Year end roundup - delayed by cold

It's freezing in Manchester. I access the internet from my bedroom, which is unheated. Right now, it's 40F (5C) in here. To me, brought up in centrally heated houses and in the Western United States, I'm COLD!

So this is going to be as short as possible.

I made real baby clothing. Sweaters/Cardigans, really, but it's a start. It was fun.

I continued work on old patterns and started a few more.
I made a few quick patterns, like cat toys and a hat.

That's it.

Later.

Time flies when . . .

you forget.
I've not been that busy with the knitting or any other craft really.
I've just been getting a little engrossed with entering books from my library into the Goodreads site. Not that that's going to quit anytime soon, but it's a bit easier to do now that I've taken care of all the books in bags and not on the shelves. Now I can concentrate on the shelved books (only 3 rooms of them to do) and that's going to take more time than I thought it would originally, as I only remembered last week that I've got a large stash of crafting books over at my Dad's house.

I'll eventually get back to knitting (and the other crafts), but on that front, I only have one skein left to do on the Black silk wrap. It's only taken 2 years to finish it. Silly me.

More as soon as I can.

Later

photography

Well, I've found and started the two baby cardigans (in pink - *ick*)I wanted to. I'm planning on knitting a simple cap to go with one of them and it looks like I'll be finished with that set well before the first cardigan will be. It's not surprising really, considering that the first cardi is in 4-ply yarn, while the second is in DK weight. *wry grin*

I've started the latest shawl as well (Rainbow Half-Circle). So that makes 7 shawls I've got on the go:

SoTS II
Clapotis
Beech Leaf
Spring Blossom
Rainbow Half-Circle
Spiderweb half (+1) hexagon
and
The everlasting "Black Silk Scroll")

I'd better go knit - I got some new yarn on sale (buy one bag, get one free) from Abakhan fabrics and I've started a "quick" scarf with one batch (Sirdar Illusion)and am planning to start a second (and maybe a hat) with the other batch (Sirdar Fizz).

Wish me luck - the Fizz is a pink yarn. *happy grin*

Later.

Click, click. Click, click

Yep, it didn't take long. I'm back knitting. I stayed away about a week, I think, then I worked on a couple pieces and started two shawls. I thought I had two baby sweaters to work on, but I changed my mind about them, so I'm still looking for at least one suitible baby sweater to start on, and I think I might have found a couple. Just have to correlate them with the yarn in my stash to see if I can start them. If it's all good, then I'll be working on a small garment in about two weeks.

Later. Got to go knit.
*grin*

Taking a small break

Well, I'm a bit burned out with knitting. I like all my knitting projects, I don't want to throw any projects away.
I'm just tired of the physical act of knitting right now.
I'd really, really just like to watch someone doing it. (I don't mean I'd like someone working on my projects, I'd just like to watch someone knit for a while.)

I'll be back when I'm clicking the sticks once more.

Later.

Is there a chapter/group of Lace Knitter's Anonymous?

Because I'm addicted to knitting lace. I've just started two new projects - both lace - I'm planning three future projects (a shawl and 2 baby cardigans) and all three have lace in them.

I don't know.

*snicker*

I'm not worried. I'm actually quite happy that I'm knitting and pleased with what I'm doing. I'm proud of it. I find lace a joy to do. Right now, I'm never happier than when I'm knitting. Even doing other craftwork means that when I finish one of those projects (two fillgap braids, a sewing project, a little bit of woodworking and my crocheted necklaces) means that when I get finished with them, that means more time to work on lace.

All is good.

Later.

Well, I'm working staedily on two shawls - the "ink nib" (forgot the name of the one from Interweave knits) one and the Gypsy shawl. There - that's the craft content.

God I wish I had a Dreamwidth studio invite code so I could set up a journal there.

There. Said that as well.

I'm off to go eat dinner.

Later.

Photos

I've uploaded some photos of the projects - you can see some of them in the little flickr square to the right. If you don't see knitting pictures, or you want to see more photos, double click on the photo in the "knitting pictures" square to your right (not the picture of a ball of brown wool) and wait - then click on "photostream" and you can look at all the photos I've loaded in so far.









This photo is of a fillgap braid I'm working on for a future knitting project - a handbag.




Later.

Projects update. . .

Well, It's been about 12-18 months since the last one. I've written about various things I've been working on (or started) and I thought it was about time that I said what's happening to them.
Here's the list of stuff (not in any particular order) :

Fountain Pen Shawl - in limbo but not hibernating. I'm planning on working on it very soon.

Gypsy shawl - slow progress - I'm on the edging, which has 30 stitches per row, so I can spend 15 minutes on it and achieve progress.

SotS II shawl. Hibernating. Bah.

Brown Mohair scarf. - slow progress. It sits next to me along with a few other projects that are listed, so I work on it, albeit a couple rows at a time. Nice yarn. I'm glad I'm not sensitive to mohair.

Cotton phone socks (one for me, one for My Dad)- They're done and in the process of being sewn up. Since I'm not in a hurry, I expect they'll be in use in a couple weeks. ok, a few days. *he he*

Kimono cardigan - Hibernating. I ran out of the mulberry silk yarn (discontinued) at the very end, so I'm having to order some bleached mulberry silk top in order to spin about 10grams of heavy 4-ply yarn to fill in the last 10" of collar/edging. Then I can sew it all up and wear it. *sigh*

SotS I shawl - finished, finished, finished. I gave it to my best friend as a LATE christmas present. she loves it.

"Tickled pink" not pink scarf - Hibernating. I'm thinking that this might be frogged. I'm just not loving this or even liking this anymore. The way I'm knitting it is making it look blah. I'll see in a couple weeks.

Knitted shopping bags - Still in hibernation. Why I can't finish sewing up the first one is beyond me. Maybe I'm not convinced it'll be strong enough to use. The second one just isn't calling to me. I think it's getting time to call it quits and frog it. Shame on me.

Brown prayer shawl - I finished that long ago. I'm using it now. Lovely and warm.

Flickering Flames Skirt - in hibernation. It's obviously not important enough to work on. *sigh*.

Debbie Bliss Sweater. - Hibernating. It's in a box in the living room, and I see it every day. I've not forgotten about it. Bad sweater - ok, bad yarn choice. Shame on me.

Knitted kitties and various cat toys - in hibernation. I just don't want to do anything with them. Someday I'll want to, but I don't want to now. It's a shame as the only thing I have to do with the cat toys is sew them and fill them with catnip. What-ever.

Pink Fur hat - to be frogged. I don't remember where I was in the pattern when I last put it down and I just can't see the stitches through the "fur". It's time is done. Oh well.

Mitred vest - hibernating. I need to get some colour matching and blending for future squares happening, but I've started too many new projects. Bah.

Cotton Squares Blanket - Hibernating. Definitely hibernating. I'm overwhelmed by the amount of crocheting I'm going to have to do. Brain hurts. . .*grin*

Black silk wrap/stole - hibernating. Darn. I should have this finshed by now, darn it. *grr*

Cotton chenelle prayer shawl - definitely hibernating through no fault of my own. I need some dye stuffs from a company in the states (Dharma), and resources are SLOW. Bah.

Wall hanging - well, this hasn't even gotten started, so it's a fermenting kit right now.

Diagonal feather and fan blanket - new project, in limbo for a bit. It's just something to use up a giant ball of acrylic yarn (400g), so I'm in no hurry. I'm almost halfway, though, and it's pretty. Strange, but pretty.

Kitchen Curtain - It's slow but steady. Like the Gypsy shawl, it's only got short rows to work on, so I nibble on it every week. I suppose it's glamour will fade soon. Bah.

New scarf - It's a self designed project using up three balls of a luxury yarn (forgotten the name). I'm nibbling on it enough that I'm on the last quarter. Yahoo. I will definitely have to block out this piece before I complete the sewing. . . I'm not looking forwards to that.

All projects being worked on have to fight with the miniature "tapestry" rug I'm enamoured with working on. Not a problem, really. Ha.

I hope this was enough information.
Later

New Tapestry Project

A long time ago, I had a subscription to a needlework series - over 100 magazines that included projects, templates and kits of different types. One of the magazines had a minature rug/carpet in tent stitch. It was designed for a doll's house, but not having one, I ended up framing it - it now sits on a book shelf in my living room.

That sort of ignited a bug - I bought a few books on making miniature carpets and doll's house tapestries. This month, I finally got a project together using #18 "canvas" and DMC tapestry wool (plyed down from 4-ply to 2-ply to fit the canvas - it also makes the skeins go much further *G*). The book I'm working from actually calls for Paternayan wool, but I don't have access to that (I wish I did). So, I'm working with what is available. So therefore, I've started making (stitching) a miniature carpet called a memling bergama.

