use my other idea for Maureen's second block or not, the pieces are so small, I might do it over more than one seam but I'm still pondering that one as the patches are all quite strong colours and I am not sure the motif i have in mind will be able to compete. i need to have another look at the block.

This was my 1st attempt at any 3D stitching so i am quite pleased with myself. "Give yourself a pat on the front, you won, you won, you won... give yourself a pat on the side, you tried, you tried, you tried." I watch too much toddler TV VBG

spooky's row

spooky's row
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Here's my most recent work. I am in a row by row swap on a craft forum and the person I am sewing for on this row has a seaside theme and a bright colour palette. The row is suposed to be 'baskets' so i adapted this to make a row of little bckets for making sandcastles on the beach.

I made the handles from gold braid couched onto the dark blue fabric - they show up really nicely in real life having a little sparkle to them :o) I enjoed stitching this row and using the bright colours I might not normaly choose.

Waiting for the next bok to come, without going to look it up I can't remember who I am sewing for next nor what he instructions for the row are. This is one of the nice things about a round robin - you get to different things. The last row was paper piecing (foundation piecing) and I didn't get on so well with that but this row was any tecnique so long as it was baskets and i played it safe ad did a straight forward pieced patchwork row. I think I might have some applique coming up son and I will need to allow a little extra time for that - I was a few days late with this row as it was.

It's been a really busy week and I am looking forward to a little calmer time in the week coming up- famous last words. I have some cq to catch up on and then a christmas ornament to make. After that the next row will be due and I still have some other projects I want to work on. That's not to mention all the yarn I've been buying recently - please don't mention all the yarn I've been buying lately! No time to knit though :o)

pc from Belle 2

pc from Belle 2
Originally uploaded by Jam_mam.

Remember the fibre postcard swap? Well, this is what I got from my mystery partner.

The mystery turned out to be my good friend Belle, and here is the reverse of the card.



Notice the stamp and the hand franked mark, aren't they just right?

I love the card, it is exuberant and free and ust gorgeous, lovely colours and excellent machime embroidery stitching (makes mental note to practice same).

What I need to know Belle, is how was it stiffened? It is slimmer than the last one and sturdier. Anyone got the 'perfect' material for stiffening postcards? What do you use?

This is the pc I sent to Jo



It is needlefelted with embroidery and taken from a piece in Stitch with the Embroiderer's Gulid.

One of the things i like most about Belle's pc is that they are her own invention. This is my first one and definately copied from someone else's idea. The needlefelting was a little fragile (needed more needleing) and so i posted it in an envelope. Belle's also arrived in an envelope but she had the foresight to get it franked first, which I did not :o(

I like these little pieces of art and I will be making more :o)