Sunday Sevens 2019 #7

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens20 Comments

It’s been another very wet and windy week. Fortunately last Sunday was dry enough in the morning to go for a walk with our friends who were visiting from up north and have brunch on the platform at Okehampton station.

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After they’d gone home Harry watched Crufts on catch up…

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Of course he wasn’t too impressed with the winner.

About two weeks after Harry arrived my walking boots gained a hole in them. I’ve been searching for a pair that fit me ever since. On Monday I went out in search again.  I couldn’t find any boots, but I did buy a pair of walking trousers, some wellie boot socks and two beds for Harry – all in the sale.

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Tuesday was the wettest walk of a very wet week. Too wet to stop and take pics, but here’s Harry when we got back…

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Wednesday we lost the pub quiz as usual. This week’s question that really bugged us was…

Whose catch phrase is ‘You’re having a laugh’ and what programme is it on? We knew we’d heard it, but couldn’t place it. Answer at the end, if you’re playing along.

It’s been so wet this week, Lovely Husband has been practising his golf indoors…

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As for me, I’ve been doing a bit of DYC work…

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I also discovered the mouse I told you about before has been nibbling one of my UFOs…

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This one didn’t even make it to my Frog or Finish Nine for 2019, so not too disappointed it’s turned into a compulsory frog. (To be honest it’s a bit of a relief.)

Out and about between downpours, I took Harry to meet my friend’s goats to see how he’d react to smaller livestock. Although initially cautious of the bigger goats, he wanted to chase the smaller ones when they ran. So he needs more work there and definitely still on the lead when sheep are nearby.

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After a wet miserable week things seemed to be picking up yesterday. Finally a dry walk in the morning…

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…. and boots that fit me arrived in the post.

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I really want to support bricks and mortar local shops, but sometimes it’s just not possible.

But the wind and rain were back by the afternoon. Took this photo on our second walk of the water pouring through the gorge as it ran down into the Devil’s Cauldron…

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Hope you’ve had a great week.

Until next time,

Bekki

Answer to question: Ricky Gervais on Extras – no wonder I didn’t know it, I can’t bear Ricky Gervais, but LH does sneak it on, so I guess that’s why I’d heard it. Needless to say LH wasn’t at the quiz or we’d have got the answer.

Scrap Happy – Golden Retriever Size Dog Bandana

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Scrap Happy, Sewing, Uncategorized14 Comments

This month I thought I’d join in with Scrap Happy, because I’ve been using up scraps.

I’ve several scraps left over from lining project bags. I’ve also recently acquired a golden retriever. Put them together and the result is obvious…

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Okay, not quite obvious, a little hidden under his fluffy mane.

The bandanas I’ve made are reversible, measure approximately 25cm (9.5″) wide by 17cm (6.75″) long, and fit on the dog’s collar to reduce the possibility of them hanging themselves on it.

I started by making a suitable sized template from a cereal packet.

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If you fancy making one, the suitable size for a golden retriever/Labrador/setter size dog is:

  • Top straight edge: 27cm (10.5″)
  • Straight part of side at top*: 6cm (2.5″)
  • Top to point at bottom: 20cm (8″)

*The bandana fits a collar that is 4cm (1.5″) wide – increase this measurement if your dog has a wider collar.

I cut two pieces of fabric for each bandana. For each piece I pressed the straight part of both straight sides over by half an inch – wrong sides together – and sewed them down with two rows of stitching…

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I then pinned the two pieces together, right sides facing…

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I sewed half inch away from the edge across the top…

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….and half inch away from the diagonal edge of both sides, leaving the straight part at the top of the sides unsewn…

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One side

… and trimmed off any loose threads

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The other side

I then made several more…

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One side
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The other side

All I then needed to do was ask Harry to choose which one to wear and which side he wanted showing. I then threaded it on his collar. Et voila! A dog in a bandana…

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He’s not unhappy, just concentrating on the biscuit on top of my head.

Joining in this month with Kate & Gun’s monthly Scraphappy Day where you too can use your scraps of fabric, yarn, paper, wood, anything to make something useful or lovely or both and show it off to the world.  You don’t have to join in every month, only when you have something to show.  Details and a list of other participants’ scrappy endeavours over on Kate’s blog.

Until next time,

Bekki

Frog or Finish Update

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Motivation, UFOs27 Comments

A month ago I posted 9 UFOs that had been untouched for quite some time and vowed to finish or frog them this year.

I’m pleased to say I’ve made inroads into several of these projects…

  1. The top of the patchwork quilt is now finished, sandwiched and I’m about 2/3 way through stitching in the ditch on it.

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2 and 3.  I’ve frogged the cream crochet top and the knitted shawl.

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4, 5 and 6. I haven’t touched the bags, the cardigan or the crochet shawl.

7. I’ve finished the Christmas Pudding Santa Sack

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8. I’ve done a few rows on one of the socks. However sadly I’ve discovered that while I’ve been ignoring them a mouse has nibble one of the toes! So I now have some darning to do too.

