I'm beginning to think I might need to censor Dave's bed time reading.
Last night, just as I was dropping off to sleep he starts to chortle. I asked what was up and he replied...
"I went to the supermarket to buy some H.P. Sauce. I'm paying it off monthly, in sixpence installments."
This morning, while I'm still stumbing around in a caffiene deprived state, he asked "Why do elephant's have big ears?"
I, wondering why he was suddenly putting me on the spot and quizzing me about trivia, replied suitably only to have him smirk and reply. "No. It's because Noddy wouldn't pay the the ransom!"
Cue much mirth on his part.
Can't you tell he's reading a book all about jokes?
In other news, I went along to the knitting group last night where I scored four skeins of Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon (Ravelry Link) in a sort of pale green colour. No idea what I'm going to do with it, but it is very pretty... Ideas anyone?
No pictures, because I didn't think of it and my camera's batteries are playing up again (at some point I will give up and buy new ones).
I also came home with some vintage crochet patterns from the seventies. Everyone else seemed to think they were hilarious, but my response to most of the designs was 'Oooh, nice.' said in a not at all sarcastic way. What can I say, my costuming gene went off big time! I resisted for the most part, but did nab a crocheted cloak pattern (the ultimate in 70's style I tell you and possibly coming to an Eidolan near you) and a couple of very pretty lace waistcoats.
I also finished sock number one. I'll weave in the ends tonight and then, hopefully cast on sock number two.
Showing posts with label crochet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crochet. Show all posts
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Friday, February 29, 2008
Out of uncertainty comes...
This week has been a bit of a tense one at work, with the ominous topic of 'Reorganisation' ringing in our ears. A mandatory meeting along with a huge reem of paper by way of a briefing later and while I'm not directly affected this time, there is an air of uncertainty drifting around the building. Office moves, ongoing building work, drilling which vibrates through the floor and power failures have all contributed to making this a less than pleasant week. I'm also reading through an incredibly dry project management manual and doing exercises in readiness for a course in a couple of weeks. This book is quite honestly enough to make your eyes glaze over within a few minutes... Although I have had fun thoroughly defacing it with post-its and yellow highlighter pen.
This all means that I have been rather brain dead in the evenings and with my weekends continuing to be hectic, I don't see this changing in the near future. Salvation is coming in the form of knitting and crochet, which as always allows me to work on something which is fully under my control even if only for an hour or so a day.
My main distraction for the moment is my first attempt at something out of Victorian Lace Today.
This is my version of 'Scarf with the striped border from Weldon's, Volume 5, 1890', which as you can see is coming along nicely. I'm knitting it in a 4-ply merino, as I really don't want the additional trauma of lace weight or complicated charts at the moment. So far, the scarf is about 60% along, which means that if stretched out (as it will be once blocked), it's about four foot long, with the relaxed length closer to three foot.
Now I'm well under way, this is a relaxing knit with a simple two row repeat where I only have to remember which row I'm currently doing. With a substantial amount of scarf to look at now, it's actually very pretty and drapes well... I'm looking forward to finishing it and seeing how it blocks out.
I've also started this...
Can you tell what it is yet?
It is of course a rabbit's bottom!
Yes, after looking at lots of very cute pictures of crocheted toys on Ravelry and buoyed by Richardxl5's comment that his grandmother used to make fantastic toys, I thought I'd have a go.
The pattern is from Vintage Crochet and is called 'Syd the Rabbit'. Now I don't know if this is a Syd or not yet as it's early days and I can't tell if the rabbit has a personality at this point.
I'm making this proto rabbit out of acrylics that I had lying around, rather than buying anything specific for the project and so far, the body is coming along nicely. I've made a couple of mods, starting with a loop rather than a foundation chain and crocheting in a spiral rather than rounds, as I prefer the effect. The only real problem at the moment, is I'm crocheting a lot tighter than I'm used to and it's proving hard on my hands. I'm thinking that if I get into this toy making lark, I may need to invest in some better hooks.
I also had my first go at Intarsia on Wednesday night, at the regular Knit-Wit's group workshops. Steelbreeze did an excellent job of explaining what we had to do and my effort can be seen here. I'll try to get the sample finished over the weekend and post a proper picture then.
This weekend is looking like a busy one. I'm sending Dave off to Ripley on Saturday for a spot of wargaming with Chimera. In the meantime, I'll be heading to Warwick to the Crafty Cottage, for a Ravelry day hosted by Jo, the shop's owner. I'm hoping I manage to show some restraint while surrounded by so much gorgeous yarn, but having not bought anything really (I'm not counting some discontinued pink stuff I found in Busy Fingers, or the yarn for the Bubbles Blanket... Or sock yarn, sock yarn most certainly does not count) since December, if I do fall off the wagon a little, it will be understandable won't it?
Then on Sunday, with Dave's return we'll be heading off to the Living History Fair at the Warwick Exhibition Centre. The trick here will be to not only watch my spending but Dave's as well. There will be far too many tempting, pretty things... I'm going to suggest that we shop by proxy and help Richardxl5 (and any other friends we see) spend their money instead!
People who know me and see me at the fair, consider yourself warned ;)
This all means that I have been rather brain dead in the evenings and with my weekends continuing to be hectic, I don't see this changing in the near future. Salvation is coming in the form of knitting and crochet, which as always allows me to work on something which is fully under my control even if only for an hour or so a day.
My main distraction for the moment is my first attempt at something out of Victorian Lace Today.
This is my version of 'Scarf with the striped border from Weldon's, Volume 5, 1890', which as you can see is coming along nicely. I'm knitting it in a 4-ply merino, as I really don't want the additional trauma of lace weight or complicated charts at the moment. So far, the scarf is about 60% along, which means that if stretched out (as it will be once blocked), it's about four foot long, with the relaxed length closer to three foot.Now I'm well under way, this is a relaxing knit with a simple two row repeat where I only have to remember which row I'm currently doing. With a substantial amount of scarf to look at now, it's actually very pretty and drapes well... I'm looking forward to finishing it and seeing how it blocks out.
I've also started this...
Can you tell what it is yet?It is of course a rabbit's bottom!
Yes, after looking at lots of very cute pictures of crocheted toys on Ravelry and buoyed by Richardxl5's comment that his grandmother used to make fantastic toys, I thought I'd have a go.
The pattern is from Vintage Crochet and is called 'Syd the Rabbit'. Now I don't know if this is a Syd or not yet as it's early days and I can't tell if the rabbit has a personality at this point.
I'm making this proto rabbit out of acrylics that I had lying around, rather than buying anything specific for the project and so far, the body is coming along nicely. I've made a couple of mods, starting with a loop rather than a foundation chain and crocheting in a spiral rather than rounds, as I prefer the effect. The only real problem at the moment, is I'm crocheting a lot tighter than I'm used to and it's proving hard on my hands. I'm thinking that if I get into this toy making lark, I may need to invest in some better hooks.
I also had my first go at Intarsia on Wednesday night, at the regular Knit-Wit's group workshops. Steelbreeze did an excellent job of explaining what we had to do and my effort can be seen here. I'll try to get the sample finished over the weekend and post a proper picture then.
This weekend is looking like a busy one. I'm sending Dave off to Ripley on Saturday for a spot of wargaming with Chimera. In the meantime, I'll be heading to Warwick to the Crafty Cottage, for a Ravelry day hosted by Jo, the shop's owner. I'm hoping I manage to show some restraint while surrounded by so much gorgeous yarn, but having not bought anything really (I'm not counting some discontinued pink stuff I found in Busy Fingers, or the yarn for the Bubbles Blanket... Or sock yarn, sock yarn most certainly does not count) since December, if I do fall off the wagon a little, it will be understandable won't it?
Then on Sunday, with Dave's return we'll be heading off to the Living History Fair at the Warwick Exhibition Centre. The trick here will be to not only watch my spending but Dave's as well. There will be far too many tempting, pretty things... I'm going to suggest that we shop by proxy and help Richardxl5 (and any other friends we see) spend their money instead!
People who know me and see me at the fair, consider yourself warned ;)
Monday, February 11, 2008
Bubbles
The focus of this weekend was household chores and errands, which seemed to take forever as they all had to be done on my lonesome. Friday night I arrived home to a strongly worded letter from my optician telling me my contact lens supply had been stopped as I apparently hadn't attended for a check up. As someone who remembers going to the optician at least three times last year and even has new specs, this came a bit out of the blue.
Since being without contact lenses is a real pain (and I do wonder if they'd have stopped deducting monies from my account) I phoned and made an appointment there and then, which pretty much put paid to Saturday morning. I complained about the letter, but didn't seem to make any impact - apparently there should have been warning letters (which I haven't recieved) and traffic light stickers on my lenses, which are delivered by mail.
