… with news of an exciting launch.
So you know Glossybox and the like? Where you get a box of sample-sized cosmetics through the post each month for a set monthly fee?
Well the craft equivalent is launching in July…
More information is thin on the ground at the moment, but it’s worth subscribing to make sure you’re at the top of the list… Imagine the different projects you might try depending on the random supplies that drop through your letterbox…
Can’t wait!
Happy Friday
X
After a mildly torturous wait, I finally received my RSN piece in the post along with my mark for module one… here it is, in all it’s finished-up glory
And the verdict? A pass with 76%. Phew. I’m not going to lie, it was really hard to read the critique that came with the mark – they certainly don’t pull any punches!
I got my best mark for thread condition and tension, which I was pretty pleased with. I wasn’t quite sure if I’d hit the mark on this one but apparently so.
Despite my best efforts, I got my worst mark for variety of stitches… particularly on the smaller leaves (although the trellis work got a shout-out for being ‘successful’).
The colour balance was a sore point too – apparently I’d made a good choice of colours, but the placement let me down in some areas… this was hard to take as I was happy with it, but the more I look at it, the more I can see they have a point.
You also get marked on the mounting… and here they said it was a good attempt for a first try. I’m taking that as a positive!
Overall I’m thrilled to have passed. It was all uncharted territory, from designing the piece at the outset right through to mounting it at the end. And I knew the marking system would be tough, so a pass is a big win.
For my first piece of design & stitching from start to finish, I still love how it looks. I’m slightly obsessed with the ’3D-ness’ of it.
So that’s module one done and dusted… Next up, I think it’ll be blackwork. But I’ve decided to press the pause button for a few months as I’ve got quite a lot on my plate, what with Junior’s imminent arrival. Luckily, the RSN are really flexible… you can work it out to fit your schedule, as long as you finish all four modules within five years of starting. At least I think it’s five years, I may have made that up. I know it’s quite a long time.
Which leaves me free to focus on knitting, patchwork & nursery prep to my hearts content… lucky that, given the length of the to-do list!
X
I caved. I couldn’t help it. I cast on a hat for Junior this morning using this simple pattern and by 3pm it was done. Can’t say fairer than that…
I love the colour (the yarn is Sirdar Snuggly DK) and I love how dinky it is. The pattern is really easy and quick – it has to be if I’ve managed to churn it out in under a day…
So I’m not going to feel guilty about that one because it’s done and dusted. Almost like it never happened.
(Although the less said about the jumper I’ve just started swatching for Mark, the better).
X
It’s fair to say that my sleep pattern is becoming pretty interrupted now and it seems to have sparked a minor case of ‘startitis’. All I can seem to think about while I’m trying desperately to get back to sleep in the small hours are new projects. Knitting, sewing – you name it. Anything goes, as long as it’s new and unrelated to anything I’ve already got going.
It started with some idle pondering of this lovely, squishy sock yarn unearthed during a stash trawl the other day…
And quickly progressed to these long-frogged socks (frogged because frankly the pattern had my head spinning… but when revisited in my imagination at 3am, totally do-able)
Before long I was thinking about creating an entire felt animal menagerie from this book for Junior…
I seem to get particularly excited about the thought of making everyone a handmade gift for Christmas and keep starting lists of who might get what. Entirely forgetting that I’m close to entering a period of my life where I’m probably not going to have much time free to be focusing on all of that. And even if I do, I’ll likely be so sleep-deprived that all I’ll be able to manage is some basic garter stitch in front of the latest Grey’s Anatomy.
It’s not like I don’t have enough to keep me occupied at the moment… it’s just the lure of a freshly started project is almost too much to bear.
What’s wrong with me!?
X
So the cable blanket is coming on much faster than I expected
(Clearly I had quite low expectations…)
It’s a nice, easy knit and the yarn is gorgeously soft (I picked Artesano Superwash Merino). A lot of the reviews on Ravelry talked about how they got fed up with the pattern towards the end, but I’m not sure I will. It is a bit repetitive, but there’s just enough to keep me interested and it’s a good ‘telly’ project.
Must keep going, must keep going…
X
I always knew that this project would take time, but I’m just beginning to realise how long…
Even so, I’m loving it so far. It might be fiddly and take ages, but I think it might end up looking pretty good
I’ve decided the best way to handle it is to approach each stage in bulk. So I’m going to prepare a stack of white & pattern hexagons in one go and then start assembling flowers. When I have enough of those to be getting on with, I’ll start joining them all up with the white borders.
At least that’s the plan…
X
The best coffee
The best crab and cheese toasted sandwiches
The best ginger beer
The best ferry rides
The best road trips to Bavarian themed villages in the mountains. Really.
The best friends to spend time with
And the best person to see it all with. Hands-down.
X
Brunch at Mother’s
Beer tasting at Deschutes for Mark…
Voodoo doughnut tasting for me…
Brunch at Kenny & Zuke’s
Dinner at Ping. Completely outstanding.
Up-in-the-air cable cars…
And a wander around the Japanese Gardens, just before the heavens opened and rained down the most unbelievable hailstorm
On reflection, Portland was a lot about the eating. Which is no bad thing. It totally delivered.
X
Finally, after a week of feeling very sorry for myself, I’m back in the land of the living… and even though our holiday feels like a long time ago now, I wanted to share a few snaps from the various places we visited.
The plan was to visit our friends in Seattle by way of a road trip from San Francisco via Portland. I’d never been to San Francisco so was really excited to visit, and neither of us had been to Portland. Or seen the Redwoods for that matter. So off we went…
The day we landed, we were lucky enough to experience our first food truck extravaganza at Off the Grid in Fort Mason – amazing food, amazing live music, amazing atmosphere. I wish we had these here, although they probably wouldn’t quite come off in the same way.
Cable cars – you’ve got to do it, right?! Even if the queue is ridiculous to actually get on one…
In-n-Out burgers, the best burgers of the whole trip… (and we made sure we did our research)
Not that it was all about the food, but we had a delicious brunch at Sears
Followed by a wander around Chinatown
Which involved a lot of up-and-down walking
And finally, the most iconic snap of all… Golden Gate bridge (trying out the fancy settings on my new camera!)
San Francisco totally lived up to expectations, even though we were only there for a couple of days. Next up, the coast and the Redwoods…
X