This is an up-to date photo of the progress:

Now, while the photo is a bit rough, it comes from my mobile phone. The colour balance is a smidge off.

I've also started work on a lace curtain (one of the free patterns off Ravelry.com from Elann.com) for the kitchen window. I'm using DMC Cebelia cotton 20 in 6 shades of cream/ecru (including white). While the original pattern calls for a solid 48" wide curtain, I'm going to knit 7" wide strips in each colour and to add a bit more interest, I'll randomly add somewhere along the length a stripe of pale yellow and a stripe of soft apple green. I'm only 2 1/2" on the first strip, so I've quite a ways to go - it doesn't help that I don't know quite how long I want each strip to be. But it's looking pretty so far. *yay!*

Oh my, oh my, oh my. . .

Oops. I have an excuse for not updating. I've been busy knitting.
I've been working on 3 shawls (fountain pen from Interweave Knits magazine, Gypsy shawl from another magazine and intermittently on the SotSII knitalong -which finished long ago.) I've also been working on a brown mohair scarf (own pattern), a cotton phone sock (own pattern) and a couple other things I can't think of off the top of my head.

I'm going to start on another phone sock (for my Dad) next week, and hopefully, (I'm crossing fingers) I'll be taking and uploading lots of photos to update projects.

I'm off to knit. I want to finish my phone sock.

Bye!

First post of '09. . .

Well, the first post of the new year. whee.

I'm not in a particularly good mood right now, but not anyone's fault, really. A great Aunt (my Father's) died recently. I'll miss her bigger than life presence. I didn't see her very often, but she was a wonderful lady. Every time I visited them (her and My great Uncle), it seemed to me that she ran her house and family like a military unit, with everything "in perfect working order". Maybe that wasn't the truth, but it was fun to think so.
Again, I'll miss her. *raises glass* Here's to you, Aunt Elena. You were wonderful.

Ok, onto crafting. well, since the news knocked out the end of 2008 note I had planned, I'll just post the news at hand.
I've almost finished the first cardigan I started - it's only taken 2-3 years. I'm on the neckband, and I'm about 1/3 the way through. *whee!*
Next to be finished? Well, since I'm on a roll, I'll go for the second knitted shopping bag. I'm on the second handle, and I know that if I get into gear, the whole thing should be completed in a week (including the sewing up).

I'm crossing fingers I do it.

Later.

Knitting is slow, but steady.

I'm at present, working only on the prayer shawl. This is becasue it's getting bloody old here in Manchester, and I want something I can wrap up in and throw off.
I'd really prefer a nice shetland or faroese shawl for this winter, but I've not got one near completion (or even started, for that matter. . .).
But, in order to facilitate my wish, I'll be ordering a book of shetland shawl patterns off the net (ok, I forget where from, but I've got the picture in my head), then I'll be ordering Alison Hyde's "Wrapped in Comfort" book from Amazon. After that, I'm getting the wool for both and starting one or the other in the summer. I will have one of each eventually.

So, for the time being, it's a slightly-skinnier-than-I-wanted-but-I'm-not-frogging-it prayer shawl for this winter. It's warm, as it's been tested by sitting on my knees while I was knitting, and they were nicely toasty. *mmm*.

I'm hoping, that with less than a standard ball left to go, I'll finish it by the end of November, but It'll probably be in December that I'll be casting off. That's fine. There's only two ends to weave in - about 15 minutes work.

I'll be looking forwards to washing it, as I expect (ok, hoping) that the wool will bloom and get fluffier once clean and dried.

Ok, got to go knit . . .

Later.

Sweater in the headlights. . .

The skirt is still chugging along.
I've finished the knitting on a scarf (just got to do the boring sewing and washing), and I've done a little bit of knitting on my stalled sweater.
That's the thorn in my paw - the (Debbie Bliss) sweater. I don't know whether to continue and finish the back and see how it turns out or frog it and. . . - what to do, what to do. . .
Arrgghhhh!!!!! *snarl*
I think that really, I'm resigned to finishing the back following the pattern. The worst that will happen is that it'll be longer than I wanted, and the best . . . you get the idea.

No pictures this time.

Later.

The flickering Flames Skirt . .

is roaring into life. I'm on the third tier, and dreading the row lengths. 640 stitches - that's the biggest thing I've had to do so far. 64 repeats per row. OW. I'm going to take them slowly and carefully as I know I'm going to drift away during them. I can just imagine me and the fate of the skirt if I have to rip back more than row to fix a mistake. Not Pretty. Not pretty at ALL.

The ever changing photos at the time of this entry also include (besides the skirt) the 10 groupings of the cotton blanket squares, SOTS II (the feeble amount I've done on it) and a future present (which most of the time is blind knitting, as I cannot see the stitches through the fur - so it's "resting").

The mitered vest is on the 21st square per front. I'm still colour blocked on one side (don't know why), so I'll be concentrating on that during the weekend.

Until the next Entry.

Night.

Mitered vest. . .

I'm stalled. I've completed 17 and 1/2 squares on each front panel and I'm having a think about colour graduation. I'm not sure where to take it.
I'm not even sure right now if the fronts will remain the fronts or if I'll turn one of them into half of the back.
I'm just hitting a "writer's block" in knitting.

Ah well.

The skirt is ticking along. All the sweaters are still in limbo and last week I actually knitted a few rows onto the SOTS II shawl that I wrote about earlier this year. Not that there's any photos of anything yet. Well, I took a few photos of the mitered vest fronts, but I haven't processed them yet. Maybe tonight. Maybe not. I'm feeling lethargic.

I've put together a kit for a future project (a wall hanging in two parts), but I look at it and I don't know. Ok, so it's part of that "knitting block".

I'll sign off now. I've got colours and squares to look at. Wish me luck.

Later.

The mitered vest. . .

Is coming along. Had a few frogging incidents after discovering faults with my plan, but all is (slowly) ticking along.

I'm working alternately on both the fronts, so I can then see how I'm going to progress with the back. I might (might) be able to get away with knitting it together competely (picking up stitches for the square sides as I go along), but I'm nowhere near that point. Hell, I've only managed to knit a total of 5 squares so far (3 for one side and 2 for the other).

I've decided that the mitred fronts are going to mirror one another, with one diagonal going left and one going right, but I'm not decided which side is going which way - but the colours look good so far.

Anyway, I've done my entry and it's time for bed.

Night,

New project (and old one)

I've finally finished the squares. Every last stinky one. The last ones are drying as I type this and in a couple days, they'll be packed away. Ok, they'll be packed away for about two weeks, while I finish the last two pieces of homework for the year. Then I'll take photos and then I'll start crocheting them together. *crossing fingers* You know, I really hope my plan works. . .
Well, I suppose there's going to be news on that as it happens, won't there. *grin*

I've also started that new mitered square vest project. I did the samples and I've worked out (approximately) how it's going to be constructed (there might be triangles, there might not). With the detachable sleeves (yep, that'll be "fun" if it works), I expect though, that it should take about 18 months to get finished. Nothing new in the speed stakes there.
I've also decided to add the aqua shades to it just to take the edge off the colour changes. Well, it might work. If not, it'll get fixed.

It's nearly 1am, so I'm off to bed.

Night.

Project done. . .

Well, I'm FINALLY, officially finished with the cotton blanket squares *much cheering*. But un-officially, I've got 4 more to do for the cushion. *sigh*. But, this means that within two days, I'll have totally finished the knitting for the latest "big project" with nothing planned to take it's place. No, I'm not counting the crocheting I need to do to put the squares together - that's starting in the winter and is a seperate part of the project all together.

I've many medium sized projects to take it's place (all cardigans), so I suppose they'll have to do.

But. . .

On the back-burner, there is a possible new medium sized project involving some (hopefully all) of the green and blue leftover skeins of floss. It (if it works out) is going to be a simple squared-up vest, based on a combination of a sweater I saw on the "Wendy Knits" blog and also from a free pattern on Elann.com - "sonata print lace-up tank".

They were both made of mitered squares and since I've seen them, the technique has grown on me. The sweater was lovely, but the Sonata tank needed to be made in a different colour as I think the yarn for that is hideous, but I always thought that the technique for both items was out of my league - I don't know why.

I just need to think on the mathematics for a while (about a month or so), then I'll knit a few test swatches and joined-square test samples (I'm not planning on sewing anything but side seams and buttons for this vest) and see if it's feasable - for me.

On a seperate project (green flickering flames lace skirt), it's working. So far. I've not gotten the first tier completed yet, but the "new" needle size seems to be fine, sizing wise. I've stretched it out a bit and there's no blatent "tent-ness" like there were in the first incarnations. *hooray!!!*

Later.

Small update

I've been busy - sort of. Between visits to my Friend and my Friend visiting me, organizing getting people to at least think about coming to my knitting group (the group I'm in) and degree work, I've managed to get a bit of knitting in.

