Complete: An Imperfect & Loved Sombra

According to my usual practice, this is a make that should never see the light of day. This really is one of my shoddier projects, and you know what? I actually don't care :)

This is Sombra, by Elanor King, and my goodness I made a bit of mess of it!( I'll explain later) It's knitted with Patons Embrace 2 ply (lace weight).

This was published in last summer's edition of Pom Pom magazine, and it's the first summer weight jumper I've ever been interested in knitting; to me knitting is a winter sport, thank you very much. But this one swayed me for a few reasons. Firstly, a dolman silhouette is my new favourite for tops. Secondly, Having knitted a few bulky sweaters recently  I'd been wondering about attempting a whole jumper using a lace weight yarn. Finally, I found the construction of this really intriguing.

It's knitted from the bottom up, beginning with one strand of yarn. When you get as far as the beginning of the first "V", you pull in a second strand of another colour, knitting more stitches with both colours the further up you go. Once you get to the second "V", you start using a third colour/strand. Not only does this give you a great marle effect, but it means that the thickest part of the jumper is at the neckline and shoulders, so it sits beautifully and means the lightest-weight section isn't taking any strain.

The sleeves are knitted from the top down in the round, using double pointed needles, and with just the one strand. The pattern recommends a cotton yarn, but I'm a bit fed up with cotton doing its diva-stretching-out-thing, so chose wool instead. Embrace is really, really lightweight to wear, but surprisingly warm. I'm wearing this a lot lately, and apart from the very coldest days, it's been ample to counter winter weather.

 

 Here's something I didn't know - lace weight yarn goes a long way. I used two 50g balls of cream and one each of the light and dark pinks. Actually, no - two balls of the dark pink, but only because I used lt pink + dk pink + dk pink for the neckband, rather than one of each colour as per the pattern. But there's almost a full ball left, and the second cream ball could have covered it easily.

 

 The back has the same pattern as the front, which I liked both in aesthetics and in terms of knitting interest. And yes, there are two different days of photo taking here. I forgot I'd already taken some. (it'd been a while...) In the newer (sunnier) shots you can that I finally took the plunge and got my hair cut - really cut. I've always secretly wanted a pixie cut and have never been brave enough. (Although strictly speaking this is slightly too long to be a genuine pixie...) Response: 98% positive, except for my youngest son who didn't speak to me for two days, and a woman at work who immediately reassured me "at least you know it'll all grow back..." :D

 The neckband, like the waistband and cuffs, are done in reverse stockingette. I like the way the neckband curls under itself.

So, I love the structure, the scooped neckline, the dolman shape, the lightness of it, the colourwork, and perhaps most of all, the way it's one of those garments you wear and kind of forget you're wearing because it sits just right and never needs fiddling with or adjusting. It really is one of my favourite things I've ever made. And yet... the workmanship is pretty dreadful, actually. I don't know if all lace weight yarn is hard to keep even, but I really struggled. It used 4mm needles, which are quite thick for such a fine weight, but is supposed to make for a really airy, almost mesh-like fabric. But there's mesh, and then there's just mess, and this teetered on the edge of that line. Blocking helped a bit, but didn't fix it completely. It's worst on the sleeves where, in addition, my decreases actually left gapey holes. (you can see them in the second photo from the top, too). And my double pointed needle technique definitely needs some refining - you can tell exactly where each needle started and ended. Maybe it is partly the yarn's fault - the two and three strand knitting doesn't look uneven at all. C'est la vie, I suppose...

But overall for me the positives more than outweigh the negatives. I guess it's a bit like the story of the Velveteen Rabbit...except that he started perfect and became less so. But the bit about loving something despite imperfections holds true, anyway!

How about you? Do you have any Perfectly Imperfect makes? And what are your thoughts about the pursuit of perfection in sewing/knitting?

Complete: Damask Jumper

Hello all! Time to start whittling down my sizeable backlog of unblogged projects. I thought I'd start with this jumper, since it got a bit of love during MMM. This is one make I'm really happy with and, incidentally, one that reminds me that the things I make don't have to be perfect to be loved!

One of my goals for 2014 was to try colourwork in knitting. When I went through my knitting inspiration ideas on Pinterest I noticed that most of the colourwork images I'd pinned were only two colours, rather than the multi-coloured fair isle styles. The idea for this jumper came out of that observation. I didn't really want a striped piece this time; I was intrigued by the idea of doing a more "fluid" kind of design. As I thought about patterns in fabric that I like, I wondered whether a damask design would work. Unfortunately I couldn't find any knitting pattern even remotely like what was starting to form in my head.

