I've been listening to a lot of muse

well it took me long enough but I finally finished the beret. I think I started it 3 times overall and in the end I used 117 stitches but I'm really pleased with the result.

Obviously I took the above photo while I was blocking the hat. Once I have a better photo of it in use I'll post it, but you get the general idea. I'm thrilled at how the wool has turned out. And the cabling isn't bad especially as this was my first cable project.

I do a lot of my knitting on my commute to work in the morning (the mystical creature called "red jet") and also at lunch time in the staffroom. I'm now on holiday for a week and with a bit of luck I'll finish the other wrist warmer and maybe the other hat made of Alpaca wool.

I have a lot of requests as well which is great - people appreciating the items I produce. I already have a request for a camper van, a dalek and now a colleague would like me to make her one of the berets.

I find that I seek solace in my knitting right now. My grandma is terminally ill and every day seems to bring more sad news. When she came to visit recently I showed her some of my projects and she was really impressed. It is something we all used to do as children; show grandma what we had been up to. I'm going to miss that. She has been (and continues to be) a very supportive and positive influence on my life.

This year I did the Race for Life which is something I thought I would never be able to do. Just goes to show what you can achieve if you really put your mind to it.

the hat saga

I started the hat on 5th July and ostensibly its a very easy knit with some cabling involved (which is not as scary as everyone says)
I got the pattern from here and the wool is the same that I used on the wrist warmers - the idea being that they match...


however it quickly became apparent that 72 stitches just wasn't going to cut the mustard. This was totally my fault - I just couldn't find DPNs any bigger than 6mm so of course if you don't follow the pattern exactly don't expect the same results! so I started again with 81 stitches and hopefully, with a bit of blocking, that should be fine. If not, I can make another one in next to no time.

quick update

great news! I'm going to knit another dalek! well, not right now. but a friend of mine really wants one and has asked me to knit them one. a yellow and black one this time. the thought of all those bobbles makes me wobble a bit but it should be fine, as its for someone else.

the hat is coming along nicely, even if i have had to undo a load of it which was complicated because of the cabling.. but its going to be great when done.

other than that, its business as usual.

learn something new every day

today i did my first long tail cast on. i think i overestimated how much was needed for 72 stitches but i guess that's a good thing - don't want to run out of yarn!
the socks are coming along. i gave up on 2.5mm in the end, it was just too small. went back to my trusty 3mm and i'm so glad i did! 2.5mm would not have gone round my foot.

unfortunately you can't see the pattern so well there but it came out really nicely. After a while i really got the hang of it so i didn't have to keep referring back to the pattern. now i just have to do the other one.


what i've just started today is a beret (hence the long-tailed cast on). for the first time i'm using wooden needles. i'm quite excited to see how it works out.

gosh darn it!

I had a bit of a catastrophe... I dropped the sock.
oh my goodness, just thinking about it makes me cross. Usually, when I'm done, I put the needles into the wool and they stay there and keep all my stitches safe. Unfortunately, on this occasion, it was not the case and the whole lot went to hell in my handbag. It was easier just to restart. What a heartbreaker!


but, I have started again and so far so good... hopefully we'll make it through this one without any further calamity.

fast cars

Things are going really well. The VW Beetle is almost finished - I just need to put the wheels on. I'm pleased with the result but its been really fiddly to do with lots of little bits. I missed out the running board because I didn't feel my bug needed it.

I'm tempted to make a number plate to go on the front to neaten it up a little but otherwise a great little knit. The pattern can be found here.


I have also made a start on some socks - which is a whole other story. I'm following a pattern I found which calls for 64 stitches, working in sections of 16. Having got so far with sock number 1 I'm a little concerned about whether 64 stitches is big enough to get past my ankle - I'm not exactly kate moss when it comes to my calves! still, we'll have to see... I love the wool I'm using - I found it at  knit & sew. It has made for a very interesting pattern.

With all the lovely hot weather and being outside it is hard to get things done, but I find time on the commute to work (despite the odd glances) and in my lunch hour - where "what are you knitting now?" has become a popular question.


