Calling all knitters!

A very quick hello to update you on my latest venture. My friend El and I have been kicking around the idea of setting up a knitting group for a while now and I've only finally gone and done something about it.

I'd been wracking my brain for ages about a venue that might be suitable and then I suddenly had a brainwave. I'm really lucky to live in a really nice garden suburb, which has it's very own institute (think small church hall type of building) for use by local residents at a very reasonable cost. How quaint is that! Anywhoo, it occured to me that it might be a good place for us like minded knitters to get together, swap tips and most importantly have a good old natter. So I gave the institute a call and before you knew it I'd only gone and booked a room for us to use.

The result is that I am pleased to announce the first knitting group to be held on Monday 12th April, 7-9pm at Wavertree Institute, Thingwall Rd. Any suggestions for a name for the group/night very welcome.

We're hoping to start off smallish, hopefully with about 8 peeps and will meet once a month. I guess if it goes really well we could maybe think about upping it to every fortnight, but I think slow and steady is the order of the day to begin with.

Will obviously keep you posted with updates on how that goes and will also put up some pics of my latest projects soon I promise.

Over the last fortnight I've made a bear for a Christening present and a rabbit for birthday present (very nearly finished but at the time I write this the poor thing is waiting for it's fluffy pom pom tail) and am also working on a top secret project for my hubby as it's out 1st wedding anniversary this coming Sunday. All details will be revealed soon.

Speaking of which, must dash so I can get on with it. We're off to Whitby for a nice long weekend on Friday, so I really need to get the secret project finished before we go. Wish me luck.

A short break from knitting...

So as promised, a small break from knitting was taken to work on my Mum's mother's day card. I bought a lovely necklace with a turquoise stone for her present and when I looked at it the turquoise immediately put in mind of the colours in a peacocks feathers & voila, there was my inspiration.

Celtic designs are kind of a specialty of mine and are always a hit with my parents, so I decided to try and combine to two for the card. I have lots of copyright free celtic design books, a collection which I have built up over the years so I had a quick trawl through and quickly found this bird design (apologies for it being slightly out of focus).

I traced the design and made 3 copies, which I outlined in pen. I then painted it with acrylics, constantly referring to photos of peacocks for colour inspiration. I then cut out the birds, using a stanley knife for the very intricate bits and finally created a mount for them out of colour card & paper. This is how it turned out:

All in all it took about 4 hours and I'm really pleased I did it because Mum seemed to love it. She also loved her pressies which was nice.

Speaking of pressies, I still find it a bit weird that I get pressie's too on Mother's day! I got really nice ones though. My lovely hubby did a bit of shopping on Mabes' behalf and got me two books, which is always a very welcome pressie. The boy done good too and chose really well. I also got the sweetest card which was written from both of them.

As if that weren't enough, my mum decided to do a bit of role reversal and gave me a gift for mother's day, a bottle of vino & some chocolate. Good old Mum. Think I'll be putting them to good use on Thursday when John has his weekly night out with the boys. All I'll need is a cheesy girly flick, then I'll have the holy trinity for a girls night in.

I decided I should mark the occasion of my 3rd Mother's Day as a Mum (we brought Mabel home from the hospital on my first Mother's Day) by getting a pic of me & Mabes. She likes to sit with me in front the mirror when I'm doing my hair, so I thought it would be nice to get a pic of us together in the mirror. Here are the results:

Turns out it was nigh on impossible to get her to look in the mirror rather than the lens/display screen of the camera. Ho hum, I kind of like the pics anyway. You know what they say, never work with children & animals. Easier said than done when you live in a house with 1 2 year old, 3 cats & a dog.....

A present for Mila...

So a quick update, my 2nd knitted soft toy project is complete - hooray! It's a fairy doll knitted for Mila's 2nd birthday (Mila is my good friend Laurence's daughter). I was absolutely smitten with this pattern when I saw it. It's another one by Amy Gaines and knowing Laurence's love of dolls, which I am sure she has passed on to Mila, it called out to me as the perfect present.

This pattern is much more intricate than the owl I knitted for Mabel, and subsequently took quite a lot longer to make, but it was equally enjoyable to work on. It was hugely satisfying seeing all the individual components coming together, I especially liked working on the really fiddly bits, the curls of her hair & the flower & petals.

As with the owl, I had to adlib with the colours a bit using what was available at short notice, but I stayed as faithful to the pattern as possible and I think it turned out ok. I used 100% organic cotton yarn, which gave an extremely soft and tactile finish. I would definitely recommend it for soft toys.

So that's another one done and much as though I would love to get stuck straight into the next one (a Christening gift) I need to take a short break from knitting to embark on a another craft - card making. Mother's day is looming and my Mum would be really disappointed if she didn't get a hand made card so I need to try and get some inspiration for that one quick.

Will keep you posted on developments....