Family Life with Wool

We weren’t really expecting him back at the beginning of February and his arrival has coincided with a 3 week visit by my 89 year old father. Here’s dad looking nowhere near 89! I hope I look this good at his age.
So, as you can imagine, my family life has rather taken over at the moment (which is, of course, totally ok and right). But it does mean I am not crafting at my usual hectic pace.

But I had to put the knitting on hold earlier this week, as I got a turn on the panel. This is The Great Tapestry of Scotland project that I am involved in.
I have been working on the woman’s hair. As she is a woman from 8500 BC I thought her hair would probably be quite tangled and matted (no products available then!). So I tackled this by couching 2 threads (of dark brown) at a time until the whole hair area was covered. I then couched a single strand of dark grey or chestnut brown over the top, and completed the look with large cross stitches and bullion knots.

This was a quick way of covering an area and I hope I can use it again on another subject, like the dog/wolf on the other side of the panel. You can read more about the Tapestry Project and see the whole panel here. Also they now have a facebook page which has about 200 photos of all the panels in progress – really worth a look!

It’s all wool this week!
I know I should be making African Flowers to finish my blanket (one of my items in the QAL), but instead I am making them for a new project *blushes*.
I have chosen a limited palette (for me!) of 11 shades of gorgeous Rooster Almerino DK to work on something I hope to show you soon.

Meanwhile let’s look at something amazing made by someone who actually finishes things!
This incredible crocheted lampshade was made by Amanda of Amanda Makes blog. She bought all the Rooster wool from our website along with some of our sale fabric (which she also used for a lampshade – see her blog).

I think this is one of the most beautiful lampshades I have ever seen and wanted to share it with you. Thanks for letting me Amanda!
One more thing – you still have a few hours left to enter my Notting Hill Giveaway!