FO Poncho

It's been finished for a while, but I've only just got round to blogging it.
I love it, it's cosy warm.
I've also knitted matching arm warmers, which work amazingly well, as your arms have to keep popping out from the warmth in order to do anything.

See more FOs from other folk here at Finished Object Friday

WIP dangerously close to completion

Nearly there.....

After all that work to make a horizontal cabled border panel, I undid it. It didn't hang right and it was too heavy for the poncho.
So I simply knitted 6 rows of garter stitch and I'm now adding the tassels.
I even cut through the border to try to get it to hang right, and it must have taken 10 or more tries to get the front point right. Oh well, it was all good experience.

I am particularly pleased with the hood and its tassel. But I don't have a pic of that yet.
Maybe it will be a FO this Friday!

Find more WIPs on Wednesday here

Poncho-to-be

It's nearing completion. 

It started off as a very simple poncho, but then I added a front central cable.
And then a horizontal cabled border.
And then a cable around the hood front.
And a slice of tree branch button closure.

So now it's nothing like the original pattern.
I just have to finish the hood, and a little bit of the horizontal border, and attach the button.
I started it at Center Parcs, and I want to wear it for the first time when we go back to Center Parcs in January.

I'm using my favourite New Lanark wool in chunky. (Why use anything else? It's cheap, it's pure wool and they deliver next day). 

Please go and see more WIPs from other folk at http://tamisamis.blogspot.com/2011/12/work-in-progress-wednesday-73.html

Tuesday's Tallies

Soay sheep

This week I wanted to get my Soay square done.  I had to wash the fleece as it was raw and a teeny bit smelly.  I've just discovered (through Ravelry) that rams can have really stinky fleeces. Thankfully, I think this one must have been a ewe's fleece.

When it was dry, I couldn't find my carding brushes (really dog brushes) and found that one flick carder didn't really cut the mustard. So that's going to have to wait.

BUT whilst looking for the carders, I found a previously spun Swaledale square, ready to label and add to the blanket. I also found some spun Suffolk, which is the wool I use for every other square, and for joining them all.

So here is the Swaledale, labelled and in place. 

And now the right way round. 

So my Tally is: 2 this week. One Suffolk square, and one Swaledale. 10 squares to go. 

Thankyou for all the lovely comments on my first post last week. 

Do go over to see more tallies here

Spunday

No spinning today, but I found a previously spun and crocheted square of Swaledale ready to go into my blanket.  I also found some Suffolk which is spun and ready to crochet, which was a bonus, because I thought I'd run out. This is the grey wool used to make every other square in the pattern, and to crochet all the squares together, so lots is needed. I also plan to crochet a border around the whole lot when it's finished.

Swaledale

Things I'm loving...

Robin sent me these gorgeous sheepish buttons as a RAK. Love them to bits. They make me smile lots.

Pop over to Paisley Jade to see what everyone else is loving. Thankyou for popping in. Your comments are always appreciated. 

Tuesday's Tallies

My first Tuesday's Tallies too. 

Apart from last week, when I gatecrashed, because I wasn't really sure of what to do. Now though, I've found the Ravelry group, signed up and sorted my project.

My project has been going on for a couple of years, for as long as I've been spinning. I'm making a poncho/blanket from handspun British sheep wool. Every square must be handspun by me, then crocheted into a square, then labelled with the sheepy breed, then crocheted to the blanket. I won't be doing one a day, I'll aim for one a week. It would be nice to get this finished. It currently has 36 squares in the blanket, I have 12 left to do.

I will try to get a square of rare Soay wool made this week. The fleece is raw so I'm starting at sheep level.
This is what it looks like at the moment.

Thankyou for visiting. I'm enjoying looking at all of your beautiful creations too. 

Scottish wool hat

Knitted with lovely 100% wool spun in a independent mill in Scotland.
New Lanark wool shop
Sorry I can't link to the pattern, but I just made it up as I went along. I'm very happy with how it turned out, and it's a perfect fit.

Mixed bag

Thought I'd show you what's going on craft-wise.  It's been mostly chickens here for a while, what with the new girls settling in, so a quick round-up of current projects shouldn't go amiss.

 Here's my second pair of socks. Generally a pair of socks will take me a couple of years to knit. Really. That's because they are my travelling project which I leave in the car or my handbag, and I knit in between lessons (a few stitches at a time) or in the waiting room (a row, maybe?) or in the car before my next school (5 mins twice a week). This is also why I need a simple pattern. In fact my next pair  are completely plain, like my first.
These are Roo Knits Fishtail socks Pattern here
You can't see the fishtail pattern terribly well here, but it shows up better in real life.

 These are my sheepy friends. The middle one was made and sent to me by a lovely lady in Scotland. The one on the right is for my sister to give to her friend who is ill. The unfinished one on the left is up for grabs. They are all going to Church for a week for St Bartholomew's 24/7 Prayer Week They will soak up lots of good vibes and then go to be friends with people who need them.

 The start of my beach hut doorstop. I adore beach huts and all things beachy.

Here is the finished bag which was featured in an earlier blog post. Currently stuffed with all things sheepish to take to the Church tomorrow.

And here's my very first box pouch. It's so cute and adorable! I've got sewing supplies in it at the moment. It's fully lined. This tutorial  is a good one.