Dressing gown

I need a dressing gown all the time but an outdoor coat very rarely, so I usually try to make myself a dressing gown that will pass muster as a coat on the rare occasions I need one.

The one I am showing you today is one I made a good many years ago. I managed to get a remnant of 100%  camelhair fabric. I also got a hand painted sari length - pure silk - in a sale. As you can see, I was able to use the hand painted sections of the sari length to form the collar.



Then I added a length of a very simple tatted edging of four stitch rings. This both looks pretty and has the advantage of giving the edge of the collar a little extra stability.

Tatted Edgings

I'm fond of making tatted edgings because they let me learn a pattern and then just keep on doing it.

The above is a cushion that I embroidered many years ago. I think it was a kit. Originally it had a machine-made lace ruffle around it - which I did not like. So I made a very simple tatted edging and added that instead.

Here are two tatted edgings that I made. The handkies are both Japanese. In Japan handkies are just that - something to dry your hands on after washing them - so they have lots of very pretty designs.



Knitted Cat Toys

My husband has promised me a ginger kitten for my birthday as soon as we can find one within reach of his old person's travel pass and the state of his gammy leg.

So, yesterday afternoon I sat down and made some little knitted kitten toys. Above is a ball, which I am less than happy with.

Also a mouse made to the Better Catnip Mouse pattern by Margaret Briggs. http://localgringos.com/KnittingPatterns/CatnipMouseKnittingPattern.htm

This one is Knit Felted Catnip Mouse by Jen Kubeck. www.folkcatart.co/blogs/jen I particularly like the very clever ears on this one.

I did not add catnip to either mouse and instead of felting them I used a much smaller needle size than normal.



 This one I made up myself as I went along. I started with an i-cord, worked enough to go comfortably around my hand, and joined it to itself. Then I continued with i-cord, finishing with a 'mouse'. I picked up stitches for the second and third i-cords and worked them to different lengths.

I made the mice like leaves, double increasing and decreasing in the centre to give a three-dimensional shape. Putting the increases on every other row and the decreases on every third row gives the mouse shape.

All I need now is to find the kitten on a day when my husband can fetch him!

Azaleas

In Japan May is firmly associated with azaleas. Here is one of ours which which brightens a corner of dense shade at the end of our garden.



Flowering Early

 A lot of things have responded to the unusually dry warm spring by flowering early. The photo above is a sweet cicely plant in flower. This is a herb that is less well known than it ought to be. The leaves have the interesting attribute of adding sweetness without calories. They used to be used to sweeten stewed fruit and I use them in herbal tea.

This is an angelica plant just coming into flower. I make my own candied angelica for cakes as it seems no longer possible to buy it.

And here is a snowball bush, just starting to flower.



More Tatting

Some more tatting from my album. These pieces are from the early days of my tatting so the tension is not as good as I would like.



Canvas Work

Two variations on a theme from my album. Instead of the usual needlepoint on canvas, these were samplers of canvas-work stitches.

The one above was the top of a footstool which I use daily and which has been recovered twice since I made this.



And a cushion cover, also long gone.