Cabled Yoke Jacket

I seem to have knitted quite a lot of gloves recently, not all for myself - some friends now have lovely warm hands I hope!
But in the background in between the gloves I've been working on a new jacket for myself. I spotted the wool in Linen Direct, at a reasonably good price, and despite being on a wool ban, I liked the colour so much I bought  a couple of balls. It is Woolcraft Aran, comes in 400g balls and appears to be called Wayfarer although there is no name on the ball band, just a number.
It's a lovely yarn, 25% wool, a blue purple heathery shade.
Since I am not allowed to stockpile any more wool, I thought I'd better use it and I remembered a pattern I'd seen in one of my Sirdar books, Relaxed Weekend Living (345).
The pattern is called Women's Cabled Yoke Jacket.
Mostly it's pretty simple, a back, 2 fronts and 2 sleeves all in stocking stitch. The fun starts with the yoke, which is a 28 row cable pattern repeated 12 times but with short rows along the way to make the yoke curve. Sewing it all together was bit of a challenge, lining up the parts along the yoke but I got there and it's finished.
I haven't quite decided whether to sew some press studs and buttons on or get a shawl pin for it, I'm using a brooch at the moment to secure it since it has a purple stone that matches reasonably well.
I'm afraid photographing knitwear is not a skill of mine, and the mildewy fence is not the best backdrop but everywhere else outside was too wet.
So here it is, with a couple of close up shots, which actually show a truer colour than the others. On the whole I am pleased with the way this turned out, and it's lovely and warm. Perfect over a couple of layers at this time of year.

 

   

 

 

Cross Stitch Cards - Valentine's Day

I do a bit of cross stitch occasionally. I am working on a Lesley Anne Ivory cat picture which is taking forever as I find I need the right light to do it but I do the odd card when I feel inspired.
I generally don't buy cards for my husband, so each year I try to think of something new for Valentine's.
Last year I did do hearts and it didn't get a post of its own, it sneaked in at the end of a nail varnish post.
This year I struggled to think of something a bit different and then it hit me, we have 2 cats, both boys admittedly, but maybe cats would be a nice idea. Our cats are tabbies, so I set out with my spreadsheet to create a simple stripey cat image.
So here it is, inspired by Tiger and Malteazer.

TarasTalons Halo

I've had this polish a while but this is its first use. I am delighted with it- TarasTalons Halo is a holograhic topcoat. It is fantastic! Out in the sunshine (we had sun all morning - yay!!!) the holo effect is stunning, and inside there is the most delicate holograhic shimmer in almost all lights.
I painted my nails with Nail Lacquer UK Galaxy yesterday and I was quite concerned about the brush stoke finish I got. In daylight they actually looked a lot better but I was looking though my untried list for something to put over it, to mask the finish a little. Halo was my Eureka moment, of course a holo top coat was the answer. It softened the finish on the nail, added the beautiful holographic shimmer, but did not kill the duochrome - that was still there, still very apparent and I think actually even more gorgeous. I don't mean this post to be about the duochrome, but it is about how well Halo works with my previous mani, the finished effect is perfect, they could have been made for each other.

TarasTalons Halo

 

   

 

 

  

 

Nail Lacquer UK Galaxy

24th February to 2nd of March is BEAT eating disorder awareness week and purple is the colour of the UK eating disorder charity, so our facebook group thought we'd do our bit. The facebook page is filled with purple manis and pictures of lots and lots of purple polishes.
I have quite a few purples but I am staunchly sticking to my rule of only using untried polishes so my choices were a bit limited, however this little beauty recently came into my possession courtsey of a friend.
Nail Lacquer UK Galaxy is a purple/green duochrome with tiny delicate pinky red flakie glitter. The tones are very pretty but I have to say, I do find duochromes quite tricky to apply. I seem to have a problem with brush strokes on these types of polishes, no matter how careful I am. It probably didn't help that I applied it late at night, in artifical light. Anyway, enough of my excuses!
I did 2 thin coats of Galaxy, and a top coat. The glitter is quite subtle, picked up in the pics as small flecks, but I think I've captured the duochrome shift quite well- it's quite strong and rather lovely!.

