How long?!?

We interrupt our regular knitted items to bring you a very old piece of tapestry.

This is a Queen Adelaide tramme tapestry door stop kit I bought when I was fifteen, at a craft show at the Malvern Town Hall. The background yarn wasn't included, and I ran out of what I had bought. So I put it aside.

For 23 years. With only 99 stitches to go. 99 out of 9799. I worked 99% and gave up.

Yarn purchased Sunday.  This will be finished in the next hour. Then I'll need two bricks: one for the door stop, and one for the back of my head.

The ends are near

I run a finishing business where I volunteer to sew in the ends of other people's jumpers, yet my own languishes from my avoidance.

To be fair, there are an awful lot of ends and it is cotton. That's a reason, not an excuse, I swear!

Stress not

In years gone by when I was upset or stressed I'd pour a large glass of wine or eat some ice cream.

Now I sit down and make things.

After a stressful morning I sat down and crocheted this button bracelet in about 15 minutes. Much better for me than wine, I think.

Dear Debbie Bliss...

I have enough projects to finish. I have many unfinished and very many to start. I even have the stash set aside.

Then my da saw a gansey in your latest magazine.

"It's says "Barry's Gansey Sweater". My name is Barry. It must be mine, mustn't it?"

Thanks Debbie, thanks a lot.

Little Mannikins

One of the UFO's I was looking forward to working on was a little green vest I started for Marcus. I was a bit worried it might be too small for him, but no fear!

When I pulled it out of the bag the back was finished and the front was worked until about an inch below the armholes. I pulled it out on Saturday morning and by Sunday night it was all done bar the sewing up.

The pattern is Sirdar 337, and the yarn is Sublime Yarns Cashmerino DK that I bought on sale. The yarn is gorgeous, if not a tad fluffy already. As for the Sirdar pattern, well, I adore Sirdar patterns.  Beautiful, clear instructions, nary a mistake (so far) and - best of all - size 0-7! So Marcus will have another vest next year, and the year after, and the year after...


Did he like it?

Hard to tell!

Ooops.

Today's finished object is one of shame.

At the beginning of the year I wrangled my ufo's into some semblance of order, namely THE LIST. Now, to do this I had to open boxes that had been hermetically sealed for years, containing things that man dare not what of, etc etc. One of the boxes contained a dodgy looking Audrey Hepburn emblazoned bag and my heart sunk, for inside was someone else's knitting.

 This is possibly the worst of the worst. I'd taken Jade's knitting, from Scotland, faithfully promised to fix it (the scarf) and finish it (the gloves), then I would post it back to Scotland. Please note that two weeks after we arrived home from Scotland we found out Marcus was on the way and my entire life turned into baby knitting.

But enough excuses, here's Jade's scarf.

It's a plain stocking stitch scarf of 450 stitches on a 5mm needle, and early on Jade turned around mid-row, creating a hole. I promised to pull it back and finish it for her. To do this I had to undo about 15 rows, then started again, only to realise that the mistake was three rows lower. So I picked up the stitches three rows below, while in Gold Class watching "The Hobbit".

I couldn't look down at any point, because the film was just too brilliant. Luckily, after about an hour, I was off and knitting again. It took another three days and then I cast off 450 stitches.

Yeah, so Jade: it's finished. Still want it sent to Dundee?