The Bath Crafting Cranny

Thank you, Mr Postman!

YAY! My Get Knitted order has been delivered!! Oooo, be still my shaking hands! Good job they put sugary sweeties in the tissue paper to help steady them! I was lucky enough to get Debbie Bliss Maya 100% wool in my favourite colour:  

And, what's more, it was on offer! Only £6 for a hefty hank! Hurray!

Other wonders were this pattern book (below left) and pure silk (below right):

 

The patterns look lovely. I've not yet tackled a full garment...and this curved edge jacket is top of my list. But I'm not sure I can afford to make it just yet! (9 balls of silk at £6.50/ea is a steep price to pay for something I might mess up!). A word of warning: muppet here tried to convert the hank to ball, created a migraine-inducing muddle, and the eschewing untangling caused the silk to look a little tired. Booooo.

Ooo, and a couple of hanks of this divine wool (Colinette Cadenza in Slate; right). I'm thinking socks when I've more knitting-courage. These lovely colours should give me some help me find the nerve...

How afternoons should always be

What a fabulous day!! Rachel and I took afternoons off work and had Hours of Fun! First, lunch at Metropolitan Cafe, followed by some gasps at the loveliness in Museum of Costume then a successful Button Browse in Jessie's Button Box (more later!) and then some beautiful Daniel Craig in 'Casino Royal' with a bottle of red. Do days get better than this? :0)

Mmmmmmmm!

Look at this brooch and bangle:

 

Aren't they gorgeous?! And for only a tenner... Australian designer Liana Kabel will send them to the UK for a few extra pennies - but, beware, she only makes a few of each piece so once it's been brought it's gone...

Compassionate Knitting

Do you ever sometimes want to knit something but are stumped for ideas? Do you ever run out of people to give knits to? Well, here's your solution. Happy knitting!

 

My new love...

...is Martha Negley's fabrics for Rowan. Her designs are wonderful! I popped into Liberty whilst in London with work last week and treated myself to these beauties:

 

Do they make you feel hungry, too? I'm making a 3/4 circle skirt with each of them (Simplicity 4546) - but will need some practice first!

I did look in at the Liberty fabrics too - to give myself a heady rush of delight - but at £19.99 sq.m. the adrenaline quickly dissipated. Perhaps if I was a twig with a love of pencil skirts then the bank could just about handle it but - as a girl with hips and a fondness for full skirts - this fabric purchase is just going to have to wait...

Never underestimate the power of wool

This little lady made me laugh!

Wonderful woolley-weekend

The details been released for this year's Wonderwool Wales event! It looks fantastic! I am looking forward to the pom-pom race! (Is it possible to make 30 pom-poms in 30 minutes?)

Probably the best combination...

...food and wool! The makers of the Shaun the Sheep movie are sponsoring a PicKnit!

If you're very quick you could knit up a drumstick...but if you're stuck for ideas, how about some tofu or a chocolate bar?

I found these websites here last year when I was looking for free knitting patterns. I couldn't quite believe the food category - and now it looks like it might serve a purpose! (A prime example of not throwing something out incase you might need it one day...). More scary though was THIS! Bleugh. Can you imagine if it rained!!! ;0)

Peep peep!

Here's a pattern for a Easter chick Creme-Egg holder, courtesy of my boyfriend's mum (thanks Joyce!).

This should knit up well with 4-ply but if you're going to use fluffy wool or ostrich wool then you'll need to check it sits nicely on its egg before having a knitting frenzy and ending up with Mini-Egg holders (I speak from experience). (...but Creme-Eggs are surely smaller than they were, aren't they? Even though Cadburys claim that we have just grown!)

(1) Cast on 22 stitches; (2) Knit 3 rows; (3) Increase 1 stitch on each row until you have 38 stitches; (4) Knit 2 rows; (5) Cast-off 12 stitches; (6) Knit 14 (15 stitches now on right-hand needle; (7) Cast-off remaining 12 stitches, cut off long tail of wool; (8) Pull tail of wool through loop of last stitch, pull tightly to secure; (9) Re-join wool and knit 6 rows of 12 stitches remaining on left-hand needle; (10) Knit two stitches together six times until 6 stitches remain; (11) Cut long tail of wool (~50 cms) and pull through six stitches with large-eyed needle; (12) Sew up seams; (13) Sew on boggle-eyes and felt beak; and (14) Stuff head with cotton-wool and body with a Creme-Egg. A chick is born - hurrah!

Greetings!

Hello all! Pleased to meet you! This website aims to be a corner for all things crafty and a forum for the Bath Bitch 'n' Stitch. Some things are too good to be kept to yourself..!

This space is a little place for us all away from The Real World with musings on topics such as wool, sparkles and Bath (home of the Thermae). Thoughts on beads, bread and fabric are very welcome too...indeed, so are contemplations on anything that one has to create, fluff up, smooth down, thread, unthread, snip, stir, pour or stuff...

Let the creativity begin!