Christmas madness begins!

It is official.........Christmas is coming! Now is the time to panic! The evenings are drawing in and it is definitely time to start those Christmas makes to keep ahead of the Christmas madness. Margaret is on the ball this year and has completed a selection of Christmas wonders already. Jim the Penguin and Santa were proudly displayed this week. The amazing thing is that Margaret made these for herself and neither of her lovely daughters have snaffled these handsome chaps!

Birthdays are also very important landmarks in our lives. Margaret made a break in her Christmas preparations to create this lovely card.

How many Christmas cards have you made so far this year? Margaret has completed these five beauties for the Christmas season.

Esther delighted us with these gorgeous baby bootees that she crafted for her Great-grand-daughter. Yes, Esther, is a Great Granny!  Shhhhhhh! Please don't tell anyone! Beautiful work Esther! Your secret is safe with us!

I crocheted another granny-stripe blanket. This time I used some Ice yarn that Norma stocks. I really liked the way the yarn created the stripes automatically. I found the pattern and instructions for this blanket on a blog called Attic24 if you would like to have a go.

Norma has had great fun making this dolls pram set for a wee girl's teddy bear. I'm sure she will be charmed with it. The scarf is made using Oh-la-la yarn which is an Ice Yarn and available from Norma. The amazing thing is that, Norma, completed this garment in an  hour!

The yarn for this shawl was purchased from Aldi and worked by Norma. I really like the look of this and may add this to my list of things to try.

Fiona Orr finally completed this delightful baby blanket for a friend. Originally it started life in bright primary colours which was a step too far away from Fiona's comfort zone.  This colour palette works beautifully and will make a great gift.

Phyllis loves doing blankets!. This is a real boys blanket which was crocheted for her darling grandson. As you can see it was worked from corner to corner.

Winter is Coming!

This beautiful shawl deserves to be admired by everyone. It's stunning work. This is the first shawl that Anthea has made. It was supposed to be a shawlette but Anthea added extra repeats to make it bigger. Glad she did as it looks truly stunning.

Anthea also knitted this chunky scarf for her hubby. When visiting her mother in law she was recently taught how to do cables. Looks like the lessons paid off.

Margaret knitted the angel which was a kit that came free with a recent magazine. Looks fab. She also looks a little squinty but that's because she is meant to be hanging up. She also used some of the yarn to knit this pretty star.

Still on the winter projects Margaret finished two pairs of mitts. One pair for myself and one pair for her younger daughter. With the cold weather I did consider wearing them before she had a chance to bring them along to the knitting group. They are knitted in chunky yarn to make them extra cosy.

She also stitched this card at the request of a friend. It's her friends granddaughters first Christmas and she wanted something special for her.

Norma continues to be busy. Her craft fair was this weekend and she was still working away on finishing projects in preparation. This beatiful blanket was one such project. Some baby is going to be very lucky. Hopefully we will here how it went on Tuesday and in the meantime perhaps Norma will actually make something for herself.

Jill is usually a cross stitcher. However, the stitching was put down to crochet this gorgeous scarf. It actually looks like noro yarn but it isn't and has a softer feel as a result. Jill claims that it was fairly easy to do however the effect is fantastic. Love the colour changes too.

Laura is one of our newer members. She came along a few weeks ago and last week she brought her first finish. Look how detailed this is? I do love fair isle and this hat is very impressive. Beautifully done.

Janice had been busy too. She has been taking a leaf out of Stephanies books and been knitting baby things with no one in mind. I love the cabling in this cardigan which goes all the way round the back.

Lyn had been busy with these pretty little hats. She took the flower pattern I taught at Gartmore and added buttons then used them to decorate a couple of the hats. The buttons just make those flower.s

Audrey has been doing some Christmas knitting too. She also knitted the angel that came free with a recent magazine. However she adapted the hair and this little angel even has a pony tail.

Kathleen knitted another of her hats for her granddaughter. I love her crochet hats. Love the feel of them too. This is a fab effect created by doubling up the yarn. Her granddaughter can definitely claim to be best dressed.

