Small Gifts

Before going any further I want to thank you all for your kind and very thoughtful comments about my experience with the car. I am truly thankful. Just as I am truly thankful that the situation didn't end up being much worse. Thanks, too, for the comments on my hedgehogs. They were fun to make and I can't wait to get at least one owl made. I'm being put off making an owl by the fact that I now only have green tinsel yarn and I just can't imagine a green owl. Maybe I need to pay a visit to the yarn shop and buy some more of the tinsel yarn; white or silver would be nice, methinks.

Anyway, to get back to the post in hand. This is about some little gifts I've made for Christmas. When I was on holiday recently on the Isle of Skye (you can read about it here, here, here and here) I bought some hand crafted soap from the Isle of Skye Soap Company in Portree. I thought it would be nice to make some washcloths to go with the soaps and use as Christmas gifts. The yarn I chose is King Cole Bamboo Cotton DK which is made from 100% natural fibres making it a good choice for delicate skin. For two of the cloths I used the Ice colour.

There are plenty of patterns about for washcloths but, not wanting to actually get off my seat and go to look for my pattern book, I just decided to make it up. I made a chain as wide as I thought was necessary and then worked one row split stitch and one row double crochet until it was long enough to make a square. Then I worked a row of double crochet right round the edge. The split stitch gives it a nice texture. Look, here they are again with one of the leaves I've been making.

Now I had some more of this bamboo cotton yarn in my stash; Green and Dusty Pink (at least, I think those are the colours - I've thrown out the ball bands). Not enough of either colour to do another washcloth so I used both colours and made this ...

The middle is about three quarters the width of the Ice washcloths. I worked until the piece was square and then did a row of double crochet right round. Next I did a row of split stitch and a row of double crochet in the Green, repeated that with the Dusty Pink and then did a final row of Green shells.

Don't forget I'm using UK crochet terminology so read single crochet instead of double crochet if you use US terminology.

Maybe I should write up the pattern for you in another post. What do you think?

That's enough for now, I think. I have some more gifts to show you another time. The snowflakes will have their own post and so will the other Christmas decorations. I'm really enjoying making them all! All the best for now and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Nearly forgot! Before I go, have a look at some of the roses in my garden. Some are starting to look a bit sad, what with all the rain we've been having.

Some are just perfect still!

This one was only planted in the summer.

There's just something special about a perfect rose, isn't there?

Mini Finitos

Welcome to my new followers - another few have joined us - and many thanks for your lovely comments. I've really enjoyed reading them all.

 

This post is just to let you see some of the mini projects I've finished since coming back from my holidays. Do you remember the Hebridean wool I bought on Skye? You can read about it here if you don't or this is the first you've heard of it! I used the wool to knit the husband a new hat for the winter. Here it is. Just a simple cabled beanie but he likes it. It isn't cold enough to wear it yet; he has that pleasure to look forward to. I probably only used half the ball, so when he either loses the hat or pulls it to bits in the thorn hedge, I'll be able to knit him another one.

 

This next project was actually crocheted while I was on Skye (started here and completed here). I started making a bowl thinking I would use it to store odd balls of yarn. But while I was crocheting I thought it would be nice to use the bowl to display some heather. So, since coming home, I've put heather in the crocheted bowl and here it is. The heather is set straight into the bowl without anything else inside. I'm really pleased with the results. I like the way the bowl isn't completely rigid and sort of slumps a bit.

Now here is something really, really strange. When I made the heather bowl I thought I was doing something reasonably unique. Certainly not following a pattern or even replicating something I'd seen and liked. The book below is one I got about four months ago and think it has lots of gorgeous patterns in it. I flicked through it a few times when it was new and started a cardigan (which has been left to one side for now).

After coming home from my holiday, I was looking through the book again to find a pattern for a hat, and look what I found!! A crocheted bowl with, admittedly not heather, but similar looking flowers in it. Is it just a coincidence? Or did I see this picture months ago and make my heather bowl because this image was stored somewhere deep in my subconscious?

Anyway, I found a pattern for a tam that I thought would be nice for making myself a hat with the alpaca yarn I bought on Skye (read about it here). I worked a strand of King Cole Cosmos yarn along with the alpaca to achieve the sparkly effect.

