Very excited!

I’ve got a lovely new toy...

...and I can use it to make lovely things!

For those of you who are interested it’s a Janome TXL607, it does over 200 stitches and has an alphabet stitch as well; this is a huge improvement on my old sewing machine which does either straight or zigzag stitch, very, very fast (the speed control is rather broken). In defence of my old machine it has had a long sewing life, as it’s 35years old and belonged to my Mum until she got a shiny new one. It’ll be going back to her house to enjoy it’s retirement.

I was all set to get the next model down as it was £100 cheaper than this one, then I noticed last week that this model was reduced in price and came with a free quilting kit – bargain!

I’ll be spending my day off tomorrow having a play with all the things this machine can do, I can’t wait!

Doing the Twist

The spring 2012 Twist Collective is out. Now before this week I’d never even heard of the Twist Collective, but let me tell you this – it’s fantastic! It’s basically a free online knitting magazine that is released three times a year, showcasing designers and mixing the pretty pictures with instructive articles on knitting.

As a beginner the article on different types of decreases was really helpful. There’s even a Q&A problem page which has taught me things I didn’t even know I needed to know about knitting. And possible the best thing is that all the designs included are purchasable patterns, so you can knit all the pretty things. My favourite by far from this issue has to be these gorgeous socks: 

 There are also, amongst the many amazing patterns, several lovely cardigans and this stunning peacock inspired shawl:

Now if only I had more knitting time – pesky things like housework and my job keep interrupting!

I knitted a thing!

I finished my first ever knitted thing, this ribbed scarf:

I made it for Ben (the husband-to-be) and the pattern gave me loads of practice doing the knit and purl stitches. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out for a first attempt, although it took me about six weeks to finish. It was done just in time for his 30^th birthday and he drunkenly told all of his friends he saw that night that I'd made it for him. We went to a seafood restaurant for his birthday since it’s somewhere neither of us had been before. We played it safe and had fish and chips to eat but both tried something new for our starters. I had whitebait which were very nice but I had to ask whether I was supposed to eat the heads or not, and on the whole I’m not sure I’m comfortable with my food having faces!

Another very exciting thing happened today... I chose my wedding dress. Obviously I can’t post photos since it’s Top Secret from Ben until our wedding day. I’m going to have to choose a shawl pattern to go with it now so that I can get knitting. I’ve now got a set of metal knitting needles in every size I could possibly want, sent to me by my grandma, so I can make lots of lovely things.

Busy week!

I haven’t blogged in over a week – not a great start but it has been an incredibly busy week. It started last Saturday with my best friend’s wedding, which was beautiful and had all the things a wedding should have plus more: a beautiful bride, lovely readings and personalised vows, an owl as the ring bearer, a nice meal, a cheesy disco and a pick’n’mix buffet to nibble on, as well as a chance to catch up with all my friends from college together for the first time in years.

As a bridesmaid I had a lovely red dress and a little black shrug, it looked great but when we spent about an hour and a half outside while the photographer took pictures of every different combination of guests he could possible think of, it was freezing! So I’ve decided that for my wedding the bridesmaids need long sleeved shrugs, and I want to make them. Should be simple enough knitting 3 shrugs especially as one will be a child’s size. And for myself I want a shawl, and I want to make that too. Which is pretty ambitious and quite possibly insane of me since as a beginner knitter I have given myself 6 months to not only knit shrugs but also to learn to make lace and make a fancy shawl. Wish me luck!

Following a late (and rather inebriated) night on Saturday I had to drag myself out of bed at the crack of dawn and pile onto a minibus to go to London for the first date of my husband-to-be’s band’s debut UK tour. The band is called Prowl , in case anyone is interested, and I love watching them play, which is good since I spend at least one evening a week in some bar/venue somewhere watching them.  It was a great day and a fantastic gig, as always. We got home at 4am, giving me just enough time to get a few hours sleep before an afternoon shift at work – the start of an incredibly bust 4 days at work.

I haven’t had chance to do any crafting but I should have a couple of finished things to show you in a few days. For now though, it’s off to Leeds for another Prowl gig.