The Crafty Geek

Now we are 30

2012-01-25T22:34:00.001Z

Just a short post today. It is my birthday, and I... am old. Well, in my mind, anyway.

I got rather a lot of yarn, and I also got this. Which makes me very happy. I have already tried out knitting while reading, to great success.

Tiny feet!

2012-01-16T20:09:00.000Z

I've been so overwhelmed with everything the last few weeks, I almost forgot to post these:

They're my latest design, published in The Knitter issue 40, which I think is just about still on sale! It's sized for a range of children's foot sizes (those are Harry's feet above modelling the sample!), and I think a great 'special' sock, for showing off a pretty yarn on a special occasion. Or just for showing off round the house of course!

The cable grows out of the ribbing at the top, and goes down into the heel as well:

There's also a pretty lace panel in the middle of the large cables – it works really well with the very variegated yarn. The yarn used here is Zenith by Flamboyance Yarns, in a really pretty colour that reminds me of Cadbury's Mini Eggs!

All photographs are copyright The Knitter.

So that was 2011

2012-01-11T13:41:00.003Z

I know, I'm a bit late publishing this – but hey, at least it's still January. And our Christmas tree is still up, so I obviously still think it's December really.

2011 was a pretty good year. I turned 29 (don't remind me what that means about 2012, my birthday is in January and I'm fragile), Harry turned three. I quit my job and turned to self-employment (oh yeah, I should tell you about that sometime).

Crafting wise, I…

Finished my first adult garment (just awaiting some decent photos)
Knit 29 pairs of socks
Had 11 designs published, including two in The Knitter
Finally figured out stranded colourwork
Knit two tops for Harry and thought about knitting some more
Got a new local yarn shop and joined a new knitting group

I did not learn to crochet, so that's back on my list for 2012.

And I knit this yummy pair of socks in less than a week – Neil gave me the yarn for Christmas, and I was wearing it for New Year.

It's Eden Cottage Yarns Merino 4ply, in the Embossed Leaves pattern. Wool bought at Great British Yarns (the new LYS I mentioned – literally down the road from my house).

Happy New Year!

A little luxury

2011-12-07T12:45:00.001Z

Hopefully the keen sock knitters out there will have caught last week's Laughing Yaffle update – so much yarn sold out so fast! Alison introduced two new lovely-looking yarn bases, a high-twist sparkle sock (Starling) and a luxurious cashmere blend (Brambling).

Having recently been paid, I couldn't resist the luxury, and splashed out on this gorgeous blue skein of Brambling, called Dolphin.

Now I just have to decide what to knit with it! Obviously it's designed as sock yarn, and has some nylon in it for strength so I know it will make a luxurious treat for my feet. On the other hand, the extra softness means it would make a beautiful scarf or cowl – maybe I should design one? Having picked a semi-solid colour (for a change), it would be perfect for showing off a pretty stitch pattern, no matter what item I picked.

What do you think? What would you make with it?

A failed hat

2011-12-03T20:25:00.001Z

Neil needs a hat for winter. I have a lovely skein of Artesano Aran in a nice manly shade of brown = perfect combination. An aran-weight hat should be quick and simple.

Alas, it's less so when you get this far (which I'm counting as done on Ravelry, it only needed the end weaving in but I didn't want to cut it) then realise that it makes your husband look terrible and you're going to have to rip it all back.

Sigh. Does anyone know a nice aran-weight men's hat pattern? Because it's starting to get cold…

Colourwork!

2011-11-04T12:12:00.000Z

I've just realised that I never posted a proper picture of the Peerie Flooers hat after I finished it. So here you go!

Apologies for the poor lighting and my glasses. But look at that fabric! I can't quite believe I made it. Definitely need to do more of this stuff…

(the sticking up peaks at the top of the hat blocked out fine, I just took that photo about two minutes after I finished weaving in the ends)

A simple scarf

2011-10-26T21:02:00.001+01:00

I recently had the chance to test knit a new design by a brand new designer – my friend Elle at Miss Elle Knits. All I knew was that the design was a simple scarf pattern, and took one ball of Kidsilk Haze.As luck would have it, I had a ball sitting waiting to be used (a present from Jen), so I quickly volunteered as a test knitter, and got going on the pattern. A few short hours of knitting later, I had this:

And that is a rubbish photo, so here is a better pic of the scarf from Elle herself:

It's a really simple, short repeat lace pattern, very quick to knit and great TV knitting. And they'd make great Christmas presents!The pattern is now up for sale on Ravelry, so go check it out!

Experimenting

2011-10-03T19:47:00.003+01:00

It's not much of a secret that since I've started knitting, I've mostly knitted socks. And my sock knitting has developed, from knitting more and more complex designs (thanks Cookie A) to designing more and more of my own patterns – something I'm keen to do more of. Socks have taught me so much about knitting; how the fabric is constructed along with all the alchemy of stitch patterns.

Recently though, I've finally started to crave things that are – gasp – not socks. I'm stashing for more and more tops, despite not having finished the Featherweight cardigan yet (it does have one sleeve though). And last week I was overcome with the urge to cast on this.

It's Peerie Flooers, by Kate Davies. I'd seen the pattern on her blog and loved it, but last week I literally woke up one morning determined that I had to cast it on. And then I saw online that some friends were also knitting it, so chatted to them and managed to pool yarns to get all the colours (I only provided one ball of yarn, so definitely got the better end of the deal). I've done little bits of stranded knitting before, not very successfully, but this feels like 'proper' Fair Isle (and I believe it is). It's also filling me with inspiration for my own designs, using the techniques my fingers are learning and just by learning how different things come together.

I'm also hard at work knitting Challow, from the Fyberspates Scrumptious pattern collection. So far I've finished the body up to the underarms, and about half of one sleeve. And again, I'm learning more about how to make a sleeve fit an arm (this does it much better than the Featherweight design, which I may rip back) and how different constructions of top drape across your torso. I've knitted a few things for Harry recently which have taught me similar issues: putting short row shaping at the back of the neck, for instance. Nothing remotely new or interesting to experienced jumper knitters, but fascinating to me as a sock knitter. It's a whole new world!

Making Monday

2011-09-12T22:18:00.003+01:00

Just a quick Making Monday post to show off these pretty little things:

They're my latest design, and they're in the new issue of Simply Knitting, on sale now (issue 85). It's a simple feather and fan design that shows off the Laughing Yaffle self-striping yarn, and I particularly like the way it continues into the toe.

Hope you enjoy!

The Definite Article

2011-09-09T19:50:00.004+01:00

Apologies for the break – I've had a summer of coughs and colds and general yuckiness.

Anyway, I've realised I didn't finish off my Eddie Izzard swap posts. You've seen what I made, but what did I get?! Well, I got a (literally) jam-packed package from tarriknits, all themed around Eddie's show The Definite Article (one of my absolute favourites).

Here's my haul:

Look! There's a little knitted Eddie! How cute is he? Not forgetting, of course, the little knitted pigs ("Whose pigs are these?") which Harry loves playing with. I love that I made little bees and I got little pigs!

There was some lovely fabric (one covered in beeeeees, the other with animals you might find on an Ark), hairnets and dog food, a magnet and jam (in the fridge by the time I took the photo), a Twix (eaten by the time I took the photo), a shamrock lolly and the Irish Ale sock pattern. Not forgetting 46,145 inches of undyed alpaca merino yarn! (one inch for every yard in a marathon, of which Eddie ran 43 in 51 days).

Ooh, and this mug, which must be shown in close-up:

Making Monday – Eddie Izzard swap

2011-08-22T20:10:00.006+01:00

It's been a while since I blogged about swaps, but I assure you I'm still doing them – I just have a very long list of posts to write for the blog. For this Making Monday I thought I'd look at the things I made for my most recent swap, which was Eddie Izzard themed!

This is my package all wrapped up (thanks to Snorrepot, my spoilee, for letting me use some of her photos):

The parcel was covered in beeeeeeeees! They were the Tiny Bees from MochiMochi Land and were lots of fun to knit. And I was really happy to find the amazing Eddie quote card at RawArtLetterPress.

And inside…

Everything had an Eddie quote attached, but were themed very much around my spoilee's likes and tastes. The pattern in the background is Eddie Lizzard by Cheezombie. The yarn is Big Boy by Easyknits, in colour Banana Split. My partner requested yarn that was wool, but preferably not merino, and preferably not superwash. Now sock yarn weight is always good for swaps, as one skein is enough for a project (could be socks, mitts, a hat, a baby item…), but finding sock yarn that isn't superwash merino is surprisingly difficult! So I was really pleased to find this at Knit Nation – gorgeous colours, and it's made of Exmoor Blueface, Alpaca and Nylon. Perfect.

So onto the rest of the handmade items! A mug cozy that's also covered in beeeeeeeees:

I followed a tutorial here, nice easy project.

And last, but definitely not least, a blue scarfy-shawly thing!

It's the Chinook Scarf pattern, which was a great easy, quick design that I think looks great. It was my first time doing an integrated i-cord edging, which it turns out is really easy and gives a good finish to the piece. It also seemed to have a tighter row gauge than the rest of the scarf, which pulled the whole thing into a nice curved shape.

The yarn is Fyberspates Scrumptious DK, which worked really well. I was quite surprised by it – I've only used the 4ply before, which is a plied yarn, but the DK seems to be a thick single. I had absolutely no problems with it pulling apart though, it was lovely to knit with.

I wondered for a while about the Eddie Izzard connection for this item, but eventually found the perfect label: "You will infiltrate whites wash."

Making Monday

2011-08-15T21:26:00.003+01:00

I was going to do a longer post about swap making today, but I'm very tired and possibly coming down with something, so I'll just show off a recent pair of socks instead.

They are my standard ribbed sock pattern (1x1 rib cuff, 3x1 for the rest of the sock), in the ever lovely Laughing Yaffle self-striping yarn. I seem to be wearing more blue now so they will definitely come in handy!

Listen up!

2011-08-11T09:58:00.000+01:00

Just a quick entry to say that I'm on episode 33 of the Miss Elle Knits podcast, talking about Knit Nation, WIPs, swaps and spinning. Go check it out!

Slouchy socks

2011-08-09T17:31:00.005+01:00

It's a busy month for me design-wise – the new issue of Simply Knitting (issue 84) also has one of my designs!

These are really comfy, slouchy, socks, perfect for lounging around the house in. They're knit in Artesano Alpaca DK, which is one of the smooshiest yarns I've ever knit with – it's 100% alpaca and oh so soft! Even Neil was commenting on how cosy they looked. Little tucks down the legs mean that though they're long, they slouch down around your ankles nicely. And they're also a surprisingly fast knit!

Making Monday

2011-08-08T22:54:00.009+01:00

Yep, two posts in one day – it's Making Monday again! (courtesy of The Yarn Yard)

So, another project to journey through… On Worldwide Knit In Public Day, 2009, I joined some knitters and spinners in the foyer of Green Park Station. While there I mentioned that a) I hate seams, and b) I had (at the time) a young baby that I probably should knit for. One of the other knitters (I'm sorry I can't remember her name, I don't think I've seen her since), recommended Duck Soup, a child's hooded jacket with only one seam, in the hood. I made a note, added it to my Ravelry queue, and waited.

About a year later, in 2010, I finally bought the pattern. And on a trip to Wales, my parents bought me some of the wonderful James C Brett Marble Chunky yarn, a nice soft acrylic that is great for kids' knits and also cheap (this was my first garment of this sort, I knew I might mess it up and didn't want to write off £40 worth of yarn in the process).

I didn't swatch, I cast on, I knitted, I tried the funky cast off in the middle of a row and I… miscounted. I needed to rip back cast off stitches and I didn't have the heart, so I put it aside and moved on to other projects. A house move later, I found that I could finally face sorting it out, and slowly worked on the hood, a row here, a row there. Months passed.

And then, one week, I just picked it up. Half the hood done, of an entire jacket. And I knit, and knit.

And soon it actually started to look like something, and I knit, and I knit, and about a week after I'd picked it up it looked like this.

A week! A week! All that time, and the actual knitting only took a week! But of course it didn't end there. The original pattern called for i-cord toggles to close it, but I decided that a zip would suit the project better. So a few more months passed. Then I bought a zip. Then another month or so passed. And then…

Finally we reach the end. A hooded jacket, for Harry. Made (supposedly) in the two-year-old size.

But if you're wondering why these final pictures show it on a hanger, not on him? It's because it's too big for him. My nearly three-year-old. So this jacket's story is not finished yet…

Electrify!