I feel so rotten because I don't remember who knitted this fabulous hat! We had a queue of people at that point. I do remember the person felt that it was a little big. It looked fab to me though. So cosy.

Libby has been busy with the crochet hook again. She made this beautiful cardigan and hat set. I love the little flowers stitched on both. It was supposed to be for a 3 year old but turned out a little bigger. So it's now being sent to family abroad.

More winter crochet and this time from Carol. She made this lovely hat for her son. It's for him to wear in the car during the cold weather. I love those colours!

This is a group photo of a group project that some of us are taking part in. I didn't explain it very well on the night. So hopefully I can make up for that here. There is a facebook group page called For the Love of Yarnigans which both Carol and Lisa are administrators of. Lisa came up with the idea for the members to do a crochet along. The idea is that it can help with some stash busting. So the challenge is to creat a mood blanket of scarf. Each day we contribute two rows to our project. The colour we chose on each given day is supposed to reflect the mood we are in at the time. Fran, Lisa, Magdalena and myself are all taking part. Magdalena is the only one among us who is doing a scarf. She is also using a lovely ripple pattern with variegated yarn. I thought it would be a great idea to get a group photo to see how everyone has interpreted the project. Can't wait to see them all when they are finished.

The 9th of November is our Christmas craft day. We have three classes on and one of them is making these beautiful lavender bags and sachets. I guess I don't need to tell you that this project is from the lovely Izzi. I have a list of names for each class. So if you want to join in please let me know as it will determine the supplies brought along. I have emailed out details of each class and posted it on our facebook group page. However, you don't have to join the class to come along. The important thing is to spend the day doing something that you enjoy and to have fun.

The Mystery of the Missing Sock - A Knitting Group Mysetery!

First of all I apologise for the length of this post. The truth is that everyone has been so busy that there are a lot of finishes here.

Lisa has been making and collecting blankets for Yorkhill hospital. One of the blankets which in the works is actually a group project. She took this granny square to Yarndale and had people adding stitches to it. It's only about half done and she has requested that any corchet people from the group add some stitches next Tuesday. As I won't be there Helen will be asking (harassing) you to contribute. I think it's a lovely idea.

Speaking of Helen, she's been busy herself. She finished this beautiful quilted cushion. The design is another of her beloved Sashiko and done in her favourite colours. I tried to run away with this but alas she caught me and then refused to let it out of her clutches.

She has also been making some cards. She was inspired by quilter Janette. I don't think many of you will know Janette but she is famous for taking an idea and running away with it. As soon as I saw these I guessed who inspired Helen. Janette's original idea was to make quilted postcards. Helen loved the idea and found a simple crazy quilting design that could be used to make cards. Very effective!

She's also finished the socks she has been working on. The person who requested the socks prefers dark colours. Helen compromised with this gorgeous striping yarn by Zauderball. Helen said it was lovely to knit with.

Margaret has also been busy. She finished this lovely baby blanket for her friend who is about to be a grandmother to a little boy. The lady had specifically requested the brick blanket after seeing someone else receive one.

Margaret is also responsible for bring some festive cheer to the group. She finished a third robin which is going to her youngest daughter. She also knitted a stocking and some Christmas bags. These were from one of the latest knitting magazines. The cards were actually little mini kits from Hobbycraft. I am sure most of you who visit the store will have seen them. Margaret's attaching them to cards makes those little designs really stand out. She's now finished making all her family Christmas cards.

I was lucky enough to buy some hand-dyed sock yarn from the lovely Lisa. These socks were the end result. I love the striping of the yarn. More importantly the yarn itself was gorgeous to knit with. I actually didn't want to get to the end of this project.

I also made a little skull broach for my sister. This was done with metallic thread and some plastic canvas.

Seeing me work on the skull broach Norma decided to have a go herself. Norma decided to use the colours suggested by the magazine. It's amazing how different a design can look just by changing the colours. Norma has decided to make more of these for her craft fair and she plans to play with the colours.

This beautiful baby blanket was also done by Norma in crochet. I love the fold-over at the top with the bow and button. This will also be sold on her craft stall.

