Purl and Seam

Fabric : Fibre : Family

Christmas socks for Grandad

February 19, 2019

I had a spare half hour recently so I took the opportunity to update my Ravelry page and noticed that I’ve several knits that are unblogged at the moment.

This is mainly because I’ve not taken pictures! It’s a common theme on this blog. I really must get better at it!

One of these projects was a pair of Christmas socks for Grandad, and when I asked if I could borrow the socks for photographing, I was met with a resounding no! I think he suspects Dave will hold them hostage, never to be seen again.

So he kindly took some photos and here they are!

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LABELS ~ Knitting

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Christmas Yarn Gifts

January 31, 2019

I promised you a look-see at the yarn I got for Christmas, and as we’ve had a wee bit of sunshine today, I could take photos to share, so here we go.

The first of the 3 kits is the Breiwick hat by Ella Gordon from Kate Davies’ book Milarrochy Heids.

Image Copyright Kate Davies

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LABELS ~ Knitting

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Stash stories – not stashing!

November 26, 2018

A couple of weeks ago I scored a complimentary ticket from the kindly folks at Linton Tweeds (swoon) to attend the Knitting and Stitching Show at Harrogate.  I cannot tell you how much I was looking forward to a day off of mummy duties; petting yarn and getting elbow deep in the fabrics at Linton and Rosenbergs.VIEW POST

LABELS ~ Knitting, Needlework, Sewing

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Candy Print Socks

September 29, 2018

Goodness, it’s nearly October!!!  We survived that summer holidays alive.   It wasn’t elegant, but we made it.  The last 3 weeks have been dominated by a renegade molar and regular dentist visits, but I’m hopefully the right side of it now.  I’m also hoping that October can be a little more relaxed than the past few months.

Autumn has arrived here in Lancashire, and we are being blessed with chill mornings followed by warm, sunny days filled with that glorious golden light you get at this time of year.

Basically, I couldn’t be happier with the weather.  It’s my favourite time of year.

And to herald the new season, new socks for Dave are in order.  So here they are.

I’ll admit that whilst I was knitting them, I wasn’t enthused by the colourway.  But now they’re finished I’m finding them delightful.

I’m particularly fond of the magenta pink stripe.  And the green.

And, of course, they’re perfectly matched!  Joy!

I have a very happy husband.  And a small girl demanding the next pair of socks to be put on the needles is hers.  Pink socks it is, then!

Project notes

Pattern: Regia 4ply sock pattern
Pattern cost: Free
Yarn:    Drops Fabel
Colourway:  Candy Print
Purchased at: Wool Warehouse
Yarn cost:  £4.60 (for 2 balls)

 

LABELS ~ Knitting

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More Dad socks

June 29, 2018

It seems so long since Father’s Day, and I’d completely forgotten to share these socks with you.

As you all know the drill by now….it’s all about the yarn with these vanilla socks from Regia….and the sun is shining….I’m just going to let the pictures do all the work.

Hope the sun is shining with you…..have a great weekend.

Project notes

Pattern: Regia 4ply sock pattern
Pattern cost: Free
Yarn:    Drops Fabel
Colourway:  Ocean View
Purchased at: Wool Warehouse
Yarn cost:  £4.60 (for 2 balls)

LABELS ~ Knitting

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Monroe and Marilyn

June 10, 2018

For quite some time now,  Summer’s Grandad has been telling her stories about a small mouse named Monroe and his wife, Marilyn, who live in their home and have fabulous adventures.

As a girl with a wide creative streak, she is entranced by these tales.

Whilst I was making Spencer the Pug for Dylan (who’s now called Robertson, for reasons that escape me), it seemed a fine opportunity to make Monroe and Marilyn for Summer.

Obviously, for a project such as this, there is only one designer you need…Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits.  I’ve waxed lyrical about her delightful family of woodland creatures before, so this was a complete no-brainer.

Julie’s patterns are not a quick make.  They are beautiful heirloom knits and as such need a little work.  But neither are they a difficult knit.

You just need to pay attention to her scrupulously written pattern and all will work out.  She holds your hand all the way, not just with the knitting but with the sewing up and stuffing too!

And at the end of it you get these magical little animals to delight someone special in your life.

