My new girls!

When I lost my beautiful Gus a few weeks ago I felt like I'd never smile again. Having lost a few cats over the years, it's a familiar feeling and one that pet-owners will recognise. I knew that I'd adopt again but the time had to be right and of course, the cat had to be right.

So a little way down the line, may I introduce my beautiful new girls Lily and Willow, 2 young sisters rescued from Haworth Cat Rescue. It's such a long time since there were youngsters in the house - the last few cats I've taken on have been middle-aged to elderly. Part of me wondered what on earth I was doing to take on two potential nutters and naturally I was worried how my older cat Nutmeg, would respond to high japes. My worries were largely unfounded. Meg has seen so many comings and goings and is largely unperturbed by their arrival, and Lily and Willow have been such fun and brought a lot of much-needed laughter. They are stunning girls, such lovely temperaments and up to all kinds of mischief but very funny with it. They are great companions and enjoy watching what I'm up to when I'm working on a project. They are strictly forbidden from my sewing room - how long this ban will last though remains to be seen...

Post Christmas post

Another festive season safely out of the way and once again, despite being a very good girl, a distinct lack of Hugh Jackman or Fernando Torres to unwrap on Christmas morning. Ggrr. But seriously, as always I was blessed in many other ways - I have few true friends but what friends they are - generous, thoughtful and kind beyond belief.
I intend to dedicate a post or two to share a couple of the Christmas presents I made for these special people. For my wonderful friend Rosie I made a cushion cover, choosing a simple hexagon/flower arrangement in lovely ditsy cottons. It has a simple envelope fastening at the rear.

The cushion cover itself was quick to whizz up. The most time-consuming part ( other than the patchwork itself ) was placing the design just so and then stitching it in place with invisible thread - which as the name suggests can be tricky stuff to work with because it's er, easy to lose sight of! I'll definitely return to cushions as gifts - watch out people you have been forewarned. Read and forget.....

 *

For Kath I ran with the Leeds Rhinos theme, which never seems to fail, and I made a large tote bag in blues and yellow. I used the Patchwork of the Crosses design which was new to me, but I totally fell in love with how effective it turned out. I would love to make a quilt with this block but just this one took quite a while to put together, so not much chance of using it on larger scale projects unless I sprout extra arms at some point.

I couldn't resist adding to the theme by knitting this hot water bottle cover in Rhino colours. I like the challenge of coming up with handmade items in these colours! Already thinking of her next birthday/Christmas gifts.....

A quilt is born!

After working on the snowball/octagon quilt for half of the year now, it is finally finished and I shall be handing it over to my friend Mary in 3 days time. Phew. I'm hoping that it will be her favourite Christmas present. In fact I'm hoping it will be her favourite Christmas present ever. It will be such a shock when she opens the box to find I've made this for her and I can't wait to hear what she thinks.
I've previously posted photographs and progress updates so it's lovely to post a photograph of the finished work - albeit in a casual, draped-over-chair way, but you get the impression.

Here goes...

I love how the navy blue back/border pulls it all together. I didn't trust myself to sew the borders in place on the machine - I didn't fancy my chances of keeping a straight line as well as feeding/supporting the bulk, so I hand-stitched the borders and corners and I'm pleased with how it looks.

 It's always an odd feeling to spend so much time making something and then letting it go....but Mary is the first friend I made when I moved to Leeds 19 years ago and she's very precious to me. It was a pleasure to make this for her and think of her as I made it, and love went into every stitch. Happy Christmas Mary x.

Goodbye to Gus.

At the end of November I had to say goodbye to my sweetheart, Gus. He became poorly quite suddenly and an x-ray revealed a tumour on his heart. There was no option but to go through with the last act of kindness.
He was approximately 17 years old, but had only been with us for 3 and a half of those - not long enough. One of the hardest things about losing him is that because he was diabetic we had such a strong daily routine together - insulin injections morning and night and meals at set times.
I'll miss how he managed to get so much cat food in his drinking water, his ridiculous curled tail which made him look like a curling stone, his rumble-purr, how he nuzzled my feet and I'll miss his beautiful green eyes. The house is empty without him. He brought out the best in me - tenderness and patience especially.
I think about him constantly and hope that he's still with me. Words are a clumsy way of expression at present. All I know is that when he went, I feel like he took my heart.

Covered notebook.

 I am a bit of a notebook girl - and I don't mean the electronic type. I get quite a thrill from leafing through notepads and handling pencils - there's probably a name for this condition. It can be quite a struggle though to find a nice, reasonably-priced notebook with plain pages rather than cheap-looking lines. Ta da! - I found such an item. The drawback is the fake leather outer shell - easily remedied. I've been meaning to do a notebook cover for ages but haven't had time - but I'm ahead of schedule with my handmade Christmas presents ( to be posted after the big day! ) and thought I'd have a play.

Wool cover and cotton inner selected...

Selected felt pieces for cover design. I wanted a fairly limited palette...

Threads. Yum.

I made my cover design and then carefully folded the cotton lining inside the wool fabric. Neatly pinned and waiting to be stitched together...

Edges were folded and sewn in and then the notebook was slipped inside.....

The finished work. Lovely colours, great notepad to work with and I can feel some follow-ups coming on....

My obsession with hexagons knows no limits...

With Christmas hurtling towards us and quite a few handmade gifts on the go, the last thing I should be thinking about is farting about with beginning a new project. And yet here I am, doing just that. For most of the year I've had a real yen to knit a blanket and I've gathered a few lovely patterns from library books and Google searches.
I've previously written about my love of hexagons and how they seem such a perfect shape....and I started to wonder if I could produce acceptable versions in yarn.
A bit of online research threw up results of varying desirability. And then I found this beauty, for which photographic and knitting pattern credit goes to Knit, Shear Bliss! blogspot. I won't be knitting the child, just the blanket : )

A raid in my yarn collection ( ye gods, how did I acquire so much of the stuff? ) has got me off to a great start. I'm a bit funny, well, very funny actually about lots of different colours together, so my version is more muted. Here is what I've made so far - I may well add another colour or two, I'll see how it looks when I've made more hexagons.
Clearly, these are not sewn together yet, the photographs simply show the shapes in their 'just finished' state.

They will be joined together in a simple over-stitch I think - colour of yarn for this yet to be decided upon - a long way off in the future. Now, I really must get all these Christmas presents finished.....

It's a wrap!

It's a given that come September, I have to get my knitting needles out. I don't know if it's a primeval calling or simply a response to darker nights, colder weather and the downright need to feel cosy. Whatever prompts it, I give in to it.

Two years ago I started knitting what was to be an Aran poncho. It was no small undertaking - both sides were to be approximately a meter square in size. There were over 200 stitches on a needle and each row took about 5 minutes to knit. Unsurprisingly I lost heart. I managed about two-thirds of one side and then it got confined to the deepest depths of my knitting box.

This week it was time to face my demons, cut my losses and other such cliches - and deal with it. I decided to cast off and turn it into a lovely warm wrap. It's actually a great width and length, allowing for an array of folds and tucks. And a perfect excuse for wearing a beautiful brooch or shawl pin. Result!

It's a simple basket-weave pattern with garter stitch borders. And it's very warm.