Its been a while since the last post, but it has been anything but quiet here at The Farm. Minnie has really started to get busy so squeezing in the making has become quite a challenge, but it really does make me knit and crochet with a purpose! I have a Christmas stall coming up in December and Im slowly building up my stock, I'm concentrating on making items that are affordable and would be ideal for stocking fillers, so I have been putting my cotton cones into good use by making some heart bookmarks, bunting and garlands.
I love making garlands, they are lovely in children's rooms and I'm always looking for an excuse to try and get them in elsewhere in the house, iv got my red pokadot set up in the kitchen. So I really loved the hearts that I had crocheted, it took a good few samples before I decided on a pattern that would give me a really curvy heart that didn't have any buckles in it, but once I decided on the pattern I just started making! The image above is a sample of the heart bunting, I must say I'm really pleased with it, the white just sets off the hearts.
Iv also been making some bigger items like bags and scarfs but I just haven't photographed them yet, but I have fallen in love with my lined granny square bag, she was made during a car journey to Lancaster and back, so il have a picture for you in the next post.
The fingerless gloves are in the same colour way as my bag , I'm loving the colours, and red has really popped up everywhere in my work lately.
Introducing some colour into my jewellery has been something I have always been interested in, and just by changing the chain for red silk makes such a difference. I have been wearing my red silk necklaces quiet a lot lately, I have been keeping my silver stitch marker on one to remind me to knit whenever possible.
Just keeping things going really helps, iv even been a little more adventurous with the colour layering in the crochet. This is a bag in progress and just by changing the stitches layer by layer really adds some interest. And then I watched something in TV that got me thinking about knitting. I watched a programme about the history of knitting the other day, and although I'm rather familiar with Kaffe Facet's work just listening to how he uses colour almost as a way of painting got me thinking, colour is something I always apply to crochet but never really in knitting.........
....... So I decided to knit. My mum has always been the knitter out if the two if us, to be honest its never really caught me the way crochet has, but once I just thought about the colour it made a big difference, it allowed me to almost colour in as I went. So it started with a heart swatch and then I just carried on knitting. Red and white was next and the simple contrast of colours really had an impact on me, and after finishing a hat last night I'm fairly sure that colours in knitting is the way for me to go.
Iv also been hard at work in the workshop this week. My Dad came over to visit this week which gave me a whole afternoon in the workshop, which I really needed as I had 6 orders to post out which needed making. My favourite orders this week had to be a set of wedding rings that were a last minute order and are going with their owners to Italy for their wedding. I always said I would never go into ring making but Im starting to change my mind!
And to top it off, we have had a bounty of fruit and veg this year, so I have made an abundance of jams and pies, I even made a few jars of fig jam this year, iv had loads of figs this year along with enough blackberries to pick a colander full each day for a fortnight!! Yesterday we collected pears, apples, nuts and elderberries and had fresh runner beans with our tea. Il be making jam and knitting a little hat for Minnie today, its getting nippy during our little walks and to be fair its a good excuse to try out some more colour knitting.
The seasons are definitely changing round these parts, never a better excuse for cosying up by the fire with a bit of knitting!