2013年9月13日金曜日

Cardigan



 
This may look like a knitted cardigan - but it isn't! It is Tunisian crochet - which makes it thick and warm. The buttons are also homemade - from Fimo. I find they stand machine washing - and teething kittens. And, of course, it means I can make exactly the right buttons for my project.


2013年9月7日土曜日

My comfy corner

 
I love sitting in the garden - whenever the weather is good enough. But now it is autumn and next summer is a long, long way away!
 


2013年8月27日火曜日

Surprise Afghan


I have been making this in secret as a surprise gift for my husband. Today I got it finished. It is just a basic crochet ripple but I think he will like it. He has to keep his legs very warm when sitting as otherwise he gets cramp.


2013年8月23日金曜日

Hat


 
This is a double-layered, reversible hat, knitted in sock yarn. It should be very warm and cosy and fits well thanks to all the ribbing.


2013年8月21日水曜日

2013年8月18日日曜日

Delta Crochet

 
I have only just discovered the joys of delta crochet - crochet where the basic net is triangular. This is the first thing I have made in it. It is a pattern by Hartmutt Hass called Anushka Doily. I enjoyed making it and am delighted with the result.


2013年8月16日金曜日

Doily

 
I really like this doily that I just finished. It was fun to make and I like the look of it.


2013年8月10日土曜日

Tigger - In Memorium

 
Everyone always laughed at his huge clown feet when he was a kitten.
 


 
He was so good-natured too, letting the new kitten - Ginger - sleep on top of him.
 
 


2013年8月3日土曜日

Doily

 
I finished this doily yesterday. The colour is a much warmer green than I can persuade the camera of. The big trouble is that it is huge! I have nowhere I can even lay it out flat to photograph. I wish I had realized and made it in much thinner thread than the pattern called for.


2013年7月29日月曜日

Another doily

 
I love this design - from a Japanese book, but I am a lot less sure about the thread I used. I think a plain colour would have been a better choice.


2013年7月25日木曜日

Crochet doily

 
Life has been so difficult this year that I am struggling to get anything finished. So this week I opted for a crochet doily as being quick and easy to finish.


2013年7月22日月曜日

Summer!





 
For the first time in several years we are actually having a summer here this year so I am spending my days in the garden. Here you can see my patio flowers.


2013年7月17日水曜日

Pollenless Lilies

 
 
These are some new pollenless lilies. I always try to get ones that have no pollen as otherwise I have to be sure to snip out the pollen-bearing bits as soon as they start to open - lily pollen is deadly to cats.
 


2013年7月16日火曜日

Sadness

 
I was going to make a blanket for my half of the bed with a flower garden of a mixture of flower blocks and plain ones. I thought it would be a good memorial to Tigger - who lay against my legs at night. Unfortunately I had made 10 blocks when my husband decided he absolutely hated them. I am blocking them here - the blocking board is too small so they are overlapped. At least I found a friend who likes them and to whom I am giving them.

2013年7月15日月曜日

The garden in July


 
Despite the truly awful weather we have had this year, the garden is doing surprisingly well now the weather has finally cheered up.


2013年7月12日金曜日

Tigger

 
It really doesn't look comfortable to me - but he was sound asleep.

My darling Tigger has been missing since last Sunday. We have done all the right things and he is microchipped - but there have been no sightings. We have to accept that he is probably dead. He was very timid and shy, never travelled beyond a few gardens, and was never away from home for more than an hour or two at a time. I am heart-broken.
 


2013年7月6日土曜日

Tatting - again



This is such a simple pattern that I make it again and again. I wonder how many of these mats I have made down the years. One thing I do know is that they are scattered all round the world by now.


2013年7月5日金曜日

Double Ended Tunisian Crochet

 
This was a technique I had never tried before so I fished two balls of cotton out of my stash and gave it a go. The texture is the same on both sides but one colour is stronger on one side and the other colour on the other - making a truly reversible piece.


Ginger

 
Ginger is the cat who cares. He knows instantly if I am extra-ill or upset and comes to keep me company and make me feel better.


2013年7月3日水曜日

Sunny

 
She was curled up asleep on the chair and I thought I could take a photo - but of course she woke up.


2013年7月1日月曜日

Friends!

 
I read about people whose cats fight all the time and hate each other - so I am very thankful that my three are good friends. Tigger and Ginger.


2013年6月30日日曜日

Tunisian Crochet

 
These are Tunisian crochet mats/cloths. Fun to make, very easy and very absorbent.

Managed to go down with pneumonia this time - as my daughter said pneumonia in June is ridiculous.
 


2013年6月25日火曜日

The garden in June

 
I am pretty much stuck in bed most of the time at the moment so my husband videoed the garden to show me. (He got the year wrong and meant lilac not wisteria.)


2013年6月23日日曜日

Split ring tatting

 
This is based on a pattern in a French book. I did get rather bored doing all the central section - lots of split rings, but I like geometric patterns so I am happy with the result.

Sorry, I am going down with another chest infection on top of the existing one so may disappear again.
 


2013年6月22日土曜日

Exibition Calligraphy

 
Sorry I disappeared again - chest infection this time!
 
This is this year's exhibition piece of Japanese calligraphy my husband just finished.
 

2013年6月16日日曜日

Sunny

 
This quite ordinary-seeming part of the hall carpet is Sunny's favourite spot for a nap.


2013年6月14日金曜日

Fingerless Mitts

 
A very pretty pair of fingerless mitts that I made for myself in cashmere yarn.


2013年6月13日木曜日

Last autumn's petunias

 
The weather is miserable this week - wet, cold and windy - more like late October than mid-June, and the garden is over a month behind normal. I didn't get to show you these last year - and this year's baskets are not yet flowering.


2013年6月12日水曜日

Tunisian crochet

 
This is just a cotton mopping up cloth, but being done in Tunisian crochet simple stitch makes it thick and absorbent.


Crochet Doily

 
It is decades since I have made a crochet doily so I wasn't sure if I would still have the knack of it. But as you can see it soon came back to me.


2013年6月10日月曜日

2013年6月8日土曜日

And the garden today


After the relentless bad weather of the winter I was afraid the garden would really have suffered, but my husband took this photo of it this morning - with Ginger in attendance, of course!


2013年6月7日金曜日

A Snowy Winter

 
This winter was one when we had much more snow than usual. Every time we thought it was over it started up again.
 


2013年6月6日木曜日

Cardigan

 
This is my latest knitted cardigan. Pure cashmere and a lovely textured pattern. So comfortable!


2013年6月5日水曜日

Green Shawl

 
I love this green shawl that I knitted in silk/cashmere yarn. It is very fine and light but surprisingly warm.
 

2013年6月4日火曜日

Last autumn

 
 
This is the view from my window. I love watching the lime trees as they change through the seasons. This was October.


I am back!


 Sorry I disappeared for so long. I have been ill but am now convalescent again.