Keyrings

Yesterday evening I had a bit of fun with some felt... I just wanted to show you...

And tonight, I made these...


They might end up on the table on Wednesday :o)

Final countdown

More than 3 weeks without a post! where was I? Well, not very far, just very busy with the craft fayre preparation. Only 4 days left before the first one! and still plenty to do...
This is where I am up to:
I've knitted 15 pairs of gloves: 14 with Rowan felted tweed (50% merino, 25% alpaca, 25% nylon) and one with 100% merino. I've made nice labels and attached them to the pairs with matching left-over yarn.

I sewed 25 cotton gift bags:

I hand cut 140 fabric circles to dress the jam jars:

I've made around 100 cards:

The lavender bags still need to be stuffed...

That's it for now. In the next post, I'll let you know how it went...

Touring Scotland

Last weekend I hired a car to show some part of Scotland to an Italian friend.

We've been very lucky as the weather was gorgeous (although very windy).

On Saturday we went to Pitlochry. Just outside the village you can visit Scotland's smallest distillery, Edradour. It produces in a year what bigger distilleries would produce in a week! It is a lovely place, the tour is free and you can sample a dram of whisky :o)



After visiting a few more distilleries (Blair Athol in Pitlochry and Dewar's world of whisky in Aberfeldy), we went for a walk in the woodlands at the hermitage.

Then, we ended up in Dunkeld. A charming village with a ruined cathedral and loads of lovely cafes.

On Sunday, we went North along the East coast. Our first stop was Dunnottar castle, an amazing ruined fortress built on a cliff.

We had a quick wander in Stonehaven harbour...

... before heading to Crathes castle.

We came back through central Scotland (glenshee) and we saw the first snow on top of the mountains.

Stained glass

My blog is being neglected at the moment because I am working on my stock for the craft fayres in November. I have nearly completed my 12th pair of gloves (2 fingers to knit), only 3 more to go :o)
Today I am going to show you where I am up to with my stained glass projects. The Rennie Mackintosh style lamp made it home safely and I found a little bit of space next to the sofa to display it:

The Rennie Mackintosh mirror just need some lead around it to be complete. The teacher doesn't have the right thickness of lead so I will have to wait a bit before finishing it. I am going to a stained glass supply shop at the end of November so I am hoping they will have what I am looking for there.

A wee while ago I bought this lantern:

The glass panels are removable and I designed new ones with hexagon to match the top of the lantern.


I've done one panel and this is how it looks like for now:


The teacher is on holiday for a couple of weeks so I am having a break. It gives me a bit of time to think of my next projects...

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...