Here I am modelling the hat. I wear it even though it isn't really all that cold yet. It's not just about being warm, is it? I love this wee tam and I've had many compliments on it.

These squares are finished and blocked though not joined yet to make a bag. While loading the photos for this post I went off and ordered leather handles. Susan, who writes Simple Cozy Living, suggested that I try bittersweetbasketsandsupply.com for leather handles and I was very impressed with what they have to offer. Thanks you Susan for pointing me in the right direction.

My peg loom arrived while I was away so it was great to unpack it and get weaving as soon as possible. I did a few small pieces first to practise; I'll show you them another time as I'm going to use them for small wall hangings. Here is my first proper woven scarf. What do you think? It's made using Stylecraft Swift Knit Super Chunky in Wedgewood. I'll show you more about the peg loom another time. I posted about wanting to get one way back here and Ingrid of My Funky Crochet let me know that I could get a loom from Jenny's Crafts and Soft Furnishings. Thanks Ingrid!

I think that will do for now. For those of you interested in the cotton blanket - I've had to put it aside for awhile as I want to make lots of things for Christmas. I want to make so many things!! All the best. Leave me a comment please about my mini finitos and let me know if you like them.

Heading South

Hello again. Thanks for all your comments on my last post; it seems you all liked that mischievous donkey. Welcome to some more new followers too.

Before I tell you some more about our recent holiday I have to tell you that I actually won a Giveaway!! I've never won anything before so this was a real surprise. Thanks to Jo, writer of her great blog The Good Life, for sending me a packet of Mini Munch cucumber seeds (together with a lovely wee card).

Well, after spending a week on the Isle of Skye, we headed south to where we were going to stay for the next few days. The scenery driving through Scotland was magnificent.

We stayed in one of the self-catering cottages at New Lanark Mill. It is a great place to stay with plenty to see and do. We were right beside the river and could hear the water making gentle music outside our window.

I went for a bit of a wander about and took a few photos.

The mill complex was huge! I walked along the river to the Clyde Falls. It was very quiet and peaceful.

Walking back towards the mill this was the view I had first down river and then back towards the falls.

There is a lovely shop in the old mill where they sell mostly gift type items but also their own wool. They have DK, Aran and chunky weight in an array of gorgeous colours. Some are 100% wool and the rest are 90% wool with 10% silk. I chose five balls of Aran weight wool with silk.

Their yarns are all very reasonably priced and are also available to buy online.

One of the reasons we stayed in this location was so that I could go to the James Inglis shoe shop in Peebles on the following Monday! I had an appointment to have a fitting and try shoes in the hope of getting something to fit my long, narrow feet. I'm sure I must have tried on fifty pairs of shoes!! That poor sales assistant carried them to me in huge piles. Thankfully I was able to find two pairs to buy. And that's not unusual, apparently; that one would only find two pairs out of fifty that are suitable. It was an experience anyway and I now know what's the best fitting type of shoes to get in future.

I'm busy crocheting and knitting and weaving. My peg loom arrived while I was away on holiday but it has since been unpacked and tried out. I'll let you see how things are coming along in another post.

All the best for now. Make my day and leave a comment!

Donkey Attack on Skye

Hello again and welcome to my new followers - it's lovely to have you. Thank you all for your lovely comments. So this really is my last post about our recent holiday on Skye.

 

On one very warm day we decided to walk to the Red Roof Cafe; a round trip of about three miles from where we were staying. On our way back we noticed that the donkeys had come down to the fence right beside the road. We both started taking photos of them. I really love donkeys!

 

This one was so friendly so I started stroking his head and ears. He was enjoying it!

I even talked to that friendly donkey.

Oh look! He spotted something that looked very tasty - the sleeve of my cardigan.

That cheeky donkey and I wrestled ...

... till I got back a bit of my extremely over-stretched cardigan sleeve.

And wrestled some more to try and get it all back.

Finally I managed to get my sleeve out of the donkey's grip! He obviously thought it was extremely funny!!

As did I!

We shared a good laugh together.

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. It really was so funny.

 

Well next time I'll move on the second week of our holiday and let you see where we went and a bit more about my crochet and knitting.

 

All the best until then.