The reason for the letter and the apparent need for frequent visits, is the previous optician to see me had put me down for a six month recall, rather than the usual twelve months one. Absolutely no idea why. But of course, that doesn't explain the jump straight to threatening letters and stopping my lenses completely.
Saturday afternoon, I returned to the house to tackle chores before escaping for a couple of hours by popping over for a chat with Esther and to drop off a pressie.
This is a Bubble's Baby Blanket, which I've been working on for the past month. I downloaded it directly from Ravelry, but it can also be found in the Crochet Pattern Central download area. It's crocheted in two strands, one of a superwash wool and the other a standard baby acrylic. Both yarns are from a local spinner, labelled as Mercia Wools and sold out of the spinner's shop, Busy Fingers in Coventry.
I started this blanket while working on Dave's scarf and it served as a bit of light relief from all that moss stitch. The Bubble stitch was easy to do and working with two strands and a 9mm hook, meant it grew relatively quickly. So much so, that I had no problem working it to a decent cot size in a month, with just a few hours each week spent on it. The resulting fabric is thick and soft, so hopefully will be put to good use.
Sunday was spent doing more household chores, with the usual couple of hours of decluttering thrown in. I did however make a start on the lace and learnt a new cast on - the 'crochet cast on' which is like crocheting a chain but sticking a knitting needle in the way. I'm working on 4.5mm needles and coming straight from sock knitting these past few weeks, the needles seem huge!
Not much to see so far, as I've cast on, knitted two repeats, decided the first repeat was too loose, ripped it out..... Cast on again and knitted two more repeats and that was all I had time for. At the moment, it doesn't look very impressive but as it's lace I'm kind of expecting that... I shall persevere and see where it gets me.
Sock news - the heel is turned on the second sock and I've picked up the stitches for the gusset, so it's coming along. Slowly.
As always, click on the images to see bigger versions.
Since being without contact lenses is a real pain (and I do wonder if they'd have stopped deducting monies from my account) I phoned and made an appointment there and then, which pretty much put paid to Saturday morning. I complained about the letter, but didn't seem to make any impact - apparently there should have been warning letters (which I haven't recieved) and traffic light stickers on my lenses, which are delivered by mail.
The reason for the letter and the apparent need for frequent visits, is the previous optician to see me had put me down for a six month recall, rather than the usual twelve months one. Absolutely no idea why. But of course, that doesn't explain the jump straight to threatening letters and stopping my lenses completely.
Saturday afternoon, I returned to the house to tackle chores before escaping for a couple of hours by popping over for a chat with Esther and to drop off a pressie.
This is a Bubble's Baby Blanket, which I've been working on for the past month. I downloaded it directly from Ravelry, but it can also be found in the Crochet Pattern Central download area. It's crocheted in two strands, one of a superwash wool and the other a standard baby acrylic. Both yarns are from a local spinner, labelled as Mercia Wools and sold out of the spinner's shop, Busy Fingers in Coventry.I started this blanket while working on Dave's scarf and it served as a bit of light relief from all that moss stitch. The Bubble stitch was easy to do and working with two strands and a 9mm hook, meant it grew relatively quickly. So much so, that I had no problem working it to a decent cot size in a month, with just a few hours each week spent on it. The resulting fabric is thick and soft, so hopefully will be put to good use.Sunday was spent doing more household chores, with the usual couple of hours of decluttering thrown in. I did however make a start on the lace and learnt a new cast on - the 'crochet cast on' which is like crocheting a chain but sticking a knitting needle in the way. I'm working on 4.5mm needles and coming straight from sock knitting these past few weeks, the needles seem huge!Not much to see so far, as I've cast on, knitted two repeats, decided the first repeat was too loose, ripped it out..... Cast on again and knitted two more repeats and that was all I had time for. At the moment, it doesn't look very impressive but as it's lace I'm kind of expecting that... I shall persevere and see where it gets me.
Sock news - the heel is turned on the second sock and I've picked up the stitches for the gusset, so it's coming along. Slowly.
As always, click on the images to see bigger versions.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Victorianna
With Christmas looming ever closer with each passing day, I'm desperately trying to pull my finger out and finish off my seasonal knitting. For the most part, that means I'm currently churning out washcloths like a good 'un; something that Charlie approves of mightly since washcloths are small and therefore do not fill my lap, which of course leaves plenty of room for cat instead.
In between washcloths I've been slowly adding to my sock which is nearing the scary point where I start on the heel. The good news is that I slipped the sock off my needles and onto some cotton so I could try it on, which proved that cuff is nowhere near so small as I think it is. I did somehow manage to drop a stitch in the process though... But I have a keen eye and having watched Steelbreeze deliberately drop one of my stitches (to untwist one some rows back) and then pick it back up again, I did what she did... And lo! You'd never know I dropped it. The only thing I'm not happy with is my tension between the needles which is variable and shows when I cast my beady eye over the sock. But as this is my first sock, I'm kind of expecting this.
To break up the monotony of scarf knitting (which until this week was ongoing) I decided to crochet up this little bookmark.
Dave's comment when he saw it was that it's pure Victorianna... Now I'm not sure of the historical accuracy of that statement, but it is pretty and as effective a demonstration of lacework as I've seen.
The pattern came from here and this bookmark was crocheted pretty much as directed. The only things I changed was to use Crochet Cotton instead of Perle Cotton and as a consequence I went up a couple of hook sizes to 1.75mm. I starched and ironed the resulting lace to stiffen it and then added a tassle.
This was the first time I'd ever used spray on starch and I've got to say it was messy and very sticky. I used some scrap fabric as a pressing cloth and to protect both the iron and board, but it stuck to the iron like crazy which was alarming. Fortunately as a sewer, I knew better than to use steam at this point so I was able to peel it off again before anything scorched but it was a learning experience. Once done though, I've got to admit the starch and iron worked wonders to transform this little piece of lace into something quite special. I just hope it goes down well with it's intended recipient.
In between washcloths I've been slowly adding to my sock which is nearing the scary point where I start on the heel. The good news is that I slipped the sock off my needles and onto some cotton so I could try it on, which proved that cuff is nowhere near so small as I think it is. I did somehow manage to drop a stitch in the process though... But I have a keen eye and having watched Steelbreeze deliberately drop one of my stitches (to untwist one some rows back) and then pick it back up again, I did what she did... And lo! You'd never know I dropped it. The only thing I'm not happy with is my tension between the needles which is variable and shows when I cast my beady eye over the sock. But as this is my first sock, I'm kind of expecting this.
To break up the monotony of scarf knitting (which until this week was ongoing) I decided to crochet up this little bookmark.
Dave's comment when he saw it was that it's pure Victorianna... Now I'm not sure of the historical accuracy of that statement, but it is pretty and as effective a demonstration of lacework as I've seen.The pattern came from here and this bookmark was crocheted pretty much as directed. The only things I changed was to use Crochet Cotton instead of Perle Cotton and as a consequence I went up a couple of hook sizes to 1.75mm. I starched and ironed the resulting lace to stiffen it and then added a tassle.
This was the first time I'd ever used spray on starch and I've got to say it was messy and very sticky. I used some scrap fabric as a pressing cloth and to protect both the iron and board, but it stuck to the iron like crazy which was alarming. Fortunately as a sewer, I knew better than to use steam at this point so I was able to peel it off again before anything scorched but it was a learning experience. Once done though, I've got to admit the starch and iron worked wonders to transform this little piece of lace into something quite special. I just hope it goes down well with it's intended recipient.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Progress at last
Today has started off on a positive note with my physio telling me we're done. I'm not 100% fit yet, not by a long way, but now it's down to me to continue the exercises for my leg and work gradually building stamina. I can walk. I can crouch. I can sit (provided I move about regularly). I can even manage stairs without wincing which has long been an ambition for me. Kneeling is still bad, but to be honest I don't think spending a lot of time on my knees is every going to be comfortable now. And if anyone expects me to look happy about kneeling on concrete, they're going to be sorely disappointed. Consider yourself warned!
The upshot of all this is no surgery, no more painful injections and no more regular torture sessions inflicted by the gentleman in question. As he said, he was happy to have made my weekend.
So ends eleven months of hard and painful work.
Continuing on this positive note I seem to be on the verge of finishing several needlecraft projects.
Currently I have...
In the meantime, I've resumed making washcloths. I'm getting a bit bored of this pattern now, but again if I apply myself I can get the last few done in the next week or so. And then I really am free to work on what I want rather than trying to get things done to a deadline.
