a crafty cat and blessed chickens

I've attached photos of some of February's toy competition entries, because they are so fabulous.  The winner was Sarah with her teddies, one of which was knitted in Tufton yarn, locally produced and beautiful to work with.  Sarah took her book and is hopefully producing lots more teddies.  The crafty cat came from Hazel, who knitted him in Noro from her own pattern.  I'm trying to persuade her to write the pattern down so we can all make one.  Shirley made chickens and bears.  I especially like the expressions on the chickens faces.  I have a funny story about chickens.  A friend of mine, who we'll call Belinda, has chickens and one of them (Mary) sadly died recently.  Belinda likes to bury her pets (and the chickens are definitely pets!) where they were happiest.  A worthy sentiment, except that Mary was happiest in Belinda's next door neighbour's garden.  Have you ever tried to bury a chicken in your next door neighbour's garden in the dead of night in the middle of winter!?  The things you do for friends.  We spent the entire time waiting for the flashing blue lights, wondering how we'd explain ourselves.  I suppose we could have said we were practising voodoo.  In the end we weren't caught and I have happy visions of Mary running round the garden eating ghostly worms and thoroughly enjoying the afterlife.  I'm dreading the death of the shire horse though.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No Sew Mitred Square Blanket and the point of knitting!

Image
No Sew Mitred Square Blanket This was one of those projects that made me consider why I knit. I don't need a blanket. I spend most of my time overheating, especially at night so actually a blanket is probably the last thing I need. I did have a huge amount of fibre from my Mum's stash, which prompted the idea.  A small selection from mine and Mum's stash! I'm finding spinning very soothing at the moment, with all the crazy going on. But why a blanket? I love to knit mitred squares. They way they get smaller as you make them, the look of the stripes as they form that distinctive V. I made a jacket a couple of years ago, well more of a coat really, with the huge amount of 4ply yarns I have. That started life as a blanket, but morphed into a coat as I was working it.  Me in my Mitred Square Coat I wanted something simple to work, and no sewing, and mindless, hence the blanket. Who knows, maybe next year it will be cold enough to use it. This project did it's job though...
Read more

Lyra Hat, for people with a BAHA hearing aid.

Image
As some of you may know, I have a BAHA (bone anchored hearing aid). This is a fabulous piece of kit. I have a metal screw in the mastoid bone in my head (which incidently has to be tightened each year so I do occasionally have a screw loose),and my heading aid clips onto this screw. I hear through the bone rather than through my broken ear. This does, however, make it a little difficult wearing hats, as the hearing aid sits proud of my head and anything placed on top of it makes it whistle like a tea kettle on the boil! Lyra Hat is my solution so I'm sharing it here for other people like me. It would also be useful if you wear a ponytail. Lyra Hat www.beakerbutton.co.uk   ©Jen Best 2019   Skills required. This hat is worked in the round from the top down.  Working in the round. M1r increases, knit front and back increases. Ability to recognise and work knit and purl stitches as they appear in the work without the need for a written pattern. Casting on and off within ...
Read more

Shirtlace or Dorset button?

Image
I had an interesting Facebook exchange with someone yesterday regarding some new thread buttons I've been teaching myself to make. These buttons are called shirtlace buttons, also known as zwirnkopfe, which means thread button. They are often mistaken for Dorset buttons, because they're hand stitched around a ring, but they are made differently and from a not from Dorset. I thought it might be a good idea to try and explain the difference here.  Dorset buttons are made by stitching in a blanket stitch around a ring (casting), turning the ridge around the edge into the middle (slicking), wrapping the thread around the ring to form spokes (laying), and then stitching in a back stitch over the spokes to form the inside pattern. Dorset buttons were made all over East Dorset, and sent all over the world. They were started by Abraham Case in 1622 and were an industry until 1851.  I know very little about the history of Shirtlace buttons, other than they were made in Germany, Austria...
Read more