Sunday 20 May 2012

Latest treasure

I know some of you might be waiting with bated breath to hear what treasures I found at the flea market this week. Well I was happy with my find even if most people wouldn't be impressed!


No less than 58 pairs of knitting needles, 3 crochet hooks, a stitch holder and 2 big sewing needles for £6 - must be a bargain! Mind you I don't actually need lots more needles as I probably have every size I might want to work with already. I think maybe I was tempted to buy because of the packaging.


I've always got some knitting on the go. The Giro d'Italia cycling race has been on TV the last couple of weeks but although I'm keen to catch up with the race highlights in the evenings I never watch TV empty handed. If I'm concentrating on the screen my knitting has to be something I can manage without looking or counting!  I'm using this pattern to make the sleeveless top in cashmere merino silk aran but I've opted to use moss stitch rather than follow the 24 row pattern repeat suggested. Makes life much easier and should look OK I think.


I only knit at night. The daylight hours are when I sew. I always have a few different projects in progress at the same time. That way I can choose between machine sewing or hand sewing and make best use of my time. I am often asked how I get so much done but it's easy if you always have something you can pick up for a few spare minutes. I'm making new cushion covers at the moment. It's the quickest way I know to freshen up a room. I think I'm destined to be Laura's best Fingerprintfabric customer - I simply couldn't resist having a piece of this glorious print. We have 3 of these shrubs in the garden so it's lovely to bring the same colour and shape into the house. Deciding what colour of thread to use for the quilting is one of my favourite things. I could have gone with any of these but in the end I plumped for the leaf green.


I had planned to keep the quilting really simple by stitching the central vein and then outlining each leaf but I enjoy free motion quilting so much I never want to stop. The green background had to have a little vermicelli quilting too.


I'll let you see how the cushion turns out when I've made it up. This is in danger of becoming quite a long post so I'll call a halt by showing you the dress I have almost finished from one the Rag Market fabrics we struggled home with this week.


All it needs is its self coloured belt and the hems turned and it will be finished. Laura has claimed it as her own so you may see her wearing it on DMTV very soon!

Thanks for reading this far - I enjoy your company! Bye for now,
Linda

8 comments:

  1. Fabulous packaging! I was given a whole bundle like that and I passed them on to Elsa as I had plenty. Every girl has to start with a great bundle of needles. Like you I'm a night time knitter too. Love the cushion and dress too, very much a Laura fabric!

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  2. Your auctions are much more fun than ours! The clock faces had me entranced so much that I went to the local flea market in hopes of finding one - no! I would have bid on the needles as well. I remember that packaging and some funny stories about my Gram and Mom and girdles. The cushion fabric is fabulous and "Laura's" dress is gorgeous. Wishing you all a wonderful week.

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  3. Hi Amanda. Guess we're all very much the same when it comes to wanting these things rather than actually needing them. Enjoy your night time knitting!

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  4. Hi Jeannie. Good luck with that clock face hunt! The auction we went to was unusual - there were dozens of clocks and quite a few separate painted faces - they are only going to get rarer and I'll probably never see another one I can afford to buy!

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  5. Hi Linda, I love all your posts, so inspirational! I wonder where the knitting pattern is from please? - would like to have a go!

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  6. Thank you Diana - I'm glad you like them! The knitting pattern is from the fifth Sublime Cashmere merino silk aran book. I bought it and the yarn from www.blacksheepwools.com I'm almost finished knitting the sleeveless jacket and will let you see a picture of it soon if it looks presentable!

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  7. Thank you so much for responding, Linda - I'll be looking out for your finished item which I'm sure will be gorgeous!

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  8. love the cowl-necked dress - did you use a pattern or make it up yourself? Haven't done any dress making for at least a decade - seeing your posts makes me want to dust down my patterns and have a go again :)

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