Author: Dartmoor Yarns

Frog or Finish April Update

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn UFOs21 Comments

I can’t believe it’s been a whole month since my last Frog or Finish update of the 9 UFOs that I’ve and vowed to finish or frog this year.

Having dealt with four of them, I had five left by the middle of last month:

  1. The quilt – if you read regularly, you’ll know I’m making steady progress on this and the patchwork is now complete, I’ve made the binding and I’m working on the quilting.

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2. The blue cardigan – this is only waiting for buttons, but I can’t find any I like. Anyone got any links to some nice big blue statement buttons?

3. The socks: I’ve done some work on these; I’m ready to turn the heel on the one that hadn’t got a heel turn and the leg is a little longer on the other.

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4. The shawl still needs blocking. We were away when the warm weather hit, so still I’m waiting for the weather to warm up to do this.

5. I’ve completed the two project bags!

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And, as a bonus, when I dug them back out I found another project bag that hadn’t been finished, because I’d forgotten to sew corners of the lining when I was making it. Doh!

20190403_144431oo.jpgThis is now finished too…

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All in all I’ve only one task ticked one UFO off the list, but I’ve completed three finishes and made progress on 4/5 – if you count hunting for buttons.

All in all I’m quite happy with that given how long nothing was happening on any of them.

How’s your UFO tally doing this year?

Until next time,

Bekki x

Sunday Sevens 2019 #10

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens10 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Sevens, a post where I share seven or so photographs of my week beyond the blog.

Here in the UK last Sunday was Mothers Day. Lovely Eldest sent me card and some lovely smelling candles….

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Lovely Littlest sent me a Golden Retriever pic…

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And Harry gave me a card…

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and a pair of pink Timberland boots…

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We were away from home last Sunday and came home in the evening to find spring had burst into bloom in our garden…

So it was a bit of a shock on Wednesday when we woke up to an inch of snow….

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The snow quickly melted and was replaced by baby bunnies…

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Thursday evening was book group. The book we read this week month was The Girl in the Red Coat. Hopefully I’ll manage a review post next week.

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This week we took part in both the pub quiz on Wednesday and a quiz at the golf club on Friday…

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Most disturbing question of these week was,

Whose effigy was stuffed with live cats so that it squealed when it was burnt?

If you want to play along the answer is at the end of this post.

Saturday I had a stall at produce morning.

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Something rather lovely happened there. Last year a friend passed away who was a big part of our village and much loved by everyone. Her daughter has made an amazing effort to make sure her possessions have gone to people who will use and love them. On Saturday she took a stall at the produce market to give away the small amount that is still homeless.  Now ever since I bought my bernina I’ve hated the cheap and nasty accessory box that came with it. It can barely stand up on it’s own and one of the doors broke almost immediately I got it

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Since I started quilting my quilt I’ve been promising myself I’m going to make a hexi box for my bernina accessories once the quilt is finished. So on Saturday when I saw one that used to belong to my friend on her daughter’s stall it felt as if my friend had heard me and had put it there for me…

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I’ve popped my sewing machine feet and needles from the bernina box in it and the bernina box has gone in the bin.

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I now need to find a small box to replace the small Tupperware box in the middle.

A hexibox might not be the usual place to keep your sewing machine accessories, but it’s perfect for me and so lovely that it found it’s way to me. It will also remind me of my lovely friend every time I sew and also that those who’ve moved on are out there there somewhere listening to even our simplest thoughts and wishes.

Hope you’ve had a great week,

Bekki x

Quiz question answer: Guy Fawks

Quilting Challenges

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Quilts31 Comments

By now I was hoping to be showing you lots more quilting on my pink quilt. Unfortunately my Bernina has decided to misbehave, so I’m a very unhappy bunny itching to get finished, and I haven’t even got the repair man to call me back yet!

