A Rather Hooky Ta~Dahhhhhhhhhh!

It's finished!!


At long last, my Japanese Flower Scarf is completed!  I finished it last week but the weather has been so drab and grey here for days on end it has been difficult to photograph it.  Anyway, today the fog cleared for a few glorious hours and I managed to take a few pictures for you.  It was made from remnant balls of wool that were left over from my Rainbow Ripple Blanket; it's mostly Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK with the odd bit of aran here and there.  It's lovely and soft, and surprisingly warm, what with all those holes!

It's a feast of colour...

...I am smitten!


And I am also pleased to share with you that my other scarf, my Stripy Rainbow Bliss one is also completed.  I spent a long while the other afternoon sewing in all the ends; you may recall me not so long ago sharing some WIP photographs with you:

To be fair, it doesn't look that much different now it's actually finished off properly, it's just a little bit longer than it was.

I'm well and truly kitted out for the cold weather now, lots of soft warm woolly goodness to wrap around myself...I'm actually kind of looking forward to the colder days now so I have an excuse to wear them!


And of course with two projects done and dusted, it doesn't stop there.  I have embarked on another Japanese Flower shawl! There is something so lovely and cosy about shawls and I've developed a bit of a need for them around the house; they're so practical and yet so comforting.  I trawled the internet for a while, looking for another pattern but something kept on bringing me back to the Japanese Flower one.  It's so easy, so quick...and it wasn't long before I remembered something Vanessa did here.  I was all fired up with enthusiasm for this idea and before too long made an excuse to visit my local yarn emporium (aka John Lewis).  I came home very happy with a brand new yarn stash...isn't that one of life's little pleasures?  No, it's actually a Great Big One.

And so here are my colours ~ a dark peaty grey, a vanilla cream and soft purpley heather shade.  The wool is a gorgeously soft, chunky merino by Wendy.  I'm rather glad it wasn't super expensive either as it seems to disappear quite fast (it been made on a No.6 hook).  I haven't used this particular brand before but I'm quite happy with it so far, and the shawl (due to the thickness of the wool) is growing at a satisfying speed!

It's been a pretty creative time here this week what with all this hookyness and my on-going purges of decluttering.  In the middle of said decluttering a favourite painting was rediscovered.  Tucked away for safe keeping during our decorating renovations a couple of years back I had actually (believe it or not) forgotten all about it!  It's an acrylic painting on a box canvas, and goes by the name of Yorkshire Snow:

I am wondering if it may make a rather nice Christmas Card, as an alternative to the illustrative ones I have on sale...?  

...I could perhaps temporarily re-name it, to make it more appealing to everyone...maybe 'Winter Snow' instead of 'Yorkshire Snow' - what do you think?

And it may also work rather well as a print.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

Anyway, I've just noticed that I shouldn't be here - I need to be getting my bod off to Zumba!!  Thanks so much for popping in to see me! 


Sending love to you


Julia x x x