Ginx Woolly Linx Party January

Happy New Year! Thank you to everyone who has joined in the parties over the last year. I hope you all had a good Christmas. My choices for December are all very seasonal in different ways.

I loved these Christmassy socks from Carolyn of Flicken Salat made for her girlfriend. 

Alexandra of Eye Love Knots has made this very super cushion from Buds-a-Blooming crochet square.

Sandra of Hakelfieber has crochet a collection of stars to make this rainbow Christmas tree.

And I am still being seasonal with Cat of Crochet Cloudberry's crochet mince pie. Yum, yum.

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Changes

I've been hinting throughout the year about changes. As the year is coming to an end, and things have finally worked out, I will explain. Back in the summer we sold our house in town on the outskirts of London, and for the next year or so I will have a life split between the town and country. I had thought about renaming my blog, or even starting a new one. Seems a bit too complicated, but you may notice a few changes.

My husband retired in the summer, and now is living the country life in Cornwall (very near the border with Devon). While my daughter and I are living in a flat, close to where we lived before on the outskirts of London, until at least she finishes her A-levels.

Obviously there will still be a lot of knitting on this blog, and I am going to go on running the monthly Ginx Linx Party. But I hope there will be some new things.

What appealed to us so much about the house is that we also have several fields. The previous owners were very much into conservation, so the land has not had any chemicals put on it for many years. When we viewed the big field in the summer it was just a meadow full of beautiful flowers. So the initial plan is to continue to let nature take its course.  I am reading a Wilding by Isabella Tree, and hope perhaps we can follow the same ethos. 

We both have ideas for slightly different projects. He really wants to extend the existing woodland, and has been nurturing lots of tree saplings with this is mind. I still have my alpaca dream, although that will have to wait until we are both here full-time. I did think that perhaps we could have some beehives at the top of the field. We will just have to see.

But to start with I want to get cracking on the vegetable plot, which you can see below is a bit overgrown. I won't be starting from scratch, but really have very little experience of gardening, so may be asking for some advice. Expect I will make some mistakes, but I am going to try to write here about my vegetable gardening each month, also as a way of keeping a record of our first year here. 

I have spent a lot of Christmas looking out the kitchen window at the birds. So here is a little taster below, and expect more photographs of wildlife.

Just a reminder that there is still a little bit of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for December. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Yellow 2CV

I was joking about my Christmas Rush, but orders do seem to be picking up. This yellow 2CV is now on its way to Poland. Made from my Henrietta 2CV pattern. I do hope it makes someone happy. Very hard to get nice photos, as it seems to be dark when I leave the house, and when I return.
 

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for December. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Christmas Elephants - My Christmas Rush

I am being a bit ironic calling this my Christmas rush, as I have not had many orders this year. Not all bad though, as it has given me time to get on with my husband's present. All will be revealed at Christmas, if I can get him to do some modelling. But I was really pleased to get this order for some personalised Christmas elephant decorations.

I would still like the elephant to become the new fashionable decoration for Christmas. I did see some felted elephant decorations in a shop recently, so maybe the word is spreading.

These elephants are now on the way to Canada, and I was really happy to add the personalisation of names embroidered on the back. It is nice to think of another family building up their collection of Christmas decorations. I can't wait to get mine out this year.

So if you fancy making some Christmas Elephants for yourself, you can find the pattern in ravelry, Etsy or LoveKnitting. Or if you would like me to make some for you, although they aren't listed in my shop, but just send me a message.

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for December. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Ginx Woolly Linx Party December

Well I am a little late this month getting the party started. Lovely to see all your projects, and clearly it is not too early for Christmas projects now, since we are in December. So just go for it.

My features for November have already put me in a seasonal mood, and there are some good gift ideas here.

Michaela of The Art Deco has shown this gorgeous little beaded purse. So cute, I can think of lots of people who would love one of these.

Analia of Handmade by Analia's little sleepy dog looks so peaceful. 

Aria of Be Glad (who is just 15) has knitted a stunning snowdrift blanket. What an amazing piece of knitting.

And finally, this is one for my to do list. Just love this fair isle bag from Jo of Three Stories High. I love fair isle, and she has given it a lovely pink lining.

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Art Deco Dress

I haven't written much about sewing for a while, but thought you might like to see my daughter's school art project. She insisted on editing the photos.

This is her final piece in an A-level art project. She printed the material with a lino cut. The theme of the project was art deco, and she decided to make her fabric into an art deco inspired dress.

