Welshmillie’s Weblog

I have been doing quite a bit of finishing lately and trying to keep the starting to a minimum.  Instead of posting all the photo’s one by one, I thought I would try the mosaic maker.  It is really fun to use and very very easy.  I think it took all of two minutes for someone who has never even laid eyes on this site before to make up a mosaic. 

I thought that I would give a brief description of what each photo holds and then if you want to find out more information then you could either visit me on Ravelry  or Flickr to find out more.  My name is pretty much Welshmillie where ever I go, so friend me!

The mosaic contains pictures of some of the things that I have been upto since my last blog post.  They are pictures of knitting, purchases, growing and making. 

So lets start with the knitting.  I have been on a finishing frenzy, some were UFO’s some are items that I have been working on steadily.  First finished item is the Pedicure Socks.  These are the blue shaded socks in the middle of row 2.  They were knit with King Cole Zig Zag yarn on size 3mm needles using the magic loop method.  The pattern is just a simple sock pattern with 1/2 inch of ribbing to replace the toe.  This yarn is really good value for money at £3.50 per ball.  I also have enough left over for at least a pair of ankle socks.

Next up are some UFO’s.  Quite a while ago my nana gave me a yarn tidy with a lot of old wool in it.  Amongst it all was the cat/bear.  He looked quite sad with no stuffing or face.  I remember my nana knitting up a lot of these – possibly for Operation Christmas Child.  So I stuffed him and gave him a face and now he sits on my desk at work (last row, first photo).  I have no idea what he was knit with and nana can’t remember either.  The next picture to Cat/Bear is a Koala.  He was knit from a Jean Greenhowe book called Knitted Animals.  I have now made the full set of these animals at one time or another.  Three of them are in this office, Koala, Pig and Panda are spread between my desk and my bosses.

I have also done a bit of work on the croched Star Afghan for baby Skye for Christmas.  That is progressing nicely.  As I seem to have finished so much I decided that as a treat I will cast on the Nanner Socks from Wendy Johnson.  The picture is second row down last picture.  I love this pattern.  It is easily memorised and fun to knit up.  I am using some yarn that I got in a swap some time ago.  It is called Fall Foliage by Thank Ewe.  The yarn is lovely.  The colours are coming out so pretty and the stitches have lovely definition.

Next up is growing.  The two pictures of the plants are quite old now.  The plants fill their containers, so much so that I am going to be repotting them at the weekend.  The cat grass is a fun toy for the cats, who love going on the windowsill and chewing the cud.  More pics of these after they have been repotted at the weekend.

Shopping is a loved pasttime, but at the moment I am really into vintage shopping, so you will most often find me in a charity shop or at an attic sale.  That is where I picked up the wonderful vintage patterns that you see.  I really love them, but have no idea the time period that the patterns are from.  I am guessing at the 40’s or 50’s for the single patterns as my nana remembers knitting some of them for my dad and uncle when there were small.  If you have any more information on them please comment I would love to know.  I also managed to pick up a fat quarter of the cherry blossom material that you see.  It is lovely and the colours seem pretty accurate – on my screen at least.

Next for the making – you see the tiny soldier buttons.  I made them myself with my own two hands.  I am really pleased with how these have turned out and I am thinking of resurecting my etsy shop.  I did make another batch of tiny animals to put on stitch markers or as cell phone charms but they burnt in a big way.  So back to the drawing board for now, but will keep you updated.

What do you think?  Is the shop a good idea, please leave a comment and let me know.