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Making Monday – Almond Comfit

May 7th, 2012
by Marie Irshad.
1 comment

An actual FO (finished object), my first in ages. It’s the Almond Comfit beret from Saturday Treat by Ysolda. It’s an usual pattern in that unlike others I’ve knit which begin at the crown or the ribbed brim, it begins at a point on the edge and the beret slowly builds up in the same way that a shawl does. In fact it was some time before it actually began to resemble a beret!

Once it did, it knit up quickly. The hardest things for me were the cast on which is in the figure 8 style – After reading comments on Ravelry I cheated and used Judy’s Magic Cast On – and grafting the last 12 stitches at the end. It was my first ever attempt at Kitchener stitch and I had to do it in two different patterns. But it was lovely to finish it and then block it on a dinner plate.

Here’s a picture of me wearing it in Cheddar Gorge yesterday.

Me wearing my new Almond Comfit beret in Cheddar Gorge

There’s a triple leaf design at the front which would have a been a bit more noticeable had I done my yarn overs properly, but I still like it. One other thing was that I knit the middle size and still had 40g of yarn left over afterwards.

We were hoping to see sweets being made at the Cheddar Gorge Sweet Kitchen but arrived too late for a demonstration. We’ll just have to go again which is fine by me as I love their choco limes! :)

Today was a Bank Holiday in the UK so I spent time of my time working on lining the bodice of the sweetheart dress as well as working on this – an Edinburgh Rock scarf in my remaining Empire Biscuit. I’m doing my yarn overs properly now ;)

Overexposed picture of Edinburgh Rock in Empire Biscuit in progress

 

Posted in: Craft Room, Knitting.
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Making Monday – WonderWool

Apr 30th, 2012
by Marie Irshad.
5 comments

On Saturday we went up to Builth Wells to the Royal Welsh Showground where I attended my first ever WonderWool.

As well as all of the yarn I was really pleased to see some sheep

Sheep tucking into some lunch

and my favourites, the Toft alpacas

 

Toft Alpacas

 

You Looking at Me?

There were also some Angora rabbits there but I didn’t see them.

I also recorded a couple of audioboos while I was there, you can hear the first – an interview with Chrissie Menzies, one of the organisers – here but the second one that I did with Lynne Seymore of Calon Yarns seems to have been eaten after it failed to upload a few times :(

Of course I bought a few things while I was there including this fab WonderWool charity bag in aid of the Air Ambulance

Wonderbag

 

I’d been after the new Ysolda pattern book for Fyberspates Scrumptious yarns for a while so I got that plus three skeins of the aran in Empire Biscuit and one skein of aran in Sugar Mouse.

Delicious goodies from Fyberspates

I’ve already wound one of the skeins and cast on for the Almond Comfit beret.

A set of stitch markers and some lovely new darning needles

 

Some buttons which didn't photograph well

 

Pulsar sock yarn in shade Hyperspace by Sparkle Duck

and a very cute little something

A cute toy alpaca

It was a great show and so big! It’s just really nice to have something like this in Wales rather than having to travel further afield.

Posted in: Knitting.
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Making Monday – Dressmaking

Apr 23rd, 2012
by Marie Irshad.
1 comment

I’ve been hit by the lurgy yet again! I came down with a cold on Tuesday and on Wednesday all I could do was blow my nose and watch tv. So that was my cleaning day gone to pot. I also didn’t have as much energy for sewing as I’d hoped to have.

But I am halfway through making my dress – New Look 6723.

Bodice

 

I’m making View D which has a sweetheart neckline

Hello, Sweetheart

The stitching you can see around the neckline is called ‘stay stitching’ and it helps to stabilize the fabric during construction.

 

I still have to line the bodice which basically means making two bodices and joining them. That makes it a little complicated because the bodice is made from eight pattern pieces but hopefully it’ll all be worth it in the end. :) I plan on working on it more this week but this is a very busy week for me so I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish it.

 

 

 

Posted in: Craft Room, Sewing.
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Slightly Delayed Making Monday Post…

Apr 17th, 2012
by Marie Irshad.
3 comments

I finished knitting the case for my HTC One X and, although I now I have a hard plastic protective case, I’m still very attached to its knitted counterpart so it’ll be staying in there for the time being. :)

Knitted HTC One X Sock

I’ll post the pattern later in the week.

