Four Skeins

 

I've duly spun four skeins of wool to hold in stock. The weather here is soggy and cold, so I haven't washed them. I'll wait until the sun comes out. 

Spinning

 

I thought I'd better spin some more wool, so that I have some yarn on hand if someone wants socks or gloves or whatever. I've spun one bobbin full, will spin another bobbin full and then ply the two together. There should be four skeins of plied yarn when I'm done. 

On And On

 

My plan was to use Kath's left over yarn to make That Nice Stitch Cowl. But when the cowl seemed long enough, there was most of a ball of yarn left! So I browsed again and decided on One Skein Wonder by The Public Knitter. 

It's very easy, knitted in garter stitch with a four row pattern, perfect for evening knitting and knitting while chatting. I saw other patterns with similar structures that had pages and pages of instructions. This one suits me very well. 

Quick Quick

 

On Friday afternoon, a friend asked me if I could make a pair of men's fingerless gloves to take with her on holiday to give as a gift. Sure. There was just one problem - she's leaving early on Tuesday morning. Mmm, I'll do my best. 

I had a bobbin full of wool on my spinning wheel that was spun but not plied. I plied it on Friday evening and washed the one and a half skeins. It was tempting to start knitting without washing them, but washing is part of the process and can't be skipped. We were going out to lunch on Saturday, so that gave time for the wool to dry. I started knitting on Saturday evening, did the bulk of the work yesterday and finished off this morning. Phew. They're ready to be delivered and packed. 

Detail

 

I was asked by a reader of yesterday's post how I attach the tatting to the net. I sew it on, using a thread matching the net. In the case of the butterfly, I have sewn so many on that I have a well trodden path, a sequence I always follow! I have written before about sewing on, but the search function isn't being very helpful, so I can't find the posts.  

Sewing This And That

 

The jewellery business has decreased dramatically since Christmas, so I only needed to make 20 bags this month, 10 of each size. 

The doll is a sample for tomorrow's craft group meeting in a retirement home. I browsed through Pinterest for a while before settling on a pattern from Shiny Happy World. Mine looks rather different to the original because I've stuffed it a lot, whereas theirs is more floppy, but it works. I needed a pattern that was simple enough to make within time and dexterity constraints. My idea is to make the doll this week and clothes next week. 

I've sewn the tatted daisies and butterflies to the food net, so it's all ready to be gifted. 

Tatting Daisies Again

 

I'm tatting daisies to put on a food net to give as a birthday gift. I wound a shuttle with yellow thread and tatted all the centres to start with. My plan is to make two flowers of each of five colours. The colours in the photo are a bit strange. The bottom two flowers are orange and the top one pale pink. I made the pattern up, it's very simple, feel free to copy it if you want to.