Still, I have some busy weeks coming up and I suspect I'm not going to get much done. At the very least I want to get the wheels on the buggy! I should have done it before starting on the socks... but would it be very bad to say that I rather lost interest? It was just do demanding! It reminded me of all those bobbles I had to do with the Dalek, but at least with that you could see where it was going; once you had finished the miles and miles of knitting required you were left with an awful lot of little bits that needed sewing together, then stuffing and then sewing onto slightly bigger bits that also needed sewing and stuffing. I suppose this proves my mother right and I'm just inherently lazy.

another post, another england match

it's friday and i have that "end of the week" feeling. england are doing another tepid performance in SA and i'm trying to remember exactly what it is that i have achieved this week.

i'm nearly done with the VW Beetle. i've sewn most of it together and it requires some stuffing and a few other finishing touches. it wasn't as simple as the camper van pattern, that's for sure, but it wasn't exactly a difficult knit.
this weekend i want to finish it, finish the (other) wrist warmer and then start the awesome socks that i have my eye on.

the wool for the socks arrived on wednesday - stripy awesomeness, here we come! i also got the 6mm bamboo dp needles for the beret i want to do to match the wrist warmers. so its all go!

a few of my older projects

I made a start on the wrist warmers because its a nice and east pattern. I enjoy knitting in the round and I find it quite relaxing after the fairly intensive concentration required to follow the Beetle pattern. It's not that it's hard, it just requires a lot of fiddling whereas knitting in the rib is 2k 2p round and round.


Anyway, I've been organising my photos and found the ones I took when I finished the TARDIS. The TARDIS was my 2nd project after the socks. I found the pattern http://www.entropyhouse.com/penwiper/who/knittardis.html here and decided to give it a whirl for my Dad. My Dad is really into his telephone boxes (he has one in his garden, a proper K6 from the 1930s) and I thought a TARDIS would make a great present.

I started it in October 2009 and laboured through it for a couple of months. It probably wouldn't take me that long these days, but as a second project I found it took me a while. Plus, as it was a present, I had to keep hiding it whenever they came to visit. In the end I finished it in February 2010 and was thrilled with the results. It was such a labour of love that it was quite a wrench to give it away.


My Dad loved it and it gets quite a bit of attention from visitors. I sometimes think I might make another one for me to go with my Dalek.


The Dalek was project number 3. I found the pattern http://www.entropyhouse.com/penwiper/who/extermaknit.html here. I decided to make the Dalek for me and started in March 2010. It took me until May to finish because I kept getting depressed about the bobbles. They were easy enough, but there were lots of them. I guess I have a short attention span - I like quick knits!

the only english person not in a pub/in front of the tv right now

The World Cup has begun. Don't get me wrong - I love football. I've been a fan of Brentfood FC my whole life, through the many bad (and sometimes good) times and I generally enjoy a good match but I hate England matches. My main issue is the number of egos in the team who seem to think they are god's gift. It makes it hard to form an actual team who will work well together, when so many players think they are the keystone holding the whole thing together. How they ever achieve anything is beyond me.

Simon (the other half) is in the living room shouting at the tv and I'll leave them to it.

In other news, I have started the VW Beetle. So far so good. This afternoon I spent a merry few hours knitting the main body while watching Pride & Prejudice (yes, the Colin Firth one). I have started the base as well so hopefully the rest shouldn't take me too long. I guess I'll get lots done over the next four weeks.

I found a pattern on ebay which I'm quite excited about. I know christmas is far too far in the future to be contemplating (especially in this good weather) but I have procured a pattern for some "dickensian mice". They'll look fabulous at christmas when the time comes. I have a few items in the pipeline (not least my first bash at a hat which I'm quite nervous about) but I reckon I should have a gap in my schedule in the autumn which would be perfect.

V W Camper Van

Today I finally finished the VW Camper Van. I started it a couple of weeks ago but ran out of stuffing before I could finish it - SO frustrating. I hate leaving a project half finished. However, as today was pay day I was able to get down to Cowes and get some stuffing, and some supplies for my next project.

On the back is her date of birth. I'm really pleased with this project. The wool was a little bit more expensive than I'd usually buy, but considering it is a present, I don't mind. I used Rowan Fine Milk Cotton on 3.25mm needles. I found the wool a little fiddly to work with, and it is easy to fray. However, it is very tactile and perfect for a toy like this.

My next project is going to be the V W Beetle, although I plan to use different wool as this will be for Simon and so will need to be a bit hardier.


While I was waiting for the opportunity to get to the shop, I did a quick two day project that I found on a website not too long ago.

http://knittedtoybox.blogspot.com/2008/04/zero-ghostly-dog.html <-- I thought it would be a good time to try my hand at making Zero as I had some white wool lying around from my second project (the one I did after the socks) and so two days later I have my very own Zero. Cecily liked it!

the hard bit...

ok, so its a new day and a new blog.

last october my mother in law got me into knitting. i got bored with the mandatory scarf very quickly - i wanted to knit something cool. so i went to the wool shop in cowes and bought a ball of wool that came with a free sock pattern. i know, socks for my first project. big mistake huh? not at all...

i finished them just before christmas and they were awesome (in my humblest of humble opinion)


so i turned to hand to a few other projects. i've mostly concentrated on knitting "things" rather than clothes. so i thought i should record what these items are - somewhere safe because i knit gifts and i can't always post my projects on facebook as it would spoil the surprise. so i'll record them here instead.