Scottish Homecoming Challenge 2009

As has been mentioned in a number of posts over the last few months we have been working on a challenge. The challenge was to create something that reminds you of Scottish Homecoming. Ginnie, our sock lady, did the organising and she split it into two categories. The first was to make something from a pattern (adopted). The second was to make something invented by the individual (original). As you can see from the table there was quite a turn out. I think entries in both categories were about even. I'll post the photo's of them individually with what each person said about it and then place the winners at the end.

Adopted

This was Margaret's entry and she said, "My cross stitch is of the Snowman wearing a kilt which reflects Scotland. Also the reference to Irn Bru is Scottish. After all Irn-bru is our other national drink."

She did cross stitch on 14 count aida fabric using Anchor threads. The image came from a Cross stitch book of the film.

Gillian submitted the above tea cosy. She said, "teapot coaster was always used along with the cosy to keep the teas warmer so that it was not sitting on a cold surface. Which meant that tea was warmer for longer."

The ring was hand spun and hand dyed Shetland and base was aran weight and the rug was stuffed with polyester stuffing. The was was cardboard and all materials were recycled.

The hot water bottle cover was knitted by Helen. Helen said "Our beautiful country is also known for its changeable weather. When relatives come home from Canada, USA, New Zealand in spring or summer they invariably suffer from 4 seasons in one day. It was such a nice day (Glasgow) we went to Fife (North Wind & Frost Bite)."

She used a variety of wools and colours reflecting heather. Base was done in woven rib, Kipi rib. Flowers were done from remnants of wool. The buttons were recycled.

The bookmark was submitted by Laura. Laura said, "it reminded me of the Scottish countryside in the summer."

This was done using cross stitch.



This contribution was also by Laura. She said, "Scottish farm yard scene also shows how friendly Scotland is with a pig and dog being friends."

Again this was done using cross stitch.

Ben's Bonnet was submitted by Isabel. She said, "Fair Isle knitting is popular all over Scotland and originates from the remote Fair Isle: The distinctive pattern involves horizontal bands of repeating pattern. Taking the wool. across the back provided the garment with a double layer to give warmth against the horrid island weather. This hat was knitted for my youngest grandson who lives abroad and will be coming to Scotland for the first time aged 10 months, this summer - Scotland's Homecoming Year."

It was made with 4 ply Debbie Bliss Rialto on 2 3/4 pins. Using six colours and traditional stranding method and fair isle pattern.

This table runner was submitted by Janette. She said, "Stratvarious Table Runner. This is made from fabrics brought home to me from my mum's holiday. We all look forward to gifts when loved ones come home."

This was the Stratvarious technique. It was machine pieced and quilted.

Original

The socks were by our very own sock lady, Ginnie. She said, "Whenever I think of Scotland I think of the landscape, the weather and the people. So I've knitted these socks to reflect the changing countryside, seasons and weather! And to remember the 'canny' Scots - I've made them from the left over wool from 30 different sock yarns! So why aren't they a matching pair? Because theses socks are as alike as any two days in Scotland."

They were made from mixed fibres; wool, silk, cotton, silver. They were knitted on the round.

No you aren't seeing double. The base was Gillian's adopted piece. The rest is her original. Gillian said, "My entry is something that reminds me of a you child visiting my Great Aunt every Sunday afternoon and occasional Sunday morning. Tea and boiled eggs were always on the menu for breakfast and the tea and eggs were always piping hot. The Cosey's and the base were always something that was used in our family and were always a talking point of who had them and how they made them resulting in family discussions, plenty of laughter and a sense of home."

Materials used were hand spun, hand dyed wool from Shetland sheep. Teapot was purchased at charity shop and flat base was from cardboard box.

The above was submitted by Donna. She said, "Haggis, neeps and tatties is a famous meal we have every year to celebrate the life of Robert Burns. Haggis is often mistake n for a wild animal and have used this in my design."

This was done by Crochet. For the haggis she used DK for the main body, black Scottish tweed for the hat and sporran. Felt was used for eyes and mouth. For the potato DK was used for the main bode and air. Felt was used for the mouth. The turnip was made from DK.

The above journal page was submitted by Janette. She said, " The two hearts reflect family and the Celtic knot reflects where you want both hearts to be i.e. Scotland."

She used calico, cotton and metallic thread. It was done by hand quilting and Kantha work.

The tastiest entry was submitted by Elaine. She said, " the thistle on top reflects our national emblem."

The Victoria sponge was made from gluten free flour. Thistle was made at Elaine's sugar craft class.

Once everyone's submissions were in and we were all settled the judging began. Steph, the sales manager from Borders, and Jill, a Borders bookseller, were our judges. Once they had a look round they went away to decided between them which two entries would receive a prize (one from each category).

The Winners

Margaret won for the adopted category. Steph and Jill were enamoured by the irn-bru drinking, kilted Snowman.


Donna was the winner for the original category. You can't get much more Scottish than Haggis, neeps and tatties.

We just need some suggestions for the next competition. If anyone has any ideas for a theme please let me know.

Big thank you to everyone who took part. I had loads of fun seeing how everyone interpreted the theme. Big thank you also to Ginnie who did all of the organising. Lastly, apologies from me for taking so long to post this.

May Member of the Month

This month member is Margaret. I am little late in posting this due to losing the photographs from the original interview. Sorry for that.

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

I am a sales advisor for Prestige Collections in Debenhams. I am 52 years old and have been married for 30 years. I have two daughters.

2. Where did you learn to knit?

My mother taught me when I was ten.

3. What's your biggest success?

A Pink Ribbon top I knitted when I first joined the group. I used a yarn I had never used before and tried out a new stitch.

4. What was your biggest disaster?

I knitted an aron cardigan. I used smaller needles as my mother recommended because I tend to be a slack knitter. In the end it turned out too small.

5. Do you enjoy other crafts?

I also like to cross stitch, embroider and have tried my hand at card making.

6. List of favourites


favourite yarn - cotton

favourite product - bamboo needles

favourite pattern - short sleeved, summery, lacy tops
favourite colours - red and pink
favourite book - the knitting mysteries by Maggie Sefton

7. What project would you love to do in the future?

I would love to knit a fine shawl. Maybe not quite as fine as the one Gillian did though.

8. What do you like to watch or listen to while you are knitting?

I tend to watch disaster movies, Star Trek or Doctor Who

9. Do you have any knitting hints or tips?

Keep your patterns in folders. I have a few old ones from before doing this and they aren't in great condition.

10. What's your favourite non-knitting book?

Anything by James Patterson, Ian Rankin, etc. I love crime books.

Again I aoplogise for how late this post is. Work has also got in the way. The next post will be on our challenge that Ginnie set up. So look out for that.

Baby Blankets

These beautiful baby blanket were done by Laura. She used Tunisian crochet. The blankets while thick are also surprisingly soft. Both were made for the preemie charity. Laura spent the rest of the night working on her cross stitch of a lady walking her Scottie dog. It has some lovely vibrant colours which will look fantastic when finished.

This baby cardigan was finished by Margaret. The camera doesn't show it too clearly but the yarn is mint green. The buttons are a slightly darker green to match. This was knitted for a colleague of Margaret's youngest who has just found out she is expecting.

The rest of the night was fairly quiet. The sun was out which a lot of people, unsurprisingly, want to make the most of. Elaine was there working on squares for her daughters throw. Helen was continuing work on her throw too. Ginnie was on another pair of socks for a friend she would be visiting over the weekend. Donna was finishing the edging of her baby blanket. Margaret was working on a knitted baby blanket (for the same person the cardigan is going to). Gillian was working on her bag. I apologise for those of you I have left out.


Tomorrow is the last day of our competition and everyone should come along with their entries. There are entry forms which we will give out more of on the night. We have also commandeered a couple of people to act as judge. Should be good fun and hopefully we will come up with a theme for the next one.

Apologies!

I apologise for the lack of posts over the last two weeks. I was away last week which explains why there is no update from then. The previous weeks update hasn't been done as I lost all the photo's, including the photo's from the member of the month interview. I should have enough photo's to post the interview at some point this week.

Again I apologise and hope to be back on track this week.

Our 1st Birthday!

Yes, a rare photo of me. It was our groups 1st birthday and I was given these lovely flowers from everyone in the group. Big thank you to everyone. I really did appreciate it and they are sitting all pretty in a vase.
Upon arrival everyone was presented with a party hat and a party bag. The talented Magdalena baked our birthday cake. How lovely does this look? Very apt for our group. Plus it was baked with Janette in mind who is gluten intolerant. The cake didn't last long as everyone ate a piece and took some home too.




As it was a children's party we of course played games. The first game was pass the parcel. Here is Janette opening it first. Donna opening it 2nd.

Julia was the third person to open the parcel.

Roberta was the fourth and last person to open the parcel. She won a shawl/scarf kit.

