#woolcount

I have just about recovered from Ragnarocking all long weekend as a Viking at the Pagans and Witches event in Coventry.

One of my (many) hobbies is Viking re-enactment - I display drop spinning, weaving, braiding in my girl kit, and now that I have passed my tests, I get to join the warriors in battle in my boy kit!

And thats what I did this weekend. It was Thor-ome.

I wont go into detail, but it was Thorific. Even if I am now limping from a few injuries. Nothing major, just Loki injuries.

Anyhow... I'll be including my viking related crafts and creations on here as and when I'm chipping away at them. To start, my favourite and also second piece of tablet braid, a replica of a find in Birka, and some nice Hedeby braid to trim the cloak the tablet weave is also on.

Did I mention that my girl kit is rich? That baby has bling!

For those who like to see my knitting, I have done Viking knits too:

This is the long boat from Vikings Shields & Axes by Amanda Berry - I tweaked the shields to match my group shield.

I had far too much fun making those tiny shields...

Anyhow, till next post, stay safe!

Roxy the Mischief Maker

Wool Count

Starting total – 790

Wool used – 14 Wool bought – 1 Wool given to me – 7 Wool gifted to others – 5 Wool handspun – 0

I wanted to go for 'Simply Iris-istable' but was corn-cerned you would all go 'what in carnation?' when you saw this was a post about knitted lilys...

Bear with me, thistle be worth the awful puns.

Apologies for the lack of content, I haven't been feeling particularly bouquet, but that's bouquet.

Things are in motion and hopefully my cress levels will drop and I'll be back to my posie-tive self.

On to the knitting!

For mothers day I met up with friends and wanted to gift one with a mothers day present also. I did a little digging and the bud of an idea began to blossom.

Favourite flower: Lily of the valley

Pets: Cats

Problem: Lily of the Valley highly poisonous to cats.

Solution: Knit one!

New problem: No knit patterns, just crochet ones.

New solution: Make my own pattern!

Result:

Not gonna lie, I am head clover heels with how this came out. It was mint to be.

Yes, I am a succa for a good pun.

Let me know if anyone would like me to write this pattern up and post it on here.

Until the next post, I hope you all have a fern-tastic day, and remember, try and be the dandy to someone's lion!

Your budding pun poet, Roxy

Wool Count

Starting total – 790

Wool used – 13 Wool bought – 1 Wool given to me – 5 Wool gifted to others – 5 Wool handspun – 0

Total – 778 (Net difference: -12)

So...I'm not gonna sugar coat it, life shucks a bit at the moment. It has very much been one thing after another, after another, after another. I tend to clam up about my personal life, and that's a trend I intend to continue, but life right now has been very much a fight against the tide.

So its a very good thing that I am surrounded by so many gems of friends. I want to thank them all, in many ways, but that's gonna take time. I have however made one little gift for a friend with some serious pearl-sonality, a real shell-ibrity in my friendship group, who is never shell-fish and always ready with a cuddle and pearl of wisdom.

...

Ok, wisdom is maybe pushing it, but a good little hard earned life lesson or a perfectly timed quip, are gems in their own rights.

So shall we get on to the shell-ibration?

Pattern is Strings of Purls by Jennifer Stafford from the book Domiknitrix, knit in the perfect colours for my friend.

With that, lets end this post on a high (tide) note, rather than the low (tide) note it started on, things will improve. Things will get better. I'm battling the storm at the moment, but there are pearls of laughter which make life shine bright, and pearls do string friends together.

Until next post, stay safe, and find something of your own to shell-ebrate.

Roxy, more a purl girl than a pearl.

Wool Count

Starting total – 790

Wool used – 14 Wool bought – 5 Wool given to me – 15 Wool gifted to others – 11 Wool handspun – 0

(Lets all suspend be-leaf in that its still spring, not Autumn, that bouquet?)

((Oh! Lets go for I’m two seasons early, not late!))

I plant apologise enough for the delay since my last post, I promise I have not frogot that this blog exists, lifes been causing some ripples but hop-fully it will settle soon.

Just deponds on more than I care to admit.

But lets froget about that and focus on toadays post!

For the past few years I have slowly created an array of window display items for the months and seasons, mainly wreaths, but recently, flower displays with a pair of small cat plant holders.

Below is my fern-tastic addition for Spring!

We have daffodils, bluebells, croak-uses and my favorite addition, little frogs!

Yes, I toadally knit frogs purely to make the croak-us pun. Yes, I really am that fruity. No, I frankly don’t care, I’m having pun with funs.

And with that short but sweet post, I will leave you with my winter flower display and maybe next year I will get round to Summer and Autumn.

Your lover of flowers, puns and creatures,

Roxy

Wool Count

Starting total – 790

Wool used – 61 Wool bought – 5 Wool given to me – 16 Wool gifted to others – 11 Wool handspun – 2

Total – 741 (Net difference: -49)

That's very much how this year is feeling - I can't believe its already August!

