Memories and Aching Bones

The only wedding pic I am allowed to show you until the bride and groom return from honeymoon.
We had a family party the night before the wedding as family had travelled many miles for this event and the joining of 2 families is importrant and the party was great the weather good the food good –thanks to my mil Cindy who I could not have done it without her,and she made the wedding cake -! so a couple of piccies from there showing my brother and sister(aren’t they good looking dudes)who had not met before the party for 16 years when we buried my Mother,the other a kitchen shot (most good parties start and stop in the kitchen ) of Cindy my mil,Bart my brother and Kath one of my longest ever friends hahah( she rescued me in a snow storm when I was pregnant with my son 29 years ago).

But back to reality now and what can I say! my back aches, my knees scream,and my hips feel like they are singing at me but apart from that I am fine, as fine as someone moving at my age can be.
There are so many casualties of this move, tons of yarn- I really felt it was a competition as I made each hank or ball of yarn justify its existence in my stash some did not make it and the load got lighter –the next day round 2 and it started all over again and more casualties until I had reduced the stash. It is amazing how focusing on justification gets rid of so much we cling on to.
I have cleared my studio and apart from feeling sick and crying when 2 of my vintage sewing machines left home I am doing ok I think.The plants in my garden I will mourn over and wonder how they will do –pathetic really but the cherry blossom each April is awesome and the first taste of my own plums is something else.The frogs in the pond and all the birds I will miss, wonder if my baby robins will follow me.
I know there are horrid things happening in the world but I never wanted to move again and here I am off again.How I envy folk who have lived places for 30 or 40 years .The longest I have managed to be in 1 place was the childrens childhood home and I did 17 years there and leaving it nearly killed me and have not settled since really.I have my beautiful Teasdale home where my bones will rest when I am older.
Back to this move and more looking forward ,the new village is lovely the new garden is looking good and I love my home and am ready to make some good memories.My new lounge looks out over the main part of the garden and again my dreaming table (I call it that because as I sit to write or create I dream the day away gazing outside )has a great view so cannot see the new book getting finished very quickly.
I am not hanging onto anything any more that is not functional and needed by me now right now or so beautiful I cannot face the day without it,
So once again new beginnings to face and changes to cope with, lots to do, lots to learn, and lots to look forward to.
I am so happy for my daughter and her new hubby and I adore my new sil but I am so going to miss her and she will be living even further away from me but as you will see when I post some more piccies no-one could be happier, she oozes happiness and I never saw her look more beautiful apart from the 1st day I ever looked into her face. I was honoured to design and make her dress,and tiarra and bag I enjoyed every hour I spent doing them and very proud when I saw her ready for her big day ‘Thank you Emma for giving me that opportunity I will never forget it ‘.
Moving date looms and there is still fabric to sort, knitting needles to sort,views to say goodbye to and more than likely hundreds of decisions still to make,but they will be made, I salute the future.To any of my blog readers who are also moving –good luck !!!check out http://feltingfibres.wordpress.com for news on latest felting classes to be held at Viking Loom York in November

phew !

Well the wedding is over and bride and groom are still away on honeymoon,so much for 2 weeks qiuet and peace and time to gain order in my brain,no not to be! I have to move house in the next 2 weeks and pack up my beloved studio.I am not messy but have a very busy work space and I have just learnt where everything is from moving 6 years ago.
I taught in York on Tuesday and we had greta fun at Viking Loom and many thanks to those who came and especially the ladies who travelled from Ireland to take part –reminded me how much fun I had the last time I was in Ireland apart from Dublin Airport–remember! they took my needles from my lace knitting,how could anyone do that beats understanding.
I am pleased to announce that very soon the 1st Chrissie Day Wire Jewelry kits will be launched and produced and distributed by Viking Loom, this is a new venture and both Viking Loom and myself are excited by the prospect of working together on this project.Watch this sace for the launch.
I have the dates for my craft cruise now and will be sailing away in July next year to Scandinavia and Russia sharing the teaching with Chris Bylisma another exciting venture.
The next news is the launch of templates to buy for felting and also felting kits, again watch here for dates and lists of suppliers.
Wire classes happening again in York on 5th October and the 1st felting workshop on the 9th November where we will do a fabnulous bag contact Viking Loom for details .
Well back to my packing and sifting and sorting it is all so exciting and the village I am moving to is so lovely and has I have been told a good pub with great food.Leave for Oslo soon as well so must get going or I may be left behind .Trying very hard to find myself a good agent who can help me with life as a craft author

I know

I do watch ‘Britain has got talent ‘ and after today I know what Simon Cowell feels like when he sees real talent. Today I have been priveleged to spend the day with a group of very dedicated talented creative ladies who take yarn and fibre craft to better heights and make me really want to stay in this world even when I get disillusioned. Where was I ? I was a guest of Janet over at the Threshing Barn http:www.threshingbarn.com and we had fun and learnt new things .

