Saturday 24 August 2013

Making things

Well I still haven't made myself anything but I did eventually get around to finishing up the Monster Moggy (another pattern from 'Knitted Cats and Kittens' by the fabulous Sue Stratford- www.theknittinghut.co.uk ). Here he is:


He's a bit bigger than I expected- about 20cm tall- so he's turned into a kind of household familiar and guards the front door. I'm on the way to finishing up another of Sue's cat patterns, a crazy stripey creature and great for helping to get through a stash. I think I'll be making quite a few in a variety of colourways so watch this space...

The last week or so I've also turned my hand to a spot of jewellery making. Fabric brooches to be exact. They've been a lot of fun to make and are another stashbusting project as you can use up all those bits of felt, old t-shirts and random buttons and beads. Here are a few:

 

So much still to do but it's almost the end of the summer holidays. Next weekend I will treat myself to a last session of sewing before life gets too hectic and the table has a permanent covering of the kids' homework and resources for my work.

Thursday 15 August 2013

Been a Long Time

At last! Blogspot will let me post something! To be absolutely truthful, I've only had problems trying to write and post something this week; before then life has just got in the way.

I got very busy leading up to the end of term and also went through another (lengthy) bout of insomnia but it didn't stop me running. Now I am almost at the end of my get fit again training and although I didn't quite make it to running 10 miles I can do 7 miles in an hour which is pretty good going consdering the state I was in 6 months ago. So it would seem that I am a stronger, faster runner than before. After the coming week running will take a back seat while I focus on strength and flexibility for a couple of months. Then, well, I have a challenge in mind...

It's been a strange summer. I have hugely enjoyed the hot unlike many of my fellow countrymen. My heat-induced euphoria has been tempered by the fact that the garden has of course wilted and it's not been easy to get things to grow well. Salads have bolted, the heat came a bit late for the beetroot, and the broad beans were disappointing. But the basil that survived slugs is flourishing and we've had some fantastic homemade pesto. I'm not holding out much hope for the tomatoes though. I think the hot and dry weather came a bit late for them- but you never know. It's always fun planting seeds and seeing what happens.

Knitting, like blogging, has also taken a back seat over the last couple of months. But I have got a bit of sewing done and come up with some lovely things for my girlies. A couple of t-shirt dress projects and a fab skirt inspired by a photo seen on hideousdreadfulstinky.com


T shirt dress for youngest
 

 
8 panelled skirt inspired by hideousdreadfulstinky


A-line dress made free-hand. It's a bit untidy but youngest loves it!

I think it's time I made myself something now!