turtleknits

Well I won. R at www.sheknitupthatball.blogspot.com had a comment competition on her blog, after she had visited the US. And I won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I'm really really thrilled. Below are pictures of my prizes. First photos below are pictures from the crochet book for patterns. And the yarn! I love Sugar n Cream cotton. I've been knitting dishcloths and washcloths for about a year now, after I first got some of this cotton in a swap. I never imagined that knitting these would be so addictive and very useful. So I'm very pleased. Thank you very much R for your great prize. I'm looking forward to trying these patterns.

Hello Everyone! My 100th post. A big Thanks to all of you who have made my blogging life a pleasure, reading and commenting. I haven't forgotten about the draw I promised for all who comment on this and my last blog post. I will draw next Monday, October 13th! I can't believe that been it's over a month since I last posted on my blog. I've been really busy with lots of things. Been on holidays for 2 weeks to France in early September, hence the pictures posted on the blog this morning. Facing autumn and winter, I thought it would cheer us up to see some pictures from Monet's house and garden in Giverny, west of Paris. This is truly a beautiful village and the house and gardens are really gorgeous. On the day we visited it rained, but despite the wetness, we spent a very pleasant few hours. The colours in the gardens are beautiful and are my favourite pastels and sunflowers. Any artist would be inspired. On the knitting front, I've been neglecting the knitting l...

Despite my lack of blogging and photos, I have been busy knitting and indeed crocheting recently. A little baby jumper, knitted in lovely soft cotton/soya mix, by Sirdar. This is really lovely yarn, but it sometimes splits while knitting. The pattern I designed myself, and am really pleased with it. I may publish it one day. My scarf in lovely soft Alpaca yarn, which I bought a couple of years ago at the Knitting and Stitching show. I tried a couple of patterns which were not successful, and finally settled on one free from Interweave Knitting magazine. And finally a lovely blanket which I crocheted from various sock yarns with a 3.5mm crochet hook. This is really great, and my daughter is delighted with it. The photos don't do it justice though, and I had difficulty with the lighting in the bedroom. I got the idea from one I saw on a blog www.fluffyknitterdeb.blogspot.com . I'm off on my holidays this evening, so thought I would post these before I go. As this is my 99th po...

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone. I've no plans for the day yet, except maybe to take a spin on this lovely Spring morning.I have not been to the St Patrick's Day Parade for years, not since my children were much younger. Spent a lovely morning though in Dublin city yesterday, just browsing and having coffee and lunch. Very pleasant. A few weeks ago I went to the Avoca yarn sale in Avoca Handweavers in Co Wicklow. We had a really lovely day, and lunch with knitting friends. Didn't add too much to the stash this year though. Just some lovely soft brown wool/maybe alpaca mix and this gorgeous pale grey possibly wool or wool mix or maybe cotton/wool. I've no idea what the yarns are , but they are really nice, and I've no idea what I'll do with them. Then the fabric, which feels like a linen/cotton mix, and I hope to make a shirty top with that some time! This scarf I knit for my daughter recently. It started out as a fine knit scarf from some 'jitterbug...

Recently a knitting friend, Cheryl www.asimpleyarn.net , was destashing some books and I relieved her of 'The Happy Hooker' by Debbie Stoller. Now over the years I've made various attempts at crochet, took classes, read books etc, but never managed to crochet squares. I could manage to crochet a little in the round, but squares left me baffled. Anyway I took this book and some spare yarn to knitnight last week and I became absorbed in crocheting a square. I was so delighted with myself, and felt I could use up some of my stash by crocheting some squares. Well not only did I not use my stash, but I bought some yarn at my LYS and started some squares to put together for a blanket. I'm hooked, and I just can't stop. These are the squares so far. I think they look great and I am really chuffed. I'll have to look for a knitting project also.