Summer Funk!

The past few weeks have been notable only by my lack of weaving! I’ve found every excuse under the sun to avoid the loom! Even our lack of sunshine hasn’t kept me weaving. Our ‘summer that never was’ has had me dragging around in a funk!


Our family has been following ‘Le Tour de France’ avidly for the past three weeks and sitting glued to the DVR for 4 hours a day has sadly encroached on my productivity. I can’t believe how invested I became in the 3000 km bike race around France. I must admit that the aerial shots of all the Chateau and Churches has really whetted my appetite and has managed to really fire me up for our September in France.


Boys in spandex notwithstanding I did manage to knit quite a few of these sweet seed bead necklaces while glued to the telly.
I’ve knit the pendant necklaces in three different styles which are directly from Louisa Chadwick’s’ pattern book. My only contribution is my colour choices, gauge and finishing embellishments. They are amazingly fun to knit and end up being about 3 inches in length – soooo tiny for having more than 1000 seed beads in each!
This is the beginners’ pattern and it is the easiest to knit as the increments are easy to remember. This pattern is very much like the first but has a more tailored look.
This pattern is by far my favourite and is definitely the one you have to pay the most attention to while knitting. I love the diamonds!

I was asked recently how my Vogue blouse turned out and…..even though I had to pack everything up and put it all away several times, I have managed to complete the white cotton version. I rarely sample while weaving, but sewing is another matter entirely – this is my sample blouse in 100% cotton. I am a petite size so I had to alter every piece to fit, thankfully it all worked out! I can’t believe how much sewing and unpicking I did! It seems that if there were two ways to read the pattern I always chose the gauche! The pattern is very well laid out, but I over analyzed the collar to the point that I was ready to toss the whole thing. When I just followed the directions, it worked out just fine. I am now an expert in flat felled seams!Regardless of the lack of sun our garden is doing amazingly well. We are already dining very well on peas, beans, cucumbers, herbs and the inevitable zucchini. We have 64 tomato plants in 16 varieties that have set fruit and just need some serious sun to get sweet and plump.

I have the loom loaded up and waiting to go and hopefully I will have something on topic next time.