2011-08-08T21:23:00.004+01:00

Just a quick post to say that issue 35 of The Knitter is on sale today – and their Sock Club this issue features a design by me!

This is Electrify, a slip stitch design using two colours of Laughing Yaffle yarn. It's quite a simple knit really, just stripes and slipped stitches creating a funky bubble effect.

The ribbing, heel and toe are in solid black – I was actually really impressed with how the heel looked. I've always thought you needed a short-row heel for that sort of block corner effect, but it's not the case, and I'll definitely be doing different coloured heels like this again.

Not knitting-a-long

2011-08-03T22:56:00.006+01:00

I have (temporarily) dropped out of the Knit.Sock.Love knitalong. I've loved what I've done so far (five Cookie A socks this year!), but with that and design commissions I feel like I've been on a bit of a deadline treadmill. So, much as I love knitalongs, I am taking a break. I have a design to finish in the next few days, and then… I am going to luxuriate for a while in the ability to knit whatever I want.

I think I have a bit of finishitis actually. I am looking at all my WIPs and am desperate to knit knit knit on them and get them off the needles. We have…

The dreaded knitalong socks, Sunshine in Crabapple Yarns Merino Sparkle.

My Featherweight Cardigan in Nef Lace – I'm so close to casting off the bottom now!

Plain ribbed socks in gorgeous Laughing Yaffle self-striping. This is the second sock of the pair.

My self-designed socks from Knit Nation, in Laughing Yaffle.

And a Fisherman's Pullover for Harry, in Bergère de France Baltic. I only just started this, but it's for a two-year-old, so it should be quick, right?

I am dreaming of getting them all done and dusted and put into use, of wearing those socks and that cardigan and parcelling up the jumper for Harry's birthday. And then I am gazing at my stash and dreaming of all the things I can cast on… helical socks in Spud and Chloe… Mythos in Laughing Yaffle… a Scroll Lace Scarf in Colinette… Felicity Hat in Fledgling…

Aaah, the luxury. I can't wait.

Making Monday

2011-08-01T22:38:00.007+01:00

I was just going to do a simple FO post for this scarf, but Natalie at The Yarn Yard has declared it Making Monday, so I shall treat you to a little more detail!

You may remember that last year, I won four balls of Artesano Alpaca 4ply in this lovely purple, in a competition from Brownberry Yarns.

This was also how I came across the Brownberry Yarns shop, and I've definitely been a big fan ever since!

I wasn't sure what to do with it, as I hadn't knit much lace at the time, I was really just a sock knitter. My ears pricked up at the mention of '4ply' – ie, it's the right weight for socks – but it's not really sock yarn. Maybe some comfy bed socks, but that's not really my thing. I give my socks lots of wear and like to show them off! So I browsed Ravelry and saw that a lot of people had used this to make lace shawls and scarves, and decided to try Branching Out, a popular Knitty design that's apparently a good lace learning project.

I cast on (maybe a little tightly) and got started pretty quickly.

…and then life got in the way, and deadlines, and the 26 pair mini sock plunge, and it pretty much stayed like that until earlier this year. A slight routine change meant that I was spending a bit of time each night knitting upstairs, and rather than take my normal knitting up with me I decided to work on the scarf. Soon it was looking like this:

Little and often definitely does work, by the way, because eventually it looked like this!

And it was all packaged up and sent off to my Mam for mother's day.

I really enjoyed using the yarn (so soft!), and though I planned to use two of the balls, I only needed one in the end. I think I'll make a shawl with the rest, maybe Damson… It was a great pattern too, easy to see why it's so popular. I read someone online once say that it wasn't a good beginners' pattern as it involved several complicated stitches and a changing row count, but another knitter replied that that was the difference between an 'easy' pattern and a 'beginners' pattern – it was a good learning experience. I agree.

(Apologies for the photography. The colours in the top photos are most accurate)

Tools of the trade

2011-07-30T14:43:00.004+01:00

Well, Thursday was payday, so of course it was time for me to hit the online knitting sites. No yarn for me though – I'm actually being really good at the moment and constantly trying to remember the stash I already have. But tools… well, a bit of a stash diet seems like the perfect chance to stock up on some essential knitting tools.

First up are some T-pins for blocking, from Brownberry Yarns. Look at the cute bag they come in!

(They also come wrapped in purple tissue paper, and accompanied by purple sweets)

Secondly was a few more sets of Knit Pro DPNs from Get Knitted, who now do free UK shipping! Not pictured, because, well, they look like all my other DPNs. Just a bit thicker. Harry excitedly asked what I had, then laughed in a very patronising way when I said happily that it was new knitting needles. Hmmm.

I also got a WPI gauge from Handspinner.co.uk. This time is was Neil's turn to give me a 'look'. Trying to explain to a non-yarny person what exactly you might need a notched piece of wood for is harder than it sounds. But look, it comes with a guide and everything!

And there's more to come… just waiting on the post :-)

Another essential, of course, is stitch markers – you can never have too many! Last week I paid a visit to Miss Elle and she was kind enough to give me some of her very own.

We also made a trip to her amazing local yarn store, Jumble Jelly (and Harry was brilliantly well behaved, I was very proud). In addition to stocking her markers (so if you like them, head there and buy some!) they've got a gorgeous selection of yarns and accessories. Unfortunately this trip was before pay day so I wasn't able to indulge, but I'll definitely be back there again with money in my pocket!

Angee Angee

2011-07-23T09:56:00.003+01:00

Here's another finished project I completely forgot to post!

The pattern is Angee by Cookie A, and it was another easy yet great looking knit. The yarn is Fyberspates Dream Bamboo Merino, which I bought in the sale just after Christmas. Lovely to knit with and is washing and wearing well.

I wasn't completely convinced that the striping with the pattern worked at first, but the response from other knitters has been pretty positive. At any rate, it's another pair of handknit socks for the drawer, which is always good!

(The post title is the title of the second episode of The Persuaders, for people that didn't recognise it)

Knit Nation, part 3

2011-07-20T22:02:00.003+01:00

So after a day with some shopping, then a packed day of sock design, I shared a taxi with some friends back to London Paddington, they hopped on a train… and I sat down to wait two hours for my reserved train to arrive. Joy.

But then… look! A friendly face!

(Please forgive the crazed expressions. We were both pretty tired.)

Jen (otherwise known as JenACKnitwear) walked past me, and we got to keep each other company (and knit) for a couple of hours. She even gave me some Rowan Kidsilk Haze! We hadn't had much chance to chat at the show, so it was a great chance to catch up and talk knitting a bit longer before getting back to normal life.

A great end to the weekend. Thanks Jen!

Knit Nation, part 2

2011-07-19T21:51:00.003+01:00

And so… the class! I'm really enjoying my designing, and really want to do more with it, so who better to learn from than my favourite sock designer?! The class was 'Top down sock design' from Cookie A, and it was expensive but very worth it.

The day had a simple structure, with Cookie talking through various things at the start (different ways of making stitch patterns fit the stitch count you need for your sock, getting the ribbing to flow into your pattern, etc), and then us all looking through stitch dictionaries for our own inspiration.

Once we had a pattern chosen, we used graph paper to figure out sizing and ribbing issues, then cast on! We all got to chat individually with Cookie about what we were doing and get feedback on our choices and how it was going, and then she came round several times to see how it was knitting up.

At the end of the day we all got together and Cookie held up each person's knitting, and the stitch pattern they were using, and talked about the choices they'd made. There were some really lovely socks getting going!

This is my work by the end of the day:

I'm really happy with what I did, I used more elaborate patterning than in most of my designs, and I love the combination of a leaf pattern and the gorgeous green yarn from Laughing Yaffle. Unfortunately I hit a bit of a snag while knitting on the way home: I copied the stitch pattern out three times for various reasons, and the three versions don't seem to tally. I knit to sit down with some graph paper and do some thinking and some sums, but don't really have time at the moment. Ah well, look forward to seeing it in due course, I promise you it will be a lovely pair of socks!

Cookie was a great teacher, inspiring in how simple she made things sounds, but then every so often she'd come out with an idea of pure genius, that made you stop and realise why she's so good!

(Although my favourite parts of the day may be Cookie's admissions that she a) doesn't swatch, and b) doesn't worry about how the pattern will split for the heel until she gets there…)

Knit Nation, part 1

2011-07-18T18:44:00.007+01:00

This weekend I had the good fortune to attend Knit Nation, in London. I actually went with a very special purpose in mind – I was booked onto a sock design class with Cookie A! How amazing is that?!

I'll talk about my class in more detail tomorrow, but first, some pictures of the Marketplace. It was smaller than I expected, compared to the big shows or even smaller events like iKnit, but 'small and beautiful' is definitely key. Every stall was packed with the most amazing yarns – I could have bought everything!

Unfortunately funds didn't allow for that (roll on payday), but I made some detailed notes on things I'm planning to get in upcoming months. I also got to shop vicariously and pick up some of the legendary Wollmeise for Miss Elle and Crinoline Robot, plus some little things for my partner in the Odd Ducks Eddie Izzard swap I'm taking part in.

Anyway, I know you're really after pictures, so here we go!

Wollmeise, at Loop. Amazing colours, but last year Wollmeise came over from Germany and sold them directly for £15 a skein. This time Loop were selling them, for £22.50 a skein. Gulp.

More Wollmeise. I fell in love with the white/purple one in the middle. Not sure if I love it enough to pay £22.50 for it, mind…

(Wollmeise skeins are 150g, rather than 100g, but it's still somewhat on the pricey side)

Ysolda's stall and photobooth. This was a great set-up – all her designs, knitted up in a variety of sizes and colours, for people to try on and get photos of. I got one photo of myself wearing a gorgeous cardigan from her new book Little Red in the City, which I really really want!

The yummy Sweet Clement booth.

I think that's the best of my photos. I had a great time finally meeting and chatting to Sarah from Brownberry Yarns, and Sharon from Great British Yarns, but unfortunately forgot to take shots of their booths!

Tune in tomorrow for more…

Boy or girl?

2011-07-15T19:42:00.003+01:00

I'm actually really behind in this blog – there are so many finished bits and pieces, swaps etc that I haven't shared with you yet! Many apologies, I will get them all up eventually.

For now, here's the garter stitch baby blanket I made recently.

It's for my sister-in-law's baby – she's due in September, and they're not finding out the sex, so the colour scheme seemed perfect. It's the Twig Cabin kit from Brownberry Yarns, a really easy knit in gorgeous soft yarn. It's now folded up and waiting for good news!

Lace panel socks

2011-07-14T20:51:00.003+01:00

A new design by me! These socks are in the latest issue of Simply Knitting, issue 83, on sale now.

They're knit in EasyKnits Biffle+ yarn, which is a gorgeous blend of wool, silk and cashmere. It's a simple lace panel on the cuffs, interspersed with ribbing, and then plain feet. A perfect luxury knit!

(Photo copyright Simply Knitting)

Going for a spin

2011-07-05T13:24:00.003+01:00

A lot of my knitting friends are also spinners. Obviously the two crafts go together, and I've heard a lot of people talk about how beneficial spinning can be for your knitting – giving you a better understanding of yarn construction and different fibres. However (like shawls, perhaps), it's just never really appealed. I remember Miss Elle talking about how much she wanted to start spinning, and own a spinning wheel (which of course she now does), and just not quite getting it.

And yet, and yet.

As with the shawls, it's something that's just slowly crept in at the edges of my mind. Wouldn't it be good to gain that better understanding of yarn and fibre? Wouldn't it be nice to have a few small skeins of my own yarn to decorate bigger pieces of knitwear? (I have no illusions of having the time or money to invest in full-scale spinning of enough yarn to create an entire anything)

So why now? Well, you may have noticed that a little race called the Tour de France is going on, and alongside that is the annual Tour de Fleece. There are no rules for this tour, only guidelines: set a personal challenge, and try to spin every day. The Tour started on Saturday (2nd July), so of course in usual Crafty Geek fashion I decided around the middle of last week that this was the perfect opportunity to learn to spin.

I was lucky enough to get extremely speedy service from both of the online shops I turned to: Handspinner,co.uk, where I got 100g of dyed merino roving, and Wingham Wool Work, where I bought a cute little drop spindle. I won't lie, I chose this one purely because is cost £3.57, but it seems to be doing the job fine so far! Both orders arrived by Saturday, so I was able to make a start on actual spinning on the first day of the race.

And now, because I have gone far too long without a picture in this blog post:

This is what I have so far! A while ago I bought the Respect the Spindle video from Interweave when it was going cheaply (I told you this had been running round my head for a bit), so I watched that and got started. The photo doesn't really show you how truly terrible my first attempts were (hidden underneath the later, more mildly terrible attempts), but I'm having fun and I am improving, and that's the main thing. I don't expect to get anything even remotely useable from this roving, but practising a little bit every day means that my next attempt might even be knittable.

A simple shawl

2011-06-18T15:59:00.004+01:00

For most of my knitting life, I've never quite 'got' shawls. I think they look pretty as pieces of knitting, and are great for showing off nice yarns or stitch patterns, but I could never imagine myself wearing one. However, gradually, I think I've started to come around.

I'm not the whole way there yet. But I've started to be more attracted to mini shawls, that you wrap around almost like scarves, and imagine it's only a matter of time. And all I needed was a little push to get started…

Fyberspates have recently released a gorgeous collection of designs for their Scrumptious yarns (merino and silk), and there was a knitalong on Ravelry for Childry, a simple garter stitch mini shawl. It seemed like a great first shawl project, and I was right!

And from the back:

Despite the simplicity, it feels very 'posh' – I'm guessing that's the silk – and I think it will be a great smart accessory. And now, I think, it will be time for a full-sized shawl very soon…

Heart to heart

2011-06-16T08:46:00.004+01:00

The new issue of Simply Knitting (issue 82, July 2011) is on sale today, and hidden away in the Quick and Easy Knits section is a brand new sock pattern from yours truly!

It's knit in my favourite Laughing Yaffle sock yarn, in Shocking pink, and is the perfect fancy little ankle sock for showing off some frills and lace. Enjoy!

(Image copyright Simply Knitting)

Garter stitch

2011-06-08T20:39:00.003+01:00

I'm not usually a garter stitch person… but look what I have on the needles at the moment:

It's the Twig Cabin kit from Brownberry yarns. Four colours of incredibly soft Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, a simple log cabin pattern (with handy links to the Yarn Harlot's guide to picking up the edge stitches), all leading to a perfect baby present for my sister in law, and an incredibly addictive project. It's actually a fair bit bigger than the picture now – I haven't been able to put it down.

And the garter stitch is growing on me…

Simply celery

2011-06-06T20:05:00.003+01:00

Slightly random title; it's the name of this project on Ravelry. Just what the colour of the yarn reminds me of!

In the middle of a lot of actual work deadlines, I managed to finish this last week. Isn't it pretty?

It's Mona by Cookie A, in KnitCave Cavern yarn, colour Limeade. This is a great Cookie A pattern - very simple, easy to knit and easy to remember, but really effective. I chose a solid yarn to show it off, but a lot of people have knitted it in variegated and it works surprisingly well.

Weirdly, the photos of these socks in the book don't do them justice at all. They're shown in a dark blue, and a combination of the yarn and the lighting means that you just can't see what the pattern looks like. Luckily, the projects tab in Ravelry means you can check out everyone else's versions, which helps a lot when choosing your own yarn.

(And the KnitCave was as lovely and smooshy as always. I've had lots of compliments on the colour)

Stash acquisition

2011-06-02T14:42:00.004+01:00

Apologies again for the lack of posts recently – I've been incredibly bogged down with deadlines. Ironically, I actually have loads to talk about!

Just a quick post for now, though. When I met up with Miss Elle recently to be interviewed for her podcast, I had the opportunity to admire her Mythos cardigan (shown here). I wasn't keen on this design when it first showed up on Knitty, but I really liked Elle's first Mythos, in her handspun, and fell even more in love with this version, knit in two skeins of Laughing Yaffle.

Well, after our lunch together, I went back to my desk, and a little while later, 'ping!' went my inbox with news of a Yaffle yarn update. And look what happened:

I couldn't resist! Green and brown, my favourite colours (in real life it's more green and less teal than in the picture), just waiting to become my very own Mythos.

This is why I'll never be rich…

Fame at last!

2011-05-19T14:36:00.003+01:00

Ouch, it's been a while since I posted, hasn't it? Apologies. Life, deadlines, knitting and an ill toddler have all conspired to keep me away.

But I do have a few cool things to share! First up is this lovely pair:

A simple pair of men's socks, made interesting with some asymmetric twisted ribbing. Perfect for Father's Day! The yarn is a DK weight, but I've used a cotton/wool blend which makes them not-too-hot for the summer months. (Though my own father lives in sandals for half the year, sigh)

They're in Simply Knitting issue 81, which is on sale now. You can even glimpse them on the cover!

And, next up… I'm on a podcast! The lovely Miss Elle interviewed me about socks, yarn and pattern design for episode 23 of Miss Elle Knits. You can listen to the episode directly from here, or it's easy to find and subscribe on iTunes. Many thanks to Elle for the chance to babble on – my voice sounds much posher on tape than in my head! Though Neil says I probably used my 'phone voice'.

Till the next time! Hopefully a bit sooner than last…

Finished Object Wednesday

2011-04-27T14:09:00.004+01:00

What? I don't have to alliterate every week, do I?

Anyway, we had a lovely Easter weekend up in North Wales, and Harry had a great time being fussed over by grandparents and discovering the delights of sandcastles and paddling. And me… I finished my Thelonious socks!

And another shot…

I used two mini skeins I had from Laughing Yaffle. I'm not sure if they were technically the same dye lot, but they look pretty identical to me. I was a bit worried about the yardage, as the two skeins came to 74g, a lot less than the usual 100g. However, almost all my socks come to less than 70g, so I crossed my fingers and hoped it would all be fine. I had 4g left!

Once again, I'm reminded of how much I like complicated patterns. I definitely need to knit more of these over the next year.

WIP Wednesday

2011-04-20T20:02:00.008+01:00

Here we go again! So what am I in the middle of this week…?

Mostly the same things (plus some Super Secret projects of which I will not speak). They're coming on though!

Here's the featherweight cardigan – I can put it on now:

Still really enjoying it, and it's coming on quite quickly now the I've got rid of the sleeves bits and the rows are shorter.

(yes, I know I'll have to come back to the sleeves at some point…)

The Thelonious socks are also doing well – onto the second sock now, and I shouldn't have any problems finishing the pair for the end of April:

I'm really enjoying these now. I think I knit so many simple socks that it's nice to tax my brain occasionally with something actually interesting, that I have to concentrate on!

Having said that, it's also nice to relax with a straightforward 'lace pattern on sock' design. These are Mona, the next installment of the knitalong.

I think the pictures in the book are terrible – the pattern doesn't show up at all in the dark yarn. So I went for a nice light one, a gorgeous KnitCave yarn in a pale green, and I'm really enjoying working with it – it's very smooshy!

Ooh – one last thing. This is almost finished, I just need to block it and (gulp) add a zip. Harry loves wearing it though!

A quick knit

2011-04-15T19:54:00.003+01:00

I am currently lucky enough to be borrowing a Kindle to review – loving ebooks!

(and the fact that you can view knitting patterns on it; a whole library in your handbag)

Anyway, it doesn't come with a case, and as it's going to have to go back eventually I didn't want to buy one, so the solution was to knit one! And finally have something to do with the aran-weight yarn I dyed last year. It's basically a sock – I took the lead from a simple pattern on Ravelry (Karen's Kindle Sweater by Karen Steimle), but switched it from toe-up to top-down!

A bit of a homemade look, but nice and personal – and it took about a day to knit!

WIP Wednesday

2011-04-13T20:48:00.006+01:00

So what am I working on at the moment? Looking at my wall of project bags and Ravelry projects, quite a bit. But there are only two main pieces that I'm working on 'properly'.

Firstly, my Thelonious socks. These were a struggle for quite a long while. I started in early March, for the knitalong, knit about two inches, then stuffed the sock in a project bag and got on with other things.

It's not a hugely complex design, but it's one that you need to get your head round – I found that I was focussed too much on following the pattern, using all the stitch markers and flicking the pages back and forth to check the type of increase I needed to use in each place. It wasn't any fun, so I didn't work on it.

Well, I dug it out a few days ago, managed to get my head round it, and now I'm storming through it – I took this picture last night, and expect to have finished the first sock by the end of tonight.

The second project is my featherweight cardigan, which I started last year, made a load of mistakes in the increases, then finally got round to frogging and restarting recently. I'm managing much better this time round, and have almost finished the increases. It doesn't help that every other row adds 8 stitches, but it's an enjoyable knit!

The stocking stitch – laceweight yarn on 3.5mm needles – is looking pretty uneven at the moment, with really messy stitches.

I'm hoping it will block out, but if not then hey ho, it's my first garment! I don't expect it to be perfect, just enjoyable.

Happy Mothers' Day

2011-04-06T20:17:00.004+01:00

So, Sunday was Mothers' Day – my third as an actual Mum. I got a lie in, and I was supposed to get breakfast in bed but Harry got too excited and dragged me downstairs to the dining table instead.

I'd decided beforehand that the perfect Mothers' Day activity would be dyeing some yarn with Harry, so once I was up and dressed, we set up his table outside and I got mixing Kool Aid. I had two sachets each of three colours: a red, green and blue. I wasn't too keen on the look of the red in the last skein I dyed, so I mixed in the blue in the hope of getting a purple, to go nicely with the lime green. It looked more of a burgundy in the pot, but hey, that was nice too.

Harry had a few other ideas though! He kept mixing the paintbrushes between the two pots, so the green stopped being lime and started heading towards more of an olive. Here's the yarn after we'd finished painting it:

I was really uncertain about it at this point – there was a lot of not-great-looking brown in the bits where the two colours met. But look! This is how it's dried:

I'm not sure if you noticed what I was wearing in this post, but this yarn is pretty dead on for one of my favourite skirts. Finally I will have socks that actually match clothes I own! It's a gorgeous russet-y apple look, reds and greens and browns. A perfect mothers' day present.

Self-promotion

2011-04-05T20:06:00.006+01:00

I've just realised that the latest Simply Knitting has been on sale for a while now, and I haven't commented on the very cool thing contained within it – a sock pattern by me!

They're men's cabled socks, knit in the very yummy and soft Fledgling yarn from Laughing Yaffle – it's 55% alpaca, 25% merino and 20% nylon, making for a very soft and strong sock! Neil is very impatiently waiting for me to get them back from the magazine so he can start wearing them.

They're in issue 79, the Spring 2011 issue, which is on sale now. Please let me know if you knit them!

Your knitting and crochet time

2011-04-04T21:14:00.003+01:00

Yes, late again – for a journalist I'm not that great at blogging on time. But this is the last of the Blogging Week blogs, and I hope you've enjoyed them.

This entry is about my knitting 'time' – when, where and how do I knit?

In general I knit almost anywhere. At my desk before work, and at lunch. On the bus (answering questions about tiny circular sock needles while Harry is asleep). Walking to work – again that tiny sock needle is perfect for knitting a stocking stitch sock without paying attention, just knit stitch, knit stitch, knit stitch.

I knit in the pub, sometimes with the local knitting group, sometimes with my work colleagues who I am sure wish at least a little bit that I didn't always produce a sock during a boozy journos night out (I've regretted it as well, when someone sat on my knitting bag and broke two DPNs). I knit in the car, since I can't drive.

But mostly, I knit here.

You might be able to recognise the spot from my previous picture in the organisation blog post. The corner of my sofa (we have two sofas in our living room, which sounds far grander than it really is, so we get one each. With my knitting, laptop and books I really need the space), with my WIPs hanging up next to me, notions and pattern on the arm. It's a good little set up, and I spend a lot of time there – I can sit while Harry plays on the floor (or repeatedly launches himself off Neil's sofa onto his bean bag), or in front of the TV in the evening, or just by myself listening to knitting podcasts when Harry's napping. My little space. I like it.

Something to aspire to

2011-04-02T21:36:00.002+01:00

So what new skills do I hope to acquire over the coming year?

There's one biggie, and it was in my New Year's Resolutions here. Crochet.

Knitting and crochet are linked in lots of ways, and yet a lot seems to divide them – it's interesting the prejudices that exist between the two. It does feel like a skill I should have if I'm going to be serious about knitting, and there are plenty of nice patterns that ask for a little crochet edging. But mostly I want to be able to make Harry toys like these.

Apart from that, I want to work on my colourwork (I think I've just about got the hang of the one-yarn-in-each-hand thing, but I need to practice it), and I'd like to have a try at a little bit of spinning, just on a drop spindle. I don't want to start it as a hobby, just start to get an idea of the construction of the yarns I knit and design with.

So, what's everyone else hoping to learn this year?

