Gloves

I am knitting a lot of gloves at the moment for the two craft Fayre I've got planned in November.
I am on my eight pair!
It is a bit boring but I am using several colours...

I am planning on knitting a dozen of pairs. If I don't sell them, it will be hand knitted gloves for my friends and family for Christmas ;oP

Rennie Mackintosh style lamp

It's been a while since my last post, well, three weeks. I've been in France for about 10 days and then I was very busy making bramble jam. I've ran out of jars so I have some time to show you my new stained glass lamp. I finished the shade a few weeks ago but only last week the teacher manage to find a supplier for the right base. I am not entirely sure about it but, unless I have it custom made, I won't find what I exactly want so this one will do.

Initially, I wanted this base but it was far too big for the shade. I kept it anyway as I am designing a lamp shade for my mum and this base will be perfect. I am making sure the shade is the right size for the base. You'll see it in a few weeks, or months...;o)

I've also made good progress on my mirror. The teacher is giving me a hand to tidy up all the soldering as it is very time consuming. The last step will be to lead the edges.


More later...

What came off my needles?

I've been knitting a few things lately and finishing of others.
I finally finished a men jumper (free pattern here): I only had the collar to knit but, for some reason, I never did it. I decided to go for it on Sunday, I hate leaving things unfinished. I now have to find a zip (on Saturday, I am going zip hunting) and I'll be able to show you a picture of it.
I made a dress for one of my friend's little girl. The pattern is from Bergere de France 08/09 (pattern 897) and I used Katia Peques (100% acrylic but extremely soft).


I've also started making some stock for the two craft fayres I've got planned in November. I am going to sell my cards, jam, crochet flowers brooches and gloves.
The gloves pattern is from Erika Knight's book "Classic, 15 timeless designs to knit and keep forever". I've modified the pattern slightly to knit it in the round instead of flat (I hate sewing). I am using Rowan felted tweed (50% merino, 25% alpaca, 25% viscose). You just need 1 ball for a pair of gloves :o)

Palais Ideal

Some of you wondered where the picture on the banner came from....This was taken at "le palais ideal du facteur Cheval" at Hauterives, near Valence.

Ferdinand Cheval (1836-1924) was a postman who built his dream (between 1879 and 1912): a magical palace. He was a self taught builder and sculptor and found his inspiration in nature and pictures from all other the world printed in illustrated magazines. Ferdinand Cheval is considered as the international precursor of primitive art. He was admired by Picasso and influenced numerous artists like Max Ernst.

If you are in the area, it is a very pleasant visit, don't miss it.

Lace

Just before going on holiday last month, I had time to finish a lace project (more details here). I couldn't knit the whole pattern because I ran out of yarn, which is probably better otherwise I wouldn't have had enough space at home to block it! The cast off stage took me about 6h and to pin it on the carpet to block it about 1h! I am very happy with the result :o)




More pictures from my holidays will be posted soon...

From Grenoble to Valence

For 1 week we rented a car to go to the South East part of France to visit some friends I haven't seen for 14 years !
Our first stop was Grenoble. We took some cable car to have a panoramic view of the city.

We also made a detour to go to Alpes D'Huez, a famous ski resort and one of the main Tour de France step (not this year though).

A lot of people cycle the 13.8km to the top (average climb 7.9% and 21 hairpin bends) everyday. The view from up there is spectacular.

Then, we had to go to Piegros-la-Clastre, South of Valence. We chose to take the small roads going through the Vercors Regional Natural Park instead of the motorway (it would have taken 2h instead of 1day). The roads are very picturesque but there are treasures hidden in the mountains.

We stopped at the Choranche caves. One feature of this cave, unique in Europe, are thousands of very fine stalactites (4mm diameter) called "soda straw". The temperature inside, constant all year round, is 10 C.

The water in the cave is joining the Bourne river.
A few kilometers from Choranche, we stopped at the beautiful medieval village of Pont-en-Royans, renowned for its suspended houses over the Bourne river.

Then, just before arriving at my friend, we spotted the first lavender fields, typical of the Provence area.

More later...

I am back

We spent 3.5 weeks in France, enjoying amazing landscapes, drinks, food, friends and family. As usual, GG and Leon came with us, and, for the first time, Hariette joined us. She joined our family a few weeks ago (thanks to Charlie).

I have hundreds of pictures to go through, and in the meantime I can show you what I have done in my spare time in France. I asked my mum to give me some sewing lessons because I wanted to make a gift bag for this mirror instead of wrapping it in paper.

Then, after a trip to the local fabric shop, I made this bag:

More later...

Rennie Mackintosh style Lamp

I've finished soldering my lamp this week. It took me two sessions. My soldering skills are getting better and I don't need much help from the teacher now :o)


Now, I only need to apply the patina, and most important, find a base which will be quite difficult because the choice is very limited in the UK. I'll deal with it next month when I'll come back from my holidays.

Woolfest Booty

As promised, this is what I bought at Woolfest yesterday:

• Hand dyed sock yarn: 1 skein from Wild Fire Fibres and 2 skeins from Laal Bear.
• Schoppel Wolle sock yarn: 2 zauberball
• 2 skeins of undyed 90% Alpaca/ 10% nylon (I forgot where from)
• 2 skeins of cobweb/lace weight from KraftyKoala: Alpaca/Cashmere/Silk and Merino/Silk
• 1 cone of lace weight 65% Wood/35% Milk fibre from Uppingham yarns
• Thanks to Andrea who found Fiberspates Fairy Wool bargain basket, I bought 3 skeins of hand dyed lace yarn and one of hand dyed sock yarn for a fraction of the regular price :o)
• a cotton bag with a B-ewe-tiful sheep
• a pair of sock blockers

Now, I should go knitting...

Woolfest 2009

Today, we went to the lake district (300km from Dundee) for Woolfest :0)

Andrea, Diane, Louise and I had a great day.
We saw several breeds of sheep, alpacas, angora....

There were loads of amazing fiber, yarns, buttons...to spend our cash on...

Some of the knitted goodies looked really yummy...

Check out Diane and Louise blogs for more details and great pictures.
In my next post, I'll show you what I bought....