Episode 11Monday 12th of February
Only a week later than planned due to illness, starting with toddle chops and ending in all of us!
Knitting
One FO toddler socks
New cast on…. Weasley sweater for me in Hayfield Aran bonus in purple
Swatching for some new designs…..
1 shawl…. In Owl About Yarn Tibetan Owl….
1 toy in Aran weight alpaca…
Another shawl which is being swatched in my smooshie base (azure) but will eventually be knit up in RiverKnits’ glorious Splendiferous base in Silberman Mond or silver moon….
Wound the yarn to cast on the next two pairs of vanilla socks…
Both are weavers loft, which I picked up at Wonderwool last year no colourway names, but they are 75% super wash wool 25% nylon
One for James and one for Dad….
Crochet
I’ve balled up the masham and mystery hand spuns and have decided to crochet a log cabin style blanket out of them…. Mainly for ease and the fact it grows sooooo quickly!!
Aside… I love the way these Masham skeins have balled up!!
Acquisitions
Ummmm so before we get into sewing…. I’ve a few…. Ahem…… Acquisitions to admit to……
1 tartan off cuts…. One bag thereof…
Flannelette cotton
Four colours of Sherpa fleece….
Green sweatshirt material….
Waterproof fabric
White terry towelling fabric
And I’m still waiting on some pretty pink cottons and some ribbing fabrics I ordered….
Eek!!!
Sewing
So it’s been three weeks and I have just about three projects finished….
The first two are the Bucket hats by Oliver and S which I have made out this tractor fabric…. One is for William, the other for a little friend of his!!
The second is an AJ Aviator hat by Made by Jacks Mum….
This one is for James and I have started the one for William today!!
I have been finding crawling about on the floor increasingly not fun for cutting out so I have now spent a chunk of time and cut out a few big sewing projects, smaller one I can manage at my table….
I have cut out a blue coco by Tilly and the buttons
A grain line studios Linden in the green foxy fabric
An Agnes by Tilly and the Buttons in black for the body green for the sleeves,
A load of the AJ aviator hats….
Plus I still have a fleece jumper cut out to sew, though I don’t think it will now fit toddle chops, it will have to wait for his little brother to grow into it!!
Spinning
I’ve managed a fair amount of spinning these past few weeks despite illnesses….
All working on this Pomegranate colourway from John Arbon, which I picked up from Wonderwool a few years back now!!
I have Navajo or chain plied it and I am definitely finding that easier the more I practice!!! But Amy Beth of the Fat Squirrel speaks has alerted me to another ply variety called thread plying so I think I may try that on next on the gorgeous purples I have also from John Arbon…. And thread ply it with one of the beautiful cones of yarn I was gifted an age ago!!! That way I’d get a really great yardage from it…. Who know maybe even sweater yardage?!?! Or part of a sweater!!!
Weaving
Unfortunately something had to give in these past weeks with illness…. And weaving was it…. Plus I keep forgetting to ask James to help me pull the weaving round the loom so I can start the next section!! But I reckon I’m well over halfway…
Shop update
Well last Friday saw the release of the Lovehearts hat!!!! It’s available so far in my Etsy shop and in my Ravelry Pattern store!!! So head on over and have a snoop if you’d like!!!
I’m planning to release the next one…. broadleaf around the time I next Podcast….
I am also putting a call out for test knitters for the coniferous hat…. All the details will be in the Ravelry group!!
Baking
So these past two weeks we’ve been a bit more kitchen productive again after a small hiatus post Christmas!!!
I tried to make a apple pie I saw a video for in Facebook, watched once and then couldn’t find again…..
It actually turned out great!!!! I’ll make a few tweaks and make it again…. Then blog what I did!
And then I made banana loaf cakes!!!! As toddle chops went off bananas when he was ill, loads went really ripe and almost over…. So I went on the interwebs and BBC good food gave me a fab recipe for banana loaf cakes.
On the same day as we had the oven all fired up through the day rather than just ticking over James made a vat of spag Bol, a pot of leek and potato soup (his go to Delia Recipe!) and a lasagne for tea!! Yum!!
Farm Update!
Well there has been snow….
Colds….
Cold wet weather…
Hail…..
So we’ve done a fair bit indoors, finishing off bits of the house, glossing door returns…. Glossing the under stairs cupboarding….
James has built housing for his electric fencing gubbins….
And he has been collecting wood like no tomorrow!! Phew!!!
The chicken have gone onto adult food…. And Dai has even started to try and crow!!! I shall try and insert an audio clip…. If not I might be able to Facebook his proto crowing or get it onto the blog!!! Sounds rather pitiful though but he is improving daily!! (Our poor neighbours!!)
We have had another growth scan on baby two… And I’ve started washing all the clothes to freshen them up….. Next is the car seat and the baby seats and we built the cot at the weekend!!
Giveaway
Before coming on air I updated the spreadsheet I have been keeping on the giveaway entries and ran a random number generator……
Drum roll
The winners of the Alpaca are…..
Anita from Gaga knits on YouTube!!
Angeiship13 on Instagram!!
Please PM/DM/ message me your postal addresses and I will get the yarn parcelled up and off to the post office the next opportunity I have!!!!
That’s all folks!!
Tyddyn Bryn 