Blue Blue Blue

Well, I managed to get the blue dye right!  This has now all been knitted into my project and the whole lot has been bunged into the washing machine (so far 3 times) to felt and shrink it.  As it's the first time I've knitted and felted anything in this way, I'm waiting with baited breath for the washing machine to finish.  It's been on at 40 deg, 60 deg, and I've just put it back in at 90 deg. (to speed things up a bit) so am keeping my fingers crossed that it isn't totally destroyed!

I'll post a photo on here when it's finished, but I still have "finishing off" to do when it comes out.

A little clue to what it is : if any of you bought the March 2011 issue of Yarn Forward magazine, it's in there!!  Hopefully Sandra (whose birthday present it is) won't have a copy!

Clever Husband . . .

Yesterday morning I decided to start my latest birthday present project and went to look for the knitting needles.  I needed a 7mm circular needle.  I think I must have nearly every size up to about 5mm, but no 7mm.  Problem.

But then Eric came up with a good idea, what if he took an ordinary 7mm needle, cut it in half, drilled the bottom ends and glued in a length of strimmer wire, then tapered and smoothed each end?  I've got to admit the end result was pretty good and just what I needed.  Saved a trip to the shops and saved about 8 euros too!

I thought they looked quite professional when finished, don't you?

Wrong Colour !!!!!

Started a new project the other day - a birthday present for my friend in the UK.  Can't possibly say at the moment what it is in case she peeks!

I washed some fleece - haven't a clue what it is, I had it given, and they didn't know either - and then tried to dye it brown.  Not being very good at mixing colours I asked my knowledgeable (?) husband who said "oh, it's easy, you just mix all the primary colours together".

This is what came out :-

Gorgeous colours, but not brown!

Anyway, I spun it and then consulted an artist friend who advised me to add yellow/orange.  Mine was actually orange/red, but it worked and I ended up with a slightly reddish dark brown.

The next colour (green) was a lot easier to mix.  I would have liked it a bit yellower, but ran out of that colour.  It actually looks a bit bluer here, drying in the sun, than it really is, but it is in full sunlight and I don't think that helps.

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The last colour should be a lot easier as it's blue.  I don't think even I can get that wrong!

. . . but don't hold your breath!!

Eric's Mum

Again, more time has gone by than I intended before writing another post.  In my defence, we have been rather busy here in Scotland.

We finally got Eric's Mum moved from hospital into a nursing home last Tuesday morning and had spent some time trying to make it homely for her.  Unfortunately she was only there three and a half days before she died.  At the end she was very peaceful, more so than she had been for some time.  In fact, she just fell asleep, which I think is the way we'd all like to go.  Her funeral is on Wednesday and we'll stay another couple of days after that to tie up loose ends, finish emptying the flat etc., then we head back to the ferry and France.

The last 3 months have been quite a strain and we're looking forward to getting home and spending some time trying to get back to normal.  All in all, a very sad time.