My new Simple Simon Cowl patterns

Craft Market

The car is all packed and ready for the my first craft market in years. Going to Oak End Nursery, in Narcot Lane, Chalfont St Giles tomorrow. 10-4.

Busy busy busy

Trying to come up with some new patterns.

Mainly based on Rowan's Big Wool, which is so quick & easy to knit up. I've been working on different cowl patterns using it. It's so lovely to work with.

Also, trying to work in the garden whilst the weather is good. We have a huge bed at the bottom of the garden that was covered in brambles & ivy. I discovered 13 Christmas trees in there as I was clearing it. Gradually getting there, but oh it's hard work. I've broken 2 forks & 1 trowel working on it!  Will be worth it next year....

I'm Back!

Well, it's been awhile...

We moved.

Then 2 weeks later I fell down the stairs. I broke 3 ribs, punctured a lung, broke my foot & fractured my skull. It took me over 6 months to get over it all & even then I couldn't knit as it was too painful. 

 But we went on holiday & I've got my mojo back!

7 Daisy Sequin Scarves, 2 Easy Peasy Lace Shawls 1 Curly Wurly....

Now I just need to find somewhere to sell them all near London!

Bilbao

Just been to Bilbao for a few days, very different Spanish city.

This is The Guggenheim, most amazing building.

 Frank Gehry's Flower Dog, it's all pansies.

 The front of The Guggenheim

 Truly amazing spider sculpture

 One of our favourite pinxtos bars, Serrantes

 Plaza Nueva in the old town

It's Finished - Four Seasons Lace Shawl

Well, I finally finished The Four Seasons Lace Shawl, trying to write up the pattern is a different story altogether, eyes are so sore concentrating!

 Spring, Estonian stitch, Lily of the Valley

 Summer - Dayflower

Autumn - Interlocking Cherry Leaves

 Winter - Christmas trees

Ennerdale

Had a lovely walk at Ennerdale yesterday.  It's the one lake I'd never been to & it's only 20 minutes from home!  They're trying to build a nuclear dump underneath it at the moment, complete madness.

Four Seasons Lace Shawl

Very difficult to photo, but this is Spring & Summer

 And just going into Autumn

And the Summer Seashore Lace Shawls in The Wool Clip shop

Four Seasons Lace Shawl

We've had the most fantastic couple of days here, 24 degrees in the sun, according to the hubby's Xmas present of a fancy temperature gauge, however that does drop to freezing overnight, but even the dog was too hot this afternoon & had to lie on the patio to cool down!

Anyway, I'm making headway with the new shawl, have done 2 patterns now, Spring & Summer, Lily of the Valley & Dayflower, now I need to find a nice leaf pattern for Autumn. Am a bit worried it's going to end up rather big, usually I do 3 different stitches in a shawl pattern, but this will obviously take up 4, so will have to see how it ends up, will try & take some photos tomorrow.

Thinking of a new pattern...

Trying to think of coming up with some new patterns, was either thinking of a stole/scarf with 12 different patterns & calling it a calendar scarf, but it's difficult to come up with patterns that represent each month.  Or my other thought is Four Seasons, that might be easier, only coming up with 4 patterns!

Seashore Lace Shawl

This is how I write my knitting patterns, mad or what! I have to visualise the pattern & work out the yo's to see how the pattern alters as it increases.

I have the knitted the pattern a 2nd time to check what I've typed is correct, found a couple of little mistakes but it worked.  This is the shawl once it's been blocked.

 

Visiting London

Just had a wonderful weekend in London, went to see Kristen Scott Thomas, Rufus Sewell & Lia Williams in Old Times, a Harold Pinter play, very odd to say the least!  The actors were fantastic & am so glad I saw them but the play was strange!

Anyway went to the V&A & one of my favourite rooms is the Cast Room, where they have plaster casts of famous buildings.  I just think it's absolutely amazing how they took the casts & then manage to put them together.

 Then there was a ballgown exhibition, this was a beautiful lace collar.

 The embroidery on this evening coat was so beautiful, cow parsley heads, i think.

 And then the knitted swimsuit, so practical!

The entrance to The V&A with the wonderful glass sculpture.

We had a lovely lunch at The V&A Cafe

 And then we went to Chinatown as we're having people over for dinner on Chinese New Year, so picked up some bits & pieces there.

I'm Back!!

Well I haven't been here for a while, 2012, wasn't the best of years.  So will just draw a line under it & start afresh for 2013.

And I have been busy, designing a new lace shawl.  I've called it Summer Seashore in the hope that we do get a summer this year.

It has 3 different designs, 1 that looks like a mussel's shell, then print 'o' the wave & cockleshell, all traditional Shetland designs.
 

A certain **th birthday

Some very kind friends took me out for a birthday treat, it was my 50th, which is far too awful to think about, but we went to Askham Hall for lunch & fell in love with this little piggies, 7 in all, they were so adorable.

 Anyway, after tearing ourselves away from the piglets we had a lovely drive through Lowther Castle grounds, we decided not to stop as they were emptying the portaloos from the weekends show, so was a bit smelly to say the least, so we carried on to Larch Cottge Nursery at Melkinthorpe, which is always a delight.

 Oh how I wish my borders looked like this.....

 The owner of Larch Cottage Nursery has built this all over the last few years, previously it was a scrap metal yard, he's even building a chapel, which you can see in the distance, so that he can marry his partner, now that really is true love!

Easy Peasy Lace Shawl

I knitted my Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy Lace Shawl in 2 ply lilac lambswool, with 2 beads on the picot edging, I was really pleased how this turned out, it's so lovely & soft & drapes wonderfully.