My daughter has been getting into cross-stitch lately, and it occurred to me that gridded cross-stitch patterns are actually the same format as gridded knitting ones. Googling "repeated damask cross-stitch pattern" yielded me a pattern that I adored - this stylised floral one. I didn't want an all-over pattern, just a feature on the front, preferably with raglan sleeves. (Aside: I can't believe how hard it was to find a simple crew neck, raglan sleeved jumper with no side shaping! Every designer seems to want to put some twist on the basics...)

Anyhow, here's the end result:

 

And an close-up shot of the front:

 

The yarn is Cascade Heritage Silk (fingering weight), which I already had loads of after I unravelled my Still Light horror. (So this is technically a refashion!) I was able to get a skein of the same in black to do the colourwork in. I debated doing the ribbed hems in black also, but decided to keep it just to the damask in the end.

The yarn knits up into quite a drapey fabric, which I'd forgotten, but since I wanted a looser fit anyway that was fine. Here's one thing I learned - after I'd done one sleeve. If you're reusing yarn you've unravelled from a previous project, it knits up much more nicely if it's first wound into a skein, soaked and dried, then rewound into a ball; that gets rid of all the crimping. Thus one sleeve here is noticeably neater than the other.

The cross stitch pattern worked just as well as I hoped, although there was a lot of working out how to centre it and where to start the pattern before knitting began. And the front was assuredly not TV knitting! Silence and solitude were the bywords here. Painstaking note-taking was also vital, so as not to forget where I was up to...

 

The pattern I ended up using was the Simple All Age Raglan Sweater by Elizabeth Lowick, which is a useful one to have, accommodating 15 sizes (really!) from 24" up to a 66" chest. This had the straight sides (didn't want to have to worry about shaping as well as the colourwork...) and raglan lines that I was after. This polo neck I thought would be an easy modification to a crew one - just don't knit as much. Although I wasn't as happy with the sleeves. I'm not nearly as confident changing knitting patterns as I am sewing ones, so even when I found that the sleeve increases seemed to be happening very quickly, I wasn't sure whether I should adjust them or trust the pattern. As it turned out, I probably should have trusted my gut instinct:

 

The sleeves ended up with a really pronounced angle, and really looked awful on (think chicken wings...). I could have unravelled and started them again, but instead I took a very deep breath - several, actually - and researched steeking. Steeking, in my admittedly limited experience, seems to be used mostly for cardigans knitted in the round (especially ones in a detailed pattern). Once the garment is knitted, a sewing machine is used to sew down either side of where the opening will be and then the garment is cut open between the stitching lines. In theory, the stitching stops any unravelling. In theory...

Someone had written that you can't spell "steek" without "eek!", and that's true enough! I tried the jumper on and pinned the arms to the width I preferred. Then I sewed down that pinned line, first in a straight stitch and then a zigzag to be sure. And then to be surer, I overlocked. It seemed to work ok, but it took a little bit of care to ensure the sleeves didn't stretch and ripple along the seam line. The insides of the sleeves aren't nearly as neat as a tidy mattess stitch would have been, but the jumper is wearable now, and that's the point as far as I'm concerned!

So it's not perfect, but I really do love it. It's a garment that - design-wise at least - came out of my own head and was exactly what I wanted it to be. When I wear it, I'm not only reminded of how satisfying making my own clothes is, but also that I can trust my own instincts when it comes to experimenting. You don't get that with RTW!

What's your most satisfying sewing or knitting experiment? Do share!

Complete: Aidez Cardigan

Wow, where did June go?! I didn't realise it had been quite so long since I last posted. I remember after Me Made May last year feeling a bit over computer time too - all those Flickr posts! - and maybe the same thing's happening this time around too. I have been keeping up with other people's posting though - which is inspiring and effortless. 

While I think of it, can I ask a question of those of you who follow blogs through Bloglovin? I've been finding that every now and then BL will stop notifying me of new posts by some of the blogs I follow. I still get a daily (or almost daily) update email, but it seems to randomly omit some, and it's only when it occurs to me I haven't heard anything from so-and-so for a while, and look them up, that I find two/three/four posts I've missed. It's not all the time, nor it always the same blog, and the blogs in question is always still on my list there (ie, BL hasn't unfollowed it), so I'm a bit flummoxed by the whole thing. Has anyone else experienced this? Have I missed something that I should have done? Advice, please!

