Sunday Shawl Voila

Time has certainly flown since my last post but then summer is a busy time on Unst and the bairns have been on holiday, so I have done very little crochet & have very many projects to complete & also to start. 

Some time before the holidays, I completed my Sunday Shawl and I cannot believe that I forgot to show it to you, it has received so many compliments, I was even stopped in Lerwick Co-op and asked about it.

So here it is ...

Sunday Shawl Time

At last the yarn for my Sunday shawl has arrived so I thought it only right that I share my excitement with you. You will have to excuse the lack of sharpness on the photos, we all know that the arrival of new yarn makes your hand shake.

Our postie dropped the bag in the inner hall while I was making millionaires shortbread for our VE street party tomorrow so I washed my hands & took it into the living room .......

Then I tore it open because the packet said not to snip .....

Tipped out the organza bag .... ooooooo!!!

And finally got to admire my beautiful new yarn. Shall I show it to you like this ...

Or like this ...

I'll be starting to work this up quite quickly so that if I love it as much as I think I'm going to I can order some more before the Drops sale ends (ssshhhh, don't tell my husband).

Small Pleasures

At the moment I am a quarter of the way through the Jane Crowfoot & Stylecraft Lily Pad Blanket crochet along (CAL), and although I love a big project, I just can't resist filling my time with small and simple things. In the last few weeks I have been stash busting and have pretty much depleted my stock of acrylic DK and Drops Paris, the good news is that I have discovered a stash of forgotten chunky yarn so I will be crocheting lots of warm & cosy head bands for my November / December craft stalls at the Unst Farmers Market.

The first project that I tackled was a string of long promised bunting for my lovely picture window. I wanted to make Attic24 bunting but the pattern only came as a part of a yarn pack and I wanted mine in Drops Paris to match my cushion & wreath, so I did my best to replicate it from a photograph, and to be honest I think it is a pretty close copy.

My mind then strayed onto what I might do with the 2 balls each of Paris cream & petrol, which I hadn't used in any of my projects, so I decided to try some African flower hexagons from Heidi Bears, which then developed into a plan to make a duffel bag. The problem here is that I'm not going to have yarn to finish it so will have to order more - oh dear, what a pity! I have completed 2 of them & the other 2 just need edging. Only about another 9 to go & then I'll decide what to do about top and handle.

And then there was last night & today's project. Some how, and I have no idea how, I am becoming a parent again, this time to a beautiful little ginger kitten who we are calling Mack. He is only a week old but I couldn't resist making him a yarn scrap welcome blanket, my thinking was everyone else in the house has a crocheted blanket so why shouldn't he? He is also getting a crochet Christmas stocking because we all have one of those too.

Sophie's Garden Mandala Cushion - Voilà!

Many months ago I showed you the completed Sophie's Garden Mandala in Drops Paris, the yarn was a leaving present from my friends in Yorkshire, but until now the finished piece has been sat in my WIP basket waiting for a back to be put on. I wanted something very simple as the front is exceptionally busy so stuck with basic rows of trebles in cobalt blue and added buttons for a splash of colour & I am happy to say "Voilà!".

From wonderfully intricate ...

... to relaxingly simple!

Spring Wreath - Voilà!

At last, this morning, I have found an hour to wire my blue iris and to complete my Spring Wreath project. If I am honest I could probably have had it done a few weeks ago but I was worried that I wouldn't be able to give it that certain untangeable something that only a crafter can add to their work, I am however more than exceptionally pleased, every time I look at it I feel a warm, proud glow. The Spring Wreath is the first piece I have created that is truly personal and reflects precious memories. 

The pink peony I planted in the garden at our last home, in memory of my late godmother, Auntie Margaret. The daffodils remind me of my cott on Papa Westray, where hundreds of them grew along the track and in the garden, and in memory of Andrina who planted them. Pansies and primulas I planted in pots so that we had flowers in the garden when my daughter was born. The lily of the valley is for Mum, it's her favourite flower and she had a bouquet of it at her wedding in 2012, and finally the iris, well, that represents the first 10 years of my adult life when I was married to my first husband, a funeral director, and irises were always in abundance.

