Sunflower (The Prequel)

I recently posted some photos of a sunflower and bumblebee in my garden. I forgot that I had intended to put on these photos of the sunflower a bit earlier in the year. So here they are - the prequel. I think they are quite as beautiful as the flower in full bloom.

To Saturday Snapshotters especially please feel free to enter the giveaway on my previous post Tyred of Knitting. I will announce the winner on 5th November.

Tyred of Knitting? (and a Giveaway)

I've been working on a new pattern for the last few weeks. But I have got past the initial phase, when it is exciting, and it is now a bit of a slog. 

Sorry about the terrible pun in the title. I am not really tired or even tyred of knitting, just this particular project. Knitting cable with black wool and quite small needles is not easy. It would be all too simple to put it aside for a while, but I am going to keep going. I have already put so much work in it would be a shame to give up.

Needless to say, these wheels, which seem to have taken me ages, are too big. They are going to have to be unpicked and reworked. Can you guess what the new knit is? 

Perhaps I will change this post from a moan to a GIVEAWAY. If you guess accurately (no just saying a vehicle, you have to be a bit more precise) I will put you in a draw for two of my Blue Sparkly Christmas Hearts.  You can see them in my shop here. You can leave your guess on my blog or facebook page. No restrictions on where you live, anyone can enter. Closing date 5th November, which I hope will give me enough time to finish the pattern. Good luck!
 

1940s Fashion - Make-Do and Mend

I have just spent some of the morning at the Imperial War Museum in London. My son is going to monthly mathematics classes nearby, so my daughter and I had some time to kill. We decided to concentrate on just one small part of the museum, which was based on a real family of 10 children, their home and their experiences in World War II. We found it fascinating, partly because the family eventually moved out from central to London to the part where we live.

Clothes during World War II were typically utility clothes. They featured squared shoulders, narrow hips, and skirts that ended just below the knee. Tailored suits were the dominant form of utility fashion. Material was in short supply, and women were encouraged to make-do and mend. 

You are probably not surprised that when we got to the museum shop I was drawn to these postcards reproducing wartime propaganda posters. I am very much drawn to this idea, or as we would call it recycling, so am going to put the postcards up in my sewing room.

Women were also encouraged to knit socks for the troops. 

In a corner of one of the display cases was this sweet little needlecase, which I photographed because I thought it might be fun to try to reproduce it.

If you keep watching my blog, there will be a second part to this post on 1940s fashion.

Cow Parsley and Strawberry Shoes

No words today. Just a few more baby shoes.

Orchids

I am not very good with houseplants. I blame my house, which doesn't have windowsills, so it is hard to position pot plants near the light. But with these lovely orchids I seem to have developed greenfingers. They were given to me at school back in July, and still look magnificent. I said as a joke to the teacher who gave them to me that perhaps they were plastic, and she looked horrified for a few moments, until she realized that I was just pulling her leg. Aren't they lovely!

The Village Post Office

Here is the second of my shops - The Village Post Office. This was just as much fun to stitch. I love the very slow process of stitching away, building up the whole picture, although on this one I seem to have covered up most of my knitting on the front.

On one side of the shop is a red pillarbox, while on the other is an old-fashioned red telephone box. The village postman has been rather careless, and left his bicycle and a couple of sacks of mail propped up at the back.

I still have one more knitted shop left to embroider. I would welcome any suggestions. I am considering a Sweet Shop - shelves of brightly coloured jars of sweets, or perhaps a Florist, or a Bakery ...... I may have to get knitting again.


 

Loom Bands

Loom bands are the craze that have swept the country. I don't know if they have gone global, but they are certainly are big in the UK. My husband came home from work one day, saying that all his colleagues were wearing a band made by a small relative.
 

But did you know that you can also make small creatures? The tutorials for these are very easy to find on Youtube. My daughter made herself the panda, and the duck for me. I think they are really cute, although they do take quite a lot of bands. I got my little duck on condition I would go shopping for some more bands. 

I would love to hear about any interesting loom band creations you have come across.

 

The Village Shop

I knitted several houses from my Little Woollie House pattern in the spring, with the plan to make them into shops rather than just houses. As usual other projects got in the way, but I have been thinking I should try and stock up my Etsy Shop a bit for Christmas, and have managed to finish the first shop.

This shop is the village greengrocers. Can you see the bunches of bananas hung up, as well as strings of onions? At the back of the shop is a little cart, piled up with a delivery of potatoes.

It was great fun to stitch. I love hand-stitching on my knitting, and although it may look complicated it is just made from a few basic stitches. There are some tutorials in Embroidery Corner in my sidebar if you fancied making your own shop.

So this shop is off to my own little shop. I am now working on a village post office, so if you keep watching my blog that will appear quite soon.

Sunflower and Bumble Bee

The last hints of summer, and I decided to photograph the one and only sunflower in that I managed to grow in my garden. Huge amount of slugs and snails this year. As I was doing this a bumble bee arrived looking for pollen, and I got these shots. I had to get up very close to the bee, and I was a bit worried I was going to get my nose stung.