• *Free Digital Resources*
  • About
  • Design Honours

Butlers Abroad

~ Colonising the Colonies one blog at a time…

Butlers Abroad

Category Archives: WOYWW

It’s A Knitting Wednesday For Me

28 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by A Woolly Life in WOYWW

≈ 9 Comments

Short and sweet today as you catch me on the run, but at least I have pretty new socks to run about in!!

 

 

And naturally, the second I had free needles I cast on for the next pair of socks!  This one is called Alluvial Deposits and it’s by the same chap who wrote the pattern for the purple, cabled socks I made towards the end of last year that you all liked so much.  They’re already proving tricksy as I’ve dropped stitches twice and I haven’t even done three rows in pattern yet!!!

As always, head over to Julia’s for all the details on linking up with What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday

21 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by A Woolly Life in WOYWW

≈ 9 Comments

Yet again, the world rotates and here we are, desk hopping once more.  Yes it’s Wednesday, so that means we all head over to Julia’s to see who’s hopping and who ain’t!

This is me this week, it was tidy for about five minutes but then I had cards to make so I messed it up again.  Lots of flowers are out, all from Wild Orchid Crafts, some stick pins, a pile of cleaned clear stamps in the middle, scissors, pokey tool, punch, inks and blender and other assorted accoutrements.  That blue sock is still there, I started to pull it out but all I’m managing to achieve is to make a hole!  My leading yarn hasn’t gotten any longer, it’s sort of unraveling in on itself, most odd.  I’ll keep at it as I already have another pattern in mind for the yarn, it can’t hold out forever!

Short and sweet this week!  Oh and forgive my dust, I’m redecorating the old blog but managed to delete my sidebar so I’m in the process of recreating it again!

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by A Woolly Life in Knitting, WOYWW

≈ 8 Comments

My first time of joining in with WOYWW again in this new year, I would have joined in last week too, only I got to Friday and wondered what the heck happened to Wednesday!  I don’t think last week actually had one to be honest, at least not in my world!  So I’ll try and make up for it this week.  Since you were last here there was Christmas and a birthday so there’s a big pile of schtuff on my desk.  Thank you all for the cards and birthday wishes btw.

All of the new stuff is on the right, there’s Lili of the Valley, Kaisercraft, Penny Black and Crafter’s Companion stamps, Judikins embossing powder and Memory Box dies. A nice little haul that should keep me busy for a while!  On the mat is a card turned the wrong way as it’s a DT piece for Thursday; there’s also a pile of crap, die cut snowflakes, inks, stamps and stamping blocks, scraps of ribbon and paper and some wool.  The brown is left over from the socks I made in a hurry before Christmas for a gift and the blue one is sized for a dwarf, but I ignored what my brain was trying to tell me, it needs to be pulled out!

And as that was a nice little segway into my socky world I’ll show you this, the first half of my first pair of 2015.  A pattern for LLJ methinks as it’s inspired by Mozart and is called Crescendo.

I really love the pattern and I was loving the yarn until it decided to pool on the foot in a rather ugly way!  I still like it though and I’m working on the leg of the second one currently.  I’m also working on a pair of thick mitts for me as the weather is a decidedly chilly -22C (-3F) at the moment, but you know me and socks!  Besides, if I get desperate I can always wear a sock on my hands but I’ll never be able to wear a mitt on my foot!!  And on that note…. I’ll point you in the direction of Julia and bid you adieu!

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

17 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by A Woolly Life in Knitting, WOYWW

≈ 18 Comments

Hello All – It’s been a few weeks since I joined in with Julia, lots to do round here and not a lot of time to get it all done so I had to step away from the computer and blogging for a couple of weeks.  I imagine most of us are in the same boat at the moment though.

Anyway, I have a desk this week, looking a bit neglected I have to say!  There’s a mug of tea in the centre, a couple of newly made birthday cards on top of a box of brads on the left, a tin full of Sickles and sprays and the like, behind that is a sock that’s destined to be pulled out as it’s too small and to the right of that is the Penny Black stamp I made the birthday cards from.  And at the front are a few bits and pieces ready for another card.

ButI do have a few bits of socky love to share too!  Whilst I may not have had much time for blogging in the last few weeks, the socks are easy take along projects, or easy things t pick up in the evening when you have a spare 30 minutes so I’ve got quite a bit done.

I got the complicated Neldoreth socks finished, I’m really glad I persevered as I love how they came out.

 

And here I am wearing them, you can see how the side cable panels join and flow down the foot.

 

And here is my current project, one down, one on the needles.

It’s called Kalajoki after a winding river in Finland where the pattern writer is from.  I’m making them for a gift, to replace the blue one on the desk above that’s too small!  As there are only 18 stitches in pattern and the rest is plain knitting it’s proving a very speedy knit, which is exactly what I need as I’m practically out of time!

Well, this time next week Andrew and I will be up North in a little rented house in Petoskey watching the snow come down.  A different Christmas for us with no sleeping under the Christmas tree, but we’re looking forward to the snow and maybe some skiing too.

If I don’t get to you before Christmas I hope you have a wonderful one and I’ll see you on the other side!

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday ~ 286

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by A Woolly Life in WOYWW

≈ 12 Comments

Wednesday again, and a short week for me this week as I’ll be off work Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving.  With a bit of luck I’ll have some time to visit more of you this week.

On to my desk, in the throes of Christmas on Sunday.

I blogged about the cards that are there on Tuesday of this week.  I had quite a lot going on when I snapped the pic, lots of small packets of bought embellishments are on the desk, what with all the dies and cool supplies we have now I don’t find I use them very much these days.  The light was very bad the whole weekend as we had a big warm up, from -12C to +12C in two days and we had a lot of rain too.  Back to cold again now and our snow either melted or was washed away with the rain!  More where that come from no doubt!

Last Friday a bunch of us from the IT Dept at work went to a local senior centre where we served their Thanksgiving Lunch.  Some other colleagues had been at the centre all Thursday afternoon and prepared and cooked the meal.  I was in charge of helping out three tables of seniors with food (if they couldn’t get to the buffet line themselves), coffee/tea, water, pie and clearing dishes etc.  There were 18 tables in total.  It was a lot of fun but those old peeps ran me ragged for 2 hours, although I did get some hugs at the end!  When we all got back to work, Toyota provided lunch for us as it was also our free Thanksgiving lunch at work and we were missing it by volunteering, but our lovely HR girls made sure we got our turkey lunch too.  It’s something I’m looking forward to doing again next year, both the volunteering and the eating lol!  I’m on the right in the pic, with my arms folded

Off you (turkey) trot!   Many more desks to be viewed over at Julias!

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday – 285

19 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by A Woolly Life in WOYWW

≈ 13 Comments

Hello Peeps – We’re back again for the weekly deskhop with Julia and all her friends.  I was MIA last week, busy, knee deep in stuff, whatever, I don’t recall!!  The weeks are whizzing by in such a blur at the moment, that’s all I know!

My desk this week is from Sunday as it’s been too cold to go in to my room when I get in from work since then, it seems a waste to heat the room when I’m only going to be in it for an hour or so before I get dinner and then spend the rest of the evening downstairs.  And by too cold I mean it’s been well below freezing here the last couple of days (think -12C before wind chill type of temperatures), and we’ve even had a light dusting of snow with the promise of a bit more later this week too.

 

I did get about six Christmas cards made at the weekend and another eight started, I really only need a few more now and I’m done making them.  Next will be the writing of them which is always the hard part!

That’s it for me this week, keeping it short so you can pop around more desks!

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday

05 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by A Woolly Life in Knitting, WOYWW

≈ 10 Comments

Hello All, yes, here we are again!  Since I saw you last we’ve had Halloween and Christmas all rolled in to one as it snowed on October 31st, that’s the earliest we’ve seen snow in the 20 years we’ve been here.  Thankfully it really didn’t stick but it was so cold, it was blowing a gale and as the rain gave way to sleet and ice it just pummeled any bare skin it could find.  My poor cheeks were stinging as we walked around our local town taking in the Halloween festivities!  So it was nice to stay home for the rest of the weekend I can tell you!

My desk this week is from late on Sunday afternoon, our clocks went back last weekend too so it’s now dark really early again.  It had been a nice day and we’d been out raking the leaves and tidying up in the garden for a couple of hours.

I was putting the finishing touches to that LOTV Christmas card that’s in the centre, it was posted here on Monday.  Lots of little tools are out but not much that needs explanation I think.  The Christmas themed box holds my Memory Box papers.

I did find time to work on the socks again though and the Aquaphobia’s are now finished:

And my knitting pupil from last week has finished her fingerless mitts, seemed them up the sides and is now looking for something else to make!  And not a single mistake either, puts me to shame she does, lol!

Finally, when we went in to our local town on Halloween it was to see these, the yearly “Skeletons on Main” event.  I took loads of photos (on the Saturday after Halloween) and I’ll do a whole post about them but I’ll leave you with this as a taster.. Outside the “make your own pottery” shop, yes, the potters wheel scene from Ghost!!

That’s all from me this week, hopefully I’ll get to visit more of you this time round, last week just disappeared in a blur!  And as always, head over to Julia’s if you need instructions on WOYWW.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday ~ 282

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by A Woolly Life in WOYWW

≈ 16 Comments

Hi All – Yes, it’s Wednesday again, scary how quick it comes round, I know we all say it but it’s true!

Here’s my desk this week, if you have no idea why I’m showing you this then head over to Julia’s for all the details and to join in with this fun hop.

I was putting together a card that uses the House Mouse stamp at the back and that big pink bow which came from a box of Christmas chocolates from the other year.  I’d just scored the card using the Scorpal.  There’s also ink and washi tape on the desk, along with a cuppa and a packet of Liquorice Allsorts!  I brought those back from England with me in May of last year!  There were two packets in the box, that’s the second one!  As much as I love them I only have the odd one when I really feel like it.

Way over on the right, on the edge of the picture you can just make out some knitting, the needle is about all you can see.  Last Saturday I took a young Japanese lady from work to JoAnn’s so she could chose yarn and some needles and then it was back to my house for the rest of the day where I taught her how to knit.  As her first project she chose to make simple fingerless gloves in a ribbed pattern that will be seemed up the side, leaving a thumb hole.  I knitted the same thing with some spare yarn and needles for about 10 rows so she could keep looking at mine if she needed to, and that’s what’s on the right on my desk.  I have to say she picked it up incredibly quickly and has finished the first mitt, I just need to show her how to bind off, then she can start the second one.  Despite the language barrier, or possibly because of it, it was a lot of fun and she really enjoyed the day.

Hello Deskers

22 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by A Woolly Life in Knitting, WOYWW

≈ 14 Comments

Desk day again, number 281 I believe.  I bet Julia has all the info at her fingertips, pop on over for the details.  And yes, before you berate me, my desk is even cleaner this week than it was last week, and that’s because I had a tidy up!  I did make some cards, four in fact, but they were of the quick and simple variety that didn’t make any mess.

 

So, cards in the centre, Unity stamps on the left that I was going to use but didn’t, a line of little ink cubes in front of them that will be heading to work with some other bits I’m sorting out for a colleague’s two little daughters that like to craft; a lot of pearls along with a scalpel and tweezers, an old pink wash cloth at the front with a bunch of newly washed clear stamps that now need to be put away and the grey blob to the right is a new Lili of the Valley stamp that I won in their daily candy.

On the sock front, the purple Neldoreth’s from a couple of weeks ago are lagging a bit, it has to be said, I’ve just started the foot of the first sock so they’re not much further than when you saw them last.  But get me, I found an error in the pattern and emailed the designer about it so I’m now a bonafide sock designer test knitter helper type person!  The Aquaphobias I showed you last week are at the heel of the second sock now, and then there’s these, I’ve gone and started another pair, not content with the two I’m currently working on!

And these ones are toe up.  I’m not sure what I think of the technique to be honest, there are some definite advantages and they’re knitting up very quickly, but it feels odd decreasing when I should be increasing and increasing when I should be decreasing!  I’ve been calling them my dyslexic socks!  Still, it might be another string to my bow, or yarn strand to my dpn depending on how you look at it!

I’m a bit late calling in on my last few visitors from lat week, so I’ll be hitting them up first before randomly popping round a few more blogs.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday – 280

15 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by A Woolly Life in Knitting, WOYWW

≈ 14 Comments

It’s the second Wednesday in October folks, only two more left then we’ll be in November, I know, you can always count on me to cheer you up right?

Before I show you my weekly desk…. if you’d like to know more about blocking socks, click here, cause I wrote a post about it last Friday; and if you’d like to see some beautiful Autumn photos from our camping weekend we just had then click here, cause I posted about that on Monday.

So onto the desk:

 

On the right is a box of embossing powders that was in heavy use on card at the back, some punches that should have been put away, some scissors and Glossy Accents.  The pile in the middle is a new stamp storage box from Crafters Companion when they had a sale on last week.  On top of that is a paper pad and some Penny Black stamps to be put away.

And I can’t leave you without a sock!  This one is called Aquaphobia and is a great pattern for heavily variegated yarn, the kind that looks great on the skein but when you get it home you haven’t a clue what to make with it.  You can see some pooling on the ankle so I’m glad that the whole sock didn’t end up like that, the pattern breaks the pooling up generally.

 

That’s all from me this week, head off to Senora Julia for all the details on WOYWW and I’ll see you on the hop!  Oh and I need to mention that I can’t leave a comment for anyone who only allows comments from Google+, but I still do look at your desk.

← Older posts

Copyright

My projects are on this blog as inspiration only. Please don't copy my designs or use them for submitting to competitions or for any form of publications. All designs are my own ideas unless otherwise stated.
January 2023
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Jan    

Archives

Categories

Sign up to make sure you don't miss out on any of my silly little posts!

Join 76 other subscribers

Proud To Be A DT Member For

Mid Week Desk Snooping

Christmas Challenges

Monthly Challenges

Fortnightly Challenges

Saturday Challenges

Blog Stats

  • 71,352 hits

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Butlers Abroad
    • Join 76 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Butlers Abroad
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar