Creating Lace

I have had several requests for more pictures from out trip.  While in Edinburgh we discovered some amazing stuff about Harry Potter.  Now if you are not a Harry Potter fan I am sorry, this may not interest you to much.  Geoff and I are both huge lovers of all things Harry Potter.  If you know anything about the books and the author you know that she lives in Edinburgh.  Our tour guide says that he see her every now and again.  So while Geoff and I were gallivanting through the city we found this coffee shop where she wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone.                                     

When I found this place I got so excited.  We were waiting for our tour of Mary King’s Close.  Down the street from the close was this little monument of this litte dog called Greyfriar’s Bobby (That is another story for anther time).  While heading back to take our tour I looked up at the window of the cafe and just about screamed.  I had passed this cafe 3 times already that day and never noticed it.  So of course after out tour of the close we went and had smoothies there.

We had originally set out for the evening without my camera.  We had an hour before our tour of Mary Kings Close when we decided to book it back to the hotel and retrieve it.  I was weaving us in and out of all these side streets trying to find the quickest way to the hotel when I saw the Hogshead.  I just about screamed again.  I had seen a picture of this somewhere, but did not even know it was in Edinburgh, much less 2 blocks from my hotel.  I was so glad that I was heading back for my camera.

This is the Balmoral Hotel, where J.K. wrote the rest of book 7.  No interesting story about stumbling upon it.  I didn’t even know this until I read this little she about all the Harry Potter stuff in the cafe window.

Once again no interesting story about the read phone booth.  I just thought it would be a great picture for the entry to the ministry of magic.  Upon arriving in Edinburgh I saw all these buses called “The Night Bus”.  Of course the public transportation system was promoting them for a way home after a late night at the bar, but in Harry Potter we all know that the night bus takes you where ever you need to go.  I could kick myself for not getting a picture of the original Night Bus.  Finding the Birth place of all things Harry Potter made our trip even better.

Words can not describe how fortunate Geoff and I were to get to experience a trip of a life time.  I have mentioned before that we were taking a tour of Scotland.  It was amazing.  I learned so much.  Although it will be a while before we can go again, we are already planning where we are going next.  Here are a lot of pictures of our trip.  I would love to be able to share all the pictures I took, but I don’t think wordpress would like it if I posted 649 pictures.

Here is Geoff and I in the West Highlands.  We traveled from one side of the country to the other, and it was amazing to see the landscape change so drastically.

The second day we stopped in a small town called Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond.  There were beautiful flowers everywhere.

Our second hotel was in Glen Coe and was right on this little lake.  The island behind Geoff was a grave sight that belong to the McDonald clan.  It dated back to the 16 or 1700’s.  There was a tree on the island that was in the perfect shape of a cross.

There were bagpipers everywhere.  I just happened to get my picture next to one in Inveraray, and they were loud.

The small town of Tobermory was known for a whisky distillery, and excellent fish and chips.

This is the remains of Urquhart castle on Loch Ness.  Leave me a message is you see Nessie in the back ground.

This is the Ardoe house, one of the hotels we stayed in.  It was the nicest of all the hotels we stayed in. 

The town of Balmoral hosts the queen every year between the end of July through September.  All the stores that the royal family shops at has the coat of arms on them.

Geoff was the only person out of our group of 39 to try to play the bagpipes in front of everyone.  He did very well, and managed to get out a few squeaks. 

This is Glamis castle. It was the childhood home of the late queen mother.  We did not get to see all of the castle because it is still lived in.

Here is my handsome Scotsman in his full golf get up, at the mother of all golf courses St. Andrews.

This is Edinburgh castle.  We went in part of it and saw the crown jewels.  We also saw the dungeons that were interesting.

I thought I would end this little gallery with a picture of Scotland’s national flower, the thistle.

A few months ago I started a new knitting project.  I thought it would look good with some new fabric that I had bought  on sale.  So here is what I finished.

Okay so there was supposed to be a tie instead of a little dongle, but the tie was to bulky.  I found the pattern in the last Creative knitting magazine.  I used  Lion Brand Cotton Ease, and love it for this project.

I love the skirt as well.  The fabric is an Amy Butler print and is nice because it is a heavier cotton.  I inserted my first zipper, which was super easy.  I found the tutorial for that here.  The pattern for the skirt came from Sew U.  It was the first time for me to use the this book, and the instructions were super easy.  I originally planned for the vest and the skirt to go together, but I don’t think that is goes just like I want it to.  That’s okay though, because now I have two new garments to add to my wardrobe.

Amanda said that instead of doing a Friday Fill in she was going to do a “Fill You In”.  So I am going to copy her, kind of.  Last week I spent the week finishing up some sewing, knitting, and cleaning.  This past weekend and this week I had a wonderful time spent with my mom and Charlie.  We had a great time hanging out, shopping, sight seeing, and movie watching.  On Tuesday we spent the day traveling to see the Paradise side of Mt. Rainier. All along the drive there are great stops with views like this everywhere.  I think I saw 3 or 4 water falls.

We stopped once more hoping to see the top of the mountain, but the clouds would not budge.  So instead of praying and wishing that the clouds would move, we found entertainment from feeding this chipmunk.  Evidently he has learned that people will feed him so he ran up to everyone.  He loved the walnuts my mom fed him. His cheeks were so full, and he just kept eating more and more.

Finally we made our way to the top and had a wonderful lunch.  Saw some beautiful views of snowy surrounding mountains.  We left and started our way back, and I took the wrong turn.  Instead of going back the way we came I went down the opposite side of the mountain.  By this single mistake I turned a 4 hour trip into a 6 or 7 hour trip.  Even though I spent pointless time driving we still saw some amazing wildlife, like a bear and a badger. 

So after making our way back up the mountain to get back on our orginal path we rounded a corner to notice that the clouds had given way to this breath taking view.

I never get tired of looking at this site.  Of course it is hidden by clouds most of the time, but when it is nice out and you have a clear view it is amazing.  I can not believe that people can look at this mountain, up close or from miles and miles away and not believe that God exists.  That there are 26 glaciers on this mountain that stands at a little more than 14 thousand feet. 

I had a wonderful time with my family, and am now settling back into to life with just me and my honey.  I am finishing up a couple of creative endeavors, and will have pics soon.  Now I have Christmas on my mind. It is my goal to make as many of my gifts as possible.  I am not going to be in a last minute rush like last year, so today I started my first gift.  Have a great weekend!

A few posts back I mentioned that I am going to be instructing a class at JoAnn’s Crafts and Fabric.  I will be instructing teens how to make a trendy tote.  The people at JoAnn’s picked the pattern.  I had the option of letting the lady in charge make the demo, or I could.  The key was to make it appealing to teens.  I have no idea as to what a teenage girl would like.  So I borrowed a couple to pick the material.  I would have never have picked the material.  It is very girlie and pink.  It is very hard for me to even wear a pink shirt because I feel like a piece of candy.  Now that the bag is made I need to come up with a materials and notions list.  Later on this week I will be attending some classes at JoAnn’s to see how to instruct.  I have never done this before, and to be quite honest am a little nervous about it.  Please pray for me! 

The pattern I will be instructing is here.  I will not be using this bag after the class, so if anyone would like to purchase it, please send me a message.

About 3 weeks ago I wrote a post about a sweater pattern I wanted.  The only problem was it is written in French.  Many of you let suggestions on how to have it translated.  I thought for a moment and asked my winter wonderland coffee swap partner if she spoke french and would be interested in translating the pattern.  She said yes so I proceeded to order material for a thank you gift.  Yes what everyone needs, another knitting bag.

I think it is one of my favorite yet.  The pattern, and the colors, I absolutely love it.  I hope Stephanie likes it too.  Thank you!

Oh, I have 10 balls of Alpaca Silk that are waiting to become my new french sweater.

When my sister came out to see me in October we tried our hand at dying yarn.  I had two skeins and she had one (I had purchased one way before she arrived).  Well we each got a skein wound around the knitty knotty to start dying.  While preparing all the dye, I asked Holly if she would go ahead and get my second skein ready.  I got busy, she got busy, the phone rang, and all I heard was Holly calling my name.  I kept putting her off trying to finish a conversation with a friend and I here her call for help again.  I get to asking Holly what the problem was and all she could go is hold up the biggest knotted mess of yarn you could ever see.  I said “What happened?” She said “I just started unraveling it and it just sort of happened.”  I know some of you must know what it is to look at 400+ yards of knotted yarn.  It is sad and heart breaking.  I started to unravel the knotted mess a little at a time. 

Well Tuesday proved to be a gloomy cold day with nothing to do.  So I turned on the cd player on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and started unraveling.  It took about 3-4 hours but just after lunch I had it finished.  After I had it wrapped tight around my knitty knotty and all tied off I headed for the kitchen cabinets.  I chose to color my yarn with kool aid.  It looked to easy and there was no chance of burning my yarn (again) so I started mixing.

I used grape and strawberry.  I think I should have left them in there a bit longer, and I wished that I had just used one color.  I just see all these beautiful varigated yarn and get carried away thinking I can do that.  It turned out all right. 

I think it will be awhile before I try to dye yarn again.  I might leave that one for the pro’s.  It will definitely save me from having to unravel knotted yarn!

I mentioned a few posts back that I had been wanting to make the Frenchy Bag to take on vacation.  Well last night I finished it.  It is just big enough to hold everything.

The pattern was very easy to follow.  The pattern calls for 2 big pockets, that I turned into 4.  I now have room for everything.   I even installed a magnetic snap that was super easy.  The last thing that I love about this bag is my monogram.

I played on my machine for what seemed like hours trying to figure out the perfect font, and surronding  swirls.  Of course these hours go by really fast due to the fact that I now have all 7 of the Harry Potter books on cd.  I love to listen to them as I sew.  I always remember something that I forgot in the books.  I have 2 more bags I have to finish now.  I have some new stuff I am going to try, and can’t wait to see how it turns out. 

About a month ago I wondered upon this site.  I love how people use old things to become kind of new again.  I thought I should do this.  So every time I put something on that is a little old and a I don’t wear a lot I think what else can I do with this.  So the other day I put on this sweater.  It is a few years old and has had a few little holes in it, but I didn’t want to throw it out. 

I had a vision that this lovely crew neck with a few holes could become a cardigan. First I got some matching thread and stitched up the holes.  Then I took out the scissors.  That was the scary part.  I started to cut and realized that I had to lift the top part off to cut because I was cutting yet another hole in my sweater.  I cut right down the center and then cut the the neck off.  Since the sleeves are rolled up, I decided to shorten them a bit to.  It did unravel a bit so I folded it under sent it through the sewing machine to prevent anymore unraveling.  I looked at it and thought what was I thinking.  It needs something like a decorative edge.  Knitting wouldn’t work, so I broke out my beginners guide to crochet.  I started with just a little crochet around the sleeves and thought it needs more.  Then I found in the back of the book the shell stitch.  That was it, I was sold. 

I absolutely love how it turned out.  The crocheted shell edge it perfect.  I even lined around the fraying edges with some bright material.  (It hides all that fraying).  I can’t wait to wear it, the only bad thing is it is warming up here.  I know I will get some good use out of it on my vacation.  Now I can’t wait to find other projects in my closet to refashion.

Well after finishing this bag, I got an order to make another.  I was not given any specifics, just make it boyish.  So I started searching for material that wasn’t to babyish, but was still cute.  I finally decided on this.

I loved the colors, and the gnomes.  Seeing how the gnome hats were orange, I went with an orange monogram.  I wish I would have chosen a darker orange, but what’s done is done. 

I have to say that it is the best constructed bag that I have made yet.  I have a few more I have to get working on, so until next time!