Saturday 19 June 2010

Liesl

So this is my Liesl Cardi the pattern is available from Ysolda's website, I did check out the lovely cottons that she had used for her versions but didn't want to wait for mail order so I used Sirdar Denim Chunky. This is a wool/cotton/acrylic mix so it is soft enough to keep the chill off in the summer (if it ever arrives!!) but will be a warm layer in the Autumn. I originally wanted a red version of this yarn but couldn't get it at my LYS so settled for burgundy/marl and it was a good choice as it seems to go with most of my things!! It blends wells with brown and is fine with navy and black and maybe a red version would not have been so useful.

The pattern is feather and fan so is a 4 row simple pattern to remember and because it is a top down construction there was no sewing up, just a few ends to sew in, my fav!!! I have done a couple of top down garments but I'm not very experienced at fitting them etc, I did thread this onto waste yarn and with the help of Sticks and Strings members, decided to do another 2 pattern repeats, I did not want it tight under the arms!! However now it is finished I wonder if I needed to do them but it is very comfy and I have worn it most days since I finished it!!

Sticks and Strings is the Friday afternoon knitting group that I belong to, a group of us have got together from Ravelry and now we meet once a fortnight in a pub, The White Horse. We've met for a few months now and we are really getting to know one another well, we have a good time together and share all our latest purchases as well a few laughs!! I have also been part of a starting group for a Tuesday evening group, these are mainly new knitters but at slightly different stages. We've been meeting for 5 or 6 weeks now and last Tuesday we sat companionably knitting and chatting and I don't think anyone shouted for help!! We also have our first garment made, the ray of hope hat, which you can find as a free download from Ravelry. Very exciting!!

Friday 18 June 2010

The Epic Walk!!


So here are a few pix to show you how brave my lovely tune-king and our daughter are, they walked 100 from Keld to Robin Hood's Bay in the direst weather, that Yorkshire can offer at this time of year. Here they are at the start, weather was ok, not hot but cloudy, good walking weather, but that was not to last as you can see!!



Day 2 and the rain has started as they have left the b & b!!
And now the fog has fallen and that stream is the path!! This was day 2 still and there were no more views because the fog lasted until the last day when they could see the sea and the sun came out!







The sun is out and the end is in sight even if it is still about 4 miles away!!


They throw in their stones collected from St Bee's Head on the other side of England!
They both did really well, and carried on despite the horrid weather and aches and pains, they raised loads of dosh, about £800 between them and my husband tells me that our daughter did not moan once. She even confided that when they were in fog, high winds and rain on the moors, he did tell her, that he was glad she was with him and not me!! And I have to say he was dead right, I don't walk those kind of distances and if I did I think I would definitely be a fair weather walker!! Or a very miserable wet walker, and I'm not known for keeping my misery to myself!!

Thank you to anyone that sponsored them, the money will be put to good use this summer helping to bring a bit of joy into the lives of youngsters in Croatia and Bosnia.

Thursday 17 June 2010

Good Day for bargains!!

Today I visited a local town with a friend especially to check out a yarn shop but it was closed all day Thursday, however there are a good selection of charity shops. And more excitingly there are quite a few larger ladies that donate good stuff to them!! Usually the big sizes are ghastly nylon fabric and hideous styles!! Can anyone tell me why so many ladies with generous proportions want to wear those kind of fabrics!! Maybe I'm just being a natural fibre snob but they are so much more comfy even if the ironing is a pain!!

Anyway, I have been looking for a denim jacket for a while, just an ordinary one nothing too special but there are soo expensive!! Anyway today I found one that fitted perfectly for £3.99, perfect! Then I was on a roll, I bought curtains that will be enough to make a skirt, and a dress and probably even more, Sound of Music eat your heart out!! A brushed cotton bedsheet that will make great jamas for the winter, a pair of linen cropped trews, a stripey t-shirt and 2 books, Charlotte Gray and an autobiography of a midwife in 1950s in east end of London and they were a bogof!!! All for under a tenner, now you can't say fairer than that can you!! Much of it is in the wash as we speak (!) so pics will come later!!

Now we are going out for a pizza on a buy one get a 2nd for £1 offer, will the bargains never stop!! A group at church are running Alpha Course in Pizza Express so we are supporting that but we will also be celebrating cos my lovely handsome tune-king got a job today!!

