What a HOOT!

I love this owl! I would give him a happy home if he was up for adoption. This handsome chap is straight out of Harry Potter and was loving made by Lyn. Tu-wit -tu- woo!

Madga has always been a busy crafter. This week she was feeling the cold, winter chill and created a cosy green scarf with interesting edging. Below, you can see Magda wearing her new jumper which she completed this evening. I think Magda is now ready to face any winter weather that comes her way.

Fran completed this pink chunky cowl in double quick time! Winter forces us to be creative quickly.

The lovely Lisa has been making these clever stitch markers for quite some time. What I love about them is the fact that they remind you which hook you were working with. With so many things going round in my head, I could certainly do with several of these.

Isabel has more crafting time now that she has retired. This week She completed a pom-pom hat with yarn she got at a swap night. It's no loss what a friend gets!

Fiona has come on  leaps and bounds with her crochet. This magnificent poncho has been made for her niece. I bet the wee girl will be delighted.

Stephanie has been working overtime with her knitting needles. Boy Scouts rub two sticks together to make a fire but Our Stephanie can KNIT with two sticks! I am very fond of this pattern and I just adore the wee hat that has been made to complete the set.

The two cardigans were knitted just for fun! Stephanie likes to work with a variety of patterns and this is a great way to use up some of her enormous yarn stash.

I saved the best for last! This  Elf set is so cute! I could see this working in many different colour combinations. The bootees have a surprise in them. Stephanie included little bells in the toes! Hearing the tinkling of fairy bells every time the baby kicks his feet! Brilliant!

If you missed me on Tuesday night, I was away getting some winter sunshine. If you didn't miss me..........why not!

A big thanks to Janice for taking the photos and e-mailing them to me. And thanks to Stephanie for doing the raffle. 

Remember we have Aileen's baby shower on 17th February and Refurbishment begins on the Conference Room on 24th February.

FLOWER POWER

Fran created this beautiful crocheted flower as a possible decoration to a bag.

This is June's second flower after her lesson at Gartmore.

This bonnie wee dress was created by our new member, Alice and is cotton yarn.

Margaret has been busy knitting baby sets for friends in work who are about to become grandparents for the first time.

Margaret has also been busy completing this red hot Dalek for herself. I think there is a family of Daleks residing in that household!

Stephanie modelled her latest creation for herself. This quick knit aran she adapted from a pattern. To make the jacket more individual she created the honeycomb design as part of the collar.

Isabel wanted to learn a new stitch in crochet and used the Shoe Box charity as an opportunity to master an unusual scarf pattern. Admittedly she found this challenging but rewarding.

Isabel was really taken with the Gartmore class that Laura taught - to crochet a bauble. She was determined to adapt her new found skill and has started a scarf for the Shoe Box appeal. Apparently, this stitch is addictive.

Blankets, blankets everywhere!

Hobbycraft had kindly offered us the use of some space for our group. Sadly, with over 40 members we are too large to use it. However, they are still looking for groups to use their space and it doesn't have to be a knitting group. It can be any sort of craft. They are also will to give their space out to anyone who wants to give a demo of any kind and if you have a craft business it would be the perfect way of advertising. Just contact Hobbycraft at the Glasgow Fort.

This is a two in one post (again, sorry). What we have noticed over the last few weeks is that people have been into creating blankets and we have a fair few blanket finishes. First of all Izzi showed us again how talented she is with this beautifully quilted baby blanket. I love the colours. The white background fabric is actually covered in little white flowers which just adds to the beauty.

Magdalena had been working away on this gorgeous crochet blanket for her eldest son (to go with his matching quilt). Each of these squares were done whilst travelling, either on the train or by car. She says next time she will plan out the squares and crochet theym into strips rather than squares, means less joining. However, when she first started this blanket she didn't know how she wanted it.

This lovely granny square lap blanket was done by Linda. She did this for her shoe box charity as there aren't that many boxes done for older ladies and it's sometimes difficult to think of things to make for them. This blanket will be perfect however. Many of you will know that Dawn recently moved house and she gave Linda her leftover sock yarn rather than throwing it out. This was the end result.

I have to admit I have seen t-shirt quilts around the net but this is the first any of our group have done one. The idea is to take favourite t-shirts and to turn them into a quilt rather than throwing them out when they are done. I have seen it done with concert t-shirts and football shirts. This one was by Janice for her son and she used all his heavy metal shirts. She said that she is pleased with the result but quilting t-shirt material is harder than it looks.

Last but not least on the blanket front is this beautiful one made by Roberta. The centre is one large granny square which is then surrounded by smaller granny sqaures. I love the different colours and how they compliment each other. This is all set off with a beautiful flower in the centre.

Before I go any further I have to congratulate one of our newest members. Swati joined us when we started back after Christmas. She had never done any knitting before but had a pattern picked out that she had wanted to learn. Hardly the easiest of patterns to learn by but with the help of Stephanie, Helen and Janice she managed it. The end result is this lovely snowman. The stitches are unbelievably neat. You would never know this was her first project. Well done Swati!