And now for something completely different

2011-04-01T18:45:00.003+01:00

Not a sock.

Where are they now?

2011-04-01T17:15:00.003+01:00

(again a day late sorry, blame PlusNet!)

For today's installment, we need to talk about the fate of a past knitted project. This seemed quite a tough one for me at first. The vast majority of things I knit are for me, Neil or Harry – so they are in use around our house. Most of the rest of my creations were sent off around the country as presents for friends and family. Obviously I hope that they're loved and used, but I don't really know (and it would seem rude to ask!).

One thing I do know about though, and that's this pair of socks:

The first sock of this pair was the third I ever cast on, but it's the first complete pair I ever finished (and the first I ever knit in my favourite Yaffle yarn). They were a birthday present for my friend Lucy, an occasional knitter herself, and they were received with much appreciation and thanks.

Unfortunately, they don't fit properly. Therein lies the hazard of surprise knitting, I suppose, and I lucky it doesn't happen more often. However, though these socks may not be used, I do know they are loved – when we helped Lucy move house recently I found them, pressed and well looked after, and she commented that maybe she should get a box frame to display them in.

(Maybe I should buy her one for her next birthday…?)

They were a good learning pair I think – seeing how easy it is to put a simple pattern into a basic sock, my first eye of partridge heel, and a lesson that sizing isn't just about circumference and length. It's a shame they're not worn, but I'm very happy I knit them, and really happy that they're appreciated.

Tidy mind, tidy stitches

2011-03-31T08:13:00.004+01:00

(Apologies for the slight delay with this post; our internet connection died last night)

Right then, stash organisation! I'm a big fan of being organised, but I have to admit I'm not always great at putting things into practice. That said, I think my knitting is actually pretty well ordered.

This is my main storage area, in a corner of the bedroom:

Now, we're going to ignore the top shelf as it's currently a mish mash of ornaments, jewellery and toiletries that badly needs sorting out (though you may take a moment to admire my Prisoner cross stitch, if you wish).

The second shelf has knitting/crafting books, a couple of very old projects stuffed in bags, and two boxes full of sock yarn. The top box is mini skeins and the ends of skeins I've used – perfect for baby hats and Harry socks.

The next shelf holds my DMC embroidery threads (in the folders), a jewellery box and a plastic box with all my jewellery making stuff in it. After that is a shelf with my smaller books, a plastic box with all my sewing stuff (currently bursting at the seams with fat quarters) and my Knit Pro needle set.

And at the bottom are the very largest boxes! On the left is a plastic box with all my non-sock yarn (not much of that), plus the canvas bag with a tree contains UFOs, and the green Simply Knitting bag contains random needles and notions. The green box contains sock yarn that has been tidied from other places and is waiting to make its way into the proper sock yarn boxes, and the tall plastic box next to that is the last of the sock yarn containers. The box underneath that contains cross stitch.

Phew! But that's not all…

You may remember me talking about this amazing organiser that Neil got me for my birthday. It's working brilliantly – that corner of the sofa is where I sit and knit every night, and I think at the moment the top six of the pockets all have current WIPs stored in them. The bottom two contain DPNs, my notions purse, my design notebook and random bits of Very Important Paper.

So there we go! I'm also a big fan of Ravelry (all my sock yarn is on my stash page) for knitting organisation. I've loved seeing how everyone else organises their stuff (and need to show Neil a few posts to demonstrate that no, I don't actually have that much stash), so I hope you've enjoyed mine – I'm just sorry it's late and the photos aren't very focused!

Skill + 1UP

2011-03-29T21:58:00.005+01:00

Well, today's entry in the K&CB week is: what new skills have you learned over the last year?

I've actually found this really hard: I don't think I've gained any. I am a better knitter than a year ago, I am a better designer than a year ago. But I don't think I've actually gained any new skills. I've done more cabling, more lace… The only 'new' things I can think of are short-row heels (I've done one now), and yarn dyeing. But I don't do anything fancy with that, or use any great skills – I just cover yarn in random colours, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Boo. I think I'm going to have to work harder this year on actually pushing myself to try more things. Definitely toe-up socks and crochet this year!

(here are some examples of my dyed yarn, just so I have some pictures in this post!)

Ooh – I thought of something! I designed and knit gloves for the first time – all those fiddly fingers!

A Tale of Two Yarns

2011-03-28T20:48:00.007+01:00

Hey, it's the 2nd Annual Knitting & Crochet Blog Week!

So despite having a couple of finished pieces, plus swap parcel both sent and received, to talk about, for this week I'm going to blog on a specific list of things, in common with rather a lot of other yarny bloggers out there. Hope you enjoy.

(my feed reader exploded with knitting blogs today, this is going to be a big week!)

Anyway, for day one of the week, we need to talk about two yarns, like or loathe. It won't come as much of a surprise that the first yarn that springs to mind for me is Laughing Yaffle (though Miss Elle beat me to it).

I'm 90% a sock knitter, and Yaffle is my absolute favourite sock yarn. I admit, it helps that I'm friends with the dyer, but I spend a hefty proportion of my yarn budget at the shop because I really, really like the yarn. It's the perfect sock yarn: soft and lovely on your hands (for knitting) and feet (for wearing); easy to wash and hard-wearing (20% nylon, always appreciated), and agh, the colours! Whether variegated or solid, I don't think there's every been a skein in the shop I wouldn't want to knit a pair of socks with. Yummy.

Here is my favourite pair of handknit socks, knit in the first skein of Yaffle yarn I ever bought, on the day the shop opened.

So pretty!

And, for my second yarn, one that's at completely the other end of the scale in almost every way. James C Brett Marble Chunky. It's a chunky yarn (you're surprised, I'm sure), the thickest I've ever worked with (bearing in mind that normally, DK seems thick to me), 100% acrylic, and you get a huge 200g ball for about £4.

Machine made, machine dyed – but it's so much better than the squeaky acrylics you find in every drapers shop. It's barely squeaky, the colours are lovely, and it knits up quickly and easily into really nice fabric! I discovered it when I was given a ball for Christmas (by non-knitters) a couple of years ago. I looked it up on Ravelry and almost every comment was along the lines of "I'm normally such a yarn snob about acrylics, but this is really nice!"

I have to say I agree. I've knit Harry little bits with the original ball, and I'm currently knitting him a jacket in some more. It's quite splitty (doesn't help that I use ultra-pointy Knit-Pro needles), but that's really the only bad thing I can say about it.

I'm sorry I didn't find a yarn to criticise – honestly, nothing came to mind. I only knit with yarns I like!

So, this non-knitting thing

2011-03-14T20:33:00.003Z

First things first: here are Harry's purple socks.

No-purl micro monkeys in Laughing Yaffle yarn, quick to knit and very much appreciated.

Now, to the reading-not-knitting. It's going surprisingly well, although it's really 'less knitting' rather than 'no knitting'. I'm allowing myself to knit when I'm watching TV and it's something I actually want to watch. I find it impossible to watch TV without doing something with my hands – if I'm not knitting then I tend to play with my laptop and get distracted and not watch the TV properly. So I get a little bit of knitting done each night in front of Highlander, or Wonders of the Universe.

But the rest of the time… my hands are still. And since yesterday, I've finished a novel I was reading (and was only a quarter of the way through), and read a whole graphic novel. Ooh, and got two pieces of freelance writing in on time as well. So here's to the rest of the week.

The trouble with reading

2011-03-09T17:05:00.003Z

I'm a pretty major bookworm. I've read thousands of books in my life (most of them Doctor Who novelisations), our living room is overflowing with them, and I'm lucky enough to be paid to review them. However, in recent years I really haven't read that much. I have a pile of books I took out of the library a year ago, and thanks to the wonder of the internet I just renew them each time they're due back. They're all stuff I really want to read – most of them were ordered in by me. But hey.

Now, there are a few reasons I've struggled to find time to read in the last few years – Harry, the lack of a sit-down commute, Harry – but I think I've identified the major one. Knitting. All those little moments that I used to read in, now I knit. And I think this is what's hobbling me every time I try and say "I will read more; I will read x books this year; I will read all the books on this list" – if I don't actually put aside some extra time to do the reading, it's really not going to happen. So I'm going to designate next week* my non-knitting week. No knitting, just reading, no excuses. Let's see if I can make it work!

*Sun 13th-Sat 19th March, as I'm going to the Stitch and Craft Show on Sunday 20th and they might be a little miffed if I sit there and read all day.

Bits and bobs

2011-03-06T19:11:00.004Z

Harry's purple socks: onto the second one now.

(Apologies for the red background; opportunities for photographing a toddler's foot are scarce.)

Next part of the KSL knitalong, Thelonious: started.

Agh the stitch markers!

New sewing kit: bought.

Will give more details when I do a proper post on making it, but isn't it cute?! (From Clothkits, in the sale).

And I don't have a pic for this, but bean bags: finally started. All fabric cut out, just need to buy something to stop the edges of the fabric fraying and some beans, and I'm ready to get sewing.

Fairly productive week!

Mummy make!

2011-03-02T19:22:00.003Z

Harry is definitely appreciative of hand-knits. On Sunday, I offered to knit him a new pair of socks, and he was very enthusiastic about the idea, along with yelling "green!" I got out my box of mini-skeins and the ends of balls, and he chose some Laughing Yaffle in Camomile Lawn, left over from when I knit these socks for his Dad. I wanted to echo those by putting a cable in, but still keep it mostly ribbed. So I knit these, mostly making it up as I went along!

They only took about two days, and Harry was very happy with them! So happy, in fact, that a while later he grabbed my hand and pulled me upstairs, chanting "blue, blue blue!" As we got to my yarn stash he changed to "purple! purple!" then pointed to a purple Yaffle mini skein.

How could I say no?

Of course, being two he doesn't understand too much about the actual work of knitting, and several times now he's pointed at the yarn and asked "try it on?" I couldn't even start these ones straight away as I need to wind up the yarn in work. But still, he should have a pair for the weekend :-)

Out with the sewing machine

2011-02-27T20:39:00.003Z

Since we moved house last August, until about two weeks ago, I hadn't used my sewing machine. For some reason I always think of sewing as a faff, which it kind of is – but it's also much faster than knitting! It's easy to finish a project in an evening if you get on with it and don't have any tension catastrophes.

Since last year I've been meaning to make these bean bags – I have the pattern printed out and I've bought the fabric. My parents visited recently and asked if Harry had any small bean bags. "Oh, I'm making him some," I said, "I've bought the fabric." I'd first told my Mam about these bean bags before Christmas. She looked at me. "But you haven't made them yet," she said.

She's right – in my head I don't need to buy Harry bean bags because I'm making him some, but fabric and my intentions don't actually make a good toy. You might be thinking from all this lead in that I'm going to show you the bags I've made, but I'm afraid I'm not actually at that point yet. However, my sewing machine is out from its hiding place and I'm definitely in a cutting-and-stitching place at the moment, so maybe this week!

A couple of things I've made are still under wraps, but I did like this Halloween bag I made for my friend Mim at Crinoline Robot, for her birthday. It's this pattern, which I've been meaning to make for a while.

Socks 'n' stuff

2011-02-24T20:20:00.004Z

Sorry I've been a bit quiet; frustratingly most of what I've been working on is secret for a little while (in different ways: presents, swaps, publications) so there hasn't been a lot to post. There are a couple of things I can show you though!

These are socks I made for my Dad's birthday last week. It's the Samurai pattern from Knitted Socks East and West (which my Dad bought me), adapted for DK yarn – Debbie Bliss Rialto DK, as always. They were secret, but now they've been given and received, so I can show them off! (now I just need to make the gloves Dad asked for at Christmas…)

I've had a fair few crafting deadlines recently, but they're mostly conquered now so I've actually had to sit down and think about new things to knit – for me! One thing that's been in mind for a while is Bobbie gloves in my Laughing Yaffle 'Autumn Woods' yarn. This is a great pattern for variegated yarns and several people have made it in Yaffle now. I actually intended to knit this at the start of the winter, not the end, but hey, at least I should be prepared for next year. Anyway, this is how it's going so far:

Isn't the stitch pattern cool?! It's knit flat at the moment, then joined into the round, to give a cuff with a 'v' shape cut into it. I think my gauge may be a little small so I may go up a needle size when I join, we'll see. They do kind of need to fit when I'm done – no one else is getting these!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T19:30:00.003Z

To those of you that like to celebrate it, anyway :-) Neil and I tend to do something every year – not big, and not expensive, and certainly not involving leaving the house now Harry's around, but something to just recognise it and appreciate each other. There is a very wonderful looking Sainsbury's dine-in-for-£10 meal and bottle of wine just waiting for Harry to fall asleep.

