Handsome Triangle Finished

I have finished the Handsome Triangle Shawl from Victorian Lace Today.
I added the border from page 20 of the book, which is one of the suggested borders.
I have really enjoyed creating this shawl. The pattern was interesting without being complicated, so within a few repeats I no longer needed to refer to the charts. The direction in which it was constructed meant I could stop when it got to the length I wanted.
I used an unbranded cashmere 4 ply yarn, which is really soft and really warm.

I started the shawl in March 2008. It is the second project I have done from the book.
I have not made the shawl too long, as I am usually seated in a wheelchair when I am out and wanted the shawl to keep my shoulders warm without getting in the way of the wheels.

My husband took the photographs of the shawl for me, and my German Shepherd, Sheba, decided she wanted to be in the pictures too.
This final picture shows the shawl held in place by one of my shawl pins, which my husband made for me.

Oh Dear

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of Knitting a beautiful pair of socks in Artesano Humming Bird. It took me quite a while to finish the pair and I was really please with the finished result.

Disaster!!:
The socks ended up on a 40 degree cotton wash. To my horror, this was the result.

Now the only one who can wear the socks is my German Shepherd Sheba, and she really isn't very keen on the idea.

Shawl Pins

My husband loves wood turning and is always looking for ideas for small projects to try. In the past he has made me a lovely selection of crochet hooks.

This time he wanted to try something a bit different. I had commented on how some of my lace shawls tend to fall off when I am out, so he decided to design and make some shawl pins for me.
The wood he's used is American Black Walnut for the dark ones, English Oak for the two colour ones and the pale one is made from pine.


As you can see, they are all slightly different. This is because he has made each one by hand, as a result it is not possible to create exact replicas.

Bead Crochet

I have done crochet for over 30 years, and I learnt beading about 3 years ago, but I had never tried putting the two together.
It was at a recent meeting of the Southern Derbyshire Knitters Ravelry group, that I asked one of the members to show me how to crochet with beads.
When I got home I dug through my supplies and found some cream no 10 crochet cotton and a box full of size 8 seed beads.

I used my recently purchased bead spinner to thread all the beads, which not only saved time, but also resulted in far fewer bead being flicked across the room. (The bead flicking is down to poor control of a beading needle when threading by hand)

Once all the beads had been strung, I sat down with a 1.50mm hook and made a 6 chain ring, followed by working slip stitch into each chain, continuing in a spiral.
I will admit that I ripped it back completely about 3 times and also ripped back a few rounds occasionally as I progressed, but I finally used all the beads and this bracelet is the result.

Learning to Crochet

The other day my youngest child was unwell and was off school. As the afternoon progressed he began to feel a bit better, so I decided I'd teach him how to crochet. The following pictures are of him getting to grips with crochet and our little cavalier king charles spaniel 'guarding' the yarn.