First of all I have spent the past 6 weeks working 2 jobs, I handed in my notice at the Dr's Surgery and had been working my months notice and whilst doing that I started at my new job which is now full time at a hospital as an Audio Typist for the Trauma & Orthopaedics Dept. I absolutely love this new job, it is going to take a while getting use to working full time again but it is quiet, no patient contact, just typing up letters for the consultants and maybe one day becoming a Medical Secretary. Which is what I hope for!
Obviously this means less knitting time during the day but am still managing to do a little when I can keep my eyes open. I do have less of a bus journey to work so by the time I get stuck into working on a sock, it is time to get off the bus. To be honest I went off sock knitting for a while and its only been the last couple of days that I have picked up another sock to knit.
Today is Saturday 18th May 2019 and we have one weekend a month that we don't have the Grandkids just so we can get things done around the house and go places we want to go to without having to worry about getting on and off transport with buggies or changing nappies or finding a toilet.
So Frank took me to a shop called Fringe which is in Muswell Hill, London. We got on the District Line train at Becontree Station and headed to Kings Cross St Pancraes which is about half an hours journey so of course, I got some sock knitting done.
Do you like my bright pink coat. It was rather chilly today and was glad of wearing it, especially on the next part of the journey.
It was quite busy on the train even though this photo was taken around 9.30am.
When we got to Kings Cross we had to get to the Piccadilly Line to get to Bounds Green which even Frank has never been to before. That part of the journey took around 15 minutes and I could not believe that was fairly busy too even at that time in the morning.
After we reached Bounds Green we then had to get a bus number 102 from opposite the Train Station to a stop that was called Roseberry Rd which was about 4 stops on the bus. You could have walked it but we were too eager to get to our destination.
Oh my goodness it is such a quaint little shop and as you walk in I would say there is not a whole ton of yarn in there but it was so comfortable and relaxing to just browse around. The young lady in the shop was at the back by a large table which was set up for workshops and there was a gorgeous spinning wheel in the back too and a few sewing machines. The lady came over to say Hi and we told her we had come a long way to visit and she then carried on about her business while we browsed which was really nice to be left alone to look and to not be pushed into anything.
The main reason we went there was because we had looked for a stockist of Drops Yarn and this was about the only one that was not too far away and of course I had a little bit of my birthday money left so I treated myself to Drops Cotton for an idea to do a summer time blanket.
The photo on the left is the Drops Safran which is a 100% cotton yarn and is going to make a lovely blanket. The photo on the right is Drops Karisma which I have been thinking about for a while now since hearing about how nice it knits up by The Bakery Bears. It is 100% wool and is so soft and squishy.
The photo below is a treat from Frank because he saw the colour of green mixed with yellow and cream and said he wanted a scarf in that so he bought one skein of it and it is an aran weight yarn and I will be able to get a nice short scarf for the winter that he can wear under his coat.
We are definitely going to go there again, it only took around an hour to get there and we were back home by 12.30 in time for a bit of housework and then some knitting whilst Frank went to the library.
The next time we go I will ask the lady in the shop if we can take some photos for the blog.
Now this is already getting to be a bit of a long post so I am going to show a few photos below of completed projects which are mainly some jewellery making items that I did and also my completed Full of Mini's Hat that Frank is wearing and says that it is so warm.
I will eventually get around to making myself one but at the moment I just want to get on with other projects. I did knit two other hats with some Drops Fabel yarn which are colour work and I will show them in another post. Do you think he looks happy with it, he always pulls that grin. He is such a knit worthy guy and loves the 27 pairs of socks I have made him over the past couple of years.
They are just a few random things that I wanted to have a go at making and they are not for any one in particular, I have them in a shoe box packed up as I make jewellery just in case I need a random gift for someone.
I have worn the green bracelet on the left a lot and it fits just right.
I am hoping that I can do a bit more jewellery making tomorrow because I do have some ideas going around in my head.
The other weekend I decided to pull out all of my hand made blankets and pile them up on a chair in my bedroom so that when you get to the top of my stairs you can see them just sitting there making the room look bright. Here is what I did.
It doesn't look like much at first but that is not all of them. A lot of my blankets I have given away as gifts and these are just a few that I have laying around the house. I just love looking at them, they make me feel so comfortable and warm inside knowing that one day when I am no longer here they are going to go to my family to keep them warm and comforted.
There are 3 there that are my designs which I am proud of and on the top of the pile is actually a wall hanging that is waiting to be hung once I realise how I am going to do it.
This is the mitred square blanket that I knitted a few years ago with Regia Mini yarn that Frank supplied me with.
It is well used and I would like to knit a blanket similar so that I have 2 of them that the Grand children can enjoy.
Can you see the crochet cushion covers on the bed!
Now the last finished object that I have done was a design all of my own which was made with some 100% acrylic yarn that my son got me for Christmas and I just did not know what to make with it.
I could only think of one thing that would really work which is a lap size blanket and when my son Scott saw it he said he wanted it so I cracked on and got it done. I will have to make another one though with a better quality yarn and write the pattern up because I have had a lot of interest in it on Ravelry.
I wanted a square in the middle that did not twist as the blanket got bigger which is what you see on a lot of crochet granny blankets and I am very pleased with the outcome of it.
I also tried a few ways of getting the corners a different colour but ended up coming up with my own idea that I am very pleased with and is a great evening project to work on whilst catching up with the podcasts.
It is quite bright in colour as you can see but it is warm enough for a chilly evening, soft once it is washed and I think the black really makes the colours pop out.
So that is what I have been up to the past month or so and I hope that this has given you some interest as to what I have been making.
It is Sunday tomorrow and I am going to potter around doing bits and pieces around the house and hopefully enjoy a bit of sunshine.
Thanks for coming back to read and have a good week.