On to completed projects! I have a feeling that the next several are going to be "catch-up" ones; I'm a bit behind on that front. But that's probably a good thing, because I've been so busy sewing costumes for the school production that I don't have anything brand new anyhow. (On that note, today I made Maria's wedding dress...out of a tablecloth. Hey, if you can have play clothes made of curtains...) 

Here's my latest knitting project, that you may have noticed during May. It's the Aidez Cardigan by Cirilia Rose.  I've done a bit of gift knitting this year (will lump all of them together in a later post sometime) and I did one of these for my niece's birthday in March. Loved it. Wanted to keep it. Didn't. So I made one for me, to fill the wardrobe gap that last year's disastrous Cozy Cardi was supposed to fill and failed to so dismally.

Knits don't seem to photograph well on a hanger, huh?

This is Bendigo Woolen Mill's 12 ply Rustic in Radiant. I love this red. The colour's not a flat solid colour; it's got a lot of depth to it. When you look closely (really closely) it seems to be a mix of scarlet, burgundy, purple, navy ( I think) and a golden yellow. It's got me thinking about dyeing wool once I master spinning (which is not coming to me as easily as I hoped it would...). My mum just gave me a beautiful book of patterns using handspun yarn - with commercial yarn substitute possibilities for those times you give up in disgust - and one green shade I was admiring was apparently reached by blending wool  ( 3/4 of it forest green and 1/4 lime green) with five different shades of mohair - royal blue, dark purple, magenta, bronze and yellow mohair. I'm intrigued by the whole process...

Enough of theory though - here's reality. Aidez has got four different cable patterns, two on the back and two on the fronts, and the larger front one is repeated down the sleeve. The sleeves are raglan, and the front bands (knitted as part of the main front body) extend up to form a higher collar at the back. It's definitely cozy! I'm finding wearing anything with a longer sleeve than a cap underneath it makes me ready to melt. One just for the coldest days or nights - or maybe camping, come to think of it.

I'm always happily surprised by how quickly a project knits up the second time around. Familiarity is a wonderful thing :)

 I LOVE the back cable panel...

You can see how high the back neck is here. The instructions said to cast off and then seam at the end, but I've made other cardigans like that before and have never been really satisfied with the finish. So I kept the stitches on a holder until I was sewing it all together and did a three needle bind off instead. Worked a treat.

The weather's taken an icy turn recently (well, what we in Australia term icy, anyhow!), so this cardi's getting a lot of love. I think next year I want to add an oversized, boyfriend-style jumper into the mix. I've seen a stripe patterned one I really like the look of. It's one that uses two stands of wool at a time though, so quite a lot of yarn is needed for that one. Might have to save up a while, I think!

In the meantime, in obedience to my 2014 goal, I've started work on a colourwork jumper/sweater, and I've upped the ante and designed the colourwork pattern myself. (Well, I've reworked a cross-stitch pattern to suit, so semi-designed.) It's fingering weight (4 ply), not bulky (12 ply), so it's not a quick project. But I think it's going to work out pretty well. Plus, since I'm re-using the yarn, it's redeeming the horror that was my Still Light Tunic.

Speaking of the 2014 goals, I'm not doing too badly:
Ziggi jacket - cut out, though I ran out of time before costume sewing started in earnest.
Shirt? Check.
Tailored pants? Check.
 Blazer? Er, no, but I bought a pattern last week.
 Underwear? Still excited to try, but no actual progress yet.
Spinning? Attempted. Not great at it yet.
Gaining confidence with knit sewing? Hurrah!
Colourwork knitting? See above :)
Wardrobe plan? Definitely written down, although not actually followed....

Did you plan any goals for 2014? How are you going with them?

Now, off to check that Bloglovin hasn't jibbed me out of any posts recently....