Meantime, with the help of my faithful 30 year old Singer, I’ve made 4 meters of binding for the edge…

I’ve also been contemplating making another quilt. I blame Lynn and her foxy quilt she’s made for her new great niece that’s due in June. I’ve got a a new great nephew due in June and the foxy quilt reminded me I’ve couple of fat quarters of fabric in my stash suitable for a baby quilt…

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I’m thinking of making a simple half triangle affair like Lynn’s. I have some green, gold and red in fabric in my stash that match the colours on the jungle fabric….

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Or should I leave the green out and just have the three primary colours…

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Or do I need to add some more fabrics? Although ideally I’d like to be doing this from my stash and I have nothing else that works.

Also is the gold too dull? Should I have a more vibrant yellow?

Look forward to hearing what you think,

Bekki x

 

Cable Catch Up

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Aran Knitting, Knitting37 Comments

The great thing about going on a road trip is having lots of time to knit in the passenger seat. I did so well on my Heartfelt Cardigan last week, I decided it was time for a catch up post to show you my progress.

Two weeks ago I’d done this much of the back…

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The back is now finished…

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And I’ve done half a sleeve.

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I usually knit both sleeves together, but didn’t because I’m knitting from a cone and didn’t want to mess about winding wool off.

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When I knit a sweater or cardigan I like to knit both sleeves together after the back and before the front(s), because I think it leaves the easy more exciting bit i.e. the front(s)  to the end. Knitting both at once ensures both sleeves are the same and makes it feel as if the knitting goes quicker, so I think knitting one at a time will make it feel as if it’s taking longer.

What order do you knit a sweater/cardigan? And why do you do it that way?

Until next time,

Bekki x

Sunday Sevens 2019 #9

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens, Uncategorized24 Comments

Welcome to this week’s Sunday Sevens, a post where I share seven or so pictures of my week beyond the blog.

Last Sunday was such a beautiful day we couldn’t resist heading for the beach, even though we were only at the seaside the day before. This time we went to Rock, where the tide was incredibly low…

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We walked across the beaches to the Cracking Crab at Polzeth. The view from our table was beautiful…

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Lunch was totally yummy…

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Monday and Tuesday were the usual mix of work and walkies. Harry and his chums were, as usual, far to busy to actually pose for photos…

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When Harry came to live with us he was scared of getting in the car, whined when he was in it and was occasionally car sick.  Since then he’s come on in leaps and bounds, but hadn’t been on any journeys of more than an hour. On Wednesday when we travelled 4 hours up country to visit the in laws we therefore decided to stop after a couple of hours at a Wildlife Trust site to have lunch and a good walk. Unfortunately dogs weren’t allowed in the cafe and it freezing outside.

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Harry was absolutely brilliant on both legs of the journey.

Once at the in laws we had some lovely walks to take him on…

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Lovely Husband was especially excited when we found a walk that circles the quarry…

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While away we also visit both our great niece and our great nephew – unfortunately I forgot to take any pics of our great niece, but here’s LH playing with our great nephew…

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On Saturday we met up with friends for a walk, who stopped half way to show us their dancing skills…

All in all a very lovely week.

Hope you’ve had a good one.

Until next time,

Bekki x

A Small Ta Da!

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Knitting, Uncategorized24 Comments

Hello!

Hope you’re having a great week. I’m just dropping by to show you a small finish; a very small sweater our new great nephew due in June.

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I’m still not sure about the break in the dark blue part of the pattern at the top caused by using self patterning yarn to cheat and have an easy knit. But I’ve got a few months to decide if I’m going to do anything about it. Although I am thinking it definitely looks better now it has sleeves.

Until next time,

Bekki x

 

Wonky Hearts and Advice Please

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Quilts26 Comments

Having finished sewing the ditches on my quilt I’ve started the decorative quilting. I decided on a combination of heart motifs and what I think is called stippling, aka scribbling in thread.

I’ve completed the centre. The hearts are sadly, but not surprisingly rather wonky.

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I’ve also quilted one of the four borders around the centre, but I’m wondering about the other 3, which is where I need your advice.

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They’re so thin, I’m considering not quilting them.  Here’s another pic with none of them quilted…

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What do you think? Any ideas on what to do if I don’t leave them unquilted?

Bekki x