Ravenhill

Stitching and candlelight

The dark and cold evenings are such nice times to get together with friends to chat and do a few stitches of one sort or another.

My clever friend was working on making these pretty embroidered and soon to be stuffed ornaments, pattern by Rosalie Quinlan.

We sat stitching away enjoying the light of the candles which are nearly always lit in homes in Norway during these dark months.

 

(Translation: Award to a fantastic blog friend who spreads happiness in my daily life)

I would like to thank Mette for the lovely award! 

I have three special friends in mind to pass this award to:

Michele of Calico Daisy

Corry of Dutch Blue

Jan of Where is my brother?

I began blogging as a way to be in touch with other creative people who like to make things. I had no idea how rich my life would become with inspiration, friendship and the feeling of community. Really I have many friends now all over the world whose friendship I cherish and whose work I admire.

Have a delightful and hopefully creative weekend!

Black and White Tuesday

These are my new mittens, knit in the same Berroco Ultra Alpaca yarn that I used for my husband's mittens, but in a pretty Gordoba Grape and Winter White. They are so warm and soft. My big regret now is not buying more of this yarn while I was at home in the US.

I used needle size 3.5 mm so it went fairly fast.

The pattern once again is pretty old, near vintage maybe. It comes from a Sandnes Uldvarefabrik pattern book, Peer Gynt PG 1819.

 

It isn't black and white but this is the pattern book that I have used countless times for mittens, socks and hats.

 

A gift sent

Kelly wrote me today to tell me she had received the gift I sent to her. I made her a flowery appliquéd face cloth for her.

First I cut out two squares of fabric. On the blue checked fabric I hand appliquéd a scattering of fussy cut fabric flowers and made red french knots in the centers. I cut out a strip of red and white dotted fabric and made bias tape with it for a loop which I hand stitched together.

Then I pinned the back and front together with right sides together with the loop pinned onto the inside of one of the corners.

For the backside I used a bright yellow cotton flannel. The final step was hand stitching around all the sides of the cloth with 3 threads of pink embroidery thread.

I think these would make nice Christmas gifts and hope to be making more soon.

Oooooh!

 

This is just what I needed after days of cloudy and chilly weather: a big dose of color and beautiful patterns!

The generous and sweet designer, Bari,  sent them to me herself - all these wonderful fat quarters for me to have fun with!

The colors are so lush and pretty...

 

The teapots and cups surrounded by blossoms are pure bliss! 

These little birds among the pussywillows are a great reminder of the coming of spring just a few months away.

If all goes well I will be cutting into these this weekend and making a few dolls and perhaps other things as well.

 

Thank you Bari for this breath of spring from your lovely fabric!

The juicy details

I obviously did very badly two posts back when I didn't give any details about my husband's freshly knitted mittens, both Anne and Syersken asked for more information about the yarn and pattern book that I used to make them. Hopefully, this post will fix that!

This is the cover of the Dalegarn pattern book which contains the mitten pattern I used. I am sorry, but it doesn't seem to be in print anymore. I think it is near vintage!

Here is the image of the mittens I made.

 

I don't think I will ever make these patterned leggings or tights, but aren't they wonderful?

I have made several pairs of socks using these basic sock patterns. As you probably noticed, the book is very well used - a true sign of a good pattern book! I am so sorry it is no longer in print for those of you who wanted it!

The yarn I used for the mittens was the super-soft and warm feeling Berroco Ultra Alpaca, half alpaca, half wool. The mittens are very dense, warm and soft. However, I notice that they are already felting quite a bit on the palm after what seems very little use. My husband is so happy with them though.

This red hot pair of gloves is my current project, from Vogue Knitting the fall 2009 issue. Here is the magazine with the pattern. This issue as well as other back order issues are available on the VK site.

In case you want some more knitting fun, you can thank Woo for the fabulously inspirational website, here.

Black and white Tuesday

This manhole cover number 40 would be an interesting way to do a quilt, wouldn't it? With lots of small circles or squares radiating out from a circular center. I ponder whether or not this is beautiful. I like patterns.

I took this shot in the mirror today. Just me goofing around and trying out a hint of a self-portrait.

I'd rather plaster my creations everywhere, rather than images of me, so take a look, my doily garlands turned up on the interior blog Apartment Therapy yesterday.

Moonika contacted me to let me know that she had featured one of my doily needlebooks on her blog, thank you so much!

Finally, awhile back I had mentioned to my friend Vivi that I was reading A Wrinkle in Time aloud to Sebastian. She told me how much she loved that book and so I sent it to her when were were finished along with a few small things. It is always so much fun to see the gifts in their new home!

 

More warmth

It was definitely my husband's turn for something handknit.

Not only did he wait patiently for them to be finished,

but he even took the time to model them for me.

He had me in fits of laughter over the funny poses and faces he made. Many of the photos were just plain goofy, in others he ended up looking like the bully on the block when he did his impression of a model's scoul. I think I will make him more things to model right away because it was just too much fun, meanwhile he'll be all toasty warm ever time he goes out!