And what is on the horizon you may ask...
Well for a start I've started working on my first sock. There isn't much of it yet, but I have done a cuff and I'm slowly working down the leg and so far I've avoided jabbing the tiny little sticks into anything vital or breaking one of them. The knitting is so far unexciting (it is a basic sock, so a bit of rib at the top and stocking stitch the rest of the way) except for the odd accidental twisted stitch. The first of which Steelbreeze sorted out for me on Wednesday and the second one I spotted and corrected myself. I think I'm somehow having problems and twisting stitches when I switch between needles. But the dreaded 'ladders' between DPNs don't seem to have appeared so I'm happy with progress so far.
I've also promised to make Dave a scarf and the one we've decided is nice can be found here. I'm not sure how I'll cope with all of that moss stitch but I'm certainly willing to have a go. After all I have a lot of manly wool sitting behind the sofa which needs to be put to good use.
The upshot of all this is no surgery, no more painful injections and no more regular torture sessions inflicted by the gentleman in question. As he said, he was happy to have made my weekend.
So ends eleven months of hard and painful work.
Continuing on this positive note I seem to be on the verge of finishing several needlecraft projects.
Currently I have...
- A lace bookmark which needs the ends weaving in, a good ironing and starching and a tassel.
- A cable scarf in need of blocking.
- A fluffy, sparkly, fun fur hybrid scarf which is nearly fluffed to my satisfaction.
In the meantime, I've resumed making washcloths. I'm getting a bit bored of this pattern now, but again if I apply myself I can get the last few done in the next week or so. And then I really am free to work on what I want rather than trying to get things done to a deadline.
And what is on the horizon you may ask...
Well for a start I've started working on my first sock. There isn't much of it yet, but I have done a cuff and I'm slowly working down the leg and so far I've avoided jabbing the tiny little sticks into anything vital or breaking one of them. The knitting is so far unexciting (it is a basic sock, so a bit of rib at the top and stocking stitch the rest of the way) except for the odd accidental twisted stitch. The first of which Steelbreeze sorted out for me on Wednesday and the second one I spotted and corrected myself. I think I'm somehow having problems and twisting stitches when I switch between needles. But the dreaded 'ladders' between DPNs don't seem to have appeared so I'm happy with progress so far.
I've also promised to make Dave a scarf and the one we've decided is nice can be found here. I'm not sure how I'll cope with all of that moss stitch but I'm certainly willing to have a go. After all I have a lot of manly wool sitting behind the sofa which needs to be put to good use.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
And by way of an addendum
Yesterday, Blogger seemed to be having issues with photographs so I ended up cutting my post short. Today, with the miracles of modern technology in full swing I proudly present a manly scarf...
This was simple enough to make up and is crocheted DC (or SC if reading American) in the backloop throughout. I kept going until it was six inches wide and then added a simple fringe, giving the results shown. Dave likes it (he is not the intended recipient) so I'm taking that as a good sign. Not the most exciting thing to crochet though, so I don't intend to make another one of these in a hurry.
On the subject of Dave, take a look at this...
It's a sandwich board (if you can call a non-blow-overable-flexi-board a sandwich board) from outside Andy and Heather's shop up in Ripley. It's the only photo I took on Saturday (I know, I should love the Orks more) and I'm posting it to point out the logo, which was designed by Dave. It's called an ambigram or an inversion and reads the same upside down as right way up - pretty nifty huh?
ETA -
And on a crochet related subject, while I was in Ripley, Frizbe and I headed off to her house (leaving the boys to play) where I took her through the rudiments of crochet. She pretty much got it too, just needs some practice and to relax a little while holding her hook. Time will tell I guess as to whether I've corrupted her sufficiently... Time and whether she starts hiding yarn around the house!
(As always, click on the images to see bigger versions)
This was simple enough to make up and is crocheted DC (or SC if reading American) in the backloop throughout. I kept going until it was six inches wide and then added a simple fringe, giving the results shown. Dave likes it (he is not the intended recipient) so I'm taking that as a good sign. Not the most exciting thing to crochet though, so I don't intend to make another one of these in a hurry.On the subject of Dave, take a look at this...
It's a sandwich board (if you can call a non-blow-overable-flexi-board a sandwich board) from outside Andy and Heather's shop up in Ripley. It's the only photo I took on Saturday (I know, I should love the Orks more) and I'm posting it to point out the logo, which was designed by Dave. It's called an ambigram or an inversion and reads the same upside down as right way up - pretty nifty huh?ETA -
And on a crochet related subject, while I was in Ripley, Frizbe and I headed off to her house (leaving the boys to play) where I took her through the rudiments of crochet. She pretty much got it too, just needs some practice and to relax a little while holding her hook. Time will tell I guess as to whether I've corrupted her sufficiently... Time and whether she starts hiding yarn around the house!
(As always, click on the images to see bigger versions)
Friday, October 19, 2007
Tis the season to be knitting...
I do believe it's Friday at last, although this week seems to have practically flown by! I was straight back to work on Monday morning after a great Strangehaven event and it now seems to be ages ago, not just a few days. For those who are interested, some pictures have gone up from the September event and last weekend.
Winter seems to have arrived in Coventry, with the mild weather of last week replaced with a distinctive chill. The heating was switched on a couple of days ago and even the cats are starting to favour indoors. Missy is of course hanging on in there as a stalwart fan of outdoors, no matter how cold or wet she gets, but even she is showing signs of weakening.
My birthday came and went... And that was about it really. No big celebration or eat out this year and due to the postal strikes, no cards (other than a few hand delivered ones - thanks guys, you know who you are) so it didn't even really feel like my birthday. Instead I went to work, collected the cats, had a long soak in tub and did some crochet.
I started on a new crochet scarf because I've finally finished the lace one I was working on. No completed photo's yet because I want to have a go at blocking it this weekend, however I took it along to Coventry Knit-Wits on Wednesday where it was subjected to some professional fondling, along with 'ooohs' and 'aaaahs' so I think it came out OK.
The new crochet scarf however isn't quite so attractive or likely to draw appreciative noises. It is a simple DC in the back loop job, with row after boring row slowly building up to a band of yucky green with blue and orange flecks.
Manly is how I'm describing it and Dave quite likes it. He says it's non-offensive and yes, he'd wear it, which is how I guage these things. An intended Christmas present, it is going quite well and is now approaching two inches wide, so hopefully I'll get it done soon before I get so bored I can't pick it up any more.
In the meantime, as this scarf isn't really captivating me I've finished another two washcloths, started a third and started this...
Another experiment and destined for Christmas, this is left over yarn from the Spike Stitch Scarf and some novelty yarns passed in my direction by Steelbreeze at our last destash night. Pretty is how I'm describing this one and combined with a nice DK yarn the novelty fur is behaving itself. I may even buy some more!
(As always click on the images to see bigger versions)
Winter seems to have arrived in Coventry, with the mild weather of last week replaced with a distinctive chill. The heating was switched on a couple of days ago and even the cats are starting to favour indoors. Missy is of course hanging on in there as a stalwart fan of outdoors, no matter how cold or wet she gets, but even she is showing signs of weakening.
My birthday came and went... And that was about it really. No big celebration or eat out this year and due to the postal strikes, no cards (other than a few hand delivered ones - thanks guys, you know who you are) so it didn't even really feel like my birthday. Instead I went to work, collected the cats, had a long soak in tub and did some crochet.
I started on a new crochet scarf because I've finally finished the lace one I was working on. No completed photo's yet because I want to have a go at blocking it this weekend, however I took it along to Coventry Knit-Wits on Wednesday where it was subjected to some professional fondling, along with 'ooohs' and 'aaaahs' so I think it came out OK.
The new crochet scarf however isn't quite so attractive or likely to draw appreciative noises. It is a simple DC in the back loop job, with row after boring row slowly building up to a band of yucky green with blue and orange flecks.
Manly is how I'm describing it and Dave quite likes it. He says it's non-offensive and yes, he'd wear it, which is how I guage these things. An intended Christmas present, it is going quite well and is now approaching two inches wide, so hopefully I'll get it done soon before I get so bored I can't pick it up any more.In the meantime, as this scarf isn't really captivating me I've finished another two washcloths, started a third and started this...
Another experiment and destined for Christmas, this is left over yarn from the Spike Stitch Scarf and some novelty yarns passed in my direction by Steelbreeze at our last destash night. Pretty is how I'm describing this one and combined with a nice DK yarn the novelty fur is behaving itself. I may even buy some more!(As always click on the images to see bigger versions)
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Going round in circles
I do believe it is Wednesday once more and this week has seen me back at work. The knock on effect of this, is of course that I am absolutely shattered since I got back and hit the ground running as it were; September and October being horrible months if you work for IT at a University.