And, of course, this being me: there are socks.

The design is Monkey by Cookie A, which Neil spotted in Knit.Sock.Love at Christmas and declared his love for. (February is also Monkey month in the K.S.L. knitalong, helpfully). The yarn is hand-dyed by me, at the Fyberspates workshop last year. They were given this morning, worn today and seem to be very much appreciated. Which is all a pair of socks can hope for in the world, really.

A few finished things

2011-02-08T21:23:00.004Z

The Kool Aid yarn didn't turn out too badly in the end:

I'm still undecided though. It might make some nice Kai-Mei socks with the little hearts. On the other hand, I've never tried over-dyeing so this might be a good place to try it out.

Also…ta-da!

Hedera socks done. I'm wearing them today, and they completely match my bright stripy jumper I'm also wearing. Perfect!

(I also finished a cool sewing project, but that's secret for now…)

Knit. Sock. Love.

2011-02-03T19:11:00.005Z

Do you remember the gorgeous book I got for Christmas?

There's a knitalong on Ravelry to work through all the designs in the book. A new design is cast on every month, but you have two months to finish each one. The January sock was Hedera – as you'll see from my previous posts, these are coming on well and it shouldn't be a problem to finish them by the end of February.

The February sock is Monkey. It's a really famous design, and to date it's been knit by 11,205 Ravelry knitters. It's also the pattern that Neil chose when he flicked through the book at Christmas: "I'd like a pair of these."

According to the knitalong, I have until the end of March to finish the Monkeys. But the next Neil gift-giving is Valentine's Day, in 11 days time. Sigh…

Faster, Monkeys, faster!

Does it stay or does it go?

2011-02-01T15:12:00.004Z

The yarn I dyed yesterday is growing on me now:

So I'm less sure about over-dyeing it. When I wrote about it yesterday I had only seen the lightest part of the yarn, at the top of the tub. At the bottom it was darker, and I like that a lot more – and I think the semi-solid effect could look quite nice. Still not sure it's a 'me' colour though. What do you think? Should I keep it?

(And yes, it does look like it will be a nightmare to wind without tangling, doesn't it? That's because the yarn was originally in a ball, and I put it into a skein with Harry's 'help', which it turns out wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had)

Bits and bobs

2011-01-31T11:31:00.003Z

1. Hedera socks in Yaffle yarn are coming on well. One down, one to go.

2. It was my birthday! I am 29 years old – next year should be interesting. I had some yummy yarn (including Fyberspates and Laughing Yaffle) and this amazing project organiser. It was from Neil, but he commissioned it from my friend Alison, who made it to his basic specifications. It hangs by where I knit and is perfect.

3. Did some yarn dyeing with Harry this morning. Wasn't too successful unfortunately. I only had one colour, so I wanted to go for a semi-solid yarn and thought it would be better to pour on the dye rather than paint it on – additionally, I couldn't find the paintbrushes. Harry got over-enthusiastic with the pouring, used up all the dye really quickly and then stood there plaintively asking: "More paint? Use brushes?" Which made me feel very guilty for getting him excited about painting wool and not really delivering. Our hands also ended up bright blood red (toothpaste turns out to be the thing to use to get rid of this), and I'm not that keen on the finished yarn. That's not necessarily a bad thing though – I'll overdye it at a future date, and as yarn is always the most expensive part of any dyeing session, that's another fun morning for the same skein of yarn! I'll dig out the paintbrushes next time though…

"Painting wool"

2011-01-14T20:08:00.004Z

Harry and I had more fun last weekend, dyeing yarn (or painting wool as he calls it). This time I'd splashed out on yarn I'd actually use, superwash merino with nylon sock yarn – my favourite! The downside was that it was quite expensive. £6.40 for the yarn (from DT Crafts), and we used £3 worth of Kool Aid. Definitely not a cheaper route to yarn!

However, it was lots of fun, and less than £10 for a creative morning with Harry, passing on the things I love, is a bargain. I got him involved with all of it this time, from soaking the yarn first, to pouring in the powders and mixing up all the dyes. Quality parenting time!

I wanted to use less colours this time, but vary the intensity of them, so I made up four pots of dye: strong blue, weak blue, strong green, weak green (one of the reasons I spent so much on the Kool Aid). It seemed to work well, though one thing I only discovered at the end was the idea of covering an area in the weaker colour, then adding blobs in the stronger. Next time, maybe!

I also wanted to leave some bits undyed – well, to treat the white of the yarn as another colour. I'm glad I did this, but it will be interesting to see how it actually turns out when knitted up. The vagaries of Harry particularly mean that there were a fair few places the dye didn't go all the way through, and it's harder to deal with these when I've got deliberate undyed bits all over the place as well. So I'm not sure how dominant the white will be when this pretty skein is turned into pretty socks.

Anyway, that said: we had lots of fun, and I'm really happy with it! What do you think?

WIP Wednesday

2011-01-12T20:58:00.005Z

Hedera, by Cookie A, in Laughing Yaffle Kayli. My first knit from my lovely new sock book.

I feel like I'm constantly amazed by how pretty this yarn is! I've had it about a year and a half, and it's been allocated to Hedera for most of that time, and yet even as I knit with it I feel upset that I'm using it up. I don't think I've ever bought more than one of the same colour yarn – there are just too many gorgeous yarns out there, and not enough time – but if I ever did, this might be it!

A simple ribbed sock for Harry, in the Fyberspates Shetland sock yarn that was left over from the lovely Fyberspates swap! A very fast knit and he has already declared his liking of it and asked to put it on.

My current stocking stitch sock that are (mostly) being knit on my tiny circular needle, so my general travelling project. The sock yarn was a present last Christmas – I love that the circular needle is helping me get through all those self-striping yarns! Fast and pretty socks, perfect.

But wait! There's more!

2011-01-10T07:00:00.005Z

Well, it turns out I'm not quite as organised as I thought – I missed a few things off my Christmas lists, both giving and receiving. So here's a little addendum to those previous posts.

Giving:

I finished these socks for my Mam in November, kept them hidden from the blog because they were for Christmas, but then forgot to put a picture up with all the things I finished in the week before Christmas. That's what I get for being organised! It's the Blackrose design, adapted for DK yarn, and knitted in Debbie Bliss Rialto DK, which was as nice to use as ever. Seemed to go down well at Christmas, too.

Receiving:

This gorgeous Bagpuss cross stitch from my mother in law. A reminder to me that I really should get on with some of my own cross stitch WIPs finished. This was a really lovely surprise, and the frame is even matched to one of my own pieces that's hanging in the bedroom (I'll have to show you that one day…).

And these gorgeous mugs, from friends. Apparently they were sitting on the shelf next to each other in the shop, and were so perfectly representative of me and my husband (hopefully you can work out which is which) that they had to be bought.

Shiny!

2011-01-08T18:45:00.003Z

I'm not a fan of being in a car, but long journeys can be good for one thing – knitting! (As long as you're not driving, of course)

And on the way back from Wales after New Year, I finished this pair of lovely socks:

As I've said before, it's Woolen Mill St Yarns in a Kaylee inspired colourway (I got the yarn in a Firefly swap). I've loved knitting with it – the texture of the fabric is different from any other I've knitted, though it's just a superwash merino, and I love the way the dye has taken into the yarn as well. For the design, I used this ruffle pattern, and then my standard stocking stitch sock.

They fit perfectly and I love them! At some point I'm going to have to count just how many handknit socks I have now – it's a lot.

Christmas gifts: Receiving

2011-01-05T19:47:00.007Z

Well, the crafting this Christmas wasn't all about me making things for other people – I also got some great crafty presents. Here's the line up:

Scrummy Fledgling sock yarn from my friend Alison – very gorgeous and I can't wait to see what it's going to turn into.

More Yaffle goodness – a gorgeous sock project bag from my friends James and Elle. Already been put to much use!

Amazingly bright Regia sock yarn from Harry (Neil may have had a hand in this). If it's looking a little bedraggled, it's because much of it has already been transformed into crazy bright Harry socks (more of those at a future date).

Knitting patterns! One Ball Knits: Gifts, from my parents (with an order for the driving gloves inside from my Dad). Some yummy patterns, and in addition to the gloves Neil has already requested a hat. Knitted gifts sorted for the future, then!

And finally, from Neil's sister and brother in law (they of the knitted wedding scarves), a book I've been hoping for since it was published… Knit. Sock. Love. by Cookie A. Full of really yummy patterns; some old ones, some new ones, some with new sizing (I've been meaning to knit Hedera in my Yaffle Kayli yarn for ages, and will be starting soon – much easier now I have this).

I hope your Christmas was as crafty as mine!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T20:57:00.003Z

Oooh, new numbers. Shiny.

I'll analyse last year's resolutions in a few days (we're still staying with relatives at the moment so internet access is limited), but here are my resolutions for 2011.

1. Read all the books in this list that I haven't already read. (It's a top 100 SF books list, if you don't fancy following the link). At a very rough count I've read about 32 so far, which is fairly shocking, so that's 68 to get through. A push, but I can try.

2. Learn to crochet. Only very basically, I'm not planning on adding it to my hobbies or making any garments, but I'd like to have the basic skills and maybe make Harry some simple toys.

3. Ummm… well I think 1 and 2 are it for the specific ones. I'd like to expand my knitting and designing, write more features, use up more of my stash, dye more yarn, do more activities with Harry (like the yarn dyeing, or the great trip to the aquarium today, rather than playing with Thomas trains in front of Thomas DVDs), continue to work on last year's resolutions, surf the internet less, eat more fruit, be more organised, get more done… Yeah, you can see why I'm not numbering these. 1 and 2 will do, and I'll vaguely work on the rest.

So, what are everyone else's resolutions?

Christmas gifts: Giving

2010-12-31T14:35:00.006Z

Very intermittent internet connection at the moment, so I'm not around much. I thought I'd do a quick round up of the presents I made this year though (so far, there's one still in progress).

These for Neil, a simple pair of stocking stitch socks in Trekking XXL. It's my first time using this yarn and my feelings are a bit mixed. It's soft enough and I love the colours, but it didn't seem to be dyed very well – the white of the yarn was showing through in a few places. Not enough that you really notice it or it's a problem, but I noticed while I was knitting and it would make me think twice about buying it in the future (this skein was a kind present and I don't mean anything bad by what I'm saying; they're yummy socks and Neil loves them!).

Next up another stocking stitch pair in a self-striping yarn; Opal this time. I started these for Neil's stepdad's birthday in May and never finished, so they became Christmas presents instead. He seemed to like them, though it's always hard to tell with presents!

These were for my Dad, in the yarn he bought me last month from Get Knitted; Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK. Very yummy and very very soft, though that did mean it was a little slippy on the needles at times. I used a free pattern, Alda Road, but basically just took the ribbing and the stitch pattern and plugged it into my standard sock on DK yarn. These were mostly knitted on Christmas Day, and in the car on the way to visit family, so a simple and very fast design that looks good too. He seemed to like them (I have a commission for a pair of gloves now, which I'll come to in my next post).

Finally, a pair of Merletto Mitts in Fyberspates Scrumptious Sock yarn. They used about half the skein, and I'm still working on another pair of mitts in the other half which will hopefully be on their way to their recipient by next week (in my defence, I didn't prioritise them earlier as I thought I'd see them at Christmas, by the time I realised I wouldn't it was too late). This was my first time working with this yarn and it was as scrummy as its name, silk and merino goodness. It doesn't frog/tink that brilliantly though so be careful! Also, though I love the design, the pattern itself was incredibly badly written, full of mistakes and things that didn't really make sense. I'm not going to list them all here (though if you fancy knitting them, ask for the list from me first!), but it was a pain, and a shame when the design is so lovely. These are for my sister in law, and I hope she likes them.

(There was another knitted present, Spirogyra mitts in Noro Silk Garden Sock, but I forgot to take a photo before I wrapped them! They were for a friend though, and I got a very enthusiastic thank you, so it's all good)

Phew! Next time I get online, I'll post some pics of the pretty presents I received…

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T21:29:00.003Z

Hope everyone is having a great Christmas!

Sorry I've been rubbish about posting this month – completely bogged down in Christmas knitting, and it's not finished yet. But Neil's socks went down very well, though I haven't managed to get a good picture yet.

Today was mostly about Cranky the Crane, and also quite a bit about the Gruffalo. Merry Christmas everyone!

(And also about the Doctor of course. And isn't Steven Moffat so unbelievably better at this than Russell T Davies was?)

