Thank You!

First of all I had to show off these thank you cards from Sheena. She took photo's of little Charlotte with her various gifts and made them into cards. She even managed to add decorations and write a paragraph in each. I think from now on Sheena shall be known as supermum. They were gorgeous and very much appreciated.

During the evening Norma had a finish. This is her first finished crochet project. She was very proud of it as she should be. The colours are gorgeous and she even added a fan edging to set it off. First granny square project done - no turning back now.

Swati, our beginner knitter, has also had another finish. She finished this beautiful doll. Love the sparkly yarn. It really sets the doll off.

Jean finished another of her wine cosies. I have to apologies because I am sure I called her Joyce when I showed the photo of the red one. This cover was much admired. How fab would it be not only to get a bottle of wine but to have it decorated by hand.

Isabel is at it again. She is knitting for the Beatson. This time she is knitting the Easter chicks. She is using a different yarn this time which makes the chicks a lot smaller and extra soft. With the chicks so far she has raised £80.

Isabel has also been back to updating Daisy's wardrobe. Another spring outfit this time in purple. She even has a purple scarf. As Isabel had just lost her own knitted scarf (this is the umpteenth) we hope that Daisy manages to keep hers. There might just be a summer outfit coming up but Isabel is really looking forward to making her some Christmas outfits.

 Donna has just had her first go at quilting a blanket. She made this lovely Thomas quilt from a kit she bought at the craft fair. She stitched it up very quickly and is all ready for a friends little boy. It hasn't been shared on our facebook page yet as the little boys mum might see it. As soon as I get the okay I promise to post it there too.

We also have another craft to show off. Fi was having a go at felting. I'm sure it's not the first time she has tried it as she seemed to be an expert. It was the first time we had seen it though. Look forward to seeing the end result.

Elaine and Linda made a trip to West Kilbride. There is a yarn shop there called mchattie. They got to chatting to the owners and told them about our group. The result is that if we ever make a trip out there they would kindly offer us a table for the afternoon. They are also more than willing to come along one Tuesday night to show and sell us some of their yarns. It sounds like they have a lot of nice yarns. You can visit their website at Wool4u.co.uk. You can also follow them on facebook, just search mchattie. If any of you would like one of their business cards I have some and will bring them along.

Easter and Bag Prep!

It's almost Easter but there hasn't been much in the way of Easter crafts this year. Last week was the first we saw of any Easter projects. Margaret knitted these little bunny egg covers. The kit was free with one of the knitting magazines, Let's Knit. She knitted them up in just a day. They are both going to her daughters. Don't be fooled by the image. They are both the same size but the pink one seems to be bowing it's head.

Janice has also been knitting bunnies. I think this was a pattern she found online. The bulk of the body is made from just a square of knitting. Quite effective and yet simple! I love all the different colours.

 Lyn also gave us some info on an Easter Parade that Hobbycraft are holding. You can read the details but basically there is a bonnet contest and a raffle with some good prizes. The proceeds of which are going to Together For Short Lives. This is a charity which support children and families with serious illness.

Margaret is still on the baby knitting. She has finished another baby set. This time for a boy. She is knitting for a friend who is expecting and has been knitting for either as she doesn't want to know what the baby will be. Having done the girls outfits and blanket she is now working on a set for a boy.

Alison is still working her way through all those freebie cross stitch patterns. This one is one of two and came from Cross Stitcher. She is working on the second one of the kit.

A while ago I posted some photo's of dresses that Izzi had stitched up from old pillow cases. She has been at it again and made these two beautiful dresses. The yellow one was made from a pillow case that Roberta had given her. Both are gorgeous. These are for a charity called Dress a Girl Around the World. A worthwhile cause. Izzi is hoping to do more so if you have any old pillow cases that still have life in them but you don't want pass them on.

Izzi is also continuing with bag lesson preperation. She took some of those making bags into another room to get their material ready and taught us all a few things while she was there.

First of all she taught us about the grain of fabric. It's more important than you would think. For example the stretch in the material is different. You can see in the photo above that the fabric is stretching out but if you had tried to stretch it in another direction it wouldn't happen. By not paying attention to that it can cause sagging where you don't want it to sag or not enough give where you need it.

