Sunday 29 April 2012

3KCBWDAY7 - Craft your perfect day

I've gone for the Wildcard option today of 'Craft your perfect day'. As we've been having really awful weather for the last couple of weeks which has meant spending a lot of time shut up indoors with my 2 teenagers, the thought of a day of crafting with no interruptions sounds like bliss!

First and foremost it would be a lovely warm summers day, with the setting being a gorgeous cottage in Cornwall with a large garden overlooking the sea. I would be with a group of like minded knitting loving friends, both new and old, chatting and knitting under the shade of mature trees. 

Lunch would be delivered by a local caterers, tasty, organic, fresh food accompanied by a little champagne! Not too much otherwise we'll get a bit dozy in the afternoon!

Later on a talented crafts man or woman would pop along and teach us some natural yarn dyeing out in this beautiful setting. Lots of fun will be had by all, along with lots of Earl Grey tea (my favourite) and cakes. Once our workshop has finished our teacher will stay on for the afternoon, joining in with our crafting whilst watching our naturally dyed yarn drying in the sea breeze.

As dusk starts to fall we'll move up to the house, which is welcoming and warm, with lights twinkling and some gentle music playing. We'll all make dinner together, a rustic supper of pasta and salad, and round off our happy day by knitting around a cosy fire in the living room. Lots of fun, laughs and learning....



Saturday 28 April 2012

3KCBWDAY6 - Improving your skillset


Improving my Skillset is something I'm growing more and more keen on. When I returned to knitting after a gap of 20 years I very much stuck with what I already knew, ie 1 method of casting on, knitting flat and seaming and knitting on straight needles. 

Discovering Ravelry opened a huge door into a new world for me as I'm sure it has for so many others. I've added many things to my skillset as I can now do fairisle (not terribly well) thanks to a great Rowan course with the wonderful Jane Crowfoot and intarsia (again same course) although I have found this tricky, the basics are there in my holey head to be improved on with lots of practice. I now know a few different cast on methods (many thanks to Knittinghelp.com for this) and have taught myself knitting in the round on circulars and dpns. Seamless garment knitting is a thing of joy to me, as if you've read DAY5's post you'll know I don't really have the sewing love within me! 

2 weeks ago I took myself on a beginners crochet course with my lovely friend Bev and after some pain, lots of tea and a (although very nice) not terribly good teacher we managed to produced something approaching a granny square. I'll definitely be expanding on my crochet knowledge now I've got some of the basics in my (yes you know its coming!) holey head. Youtube I'm sure will be standing by to help me as it always is. 

I had a conversation with my Mum recently where I said how lucky this generation of crafters are to have the internet and therefore so many possibilities to learn and share, whereas in Mum's earlier years crafting was very much a solitary pursuit done in the privacy of your own home. I love this ability to talk to others whether virtually or in person, to both learn or teach others. There are still many things I would like to accomplish and as encouraged by Eskimimi I shall set down a challenge list here:

1. Complete adult seamless cardigan                                           By - End of Summer 2012
2. Complete 2 pairs of socks (operative word being pairs!)       By - End of 2012
3. Learn Magic loop                                                                         By - September 2012
4. Compete in Ravelympics (signed up already)                          By - end of London Olympics 2012

Think that's probably enough to be going on with. I'm sure various other bits and bobs will come along during the year and I'm now so much more confident of trying (and fortunately being happy to fail a few times!) that things don't faze me too much. If in doubt there will always be a wonderful person on Ravelry who can help.