Ouch

2010-12-12T21:08:00.004Z

Well, that whole 'posting more regularly' thing didn't go brilliantly, did it? In my defence – it's Christmas! It's a busy time. And in the last week, I have:

Completed two entire socks, start to finish (the second socks for two pairs)
Read and reviewed two novels (one great, one not – actually my review of the good one is here, go read it!)
Cast on a whole new sock
And, well, worked, looked after an ill and stroppy toddler, and generally attempted to prepare for Christmas.

Now, the completed socks – one pair is Entirely Secret, for now at least, but the other is my finally finished pair of Rick socks, just in time for Neil's birthday tomorrow.

It's Cookie A's Rick design, knitted in Laughing Yaffle Truly Teal. Both design and yarn are gorgeous, and work perfectly together. The only thing I'm not completely happy with is my positioning of the design on the foot. I upped the cast on from 60 to 72 (the stitch pattern has a 12-stitch repeat), and didn't do brilliantly with centering it on the new size. Now I've knitted them, of course, I understand the construction a lot better, and could either position it better or increase the size of the foot pattern. But hey ho, I still think they look great and hopefully Neil will too!

Ruffle sock

2010-12-03T13:03:00.002Z

So, my deadline knitting currently stands at two pairs of socks to knit from scratch, three pairs to finish that are already started, and three pairs of mitts to knit from scratch. And what am I knitting?

Socks for me!

In my defence, stocking stitch socks on my little 9in circular needle are my travel knitting - I knit them when walking or on the bus, when I couldn't normally get anything done. But yesterday I realised I was at the toe, so of course had to spend the evening finishing it off, and starting the next sock, or I wouldn't have anything to knit while coming into work!

And anyway, look how pretty this sock is. How could I refuse?

Phew!

2010-12-01T15:32:00.003Z

Well, I did it. NaBloPoMo – I posted to this blog every day for the whole of November. Did you enjoy it?!

It was an interesting experience. I found a lot more to talk about than I expected, and waffled less than I thought I would. I know I can be rubbish about regularly updating sometimes, so it was a useful discipline.

On the other hand, sometimes I honestly didn't have things to talk about. Other times I had a long day with lots to do, and it wasn't fun to have to rattle through a blog post as well before I could go to bed, especially when it was my turn to get up with Harry in the morning (he thinks that 5.15am is a good time to start the day).

So in short, I won't be continuing the 'every day' blogging, but I do hope to carry on blogging more regularly and frequently than before. And just to make this a not-entirely-boring post, here's a picture of a sock:

It's the Rick sock in Laughing Yaffle Truly Teal, and I finished it last night. Now I just need a second one, and my husband might have a birthday present!

A tale of two magazines

2010-11-30T14:03:00.004Z

Another post that looks at both sides of the 'Crafty Geek' label – today I'm telling you to go out and buy two magazines. They're worth it, really :-)

First up we have Simply Knitting. No designs of mine in it this month (though a little of my writing), but this here Crafty Geek site is a featured blog in this issue! And they say very nice things about me. It's issue 75, on sale today.

Next is another of my favourite mags, SFX. Britain's biggest selling science-fiction mag. My Dad's bought this since it launched so I grew up with it (of sorts, I'm not that young!), and starting to write for it a few years ago was probably the biggest deal for me of anything I've done professionally.

Today their newest Special goes on sale, and it's all about Doctor Who! And if, like me, you're into both Who and crafting, you're in for a treat, for there is a feature in there on that very thing, and I wrote it. So go buy it!

So… Doctor Who

2010-11-29T21:30:00.003Z

A few days ago, I mentioned that I was lucky enough, in a past life, to get paid to make some geeky cross stitch charts. This is my favourite:

Yup, I got to sit and state at that picture for several hours in work time, and then I sat and stared at it for many hours in my own time :-) I charted a lot of pictures in that job, and this was the only one I ever actually stitched.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it – it's not really something to hang on the wall and stare at you day to day. But I'm still proud I designed it, and proud I stitched it!

(For those wondering, it was in Quick&Easy Cross Stitch issue 137, March 2006. I actually got to chart David Tennant a second time, and John Barrowman too, in cool sepia tones for Cross Stitcher. Don't know the issue numbers off the top of my head though, sorry!)

Keeping warm

2010-11-28T20:10:00.004Z

Yesterday I made a trip to our newest yarn shop, Wool. I was searching for a posh yarn to make Christmas mitts with, and some warm yarn to knit myself a hat with! I found both :-)

First up, the posh yarn:

It's Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply, in Oyster (though I think of it as Champagne). Gorgeous colour, gorgeous sheen (that'll be the silk), and should make two lovely pairs of mitts. I've been having fun browsing Ravelry looking for the perfect patterns – more on that to come!

I also found some great yarn for a hat – Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Chunky. I don't have a picture of the yarn, as I wound it as soon as I got home (I normally wind stuff at work using the swift and ballwinder, but as chunky yarn only has about 100m to 100g, this seemed do-able by hand), knit it up and now have a great new hat to keep my head warm!

It's this design, which I recommend – quick, easy and I think it looks great. Can't recommend the yarn quite so much though – it broke three times while I was casting on! It's not spun very tightly so the roving just pulls apart when you pull too hard. Once the cast on was done all was well, and the hat knit up with no more problems, but I still think I'd hesitate before buying this again. That said, I do love how it's knit up and love the finished hat!

I was a bit worried about running out of yarn – to get a decent hat from it with the turn-up brim I wanted, I knew I'd have to use almost every scrap. About three-quarters of the way through I started getting worried, so I calculated how many stitches I was getting from a metre of yarn. I then worked out exactly how many stitches were in the last six decrease rounds (the hat is knit straight up to that point). I figured I'd need about 6.2m of yarn, rounded it up to 8m to be on the safe side, then measured this off the end of the yarn and tied a slip knit as a marker. Then I could knit happily up to this point, then start the decreases!

It all worked well, and I had a tiny bit of yarn left over, but it was nail-biting at times!

I bought some fabric as well, but forgot to photograph it, so that will have to wait for another day…

So yesterday was payday…

2010-11-27T18:17:00.002Z

… and today I bought yarn. Surprised?

I'd love to tell you all about it, but tonight I have to rush off out to see a friend get her head shaved for charity. You can read her story here – it's very moving and if everyone who visited this blog donated just a little bit, it would raise quite a bit extra for a really important charity.

See you tomorrow, with yarn, fabric and more yarn!

Let it snow!

2010-11-26T21:41:00.003Z

Well, snow finally came to Bath. It was pretty lovely – wandering through the Christmas Market in the dark, with Neil and Harry and Harry all wrapped up snug. It was also a lot like slightly heavy rain. Hey ho.

I have some seasonal knitting on the needles, though! And I'm trying out a new technique – mosaic knitting.

Isn't it pretty? Icy and snowy and beautiful. It's my Spud and Chloe yarn, and knitting up lovely. I'm really not sure about my needle choice though. The pattern had a 70 cast on, which is a fair bit more than I would normally do, so I went down a needle size, and I'm using 2.25mm. The yarn's quite a thick 4ply though, so it's a bit smooched up. The fabric it creates is looking good so far though…

Mosaic knitting means you can create coloured patterns without the scariness of Fair Isle stranding, just by slipping stitches. I'm loving the possibilities. It's unlikely I'll be spending too much time on it before Christmas though – this is a nice indulgent knit for me, but I have more urgent things in the works. Two pairs of socks by the 13th, plus possibly another two by Christmas and maybe a few pairs of mitts as well…

Brrrrrrrr!

2010-11-25T19:33:00.003Z

It's cold! No actual snow in Bath yet, but it's frosting over every night and everyone's wearing extra layers.

Now, in theory knitters are supposed to love winter – knitwear keeps you warm, right? Winter is where we come into our own. I disagree. Icy fingers make it hard to knit on my way to work, and I don't get to show off my socks because I'm wearing boots!

I'm still getting a few things done though, and I'm literally about 20 stitches away from finishing my first secret Christmas knit. Which I can't show you, of course. What I can show you though, is this:

One baby hat all done and dusted! I'm really pleased with how this turned out – and, of course, in all this cold a new baby will need a nice warm knitted hat.

And now it's onward with the deadlines – I keep thinking of more things to make people for Christmas, and I've just been given another magazine commission. All nice, but agh am I busy – and I keep wanting to cast things on for me too!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-24T22:16:00.002Z

A Whole New WIP

2010-11-23T21:21:00.004Z

Hmmmm. The problem with this NaBloPoMo thing is that I don't actually have an unlimited amount of time to a) knit/stitch, and b) think of witty and interesting things to write about. So while I hope that most posts do capture your interest at least a little bit, there will be a few (like this) that are really just space fillers. Apologies.

I am knitting a baby hat, for a woman who is having a baby soon. I hope she likes it. It's this design, and I'm knitting it in the same Twisted Limone yarn that I made my stripey socks in. It's striping nicely (about every three rounds), and should look cute when finished.

Here you go:

And, just to add some cuteness, here's a picture of Harry, two days old and wearing a hat knitted for him by Miss Elle. See, aren't you glad you came along?!

I am not a number!

2010-11-22T13:30:00.003Z

Well the Blake stitching yesterday seemed popular, so I thought I'd continue the theme with some more geeky cross stitch.

When my husband and I were first going out, I asked him what he wanted for his birthday. "Make me something," he said. I reminded him that about the only thing I could make at that time was cross stitch. This was fine, apparently.

So here he is, number six. (By the way – a Prisoner fan who liked handmade gifts; is is any wonder I married him?)

I created the chart using a cross stitch program I'd bought, which did it all automatically. It works well, but does tend to do a few weird things with colours (hence the pale greens in the 'white' of the chess piece), and looks better from a distance! It also creates a phenomenally complicated chart – I printed out dozens of black and white copies of it then highlighted one colour in red on each printout. I remember getting some funny looks on trains doing that! I'm pretty happy with it though, and it's still on display on a bookcase in our bedroom.

Since then I've been trained to convert photos myself using Freehand – just set up a grid, then import a photo underneath the grid and colour it in. I did this for work so have created charts of everyone from Eamonn Holmes to Take That! I did get to do a few geeky pics along the way though (and get paid for it) – more of that to come…

Stitching Blake

2010-11-21T08:45:00.002Z

I have to admit, there's been less of an emphasis on the 'geek' part of this crafty geek blog than I'd intended. I'm not working on anything too geeky at right this second, so I wanted to start sharing some of my previous projects.

Recognise this guy?

When I first watched Blake's 7, as a kid, I couldn't help but notice the part of the opening credits where the picture pixellated, to show Blake in two tones, then turn to look at the screen. Under his face: Eliminate.

"That looks like a cross stitch chart," said my Dad. He was right.

I spent a Very Long Time sat in front of the TV with the video on pause (probably doing lots of damage to it as well, fragile things as they were), scribbling on some graph paper, to eventually get down the pattern. It was a pretty simple one really and didn't take too long to stitch up. This one is hanging up at my parents' house. I might make another one day. It's nice to have geeky things on the walls.

WIP round up

2010-11-20T12:39:00.008Z

It's the question I know you're all asking: just what am I working at the moment? Well, I'll show you.

Kaylee's Ruffles are coming on well, and since this picture was taken I've started to turn the heel.

I have to say, I love love love the fabric the yarn makes. It's from this store, in the Princess Sophia base, and even though it's in the US I'm really tempted to order more of it.

Next up is Rick - hopefully Neil's birthday present, if I get moving on it. I've turned the heel and am in the throes of seemingly never-ending decreases. Here's me trying it on last night (apologies for the lighting):

And here's a close up from a few days ago that shows the colour a bit better.

It's stretchier than I expected, but still clings and holds up well, so should be fine on Neil. I love the design and can't wait to make a pair for me as well, and the Laughing Yaffle yarn is gorgeous and perfect. The only thing I've struggled with a bit is the placing of the foot pattern. In the notes it says it's easy to size this design up as you can just add a repeat in, and this works well down the leg, but not really on the foot. I struggled a bit with centreing the foot pattern, and am slightly wary of how it will turn out. We'll see.

Now we've got one from the vaults; Branching Out, which I abandoned some time ago and recently picked up again. I've knitted a lot more lace since I started this, so am finding it fairly easy going (famous last words!), it's just going to take a long time. And as is the way with lace, I won't really have any idea how it's turned out until it's finished and blocked.

On a side note, when knitting lace, try not to let your toddler get hold of the pattern.

