Tuesday, August 30, 2011

All Free Knitting 'Stitch London' Giveaway





Stitch London: 20 Kooky Ways to Knit in the City and More

How cute is this book?
Inside you'll find 20 adorable designs including patterns for Big Ben's Tower, Tiny Tower Bridge, the London Police and more.  There is even a pattern for a picnic blanket made entirely of plarn (plastic yarn) that's perfect for an impromptu meal in London's grassy Hyde Park.

All Free Knitting is giving a copy of Stitch London: 20 Kooky Ways to Knit in the City and More to one very lucky winner. To enter the drawing Click Here

Book Details:
Stitch London: 20 Kooky Ways to Knit the City and More
by Lauren O'Farrell
Publisher: David & Charles Publishing
http://www.davidandcharles.co.uk/
ISBN: 0715338676

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Finishing the Unfinished #3

A few months ago I started the Twin-Prufe Design No. 4295 Spring Magic. A thank you to Bex for  generously provided the pattern for free on her web site. I finished the knitting and sewed up the pieces fairly quickly...and then, of course, I had to try and find 16 'perfect' buttons. As you can imagine, this part took much longer and the cardigan has been sitting, waiting.
I eventually bought some "definitely-not-perfect" buttons and sewed them on yesterday.

So, ta-da, 3rd finished item.


This was my first time blocking, even though I had made several jumpers and cardigans before when I was much younger, this was a process I wasn't even aware of until I saw it on Liz's blog. I pinned the pieces to some flat foam over which I had put a plastic table cloth (the cheap ones you use once and throw away). It worked out pretty well, although, since my house isn't big and I have a cat that will sit on everything you don't want her to, I did end up moving the foam and knitted pieces to different spots around my house depending on which area was not being used.




More pictures of the cardigan....






Wow, I really need to improve my photos! I think the problem is that I should take them earlier in the day when there is more light. At night, even with the lights on, it's too dark and with the slow shutter speed I inevitably move the camera and end up with blurry pictures.
Verdict: I'm extremely happy with the knitting. The tension is even and neat; the pattern is quite pretty. The one problem I have is the size. I want it to be snug and it's more of a blousy fit. I'm thinking of handwashing it and then drying it without shaping in the hope that it might shrink. If that doesn't work, then someone in my family might be getting a little gift! 






Sunday, August 7, 2011

Finishing the Unfinished #2

This dated, mustard colored lamp was being thrown out by my neighbor and I thought I could salvage it and paint it into something interesting. Some people might think I destroyed a lovely vintage piece but in reality it was truly a horrible color and the palm trees looked like they were made out of some kind of plaster and then glued on.



Before

I'm not sure how I feel about the finished look, but it's an improvement on the old lamp and now a very unique piece. Perhaps, the shade is too much of a contrast. Is the chocolate too much? Should I replace it?

The picture is very poor quality - the blue of the lamp is actually darker than it appears and my walls are more coffee colored than the grey in the photo.

After

It is currently on a small entrance table and because it's quite large it overwhelms the space. Once I've purchased a more bigger sideboard then I think it will look good.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Everybody Everywhere ~ Mixed Prints


Tuesday August 9th, Everybody Everywhere will be wearing Mixed Prints.

What will you be wearing?


August: Finishing the Unfinished

Well, I haven't posted for a while, not due to a lack of activity but due to too much! I've been adding more and more projects to my list and squeezing in 'little' things and neglecting the bigger ones. The problem is that when you only have an hour here and there you just want to do something quick and easy. This results in the more involved projects getting left - and sometimes I don't even finish the 'quick-and-easy' projects.

So, I've decided that for the month of August I will try (yes, I will, try very hard) not to start any new major projects and complete all the ones that I have started. I'm going to Finish the Unfinished.

I can mark off the first item...

1. Read all seven Harry Potter novels back to back. This was because I wanted to read the Harry/Voldemort battle before I saw the final movie on screen. I'd only ever read the first two books, so I went back to the beginning and read one after the other. Wow, they are so great.

I've got some sewing and knitting projects to revisit and will be back with a progress report.