I've been too tired to really achieve much in the evenings this week, but I've started crocheting a bag which I hope turns out OK. So far, I've made the bottom which is crocheted in the round and is a good size as I've taken it out to about 25cm before stopping the increase.
What can I say? I hate small bags that are bursting at the seams before you've put anything more than the most basic of essentials in them.
Next up, I need to crochet the sides, which just means doing round after round until it's big enough.
This is a bit of an experiment really, as I've never really tried to crochet anything other than blankets, squares and the occasional hat or scarf. I'm using a basic DK acrylic yarn, but intend to work in random stripes to add interest, so should end up with a multicoloured cylinder. I'll work a shoulder strap across that and then maybe edge the whole lot to reinforce it before finding a suitable lining.
I've also castoff the blue wobbly lined scarf I was working on, which ended up 7ft (210cm) long but increased by a further 18cm (7 inches) once I'd blocked it, with a nice even width of 20cm.
Note the mixing of imperial and decimal unit measurements here. I'm afraid I do this all the time, switching between the two without really thinking about it. I do take serious pains when noting a person's measurements to keep them all in one unit, usually opting for centimeters and writing down which I've used. I blame my parents and grandparents. Using decimal at school but imperial at home, means you end up using them interchangeably and causing much confusion.
But back to the subject in hand. The scarf is done and at some point I will post some pictures here once I've uploaded them from the camera.
I've also decided on my next project, which is of course a scarf - namely Ziggy from Magknits. It looks to me to be a fairly gentle introduction to lace knitting without the super skinny yarn and quite a simple selection of stitches. I have some Mohair at home which I think will do this quite nicely and Charlie has given my choice his seal of approval... Apparently, Charlie likes the taste of goat!
I've been too tired to really achieve much in the evenings this week, but I've started crocheting a bag which I hope turns out OK. So far, I've made the bottom which is crocheted in the round and is a good size as I've taken it out to about 25cm before stopping the increase.
What can I say? I hate small bags that are bursting at the seams before you've put anything more than the most basic of essentials in them.
Next up, I need to crochet the sides, which just means doing round after round until it's big enough.
This is a bit of an experiment really, as I've never really tried to crochet anything other than blankets, squares and the occasional hat or scarf. I'm using a basic DK acrylic yarn, but intend to work in random stripes to add interest, so should end up with a multicoloured cylinder. I'll work a shoulder strap across that and then maybe edge the whole lot to reinforce it before finding a suitable lining.
I've also castoff the blue wobbly lined scarf I was working on, which ended up 7ft (210cm) long but increased by a further 18cm (7 inches) once I'd blocked it, with a nice even width of 20cm.
Note the mixing of imperial and decimal unit measurements here. I'm afraid I do this all the time, switching between the two without really thinking about it. I do take serious pains when noting a person's measurements to keep them all in one unit, usually opting for centimeters and writing down which I've used. I blame my parents and grandparents. Using decimal at school but imperial at home, means you end up using them interchangeably and causing much confusion.
But back to the subject in hand. The scarf is done and at some point I will post some pictures here once I've uploaded them from the camera.
I've also decided on my next project, which is of course a scarf - namely Ziggy from Magknits. It looks to me to be a fairly gentle introduction to lace knitting without the super skinny yarn and quite a simple selection of stitches. I have some Mohair at home which I think will do this quite nicely and Charlie has given my choice his seal of approval... Apparently, Charlie likes the taste of goat!
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
And now for a very important announcement
In the interests of finding a palatable alternative to my current favourite tea (and yes, tea has finally made it onto my blog) in order to stave off the fear that Morrisons (the only place in Coventry that I can find it) will stop stocking it, I decided to give Twinings Everyday Tea a try. Mostly for Richard's benefit this, but I can report that I have decided I like this tea. It's still not my favourite, but it is on a par with Tetley's normal tea, so it's mild, inoffensive and refreshing but without the kick found in standard breakfast teas.
In other words, just like a lot of the Twinings range, it gets my thumbs up.
And now that I've covered the vitally important subject of tea, onto creative pursuits.
Last weekend was very sewing orientated as I settled down to start making Dave a new costume for Shards. Friday night I drafted a pattern for a new robe and then drew straight onto the fabric, since I was running very short on time and it is quite a simple garment. Some time later, after much pain from my knee, bloodshed from Dave - who pinned one piece when I had to get up from the floor for a minute - and some wielding of scissors and I had all the pieces cut out.
Saturday afternoon I edged them, since experience has taught me it's a lot easier to edge fabric *before* it's sewn up than after. Edging is of course boring and tedious, but absolutely necessary since this robe will not be lined, is made from cotton which will fray if I don't take steps to prevent it and is going to be subject to significant wear and tear... LARP is incredibly hard on costume and of course, the robe needs to be able to survive the washing machine.
Sunday I sewed all the pieces together. I even set the sleeves and attached the collar, much to my amazement at my own efficiency. Over the last two nights I've continued with the hand finishing bits, namely I closed the collar by hand and I've oversewn the side seams using a matress stitch to make the gores sit right.
Alas, no photo's yet as it was quite late when I finished last night and I need to get Dave to pose whilst wearing it for me, but I will get some taken soon-ish.
Tonight I'm intending to leave Dave with a pile of ironing, in the form of the cotton for his cyclas. I've washed it and dried it, but he's been studiously ignoring it for the past few days. Since I intend to start on the pattern for that one tomorrow night, I think it's down to him to finish prepping the fabric so I can get started ASAP.
In other news, in an effort to earn brownie points Dave bought me a selection of jewelry pliers at Hobbycraft. Apparently they have sets of them half price at the moment, so those who like to make wired jewelry or stitchmarkers, take note.
And finally, I finished my second attempt at a washcloth (of which I do have a picture).
While its the same diagonally knit square as last time, taken from One Skien Wonders, this time I've crocheted a Picot stle edge, taken from Knitting Loves Crochet.
The last time I tried to crochet around some knitting, the crochet was too tight and forced the washcloth to curl up around the edges. To overcome this, rather than fighting my naturally tight crochet - a battle I'll leave for later methinks - I used the next size up hook, i.e. a 4.5mm rather than a 4mm and this time it worked well. I'm quite pleased with the way its turned out and envisage making many more...
As always, click on the photo to see a bigger version.
In other words, just like a lot of the Twinings range, it gets my thumbs up.
And now that I've covered the vitally important subject of tea, onto creative pursuits.
Last weekend was very sewing orientated as I settled down to start making Dave a new costume for Shards. Friday night I drafted a pattern for a new robe and then drew straight onto the fabric, since I was running very short on time and it is quite a simple garment. Some time later, after much pain from my knee, bloodshed from Dave - who pinned one piece when I had to get up from the floor for a minute - and some wielding of scissors and I had all the pieces cut out.
Saturday afternoon I edged them, since experience has taught me it's a lot easier to edge fabric *before* it's sewn up than after. Edging is of course boring and tedious, but absolutely necessary since this robe will not be lined, is made from cotton which will fray if I don't take steps to prevent it and is going to be subject to significant wear and tear... LARP is incredibly hard on costume and of course, the robe needs to be able to survive the washing machine.
Sunday I sewed all the pieces together. I even set the sleeves and attached the collar, much to my amazement at my own efficiency. Over the last two nights I've continued with the hand finishing bits, namely I closed the collar by hand and I've oversewn the side seams using a matress stitch to make the gores sit right.
Alas, no photo's yet as it was quite late when I finished last night and I need to get Dave to pose whilst wearing it for me, but I will get some taken soon-ish.
Tonight I'm intending to leave Dave with a pile of ironing, in the form of the cotton for his cyclas. I've washed it and dried it, but he's been studiously ignoring it for the past few days. Since I intend to start on the pattern for that one tomorrow night, I think it's down to him to finish prepping the fabric so I can get started ASAP.
In other news, in an effort to earn brownie points Dave bought me a selection of jewelry pliers at Hobbycraft. Apparently they have sets of them half price at the moment, so those who like to make wired jewelry or stitchmarkers, take note.
And finally, I finished my second attempt at a washcloth (of which I do have a picture).
While its the same diagonally knit square as last time, taken from One Skien Wonders, this time I've crocheted a Picot stle edge, taken from Knitting Loves Crochet.
The last time I tried to crochet around some knitting, the crochet was too tight and forced the washcloth to curl up around the edges. To overcome this, rather than fighting my naturally tight crochet - a battle I'll leave for later methinks - I used the next size up hook, i.e. a 4.5mm rather than a 4mm and this time it worked well. I'm quite pleased with the way its turned out and envisage making many more...
