I said it might be finished by this week, didn’t I? The individual pieces were all complete by the weekend, but it took until today for me to sit down and sew it all together. One of the hardest things, strangely enough, was cutting out the felt pieces and glueing them into position. That right eye (the white part) had to be stuck on four times before it decided to stay put!
If you play Pokemon Go you might appreciate Pikachu’s pose in the featured image above – for those of you who don’t, sometimes they pop up in the corner of photographs!
There’s actually enough yarn and stuffing to make at least one more, although I used all the felt supplied. I won’t be making another one yet though – a 2.5mm crochet hook can be quite hard on the hands.
Buxton Wool Gathering is just under four weeks away now! I love the new social media images that have been shared with the exhibitors by the organisers. That crown on the sheep is very jaunty and a nicely subtle nod to the yarn show now being on the Coronation weekend. The show itself is on Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday – do come!
An important point to note is that the 10am opening is for folk who have bought their ticket in advance – if you want to buy a ticket at Buxton Pavilion on the day, you’ll be able to from 11am on both days.
I finished my current spinning this week. I think it’s come out at about an aran weight, which is what I was aiming for. I’ll check it soon against my yarn gauge. The colours are not ones I usually go for, but I really love how it’s turned out. ‘Faded Blooms’ is a really good name for it, don’t you think? The fibre came from FibreHut and it’s 100% Bluefaced Leicester Wool, which is brilliant to spin with.
Last week we had a lovely trip to Bodnant Garden – making use of our National Trust membership. We walked nearly all the way down to the bottom of the gardens and I felt very brave crossing the water on a set of stepping stones. I’m not sure I’d have been brave enough without the handrail there too though! The magnolias, rhododendrons and camellias were absolutely beautiful – and some of them are VAST!
The swathes of daffodils (or should that be ‘hosts’?) across the meadows were also gorgeous and very varied and it inspired me to photograph all of ours once we got back home.
This is one of my favourite new daffodils. It’s got real ‘attitude’ and is quite large too so we can see it clearly from the kitchen even though it’s at the bottom of the garden. I think it’s ‘Boscoppa‘.
The knitting is coming along well. Re-reading last week’s blog post I saw that I was just about to cast on the body of my latest design last Tuesday. Well, I’ve knitted the whole body now (some of it twice) and today I’ve written the pattern for the sleeves, so they will be started next! It’s been quite a number of years since I’ve knitted a child’s garment and I’d forgotten just how quickly they grow.
This coming Thursday (13th April) sees Issue 188 of The Knitter hit the newsstands which includes Part Four of Branwen Knit-along Shawl. Subscribers probably have their copy of the mag already! If you’re knitting this shawl, do share your progress on social media – or even by email! On social media, add the tag #KathAndrewsDesigns and I’ll be sure to see it. There’s one final part left to be published after this one. If the weather continues as it is today for much longer (cold, wet, very windy) knitters making this cosy DK shawl will be very glad of the growing shawl on their knees as they knit!
By the way, my sourdough starter is behaving a bit more reliably, but it’s still taking nearly 24 hours to not quite double in size. It needs a bit more TLC, but we’ll get there.
That’s all for today. I hope you stay warm and dry, and get to do some things that make you happy this week. K x