What a crop!!

First I must show you the lovely tomatoes my husband has grown.  He was given 2 neglected plants back in June. We had prepared ourselves for green tomato chutney but suddenly last weekend - the 25th November they ripened. It was like a taste of  the summer we never had!!

The latest update on squares knitted for The Big Knitathon has now reached 64 with a little parcel today from Jenny and her friends all the way from Manchester.   At the weekend I will be parceling them all up and posting them off to The Big Issue foundation.

And this has got to be the ultimate in knitted square blankets - we were honored to have a visit from Dorothy and her Debbie Abrahams mystery blanket.  It is absolutely fantastic and beautifully knitted. I particularly like the flags which make up the border. A family heirloom!!

I have been working on something on a much smaller scale - these crocheted stars for our Christmas window. The white ones are made in DMC Natura cotton and the gold one in Twilley's Goldfingering. The Goldfingering comes in gold, silver, green and red and is perfect for making Christmas decorations or knitting in with a plain yarn for extra sparkle. It could be used on a garment too as it is machine washable.

Debbie Abrahams Mystery Blanket Knitters

As an occasional member of the Cafe Nero Knitting group at Hexham, I was invited to join in their Debbie Abrahams Mystery blanket day. What a wonderful day we had on Saturday. Here you can see Debbie's mystery blanket 2009. Knit from individual squares revealed one month at a time , her designs incorporate colour, texture and embellishment with buttons, beads and sequins.
Although I am not knitting the mystery blanket myself I had a great day and Debbie was a great teacher passing on lots of knitting and finishing skills to us. As with lots of crafts, I was taught to knit by my mother and grandmothers and have just really picked things up as I went along. It was wonderful to be taught some skills and techniques by an expert. Here Debbie was showing us how to sew together 2 squares at the side seams with mattress stitch.
And here joining the top and bottom of the squares together with mattress stitch again. The stitching was completely invisible. Debbie travels around the country running knitting workshops as well as designing projects and writing books. Check out her website here.
Then she showed us how to block out the squares so they are perfectly square. This is the bit at the end of a pattern I have never bothered with before - I am in too much of a hurry to put the garment together. But this gave a really professional finish. Her technique didn't involve any ironing so could be used on textured knitting and knitting embellished with beads.
Past mystery blanket knitters brought their blankets and mystery cushions which looked magnificent all together for the group shot. Thanks to Laraine who was our hostess for the day, providing us with the most magnificent lunch.
And in an effort to work off some of the calories from the excesses of the weekend , I went out for a walk by the River Tyne this evening.
After all the rain on Saturday and Sunday it was good to be out in the sunshine again.

Happy quilting and happy knitting too xx