So. It’s been a while. Again. Sorry about that. However, I have been busy here at Rush Towers and I have an announcement: a shiny new site! I have been thinking about this for a long time, but I have finally decided to make the leap and purchase my own domain, which can be found here: www.izzytinsley.com. This site will feature more diverse content than YarnRush, and will allow me to expand to share other areas of my life with you. In particular, I will be talking about knitting, crochet, sewing quilting, books, tea and a lot of other good stuff. So, this blog will no longer be updated, but I hope that you will join me over on my new site so we can carry on the conversation. Thank you for following me, commenting and supporting, it has been truly wonderful, especially as I dealt with RL issues that left me feeling really down, you guys cheered my spirit. Thanks again, and I hope to see you on the new site soon.

All the best for a happy and prosperous 2014

Izzy Tinsley

I am now back at work full time, and I am finally feeling well enough to blog. I was amazed that I am still getting views, even though I have been long absent, so thank you all. A brief personal catch-up, I ended up being off work for three months, and have finally been diagnosed with an illness, and am on medication to hopefully make my life a little easier. I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that it’s not life threatening, but it is permanent, so my outlook on life has needed a little revising! Anyway, you aren’t here to listen to me whinge, so let’s get on with the yarn!

I was actually ill enough that I barely knitted anything (that’s how my husband could tell I was really ill) but here is a little catch up on my WIPs and FOs.

Firstly, a simple plain humdrum stockinette scarf, make from SMC Select Bravo Mezzo Colour in the Beige Color 00186 colourway. I needed something simple to regain my knitting confidence and this did the job nicely. I knitted it on 8mm needles.

Next, a hat. This is made from the remnants of the scarf yarn, and was done on 8mm DPNs. The pattern is the free Star Crossed Slouchy Beret pattern which can be found on Ravelry.

Finally for the FO’s are these socks, which you may remember from several months ago. These were made from Sirdar Crofter DK, and were knitted on 3.25mm DPNs. I still need to weave in the ends as you can see.

Moving on to WIP’s we have this sock which is knitted in the round using the two circular needles method (which I intensely dislike) on 2.75mm needles. The yarn is Wendy Roam Fusion in the Fosse colourway, which I have a love/hate relationship with. The pattern is from Susan B Anderson’s blog (Ravelry page here). This sock will probably be ripped out as my needles are going blunt so I need to buy more. Also I really, really dislike the two circular method!

Next is another sock project, knitted in the round using the Magic Loop method (which I love). This is my carry around project, to no particular pattern although the heel was turned using these very helpful instructions. As you can see, I have one sock all done, and am about halfway down the cuff of the second one. The yarn Patons Fab in the Clown colourway, this is a DK weight acrylic yarn, which I am knitting using 3mm needles.

I am also working on a cardigan, this is a Sirdar pattern which I am knitting in King Cole Gypsy, a super chunky yarn on 12mm needles. It’s going very well so far, and I only have the sleeves left to knit (this is after a sleeve and a front had to be ripped out due to, shall we say, operator error).

Finally we have mittens! I only started these yesterday and got the right hand mitten finished in a day, although I don’t think I’ll pull the same stunt with the next one as my hands are still sore :-(. These are knitted in Aldi’s Kirkton House Craft “Gorgeous Baby Yarn” which I bought a couple of weeks ago, and are knitted on 3.25mm needles. The pattern is from Simply Knitting issue 111.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. I also have a site announcement – I now own the rights to the domain yarnrush.co.uk, which I am currently working on. Eventually the blog will move over and will expand to include more of my other activities, such as crochet and sewing, in their own sections so you can just read the content that you are interested it. I will let you know more details as I figure them out. If you made it this far, thank you for reading, and I will see you all soon.

It has been a long time since I posted and for that I am truly sorry. There has been a lot going on here at Rush Towers, and I haven’t been able to post much. Also, I am currently signed off work sick, and I have been off for over a month at the time of writing. If you have been following me for any length of time then you will no doubt have seen that I am more or less constantly ill, and it seems that way sometimes! However, this time it’s more than a sniffle or an upset tummy, as a pre-existing health condition has decided to make my acquaintance again, but much stronger than before. I won’t bore you with the details, but it isn’t life-threatening, and I should hopefully be back to normal soon. I will be seeing a specialist next week, so hopefully I can start getting better and get back to both work and posting!

It didn’t seem right to post when I a) don’t have a great deal to share and b) probably wouldn’t be writing my best pieces, but I am still knitting (slowly), still sewing (very slowly) and am using yarn as therapy to keep me going. I haven’t forgotten you all, and look forward to getting back to it, and catching up with all the posts I have missed whilst I have been away.

