Did you see....?

I have added a new page to the blog. 

Did you spot it up there just below the header?

I thought I would use it as a safe little storage space for the patterns I think I will use again, because storing them in my head is just not going to work is it?

And because they are so quick(ish) and easy I thought you might like to use them too!

So, a seasonal gift to you all ;)

Right, back to the needles (one little girlie is sleeping on the sofa - wow, that hasn't happened this early in over a month, best make the most of it!!).

-x-

Buying.........

So I told you I'd be back with the car boot sale bargains. And this is them - six 100g balls of Sirdar Denim chunky for £5 and five 100g balls of Paton's Symphony for £3:

  

Pretty good, don't you think?? 

But even better was these:

The lady had a whole stack of StitchCraft magazines from the late 70's to early 80's! These are lovely booklets and I already have a few in my collection. They cover a range of different needlecrafts - crochet, knitting, embroidery, cross-stitch, rugmaking, all wonderful crafts:

 

. The illustrations are just lovely and although some of the patterns are a bit too "of the times" there are some great ones that need no adjusting if you love the vintage look, or that can be brought right up to date with just a few tweaks. Getting hold of the yarns used would probably be impossible now, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to use some of them anyway ;-). So how much for these five I hear you ask? £2.00! Isn't that a bargain? The seller had a pile of them, maybe 30 or more, and she was asking 50p each one. John asked her what kind of deals she was open to but she was very non-committal and had the maybe I appeared over keen as she just said she would let me select what I wanted before she gave a price. Despite saying again that I would love them all she wouldn't commit to a price so I eventually selected these five. I do wish I had haggled a price with her over the whole collection........

Another lovely find was these candlestick holders:

Ok they're not that great but they only cost £1 for the pair, and then further on I came across a can of enamel spray for £1 too which I snapped up and now my candle holders look like this:

Lovely don't you think?

So there we go, the yarnbuying ban is officially over. And ready to start again for another six months! Why, do you ask? Because I have also been treated to some lovely yarns from my lovely man. Yesterday I also acquired a skein of laceweight, some sock yarn, some more cotton 4ply, and a couple of skeins of Mirasol T'ika. So the dent I had created in the stash has now been smoothed over and filled in. Now to find the inspiration to start working through it all over again. That's if I can tear myself away from the strangely addictive Granny stripe hookiness.........

So what crafty bargains have you come across lately? And please - links to yarn sales are not allowed here! Well maybe if you really want to.........

-x-

I love........

Very old knitting patterns!
I found this selection today at the car boot sale. Look at the prices on them! I know most of the wool for the patterns no longer exists, and also sounds downright awful - 4 ply bri-nylon, or super crimp nylon DK, mmm, not my first choice of yarns, but with the right yarn and a little tampering there are some lovely clothes to be made from these patterns. The woolworths booklet is especially fab and contains lots of knit and crochet patterns from which I have chosen only a few to share. There was one really nice pattern inside for envelope neck vests which I might try soon but I couldn't bring myself to share the pictures as the baby models were only wearing the vests and nothing else. Truly an age of more innocence - no-one would allow that now.

Another find was a big bag containing balls of snuggly wool, 10 each of brown and white. The bag also contained a knitting pattern, needles and the ready knitted pieces made up from the pattern. All it needed was finishing together. Dear husband actually found this bundle and paid £3 for it. Not sure really whether I actually wanted it but hey, I'm not going to refuse it once he's bought it. I finished off the cardigan and hat from the pieces and discovered the reason the knitter had given up - she had followed the pattern wrongly and followed the same hem shaping for both the left and front pieces which you might spot if you look closely. I don't really like the finished cardigan anyway so it will probably end up in the charity bag. I decided to make a snuggly soft little blanket instead and so have used three balls together with a pair of 9mm needles and garter stitch and will just keep going until the yarn runs out. With needles that size and yarn that thick I don't think it will take too long ;-)