Willow and Tissue Lanterns - A Rerun

 

You may remember that this time last year my son and I were making lanterns from willow and tissue, at West Devon Arts, and then later larger willow and tissue animal models to show at Tavistock Dickensian Evening. In the end the parade was cancelled because of stormy weather.  It was disappointing, so we are redoing the course. I will write about our large models later, as we are still at the building stage.

But here are our practice lanterns, to remind ourselves of the techniques. Mine is the willow pattern plate inspired one above. I decided to go fairly simple on the decorations. It is amazing what you can do with a blue sharpie. Not sure if it is finished, or I may add a bit more decoration.

 

My son has made a more interesting shape, and his lantern is above. I think the two colour tissue decoration is really effective.  

Chameleon

I am busy working on a new pattern, and have returned to sort of thing that I do most - quirky little creatures. Do you like Mr Chameleon? 

I think I am nearly there with the pattern, but this is just a peek, as I realised I have not been posting very much at the moment. 

I am still at the testing and photographing stage. Tricky with a chamelon, as I really should find somewhere very colourful to put him, so you have no idea he is even there!

Vespa Scooter

Every now and then someone makes one of my patterns, and does it so well, that I feature it here. Susie bought my Vespa knitting pattern back in June, and has made this lovely model for her brother-in-law to put in his workshed where he loves renovating vintage scooters! She says "The trouble is he's a Lambretta fanatic so not sure how well a Vespa will go down!" Well I am certain he will love it!

If you have used one of my patterns I would love to see what you have made. 

Woodland Walk Hot Water Bottle Cover

I've been working on this pattern for some weeks, but first got in a bit of a muddle with the sizing, and then somehow as usual life has got in the way. My other Hot Water Bottle Cover pattern - The Cottage Garden, is possibly a bit summery, so I thought I would try to design one with more of an autumnal feel. 

I love going on an woodland walk in autumn - golden, yellow and red leaves on the trees and ground, hunting for and trying to identify the many toadstools, and perhaps catching a glimpse of a fox or rabbit. So I have incorporated all these motifs into my cover.

Like my other bottle cover I hope this is a good introduction to fair isle knitting. Only the fox has three colours, but with all the other motifs you are working with just two strands of wool. It is also a nice small project, possibly a bit easier than embarking on a garment if you are new to the technique. You could alter the colours of wool used, or the order of the motifs. If you do this, or even if you don't, I would love to see your finished project.

There is some embroidery on each motif, and I particularly enjoyed this part of the project. Suddenly the whole cover seemed to come to life. Embroidering with wool on wool is quite forgiving, and I have some tutorials in Embroidery Corner on this blog, if you need help with any of the stitches. 

The pattern uses 4mm needles, and DK wool. I knitted the back in plain stripes, but you could knit the back with the same motifs as the front. This would only take a little more wool.

I enjoyed this design so much that I thinking of some ideas for a wintery cover design.  

The pattern will be available on Ravelry, Etsy and LoveKnitting as soon as I have uploaded it. 

 

 

A Change of Scene

I have been dithering about this post. This blog gives some insights into my life, perhaps a slightly edited version. But as I know I have some people who have followed me for quite a few years, I thought I would just let you know that I have moved house. You may have noticed that I have been posting much less recently, mainly because moving house is such hard work. 

If you have followed my gardening posts you will definitely notice a difference next year. The new house has a lovely garden, but I am going to be much less vegetable-based. There are some lovely shrubs and flowers, so I am going to have to learn about this sort of gardening. There is a small raised bed, but I may have to plant some of my vegetables in pots or between the flowers in the borders.

We are now in a hamlet on the edge of Dartmoor. I think it will suit us well, and I have already been welcomed with a glass of wine by my new neighbour. When I say the edge of Dartmoor, I really mean the edge of Dartmoor. I have to frequently weave my way between sheep or ponies. The photo above was taken through the front window, where the ponies like to gather, no zoom lens needed. 