Nail Lacquer UK Galaxy

 

 

 

 

A England Briar Rose

Today's polish is another beauty from the Burne-Jones Dream collection by A England. This is Briar Rose. It is a cranberry shade but with a lovely soft duskiness to it which makes it very wearable. The holo in this one is quite subtle, but still very beautiful.
The formula was great, I did 2 thin coats but coverage was pretty good with the 1st coat. The pictures are taken without a top coat, but I did top coat it afterwards- it's so pretty I want it too last!
I have always said I don't wear reds, but there are so many beautiful variations on red that I think I've got over that now. I think I'd still struggle with a pillar box red, but I am completely comfortable in a softer shade like this.
And if like this shade too, it's gem of the month on the A England website, so why not give it a try.

A England Briar Rose

 

 

 

Smitten Polish Blue Footed Booby Dance

I've held off writing this post for a few days now but I think I finally have to accept I am not going to get that elusive, fantastic picture that really captures the true beauty of this polish.
This is my one and only Smitten Polish, given to me by a lovely friend that I met up with in January. I fell in love with it the moment I unwrapped it, absolutely stunning in the bottle, and then I saw its name, I did have to laugh. Blue Footed Booby Dance, how cool! I had to go online and find out a bit more, I was sure I'd heard of the blue footed booby. He is a black and white seabird, with bright blue feet who does a special dance as part of his mating ritual.
The polish is a stunning bright teal blue linear holographic, it is a truly beautiful shade and the holo is quite strong so its pretty apparent to the naked eye almost all of the time. I keep staring at my hands, and waving my fingers to watch the colours!!
I did 3 thin coats to ensure I had good coverage and the finish is just perfect. Application and dry time were good although it was rather cold when I applied it so I did leave extra time between coats just to be certain and I didn't put a top coat on. I have read that sometimes top coat spoils the holo so I thought I'd give it a try without, and 4 days later it still looks great, with barely any tip wear.
The pictures aren't bad, I think they lack a little clarity but the colour is good. I just wish I could capture the rainbow of the holo!
I'll certainly be looking out for more of these polishes though, in fact I just seen a fantastic looking one on Smittens facebook page - a real beauty called Claddagh, a vibrant emerald green holo.- adding that one to the wishlist!

Smitten Polish Blue Footed Booby Dance

 

  

 

  

  

 

Quirk Cradled in Love

I am completely in love with the combo on my nails today, but it wasn't what I had planned.
Normally I plan my manis well ahead, combining my thoughts on what is still untried, what base polishes I want to wear, what glitters I want to try and which polishes I think will work well together and compliment each other.
The polish I had planned for today was a holo polish, so I probably wouldn't have worn it with anything. It was the very beautiful Amazon Dream from Treasures by Tan. This was sent to me along with 3 other gorgeous polishes by a lovely friend as a thank you for making her some gloves - it was a huge thank you and very much appreciated, and I couldn't wait to try out what she sent me.
Anyway, the polish is beautiful, but after 2 coats I could still see visible nail line and decided that actually I would wear this with undies. I need to dig around and find the right pinky peach sort of shade, but in the meantime I went to my trusty spreadsheet to see what untried pink glitters I had, as I certainly wasn't going to waste this pretty pink holo.
Well, there it was - Quirk, Cradled in Love which I bought along with Love Bites from Kerrie, just last week!
My plan was to cover the tips (hide the VNL) and if that didn't work, I'd do a full glitter mani. I think it has worked, it's not really a gradient, it's the wrong type of glitter for that but I think these two polishes could have been made for each other.
Cradled in Love is made up of matte pale pink squares, bright pink bar glitter and holographic pink hexes. Against the soft peachy pink of Amazon Dream I think these glitters just look so pretty - a spur of the moment combination that for me really works. I did two coats of Cradled in Love, to ensure I covered the tips but barely any faffing around placing glitter, distribution was great - love it!
Sorry it's been a bit of a lengthy post, but I like to share my thought process, and I am certain I'll be back very soon with a review of Amazon Dream.

