New Japanese Rose Bag and Christmas Presents

Wild Fire Fibres Christmas Pressie

How time rushes by, two and a half months since I last blogged! But I have been sooo busy! I never dreamed so many people would want to buy my bags for Christmas presents and from so many countries. I have sold bags to customers in France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Canada and 13 states in the US! I have added a map of 'where my bags have gone to' a nice bit of coding that also provides a link so you can have a copy to use your self.

Look what I got from Vikki at Wild Fire Fibres for Christmas, it's a shame you can't feel how soft they are, every time I walk past I have to give them a little squeeze - we all have our issues.

Vikki also made me this little sock - you put a chocolate in it and hang it on the the Christmas - not going to happen in our house, all chocolate is mine!

New Bag

I didn't get time to include my latest bag here. It's a little bit bigger than my others and has longer straps. I bought the fabric at the Knit and Stich Show at Harrogate, it's a top quality Japanese Print. I've lined it with a vibrant red very durable polycotton and here it is.

At the show I also bought some fabulous hand dyed pieces and hope to use that soon.

I am working on a range of needle cases at the moment and after that somehing a bit special (but I'm keeping that a secret for the moment).

New Bags and Buttons and Tim Minchin

Website Additions

I have been very busy this last few days making some more lovely bags. These new bags are made from linen and the fabric comes from Germany and has a marvellous texture as well as print.

There are 3 of them, and here they are!

I have also been busy providing artistic advice (though my husband just called it unnecessary interference). Husband is a carpenter by trade and I asked him if he would turn some buttons using some of the exotic woods he hordes away in his workshop. I must have caught him in a good mood because he made me a really good selection - and they are GORGEOUS!

What do you think?

So these too are now available on my website.

Ginger

Now it is my belief that most people either love or hate gingers. I love gingers but then I am biased because most of my family (including myself) have one shade or another of this colour. I'm auburn, my husband a lighter shade, my son has a rich ginger not auburn but not red topped with bright green. Yes, bright green which provides a very colourful style. But at least the green part of the hair matches all green earings.

Anyway, he showed me a very amusing performance on YouTube by Tim Minchin, an Australian comedic singer/songwriter. Even if you aren't ginger you might find this quite entertaining.

Tim Minchin - Taboo

I also like this Tim Minchin - If I didn't have you - but I know he's not every one's cup of tea but I think his work is great fun.

New Knitting Bags

Just thought I'd show you my latest bags. I have made knitting bags and sock project bags from two lovely new fabrics. Cosy Cats for cat lovers and Ferns a gorgeous new fabric all the way from New Zealand.

These bags are now on my website Roseland Bags if you want t know more about them,

London Break

London Break

Usually we go walking and camping with occasional cottage holidays - and keep as far as way as possible from cities, but a few weeks ago we went to London to visit some of our national museums.

We camped at a marvelous site at Abbey Wood not far from Greenwich, which I would thoroughly recommend. The locals were very friendly and gave us lots of help and advice. The train station was a 5 minute walk away and took about 25 minutes to central London - and 5 nights cost £114 - which gave husband enormous satisfaction.

We managed to visit The British Museum, The Natural History Museum, The National Maritime Museum, The Royal Observatory, The National Portrait Gallery and Kew Gardens and fit in a trip down the Thames .

My personal favourite was the Natural History Museum, specifically the building itself.

No snaps of the Portrait Gallery, but it was wonderful experience.

We spent many hours a Kew and enjoyed it thoroughly -I loved this eucalyptus tree.

This was the view from the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.

We had a great meal in The Spice of Life, a pub in theatreland, great value - tasty and inexpensive.

We ate in Greenwich a couple of times, we had a great tapas at Mambo Latino, the food was delicious and the staff friendly and attentive.

For daytime snacks, coffee and bread- Rhodes Bakery, thank goodness I don't live round the corner from it.

New Bags

I have just finished making some knitting bags and sock bags in two gorgeous new fabrics and will be uploading photos on my website tomorrow.

Blankets and Beads

Knitted Blanket

My current project is a blanket, I'm using patterns from Jan Eatons 'Knitted Blocks'. I pulled back a cardigan that I had almost finished knitting in Rohan Calmer because I found a couple of mistakes way back. I had knitted/pulled back so many times that I couldn't face knitting it up again.

The yarn is cream coloured and I thought it wouldn't make a blanked on it's own but being cream could easily be the main colour.

Here are 3 block patterns I've been using.

My friend Paula has a hotel in Blackpool where she runs regular knitting holidays. Last week was a knitting holiday week, there were 5 ladies there, all of whom had come on their own and didn't know each other at all. The holiday ran from Monday to Friday. I went along on the Tuesday evening to tell them a little about my bags and to provide them with an opportunity to have look at and buy if they wanted. They certainly liked my bags - I sold 7 sock bags and one Cool Cats Knitting Bag!

Paula also arranges for the Wild Fire Fibre lady to to visit with bags of hand dyed wool some of which is handspun too. Absolutely gorgeous yarn - too gorgeous for me to resist, I bought two skeins of organic merino - so soft you just want to snuggle up to it. I bought it to make some squares for my blanket.

What struck me about the knitters on holiday was that by the time I arrived on Tuesday - you would have thought they had all known each other for years, there was a super atmosphere.

There is a Knitting Holiday 'Finishing Techniques' in October - already booked up - I may take some photos to show just what they get up to.

Information about Paula's Knitting holidays at Westcliffe Hotel

Beads by Laura

Laura recently bought a bag from me and at the bottom of her email was a website address - being very nosy I had to take a look. Laura makes glass beads and as you can see, they are breathtakingly exquisite. Laura's website is Beads by Laura

Laura explains how she started in making glass beads and and even offers a 10 page guide to getting started in lampwork for only £2.99.

Back Again

What's Been Happening

When I signed off last time I never realised just how long it would be before I came back!

During the time I've been away, my son Ben, broke down in Germany and it took me two days of constant phone calls to him and to recovery people to bring both him and the bike home (separately). When he came home he decided to stay with us for the rest of the summer holidays. Why would he want to stay with his parents? Well, I think it may have had something to do with a young lady round the corner!

On top of that, my husband Paul, came home from a sailing weekend (about 6 weeks ago) with a sore knee and not feeling very well - within days he was in hospital with a massively inflamed leg, raging temperature, hooked up to an intravenous drip of antibiotics - not well at all. It didn't help that the Doctors had no idea what caused it and no idea how to put it right.

After 7 days in hospital the infection had continued to spread - down towards the ankle and up to - well you know where Eventually, they managed to find the right antibiotic to start working and the inflamation stopped spreading. Although he's on the mend, it' will be months before it will be back to normal (was he ever).

Last week was spent getting Ben back to college in Nottingham (last year of classical guitar building), sorting accommodation, crockery, food etc etc and then actually taking all the stuff there. Ben of course had to go on his motorbike.

New Toy

We bought a couple of kayaks 3 years ago and enjoyed the odd trip up to the Lake District paddling accross the lakes, thenI was persuaded to try moving water ie fast running river. Well, the upshot was I had a bit of a near death experience (well that's what I think it was) and have been reluctant ever since to get in it. So we decided to sell them and get a open canoe. We particularly fancied one of these so we could take the tent and have a multi-day trip. So we bought one last week and took it up to Coniston this Monday for it's maiden voyage.

It may not look like it but I really enjoyed our trip.

Roseland Bags

Whilst I've been having all this fun, I confess I did find time to sew and knit.

I'd been thinking about making some sock project bags. I started by looking at the what people seemed to like. Most bags available were the circular sort with either a drawer string or elasticated cord at the neck. I decided to make one, but I didn't really enjoy making it and thought I could come up with a a more functional design.

So I thought I would like one that could stand up on it's own, that had a nice handle to carry it around by, somewhere to keep the needles and also act as a yarn keeper to keep yarn untangled and i the bag while knitting.

So these are some of what I came up with.

I've had great feedback and I now have them in other fabrics and after this week even more.

You can take a look at them here (shameless plug).

I have started a new knitting project - I pulled back my Rohan Calmer cardigan I was knitting - had made a couple of mistakes way down and couldn't face re-knitting all over again and because I tend to knit in short spurts I wanted a bit of quick gratification (as you do sometimes) so I decided to make a blanket from knitted squares. So my friend Paula who has the Westcliffe Hotel and does knitting holidays (another shameless plug) let me borrow her ''Jan Eatons Knitting Blocks" and I'm hooked. Of course I had to buy the book off Amazon and failed again to stick to my 'economy drive'.

Well I'm off to make a sausage sandwich now because I have as much success with diets as I do with economy drives.

Craft Fairs One of my favourite pastimes is trundling round craft fairs. I love the colours, textures and sheer diversity of items for sale. But it's not always easy to find them and when you do it was held the week before!

These are some of the sites that I use to find craft fairs: -

http://www.craft-fair.co.uk/index.cfm

This is a marvelous site, you can find fairs by month, publications, materials for crafting, tuition all by county- worth a look.








http://www.creativecrafts-online.co.uk/html/events_.html
for craft fairs in the North West of England.

As it suggests a website for craft fairs accross Yorkshire, worth mentioning is that apart from a couple of places admission is completely FREE.

http://www.yorkshirefairs.co.uk/



Click to Give Free Mammograms

The Breast cancer Site is having a problem getting enough people to click on their site to meet their daily quota of donating at least one mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman.

It takes less than a minute to go on their site and click 'donating a mammogram' and it doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate a mammogram in exchange for advertising.

Here's the website, please pass it along to the people you know. Thank you.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com

Wild Fire Fibres

I've added a link to the side menu for Wild Fire Fibres . I first saw this producer at I was completely mesmerised by the range of colours and fibres.


All hand dyed and some actually hand spun as well. I told the lady at the stand what I was looking for and she couldn't have been more helpful.

If you knit or crochet and you want something a little bit different then I recommend you take a look at the yarns at Wild Fire Fibres and just to wet you appetite.







Pink Rose Bag (2)
If you take a look at my website, you will sea that I have sold out of quite a few of my bags this weekend/week so I won't have time for blogging until next week I would think - because I will be working hard to make more bags to re-stock - and I've been out buying the most fantastic material - but that's all I'm going to say for now!

Holidays and Trips

Knit and Natter

Now ladies (and Gentlemen knitters too) how do you fancy staying at this award winning, family-run hotel situated in the select area of Blackpool’s North Shore, close to Gynn Gardens, Queen’s Promenade and the spectacular Coastal Cliff Walk.

These holidays are ideal for singles who wish to combine their hobby with making friends and meeting like-minded people.

Places are limited as all guests have their own rooms and no supplements are charged. A discount is available to anyone wishing to share. Larger groups can be accommodated at other

dates and tailor-made packages are arranged to suit their requirements.

All levels of experience are welcome, and if you are having problems with a particular piece of knitting, bring it along and I will do my best to help you out.
There will be all the latest knitting titles and magazines to browse throughout your
stay.

Most important of all - BRING YOUR KNITTING!

Still some vacancies for these dates: -

August 10th -14th

September 7th - 11th

October 5th - 9th

Find out more at www.westcliffehotel.com

Bens Trip

I've just had an email from my son, Ben, laying out his proposed itinery, which is: -

Portsmouth,

France: Barentin, Reims, Nancy, Waldshut;

Germany: Ingolstadt ;

Czech republic, Slovakia, Ukraine border;

Ukraine: Lviv, Kiev, Odessa

and possibly back through Austria, Hungary, Italy, France etc, or around the Coast of the Black Sea to Istanbul, then back up through Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary etc.

Well I don' know about you but I'm exhausted just reading about it.

I had hoped to continue with 'bag making' but somethings cropped up, so I'll continue with that tomorrow,

Bag Making (1), Books and Competition

Books

Yesterday, I mentioned Barbra Michaels books. Today, I thought I I'd tell you what I'm reading at the moment.

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovitch about Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter with attitude.

Stephanie and Diesel, another bounty hunter who it is to be understood, is delicious to look at and taste, but not especially healthy and who has special skills when it comes to tracking men and pleasing women. Together, they are hunting Wulf Grimoire who is looking for world domination and Martin Munch who would be happy if he could just get a woman naked and tied to a tree.





The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff combines the story set in1875, of Ann Eliza Young who has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church and a tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah.

Ann Eliza Young was a real person and wrote a bestselling and controversial memoir, Wife No. 19, about her life as a Latter-day Saint and her plural marriage to Brigham Young.

I like having a choice, it's the equivelent of tucking into a KFC (Plum Spooky) or lamb in a redcurrent jus with dauphin potatoes and green beans (The 19th Wife).


Making Pink Roses Bag

I'm not sure interesting will be for you, but this is how it went yesterday - while listening to The Three Hostages by John Buchan in 2 parts I stated making PinkRoses Bag. If you want to listen to/record/download part 1, you will have to do it soon - only 1 day left before it disappears.

What I do first is think about the end size and draw that out on graph paper(2cm equals 1cm square on paper).

Then I look at the fabrics, size and placement of pattern design and that tends to decide how many and and size of pieces- you can see what I mean if you look at Cool Cats in post below - you don't want a head or a tail missing, though this can result in fabric being wasted with large patterns.


Next I determine the size of the fabric that will show and add 2cm to each edge for hemming. Once this has been done I write out the number of pieces of each fabric and size for cutting.

The cutting process involves marking out the fabric with chalk - making sure the pattern on the fabric is pointing the right way! Then I cut all the pieces out and press.