Last up is Duck Soup, the jacket I started for Harry many moons ago. Slow progress, but I may soon be finished with the hood! Can I get this done for Christmas? Time will tell. I was quite pleased to be able to help some people on Ravelry with this photo – it shows how the bit for the knot is created when you cast off the centre stitches. Knitters were confused and I helped them, yay me!

There is one final WIP, which is coming on very well, but it's Top Secret Christmas Knitting, sorry. All will be revealed in due course.

Quick promo

2010-11-19T20:11:00.002Z

Exciting news! My friend Elle at Miss Elle's Knitwear has launched a knitting podcast – go listen!

The podcast is on iTunes here, and the shownotes are here. She's also knitting a Featherweight cardigan, which she started at the same time as me but is rather further along. Go listen to the podcast to find out more!

Today I've been plodding along with some Christmas knits (I'll post them here after all the giving and receiving is done next month). I've also found a gorgeous sewing design I want to start – these lovely spelling bean bags. It's payday next week and I'll be heading out to buy some fabric scraps and bean bag filling.

Even faster knits

2010-11-18T19:13:00.004Z

Remember how fast I thought DK socks for Harry were to knit? Well, it turns out there's something even faster.

DK mitts for Harry!

His hands get freezing in the cold at the moment, but he's not keen on the proper mittens he has, and trying to get his thumb in the thumb of the mittens is next to impossible. So for a while I've been meaning to make him some little fingerless mitts that he might put up with for a bit longer – and every time we've gone out in the cold I've felt guilty that I haven't done it yet.

So, here we are! They took a few hours and some little scraps of yarn. The green is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, the purple is Debbie Bliss Rialto. I might regret that one as it's not superwash; toddlers are not the cleanest of things.

They're lovely and soft and snuggly and oh so small! The pattern is Easy Kids Hand Warmers, by Samantha Goodin. Simple and easy to follow – the only problem I had was that the thumb hole is created by knitting back and forth on the DPNs (not completing the round), and purling on them gave me ladders between the DPNs, but not on the knit rows, so the fabric seems a little weak at these places. They're only tiny spots though, and really not noticable.

Oh, and on a completely unrelated matter, this is what happens to your blog page hits when your link gets retweeted by a certain popular SF magazine…

Sunday Swing

2010-11-17T20:08:00.003Z

Quick post today – Harry is ill and I am ill and we are all very tired (coo-coo-cachoo).

Remember in the summer when I started these? No, not the mini Monkeys, the Sunday Swing socks in a lovely cotton yarn that would be perfect and cool for summer? Well, I finished them.

In November. Sigh.

However, they are very very pretty!

The yarn is a cotton/tencel blend from Wharfedale Woolworks. As I expected, the cotton was a little less forgiving on my hands than wool, but it wasn't too bad and I enjoyed knitting with it – and the tencel gives a lovely sheen. The pattern is advertised as being particularly good for handpainted yarns and I have to say I think it goes with this yarn really well. The colours are a very good match for a skirt of mine so I look forward to showing them off together!

(Please ignore the rubbish photography. Rubbish weather, a cheap camera and a creamy-beigey carpet do not good blog photos make. I'm working on it, though.)

Choices, choices

2010-11-16T18:36:00.008Z

There are lots of small choices in knitting – yarn, pattern, size, whether or not to swatch. Some things I think I'm fairly good at (matching sock patterns to yarns), and some I don't.

For instance, exactly what should I do with this ruffle?

My original plan was to fold it down, like this:

I even put in a row of purl bumps halfway through the ribbing to help the fold. Unfortunately the bit folded down is just far too small, and it won't hold. I could put a few stitches in to hold it, but that seems like a faff, and now I see it, it does just look too small. The alternative is to fold down the whole of the ribbing:

But the purl bumps on display at the top look a bit too 'rough'; not helped of course by that handy row of purls halfway down. What do you think? All up (doesn't show off the ribbing too much or look very different from a plain sock), half down and stitched in place, or all folded down? Please let me know!

I'm also a bit unimpressed with another recent choice. Remember me talking about reknitting the Lapwing sock toes, as they were too short? I started off using the frogged yarn, then carried on with some of what I had left when I originally finished the pair. Unfortunately, the frogged yarn is just a bit rough and crinkled:

(the end of the pattern, before the toe)

I do think it will even up with wearing and washing, but still. I had plenty of the yarn left, loads in fact, so there was no reason at all for me to use the frogged yarn. I won't for the second. Bah.

…and then a step to the right

2010-11-15T13:41:00.006Z

So, having tantalised you with what I received, what exactly did I send in my Rocky Horror package?

I didn't take a great picture of everything together before I sent it, but luckily my partner, Magicatt, did! Here's the box:

I always find it a bit weird to talk about presents I've put together, so I'll mostly let the picture speak for itself. The undyed yarn is from DT Craft & Design, and was part of a dyeing kit I put together made of the yarn and some Kool Aid, plus a disposable apron and gloves. This wasn't originally part of the Rocky Horror theme, it was just that Magicatt had said she wanted to try dyeing yarn. However, as I was packing it up, I realised that it actually had a fairly Rocky vibe – latex gloves plus the different colours of dye reminded me a lot of the scene where Frank is bringing Rocky to life, turning those taps to pour different colours into the tank. Magicatt agreed and said she would name the resulting yarn 'Rocky'!

And of course there were some handmade gifts. I've wanted to knit Ysolda Teague's Lace-up Opera Gloves for a while, and they seemed perfect for this theme. I used Rowan Cashsoft Aran, which was gorgeous to knit with – I'd definitely choose it again. They were a really quick knit as well, even though I made them a bit wider than the pattern called for as the comments on the design indicated they were for twig-like arms!

I also knit a smaller second gift – a simple headband that I designed myself. It's basically just a strip of black, with ties at the ends, and then I added a 'lips' design in duplicate stitch. I've never done duplicate stitch before and was really impressed with it – I'd definitely use it again for simple designs.

So that's the end of the swap posts for now. This was a great one to end with, and so much fun to do!

It's just a jump to the left…

2010-11-14T07:38:00.011Z

This is the last of the swaps I've done recently – I'm giving them a break until after Christmas now. But how could I resist a Rocky Horror Picture Show swap?! I saw the stage show for my 21st birthday (no pictures here, sorry) and it's always been one of my favourite films.

My partner received her parcel yesterday, so I'm finally ready to blog. In normal tradition, I forgot to take full pictures of my parcel before I sent it, so I'm going to ask her if I can use some of the pictures she sent. Until then, though, I'll just have to tantalise you with the amazing parcel I received!

Now that's a nice sight when you get home from a day at work!

Each present was wrapped up and labelled to me as a gift from a Rocky Horror character.

Look at all the goodies! Underneath them all is a leopard-skin fleece blanket – when I saw the play Rocky's hotpants were leopard-skin so I always associate this with Rocky Horror. Then there's gorgeous red Colinette sock yarn (definitely destined to become a Cookie A sock), two great sock patterns, Zauberball black and purple sock yarn, 'Porn for Women', a book with pictures of men doing housework - this was a present from Janet, which is genius – lots of chocolate goodies, party hats and streamers (from the Transylvanians) and then four – four! – amazing handmade presents.

From Brad, a rocket for Harry:

From Magenta, a book cover:

Opened up:

From Magenta again, this amazing lips purse. I love the way the teeth are made using a white zip, it's brilliant!

But best of all, from Frank:

A Sweet Transvestite!

A great swap package – I can't wait to get started with the yarns. And typing this has reminded me that I haven't eaten the chocolate yet, so I'm munching on it now – yum! Huge thanks to Fidessa from Ravelry.

Wedding scarves

2010-11-13T19:58:00.006Z

In July this year, my husband's stepsister got married. I wanted to make something, but wasn't sure what – non-knitters tend not to 'get' handknitted socks, and I didn't want to have to precede the gift with an explanation and a promise that this wasn't weird, and they were brilliant, honest. On the other hand, I wasn't really up for an heirloom throw or more traditional gift.

So, scarves it was. Practical, pretty, moderately time-consuming but not too bad, considering. I decided to go for a his-and-hers theme – pale green for the bride, dark green for the groom, and a lace design for her, cables for him. This being me, of course, I was a little hazy with deadlines and though hers was finished in plenty of time, finishing off the groom's scarf took me a fair way past their return from honeymoon. I do feel guilty, but comfort myself by thinking that, well, they probably wouldn't have had much use for scarves in the Maldives anyway. Or even in this country, before Autumn really kicked in. So all good.

Both scarves are knitted in Cascade 220, two skeins for each. It's a nice yarn, but I'd forgotten how feltable it is when I picked it, and now have a slight fear that, despite warnings, the scarves will be thrown in the washing machine at some point and turned into bookmarks. But I'm not sure I've ever felt the need to wash a scarf, so hopefully they're safe.

The cable scarf design is the Irish Hiking Scarf, a really simple but nice cable. The picture above is a good match for colour, but doesn't show the design well – this early shot shows it better.

The lace scarf design is the Autumn Days scarf. This was really pleasant to knit, but see how it turned out when I'd finished!

So it was time for my first go at blocking. I borrowed some pads, pins and wires from KnitCave. Then I washed the scarf, squeezed out as much water as I could, and pinned it all out.

The tricky part was keeping it out of Harry's way while it dried, but it was done in the end, and looked pretty good I think!

They were well-received, anyway, so I hope they were a good choice.

The Dark is Rising (Part 2)

2010-11-12T20:49:00.005Z

I told you about what I sent in this swap the other day – now it's time for what I received!

We normally get our post anywhere between twelve and four in the afternoon, so I was surprised to get woken up from my lie in by Harry dropping a parcel on my head at 8.30. I forgave him when I realised what it was though!

It was wrapped up in paper and ribbon, so of course Harry had to help me open it:

Then look at all the goodies inside!

Look at all my goodies! Didao went for the Christmassy angle of the book, with mulled wine, a cookie-scented candle and a handmade tree decoration, based on Will's in the book. She also included chocolate for yumminess, Kendal Mint Cake as it's local to her and gorgeous Araucania sock yarn to represent the Lady. And best of all…

A gorgeous handknit bag, inspired by Herne the Hunter's mask, sent from Jamaica in the book. Look at the gorgeous sparkly yarn!

Another great swap – lots of fun to send and receive.

Twinkle toes

2010-11-11T20:14:00.003Z

Apparently my eyes have two failings: I'm not just short-sighted, I am also completely unable to assess the length of my feet.

When I knit the Stripey Socks, I finished the toe on the first sock too early. I decided to make the second one longer, then go back and rip and reknit the first one to match. Well, I did knit the second one longer, but it was still too short, so I made the first one longer still, then went and reknit the second to match that.

My Cherry Tree Hill socks, my first ever pair, are just that little bit too short. I wore them for a while, but finally had to give up; the heel would always end up flapping around under the middle of my foot (where the arch would be if I didn't have flat feet). I gave away the remains of the skein as well, so there's not much I can do about it.

More recent socks, however, I can. My Lapwing socks (also designed by me, yay!) have been languishing unworn for some time now, since I was forced to acknowledge that they really weren't fitting. I have tonnes of the yarn left, so I'm currently ripping out the toes and re-knitting them, about an inch further along. It's 'interesting' to do – I've worn them enough that the yarn is very fuzzy and slightly felted. I'm too lazy and impatient to steam the yarn I've frogged, so it's all kinky and the fabric it produced is pretty rough. It's just the end of my foot, though, and I think it'll get worn away and felted again pretty soon.

No pictures yet – I'm part way through and hoping to be finished tonight. It'll be great to have a whole new pair of handknit socks to wear again!

I do have a picture of the ruffle socks I started yesterday though.

Look! So pretty!

Ruffling ruffles

2010-11-10T22:07:00.002Z

I love how you make ruffles in knitting – just cast on twice as many stitches as you need, knit for a bit, then k2tog all the way round and carry on knitting. Voila! Pretty ruffles.

I've just begun a pair of socks with ruffled cuffs, in very pretty yarn. No pictures yet sorry, as the lighting is rubbish in the evenings, so you'll just have to take my word that they're looking very yummy so far.

This is the yarn…

'Tis Kaylee yarn, from the Firefly swap. Shiny!

Get Knitted goodies!

2010-11-09T13:37:00.004Z

My parents are visiting at the moment, which means Harry gets to run around with excitement screaming "Naini!" "Taidi!" all the time, as well as getting lots of extra cuddles and attention (and a few more pieces for his treasured Thomas set). Another bonus for me is the opportunity for some babysitting – this actually came at a great time for me to get some writing finished with Harry getting a lovely trip to the playground with grandparents, and me getting a peaceful, empty house.

