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I wanted to make something for the friend who has done so much to comfort me in the last month. She fed me during the last week of my thesis- literally walking across the street with a hot plate of pancakes or grilled cheese-toast. She was also the one who reached through her contacts and found me the place to stay.
It was during my move last week that the weather and seasons really changed- just when this friend was in France soaking up the last of the summer sun, so I knew a scarf would be perfect for her return!
I had planned on using a ball of greeny-bluey yarn but it turned out to be packed somewhere (I still haven’t come across it). Instead, I used two balls of Rowan Big Wool that someone from work gave me! Knit on 15mm needles, it is very cushy- almost like a warm fluffy cloud.
Today is our 5th Anniversary so I made this bracelet for my partner with a wooden button since wood is the traditional gift. The main idea started with the button and grew from there. I sewed the button on face-down so I had more surface area to burn the word “Treasure”. The band is knitted in seed stitch with 4-ply cotton yarn on 3.25 mm needles.
I didn’t use a wood burning kit, just a fork and a candle! A metal skewer or nut pick would have been perfect, but I used what we had.
Now, we’re off to play in Glasgow for the day!
My sister and her partner (aka “Young Wifey” and “Hubster”) are coming to visit us on Tuesday! They are staying several weeks and I’m really looking forward to showing them around. Last time young wifey came to visit me in Scotland, she wasn’t a wifey and I lived in a tiny student flat with 5 others in St. Andrews…that was in 2003.
Add this visit to the reasons cited in my previous post and you’ll know I’ve been busy tidying, decluttering and creating for the home. Here are my most recent completed projects
We have been working on this rag rug for a long time. Started in January 2008, it has stayed its current size for about a year. We ran out of purple to complete that round and have used it as a hang-out spot ever since. This week I talked to Partner (we both worked on it) and we decided that it was a perfect size already so I dug out some newly aquired purple, finished the round, and now it is complete! It is large enough for both of us to sit on the rug while playing games.
Next, is a hand towel I made using the Basket rib stitch on Ravelry. Here is the link to the original pattern. I cast on 74 stitches and made it just under 2 feet long because I think long rectangles stay on the towel rack better than shorter ones.
Last, is a wee heart rug I made one night to use up the red strips we had cut for the rainbow rug. It is about 1.5 feet across and sits next to our bathtub. I may expand it in the future but for now, I enjoy seeing a small red heart strewn on the floor. It reminds me of red hearts candy.
When I started this blog two years ago, I was unsure about how long I would follow through with it. While I haven’t been the most regular poster I find that I now love this blog. It is my place to save my progress, inspiration and thoughts, not to mention the fact that it’s much easier to pull up the page and share projects without lugging around a book of scattered ideas!
Glancing back at the original post, I was surprised to see that I have basically avoided (excepting the occasional wagon-fall) purchasing new clothing for the past two years when I have second hand or hand made options available. I hadn’t realised that much time has passed, simply because it feels normal for me now. My confidence in my projects has also increased exponentially and I am now excited to give handmade gifts to everyone rather than a select few. Having friends that say No one gives gifts like me, or Everyone always loves my gifts (although of course these friends, being friends, are biased) definitely helps too! To set the scene for this blog-iversary (or whatever all those bloggin’ pros out there call it), here’s a shot of my recent 29th birthday cake!
I flew home this week to surprise my mom and to take care of my parents for two weeks. It is the first Spring I have been to Pennsylvania in five years so I’m definitely enjoying everything. Before heading over, I knitted two more sets of wrist warmers for my nieces. The little sister of the first recipient requested a green pair for her Spring birthday and their cousin, my other niece, requested a pink pair.
In addition to the knitting, I crocheted face cloths for my parents and added two Scottish soaps. I wanted to do a seaside theme with them and so I did scalloped ’shell’s around the edge of the green cloth, but did not like the result of a crab-stitch edging (which I thought would look like a sailor’s rope) around the blue one. They really liked them and it was such a satisfying gift to make and give. After feeling different cloth thicknesses, I think using a 4-ply yarn is definitely the perfect weight for a crocheted face cloth. Yarn for all four projects came from my stash, making me a happy crafter.
My oldest niece turns 13 today…I can’t believe the time has flown so quickly by and now she’s a teenager!
I wanted to make her something small and cute to wear. I first thought of making her this scarf but thought these are closer to her sporty style. As soon as I had that thought, I knew just the yarn to use! She’s always liked purple and I had this is my stash waiting for some love.
Since I’m in another country at the moment, I had to guess the size of her arm and wrist and cast-on about 3/4 of width I had when I made these for myself.
I wish I could be there to hand them to her, but that’s the life of a foreign aunt…(or, as my mom says, “Uncle Traveling Matt” )!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!
This year, we gave most family members the same gifts and found it much less stressful than it would have been to make individual gifts at the moment. I usually like making individual things, but thesis and job stress this year just didn’t allow that.
Our presents were well received, which is always satisfying when you’ve made them! We made rice heat packs with removeable covers and criss-cross coasters with very cute tree fabric. What’s not pictured here, is a batch of biscotti each.
The pie is what we literally brought to the table on the 23rd and the 25th. My partner usually makes the pastry and I make the filling- I think it was our best pie yet!
The gift tags are made from last year’s cards- I cut them up the week before Christmas. The process of choosing what part of the card to feature and creating a stack of tags is such a simple process but it always seems to get me into the festive mood!
I finished the pair of socks I was making! They’re not perfect by any degree- one is actually a few rows shorter than the other- because I must have manipulated the fabric differently when measuring. The tutorial I used was Silver’s sock class and it is amazingly clear and actually empowering for timid knitters. They’re ankle socks since the deal I had with my partner was that our gifts had to be made with the materials already in our home (and there was only one ball of sock yarn).
The gifts I got in return were a crocheted hat with fleece lining (you can see it on the right of the picture) which will be great to block the wind from my ears and a 2009 calendar with photo collages of our adventures over the last year. We both did very well keeping to the “materials on hand” rules and it stretched our creativity and skill level as well!
The ‘article’ ran today in the Stirling Observer with the amusing photo I talked about in the previous post.
Unfortunately, the reporting is very wrong and does not give credit to any of the other members who are not in the photo. An entire knitting and crochet group made the items and the paper credited two people. I felt horrible when I read that bit.
But, it is just a local paper and the event information was at least correct. My name? Certainly not “Brendi-Lee”…haha…
This is the second foreign country where I’ve ended up in the local paper for a national holiday-related article…I think I’ll start a collection!
In between marking a stack of student essays over the past two weeks, I crocheted 20cm squares for our town’s Knitting and Crochet Bee. The group’s organizer secured a grant for several art-based projects for St. Andrews day in Stirling and “Accessorising the City” was one of them. We all knit or crocheted squares, legwarmers, scarves, etc…
The squares became this massive scarf which will be displayed at the ceilidh, concerts and such throughout the holiday weekend. Today, a few of us (it was during the regular work day) took the items around town to photograph them in various places and for the local paper publicity shot. It would’ve been great to have the whole group available, but the days are so short it is dark when most return from work…not such a photogenic time of day.
One of the photos that the newspaper reporter took involved us standing with very large (20mm) knitting needles and miming knitting the scarf. It tickled me that the squares I could reach were my crocheted ones. I would find it endlessly amusing if the photo of me pretending to knit my crocheted square showed up in the local paper!
If you’re local, some of the events are listed on the council website.