Complete: Stripey Jumper

Hello all! I'm back after a week of no internet access - having realised in that time just how much more I use it since I started reading sewing blogs! After this I plan to spend a very happy hour or two catching up on a week's worth of inspiration from all of you :)

Before that though, here's my latest make. It's bit of a departure for me - I usually like my knits chunky and cosy. But I really liked the look of this openwork sweater for warmer, or at least transitional, weather. I found it in a Patons pattern book - another departure actually. I don't usually make yarn-specific patterns either. But I was really drawn to the texture of this yarn, Sorrento. It's a cotton/viscose blend with a boucle kind of texture when it's knitted up. Here 'tis:

Once I got going it was a pretty easy knit; every row is yarn over, purl 2 together, and stripes are a nice way to feel like you're making good progress. But getting going was a pain. I think I started and unravelled this six times. I'd wanted to do it in the round, because in the book's photos the side seams looked a bit sticky-outy. But the pattern kept coming out wrong. Once I'd accepted it wasn't going to be a seamless project and started following directions it actually started working...

I think it's meant to be a bit slouchier in fit than it turned out here, but I'll chalk that up to the fact that I accidentally followed the instructions for one size smaller than I meant to knit. It turned out to be a happy accident though in the end, because after wearing it for a day I can report that this yarn/pattern relaxes quite a lot. I guess that's the cotton content - every cotton jumper I've ever had has done that.

Above is just one of the ways I discovered how not to knit the pattern...

It's not really warm enough for the weather we've been having to wear on its own (well, with singlet!) but I think it's going to lend itself well to layering. Which bodes well for my MMM pledge of trying to combine makes more often! 

I won't be posting daily during May - I'd never be able to keep it up! I think the weekly round up post and a few days at a time on Flickr will be enough to be going on with. 

But in the meantime, I'm off to visit Bloglovin'... 

Talking Gifts...

Not Christmas gifts - unlike many of you inspirational people out there I didn't make a single Christmas present in 2013. No, these are all December / very late November birthday and birth gifts. And they were a nice way to relax during an extremely busy month!

I haven't had a chance to give most of these out yet, but I'll assume that my nephew and nieces aren't reading this... First up, my version of Eva's Hat by Mary Ann Stephens in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. My experience of DB patterns has been a bit mixed, but the yarn itself is glorious!

This is knitted in the round from the bottom up, and then stitches are picked up at the hem to knit a contrast band for the inside, which is then sewn down. This helps the hem to sit flat rather than curling up and hides the strands of the colourwork on the inside. Plus it amps up the cozy factor!

This was my first experience in colourwork (other than stripes, that is) and I loved it. I've been wandering around Pinterest and Ravelry and have a few plans for me.... More on that another time though.

Next up, another Hermione Loves Ron in stashed Rowan Bamboo Soft. I've written about this in a previous version here. Love this pattern. My daughter's hoping there's enough stash left for one more...

Slightly more challenging - finding a hat for a fourteen year old boy. Enter Graham, a slouchy beanie in broken rib. It looks a bit odd lying flat - no hanger appeal there - so I got my boy to try it on for the camera.

It got a thumbs up from him and my twelve-nearly-thirteen year old girl, so I figure I'm on the right track :) Good pattern - AND (drumroll, please) I knit a gauge swatch! Giant leap forward in personal growth, that. I used Cleckheaton Country Naturals (8 ply/DK instead of 10 ply/worsted, so gauge test was unavoidable), which is pretty much my go-to yarn for male knits.

Our friends had a gorgeous baby boy on Christmas Day, so I dug out my Old Faithful Sirdar children's knits pattern book and made my favourite basic V neck. The neck looks small here, I know, but it stretches over a grapefruit with room to spare. (Don't ask.) This was in Bendigo Classic 8 ply, and was actually from stash. Woo hoo!

My brother-in-law- and his partner had a baby boy in late November, and since they live in Darwin there didn't seem to be much point in knitting anything! I hadn't done any quilting for years, and even then it was pretty basic, so I kept this simple too.

The batting (is that what it's called??) is a cotton, so it's really lightweight and breathes nicely. Plus it's not bulky at all, which is a plus since they travel around a lot. It'll probably be more use as a playmat, but it's a good size for that. It's all machine done except for the bound edges at the back. I don't remember ever machine quilting before, and I'm glad this was relatively thin, because it got tricky in the middle there. A few lines show up some uneven stitch lengths, but I'm pretty sure only a proper quilter would notice that. I got a look from my husband when I asked him, so I'll take that as a yes!

