What’s On

So for this feature we will be looking at what is on. But not just the calendar, which seems to fill up of it’s own accord in the run up to Christmas. We are looking at what we have on the sewing table, the hooks and the needles.

The classes here at Woodview are ending shortly for the Christmas break, but so much has been accomplished in both our Monday and Thursday evenings  and from what has been said there are still little bits to finish up before the holidays begin. But if you are a crafter then there are always little things that you can find to do! Or even start a new project. Do keep an eye on our website calendar as we will be updating it with different events and letting you know when the classes will be restarting in the new year.

So what are Charlene and I  doing? Finishing off projects and starting new ones and that is what we would like to tell you about. Not to boast but to let you all know that we are all the same: trying to cram that last little project in.

Although, Charlene seems to have found more hours in the day than I thought possible because as well as running the shop, her home and family, she is crocheting soap squares for the girls at Knitted Knockers and making her daughter a cape for Christmas.

She says the soap squares are an easy wee thing to knock up and like everything from Knitted Knockers they will help and benefit women going through Breast Cancer and more directly after the surgery of a mastectomy. Crocheted in cotton with a bar of soap inside they help patients to massage the area after surgery and they are also safe in the knowledge that by massaging at the same time as washing they are getting clean and helping with circulation.

We recommend that you follow our link to Joanne’s Facebook page and get the patterns directly from her. There are many more patterns beside the one that Charlene is doing, so if crocheting is not your thing then you can ask her for either of the knitting patterns or even the sewing pattern for the heart cushion. https://www.facebook.com/knittedknockersofni/?fref=ts will take you directly to her page and then you can message her from there. I know she will be happy to help and the more the merrier.

Charlene’s other project is a cape for Miss Rosie. Now every girl has to have that special outfit for Christmas and beyond and she has been bought  a beautiful dress and now all it needs is that finishing touch.  The cape is a simple pattern from the book that accompanied the third series of the Great British Sewing Bee, but as we all know the devil is in the detail. As the main fabric, Charlene has picked one of the new wool blend fabrics from the dressmaking range here in Elizabeth Rose, but for something a little different has opted for a peach cotton as the lining. That little flash of something different

Now I find myself  knitting a dress for my daughter! and hoping to have my first  advent calendar finished. I usually knit jumpers at this time of year: a real Molly Weasley if you will, but the dress looked like a simple pattern so I thought I would give it a go. Now as I sat down to read the pattern, everything looked to be great until I realised that it did something that I have never done before – knitted from the collar down.

Like all knitters I have read about yoke down clothes but until now I had avoided them. And I don’t know why I did. The dress has come to life before my eyes and as the bottom of it is knitted in the round there are no seams! Yay! I hate darning in all those threads from sewing up. I have chosen a winter white wool with a few flecks of colour in it but it also has a hint of glitter so hopefully she will shimmer when she wears it. Then again she is only 2 so I will have to take a picture quickly!

My other project is an advent calendar for part of our family Christmas decorations. Again this year seems to be my year of firsts and I am attempting my first bit of quilting. I got the advent calendar panel here at Elizabeth Rose at the Sew Saturday event and it has been looking at me ever since. But as with any project the first hurdle is finding the time to sit down and tackle it.

Armed with scissors, enough pins to rival a cactus and my thread, I have all the pieces cut out and pinned together and some tacking done too. Now my biggest decision is whether my hand sewing is what it used to be or do I grab the machine out of it’s bag and get going.

Charlene and I promise that we will add photos of all these projects as we get them finished, but for now we will get back to our needles, pins and hooks. If you need any help with projects or inspiration for a new one then call in. The welcome will be warmer than it is outside anyway.

Sx