Quirk Cradled in Love

 

 

  

 

Quirk Love Bites

Today's post is my Valentine's Day mani, and just like Chinese New Year I am a day late posting - sorry!. It rained non stop yesterday and no matter how many pictures I took inside, with daylight bulbs, flash, stood right next to the window, I couldn't capture how pretty this is.
Kerry at Quirk did a collection called "Heart Shaped Music Box", a valentines themed collection. They were limited editions, and no longer on her site so they must have sold out. I bought two, Cradled in Love and the one I am wearing now, Love Bites.
Love Bites is a mix of magenta pink square glitter, with lots of pretty coppery pink micro glitter- these are actually square too when you zoom in on the pictures! Not apparent from my pictures are large hex glass glitter, transparent hexes in pink and purple. They are visible to the naked eye but the only camera shot that was able to pick them up was an indoor shot I took yesterday.
I am sure they would have been more visible if I'd used a lighter base but I wanted to contrast the pretty pinks with the deep coffee brown of the OPI I had been wearing. I really like the pink against the more neutral background, but as with many of these Indie glitters, they look great against so many different backgrounds. I just love playing around with these glitters, trying them out against different colours; sometimes 1 element will be lost if the contrast isn't great, but I think that adds to the polish, next time I wear it, it will look very different.

Quirk Love Bites

 

 

 

OPI Get in the Expresso Lane

Today's polish is a deliciously luxurious deep and dusky brown creme, the colour of coffee beans. It is OPI Get in the Expresso Lane.
This polish as been around for some time, released in the Touring America Collection in 2011. I got this as one of the goodies in the QVC Beauty Bash goodie bag and have to admit I googled it as I had never heard of it. I had heard of the Touring America collection but never really looked at it in detail, bad nail addict! Now I reckon I need at least half of them, there are some very "me" colours in there and I absolutely love this deep coffee brown. It was a bit of a surprise to me when I put it on, it is actually darker than it looks in the bottle, but beautiful anyway!
Coverage was perfect in two coats, and it is so glossy! This is possibly not a polish I would have added to my wishlist and sought to buy, as I do have a number of browns but I love it, and I don't think it is like any other in my collection.

OPI Get in the Expresso Lane

 

 

 

 

Quirk An Ocean Potion

I have something very special for you today. Kerrie from Quirk designed a beautiful set of 5 limited edition polishes, with all the proceeds going to a charity called St Peters Hospice. Each one is a one off and I was lucky enough to be online as An Ocean Potion was released and I snapped it up! Kerrie had previewed them so I knew exactly which one I wanted, but I was very surprised that I managed to get this one.
An Ocean Potion is a fantastic mix of gold hexes, smaller blue, teal and gold hexes and tiny shimmery glitters in a teal jelly base, a perfect combination of ocean colours and I described it to a friend of mine as being like a mermaid's tail. The glitters capture the light the beautifully, picking up a range of colours as well as blue, green and teal. This is quite a dense glitter and when I swatched it initially I had 2 thoughts, firstly it was stunning and secondly that it was probably dense enough to do a glitter gradient.
Often my attempts to do a glitter gradient fail, either because the glitter sizes or density just don't work, or I get too heavy handed and have to end up converting to a full coat of glitter. This worked well though and I was able to dab enough on at the base of each nail over my Jacava Purple Promise, and then drag the slightly dried glitter up the nail. I love the contrast of the blue, green and gold against the deep purple. Apologies again from my camera for making some of the pics more blue than they should be, but the gradient still looks pretty whatever colour the base appears to be :)

Quirk An Ocean Potion