Wiksten Tank – Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet

You know when you have one of those days that seem really productive, you’ve been really busy, got loads done and your extremely satisfied with the world, despite knowing you’re probably going to literally fall into bed? Well it’s been a bit like that here today.

To be fair I live in a truly beautiful spot, especially when the sun is in the sky, but the amount of work it takes to keep the house and yard in order can be truly overwhelming and there’s always so much to do.

Today and for the next couple of days the boys (my hubby and our sons Durahn and Kye) are on operation prepare for winter. It’s a necessary evil of living in a damp old farm house 😦

A major part of Operation Winter involves chopping trees up into logs for the stove

Then there’s the kindling. I knew it was worth all the shelving from the shop stock rooms.

There wasn’t any need for me to get involved, despite my love of power tools 😁 So I walked the dogs, cleaned, washed up (several times), cooked and got loads of other general ‘needs doing’ stuff done.

I also found the time to make some lemonade, to use up the glut of cheap lemons and limes I’d bought last week, fully intending to make lemon curd, but forgot to buy some wax coated discs for.

I’ve also made another Wiksten Tank for myself. Although, I still have to finish binding the sleeves, but that won’t take too long.

The boys managed to get 10 crates of kindling cut up, but there are still more shelves to get through 🙈

My 💪 hubby 💪 has cut all the trees up into rings and is now, even as I type (it’s nearly 9.45pm), splitting them into logs. I managed to get this photo before the sun went down.

If that wasn’t enough, my socks are drying on the line. They even look pretty when they’re inside out 💗

Time to put clean sheets on the beds and get a spot of knitting in now before bed, me thinks.

Happy Knitting!

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It’s true I’m afraid, I’ve been having an affair…

Tempestuous, tumultuous, impassioned and at the same time harmonious, equable and calm, all the things you want from a great romance. Don’t be mistaken though, I shan’t be running away any time soon and shifting my allegiance, it’s just a 💕 dalliance💕 I’m sure

My husband? No we’re fine, never better actually.

Thanks for asking.

So what am I referring to?

Why, knitting of course 😊

I’ve been neglecting it a little you see, becoming slightly enamoured with my sewing again, as myself and my sewing machine become reacquainted.

I’d spotted this top/dress on Instagram from someone who was posting daily photos for #MadeinMay. (The idea being that for every day of May, you’d try to wear something you’ve made yourself.)

So…. I went off in search of the pattern – as you do 😉

The top is called the Wiksten Tank designed by Jenny Gordy and is available as a downloadable pdf via the Wiksten website here It costs $10 so it was a bit of a gamble, but as I had the material already, it wasn’t going to be too bad. Mind you, I did use to make clothes for Dina and Durahn when they were smaller and I was forever ‘upcycling’ jumble sale and charity shop finds. It wasn’t really upcycling, just what you do when your disposable income doesn’t stretch as far as you’d like it too, or your short with big boobs.

The sewing machine and I aren’t firm friends yet, it wouldn’t behave as well as I would have liked, but I did manage to make my Wiksten Tank and I’m so very ♥happy♥ with it, that I’ve already bought some material to make another one. I’ve gone for somewhere between top and dress length, so I can wear it more like a tunic over a tee-shirt and jeans. The fit is good and whilst I could tweak it with the odd dart here and there and maybe nip it in a bit under the arms, but why bother when it’s fully serviceable as it is 🙂

In the meantime I guess I should get on with some of my many ongoing projects.

Whilst unpacking all my project bags from my lager knitting bag, I discovered that I’ve left the crochet blanket I’ve been working on too, at home in the living room. I realised we have loads of duvets at home, but very few blankets. Something I can at least, start to work on rectifying. This is proving to be a little addictive though, my mantra has become ‘just one more round’, fine when it was smaller, but now i could loose an hour or so.

Whilst typing this post, it occurs to me that it presents an ideal opportunity to also tell you about Zebrino, the latest offering from Adriafil.

Zebrino is a self patterning yarn with 125 metres/136.70 yards approximately to each 50 gram ball. It’s made from a blend of 53% wool 47% acrylic and is a worsted/aran weight.

For now I’ve only gone with 4 of the above shades just to see what the yarn is like. The colours in stock are shades 61, 62, 64 and 67 and I’m itching to have a go at knitting with it, but as the pile of projects in the photo above shows, I should probably control the urge for a while longer. I’m thinking a big, oversized jumper though and maybe a scarf or two as Christmas presents.

Happy Knitting!