With love and raised knitting needles,

Izzy

(Yarnrush)

While I don’t have a lot to report on the knitting front (there is progress, but it’s very slow), I do have some sewing to show you!

This is my first substantial sewing project since I finished my textiles GCSE nearly 8 years ago, and it’s a simple book bag, made from the “Easy As Pie” pattern which is in the most excellent Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam.

I really enjoyed this pattern, it was very clearly written and a joy to make. It eased me back in to sewing without boring me or dropping me in at the deep end, and I got something gorgeous out of it!

The patterned fabric is 100% polyester which I got from Button Boutique for just £2 for a metre roll, and the plain blue is a polycotton that I bought from efabrics.co.uk for £1.95 a metre. I used Gutermann Sew-All thread which was easy to work with, and seemed to hold up quite well to the heavy use I have given the bag. Overall, it went very well, but there was a little hiccup with regard to my beloved sewing machine Fury.

Before I started the project, I gave her a clean and an oil, just as recommended in the manual. (With a glass of wine, of course!)

I noticed that she was skipping stitches, so I looked in the manual to make sure I had oiled everything, cleaned everything again and still skipping. Rather foolishly I persisted, thinking it was a quirk of age. Long story short, she now isn’t working at all, and needs a proper service. Sigh.

So, I ended up sewing the second strap by hand, and then attaching the straps to the bag by hand. As a result they are less than perfect, but I am still fairly happy with the result, and the experience has certainly improved my backstitch!

Here are a few more photo’s from the construction for your viewing pleasure:

Thanks for reading and Happy Crafting!

Once again, I have been a little on the quiet side. Firstly, I have been having some minor technical difficulties which have resulted in half finished posts accidentally getting published (in some cases obliterating the finished ones). I’m sure that this is a user error (i.e. my fault) but I can’t track down what the problem is. Secondly, things have been busy at work, so I haven’t managed to fit much of anything in! Thirdly, I have been working on a super-duper-tip-top-secret-project that I will talk more about in due course. I love sharing, so I find it a little hard not to just tell you all about it, but I don’t want to show you before it’s ready and I’m 100% happy with it.

Anyway, at the weekend my MIL took Mr Yarnrush and I to Ikea (my first ever trip!!) so we could pretty up the house with some of our wedding money. The Mr and I had been talking for a long time about me having my own work area for crafts, and finally that dream became real…

This area is tucked into the corner of our living room, and is mine mine mine!!! (I love the desk, would only be better if it was a pink top with green legs!)

This came about because Mr Yarnrush works at home in the spare bedroom/study. As a result, I never really felt comfortable working in that room, and would never leave a project in progress out because I find a messy environment irritating. It doesn’t bother him, but I felt really bad messing up his work space, as if he did it to me I would find it annoying. This resulted in me being a nomadic crafter, with projects turning up just about anywhere I could store them, and I was getting very little done which was making me sad. Anyway, long story short, the spare room is now officially his office (and where my gaming computer lives) and the corner of the living room is now my craft area. It also means that I can keep Fury the vintage sewing machine out where she can be admired, loved and used!

I am really lucky to be able to have this space, so I’m hoping to make the most of it, and start crafting more! It also gives me more space to have multiple magazines/ books out at once, which should help get the inspiration going when I’m feeling a little flat. Plus there is a quiet space for me to sit, have a herbal tea and recharge my batteries which is awesome.

Anyway, hopefully I will have a lot more crafting to share with you next time, and I hope you enjoyed this little peep at my work area. Thanks for reading and happy crafting!

I have now returned from my honeymoon and just thought I’d check in to say hello. I was intending to post sooner, but getting married is a lot more tiring than I realised, so I’ve only just got the energy! I won’t bore you with a millon and one weddng details but in brief it was a wonderful day, we were very lucky with the weather and being a Mrs is taking some time to sink in (I still giggle like a school girl when someone calls me by my married name!) Here are a few photos from the big day:

Our wedding rings.  They are both engraved with the inscription on the One Ring from Lord of the Rings. Yes, we are both nerds.

My bouquet, made for me by my Mum. The flowers are all crochet and it is fab. Thanks Mum ♡

The happy couple (still in shock…)

Wedding cupcakes made by my Aunt. The photo is printed on yummy white chocolate. These are amazing!

Wow! A whistle stop tour of the big day. Most of these photos were taken by a colleagues daughter and are completely awesome. We also asked everyone to bring a camera so we have around 500 photos so far (with more still to come!)

So that was the big day. On our honeymoon we went to York and I, of course, explored the local craft shops. I came back with this pretty souvenir yarn from the fabulous Ramshambles.

This is Noro Silk Garden in colour S84. Wow. The picture doesn’t really do this justice, it is extremely vibrant with reds, fuchsias, dark blues and unexpected greens. I think that this is destined to be either a Hitch hiker, or possible a Crosswords at the Coffee Shop. We’ll have to wait and see!

I also, by complete accident, found a fab shop and cafe  further up the Shambles called Flax and Twine, which had a small but wonderful selection of vintage style fabrics.

I got this beauty to make myself a skirt, the Miette skirt by the awesomd Tilly Walnes (of Great British Sewing Bee fame!). If you are at all interested in sewing, her blog tillyandthebuttons.com is well worth a look.

That was all I could buy whilst in York (we had so much bulky stuff like my wedding dress and his suit that we had to buy an extra suitcase!) so I made up for it when I got back home. The day after we returned from honeymoon, I went straight to Button Boutique, my local LYS and had a little splurge…

This pretty fabric is going to be the lining for my self designed bag project. I love the colours!

Pretty fabric to practise sewing with. I’m planning on making a basic tote bag.

Tools and notions

This yarn is for my mascot project. I think that there should just be enough in this ball (famous last words, I know). I still need to get some lining fabric (not to mention some needles) but it’s a start at least!

Finally, just time for a little progress report. I now have 1 and 1/3rd sides to my design project, and it’s looking pretty good so far! Must knit faster…

And yes, this did come on my honeymoon with me. It’s entirely possible that I also knitted on my wedding night… #couldn’tpossiblycomment.

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me this far, hopefully it didn’t bore you too much! Take care and happy crafting

After the excitement of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week IV, on Monday I was at a loose end. What to do with myself? So I ironed out a few last minute wedding things, and then thought “Excellent, I can get some knitting done!” Except, there was a tiny problem – none of my projects were inspiring me. I don’t know if I’m the only person to have this problem but sometimes I just look into the knitting basket and think “meh”.

Off to Ravelry then! My intent was to cast on my mascot project but I had misread the yarn weight, and had somehow confused chunky with DK. Whoever says that wedding brain is not real is lying! I really fancied making a bag so I trawled Ravelry for a couple of hours and didn’t find anything that really leapt out and yelled KNIT ME NOW! So I did the only (il)logical thing. I designed my own.

Here is the first piece in progress. It is a super simple design and will be fully lined to stop saggy bag syndrome. It also uses pretty much every bit of the glitter yarn I have, meaning minimal waste. I’ll share more as it progresses, but needless to say, I’m very excited!

Now for a little admin. Firstly, as you may know I will be getting married on Saturday, so I am taking a week’s break from blogging and should be back either next Wednesday or possibly Thursday. Secondly, my little blog now has 20 followers! Thank you to all of you, I really appreciate you taking the time to read my ramblings. Finally, I have had the honour to be nominated for a Liebster blog award by lottieknits! Thank you so much for nominating me, I will do a full post on it next week when I return from my honeymoon

Until next time, thanks for reading and happy crafting!

7 posts. 7 days. I made it! I really, really doubted my ability to pull this off but somehow I managed it! Some of the posts I have made this week haven’t been my finest work, but I managed to post each and every day. I’m so proud of myself! Let’s finish this then, shall we?

4kcbwday7 Looking Forward One year from now, when the 5th Knitting & Crochet Blog Week rolls around, where do you hope your crafting will have taken you to? What new skills, projects and experiences do you hope you might have conquered or tried?

Hmmm. This for me is a tough one. I tend to have a short attention span when it comes to projects, and I usually knit on whatever speaks to me at the time, be it a shawl, a jumper or whatever. As a result of this, I rarely make specific goals, however now’s as good a time as any to start!

So my goals for next year are:

1. Complete my mascot project
2. Design my own pattern
3. Finish a jumper
4. Learn toe-up two at a time sock knitting
5. Knit something in lace weight yarn
6. Hand dye some yarn

Hopefully these goals will be challenging, yet flexible enough to allow me to choose appealing projects that fit within the categories, which will stop me from getting bored.

I’d like to close out the blog week with some thanks.

Thanks to Eskimimi for organising this event, it’s been a lot of fun, really inspiring, and I suspect that I will be reading through the posts for the next month or so!

Thanks to my readers and followers. Without you guys there is no point in doing this, you all rock!

Finally, thanks to The Northerner. Without you kicking me up the backside and making me believe in myself I wouldn’t be writing this at all.

I hope everyone had a great Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, whether you participated or just read the posts, and I hope the coming year brings happy and peaceful crafting to you all.

Thanks for reading

I’ve managed to blog for 6 days in a row! *party* Today’s topic:

Write about your favourite knitting or crochet (or spinning, etc) tool. It can either be a tool directly involved in your craft (knitting needles or crochet hook) or something that makes your craft more pleasurable – be it a special lamp, or stitch markers.

Being the bee that I am, I have decided to look at one tool for knitting and one for crochet as I couldn’t decide between them, so without further ado, let’s begin!

Favourite Knitting Tool:

I’ve mentioned it before, but my favourite tools hands down are my Knit Pro interchangeables, especially the Symphonie range which have wooden tips. Not only are they pretty colours, they have lovely joins and cables that don’t have too much memory. I love the sharp points on my wooden needles, and I also like the Nova range which are metal, although they can be a little slippery for my taste when I’m working with a high natural fibre yarn. I also have some of the acrylic tips but I rarely use those as they are a pain with acrylic yarn. If you were interested in trying these, I can highly recommend the Comby Sampler Set, which comes with one pair of each tip type, as well as a couple of cables.

Favourite Crochet Tool:

I love my Clover Soft Touch hook! I find the design very comfortable to work with, and appreciate the ergonomic handle for longer crochet sessions. These are not cheap, but I think that they are worth the price, at least in the sizes that you use most often, which in my case is 2mm, 3mm and 4mm. If, like me, you tend towards crochet endurance events then I think these are definitely worth a look.

Bonus – Favourite Fun Notions:

These are some of my favourite notions, and I find them really useful. The bear is an Addi Needle Hugger, which comes as a set of 8 in 4 sizes and is great for keeping circular needles or sets of DPN’s together. The little cup is an awesome claw stitch marker which I picked up from Beaded-Allsorts on eBay as part of a pack of 3 for a very reasonable price, and I really find it indispensable, especially for amigurumi.

I hope you enjoyed this overview of my favourite tools, thanks for reading!

Today’s topic is:

4KCBWDAY5 Something A Bit Different It’s the annual challenge to blog in a way different to how you normally blog. You may choose to create a podcast, or vlog, create a wordless post or write in verse. You’ve already stretched your wings with an infographic, now it’s time to freestyle. You can post on any topic you like, but be sure to post in a style different from your usual blog presentation.

I’ve decide to do a sort of photo journal, a day in the life of Yarn Rush! This is not a typical day but hopefully it will give you an idea of my preferred craziness (or bore you to death – who knows?) So without further ado, here goes!

Technically I should begin with last night (which was my hen night). At midnight this morning I was enjoying a curry with a few guys from work and got in about 1:30 this morning. As such today was not a normal day as I was both off work and very tired! Anyway, after a few hours of sleep I was up and started the day in the best way: with the Lazy Game Reviewer!

To put this into context, one of my other passions is retro video games – it’s a great way to start the day!

Then it was time for Acheivement Hunter with my morning coffee:

And some breakfast:

Then, The Northerner and I toured the local charity shops and I managed to get these lovelies:

Three oldish sewing patterns and a pre-decimalisation knitting pattern which is an awesome haul! I also picked up the latest Inside Crochet so I spent a bit of time reading through it and absorbing crafty inspiration.

After lunch I finally got to play with the latest member of my crafting family:

I got this beauty from a local charity shop in Monday (The Northerner carried it home for me *swoon*) I’m planning a more detailled overview post in the near future, but in brief, I think this is a Jones sewing machine, however there is no indication of a manufacturer so I’m going off of the description “Family CS Machine” and the general styling. I’m guessing that it dates to the early 1900’s but my research hasn’t turned up one with this decoration so I’m not sure! Anyway, its name is Fury (after Nick Fury from the Avengers cause he is totally badass!) and it joins Tizzy my Singer Symphonie machine.

I spent quite some time this afternoon learning how to set it up and thread it, but fortunately the original instructions were included and were very clear, so I got there in the end! It sews beautifully as you can see:

Then we measured up our house for some furniture we want to buy, and I sorted out some of my stash to look for some inspiring yarn for a design I’m kicking around. I even managed to finish a test knit!

I also looked over the Lune pattern with a view to picking it back up tomorrow and making some serious inroads into it, and, of course, fretted a little over the wedding (getting close now, eeep!)

Now, I’m getting ready to turn in and am writing this post! I hope this hasn’t bored you too much, thanks for reading!