I've gotten a mobile phone (cheap and basic - just fine for me). Made a cover (green cotton) for it.
I've been whittling away at the blanket squares - about 60 left to do. I think.
Ticking away on other projects, including SOTS II( just a few rows).

Photos eventually.

Night.

The Flickering Flame skirt is about to do just that. . .

Go up in a blaze. I did the swatch - in fact I did three of them last year, all on differing sized needles, just to make sure. I then got all 64+ little markers for it and started.

I came back to it last week after a while and found I'd been working on a tent. The effing swatches lied to me, and becasue of them, I've re-started this beastie twice now (I'm on the 3th attempt) and I've stepped down from a 5.5 to a 4.5mm needle (Denise circulars). Not quite finished the first row yet, but I'm crossing everything that this works. Otherwise I might torch the damned thing.
*sigh*
Ok, all I would do in that case is frog it and put the needles away for a while. I'd then wait a couple months, find the 4.0mm needles and start again.

I'm crossing fingers this works. . .
please?

Later.

Well, time HAS passed. I'm ashamed. No I'm not.

I'm not so busy I can't spend 10 minutes throwing in an entry.
I've got half an hour and here's an entry.
I'm still working an the black shawl - for all my bleating about how important it was to be finished, that didn't happen. I'm 60% finished though, and hopefully I'll be done with it this year - we'll see.
The blanket squares are being worked on - still - and I'm 85% done. got less than 150 to do and they SHOULD be done by the end of September.

I'm off to a knitting group meeting in about 2 hours, so I'm off. . .
Well - that took less than 10 minutes.

Later.

The 2 Main projects for April

Are the "Cotton Squares Blanket" and the "Silk Scroll Wrap".

They'll probably be the main projects for May, as well.
The reason for this is
1) because I'm 77% finished with the squares (only 203 left to do for the blanket!!! Whee!!!!
and
2)I need the shawl for a choir concert happening mid-May in Bakewell parish church.

Other than that, there's thought of frogging and re-starting my Debbie Bliss Rialto "Sophia" Sweater I've started twice now. I have been looking over most sweaters knit by people and have discovered with sweaters including cabling, unless the look is deliberately sloppy, like Aran cardigans, then it's preferable to have it a bit "snug". Not skin tight, but you want to know it's on you. So I'm having a bit of a think. I'd actually not be upset to frog it, but I'd be a bit ticked-off to find that I'm just going to re-start with the same size I'm knitting now. So it's in hibernation for a couple weeks while I do some maths.

Before I forget, while I said I'd started the "Secret of the Stole II" pattern, I had. But unfortunately, I decided I just didin't want to work on it. I completed 35 rows and put it into hibernation. It's lovely so far, I've seen photos of the finished project and it's beautiful.
The thing is, I'm just not in the mood for it. Maybe sometime in the future. I don't know.

Anyway, on another note, I really must go and read. I got a couple pairs of glasses last month (got to love Tesco opticians - free eye test and £20 for a pair including lenses - Yahoo!). I found out I'm getting on a bit and the finer lens muscles are getting weak, so I need reading glasses now (+1.50 and plano something (can't read it right now) in the left eye as well *sigh*), but according to the optometrist, everything else is perfect. At least I'm back up to my original reading speed again. Before the glasses, I was getting a teeny bit depressed there for a while. I'm fine now.
Got a lot of books to catch up on.

Later.

*Sigh*

Forgot yesterday - meant to make an entry.

Been knitting hats. In three weeks, I've finished 3 hats and started on a 4th. Not got photos yet, but I'm planning on purchasing a styrofoam/polystyrene wig head so I can do that.

I'm still with the mountain of projects.

Just to mention a few off the top of my head:

Two prayer shawls (both hibernating)
Two sweaters (one hibernating, one in danger of being frogged and re-started)
The ever growing Blanket Squares (now over 70% finished - Whee!)
A "Tickled Pink" scarf (pattern from an issue of Knitter's Universe)
Pair of basic socks (hibernating)
A lace leaf scarf (hibernating)
A pair of "Endpaper Mitts" (hibernating due to imminent frogging on just started 2nd mitt - I'm not happy with the tension)
2 knitted kitties in grey eyelash yarn (just got a head and a tail left to do, then got to sew and stuff them)
The hat mentioned at the start - it's due to be a gift, so I'm not divulging anything other than "it's pink and fuzzy".
2 finished projects that have needed the ends sewing in for three months (a Shawl and a mesh shopping bag) - don't know why I haven't yet done this, but I just keep forgetting them.
A Lace Skirt ("Flickering Flames" pattern off Elann.com) - I'm nibbling at this every week. I expect I'll have it finished for next summer.

I need to take photos of all the above things so I can document them on Ravelry. Sometime this month *cross fingers*.

There's other things, but I've got to go study.

Later.

News long awaited

Well. I've missed another month. I made a post in another journal (Wordpress), thinking that - somehow - it was this one. Silly me.

Basically, what I said in the othe one was that I had put most of my long-term projects to the side to work on a few small projects.
They were:
2 pairs of gloves (Maine Morning Mitts)out of two balls of Noro Kureyon.
3 scarves (two versions of the Noro Striped Scarf from the "Brooklyn Tweed" blog) using again, Noro Kureyon.) and a re-knit of a Christmas present I was given (store-bought scarf).

They're all done and washed now. I just have to take and post photos in Ravelry.

I've just today started the Secret of the Stole II knit-a-long. I've got 4 sets of clues to catch up on. I should be all caught up by (and waiting for) clue 7 (hopefully).

Back to the knitting.

My First Post of 2008

Well. It's 4:30am. I'm in the middle of insomnia. It's fine. No big thing.

In fact, I'm so used to its erratic nature, I do things to kill the time - in fact, I've been knitting blanket squares for that very thing. I'm in the middle of the 6th square since Midnight.

But on the other knitting front, Here's a general overview of 2007:

Knitting projects completed this year: I don't know (Really. I didn't keep track).

Knitting Projects on needles as of 31st of Dec.: 15 (I think - I just did a rough tally)
I do know I've not done as much as I wanted to, but on the other hand, I know that I've accomplished more learning curves in knitting that I expected to.

I did/worked on -
Knit-purl patterns
Lace - that of right-side patterning and each-side patterns.
Cables (easy and difficult at the same time - but immensely satisfying.)
Stranded knitting (NOT fair-isle - that's a big beastie I might never get to)
Intarsia - a.k.a. "the other type of stranded knitting that's not fair isle"
Horizontal striping (even did a small tutorial about it in this journal)
A knit-a-long
A sweater (and I plan to make (ok, begin) at least 2 more in 2008)
Adjusting other patterns
and
I made up my own pattern (that's not as easy as it seems, as an untaught flying-by-seat-of-pants skill - but I did it.)

I had hair-tearing-out moments and very satisfying "I-did-that" moments - as to be expected for 2008 as well.

I also expect to complete the knitting for the cotton squares blanket and also to make baby clothes (new thing) in this year. I might even get brave enough to learn "the dreaded" fair-isle.

Other than that, I'm fine with completing present projects and starting new ones within the year - I might even keep track of what I've done . . .*chuckle*

I'm off to knit some more - got time to kill before 8am.

Later.

Hello Again!

Well, this morning, I've finished the "Secret of the Stole" pattern. The pictures are in the slideshow to the side. Blocking the stole will be happening in about a week. More photos after it dries.

I liked this knit-a-long. Even though I had a bit of aggriviation with using moth-eaten wool/silk (my fault) and now I've got what feels like 10,000 ends to weave in, I'd do it again.

In fact, I am. I've signed up for "Secret of the Stole II", and it starts in January. Go me!

Anyway. I'm off to do some work on the scroll wrap. Wish me luck. It's been fighting me the last couple weeks. I think it's been jealous. *snicker*.

Later.

Oops

Well. The last month ran away.
If I hadn't decided to see when I'd made the last entry here, then I'd probably have let November skid by without an entry as well.

Problem is that Ravelry's addictive. Lots of features that are easy to fill in and tweak, and before you know it, there's pages and pages of your own knittig things from stash to projects (in all stages from planned to finished to frogged)

I's decidedly evil (and satisfying) that one "small" community can cause so much havoc - and you feel motivated to work on knitting projects that are neglected or long forgotten.

So, what have I been knitting?

One old project and one "new".
I've been crawling along on the Black Silk Scroll Wrap.
and
I'm almost half-way on the "Secret of the Stole" knit-a-long.



this is the last photo I took of the Stole. It does have beads, but they happen to be frosted ones, so they don't show - and yes, it is crumpled on one side - it's my fault for being in a hurry to take the photo.

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit blah, so I'm off to bed.

