Kate Selene

It's a dreary Christmas

The weather here over Christmas has been pretty miserable, which no doubt doesn't add to the winter blues that everyone is feeling at the moment.

We have been away to my families home in south Wales for Christmas, and although non of us have had 5 mins to sit down in months, it was good to see my family.

On return, I had to collect the eggs and see to our chickens. As you can see, there were quite a lot, there were another 3 in the other hutch, a grand total of 18 eggs!!

We are now down to 4 chicks, Betty died a few weeks ago, she just got very old very fast, and our other beautiful chicken ( our favourite to be honest) just few away!! She was a feisty bird though!!

So, even though the weather is dreary, there are still things to see! To my surprise, my broccoli has sprouted, so I will may be eat those on Sunday!!

Last order for Christmas

I posted my last order of the year yesterday, and I am looking forward to having a week off all work! I haven't made a set of these cufflinks for a while, so I really enjoyed making these.

These were a last minute Christmas order from someone who purchased a set of these ( different text of course) a few years back.

The idea for this cufflink design came when I had to make a set of cufflinks for a friend for his wedding. His wife to be wanted him to feel like he was taking something familiar down the isle, as he was very nervous. Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris were the name on his cufflinks, I have made many more with different text over the years.

Well, this is officially my first day off since September, and I am tucked up in front of my fire, full of cold! Why is it when you finally slow down your body decides its had enough?! I put up some Christmas decorations last night after getting in, it's good to see some vibrant colours in the kitchen. I have hung stockings on the ray burner and dressed thd table.

Later on today I shall bring the tress down and make the place feel like christmas has arrived!! Because I just can't believe it's in a few days....... I haven't bought 1 gift!

I have however been crocheting every spare minute, so maybe there is a way forward with the gift idea. My dad could definitely do with a hat!! I have been working with dusty colours lately, with a flash of salmon pink ( my new favourite colour, who knew I would like any kind of pink!) and pompoms! I really like pompoms!!

Here are some details of my very own giant needle blanket, the fibres look so good! I really need to finish of my rug, it's upstairs in a bag, the blanket I'm using to make it sheds little bits everywhere, I have just hoovered so I don't want to get white fluff everywhere!! But I must get it off the needles do I can start a new project!

Well, I'm going to have a coffee and think about that Christmas list.......... Hmmmmmmm

It's gloomy outside

Well, it's a fairly miserable day outside and I'm quite glad I'm indoors in front of the fire. The last week has been one of the hardest so far, working in the workshop to get orders out and seeing all the students before they disappear for a much needed Christmas break.

I am of course doing some crochet whilst relaxing, I bought a whole load of new yarn in s range of reds and browns yesterday, so last night I started making myself a cowl.

I have also been trying to display some of my knitted / crochet pieces so that I can see what types of patterns I have used, this will give me ideas for future projects.

I have a room just for me in our house, and my room is starting to fill with knitting, crochet and blankets! Soft toys that I have made have also made an appearance!

So, I will past away this gloomy day from the comfort of the sofa! I think I deserve a day off!!

My workshop

Well I have been very busy in the workshop making Christmas wedding cufflinks and gifts, and I thought I would share with you my space!

My workshop is in an old converted pig shed which is at the bottom of my drive. Malcom, who is my land lord, spent a whole week using his tractor to clear this space for me to have a workshop.

The table tops are made from old railway sleepers, which I rather liked as I am a very messy worker, they are really solid! I have one long bench which has different stations, polishing bench, pickle section, a resin casting bench and an area for dealing with my orders.

Everything in my workshop is placed at hands reach, all my main tools are left close to where I work and I have this great magnifying lamp, makes stone setting a bit more interesting!!

And here is a snippet of what I have been making in during the dark, very cold, evenings!!

Things I have never noticed before

Yesterday I went to work for an open day at the college. It's a great opportunity for potential students to see the spaces. I'm always intrigued by the amount of things I see that really inspire me. These photos were taken on our tour of the workshops at Folly Lane.

I'm obviously really drawn to multiples. The more I photograph things I like, the more I notice how many of them focus on repetition and multiples.

Hooked on big knitting!

Well, it's been almost a week since Made by Hand, and I'm quite surprised at how much I have knitted since then. As you may notice by the picture, I just couldn't help myself, I had to by some of those huge circular needles from Ingrid and also bought enough yarn ( or mill ends!) to make a rug............ Or so I thought!!

By the time I got back to Hereford I had pretty much knitted me a blanket!! Once I had finished that, I made more yarn and then knitted another, bigger blanket by 12 that night!!

I'm hooked on big knitting!!

Big knitting

Oooooohhhh my gosh!! I am at Made by Hand craft exhibition at Tradegar house, I have just come onto our stand ( for Hereford college of art) and realised that over night, Ingrid Wagner has set up shop at the end of our row!!

I can tell how much I'm am into knitting at the moment, I wanted to see Ingrid when she was in Hay on Wye during the festival but never got the chance!!

I have always been pretty excited about making my own knitting tools and when I saw the size of the needles Ingrid uses, the first thing I did was check to see if we had any dowelling at home, bug knitting is clearly going to consume my weekend ( alongside my jewellery work of course)!

What with it being so cold at the moment, all my evenings are spent in front of the fire, so some big knitting should quickly fill up some bare spaces on my floors and sofas in no time!!!

Bring on the knitting!