Pamela knitted this beautiful preemie baby set. This is for a tiny baby born at just 26 weeks. The baby is doing well and will be the best dressed on the ward. Pamela said it felt like she was knitting for a doll it was so small. Beautifully done!

She also made more of her bootees which will decorate the baby's pram. I love these and this project seems to have become a group favourite.

Janice has been knitting baby clothes too. She knitted all of these baby jumpers. Everyone loved the stripes. Particularly in the blue cardigan. The dark blue stripe makes it all the more striking!

Janice also finished knitting a shawl. This is her first attempt at a shawl and her first project using circular needles. It's a gorgeous colour and looks impressive.

This is another baby set this time done by new member Libby. The photo can't convey just how delicate this little outfit is. The booties alone were beautifully done. Very sweet!

Baby sets aren't the only items that have been on her crochet hook. She has also done this lovely beret. Not only that but this stunning top. Libby hadn't done any crochet in years when her daughter asked if she would make this for her. It truly is beautiful work.

Jean has also been busy with the baby items. The baby cardigan is lovely. Love the detail in the sleeves. I also love these little booties. The little bows at the front really set them off.

Our Esther is fairly shy about her finishes and it's usually left to poor Noreen to snatch them from her and bring them up for a wee photo. To think, if it wasn't for Noreen we wouldn't have got the chance to see this lovely row of booties. These were all knitted by Esther for her great granddaughter. There is even a few pram decorations in there. All beautifully knitted.

Kathleen has also been knitting for her granddaughter. She is very much a girly girl and loves handbags. So thanks to Kathleen she now has a lovely new bag to play with and a gorgeous wee hat for the winter.

Kathleen is also a beeder and she made this beautiful bracelet. I love the colours. Always love a purple bracelet.

You may have seen on Magda's quilting facebook page that she has been busy with some sewing. She has also been working on a blanket for her son who picked the colours himself. This hasn't stopped her on getting some knitting in there. She finished this beautiful Hitch-hiker scarf. Purple seems to be the colour of choice just now and you can see why. Lovely purple stripes.

Helen had bought some lovely sock yarn from Lisa a few weeks ago and at the same time requested a crochet hook. This is her new crochet hook which will be Helen's pride and joy. Helen loves it because not only is it her colours but it also has some sparkle!

Tuesday was also the last day for the scarf charity. 76 raffle tickets were handed out but I know there were far more scarves than that handed in. A few people didn't come forward to get their tickets. There were a few prizes. One of which was for handing in the most scarves. This of course (in case anyone was in doubt) went to Isabel who had handed in 23 scarves in total. Isabel had the audacity to act surprised. She even made a speech as she was handed her prize. She thanked everyone and especially "Margaret for stopping". Of course Margaret was second at 21 scarves. Not to worry, Margaret won a raffle and was the lucky recipient of this beautiful crochet hook designed by Lisa specially for the event. There were also other winners in there too. Janice and Helen also received prizes.

I feel now that I should explain the title of this weeks post. This incident of course involves Isabel. She turned up on the night extremely upset. She had been working on her second pair of mosaic socks. This pair was in red and white and she had finished the first one the previous week. However, she had somehow managed to lose the completed sock. This isn't really surprising if you know Isabel (famous for losing her beloved scarves). As you can imagine she was very upset about it and refused to start the second one until she found it. Helen and I were even considering making a reward poster, 'have you seen this sock'. After everyone had arrived and no sock made an appearance Isabel finally settled down to do some sewing. Then Magdalena appears and sits on the other side of Isabel. She gets settled and then turns to Isabel, 'have you missed something?' There in her hand is Isabel's beloved sock. I have never seen someone move so fast. Isabel launched herself across the table and gripped poor Magda in a bear hug. I didn't think she was going to let her go. I would say this was one of the funnies things I have ever seen at the group but there have been a fair few funny moments and quite a few with Isabel at the centre. So there you have it. We had the mystery of the missing sock at the start of the night only to have it be solved at the end.

Just a reminder that I won't be along on Tuesday. I am working and so duty calls. However, the lovely Helen will be taking photo's in my place.