What did I learn ?–I learnt an important lesson that outside of the world of publishers and magazine editors the crafter is there ,the honest crafter who just wants to share and learn  and grow, they inspired me with the skills they had and the passion for fibre.

The whole shop is a wonder world of products for your chosen craft, samples galore to inspire you to try them, and a book selection better than Waterstones craft section.  

Janet is passionate, hard working and so generous with knowledge that if you live in England and do not go there at least once a year you are missing out big time .

I hope I go back, it will be a privelege to teach there again, I will be back to shop and buy some of the fibres and silks that Janet dyes, the yarn she cards and spins, and maybe I will get to see a 1 minute old chick again  which was awesome .

So I was so happy coming home and Lent is over so went to Ikea and bought some Dime bars which I love, along with a host of other bits I obviously feel I cannot live without including the best peeler in the world .

My darling husband cooked my dinner for me and rounded off a perfect day which started with me seeing my daughter and son in law to be before I left home and ended with a good meal and my blog —’Goodnight crafters wherever you are, ‘Threshing Barn Ladies thank you.

felted slippers

Oh sometimes I wish I had never knit any felted shoes,slippers, shoes, etc the hunt is on again and it always shows in the stats the trawl for my patterns all over . Patterns which are free are on the download pages here and in Ravelry and those which I charge for are available through the proper channels and stores which stock me .I now have a fabulous American editor to do all the pattern checking and writing which also helps with copyright and documentation needed.

It is enough to put you off knitting but every designer goes through this I hear, so I persevere and try to stay optimistic. well to a more cheerful note I have just finished all the felting tests on a brilliant felting yarn more to come on this –it really is worth looking hard for the best yarn that will not lose its colour as you machine boil your knit to felt projects ,and will not pill up and ruin your knit effects .

  I find Louet loses colour as does the ‘Knit 4 fun’ yarn –this used to be good as I used it in my first felting book not happy now with the colour tests .   Oh bring back Maya .

Cashmere and Silk

 

Emma Rose christening shoes and top

Well Easter Sunday brings the christening of Emma Rose friend of Miss Holly who wore shoes created by me for her christening and now Emma Rose has had an outfit of cashmere and silk, cardigan and shoes made by me

The shoes are from my latest book Socks by Chrissie Day published by GMC and available form my website http://www.chrissieday.co.uk

 

want to purchase finished items then head on over to http://folksy.com/shops/Knittingnotetimes

good day

My future son in law is home safe on UK soil the birds are singing I feel good .

House Shoes

Tyes and bows

duo bow

checkers

summer florals

With all the rage over the felt pumps and all your great commentsdecided to design some nonfelted house shoes for you to enjoy over summer .These can be purchased over on the web site early next week http://www.chrissieday.co.ukbut in the meantime here are some images to whet your appetite.Let me remind those who have no scruples images from this site are tracked so please do not copy.

Decided to give these slippers as free pattern enjoy (copyright still applies)

download here knitted-slipper-pumps

New Books ‘Cafetierre Covers for Cozy Coffee Times’by Chrissie Day

Busy busy busy decided I have enough knowledge to go self publishing now and employ my own editor and photographer,it has to be more satisfying having total control and not getting ripped off.
Done socks and hot water bottle covers for GMC and what I am doing next is Cafetierre Covers which will as I said be self published and for sale online so watch this space.
Spent the last 6 months putting it all together so happy knitting time coming and pattern writing.
So for all coffee lovers who want to knit, the book is on the way .

winter wonderland from my studio

look at these snowy images from only 10 days ago the light was so lovely and wonderful to work in, DECIDED I have light deprivation 90% of the time after experiencing this .It is nearly 20 years since I saw snow like this at home all it did was remind me just how much I love the snow .Inspiration for a ‘white series ‘ maybe right through from beading to stitching to felting hmmm

New Themes

Uploaded  the new them Vigilance on my stitching felting blog –come over and visit http://feltingfibres.wordpress.com really like it but the white rabbit was a shock still do not know what it was about –seemed to lose my banner pic but can upload it again