Project notes:

Pattern: Boy mouse with a cabled sweater

Mouse girl in a flowered dress

Pattern cost: £6.75
Yarn:    Bergere De France Calinou
Colourway:  Bleu Nuit & Lac
Purchased at: John Lewis
Yarn cost:  £7.00

LABELS ~ Craft, Knitting

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Kim socks

May 17, 2018

Who ate all my time!  I can’t believe it’s over a month since I last posted.

Life here is super busy.  Isn’t everyone’s?

After many years of battling we finally have some support in place for the children, so have social workers, family support workers, and conferences and workshops coming out of our ears!  Funnily enough it’s also led to a friend (also an adoptive mum of a chap with additional needs) and I to realise that there is a huge hole in the market for a one-stop-website for parents and guardians like us.

Over coffee one day, lamenting the lack of such a resource, and wondering why somebody didn’t do it….we realised that we were just the people to fill that gap.  Now we are working hard for an Autumn launch.   Its exhilarating and exhausting in equal parts, and the steepest of learning curves, but we’re only a month in and getting great feedback, so watch this space.

With all this going on, you can imagine that crafting time is limited….I haven’t looked at a tapestry sheep in weeks, and my sewing plans are gathering dust.  I’m slowly working on a waistcoat for Dave, but I’m awfully glad he’s patient!

Thankfully, I have been knitting.  Most recently finished are these beauties.

Look at those colours!

Look at those perfectly matched stripes!

Sock perfection!  And a happy husband.  I’ll take that win!

Of course I have another pair of socks on the needles, for conversational knitting occasions.  But I also have Galaxie from Quince & Co. for evenings in front of the TV.

Image copyright Quince & Co.

I’m knitting it in Finch in the colourway Stream.

Image copyright Quince & Co.

Both the pattern and the yarn are sublime.  I’m happily doing a few rounds a night and enjoying the making.  I’m usually a product driven knitter, so this is a lovely change for me.  And it’s nice to be knitting a garment other than socks!

It’ll be ready for Autumn too.

Project notes

Pattern: Regia 4ply sock pattern
Pattern cost: Free
Yarn:    Zwerger Garn Opal
Colourway:  Kim
Purchased at: Black Sheep Wools
Yarn cost:  £7.99

LABELS ~ Knitting

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Flamingo legs (and a denim jacket)

April 2, 2018

Whilst the husband, Dave, has always been a big fan of the hand-knitted sock, the rest of the family is starting to get in on the act.  Most recently, the lovely Miss Summer.

As she’s growing like a weed at the moment, I decided to go with a tube sock.  With no heel, not only are these a ridiculously simple knit, they also last longer as she grows.

These are knitted from the toe up, so although they’re simple, it was a new technique for me.  Not a difficult one at all.

And as you can see from the pictures, these are well worn.  Summer absolutely loves them and is clamouring for another pair.

**********

To complete the flamingo love, I embroidered the back of a store bought denim jacket for her.

I didn’t have much choice.  Whilst we were out shopping she said how much she loved the jacket, but that it would be so much better if only it had an embroidered flamingo on the back.  And that would be something I could do for her, wouldn’t it?

You can’t argue with a 10 year old!  She’s got the skills of a Hague lawyer, that one!

Project notes:

Pattern: Tube Socks For Kids by Jane Richmond
Pattern cost: Free
Yarn:    Jawoll (not sure which one)
Colourway:  Pink
Purchased at: No clue!
Yarn cost:  Who knows? Who cares? ?

LABELS ~ Craft, Knitting

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Twiglet Mitts

February 23, 2018

I’ve had some lovely red yarn in my stash for years.  Since my last visit to Yarndale, in fact.  Which was, according to this wise old blog, in 2013.

High time it was knitted up, I think.  Especially as I’m all about the stash busting this year.

I had planned to make it up into the lovely mitts in The Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible, but they called for DK, and this was most definitely 4 ply.  (In hindsight, I had enough yarn to use double, but there we go!)

So I put the Ravelry Pattern Search feature to work, and spent a happy while looking at pretty mitten patterns.  So. Many. Pretty. Mitts.  It was a dirty job but someone had to do it!

In the end, I stuck an imaginary pin in the screen and chose Twiglet Mitts by Martine Ellis. How could I resist this all over lace pattern?

It turned out to be such a good choice.