As always, click on the photo to see a bigger version.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Tewkesbury and stuff
Today is Sunday and marvel all who read this. I am typing in my first ever blog entry from my new internet connection. Yes, we are now online at home although the truth be told and apart from the few hours I spent getting things working on Friday night, this is the first time I've logged on this weekend. I've been busy (as always) and so haven't really had much time to sit playing.
I took Friday off work and spent the majority of the day cleaning, while I waited for the internet to activate itself. I did finish a knitted washcloth I've been having a bit of an experiment with. The pattern for this one is simple enough since it was knitted on the diagonal, using a yarn over to give the holes around the edge. I decided to try putting a simple crocheted border on, but as you can see from the curling I think I got the tension wrong. Ho hum. Experience and all that, but that is why I was having an experiment.
Other than that I've started adding layers to the bump, work which is going well but is both time consuming and hard on the hands. It is definitely growing though, so progress is being made. Slow progress.
We headed off to Tewkesbury for the medieval fayre and battle yesterday where I was very good, not buying any fabric or yarns or... well anything craft related really. Mostly because I didn't see anything that caught my eye, despite several hours of searching. I was hoping to pick up a new lucet and maybe a fancy turned needlecase, but they were barely in evidence in the fayre. I did however pick up a music book and a couple of recorders, which means I suppose I'll have to teach myself how to play now.
We missed the battle itself due to being engrossed in shopping, although the guns were noticeably loud. This fellow was prowling around the market, pointing at people in an ominous fashion for some reason or other.
In all, a good - if long and very tiring - day. The weather held. I didn't spend too much money. Good company. Someone else was driving (Thanks Richard!) and much fun was had.
I took Friday off work and spent the majority of the day cleaning, while I waited for the internet to activate itself. I did finish a knitted washcloth I've been having a bit of an experiment with. The pattern for this one is simple enough since it was knitted on the diagonal, using a yarn over to give the holes around the edge. I decided to try putting a simple crocheted border on, but as you can see from the curling I think I got the tension wrong. Ho hum. Experience and all that, but that is why I was having an experiment.
Other than that I've started adding layers to the bump, work which is going well but is both time consuming and hard on the hands. It is definitely growing though, so progress is being made. Slow progress.
We headed off to Tewkesbury for the medieval fayre and battle yesterday where I was very good, not buying any fabric or yarns or... well anything craft related really. Mostly because I didn't see anything that caught my eye, despite several hours of searching. I was hoping to pick up a new lucet and maybe a fancy turned needlecase, but they were barely in evidence in the fayre. I did however pick up a music book and a couple of recorders, which means I suppose I'll have to teach myself how to play now.
We missed the battle itself due to being engrossed in shopping, although the guns were noticeably loud. This fellow was prowling around the market, pointing at people in an ominous fashion for some reason or other.
In all, a good - if long and very tiring - day. The weather held. I didn't spend too much money. Good company. Someone else was driving (Thanks Richard!) and much fun was had.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Sweetpea... also in plum
Taking a few moments out from working and waiting for my new mobile phone to spring into life, to write a further update here. Although before I do, why is it that the delay between deactivating the old SIM and activating the new one has to take so long? I've been without mobile connectivity since 2:30pm yesterday afternoon and I'm now beginning to fret. It's not that I want to call anyone or that I'm particularly itching to send a text message but... You never know I might actually be missing some vital call while I'm disconnected like this!
As you might be able to surmise, upgrading my mobile telephone and my talk plan was on my list of errands over the weekend. After visiting the Orange shop and fast coming to the conclusion that I knew more than the store assistants did about the deals on offer, I headed home and called Orange's Customer Services to negotiate my own deal. Yay for the internet and doing your own research.
Next on my list for overdue upgrades is a computer... As in I think that maybe it's time I actually bought one and maybe, perhaps I need some kind of proper internet connection. Currently, I use dial up from home and a very antiquated laptop which has been retired from work use. While this used to be more than sufficient for my home needs, recently I've been struggling to even read email and so the slow realisation that I need to move out of the stone age is catching up with me.
But I digress...
I also finished crocheting the Sweetpea Shawl on Saturday evening and so, on Sunday decided to take advantage of the fine weather to have a go at blocking out on the patio. I took an old bedspread - normally reserved for camping use - and laid it out, weighing down the corners with bottles of water. Then I spread out the shawl, pinning it into place and pulling it to open out the pattern. Once I had it pinned securely in place, I sprayed it liberally with clean water and waited...
I had to have stern words with both cats when they decided to try to help, but other than that it went well enough and about three hours later the shawl was dry. I carefully unpinned it and was relieved when it didn't immediately spring back into it's previous shape and did a practice drape for Dave who told me it looked 'longer'. Before blocking, I think it reached to about the small of my back whereas now it reaches the back of my knees!
Sunday and Monday night I sat and attached tassles and voila! One Sweetpea Shawl.
I'm really pleased with this one and I think it's probably the nicest thing I've ever crocheted. Before blocking it looked fairly good but now it is really pretty and the pattern has opened out so it can be easily seen. I'm impressed both with the shawl and the transformation, so I guess this blocking lark is all it's cracked up to be.
As always, click on the pictures to see bigger versions.
As you might be able to surmise, upgrading my mobile telephone and my talk plan was on my list of errands over the weekend. After visiting the Orange shop and fast coming to the conclusion that I knew more than the store assistants did about the deals on offer, I headed home and called Orange's Customer Services to negotiate my own deal. Yay for the internet and doing your own research.
Next on my list for overdue upgrades is a computer... As in I think that maybe it's time I actually bought one and maybe, perhaps I need some kind of proper internet connection. Currently, I use dial up from home and a very antiquated laptop which has been retired from work use. While this used to be more than sufficient for my home needs, recently I've been struggling to even read email and so the slow realisation that I need to move out of the stone age is catching up with me.
But I digress...
I also finished crocheting the Sweetpea Shawl on Saturday evening and so, on Sunday decided to take advantage of the fine weather to have a go at blocking out on the patio. I took an old bedspread - normally reserved for camping use - and laid it out, weighing down the corners with bottles of water. Then I spread out the shawl, pinning it into place and pulling it to open out the pattern. Once I had it pinned securely in place, I sprayed it liberally with clean water and waited...
I had to have stern words with both cats when they decided to try to help, but other than that it went well enough and about three hours later the shawl was dry. I carefully unpinned it and was relieved when it didn't immediately spring back into it's previous shape and did a practice drape for Dave who told me it looked 'longer'. Before blocking, I think it reached to about the small of my back whereas now it reaches the back of my knees!
Sunday and Monday night I sat and attached tassles and voila! One Sweetpea Shawl.
I'm really pleased with this one and I think it's probably the nicest thing I've ever crocheted. Before blocking it looked fairly good but now it is really pretty and the pattern has opened out so it can be easily seen. I'm impressed both with the shawl and the transformation, so I guess this blocking lark is all it's cracked up to be.
As always, click on the pictures to see bigger versions.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Of lace and wikis
I've just spent my lunch hour making a good stab at trying to sort out the Shards wiki which moved from its previous home a few days ago. I'll not go into the whys and what-the-hell's that I could do at this moment, since I've already done my fair share of tearing out metaphorical hair. At the moment I'm concentrating on trying to clean up the spilt milk rather than ranting.
Allegedly, the entire wiki has been copied from Schtuff to PBwiki with it's links intact. Sadly, this does not seem to be entirely true. Most of the data is over, but the context has been lost. The tags are now meaningless and since a lot of the pages were dynamic, based on saved searches, those are also completely lost. Cue me trying to piece together what is or is not missing and then build static pages to substitute for those missing searches. There may of course be a way of rebuilding the searches using PBwiki's tools, but lack of familiarity means that for now I'm not trying to be clever - I just want to get it all back online.
Worryingly I've also come across the odd page which seems to be missing entirely. Fortunatley, the original site is still up so all I've had to do is nip across and copy them over, but time is running out on that score. I'll continue as I am for a few days while I get the measure of it, but then I'm going to need a general announcement methinks... Only the main boards are down as the website is also down and I don't think everyone is using the Yahoo Group.
On the positive side, I have managed to put the beginnings of a sidebar in place to act as a menu. The character pages are beginning to take shape and of course I now have some idea of what is missing. The colours are still yucky and I don't like the template, but without the admin password there's not a lot I can do about that.
