I got quite a haul this week from a sale at a nearby fabric shop. All of this, including the two Moda charm packs, for under £25.

The black and green fabric are Michael Miller FQs and there are a few other random fat quarters and offcuts.

This should keep me busy for a while!

The Wee Woodland charm pack has already sprung into life:

I've been wanting to try this sort of applique for a while. I already had the sewing machine foot from doing some free-motion quilting, but this seemed altogether more intimidating! In fact, it was quite fun once I got back into the swing of how to move the fabric through the machine. To do this sort of free-motion embroidery, you need a darning foot for your machine (this was £13 for my Janome) and to lower the feed dogs so you can feed the fabric through in any direction.

This particular project is a cushion slightly modified from a quilted wall-hanging in the book 'Little Birds'.

My control is still a little all over the place, but I don't think it matters too much. Luckily, my herky-jerky movements fit quite well with the style!

The light background is plain old muslin. I used to turn my nose up at using this, but I've actually grown quite fond of the rough texture and I see myself using a lot more of it.

The Persistence Jumper. . .

. . . is done!

I have been working on the Huggable Hoodie since September and it is finally done. I've made a good few notes about this on my Ravelry page. Honeycomb cable is very slow, even when cabling without a needle, so this was a good exercise in stick-to-it-iveness.

I'm giving it a light blocking to see if I can stop the ribbing from rolling up, and I still have to get some buttons. The buttonholes are made using a simple yarnover followed by a k2tog and seem quite small.

I was wearing my Central Park Hoodie that I finished last October while taking these photos. Since I didn't get around to taking photos at the time, here you go now!

I wear this all the time. Seriously, as soon as it's through the washer and dried I sling it back on. The cotton blend yarn is heavy and slippery so it's always falling off one shoulder or the other and the weight of the hood pulls it back when I have it buttoned up, but I can live with that. It's so easy to wear and the cables are adorable. I thought this yarn was going to be a disaster with the pattern, but I think it really works! Although I could do without the ends popping out all over the place. I guess that's the nature of slippery yarn.

I will definitely make another CPH. Or perhaps even two.

Speaking of cotton, has anyone else found their minds idly drifting away to spring and summer knitting? I blame the crocuses braving the weather in my garden. Is there anything more able to lift the spirits than those little delicate spring flowers in all their bright colours?