The group then split into two to play two games. Once finished they swapped the games over. Here is Linda and Elaine playing the memory game.

Isobel, Ann (pretending she is deep in thought) and Isobel.

Roberta, Donna and Louise working on their lists.

The third game involved guessing the buttons in the jar. Helen, Margaret, Val, Janette and Laura all working on their guesses.

The groups then swapped games. Margaret, Val and Janette playing the memory game.

Laura concentrating hard on her list.

Adele, Roberta, Donna (waving hello) and Louise playing the button game.

Isobel, Jean and Julia guessing the buttons in the jar.

Laura won the button game. She got to keep the button jar and won a knitting kit.

Magdalena was the proud winner of the memory game and she also won a knitting kit.

It would seem that Ginnie and Gillian have somehow managed to keep out of range of my camera but they were there playing along too. I took some black and white photo's of everyone using a 35mm spool. As soon as it's finished and processed I will scan in their photo's.

Not much knitting went on and I couldn't even tell you who was working on what. However, Janette did manage to bring in a quilt she had finished as gift. Look how pretty it is. We all stood astounded as she told is it only took her about 12 hours to stitch up.

Next week we are back to normal for the most part. It's member of the month time again so Margaret will be interviewed next week. I will hopefully be more informative when it comes to everyone's projects.

For the homecoming challenge we now have exactly one month to finish our projects.

Last but not least, one of the members of the Sunday group asked if I would start up a blog for them. Initially my answer was no due to the work that goes into it. I have since reconsidered so watch this space for a link to the Sunday Stitch n Bitch.

Getting Comfy!

The above images are of Adele's recent finishes. In the first photo you can see Adele modelling her scarf. She started it not long after she joined a few weeks ago. As you can see from the funky bag she has also worked on other projects. The fluffy yarn is popular for scarfs but it really sets of this bag. Adele is now working on a little baby jumper.

Gillian also had a few finishes to show us. As you can see she is modelling a lovely scarf. Again it's using pom pom yarn. This is the third scarf within the group to be knitted up using this yarn. It's a firm favourite at the moment. If you were to get the chance to feel it you would understand why. It looks so unusual and feels so soft. Would definitely keep you cosy in the winter. Gillian also finished a pair of wrist warmers. She used hand painted yarn which gives it a lovely effect. The yarn is also very soft. Last but not least she also knitted a little cardigan and hat for the preemie charity. She spent the night sewing a lovely cardigan using self striping yarn in purples and pinks. All it needs now is buttons. Thanks to tennis elbow Gillian is limited to sewing.

This lovely preemie cardigan was knitted by Isobel. If you remember from last week she also knitted a matching hat. The detail in the pattern of something so tiny is amazing. Isobel was worried this would be too small but we have quite a few items now about this size. It's amazing that this will fit someone so tiny.

Both Ginnie and myself managed to finish the first sock of a set that night. Unfortunately they don't exactly match. The baby sock was knitted by Ginnie. It's part of an order she is knitting up for a friend who is due next week. She promised her friend seven pairs of baby socks (one for each day of the week) and this is part of pair number 6. She hasn't used self striping yarn for a change but two different colours of cotton. Fiddly on something so tiny but it looks lovely. You can see just how small it is thanks to Adele who was our hand model this week. Ginnie only has seven more orders to go and then she plans on challenging herself with some new sock patterns.



Our littlest member sometimes gets forgotten about here. While Adam might not be big enough to start knitting it doesn't mean he isn't interested. He is usually quite happy to sit and watch but occasionally he will want to be carried round everyone to see what they are working on. He took great delight in everyone's bags on Tuesday night but found Adele's knitted bag to be the most comfortable resting spot.




We also had a new member come along. Her name is Cathy and she was working on a scarf. She hasn't knitted in years and has used scarf knitting to get back into it again. Unfortunately she is recovering from a broken wrist and so has to be careful how much she does.



I should apologise. Last week I confused Elaine with Linda. It was actually Elaine who handed in the preemie items. Also the purple scarf she was working on was actually squares. She is knitting squares in purple and pink to make a through for her daughter. Linda meanwhile is working on a white preemie cardigan. Jean has also been working on a baby cardigan, Donna was crocheting granny squares and Joyce was working on a baby top.


Just a reminder that we will be celebrating our 1st birthday next week. I am hoping that it will be good fun and we'll have lots of photo's.


Lastly best wishes to Ann. Her shoulder is playing up and at the moment she isn't allowed to knit.