An Eclectic Five for Five on Friday

It is lovely to be back with Amy at Love Made My Home after a short break for Five on Friday.

My Five this week are rather an eclectic group as it has been difficult to decide what to share. The elves elf has been busy making Christmas gifts so they will have to stay under wraps for a little while longer - no peeking allowed. That includes most of my recent makes so forgive me for this rather odd five.

1. December 1st and the countdown begins

The Autumn wreath was replaced yesterday with this one. 

I have a growing collection of wreaths and several different Christmas ones that will be coming out soon. I saw this wreath on a stall selling traditional baskets at a Craft Fair recently and fell in love. The baskets were amazing too and I could have happily brought several of them home.  The wreath was tucked in a corner and bare of any adornment and I could imagine decorating it in lots of different ways for different seasons. 

Simple lights and a ribbon to welcome the month of December. The fairy lights have a warm and cosy feel and cheer up a dull day.

2. Winter has arrived

The garden turned into a winter wonderland on Tuesday and by Wednesday the frost had frost on it! Although my garden faces south and is lovely and warm during the summer months, it remains in shade during the winter because of the angle of the land. This creates some spectacular frosty scenes if there are several days of low temperatures. This year, for one reason and another, I have not cut back the plants and shrubs, which have left it looking untidy. So the pretty frosty leaves definitely improved the overall appearance. There have been lots of little birds foraging amongst the old leaves, so perhaps they prefer the untidyness.

3. Felt angels

These little angels are for JETS (Junior embroiderers group). The adult helpers volunteered to help make a Christmas decoration as a gift for each of the girls. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else has made as we all decided to do our own thing. The angels were a combination of several ideas from Pintrest. I can loose hours looking at Pintrest imagining all the things I would like to create rather than getting on and actually making.

4. Felt scarf

This was an experiment following on from the felt vessels. I had seen examples of felting onto fabrics at craft shows, so while the felting equipment was still out I decided to have a try. After some research in craft books and good old google, it looked fairly straight forward. The wool fibres need to be able to work into the fabric so a piece of chiffon seemed ideal. I cut a length of the fabric and gently felted fine layers of merino wool tops into the edges. It is not perfect but I was amazed at how sturdy the felted area was, despite being quite fine, once it was dry. The chiffon feels very flimsy in the centre and it would be interesting to see how other fabrics work.

5. On my knitting needles

This delicious hank of wool from Truly Hooked has been in my stash for a while. There have been many occasions when I was tempted to wind it into a ball but Christmas gifts had to come first. Although all the Christmas cards are not quite finished and a few other things need to be completed with the sewing machine, all the knitting and crochet projects are done. 

Finally the hank is wound and a Couthie shawl is on my needles......

.......and this one is for me! 

Well there is no law that says you cannot give yourself a Christmas gift is there?

I hope your week has gone well and all your preparations for the festive season are progressing smoothly. I am looking forward to catching up with everyone else at Five on Friday.

Five on Friday - Couthie Shawl

 Friday seems to come round quicker every week but it is great to be joining up with Amy again at Love Made my Home for Five on Friday. It has been a busy week with lots going on and I was undecided what to share this week but have decided to keep it simple. So simple it is really one thing not five! 

This is cheating a bit but here are five photos of my Couthie Shawl.

This has been my summer pick up and put down project whenever I had a moment or when too tired to work on other things. The pattern is from Christine Perry (Winwick Mum) and can be found here. Christine wrote the wonderful book Super Socks and is responsible for me (and lots of others) learning to knit socks. Couthie is a Scottish word and I believe it means cosy and comfortable, which this shawl really is.

The yarn came from Truly Hooked and is hand dyed merino wool with nylon and ohhh sooo soft. It has been a delight to work with and I'm sure will be very cosy to wear. The splodges of delicate colour are repeated throughout the shawl.

The shawl is worked in bands of stocking stitch broken up with rows of drop stitch, which fall into lovely soft pleats as it gets longer. Along with the pattern Christine provides a handy chart of all the rows which you can mark off. A little daunting at the beginning when you see how far there is to go but exciting when you get near the end and most of the page has lines through it. 

The pattern advises blocking so that it will drape well. So being a bit of a rule follower (I would love to be a rebel, but do not think it is in my nature), I blocked the shawl carefully and here is is above. It is beautiful and the blocking does show off the pattern and the pretty yarn, but I couldn't help feeling a teeny tiny bit of disappointment that the pleats had gone.  

So I blocked it again, more loosely this time.

There are a few fold and pleats in the shawl now, making me happy. I was probably too vigorous with the first blocking. Christine's pattern is excellent and I will certainly make the Couthie shawl again. Maybe next time I will not block it at all, especially if I make it for myself. This one is a Birthday gift for a family member later in the year.

This extra photo has been sneaked in so you can see what it looks like on.

The shawl can be worn with the two long points down the front but I like it with the long points down the back as the centre point drapes so well across the front. 

(Particularly when you do not have much frontage like me!)

Five on Friday - Projects Old and New

Joining with Amy at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.

This week has been a mixture of completing old projects and starting new ones. Although with the number of unfinished projects still to be completed, it is a little crazy starting new ones. But sometimes the mood or inspiration strikes and surely it would be foolish not to go with it?

1. Shirley and Friends

Shirley, who introduced herself in the last post is now on her way to Yarndale. This was an enjoyable project and it will be interesting to see pictures of the other sheep created for the Woolly Sheep Sale in aid of Martin's House Hospice. I hope to be able to attend Yarndale one day, but it will not be this year. It is held in Skipton, North Yorkshire where I spent many happy times, while living in the area when I was younger.   

2. Spiral Staircase Shawl

The Spiral Staircase shawl has been on my needles for some time, but is finally finished, yippee! This is a lovely simple pattern that is easy to pick up and put down at odd moments. It packs up small and has been to many different appointments and worked on in waiting rooms. I also found it useful for when I was too tired to do anything else but wanted something to occupy my hands. The yarn is Drops Fabel, Berry Dreams and reminds me of Autumn fruit compote.

3. An Odd Sock

When looking back at photos I realised this sock was started back in March and I only finished it yesterday. How long is it going to take me to complete it's mate?! The problem is I quickly fell out of love with the yarn and the mini loop needle I used for it. My first and only completed pair of socks were created using a basic metal mini loop and were enjoyable. This pair were upgraded to a bamboo mini loop and the yarn did not slide in the same way, making it more awkward. It is no doubt my basic knitting technique rather than the tools that are causing the difficulties. Having knitted this one on the bamboo needles, probably it's mate should be too. Perhaps it is time to experiment and see if there is a vast difference if I go back to the metal needles for sock two. As they are for me it should not matter if they are slightly different but there is something in my nature that struggles with this.

4. Couthie Shawl 

This scrummy hand dyed yarn from Truly Hooked has been in my stash for some time, along with another skein that I foolishly forgot to photograph before winding it up. As soon as the Spiral staircase shawl was off the needles I could not wait to get started with one of them. 

Choices, choices..........

I decided to go with the lighter coloured skein as it seemed more summery and the sun was actually shining yesterday when I started.

The pattern for this shawl is by the Winwick Mum and can be found here. It is an asymmetric shape and great for draping. The pattern needs a little more attention than the Spiral Staircase but there is a handy chart to print out so each row can be ticked off easily. 

5. Cards (A change from yarn!)

Last week whilst out having tea with friends, I spotted this pack of cards and linen tags marked down in a sale.

There are lots of pretty papers in my stash and with some machine embroidery on the tags they should look good together. That is my project for the weekend.

What are you planning to do this weekend? Whatever it is have a good one.