This little cute and cheery design needs the charm attaching, but I thought I would share it anyway.

As far as I can remember, I used the charted DMC conversions and also some of the new DMC varicoloured threads. I really ought to keep notes ...

The fabric was part of a batch tea dyed with my own fair hands, and I have a couple of other pieces to stitch others in this series with.

The series will be framed in simple pine frames from Ikea, to go with the original monthly Flip Its I stitched.

I passed my work this academic year with flying colours*

Has the stress and struggle been worth it? - actually, yes. I feel that I'm just  getting into my stride now, and I'm more confident about the work. I learned a lot this past year, not just about theory and academic stuff, but about myself. Yes, it does take over my life to a large extent, but at least I'm seeing results now.


*If I keep this up for another three years, I could get a First.

I was going to do the meme I'd spotted over at fireflylive  's place, and hauled up my user info, which is why I spotted I've had a Livejournal for four years today! Woot! (humour me, it's Monday...)

You have been subjected to 2634 posts in that time - this is 2635 - and thank you all for reading, commenting and being out there when I've needed support, someone to celebrate with, to foist my opinions or or to share some of the absurdities of life.

To celebrate, I'm going to have a draw and send a little something to *everyone* who comments below. It could be a book, a crafted something, a postcard - so, comment away with your name and address - comments will be screened, and I'll delete identifying details before unscreening. If I'm likely to see you soon in real life, you don't need to put your addy down, unless you'd like to get something through the mail that isn't a bill!

I was rootling through the picture frames in a local charity shop, and found one that was the perfect size, finish and shape for one of my projects. Aha! So I pulled it out of the box, and saw that it already had stitching in it. Which made me a little sad, that someone could give away stitching, but the stitching and frame cost me only £1 and I knew both were going to a good home...

The multi aperature mount for the stitching was pretty poor - badly cut out and faded - so I took the whole thing apart, and - as planned - used the frame for something else. The stitching had been attached to the mount with double sided tape, and on looking closer at it, the stitching itself was uneven, with crosses going in both directions, and some stitches hadn't been completed either, and left half finished. The pieces were all on different sizes of fabric too. I wondered at the story behind them, and wondered what I could do with them...



A trip to my fabric stash found the perfect oddment of fabric with a garden theme, and I made them up into pincushions. This wasn't as easy as it seemed, as the borders on each piece weren't even, and on some I only had 2 or 2 aida blocks as a seam allowance...

But I do now have a trio of pincushions, and the colours match my living room decor! (as you can see - the photo was taken on my living room carpet)

I think I ought to rename this Petites Lettres Arcs-en-ciel, because of the rainbow of colours in it :o) They haven't come out very well, as it was a very dull and rainy day when I took the picture.

The design is a Blackbird Designs freebie, and I've chosen to stitch it on cream 28 count jobelan, with a Stef Francis fine mercerised cotton. I used this hand dyed fibre for an exchange piece last year, and I've been itching to make something for myself with it ever since, and this sampler seemed the perfect thing!

The designer suggests using a family name for the 'signature' and as the sampler is called Petites Lettres Rouges, I'm using the name of my very petite great grandmother. My 'little great gran' was always tickled by her title, and at well under five feet, was just the right size for a cuddle when we were little.


Here she is on the right hand side. The baby that is being admired is my own good self ... the curly hair was yet to grow in :o)

I loved stitching this, because using my great grandmother's name triggered many happy memories - she was so much fun, and always full of mischief, even when her health failed and she developed Alzheimer's. I've misplaced a CD of family photos, so I can't share any at the moment, but there is a classic one of granny pinching sweeties from a dish at a wedding ...

My sister has a very strong resemblance to my great grandmother as a young woman. My grandmother too looked very like her mother. And my sister's child, my niece - bizarrely, given that she was born almost twenty years after the death of little great gran - has some of her mannerisms - and way of walking ;o)

I have to say, I look more like my other maternal great grandmother, but in character I think I'm more like my little great gran - I try not to take myself too seriously, certainly!

By coincidence, LGG's maiden surname is the same as Mr Beebarf's, so it also fits.

As my Ma has traced back eight maternal generations from my own, I could do quite a few samplers ...