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9. And finally – even I can’t believe it – I’ve finally frogged that scarf…

 

All in all I’m pretty pleased with my progress. Even though my frogs/finish haven’t needed a lot of work, I wasn’t at all enthusiastic about sorting them out, but I’ve completely dealt with 4 out of 9 and worked on 2 others. Hopefully the next month will bring equally pleasing results.

Until next time,

Bekki x

Sunday Sevens 2019 #6

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens15 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Sevens : A post were I share seven (or so) photos of my week away from the blog. Sunday Sevens was created by Nathalie at Thread and Bobbins.

This last week began with storm Freya. Winds were supposed to be worst in the South West, but we didn’t see anything special here. Despite the lack of a storm, it was very wet, so apart from dog walks we stayed in and did a few jobs. Two of them were on that list of things we meant to do when we moved in six years ago. One was hang these by the stairs…

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The second was to put a lampshade on the naked light bulb in my office…

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I bought this in a table top sale last Saturday.

Monday, as I’ve already mentioned in my quilt catch up, my lovely friend came round and help me sandwich my quilt…

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Tuesday was spent having a lovely sunny walk with Harry and quilting in the ditch. If only Harry loved dirty ditches like Hicks did, I could have squeezed some terrible ditch in pun here, but you’ll just have to have a picture of a clean Harry instead…

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Wednesday we lost the pub quiz as usual. The question we couldn’t get and really bugged us until we knew the answer was…

What was the name of Valarie Singleton’s cat on Blue Peter?

Answer at the end of this post if you want to play along.

Thursday I bought some yarn to knit a sweater for the new great nephew we’re expecting in June…

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Thursday was also book group. We discussed the classic feminist novel, The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. Only two of us finished this book: 700 pages long with minuscule text, most of us hated it and lost the will to live while reading it. One of us who finished loved it, the other hated it and said they didn’t feel the author was a feminist at all!

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While I was out at book group, Harry and Lovely Husband stayed in and watched Crufts…

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Nothing of note to tell about Friday, but on Saturday some of our lovely friends from up north came to stay for the weekend, which was a good excuse for a spot of garden Olympics…

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Long Distance Darts

…and a meal out at our local…

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Hope you’ve had a great week.

Until next time,

Bekki

Ans to quiz question: Jason

 

 

 

 

Tuck Stitch Sweater Finished

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Dartmoor wool, Knitting29 Comments

Yay! I’ve finished the tuck stitch sweater….

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Tuck Stitch Sweater knitted in Dartmoor Yarn Company DK Ryeland pure wool

 

It’s very bulky – takes up the room of two sweaters when folded up in the wardrobe – which is going to be great for keeping me warm, but does make one look rather bulky. I think for this reason I’ll stick to cables in future.

I also don’t like the neck, but I can wear it with a scarf to disguise that. (Yes, I know I could frog the neck and do it again, but you know how I feel about frogging.)

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Until next time,

Bekki x

Quilt Sandwiched – Thoughts on quilting please

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn patchwork, Quilts26 Comments

Although my lovely quilt savvy friend is incredibly busy at the moment, she spent an hour and a half yesterday crawling around my bedroom floor helping me glue my quilt back and front to the batting.

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So much easier to put a giant quilt together when their are two of you and also great to have someone to make sure I got it right with my rusty memories of how to do it.  The only downside was that we were so engrossed working on it and in having a quilty discussion, I forgot to take any more pics until we’s rolled it up ready to carry downstairs to my sewing room…

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Today I’ve been stitching in the ditch around the patchwork seams…

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Still a way to go, then I’m going to do some more quilting, but I’m not sure what. So I thought I’d ask if anyone has any quilting patterns/motifs they’d like to suggest. I’ll probably ignore you, but you never know.

Until next time,

Bekki x

Sunday Sevens 2019 #5

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens23 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Sevens : A post were I share seven (or so) photos of my week away from the blog. Sunday Sevens was invented by Nathalie at Thread and Bobbins.

Last Sunday we had a walk along the river Okement…

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Followed by Harry’s first trip to Okehampton station cafe, where we had brunch…

As we walked back through the park to the car, we saw a beautiful carpet of crocuses…

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The sunny weather had also brought out the frogs…

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This week our weather vein started squeaking, so Lovely Husband braved it up onto the roof, but not before putting a sheet on the ground to stop the oil dripping on the patio for Harry to lie on. 

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Harry helped out again in the garden…

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Sadly the sunny weather disappeared on Thursday, so I gave the pantry it’s annual tidy…

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Rain or shine we had lots of lovely dog walks, but hard to get young dogs to stay still for photos. Just about managed to grab a shot of Harry and a bit of his two English setter pals.

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I was actually trying (but failed) to get a good shot of a muddy Harry – this is the first time in his seven weeks with us that he’s got properly muddy. These were the best I could manage…

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But while Harry wouldn’t stay still, his friend Baxter was happy to pose with a small stick.

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Hope you’ve had a great week.

Bekki x