Mini Archie’s January Furtle Around The Blogosphere

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something

Hello, and welcome to the first Furtle of 2024! I’ve started the year off well and have finished two pairs of socks, both of which were started last year. The first were this pair:

Yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners ‘Wood Pigeon’ (864)

And then I circled back to this pair, which were started before the yarn for the pair above arrived, and finished them too:

Yarn is by Olann 

I’m making progress with the next sock. Believe it or not, there are two different pinks in that wide stripe but I think someone either forgot to add enough dye to the medium pink or added too much to the light pink as they’re nigh on the same. If you look very closely, you can just about see a hint of there being two stripes between the dark pink and the next white stripe rather than one broad medium pink stripe:

Yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners ‘Pink Flamingo’ (845) 

A couple of weeks ago, I was thrilled to discover that we in the U.K. can once again order quilt stamps from Rinske Stevens’ shop, just like before we left the EU (remind me of what we’ve gained by leaving again?) so I ordered three sets and a larger block to use with them:

Quilt stamps are from Patch And Quilt in the Netherlands 

There weren’t any extra charges so what I paid when I checked out was all I paid, no customs/VAT to pay when it got into the country as VAT is paid when you pay and as long as you stick under the £135 limit (which I definitely did, well under), there isn’t any import tax to pay. Obviously, check yourself before buying, but I found easy to understand guidelines here. 

I thought they’d be a good way to prep (and sew) a sewing project completely from my settee (bar the ironing, which I admit I somehow forgot about!) as I’m not up to prepping or sewing any other way and I’d seen the tiny nine patch challenge being run on Instagram by Repro Quilt Lover. I have a very soft spot for nine patches and thought I’d join in but in a very slow and manageable way rather than aiming for ten blocks a week, particularly as I want to alternate sewing days with sock knitting days to keep that progress. I’d thought I’d make scrappy blocks using Liberty tana lawn but then realised that that would involve a lot of thinking and furtling through the Liberty box, etc., all of which would take energy I don’t have so I looked at the photos of yardage which is in The Cupboard Of Possibilities, spotted this turquoise dot and fell in love with the idea:

A Moda pindot and plain white which is a Michael Miller Cotton Couture I got quite a few years ago from Olive & Flo Handcraft. They don't stock it any more but do have some different (and still lovely) plains. 

And then the fun began! The turquoise dot hadn’t been washed since I got it and let’s just say it had quite a lot of excess dye in it. I can’t be the only one who keeps the colour catcher sheets during the pre washing process (I find it really helps to judge whether the sheets are getting lighter when you have the previous ones to compare) so here are mine, with the first one at the top. I washed the fabric six times and then soaked it in a bucket of hot soapy water (with a dinner plate on top of the fabric to keep it under the water) for just over twenty-four hours, with four or five refreshes of the water. Then washed it again and, as you can see, the sheet was actually darker afterwards. Next, I soaked it in the bath in hot soapy water like Dawny does (following the Save My Bleeding Quilt protocol) but there was still more dye coming out than I was comfortable with (remember that this is being paired with plain white so any bleed in the finished quilt would be very obvious) so, on the advice of a yarn dyeing friend, I soaked it again but this time in hot water mixed with fabric conditioner. And when I washed it again, the colour catcher sheet was pale. Phew!

I thought I’d be doing the nine patch (1.5” finished) with five turquoise squares and four white and then white whole squares between but now I’m wondering whether reversing that would be better? I’ve drawn each option up in TouchDraw, which do you prefer?

Finally, don’t forget to link up to this year’s Fettle Those Finishes!, which closes at the end of February. 

Mini Archie now has a pair of socks and a scarf courtesy of his Aunty Bunny Slippers and he’s very chuffed. She also sent some tiny snips which he has, of course, taken custody of *sighs*

Look at mine spiffing socks and scarf!
And I is now Mini Archie, Snoopervisor Of The Teeny Tiny Snips *proud face*

Linking up to the January Furtle 

If you're linking up, please add a link (one per person, please) to your blog post, which could contain: a mosaic of all you've made in the month, something you've made/started/worked on, a goal which you'd like to achieve in the next month (and then in next month's post you can reflect on that goal and set yourself another one - I find this particularly handy if I'm in the midst of a big project and finding the making of hundreds of blocks to be interminable), anything crafty you'd like to share. This isn't just for sewing or quilting, but is for all crafts so if you knit, make lace, make clothes, do anything which could come under the heading of 'craft', then please link up. Please visit the link immediately before and after you and leave an encouraging comment, and more if you can manage it - we all know that comments create joy, so let's spread some around. Also, please treat all the linked posts and their authors with respect - I want this to be an inclusive space for all crafters and crafts and all are welcome. If you're not sure if you're welcome or you belong, you do - this is by no means a closed space and if you want to join, then you are most welcome. If you need help linking up, please leave a comment and I will do my best to help. Please add the Furtling button to your blog post: copy the code below and paste it into your blog post - it should then magically appear when you publish your blog post (I'll do my best to help if you have any problems) and it will help people find the Furtling page with all the details of the link up.

<p style="text-align:center"><a href="https://archiethewonderdog.blogspot.com/p/furtling.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXDD7-BYr5nXJtGn7HIFUcDUZfLGBTpazWKP8TCUWdkA6zd2285lbJX4aoMug6QyKDdxtxA-njWnhvf0GugU-An4z5lTFcqmYnae0Gb68FR0ZmydWYETGSa2oF1NeQDMVNwZBnUHTpsD7/s200/textgram_1548790799.png" alt="Archie The Wonder Dog" /></a></p>

To link up, go to the link at the bottom of this page and click on 'link up' (it's a blue button) and then add your link (website URL), a title (this could be your blog name but could also be something interesting to draw people to it (keep it clean!) if you prefer), and your email. This last one doesn't appear on the link (I will have access to it - I won't use it unless there's a problem and I need to contact you) so don't worry that you're about to share your email address with the world (or the handful of people who find this link), you're not! The link will remain open until 10th February; if you're seeing this post after this date, I'm afraid you can't link up to the January Furtle, but you can link next month if you like.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter