Crabtown

In the mornings, the sea reflects its restless patterns on the ceiling above our bed. High tide or low, the sound is constant and soothing, even when the sea is rough. The high tide rolls in within metres of our front door, although there's a six foot climb down a ladder to the rocks and the sea. This place feels safe and cosy. It's ours for the week...  

On the first night we heard seals singing in the bay. Earlier we had seen them lolling about on rocks further out as Mr K and I clambered over the beach (rocks, no sand) discovering assorted debris dragged in by the sea - medical waste, battered old diesel cans, nylon rope, golfballs etc. 

Along from the harbour, a fisherman opened a bucket for Little Creature to see crabs, big as dinner plates. LC eyed them warily from a safe distance.

We've had a few warm sunny days, a couple of dreich ones, and a full-on wet day when we decided to walk the coastal path to the nearest town. We found out along the way that our jackets are no longer waterproof and my walking boots leak quite badly now. I'm not sure a weatherproof jacket is something I'm capable of making to any decent standard. I'll have to make do with the one I have and hope for dry weather.

Knowing I'd be away for a week this month, I stuck with the portable knitting project. Other than a documentary on tv that my sister had recommended, we (Mr K, Little Creature, Granny, and I) didn't bother with radio, telly, newspapers or internet. I wrote the start of this post in my knitting notebook. We're home now; it was nice to just be in a restful place in good company. 

So the Nomad jacket was finished a few days into June. Had a bit of a delay by leaving behind the needles for the front borders and yoke, but managed to pick up another pair in Berwick plus some unnecessary merino dk to add to my yarn stash. Here's the finished garment, I'll try and get Mr K to take a better pic but for now:

I suspect this may end up as a gardening jacket

I think it looks a bit dumpy. The yarn I used knitted up a wee bit wider than the one recommended for this pattern. I'd probably do this again but with a different yarn. The text was straightforward; I do like Sirdar patterns for layout and clarity.

The pick ups were slow going. It took a fair bit of poking about with the needle to make the stitches, the knitted up yarn is so dense. I also discovered in the text that the jacket is fastened with poppers and the button is purely ornamental. Sod that, I paid £2.50 for one button, it's going to get used! So I made a buttonhole. 

Swirly resin button

I suppose I should get round to making the trousers now. I also threatened to make a long sleeve overlocked top last month which of course didn't get further than my tracing the pattern. I have fabric ready for both garments. I also need to think about what to make for Kath's wedding in October. Maybe that can be my project for July. 

Zig Zag Wanderer

Halfway through the month and I haven't really got far with the project I was meant to be doing. Oh well. There have been some good diversions though, more on that further down the page...

At the start of the year I sketched out a vague plan of things to make for this garment-a-month challenge. I'm supposed to be doing these trousers, and I have made a toile for them, but then I had a change of plan and thought I'd try and conquer my fear of the overlocker by doing a project where I would have to use it a lot. 

Vogue 2011

So I started tracing the pattern for the long sleeve top (Vogue pattern) I've had in the cupboard for years. I made the asymmetric skirt (nice fit and quick to make) a few years ago and it still gets a lot of wear. Going further back to my last year at college, I made the sleeveless top from some fabric I'd printed to wear at my degree show. I'll have to go up a size, even back then on a meagre student diet it felt a bit on the neat side. I made it on the sewing machine, but this time I'd like to try doing the whole thing on the overlocker.

It's a double layered garment (not that clear on this image) with the undergarment showing at the hem of the body as well as at the cuffs. I've got some nice drapey jersey fabrics in red (bamboo blend) and dark grey (viscose blend) to use for this. Will probably go for the red as the outer colour to help me look a bit healthier.

After much procrastination, I have finally spent a night away from the Creature - the first since he was born. He seemed cool with it; sounds like he and dad had a fine old time. I suppose I was cool with it too, a couple of phone calls home helped.

I went back to Edinburgh to visit my excellent friend and fellow textilian Kath, who is getting married in October and has all sorts of creative plans for it. I've missed Kath, and Auld Reekie too. Plenty of tea, scones and blether, not to mention plenty of doodling in sketchbooks, looking through collected images of every possible permutation of wedding dress...it was a busy 24 hours! Kath is doing a printmaking course so that she can print her own wedding invitations. She will also be making her own dresses (possibility of a costume change for the evening). And making decorations. I hope there will be a couple more trips to the Reek between now and October to help glue pine cones/pin hems/drink gin and tonics etc.

The other diversion has been finding a knitting booklet and suitable yarn in the sale at the yarn shop last week. I had no need for either, but it has been a handy thing to do while we've all been poorly this week. It doesn't take much energy and I don't need to think about the pattern too much. Here's a pic of the cardigan I'm doing:

Long sleeve nomad cardigan 

It's the long sleeve version in the top right corner. I also splashed out on a large snazzy enamel button for it which cost the same as one ball of yarn. At least I resisted the tractor beam of the vintage haberdashery box this time.

This is the first time I've worked with boucle yarn. It was a bit of a faff for the first few rows and fortunately I've not lost any stitches, I think it would be hellish trying to find out what was going on if I did. I suppose the flipside of that is it's quite forgiving yarn to work with as any minor mistakes just disappear!

It's knitting up quickly. I managed to knit a front panel in an evening and that was with the distraction of telly and stopping for a tea cake.

All being well, I'll post a pic of the finished cardie in a couple of weeks. If I really get it together, I might even have the long sleeve top done too. Ok, that's maybe a bit ambitious...