Her bravery always amazes me, and I have to say that nearly every bit of advice I offered was ignored. "Buy a pattern" "V-shaped necks are difficult" "A v-shaped waistband will be tricky"  All ignored!

So despite my advice, she has made this beautiful dress, and without a pattern. She made the top initially out of calico and "shock" sellotape, so she could desconstruct it to make the pattern pieces for the printed fabric. It is all fully lined as well.
  

The photos are taken in the stairwell of our flat. The metal railing seem the perfect match to the gold print on the fabric. Though we were both keeping a look out for anyone coming in, ready to dodge back into our flat.

Just a reminder that there are still is still a little bit of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for November. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Is It Too Early?

I think the answer to that question is probably "yes". Too early to be thinking of shopping, and I am very happy to have a husband who takes the lead with cooking. But perhaps not too early if you are thinking of making some Christmas decorations.

I am trying to design a pattern for a new Christmas decoration - which may not be done in time for this year. I would definitely put it in the non-traditional category, with my Christmas Elephants, Shells and Sand Dollars.

So I thought I would just make a collage of some of my other Christmas patterns. I love using the Layout app to put pictures together. Patterns for all of these Christmas ornaments can be found in my shops, with links to the patterns in ravelry in the lefthand sidebar.

Just a reminder that there are still is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for November. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Ginx Woolly Linx Party November

Welcome to the November Ginx Linx Party. Remember you can join at any time in the month, so you can always link up a project and then call back later in the month. I wonder when the first Christmassy project will appear.

In October there were a lot of lovely projects to look at.

Michaela of The Art Deco has a crochet pattern for these delicious looking donuts. Some superb photos to help with the making of them.

Con Hilos, Lanas y botones has made this beautiful red shawl. Very intricate stitches, and the red leaves are perfect for Autumn.

I liked this advice from Gema of Hebra de Lana showing how to knit your socks and sleeves at the same time using the magic loop method. I can't quite get to grip with magic loop, but am knitting both arms of a cardigan at the same time.

Alexandra of Eye Love Knots has give us a pattern for another Autumn item, this lovely acorn washcloth.  

And finally Lalka Crochetka has made these adorable little owls. I am in love with them. Lovely shades of grey, they look so soft and cuddly.

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2CV Cushion

I've been working away for so long on this pattern, but am really happy with the final result. Not at all my usual style, but I keep just looking at it and smiling. I nearly published the pattern a few weeks ago, with just the front view, which I had intended to sew onto a fabric back. But once I had had the idea for the back view, I just had to do it. 

So this pattern contains the charts for the back and front, and a smaller chart for the chevron corners. Then there is an explanation of how I used them to make this cushion. But you could use them for other projects. I do really fancy the idea of a jersey for my husband with a car on the front and back. Probably not enough time to do this for Christmas. Other ideas are possibly to make a car rug incorporating it, or perhaps a scarf for those breezy ride in your 2CV with the roof open.  Would love to hear if you make a cushion, or use it in another way.

I have called this pattern hard, which might be a reflection of the fact that I have not done a lot of work like this. If you are used to intarsia knitting from charts you might find it fairly easy. The wool is only carried across the back behind the wheels and on the striped roof. You can end up with a few colours on the go at once. I found the best way was to try not to worry about this, but then every so often just turn the work over, and do a bit of untangling.

The pattern for this cushion will be available in all my shops, ravelry, Etsy and Loveknitting. I've also decided to put this cushion in my Etsy shop. Pricing is going to be tricky, as it has taken me weeks of work. Don't tell anyone, but I might be quite happy if it doesn't sell, and I can keep it! 

Just a reminder that there are still a few days left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for October. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Ginx Woolly Linx Party October

Hello, and welcome to the party. There is a autumn feel in my bit of the world, and it is time to sit all cosy by the fire with a nice crafting project. Actually I can now do this, as my new home has a real fireplace. I haven't used it yet, but the day may come quite soon.

The features I have picked from September are:

First of all this adorable baby mobile from Mimi of Mimi Swan. Very cute and with instructions of how to make one yourself.

Marmita of Au Fils de Marmita has just retired. I really like her case for her crochet hooks, which she might need to take with her on new adventures.

Rachel of The Philospher's Wife had knitted this very cosy swirl hat. I think we may all need something like this for the winter.

And finally Nephi-Handmade has made a very cool crochet camera strap.  Sometimes the only way to get something perfect is to make it yourself.

