It's a Wrap!

So a few months ago Helen started up giving raffle tickets to people who completed projects. Each month there is a lucky dip and the chance to win a wee prize. Isabel won the November dip but she was away. Back for her last day we re-enacted the moment.

Seriously, the stage is missing a truly great actress. Isabel was delighted to be a winner and was lucky enough to pick out a ball of yarn that will knit up into one of these fancy scarves. Isabel does love a scarf (even if she loses them) so it was good that she picked out something that she would use. Helen was the December winner and picked out a pin cushion.

Janice has been going to quilting classes for a good few weeks now. It's with the class she has been learning to do her large squares to make a quilt for herself. She also learned to make these beautiful glass-stained Christmas hangings. The Christmas tree was the one she was taught in class. As she had some Christmas fabric she decided to make another and designed the stocking herself. Very impressive.

Janice also has a new addition to the family. Her son recently got engaged. Not wanting her to feel left out she has made her future daughter in law this lovely Christmas stocking.

Her son also couldn't be missed out and she made him these Christmas minions. These were actually requested by her son. Love the bells on the tops of the hats.

Norma has been busy working on a commission. A friend of hers asked her to make a crochet bag. The bag was to be done in cotton and Norma isn't a fan of crocheting in cotton. However she managed to get it finished. I think it looks stunning. The lining matches the colours exactly. If her friend isn't happy with it I know a good home which would happily take it in!

Norma seemed to have a finish every five minutes on Tuesday. These beautiful baby blankets are for a friend and she finished them on our last evening. The deep pink is my favourite. The boldness of the pink is set off by the black edging. It makes a nice change from lots of pastels.

Fiona also had a finish. She finished this gorgeous baby blanket for a friends wee boy. The yarn is super soft.  It will make a fabulous blanket but it can also see baby using it as a play matt. I love the little flecks of dark blue throughout.

Helen is making sure that she stays warm this winter. She knitted up this cowl so that she could wrap it beneath her jacket to stay warm. It can also stay on when the jacket comes off. Love the colours! Also it's nice to see Helen knit something for herself for a change.

Margaret has been busy too. Her last cross stitch card was revealed. She stitched this gorgeous owl card for myself. I do love an Owl. I may have to find a wee frame for it once Christmas is over so that I can hang it up next year.

She is also continuing with the baby knits until she uses up all her baby yarn. This is the latest cardigan to be done in the pink. Like the others she has done over the last few weeks, it is for the hospice charity shop.

I have also been busy getting Christmas presents ready. I needed help in thinking up something I could make for friends when Lisa suggested mug cosies. This is what I cam up with. I filled it with hot chocolate and chocolates. Then decorated it with a little cross stitch tag.

I also have the last of our bucket lists. If there is anyone I didn't get round to I apologise. It's been a busy few weeks. Plus there is always next year. This list is longer because I forgot to list some of the previous weeks. The lovely Helen went round asking the question this time as I was giving a little impromptu sock lesson.

Lyn - Learn to knit socks, dye yarn and finish the snowman I started a year ago. Also would like to do more sewing

Fee - learn to do more sewing, taking up knitting without tossing it and finish everything I have started

Fiona - try to move on from blankets and scarves and actually do something I have saved or bookmarked.

Lisa - knit socks, master amagurami

Carol - amagurami

Janice - knit socks and learn to crochet. Finish my quilt

Stephanie - learn to crochet, learn to do applique with Val

Noreen - knit socks and learn to crochet

Norma - learn to knit socks, learn to sew and quilting

Susan - I would love to learn tatting. I've seen it done on TV and I'd love to give it a try.

This post is over a week late but that's us done for the year. We are back on the 7th January. We are having a swap night then so bring any unwanted craft items and you might get inspiration or pick up something you like. I will also be starting sock lessons that night.

Until then I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and an amazing New Year!!!!!!

A Star In The Rising!

It was a fairly quiet night on Tueasday. Lots of people away because of the fireworks. Either hiding indoors or taking their kids to displays. However, it certainly wasn't quiet for finishes. This beautiful baby cardigan was knitted by the lovely Swati. You may remember that Swati came along to the group in January hoping to learn to knit. Stephanie and Helen took her under their wing and she knitted some dolls. This is her first garment and Janice gave her a hand in teaching this along with Stephanie. She had quite an admiring crowd round her on Tuesday and it's easy to understand why. Hard to believe that this lovely pattern was at the hands of a beginner. It's not exactly a simple pattern and it was beautifully done. To top it off Swati is now learning to crochet granny squares. This time June is doing the teaching.

This doll has a new outfit thanks to Lyn. She knitted every part of it and decorated it with lace. Sadly she doesn't have a name yet. That will be rectified shortly as her name will be part of a competition to raise money for Children in Need.

Lyn also finished another of her hats. I actually quite like dark grey knitted up. Especially in lacy projects. The sparkle in the yarn though really makes this winter knit. It's lovely and soft too. For once my camera was able to pick up the sparkles. Alas, it's never going to pick up how soft a yarn is. You will just have to use your imagination.

Did I mention that we had a new sock obsessive in the group? I am sure I did last week. Isabel has knitted these beautiful Christmas socks for her grandson who requested them. She is now on her second pair for his brother. These socks are amazing. I do like colour work and this is one of Isabel's talents. It seems sock knitting was just waiting for her though as she worked between several different patterns to create these.

These lovely little flowers are the work of June. I love how delicate they are. She plans to attach them to pins so that they can be worn as broaches. Who wouldn't want to wear one of these?

Margaret hadn't quite finished her Christmas cards as we thought. This is her latest finish. She stitched this for her younger daughter. A perfect choice as she loves meerkats (both the real animal and the adverts).

She also knitted this lovely red stocking. The fork seems out of place but it was actually used in the making of the stocking. Our Izzi once showed us how to make pom poms using a fork. This is what Margaret did to make the little pom pom at the front of the stocking. Easier than using two tiny circles of card.

Janice also adapted something taught by Izzi. She took one of the bags that Izzi has taught us to sew in the past and she made it bigger. It is made by a kind of oil cloth material to give it that shiny look and make it sturdier. There are even handy pockets on the inside. I love the pattern on the fabric.

Stephanie has been knitting for her stash again. This beautiful baby jumper is going into her famous boxes. I am sure she has knitted this pattern before. I remember the stripe round the collar which I love. Very effective and love the two tones of blue.

I also took a quick snap of scarves that both Jill and Magdalena are working on. As you can see Jill is doing one similar to her finished scarf from last week. Magda is more of a closed crochet. The reason I took the photo is for the colours. They just scream autumn and since it was very cold that night they seemed perfect. Jill's yarn is by James C. Brett and Magda's is by King Cole. Both gorgeous yarns and beautifully soft!

Saturday is our Christmas craft day. I think everyone is looking forward to that. Sadly I won't be there but Helen will and she will no doubt post something about the day. So look out for that. Plus, if you manage it along, have fun.

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.

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.