Let there be light!

I saw some great sewing machine lights at the craft show, but thought they were a bit pricey. Plus one was battery operated, the other required a power point. 

I like the idea of some extra light, but would prefer something rechargeable. I thought I might find something suitable at Jaycar, and I finally got there for a look on Saturday. At first when I explained what I was looking for the guy in the store didn't think they had anything- other than battery charger or requiring a power point! But then he said " well we do have this, would it work?"

It is a small detachable light in a beanie (like a headlamp), about the size of a matchbox, but not very thick, and sooo light weight. You can see the size in the last photo, it fits in the 5cm square. 

I stuck a piece of sticky backed Velcro on my, sewing  machine  ( the soft side) and the matching ( prickly) bit to the light. Quick and easy on and off, and the light is do good I didn't even notice the next day when the globe went on the machine!!! ( Talk about perfect timing!)

It cost $20 and recharges in 4 hours in a USB charger, perfect! 

Winter knitting projects

I have been knitting a couple of quick projects lately, with more planned after looking up patterns on Ravelry!
Inspired by " Outlander" and some wonderful creations seen on the "Outlander inspired Costumes" facebook group (  which of course I had to join!)

My First attempt was a very basic garter stitch shawl, starting with 3 stitches, then adding a yarn over after the first knit stitch and again before the last stitch of each row. It made a big long triangle, and it is perfect for keeping my shoulders warm when reading in bed!

The second shawl was knitted using the "scrappy shawl pattern" found via Ravelry. I am fascinated by how adding 2 yarn overs in the middle of each row totally changes the shape.

With the first shawl, you start at the " pointy end" of the triangle and finish at the opposite long side, but with the second even though you start off with only 5 stitches, you are actually knitting the long side and the shaping means you end up at the pointy end! Which is kind of why I had to make one, just to get my head around the pattern - even though it is very basic, but the way it works is very clever!

This one is nice and warm, and can be worn as a bulky scarf. Turns out shawls are a great way to use up left over yarn ( hence the scrappy shawl pattern, there are some great colour combos shown there, using up lots of oddments).  I think I used 4 or 5 colours in the first one ( 2 strands knitted together all the way through), and the blue/ green triangle finished off 3 oddment balls of bulky yarn! 

Strip and flip quilt

I saw a post from 2012 on a blog called " cluckclucksew" when I was looking for quick quilt ideas. This one is not exactly the same ( mine is even more basic!), but uses the idea of  sewing lots of strips together, then trimming a section from the right hand side, flipping it end to end, then sewing  it back on with a  contrast strip in between.

Sewn up in 2 days ( late nights and early mornings!) for a special birthday.