The Skuld returneth

Many apologies for not getting promised post up this week - despite my best efforts, I managed to leave the memory card of my camera at college each and every day.

Despite having a sock to finish, when I went to my local Stitch 'n' Bitch meeting yonder week I felt disinclined to bring any knitting with me - I need a break from the pointy sticks. Instead I grabbed some aida fabric and worked on an extremely simple piece of cross stitch I've done several times before. This looks a little 'threadbare' as I was using too few strands of embroidery thread for the hole count of the aida, but it's only intended to jazz up something of mine, not as a gift, so it's ok.

Later that same week I had a few minutes to spare while dinner was simmering on the stove. I quickly pulled out my sewing machine and came up with this very plain bookmark. It's more of a practice run than anything else, I plan to make some funkier versions with brightly colored thread, but the idea had been knocking around in my head ever since I lost the bookmark my friend Fiona had given me. I was on a bus and it slipped out from between the pages of my book, onto the floor, unable to be found. While this one is not as pretty, it does have the advantage of a large loop which can be slipped around my wrist while reading - thus avoiding future mishaps, huzzah!

So that was last week, which I should have posted last weekend. Again, apologies. This week I got around to the emptying the bobbins for my spinning wheel. As I detailed previously, I'd had some trouble plying with my wheel. I have no doubt that I could have solved this which a bit of jiggery-pokery, I nonetheless decided to use one of my delicious drop spindles. This went fine, made much easier with the use of the lazy kate which came with my wheel. My spinning needs a lot of work, but as I've said, this will come with time, practice and a lot of fiber.

Many moons ago I did the bulk of the work for the Short and Sweet (Ravelry log-in required) cami from The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller. I love this book - I tried to learn to crochet from at least 5 other books before this one, and just didn't get it. With this books clear instructions and illustrations, I finally understood what I'd been doing wrong. Along with this, the patterns are much more contemporary and funky than those found in many 'Learn to' manuals (á mon avis). But I digress. I thought this cami would be perfect for throwing over my shoulders in the summer - not as a cardigan, but just to make me feel a little less on show when necessary. I made this using Rowan Wool Cotton, which is really easy to work with. Though the 50% wool, 50% cotton strands can occasionally get separated around your hook, it has no fuzziness or halo associated with it, so the stitches are very easy to make out. This was particularly helpful as this pattern involved a much more exotic pattern than any I've worked with before - not that that was a bad thing. I managed to read the pattern entirely wrong, meaning rather than joining the front and back beneath the armholes and working back and forth in once piece, I had to work each separately and seam - don't ask, it was a mistake on my part. Like I say, I finished the body ages ago, and naturally left the last bit, the arms, sitting in a bag in my room for months since. I looked and it earlier this week, and realized what had been putting me off was trying to figure out how to get the stitch motif in the sleeves to work, given that I'd constructed the sleeves differently. Having identified my mental block, I made an executive decision, and did away with the fancy sleeves altogether, and just doing a few rows of single crochet to finish off the raw edges. Here's the result - if I'd been thinking with a sensible head I would have worn a different color vest top to you could see the stitch definition, but I didn't and now I'm too lazy.

Action shot!

Have a great week everyone.