WIP

 

I'm working on puppets again. My stocks are low and I've booked a table at a market on the 10th December. I plan to make a couple of hooded towels too, since I have none in stock now. I like to make them to order, but it's as well to have a sample or two for people to see. 

Peach Chutney

 

A friend gave me a big bowl of peaches last week, too many for us to eat fresh. I have plenty of jam in the cupboard, but not so much chutney, so I went on the hunt for a peach chutney recipe. I found this one  that I had most of the ingredients for. I used dried cape gooseberries instead of dried cranberries. The peaches were tasty and juicy, but too small to make peeling them viable. It didn't seem to make any difference to the final product, so I may forego peeling in future! 

I use the top of a plastic bottle when filling jars; it has a wider mouth than any funnel I've been able to buy, and helps keep the top of the jar clean:

I finished up with five full jars and a little bit for tasting:

Lion And Tiger

 

It's funny that after not having towel orders for months and months, I've had three in quick succession. The latest order was for a lion and a tiger. I haven't done a tiger before, so I went back to a Crazy Little Projects tutorial.  For most of the towels, only the hood is decorated, but a tiger needs stripes:

Silver Thread

 

 I bought this thread some time ago, wondering if I could tat with it. It's very slippery, so slippery that it doesn't stay wound on the ball! But it tats up fine:

I've been tatting snowflakes to sell at markets. I sold 6 on Saturday and am now making for the next market. When there are so many snowflake patterns out there, it seems a bit odd to make the same one over and over, but I want to just do it, without thinking or deciding! They're much shinier than they look in the photo, so I don't think beads are necessary. 

Three More

 

I finished my towel order, in spite of lengthy power outages. I'll have all 11 towels packaged and ready to be picked up on Thursday. 

I sold seven puppets at a market on Saturday, so I need to make some more of those.  

Helix Hat Revisited

 

Remember the helix hat that I knitted in variegated yarn? Well at last I have managed to spin some wool and dye it in solid colours to try the pattern again. The stripes show  up much more clearly, with the snail shell helix on top. You can see in the bottom picture that you do get a jog where the colours change over. Since I finished knitting this, I found a video on Pinterest that promises to show how to avoid the jog on helix stripes, though I haven't had a chance to study it yet. I guess I will have to knit another helix hat! 

Rain And Towel Progress

 We're in the rainy season again and the market was rained off again. At this rate, they'll have to find an indoor venue. I was more disappointed about not being able to shop at some of the usual stalls than I was about not selling anything, because I have the towel order on the go. I have made progress:

Three rabbits and three dinosaurs!

Faces

 

One of the ladies at the retirement home I help at asked me for a knitted teddy bear pattern. I gave her a couple and she chose to use this one.  It's simple and clever! Rita knitted the teddies and put them together but asked me to embroider the faces, which was simple enough. Three of them will go to a charity shop that raises funds for pensioners and three to the children's ward of a hospital. 

Puppets First

 

I had to finish some bath puppets for Saturday's market before I can get on with the towel order. I had some puppets left over from the last market, but needed a few more. I made two monkeys last week and have just finished these. That'll be fine for Saturday. I would always rather work on a definite order than  speculatively for a market, but it's no good being at the market if the table is empty!  

Towel Orders

 

It's just as well I did my personal sewing when I had a gap, because suddenly I have orders for hooded towels. These two will go to their new home this afternoon. Then I have an order for 11 towels! I have two in stock but will have to make another nine. They will be collected on the 24th, so I'll have to hope there are not too many power outages between then and now. 

The Second Sock

 

It took me a while to get around to knitting the companion to the sock I knitted mostly on a bus trip. That was partly because I needed to research tubular cast on, so that I could make the second sock match the first one that had a tubular cast off. I used this tutorial. It was a bit fiddly, I won't be using it as my regular cast on, but I like to try different techniques. 

Another

 

There was enough of the fabric with small red flowers for another set of sleeves and pockets, so I decided to make another blouse while I was about it. The front and back are cut out of a bit left over from making this dress. Of course, the contrast is much greater than on the one in yesterday's post. If I decide it's not fit for public viewing, I can always just wear it at home. 

Making A Plan

 

With no orders in queue at the moment, I have a chance to sew for myself.  In September I went to a sale where a few women were selling off their fabric stashes, and bought several pieces. I've already made a top and skirt, as you can see here.  I didn't mention it in that post, but the sellers were all quilters and many of the fabrics were quite short in length, intended for patchwork rather than dressmaking. I bought what I liked, without paying a great deal of attention to the length of the fabric. Mmm. Fiddle as I might, I could not cut a blouse out of either of these fabrics. Instead, I used one for the back, front and facings and the other for pockets and sleeves. I think it worked! Actually, unless someone is bored or very pernickety, they might not even notice that there are two fabrics here. 

For Stock

 

My yarn customer retracted her third order, she'll contact me again when she gets back from holiday. So I have a batch of yarn in stock. I'll leave it undyed so that if someone wants a specific colour, I can do the order in reasonable time. Or I may dye it before the market later in November.