All Stitch and No Paper

It always seems swings and roundabouts to me that when I have lots of stitch things on I hanker for something bookish or paint/paper to play with and visa versa. So here I am totally stitchy and wondering about what to make that involves paper, paint, ink, matt medium etc. Fickle in these times!!

Stitchwise I have made up the tiny stitched panels as instructed. I could have gone to town a bit I’m sure but their size fitted in with the others nicely. I’m not sure I will be keen to do something so small again, oh gone are the times when I purposfully looked out the challenging stuff!

I’ve finished another couple of the Temari Not balls. I have a Chinese takeaway box with loads of mismatched and quite old sequins in so I decided to go mad on one of the balls and it now has more bling than Strictly. The other I had couched some chenille thread in random swirls and then filled them with a little stitch and some hand dyed velvet and metallic lace pieces.

I only have a couple left now so thinking what next for them. They’re looking quite nice in a lovely huge vase I have. At least Willow won’t get them in there!

I have been keeping up with the weekly stitch videos from Cathy Reavy of Threads Workshops. This week was Cretan, Raised Close Herringbone and Raised Fishbone stitches which I really enjoyed. I had covered one of the Temari Not balls with just Raised Fishbone stitch as they look like leaves.

The other thing I’m trying to keep up with is on Instagram and it’s only for February and it’s #fabricrecipes with Jayne Emerson Textiles. Doing well so far as I decided to use 3 inch squares of old napkin as a base for continuity as I want to put these into a book when I’ve finished. Should help by keeping them to the same size format anyway.

For a quick fix in the easy department I started a Christmas stitch of a cushion front by Anette Eriksson. I have a table of many reindeer at Christmas, they seem to move in, and I love a bit of Scandi. It’s only one colour so nothing much to think about. Great for afternoon Audible sessions!!

Knitting wise I have finished a jumper for Grandson, he chose the teal colour. I knitted it a size up for next year. I thought this year is nearly into Spring so he will have the most use out of it from the Autumn. When you put time and love into these things it’s nice to know they will be used for the longest time possible.

Kate Davies has some lovely little house slippers called Bieldy on her website I thought I would give a go. I am not a fan of knitted socks, the ones I have made in the past have been ok, just not my thing. I think I don’t/didn’t like thick things on my feet. I now get cold feet so don’t mind too much. I also like that these are toe up so I could adjust them if I wanted to. I bought the kit she has to try out her lovely yarns first though.

Knitting in the round with two circular needles at the same time is how I’ve found to be the easier way of doing them. The bamboo set are the better as they have a slight grip, the steel ones tend to slide all over the place if I’m not careful. Another thing I’m learning is that though I love colourwork I’m beginning to become inpatient with it. Give me cablework any day!! I guess my lifetime of buckets of patience is starting to thin out in certain areas. At least I’m noticing so I can spend more time doing the things I enjoy!!

We are sitting in the house watching the teeny tiny gritty bits of snow that is falling now and then trying to keep the house warm with the log fires, we have been a bit low on oil for the past week so haven’t had full heating on. The oil delivery is due tomorrow so hopefully it won’t snow before then or the tanker won’t get up the drive!

But spring is coming! The pheasants are becoming feisty. Keeps the girls entertained anyway.

Have a good week and I hope the weather is kind for you.