These were a joy to knit, and are equally joyful to wear.  The colour is a deep saturated burgundy red, that goes with all my coats.   They are lighter weight than the Kindling Mitts of my last post, but perfect for warmer days when you still need something on your hands.  I added a few pattern repeats to make them longer on my wrist.  An easy enough modification.

I was always rather resistant to fingerless mitts, no matter how pretty.  But as a dog walker, unless it’s so bitterly cold that you need your fingers covered so you don’t part company with them, fingerless mitts are a joy.  Clipping leads off and on (not to mention fiddling with little plastic bags when nature calls) is so much easier.  I’m a convert!

And if you knit these mitts, I think you might be too.

Project notes:

Pattern: Twiglet Mitts
Pattern cost: Free Ravelry Downlad
Yarn:    Drops Baby Alpaca Silk
Colourway:  Red
Purchased at: Yarndale
Yarn cost:  Who knows? Who cares? 😉

LABELS ~ Knitting

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The Kindling Mitts of Kindness

February 20, 2018

Still harping on about the Christmas Lurgy, even though we are racing towards the end of February, but it’s all relevant to this  story with another happy ending.

Whilst I’d been really sick the week before Christmas, it was Boxing Day when the flu took hold of The Husband.  Although born in Somerset, he’s a Northern Bloke by heritage, and made of stern, manly stuff.  For him to actually take to his bed when ill is unheard of in the 12 years we’ve been together.  For him to be in bed for nearly 4 days was like stepping into the Twilight Zone.

The kids were under the weather and I was still reeling from it, so we hunkered down and worked on getting well.  After a few days of this, though, Cabin Fever struck and my cherubs morphed into obnoxious little hellions!

By the evening they’d shredded even my last nerve and I’d sent them to bed, poured a stiff drink and turned to Instagram for solace.

Kristin (@kristinm100) had posted the most adorable pair of mittens, and they hadn’t been lost in the craziness of Instagrams algorithms!  I commented and asked if she could share the pattern name.

5 minutes later my inbox pinged and there was the pattern for the mitts.

I’ll admit to being rather overwhelmed by the kindness (although it’s not the first time Kristin has done something lovely for me.)   That little pattern, sent across the miles from Canada by the magic of the interwebs, from a woman I consider a friend, but whom I’ve never met, absolutely turned a truly shitty day into a positively magical one.

I instantly set to work to source the perfect yarn, and came up with Blacker Yarns British Classic DK knitting yarn in Grey.  This is a crisp, hardy yarn, in the fashion of Shetland wool.  The colour is the perfect grey, and whilst I wouldn’t knit this as a sweater next to my skin, for mitts it is cosy, and warm, and, I suspect, will take a bit of a beating!

Now obviously I had to wait for the yarn to arrive, it being the holidays and all, but that didn’t matter.

I was making friendship mitts.  Mitts that every time I wore them I would think of Kristin and her kindness.

I’ve got other mitts like this.  My lovely Goats of Inversnaid mitts were a yarn and pattern gift from my friend Christian (who lives considerably closer than Kristin).  And the hat that goes with them has been commandeered by Miss Button, who also gets to share the love.

It strikes me as nothing short of miraculous that such a simple act of kindness and friendship can result in bonds forged in the shared love of an age old craft.  Bonds that transcend age, race, background, education, socioeconomic status and good old fashioned geography.

That a few clicks of a keyboard can lift the spirits of someone thousands of miles away.

They say that random acts of kindness can change the world.  That you never know, if you do something small, how big an impact it can have on the recipient.

I have a pair of hand-knitted mittens that are testament to the veracity of that sentiment.

They are a happy blessing indeed.

Project notes

As an aside, this pattern is so beautifully written.  Every row is clearly detailed, so even an relatively inexperienced knitter could make these.  Those of us with a few yards of yarn under our belts can whip these up in no time, but still feel a happy sense of accomplishment.

Pattern: Kindling Mitts
Pattern cost: £3.90
Yarn:    Blacker Yarns British Classic DK
Colourway:  Grey
Purchased at: Blacker Yarns
Yarn cost:  £4.80

LABELS ~ Knitting

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Welcome

Image of a woman in her fifties taken from the shoulders up. She has grey shoulder length hair, brown eyes and a soft smile.

Hi there,
I'm Evie and I knit, stitch, spin and sew.
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But always with my family around me in our little town in the North of England.
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