Archie The Wonder Dog

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! It will come as no surprise to hear that July has been a sock knitting month - it’s been far too hot to contemplate quilting E.T. Phones Home and as that is top of my list, it’s that or socks. So socks it has been. I finished off the pair I started last month: Yarn is Pinkalicious by Made By Penguins  bought in a lucky dip in, I think, 2019 I made another pair in a gorgeous self striping yarn which was a present from a lovely friend - the colours are that of the London Underground Tube map and I knitted one sock from the outside of the ball and one from the inside. Yarn is Mind The Gap by Trailing Clouds And I’m well on the way with my next pair Yarn is Opal Lucky and has a silver sparkle running through it Mini Archie has been keeping a close eye on me and is hopeful that his new ‘shelfs’ will be going up soon so we can properly unpack the workroom and get fettling that wip list! It’s luffly and sunny up ...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! This month has involved lots of (sock) knitting as it’s been far too hot to quilt ET and I haven’t felt like doing any dressmaking as my sewing room is still, um, a work in progress. (Just waiting for shelves to go up now and then I can move everything back in, arrange it and then, hopefully, make some serious progress on my  FAL list .) Here’s what I’ve done this month (aka as socks, socks and more socks): Yarn is Neon Flamingo by Made By Penguins Yarn is Rainbow Speckle 2020 by Made By Penguins Yarn is an unnamed speckle by Made By Penguins  (not the same speckle as the one above, this one has paler speckles) and Sasparilla by West Yorkshire Spinners   Yarn is Pinkalicious by, yes, you guessed it, Made By Penguins   (I bought some lucky dip skeins from her last year and this is one of them. I love it!) I also took some photos of the garden as it was looking particularly lovely. Then a load...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! (To coincide with the sun appearing, my laptop has decided that it’ll hide all text in file explorer so I’m writing this post on my tablet; this post may be a little, um, disheveled as a result…) This month, I taught myself to use TouchDraw with the help of the instruction pages available and Lynne’s marvellous tutorials  and am ready to start prepping my next hand piecing project as soon as I’ve finished ET Phone Home. As machine quilting and prepping hand piecing are both things which I do in the afternoon, I decided that it would be prudent to tackle ET first. That way, I’ll get to have a clear table and will avoid much tutting from the tiny felty fella. I’ve started quilting ET and, as expected, quilting in the ditch with black thread on a black with white dots fabric is hard on the eyes. Just another few hundred metres to go… As I haven’t got any hand piecing to do in the evenings, I’ve been knitting ...

  Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! I started the month by casting on a new sock: but quickly ended up knitting a split/hole in my left index finger (I push the needle back through with the tip of my finger and those needles are sharp so repeatedly doing it ends up being quite painful) so I put down the knitting and picked up the hand piecing.  I joined four blocks together into one big block:  Then another one, doubling my hand piecing from last month: And another: And another: And another, until all the single blocks were combined into big blocks: Did I stop there? I did not, I carried on until all the big blocks were joined into one massive piece, which is the lower half of the top: And then this happened: Yes, a finished top! I can't quite believe it, I must admit. I gave the final seam (across the middle) a press before taking this picture but couldn't face pressing the whole quilt again (each block was starched and pressed ...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! Spring has sprung!! At the start of the month, I looked at my photos of the garden from the start of lockdown last year (most of which contain Mini Archie hiding in various spots) and couldn't believe the difference in how much green there was in them.  I looked at the garden and didn't think it would be anywhere near by the time the 24th (one year anniversary of Mini Archie's first Lockdown Hide) came round, but it is almost there and it's lovely to look out of the window and see the fresh spring green. And with the cheery thought of plants springing into life, let's look at what I've made this month: I finished the pair of socks I was knitting last time: You may notice that neither sock looks exactly like the finished one I showed last month, and that's because I got halfway down the foot of the second sock and ran out of yarn! So I unpicked the toe of the first one and pulled ...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! I thought I hadn't done much sewing or knitting this month, but when I gathered photos together, it seems I've done a lot more than I realised.  This seems to be a recurring theme...  I got half a quilt top joined!!  I honestly thought I'd carry on and have the other half at least started, but I haven't picked up a needle since. Maybe it's because it's a new needle and the old one needs time to instruct it and check its training is up to snuff? Here's the old needle, which has pieced all of this quilt so far and which has agreed to accept an emeritus position in the pin cushion: I finished the pair of socks for a friend: Yarn is Party Dress by  Made By Penguins And I finished a sock for me, this time I did an extra two sets of p/k for the heel flap to (hopefully) create more toom across the instep and reinforced the heel turn: I did reinforce the sole as well, but it turns out that ...