Author: Dartmoor Yarns

Scrap Happy – Baby Berry Hat

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Babies, Hats, Scrap Happy24 Comments

I’ve knitted a few Baby Berry hats for new arrivals and know I can easily whip one up in an evening – so when Lovely Littlest asked me to make one for one for her expectant friend I was more than happy to do so – especially since I thought I has enough scrap yarn from previous hats.

Unfortunately I didn’t. But then I remembered the left over yarn from this cardigan I made nearly three years ago for my great niece….

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I dug it out…

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And whisked up a scrap happy baby berry hat…

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I’m joining in this month with Kate & Gun’s monthly Scrap Happy 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.  Here’s a list of the other Scrap Happy participants should you want to visit their blogs:

Kate , Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, and Pauline

Bekki

 

 

Sunday Sevens#15 2019

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens16 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Sevens – a post where I share seven (or so) photos of my week away from the blog.

Last Sunday we headed to Widemouth Bay for a golden retriever meetup. Always lovely to see lots of goldies and goldie owners…

Being at the seaside, of course, means we needed to have a fish and chip lunch…

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We stopped for our lunch at the Bay View Bar – which unsurprisingly has a lovely view of Widemouth Bay.

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Back at home my rhododendron tree is in full bloom.

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It’s one of my favourite plants in our garden, although I love the yellow of this rhododendron  even more…

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The weather’s been cold, but dry for ages and it’s showing in the water levels of the rivers…

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However on Wednesday we had some good and proper rain…

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On Thursday Harry and I walked with a friend. After our walk she showed me her new-to-her camper van…

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I want one!

On Thursday we also got stuck in a cow-jam…

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And another lovely friend who was about go off on holiday brought me a bunch of rose she’d been given, so I can enjoy the life left in them…

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Harry and I were delighted to spend part of our Friday walk with some beautiful goldies who were holidaying down here.

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Finally a lovely week was rounded off with the biggest treat of all, seeing both my lovely daughters on Saturday. It was a long journey, so we stopped part way for Harry to have a walk along the Cotswolds Way at a point close to the M4. The countryside is so different from ours with fields full of rape…

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The dandelions about to spread their seeds looked amazing too…

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We do have these in Devon

The girls don’t like me blogging their pictures, so instead here’s the dhal and chocolate tart I had for lunch with them…

All in all a very lovely week.

Hope you’ve had a good one.

Until next time

Bekki x

Frog or Finish 2019 – May Update

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Blocking, Crochet, Finished Projects, Knitting, Quilts, Socks15 Comments

It’s been a month since my last Frog or Finish update of the 9 UFOs that I and vowed to finish or frog this year.

Having dealt with five of them when I posted about them in April, I had four left to finish…

I was delighted to report on Monday that I’d finally finished the floral quilt.

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I’m also pleased to say I took advantage of the hot weather at Easter and blocked the unblocked shawl…

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Book group is the place I knit my UFO socks, because I don’t have to pay any attention to them, apart from when I turned the heel – which I did at home. So they’re growing nicely, but I’ve still no idea why I started at the top on one and the toe on the other.

 

 

That leaves my blue cardigan. Unfortunately I’m getting nowhere looking for buttons. It’s driving me crackers – all I need to do is find some buttons I’m happy with to finish, yet it’s turned into a seemingly impossible task.

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Apart from my button frustration I’m very happy with my UFO progress. Dare I ask how you guys are doing with your UFO counts this month?

Until next time,

Bekki x

Floral Quilt TA-DA!

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn patchwork, Quilts, Sewing22 Comments

For the last two weeks I’ve been spending most evening hand sewing the binding onto my floral quilt.

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It’s taken two weeks because not only did I have seven meters of binding to sew, but I also find hand sewing hard going on my middle finger – the eye end of the needle manages to make it sore and even bleed very easily – does anyone else have that challenge?

With the binding finally attached the quilt is finished…

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Lovely Husband is behind there somewhere

And here it is in place in our bedroom…

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What else is there to say, but HURRAH!

Until next time,

Bekki x

Sunday Sevens #14 2019

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Sunday Sevens20 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Sevens – a post where I share seven (or so) photos of my week away from the blog.

Being unable to spend more than two weeks without a trip to the beach, we took our favourite beach walk from Rock to Polzeth on Sunday. The weather was dank and drizzly, but felt quite mild and pleasant.

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We had a lovely walk across the beach then through the sand dunes, because the low tide was actually quite high.

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We also walked across the cliff top which was filled with beautiful patches of clover…

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At Polzeth we had lunch at a very quiet Cracking Crab

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Where they have great door handles…

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As we walked back the mist descended, adding a spooky feel to the near empty beaches.

20190428_152153ooAt home the damp cold weather brought in a plethora of giant spiders…

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Other traumatic events this week included a needle breakage. I’m so fed up with Knitpros – I’ll never buy another pair. What brand of of needles do you guys use?

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This week was also book group. I didn’t read it. I really would have liked to, and others in my book group really enjoyed it. However I found the style so dreadful I just couldn’t keep going…

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Last week I showed you a picture of Harry after he had found a nice muddy puddle. You guys predicted that now he’d found one he’d be far more interested in them. Harry however has not showed the least bit of interest in any puddles this week, but he did surpass your expectations by smothering himself from head to tail in fox poo. I didn’t think you’d want to see that, so here’s a pic of a clean Harry having a cuddle with his favourite toy instead.

 

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Hope you’ve had a great week.

Until next time,

Bekki x

New Knitting Project

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Aran Knitting, Knitting, Project bags, Work in progress17 Comments

This year I’ve decided I need to have fewer projects on the go so that I can focus more on what I am doing, get projects finished more quickly and reduce the risk of ending up with more UFOs.

On the knitting front, apart from working on my UFO socks, I’ve been diligently faithful to my Heartfelt Cardigan for some time now.

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However when I realised I didn’t have a scarf to go with my red sweater, I decided I HAD to have one. I visited Raverly and chose the Jeweled Cowl pattern, the Woolly Beader for some yarn, and Ebay for some beads. So now I’m ready…

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The plan is to knit the boring bits in the car on very windy roads and other places where I need low concentration, and add the beads when I’m watching TV. The rest of my knitting time will be spent working on my Heartfelt cardigan.

This project also fits perfectly in my new project bag – which is probably reason enough to start a new project anyway 🙂

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So I’ve added to my projects, but hopefully this won’t reduce my focus. Not counting UFos – which I’m gradually chipping away at – I’ve currently got just just four ‘live projects’ on the go – two quilts plus these two knitting projects. Which is pretty good for me.

How many projects have you got on the go at the moment?

Until next time,

Bekki

 

 

Quilting Time

On By Dartmoor YarnsIn Babies, patchwork, Quilting, Quilts, Sewing7 Comments

I’m pleased to report I’ve finished the top of the jungle baby quilt and sandwiched it up with batting and backing fabric…

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Next step: Quilting.

I’m thinking I’ll stitch in the ditch between all the patchwork pieces and echo the pinwheels in quilting across the jungle fabric squares. I’m not going to quilt the thin jungle fabric and polka dot boarders, but the red one is a wee bit too wide not to quilt. Any thoughts on what I should do with that?

Look forward hearing what you think 🙂

Bekki x