IHSW - July Report

I know that we are supposed to hermit and stitch, and there has been stitching; there has also been knitting and some new knitting experiences. There has also been a lot of rain!  Typical British Summer strikes again!

Anyway, on with the show.  On the stitching front:

I've been working hard on Corgi.  Rows 11 and 12 are finished and I've done the first two blocks on row 13.  This side curves in more than the other side did, so there is a bit less stitching to do.  I also need to get the word 'November' charted out to go down the left hand side.  

My April piece is currently with Mum while she looks for suitable backing and edging fabric.  That needs to be completed by the second week in August to be handed over at Patchwork Group.

Although I have enjoyed working on these pieces, I really do want to get them done and dusted, so that I can get back to my own work and Mum's angels.

On the knitting front:

I haven't got a lot of progress to show on my scarf.  This is because I messed up.  At the beginning of the week I was over-ambitious and decided to do Turkish stitch for the next section.  This is a lace stitch and I soon found out that it didn't go well with the yarn or with me.  I knitted three rows in total and then gave up.

Yesterday, when I had time in hand, I ripped those three rows back.  This was incredibly nerve-wracking - I was so scared that I would end up dropping stitches and ruining the whole thing.  Fortunately all went reasonably well and I ended up with the same number of stitches that I started with.  I am now doing the next section in "ribbons woven horizontally" and have knitted the first two 8 row repeats.

In more exciting knitting news, I bought stash yesterday and got soaked to the skin in the process.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the person I bought this for doesn't read my blog - I don't think that she does.  It's going to be a Christmas present.

But before it can become a Christmas present, it needed to be turned into a ball of yarn.  Enter my Mum's vintage "Aero" wool winder, which is now mine.  As far as I can tell, this dates to the 1940s, perhaps early 1950s, and is basically a folding mini-swift.

Here it is in action.  This was a learning experience.  I learned that the end that you are not winding will get wrapped round the central post if you are not careful.  I also learned that trying to wind a 50g skein into a ball is not something which you should do at the same time as trying to cook your tea, especially when you need the table to eat off - your tea is likely to get cold.

And here is the final result, which I am quite proud of.  Now I just need to get settled and start knitting.  Just don't expect to see anything soon - busy week ahead and Corgi must come first.

In other news, I lost 2.5lb this week so am back down to 11 stone 6.5lb.  However I got less exercise this weekend because of the rain so will not hold my breath about my next weigh-in.

It's getting late so I will love you and leave you, and may the frog stay well away from your stitching.