Thanks to New Friends & Projects for 2011

A huge thank you to Jane over at the World Embroideries Blog for sending me these two kits from her giveaway a few weeks ago.

Both kits involve learning new skills. The Golden retriever is in Tent Stitch which is something that I haven't come across before and I've never knitted with beads so I'm looking forward to getting started with these two! Thanks Jane, they are absolutely adorable.

I'm in the process of knitting handwarmers at the moment. I've just completed my first pair, which Eldest can be seen modelling below.

Youngest thinks that they look really cool so now I'm knitting a pair for her to. The thanks for these go to Stacy over at Golden Bird Knits. The handwarmers are based on her Fingerless Glove pattern, without which I wouldn't have had a clue how to even start knitting these. Its a lovely pattern, very simple and knits up very quickly. The pattern is on her blog site and it's well worth popping across to take a look.

As you know from previous posts, I can't seem to stick to patterns. Being true to form, I deviated from this pattern a little to. Due to a previously unknown short term memory lapse issue, I kept forgetting if I'd purled or knitted so I was getting tied in knots. Now, I'm a great believer in the old addage "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again", only with me there is always a twist. I don't cheat, well not much, I just find a different way. In this case, I switched from the knit 2, purl 2 pattern and used stocking stitch for the main body of the glove.

I'm making it one of my New Year Resolutions this year to keep to the pattern. It'll be interesting to see how long I can keep to that one!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

Bye for now

Olly

Comments

A soft spot or OSMC

Hi there, I was having a bit of a nose around a local second hand shop over the weekend and came across this: It was tucked down the side of some furniture, looking a bit sorry for itself, just sitting there all alone. Well, I couldn't leave it there. Poor thing looks like its had a bit of a hard life. It's a Mundlos machine, originally designed to go on a treadle table judging by the lack of a tool compartment, little holes in the base just under the hand crank and the small groove just behind the wheel. The little holes and groove would have been for the belt attaching the machine to the pedal. The tools would probably have been kept in the table. The golden badge is the Mundlos company's trade mark and the portrait is of Heinrich Mundlos, one of the company's founders. The little switch to the side is a handy little gadget that pops the shuttle out of the bobbin compartment. Originally, this machine would have been decorated with ...

The Charity Shop Find & the Headache from Hell!

Hi all I've always been a fan of charity shops. Even before they became a fashionable way to reuse or repurpose other people's unwanted clutter. To me, they have always been a gateway for feeding my addiction to vintage and antique sewing machines. Like this one. Isn't she a beauty? According to the markings, She is a New Home machine made in West Germany so I'm guessing she's a post war... maybe 1950s... electric sewing machine. She has a bolt-on motor and the shortest electric cable I have ever seen on a sewing machine! Look at it! It's tiny! That's never going to reach any of my electrical outlets. I'm thinking that this vintage sewing machine was made to be in a cabinet... or a previous owner cut the cable for some reason. Maybe their outlets were mounted on a desk and they didn't want long cables cluttering the workspace? Who knows? One thing I do know, is this sewing machine is going to give me a little bit of a headache!...

Cover Kits

This is Lickle Ted by DMC. Did I mention that I have a soft spot for teddy bears? Its a cover kit from The World of Cross Stitching Magazine from a couple of months back -April's issue I think, could have been March, I forget. I like doing cover kits as they are usually small enough to finish in a short space of time. Anyway, I thought this little guy was so cute I started stitching it as soon as I got the Magazine, which was pretty much when it came out. I finished him today - 18 June 2010! He only takes up a 4" square! So much for cover kits being quick to do! My main problem was not being able to see the difference in some of the colours. It has two shades of cream and two shades of beige. My other problem was running out of thread. The back stitch for the outlining is in DMC 3371 which is the chocolate brown above. The kit only had one length of around about 8" of the thread. I ran out before I h...

Simply Stitchy

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