Mousy Brown's House-Creating, crafting and collecting. Enjoying Life.

Suggestions?

Having finished my grey shawl, I was looking through my stash and this skein sort of jumped out at me.  It seems to perfectly reflect this time of year...full of the soft pinks and greens that I can spot in my garden.  It is also appropriately named Strawberry Cream, which is my favourite treat in June.  I quickly wound it into a cake...and then spent hours searching Ravelry but I'm stuck...what do you think I should make?

It could be socks...but I'm too tired for any complicated patterns and warm woolen socks are not what I'm wanting to wear at the moment...

Maybe a shawl then?  Something light and airy and summer ready? Or a cowl like this? I can't make up my mind...

Can you help?

Any suggestions?

I'd be very grateful!

Just in case it helps the details are...

Skein Queen Crush

75% Merino

25% Nylon

4 ply -sock

100g/425m

Finished object Friday...

These little mitts were actually finished a while ago...bought at Wonderwool from The Old Piggery as a kit they knitted up super quick and they were just the speedy project I needed to recover from the linen stitch shawl of doom...yes I did finally finish it but no photos yet, I can't stand to look at it at the moment!

I've also cast on another project using yarn from this dyer, wensleydale this time rather than mohair but an equally beautiful semi-solid (it's the pale green skeins in my basket here).  I have a few finished items that I need to take pictures of but time, light and inclination are not all coming together at once...I promise to try harder!

Have a good weekend! Hope it's full of sunshine and laughter...

Handmade gatherings.

I treated myself to Handmade Gatherings by Ashley English last week and have been enjoying stolen moments with it ever since.  The combination of recipes and crafts is my idea of a perfect book and when you add in the seasonal elements and atmospheric photography, it is a lovely way to dream away an afternoon...especially when my knitting is close at hand too!

 

Learning as I go.

Are you a process knitter? Or are you more interested in the final product? I can't decide...

I definitely enjoy the process, it relaxes me, challenges me, "keeps me busy", feels like a lifeline at times...

But I also love the finished items, wearing them, sharing them, gifting them to those I love...

I don't think I could knit, just for the love of knitting, if I knew I was never going to reach the end...

But some of my favourite projects to knit have never been worn and others like the one above...which has been a disaster from beginning to end...end up being my daily choice once finished, worn endlessly and loved completely...

I sort of feel that if I could sort it out in my mind, I might have a better idea of what project to cast on next.  I might find the solution to finding the "perfect" item, one that is pleasurable to knit and wear! 

But for now, I can't decide and I am pottering along, learning as I go...

Aquilegia...

Aquilegia, otherwise known as Granny's bonnet or Columbine, is to me the flower that signals Summer is on it's way...arriving as they do after the other Spring flowers and filling my garden with their beautiful, delicate petals.  I've never planted any and the varieties that self seed are all the common Aquilegia Vulgaris, I think...but I would miss them so much if they failed to appear. They are particularly lovely in the evening light, lit from behind as the sun is decending.  Their flowers form a backdrop to our early Summer days, appearing in every corner of the garden, in shades from the palest pink through blues and purples...some single blooms and others like little fluffy pom poms.  The bees love them too and whenever you are near them you hear the distictive low buzz of multiple visitors enjoying their nectar.

How about you? What flower means Summer to you?

Needle Felting with Jenny Barnett

As I mentioned here, we branched out a little at Wonderwool Wales this year and took one of the woolschool classes.  My younger son and I took a Jenny Barnett felting course together last year (we made foxes...) and I was amazed at what we achieved in just one day...so when I saw she was teaching at Woolschool I suggested it to my friends and we all booked on straight away.

We spent a happy couple of hours stabbing away with large dangerous needles and by the end we each had a cute grey seal to take home...

...mine now lays in a relaxed way between shells, driftwood and soft beach pebbles, seeming quite at home even out of the water...

 

Apple Blossom

If an apple blossom or a ripe apple could tell its own story, it would be, still more than its own, the story of the sunshine that smiled upon it, of the winds that whispered to it, of the birds that sang around it, of the storms that visited it, and of the motherly tree that held it and fed it until its petals were unfolded and its form developed.

Lucy Larcom

Reading and Knitting.

This week joining in with Ginny

I am reading 12x12 by William Powers...I think I saw it recommended on yarnalong a while ago and decided to give it a try.  I am enjoying how much it makes me think...and I am dreaming of living in a tiny house, no matter how unlikely that eventuality really is. It is an equal mix of depressing and inspiring and I am hoping that it is the inspiration that will stay with me once I finish reading it...

I am knitting on my Memory Blanket.

After a long time debating which "scrap" project I was going to start (hexipuffs, crochet stripes and others all caught my eye) this simple but clever design has got me knitting.  It is designed to be made in a DK yarn but I only have sock yarn scraps so it's a smaller square and longer project on the needles. Every square seems like magic, as it morphs from a straight line and the joining as you go is such a neat way of doing things.  I am definitely addicted and mutterings of "just one more square.."can be heard echoing around the house...

Wild Garlic

No, this isn't a wild and lovely woodland floor...it is wild and beautiful but it is actually in my garden...under the apple tree.

Every spring we are lucky enough to enjoy gathering this wild harvest and at the same time we get to enjoy its magnificent display of blooms too!

The "fragrance" might leave a little to be desired but along with the cherry and apple blossom it is a heady part of the perfume of Spring.

This year I discovered this list of new recipes...but I'd love to hear if you have a favourite way of using it too?

My crafting companion.

Wherever I go and whatever I do, she follows...

Today we went for a walk along the lanes and then settled down together to knit.

A mug of tea, my knitting and a soundtrack of gentle snores...I don't think it would be possible to find a better crafting companion do you?