Our dog is enjoying some different walks, and we are looking forward to exploring Dartmoor and the surrounding countryside, which I expect you will see reflected here.

 

From Tablecloth to Travel: A Handmade Top for Morocco

I have been sewing again with an old embroidered tablecloth. This one was not a family heirloom, but I must have bought it from a charity shop, I think. So long ago I can't remember where, and like lots of other pieces of fabric it has been tucked away in a box, awaiting its turn. 

 

For this project I have used my go-to pattern: the Ethel Ruffle Blouse, from Tiana's Closet. Once again I put seams down the centre front and back to give the top some symmetry. My favourite section is the back, and after all it is good to look stunning as you walk away. 

 

Again I had to use the last bits of my plain tablecloth for the bottom section, and have not put any gathers, as that is what my daughter prefered.

 

 

Same v-neck, and this time I made it without sleeves, and improvised some facing pieces to finish the armholes neatly. Below is a corner of the original tablecloth. 

The top is already in the post to my daughter, who is off on holiday to Morocco next week. I am hoping she may send me a photograph of herself wearing it, but that may not happen. 

And no, the fez perched on top of my dressmaking model isn't because of the Moroccan theme. It's lived there ever since a New Year’s Eve a few years back, when—after watching Squeeze on a Hootenanny—we thought it’d be hilarious to order a fez as our first act of the year. Possibly too much champagne was involved.

Vegetable Garden Update July

I have accidentally let two months pass without writing about my vegetable garden. I am busy picking raspberries, loganberries and strawberries every day, and my one small gooseberry bush is fully laden. Somebody told me gooseberries and strawberries combine to make a nice jam, so they are being popped into the freezer until I have enough. The trees in the orchard are also looking good, and I am hopeful that this year we may even get some plums - there are lots of green ones on the tree.

I will start with the positives, which this is year is my broadbeans. I followed advice and picked out the tops of the plants, and not a sign of any blackfly. Also the sweetcorn seemed slow to start, but I can now see the corns husks forming.  

But I have a lot of trouble with pests this year. Despite the chickwire fence around the garden I have caught the odd rabbit inside, but even mending the holes is not going to stop squirrels, whom I have also seen. My peas were doing fairly well, and I had picked for one meal, but then found that the plants and pods had been completely eaten. The rabbits, combined with slugs and snails, mean I am on my third attempt at runnerbeans. I think the first ones were eated by a rabbit, as the stems were biten through. I now have a combination of netting, tubes with copper at the bottom, beer traps, coffee and eggshells. Throwing everything at protecting this lot!

My first courgette plants also got eaten, so I have them under a cover and with sheep fleece around. It does not make the garden look great, but it is all I can think to do. 

Seeing the seedlings that you have nurtured get eaten up is quite sad, and has made me a bit reluctant to plant things out. I have hung onto my butternut squash plants in the polytunnel, just potting them on, but decided a few days ago that it was time for them to face the big outdoors. My sunflowers are also still in the polytunnel. I must be brave, but because I lost them all last year, I am still waiting for them to get a bit bigger.

I am trying a few new things in the garden. I have two purple sweet potato plants from the village. Apparently they need a lot of water. Also growing some pak choi seedlings, which are coming along. Some lovely cosmos flowers are making the garden look pretty.

Sweet potato plant, pak choi seedling, and some of the cosmos

Other things in the polytunnel are going fairly well. I have a new friend at Oxfam whom I am swapping seedlings with, and the exchange of plants in the village continues. My friend gave me two cucumber plants, and we have just eaten our first cucumber, which was delicious. 

The tomato plants that I grew from seed seemed very slow, so I bought two plants from a garden centre. They are a little ahead, but my seed grown ones seem to be catching up. 

White onions are looking good, but my red ones have not grown very well, and seem to have had the tops nibbled off now. I had always thought of onions as a fairly safe bet. Yesterday I planted out some of the leeks. It has been so dry it was quite difficult to dib into the dug soil. I have another pot of seedlings in reserve.