Categories
Sewing

Daffodils for Mother’s Day

It’s tradition at the church my mum goes to that all women are given daffodils on Mother’s Day. This year I decided to give her a more permanent form of daffodils. It’s a kit from Anchor and the first major piece of tapestry needlepoint I’ve done.

Daffodils Tapestry Needlepoint
Daffodils Tapestry Needlepoint ©Rachel Gibbs

I had a bit of trouble because I ran out of two of the colours of wool and discovered my LYS only has DMC tapestry wool, not Anchor, so the replacement didn’t match exactly. I framed it myself which was the first time I’d used foam board and although I found a frame that said it was 7×5, the mount was actually less than that so I had to cut it a bit larger. I wish embroidery kits would come in standard sizes so it was easier to find frames. I’m finding it particularly difficult to find square frames in suitable sizes.

My mum’s craft of choice is patchwork but she taught me most forms of needlework when I was younger and it’s all coming back to me now. There was a Young Embroiderer’s group which mum helped out at and me and my sister went to in the school holidays. We made all sorts of things over the years, some reasonably sensible like a sewing kit that I still use and some more obscure like an appliqué version of our house, which doesn’t even look right any more since the front door and garage have changed colour (not that it was a particularly good representation to start with).

I’m spending the weekend with  my parents, partly so I could give my mum her present in person and didn’t have to trust it to Royal Mail. We went to Longshaw yesterday which is a National Trust estate with some nice gentle walks and lots of sheep to see. No lambs in sight though, it must be a bit early. I always like to get out into the Peak District when I go back to Sheffield, it’s one of the things I miss the most down south. It was a bit misty yesterday but I still got to see some good views and got a scone with jam and cream in the cafe which is always a good reason to visit National Trust properties.

Categories
Knitting

One cardigan one sock, keep knitting

I feel like I’ve knitted at least two cardigans with all the ripping out I’ve been doing, but I’ve finally got a version that I think I’m happy with and all I need to do is sew in the many, many ends and attach the buttons, which will probably take as long as knitting it. I forgot that the pattern at the bottom would be wrapped around and join at the front, so the blocks aren’t distributed as evenly as I would like but I can live with that (or rather am not willing to rip it all out again).

Tetris Baby Cardigan
Tetris Baby Cardigan, almost finished ©Rachel Gibbs

I followed up my vanilla hat knitting with vanilla sock(s), only one so far but the stripes are helping to keep me motivated. It’s in Regia 4ply Design Line Ombré Stripe in Moss Garden. I’m not keen on a lot of the multicoloured Regias, especially the ones by Kaffe Fassett, as they often contain rather odd colour combinations, but these I like.

Regia sock
Regia Sock (part 1) ©Rachel Gibbs

I received my Knit Now 32 on Monday, and it’s my favourite kind of issue – the annual Best of British. Not only does it have lots of great patterns (as always) but it uses entirely British yarns, including a new yarn developed by Knit Now, which looks great. I love Jamie the Shetland Puffin, the Kellynch Blanket and pretty much everything in the All At Sea collection.