So this morning, I started with these ....

And now I have this ....

It's been a true labour of love, there have been many flowers I made that just didn't fit the bill and a beautifully complicated iris which came up as 11" wide, which was far too big for the 12" wreath but will be stiffened and mounted into a box frame, but in the end it has been worth it.

I already have plans for my Summer Wreath project, and although it will be flowered it is going to be a little outside the norm, and I am also considering making it from Shetland wool to make it extra special.

Granny Square Minions Cushion

Hello again folks, it's been a while since my last post but that's entirely good news because I have got my crochet mojo back and so have been spending my time working on my Spring Wreath (which I hope to finish in the next day or two), an Easter Bunny garland and a special surprise for my Peerie Man - a Minions cushion!

A while ago I saw a Minions granny square posted by Sarah at Repeat Crafter Me and dallied with the idea of modifying it to make individual characters so this week I got out my scrap stash & got to work. I had great fun adding hair, skirts, hats & tongues but the Minion that had our sides splitting was the naked, bare bottomed Minion that I added to the back!

I would love say that I have pattern adjustments available for them all but unfortunately I just  made them up as I went along, but I am sure you could easily do the same.

I have photographed it un-stuffed so that all the squares are nice and visible, above is the front and below is the back side ..... quite literally!

And best of all, the whole thing didn't cost me a penny. The yarn is left over from a couple of afghan projects, I bought a bulk tub of buttons a couple of years ago (I cursed the amount of small black buttons in it at the time) and the cushion pad is from a scatter cushion that I bought and replaced the poly pad with a feather one, I just cut it down in size. 

So here it is now, stuffed an in it's new home on Peerie Man's bed.

Kindness Of Strangers

Sometimes perfect strangers do the most wonderful & king things. A week ago my Mum mentioned that an old college friend of my Step-Father was having a clear out and that one of the items she had posted on Facebook was a pair of carding paddles. One item on my bucket list is to learn to spin so Mum contacted her and not only did she give me them for free, she also happily paid the postage and they have just arrived.

So I would like to say an enormous "Thank you" to Sally O'Hare and I promise to pay a kindness forward to someone else.

Spring Is On It's Way

The first signs that Winter is coming to an end are finally showing themselves on Unst, the sky is bluer, the sun is brighter and the spring bulbs are pushing their way up through the still sodden soil. The last few days have been exceptionally wet and windy but that can't spoil the beauty of those moments when the sun shines gloriously upon us.

I must admit that I have somewhat lost my crochet mojo these last few weeks and have instead been bitten by the baking bug but this afternoon I decided it was time to get started on my spring wreath and so the first bloom of 2015 has shown it's boannie peerie face along the beach road.

Free pattern at http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/crochet-daffodil.html

In The Pink

My very stylish 7 year old loves to accessorise so I took this as an opportunity to try out Red Heart Boutique Sassy Fabric in Pink Dot. It's a chiffon type scarf yarn with pre-punched holes and a pretty scalloped edge that knits or crochets up incredibly quickly, and one skein makes a good adult length scarf.

As it is my first love I began by following the online tutorial and crocheting the fabric but I found that although it gave a good rounded 'fox's brush' effect, it also looked a little sparse between the 5 stitch groups so I pulled it back (which was extremely easy) and knit instead. There is also an online tutorial for knitting but it is a simple 4 stitch garter pattern, this at first gave a flat scarf but as I handled it the scarf elongated and again produced a boa look. The only downside that I found with Sassy is that the tension is set by the pre-punched holes and not by the needle / hook size or crafter's tension, this means that the scarf will always lengthen and the stitches become slightly visible between the frills but maybe I am just being picky. The ends of the scarf also need to be stitched in as it is impossible to pull the fabric into a tight knot.

On the whole, would I use it again? DEFINITELY, in fact I am intending to use it to teach Ethel to knit. 

