Quiet Over Christmas

I'm going quiet for a while.  Mum was taken into hospital with pneumonia a couple of days ago.  Very, very poorly.  We spend our days and nights with her.

Much love to all of you over Christmas.

Guess What?

Gift Bag with Vintage Button

Guess What?  Once again I forgot to write down what I was doing and although I know this is a slip stitch, I don't know which one.  Will I ever learn?

Slip Stitches Again

Gift Bag in a version of Garter Slip Stitch

Using multiples of 2 + 1 stitches cast on

1st row (right side): Knit
2nd row : Knit
3rd row: K1, *sl 1 purlwise, k1; rep. from * to end.
4th row: K1, *yf, sl 1 purlwise, yb, k1; rep. from * to end.
Rep. these 4 rows.

The trick is in the order of the colour changes.  Options are :
- work rows 1 and 2 in colour A and then 3 and 4 in colour B.
- 2 rows in A, 2 rows in B and 2 rows in C throughout 
- 1 row each in colour A, B, and C throughout

Houndstooth Pattern

A small gift bag in Houndstooth Stitch

Christmas gives me the opportunity to play with my favourite slip stitches, making little knitted items.  This Houndstooth Pattern is very effective and I would like to see it in black and white in a little boxy jacket, Chanel style.

Knitted in two colours
Cast on multiples of 3 stitches in Colour A

1st row (right side) : Using A, k1, *sl 1 purlwise, k2; rep from * to last 2 sts, sl 1 purlwise, k1
2nd row: Using A, purl.
3rd row: Using B, *sl1 purlwise, k2; rep from * to end.
4th row: Using B, purl.

Repeat these 4 rows.

Closeup

Christmas is getting to me a bit

Christmas gift bag in Ribbon Stitch

Ribbon stitch is a favourite slip stitch of mine.  Looks fine in Christmassy colours,  but even better in other colourways.

The Reverse

Bits n' Pieces

Small Christmas Gift Bag

Not a good photo, but this little bag is made in Step Stitch.

Close-up of the button.  I added a pearl to the centre

Christmas bits

Heart-shaped gift bag

Trying to get into a Christmas mood.  I didn't manage it at all last year and in fact I rather like Christmas.  So,  I'm going to work at it.  I've started making little bits and have at last started the shopping, although this consisted mostly of a couple of hours sitting at the computer ordering things on line.  Perhaps I should give in and go into town, but I loathe shopping.

Felt gift bags - colourful

I've done a little sewing for the first time in ages.  Rather enjoyed it.

More heart-shaped gift bags

Watery Lane

Looking West - deep and fast flowing water in winter sun

When I visited St. Leonard's church in Bulford at the weekend I wandered around the old part of the village.  The old village is centred on a splay of chalk streams which run either side of the church. Ancient houses appear among the trees, clustered around the church and nourished by the waters.  In the year 2001 some were flooded, particularly the ones along Watery Lane.  
I wonder how many times this has happened over the centuries.  The name is a bit of a clue.

Looking East - sun at my back

Shallow and serene - clear as glass

A Church Fair

The Parish Church of St. Leonard, Bulford

14th Century tower

For years I have driven past the little church in Bulford wondering what it was like inside.  Sometimes they hold a little fair to raise money for repairs, but I have never had the opportunity to go.  Yesterday, I made it. It was bustling with people, the centre of a community.  

The kind Church Warden left her raffle stall to find me a printed leaflet which is a copy of an architectural survey written in June 1900.  It tells that the church must be early 12th century and that it has been altered greatly over the years.

The tower was once much higher, but probably due to faulty foundations only the base remains.  Somehow it's much more endearing that way.

The little church fair was very busy and I couldn't stand still too long inside the building, or take photographs, but one feature stood out.  A partly exposed medieval wall painting, very faint.  So faint that I couldn't see what it represented and I was told that it had been covered up by the puritans, (them again).  The community cannot afford to have the whole piece restored, so it stays under the plaster.  One day.

Showing signs of  many alterations over the years

The main doorway is in the tower
Children's bikes outside - a much loved  building - still busy

Quote from the front of the little leaflet. 

"The care of this ancient sanctuary falls on the parishioners.  It is a 'labour of love' to preserve and beautify it for this and future generations".