Tuesday evening in May

Florence kindly took the photos this evening.

Donna

Kerry

Katie

Pat

Penny and Pat

Simply Knitting blog and magazine

Whoopee, we are featured on the Simply Knitting blog for yesterday, 29th May! Go look !! They even have this photo of some of our bunting ;-)


I can also now reveal that we will be appearing in an edition of the magazine too at some point in the next few months.

Union Jack Bunting is Delivered to Cafe Blah Blahh

I delivered the knitted Union Jack bunting to Cafe Blah Blahh today. I think they like it :-)

Cafe Blah Blahh, Hunstanton, Norfolk

This is for those of you who haven't yet discovered the fabulous new cafe that has opened up in Hunstanton. It is run by Andrew and Jamie, who combine their fantastic cooking with their wonderful interior design. I paid them a visit a couple of weeks ago, and somehow ended up offering to knit some Union Jack bunting for their shop! As you can see from the picture here on the left, their theme IS Union Jacks, oh, and cup cakes too.

If you've been following the story of my bunting, you'll know I was having a lot of trouble with Union Jacks. I'd bought a pattern online, and had tried several times to knit from the pattern, without a lot of success. Welllll....I had a brainwave, knit the upright red cross on a blue background, THEN chain stitch the red diagonal cross, and the white edges around each cross. Eureka. It worked!! I have now finished three of them, all slightly different as I'm amending slightly as I go along... BUT, I think they are very presentable. And I hope Cafe Blah Blahh agree with me ;-)

Keep Calm and ......

I know I'm sad ;-)  but I've been having some fun this morning at:  http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk

 I think a few of these could help decorate the town square. They could even be hung up with the bunting! Feedback anyone please!

Preemie blanket....

Thanks to my friend Ginny who belongs to the Make and Mardle group at Hilborough, Norfolk, I now have the pattern for my first preemie blanket. I ordered some James Brett pastel baby wool from an eBay shop at the weekend, and it arrived today, despite the Bank Holiday on Monday!

I am very much enjoying knitting with this wool...and I have to say it makes a nice change from brightly coloured triangles for bunting!!





Here's the pattern for any other interested bodies:

Size 8 (4mm) needles)
100g Baby yarn
Finished size 18''x 24''


Cast on 104/106 sts
Garter st 8 rows
Knit row 9
Row 10 k6 sts purl to last 6 sts k6
Continue these 2 rows until req length
End with 8 rows garter st.
Cast off.

This is how it is knitting up

Knitting on an overcast May morning

May's morning session just finished. What an antidote to the weather! Seven ladies came, including one new local lady, Coral, plus Brenda from Terrington, who first came last month. Lovely time, lots of chat, coffee and laughter. Nik agreed to come and do a demo of her spinning one month. We shall look forward to that! We also discussed charity knitting. Coral told us about a project called "Fish and Chip Babies" These are baby clothes sent to Africa for babies whose families are so poor they are sent home from hospital wrapped in paper. Mary already knits for the Lifeline 4 Chernobyl project. There's also the preemie baby blanket project. We hope to get these off the ground now.

                                                                                       

 

Brenda & Coral our 2 newest knitters

People are so very kind. More knitted bunting arrives.

Church yesterday, and two bags of bunting handed to me:-) People are so kind. We have a total of 38. Knitting group tomorrow, so maybe some more. Plus my friend Sheila in Wales has knitted her first. So that makes 39.

Maureen knitted these

Hillcrest School non teaching staff knitted these

I finally gave up on the Union Jacks, but compromised with some St. George's instead.

More bunting your majesty.....

I'm still making bunting, and decided to take on the challenge of Union Jack bunting. I searched on Ravelry and found some lovely e-patterns designed by knitwear designer Lorraine Hearn, raising funds for her village primary school in Bedfordshire. For just £2, I was able to download not only 3 different Jubilee bunting designs, but also a cushion :-)

I have had three tries at the Union Jack flag. I decided not to knit the border (which is probably exactly where I fell down, although I may well crochet a border now!) My 3rd attempt is the best, and you can certainly see the progression, lol. They are recognisable though......Are they?

#1 and #2 attempts

Ok, below is the final prototype. I decided to find another flag, sew the 2 together, and lightly stuff. I think you can see that the striped flag was a bit smaller, but I kind of made them fit.....It was a fun project but I may leave it at that as far as the Jubilee is concerned and get back to the plain flags ;-) Look out for them on 14th June in Downham Town Square.

                          #3 Union Jack                                          

 back of #3 Union Jack

'Myrtle' is assembled

Hi Everyone

Welcome to the next instalment of my adventure into the world of spinning. Having arrived home full of enthusiasm for spinning the next task was to assemble the wheel itself but firstly all the parts needed oiling/sealing. The Ashford guide recommended oil rather than varnish and after a bit of googling we decided on Danish Oil, having used it once before for our dog cart. The main problem with Danish Oil is that once cloths have been used to oil the wood they need to be kept damp as when they dry out there is a risk that they may spontaneously ignite!

The parts were all laid out in the garage and the first coat applied. This went really well but with 6 hours betwen coats it took a couple of days followed by a further 48 hours to go 'off'.

Oiling the wheel

Finally, we were ready to assemble the wheel. This was quite hard work and I think that had I not been on my course I would not have fully understood some of the instructions. My hubby's fishing skills also came in handy when tying off what appeared to be fishing line. In spite of the wheel's 24 year sojourn in the loft, all parts seem fully functioning and even the rubber components haven't perished.

Our canine girls with 'Myrtle'

The wheel is now fully assembled and apart from a few squeaks appears ready for spinning. Yikes! 'She' also has a name - 'Myrtle' - apparently wheels name themselves and this was a name that suggested itself to myself and a friend independently, so Myrtle she is.
My first Alpaca fleece from 'Pippa' has now arrived so I'll blog again about my first spinning attempts - wish me luck!