On to more fun stuff, despite wanting to do nothing more than curl up and go to sleep, I headed out to Knit-Wits last night which had a good turnout. Steelbreeze had made some latch hooks out of old machine knitting needles, which look not dissimilar to the latch hooks I've used in the past for rug making, only a lot smaller. Steelbreeze went on to demonstrate how they can be used for picking up dropped stitches in your knitting, which sounded like a fine idea to me. So I must admit I snaffled one of these fine inventions for myself.
Steelbreeze also showed me how to do cables, which from her quick demo do not look anywhere near so scary as I thought they were.
With those and the how to fix dropped stitches, I think I really do need to do some sample swatches and have a play. The Stitch n'Bitch book has a section in it about fixing mistakes and I think I might need to deliberately make mistakes and repair them before having a go at lace knitting, because that sure does look fiddly and accident prone.
I took along Victorian Lace Today, which did the rounds and got a lot of oooh'ing and ahhh'ing. Every time I look at that book, I want to make something and by the attention it got, it went down well with everyone else as well. In my case, what can I say... It's finicky, detailed, fussy and requires a lot of attention to finish... Just my cup of tea!
The Sweetpea Shawl also went with me last night and I'm now getting through those rows with frightening speed. I don't think it will be long before I finish it and then comes the dreaded blocking...
Photo's taken by Steelbreeze - as usual, click on them to see bigger versions.
Edited to add: This link to a review I found out there in the blogosphere for Victorian Lace Today. Scroll down and look at the pictures, to see why I like this book so much...
Allegedly, the entire wiki has been copied from Schtuff to PBwiki with it's links intact. Sadly, this does not seem to be entirely true. Most of the data is over, but the context has been lost. The tags are now meaningless and since a lot of the pages were dynamic, based on saved searches, those are also completely lost. Cue me trying to piece together what is or is not missing and then build static pages to substitute for those missing searches. There may of course be a way of rebuilding the searches using PBwiki's tools, but lack of familiarity means that for now I'm not trying to be clever - I just want to get it all back online.
Worryingly I've also come across the odd page which seems to be missing entirely. Fortunatley, the original site is still up so all I've had to do is nip across and copy them over, but time is running out on that score. I'll continue as I am for a few days while I get the measure of it, but then I'm going to need a general announcement methinks... Only the main boards are down as the website is also down and I don't think everyone is using the Yahoo Group.
On the positive side, I have managed to put the beginnings of a sidebar in place to act as a menu. The character pages are beginning to take shape and of course I now have some idea of what is missing. The colours are still yucky and I don't like the template, but without the admin password there's not a lot I can do about that.
On to more fun stuff, despite wanting to do nothing more than curl up and go to sleep, I headed out to Knit-Wits last night which had a good turnout. Steelbreeze had made some latch hooks out of old machine knitting needles, which look not dissimilar to the latch hooks I've used in the past for rug making, only a lot smaller. Steelbreeze went on to demonstrate how they can be used for picking up dropped stitches in your knitting, which sounded like a fine idea to me. So I must admit I snaffled one of these fine inventions for myself.Steelbreeze also showed me how to do cables, which from her quick demo do not look anywhere near so scary as I thought they were.
With those and the how to fix dropped stitches, I think I really do need to do some sample swatches and have a play. The Stitch n'Bitch book has a section in it about fixing mistakes and I think I might need to deliberately make mistakes and repair them before having a go at lace knitting, because that sure does look fiddly and accident prone.
I took along Victorian Lace Today, which did the rounds and got a lot of oooh'ing and ahhh'ing. Every time I look at that book, I want to make something and by the attention it got, it went down well with everyone else as well. In my case, what can I say... It's finicky, detailed, fussy and requires a lot of attention to finish... Just my cup of tea!
The Sweetpea Shawl also went with me last night and I'm now getting through those rows with frightening speed. I don't think it will be long before I finish it and then comes the dreaded blocking...Photo's taken by Steelbreeze - as usual, click on them to see bigger versions.
Edited to add: This link to a review I found out there in the blogosphere for Victorian Lace Today. Scroll down and look at the pictures, to see why I like this book so much...
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Today I ache
My right leg, from my hip to my calf is giving me some serious gip and complaining as if I'd overdone it at the dojo or gym or something. Muscles I really didn't know I had are complaining this morning and the cause of this discomfort is of course my visit to my physio therapist yesterday. The obligatory lecture covered the does and don'ts of sitting, the need to accurately report on pain, bending my knee and how to stick my bottom out. After forty five minutes of painful mauling, I was really glad to escape back to work!
We have hot water once more, the boiler having been fixed by the man from British Gas... The cause this time was apparently the British weather, with rain being the primary candidate for our problems. There were signs of water damage inside the boiler and the plumber's opinion was that heavy rain (like the kind we had during last Thursday's storms) came in through the flu, flooding the bottom of the boiler so that it spilled out and shorted the electrics. This is not exactly reassuring news, as it rains quite a bit in Coventry and sometimes the rain is indeed of the heavy variety, not like back at home in Plymouth though, where it wasn't unusual to see it rain upwards! But I digress, it does indeed rain in Coventry and so I've now been alerted to a new danger which could strike at any time. Dave has told me not to worry... He says he has a cunning plan involving cellotape.
This news was met with some sceptism at Knit-Wits last night, where we were having a de-stash night. Now I did consider getting rid of some fabric but what with having been working like a crazed crazy woman, I have not really had much time to do anything the past week or two. So in the end, I dug out some no longer wanted issues of Burda and took those along, telling Dave I was doing my bit towards decluttering the house.
Ahem. Somehow I came back with more magazines than I took with me... And some knitting needles... Oooh and some fuzzy sparkly stuff that Steelbreeze waved at me.
I did do some work on the Sweet Pea shawl from The Happy Hooker, which is growing nicely now. I disagree with the designer's comments about whipping it up in a single evening though and having it ready for use the next day. Admittedly, I'm only spending an hour here and there working on the shawl, but those first few rows were killers.
Here it is in its current state, very much a work in progress but you can see that it is beginning to take shape.
I like the way it's coming along and now I've got the hang of the pattern, it's not that difficult to make. I did have problems with the pattern instructions, but fortunately was able to interpret the chart which accompanied it. My next worry is for when its done as I think I may need to have a go at blocking (a first for me) to get the best out of this one.
Finally some gratuitous cat pictures, because I'm in pain, working far too hard at the end of a very long week (i.e. no weekend) and want to see kittens.
My ever vigilant assistant Charlie, who is an oversized kitten really, is always ready to help guard my knitting or crochet. Or at least flop all over the project bag the above shawl currently lives in.
Of course, once he realises that you're watching him he turns on the charm... And don't be fooled by that expression, he is ready to kill Dave (who falls for it everytime) if he touches his tummy.
Missy on the other hand would never allow herself to be photographed in a compromising position...
We have hot water once more, the boiler having been fixed by the man from British Gas... The cause this time was apparently the British weather, with rain being the primary candidate for our problems. There were signs of water damage inside the boiler and the plumber's opinion was that heavy rain (like the kind we had during last Thursday's storms) came in through the flu, flooding the bottom of the boiler so that it spilled out and shorted the electrics. This is not exactly reassuring news, as it rains quite a bit in Coventry and sometimes the rain is indeed of the heavy variety, not like back at home in Plymouth though, where it wasn't unusual to see it rain upwards! But I digress, it does indeed rain in Coventry and so I've now been alerted to a new danger which could strike at any time. Dave has told me not to worry... He says he has a cunning plan involving cellotape.
This news was met with some sceptism at Knit-Wits last night, where we were having a de-stash night. Now I did consider getting rid of some fabric but what with having been working like a crazed crazy woman, I have not really had much time to do anything the past week or two. So in the end, I dug out some no longer wanted issues of Burda and took those along, telling Dave I was doing my bit towards decluttering the house.
Ahem. Somehow I came back with more magazines than I took with me... And some knitting needles... Oooh and some fuzzy sparkly stuff that Steelbreeze waved at me.
I did do some work on the Sweet Pea shawl from The Happy Hooker, which is growing nicely now. I disagree with the designer's comments about whipping it up in a single evening though and having it ready for use the next day. Admittedly, I'm only spending an hour here and there working on the shawl, but those first few rows were killers.
Here it is in its current state, very much a work in progress but you can see that it is beginning to take shape.
I like the way it's coming along and now I've got the hang of the pattern, it's not that difficult to make. I did have problems with the pattern instructions, but fortunately was able to interpret the chart which accompanied it. My next worry is for when its done as I think I may need to have a go at blocking (a first for me) to get the best out of this one.
Finally some gratuitous cat pictures, because I'm in pain, working far too hard at the end of a very long week (i.e. no weekend) and want to see kittens.