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My Garage Project

I just thought I would give you a peek at the project I am working on at the moment. I had a message on Etsy from Jo asking me if I had a pattern for a 2CV cushion cover. I had a search over the internet, and surprisingly couldn't find one. Plenty of minis, beetles and campervans, but no 2CV that I could see. 

So I decided I would give it a go. These are just my first attempts. Version one seemed a bit too wide and not tall enough, and I am more happy with the second version below. The next plan is to scale this up to at least double the size. I will keep you posted.

Just a reminder that there are still a few days left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for September. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Some Country Retirement Socks

At long last I have some knitting to write about. This summer has been very busy, and knitting seems to have been put to the side. But whenever I have had time I have been working on these socks for my husband. He retired over the summer, and we are hoping that later in the year we will be spending a lot more time in the country. Some cosy handknit socks might just be what he needs.

The main part of these socks are knitted from Drops Fabel Long Print (colour 917). I love this sock wool, which I bought to put together with another order for a cardigan, which I have not yet started. Adding them to the order just nudged me into the price bracket where there was no postage to pay, so it really came at no cost. 

The pattern I used is called Elementary Watson, and is a free download on ravelry. The pattern has this name because it was inspired by Dr Watson's cable pullover in BBC's Sherlock. Like most of the socks I knit they were toe-up, which I just find less stressful than cuff-down, where you always have the worry that you will run out of wool before the foot is long enough. As it was I had quite a bit of wool left from my two balls, but I did use a constrast wool for the toes and cuffs. It meant that my husband could have the socks the exact length he wanted.
 

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for September. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Tie Dye Cushions and a New Bedroom

I've been writing a little about our house move, and thought you might be interested in seeing my daughter's new room. Actually despite the hard work of moving, it does seem refreshing to have less possessions. Twenty odd years of accumulated stuff had to be moved out, and as well as getting rid of some (to charity shops and the dump), quite a lot of is in store. It feels quite freeing to have less things around us.

So this move seemed a really good opportunity for my daughter to have a slightly more grown up bedroom. We have tried this before, to get rid of some of the toys, and have an overall colour scheme or look. But previously there was always too much stuff to fit in, and we always seemed to go off plan with the colours

She decided she would like a very minimal look, with a palette of grey, white, black, and some green plants to tie in with the blinds that were already there. Before we moved we had a go at tie dying an old sheet, and I have made new covers for some cushions that we already had, and some velvety grey fabric (bought in Fabricland). 

As usual the pets all seemed to want to get in on the photos.

I was a little unsure about the new plain grey duvet cover (from Ikea), but it does work.

This shows most of the room. Not a great photo, but I hope it shows the look, and how nice and green it is outside. We have been restrained with the pictures on the walls, which are two paintings on silk that my husband bought in Thailand. You can just see the piano, which we had thought we might be able to have in the living room. But it seemed to fit better in here, and goes with the black/white/grey theme. You can also see "Brie" - the cheese plant, who has now been joined by "Fred" the fern.

The only new piece of furniture is this dressing table and stool (from the Futon company). It give a bit of extra storage, and we both liked the way it looks leaned against the wall.

Yes, and all our pets fit in the colour scheme.

 

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for September. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Ginx Woolly Linx Party September

Well summer is nearly over (at least for those of us in the the northern part of the world), and it is the time of year when us knitter and crochetters start planning new projects for the autumn and winter evenings. Perhaps you will find some inspiration from these projects from the August Party.

I loved these cheerful summery crochet magic socks from Lilia of Lilia Craft Party. I don't know if these is a reason why there seem to be fewer crochet socks than knitted. These ones look superb.

Gema of Hebra de Lana has made this beautiful kimono style baby jacket and booties, as a gift. I love the wrapover jacket, and the pattern is shown off to its best with this simple light grey. 

Michelle of My Bijou Life has made this pretty little bolero. She says she is a newbie returning to crochet, and has been very honest about the problems she faced. The finished garment is very inspiring, especially to a fellow newbie who has never attempted a crochet garment.

and finally Nephi Handmade has made an adorable tiny teddy bear. So cute.

I am looking forward to see what you make in September. I have been very unproductive (in knitting terms), and have been plodding away on a pair of socks to keep my sanity, between packing and cleaning. But the house move is done, and the socks are nearly done. My wool has actually been sorted by colour, which has never happened before, and I have some ideas brewing for new projects.

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