This weekend Doug and I went to the Southcoast Slam. It’s an annual pinball show and, as its name suggests, it’s located on the South Coast of England. Now, occasionally at shows I’ve seen a couple of the same types of machines sat next to each other but I’d never seen a wall of Black Knight 2000 before. It was an interesting spectacle to see six of them in a row.

Row of Black Knight 2000 at the Southcoast Slam 2012

 

I was hoping to knit some more rows of She’s Electric during the traveling back and forth to the show but I realised that I’d misread the instructions yet again and so I ripped out the colour work for probably the fourth time. Now that I look at it I can’t believe I misread it, it seems so obvious! Basically I hadn’t released that although the first and last three stitches are always knit in the main colour, that doesn’t mean that the rest of the stitches are always knit in the corresponding colour. The yarns alternate over the different rows. That’s why my colourwork looked so weird and messy. It wasn’t actually colourwork! I still hope to finish it soon, I worry about getting so tired of revisiting it that it’ll end up percolating in a bag somewhere in my craftroom. I’ll have to try and make a special effort to ensure that doesn’t happen. But I can’t guarantee it….

Plus I’m starting a new sewing project this week. I worked the Easter bank holidays so I have some time off and I’ve decided to spend it making a dress. This dress in fact.

New Look 6723

I’ll be making it in view D in the polka dot and cherries print I bought in the Flo-Jo Boutique

I met for lunch with the lovely Amy today and she brought me some wild garlic. I was so excited to have some to try because I’ve yet to spot some “in the wild”. But I hope to be able to spot it next year. The flowers are edible too.

"Wild? I was livid!"

Brownie points if you can correctly name where the reference in quotes comes from.

I used some of the wild garlic tonight in a pasta sauce – dead easy, heated some regular garlic puree in olive oil with chopped wild garlic leaves, added a tin of chopped tomatoes with salt, pepper and a bit of oregano and then simmered to reduce it. Although the leaves smell strongly of garlic, the actual flavour is more delicate than the garlic bulbs I’m used to. I still have lots left and think I’ll use some in a risotto tomorrow although I’m also tempted to make pesto from it too. Thanks, Amy :)

Posted in: Craft Room, Food and Drink, Knitting, Pin ball, Sewing.
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Making Monday – Knitting a Phone Case

Apr 10th, 2012
by Marie Irshad.
No comments yet

A short post because I got a new phone today and after charging it, which took a few hours, I spent the rest of the time playing with it :)

It’s the HTC One X and sadly, it didn’t come with a case. To stop it getting scratched  I started knitting a phone sock for it tonight. I’m knitting it on 5mm needles so it shouldn’t take long to finish. The case is more form fitting than it appears in the photo.

 

Knitted One X case in self striping yarn

 

I may post the pattern here in case anyone wants to knit their own case for the One X. It’s knit in the round on two circular needles and I’m using an odd ball of Wendy Fusion that I had lying around.

Oh, I’m also finding the free cloud storage service Drop Box really useful. I now have all of my  knitting pattern pdfs and music etc. synced with the new phone and my mac and tablets. Drop Box provides 2gig of cloud storage fee of charge and if you click on the link here you’ll get an extra 500meg to add to that :)

 

 

Posted in: Craft Room, Knitting, Web/Tech.
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Gardening Season…

Apr 2nd, 2012
by Marie Irshad.
No comments yet

We’ve had some great weather this past weekend so we’ve been busy in the garden. Nothing there to really photograph just yet as much of what’s been done is clearing, mowing and weeding and it’s not all sorted. I can raise nettles and brambles without trying ;) I’ll be planting veg and flower seeds in peat pots (not really made of peat) later in the week. I also have two extra raised beds courtesy of my neighbours, they’ve given up on growing food, so I’ll have some extra growing space. Hopefully I’ll get a glut of something that I’ll be able to share with them. I’ll be growing red onions, peas, beans and tomatoes in addition to the corn, squash and leeks. If I get time I’ll get some potatoes going too. But I may have left it a bit late for that.

 

But this is where I am with the colourwork on She’s Electric.

 

I’m about nine rows in and I’m not really sure about the look of it, not sure if I’ve made some mistakes. I’ll need to do a few more rows before I’m sure.

 

 

Posted in: Gardening, Knitting.
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All Quiet on the Crafting Front…

Mar 26th, 2012
by Marie Irshad.
No comments yet

Quite literally in fact because I’ve lost my voice. Occasionally I have a bit of a raspy whisper but that’s about it. Plus I’m trying to avoid speaking so that it can heal. I’m taking throat lozenges and lots of hot drinks to help it along too. This all stemmed from a nasty sore throat cold bug that I’ve had over a week. Before today I’d not touched my knitting at all so I have nothing to show today.

