Rain, rain go away...

This week has been a bitty one: it poured with rain all day on Monday and Tuesday (making the school runs super-fun), and today it's blowing a gale. Tomorrow my son's school is shut for the general election,* so we're totally out of routine, and it's all a bit chaotic, but I'm sure we'll survive.

I spent this morning at soft play (it's too windy to play outside today) with my latest project and my latest read. The project is a commission, so this is all you're getting: some beautifully soft Merino DK from Yarn Stories.** The book is Love At First Stitch by Tilly Walnes, which I've been wanting to get a copy of for ages!

The cute bookmark that came with my book order

It was my birthday a couple of months ago and I got a book token from my mum, which is a huge treat as far as I'm concerned. I love getting book tokens as they give me an excuse to browse in book shops. I have visited a couple of book shops since my birthday, but none of them had Tilly Walnes' book, which was what I was thinking of buying. I was about to give up and buy it online from Amazon (I had Amazon vouchers too, but I had mentally assigned those to new shoes), when it occurred to me to check whether you can use book tokens online and it turns out you can, hooray! So I ordered a copy, which arrived last week, and took it out with me this morning to browse while I knitted.

 

I really had planned only to have a bit of a look at the pattern pictures, and make a mental to do list from the book, but I started reading the introduction and got hooked. I've read the first 50 or so pages, and even though I've been sewing for years I've picked up a few hints and tips (such as securing the end of the stitching on a dart by hand-tying a double knot rather than by reverse-stitching; and using shorter stitches when navigating curves), so I'm looking forward to reading the rest, and might even make a few projects from it - I might start with the Margot pyjama bottoms.

Lovely tutorial photos

I have been itching to do some sewing this week, and at the weekend I bought a magazine aimed at beginner sewists as I liked the patterns that come with it. There's also a tutorial inside to make a children's dress out of a t-shirt and a long strip of fabric (the tutorial was originally from Make it, Own it, Love it by Matt Chapple). My daughter has plenty of dresses in a similar style in her wardrobe and she wears them a lot, so this afternoon I bought a couple of plain t-shirts from Asda's school range to turn into cute summer dresses. Hopefully I'll get at least one stitched this weekend.

Cute dress idea! I might switch the skirt to a gathered one rather than pleats

Having read this, you may wonder how I'm getting on with the project and book I shared last week for Yarning Along? Well, I have managed about 50 pages of the book, and I am enjoying it, but not as much as Kate Morton's other books, I have no idea why as the styles are very similar. Maybe it's something as simple as the book being a rather heavy hardback? I have finished the first pink striped sock though, and promptly stole the needle for another project. I have added another 2 mm circular to my Love Knitting** basket, and I'll probably place an order tonight so I can work on both projects at the same time - I seem to be lacking vanilla knitting at the minute.

As ever, linking up with Rachel for Yarning Along. Head over to her post to see posts from other bloggers on crafting and reading. Happy crafting.

*If you live in the UK and are registered to vote, go and vote; whatever you may think, your vote does count and you should make your voice heard.

 

**Affiliate link.