Flutterby Patch

One things leads to another

I don't know whether its the grey skies of winter, or a sudden burst of energy after Christmas, but January is a month I often find myself having the urge to freshen up the house and do a bit of decorating and DIY. At the end of last week I emptied the contents of a crockery cupboard in the kitchen so that I could give everything a good wash.

I've always been an avid collector of blue and white china. I mix and match all shapes, sizes and patterns and no piece ever seems to clash with its neighbour. I love it.

When the sparkling crockery was back in the clean cupboard the kitchen curtains were next for the freshening-up process. I've always been fond of these curtains with their warm creamy background, scrumptious pink roses and sprays of pale blue lilac. Into the washing machine they went.

But what a nasty shock I got when the washing cycle had finished. Mysteriously most of the darker pink roses had developed gaping holes in their centres. As you can see from the picture the fabric was ruined and beyond repair. I remain mystified as to why this damage should have occurred only on the darker pink roses. These curtains have been washed several times before with no damage at all. (Does anyone out there have any ideas?)

In typical 'flutterby' fashion I had gone from crockery, to damaged curtains in one morning and was now thinking that new curtains were essential and with them the possibility of a new kitchen colour scheme. Out came the paint shade cards and the usual inspiring magazines. No more cleaning for me, I spent a happy afternoon and evening looking at pictures of beautiful kitchens and making plans.

Along the way I fell in love with this picture of pretty bed linen in shades of aqua with pink roses. I love this combination and kept returning for another look. But hey! I was supposed to be looking for kitchen inspiration not ideas for bedrooms.

Oh dear! I have a confession to make. I have succumbed to temptation. On the following day, during my search for curtain fabric, I found myself in the local Laura Ashley shop. In a corner of the shop was a room setting that had a bed with linen in the same delicate shades of aqua and pink that I had admired the day before. I immediately fell in love with the quilted bedspread. In the end of season sale it was reduced from £80 to £31, can you believe that? It was a bargain too good to miss.

The sale at Laura Ashley has some remarkable reductions at the moment. So with the 'country kitchen look' uppermost in my mind I headed for the stands of curtain fabric. I was immediately attracted to this woven gingham in just the right shade of pale blue. It was reduced from £14 per metre to £7... wonderful. So now I have some curtains to make.

The kitchen walls are going to get a fresh coat of paint before the new curtains go up and I'm going to renovate this little spice cupboard ready to hang on the wall. I shall paint it and perhaps give it an 'aged' look but can't decide which colour to choose. So its back to the shade cards and the magazines for more inspiration. What fun!

Until next time

Eli

Woolly pencils

Don't you just love coloured pencil crayons?

I have a polished wooden box containing 72 different shades and it excites me just to look at them.

New crayons were always a gift to be treasured when I was young and I still have an old box containing the much used remnants of my crayoning childhood.

My pencil crayons and a colouring book kept me busy for hours.

These days my creative colouring is often done with knitting yarn so I decided to marry the two and experiment with knitting a pencil crayon.

First I made a blue one.

Then I made green and magenta ones. If you'd like to give it a go here is what you do...

DK yarn and 2.25 mm needles (US size 1). Stocking stitch throughout. The knitted fabric should be quite firm as you don't want a lot of stretch.

Choose your colour and cast on 9 stitches. Knit to the required length (I did 20 rows). Change to beige (wood colour). Knit 1 row then knit 2 together at the start of the next 4 rows (5 stitches remain). Change to main colour and knit one row. Remove stitches onto a sewing needle and gather tightly. Roll the knitted piece to create a pencil and ensure all the loose ends are tucked inside. Stitch to close. Make the pointed (sharpened) end as 'pointy' as you can. To knit a fatter pencil simply cast on more stitches and knit more rows, its as simple as that. Perhaps a child's old hand knitted sweater could be cheered up with the addition of a few knitted pencils in bright shades! 

Pencil Cosy
This was an after thought and I think it could catch on!


The previous pattern (nine stitches on 2.25 mm needles) will create a tiny tube that perfectly fits a standard pencil. The cast off edge is at the top. Finished with 2 rows of garter stitch. You should weave in the loose ends then wrap the knitted piece round the pencil which makes it easier to stitch the seam and close the bottom. A few beads and a woolly tassel produce the finishing touches. Little girls will love these pencil cosies and they'd make cute little gifts for their friends. (Warning... As the cosies will invariably be placed on the 'writing end' they could become very stained if fitted on fibre tipped pens and ball point pens and that would be a shame! )

Making a little woolly tassel like mine is easy but I'd like you to go over to Down the Rabbit Hole where my blogging chum Selia has created some extra ordinarily beautiful and unusual tassels.

Selia recently gave me this 'Marie Antoinette Award for Inspiration' for which my humble thanks Selia, I will pass it on to others in due course.

Mice and a dusting of snow

We awoke to snow this morning which meant my day could be spent indoors keeping cosy and warm... Hurrah!

I thought this little line of white mice and snowflakes was just right for today. The mouse pattern repeats every eight stitches, the snowflakes every six so its easy to knit and floats on the back are kept short.

I haven't added colour to the chart as it makes it easier to follow.

Yes, I did say we'd had overnight snow... Here it is!!!!!!!

It had all melted by mid afternoon!