It also meant a morning trip to Get Knitted – my parents use Eucalan to wash the socks I make them, and were beginning to run out (I'm nowhere near running out, despite having vastly more socks; I wonder am I using enough?). So a trip to Brislington was in order. Unfortunately they were out of Eucalan, but they did have yarn in stock…

This is a grand haul of yarn, bought for me very generously by my Dad. The green Cashmerino is for him; a design to be chosen shortly (everything here is to make socks with, of course). The purple Rialto will also become some nice thick socks, I've made a couple of pairs with it now and it's gorgeous to use and seems to be holding up well. The other two skeins are Spud & Chloe Fine, which is something I've wanted to play with for a while now.

It's 80% wool, 20% silk – oh so soft! They only had a tiny amount still in stock, and didn't have two skeins of any of the colours I liked (they're 65g skeins, so you need two to be safe for socks). However, after finishing the Nougat socks yesterday I was thinking how much I'd like something similar, but with a pale turquoise instead of the greens and pinks. I bought a new top in these colours recently and would love some socks to match! So I've bought a skein of each in natural and turquoise, and think I'm going to try some slipped stitch patterning…

(And now I must go; Harry is out for a walk with my parents and I really need to use the time to get some work done)

Noooo-gaaaaah?

2010-11-08T21:21:00.003Z

Finished socks!

Plain stocking stitch, in Laughing Yaffle Nougat. It really looks like a bar of nougat, too – how cool?!

(Does anyone actually know how to pronouce that? Nugget? Noogaaah?)

They are gorgeous (modest!), but I feel like I let the yarn down a bit – I feel like they could have been even better if I'd used a stitch pattern. I have quite a bit left, though, so I'm planning on turning it into some fancy mitts to match, and show it off some more!

Also, ahem – anyone wondering why my Month o' Blogging has no entry for yesterday, but two for last Tuesday, well, yes, I was wondering that too. I started the Dark is Rising post last week, realised I didn't have time to finish it and saved it as a draft. When I finished it and posted it yesterday, Blogger decided to put it under last Tuesday's date. Maybe it thought it was being helpful. Sigh…

NaBloPoMo

2010-11-06T18:36:00.002Z

Once upon a time (well, in 2006), I took part in NaNoWriMo. That's National Novel Writing Month – the idea is that you write a 50,000 word novel in a month. No internal editor, no pondering for hours on the exact right word to use, just write write write and get your words down on paper. I have a t-shirt that describes it as '30 days and nights of literary abandon' which sums it up very well (and is a very well-written logo; I wonder how long it took them?)

I succeeded, which is something I'm very proud of. I'm less proud of the novel itself, it really wasn't very good, and though it taught me a lot about my writing, I don't think I've written any fiction since which kind of defeats the object. I didn't take part in November 2007, and then in 2008 Harry was born and I'm really not at a place to both write a novel and bring up a toddler yet.

However, one thing I've noticed this November is references to NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month. It's a much more achievable aim – blog every day for a whole month. Though it grew out of NaNoWriMo, it runs year-round, but I like the idea of taking part in November, the traditional month for such endeavors.

So that's why you've probably noticed a bit more of me the last few days :-)

Better late than never…

2010-11-05T13:27:00.003Z

Back in March, I treated myself to some Laughing Yaffle yarn (just for a change), in Truly Teal. It's a gorgeous colour, and Neil and I both loved it, so as our feet are almost the same size I thought I could make a pair of socks that we could share. We looked through lots of books and patterns and decided on Rick, by Cookie A. Gorgeous pattern, for gorgeous yarn.

Somehow in my madness I honestly thought I'd cast on straight away. Ha. When does that ever happen?

Anyway, it is now occurring to me that Christmas is getting rather close, and Neil's birthday with it, so I should really start making him things (I am a fortunate knitter in that I have a husband who both loves hand-knit socks, and has reasonably-sized feet). So a mere eight months after buying the yarn, I have finally cast on.

I have to say, I've fallen in love with it all over again. The colour is so deep and gorgeous, it would be perfect for any patterned sock, and it's working brilliantly with Rick (which is a great pattern, simple so far and very effective). I've upped the stitch count as it seemed on the small side, and I have to say that in my efforts to ensure it definitely fit Neil, it may end up too big for me, but that's okay.

I'll just have to buy more yarn for my pair.

Happy Birthday

2010-11-04T22:42:00.005Z

Just a very quick blog post to record a recent finished project:

They're Blueberry Waffle Socks, knit in Debbie Bliss Rialto DK. This is a gorgeous soft yarn, and as it's DK, these were a fast and easy knit. Fun to make though, and I really like the result. They were for my Mam's birthday, and she liked them, so good all round really :-)

They're gloves! Manly gloves!

2010-11-03T14:14:00.003Z

(You have to sing that to the Robin Hood 'Men in Tights' song)

Just a very quick blog post to say: Go buy the new Simply Knitting, issue 74, on sale today! Not just cos it's a great knitting mag staffed by very lovely people, but because this issue has another new design from yours truly.

I give you… Manly Gloves!

They're knitted in Dazzle DK yarn from the Natural Dye Studio, which is lovely and soft and nice to knit with and nice to wear, and as it's DK they're also a pretty quick knit. This was my first time tackling gloves, and though they're fiddly, if you can knit a sock you can knit gloves, easy!

Fledgling

2010-11-02T22:16:00.003Z

Unfortunately I'm a bit short of time to do a proper blog post about the Dark is Rising swap today – surrounded by too many deadlines! I did want to rave about a new yarn that's appeared though – Fledgling from Laughing Yaffle. It's an alpaca blend: 55% alpaca, 25% merino, and 20% nylon. And it gets its name because it's so soft! It's thicker and fluffier than the standard Yaffle yarn, but still knits as 4ply and has 355 yards to 100g – that's more than Jitterbug, so plenty for a good pair of socks!

Of course I couldn't resist for long…

This is Clover, and I can't wait to cast on with it; I have a pattern all picked out and waiting. Just got a few Christmas and birthday knits to get out of the way before I can indulge myself!

I'm not the only one who loves it either – over half the colours are already sold out!

[Disclaimer: I'm friends with Alison of Laughing Yaffle, but I also genuinely love her yarns and paid for this with my own money, so this isn't an advertising post!]

The Dark is Rising

2010-11-02T22:01:00.008Z

Over at the Fantastical Crafters group on Ravelry, a read-a-long swap was suggested – knitting and reading in one! I jumped at the chance. We all had a chance to suggest books and then vote, and the final choice was The Dark is Rising, by Susan Cooper. A classic which I'm ashamed to say I hadn't read before, so it's great to get it crossed off my list. I'd hoped to read the whole series (it's the second of five) but couldn't get them in the library in time.

So, anyway, to crafting!

In the book there are six signs that Will must collect: Wood, Bronze, Iron, Water, Fire, and Stone. My partner, Didao, said that her favourite sign was the Water one, and I saw that one of her favourite colours was teal, so that decided my main item.

The yarn is Knitwitches Seriously Gorgeous, which is made of Baby Camel and Silk – it's the softest thing I've ever worked with! Expensive but worth it for a special item. It draped beautifully and I hope gave the right 'watery' impression. The pattern was the Raha Scarf by Nancy Bush, from Knitted Lace of Estonia. I added a few extra yarnovers and decreases to change the pattern from a circle to a crossed circle – the same as the Signs in the book. It was a great pattern to knit, and flew off the needles.

I then chose a different gift to represent each of the other signs. A wooden shawl pin for wood, chocolate in a bronze wrapper for Bronze, a little metal pot of lotion from Lush for Iron, a Lush 'Token to the Forest Gods' for Stone, and gorgeous sparkly red yarn for Fire. Here they are all together:

(Photo from Didao as I forgot to take a group shot!)

And here's another picture (also by Didao) of them all wrapped up!

And tomorrow I'll show you what I received…

Swap a swap for a swap (shop)

2010-11-01T17:01:00.008Z

I've been on a bit of a swap kick in the last few months – I've blogged about the Fyberspates swap, but I did a book-based swap earlier in the summer, a Dark is Rising (fantasy novel) swap in September, and I'm just at the tail-end of a fabulous Rocky Horror Picture Show swap. I've actually already received my package in that swap, but I'm still putting the finishing touches to the parcel I'm putting together, so I'm not going to blog that until my partner receives it.

The previous ones, though, are fair game! I signed up for a book based swap on the Meridian Ariel blog. You answered a few questions, and got matched with a partner (so another swap where the partners are one-one, and you know who they are before you receive your parcel). Then you had a chance to chat with your partner by email about the books you liked and your lives in general – the main point was to chat about books and make a new friend.

Though my partner (College Mummy) wasn't into SF and fantasy novels (99% of what I read), we found a mutual love of crime and horror writing, and we both love Stephen King, so had plenty to talk about!

Here's the parcel I put together for her:

There's a couple of books, an iPod sock in some of her favourite colours, some beads (as she likes jewellery-making), and a book bag, again in what should be some of her favourite colours. I would never have chosen those fabrics for myself, but really loved the way they went together and was very reluctant to send off the parcel when it was done!

And here's what I got!

Two great books (have read Complicity by Iain Banks and it's very brilliant, waiting for some spare time to get round to the other!), pretty ribbons and sparkly confetti, hair clips with beautiful handmade ribbon roses, and decorated clothes pegs with magnets added to the back so you can put them on the fridge. Like this!

Hmmm… I was going to post the Dark is Rising swap today as well, but think this post might be getting a little long for that. Tomorrow, hopefully!

A quick knit

2010-10-12T10:11:00.003+01:00

It is a matter of some shame that I do almost no knitting for Harry. I really don't have any excuses – apart from anything else, he is very small and therefore needs less fabric to cover him! Anyway, it's his second birthday at the weekend and I decided that the time had come to knit him a pair of socks.

Ever wary of time constraints though (and my propensity for casting on close to a deadline, assuring everyone it will be fine and then sitting two days after the deadline looking at a half-finished project still on the needles) I decided that little feet weren't enough and I also needed big yarn.

When I was pregnant, I was given several balls of Sirdar Baby Bamboo, and knitted half a cardigan. The yarn is lovely, though, and DK, so I cast on. I was hoping for an easy project to knit on my walk home from work, so cast on at my desk as my Mac was shutting down on Thursday evening. I didn't do much that evening (saving it for 'mindless' time), but finished the cuff Friday lunchtime and turned the heel and knitted the foot in the pub that evening. There is a possibility the large group of guys I was out with thought I was strange for knitting socks in a bar, but they didn't say anything. And besides, they'd been to a pub with me before.

Saturday morning I measured up and closed the toe, and by Sunday morning I was grafting the second toe. These are officially the fastest things ever, especially as I never actually used my 'knitting time' for them, only dead time like walking to work or sitting in the pub (I may be sock obsessed but even I wouldn't attempt cables after a bottle of wine).

Unfortunately, they went down so well that Harry wouldn't take them off – ah well, one early birthday present can make up for all the late ones!

On a side note, the socks have re-addicted me to Baby Bamboo – it creates such a gorgeous drapy fabric. I've got a couple of balls left, so I'll be buying a couple more in a contrasting colour and casting on this t-shirt for Harry before too long. Promise.

Blowing in the wind

2010-10-05T12:56:00.002+01:00

I do love having a house with a proper washing line now…

New shoes! (part two)

2010-10-01T09:55:00.003+01:00

You may remember that in May, I bought some new shoes that I was very happy about. Dr Martens, nice brown shoes, perfect for showing off knitted socks and hopefully lasting longer than my previous pair's two months.

Well, they did. They lasted five months.

Gah. Not happy. Looking at them now, it was obvious - they have a tiny, very thin sole (what were DM thinking, that's the opposite of what they're known for?). I do a lot of walking, so the soles at the back quickly wore away, and soon it was the shoe leather coming into contact with the ground every time I took a step. Unsurprisingly this shredded through rather quickly, and now I have messy holes through all the layers at the back of the heel, and feet that get very wet when it's been raining.

So… new shoes! I have apparently not learned my lesson, and gone for DMs again, because I do really like them, they're the comfiest shoes out there, and this time I was sensible and chose some with proper soles. They're actually very very similar to my old shoes apart from the soles, because I basically really liked the old ones and just wanted a straight replacement.

(And the socks, of course, are what makes this whole thing the slightest bit relevant for a crafting blog - these are shoes designed to Show Off My Knitting)