Kitchen Cloths

After some experimentation I think I've found a fool-proof kitchen cloth pattern. Over the last couple of years I've made a selection of cloths for my mother and she has declared this pattern the most effective - and Mum's cloths take lots of punishment so if she says they do their stuff, they do!

I made this pair of green and pink cloths as a gift for a friend.

And this pink cloth for my kitchen. The pattern lends itself well to stripes and the pink cloth is made from a varigated and a solid pink yarn in alternating 2-row stripes. All the cloths are made from Peaches and Cream cotton.

I found the stitch pattern in my Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework.

Woven Stitch - Double crochet stitches worked in single chain spaces.

Unit of 3 ch plus 3

Row 1: miss 2 ch, 1 dc, *1 ch, miss 1 ch, 1 dc*, 2 ch, turn

Row 2: *1 dc in ch sp of previous row, 1 ch*, 1 dc in the turning ch sp, 2 ch, turn

Rep rom Row 2

Happy crocheting and happy cleaning!

Short Row Serenade

After months of crochet on the as-yet-still-unfinished ripple blanket, I've picked up the knitting needles again to work on this Calorimetry as a birthday pressie for a friend. The yarn is Wendy Fusion which I've used before in the red and orange colourway. This time Clare had spare balls of the purple which she kindly distributed amongst the Foyles knitters.

The Calorimetry pattern is worked in short rows which I've realised is one of my favourite knitting techniques - there's something rather magical, I think, in the way straight lines can become three dimensional, just by leaving behind stitches. One of the most satisfying projects I've knitted was the A Capella cape, which is all short rows.

[photo: Leo Bleicher, via Knitty]

Although the picture of the project didn't sing for me, I saw it knitted up and it's wonderful. My Mum is devoted to her purple one and wears it most days during the winter.

I have my eyes on another promising short row project, the Lizard Ridge Throw, also on Knitty.

[photo: Laura Aylor, via Knitty]

Its so gorgeous I can hardly contain myself! Sadly I have exactly one ball of Kureyon in my possession and am without the financial means to acquire the enormous pile the project requires. Oh well, I can always dream!

What I Did on My Bank Holiday

Given that the weather has now returned to regulation overcast it seems like a good time to celebrate the surprise sunshine which blessed the bank holiday weekend.

Miles and I had a lovely weekend filled with cats and family visiting. Mum and Dad's kittens (well actually gangly adolescents now) came to stay with us on Saturday as part of our training programme which will hopefully mean that they can come and stay with us when my parents go away, rather than us having to up sticks to west London for the week. Pip and Agnes are getting very good on the tube (I think they've had 7 journeys on it now) and, thanks to a ballsed up Piccadilly line on Saturday, they've now done one bus ride too.

They seem to like our bedroom the most and the pictures show them not helping me change the duvet.

On the Monday we went round to Miles' brother's to view the bounty of their wedding list which had just been delivered. I was delighted to see that all the linen they'd asked for is blue and goes very well with the quilt that I made for them!

We spent the afternoon playing darts in the garden (so much harder than it looks!) and then Miles and I went blackberry picking with his parents in the wild little woody bit that covers one of the train tunnels.

Yesterday, I got round to cooking up our share of the Bounds Green Blackberry Bounty with some cooking apples and then used the puree to make a charlotte (so tasty we've almost finished it between the two of us!).

On the craft front, I'm plugging away at my ripple crochet blanket. I'd like to finish it by Christmas which should be possible - I think I have about one third done so far. Better get up some speed surfing those ripply waves!

Square Dance

Starting this blog has got me thinking about all the older pieces I've made which I never managed to photograph and catalogue. With this in mind I finally got round to taking some pictures of this granny square blanket I made for my Dad at the end of last summer. He has always enjoyed a little TV watching and/or snooze on the bed tucked up under one of their various crochet blankets. As he was due to start his radiotherapy I thought he would probably be needing more snooze time than normal so I made this blanket.

It is very well travelled having been on a road trip from Virginia to Oklahoma (and back again) with me last summer whilst under construction. I finished it on the plane coming back and got blue fingers from the yarn on the final two rows! It was worked on a 6mm hook with various aran weight Debbie Bliss yarns. Anyway, with Dad's treatment done and dusted (successfully, thank goodness) the blanket has become a well used permanent fixture, and it's now ever so slightly felted as you can see in the pictures.

As I was taking the pictures today some investigative felines appeared: first Agnes...

who was soon followed by the loyal Pip.