Night.

Bought some stuff.

On Saturday (the 13th) My Dad and I went to a Gem and Mineral show in Bakewell at Lady Manners School.

It's the only show I get to go to now, having no car. But I had a lovely time looking at bits of rocks.

Got a few mineral samples and a couple fern fossils that came from a coal mine in France.

The prettiest thing though, is a 16" string of bronze freshwater pearls (5mm) that only cost me £5.
I now have to figure out how to string them to their best advantage. I've a few ideas - including the standard knotting on silk thread (I'm thinking a soft brown or soft pink).

I'm off to look at the few photos that were taken at the show. Maybe I'll upload a couple.

Later.

Yee-Hah!!!!!

I've been waiting and waiting. . .and waiting.

I ordered 18 balls of Sirdar's Snuggly Baby Bamboo yarn from Texere Mill for a sweater - they didn't have enough balls - so Texere sent off to Sirdar to get more yarn for me (18 balls so I'd have all the dye lot the same). Sirdar didn't come through. So Texere tried again. . .and again.

Finally. Today, after waiting about a month, I've got my yarn!

Whee!!!!

Now all I've got to do is finish a project (any project on the needles), start the shawl knit-a-long and get through the first clue set and then I can cast on this sweater.

Squee!

Night!

Quickie.

Urg. Too much to do now (not really). Busy on ravelry. Knitting black wrap. Started working on second set of endpaper mitts (fingerless mittens)again since I've finally sewn in all the ends on the first pair. . .
Got the first clue for the "Secret of the stole" knitalong and I've still not figured out how to put the button for it on the side - never mind about that. Not cast on the knit-a-long yet. I will in a couple weeks.

*pulls hair out*.

I'll be back at the end of the month. Got entries to type up for another journal.

*sigh*.

Bye. I'm off to do a couple rows on a mitten later.

Shame on me. . .kind of.

I'm smug. Smug, happy and frightened.

I've finally gotten my invite from Ravelry and started my account.

Now I have to fill all those pages with info and facts about my knitting (and crochet bits).

It's going to be fun.
I hope. *grin*.

I'm off to type.

Night.

Well, well, well. . .

I've been knitting every day so far this month.
Knitting little cotton squares in lace or using inartasia (sp?). For the past couple days it's only been one or two, but so far this month, I've managed to knit over 75 little squares of different patterns and colours.

I've also gone and signed up for my first internet knit-a-long group. I think it was because I kept reading journals where the writers were knitting these wonderful things and I wanted to know what it was like.
Anyway, the knit-a-long is "The Secret of the Stole" based at Yahoo groups.
I've got needles, the beads and the yarn.

I'm out of my mind.

I'll either fail, sputtering by the side of the road, my knitting sitting forlornly in a heap, beads scattered underneath, or, I'll be at the end of it squealing, with a blocked stole proudly pictured prettily on this journal.

Let's see what happens.

I'm off to knit a square.

Night.

Just sticking some words in as a light-hearted relaxation from Evolution homework - the last of the semester. Exam at the beginning of October.
Been knitting a few squares for the blanket and taken a brief break from the silk wrap in order to concentrate on the purple wool wrap.

Brain hurts. Since I rarely get headaches, I think I need to go to bed.

Night.

Working on projects

Update on two projects: The black silk wrap and the purple wool serape thing (I forget the name of the garment).
Photos are primarily of the black silk.



I'm 4 skeins into the black silk, with 6 more to go. Whew.
It's knitting with better "milage" to the skein than I thought it would.
On the first skein I got 7", but I'm not even half-way into the 4th and I've got a 26" length. Yes, of course, I should account for the cast-on, but I used a simple lace cast on, so that was minimum usage of yarn. I don't know. Maybe I just had an underweight skein for the first one.


The Purple wrap is now on the penultimate side.







Only one photo for this.

I did attempt taking the cable pattern and running it diagonally across the corner of the left front, but it looks odd (it's that funny puckering). If I had been feeling particularly energetic at the time I discovered the lack of continuous travelling, I'd have ripped it and re-worked it, but I re-thought about what I was doing and I've ended up looking on it as a "living" example of how to really look at the way cables are worked into a garment. *shrug* It's only going to be worn indoors anyway, so I'm not quite that concerned.

So. The other projects are on hold. I want to get both these finished as soon as possible and I'm in the mood to do so.
I'm off to knit.
Later.

Black Silk Scroll Wrap - part 1

Well, after three tries, I've finally started a new project. It's a wrap in black silk (Debbie Bliss pure silk yarn) I've done the swatches in scroll stitch in the previous entry. I thought about it for a few days and finally caved in.

I said three tries? Yes, three. I'm glad I'd decided to work this on bamboo needles beforehand, because this stuff would be slinking off anything else. The first try, I'd cast on too many stitches, so I had to rip. The second try I made a mistake I couldn't fix, so I ripped it again. The third try, I. . .I. . .
I pushed it off the needles thinking I was pushing it on and before I knew it, a third of it was lying in my lap, happily unravelling. So I'm on the fourth attempt and in two days (I knit slow) now just onto the second ball.

One thing I will say about this yarn - it's not consistantly smooth. There are thick and thin sections, albeit short ones, but if you want to use it, try not to use it in stocking stitch. The uneven sections aren't regular enough to make it a design feature. If it wasn't for the fact I like that the pattern hides most of the "funky bits", I LOVE silk and I got this yarn at a 50% discount, I wouldn't use it on a regular basis. Oh - and there is at least one knot per skein. *grr*.

So, here's a couple pictures - oh, before I forget. The yarn is very soft and nicely shiny. In fact, these are scans of the wrap, since I couldn't get a photo. This was due to the gloss. Yes, on here, it does look like plain old wool. It's most emphatically NOT.




















I can't keep from stroking it between rows - then again, like I said before, I'm a silk junkie.
I love wool, hemp, rayon (aka - viscose) and all other natural fibres, but, If it wasn't for the fact I've got a plethora of projects lined up, I'd go out and buy this yarn and knit for the feel of it. I'm glad it's normally £6.50 a skein, which makes it a bit out of my self-imposed price limit.

I'm off to knit my silk. Mmmm.

And another 2 new projects

So, I've now got these 10 skeins of Debbie Bliss' Pure Silk in Black.

Therefore, since I did buy the yarn with a view to making a wrap for choir performances, about a week after I got the yarn, I start making swatches from this blue acrylic I found in a bag (forgotten stash of my Mother's).
I'm really looking for a stitch pattern that looks semi-sophisticated (so to speak), so I'm rationalising that if it looks nice in a mottled soft blue squeaky acrylic yarn, then it'll look good in a lovely black silk yarn *crossing fingers*. I work up and discard half-a-dozen samples (there's 2 that have potential, but I'm not sure. . .).

Then, I go onto the Knitting fool website (http://www.knittingfool.com/) and peruse the stitch patterns on there. I come to "Scroll". I work it up and. . . whee! I like it. I like it so much, I'm now knitting a scarf in it, out of that squeaky blue acrylic.

Here, see what it looks like on both sides.:


I'll see how far I get on this scarf, since I've only got the one ball as seen in the upper photo.


I am, however, planning to knit up a swatch of this stitch with the black silk on smaller needles, and check out definition.

If needed, I'll tweak the stitch pattern and take out a row and stitch in order to make the "blocks" smaller.


I'll post pictures when I get to the silk. Since I need the wrap before November, I'll be starting work on it as soon as I finish the scarf.
Later.

Knitting!

Went and took advantage of the John Lewis sale at Trafford park and bought 10 skeins of some lovely silk yarn. Spent too much money, but it was much too nice to resist - and a VERY good price for the quality. I'm thinking of going back before the 22nd (last day of the sale) and seeing if there's some other yarn I can spend money on.
Yes, there's a new project I'd like to start, but I don't have the yarn for it - it's a lovely sweater by Debbie Bliss in her new "Rialto" pattern book for the wool of the same name. The sweater is called "Sophia" and the main reason I want to knit it can be looked at here:
http://www.kangaroo.uk.com/catalogue/page_detail.php?pId=971&tId=18&stId=1369
The problem is that I do not want to spend the money on the rialto yarn, strictly because I don't like the colours it comes in to use on THIS sweater, so I'm trying to find a substitute that will hopefully be cheaper, as well as in the colour I want
(which I'm having trouble deciding - either a duck-egg blue or a clear soft blue-green. Yes, I know there's not much difference, but I'm picky.).

Recently I worked on a few of the blanket squares and a bit on the fingerless mittens (got some more yarn for a couple more pairs of those as well).
The problem with the knitting at the moment is that my OU homework is now needing more time delegating to it, and that makes my time for knitting suffer.
Not that I've got the wherewithal to knit, since right now (and for now, until the end of October) I'm primarily thinking about harmonising music, brain development and psychology and evolution. *sigh*.