My ever vigilant assistant Charlie, who is an oversized kitten really, is always ready to help guard my knitting or crochet. Or at least flop all over the project bag the above shawl currently lives in.
Of course, once he realises that you're watching him he turns on the charm... And don't be fooled by that expression, he is ready to kill Dave (who falls for it everytime) if he touches his tummy.
Missy on the other hand would never allow herself to be photographed in a compromising position...
Friday, May 18, 2007
An odd week
It's been an odd week for me and not terribly productive, either at home or at work. Family matters have taken precedence and I've driven an awful lot of miles, in a mad but very necessary round trip to Bodmin for a funeral. Suffice it to say, I'm feeling very tired and drained, waking this morning all thick headed on the tail end of a dream about the shed exploding and torrential rain...
(Dave tells me I must have suppressed anxiety about the shed blowing up. Our neighbour has a distressing tendency to build huge fires in her garden in close proximity to it, pouring petrol on and then going indoors to watch TV whilst it burns unmonitored. More than once, I've prompted Dave into getting the hose pipe out and dowsing down our fence and shed...)
With all the driving and visiting, I haven't really had much time to myself this week, with what little time I have had being dedicated to writing rather than anything else. With the first Strangehaven event in a few weeks, I'm beginning to feel the pressure. We have a ref meeting this weekend, so hopefully once that's done I'll be in a calmer state of mind.
I did take some cotton and a crochet hook down to Cornwall with me, making a start on a plum coloured 'Sweetpea Shawl' from The Happy Hooker. No idea how it's going to turn out, but it seems to be working up OK and Charlie approves. I had a few problems understanding the instructions (I'm terrible with patterns) but fortunately, the pattern is charted so I managed to interpret it in the end.
More soon, when I'm less tired, my brain is working properly and I don't have a huge backlog of work...
(Dave tells me I must have suppressed anxiety about the shed blowing up. Our neighbour has a distressing tendency to build huge fires in her garden in close proximity to it, pouring petrol on and then going indoors to watch TV whilst it burns unmonitored. More than once, I've prompted Dave into getting the hose pipe out and dowsing down our fence and shed...)
With all the driving and visiting, I haven't really had much time to myself this week, with what little time I have had being dedicated to writing rather than anything else. With the first Strangehaven event in a few weeks, I'm beginning to feel the pressure. We have a ref meeting this weekend, so hopefully once that's done I'll be in a calmer state of mind.
I did take some cotton and a crochet hook down to Cornwall with me, making a start on a plum coloured 'Sweetpea Shawl' from The Happy Hooker. No idea how it's going to turn out, but it seems to be working up OK and Charlie approves. I had a few problems understanding the instructions (I'm terrible with patterns) but fortunately, the pattern is charted so I managed to interpret it in the end.
More soon, when I'm less tired, my brain is working properly and I don't have a huge backlog of work...
Friday, May 11, 2007
Book List
I'm feeling a tad frustrated at the moment as last week I gave into a momentary weakness and ordered several books from Amazon. What can I say, I had an unspent gift voucher - if such is an applicable term for an online bookstore - and I've been eyeing up several craft books of late.
A week on and the projected delivery date is set for the 21st of the month, so I'm still waiting and will be for at least another week. This is not good. Once I have decided to purchase a book, I like to get my grubby little mits on it as soon as possible. Part of me is itching to cancel the order and buy the books via Amazon's 'New and Used' marketplace, but since the only reason I bought direct from Amazon was those gift tokens it kind of defeats the purpose.
The titles I ordered were all knitting or crochet pattern books, i.e.
I do now however have one of these, having ordered it from Cotton Patch who have always been very helpful in the past. I anticipate a weekend filled with cutting things out!
A week on and the projected delivery date is set for the 21st of the month, so I'm still waiting and will be for at least another week. This is not good. Once I have decided to purchase a book, I like to get my grubby little mits on it as soon as possible. Part of me is itching to cancel the order and buy the books via Amazon's 'New and Used' marketplace, but since the only reason I bought direct from Amazon was those gift tokens it kind of defeats the purpose.
The titles I ordered were all knitting or crochet pattern books, i.e.
- Crocheted Bags
- Victorian Lace Today
- One-Skein Wonders
- 200 Crochet Blocks...
- Crocheted Hats
- One Skein
I do now however have one of these, having ordered it from Cotton Patch who have always been very helpful in the past. I anticipate a weekend filled with cutting things out!
Monday, April 30, 2007
A quiet weekend doing not much at all
Another weekend gone and it's been a quiet one. I called in sick on Thursday and Friday, so I could rest up after visiting my consultant. He injected my poor knee again and having suffered badly last time, I did exactly what he said afterwards, staying off the leg and elavating it. Five days on and so far so good, I'd go so far as to say I haven't felt this pain free in months! Of course, I'm back at work now and after sitting at a desk for hours on end and facing stairs on a regular basis the familiar burning sensation is starting up again, so I'm not sure how well it's going to last...
Staying home for a couple of days, I reacquainted myself with daytime TV, a dismal, depressing experience if ever there was one. The number of life insurance ads was frightening, with mature actors - all of them household names - inviting me to put money aside to help towards funeral costs every ten minutes... In the end, I put a DVD on before I lost the will to live.
I have done some sewing this weekend, working on a jacket which I made up last week. I set the sleeves and hand sewed much bias binding, both of which could be done sitting down without too much running around. I'm not done yet as I need to set the frogs on the front as my chosen fastenings and I'm toying with adding ties of some sort to the side panels, both for decorative purposes and to cinch it in. Photographs and a more thorough description will be along in due course.
In the meantime, I finished off the spike stitch scarf on Wednesday but just haven't had an opportunity to upload any photos. Better late than never though, so here it is.
Spike stitch is of course a crochet stitch and my scarf is based on this pattern. It's worked in alternating double and treble crochet (or single and double if like me you read American patterns) with the treble stitch spiked in every second row and as you can see was very effective.
I took it along to Knitwits on Wednesday and Kellie said they really needed to get me off scarves. Now, I like making scarves and at the moment, I'm not looking to be challenged overly, but I do get the point. I think I'd like to have a go at something else now, just for a change... Then I can do another scarf.
So, the search is on. What to make?
Staying home for a couple of days, I reacquainted myself with daytime TV, a dismal, depressing experience if ever there was one. The number of life insurance ads was frightening, with mature actors - all of them household names - inviting me to put money aside to help towards funeral costs every ten minutes... In the end, I put a DVD on before I lost the will to live.
I have done some sewing this weekend, working on a jacket which I made up last week. I set the sleeves and hand sewed much bias binding, both of which could be done sitting down without too much running around. I'm not done yet as I need to set the frogs on the front as my chosen fastenings and I'm toying with adding ties of some sort to the side panels, both for decorative purposes and to cinch it in. Photographs and a more thorough description will be along in due course.
In the meantime, I finished off the spike stitch scarf on Wednesday but just haven't had an opportunity to upload any photos. Better late than never though, so here it is.
Spike stitch is of course a crochet stitch and my scarf is based on this pattern. It's worked in alternating double and treble crochet (or single and double if like me you read American patterns) with the treble stitch spiked in every second row and as you can see was very effective.
I took it along to Knitwits on Wednesday and Kellie said they really needed to get me off scarves. Now, I like making scarves and at the moment, I'm not looking to be challenged overly, but I do get the point. I think I'd like to have a go at something else now, just for a change... Then I can do another scarf.
So, the search is on. What to make?
Monday, February 05, 2007
Scarf and Jacket
This weekend I seem to have done a lot of faffing and not much just getting on with making things up. My excuse... I was in pain; I have good days and bad days with my knee and this weekend counted as bad. I blame the weather, I really don't cope with cold and while the sun was out, we have to remember it *is* February.
Anyway, when not moving in a gingerly fashion or worrying about cats I did sew on a lot of buttons and finish the scarf I was crocheting. I decided on the style of top and jacket I need for Shards so only really have the skirt to sort out in my head now. I also cut out the first pieces of batting for baby bump mark 2, fitted the base to me and started sewing the first few layers together. So not a total loss, I guess.
And so some pictures...
First up, time to inject some colour into the procedings with a loud version of the one skien scarf from The Happy Hooker.
I liked the way this one made up, the instructions were clear and since it only uses a single stitch type (doubles or trebles depending on whether you're reading American or British patterns) it was easy and made up very quickly. The photo here doesn't really do it justice - in the flesh it makes me think of smarties - but worn over a plain dark layer and wrapped a couple times around my neck it looked quite pretty in a colourful way. :)
The jacket for Shards is also finished. This one is in brown cotton moleskin and lined in cotton (back and sleeves) and silk (front and skirts). Those flaps conceal real, functioning pockets!