Next I chalk the stitching line ie 2cm in all the way round, making sure that the pieces on each side will match exactly when joined up.


I then select two pieces to sew, once again making sure the pattern is the right way up (who would want Cool Cats or Linen Lambs standing on their heads!), pin together then tack.

Next job - sew together along the chalked stitch line. Do the same again for all the pieces then remove tacking and press open the seams and the the good side.

Now I have two identical sides that match up perfectly - I hope, otherwise it's unpick and start again!

Bag creation continues tomorrow.


Competition

If you like hand dyed yarn I spotted a competition that closes midnight 15 July(USA time) on
Etsy.

Mama Jude says 'Help rename my sock yarn! My supplier wants me to stop using the name Texas (becasue they use it), so I'm having a contest. Convo me with your name suggestions. If I choose your entry, you will win two 4 ounce skeins of the sock yarn formerly known as Texas dyed to order. Contest ends July 15 at midnight. Entries are accepted in the order I receive your convo. No purchase necessary to win!'

These are some photos of Mama Judes lovely plant dyed yarns.









Cornwall

Before I disappear to get on with Pink Roses bag, I thought I would just let you see some photos from my April holiday in Polruan , Cornwall.

I know it sounds rather decadent - but I took this photo while lying in bed - you've got to admit its a fantastic view. Can you imagine the sound of lapping water, a warm gentle breeze coming through the open window - and a good man by your side!


Moving on .......


This is the view from the lounge, yes it's small but again what a view.








This the view from the small patio in from of the cottage. The only downside (for some) was the 60 steps down to the cottage and you had to park in the village - but that didn't bother us and it it was only £200 for the week.

Catch you tomorrow.

Bags and Books

New Bag

These are my new fabrics for some new bags - very girly don't you think? The fabrics are by Lorelie Harris for Lorelie Designs TM. I'm hoping to start right away after lunch.


Opening a Link in a New Page

You probably know this already - but if you want to open a link on this page in a new window so you don't lose my blog (of course you may want to), place cursor over link, right click with your mouse and choose the option 'open link in new window' at the very top.

Books

Last month Nancy Dickmann, a 33 year old publisher who lives in Oxfordshire but is originally from Missouri in the US became the 2009 Mastermind champion and the first female winner in 12 years. If you want to see Nancy being interviewed on BBC News, you can see it here.

I mention Nancy's success because one of her specialist subjects was the Amelia Peapody novels by Elizabeth Peters and I have never come across anyone before who has read these books.

I was also surprised because these are easy-reading romantic mysteries - not what you'd expect from a Mastermind champion! Personally, I prefer the authors books written under the name Barbara Michaels (real name Barbara Mertz), also easy reading romantic mysteries - but with a supernatural twist. See here for book list.
Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure you can't walk into book shop and buy one of these books or find one on your library shelf. But, you will be able to find them online. I find Bookfinder.com and Abebooks.com are great for finding books.

Recording Radio from Your PC

I'm sure there are lots of ways of doing this but this is the way I do it. I bought some software called Total Recorder (Standard Edition) now costs $17.95 (£12.21 - today) which won't break the bank.

You can record local audio files or Internet broadcasts reproduced by other programs, such as RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, iTunes, Musicmatch Jukebox, WinAmp, and many others.

I only use it to record radio but I think it marvelous, easy to use (which is a necessary feature for me) and never given me any problems, I contacted support once and they got straight back to me.


Ben's Motorcycle Trip To Europe

Ben is now in Wales, having a few days with friend before setting of to catch his ferry from Portsmouth to LeHarve next week.

After that, he has a few couches lined up across France. Yes, this is the modern way. Some people register a free couch and other people say yes I'll come and stay overnight on your couch. A great way to meet people and make friends, especially if you are traveling solo.

Yesterday, I showed you a photo of his very neatly packed bike , here is a photo on an earlier attempt, one where the packing technique still need work.







Hope Not Hate

On a more serious note, I'm going to include an opportunity for you to sign a petition and help show what Britain thinks of the BNP. It is an opportunity, the choice is yours.

Hope not Hate will be handing over the petition NOT IN MY NAME to the European Parliament on the day Griffin and Brons take their seats.

For your information, the BNP is dedicated to imposing apartheid-style rule in Britain. It wants to create a system that is based on the nonsense that white people are superior to all others. Black and Asian people would become second-class citizens under the law. The BNP constitution opposes any racial integration. Articles in BNP journals condemn mixed-race relationships as “mongrelising the white race”.

Consider,
All it takes for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke