Chippy Charity Shops

Try saying that title in a hurry. I found some exciting things in a browse round Chippy this week and thought you might like to see them.

Mostly books, as you can see (there's a surprise). The Oxfam Bookshop is particularly good and I nearly always find a treasure or two there. The very first thing I pounced on was this two volume set from Dover.

It's a reprint of a Victorian Needlework Encyclopedia, first published in 1882 and it was only £5 for both books. As you'd expect, there are sections on knitting and crochet, as well as hundreds of different types of needlework. I was pleased to see some tatting had been included ...

... and look at this - Log Cabin patchwork described simply as 'American Patchwork'.

The best part is the supplement which takes up about half of the second volume and is full of engravings of all manner of things 'made or decorated by needlework'. There are lots of work bags and boxes ...

... as well as quite a few things we don't feel the need for nowadays. Anyone fancy a watch stand?

As a keen picnicker, I was rather taken with this luncheon case, decorated with navy blue dress braid.

Lots to explore in these lovely books.

On a more up to date note, I also found another Zakka sewing book.

I believe 'zakka' means 'miscellaneous' in Japanese and the term has become used to describe small things that improve your life (I think that's right, anyway). In sewing terms, this means lots of small projects that are both pretty and useful, ideal for gifts. I love this sort of book and have already found several things I'd like to make from this one.

These little purses use a small crochet doiley for the flap. Isn't that a clever idea?

And you can never have too many shopping bags, especially if they come with a pattern for a little pouch to hold them ...

The Oxfam shop is particularly good for children's picture books and, this time, I found one I'd never seen before.

A Zeal of Zebras is an alphabet of collective nouns and has some very striking illustrations. 

A Down of Rabbits

An Exaltation of Larks

One last book and it's a new addition to my Jane Austen shelf (okay, shelves but who's counting?). 

Now I like gardening and I like Jane Austen so obviously I had to buy this one. As well as some lovely pictures of gardens she knew, it also has information about plants available in her time.

I really must go to visit her house in Chawton again; it's been years since I last went. In the kitchen garden at Chawton they use strings of seashells to keep birds off the tender plants. I do like that idea.

My other two finds in Chippy were this teapot and bowl which were in the same charity shop.

I really like the shiny glaze on the teapot. It's made by Pillivuyt in France, a company I'd not heard of before. Now I just need to knit it its own personal tea cosy as none of my others fit it; the spout is higher than normal for a start and the lid is completely flat.

The bowl is beautiful, isn't it? It's an example of Dragon Pottery from Rhyader in Wales which made china between the 1950s and 1980s.

It's the first piece of Dragon Pottery I've bought. This particular design reminds me of some of the Isle of Wight studio pottery made by Jo Lester which I do collect.

It's the combination of vivid colours, patterns and the quirkiness of the animals that appeals to me. There's also a touch of nostalgia about these for me as my Mum started this collection many years ago on a family holiday on the Isle of Wight in the early 1960s.

These little dishes moved house with us whenever we did and they always make me smile and think of Mum.

Peruvian Purse

I had a lovely day at the Festival of Quilts a few weeks ago. There's always so much inspiration to be had from the quilts on display; I was particularly pleased to see that there was more hand quilting on show this year. There was also a very interesting display of old Baltimore Album quilts from the 1840s and 1850s.

There was a good range of interesting stalls too. I always like seeing different things and found a new to me business selling teddy bear making supplies called Amazing Craft. I must get out my half finished teddy bear and get it done. I've made a few bears over the  years and would really like to get back to it.

I bought a bit of this and a bit of that ...

Lots of buttons, an embroidery book, a coat pattern and some cat fabric. I had to buy the cat fabric as the grey tabby on it looks just a bit like Tolly cat.

I've turned it into a reversible tote bag, using my trusty pattern. 

See the cat with is left paw up in the air? That's exactly how Tolly looks when he's patting at the cat flap, trying to get it to open. Now the cat flap is controlled by the cats' microchips which are in the back of their necks. This means that they have to open it with their heads. My other cat, Linnet, learnt this in about two minutes ... more than two years later and Tolly still sits there patting at it. Really not the brightest of cats.

Amongst the bits and bobs I bought were a few of these intriguing purse clasps.

I found these on the Craft & Cotton stall where they were also selling kits using them. Have a look at their Peruvian Purse kits. I was very taken with these little purses which change shape when they're closed. So, naturally, I bought some clasps and set about designing a knitted version.

As you can see, the top is pulled together when it's closed to give it a triangular shape. It fastens with a magnetic catch to hold the contents securely. I knitted my purses in moss stitch, changing between the three colours every row to give a nice tweedy effect.

If you fancy making one of these, the pattern is free from my ravelry shop. It's easy to knit; the trickiest part is assembling the clasp but I've included lots of photos to help with that.

Now, what else can I find to do to avoid having to work on this year's Christmas pattern? I have actually sketched and planned it all now and I know the order the patterns are going  to be published in. Just the small matter of designing it all to go.

Comfort Knitting

At the moment I'm officially working on my big Christmas pattern series for this year. What I'm actually doing most of the time is playing with colours.

This is a Scheepjes Colour Pack, consisting of 10g balls of each of the 36 colours of their Stone Washed yarn and the 22 River Washed. I hadn't used this yarn before and thought it would be fun to knit squares with all the colours.

I decided to use the Quilted Lattice pattern that I used in my big blanket pattern last year and, after a bit of experimentation, worked out that I could knit a 5" square from each little ball and have just enough yarn left to make a colour peg for future reference.

The two yarn ranges go together well; the Stone Washed has a subtle variegation, a bit like Stylecraft Batik, while the River Washed is more of a solid colour but with a lovely bloom to the yarn. Both yarns are beautifully soft. I'm knitting the squares in order; here's the top row as it came out of the box.

As well as this comfort knitting, I've got some comfort crochet on the go too. I'm working round and round on a huge Granny square, using some lovely shades of Sylecraft Special.

Those colours may look random but it takes a long time to get the perfect balance of random. I'm thouroughly enjoying working on this; it gets dumped into a basket and taken with me whenever I sit outside and is now getting quite big.

Mind you,  a blanket that looks big on your lap doesn't look nearly big enough when you lay it out flat on the floor so I've got a way to go yet. Making this reminds me of my Granny who taught me how to make Granny square blankets like this. I remember sitting with her, working on them together, using up odd lengths of yarns as they came to hand. Happy Memories.