 

Tutorials on YouTube - The Crochet Crowd channel

Red Heart Boutique Sassy Fabric purchased at:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00DV8YU2C

Here's One I Made Earlier

Some of my favourite crochet projects have been made as presents and I nearly always forget to photograph them. As I am doing a crochet presentation at the SWRI meeting this evening I asked Mum to send a photo of one of the first pieces that I made for her.

I had often heard Mum talk about a pansy dressing table set that Great Grandma Martha Jemima used to have so as a special surprise I ordered the pattern from France on Ebay & matched the colours to the original. It was one of my first ever crochet projects and was done on an extremely small hook with fine slippery thread, I think it took about 40 hours to finish but it was well worth the effort. The doily is in need of blocking but as she keeps it safely in a drawer, I haven't yet seen the point.

Let It Snow

After the storm force winds and torrential hail storms of the weekend, we now have another weather front on our doorsteps - SNOW!! Although bitterly cold, Unst is the most perfect winter wonderland, and I am delighted that her frozen coat suits her just as much as her summer frock.

Now on Facebook too

Great news!! Along The Beach Road now has it's own Facebook page where I will post alerts for new blog entries as well as links to sites and articles I like and 'as it happens' snippets from 'The Island Above All Others'. Please like and invite your friends to like it too and feel free to post pictures of your own ATBR inspired crafts (please keep it polite & positive).

www.facebook.com/alongthebeachroad

It's All Good Fun!

If you've been following the weather forecasts, or indeed even opening your front doors, you won't have been able to miss the 'severe weather pod' that we have been experiencing these last few days. I just love these stormy days, it's the one thing that makes me feel truly alive and is probably the reason I have twice chosen to live on remote wind torn islands but there is something else that I love about these places - power cuts!

It might seem a strange concept but for many years I have suspected that I have a hypersensitivity to electricity, not that it makes me particularly ill but I often feel niggly and my scalp tingles a lot. I have noticed that during power cuts these symptoms disappear and I feel a rare and complete calmness - odd isn't it? So last night when we lost power we cooked beans on a camping stove and I toasted bread in front of the fire and after getting the bairns to bed I snuggled down on the sofa, by candlelight and the glow from the stove and was totally chilled out.

 

If you would like to track our weather go to www.weatherhq.co.uk/weather-station/baltasound

Festive Garland

I've had this project in mind for a while now, ever since Mum sent me up a string of the peeriest LED lights that I have ever seen. She also brought me up a small bale of festive fat quarters and I already had some chiffon panels so off I set snipping & knotting until I had my beautiful rag festive garland.

 

 

 

 

I am not sure how fire safe this garland is so I must stress that if you choose to replicate it you do so at your own risk and must NEVER leave it switched on and unattended. The LED lights that I used are battery operated, low voltage, cool to the touch.

We Wish You A Woolly Christmas!

I have been terribly afraid that amongst all the other things that I have to do, I would forget to make this years ornament for the Christmas tree, so today I made myself make space in the day, pulled out my knitting needles (which I haven't used in a very long time) and set to work creating a mini yarn bag complete with two tiny knitting needles.

 

The pattern is free on the Redheart website (http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/yarn-basket-ornament). I made it in Drops Paris cotton yarn but it could be made in any medium weight yarn (DK).

A Wintry Walk

Just thought that I would share some photos that I took during my wintry walk this lunchtime.

 

 

Snow on the beach

 

Saxa Vord

 

Saxa Vord

 

Far end of the beach road

 

 

Frozen standing water

 

 

Snow dusted road to the Haroldswick Hall 

Shetland ponies braving the cold

 

 

Haroldswick play park

 

 

A drainage ditch that looks more like a brook today

 

 

Ethel joined me as I neared home ...

 

... and so did Peerie Man 

 

Reflection in the wet land 

 

 

The sea is as clear and cold as glacial water and looks SO inviting

 

 

ME! 