Tomorrow I'll show some pics of their epic walk last week!! Toodle-oo!


Tuesday 8 June 2010

I am revising really!!

I have been revising but I will be glad to be released from doing so after tomorrow!! I have just had a little flick through some blogs while I'm having lunch!! I have finally bought Bella trousers by Burdastyle, I have only used their free patterns so far but so many peeps have made bella trews and put pics on tinternet that I have decided to give it a go. I need a new trouser pattern and wide leg are the style that suits me best, mainly cos I have wide legs!! Now every one I see in theses trews looks very slim and talks about "have you lost weight?" type conversations when they wear them!! Now this could be cos they are slim and tall and gorgeous and some definitely are but maybe there are a few in there that are short and rounded like myself and these trews have a magic effect!! Well I have a piece of light purple gabardine that is begging to be a pair of trews and if that works I may make some kneeish length one for my hols cos its bound to rain and I don't want wet trouser legs flapping at the ankle!!

I have a good feeling here, this could the pattern to revolutionise my legs!! I'm off back to psychology and how it blends with the christian faith. See you soon, with pics of my bella trews and my wet daughter and tune-king as they trudge across Northern England in the rain!!

Friday 4 June 2010

Challenges for clan bagqueen

So I'm a sucker for a challenge especially one that encourages me to sew more!! and I'm now signed up with sozo again for a self-stitched-september. I was rubbish at documenting MMM and I kinda lost the plot the more I coughed and the more revision I had to do but this time there are 3 whole months of relaxation and knitting and sewing ahead of me so I will be prepared (I wasn't a girl guide for nothing!!) and I'll try harder. "At last!" I hear my erstwhile teachers shout she's following the advice on her school report, only about 40 years too late!!

You'll be glad to know my cough is gone completely and apart from a normal little tickle occasionally, I'm back to normal well my version of normal anyway!! The exams are nearly done, one last wednesday and the last paper is on this wednesday coming, which will be a harder paper in some ways but the lecturer has made it as easy as she can!! We have had the questions for 2 weeks so we can prepare our answers and only have to learn what is relevant to the exam. But it isn't just a case of learning the relevant facts it's more learn the facts and tell me what you think and why!! Now I have never had a problem telling people what I think but the difficult bit on this one is that the exam is only 1 hour long and there are 2 questions, so I have to clear and concise, now that is stretching my comfort zone!! Hey ho! its not meant to be too easy and I'm not moaning cos I'm so enjoying the studying, although paradoxically I do have my usual problem of getting down to doing it!!

Well guys I have a busy weekend coming up, I'm treating myself to a trip to a quilt day tomorrow, though I won't be able to stay all day!! Then My tune-king and our daughter are off to Yorkshire to complete the coast to coast walking challenge they started last year. They will be walking from Keld to Robin Hoods Bay in 4 1/2 days. They will be doing it come rain or shine and those of you familiar with Northern England will know they have more than an even chance of rain!! And they are doing 23-ish miles / day for 3 days then 17 miles day 4 and 16 on the last 1/2 day!! I shall be taking them to the start on Monday morning having stayed with friends in the Lake District on Sunday and collecting them on Friday afternoon from the coast. We are all looking forward to Fish and Chips looking out over the sea that night!!

If you'd like to support them please go to The tune-king's justgiving page. They are raising funds for the charity we work for. Its called bless and we will be spending the money on sending teams of young people out to Croatia and Bosnia, where they will do fun stuff with children and young people. If you want to know more go and check it out here!!

So I hope the sunshine lasts over the weekend and that you all have a fun time, I will squeezing a bit of revising in at the edges then one last day on Tuesday of concentrated brain stuffing and then by Wednesday at 2.15pm it will be over for this year!! Whilst I'm looking forward to a bit of a break, I have to say I have enjoyed it so much. I have met some fab people and I will be taking some pics for future blogs. I have loved stretching my mind and studying and in addition to that I have learnt so much about myself and how I tick, which has been hard at times but will make a difference to me as I continue to live this glorious life I have been given!!

So let me encourage you, if there is something you want to do, give it a go and see what happens, you never know you may find your dreams are there waiting where you least expected to find them!!