It took a bit longer than I thought it would (blind optimism fails me yet again...) but I enjoyed it. I'm not ready to become a regular quilter any time soon - although I'd like someday to make one for our bed - but it made for a nice change. Thank goodness for rotary cutters, though!

I don't often share much outside sewing/knitting ventures, but I hope you don't mind me being a wee bit self-indulgent for a moment and sharing The Best Christmas Present Ever:

Introducing Sasha. We're all in love...

This first post of the year is also my first blogiversary! I thought I'd commemorate it first by saying an enormous and heartfelt thank you to you all. It's been such a rewarding year, and I've loved being part of this amazing online community. Thank you for all your lovely comments, support and encouragement; it's been so appreciated!

I've been going through my small stash as I've been planning projects for this year, and found a few items that, while I still love them, just don't fit in with the plans. So I wondered whether any of these could find a willing home among any of you? A slightly more tangible thank you, perhaps!

Firstly, a Japanese cotton lawn. This is 112cm (44") wide, and 3 metres (ummm...120" - I don't know yards!) long. It's a navy nackground, with a teal-green, lemon and cream print.

Secondly, a cotton (I'm pretty sure) navy gingham, with 2.5cm / 1" squares. This is 118cm /48" wide and there's just over 2 metres in length.

Thirdly, three skeins of Abuelita Baby Merino Lace yarn. Each skein is 420 yards / 384 metres. This, I'm assured, is fingering weight (4 ply) merino not lace weight despite the name. It's beautifully soft, and I was utterly seduced by it when I saw it on sale 2 years ago - so much so that I ignored the fact that I just don't wear this colour.... Your gain, perhaps!

If any of these take your fancy, leave a comment saying which one(s) and your email address so I can contact you. If there's additional interest I'll draw names out of a hat. Or maybe I'll get Sasha to... ;)

Finally, not as a giveaway, but just because I love it and wanted to Show and Tell - look what my sister gave me for Christmas - the most wonderful tape measure I've ever seen! On the back are these fantastic little drawings of the predominant fashion silhouette decade by decade from 1700 to 1990. It's almost too good to use!

Have a wonderful week :)

Danielle oxo

How Do You Define a Fail?

First of all, I just wanted to thank everyone who took the time to comment on my last post; I was so touched by all your kind words.The online sewing community is amazing! Thank you all, it was very much appreciated :)

Lest anyone worry that the compliments may have gone to my head, you can rest assured that you needn't: welcome to my latest fail! I finally finished my poor, neglected Cozy Cardi. After all the high octane wedding sewing it was blissful to sit and knit for a while instead. Here 'tis:

 It's a Cleckheaton pattern, but I've been hunting through Ravelry and can't find any links, sorry. I first saw it in a Cleckheaton book that seemed to be a collection of several earlier booklets of theirs, but found it later in a magazine (which was about a quarter of the price :) ) I loved the colours in the example so didn't change a thing on that score. Although I did use Bendigo Rustic 12 ply instead, because it's one of my favourite bulky yarns, being wonderful quality and almost ridiculously economical. There's also an optional tie / belt:

I really loved the stripe detail, which wasn't complicated to do at all, just 3 rows garter stitch, a row of yarn overs and purl 2 togethers, then 2 more garter. It gave it a wonderful texture overall. And I LOVE a shawl collar - so divinely cozy! I did make a bit of a hash of the buttonholes (including doing an extra one..), but I'll chalk that up to post-wedding catatonia...

My least favourite bit? Weaving in the ends - so many! Below are the offcuts...

So why call it a fail? Well, because when I tried it on it was unwearable! And it's entirely my own fault since I didn't bother knitting a gauge swatch first....Stupid blind optimism.The sleeves actually come down to my knees. Sadly, because I'm so lazy about gauge this isn't the first time this has happened - when my husband tried on the first jumper I ever knitted for him, he said, "I really appreciate all the time you've spent on this, but I've been in tents that are smaller than this..." It was a fair call, honestly!

Depending on how you define "fail", this qualifies. BUT I found a way to salvage it! It now belongs to a dear friend and is very much appreciated. So I guess all's well that ends well, huh?

I've also finished a project that was actually intended to be a gift. A Winter Trails beanie in The Fibre Company's Organik. Another friend has just started a course of chemotherapy, and I thought this might be nice to have on hand for those "can't be bothered" kind of days. Especially since even though it's late November we've hardly had a taste of Spring yet...