 

I hope you enjoyed our little walk around Haroldswick. I'm home now tucked up in front of the stove with a Christmas film on TV and the tree lights twinkling. Tonight R is going to his work's Christmas party on Yell and we are having a treat night, homemade pizza, Strictly Come Dancing, chocolate & if Ethel is good I might let her watch Twilight, she's a little young but is vampire crazy.

 

 

The North Wind Doth Blow ....

This weeks 'bad weather pod' has brought high winds, rain and vast numbers of lighting strikes to Orkney and Shetland, but to Unst it has also brought wonderfully seasonal hailstone. It battered the windows until the early hours of this morning and has left a beautiful winter wonderland in it's wake and it is so bitterly cold that it's laying.

View across the voe to Clibberswick

Even the rock pools are frozen over

Where has summer's 'alpine meadow' gone?

Low winter sun

Right on cue it has started snowing, Ethel has wrapped up and dashed outside and in a few minutes I am going for a brisk walk, alone, something I hardly ever get the chance to do!

Christmas Wreath - Voilà!

After hours of crocheting, felting, drying & finally assembling I have at last finished my Christmas Wreath and it takes my breath away! It is by far the most beautiful thing that I have ever made and I am stunned at what my hands have created, I hope you love it too.

 

I will definitely be felting the crocheted flowers and leaves for my wreaths from now on and as with this one I will mount them onto wicker wreaths too. Hmmm, that leaves me with quite a few polystyrene half round circles in my store ....  now let me think of a use for those ..... I wonder ....

 

I also have a little something else that I can't wait to show you but it is a pre-Christmas gift for my mum and it hasn't yet arrived so I will have to keep you in suspense just a little longer, maybe next week.

Busy, busy busy!

Tuesday was a hectic day along the beach road. I dashed home from the school run to finally finish felting the flowers for my Christmas wreath, the poinsettias had already been done but I still had Christmas roses and many, many leaves to do. I had been toying over putting them in the washing machine, as the label advised, but decided instead to give hand felting a go as I wanted to be able to control the degree of felting. So I boiled a kettle to get the water nice and hot and put in a generous squirt of washing up liquid then got to agitating the items in the water, in between they were plunged into a bowl of icy cold water and agitated again to shock the fibres into milling up. Each colour needed doing in a separately to avoid stray fibres attaching and spoiling the effect. I was surprised to find that some colours felted up much easier & quicker than others, the kirsch red and grass green reacting the best. When I was finally satisfied I squeezed them out, reshaped them and laid them on an old towel to dry, the old towel is very important in case the colours bleed. Drying took a couple of days but the effect is well worth it.

Then just enough time left to have a coffee in my very favourite cup, a lebkuchen biscuit from the musical merry-go-round tin that mum sent up and half an hour absorbed in a good vampire book.

Before picking Peerie Man up from nursery & coming home to spend the rest of the afternoon finally putting up our Christmas tree. Lots of folk on Unst have had theirs up since 1st December so we were a little late by comparison but we usually have it up two weeks before and two weeks after. A few years ago I stole the idea from Kirstie Allsop that the tree could be a scrap book so every year I make something new and add it on to the tree. This years addition hasn't been made yet but it will make an appearance before Christmas eve, by hook or by crook.

No tinsel just a couple of strands of beads!

One of my first ever makes - a felt stocking for Peerie Man.

Crocheted silver snowflakes, 'vintage' button hearts and a bauble we made when AA Fired Up came up from Lerwick to the Under5's Group.

A red glass bauble that hubby & I bought our first year together, 'Flying Garrick' toadstools that were last year's addition, and a Santa ornament bought in last year's sale. The bows are homemade too and always remind me of hubby being made redundant on Bonfire Night and us dreading Christmas only to be rescued by a firmer employer who took him back & where he loyally stayed until we came to Unst.

A peerie red bell bought for Ethel's first Christmas, a ''vintage' button star and a tiny enamelled bauble brought back from Singapore by Nanny for Ethel.

Just enough time to enjoy the twinkly lights before Wednesday's lightning induced power cuts!

There are so many more things I would like to show you but I will definitely show you this years addition when it's done.