There are times when I wonder if Mr Beebarf misses his home country. And then there are conversations like this morning's when I realise he doesn't ...

We were talking about Canada Day, and I asked him - because I'm merely an ignorant colonial oppressor - what the National Anthem of Canada was. Apparently it's something called - strangely enough - O Canada. And then Mr B started to sing. And managed two lines. This is the man who knows albums-worth of obscure lyrics off by heart....

I finished this up a while ago, with three other co-ordinating designs. I used beads for the "confetti" stitches, and put this together using the method The Drawn Thread use for their scissor fobs.

Unless a miracle with my essay occurs, I probably won't make it to knitting tonight, but it's World Wide Knit in Public Day on Saturday - does anyone want to join me? I'm going to be in Costa Coffee by the Peace Gardens anyway (for a Bookcrossing meet) so - shall we say 1pm there? (there will be free books LOL)

From a poster I saw in the Wool Baa, other knitters are being invited to the Peace Gardens (Winter Gardens if wet) so we can probably find other kindred spirits!

Fuck,fuck,fuckity fuck

15% of the voters in Rotherham, where I work, voted BNP.

And enough elsewhere voted for these fuckwits that Yorkshire and the Humber have the dubious distinction of voting in the first BNP MEP

Whheeek!

Look at the little cuties ...


(and just goes to show piggies make great pets for hard men!)

Because light_the_sky76  and cassandra_7  did it!

It's amazingly accurate, because I too, like Scottie, have my roots in Aberdeen! LOL

(although I never saw Scottie order a mealie pudden supper...)

Your results:
You are Mr. Scott

Mr. Scott 80% Beverly Crusher 75% Will Riker 75% Deanna Troi 75% Uhura 70% Data 68% James T. Kirk (Captain) 65% Chekov 65% Mr. Sulu 65% Jean-Luc Picard 65% Geordi LaForge 65% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 55% Worf 55% Spock 52% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 45%

You are a fun-loving foreigner with an amazing ability to get any job done on time. Often described as a "Miracle Worker".

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Test

This is the shawl before blocking. Relaxed, it was 62 inches at the widest point, and 29 inches down the 'spine'.


Here it is, taking over most of my living room. At this point, it was 81 inches wide, and 36 inches down the spine. I wet blocked it, and having not done that before, was quite surprised just how much the wool stretched. The sheet prevented the carpet from getting too soggy...

I'm glad I had an appointment to get my hair coloured after pinning this out, I don't think I could have resisted leaving it alone otherwise!



The finished product. It's softer and warmer than I thought it would be knitting it up.

This shawl took a couple of weeks of effort to knit, and it was my focus project. At the end, there were over 450 stitches in a row. The Noro was easier to work with than the mohair I used for my first shawl, and the uneven texture doesn't really show, especially after blocking. I'm not sure that I would use this yarn for socks, though.

I wish the edges had scalloped a little more, but otherwise, I'm very happy with this.

I like the colour changes, and it gives off a very spring like vibe. Fortunately, I was able to join in the second ball with only a little wastage, and I have enough left over for a pair of fingerless mitts or similar.

The pattern was very easy to follow, and the regular repeats meant it was easy to track and correct mistakes, although I generally did that by fudging rather than ripping everything back. I can't see the mistakes in it now, and if I can't then no-one will notice!

I'm going to take great care of this, I don't want to lose it like the last shawl I made! I've spotted a lovely fabric rose pin in just the right shade of pink to wear with this ... over the top? Maybe, but there will certainly be no one else wearing such a shawl :o)

Born and abandoned in Newgate Prison, Moll Flanders is forced to make her own way in life. She duly embarks on a career that includes husband-hunting, incest, bigamy, prostitution and pick-pocketing, until her crimes eventually catch up with her. One of the earliest and most vivid female narrators in the history of the English novel, Moll recounts her adventures with irresistible wit and candour - and enough guile that the reader is left uncertain whether she is ultimately a redeemed sinner or a successful opportunist.

Well, this reader is not left uncertain - I think Moll is out for anything she can get, and that her repentance is merely crocodile tears! She is certainly a memorable heroine, but her unreliability is obvious (and the subject of my 2000 word this semester!)

Entries from Annie May's Black Book:

October 15th, 1974: Miss Baker for telling me how to blow my nose and not believing when I still couldn't do it.