I got a bit worried towards the end, but there was just enough yarn in the end, with not quite a metre left. It's the second Winter Trails I've done, and it's amazing how much easier a pattern is the second time around! My camera still seems to bring out cooler tones rather than warmer ones, so the colour here is not quite as it is in real life - it's a soft grey-brown (I've heard that shade called "donkey", I think), called Claystone.

On the sewing front, I've been getting a lot of projects cut out and ready to go (the worst bit!), so that when I get any spare time I can get on with the fun part. Next up is some Festive/Christmas party style sewing...

And in any other spare time that I might find I'll be branching out briefly into quilting! I have a new baby nephew, and since he lives in Darwin I'm not sure he'll be needing much in the way of woollens. So a quilt it will be. A very, very basic one! With turtles and greens and aquas:

Still a long way to go yet, but I've got a month before they travel down for Christmas. Here's hoping it works!

Have a wonderful week :)

Danielle oxo

Some Selfish Knitting

Hello all! Everything on my sewing table is unselfish and unrevealable at the moment (I'm really looking forward to squeezing some sewing for me in soon...) so in the little bit of me-time available in the evenings I've been knitting for me. I'm pretty sure by the time I finish this WIP it'll be too warm to wear until next year - not that you'd think it by the weather today  - but I'm just as sure I'll be gleefully pulling this particular cardi out every Autumn for several decades to come. Don't you just love finding a Perfect Pattern!

I saw this pattern and loved it in a Cleckheaton book (Country Wide? I think that was the name), but it was about $40, and I didn't really crave any other patterns in it. Couldn't justify it! But then about a month later I was flicking through a mag in the newsagency, and there it was! Every other pattern - really, every one  - was...er, lacking in wonderfulness, but at $10 instead of $40 I was willing to ignore that! It's more than I'd usually spend on a pattern, but I really, really love it :) So far I've done the back and one front, and am about halfway through the second front. It's 12 ply wool (think that's classified bulky outside Australia), with 7mm needles so it comes together reasonably quickly. And I'm loving the stripes - it just seems to go that much faster when you have lots of little 'progress markers' like that. :)

Mind you, I had to have a knitting hiatus for a week or so, when I picked up the bag and found a huntsman spider crouching on the pattern book. Lest any one of you who doesn't have huntsmans in your corner of world feel a bit judgy, make a fist. Now imagine finding this, the size of your fist, on your current project. I defy anyone to not feel, if only for a split second, the absolute necessity of moving house immediately. I know they're not dangerous to humans, but still! Couldn't quite bring myself to pick it up for a while...

On a happier note, I thought I'd share my amazing giveaway win from Fabric Tragic! First up, some lovely Christmas fabric. I've got a few ideas I like for the text print, but I love the little bubushkas so much I'm loath to use it for something I'll only see once a year. I've been planning to make some calico bags for fruit and veg shopping, so as to do away with plastic bags, and I love the thought of using this instead. Plus the background (unprinted) part looks like calico, so if I need more bags I can make some calico ones and they'll match nicely. Add it to the To Make List!

Next up some pretty purple cotton and some lovely pillowcases made by Sarah herself. :) No definite inspiration has struck yet, but I'm starting to think of some kind of summery top or blouse for my girl - think it would look gorgeous with white shorts... More thought required. :)

Some burgundy knit fabric - my favourite shade of burgundy, incidentally. I like the idea of a slouchy tee for this. I'm hovering between the Hemlock Tee (although very boxy styles are a bit iffy on me) and Papercut Pattern's Sloppy Josephine Tee (I like the more fitted arms on this). But I already have Style Arc's Rowe Tunic/Top which has been cut out ready to sew since June - I will get to it! - so I might wait to see how that looks on first and then decide. Also, a printed floral cotton that frankly would have been a more than satisfying giveaway all on its own! I just love this. It's a summer dress waiting to happen. Which brings us to...

A pretty much perfect 70s shirtdress pattern. And it's in my size! I'm planning to make it up sleeveless in the floral cotton. Then I'm planning to live in it over summer. There may even be enough left over to squeeze out a skirt too. Happy, happy me! And just look at those light-up knitting needles.... Sigh :)

Now I just need to wind up my Unselfish Sewing so I can get on with some self-indulgence!

What's on your sewing table at the moment?

Danielle oxo