It doesn't help that I've started two journals on Wordpress. Go look if you want to. One'll be found under "The Periodical Mumblings of a Crafter" - it's sort of an experiment. I read enough comments saying how Wordpress is fantastic, so I'm seeing if that's true.

Until such time as I'm in my right mind - or left one.
Bye.

Books

Ok, a couple of days ago, I ran across two sites for collating books. Mainly, the ones that have been read.
The sites were Goodreads and Shelfari. No, I've not linked to them as I'm being lazy - you can easily find them via Google.

I've signed up for both and I MUCH prefer Goodreads. Shelfari is slow and relies on the fact that every single book you input/select is going to recieve a review. That isn't me.

Goodreads is much faster and allows for three categories - read, to read and currently reading. You can input books into your list a few ways, but the quickest is to click upon the star rating system near each title and voila! It's in.

I'd post a button for the goodreads site and my read page, but it requires I know about widget placement and HTML. I'm not there yet and it'll become abundently clear when I am.

Now I just need to find a comparable site for my music.

Later.

Still knitting. . .

Finally, here are a couple pictures.
Sorry about the delay. Just couldn't do it before now. I have got a few pictures of finshed things, but I had no real inclination to wrestle "Hello" to get them into entries.
But, a recent finished project had me a bit more excited than usual, so . . .


The pictures are nothing special. Just a couple photos of green and cream yarn - one, a shot of a nice lace pattern.














But a bit in the future, after I've written it up, I'll explain the thing I'm excited about. The problem is explaining it without letting loose what is knitted. The object is a future Christmas present, so I'd like to keep it a teeny bit of a secret.


By the way, I thought of sharing the results of a non-knitted experiment.
To understand it, you need to know a couple things; one, I don't have a bath - just a shower. - so, I have quite a selection of shower gels to wash with.
The other thing is that usually, in cold weather, or when I've been washing my hands a lot, my hands go dry and I have to put on hand creme (my favourite being Vaseline's Intensive Care - yellow bottle). Now, if I'm washing my hands a lot, putting on hand creme is a bit of a waste. so, the skin on my hands tends to crack and bleed, especially around the knuckles. It takes a few days for that to heal.

Then some time passed. . . So here I was in the bathroom, with this almost empty pump bottle of liquid hand soap, all these shower gel bottles with tiny amounts in them and the idea hit me - why not use shower gel like liquid hand soap? It's concentrated, so you don't need to use a great deal (not a full push on the pump like you would for regular liquid hand soap) some shower gels come in moisturising formulas - which I have some of - and you'd be saving money.
So I tried it.
I decanted all of those little leftover bits of shower gel into the liquid soap container. It made for an interesting smell, but not too bad (I had a small amount of a lemon gel that was a one-off and it made the overall scent slightly weird). There were moisturising elements to some of them, not to mention some of shower gels I had contained essential oils, so there was my anti-bacterial cover.
(most, if not all essential oils have anti-bacterial properties. Especially lavender, patchouli, tea tree, geranium and sandalwood).
I washed my hands with the resulting dark amber-ish goo for about a week.
My skin was lovely. The next week, I had a day where I was washing my hands every 15 minutes. My hands were fine. In the last 6 months of doing this, I've only had to use my hand creme once and that was when I came back from being at a friends for a few days.
My hands are soft and lovely. Scented nicely, too. No cracking skin, my nails are supple, I'm saving money on liquid hand soap and, best of all, I don't have all these mostly empty bottles of shower gel cluttering up my bathroom.
Try it for yourself.

Until then. . .

Another quickie . . .

Frogged the shawl started in the last post and put the yarn and needles for it away for a bit - maybe a week, maybe two - I knitted and re-knitted it and finally realised that I was knitting it wrong.
The corner stitches weren't right, and once I'd fixed those with help of a crochet hook, then other glaring errors came to light. . .

So.

A deep breath and back to my regularly scheduled knitting.

. . .and out.

Quick dash in to drop this off. . .

Well. got some other stuff finished and in progress and started - a bit more than I expected.
Got two more christmas presents done - I figured out a way to photograph them so "some" people don't know what they're looking at, now I just have to do it.

Completed two more blanket squares - since they're VERY small, I'll work on that duing the summer when it's too muggy to do ANYTHING else.

I put the third fingerless mitten on hold. It's safely in the wings, but there's two other things that NEED to be finished before summer is firmly entrenched, complete with stifling humidity and heat. My purple & grey wool wrap (on the penultimate quarter - the left front) and the wool prayer shawl (more than 1/2 finished). I'd put them away until winter comes, but I found a small nest of wool moths in my bedroom carpet and I don't know where they came from - best that I finish the knitting and get them dry cleaned before I find disaster next spring.

Started another project - a shawl I have had in the wings for a while. It's the Spring Blossoms shawl from the Acorn Street Shop seen in some American knitting magazines. VERY pretty (I got the cream version). Not got far into it - just two rows, but even now I'm finding that it's making me sweat. Starting it required learning a tricky technique of casting on (make a loop of yarn and crochet 4 stitches onto it, then pull the short free end to tighten the circle. Put each stitch seperately onto a double point.)

It's also the first time I've used lace-weight wool. It's thin stuff, and I was afraid of breaking it when I pulled it into the circle before seperating the stitches onto double points.

It worked, but. . .*whew*. Fiddly.

Now, I'm off. I want to get back to it in order to get one of the pattern repeats finished before I put it away into brief storage (this one I'm not frightened of since the wool/silk Zephyr yarn never saw the carpet before or after I started it). Yow!

. . .and I'm gone.

Kimono sweater log-jam

Well, I had every intention of working on the kimono sweater this month, but I sort of stopped myself from doing that.
I'm using denise interchangeable needles on the sweater, and I'd taken the needles off the cable a couple months ago and I'm using them on something else.

I could get the needles back from the "something else" project, if only I'd written down or made a simple file note in something on this computer to say what the project was, but, I didn't do that.
So I'm up the proverbial creek wthout a paddle. I'll have to finish a few projects before I know where those particular needles went to, as the denise needles do not have the sizes engraved upon them. The case they come in is imprinted with the sizes at each pair of slots, which is nice, but that doesn't help if the case is nowhere near at hand.

As for the non-existant knowledge of certain old project details/notes? (The problem isn't endemic, but it's there.) Well, I'll definitely fix that in the next couple months. I have to. I normally write down some notes of projects in order to not have the same fiasco happen again.

You'd think I'd learn. I've been crafting for over 30 years and I forget simple things like that. I don't know. I'll now have to make a template for knitting notes *sigh*.

Anyway. In other news, I've started knitting for the Christmas season. I've also made two sets of double-pointed needles in order to facilitate the Christmas season knitting, as I didn't want to either wait for the needles needed, or spent the exorbitant prices asked on the internet for 12 and 13mm double pointed needles (especially the 13mm).
I made mine out of the appropriate sized dowelling (which required a trip to B&Q with a set of callipers and patience, as not all dowelling is the size stated - I learned this the hard way last year.)

So. 12mm and 13mm dowelling was found and purchased for the total sum of £6.
Each piece of dowelling was 2.4 metres long, which I cut (with a hacksaw) 5 pieces off of each size - a total of 10 pieces (5 -12mm and 5 -13mm).
I sanded smooth each piece, then hand cut (with a disposable craft blade) and sanded the points on each end.

They look very nice. I still have to varnish each needle, but I'm already using the 13mm set, knitting shopping bags - they look nice and considering the recent furore in recycling plastic shopping bags and saving the environment, I'm hoping they'll be well received.

I'll be back....
Later.
Got knitting to do. Lots of knitting
. . .eek.

Meme

I don't want to do memes on this, but I couldn't resist. Here it is:


Crafting meme

If you want to be tagged, you're tagged.

Answer honestly.

How many crafts do you actively do?
At the moment? 4. Knitting, beaded crochet, braiding (Japanese and fill-gap) and cross stitching.

How many crafts do you know how to do?
Many. Some of them are. . .
Wood carving, beading (stringing, off loom and loomed), sewing (both hand and machine), embroidery, knitting, crochet, braiding (Western, Japanese, Peruvian, fill-gap and lucetting), cross stitch, Tapestry needlework, weaving (traditional and inkle), spinning (spindle and wheel), glass painting, and origami.
Obviously, I'm never bored for something to do.

Crafting item you use the most?
Mine is my magnifying lens (with inset) on a flexible neck with clamp. I put it away one day and was lost. I use it EVERY day. I bought it over 5 years ago and it's the BEST thing I ever bought. If I see another one, I'll buy it and install it downstairs. The one I have now lives attached to this desk.

Crafting item you use the least?
My thread heaven. I bought it 6 years ago at "the" harrow beading fair, for beading, and I've never used it. If I want to condition thread (a rare thing), I'll use beeswax.

Most important crafting item?
Scissors.
I have a pair of "Dura Sharp" scissors I bought in the mid-eighties to use for hand sewing/clothes making. They cost me a pretty penny at the time ($12 - I was a student and money was tight) and I now have them hanging on a hook within arms reach. I've only had to sharpen them twice in all this time. I use them for projects that I finish at this desk.
I also have many other pairs of scissors (including those specific for the task), all over the house.

Most treasured crafting item?
My antique steel crochet hooks from the US (a few from my grandmother, now dead) and the UK. They're all in tiny sizes not made anymore and I use them for beaded crochet ropes.

Item you'd never part with?
This is a hard one - but I guess that would be my first pair of fiskar embroidery scissors (bought in the late 70's/early 80's.) Only because they've travelled with me for many years.
I'm so afraid of losing that pair in particular, I now buy and use cheap pairs of spring-loaded clip-scissors to use on journeys.

Cheap "impulse buy" item you now wonder how you'd do without?
Ah - that would be those cheap (£1 - 1.50) pairs of spring-loaded clip-scissors with a cover (steel blades, white plastic molding with oval blue insert on the hinge) that you find at most craft fairs - they hold a decent sharpness, are small so they fit anywhere, have a cover so you don't need to worry about puncturing holes in your project or yourself trying to find them, and they're cheap enough you don't fret if you lose them.

Item you have lots of?
Needles. I have hundreds of them from very fine twisted wire beading needles, to tiny quilting needles, dozens of cross stitch needles kept from kits, all the way to plastic yarn needles and large mattress stitching needles (not that I've ever needed to use those.).

Item you only have one of?
That magnifying lens on the flexible neck. Only ever bought one, and then when I wanted another (6 months later), I couldn't find any one that sold them. Still can't. Other single items - Sewing machine, Loom, Spinning wheel and an Tapestry frame holder.

Item you have that you wonder why you bought it?
That would be my tapestry frame holder. I bought it at a time I was doing a lot of stitching sitting on the sofa, used it a while and it gave me horrible back-ache. I could never adjust it for my use (long legs, short body and long neck.), and it has been sitting in the corner of the room gathering dust for the last 5 years. I'm debating how exactly I'm going to get rid of it - since noone I know does needlework - charity, Freeserve, Ebay or just burn it as a sacrifice to bad judgement.

Most expensive item?
My Janome 3000 sewing machine. It was a joint Christmas gift one year from my boyfriend and father and it was expensive at the time even with the part-exchange of my late Mother's industrial singer sewing machine.
I wanted it so much I volunteered to sacrifice three years of gifts from them both - which they bought me anyway. *G*.

Cheapest item?
A free tabletop 4-shaft loom. It was (and is) a wonderful thing.
I also, like many crafters, scavenge materials to make crafting items. I recycle unwanted materials, like very thick cardboard to make braiding card templates or I cut up thinner cardboard from boxes used as packaging to make yarn/thread bobbins for the making of braids; or I'll de-construct old craft items to make new ones - like the gift I got of a wire beading loom that was unstable and unusable, so I cut it apart in order to make hanging hooks for an off-loom bead netting project (still in progress).

The weirdest place(s) you buy crafting materials from?
Any fishing store. I can get tiny solid rings to use in making bracelets and necklaces. I buy fishing cable for stringing, I buy plastic fishing line holders (not reels) to use to use as shuttles for inkle loom weaving (cheap and do the same thing as an expensive weaving shuttle).
The other place is a hardware store - e.g. I buy tiny screw and nut sets to hold the last stitch when I'm not working on a piece of beaded crochet.

How many craft stores do you regularly go to?
Hmm. At this time, about 7. There's the "Sew-in" fabric store in either Chorlton or Didsbury, Kendal Milne's on Deansgate (3rd or 4th floor), Fred Aldous, Abakhan Fabrics, The needlework shop in Lichfield (only one now), the bead shop in Lichfield (there's also only one) and the ARK.
If DESPERATE, I'll go to Hobbycraft, but I'm usually disappointed. Those places are WAY too expensive for what they are and what they could be.
I've just discovered an apparently very well stocked artist's shop off Sackville street and I'm getting ready to check out prices. We'll see if it makes the grade.

Any unsung treasure place you buy materials from?
The ARK in Manchester. It is a wholesale habadashery place that sells dozens of colours (and quite a few sizes) of bonded nylon thread in reels (1000m or more depending on the thickness of the thread) at £6 a reel. They sell ribbons, embroidery thread (not the good companies) for very cheap, have a small stock of Milward knitting needles (from 75p for plain needles to 1.50 for a set of 4 DP's) They sell an amazing amount of cheap stuff, and the only three catches are that: 1) you don't know what will be in stock (one time I went, they had boxes of vintage Coats #8 crochet cotton for $3 a ball - I bought 4 balls, and I'm sorry I didn't have the money to buy any more.). 2) You MUST pay cash. and 3) you have to spend a minimum of £5.
Oh, I forget, you NEED to drive to get there and if you do, the parking is horrendous.

Do you buy from the internet?
Yes. Unfortunately, I have to (I prefer to handle and see items before I buy them). The days of the cheap craft store "on every corner" seems like it's gradually coming to an end in Manchester and I need materials for my projects. About ten years ago, craft/yarn/fabric places were practically everywhere it seems. But they're all closing down one by one. It's very sad and I'm getting very panicky.

How big is your stash of crafting tools?
It's too big. I have one room, three toolchests, two small and two medium holdall bags, 4 boxes, 4 large tupperware containers and a medium cosmetics bag to hold everything I own. I'd be ashamed of the amount, but I know I'm not the only one like this. *smile*.

If you read this and want to fill it out, go ahead - but could you please post a copy of your
answers here as a comment?

Thank you.

Later.

Update - for what it's worth

The knitting on the mittens is continuing.

I have finished one mitten and started the second and a third (the winter pair, made of sock yarn and alpaca). Since starting the winter pair, I have realised that I now need a couple more sets of 2mm and 2.75mm double pointed needles - it's kind of difficult to finish off a mitten (do the ribbing) when you're using that set to start another mitten with.

In lesser notes, I've done a couple squares this month, worked a little on the brown-themed, colour-striped clapotis and did a few rows of the brown wool prayer shawl.

I've come into receipt of some lovely rich procion dyes and next month, I'll get the rest needed to dye the cotton chenille yarn needed to finally finish off the prayer shawl project first started in August 2005. *grin*. . . I guess taking 30 months to complete a knitting project isn't too bad. . .for me.

The silk kimono-style sweater is going to be the main project to work on (no, I'm not going to be so confident and foolish as to think I'll finish it this month) for the month of May. It's about time. It's only been sitting around for a year-and-a-half. At least I've finished the fronts for it. I'm crossing fingers I'll finish the back and maybe I'll be able to start on the sleeves.

The crochet amber-chip necklace is to be finished in August - well, I want to finish it and that seems like a good month - I want a project to take with me to summer school in Durham and it's portable.

Ok, that's enough. I'm sure I have forgotten something, but that's just too bad.

Until next time.

Learning a new knitting technique

I know, the majority of posts seem to be about knitting. Well, that's because I'm trying to get projects finished.

My problem is that I seem to be starting more new projects than finishing old/present ones.

But it's not too bad. It's been bitterly cold this winter - especially hard on my hands this year, and I wanted to find something to make that would help me out. Stop my wrists and knuckles aching so much. I knew I wanted half mittens since I needed freedom of movement. (I had already tried fingerless gloves and found them too restricting.)

So, trawling through some knitting journals, I looked at Eunny Jang's journal, and she'd just put up a pattern for "Endpaper mitts" - fingerless mittens that used stranded colourwork.

They were lovely. Really. I was a bit put off though, as I wasn't really wanting to learn how to do stranded colourwork and the instructions seemed a bit fiddly.

But the cold weather was persisting and my hands were paying the price, so I gathered up all the materials needed (also requiring me buying some more double-pointed kntting needles *darn, shucks*) and started.
Here's what I accomplished by the second day:



Ok, the image of the mitten is a little small, so I'll add a better one.

















The colour balance is actually perfect. With my eyes, though, looking at it, the purple is a bit pinker and the blue is a bit greener.

But here, the colour looks so flat.

Never mind. I'm still feeling chuffed that it looks so good for a first attempt.






I'm now on the 4th day after starting, doing the penultimate stage - the thumb ribbing. After that comes weaving in all the ends.
I should have it finished tomorrow and by the end of the day, I'll be through the wrist ribbing on the second mitten.