 If you think back to a few weeks ago I posted a photo of a work in progress by Laura. I took a photo because it was a style of crochet we had never seen at the group before. The end result of the booble crochet is this beautiful scarf.

Fiona who finished her first crochet project not that long ago has finished another. This time she made a hat and scarf set for her partner. He did want a pom pom at the top but Fiona gave up on that. I have to say it looks a lot nicer without.

Before Christmas Stephanie had give Isabel one of her dolls with a black sparkly outfit to match. Isabel has decided that since it is now coming into spring (not that you would know) that she needs a new outfit. Hence a little spring dress, Easter bonnet and egg basket. Since Isabel loves these little project she has already begun another outfit.

Mothers day is coming soon and Alison is the first to finish a mothers day project. This beautiful card is (funnily enough) for her mum. Beautifully stitched and even better, has no dreaded backstitch.

Once again Margaret has been keeping herself out of mischief by working on various projects and so has a lot of finishes. She has a lot of friends in work who are about to become grandparents and so the first two projects are for them. A beautiful hooded jacket and bootee set followed by a lovely pink cardigan. The last one is a toothbrush holder for her younger daughter. This has been promised to her when she first moved out and she is now on flat number 3. Better late than never.

For the last few years people have been contributing to Linda's charity, the Shoe Box appeal. A few weeks ago Linda brought in this certificate which was sent out as a thank you. Thought everyone would like to see it.

Just a reminder that I won't be at the group next time so there will be another gap between posts.

A Whole Lot Of Stitching

Helen has once again been busy with the sewing machine. She is back on the quilting. The first piece is actually a Christmas card holder. Each of the little triangles dow the middle are actually pockets so that you can slot a card in. Brilliant way to display them. The second piece also looks Christmassy. Very intricate and beautifully stitched.

Laura has also been doing some stitching. She created the above cross stitch for a friend. We laughed when she was working on it as it was a birthday present for a friend who wanted it stitched for herself. Laura emailed the photo as she had alread passed it on. She has also been working on a new crochet style and while it's not finished I had to take a photo. These bobbles were created with just a crochet hook. It's going to be a scarf.

Stephanie has been knitting baby sets again. The first set all goes together and keeps the baby warm in layers. Not seen anything like that before. The second is a beautiful Christmas cardigan and pom pom hat. Clearly an elf outfit. I love the little triangles at the bottom of the cardigan. Stephanie said that the pattern called for stitches to be picked up to create the edging. As she hates picking up stitches she knitted the edging first.

Lastly Margaret has also been busy, mainly with baby items. Some friends daughters are expecting so Margaret knitted a beautiful white blanket edged in red. For another friend she knitted the cute little baby set. Of course she made time to knit herself this cosy hat in time for our snowy weather.

Some Finishes Too!

I promised you that there would be more than one post this week and for once I am living up to it. First of all I wanted to show you just how busy we were on Tuesday. Normally we have around 35 members with maybe 20-25 coming along on average (sometimes more sometimes less). Well, as you know I haven't been along and so there were some new people I had yet to meet. There were a few more new members on our first night back and we had our busiest night yet. Alison counted 36 members and 7 of our regulars had been unable to make it along that night. There may be a few more people along on this week too. Welcome everyone!

Swati contacted the group through our facebook page. She has been wanting to learn to knit and Stephanie gave her a hand on Tuesday. She is planning on knitting a doll. She had some very cute patterns with her.

Fiona is another new member but she started whilst I was away. She was learning to crochet and this was her first project. Pretty impressive. Don't worry, next time I may talk her into modelling her creations for us.

Our Janice also brought along a finish. She recently learned to quilt and this is her first project. Another impressive finish. Not sure my first attempt would look anywhere near as good.

Apologies for this photo. It in no way does justice to the garment being held up. It's a baby, hooded poncho which was knitted by Ally using variegated yarn. The colours in the yarn knitted up perfectly and it looked almost like little rosebuds had been knitted into the pattern. This is for Donna's baby, Abigail, so maybe we will get a much better photo of her wearing it.

I am a little bit in love with this bag. This was crocheted by Anthea for another new member, Carina. Anthea combined two different patterns to create it. The colours are just beautiful.

A few people have been asking about ravelry. It's like a social network but for knitters (and crocheters). You can set up an account and there are a hoard of free patterns for you to try with advice and images from other members who have knitted them. Just seeing different takes on patterns is worth joining. There are also patterns you can buy too. However, the main part of it I think is the social aspect. Communities are created and it's up to you if you want to join in or not. Our Donna is a huge fan of ravelry and she is now taking part in a granny square challenge. Each month a new pattern is posted and the members combine colours in their own way to create a unique square. This is one of Donna's examples. Can't wait to see her other squares.