But lets grab a phoenix down, revive our spirits, and look at a fun collaboration I did with my friend, Timbercat.

He is primarily a cross stitcher, and a while ago I made him a bag to carry all his supplies in. After a while, he wanted a smaller bag to put all the little bits and pieces in to then go into his craft bag.

Following on from watching Rabbie's youtube channels (Miss DaisySewing) episode Using Cross-Stitch to make a Sewing Machine cover, well, we were inspired!

We got the materia ready, he picked the cutest, geekiest cross stitch, and like a Chocobo race, it was done in no time! I took the cross stitch, cast restore on an old shirt of his, got reuse instead, and turned it into a bag.

Unlike a Tonberry, my hopes weren't stabbed to death, and it came out really well!

That's all for today, sorry the puns are a bit light, but I asked a Cactuar for help, but he was pointless.

Your dual wielding jokester and crafter,

Roxy

Wool Count

Starting total – 790

Wool used – 33 Wool bought – 5 Wool given to me – 15 Wool gifted to others – 11 Wool handspun – 2

The heat, or more specifically the humidity, has been doing its best to kill me the last two weeks, but the temperature has finally dropped and I can breathe!

Sweet sweet polluted oxygen!

Moving on...

I have a confection to make, I cant decide what pun theme to use, so I may just mix it up and use quite a few different ones to sweeten the blog post. So buckle in whilst we go on a ride!

Last post I mentioned that I had been spinning some wool, this is very much a hobby I wish I spent more time on. I find it meditative and it leaves me feeling calm and mallow.

Usually I spin undyed fleece, then dye those later. But a few years back I was experimenting with different dyes and, after running out of the spun wool, just dyed the fleece.

These are what I reached for when starting to spin this wool, as I needed that pop of colour, and the more I spun, the happier I was with the result.

Spun, plyed and put into skeins, and to me, it looks like candy floss (cotton candy to our American friends). Couldn't be more sweet on these if I tried.

The project for these has already been picked, but I need to spin a few more hanks of wool in a few different colours before I can start it.

Sucrose, yet so far...

Thats all this post, next one will not be wool related at all, I know, shock horror!

Your sugary sweet crafter,

Roxy

Wool Count

Starting total – 790

Wool used – 26 Wool bought – 5 Wool given to me – 15 Wool gifted to others – 11 Wool handspun – 2

This knit was a light of passage, and I was cutting it shine in regards to finishing it on time.

So, cutting a long story short, I moved department a few years ago, and the boss of the department I first worked at announced that she was pregnant.

She has a little sun in the oven. (And its a sun too, not a daughter).

Anyway, she's from a much warmer country than soggy Britain, and when I had asked in the past what she missed about home, her response was 'the sunshine'.

So with that as inspiration, I knit a baby blanket and matching bootees for the baby once it arrives.

I combined the free knitting pattern 'Corner to Corner Blankie' by Shea Leonard, and added an Oak Leaf Lace edging to it.

Weather or not you're a fan of yellows and oranges, it's definitely a blanket that will brighten your day!

Sorry for the short post, but its as hot as helios today and I am not designed to cope with the heat...and life is still being a bit of an emotional solar coaster.

Was that last pun a step too star?

Nah!

Till next post, go and have some sun, but remember, always wear sunscreen!

Your Star Crazy Crafter,

Roxy

Wool Count

Starting total – 790

Wool used – 22 Wool bought – 5 Wool given to me – 15 Wool gifted to others – 11 Wool handspun – 2

Total – 779 (Net difference: -11)

Life is...intense at the moment.

And that's all I'm saying on that subject.

Lets instead cast a net and reel in some smiles, cause this post is going to get you hook, line and laughter.

Deep in my sole, I genuinely believe everyone should have a fibre related hobby, flex your mussels a bit, engage in mindfulness, be creative, any-fin is possible and at the end, theres a thing. And it doesn't matter if its carp or a turtle disaster, or fin-tastic, its the process.

Both my little minnows are creative. I indulge in it. And if they want to do a thing, I do my best to make it happen. The results can be de-bait-able, but hey, who cares?

And so when Felix held up one of my knitting books, Knits for Kitties by Sara Kellner, and pointed out the pattern 'fish out of water' and gave me a hopeful grin...

She knows how to knit, increase and decrease, but knitting in the round and colour changes are new to her. Took a whole evening, some coaxing, reassurances not to trout herself, and then that gillion dollar smile of 'I made a thing!'. And you betta believe, my grin was twice that of hers.

Inkling wanted to join in, but instead of knitting, he chose the colours for our other cats own fish, and one for a friends pair of cats.

Let minnow which is your favourite!

Tuna in later for another post!

Your e-fish-ient punster,

Roxy

Wool Count

Starting total – 790

Wool used – 21 Wool bought – 5 Wool given to me – 15 Wool gifted to others – 11 Wool handspun – 0