I'll post pictures of them both once they've been washed and dried. That should be fun as I'm making the second mitten in the reverse colourway - blue ribbing and the diamond colours the other way around.

I bet I'll get a lot of questions when I wear them.
*grin*

Bye for now.

Whew!

Well, I'm still knitting squares - sort of, as I'm presently in the grip of square lethargy- and I'll stop them at the end of the month so I can get enthused about them again.
I don't think I'll get to 80 as I wanted to, but that's ok. I'll definitely get over half of them finished and that will make me happy.

An old project was restarted in the last week during an emergency trip to Lichfield. I was trying to travel light.
I re-started a leaf lace scarf on 2.75mm needles in sock wool, colourway parrot. I forget the company, but it's a german one and the yarn might be regia.

Hey, I know it's a bit sketchy, but I'm hurrying as I shouldn't really be doing this entry. I'm procrastinating about starting some homework (so what's new. *grin*).

Ok, I'm off. I should be furiously typing elsewhere......
*insincere grumble*.

Later.

Squares, knitting and more squares

Been doing what the title said for the last month an a bit. Knitting squares. Lots of them, it seems like. I've also, to relieve the sometime extreme boredom, done work on a couple other knitting projects (not much, just the odd row or two).

I've completed over 80 squares during February, and hopefully, during March, I'll complete another 80, which will put me well over the half-way mark. *strained cheering*

I've also gotten (and am getting) the componants of 7 other projects ready to start in the month of April - three pairs of half-mittens (free pattern), 2 pairs of socks, a lace sweater and a shopping bag (though this depends upon getting the yarns I want in March).

Ok, I can't type anymore as my fingers are freezing.

G'night.

New - sort of - project

Well, when I finished the first clapotis, I had a bunch of yarn leftover. So, I went through a number of possibilities to see what I could make with the yarn.

But, I always came back to the same thing - another clapotis. It's a nice, non-fussy, moderatly adaptable pattern that takes a minimum of thought.

So, after knitting lots of swatches and finally deciding on a colour pattern - I started it.
I originally wanted a simple scarf, and planned on only 4 increase sections, but, after adding on the sixth repeat of the increase rows, and looking over the pattern, I noticed that if I did one more set of the increase section, I'd be following the original pattern exactly - something I didn't do on the first clapotis.

I'm taking a break from it at the moment (since I've got 6 other knitting projects that are all clamouring for my attention) but when I did, I'd just started on the third section (the length repeats).

The picture is what it looked like just after I made the choice to add the final set of increases and the odd striping is the colours (Fushia, Green, Aqua, Royal blue and Pale blue) done in a fibonacci striping pattern.
Hopefully I'll take a better photo of it when it's longer.

Until later.

Trying to post pictures and. . .

Well, I set up a post that needed a picture. Again, I'm having trouble with putting in the picture. Luckily, I saved the post as a draft, so I'll try again tomorrow.

But, in other news, I've been working on the purple wrap, my prayer shawl, an knitted kitty (nore news on that in few days) and a scarf for a dog. Not that a dog needs a scarf, but his owner says he uses her scarf (the one I knitted her and that she'd like to wear) as a toy. I had some eyelash yarn (ugly varigated colours) leftover from the scarf I knitted her (the colours looked nice as an accent), so I'm using up the yarn by knitting it into a scarf for the dog.

The things I do for a friend. *sigh*

Until tomorrow (cross fingers)

Back Home and posting at LAST!

Well, been in Lichfield again - I actually got home on the 29th of December. This time it was mainly for Christmas, but Christmas was sort of a damp squib.
The kids got lots of presents, but for us adults, it was great when the clock hit midnight on that particular day and the children were finally asleep.

Craft-wise, I worked on a prayer shawl and did quite a few squares for the blanket.

But no photos are available yet, since I'm at the tail-end of a miserable cold I got from my god-daughter.
*sigh*

New Year's Eve was wonderfully free of any drama.
I watched some TV and went to bed early. SO good.

I'm off to bed to see if the last of the dreaded lurgy will go.

Night.

And another new project. . .

Well, I've started a new knitting project.
There's an odd reason I started it. Well, ok, not so odd for me.

You see, I realised the wool stash was getting a bit out of hand and so, while at IKEA, I purchased some storage boxes.
So, I got home and assembled and moth-proofed the storage boxes (including putting some lavender and lavender essential oil in the boxes) and started re-housing the wool and yarn.

There I was, happily transferring from boxes and bags to the nice new boxes and I suddenly came across these two cones of 4-ply herdwick wool I'd bought from Texere yarn mill on a whim - it's made specifically for outdoor garments and is also a bit hairy, though a pleasant gray marl colour. I remembered about a month ago, just a couple days after I bought it, I'd seen a moth crawling across one of the cones. I was quick and killed the evil little critter. But, remembering that moth made me pause and think "what if it managed to lay a couple eggs?".

So I pulled out both the cones and started thinking on what I could make. Luckily I'd used my brain and weighed the wool when I got it home, and the written calculations (rough ones, since I didn't know how much the cardboard cones themselves weighed) indicated that there was about 1450 metres per cone. I knew that was enough to make at least a sweater per cone.
But, I decided I wanted to combine/double the wool and maybe add something else so I'd get a winter-weight yarn (at least an aran weight) and be able to make something for winter.
I was lucky, and remembered I'd gotten 14 balls of deep purple Debbie Bliss DK merino in a sale (£1.50 per 50g ball - a fantastic deal).

I trawled the computer and found a pattern I'd downloaded for a serape-type wrap off the Berroco yarn Website (www.berroco.com). It was a plain pattern, actually developed for one of their fluffy synthetic yarns, but the swatch I did with the combined wools worked out to perfectly match the gauge of the yarn.
I decided to add a border pattern and I also thought it would be a perfect time to try out cabling, since I'd wanted to for a while. So, I added a simple cable, but I did three repeats of it so it would be a wide band. I pulled out a 5.5mm circular knitting needle (42" length), cast on 190 stitches and started knitting. I was VERY lucky and everything worked out fine.
I've just started the third ball of the purple wool and completed 9 1/2" in length - I've only got another 49 1/2" to go. *grin*

The picture above is primarily of the border pattern (a knit-purl weave effect) and the cable. Other than the border and the cable, the wrap is knitted in stocking stitch. It's slow going, but I'm having fun - and knitting cabling is a lot easier than I thought it would be.

One last thing - the picture isn't a photo. It's a scan. I could not, for the life of me, manage to photgraph the knitting. It's strangely reflective and the detail does not come out at ALL. So in desperation I popped the knitting into the scanner and it worked beautifully - the cable was nice and crisp and the colour only needed a tiny bit of adjustment. It's just a shame that the border pattern isn't clearer. Ah well, you can't have everything.

Until the next entry.

Well, nuts.

5 minutes into waking this morning, I realised with a shock that I'd made a mistake on the final measurements of the clapotis yesterday - I said they were 16 1/2" by 32".

I don't think a 2 1/2 foot scarf would work at all if it was meant to be a wrap, would it?

No.
So.
The clapotis measurements are actually 16 1/2" by 76".

Sheesh.

Until the next entry.

The finished Clapotis - finally.

Well, I'm back from Lichfield a week later than I originally planned for. I'm not going into details of what happened - it all went by in a bit of a blur to be honest and I don't want to tell it all again - once to my Father was enough.

So. This is a photo of the finished Clapotis, a bit worse for flash bleaching - but the draping looks nice. The clapotis has been roughly folded in half before draping over the chair and the excess folded (from the back)over the top of the chair again. The chevron effect of the dropped stitches is not intentional, but the right side sort of merges with the wrong side. Ok, that doesn't make sense, but I'm tired (it's 1am here in the UK).
This is a close-up photo (one of the VERY few I did manage to take of it) of the knit side of the clapotis in the early stages. It's here to give a comparison to the next photo.
This is a sort of close-up of the knit side of the finished clapotis. Though it isn't really possible to see, it did shrink a bit after washing. Yes, the colours did fade a bit as well - but not quite as much as it appears. The photo above was taken without the flash, while this one had flash.


The finished clapotis is 16 1/4" wide and 32" long. It's a bit too skinny, but surprisingly enough, it's perfect on the length. I say "surprisingly" because I had the sinking feeling as I was washing it that it was going to shrink more than it did.
Nice yarns.




Oh, one final note. It's not as slinky as I thought it would be, but it is nicely warm and the colours remind me of the surface of the ocean during a high tide.

Ok, got to go - the bed is calling.

Night.

Clapotis update

Well, it's finished. It's been washed (took three washes to get all the oil out of it) - the water for the first two washes was very cloudy and a light aqua. Had a bit of a fishy taint as well.

