spring flowers

This week I have mostly been playing around with the little gizmo my parents gave me for my birthday and I have managed to successfully create 2 that I'm really quite pleased with.

They were quite quick to construct, once I got the idea (and once I stopped trying to be too clever!) They would be great additions to a hat or scarf or perhaps you could make a broach. Either way, they're very decorative and good if you have some bits of spare yarn.

These two were made from yarn I got free with a craft magazine.
I have also been doing "proper" knitting. Honest!

Last summer while on holiday I came across a lovely shop in Bovey Tracey in Devon. The week previously I had just finished *that cake* and was in the mood for something different. The lady in the shop was extremely helpful and I left with an armful of Sirdar snuggly snowflake and a pattern for "Patricia the Pig".

I had all sorts of good intentions but as I ended up in hospital at the end of that holiday, those plans were shelved.

I have finally sat down and have completed the two back pieces and the main front piece. Only the head, arms, legs, ears and snout to go...

This, of course, is classic avoidance behaviour. I'm putting off starting the christmas tree festival project. I will start it... after the pig!
The little shop in Bovey Tracey does have a website - please visit, because it was such a lovely little place.  -> www.spinayarndevon.co.uk

Finally, take a look at this brilliant hair clip I was given for my birthday!

I absolutely love it!

It was made by Janine Basil - she has all sorts of interesting items on her site www.janinebasil.com

www.janinebasil.etsy.com - 

By the by this is all free advertising. In the words of Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile, "I accepted no commission from Madame Doyle nor will I. What I have to say is purely in friendship."

Til next time!

one more candle on the cake of life

Birthdays! I've had one recently. Not a big one (that's next year) but still, it's always nice to have a cake, go out for dinner & be spoilt rotten by your nearest and dearest. This year I have been extremely lucky, especially with the presents. My lovely family and friends have really upped the game this year.

I recently did a post about books full of exciting knitting patterns. My knitting buddy (the lady I made the wedding cake for) got me this fabulous book;

Yes, that is a Princess Leia Buns hat :)
There were several minutes of fascinated silence mid-birthday-dinner as I couldn't resist flicking through this book. I will definitly be having a go at some of these. Patterns include;

- Tank Girl socks
- Hobbit Feel slippers
- A beaded bag inspired by Hermione Granger
- Cat Woman hat

Will the 12 knits of Chritmas ever get done at this rate? watch this space...

My parents always manage to find some weird & wonderful little things. This is a pom-pom maker. I remember making these in primary school and Brownies.

 

 

Back in those hazy days we used cardboard rings cut out from cereal packets.

These days, its bad enough that my house is full of bags of wool and needles, not to mention all the little scraps of wool that my cats run away with, without having bits of cardboard littered about the place. I hadn't seen these before and, let's be honest now, most scarves and hats could do with a pom-pom! They're also friendlier to the environment as they are reusable.

 

Finally, I have no idea where my parents found this, but this is a little set for making flowers for accessories.

 

It's a neat little set. It seems a little like French knitting (those lovely little bobbins from which you can make shoelaces). The idea is to weave your yarn into flowers - different shaped looms for different flowers.

I had a quick go this evening with some spare yarn that I got from a magazine.

 

 

 

Using simple geometrics, weave your yarn around the loom as directed in the (surprisingly complicated) instructions.

 

The finished article was rather aesthetically pleasing, if not actually a flower. Perhaps if I made 3 more I'd have a set of coasters? I think I'll have to devote some proper time to it to get to grips with all the different sizes and styles to make an actual flower. All useful skills!

 

 

 



Katia - is it cheating?

For those not familiar with Katia  these are the balls of wool that come with a pattern - most popular are the patterns where its one ball of wool per scarf.

I have done a couple of these scarves - the most recent of which was a christmas present from my mother-in-law.

 

 

The idea is that through some simple garter stitch you get a fantastic effect through the wool. The silver scarf on the left was only five stitches. The pattern went as follows; "cast on 5 stitches. work 6 rows in Garter st working 1 stitch in each hole. Continue working 1 stitch in every 2 holes until skein runs out and blind off". Certainly not the most complicated of instructions.

 

You don't have to cast on as such, as the wool provides its own "holes". As you can see - great result with very little effort. But is it honest knitting?