So it’s not the best blog post but I have to keep my commitment to blogging every Monday. :) This afternoon I started the colour work section on She’s Electric, yet again, and hopefully I’ll have something to photograph soon. :)

Competition update – I used a random number generator to choose the winner and I have contacted her but haven’t back yet. I’m hoping my email hasn’t gone into her spam folder!

Posted in: Craft Room, Knitting.
Tagged: · · · ·

Making Monday – Flo-Jo Boutique

Mar 19th, 2012
by Marie Irshad.
3 comments

Doug, my other half, lives in Bristol so I visit the city quite a lot. There are tonnes of vintage style shops selling second hand clothes and crockery etc. or vintage influenced stuff  but one new store is very, very unique.  In fact I’d been waiting excitedly for weeks for it to open every since Doug had noticed a coming soon poster on the window. It’s the Flo-Jo Boutique and Haberdashery,  it opened on Friday, and I was able to pop in on Saturday.

Window display featuring a fab fifties ensemble

It was raining so I was only able to snatch this quick shot  of the window display on my camera phone.

Some of the bolts of fabric

From the left are several bolts of oil cloth featuring some very cool designs including my fave – cherries.

Bicycle bags made from the oil cloth are just above the bolts

You can also see some of the Michael Miller and other designer fabrics on the far right. They also have fat quarter packs.

Knitting kits and some machine knitted bags next to some cute little cases

 

Some of the ready made clothes plus various notions on the shelves

That little dresser/shelving unit contains all sorts of fabulous things including packs of lingerie elastic dyed by the Flo-Jos themselves – I’d looked in several places for cute elastic for making petticoats and had come up blank so it was great to find these. There are also all sorts of needle sets including some well designed “pebble” sewing needle sets. Behind the little girl, on the back set of shelves, are pick and mix buttons plus various ribbons and ready made cushions.

More ready to wear items including knickers! plus vintage notions

On that rack on the left were aprons and I think some tops. The suit case is full of vintage style knickers and you can also buy kits to make them. The table had all sorts of lovely old gloves and things draped around it as part of the display but in the dishes are vintage notions including lace which are for sale.

The other room contains the tables for their workshops plus some gorgeous tea dresses for sale as well as some more bolts of cloth.

Workshop area with a tea dress in the background

 

Now of course, I could not leave there empty handed. As if!

Cherries and polka dots!

I love both cherry print and polka dots so there was no way that I could resist a fabric that featured the two! It’s 100% cotton, £6 a metre and and I bought three metres. I also got a pack of the aforementioned lingerie elastic – the black hasn’t shown up very well but it’s lace like the white one above. I also picked up a spare machine bobbin and a pair of metallic green little scissors. You always need more than one pair of scissors and they were only £4.50.

Will I be going back? Most definitely! While the stock may not be on the scale of Fabricland, what Flo-Jo does have is very well chosen. I’d not seen any of those fabrics, even the cheaper cottons, in Fabricland and I love all the ribbons and notions. I really want to buy one of the needle pebbles despite not actually needing one, and I want to get some of the oil cloth. What for I’m not exactly sure, I could make another shopping bag or use it to cover my dining table. The cherry print I purchased has halterneck dress written all over it which means I will have to sharpen up my bodice fitting skills. :)

Oh, and I’m not really sure if buying something counts as a making Monday but there’s not been much making here in the last week, just more ripping out of the colourwork section of She’s Electric. If at third you don’t succeed…

 

 

 

Posted in: Craft Room, Knitting, Sewing.
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Copyright and this Blog

Mar 19th, 2012
by Marie Irshad.
No comments yet

There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding the internet and the question of whether if something is online if that means it’s automatically in the public domain. There are also some horrific tales of people’s work being used without their consent, and to make matters even worse, sometimes being used inappropriately.

So although, I’ve always had a copyright statement on my blog I’m just going to reiterate it in this post. Anything on this blog, unless clearly marked otherwise, is copyright Marie Irshad. That means that no one has the right to copy or reproduce any of the content on here without first seeking permission from me. Just because something is on the internet doesn’t automatically mean that it’s in the public domain.

Posted in: Uncategorized.
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