February 6th, 1977: David Llewellyn for saying my landscape painting looked like a pig's trough and then making honking noises every time he saw me.

April 12th, 1987: Peter Elton for 'borrowing' my cigarettes and never buying any of his own.

9th February, 1988: BEN SEYMOUR FOR EVERYTHING FOR EVER

In her Black Book, Annie May has recorded the name and offence of everyone who has ever done her wrong. The greatest transgressor of them all was Ben Seymour: the man who jilted her at the altar seventeen years ago. Now he's moving into a house round the corner ...

A lightweight but amusing book. As someone who remembers - and is excruciated by - things people don't remember, or don't think important this is a light hearted warning to let go ...

Is anyone interested in a 2 year old Panasonic cylinder vacuum cleaner?

Collect from my place, due to lack of transport. In pretty good condition, although there is a crack in a plastic joint where it meets the metal pole - this doesn't affect the suction. Some spare bags included.

Free to a good home. In fact, free to any home!

Dark secrets haunt the manor house at Selden in Buckinghamshire, where Emilie Selden, motherless, fiercely intelligent and beautiful, has been raised in near isolation by her father. John Selden, student of Isaac Newton, is conducting a secret experiment. He aims to turn Emilie into a brilliant natural philosopher and alchemist and fills her with knowledge while recording every step she takes. In the spring of 1725, when Emilie is eighteen, father and daughter begin their most daring adventure - an attempt to breathe life into dead matter. But they are interrupted by the arrival of two strangers. During the course of a sultry August, Emilie is caught up in the passion of first love and, listening for the first time to her heart rather than her head, she makes her choice...with consequences that are far-reaching and tumultuous.

An enjoyable historical novel, with well drawn characters. The book's main themes are the conflicts between rationality and emotion, tradition and modernity, nature and nurture.

I've been a busy little bee recently - yes, even on the stitching front - but some of my recent finishes I can't share with you yet, as they've not reached their destinations.

However, I thought I'd show some of the things that are currently in my workbag.



First up is my current commuting project, which will be a sock when it grows up! I'm knitting it on 2.5mm needles, from a pattern in Charlene Schurch's excellent book. The book looks scary at first, all figures and tables, but it really is a joy to knit from.

I wish I could say the same about the yarn though. It's Wendy Happy (colourway: Taurus) and it's not making me very happy. It is 75% bamboo, 25% nylon, and it feels fabulous, don't get me wrong, all soft and smooth and squooshy and silky, but it splits and untwists, and I don't like how the colours repeat, even though I like the colours. I'm also not convinced - despite being sold as sock yarn - that it will prove to make comfortable socks that don't slouch. Anyway, I should have this sock done by the end of the week, and that will be the pair done, so I will wear them and report back!


The dodgy photo isn't the fault of my new camera, it's the fault of the old photographer!

This is going to be the latest addition to my every growing baskets of smalls. It is based on Shepherd's Bush's Antique Heart Needleroll but stitched on my own choice of linen and using beads, charms and lace from my stash. It's coming along nicely, but since the picture was taken, I've already changed the charm!


I don't normally start something as soon as the chart is posted, but this design just spoke to me - I think it was seeing it on Vonna's blog which did it!

The design is a Blackbird Designs freebie, and I've chosen to stitch it on cream 28 count jobelan, with a Stef Francis fine mercerised cotton. I used this hand dyed fibre for an exchange piece last year, and I've been itching to make something for myself with it ever since, and this sampler seemed the perfect thing!

The designer suggests using a family name for the 'signature' and as the sampler is called Petites Lettres Rouges, I'm using the name of my very petite great grandmother. My 'little great gran' was always tickled by her title, and at well under five feet, was just the right size for a cuddle when we were little.


Here she is on the right hand side. The baby that is being admired is my own good self ... the curly hair was yet to grow in :o)

By coincidence, LGG's maiden surname is the same as Mr Beebarf's, so it also fits. Not that I'm going to take his name if/when we get married, but it might make him feel better :o)

As my Ma has traced back eight maternal generations from my own, I could do quite a few samplers ...

There are times when I'd be happy to move back to Canada with Mr Beebarf. Seeing pictures like these is one of them.

Wow. And wow again.