EASY KNITTED SHRUG

I just finished knitting my second shrug from this pattern.  The first one sold before I had a chance to even take a picture.
It is super easy and the instructions follow.

 

It was made with a chunky weight wool and 8mm needles.

Cast on 120 stitches loosely

K2 P2 for 8 1/2 inches

K2 tog. P2 tog. across (60 stitches)

K1 P1 for 19 inches

Increase 1 stitch in each stitch across (120 stitches)

K2 P2 for 8 1/2 inches

Cast off loosely.

Fold in half and sew the K2 P2 edges together.

The cast off edge is the bottom and the cast on is the top where you create a rolled collar.  This is very popular but truthfully looks better if you are tall and slim, short butterballs, like me, don't look so great.

Remembrance Day

I have been thinking about the men in my family and what they gave.  My father was in a terrible accident as a young boy and was refused when he went to volunteer.  Both of my two uncles served.  One uncle was in the navy and served on a destroyer, as a torpeoman, and they were on patrol in the English channel.  He kept a diary of this time and tells of the different adventures they had with German submarines, ships and the one time when they rescued a number of German seaman from the waters just off the French coast.  It did not read as an easy time.
My other uncle was a Sargent-major in the army and was in charge of training a unit of soldiers in Jamaica.  He became very ill the day before this unit was shipped out, was sent to hospital and did not go with his men.  He never forgave himself for not being with his men and for the rest of his life could not spend any time with other veterans.
My husband was a young boy living in Liverpool, England and remembers the bombing, the rationing and most of all going to the bomb shelters in the middle of the night.  The noise, the smells, the missing friends, and the lack of many everyday items.  Food was very scarce.
Only one of these men was in combat, but the war did terrible damage to all of them.

Using watercolour squares

This sounds dumb, but I am complaining because it is another gorgeous day and not the usual grey November day we are all used too.  I am not going out, at least not far, I am going to stay home and get some work done.  I will ignore the sad eyes that Maggie gives me when she realizes we are not going galavanting.
A long time ago I bought a couple of kits to make 2 watercolour wallhangings.  Never did make these and so had all those little 2" floral squares sitting around.  I saw a pattern in a magazine (can't remember which one) and thought it would be a great way to use up some of those squares.  Below is what I came up with:

This is the finished wallhanging  29" X 39".

all those wonderful 2" floral squares, everyone different

I added the applique squares as a break in the business (love to applique), one in yellow, one in blue and one in pink. each of the flowers has small matching beads. Trying to give this small item a bit of pizzaz. Now that I have spent time taking pictures and catching up on the computer, I have to get dressed and then get down to work.  I still have 2 more tutu bags to make and one has to go with me to the quilt guild meeting tomorrow night.

craft show

Just got home from the craft show, went specifically to see the woman who makes handbags.  After looking at hers I feel like a real amateur.  Have to smarten up and improve my product.  The felted with needle felted designs are okay and very original but my fabric bags leave a lot to be desired.  I have to find out where to get the larger purse frames.  The small ones I get are from China, the larger ones probably are too.  I will have to spend some time on the net and research product.  It seems that I am falling down on the inner structure, it felt like all of hers were lined with cardboard for stability.  She was asking 240.00 each, and the thought that they were backed with cardboard doesn't sit that well with me.  Will have to sit down and spend more time on the insides than the outsides.

The felted bags with needle felted designs are fine and have lots of structure.

This bag is made from a thick english wool  cloth and I thought it was great. until............ it does need more inner structure and a proper handbag frame would be a nice touch. 

SNEEZIN MAGGIEMAE

Maggiemae started sneezing big time, and coughing big time, her nose is runny and full of mucous.  My poor baby has a cold.  I didnt know dogs could get colds until I called the vet and he agreed, yes they can get the flu and colds.  We finally have a dull rainy day where I could be accomplishing a lot of sewing, but am spending most of the day with a poor, sad little lady wanting to cuddle on my knee all the time.  She must of caught this cold from all the visiting and socializing she has been doing over the past few days at the dog park.  Oh well, I have caught up with daytime TV and had a good nap in the lazy boy also.  Time for bed and it is still raining, tomorrow we are off to a major craft show.

TUTU BAGS

Well I finally did it, ignored the day outside and got down to work inside.  This is the last of the orders for the Tutu bags from the craft sale in early October.

This is the beginning of a busy day. I cut out the bag, then embroider a design and the persons name in the colour of their choice.  The tutu is then added in the same colour as the embroidery.

This is 3 of the bags that I made today.  The bags also come in blue, green, pink and lavender.  I was very happy that I had finally caught up and could think of other things, when out of the blue I got a phone call last night ordering two more. I am really happy that these bags are quite popular, but I am a one-of-a-kind maker and do get really bored when I have to make more than one of any object.   But the money $30.00 each comes in very handy.
Time to go for the mail and take Maggie for a small walk, really windy and a lot cooler today, so it will be a short trip.