 

Both of these took less than an afternoon to knit. They were a nice easy project to complete and you end up with something quite useful at the end. But it is the wool, not my knitting, that is the magician here. It is the ready-meal of the yarn world.

 

So what's better - blending ingredients to produce a home-made sauce or buying  a jar from Tesco? With other projects I feel like I've learnt something along the way - the cabling on my hand warmers, the bobble effect on the daleks, following a graph pattern with the TARDIS, or simple sheer perseverance and stamina with the mice. You feel that you have achieved something or have mastered a skill on the successful completion of your project. This all feels a bit easy to me.

 

Maybe it is cheating but maybe it acts as a good introduction to the wider world of knitting.

 

 

Welsh adventures

We've come away for a few days to recharge some batteries & soak up some culture. After finding a particularly nice deal off a website, me & the mister have arrived in Cardiff with high hopes of castles & the Doctor Who exhibition.

The drive over was extraordinarily pleasant. Being a pair of history buffs, we decided to go to Tewkesbury to see the Abbey & the battlefield. As the Mister is a Yorkshireman, the site of the last Yorkshire battle of the Wars of the Roses is something of a pilgrimage. Lots of likely historical figures are buried in the (very impressive) abbey.

We saw quite a bit of snow as we crossed the welsh border but the bright sunshine is such a blessed relief after so much miserable weather this year.

At the moment, Mister is drowning himself in the bath after successfully navigating quite a few motorways. It's going to be a good holiday!

Prospective Patterns

I've got lots of knitting books that I've either picked up or have been given for birthdays & Christmas. There's so many patterns that, given the time, I'd love to have a go at.

My sister-in-law got me a book this year called Evil Knits which has a Nosferatu pattern, as well as ghosts, witches & even a haunted house.

My Doctor Who pattern book has knitting & sewing patterns, including a K-9 bag, a TARDIS cushion and the famous Tom Baker scarf.

I have managed to make a few things from the knitorama book which has lots of kitch ideas in it. I knitted some shoelaces for my DM boots & made a crochet pint of beer. I also made a hand grenade purse to keep my gym card & locker money in. Other patterns include Fried Egg Earmuffs and knitted flying ducks (think Hilda Ogden)

With so many great ideas, it's hard to know what to make first!

the yarn that never ends

I took a bit of a hiatus from blogging due to some tough family situations, although the knitting has continued.

In December 2011 I finished a project I'm particularly proud of - the Alan Dart Victorian mice. It would be no exaggeration to say this project was very much a labour of love that took months and months of fiddly effort. The final project was displayed at the Brighstone Christmas Tree festival in order to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust (among other charities)

the final project with display

         

Father Christmas made a special appearance  

 

This Romeo hoped to be lucky under the mistletoe

 
Even the chistmas tree was knitted, and with the fairy lights, wall lamps and lit fire it looked very atmospheric.
So that is what I was doing for most of 2011.

In 2012, my friends were getting married in August so I decided to make them a wedding cake. Again, I used an Alan Dart pattern to great success. I modified it slightly so that the groom had a beard (to match the real groom) and I stitched their initials on the cake icing to personalise it.

The groom's cravat also matched what the real groom was wearing. This was another labour of love. Getting the cake stuffed took more than one trip to the shop to get the correct material. It was also difficult to keep it a secret as the bride is my knitting buddy. Also, keeping white wool completely clean with 3 cats in the house is almost impossible!

I started the cake in February 2012 and finished in time for their wedding in August 2012. Two weeks later I fell over in Exeter and tore my ankle ligaments. I suddenly found myself sitting around and in need of a knitting project which is how these socks came into being. I knitted them in a week as I had all the time in the world.

The pattern was an old one I had knocking about - the sort that comes with a ball of wool. These socks came in so useful with the hideous winter we've just had! I also knitted some hand warmers which also came in useful. The keep the mits warm without having to take them off all the time to fish things out of your pocket or to use your mobile.

These were constructed using a pattern from http://swordqueen.tripod.com/catsandacurmudgeon/id15.html
I chose to make them shorter for my own reasons and they work quite nicely.

There are more projects on the horizon. I got some really nice books for Christmas, including The Twelve Knits of Christmas - I sense another entry to the Christmas Tree festival this year!

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.