I've yet to wear it over the full kit, so don't have any photo's of it in context I'm afraid, but picture it over full culottes and worn with a tricorn and I think you get the idea.
And finally, for those who might wish to see... A flash of the hideous diamond check pink silk lining, which I think is just perfect. :D
Anyway, when not moving in a gingerly fashion or worrying about cats I did sew on a lot of buttons and finish the scarf I was crocheting. I decided on the style of top and jacket I need for Shards so only really have the skirt to sort out in my head now. I also cut out the first pieces of batting for baby bump mark 2, fitted the base to me and started sewing the first few layers together. So not a total loss, I guess.
And so some pictures...
First up, time to inject some colour into the procedings with a loud version of the one skien scarf from The Happy Hooker.
I liked the way this one made up, the instructions were clear and since it only uses a single stitch type (doubles or trebles depending on whether you're reading American or British patterns) it was easy and made up very quickly. The photo here doesn't really do it justice - in the flesh it makes me think of smarties - but worn over a plain dark layer and wrapped a couple times around my neck it looked quite pretty in a colourful way. :)
The jacket for Shards is also finished. This one is in brown cotton moleskin and lined in cotton (back and sleeves) and silk (front and skirts). Those flaps conceal real, functioning pockets!
I've yet to wear it over the full kit, so don't have any photo's of it in context I'm afraid, but picture it over full culottes and worn with a tricorn and I think you get the idea.
And finally, for those who might wish to see... A flash of the hideous diamond check pink silk lining, which I think is just perfect. :D
Thursday, February 01, 2007
One jacket very nearly complete
All the button holes are done... Just 22 buttons to sew on and then some vigourous ironing!
Knit-Wits was fun last night and I made good progress on the scarf I'm crocheting. The difference in how quickly something can be made up when crocheted compared to knitting is striking though. I started this scarf (a loud version of the one skein scarf from The Happy Hooker) on Monday night whilst watching TV as I couldn't face sewing button holes. I picked it up again last night and with only the border to go now, I'd say that one more evening and it will be done.
In other news I'm getting a hankering to use my lucet again. I don't have any particular need to make laces, but I found myself thinking about decent gimps and whether I should experiment with a different base yarn while I was driving to work this morning. All of which means I may have to make some laces just to get it out of my system.
Edited to add link
I have a double lucet that Dave bought me for Christmas a couple of years ago, but have no idea how to use... And I just found instructions! Yay! A happy me.
Knit-Wits was fun last night and I made good progress on the scarf I'm crocheting. The difference in how quickly something can be made up when crocheted compared to knitting is striking though. I started this scarf (a loud version of the one skein scarf from The Happy Hooker) on Monday night whilst watching TV as I couldn't face sewing button holes. I picked it up again last night and with only the border to go now, I'd say that one more evening and it will be done.
In other news I'm getting a hankering to use my lucet again. I don't have any particular need to make laces, but I found myself thinking about decent gimps and whether I should experiment with a different base yarn while I was driving to work this morning. All of which means I may have to make some laces just to get it out of my system.
Edited to add link
I have a double lucet that Dave bought me for Christmas a couple of years ago, but have no idea how to use... And I just found instructions! Yay! A happy me.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
And the search continues
As the search for my next knitting project continues, I thought I'd google for
'free scarf pattern'...
The following are just a tiny selection that came up in the first two links on the page Google returned. Notably, just one crochet scarf and the rest are knitted. Having ploughed through, I saved the links to the ones I like and might want to have a go at...
Asherton Reversible Scarf (simple knit and purl;I like this one)
http://smariek.blogspot.com/2006/09/asherton-reversible-scarf.html
“Athena” One Ball Scarf (a sort of diagonal effect?)
http://www.tangledwebb.com/free-patterns.html
Bramble scarf (patterned and looks complicated)
http://www.nepenthe.blog-city.com/bramble_scarf_free_pattern.htm
Cameron scarf (patterned and looks complicated)
http://www.wolfandturtle.net/Yarnpath/index.php/Yarnpath/the_cameron_scarf/
Danica (from Knitty; an entralac - looks very pretty but I wouldn't know where to start)
http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter05/PATTdanica.html
Illusions (A kind of fake cable thing going on)
http://designsbyblackdog.blogspot.com/2006/09/illusions-i-love-cables-i-really-do.html
Lavender Scarf (not disimilar from the one I'm currently knitting)
http://scrumptiousliving.wordpress.com/scrumptious-patterns/lavendar-scarf/
Manly Cable Scarf (has a single cable running down the middle - author says ideal for beginners who've never knit one before)
http://teleknitter.blogspot.com/2006/01/manly-cable.html
Medeira Lace Scarf (the only lace one on the list since I've avoided them as they look complicated - however this one says its ideal for beginners...)
http://www.applelaine.com/MadeiraScarf.html
Merino Stripes wide scarf
http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/scarves/merino-stripes-wide-scarf.html
Party Ribbon + Kid Merino (drop stitch scarf, knit with two strands)
http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/scarves/party-kidmerino-scarf.html
Rainy Day Scarf (A sort of wavy line scarf, done in just knit and purl)
http://yarndemon.typepad.com/demonic_progress/2005/05/rainy_day_scarf.html
Crochet
Spike Stitch Crochet Scarf (looks fairly easy, made up in two colours)
http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/scarves/cottchen-crocht-scarf.html
'free scarf pattern'...
The following are just a tiny selection that came up in the first two links on the page Google returned. Notably, just one crochet scarf and the rest are knitted. Having ploughed through, I saved the links to the ones I like and might want to have a go at...
Asherton Reversible Scarf (simple knit and purl;I like this one)
http://smariek.blogspot.com/2006/09/asherton-reversible-scarf.html
“Athena” One Ball Scarf (a sort of diagonal effect?)
http://www.tangledwebb.com/free-patterns.html
Bramble scarf (patterned and looks complicated)
http://www.nepenthe.blog-city.com/bramble_scarf_free_pattern.htm
Cameron scarf (patterned and looks complicated)
http://www.wolfandturtle.net/Yarnpath/index.php/Yarnpath/the_cameron_scarf/
Danica (from Knitty; an entralac - looks very pretty but I wouldn't know where to start)
http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter05/PATTdanica.html
Illusions (A kind of fake cable thing going on)
http://designsbyblackdog.blogspot.com/2006/09/illusions-i-love-cables-i-really-do.html
Lavender Scarf (not disimilar from the one I'm currently knitting)
http://scrumptiousliving.wordpress.com/scrumptious-patterns/lavendar-scarf/
Manly Cable Scarf (has a single cable running down the middle - author says ideal for beginners who've never knit one before)
http://teleknitter.blogspot.com/2006/01/manly-cable.html
Medeira Lace Scarf (the only lace one on the list since I've avoided them as they look complicated - however this one says its ideal for beginners...)
http://www.applelaine.com/MadeiraScarf.html
Merino Stripes wide scarf
http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/scarves/merino-stripes-wide-scarf.html
Party Ribbon + Kid Merino (drop stitch scarf, knit with two strands)
http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/scarves/party-kidmerino-scarf.html
Rainy Day Scarf (A sort of wavy line scarf, done in just knit and purl)
http://yarndemon.typepad.com/demonic_progress/2005/05/rainy_day_scarf.html
Crochet
Spike Stitch Crochet Scarf (looks fairly easy, made up in two colours)
http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/scarves/cottchen-crocht-scarf.html
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
A Hat and a Scarf
And to cheer myself up, some pictures of things I made over the past few weeks. :)
This first is another scarf made out of ribbon, completed in mid December but not posted here since it was intended as a Christmas present. Again, crocheted with big loops to show off the ribbon to its best effect. I prefer this one to the pastel one as I think the colours came out so much more vibrant once made up.
This little hat is baby sized and was completed in about five hours, which took me by surprise. Never having made anything for small people before I didn't know how quickly a hat this size would work up! I gave it to my newest niece Esha, much to the delight of her mother who declared she wanted one. I told her she should be careful what she says!
This first is another scarf made out of ribbon, completed in mid December but not posted here since it was intended as a Christmas present. Again, crocheted with big loops to show off the ribbon to its best effect. I prefer this one to the pastel one as I think the colours came out so much more vibrant once made up.
This little hat is baby sized and was completed in about five hours, which took me by surprise. Never having made anything for small people before I didn't know how quickly a hat this size would work up! I gave it to my newest niece Esha, much to the delight of her mother who declared she wanted one. I told her she should be careful what she says!
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