It's now drying, but tomorrow I'm off to Lichfield for a bit, so I'll take and post photos of it when I get back.
I was going to post a photo of the knit side of it early in the knitting so you could see the colour difference pre-washing, but I changed my mind - I'll include it with the post-washing photo's.

See you when I get back.

A couple of the photos that I said I'd post. . .

Well, finally. It took 6 tries to get these photos on here. I had to ditch the back views. Oh well.

This first one is the right side of my new MP3 holder.
The thread is two skeins of DMC "craft thread" (that's what was on the band of the skeins) in 10 different shades of variegated thread.
The stitch is linen stitch - according to The Readers Digest Complete Guide to needlework.

I think it's very nice and fun.
But . . .






This is the inside out view of the front.

I like it much better, hence the "in use" photo. That's the cord of the headphones sticking out.







Maybe I'll have better luck with posting photos in the next entry. *sigh*.

Until then. . .

Procrastination alert. . .

I shouldn't be doing this, as I'm working on the last half of my final piece of coursework, which is due to be mailed off Monday, but I'm nothing if not bored stiff.

I have, in the last two weeks,
completed the first half of the clapotis. It's nice, but getting boring,
and
knitted, in linen stitch, a cover for my MP3-zen touch player. It's cute and reversable.
There will be photos of both of these next week.

Back to the grinding of brain cells. *g*.

Until the next post

Ok, lets try this again . . .

I'm just a posting maniac, aren't I?

Ok, so I've been busy-ish. I've had to re-start a crocheted bracelet as I discovered that as I went to sew it closed, the crocheting was off, meaning that it was never going to be finished properly. So It's sitting in front of me, with the main body frogged and wrapped around a suitable container (I used a VERY clean prescription container to wrap it around) and the re-started bit is waiting patiently next to it.
I've only crocheted about 1/2 an inch so far, but it's a start. At least this one seems to be starting correctly.
The other thing was that I have completely finished the blue scarf.
There it is, all clean and fluffy. I didn't bother blocking it as it's 100% polyester.
Anyway. I hope she likes it and it gets as much use as the matching hat I sent her last year(I did mean to send the scarf much sooner . . . but. . .

The other thing is that I've started a clapotis. Darn you, knitty.com and all those other happy people on the forums dedicated to making this apparently wonderful item.
Ok, I liked the look of it as well. *sigh*.
So, I'm not using the same yarn asked for in the pattern, but instead, I'm using this:



5 cones (4 - 200g, one unknown weight) of single ply silk/cotton & silk/wool mixes (min. 50% silk) via Texere Yarn Mill. (4 cones of Garden Flowers, 1 cone of Enigma). They cost me a grand total of £14. I got what I could afford. I bought a couple more cones than this and I made a swatch - like you do.

Working with the yarn is "sticky" and slightly smelly, but this is due to the silk in both types being oil-spun. Luckily for me, it washes out easily, as when the swatch was washed, it turned out lovely. The feel is very soft and with a slight fuzz. But it shrunk a little in length - this isn't a disadvantage. It causes the knitting to tighten up just right. The stickiness makes the knitting, post-washing, quite loose.

But the shrinkage (which isn't much) caused me to re-think the pattern slightly, adding a repeat in both the length and width.



So, I started on the clapotis itsself and I'm plugging along slowly (no photos of that as yet) and it's looking good. I'll update with photographs now and then.

Until the next post.

Aborted post

Ok, I just spent 1/2 an hour trying to write up a post with photos.
Trying to.

I'm not very happy now, since I had to scrap it. *sigh*.

I'll try again this weekend. I need sleep.
Yeah.
Sleep.
That sounds VERY good.

Later.

Oh my goodness. I'm writing an entry this soon. *gasp*.
Something must have happened.

Well, yes, it did. I learned how to properly knit lace a couple months ago, so yesterday, I took a look at the first lace project I started (a feather lace scarf), and found it wanting.
Ok, not simply wanting, but cr*p. Pure and simple.
I frogged it, and the needles and yarn have been put away.

Ah well. I know I'll overcome the humiliation and go back to it. After all, I did like the yarn and the pattern - the way it was supposed to look and not the mess I knitted - so I've decided that October will be the month to re-start the leaf lace scarf in Regia sock wool, colourway Parrot.
This does mean that there are no photgraphs of the lace abomination, as I didn't want reminders of it.

On a lighter note, I found a pattern for a tricorn pirate's hat - to felt.
http://knitlikeapirate.com was the wonderful website.
It's a fledgling website, but it's charming.

Until the next post.

A blanket square update - kind of. . .

Well, I finally took a photo of a few of the squares.
It is a very small selection, as there are now 320 of them, but it shows, within reason, what I'm doing.
No square is bigger than 6cm by 7cm.

Ok, now to repeat myself for those just arrived, or those not really wanting to go back into the archives:
The amount of fibre/yarn (actually cotton embroidery 6-stranded floss) I'm working with per square, is 8 metres. It's double thickness (two skeins) in order to get the right feel of fabric, as using it single thickness would make a blanket not much use other than ornament, and I want this for general use when it's finally completed (which will probably be in about 5 years, considering my project finishing rate).
And although the majority of the squares will be knitted with cotton, a very, VERY few, known as the "other" squares, are knitted with triple thickness madeira metallic embroidery thread/floss or of microfibre yarn (DK thickness). This is only because I want a tiny amount of variation in fibre types, and I liked the feel of the microfibre (no squares of which are in either picture). So sue me.


















Here's a closer photo, to show a bit more detail in some of the squares.
I'm actually proud of the consistency of the knitting. It's not fantastic, but it is very good considering I've only been knitting for 18 months.

I have multiple categories of square -
plain stocking stitch,
plain reverse stocking stitch,
diagonal squares,
horizontal squares,
lace squares,
patterned squares (no lace patterns in this category, of course),
striped squares
and then the "other" squares.
Of the main categories, I've worked out that I must knit 120 of each, with only 44 squares in the "other" category.
It is a teeny bit screwy, but it is my blanket. I figure that this will be my first and only afghan, so
I'm going to make it the way I want it. (Well, I say only. . .but time will tell.)

And finally. . .the blanket will (should) end up being 2 metres by 2 metres, if I've done the mathematics correctly, which I sincerely hope I have. I'm going to be really miffed if I end up with squares left over.

On a ever-so slightly different note to finish this post with, I've finished the knitting and cast off on both the blue eyelash scarf and the prayer shawl. I still have the ends to weave in and the fringe to attach to the prayer shawl (a short one), but at least I've done them. *happy sigh*.

Bye for now.

This post is/was to test the hello program that was giving me problems.
It half-worked. *grin* So I'll edit the post and finish it off as I wanted it to look. . .


















This picture is a close-up of my crocheted amber necklace mentioned in the previous post. The pin is 1" high, and the grey "stick" coming out the right is a 4mm double pointed knitting needle used for a core to crochet around. The necklace is a little floppy to be crocheted without the internal support.



This photo is just to show a) the flexibility of the necklace and b)what I've finished so far.

Behind the necklace (and wound with the rest of the "beads") is a cone of beige bonded nylon thread that I've strung the amber "beads" onto.

Until the next post.

Selective Update

Well. I had a shock today. I went to measure that prayer shawl/wrap I'm working on and discovered that I'm 8" away from being finished. So instead of being on the final ball like I thought I was, I'm on the penultimate ball. Which IS true - I can't have anymore than one more ball after this, because that's all I've got in stock - and I'm not buying anymore of the particular wool I'm using on this.

On the bad side, it means I'm about a week further away from starting a new project on the needles I'm now using. *sigh*.

Oh well.

But I've resumed work on a cross stitch project - "Goddess of Mercy" from Myth and Magic patterns book on 14 count blue-gray aida - I've completed over 1/3rd and it's good to be working on it again. Oddly enough, I've really missed working on it. The plan is for it to be hung over the door into the living room (once it's been framed, of course).

The amber crocheted rope necklace is about 1/2 finished - I think - because I've forgotten exactly how much amber beads I'd strung to begin with (no, it's not a truly incorrect usage of the word "much" - I just strung beads until I ran out and they were bought by weight, not length.) *shrug*. I don't mind really - I can see an end in sight, and I just like the fact it can't get any futher away like the shawl project ending happened to do.

And before I totally forget, I've cast off the blue eyelash scarf. It only took 9 months to knit.*sigh*. Just got all the ends to sew in now. . .

Until the next entry - with photos.

And the project I'm concentrating on this month is. . .

Well, for August, I think it'll be two projects - a blue eyelash yarn scarf I should have finished 6 months ago and a prayer shawl that likewise should have been finished 6 months ago.

Of the blanket squares - well, as of the 31st of July, there are 270 squares completed and washed. There are another 2 pre-washed and blocked, and I'll continue to work on them very erratically until I decide to have another month dedicated to that project.

Until later.