Here Izzi has layered up the fabrics that are going to be used on one bag and used a pattern to mark it out. Izzi would normally just use fabric chalk to mark it out but she is showing everyone how to pin the pattern down and cut around it.

Here is one all ready. This lovely owl fabric is going to become a bag for Fiona. You can't see it but under the fabric are another two layers. This is to stop knitting needles from poking through the bag when it's done.

I can't wait to see them all finished. The final work will be done during Gartmore.

Them Birds!

Knowing that I was going to be away a week I let everyone know to hang on to their finishes until the following week and they did. The one I was anxious about was Alison's birds. I knew this was coming back from the framers the week I was away. Thankfully she also held off bringing it in. I know many of you will remember Alison working on this. A lot of work went into it and it was well worth it. In fact this piece seen us move from Starbucks to the Management Suite. I just wish the photograph could pick up all the tiny pieces of detail. It should be noted that Alison did quite a few other things while this was in progress.

Alison has also been working her way through all those free kits you get with magazines. Here are a couple of Christmas ones she finished. I love the second one on it's hanger. Someone will be organised for Christmas this year anyway.

For the last year Anthea has also been working on a large project. Remember her crochet blanket using up lots of odds and ends last year? That went to one of her daughters and as she has two they wanted one each. Anthea began this granny stripe blanket soon after finishing the first. I took a close up of the stripes so that you can see it in more detail. Like Alison though, Anthea had also worked on other things in between.

Anthea had also finished a crochet knitting bag. It has been lined with some funky fabric and even has a draw string closing. Stops those needles from falling out. I love the fan edging. The inspiration for both Anthea's projects came from a blog loved by many of the group. It's called Attic 24 and is worth a look for the fabulous photographs alone.

Roberta has also been busy. She got the pattern for the brick style blanket from Margaret and had a go herself. She used a smaller yarn size and more colours. The result is very different and very striking. Makes it look more delicate and will be a lovely, spring, baby blanket. She also learnt to crochet this beautiful flower. She has no idea what she is going to do with it now that it is finished. However, she was chuffed she rose to the challenge (rose - get it).

Margaret has once again been busy too. She also finished another of those brick style blankets. This time she used shades of pink making it ideal for a baby girl. The bold pink makes it very striking. You can also see the contrast between hers and Roberta's take on the pattern. It makes you wonder what other colours and methods would do to it. She also finished this cute, white, baby set with little cat buttons and the pink bootees.

Lisa is one of our newer members who joined us just after the new year. She has intrigued us recently as she has been working on a t-shirt rug. You might have seen it round the net, people making rugs from strips of old t-shirts. They are very effective and striking. Lisa bought her t-shirt material online already to work with and this is the end result. The colours are lovely together and it will make a fabulous rug.

Joyce has been with us a while but I don't think I have every posted any of her finishes. She knitted this beautiful wine cosy as a present for a friend. I love this pattern. Another unusual gift idea which is set off by the buttons up the front.

The last of our many finishes comes from Magdalena. Little Zuzanna's first communion is coming up and Magda is determined to make everything for it (we have no doubt whatsoever that she will be successful). She recently finished this beautiful shawl for the day. It looks so delicate but cosy. She got the pattern from ravelry and it's one especially for children. You could even adapt it for older children.

Speaking of Zuzanna. She has been working away too learning new skills. She has already been learning crochet thanks to her talented mum. She now has a few more stitches under her belt as she is learning to make granny squares. She used her favourite colour to practice.

Anthea also has an unusual technique to show us. She is making a blanket for her friends wedding. She found a crochet pattern that actually involves making an aran blanket. Unusual to have aran crochet. Has cables and bobbles. Look forward to seeing how it turns out.

There was also some Gartmore prep going on. As many of you will know we hold classes when at Gartmore. They are just a bit of fun but they really make the weekend. Izzi is going to be giving us the benefits of her wisdom again by showing us how to make bags. This time bags big enough to hold our knitting. On Tuesday she had everyone picking out their fabric and talked them through some of the preparation stages.