Archie The Wonder Dog

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something This month has been a knitting month: Mam decided she needed some new bed socks and wanted some knitting. I said there was no way I was knitting socks in 4ply just for her to wear in bed (I tried and failed to suggest she just kept her socks on from that day - she was worried about them going prematurely bobbly) so suggested she get double knitting yarn. Unfortunately, the shop she looked in only had one lot of patterned WYS essential dk so… …she bought three balls. I think you can imagine how boring socks five and six were to knit, but you’d be wrong, it was worse. (Thank goodness it was patterned yarn, plain yarn might have seen me off.) Mini Archie has a plan for the leftovers and it involves a pompom maker/cardboard rings *sighs* so if you have any tips on how to make perfectly round tiny pompoms, please shout (before he does)! Linking up to the February Furtle  If you're linking up, please add a link (...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! This month I’ve made what feels like a giant leap towards finishing ET: I’ve finished the quilting! (Turns out that actually picking it up and doing some quilting makes quite the difference to how quickly you can hand quilt. See also: not allowing yourself to do any other sewing/knitting until said quilting is complete. Who knew?!) Not only that, but I’ve trimmed it, cut and joined the binding strips and there’s just a short pressing session and then a longer machine sewing session standing between me and watching a film while sewing the binding to the back. And as well as all that quilting, writing my Fettling List  and sorting out the link up in case anyone else wants to join in , I’ve knitted a sock. Which I was absolutely allowed to start because I was between stages in the ET finishing (and none of those stages were sitting on the settee watching telly stages), I just won’t be allowed to touch it on...

Hello, and welcome to Fettle Those Finishes!    For those of you wondering what on earth 'fettle' means, it's one of those words which can mean different things. You can be in fine fettle (good health and feeling perky), you can fettle clay before firing (less of a dialect word, more of a technical one, that) and you can sort out/mend something or get it ready.  You might 'fettle that cupboard once and for all' (give it a good sort out), you might 'fettle the tension on that sewing machine' (fix it) or you might 'give it a fettle' (get it ready). For this, I'm using the 'sort out' definition as we're going to give our project list a good sort out and hopefully get some things crossed off. Flummoxed?  I do hope not! As it doesn’t look as though the Finish Along is coming back any time soon, I thought I’d see if there was any interest in an informal and relaxed link up party to encourage us to finish some of the things (all of the thing...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello and Merry Christmas! I can’t quite believe it’s the final Furtle of the year already, can you?  This month, to round off what has accidentally become a year of socks, I knitted yet more of them. I finished the pair I’d started last month: Yarn is Opal Rainforest 17 (colour 11095 ‘Referee’)from  Sock Yarn Shop Made another pair: Yarn is Opal Joy (colour 9984 ‘Cheers’)from  Sock Yarn Shop And another: Yarn is Opal Schafpate (colour 7951 ‘Kim’) from  Sock Yarn Shop And another: Yarn is Opal 25 Years of Opal (colour 11047 Dancing Jubilee) And I’ve quilted three lines on ET (no picture, it looks just the same as it did last month unless you’re close enough (and care enough) to count the quilted lines), but now this year’s socks are finished, I’m going to not cast on any more   try very hard not to cast on any more   try not to cast on any more socks until ET is finished.  I was loo...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! ET has led me on a merry dance this month (there was a very brief moment where I wondered whether I should just set fire to it, such was the feeling) but I think we’ve come to an understanding. More of that in a moment. I finished the soft-as-a-cloud socks for my friend Trudi  and they fit, which is always a bit of relief. Particularly with a sock yarn with such a different row gauge from my usual sock yarns. She wanted double length cuffs so she could fold them over, which is why they look so much longer than other cuffs. Yarn is a 4ply alpaca, silk and cashmere from  Coastal Colours I made another pair, this time for me, and had a bit of a needle disaster mid round: Yarn is seaglass tonal (high twist) from  Mothy & The Squid And started some for presents (I have four pairs to knit, two of which need to be finished by the end of the year) Yarn is Opal Rainforest 17 colour way 11095 ‘Referee’...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! It’s been a busy month and, for once, the busy hasn’t all been knitting. There has been some knitting, though. I finished the socks I’d started last month: Yarn is one of the gobstopper range by  Easy Knits  which I bought in a destash I knitted a pair for a friend: Yarn is  Purple Nimbus by Made By Penguins  and the pattern is the  soon-to-be released Chestnut Bark Socks by  Mrs Moog And started another pair for a different friend: Yarn is an alpaca, silk and cashmere mix from  Coastal Colours And I quilted (and quilted and quilted) ET, under the watchful eye of Mini Archie (who soon moved once I pressed the foot pedal!) But, although it looks fine on the front (just how I hoped, actually), I’m not happy with how the corners look on the back. I quilted three of them using the quilting bar on my walking foot and the third one had nineteen lines rather than eighteen so a tiny ...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! Fancy it being the end of September already! It’s almost time to start thinking about this year’s Sticky Prodalong *winces in anticipation* I must get the Winterkist top out of the cupboard and measure it - I’m thinking of fleece for the back in the hope I’ll have a cosy snuggling quilt for the settee. Just need to work out what to do quilting wise to see if that’s feasible. Anyway, that’s for next month. This month, I’ve been mainly knitting. Again. And sorting out the workroom - just a few things to sort and mini quilts to put on the wall (any good tips?) and I’ll be done, thank goodness.  Where was I? Oh, yes. Socks. I finished the pair I started last month: Yarn is Bewitched by Made By Penguins   Finished another pair: Yarn is Unicorn Rainbow by  Made By Penguins And got well on the way with another pair. It really is true what they say about stripy wool knitting up faster!  Yarn is Gobs...

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something Hello! It’ll come as no surprise that August has been a sock knitting month. However, the weather is showing signs of cooling down and I’m hoping my work room revamp I will be finished soon (yes, it’s still ongoing! I’ve had to return a table which wasn’t fit for purpose and am waiting for one to be made by a local company (the same place who did The Cupboard Of Possibilities)  and am hoping that might be ready soon and I can tackle the unpacking and arranging with gusto) so I might be quilting ET soon(ish) - I’d love it to be finished by the end of the year. Now, onto the socks! I finished the socks I started last month: Yarn is Lucky from Opal   Then a quick nothing-to-match pair: Yarn is Aqua Ice Cream by Made By Penguins   Then two (very) bright mirrored pairs, I’m calling these my lollipop lady socks: Both yarns are by  Made By Penguins When I knitted the second sock of the first pair, I ...

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 ...