Yarndancer

Some Small Projects: Fingerless Mitts

2011-11-01T12:17:00.002Z

I've still not been knitting a whole lot, but here are some pictures of fingerless mitts I've made over the past couple of months.

Back in July (!) I made these Cratchit Garter Mitts - pattern by Susan Newhall . The yarn is something by Lana Grossa - I got it a few years ago and promptly took off the ball bands :/ I really like the colour of the yarn, and how it worked up in this pattern.

This pattern was really good - easy to follow, and they're so scrunchy and stretchy, really comfortable. I like how my thumb ring peeks out over the top of the thumb gusset :)

I enjoyed the pattern so much that I made another pair:

These were made with some yarn by Ba T'at Yarns. I got a 75g skein of it at Knit Camp in 2010, and this pattern seems to use around 58-60g, so I decided this was the pattern for this yarn. Again, I like how it shows the variegation in the yarn.

Then last month I made these:

The pattern is Verdigris by Romi Hill, from knitty. These were made for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup. The task was to make something from knitty, and by the time that I had time to knit, I needed something small that could be finished quickly. So I looked through knitty's pattern browser for mitts, and these came up - I hadn't even noticed them before!

I made the small size, they're definitely smaller on the cuff that I would normally make, but I kind of like it with this pattern, it makes them look cuter :) I really like the cables and lace stitch pattern, it reminds me of leaves, so I had to make them in green. Luckily I had some green sock yarn leftovers. These mitts weigh 37g, they didn't use up all of my leftovers, so I'll need to find something to do with the remaining small amount.

I changed the pattern a little - I just did a normal cast on, and ribbed for four rounds, and at the end I ribbed for four rounds then did a sewn bind off. I couldn't figure out how the other cast on was supposed to work, and it was late at night and I didn't have the energy to try to figure it out. But it works :)

Now I need to get photos of the other projects I've done over the past couple of months :)

It's been a while...

2011-09-30T14:17:00.003Z

but I'm back :D

I disappeared from knitting for a while. My mojo just up and disappeared all of a sudden :( I actually hardly knit anything for a while, and even stopped listening to knitting podcast. I even, gasp, didn't go on ravelry.

I'm blaming it on two things. First of all, I was quite ill over the summer there. I was having problems breathing, and couldn't sleep at night without waking up out of breath, then I got a cold/flu which turned into tonsilitis. It really sucked. On the bright side, out of it all, I *finally* got diagnosed with asthma, after having these symptoms for the past few years. It's aggravated by hayfever for me, so in the summer it gets worse. Which explains the chest problems I've had for the past 3 summers :/ But I have inhalers and anti-histamines galore now, and it's great. I can actually sleep all night through! You wouldn't believe what a difference that has made. Sleep seems like such an basic thing, but when you're waking up every 3 hours and your sleep is interrupted to such a degree, it's hard to focus on anything through the day, and my energy levels were going right down. But now, I feel good. I have energy - even my metabolism seems a bit speeded up and my weight is easier to control over the past month or so of having these meds.

I'm also blaming my lack of motivation on deadline knitting. I went to my cousin's wedding last month, and had to knit a shrug for it. I also had a couple of other things that had to be knit quickly, and my appetite for knitting just disappeared because of it. :( The shrug turned out nice though - here's me in my "going to a wedding" outfit:

You can't see it that well because it's black, but it's another Two Tone Ribbed Shrug (pattern by Stephanie Japel from the book Fitted Knits). I made it from Debbie Bliss Rialto DK on 4mm needles. It's the third time I've knit that shrug. It's a very flattering shrug and I love it, but having to knit it quickly just put me right off :(

I'm getting my mojo back - I've been listening to podcasts again and have been queueing patterns on ravelry, and even been knitting too!

These are the Deep In The Forest Mittens by Tuulia Salmela. I've wanted to knit these for ages! I spun the yarn myself - merino, to just over a fingering weight, and then knit them this month as part of the Harry Potter Knit And Crochet House Cup over on ravelry. It was good motivation, and I'm really enjoying colourwork just now! I've even spun up the yarn for my next pair of colourwork handspun mittens already!

I modified the pattern so that the picture would be the same on both hands on the front and back. I did this just by working the chart from left to right on the right mitten, and placing the thumb on the other side of the front. I also reversed the braided edging on the right mitten so that the arrows on them would both face “inwards”, by reversing the two rows on which the braiding is worked.

I'm so pleased with these mittens! I love making colourwork out of my handspun! I'm still a bit put off knitting anything else at the moment, like hats or pullovers or anything like that, but I'm really enjoying the process of spinning and knitting mittens, so I'll just go with that for the time being :) I hope to get even more back into it soon :D

FO and WIP - afterthought socks

2011-07-25T15:41:00.002Z

The afterthought heel experiment worked well :)

I wanted to try the afterthought heel technique, where you basically start knitting a sock (toe up or cuff down), put in some waste yarn where you'll put the heel later, then keep knitting the tube. Then when you've finished your sock, you go back and pick up the stitches from the waste yarn, and basically knit another toe. (I know, rubbish description. If you google it, there'll be tons of far better descriptions and tutorials) I wanted to make stripey socks, but short row heels never seem to work out for me. They always seem to fall off my heel and have massive holes. So I thought I'd give this a try. Other people seemed to be having success with it, and I figured, it's only knitting - I'll give something new a try :)

For some reason, even though this heel is basically the same shape as a short row heel, it seems to stay on my foot much better. I can't explain it, it just seems to hug the heel of my foot much better - it feels less forced onto my foot. I did end up picking up 68sts when the rest of the sock was 64sts around, to close holes, and because I seemed to end up with a couple of extra sts anyway. Maybe that larger amount of sts accounts for it fitting better. I'm not sure, but I do like the way it fits. Not as much as I like heel flaps, but this works really well for striped socks, and it means you don't have to interrupt the pattern in self-striping yarn at all.

So, after these were finished, I cast on another pair. I found 2 balls of Regia in a charity shop recently, but they were both different shades of blue. I can't make a pair from one ball for myself because my feet are too big, so I figured I would stripe them.

I knit these from the toe up because I wanted the striping to end up exact on the toe. I didn't want to have to start decreases halfway through a stripe. So I did a figure 8 cast on, knit the toe in the navy blue, and then started striping. Luckily, I managed to fit the heel right into the middle of a navy stripe, and then I made the ribbing at the top of the cuff in navy too.

I've only done one of these socks so far, but I'm liking the stripeyness :)

WIP Wednesday - Oh my, where did all this come from??

2011-07-20T13:27:00.003Z

I felt this morning that I hadn't really done that much this week to write about. I've been kind of skipping between projects again, and that's made me feel like I've hardly accomplished anything on any of them. Then I went through my project bags to take photos :)

I've been knitting on three projects this week. I've got an afterthought pair of socks on the go - this pair from the toe up. No photos yet of them though. And I cast on two new scarf projects. I finished the Willow Scarf (I think I said that already in another post) but it's not steamed out yet, so it doesn't count as an FO yet.

The first scarf is another rectangular scarf to work on when the bf's mother comes to visit. I'm using yarn from two cones held double, so it has to stay beside the sofa, and that's the only time I'm on there. Same yarn as the willow scarf - laceweight burgundy acrylic. I got the two cones from a charity shop ages ago, and they've been never ending. This should be the last scarf that comes off those cones though, they're nearly finished! :D

The pattern is Falling Water by Bonnie Sennott. It's a free pattern off Ravelry. I cast on 48sts, (an extra couple of repeats) and it's been going really fast. I chose that pattern because the repeats are quite a few rows long, so I wouldn't get bored with it so easily. That's the plan anyway. I've got to the stage where I've memorised the pattern, and can just read where I am on my knitting, which is always good :)

I also cast on Celaeno by Rosemary Hill, from the 7 small shawls ebook (the first one). This is the first pattern I've knit from that book so far, but there are lots more that I want to make from it. I've purchased the second book too - can't wait to see the patterns she comes up with for it!

I'm using the Sundara fingering silky merino that I won in a blog giveaway from Lina at photoknitdog. It's so lovely to knit with!! So soft and squishy! I'm really enjoying it. I was going to make Elektra from the same book with it, but it turned out that I didn't have quite enough yardage for it. With this pattern, I have a bit too much yardage, but I'm just going to make the shawl/scarf bigger. I've knit up to the point where the pattern says to start the lace, but I'm going to follow her instructions for making it bigger and knit more garter stitch.

I've also done lots of spinning and spinning related stuff. I plied and set the green yarn I'd been working on (it turned out to be merino), and I'm very happy with it. I'll be casting that on soon, as a pair of Deep In The Forest mittens. The pattern is printed and I'm all ready to go!

I was worried that the dark green would be a lot thinner than the light green, but I think it'll be fine. Setting the yarn seemed to make it a lot more similar to my eyes at least.

I also spun and plied all of the pink fibre that I had.

This is corridale - I'm going to make some sort of scarf/shawl thing from it but I haven't decided yet. It turned out to be somewhat of an aran weight - I'll have to search Ravelry and see what patterns are there. I had quite a bit less of the dark pink, so I still have some light pink singles sitting in my basket. I'm going to go back to my LYS and see if they've got more of the dark pink, then spin that up to go with it (there's enough of the light pink left to make that worthwhile)

And so, with all that spun, I was still itching to spin something, so I went back to some cream coloured corridale that I'd spun singles of ages ago. So long ago, that the twist is completely unenergised just now. So I'm plying them up, and I'll see what they turn out like.

And that's another WIP Wednesday! I've been a lot busier that I thought I had, and I've still got 2 FO posts to write :D

FO: Commuter Mitts

2011-07-15T14:10:00.002Z

I finished my Commuter Mitts!

Pattern: Commuter Mitts by Stephanie Sun

Yarn: Sirdar Click Aran With Wool

Needles: 4.5mm (I had to go up a couple of sizes to get gauge)

The buttons were in my button stash - I think they came off of a jacket of the bf's, or his grandfather's - I'm not sure exactly. I know they came from the grandfather's house, and they've been in this house forever. I nabbed 2 of them for these gloves (after asking permission, of course!). If he wants to use them for anything else, I can always take them off and use something else, but I'm liking the slightly militaristic look the metal buttons give to these gloves.

I really like these mitts! I love the foldover at the cuff - such a great design element.

The yarn knit up really nicely. It's an acrylic/wool blend, but it feels really nice, nicer than some of the other yarns I have with the exact same percentages of the fibres. It is more expensive than those yarns, admittedly, but still affordable. I'd definitely use it again, I really like the flecks of colour/heathering.

They're very easy and quick to make - the main reason it took a bit longer for me was because I always procrastinate on sewing on buttons. I sewed on buttons on the palm side too, so I could do the folding over the fingers thing that you can see on the pattern page, but I didn't take a photo of them like that.

My only (slight) quibble about the pattern is that it has afterthought thumbs instead of gusseted ones, but I didn't notice till I was at that point, and couldn't be bothered ripping back and working out a gusset. But really, they're comfortable, and the thumb is on the side of the hand, not on the palm, so I just went with it, and I do really like these mitts. I'd definitely knit this pattern again, probably still with the afterthought thumbs.

The only thing about knitting all these winter accessories is that I just can't wait till it's winter!! It's going to be like, 4 whole months before it's cold enough to wear all these things I've been making. I'll just have to pet them and look longingly at pictures of snow till then, lol!

WIP Wednesday - A Bit Of Everything

2011-07-13T12:30:00.005Z

This week, I've been picking up projects, doing a bit on them, then putting them down and picking up something else. It's fun to have lots of projects on the go! I'm normally pretty monogamous with my crafting, just one or two things that I'm actively working on, so it's fun to just dive in and do a bit of everything.

I finished the knitting on my Willow Scarf!! No photos, it's still all unblocked and curly, but I'll be getting the iron to it soon! I also finished my afterthought socks, which I'm very pleased with. I do have photos of them, but they're for an FO post ;) (I'm just teasing you now, aren't I?)

So, for active unfinished objects, I have two amigurumi on the go:

Pattern: Amigurumi HK Devil by Armina Parnagian

Pattern: Mumford Mummy by Deb Richey

Both of these are at the sewing up stage - look at all those ends!! That will be for a time when I have no other distractions and lots of time to position everything, I think! I'm not sure about the ears on the hello kitty, I haven't made them quite devil-y enough, I think, but I'll sew up the rest of it before I start messing around with it.

I've also spun all the pink fibre I had into singles, and plied on skein already.

One way to batter through 200g of fibre is to say you're not taking part in the Tour de Fleece ;) I started this on the 2nd when the Tour started, and it looks like I'll be finished before the Tour ends. If I had stated any intention to count this towards the Tour, I'd still be spinning the first ball!

I'm liking how it's turning out. I'm using my heavier Ashford spindle, which I'm not so comfortable on, and my singles are a bit thick and thin, and sometimes overspun and sometimes underspun. But it really is all balancing out in the plying. It's like blocking, magic!! Plying the two shades of pink means it's still very girly, but it's a bit more muted with the colours together. Little girls would still fight over it though, lol! ;)

Oops! Teddy Bear Hat Details

2011-07-11T12:07:00.004Z

In all my excitement yesterday I forgot to link details about the hat! D'oh!

It's the Teddy Bear Hat by Diane Langan - which can be purchased at her etsy shop which is here.

I used Stylecraft Special Chunky for the main hat and the muzzle - the black yarn was DK acrylic that I held double, and I used a 6mm hook. I have to write all these details down or I know a couple of months from now I'll be wondering what I did :)

Uh oh, I just browsed through her shop and realised she has other critter hats - owl, raccoon, fox(!), hello kitty... I may be in trouble ;) That's as well as all the patterns I found on ravelry yesterday!

FO: The awesomely awesome bear hat!!!

2011-07-10T11:43:00.005Z

Yes, I am super pleased with this hat!!! Could you tell? ;)

I actually finished the crocheting a couple of weeks ago, but I was worried about how the sewing would turn out. The muzzle looked a little small, and the nose looked a little large, but last night I decided to just bite the bullet and sew it. I did the muzzle first, stretched it out, pinned it on and sewed it, and it turned out fine! The ears were next (sewing the whole thing involved a few dozen trips to the mirror and back to check placement, but it was worth it), then the eyes and nose.

I think when sewing things made of bits, I get all worried, but then spend so much time checking the placement of each bit that it works out fine. Going back and forward to the mirror to check every piece was a bit of a pain, but I'm so pleased with how it turned out!

Seriously, I've been walking around the house with this hat on all last night, and the first thing I did this morning was to put it on and look at myself in the mirror. This hat makes me smile, which is what makes it so awesome! :D

I'm so excited, I can't wait till it's winter. Why does it have to be July just now *pouts pathetically and stamps foot* I want cold weather so I can wear it outside!!! :D

WIP Wednesday - Pink Bubblegum

2011-07-06T11:12:00.003Z

This week I've been spinning :)

This is baby pink Corriedale fibre spun into singles on my spindle. I spun this at spinning guild on Saturday. I'm using my heavier spindle, which I'm not terribly good at using, so the singles are a bit uneven, but I'm not terribly bothered. It'll all even out in the plying (I hope) ;)

The colour of this fibre spun up is sooooo pink! My next door neighbour's girls would just love this, it's so pink (they're a bit obsessed with that colour, which makes for interesting viewing when they have all their toys out in the front garden). I've got a darker pink which I think I'm going to ply it with, to mute the girliness a little.

I've spun three lots of 25g so far. I have 100g of this, and 100g of the darker pink, and I'm going to spin them all together, and make some sort of scarf, I think. On Saturday, Sunday and Monday, I spun 25g, but didn't get any done yesterday. I'm not taking part in this year's Tour de Fleece, but I do want to get this spun up quickly.

I've also been plying the green yarn I was spinning a few weeks ago. I think the two greens have turned out to be different weights though :( The light green seems to be a bit heavier than the dark green, so I don't know if I'll be able to combine them to make mittens. I think I'll just have to buy more dark green fibre, it's the only thing for it, lol! The dark green I've got just now might have to go with that dark pink that I spun intending it to be for the galileo mittens, but it was too thin... I don't know. I've still got to ply the last lot then set the twist, so I'll decide after that.

WIP Wednesday - Knitty Startitis Extravaganza!

2011-06-29T10:38:00.005Z

Have you seen the new knitty yet?

So many lovely patterns!! I followed the link from Laura Chau's blog (she made the lovely Darrin cardi pattern)and immediately queued a whole bunch of them. Then I cast on two :)

First of all I cast on the Lingerie socks out of Patons Fairytale Dreamtime 3ply wool. I went up to 2.5mm needles because I think the 2mm called for would be far too tight around my cankles, even if it is ribbed lace :) I've knit the top of the cuff so far, so down to where the ribbed portion begins. It looks very cute so far :)

Then I cast on the Commuter mitts out of Sirdar Click yarn. I tried it on 3.75mm needles first, but my gauge was too tight - I was getting 24 sts to 4 inches instead of 21. So I went up to 4.5mm needles, and all seems well now :) I love the folded over cuff on these mitts, can't wait to have these on my hands!

I also cast on another pattern, although this isn't a knitty pattern - the Something Floral mitts by Miranda Grant. I'm using stash yarns for these, but I don't know what the yarn is. The ball bands disappeared long ago! These are knitting up nicely, although not as nicely as they would if they were in my handspun (I'm totally spoiled now as far as colourwork mittens are concerned! They'll never be the same again!)

I knit a few more rows on my Willow scarf this week, and finished my afterthought socks, which I'll write about in another post, so I have a feeling I'll be casting on more of them this week. Also, I have a severe case of startitis in case you couldn't tell. I'm itching to cast on Dunes from the new knitty. I'm trying to hold off till my willow scarf is done, but I don't know how long I'll be able to hold out :) Also, I'm looking at my stash wanting to cast on cowls and socks by the dozen.

Other patterns from the new knitty that I'm drooling over are Rhodian, Darrin, Leaflet, Undercurrent, Chasing Snakes, Double Heelix and Inlay. Half the patterns in this issue, basically! And if there were any little girls around me to knit for, then I'd be casting on Kindling right now! So cute!!

Add to that my massive ravelry queue, and I'm feeling very inspired to cast on bajillions of projects just now. It's lots of fun! :D

FO: Galileo Mittens

2011-06-25T14:03:00.002Z

My very first ever project knitted with my own handspun!!!

Pattern: Galileo Mittens by Laura Chau
Yarn: My own handspun :D Corridale, orange and black spun into a heavy fingering weight

I love these mittens!! Ever since I first saw the pattern come up on ravelry, I've wanted to make them. I was going to use my pink handspun as the contrast colour, but it turned out too thin, as I've blogged, so I spun up some orange that I had left over from another spinning project, and deliberately tried to make it the same size as the black. This was my first spinning project intentionally spinning my yarn to a certain size, and it turned out pretty good!

I really loved knitting with my handspun. I would have written "enjoyed" there, to break up the monotony of the word "loved" which I've used about ten million times in regard to this project, but that really is how I feel about it. I didn't just enjoy knitting with it, I really, really loved it! I kept saying to my partner about how I was knitting with yarn that I had made, and that I'd actually made knitable yarn that I liked. It got to the point where he was fed up hearing about it :D

It turns out that I really like my yarn to be tightly spun and plied. It had never even occured to me before, but it turns out that I naturally spin yarn how I like to knit it. How awesome is that?! There was no splitting, none of the twist fell out as I was knitting with it, as has happened with some commercial yarns. And not just the cheap acrylics!

I just can't get over that I spun the yarn, and then knit it into these mittens! I'm already spinning for another pair of mittens - I'm going to have quite a handspun mitten collection at this rate. The only thing is that spinning on a drop spindle is quite slow, so it'll take me a bit of time to get enough yarn to make a pair of mittens, but I'm knitting some colourwork fingerless mitts out of commercial yarn in the meantime. It's just not the same now though! I've been totally spoiled!

I think what I really like about this pattern is the (almost)random/abstract-ness of the design. Geometric repeating patterns are good, but this pattern looks so different that it was the first pattern I thought of when I decided to knit mittens out of my handspun. Not that that stopped me from queuing loads of others for the future! :D They fit really well too, the first pair of mittens I've knit where the fit is just perfect and not too tight or anything.

The pattern knit up really well, no errors or anything, and I really like how it was explained and written out. Laura's an excellent designer, one of my favourites - I really must knit more of her patterns. I have a major desire to knit the Cityscape pullover - a larger handspun project, perhaps? ;)

I think I will definitely knit these again. I just love the pattern (there's that word again, but it's true!) and I had a lot of fun making them. Now if only December would hurry up and arrive so I could wear them outside!! :D

WIP... Thursday :/ - Mostly The Afterthought Heel Sock

2011-06-23T12:12:00.002Z

This week I haven't had as much time to knit as I would have liked :( I've been busy with other things - some of which have been fun, like dancing at a hafla on Saturday night, and some of which have not been so much fun, so I won't mention them :) I did go to see my mum the past couple of days, which is why WIP Wednesday has to be WIP Thursday this week. But hey, at least I'm making myself write something, so I won't beat myself up too much :)

Because it's on youtube already, I'll link to the video of me on Saturday, but I think I'll try to write a more in-depth post for my dance blog, which has been sorely neglected as of late.

I was dancing to "Tribute to Um Koulthoum" by Ahmed Bergaoui.

Anyway, knitting!! I've been mostly knitting on my afterthought heel socks.

I've knit most of one sock. The heel will go where that yellow line is in the middle of the sock (in between two lines of grey.

It's so weird seeing just the tube of the sock without any heel. I measured the foot of the sock against one of my short-row-heel socks that I have. I figure they should be the same size since the afterthought heel is essentially the same shape, just constructed differently.

For the toe, I was doing the usual ssk, k2tog decreases, but it's been bugging me for some time that when I do these decreases, they don't look the same on either side. I started with the ssks on this sock toe, but it was annoying me how they looked different, so I started experimenting with the decreases as well.

I ended up using a different decrease for the majority of the decreases (you can see the ssks on the first few decrease rows and how it's different from the ones above). I ended up doing a slip one knitwise, knit a stitch then pass slipped stitch over decrease, and I think it looks far more like the k2togs on the left hand side. I think that will be my standard replacement for ssks from now on, because I was evidently doing something wrong with my ssks (either that or ssks are just not the same as k2togs, but everyone seems to think they are, so I figure it must be me) Anyway, that's what I'll be doing from now on.

So, I've still to put in the heel, I'll write about that next week.

I also did a repeat and a half on my willow scarf, but it's at the stage where it just doesn't seem to be growing. I think I've got about another 5 repeats or so till it's done. I'm just knitting a little on it at a time whenever my partner's mother comes to visit, so it'll get done eventually :) I figure it looks much the same as last time, so I didn't take another picture of it.

I'm hoping to get more knitting done this week, I've got a few things to finish for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup. I also have a bunch of FO posts to write at some point this week, yay!!

WIP Wednesday

2011-06-15T14:21:00.003Z

This week I've been working on more than one project!! I finished last week's WIP - the lacy baktus scarf - but I still need to get pictures of it so I can write an FO post. I knit 3 rows on my willow scarf, another previous WIP Wednesday, but it's not grown enough to bother taking another picture of. Just imagine another 3 rows added onto the last pics :D

I started 2 more projects though - I seem to have a bit of a case of startitis going on, for small projects especially.

Firstly - my afterthought experiment sock.

It's just a plain 64st sock knit from the cuff down, but I'm going to put in an afterthought heel in this pair of socks. It'll be the first time I've ever done this, and I don't know if I'll like how it turns out, but if I don't it doesn't really matter. I'll wear the socks anyway, and its good to try new things once in a while. Keeps the brain fresh :)

The yarn I'm using is some kind of Opal yarn, possibly the toucan colourway, but I've lost the ballband. I got it a couple of years ago, and decided to use this one because it's the sock yarn I'm least attached to in my stash. It'll be interesting to see how those weird stripes look in a finished sock.

I've been knitting this one mostly in my bedroom, which has quite dim light, so it was surprising to take the sock into the kitchen to photograph and see all that blue! In my room, it looks gray, or even black at times!

Dim light is why I haven't finished my next project yet - my teddy bear hat.

I only have the nose and eyes to do now, but it was impossible to crochet with black yarn in my room. I just couldn't see anything, and with crochet I'm still at the stage where I need to see where I'm putting my hook all the time. So I had to put it aside last night :(

This pattern is the Teddy Bear Hat by Diane Langan. It's so cute!! I so want it for next year, so I can walk about with a teddy bear face on my head! My partner is in horror at this, it's far too weird for him, but it's my head, and I want a teddy bear face on it, dammit! :D

This is a project for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup. I'm going to try to squish it into the Defense Aganst The Dark Arts class - reveal a truth about yourself (that I'm nuts and want a teddy bear face on my head?!) It's been in my queue for ages, so it's a good excuse to get it out of there and actually make it.

So yeah, that'll probably get finished today in the living room where there's actually some light, and the socks will just get worked on whenever I need some mindless knitting.

I Made Curtains!!

2011-06-11T14:23:00.003Z

Well, a curtain :)

My bathroom faces due east, and is in such a position relative to my bedroom that in the morning, light just pours in. Not so good in the middle of the year like now, when the sun starts to rise at about 4am. I had a lacy white net curtain over the window, but that kept out none of the light at all. So I wanted something that would block out the majority of the light in the morning.

I got some fabric from my fabric stash - some sort of purple satin-y stuff - sorry to anyone who wants to know more, I'm such a beginning sewer that I don't even know what kind of fabric it is. It was given to me in a huge pile of fabric from a friend who was clearing out her own stash. It was long enough sideways to make a curtain the same width as the original net one, that was what I was bothered about yesterday :)

I laid the net curtain over it, and cut it down to the same width. It was a little longer, but I was going to hem it and anyway, it would just cut out more of the light if it was longer. So I folded over the sides and bottom to make a hem (I should really have taken pictures of all these steps, but I was concentrating too hard on getting them done. One thing about sewing, it's not like knitting where I'm happy to spend loads of time on the process. I just want it sewed up as fast as possible :)

I did an invisible stitch to sew in the hem (kind of like mattress stitch in knitting). I should probably mention here that I handsewed the curtain, not machine sewed. I'm still a little scared of my machine. Stupid, I know, but there it is. Then I folded over a much larger portion at the top to make a kind of slot for the pole the original curtain was on to go through, and I invisible-stitched that too. That invisible stitch probably has a proper name, I should look that up at some point!

And voila, I sewed a curtain!! It's more than a little lilac purple, which is not one of my most favouritest colours, but it's what fabric I had in my stash, and it works. I've decided not to buy any more fabric till I've used all or most of the fabric I have, and practiced on that.

I'm quite proud of this curtain, despite its glaring lilac-ness. It's rectangle-y with only one wonky corner, and the sewing is not too badly executed. That's probably just my perfectionism and tendancy to talk my own work down showing through though. It's a good curtain, for my very first one ever!!! I'll probably make a different one at some point, in a more suitable fabric, but this one definitely works for now. I wasn't woken up this morning by insane sunshine, or the dog getting overexcited by the fact that the sun is up, and demanding we get up too! So, yay!!

WIP Wednesday - Lacy Baktus

2011-06-08T14:34:00.003Z

Hey, 3 weeks in a row blogging on a specific day!! Go me!! I never thought I could manage even 2 weeks in a row, not really, but it's actually been really motivating. Thinking "Right it's Wednesday, gotta take a photo and blog" has been really helpful for me (I know, it's only 3 weeks, but for me to maintain any kind of routine for any amount of time is pretty spectacular!) And even if I don't blog in between Wednesdays (like this week), it means that the poor blog doesn't get abandoned until I can find the time to take tons of photos of FOs.

So, this week my main project has been my Lacy Baktus:

The pattern is Lacy Baktus by Terhi Montonen. The ravelry pattern page is here. It's a triangular scarf knit side to side, based on the Baktus pattern by Strikkelise: ravelry pattern page for the Baktus scarf is here, with lacy stripes.

It's quite an easy knit, which is why it's been worked on so much this week. I cast it on only 3 days ago, and I've already knit half of it, and am onto the decreases. I'm using a heavier weight yarn than called for in the pattern, a DK yarn instead of a fingering weight yarn, and I'm also using more of it. You would normally get one skein of sock yarn and split it in half to knit the two sides, but I'm using 2 full 100g balls of Stylecraft Life DK Prints. It's 75% acrylic, 25%wool, 298m/326yds to a ball. I'm using colourway 2398 (pampas), which is green with red and blue flecks.

I was going to knit a plain Baktus out of this yarn. I got the two balls of heavier yarn because I knit one from sock yarn before, and I wanted a larger, cosier one this time. But then I was watching the Round The Twist video podcast, and Carin was making a lacy Baktus scarf from handspun, and I thought that the pattern would look really good with this yarn as well. So I cast on, and liked it :)

This WIP will probably become an FO before too long - it's knitting up really fast. The only thing I had to do was to put a safety pin in the side where I was doing the increases (you can just see the silver line of the pin at the bottom of the scarf running along the side, beside the needle in the photo). Before I did that, I was making a few mistakes as the scarf got larger - doing increases on the wrong row, or on the wrong side, but as soon as I put that pin in, I didn't make any more mistakes and it started going super fast. I'm enjoying knitting it very much, I may have to make more of these :)

WIP Wednesday - Spinning

2011-06-01T13:00:00.005Z

I've written loads over the past few days about the knitting project I'm currently working on - the cedar leaf shawlette. That's coming along fine now, no more ripping back (fingers crossed!), so I figured there wasn't much point in writing more about that. The only other thing I've been *actively* working on the past week (apart from HPKCHC stuff, of course), is spinning.

I'm spinning this fibre to make colourwork mittens. I've already knit, and am waiting to block a pair of Galileos by Laura Chau (but I haven't written about them yet, so it hasn't really happened yet, lol). This fibre (Corriedale, I think, need to doublecheck that at the shop next week) is going to become a pair of Deep In The Forest mittens. The light turquoise is going to be the trees and the dark jewel tone green that I'm spinning now is going to be the background.

My default spinning size seems to be perfect for mittens. When plied, it seems to be a large sock weight. My wraps per inch means that my yarn is fingering weight according to the charts out there, but it seems a bit larger than normal sock yarn. But it's so perfect for mittens. My Gailileos are so lovely... but that's another post!

I've got 100g of each fibre, and what I do is to split it up into 4 equal amounts, spin them into singles, then ply them together to make 2 equal amounts of approx 50g. That seems to be what my spindle will hold without falling to the ground every second, and it works out well for knowing where the halfway point in my yarn is - just knit till one ball is finished and the other will be roughly the same :)

I'm enjoying spinning this. I just do a little at a time, whenever I have a moment. It's so portable and pick-up-able that it's easy to just spin a little amount at a time. And before you know it, those little bits have added up into a whole big bit :) I love spinning :)

Some HPKCHC FOs

2011-05-31T15:35:00.003Z

I rejoined the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup on Ravelry :)

I love this group, but I'd dropped out for a few "terms". Then I head Rachel on the KnitCents podcast talking about it, and it reminded me of how much I'd enjoyed it last time, so as soon as the new term was about to begin, I signed up.

In this group, they have "classes" where you get a task - kind of like an inspiration idea, some loose idea, and you craft something that's connected to that idea. This month I did Defence Against The Dark Arts, Astronomy, and Ancient Runes.

Ancient Runes: The task was to craft something that would enable or aid communication. I made some top-(fingers)-down fingerless mitts to "help keep my hands warm when I was texting or phoning my muggle friends on the tellyfone" :D

Defence Against The Dark Arts: This task was to craft something you would wear to the beach. I made a poncho/coverup using Cindy Kamps' Medallion Poncho pattern.

Astronomy: The task was to create something irregular (based on the asteroid belt) I made a cowl using chunky yarn, just going round and round in SC/DC (depending on what country you're in and what terminology you're using), and working bobbles randomly, just whenever I wanted to make one. I think the final effect turned out quite asteroid-y :D It looks quite interesting as a hat/head-covering as well as around the neck (actually I think it looks better that way!)

I turned them all in today (the last day of the month), so I could get my points for Ravenclaw. I'm in Ravenclaw, my favourite house, BTW!! Last minute as usual, it's just like when I really was at school, lol!

More Ripping Back

2011-05-29T14:08:00.004Z

More progress, then ripping of the Cedar Leaf Shawlette. I managed, with the help of markers, to finish the main body of the shawl. This time, I placed a marker just after each wrap when I worked it, then I wouldn't go past it, and rework it. This worked, and it was much easier to just knit, without having to look down at my work every few minutes to see if I was at the next wrap yet.

I started the leaves around the border, and actually did 13 out of 30. But something was niggling at me. The pattern has you join the stitch of the border to the body, then knit it again on the next row. But it was looking kind of untidy. I checked the picture in the pattern, and mine did look the same as the detail picture, so I was obviously doing it right, but it didn't look right. I tried ignoring it, but with each leaf it bothered me more, and I eventually figured I wouldn't be happy if I just left it.

So I did an experiment, and decided to slip the first stitch on the RS rows for one leaf to see how it looked.

Forgive the crappy picture, it was half past two in the morning, only electric light, and photoshop can only brighten it so much. The colour is actually a rich dark green, less gray than in the photo.

But you can see how on the last leaf, it looks much tidier where the leaf joins the body. That row of knit stitches lies much straighter, and doesn't wibble about so much. The stitches are less squashed together too, and just lie much nicer against the body.

So I ripped out all of my leaves and started again. This time I wasn't so bothered by ripping out though, because it was a choice that I'd made, and not a huge mistake. And those leaves are really fun to knit!

I'll be much happier with the shawlette now. I've knit three of the leaves already, and it's looking much, much nicer. I don't finish every leaf and think how wonky it's looking, which is very nice :)

Negative Knitting

2011-05-27T13:55:00.002Z

(in the sense of negative growth, not whinyness...)

I'm knitting the Cedar Leaf Shawlette by Alana Dakos. I'm using Sirdar Sublime 100% merino (so lovely!!) It's been going along fine, until I got to the end of the short row section yesterday. I counted the stitches inbetween my wraps - I had the correct number, but I'd just finished a RS row, not a WS row. So I decided to count my wraps.

18 on the left side (the side I was now at), and only 17 on the right side. I puzzled over it for a while. The pattern is so well written that it couldn't be an error, could it? I'd knit the shawlette once before, but I couldn't remember if I'd had any problems that time. So I counted again, in the vain hope that I'd counted wrong the first time.

Nope, still uneven. And I couldn't really fudge it without the shaping being completely uneven. Instead of lovely crescent shape, it would be a wonky banana shape. And nobody wants a wonky banana shawl, do they. (Or do they? I'm sensing a design opportunity here, lol) Anyway, I didn't want this shawl to be a wonky banana. So I counted and recounted.

The only thing I could think of was that I had missed a wrap on the right side of the shawl. But all my wraps had the correct amount of stitches between them. I peered and counted at my wraps, trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

Then I saw it.

One of my stitches had two wraps around it.

The fourth wrap in...

I hadn't been using any sort of markers, just looking to see where the previous wrap was and working from there. So I'd evidently knit past a wrap, not seeing it because I was on the purl side, and reworked that stitch.

Sigh. There was nothing for it but ripping. Ripping back about 14 sets of wrap and turns with up to 200sts between each one. I think my heart broke just a little as I pulled the stitches off the needle.

I only pulled off the stitches in between the wraps that were correct, so I would only(!) have to rework those middle 200sts again (for another 14 sets of wrap and turn rows!) So in one fell swoop, all the knitting I'd done that day (about three hours) disappeared and so did most of my work from the day before. :(

Oh well. Enough time has passed now I can look on the bright side. I get to spend more time knitting the lovely Sublime yarn. There's always a positive :)

WIP Wednesday - Willow Scarf

2011-05-25T13:15:00.004Z

I've seen this idea on a few blogs recently - WIP Wednesday, where you talk/write about something that you're working on. And since I only seem to write about projects when they're done now, I decided to try to implement it on my own blog. I kind of miss tracking the progress of large projects, and it's somehow less satisfying to only have one post saying "look, here's a sweater" and that's it.

This week's WIP is the Willow Scarf. This is a pattern (found on ravelry here) by Vikki Harding of Wild Fire Fibres. It's a rectangular scarf with a repeating lace pattern.

I'm using 2 cones of lace/cobweb-weight yarn held together to make more of a fingering weight yarn, on 4mm straight needles (yes, I've resurrected my straights for this, and I'm quite enjoying it!) It's making a nice fabric, not to thin or flyaway, which it definitely would be with one strand of yarn.

It's acrylic, but the lace is still showing well, and I've used this yarn and needle combination before, so I know it'll look even better when it's steam-blocked.

Lots of people think you can't block acrylic, but steam-blocking does open it up and make it look a lot nicer. You just won't get the big size increase that you can get by blocking wool. Whatever the knit size is, that's the size it's going to stay. But you can still make it look really nice with steam-blocking.

To block acrylic, I just lay the scarf out flat and hold my iron a few inches over it (NEVER directly on the fabric!!!) then I press the steam button. I get the fabric nice and saturated with steam then take the iron away and lay it to the side (VERY important, I always take time to think during this process, and make sure it's away, I don't want to burn myself!) then I flatten the scarf out a bit with both of my hands, stretching the lace out so the holes open up.

This scarf is about 3/4 done. My rule of thumb with scarves is to hold it between both hands across my body so it'll be about the size of my wingspan (the same height as me, I understand, though I've never actually measured myself and tested that theory) I don't tend to measure it out very often. I used to religiously measure out 60" or whatever the pattern said with a tape measure, but really, does it matter if it's an inch or two or even ten off? If I can hold it out between both hands without folding my wrists or elbows in, then it's done to me. I'm either more lazy or easygoing about this stuff now, I'm not entirely sure which, lol!

This project is my couch knitting. Because I'm using the two cones together, it has to be beside and slightly beneath me or the cones fall about everywhere, so I've got them in a paper bag beside the couch, and I pull the yarn up from there. It means it's less portable, but I can get a repeat or so done at a time and I can see progress.

I've technically memorised the pattern, but I still get halfway through the repeat and need to check the chart. It doesn't seem to matter what half I finish, the first or second, I still need to verify where I am with the chart. But since it's not one of my portable projects, that doesn't really matter, I suppose.

I'm enjoying working on this in my piecemeal fashion, doing a few rows at a time whenever I can sit down long enough. I started this back in March, so it's one of my more longer projects, but I'm enjoying it very much.

Blogoversary Contest Winner!!

2011-05-21T13:12:00.004Z

Quick post to reveal the winner of my blogoversary contest from the 7th of May.

Thank you so much for leaving comments everyone! I wish you all could have won, but unfortunately it could only be one person. Thank goodness for the random number generator at www.random.org which meant that I didn't have to pick one person by myself though! :D

(pic of the generated number, having taken out non-entrants and doubles)

And the winner of this yummy Manos Silk Blend yarn:

is Siga!!!! Yay!!

(I'll pm you on ravelry Siga to let you know, and you can send your details whatever way you choose, through Ravelry or email or whatever)

Well done Siga!!

I really enjoyed seeing all your comments, thank you all so much! And I've found some more wonderful blogs to follow through this too :) Thank you again!

Open Studios Weekend

2011-05-16T11:42:00.003Z

Last weekend was the Open Studios event in my local area. This is an event where artists throughout the area open up their studios (hence the name lol!) for people to come and see what they do and then buy or commission their work. It's a really awesome, inspiringly creative weekend, when it becomes apparent just how many creative people there are locally. This year 77 artists took part officially (some people open up their studios at this time but aren't in the brochure. They usually seem to join officially the next year though)

I went round quite a few of these artist's studios - not having a car there was no way I'd be able to go round all of them by bus. But I "did" 3 towns/villages over the Saturday and Sunday.

I bought some items from some of the artists that I saw.

I bought this raku clay brooch from Moyra Stewart. It's surprisingly lightweight. Because it looks like stone, and because it was marked as a clay item, I assumed it would be heavy, but it's so light! It hardly weighs anything at all. I think it'll be perfect for pinning a shawl or something because it won't pull the fabric at all, being so lightweight.

Hearts and brooches seemed to a theme in some of my favourite works. I got this card from Aileen Clarke, as well as the leaf brooch. I saw the brooch and just couldn't get it out of my head, so I bought it :) I really like Aileen's work. I first came across her on Flickr, and I try to get to her studio whenever it's open.

And I got this bag from LucyMoose. What can I say? I'm a sucker for skulls :)

I think my personal favourite thing about Open Studios is the inspiration I get from seeing all these creative people's work. There is so much variety and talent out there that you kind of forget about when meeting people in day to day life. I came away from this year's Open studios with so many ideas and a strong desire to make stuff and be creative too! I want to draw and paint and make textile art - you name it, I just want to do it! I wish I had more time lol! :D

Blogoversary Giveaway!!

2011-05-07T15:32:00.004Z

It's my blogoversary!!

Four years since I started blogging - I can't believe it! It just seems like yesterday that I created my google account and jumped in :) I haven't been blogging so regularly recently, but I still do love it - writing about all my projects etc and sharing them will you all. Writing has always been something I'm drawn to do - I love how my thoughts flow out onto the paper or screen and suddenly my random thoughts have some substance to them.

What I love most of all is the feedback I get from you guys. I don't get many comments here, but I really do appreciate each and every one. I feel like blogging has made me some really nice connections with awesome people, and I'm very grateful for that. It's a totally unexpected benefit. I thought I'd just be writing stuff up here and no-one would bother to look - to have people look and comment is amazing to me!

So to thank everyone for making this such a nice place on the internet for me, I've decided to give away this lovely skein of kettle-dyed Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend yarn (30% silk, 70% Merino extra-fine wool), colourway 9999 (lots of lovely purples). It is 100grams, approx 300yds/270m and a DK weight yarn (22-24sts to 4" on 3.5-4.25mm needles).

It's much lovelier than my very amateur photography makes it out to be! :D

Simply post a comment below - anything would be great. And if there's anyone out there lurking who would like a chance to get this gorgeous skein of yarn, please say hi! I'd love to "meet" more of you out there! I'll ship internationally, so anyone in other countries than the UK please feel free to comment too!

I'll keep this giveaway open for 2 weeks, then use a random number generator to pick a winner on the 21st of May. Good luck everyone!

Things Need Updating...

2011-04-26T13:58:00.003Z

I think my spring-clean fever has extended to the blog. I was looking through it, looking for a post, and I discovered how out of date it is. Apart from the fact that I hardly seem to post any more, my sidebar links are sooooo out of date. I listen to about a million more podcasts now, read another million more blogs, some of the ones listed don't even exist any more, I think. Also, I look at other blogs, and they have like, pretty pictures in the background, and fancy lettering, and all sorts of neat gizmos. I'm so 5 years ago with my basic blogger page, lol!!

My first update is the blogoversary gadget doo-dad thingy.

You can get your own here.

Actually, getting that gizmo reminded me that my blogoversary is in only 11 days!! My blog will be 4 years old! I'll have to think of something cool to do for it :)

I don't think my updating/spring cleaning will be happening today - I've got a ton of stuff that needs doing, and no matter how long I spend on it, it never seems to get done. Maybe tomorrow, but probably not. Again, those neverending tasks.

Hmm, just a thought, I've got a bunch of free time on Saturday. I think maybe it'll be getting done then. Till then I can indulge in my other favourite pastime and write lists of what needs to be done, so that I can feel really good about myself when I check them off. Yay, sounds like a plan!

Mitten Knittin' (and a rant about thumbs)

2011-04-23T12:06:00.004Z

I haven't been knitting much recently. I've got a serious case of spring-clean-fever and have been going nuts washing windows, cleaning skirtings - if you knew me in real life, you'd be so shocked! So, it's good that the house is getting somewhere near clean, but it means less time for crafting :(

What I've been knitting are mostly mittens. I'm about to start some Galileo mittens with my handspun - black and orange, should turn out pretty funky! :D What I have been knitting is the #03 Green Autumn (Druid Mittens)by Jared Flood, from Vogue Knitting, Fall 2008. I'm using yarn that I bought from the Yarn Yard at knit camp last year - I don't know what particular yarn it is other than it's fingering/sock weight merino/nylon and is brown :)

First off, I have a rant about mittens and gloves with thumbs on the palm. My thumb is not coming out of my palm. My thumb sticks out at the side, just like most other humans'. Why designers feel the need to put thumbs on the palm I have no idea. It just pulls the mitten all out of shape when you put them on. Sure, they look just beautiful in the photoshoot where they're lying on a table, but as soon as you put the them on, your mitten is twisted halfway round your hand and just looks kinda fugly in my experience. I don't want to give myself some RSI by holding my thumb round in front of my palm all day just to make my mittens look pretty.

So, I decided to change the thumb placement. Also, I like gussets. It's just shaped more like an actual thumb. So, I thought, I've done thumb gussets before. I know the general theory, I'll just stick one on the side of these mittens and be good to go.

Ha!

This pattern is one of those that inserts a thumb gusset onto the palm. You cast on half as many palm stitches as you actually need, and knit the thumb in the remaining stitches. So the thumb is on the palm, AND it'll be too tight because it doesn't have enough stitches. *facepalm*

I didn't realise this about the stitches until I'd knit the cuff, and frankly I couldn't be bothered ripping it all out and casting on the right amount of stitches, besides the cuff would be too big then. So I increased the palm stitches till I had the correct amount needed for the entire palm. Then I put in some stitches for the gusset and increased from there. These are the notes I wrote on my ravelry page for them about my mods. I think they're vague enough to satisfy any copywrong worries, but if you have the pattern, you'll be able to follow along, I hope.

On the increase round, I increased till after the 2nd sl1,p3,sl1, then increased the remaining stitches to the full amount needed for the palm. After that, I added two more stitches for the thumb. I worked the palm as on the chart (minus all those thumb stitches - again, palm thumbs grrr!), and increased a stitch on each side of the thumb on rounds 1,4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25 (as numbered on the chart) so I ended up with 20sts between the palm and back of hand. I knit these for one more round, then put them on hold to pick up later.

For the other hand. I placed the thumb stitches just after the second sl1,p3,sl1 on the inc round, then increased the palm stitches.

I just knit the thumb stitches, no patterning. Will see how it turns out when I pick them up as to whether I keep them plain or not.

So that's my mods and my rant. It's just that it was my first time substituting a thumb shaping, and I got more than a little miffed at it. Here's a pic of how the mittens are looking so far:

Despite all my whinging, they're actually looking rather nice :)

The colour is actually a little darker and browner that this. I love the cabling, and it was fun and interesting to knit once I'd worked out all my issues with the thumbs. I just need to pick up those thumb stitches and knit them now, but the call of the Galileo mittens is becoming too much... :D

Some more pretty spring shapes :)

2011-04-04T15:43:00.000Z

Because I like to share my pictures all over the internets apparantly :)

I really liked the texture on the trunk of the cherry blossom tree in my garden.

This is another tree that's growing in my back garden. I'm not sure off the top of my head what it is, I guess we'll see later when the leaves fold out! I liked the weird shapes the growing leaves were making.

That last one is my favourite - all spiral-y and pretty colours. Nature is beautiful at this time of year!

Spring Is Here :)

2011-04-03T11:24:00.002Z

We've finally had the last cold snap here, and it is now officially Spring - well, I say it is and that's what makes it official ;p

I've been wandering around my garden looking to see what has come back. We had a really cold winter, and the ground was covered in inches of snow for weeks. So I didn't hold out a lot of hope for many of my plants. But most, if not all of them, came back! Yay for hardy perennials! :D

These are the ones I was most surprised at - Asiatic Lilies. There was no way I thought these were strong enough to survive the winter, but I went out my back door the other day, and there they were! I can't wait till they grow and flower, I love lilies!

Another surprise - Dicentra or "bleeding hearts" If you'd seen the mess this was in a few weeks ago, you'd be surprised too. There was nothing, not even a green sprout, just a mess of brown sogginess. Then, all of a sudden, this appeared! :D

A couple more growing pictures:

And some water droplet macros:

And what do you do when it's warming up, and nature is blooming all around you? Why, you knit colourwork mitts of course! ;)

These are the Starstuff mitts by Amy van de Laar - a free ravelry download. I knit them out of Stylecraft Special 4 Ply, using 2.75mm DPNs for the cuffs, and 3.25mm needles for the hand. I like them :D They knit up quite fast, and the pattern was easy to follow once I got the hang of the "extra" stitch at the end of the chart. Basically, you just follow the chart and knit till the last 8st repeat is finished, then you knit stitch no 9 from the pattern, substituting in the "extra" stitch colour. That makes more sense if you're actually reading or knitting the pattern, I wouldn't bother trying to understand me if you're not :)

I'm having a real mitten craze just now, browsing ravelry like mad for colourwork patterns, and I've got 2 other pairs on the needles just now. Just the thing to knit in springtime :)

FO: Maeva Socks

2011-03-21T16:22:00.002Z

I finished these socks a little while ago. They're the Maeva socks, from knitty.com The designer is Stefanie Bold, and I just love this design of hers! It's another one of those "saw-it-when-the-new-issue-came-out-and-just-had-to-cast-it-on-RIGHT-THEN" type of project.

I love the tiny cables going up the side. That's what drew me to the pattern in the first place, the intricate detail Stefanie has designed into the socks. It is all charted out in the pattern, and I found the charts easy to follow for such tiny details.

One of my favourite construction details of these socks was the heel. The sock is knitted from the toe up, which nearly put me off knitting them because I don't like short row heels, which is normally what is written into a toe-up sock pattern. But I so much wanted these socks, so I actually read ahead in the pattern (I know, GASP!) and discovered that it was actually a toe-up heel-flap kind of sock. Yay! I love how the heel joins in this kind of sock, it's like magic when you join the heel flap as you're knitting and then it all just appears into a sock heel. I love that knitting two stitches together can make such a 3-dimensional object so cleverly. And heel flaps actually stay on my heel, not like short row heel which just slide all the way off. Very annoying. So, this sock was great in that respect.

I also love how the gusset was increased in order to make the cables run along the edge of the sock, very clever! I think I'd heard something about how increases don't need to be in the traditional triangle shape, but this is the first time I'd tried anything like moving the gusset shaping, and it was such a lightbulb moment when I figured out what was happening.

By the way, the photos on the table top are more accurate for colour. I find getting the right colour to be very awkward in photography. I know everyone says to use natural light, but in this case, sunlight made the purple appear much lighter, and less plummy.

So, the specs and details of how I made these: I made the Small size (9.75" foot length). I used 2mm DPNs for the foot in order to get gauge. Gauge is very important for these socks. I used 2.25 at first and knitted all the way to the heel before I figured this out. The foot was about 2 inches too large :( so I had to start all over again, after having done a swatch to find out my gauge. It's just as well the 2mm needles worked, I don't have anything smaller! Although, thinking about it, she has provided directions for 4 different sizes. But it didn't occur to me to do math. I'd suggest trying very hard for gauge first :)

I then went up to 2.5mm needles immediately after the heel turn, and also increased from 60sts to 64sts to accommodate my ahem, insulated ankles. That's the needle size and stitch count that I normally use, and it works for my legs. It wasn't hard to fit into the rib pattern, in fact the size up uses 64sts so I could have followed the chart for that, but by that point, I had it figured out.

I love these socks! I love all the detail in the pattern, and it's so well written. To anyone scared by all the tiny cables, I'd say don't worry. If you can cable and have made socks before, just follow the pattern and you'll be OK, it's very clear and manageable, with all the parts of the foot broken down into individual charts. So, definitely a recommended pattern! Go, knit! :D

Crochet For Sewing

2011-03-16T13:36:00.002Z

With all those cushions I've been making (see my last post), I've been having lots of pins lying around the house. I've been stabbed by the tiny little ******s so many times, while actually sewing the cushions, and just from random pins lying around. My poor hands are full of holes :(

So I decided I needed somewhere to store all these pins. They had come in a tiny little box, but they were overflowing out of that box. I've no idea how the manufacturer managed to stuff them all in there! I couldn't close the thing again without it popping open and spraying pins everywhere. So I moved them all into an empty Ferrero Rocher box (much larger and also seethrough) But there were still pins lying around from when I took them out of the fabric as I was sewing. So I decided I needed a pincushion.

I had some polyester thread in 20m wraps from a sewing kit that I'd been given. I decided to make triangles from 4 colours, and to then sew them into a pyramid. This meant I'd have less thread lying around that I probably wasn't going to use in sewing any time soon. Yay for clutter removal!! :D

I used a 1.75mm hook (so tiny!) and crocheted some triangles up. Because the thread was already measured out to be 20m, the triangles all turned out to be exactly the same size, and were easy to then crochet together and stuff. I'll be writing up a free pattern very soon :) (I have so many patterns to write out just now, I'd better get to it, eh?!)

I like this pyramid in these primary colours. It's lovely and bright and cheerful, and it means my pins aren't just dumped on the chair next to me any more!! Yay!! :D

Sewing Cushions

2011-03-10T12:49:00.004Z

There's not been much knitting or crocheting going on round here lately :( And it's all because of spring being on the horizon. (I say "on the horizon" because we actually had heavy frost/snow here yesterday, and now we have gale force winds, sigh)

My partner/bf/other half (why is it so hard to decide what to call him if you're not married?!) has got a serious case of spring fever and is going mad spring cleaning the house. I know, it could be far worse, and he could be a man who expects me to do it all, but it's kind of annoying watching this whirlwind going through the house trying to tidy when I'm so naturally messy, and don't get the whole spring cleaning thing. Anyway, last year I'd decided to sew some cushions using the stuffing from old pillows, but only got as far as pinning bits of material into squares, then shoving them into a bag. And recently the questions started... "When are you going to finish those cushions you started?" etc. So I decided to start finishing them.

I've made three cushion inserts so far.

Each cushion insert has the full stuffing from a pillow, so they're very soft and squishy :D

They're all hand-sewn, so it's taking forever to make the inserts, and I haven't even started thinking about the covers yet.

I used some material that I had lying around, that I had received from a friend of my bf's mother. It was about 12" wide, and yards long. I wanted 18" cushions, so I sewed two strips of it together side by side to make the 18" (you can sort of see the construction in this photo. I didn't cut the material apart from lengthwise, so I sewed two seams over the overlapping bits.)

Sorry about the blurriness, it's very hard to take a picture indoors of black thread on black fabric, when the weather sucks so bad :(

Anyway, then I tacked all the way round the edge, leaving just a bit at the corner for turning inside out and stuffing, which I then did. Then I sewed round the edge again, using an invisible seam that I learned at a sewing class one time. So it's taking ages, but it's definitely not going to fall apart!

I have enough black material for 5 cushion inserts altogether, but I have another 5 old pillows to use for stuffing, so I'll need to make another 3 inserts after the black ones, I think. At least. But, at least I'll have some lovely new cushions instead of squished old pillows.

I had been a bit worried at the start of all this if the inside of the pillows would be all grotty and dirty, because they had been used as pillows by us. But they seem fine, and the cushions are going to be used by us too. I would feel a bit differently about using someone else's pillows I think, but when I took the pillows apart, the stuffing looked clean, and the only problem was that it was all squished down. Now it's torn up and put in the cushions, it's all fluffy again :D

Unfortunately, this means that I haven't had much time for knitting or crochet. I've done a bit of spinning though, and I'm trying to fit in my other crafts around cushion making. I'm trying to convince myself of how lovely it'll be when I have all these cushions, and no old pillows or this fabric lying around, but I may have to cast something new on soon to break the monotony! :D

All Plied Up

2011-02-17T12:37:00.002Z

I've plied and set all my pink and black yarn :)

To recap, I bought 75g of pink and 75g of black corriedale fibre from twist fibre in December, with the intention of spinning them to equal weights and then knitting some colourwork mittens. It took me a while to spin it all up using my spindle, but I just love spindling :)

I got a new niddynoddy from Twist Fibre on Saturday, and quickly got to work skeining up the yarn I've made. I have 4 skeins of black and 2 of pink.

This is my new niddynoddy. It's an Ashford one, it makes 60" skeins. I love it, it makes it so much easier to skein yarn and to measure it.

And the obligatory arty shot ;)

I think my yarn turned out to be more of a laceweight than a fingering weight though. I at first thought that it would be a DK weight, but apparantly I got carried away with spinning finer and finer :) I have 822.5 yards of the pink, and 743 yards of black yarn. The black seems a little thicker. I'll have to weight the skeins again now that they've been washed and set etc. Just in case that made a difference ;) But those numbers seem quite laceweight-y to me. Because of this, I'm not sure it'll work for mittens. I don't think I'm patient enough to knit laceweight mittens!! :D But I think the pink would look lovely in a stole or shawl just by itself. I just have to see it as an exercise in letting the fibre become what it wants. I can always spin more yarn to make mittens from :)

Social Crafting

2011-02-15T14:19:00.000Z

I haven't written since before I went to the spinning guild, but I have that and more social knitting to write about! I've been a busy little bee :D

The guild was awesome!! It was so lovely to be in a room full of people who were also really into making things with fibre! It was the first meeting of the year, and also the Annual General Meeting of the guild so there were a lot of people there. The hall was full of spinning wheels and looms :) I took my spindle along and started plying my pink yarn while I was there. I got a bit tangled more than once, but it was lots of fun, and to see the things other people were making was just so inspirational. There were amazing arty yarns which I just loved. It gave me lots of ideas :) There were also projects people had brought that they had made from their own handspun, or yarn or fibre they had dyed, and it was so cool to see just what could be made! Who knew that all these talented crafters lived near me? It's something you don't hear about generally, but there are all these people around being so creative and amazing, it's just astounding!

Once I got back home, I sat and plied yarn all evening on my spindle. I figured out the perfect technique for minimizing tangles while sitting on my sofa (not sure I could manage it while in public, but I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out) My singles had been rolled into a ball, because they were so thin that it seemed easier to do that than attempt to ply it using my makeshift lazykate (chopsticks and a cardboard box). Ha!! The balls rolled everywhere, got tangled in everything. Then the singles would twist back on themselves and create knots that I had to untangle while trying to keep everything else from tangling. I figured that when I'm on my sofa at least, I can put one ball on my knee, and one down by my left side on the sofa. Then I put a book or something in front of that ball to stop it rolling on the floor (the one on my knee I have more control over stopping doing that) That seems to work well for plying thin singles on a spindle. I'll need to get a photo of me doing that, I don't know if I described it well enough.

I also was so excited that I blabbed on to the bf and his mother for about two hours about spinning and all the ideas I had. I'm sure they thought I was completely mental, especially when I told them about my idea for an art yarn involving barbie heads ;) But it had been so nice to be with people who understood spinning and crafting and accept the mentalness that goes with it :)

Then this Saturday I went to the knitting group at Twist Fibre craft studio. That was a lot of fun. I was knitting my Maeva socks (more on those in another post, but here's a quick pic)

I was on the cuff, which is just moss ribbing and I had been getting a bit bored working on them at home, so I took them with me. I managed to race 3/4 of the way up the cuff while I was there, which was great! It was much easier to knit them while talking to other people about knitting and crafting (and a side journey into talking about bed bugs and cockroaches, but I won't subject you to that here, it made me itch just thinking about them!) My friend that I'd gone with came to the Twist Fibre group too, so that was fun, to see her again.

I had loads of fun at both these events, and now I can't wait till next month for the next meetings :)

Excited :D

2011-02-04T14:26:00.002Z

Tomorrow I'm going to a spinning guild meeting :)

Well, a weaving/spinning/dying guild, but there's spinning!! And since I've been using my spindle more and more recently, I'm super excited about going.

One of my friends from dance class spins, and it turns out that she's been going to this guild for ages, so I asked her if I could tag along :D The meeting is held in a nearby village, so it's easily reachable by the bus, which is great! I'm very excited about getting to meet other people who do fibery stuff. I already go to the knitting morning which is held every month at my LYS (twist fibre craft studio), and it'll be great to meet even more people who are into the same stuff as me. From what my friend told me about the guild, it sounds very interesting - classes, sales, demos, I can't wait!!

Here's some of the spinning I've been doing recently.

It's hot pink corriedale, which I purchased from twist fibre. I've got about 75g of that and 75g of black, which I've already spun up into singles. However, tiny black strands of fibre is really hard to photograph :/ The pink was easier :) I've finished spinning the pink into singles now, and I'm going to ply them up next. Just black with black and pink with pink. Then I'm going to make some colourwork mittens or something with them. I think it'll end up being a DK weight. I'm using my smaller spindle that I got at Knit Camp, and I'm getting a lot better at spinning the singles consistently. There's still some thicker and some thinner bits, but it'll even out in the plying, I think.

Can't wait till tomorrow!!! :D

Double Garter - The Devil's Stitch?!?

2011-01-23T13:55:00.005Z

Right now, I'm trying to finish off my Kerrera cardi, which I started sometime in Nov/Dec last year. Kerrera is by Gudrun Johnson, whose designs I just adore. I've already knit the Shetland Shorty, which was by her, and I totally want to knit that again. I just love to go to her Ravelry designer page and drool over all her wonderful designs.

I love the Kerrera cardigan, the ones I've seen on other people. It seems to be quite flattering on a range of body shapes. I love the long length, and the way it hangs open at the bottom, and the hood. And the way the border looks is really nice. But it's a pain to knit :/ It's in double garter stitch, which involves wrapping the yarn round twice and then knitting the extra wrap with the next stitch. There's a tutorial with the pattern, and there's a youtube video on how to do it.

It's not hard to do in and of itself, but the extra wrapping seems to make the stitches tighter on the needle for some reason, and I keep having to push them past the join on my circular needle. I'm on the big side border now, the front and the neckband, all the way around in one go. I have no idea how many stitches it is, I didn't even bother trying to count as I picked them up, I just picked up as many as looked right. But it's a lot. It takes between 45 minutes and an hour to do each row, partly because of the many stitches, and partly because of the extra time involved in wrapping the yarn twice and pushing the stitches along. At least it's relatively mindless once you get the hang of it :/

I'm a bit worried about my version. It's looking very "homemade" just now, and not in a charming way. I used yarn that I ripped from my slobaround sweater that I never wore, but I didn't bother washing it first, so it's kinda crinkly just now. The "right" side of the stocking stitch looks ok, but when it gets to the reverse stocking stitch, it's very uneven. I'm placing a lot of faith in the blocking process... Actually, I think that'll sort out a lot of the problems I'm having with it, but it's a bit hard to have faith in it when the knitting is looking lumpy and uneven.

And why is it so difficult to pick up and knit stitches evenly on reverse stocking stitch??? I was picking up all these stitches for the border, and as soon as I hit that bit, it was just torture trying to pick them up and have it look good. I don't think it's just me, I was looking through project photos on ravelry last night, and I can see the same effect I was having on most of them. Nobody else seemed to mention it though, maybe I'm just being too perfectionist-y.

I'm being the same way about the sleeve pick-up stitches too. The sleeve is picked up from the sleeve cap and knit downwards, which is a very interesting construction to do, but mine just doesn't seem to look good.

See, massive gaps! And again, other people on ravelry have the same effect on their sweater, but they don't seem to mention if it bothers them. I did this picking up about five times, but that was the best I could get it to look. Again, placing a lot of faith in blocking! I hope it looks a lot better when it's actually on!

I figure if I still don't like it after blocking, I can crochet a ridge over it or something, but I don't think this technique is one I'll do again. If I make another Kerrera, I'll just change the pattern to knit the sleeves upwards and sew them in. And I might make another one, despite all my whining. I really like the sleeveless ones some people have done on ravelry, and that would cut out the whole problem altogether ;) I just had to come on a whinge a little about my misgivings before I went mad at the thing! :)

Dilemma - What To Make?

2011-01-20T13:44:00.002Z

A while ago, I won this yummy, yummy Sundara yarn in a blog giveaway over at photoknitdog.wordpress.com

See that shine? Gorgeous, gorgeous yarn! It's the Cactus Flower colourway, and I just love it. I don't know how Lina could possibly have parted with it! But I was very pleased and happy when it arrived in the post, and have been looking for the perfect pattern for it. Now, I have two perfect patterns. And I can't decide!

There's Elektra, by Rosemary Hill, from her booklet 7 small shawls to knit. This one has a benefit in that I've already got this pattern.

But there's also Gaenor by Corrina Ferguson. This would show off the yarn beautifully, I think.

Now, someone has already knit the Elektra shawl in the same yarn and colourway - LAylor13's Elektra - so you can see how the yarn would look with the pattern. Her version is just beautiful!

And there are two versions of Gaynor using Sundara Fingering Silky Merino yarn, in different colourways. There's Lismete's Gaenor, and A2KIWI's gaenor, which are both beautiful too.

Sigh... isn't it nice to have dilemmas such as this? I'm a very lucky person, I know, when this is all that is filling up my head.

So, do you have any ideas which one I should make? I like how both patterns have the garter stitch to show off the yarn, but they both also have lacy bits round the bottom to give interest. I really like the curved shape of the Elektra, I think that shape sits so much better round the neck, but from looking at project photos, it seems the Gaenor is long enough that it would wrap round and sit well too.

Decisions, decisions :D

Some Toys :D

2011-01-18T12:46:00.003Z

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you're all having a lovely 2011, and that the whole year is good for you. I have plans (!) for this year, and a great big list of things to do. Not so much resolutions, as just things to get done. I've done some already, like started exercising more, and I've still got to do some, like phoning the dentist and making an appointment. I don't want to do that one, but I guess I have to. :( I also have a HUGE case of NewYearItis, and want to travel, to experience all sorts of new things, and generally get a bunch of stuff achieved. Still, one thing at a time, eh?

I've finally started taking pictures of my knitted and crocheted items from last year (one of the things on the list!) :D

I'll start off on this post with some toys that I made in December. Christmas was quite stressful, not so much for me, but it seemed that everyone around me was super-stressed, which was more what made me stressed. This year, I'm banning all mention of Christmas until December 15th at least! I was getting a bit fed up with being asked if I'd done everything. The way I figure it, I get things done when I get things done. And if they're not done, then they're not done, and I'm not going to stress out over it. Shame no-one else around me seems to have this attitude :(

So anyway, I was getting mega-annoyed with everyone and everything, so I decided to make some small toys to cheer myself up. Not as Xmas gifts or anything, just for me! I just picked some random acrylic odds and ends out of my stash, and away I went. The first one I made was this cute owl:

Pattern: "Tooley Owl pdf knitting pattern for beginners from fluff and fuzz" by Amanda Berry

This was really easy and fun to make. I glued the eyes and beak on, but I just noticed that in the sample, she's actually sewn them on. I just stuck some fabric glue on before it had been stuffed and put books on it overnight to stick them down fully, and it seems to have worked.

Next up is a couple of Super Mario toys.

Pattern: "Mario Mushroom" by Linda Potts

Pattern: "Super Mario Invincibility Star" by Marte Fagervik

I love all the Mario related knitting and crochet stuff that I see out there on the internet, and I figured it was about time to make some for myself :D

I also made an amigurumi Hello Kitty bumblebee, because I just love Hello Kitty.

Pattern: "Hello Kitty Bumble Bee" by Armina Parnagian. You can download this pattern from http://arminas-aminals.blogspot.com/ (the link is over on the right sidebar) I love all her Hello Kitty amigurumi, she designs them so cute!!! Here's my bumblebee kitty sitting with my witch kitty, also designed by Armina.

And just to cheer things up in the cold and snow, I made a crocheted sunflower!

Pattern: "Crochet Pattern - SUNFLOWER" by Sky Magenta

I don't have a particular thing for sunflowers or anything, I just thought this pattern was so cute! :D

All those toys definitely made me a bit happier in the run up to Xmas. They were all quick and easy to make, so there was that instant gratification thing that always feels so good with quick patterns. And they turned out really cute, I like them all. They're brightening up my bookshelves now, and I feel so happy when I look at them there :D

Snow and Knitting

2010-12-03T21:02:00.003Z

It's been snowing!! Just a little bit ;)

I love the snow!! It's my favourite weather of all :) I love the absolute silence when the snow is falling, and it just looks amazing! I've lost count of how many inches of snow has fallen on my little corner of Scotland, but I've been taking lots of pictures of it.

My flickr set with lots and lots of snow pics is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27132829@N03/sets/72157625504116036/with/5225004170/

I've been knitting something to keep me warm in this cold weather. I was listening to the "stash and burn" podcast, and heard Nicole talking about the Kerrera cardi she was making. I looked up the pattern, and decided I liked it very much :) I had just frogged my slob-about sweater (rav project page and blog post) because it was absolutely massive, and I had never worn it. Not once. It weighed about 700g, and the rib pattern I used just stretched and stretched and stretched. It would have fit Santa Claus!! So I'm using the yarn (James C Brett Aran with Wool) to make myself a Kerrera cardi. I'm up to the armhole seperation now, and it's quite warm and toasty sitting on my lap as I knit :) Just what is needed, really :)

Dipping My Toe Back In

2010-12-01T02:13:00.003Z

Hiya :)

Gosh, it's been nearly two months since I last wrote here :( I've been having some issue with confidence and general motivation, so it's been hard for me to take photos and write about what I've been doing or making. I think I'm coming out of it now (fingers crossed!), and I've been really missing this little place on t'internets!

I have been knitting a lot of things, I just need to get around to taking pics of them all! I had a brief spell the past couple of weeks where I couldn't knit anything - I hurt my elbow ironing :( Too much repititive motion lifting the heavy iron up and down for 2 1/2 hours trying to get it all done. I've learned my lesson though, I'll never do that much ironing again (if any,lol!) It was so hard not to knit anything, but it just was so sore if I lifted my arm anywhere near my body or straightened it, and I didn't want to injure it any more than I had done already. I'm back to knitting now, but not too much at a time. My arm still hurts when I first get up in the morning, kind of a dull ache up from my elbow, and sometimes throughout the day, so I'm taking it easy for now!

I couldn't believe how many things I use my right arm for - just about everything! I couldn't even lift the kettle at one point to make a cup of tea! :( And I also couldn't believe how I just cannot sit and do nothing. I get so bored and antsy, it's quite ridiculous. So I read three big books instead :)

Let's see, I've got a few photos of my knitting on flickr, what is there?

I made a couple of pairs of socks from self-striping yarn:

The yarn was Fortissima Socka Mexiko, bought from Twist Fibre Craft Studio. I did a short row heel with the yarn from the other end of the ball so that the colour repeats would keep going. I like these socks, but I've decided that I'm really not a fan of the short row heel. It's fun to knit up, but it just doesn't sit right on my feet :/

I made the World's End Fingerless Gloves by Deborah Gall of the SavvyGirls podcast. I love this design, as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted them! My pic is a bit rubbish, very overexposed. It's only on flickr because I liked the effect. I'll take better ones soon :)

And lastly I have pics of the Rippenschal scarf that I made. This pattern is by Margarete Dolff, and is another one that I wanted as soon as I saw it.

The wrong side looks pretty cool too :)

I made this from a blue acrylic yarn, possibly Robin DK but I'm not sure.

Wow, that was a longer, more involved post than I thought I would write! It all comes flooding back! :) I'm planning to take more pictures, and get more involved in the online world again :) See you all soon!

Jewel of Yorkshire October 2010

2010-10-07T14:29:00.004Z

Jewel of Yorkshire this year was amazing!!! I think I've just about recovered now to write about it :)

BTW, this will be the last dance related post on this blog, I think. I've got this other blog Arcadian Rhythm and I'm going to start writing about dance over there. I think it's all getting muddled and lost over here, and it's about time I separated it all. So crafty things will be here, as well as general life stuff if I'm posting any, and that space will be only for dance stuff. I'm going to copy the last few posts that I've made here over to there, but I'm not going to delete any of it from here. It's just that there will be no more dancey stuff here. But of course, you're very welcome to subscribe to that blog, in fact I'm hoping people will :) I'm hoping the separation will make it easier for me to actually get round to writing without worrying about the muddle.

Anyway, back to JoY. We traveled down on Friday afternoon, and got to Yorkshire about 6ish I think. The journey down was lots of fun, 4 women in the car making rude jokes all the way down, nothing better than that! ;) We had dinner at the Tapas Tree restaurant, which is a great place to eat; the staff are wonderful and the food is soooooo good!!! And apparently the restaurant has a website: http://www.tapastreeshipley.co.uk/ It's directly across from the hotel, so it's very convenient.

Saturday, most of us had workshops first thing in the morning, so it was up early, eat breakfast at the hotel, then walk along the canal to the venue. It had been pouring down with rain the day before, so the path was a little(!) muddy, but we got there without getting too wet or dirty. (I wore heeled boots, I'd learned from last time!)

My first workshop was with Razia, an American dancer based in London. (her website is here: http://www.raziadance.com/ ) She is amazing!! She's so friendly and approachable, and a lovely person. And her dancing is beautiful!! She was one of my favourites from the hafla at night (but more on that later). The workshop was on vintage American Cabaret Style. I learned a lot about how bellydance developed in America from Razia, and how the moves, music etc evolved. She's a great teacher, and I would highly recommend going to see her or taking a workshop from her if you have the chance, she's awesome!

My second workshop was straight after that: Tribal/Goth makeup with Beverley Spracklen (www.myspace.com/amethystine_tribal). This was a lot of fun! She showed us how she puts on her make-up for tribal shows, and the influences from eighties punk/goth artists. She gave us a list of brands that she uses too, which was really helpful. I'm not usually very girly, so the whole make-up thing kinda passed me by. I can slap it on, but I'm definitely an amateur! Her information made me feel a whole lot more confident about it though, and she even showed us how to get liquid eyeliner to go straight! (small lines at a time, and plenty of wetted cotton buds) I've had such problems with that in the past :)

The third workshop was Vamp Up Your Wings with Christine Emery. This was so much fun! She showed us some vampire inspired moves to do with Isis Wings. More old-style threatening vampire than teenage sparkler, much more my kind of thing!! I'm planning to do a vampire Isis Wings dance at a hafla sometime now because of this workshop, it was so much fun!!

The rest of Saturday, I shopped. The first thing I looked for was a cabaret costume, as it's about time that I got one. I got a purple/pink one from Farida Dance, which I really like. No photos of me in it yet, but there will be soon! ;) Then I had a look about for more costume pieces, but I couldn't really see anything that I liked enough, and that I would actually wear. There were a lot of tribal fusion type clothes that I liked, but I'm doing more Oriental dancing just now, and I just couldn't justify spending the money when I wouldn't be using it. So I went to the Aladdin's Cave stall and bought lots of DVDs. I got

On Saturday night there was the hafla with performances from the teachers. There so many amazing dances! I didn't take any photos this year, I decided to sit and just watch the dancing for once, and not get distracted by the camera. This was a good idea! My favourite dancers were (not in any particular order) Beverley Spracklen (dancing to Rob Zombie's Dragula, yay!), Razia (just beautiful!), Ozgen (I was just breathless after watching his energetic dance, amazing!), and Candi Bell. This was her last dance at JoY as she's retiring, and boy, was it an exit and a half!! There's a video on YouTube here: it was just amazing! I'm sad she's retiring, she always dances with such joy and happiness, her expressions just radiate that, and it makes me feel happy watching her dance.

On Sunday I just had the one workshop. It was another with Razia: Flawless Floorwork Fundamentals. Let me tell you, I was sore for days after doing this, but in a good way. Not hurt at all, just my muscles complaining that I don't always work them like that! She did a really comprehensive warm-up with us and some strength training exercises for our legs and core muscles, which made it a lot easier to actually do the moves! Again, she's so friendly, and has such an infectious sense of humour that two hours of hard work was lots of fun! I want to go to more of her workshops!!! (pout!)

And after all that, I was knackered. We came straight back up to Scotland after that, another 6 hours in the car. (Thinking about it, that's probably why my legs were stiff!)

I had a great time at JoY! I always come back so energised about dance after this festival. I've got April's list of classes, now I just need to find people to go with... (off to bug all my friends now!)

Another Video

2010-09-30T14:46:00.004Z

I'm heading off to Jewel of Yorkshire tomorrow!!

I'm ridiculously excited about this year's JoY. I've been literally counting down the days for the past two weeks! I'm doing workshops with Razia about American Cabaret bellydance, and one called Flawless Floorwork Fundamentals :) I'm also doing workshops in Tribal/Goth make-up, and gothic style Isis Wings. I'm so exicted!!!

Speaking of Isis Wings, I performed at a hafla last Saturday, and have uploaded the video to YouTube. Here it is:

I was dancing to Aziza by Hossam Ramzy. I love dancing with wings to this song, lots of spinny bits :)

The hafla was raising money for Clic Sargent, which is a totally worthy cause. We raised £302, yay!

I've been getting way back into dancing recently. I've been doing it for the past 6/7 years, and I feel right now like I did when I first started. I've got that excitement and enthusiasm about it back! I'll need to write a blog post about that soon. I'll try write some things while I'm at JoY on bits of paper, then post it properly when I get back!

A Video!!

2010-09-12T12:25:00.004Z

I finally worked up the courage to put a video of me dancing onto the internet (eep!).

I was dancing to Yasmina by Guy Manoukian. This was half choreographed/half improvised. By the second half of the dance I was getting more into the music, which I think helped my dancing a lot.

This was at a local hafla I helped organise - I was in charge of the running order/getting music together etc, as well as helping with general organisation. Tip to myself for next year - start getting info in June (the hafla's in August, I'll need at least that long!!)

It turned out to be a really good night, lots of fantastic dancers, including a couple of people soloing for the first time (I wish I had been that good in my first solo!!!), and we raised £400 for a local charity. :) We're already making plans for next years hafla!

More Prizes!!

2010-09-05T20:05:00.000Z

Yesterday was the local village annual show. Last year I entered my Bender toilet roll holder and won a prize. This year I decided to enter again, and won more prizes :)

I entered this bookmark that I knit just after last years show, when I first received the list of items for this year.

The pattern is the Kunststricklesezeichen Lace Bookmark by Utlinde. Here's the photo from last year :)

It's been in a book for the past year blocking out, and it seems to have opened up quite a bit since then. I was so pleased when this won first prize!

I crocheted this baby cardi (although it's a bit thick, it's more like a jacket lol!)

This is the Lazy Daises Layette Sweater from 100 Crochet Projects (this pattern designed by Michele Thompson for Coats and Clark). The pattern doesn't appear to be in Ravelry yet though. I figured it would be a fast thing to make and enter, and people are always having babies so it'll get a proper use at some point (not from me, before you get any ideas lol!). This one won third prize :) I added the flower just by crocheting a chain, then pinning it onto the front of the sweater in the flower shape, then sewing it on. I like the black on the lilac, it's quite unusual for babies, I know, but it just seemed to fit :)

I improvised a couple of designs for the show as well, this necklace:

And this robot toy:

(this is him before sewing and stuffing)

He's been named Barnabus the Robot by my friend's son. I think it suits him :) He was made for the "something made from scraps of wool" section.

These didn't win any prizes, but I think they're kind of cute anyway :) I'm thinking of writing up designs for these, but it probably won't be for a little while. Unless I go mad, and just decide to drop everything else I need to do right now. Which could happen, you never know. It does kind of tend to happen that way :)

I've got next year's list of items already, so I'd better get started on them! There's a lot of sewing in next year's list, so it'll be a good chance to get better at my sewing :)

Yummy Yarn Prize!

2010-09-05T13:35:00.003Z

Look what I won! :D I came back from Knit Camp on the Saturday evening and this was waiting for me!

This was from a blog giveaway by Lina at photoknitdog. I was third picked out, and received this gorgeous skein of Sundara Fingering Silky Merino in Cactus Flower! :D

My photography isn't anywhere near as good as hers, she takes amazing photographs! you should head over to her blog and see :) She has two beautiful Havanese dogs, and knits such beautiful things. I love it when a new post pops up over there :)

I was so pleased to win! I've heard of Sundara yarn on Ravelry, and it's just gorgeous in real life!! So soft and lovely cololurs! It's out on display just now till it tells me exactly what it wants to become :) Thank you Lina!!!

2010-08-19T11:45:00.002Z

This is just a quick note to say that from now until the end of Sept 2010 I'll be donating 50% of all my pattern sales to aid for Pakistan after their disastrous floods recently. Links to buy the patterns are below, or you can purchase them directly from from my pattern store on Ravelry.

There is a thread on Ravelry about donating pattern proceeds to aid for Pakistan. Other people who have pledged money can be found there. There are calls for a special tag to be added, similar to the Help-for-Haiti tag that was implemented at the beginning of the year. I ask that any of you on Ravelry add your voice to the call for such a tag. There seems to be a distinct lack of interest just now in helping the people of Pakistan in the same way... :( I haven't even seen much about it on internet news feeds that I subscribe to, it's so sad.

Even if you don't want to buy any of my patterns, please donate to whatever charity you want who is helping the people of Pakistan at this disastrous time. The people there desperately need help. I would like to do my own small bit to help, which is why I am donating 50% of my pattern sales.

Links to buy my patterns directly from this page (paypal required):

Hebi socks:

Monet Ellipse socks:

Bias Stripe Cowl:

Plumes Beret:

Ogawa socks:

Mariposa socks:

Spring Stroll socks:

Knit Camp Day 2

2010-08-17T11:00:00.003Z

OK, round-up of Day 2's purchases :)

My first purchase took place about 5 minutes after entering the marketplace :) Since I'd already walked around all the stalls twice the day before, I knew was was there, and what I'd be interested in, so I wasn't so concerned about doing a preliminary walk-through. There was a stall right at the front, beside the Vogue Knitting stall, which I assume was DT Crafts from looking at the marketplace map. It looks like they and WhiteLies and Annie Modesitt's stalls were swapped around for some reason. They had a box of yarns that were 5p per gram, and there were these three skeins of the same colourway, so I snapped them up.

They're very pretty :) A light-fingering weight wool, in lovely pinks and oranges. I've no idea what it'll become yet though.

The next yarns are in random order, since I can't remember exactly what order I bought them all in. It's a bit of a yarn-blur! :D

This is a 4ply Whitefaced Woodland in the Pink Panther colourway from Freyalyn's Hand-dyed Fibres. Very pretty! I think this might become some actual socks. I know, sock yarn being used for socks! Whatever next!?!

I went back to Wool For Ewe's stall :) I just loved their yarns, they had wonderful Araucania yarns, such as this one:

Araucania Toconao Multy yarn in colour 413. I love the colours. Blues and oranges and Browns, very pretty. It reminds me of a more natural, toned-down version of the IrnBru colours. :D

And more Noro Cash Island :) I do like this yarn. This colourway (No 14) reminds me of tweedy kiltishness for some reason. I seemed to pick very Scottish colours, with the black tartan-y one on the first day as well... Again, this will probably become some sort of simple shawlette/scarf thingy.

We went to The Yarn Yard's stall so many times to look at all their pretty yarn! Eventually I picked one (I do remember that this was my last purchase as I ran out of money buying this one!) and bought it. This is a fingering/sock weight yarn in lovely natural brown shades, with a hint of green sometimes (I don't know if you can see that in my crappy pics!) So beautiful!! I don't know what this will become yet.

One of my goals in going to the marketplace was to buy a yarn to make the World's End Fingerless Gloves by Deborah Gall (of the SavvyGirls podcast) First of all I picked this beautiful variegated grey yarn from the Artist's Palette booth. It's their Smootherino yarn, which has lovely subtle colour variations in it. Then I saw this other yarn, and decided that I wanted to use that instead.

This was from the Ba T'at stall, which had lovely dyed yarns. This is a smaller skein about 75g, and as that is what is called for in the pattern, I figured there won't be a whole lot left over when I make it. I'm looking forward to making those gloves in this yarn!

I managed to contain myself to buying only one lot of fibre, this Blue-faced Leicester/Silk from Wingham Wool Work. It feels so lovely!! I can't wait to spin it up!

And that's it for my purchases from the Knit Camp marketplace (finally!!) I went a bit overboard, but I love everything I got, and it's not like this kind of event happens round here very often. I really hope there are more events like this in the future, although I'm a bit worried in case people are put off by the organisational "difficulties" that this event had. I'm not going to post about those here, not today anyway, but if you do a quick google or ravelry search, you'll soon find out about what happened, if you don't know already. This post is all about my pretties!!! I'll have more pics and little bits and pieces next post! And you'll get to see what lovely, lovely thing was waiting for me when I got home on the Saturday!!!! (I'm such a tease, lol!)

Knit Camp Day 1

2010-08-15T18:33:00.002Z

(apologies in advance for the very long post, and the bajillions of photos!) :D

This week the Knit Camp event was held at Stirling University, which was really exciting as Stirling Uni is only a shot distance from where I live. I didn't go to any of the classes, but I went to the marketplace on Friday and Saturday with Blackmagpie, which was totally awesome!!!

The marketplace was filled with so many amazing stalls, I was totally overwhelmed. We made made a plan to walk around first and see what each booth had, then go back round to buy stuff, instead of spending all our money at the first few booths, which could quite easily have happened :)

We managed to go through two of the three rooms before we caved and started buying :) The first booth I bought from was Wild Fire Fibres. This is what I got from Vikki, who I'd met online, but this was the first time meeting her in person, and she was just as nice and lovely and awesome as she is online. And OMG, her yarn!!! It's not really surprising that her booth was the one that made me start buying! Here's what I got:

WFF Hathor Lace in "Atlantic Blue" and Tempo 4ply in "Shadow". My pics really don't do justice to the awesomeness of these colours. I love these yarns. I'm not sure what they're going to become yet, but I had to have them, they're so pretty!

From Wool For Ewe I got these 2 skeins of Noro Cash Island in colour no 13 (descriptive! :) ) It looks a bit like tartan to me with the black and green and red. Wool For Ewe's stall was amazing, they had so much stuff on sale and it was all so pretty. It was hard not to blow my entire budget here as well! I think I'm going to make this into some sort of triangular neck scarf. Just a simple pattern to show off the colours.

I got this pure wool DK from Freylayn's Hand Dyed Yarns - such pretty shades of yellow! Again, it'll probably become a scarflette of some sort, but I don't really know. I just like the colours!

I got yarn in my goody bag - Supersoft Merino DK from Colourmart and a tiny ball of Opal (so cute!) I have no idea what I'll do with the Opal, and the merino is going to be made into wristmarmers or something glovey.

One of my main goals in going to Knit Camp was to get a lighter spindle to spin thinner yarns. I got this 37g spindle from Scottish Fibres. I got 2 fibres from them as well to experiment with, this Soya Bean Fibre

and this flax.

The Soya Bean Fibre is really quite soft to pet, but quite inelastic and it almost has a squeaky feel when pressed. It'll be interesting to try to spin it! :D

I also got this Bluefaced Leicester fibre from Wingham Wool Work. They had so many interesting and colourful fibres and fibre accessories. I kept going back to pet their merino /silk, but didn't get any of that unfortunately.

Oh, and I got this shawl pin from Textile Garden. Their stall had a lot of buttons, which I managed to resist, and I just loved their pins.

As for patterns, I got the Serpentine Valentine Socks by Katie Weston from the p-hop stall. P-Hop works on the principle of downloading patterns, and then you pay "pennies per hour of pleasure" and they give the money to Médecins Sans Frontières, which I think is awesome. They had samples of these socks and they were just amazing! I've never tried colourwork socks before, but I'm looking forward to trying this pattern!

I also got the MY Baboo Flower Cushion Cover from the MyBaboo stall. I just loved the sample they had of the giant flower.

I got 2 free patterns in my goody bag - the Frilly Filly Scarf by Gryphen Perkin from Stitch and Bitch Advanced, and the Alpaca Love Cabled Chapeau from Stitch Nation, and my goody bag also had a copy of Knit Simple winter 2009/2010, which has some really cute patterns in it.

Phew, longest post ever!!! And that was just day 1! Next up will be what I got on day 2. Yes, there is more. Much, much more :D

The End Of The Never-Ending Shrug

2010-08-09T11:38:00.003Z

It's time to rip :)

This shrug has been on my needles forever! The pattern is from the Drops website, and is called the "119-29 Bolero in ”Safran” knitted from side to side with flounces along sleeve edges" (nothing like a short, memorable title, eh?) I was knitting it in fingering/sock weight yarn (trekking xll in colourway 341) on 2.75mm needles, and OMG it was taking forever!! I've been knitting on it on and off over the past couple of months (I cast it on at the end of May) and just can't seem to get any more of it done. I think for the past month and a half I've only been knitting two or three rows at a time, then getting really bored. I knit two rows this morning and it was the most boring knitting experience! I finally decided to rip it.

I really like this yarn, and I really like how it looks in k1,p3 rib, but I just can't face knitting any more of it. For this pattern, you knit from the sleeves up to the middle of the back, then do the same again, and graft it together. The thought of knitting all this again is just too much, it has to go!!

The flounces at the ends of the sleeves were actually quite fun to knit. But after that it just became miles and miles of ribbing, which it turns out is not that much fun to knit, even though it can look really pretty. Maybe I can incorporate the flounces into something else...

I don't know what the yarn will become now. Maybe a crocheted shrug as that would go a million times faster, or maybe a shawlette/scarf, or maybe even some socks ;) For now, all I know is that it will not become this shrug.

Stupid Mistake!!! :/

2010-08-08T18:51:00.005Z

Argh!!

If I ever even think about using the sewn bind-off for the long end of a shawl again, please, please, please tell me not to be such an idiot!!!

Sigh. I'm making the Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West, as I thought this would be a great way to use up some grey wool that I have in my stash. I have a cone of it, and I've used quite a bit making this scarf, and it's going to turn out to be quite a nice, understated scarf in this yarn. I've been knitting diligently and monogamously on this shawl, and I really quite like it.

At the end of the pattern, it says that Stephen used Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn bind-off and since this is one of my own favourite bind-offs, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to use it also. To cast off around 400 stitches....

Yeah. Not so much. For this bind off, you have to cut the yarn and thread it through the stitches using a darning needle. Did I mention the shawl has ended up with around 400 stitches? That means a looooooooooong piece of yarn being threaded through each stitch twice. It also means a lot of this:

A big knot in the yarn (and this is one of the small ones!), every two or three times that I pull it through the stitches. :( Which I then have to very carefully untangle, because the yarn seems to be a short staple wool, and snaps apart quite easily when any force is applied.

I've done around 40 stitches so far, and needed to take a short computer break before my head exploded. I'm trying to keep zen about it, because the more annoyed I get, the harder I tug on the yarn, and the more likely it is to knot, or even break.

Sigh. Never, ever again. Why didn't I just think to do a lace bind-off instead??? I love the sewn bind-off, but I'm thinking maybe it's not so appropriate for large amounts of stitches.....

FO: Gray Ribbed Shrug

2010-08-05T10:45:00.000Z

I made this pattern before (Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug by Stephanie Japel, from the book Fitted Knits), and I've practically worn that shrug to death. Apparantly, I haven't blogged about it before (or at least, I can't find the blog post) but the ravelry project page is here. Actually, here's a pic of the black one to compare :)

(Hmm, I appear to have put on a little weight since the last version, lol! But just a little :) )

So I decided to make another one, since the black version is such a stable in my day-to-day wardrobe. I went for gray, since I had two balls of gray yarn in my stash (Robin DK yarn), and I really like this version too!

I changed it a little this time - I used smaller needles, since with the last one I had used 4.5mm needles with the DK/light worsted yarn and while the gauge was correct, the fabric was a little loose, and I think that's partly why it's worn out so much. So of course, by using 4mm needles with the gray version, my gauge was now different. But since I had the old one to measure against, I didn't have to bother doing any complicated maths to change the size :) I just kept increasing till the diagonal raglan line was the same size as on the black shrug, and the width and length ended up being exactly the same as the black one and completely proportional. Yay for the wonders of maths :) Then I just used the directions for the size that I had the stitch count for. And for the arms I just knit until they were the same length as the black version. The neckline ended up being just a little bigger than the other one, but that's OK.

I didn't count this as part of my IntSweMoDo2010, as it hardly took any time at all really, less than a week. I've got kind of a rule going that shrugs only count if they take a long time. I've got one I'm knitting in fingering weight yarn just now that definitely counts, it's neverending!! But it would feel like cheating to me to count such a quick project :)

Next time I go to the yarn store I'm going to buy some more black yarn and make another black one in the same way as this one. I really like this pattern, and it's something I wear a lot, probably the most out of all my knitted garments. It's a great thing to just slip on as I'm going out the door, or if it's just a little chilly but not cold enough for a whole sweater. Or if I just want covered up a little. I totally love it!

FO: IntSweMoDo#7 Women's Weekly Jumper

2010-08-03T20:21:00.000Z

This pullover is from an issue of Women's Weekly magazine. I'm not sure which issue - my mum rips all the crafty patterns out from her magazines and saves them up for when I visit her, so I get a whole bunch all in one go. This is the first one I've made. When I saw this one in the pile last time I went down to visit her, I totally loved it.

I used Stylecraft Special 4ply yarn in black, and a 3.5mm hook (I think). I started by making the size I would normally make but then it soon became apparant that it was going to be too small. So I went up a size, but I think really I could have comfortably gone up even another one. The arms are a little tight, but I'm hoping it'll stretch out a little with wear. Maybe even a larger hook would be good as well to open out the lace. I'm kind of thinking of making another one, which is why I'm going over what I would do differently :)

The pattern worked up really easily. It was only written, no charts, but it was totally easy to understand, and there were no errors at all in the size I made. It's kind of sad that the lack of errors in a pattern should be a plus, but there are so many patterns that I've made from magazines where I've had to check errata or just fudge bits because of pattern problems. This one though, was perfect. It was definitely a good experience making this pullover, and I'd definitely use another Women's Weekly pattern.

FO: IntSweMoDo#6 Lace On The Bias

2010-08-02T19:27:00.000Z

I finally got pics of my FOs!! This is one of my IntSweMoDo2010 projects, so it gets a post all to itself. I've got a feeling there will be quite a few FO posts coming over the next little while ;) (I really need to get better at documenting things as I go, lol!)

Technical details:

Pattern: Lace on the Bias by Sam Shubitz from Crochet Today! magazine Jul/Aug 2010
Yarn: Stylecraft Life DK, Olive colourway

I saw this pattern on Ravelry, and favourited a few people's versions. I didn't think I'd be able to make it as I don't normally see Crochet Today magazine in the shops here, but then I went to WHSmith and there it was! Yay!! So I started it immediately :)

I used this Olive yarn as I figured it would look nice in the open lacework pattern. I'd tried to use it for a cabled vest before, but it didn't really work with my colouring as a solid fabric, so I ripped that and made this instead.

The pattern, once I got into it, was quite easy to work up. The lace pattern was easy to "read" in the fabric, so eventually I wasn't reading the chart, just the fabric. Speaking of charts, the pattern was both charted and written, which is good. The way I tend to work with crochet patterns is to try to read the written instructions as I get confused going straight into the chart. Then I use the chart to verify what's going on in the written directions. By doing it this way, I'm hoping to get better at reading crochet charts. At the moment, when I first look at a chart in a pattern, I get a bit confused with all the symbols going in different directions, even though I know technically what each symbol means by itself. I think it's mostly the placement of each stitch, where you're supposed to work into the in row before. Sometimes that isn't very clear to me in a chart, especially in a magazine where there's limited space and the chart can sometimes be a bit squished up.

This chart was pretty good though, and using both it and the written directions, it was easy to work up the vest, and it went quite quickly too. Yay for the quickness of crochet!! :D

I changed the straps, as the ones in the magazine picture looked quite thin, and like they would stretch out. I just worked 5 stitches in US double crochet back and forth until it was a suitable length, then sewed them onto the back. And this way, if they do stretch, then they're thick enough to sew some grosgrain ribbon on to strengthen them.

I'd definitely recommend this pattern. It's quick, fun, and I just love the diagonal lines in the finished item! I even like the fringe, even though the only time I usually like fringe is on bellydance outfits, not normal garments :)

Fiber - Not Just For Spinning!

2010-07-30T23:05:00.001Z

As well as being bitten by the drop-spindling bug, I've also become interested in needle-felting :) This I blame entirely on my friend. I was totally not interested in anything felty, either wet or dry felty. Then she got shown how to do it at Twist Fiber, and made tons of lovely stuff. Then, she broke her needles and I offered to go in and get her some more (well, it was an excuse to get more fiber and yarn that I just couldn't resist!) The pack had ten needles in it, so I ended up taking some of them for myself, and experimenting with stabbing fiber. And it's awesome!

Needle-felting basically consists of getting a long needle, with some sticky-outy bits on the end, and stabbing it repeatedly into fiber. OK, that's a bit of a rubbish description. Here's a better explanation from the Wikipedia page on felt:

Needle felting is a popular fibre arts craft conducted without the use of water. Special barbed felting needles that are used in industrial felting machines are used by the artist as a sculpting tool. Using a single needle or a small group of needles (2-5) in a hand-held tool, these needles are used to sculpt the wool fibre. The barbs catch the scales on the fibre and push them through the layers of wool, tangling them and binding them together, much like the wet felting process. Fine details can be achieved using this technique, and it is popular for 2D and 3D felted work.

The first thing I made was a little 3D tree:

This was so much fun to make, even though it's kinda basic and doesn't even have any leaves - I've decided it's a winter tree so I don't have to stick tiny little leaves on ;)

I love the structural aspect of 3D needle-felting. You just hold a bit of fiber next to where you want to add and stab it in. And voila, your item gains a whole other dimension! It's like magic. All those little branches just appeared and made a 3d shape!

My next project for needle-felting is more of an "art" project. I'm taking each of the four classical elements - fire, earth, air and water (and possibly adding a fifth one of life energy) and making 2D representations of them, which will be added onto some kind of art picture thing, I'm not sure yet ;) I've made air and earth already:

I really like how the leaf turned out :) The cloud again is kinda basic, but it's cute :)
Learning new crafts is fun :D
These turned out to be about the same size as my hand when held straight, both length and width-wise. Felting is ideal as something to do when I'm playing video games, which is good. I'm playing Pharoah just now, which is a city-building strategy game. You have to build huge pyramids and monuments, so it can take ages to complete a level, even though your city is totally built and self-sufficient, you still have to wait for your little guys to finish building. So needle-felting is good because you can just stab away for a while, then if you have to deal with anything going on in the game, you can just stop, and then go right back to where you were without having to think of dropped stitches or where you were in a pattern. It's just a perfect fit for that aspect of my life, which is awesome :D

My Tour De Fleece Spinning

2010-07-28T22:54:00.002Z

My plan for the tour de fleece was simple, just to spin :) I didn't manage every day, but I got quite a bit done, and my spinning has definitely improved.

This is what I managed to get done:

and this is one of the chopsticks of single ply up close:

I bought a big bag of corriedale fiber from Twist Fibre Craft Studios. I bought 3 colours, because part of the thing that intrigues me about spinning is the ability to mix different colours, and create different effects. So what I've been doing with the three colours of orange that I have is just taking out a piece, spinning it onto the spindle, then taking a piece of another colour, and just joining it straight on. I've been choosing the size and colour of the pieces at random. Then, once I've spun up all the fibre (I probably have another chopstick's worth of fiber left, if not two!), I'll ply them into a 2-ply yarn. The colours should mix together totally randomly, I'm sure it'll be very interesting. But spinning gives me a way to experiment with colour in a way that I'm not too comfortable doing in knitting or crochet. I'm really enjoying the randomness :)

I've also spun some other singles:

I'm going to ply these together to make a barber-pole effect yarn - which reminds me, I haven't posted my other attempt at this sort of yarn yet! Must take pics tomorrow and post about it!!

I've been doing quite a lot of knitting and crochet as well, which is the reason why I didn't finish the whole bag of orange corriedale fiber in the actual tour de fleece. Of course, I need to catch up on photo-taking for that too :/ I'm so bad at getting photos, I just tend to get really excited about the next project and jump right onto it!

My First Handspun Yarn!!

2010-07-17T01:25:00.001Z

Yes, I've finally gone over to the dark side (they had cookies, I couldn't help it!), and have finally learnt to spin!

I got a spindle way back in February, but I was a bit intimidated by it, and it just kind of sat at the top of my shelves for a few months. Then I saw that my local yarn shop, Twist Fibre Craft Studios, was running a drop spindle class last month. So I booked in before my courage ran out, and then excitedly waited for it to come along.

The class was great! There were four of us there and we got shown the basics of spinning, told a bit about the history and techniques, then given some fibre and encouraged to go right ahead and just do it.

It was much easier than I thought it would be! And so much more fun! Very addictive :D In the class I didn't really understand the whole mixing colour thing (my brain was obviously trying too hard to get the technique to think about things like colour!), so I stuck with one colour of fibre to make my first handspun:

It was very "rustic" ie, lots of thick and thin bits, but once it was plied together and set, it evened out and I'm really pleased with it. It turned out to be a chunky/bulky weight yarn once plied and set. I've no idea how many yards it is though. It kind of seperated into three skeins because I had to judge halfway to ply it, and I didn't do too well at that judging. Also, my joining of bits of fibre wasn't great, so a couple of pieces kind of came apart when I was plying them. I'm much better at joining them now though. Practice makes perfect! This was done in the middle of June, so I've done a little more spinning since then, and am even taking part in the Tour De Fleece over on Ravelry. I haven't been active on the boards due to this grotty cold/infection that I've had, but I've been spinning nearly every day, and it's so much fun! Only trouble is, I thought I had a big enough problem with buying yarn, now I have to resist filling the house up with spindles and fibre too!

FO: IntSweMoDo#5 Tubey#3

2010-07-13T19:35:00.002Z

Ug. I resolve to blog more often, and then what happens? I get a horrible cold that turns into some kind of nasty infection, and I haven't been near the computer for ages :( Typical! Anyway, I've decided I need to blog about my IntSweMoDo2010 progress, or I'm going to end up being hideously behind. I already am, I'm somewhere around my 7th or 8th sweater already, but I need photos and to blog about them before I consider them truly done.

Pattern: Tubey by Cassie Rovitti

Yarn: Teddy Vanguard acrylic DK

Needles: 4.5mm (changed from recommended to account for different gauge)

Yet another Tubey! I love this pattern, it's so easy and fun to make, and I like the way it fits on me, and just generally how it looks. This one took a little longer to make, because I got a bit tired of the endless ribbing. Knitting 2 Tubeys one after the other meant that I got a bit burned out on the whole ribbing thing :) But the good thing about this pattern is that it's so easy to put down and then come back to later on.

Because of the different gauge that I got, I used the Medium size stitch count, but kept the 19" across the back of the smaller size. There was no problem with picking up stitches around the neckline, I just picked up the number of stitches for the Medium size, and it worked out just fine.

I think that's the last Tubey for now, but who knows? ;)

Happy July :)

2010-07-02T14:36:00.003Z

Hiya! I've been away from here for so long... :( I've been a bit ill for the past month or so (depression/anxiety) and just haven't been able to get focused enough to write anything. My mood always goes down in the summer, I'm sure last year I had a bit of a blip in blog-writing too. I'm so weird, everyone else goes up in summer and down in winter, I'm the reverse. Now that the summer solstice has passed, I'm feeling quite a bit better, and hopefully I'll be able to catch up on this blog and on reading everyone else's blogs. I've really missed this place, but just wasn't feeling up to being on it. I'm glad I'm back :)

It's been a whole month and a half since I last posted here!! I've been continuing to knit and crochet during my hiatus, and I learned to spin as well, so I've got tons to talk about. I finished my poncho that I talked about in my last post, so many weeks ago.

I really like it, and I'm totally converted to ponchos now! I know, they're so five years ago, but that's how I am I guess. I can never like anything at the same time as anyone else ;) I have some lovely artesano alpaca in my stash in a beautiful jade colour to make another crocheted mesh poncho - I must get a photo of it, it's a gorgeous colour, I'm very excited about it.

I've also finished a couple of projects for my IntSweMoDo2010, a pullover and a cardi at least (it's been so hard to keep track without updating this blog!), but they'll get their own special posts :)

I also made the Etain shrug from Inside Crochet Magazine #7:

I loved this pattern as soon as I saw it in the magazine! I love the way it sort of has that diagonal line at the back. I made it out of a red wool that I had (and still have tons of!) in my stash, but I want to make more of them from softer, more lovely yarns. It was a good mindless crochet project, lots of back and forth, just what I needed at that time.

I've also had a serious case of startitis during this past month and a half, and have a ton of projects in various stages of completion that need photos and blogged. But now I'm feeling like it just might be doable, and am quite excited about getting it all done. Yay for getting the longest day over and done with, my life can get back to normal now!

So, to wrap up I'm super glad to be back, and I'll be popping round all the blogs I normally read, and catching up, both there and here. See you all soon!!

Poncho, Poncho

2010-05-18T15:50:00.003Z

I've been on a bit of a knitting hiatus recently, as my left index finger started hurting. I think I'd been knitting a bit too enthusiastically on first the lace stole because it was on a deadline, and then my third Tubey sweater, purely because I'm excited about it, and want it finished! But my finger started hurting, and rather than push on and risk hurting it any more, I decided to switch to crochet for a while. Thank goodness for alternating crafts! I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't craft anything!

I've been making first of all the Etain Shrug by Aoibhe Ni Shuilleabhain, from the most recent Inside Crochet magazine. I loved that shrug as soon as I saw it, and started it pretty much when I got the magazine! It's finished, but I haven't got any photos of it yet, so I'll write an FO post about it later ;)

I'm also making the Beauty in Bloom Poncho by Rachel Geller (ravelry link) This is my first poncho, and I have no idea why I'm making a poncho. I just got the irrational and insatiably urge to make this project. I had a random black yarn on a cone in my stash that I'd found in a charity shop, so I started it :)

This pattern is very interesting. You make all the flowers first, then crochet the top of the meshy part, then join the flowers individually, then do the bottom mesh part. Joining the flowers needed super concentrating powers to follow the pattern and to do it correctly. I had to rip them out 3 times. Firstly because I hadn't read the instructions on how to position them and they were all at different angles. Then I got confused twice about where to join it all together. Luckily, there's a close-up picture of the flower on the pattern, so I used that to help me get the idea. The instructions are all written out, so it can be a little confusing, but charts kind of scare me, so I don't know if I'd have even started if it was in chart form. The instructions do make sense when you figure out what's happening, but it did require a lot of thinking on my part. I'm not used to all that joining of motifs anyway, so that lack of experience contributed to my confusion too :)

The way the mesh is joined at the end of each round is super clever! You can't see the join at all, it just looks like continuous, seamless mesh. I'm seriously loving this pattern :)

I'm looking forward to doing lots of mesh crochet this evening. It's repetitive and kind of mindless, so it's lots of fun :)

FO: IntSweMoDo#4 Tubey#2

2010-05-13T12:05:00.002Z

I finally got photos of my 4th IntSweMoDo sweater!

Pattern: Tubey by Cassie Rovitti

Yarn: Teddy Vanguard acrylic DK

Needles: 4.5mm (changed from recommended to account for different gauge)

I ripped the yarn from my Lion Brand Cowl Neck Sweater because it was way too large. I didn't really know about gauge back then, so when the pattern told me to make it a few inches smaller than my body actually is, I ignored it and made it the same size. Since it's crocheted around, it just swam on me, and I don't think I actually ever wore it except to take photos. So it got ripped, and the yarn became Tubey instead.

I'm still in this repetition kick, making patterns that I've already made before, and this is my 2nd version of Tubey (the other one was black). I'm making another right now in purple (the same brand of yarn). Well, right now I'm not, as I've been knitting so enthusiastically on it that my index finger on my left hand hurts. So I've been crocheting instead. Thank goodness I learned that other craft so I'd still have something to do when I overdo the knitting!

Finished Lace!!

2010-05-09T12:54:00.002Z

I finished the shawl on time!

I was quite scared of blocking it. Partly because I was scared it wouldn't block out enough, and partly because the yarn is so thin, I was worried it might just snap in the middle and make a big hole! But as soon as I dipped it in the water, it just went whoosh! absorbed it right up, and became so much more pliable.

This is a pic of it before blocking:

and this is it after:

It still didn't quite get to the 60" mark, but it grew from less than 36" to about 50", which seemed long enough :) It seemed like it would probably stretch out more next time it's washed and blocked though.

Knitting on the border was fun. I liked how in this pattern, you didn't have to pick up all the stitches, you just picked up one at a time and knit into it. And the numbers all worked! I was quite amazed at that, I usually have a few too many or too few stitches when I'm picking up and knitting them. But this one worked out perfectly.

Here's a detail shot post-blocking.

Probably not the bestest job of blocking out ever, other people's lace always looks so precise... But it was my first attempt, and it was a bit rushed to get it all done before the birthday. Now though, the shawl is the bf's mum's responsibility for washing and blocking ;)

She really liked the shawl, and put it straight on :) She said that it was amazing to see the yarn actually knitted into something, since it had sat in her stash for so long, then in mine for a little while. She really liked it, and appreciated it, and I'm glad :)

More Lace, An FO, And Some Seaming

2010-04-26T19:25:00.002Z

I've finished the main body of the stole now, and am feeling a lot better about the size of it. So far it measures 36x12", but I'm a lot more reassured that it will stretch out. Thank you everyone who commented on the last post to reassure me of that! Thank goodness for the deadline, because otherwise I think I'd have just chucked it in a corner and forgotten about it. As it was, I just kept knitting. And knitting. And knitting. I hadn't realised how soon the birthday is, but I actually only have a week left to knit the border on and block it out.

And did I knit on it yesterday? No :D

I finished up a pair of fingerless mitts

These are the Reverse Rib Mitts by Holly Terrell. It's a free Ravelry download. I saw the pattern, and thought that some of the variegated sock yarn I have might look nice in reverse ribbing, and it actually turned out really nice!

Actually, now that I look at the pattern page, it appears that I did something wrong on this pattern :/ I just continued in the ribbing all the way up, and they're supposed to have more reverse stockinette in the centre. Oh well, I love them as they are! I made them a bit shorter on the wrist and hand than I would for winter gloves, thinking that the colours make them perfect for spring gloves. I totally love them!

These have been my late night knitting, when I'm completely exhausted from knitting lace. I've had to knit the lace like mad, up to 10 repeats a day, and it melts my brain a little, even though the pattern isn't hard.

I also sewed up the other seam on Mariah, but I realised the zip I got is wrong. It has a closed end, like you would need for a bag or something. So even when unzipped, it's still connected at the bottom. I need an open ended one instead. That's what I get for going on ebay late at night to get a zip! I'm sure I'll be able to use it for something though.

Check out my mattress stitch!!

Last time I made Mariah, I just whip-stitched the seams. They're fine, but I wouldn't want to show them off. Not like this one! I was sewing it up and was just totally amazed at how un-visible it is! This is the first time I've used it on a garment, and I'm totally converted now! Mattress stitch for everything :)

After I finish this lace, of course :) Off to knit more...

Lace Doubt

2010-04-22T11:03:00.002Z

I've been making good progress on the bf's mum's birthday shawl. I've knit a quarter of the middle sections repeats. However, I'm a bit unsure about how it's turning out...

It looks kind of small for a quarter of a shawl...

I know lace blocks out, but does it really block out that much?? When I stretch out the knitting, it stretches to maybe a foot. But it needs stretched out to the sides as well. It's supposed to be 19"x60" when it's got the border knitted on, and is blocked out. When I stretch it out to the sides, it again maybe measures 12".

I'm hoping that with the addition of water and blocking pins it'll stretch out more... Does anyone know if that's likely?

I figure that stretching sideways is more important at the moment. I can always knit more lengthwise if I need to - I have plenty of this yarn, it's not going to run out any time soon. I'm just not sure yet if I'll need to. Part of me is thinking that I'll need to knit a whole extra foot or so onto it, but then I worry that it will become super stretchy as soon as water hits it, and it'll end up like a mile long.

I have knit some lace before, however that's still waiting to be blocked... (I'm so bad at getting around to stuff like that! When I finally get round to it, I'm going to have like 3 shawls all at once!)

The yarn is more cobweb-weight than lace-weight I think, so that's partly why I'm worrying it'll be too small. It's so thin!! I have to slow my knitting right down when I'm working on this, because otherwise I knit into stitches below and just generally mess it up. It's turning out to be quite zen knitting actually, because I have to actually pay attention to where I'm sticking the needles, and be quite mindful of the process. The lace pattern is simple enough that only a little attention needs to be paid to that, it's all on the actual working of the stitches, which is really nice.

So, if anyone out there has any advice about how much really thin wool yarn will stretch in the actual blocking process, I'd really appreciate it :) Just now, I'm going to keep knitting and see what happens. I still have 6 more repeats to go until I really need to decide whether to knit more onto it, so I'm trying to focus on that and ignore the nagging doubts. Having a deadline is useful, because otherwise I'd get so worried that I think it'd just end up in a bag in a corner somewhere :D

Deadline Knitting

2010-04-20T10:00:00.002Z

Not a whole lot of progress to report on my various knitting projects. I 'm still knitting on my 3rd Tubey, still haven't got photos of the 2nd. I did manage to get my 2nd pair of Hebi socks finished, but I haven't taken any more photos of them as a pair yet. And I sewed one of Mariah's seam, and have pinned the other one, maybe that'll get sewed later on today. So progress is being made, just very slowly.

I've had to cast on another project though - I know, how awful!! ;p

I'm going to make "Miss Lambert's Shetland Pattern for a Shawl" from Victorian Lace Today (rav link) for my bf's mum's 50th birthday. Which I have been procrastinating about until it finally dawned on me yesterday that it's in 2 weeks!!! So I guess none of my other projects will be getting worked on much for the forseeable future ;)

She used to knit and had some white laceweight yarn that she gave me ages ago, along with a pattern which was for a similar type of shawl, but all written out in words. Millions of lines of "k2tog, yo, k1" etc. I just couldn't face that. So I handed her Victorian Lace Today, and asked her if she'd like one of those instead. Since this shetland lace pattern is similar, that's what she chose, which is good, because it's just an eight row repeat for the main section, and isn't too hard to memorise or work ;)

The yarn is some sort of Jamieson and Smith laceweight. I'm not sure how old it is, but I think it counts as "vintage" ;) It's sooooooo thin!! I'm using 3.25mm needles, and it's going to be super lacy and airy.

I'm having fun knitting the lace just now. I enjoy having the intricate pattern to think about and concentrate on. I can tell I'm going to hesitate when it comes to blocking (I always do!), but hopefully the fact that there's a really close deadline for this shawl will mean that it gets done!

I don't have any photos of it unfortunately (I've been really lax recently about taking photos of my knitting, must sort that out!) so here's a spring flower instead.

I've got a bunch of spring flower photos over on my flickr account. I went to Cambo gardens recently, and went a bit mad taking photos of the pretty :)

Not So Monogamous Any More

2010-04-14T15:18:00.001Z

My powers of project monogamy seem to have run out :) I knit all of Mariah, joined the hood and everything, and now it's sitting waiting at the seaming stage. I just can't seem to get motivated to sew it up :( It's only a small amount of sewing as well, since the sleeves are joined to the body already at the yoke. Just the 2 side seams, the 2 arm side seams, and the zip to put in. Hardly anything, really. And yet, it's been cast to the side while more interesting projects get knit on. Poor Mariah, I really should get round to finishing it soon!

I've cast on another pair of my Hebi socks (rav link) This time I'm making them in white. I took a sudden notion for white lacy socks for some reason :)

The yarn is Regia Stretch, in white (colourway no. 1) They're knitting up quite nicely. The yarn feels different to the Regia 4-fadig that I normally use. The difference is that it has polyester in it, which you wouldn't think of normally as making yarn particularly elastic, but it does seem to have more "stretch" in it, at least in yarn form. When it's knitted up, it feels more solid somehow, thicker even. My gauge is the same, so I reckon it must be the yarn. It'll be interesting wearing them to see how they fare against the 4-fadig that the originals were knitted in.

I've knit the first sock, and I'm halfway down the cuff of the second. I'm making them a little shorter than the originals, 15 repeats this time on the cuff instead of 17. They look cute :)

I'm not knitting them monogamously though. All that knitting on Mariah alone seems to have made me want to knit on 3 different things at once. I knit another Tubey sweater, because I still seem to be on the pattern repetition kick, and then immediately cast on another. (pics of them still to come in a FO post), and I knit the Milkweed pattern by Laura Chau. Here's a pic of it before blocking:

and as it's still blocking right now, I can't post a pic of it post-blocking yet ;) That'll have to wait for another post too. I used Trekking XXL for this one, in colourway 305. I really like this colourway. The different shades of pink blend together quite well. It's kind of stipey, but not too stripey. Just right :)

I just can't seem to concentrate on any of these for very long at a time, but I suppose it means that they're all getting worked on :) I'm just having fun picking up whichever one takes my fancy at the time!

Beads!!

2010-03-30T14:05:00.001Z

A couple of weeks ago (on the 14th of March) I went to the Scottish Bead Fair in Perth.

This was the first time I'd been to anything like this, and it was a bit overwhelming at first. The room wasn't particularly huge, but it was full of beads! There were quite a few exhibitors, and when I walked through the door, it seemed like there was sparkles everywhere!

I went to the bead fair looking for some beads to do some lace knitting with. I want to make the Bandana pattern by Kalinumba (ravelry page), and I've actually had the pattern for ages, but it requires beads. I really don't know anything about beads or beading, so I felt a little uncomfortable buying off the internet. I knew I would end up with the wrong thing, and needing to buy more, then I would have all these beads sitting about. So when I heard about the bead fair, I figured that was the perfect time to go and look at beads in person, to buy something that would work for the pattern.

Like I said, I was totally overwhelmed when I first walked in. Sparkles and bead everywhere! I walked past the first few booths just in a daze. Luckily I'm self-aware enough to realise this though, and managed to stop myself grabbing the first sparkly stuff that I saw and buying it! Bellydance souks (marketplaces) have taught me some lessons at least! :D

So I walked round a few booths, just taking it all in, then I saw some black glass beads that would work for the Bandana pattern. So I bought them (the ones on the string in the pic below), then at the next booth, I saw some that would work even better. So after thinking about it, I bought them too (the ones in the tubes, and loose), to use for the Bandana pattern, and I'll use the other beads for another project, yet to be determined.

Then I walked around the rest of the stalls for about an hour and a half, and bought more beads :D Some of them, I bought just because they were pretty, such as these hematite beads.

I love hematite. It's possibly my favourite stone/crystal/thing. I have no clue what I'll do with these, but for now, I like to just touch and look at them. I like how hematite feels cold to the touch, and so shiny :)

I bought some random charms and pendants. The pendants are going to go on some circular memory wire necklaces in the next couple of days (already ordered them off ebay)

And some random shiny metal things:

I think I might put this one on a bag or something:

This one on a tribal costume item of some sort:

and the heart on a necklace (I don't have a seperate photo of that)

While I was taking photos of all these beads, I took some other photos of other beads I have:

I seem to like black beads :D

Don't worry, I'm not about to take up beading instead of fibre crafts. Beads are pretty and sparkly, and I love all that, but beading itself is far too fiddly for me. I just don't have the patience. I kind of wish I did though, after going to the bead fair and seeing all those fabulous beads. I think knitting requires a whole different sort of patience. Beading requires a whole lot more concentration and stillness to get the fine motor control, I think. Maybe I can just collect beads for the prettiness though ;)

On a side note though, I was thinking if I get so overwhelmed at a bead fair when I'm not so interested in beads, how on earth would I cope at a yarn event, like Stitches or Rhinebeck? I think it's good that I'm on a whole different continent from those events. But I was planning to go to the UK Knit Camp in August... I think I'd better start saving money now.... :D

Monogamously Mariah

2010-03-29T01:47:00.002Z

I've been working non-stop and exclusively on my Mariah sweater (pattern from knitty.com here) for the past couple of weeks. It's been 13 days and I'm on the hood now, I reckon the knittiing will be finished in a couple of days. I'll still need to find a zip and sew the seams, but that shouldn't take too long. I'm very excited about the sweater nearly being done, and I want to wear it now!

I've made a couple of mods with this version. The last time I made this sweater, I just followed the pattern straight, and I hardly paid any attention to what was actually happening, it seems. I couldn't even remember how the yoke was put together. You knit the pieces on straight needles up to the armholes, then you join them all and work raglan shaping. I think when I made it last, I didn't even know what raglan shaping was. I just did what the pattern told me. It turned out great, but it's so different to use a pattern and actually to understand what's going on.

The first mod I made was in the raglan shaping, and it was actually unintentional. Instead of decreasing, knitting the 2 stitches either side of the stitch marker, then decreasing again, I just decreased either side of the marker, without the knit stitches in between. There was a decrease right at the edge, at the beginning of the shaping, to remove the selvedge stitches, and I just continued decreasing at that point, without going on to read the next bit of the pattern correctly. It looks fine though. I didn't actually notice till I was about 10 rows into the shaping, and there was no way I was ripping back all of those yoke stitches!

Oh, actually I'd made a change in the arm patterning before that. You're supposed to increase in the rib pattern, adding cables when you have enough stitches, but I just increased in stockinette. It just looked tidier, and I couldn't be bothered fiddling about adding in all those extra cables ;)

I changed the top of the sleeve too. When you finish the main cable pattern, you're supposed to work up to the neck in the cable rib pattern, but again, I just went straight into stockinette for the tidiness, and the ease of working decreases into it.

Also, I was working the medium size, but then I continued decreasing in the yoke until I had the right number of stitches for the small size. One thing I had noticed with my original sweater was that it sat kind of low down on the shoulders, so I wanted a little extra fabric to bring it closer to the neck. It makes it a little more snug around the neck too, so it won't be slipping down all the time.

Normally I wouldn't make all these mods, I would just follow the pattern even if I wanted to change something, because I would think the pattern must be right, it must be me that is wrong. Maybe it's because I've made this pattern before, or maybe I'm getting a bit more confident with my knitting. I think it's probably a bit of both, but it's quite liberating thinking "oh, I'll just change that" and going straight ahead and doing it. It definitely helps that I now know a lot more about sweater construction anyway. Who knows, maybe I'll become one of those knitters who can just look at a pattern and hugely modify it straight off! I've often been jealous when people say stuff like "I liked the cable pattern, so I just put it into this sweater, and tweaked the numbers, and added some shaping as well." Actually, come to think of it, shaping is something that scares me a little. I didn't add any into this sweater. I don't quite get the 3d-ness of it all. Maybe I'll have to try adding that into something soon, to get over that :) I'll be a fearless knitter eventually, lol!!

(some pretty cable pictures!)

Improvisation

2010-03-21T15:44:00.001Z

Belly dance post this time! It feels like ages since I've written one of these, and now I have about 3 of them to write and post! :)

A couple of weeks ago I performed my very first improvised dance. I danced to "Zapphire of Love" by Hossam Ramzy, and basically the only bit where I planned what I was going to do was the very beginning where I used a veil. Even that ended up changing somewhat on the night though! In the past, I've made up choreographies, or planned out much more than that at least. I've improvised a little with Isis Wings, but really, they're pretty easy to improvise with, and very easy to hide behind. In this dance, it was just me (after I'd chucked the veil away after the first section!)

I was pretty terrified before I went on. I'd been practicing dancing to the song, just improvising, but to be honest, that practice hadn't gone well. I'd usually stopped halfway through the song, dejected at how little moves I seemed to know. But I made myself go on to the floor, telling myself it'd be easier when I got the adrenaline from actually performing.

And it was! There were a few times where it felt like I was repeating what I'd done 10 seconds before, but no real times where I ran out of moves. And it was easier to fill up the time with audience interaction (I can't really pretend doing it to empty chairs, I need the actual people there to interact with).

I actually enjoyed just dancing to the music, instead of trying to remember a choreography and then panicking when it disappears from my head. It was kind of interesting to see what moves just "came out".

I'd gone to a workshop a while ago (with Lorna Gow), where she had given tips for improvising to Egyptian music. One of the tips she gave was to seperate the music into different emotional sections, and she gave examples of how to do that. That advice was really helpful when preparing for the performance. At first during my practice, I was totally overwhelmed by the music, trying to fit moves to every bit of the music, but remembering her workshop, I calmed down a bit and just tried to feel the "emotion" of the music. That worked much better, and I think it made for a better dance. I know that when I choreograph, I have a tendancy to try to hit every single accent, which can be a bit frantic in a Hossam Ramzy piece :D I don't know if I'd have had the confidence to improvise to this piece of music if it wasn't for that workshop. Actually, one of the other bellydance posts I have to write is about another Lorna workshop! She's so fabulous!!

I'm dancing (improvising) again to the same piece of music in a few weeks at another hafla, so it'll be interesting to see how it turns out that time. I think some of the moves will end up being the same, but the audience layout is completely different at this venue, so I'll have to change what I'm doing just on the basis of that, as well as because it's not rehearsed. There is a video of this last performance, but I won't be able to get it for another few weeks, so you'll have to wait to see it, I'm afraid... ;)

Repetition

2010-03-14T11:00:00.003Z

There's something very soothing about making the same pattern over and over, especially if it's something small that can be completed in a couple of hours. Then by the end of the day you've got three or four of the items. It makes you feel very productive!

There were the ruffley flowers that I wrote about last time, and I also discovered this other flower pattern: Spiral Flower Headband / Earwarmer by Shana Galbraith. I love this flower! I really like the spiralling effect of the petals. So I made 3 ;)

I think I like the orange one best, even though the purple one photographs best - I seem to be in an orange mood right now, which is strange since the colour isn't actually that flattering on me unless it's a very bright orange. Which this larger flower is, thankfully. ;)

I wanted to try the flower pattern in different colours to see what it looked like, and also because by the time the first flower was done, I felt like I was only just getting the hang of the pattern. I don't know what I'll use them for, maybe more tribal costuming. I'm still undecided on whether to make the headband as in the pattern, or to make a belt.

I also made this cute little bow!!

Actually, I made 2 of them in red, and I'm going to make many more in different colours!

I love it! It's so cute! I've been wandering around holding it up to everyone's head and giggling about how cute they look. (the bf looked surprisingly adorable, even with a grumpy, get-that-thing-away-from-me expression) In fact, I think I may have to photoshop a pic of Tupac with this bow on, Hello Kitty style ;D Stay tuned for that!

Oh, in all my raving, I almost forgot to say what pattern it is! It's the "Headband with Bow" pattern by creativeyarn . That one's a free download. It's actually super easy, and very quick to make. I used some random cotton from the stash for that, crocheting it very tightly. The yarn is a DK weight cotton, and I used a 2mm hook. Super tight!!

And, in the spirit of repetition, I cast on another Mariah cardi on Saturday. The first one, I wrote about here.

I've had this brown yarn for a while. It's an acrylic that my mum gave me, and I've been trying to figure out what it wanted to be for ages. I just couldn't think of the right pattern. I wanted something cabley, but not too cabley. I knew I wanted some sort of cardigan/jacket. And even though I've knit this pattern before, my brain just didn't register it till yesterday when I was thinking about all this repetition I've been doing recently. Suddenly it struck me that I could knit the same sweater pattern again!! Gasp!! (Seriously, it was a bit like that, strangely enough. It actually felt like a bit of a revelation that I could use this pattern instead of finding something new. Weird!)

I knit about 7" of the back on Saturday, and another 5 inches yesterday. I think I'm actually liking this yarn in the pattern a lot more than the red. This yarn's a little thicker, and it's showing off the cables beautifully. I decided to start with the back instead of the cabled sleeves as the pattern says because that felt just a little too involved last night. Ribbing and stocking stitch, I can just about handle that just now ;)

Little Ruffley Flower Obsession

2010-03-09T23:13:00.003Z

I had another incident of seeing a pattern come up on ravelry's recently added pattern page, and having to make it right now. I seem to have a few of these incidents, that pattern page is quite addictive!

These were made using the pattern "Ruffled Crochet Flower" by Shala. It's a free ravelry download. I saw the pattern come up and just thought wow, tribal costume! (Probably because I was at a hafla the night before with lots of fabby dancing and costumes). So I downloaded and printed the pattern, and proceeded to make 3 of them in one day!

The pattern calls for thread and a 1.5mm hook - I used some random orange thread from my stash of crochet cotton, and a 2mm hook, cos that's what was nearby. It worked fine :) The pattern's written up well and easy to follow. The first one took about 3 hours, but I'm getting the time down now :)

I'm envisioning loads of tribal costume ideas using this pattern. I want to add them to a belt, I want to make hairfalls with them, and I want to just add them to everything in my wardrobe!! The original has a button in the middle, making it look more flowerlike, I think black buttons would look great in the middle of all that orange...

Sigh, if only when I thought of something, it would just appear! I'm too impatient, I want these costume pieces now!! But I think I'd be swamped with knitted and crocheted items if that happened, so it's probably best just to go through the process (I'm such a product knitter/crocheter!) I'm having lots of fun making these little flowers though.

And they're so scrunchy in the cotton thread! I keep squishing them in my hand just to feel the texture. I think I finally understand the appeal of tawashi, if not washcloths just yet.

Must go make more...

Hebi Socks - Pattern Now Available

2010-03-02T14:41:00.003Z

Yay, I finished my Ravleympics project in time! The pattern was knit, checked over and over and over and over, and published on Sun 28th Feb 2010, with only a few hours to spare till closing ceremonies.

These are the Hebi socks, so named because the cable and lace pattern reminds me of the patterning on a snake's back (Hebi means snake in Japanese). It might be the green colour that looks so reptilian, but my feet did kind of look like big snakes to me :)

The sample is knit in Regia 4 fadig, in colourway no. 327, on 2.75mm needles (US size 2). I used about 1.75 balls, which is approx 402 yards (368m), but if you have two balls of Regia then you'll be fine. Of course, any fingering/sock weight yarn can be substituted. The pattern is written for a women's medium foot/leg, but if you need it to be bigger, then you can substitute bigger yarn and needles.

I would suggest using a solid coloured yarn for these socks to show the pattern. I tried it in a variegated, and it didn't really work, though of course the choice is yours :)

They're knit cuff down, and the pattern is both written and charted. The yarn overs make the pattern quite stretchy, but it's tempered by the cables twisting, so the finished socks are very comfortable.

The pattern is available to buy on Ravelry, or you can use this link to buy

I'm very pleased with these socks. The snake-like aspect was totally unexpected. I just charted and knit, and I like very much how they turned out.

Ravelympic-ing

2010-02-23T13:33:00.005Z

If you're on Ravelry, you'll no doubt know all about the Ravleympics - a group event challenging ourselves during the winter Olympics. I'm taking part this year, in the team for the Manic Purl podcast (it's one of my favourite podcasts, and she's based in Vancouver where the Olympics are actually taking place, so I figured that would be the team for me. Go TeamManicPurl!!!

I was going to knit and write up a shrug pattern that I've been thinking about for ages, but the sizes were really too much to think about at the moment. There would only have been two measurements, back width and arm circumference, but it was really too much to think about. So, a few days after the Ravelympics had begun, when I still had nothing cast on or even thought about, I decided to change tack. I'm pretty much used to desigining socks by now, I've got the hang of all the sizes and measurements for that, so I decided I would design a pair of socks for the Olympics. This was about 3 days into the 17 day event. Goodness knows what I was thinking!!

So I spent the first day swatching and trying to come up with a pattern for the socks. That went kind of well, except the yarn I was using wasn't really showing the pattern up. So I switched to another yarn, but this one was too variegated to show up the pattern.

It photographs well enough as you can see, but it was just invisible in real life. So I went to a solid yarn.

Finally it's working!! I'm nearly at the toe shaping on the first sock, and I'm very excited about the pattern. I just had to post pics to show you all! Normally I would be a bit wary of posting photos before I publish the pattern, (I've already come across one pattern that may just have been a coincidence, but it was very similar to another that someone had been talking in depth about, and well, part of me doesn't really believe it was a coincidence... but I just won't knit that one, that's all) but it's my intention to knit the 2nd sock and have the pattern published by Sunday the 28th. Um yeah, that's only 5 more days. But I think it's do-able. It might drive me insane, but I think I can do it. So long as I can stay off Ravelry and Facebook, that is!

A Couple More FOs (IntSweMoDo #3, and Vest-uary)

2010-02-21T13:36:00.003Z

I'm trying to catch up on photographing my knitting. My ravelry page is full of white spaces with no picture! So here's a couple that I finished over the past month or so:

These are the first in my attempt to knit every pair of socks in the book "Favorite Socks". They're the Diagonal Cross-Rib Socks by Ann Budd (I love her patterns!). I went through a couple of yarns trying to find one that showed the pattern, that didn't pool - I seem to be having some trouble recently picking out the right yarn for socks first time! But this yarn - Regia 4 fadig in colourway 1936 - is just perfect for them! The yarn is light enough to show the pattern, and the variations look quite nice with the pattern. I love these socks!!

And I love this top!!! It's the "Perfect Periwinkle Turtleneck Tube Vest" by Stefanie Japel from the book "Fitted Knits". I used Teddy Vanguard acrylic yarn for this top, and it took all two balls that I had (about 560 yards). It was knit top down though, so I could just keep going till the yarn ran out. And there was absolutely no seaming at all! Fantastic!! When I was done, I was done!! I like that :)

The only thing about this pattern (and the whole book really) is that it is full of errata. Before you make anything from that book, I advise you to download the errata pdf here. I think just about every set of numbers in this pattern was wrong. Only the basic outline of the pattern was correct (at least in my size). The pattern is fantastic, but if it wasn't for ravelry, I probably would have just gone ahead and tried to make it as is. I don't think that would have gone well. But with the errata file, everything was fine :)

This vest is my IntSweMoDo project #3 (1/4 of the way done already!), and my project for Vest-uary, a knitalong of vests during the month of February. I'm doing the ravlympics just now (I'll post about that soon!) though so I can't do another vest for Vest-uary, or another sweater till at least the end of the month. This one though, I just love it! If only it would warm up a bit around here!

Monet Ellipse Socks - Pattern Now Available

2010-02-20T12:08:00.001Z

I mentioned that on my brief hiatus from blogland, I had actually been knitting lots, and I've been designing too! Now that my brain is becoming a bit less fried, I've even had a chance to write things up :)

These are the Monet Ellipse socks, available to buy from Ravelry, or you can can use this link to buy the pattern.

They're named after the impressionist artist Monet, for the way in which the pattern really comes into its own when stretched around a foot.

I think the pattern is very good for semi-solid and variegated yarns, and it came out quite pretty in the pink colourway (Zitron Trekking XXL colour 305). The cabled ellipses create a vertical pattern which goes nicely with any horizontal one created by such a yarn, and it would also look fantastic in a solid colourway. The pattern calls for any sock/fingering weight yarn and 2.75 needles.

I've written the directions in 3 sizes, as cables have a tendancy to pull in, even when used with ribbing as in this pattern. I recommend making a size larger than normal, for this reason.

I hope you like this pattern :) I enjoyed knitting them, they're quite fast and enjoyable to knit. The cables provide variation and interest, and I think I may actually make some more of these soon...!

A New Craft and New Supplies...

2010-02-18T15:09:00.006Z

As if I need anything else to fill up my time or head with, I have been drawn to the dark side, and last week I got myself a drop spindle!!

I haven't even attempted to spin anything yet, it's actually a bit intimidating! I'm watching lots of youtube vids and sort of getting my head around it first :D

I got the kit at Twist Fibre Craft Studios. I went to Newburgh for a completely different purpose, but of course I had to go in and buy lots of yarn-y goodness.

3 balls of sock yarn. The pink was to go with the leftovers from a previous pair of socks actually (you'll be seeing them soon!), so that was totally necessary, otherwise I'd have had 1/3 of a ball left over. We can't have that now, can we????

I'm going to make some sort of cowl with the brightly coloured yarn, and am not sure about the reddy-orangey one yet, but it looks pretty :)

I also bought 3 balls of alpaca yarn! It's Artesano Alpaca 4 ply, and I'm going to knit a sweater for tribal dance with it. Big open garter stitch, I think it'll look quite cool. That's going to be my IntSweMoDo2010 project number 4. That was also a completely necessary purchase in order to make this project. :D

I love going in to Twist Fibre and browsing all the different yarn. Only trouble is it results in huge purchases like this :) At least I managed to resist the books and magazines, my queue is already quite big enough!

IntSweMoDo2010 Sweater #2 Completed!

2010-02-17T15:00:00.003Z

I haven't been about on blogland so much lately :( My brain has not had much space for that recently. It seems like I've been super busy and stressed and have only had head space for quick things like Facebook or Ravelry (not even uploading pics on Rav either, just browsing patterns and forums). So I guess what had to give was blogging and posting about knitting here and on Rav. But I want to get back into it, so here goes... :)

I have been knitting tons though. Knitting is very good for emptying my head and getting back into a rhythm. I've finished the next item on my IntSweMoDo2010 project list.

It's the "Woman's Textured Sleeveless Pullover (C179)" by Melissa Leapman (rav link). It's a free pattern from the Cascade Yarns website, you can get it here. I didn't use Cascade yarn though, I used James C. Brett Aran With Wool in a wine colour. I used a size smaller needles and a larger size in the pattern to get the right size for me (the gauge was a little tighter, but that's the way I like it with that yarn. It recommends 5mm needles, but I think it looks too loose when I use that size. Gauge is right, but it just looks wrong.)

I really liked knitting this vest. I actually made it in January, but I just got around to taking pics and uploading and blogging just now :( Lack of headspace.

So this is the 2nd of my IntSweMoDo sweaters. I've actually knitted a third (another vest) already, but again, I need to take pics, upload and actually write about it. I'll be starting my 4th sweater soon. So far it seems like I can knit two a month. Although they're not full blown sweater sweaters, they still count ;) Now if I could only do the rest of the stuff that goes with it. But I think things are starting to calm down around here though, so I hope I'll be around a lot more.

Spam :(

2010-02-09T09:57:00.002Z

Just a quick comment to say that I've had to change some of the settings on my blog beause I've been getting a bunch of spam comments recently. :( I've put word verification on, and I changed the people allowed to comment to "registered users (includes OpenID)". So what I assume that means is that people won't be allowed to post under "anonymous" any more. But I'm not entirely sure, so if anyone commenting has any problems, please email me at the address in the top of the right sidebar, and I'll try to sort it out.

Seriously, I don't get the point of spam. I mean, does anyone reading a blog post about knitting or dancing seriously read the other comments, and think "Wow, top meds???? I need me some of those!!!" and proceed to click the highly suspicious link? No, I don't think so. So what's the point? Sigh. The internets can be strange...

Project 365 8-14

2010-01-21T05:41:00.003Z

Yay, project365 is still going! Not a day missed so far :)

Jan 08

I was trying to get a picture of something else in the room, and put the camera down after I'd finished. As I took a step back, I realised that this actually made a better picture than the one I'd just taken. So I grabbed my smaller camera and took this picture instead. :)

Jan 09

This was the last big snowfall round here. We got an inch overnight.

Jan 10

This is a little decorative thing the bf set up. I changed the colours in Photoshop to sepia-ise it.

Jan 11

This was the first day that the clouds went away, and the snow started melting. The snow was really pretty, and I have to say snow is my favourite weather, but it's not very practical for living daily life in. Especially since with the slightest bit of snow, everything in Britain seems to grind to a halt. So this little bit of blue sky was very welcome.

Jan 12

New glasses! I mentioned them in my last post. I got them on a Tuesday, so it seemed appropriate for self portrait Tuesday to take a picture of myself in them! I'm not so sure I like this picture, but this project is at least forcing myself to look at myself and be honest about what I look like. Which can only be a good thing, right?

Jan 13

There has to be a picture of Tupac! :D Here he is, messing up the new throw that we got for the sofa. Anything new, he has to cover in his hair. You know, just in case we start thinking it's ours or something ;)

Jan 14

This was a fortuitous arranging of things on the table. I just looked at the table, and the things were like this, so I grabbed my camera :)

I think I'm getting a bit better at grabbing photo opportunities by doing this project. I hadn't realised that quite a few of them this week had been just taking pictures of things that were already there, instead of having to arrange a shot. I've noticed some themes coming out of this project already, it'll be interesting to see how it goes on.

IntSweMoDo Sweater #1 Completed!!

2010-01-21T05:27:00.003Z

I completed my first sweater of the year the other day!

The pattern is the February Fitted Pullover by Amy Herzog, available on ravelry here.
It's based on the February Lady Sweater, which if you're on Ravelry, you'll have seen went totally viral as soon as it came up. I made one of those myself in purple, and I totally love it, so when I saw the pullover version come up, I had to put it in my queue.

I bought the yarn last year off of ebay. As soon as I saw the colour I knew it would look great in this pattern (it's Woolcraft Aran yarn, BTW.) It comes in 400g balls (875yards/800m), and I used nearly a whole ball making this sweater. I had a tiny little ball left at the end. I had bought two balls of it, just in case, so now I need to find something else to make using the other ball! :D

I saved the actual knitting of this sweater till after the new year, becauase I wanted it to be part of my IntSweMoDo2010 project. It's my first sweater out of (hopefully!) at least 12 this year. It knit up very fast, and the pattern was very easy to follow. I had to do a bit of thinking around the shoulder and neck area to keep the lace pattern going, but it wasn't too hard to figure out, actually.

The top photo is actually one of my project365 photos as well as one of my photos for self portrait Tuesday, and 52 weeks of self portraits! I'm such a multi-tasker ;)

I really like this sweater. I think it looks very cute, and with the shirt underneath, it's really warm. Just right for this weather, lol!

Oh, and the top picture also shows my new glasses! I decided to get my eyes tested since my right eye was really getting quite blurry. Turns out I have an astigmatism in that eye, so it's a funny shape, and that's why my vision in that eye is blurry. The left eye is nearly perfect, it's practically plain glass in that side! But it's great being able to see without squinting and straining my left eye. I was getting headaches from the strain of it trying to compensate, and it's fantastic not to have had any headaches for the past week or so! I can play my DS again, yay!!!

Project 365 1-7

2010-01-09T19:47:00.002Z

Well, I started doing project 365 on New Years Day, which is where you take a picture every day for an entire year. I tried it before and only lasted for just over a month, I think, so hopefully this time I'll manage more. I've got a flickr set with all my photos here, and I'll post them here with a short description. To be honest, I think it'll be a bit easier this time around, because I went to a digital photography class last year, and I understand a bit more about cameras now. I can experiment with different settings on those days when inspiration is a bit harder to come by, and generally try different things out. So here's my first week of photos.

Jan 01

This is some tinsel really close up. I wanted something festive but not christmas-y, and the light was shining really nicely off of this tinsel. I have two standing lamps in my living room, and always wrap tinsel around the stands at Christmas time so the light shines directly down onto it, and it looks all pretty and stuff :)

Jan 02

This is my dog Tupac in the back garden while snow is falling. I think he's a bit confused here. He really likes to jump around in the snow, but hates it when rain or snow is falling onto him. I'll try not to make this a 365 of Tupac pictures, but he does look cute :)

Jan 03

A cat washing in the middle of the road. In the snow. This cat wasn't budging at all. This was his bit of snow and he was staying there till he'd finished doing what he was doing!!

Jan 04

This is Tupac in his more normal "snow mode". Running up and down the garden being completely mad!

Jan 05

Self portrait :) I'm trying to incorporate other projects into my 365. This is part of self-portrait Tuesday (there used to be a blog for that, but I think it's just a flickr group now, the blog is gone), and "52 weeks of self portraits"

Jan 06

This is my favourite so far. I was experimenting with longer shutter speeds in the dark. This is a fibre-optic lighty uppy thing from the pound shop that changes colour.

Jan 07

And number 7! I've noticed recently a whole lot of stupid notices and stuff on packaging. Like how to open a box, for example. Not kidding! The photo's on my flickr stream here. These are two Ariel bottles with apparantly different measurements of liquid inside. The older one on the left has 666ml of liquid, the newer one on the right has 667. Where did the extra ml come from? Is it even in the bottle, or are Ariel just pandering to somebody who complained? Anyway, I thought it was mildly amusing. I've decided to make a whole other flickr set for every stupid packaging label I see from now on. Sadly, I think it's going to fill up kinda fast...

So the first week of my 365 project went OK. I'm still motivated, and still have plenty of ideas. I think incorporating other projects like the self portrait thing will make it easier by adding a bit of structure.

Oh, and I've noticed quite a lot of people are doing project365 this year in the blogs I read. If you're doing one, let me know so I can come look at your photos!!

The Obligatory New Year's Resolutions Post

2010-01-04T01:42:00.000Z

Well, it's that time of year again, when we all start to think about what we want to acheive in the coming year, and when new goals and resolutions are born :) Some die pretty quickly (last year's quest to lose weight? Yeah, not so much!) but I still feel obliged to make these goals. I figure in the pursuit of them, something will happen that will be good. I'll at least be a little closer to what I wanted to achieve.

Last year I resolved to learn to knit colourwork, and I did. I can now do stranded knitting and double knitting. I didn't do as much of it as I thought I would at the beginning of the year, and that first fair isle sweater is still some way off, but I'm happy with what I did manage to achieve.

This year, I've joined the IntSweMoDo2010 group on Ravelry, which has the goal of making 12 sweaters in 2010 (InstSweMoDo stands for International Sweater a Month Dodecathon). So that's the first goal, to knit or crochet 12 sweaters. I think that should be do-able, so long as I don't have a big knitting flump in the summer like last year.

Secondly, I want to knit my way through all the socks in the book Favorite Socks (rav link) This one is just me, no group behind it, I just love all those patterns so much! This one is probably do-able, but I'm not sure about it all being done in a year. But hey, even if I only make a few, I'll still have some pretty cool socks!

That's it for the knitting goals. There's the usual lose weight, get fit, dance more type of resolutions. The bf's giving up smoking, so that should be fun over the next few days!!

Oh, and I also want to do project 365 this year, and take a photo every day for a year. I've managed the three days so far, go me!! (I'll do a seperate post for that) I've joined the project 365 flickr group, and the project 365 ers group on ravelry, so hopefully that should keep me motivated.

So I'm definitely going to be busy over the next year! It'll be interesting to see how far I get with each of these goals!

Happy New Year!!!!!

2010-01-02T14:52:00.007Z

I hope you all had a wonderful time over the holidays!

My Christmas was very nice. On Christmas Day we had the bf's family over. That was good, it meant everyone was there all at the one time, the living room was stuffed full of people! The bf had a cold so I had to make the dinner "so he wouldn't spread his germs" :D I got him to stand behind me and tell me what to do though - he's totally the chef round here, not me! But I made roast beef and potatoes with onions and mustard, and it all went well, and tasted pretty good, if I do say so myself!

I got lots of lovely things for Christmas. I got two games for my DS - Professor Layton and pandora's Box, and Chrono Trigger. I really enjoyed the last Professor Layton game that I got last year, and I really like old style RPGs like Chrono Trigger. I also ordered Harvest Moon - Island of Happiness with some money I got for Christmas :)

I got two bellydance belts:

and I also got lots of warm things to snuggle up in, which turned out to be just the thing I needed in this weather! I got pyjamas, slippers that look like bunnies, and a slanket!! I am now officially a slanket owner! ;)

Those turned out to be doubly useful since I caught the bf's cold just after Christmas. I spend most of the time between Christmas and New Year sniffling and feeling sorry for myself. Honestly, it was such a bad cold! I went totally man-flu on my bf and moaned at him the entire time. Poor him! I spend the actual New Year's night in my bed, because my nose would not stop running, and I just felt awful. So I texted everyone early, switched my phone off and went to sleep. I woke up for a while when some fireworks went off, but there weren't as many this year as last year. The snow must have been too much!

Speaking of which, we got another two inches here overnight!! This is what it was like at my parents on Boxing Day:

and this is it here now:

I'm feeling a lot better now, whatever bug it was seems to have pretty much sorted itself out, and I actually feel human again, if a little sniffy and coughy. But I can't tell you how great it feels to be able to breathe out of my nose again!! Such a little thing, but it makes so much of a difference!

I hope 2010 is a great year for everyone out there! Happy New Year!!

Borders UK in Administation :(

2009-12-20T11:04:00.000Z

Probably most of you know of this already, but the book store Borders has gone into administration (at least, the UK division has, I don't know about other countries) :( Another casualty of the recession, I suppose.

I didn't actually hear about it till last week, and I didn't actually believe it till I went down to my parents house and passed the Borders store in Glasgow and saw all the closing down sale signs. It made me feel really sad. Whenever I go to my parents house to visit, it involves a long bus journey, and I have to change at Glasgow. So I would always pop in when I passed, and more often than not, buy a book (usually a knittng book) or a magazine or two or three. ;)

I went in to look at the sale, and it was so sad to see all the half-empty shelves. I felt like a total vulture looking round them all. The knitting and crochet section, which is where I went first, was totally decimated.

I bought a couple of books in the Glasgow store: Favorite Socks from Interweave Press, and Wrapped in Crochet by Kristen Omdahl. I'd been very interested in Wrapped in Crochet for ages, but it hadn't actually been on the shelves in the Glasgow store till then (I'd been looking for it specifically). Favorite Socks, well that was a bit of a vulture purchase. I'd seen it before, but hadn't been that interested when I flicked through it. But I figured with 30% off, it would be worth it. Then I looked at it more in depth on the bus home.

OMG, I want to make everything in that book! Seriously. I think next year I'll be doing my own Favorite Socks KAL - I guess it's not really a knit-a-long if you're the only one doing it though ;) and knitting through all the patterns in this book. I think this is the first book where I've actually seen the potential in all the patterns. Even with Cookie A's book, I love most of the patterns but there are a few that I'm not so interested in, or just plain wouldn't wear. But with Favorite Socks, I think I would knit and wear all of them.

I went to the Dundee store with some friends as well, and bought some other books, but they're not knitting or dance related. One was about lighting in photography, something that I'm realising I need to understand much more in depth. One was a book with Japanese patterns, and one was a book on Japanese death poetry. I thought the bf would like that for his Christmas ;) Yep, he's almost as weird as myself!

Anyway, Borders shutting down made me think about how different the high street in the UK looks compared to ten or even five years ago. There are almost no cd or record stores now. There used to be about 3 in every town that I can think of. There was space for HMV, Our Price, Virgin and loads of others to compete. And the pattern of them closing and being replaced by online stores seems to be repeating with book stores. It's really sad. I know that online stores like amazon have a lot more choice, and cheaper prices in general, but it's still sad that the options for high street purchases are rapidly diminishing. Sometimes it's good to just go into a store and look about to see what catches your eye, but that's becoming ever more impossible. I think you can stumble across some really interesting things in brick and mortar stores, that you just wouldn't come across on the internet. Of course, that argument works both ways, you can come across interesting things on the internet that stores just wouldn't stock, but I think it's important to have choice.

I guess what I'm saying is: whenever you can afford it, please buy things from brick and mortar stores. I buy a lot of things online because prices are cheaper, some things are easier to find online, and it's convenient. But is convenience a good reason for encouraging losing choice? I'm beginning to re-evaluate my own shopping behaviour, and I think I'll be changing some of it soon. For instance, Woolworths used to be the main store to buy a lot of household items, and now that's gone, I find I need to buy a lot of small things from ebay sellers because they're just not in the stores. Sewing equipment for example. So whenever I see something online that I could buy from a local store, I'll be going to the local store, if I can afford the increased price at that time (and the increased price isn't too much more)

To be honest, I'm not sure if anything can slow down this trend of high street stores closing, or if it's just a natural consequence of the internet. Things do change in life, after all, and maybe this is just the way shopping in a capitalist culture is evolving. But I do know that I think choice is important, and I think I'll have to look at my own behaviour to see how I can encourage choice.

Yarn Review - Stylecraft Baby DK

2009-12-14T15:21:00.002Z

This was the yarn I used for the socks I just wrote about in my last post, and I thought I'd write a little review of it, since some things came to mind when I was knitting with it. I used it to make the socks that I made my Mum for Christmas, and also made a pair for myself. I knit it pretty tight, on 2.75 needles (4mm are what are recommended on the ball band), to make a thicker fabric for the socks.

It knit up into the socks quite nicely. It's soft and comfortable against my feet, and they make a nice pair of house socks, being relatively thick. I don't know how they'd hold up in shoes, but my intention is just to have a thicker pair of socks for the house, to keep my feet warm in winter.

The yarn comes in 200g (590m/645 yards) balls, which was enough to make 2 women's socks with approx 10" cuffs, and one with 8" of cuff. I bought another ball to finish making Mum's socks, but I'm going to use the rest for yet another pair of socks (but probably patterned this time).

I really liked working with this yarn. It's really quite soft, and if I was making something for a baby that had to be machine washable, I'd definitely consider using this yarn. I think it would be soft enough, and the lilac I used is a really pretty shade.

Actually, when I was knitting with it, I got this strange feeling that it didn't actually feel like acrylic. It just felt too soft, and shiny, like cotton. In fact, I actually felt this way so much that I had to check the ball band to see if there was any cotton in it. I was pretty sure it was 100% acrylic (which is turned out to be), but it just felt like cotton in my hands, you know? And it has a slight sheen, just like some cottons that I've come across. It is 100% acrylic, which is what I had thought when I picked it up in the shop, I just thought it was odd that in my hands, it felt like cotton. Not bad odd, in fact I really liked it. It might even be a nice yarn for a scarf or something. Being acrylic, it won't be as warm as a wool pair of socks, or scarf, but it feels nice against my skin. I think it would make a nice scarf for the spring season.

The stitch definition is very clear too, again, like cotton. You can see it in the photos of the socks.

One problem I had was that the yarn was a little splitty. I've had this problem with other Stylecraft yarns (Special and Life, which I mentioned in this post) It was probably exacerbated by the fact that I was using smaller than recommended needles, but overall, I think it's just the way Stylecraft yarns are spun. With the Baby DK though, it behaves so much like cotton, that any splitting is quite visible. In fact, the way that the yarn split and behaved was another thing that made me think it had some cotton in it.

Overall, I really like this yarn, and I think I'll defintely use it again. It's soft, and I think makes a nice alternative to cotton, because it behaves so much like it. Like I said, I think I would use it in a spring scarf, or a baby sweater or something. Next time I'm in the yarn store actually, I think I'll have a look and see what other colours they have ;)

The Obligatory Christmas Preparation Post

2009-12-14T14:52:00.004Z

This year I hadn't really planned to do much Christmas knitting (kind of like last years actually), but I did a couple of things. Of course, for one of them, I didn't actually get the idea until December had already arrived (again, the same as last year!)

I thought I had posted about these when I made them, but evidently I didn't. I think I must have avoided it because I didn't want to upload the pics to Flickr as my sister is on there and can see my account. So I apparantly just uploaded the pics to ravelry. Now I'll have to upload them here directly. So anyway, they're socks for my sister. I made them waaaay back in June, and it was kind of an accidental Christmas present. I made a pair for myself out of the James C Brett Magi Knit DK

(on 2.5mm needles) (it took 68 sts to get the pattern to line up correctly) and when I was about half way through them I realised my sister might like them. Being very selfish, I didn't want to give those ones up, so I made another pair for her. So that was the first Christmas present out of the way, bought or made.

Mum is getting a pair of socks like these, but with slightly smaller (length ways) cuffs.

Mine (I had to made a pair for myself of course!) are 8" after 20 rows of ribbing, Mum's are 6" after the ribbing. I just made the feet the same for mine and hers (and my sister's) because we all have the same size feet. I hope they fit OK! :)

I knit these with Stylecraft Baby DK in lilac, with 2.75 needles. Just a plain sock with a heel flap, 68 stitches around so they're comfortable house socks and not too tight. Using the DK made a thicker fabric, so even though they're acrylic, they'll be quite warm in the winter.

And actually, that's all the Christmas knitting that's been done around here.

I've done most of my Christmas shopping as well. I only have one Christmas gift to buy, and a birthday gift. These people who have birthdays around Christmas!!! :D I was very organized this year, usually I'm rushing around the week before Christmas trying to find something. But this year, I ordered half of the stuff off the internet, and got the rest in 2 shopping trips. Not bad!! I still have to order the Christmas food off of Tesco's site for delivery, but other than that, Christmas here is organized! Yay!! Now if I can just wish hard enough for some snow it would be perfect! ;)

Purging Evil Yarn

2009-11-29T22:32:00.004Z

One thing about me, at heart I'm a hoarder. I'll hang onto stuff for ages, years even, after it's become apparent to me (and everyone around me) that it's just clutter, with no use or reason to be in my house. This includes yarn. Yarn such as this:

It's a giant cone of very, very thin yarn that I got off eBay. I saw the colours, and some random numbers which would have told me that it was thinner than sewing thread, had I bothered to find out what they meant. Needless to say, I ignored the numbers, and bid for the yarn.

(Apparently everyone else must have known what the numbers meant, cos I won it and got it quite cheap)

On the cone, the colours are quite nice. The photo on eBay was obviously taken in very bright light which made it look much more autumn-y. So even if you ignore the tiny, thin threadlike yarn that looks loose on 2.25mm needles, it still had something going for it, didn't it?

No. It did not. I tried knitting up a swatch of the yarn (on 2.25mm needles, of course), and aside from the fabric being all loose and holey, the colours looked awful. Seriously, seriously bad. The brown and salmon-pink pooled and mixed together with the white to make it all look . . . dirty. It wasn't dirty, but the colours together just looked like sludge. So, disheartened, I put it on the shelf in the spare room.

It's stayed there for a couple of years now, being studiously ignored by myself, and I swear even the other yarn in the stash gives it a wide berth! Yesterday, I got this fantastic idea that I could cast on double the amount of stitches I would need for a scarf, and knit it in a tube. This would increase the thickness of the terribly thin fabric, and it would look fab, all drapey and wonderful (I'd forgotten about the hellacious colour mixing).

Today, I cast it on. I would have needed 140 sts for a relatively skinny scarf! But I persevered and knit a couple of rows. The stitches caught on the end of the cable as I knit magic loop, and I had to tug at it to get it past. And even though it didn't actually squeak, this was some seriously bad acrylic. It felt . . . slimy, even though it wasn't actually dirty. Shudder. I am by no means a fibre snob, not at all, I love to knit with acrylic and in fact that's mainly what I do knit with. You can get some really wonderful acrylics, I think. This however, was not one of them.

Anyway, have you noticed the past tense all through this post? Yup, I gave up. The scarf has been ripped (actually I couldn't even bring myself to do that, I just broke the yarn and threw the tiny amount of knitting I'd done into the bin). And the yarn, well, it is no longer considered part of my stash. Ordinarily I would put it in the charity shop with no further thoughts, but this yarn is so bad. I'm half tempted to throw it straight in the bin. However, I don't think my Scottish frugality will let me do that, so I guess it'll be going off to the charity shop.

Maybe somebody out there will actually like the yarn. Maybe somebody will be able to find a use for it. Personally, I doubt it, and kind of hope that no-one else gets suckered into buying it, but I guess it's possible, and as long as there's that hope I feel too guilty to just plain chuck it.

Actually, it's kind of a release. In my head, it's now gone, even though it's just in the hallway waiting to vacate the premises. I'm not one for stash purges (too hoard-y), but this one feels goooooooood!!! Now to cast something on, in some nice yarn!!

Bias Stripe Cowl Pattern Available For Sale!!

2009-11-23T20:37:00.001Z

Hi all!

I've been designing again! I've gotten really into cowls recently, and ideas just keep popping into my head. It helps that the weather around here has become much colder recently, so I'm inspired to make warm things to wear :)

This is my Bias Stripe Cowl (ravelry pattern page link). It's a stripey cowl with a difference!

It's knit on the bias (hence the name!), which creates interesting and funky diagonal stripes. The rib-type pattern creates stripes perpendicular to these, so your neck and face are framed in diagonal stripes. It creates an interesting knit, and it looks so lovely peeking out from under a winter coat.

It's knit straight then joined together with a 3 needle bind off (instructions are included). Links are included with instructions on how to do a provisional cast on.

This pattern is an excellent stash-buster, taking about only 30 grams of each colour. And with that in mind, I wrote the pattern for 4 weights of yarn - fingering, DK/light worsted, aran and chunky.

Aran/Worsted Weight Version

DK/Light Worsted Weight Version

You can purchase this pattern on ravelry, or you can use this download link: and it costs £2 for the 5 page pdf.

I hope you like it as much as I do! :D

Moscow Ballet - Sleeping Beauty

2009-11-22T18:33:00.001Z

(I wrote this into my 101in1001 blog, but I thought I'd cross-post it here as it's about dancing. Not belly dance, but dance nonetheless. Plus, it was so good, that I have to tell as many people as possible!!)

Last night I went to see Sleeping Beauty by the Moscow Ballet, at the Alhambra in Dunfermline.

Oh. My. God.

It was amazing!! The dancers were absolutely fantastic, every one of them. They had such amazing control, grace and poise. Last time when I went to see a ballet performed, I hadn't been dancing long, so I was more taken in with the spectacle of it all, but this time I spent quite a bit of time watching the dancers' legs, and I was just blown away with how well they danced. They were all perfectly in time with each other, and I was impressed with how they worked spatially. They were always in the right place to go into the next move, and if they were working with other dancers, they were just right there. You couldn't see them looking around to get spatial cues, they were just there. Amazing!

The set pieces were gorgeous, lovely scenes of the castle and the forest. And the costumes were fantastic! The Queen had a lovely corset-type dress, and all the female dancers had lovely costumes too, tutus and dresses - sigh, they were all so lovely!

I hesitate to say this, purely because I find the expression more than a little puke-worthy, but it was truely a magical experience. The skill of the dancers, the excellent choreography, the set pieces, the costumes, it all pulled me in and entranced me. I got drawn right into the story and the rest of the audience did too. Everyone leaving seemed to have starry eyes :)

This was apparantly the first time that a professional ballet has been performed in Dunfermline, and it was fantastic! The Alhambra seemed to work well as a venue, it has a big stage, and the seating is arranged well. I was halfway back, and I could see everything perfectly. No big heads spoiling my view. The chairs seem to be just at the right height.

I sincerely hope I can go see more of the Moscow Ballet's productions. This one was a fantastic experience, and if they're near you, I would highly recommend you go to see them. Even if you're not into ballet (I'm not in general), these dancers are just so good, and so talented, and obviously work so hard, it all paid off, and the show was amazing!

BPT Modification

2009-11-22T17:47:00.004Z

From this:

To this:

About a year ago now, I "finished" my BPT jacket (the pattern is from knitty.com and can be found here). I wore it for a while, but then stopped because there were some aspects of it that I didn't really like. I had used a yarn which was really too thin, so the fabric was quite drapey. I had elected not to do any waist shaping, so it kind of just hung there, looking all loose and floopy. And because I had used acrylic, the I cord edging rolled like nobody's business! (apparently I cord edging doesn't work on acrylic according to someone on ravelry. So it must be true ;) )

It sat in my cupboard for ages, and I contemplated just ripping it back totally, but never really got round to it (my laziness turned out to be a good thing actually). Then I got the idea, what if I made it shorter, into a cropped cardi? It's knit top down, so I could just pick out the bottom part and rip back up to the chest. Then all I would need to do is add some ribbing, and it would be fine. That would solve all the above problems. The drapey fabric wasn't really a problem at the top of the sweater, just at the waist where there was no shaping, so it hung loose. And ripping the bottom would get rid of that I cord. So I went ahead and did it!

I like it much better this way. Before I could rip out any of it, I had to take the zip off, and I still haven't gotten around to trimming it and putting it back on, but I actually kind of like it without the zip. I wore it when I went to Jewel of Yorkshire in October, and it was great for that time of year, keeping my top half warm, but because it's cropped I wasn't too hot.

I kept the cable on the back running down into the ribbing:

I like the little detail it adds. :)

This is the first sweater I've modified so heavily, and I have a couple of others that I'm not so happy with that I might change in some way. This mod turned out really well, I think, so it's given me some confidence to change some of the other ones.

New Twist Collective!!!!

2009-11-15T15:25:00.002Z

OMG!! Have you seen the new Twist Collective magazine yet????

I'd completely forgotten it was coming out, then I saw a pattern come up on my friends activity on ravelry. I'm so glad I caught it!! this issue is amazing! I've queued 14 patterns from it, and I like some of the others, but they're just things that I can't see myself making right now. (but knowing myself, I'll probably queue them all later)

My favourite by far is Bright Star, by Cathy Carron. That one went straight to the top of my queue. It's a cropped cardi, with what I would call quarter length sleeves, an interesting textured stitch pattern, fold over collar, and a cute "space" above the buttons with no neckband. I totally love it!! I can see this will be getting made sometime very soon! Oh, and I just remembered - I have enough bright red worsted weight yarn left over from my Simone sweater . . . OK, I'm going to have to go off and buy this pattern now!

OK, done. :D

I also love:

Kelmscott by Carol Sunday (a lovely lace cardi with an interesting shawl collar)

Farinelli by Ysolda Teague (gorgeous lace opera length gloves)

Ormolu by Barbara Gregory (lovely colourwork pullover that just could end up being my first colourwork sweater)

Frost Tapestry by Robin Melanson (colourwork hat, gloves and neckwarmer)

and Skara Brae by Stephanie van der Linden (pullover with beautiful cable pattern, appeals to my scottish-ness I think).

These are just the ones I'm drooling over most though. I've queued more, and when I was going through the magazine, I was very excited to see all those lovely patterns. Sigh, maybe one day I'll be a proper "grown up" designer, and able to design such lovely things . . .

I haven't been so excited about an issue of Twist Collective since the very first one, and I think this issue may even surpass that one (but I'm not sure about that yet, I do love the patterns in that first issue). With the last issue I had been a bit worried that it was all going to dissolve into cutesy baby patterns, which are lovely enough, but not relevant to me since I don't have, or see myself having any babies, cutesy or otherwise ;) But this issue totally restored my faith in it, and I can't wait to get Bright Star cast on!!

Stuck In The Land Of Rib

2009-11-09T16:57:00.007Z

Hi!

I haven't posted in a while because of this:

Another sweater for the bf. This one is take 3, the final one. The other two I made, he said were fine, but then it turned out the ribbing pulled in too much, and it felt too tight, and the arms were too tight, and the armholes were too small, so he didn't wear them. Being a complete glutton for punishment, I decided to try make him another one. This time out of DK yarn, not fingering/4 ply!!! But it's still taking forever!! K2, P2 rib has to be the most boring pattern on the planet if you're making a full sweater out of it.

I'm using the raglan pattern from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, but I'm making a few changes this time. I'm using the 6sts per inch count for the body of the sweater, but the 7sts per inch count for the arms, since they seemed to be too small width-wise the last couple of times. It means I'll need to do a bit of number fudging when I get to the yoke of the sweater (it's knit from the bottom up), but I'm sure it won't be too hard. I'm using Teddy Vanguard DK with 3.25mm needles. I like the tighter fabric the smaller needles makes with ribbing.

The body of the sweater was actually not too bad to knit. Even though it was K2, P2 ribbing, I could feel which stitch was coming next so I could knit and watch movies or something. Now I'm on the sleeve though, and I have to mark off every round so that I can increase every 8 rounds, and oh my god, it's boring! My mind has to be focused on some level where I am in the round, and where I am in the number of rounds, and it's so tedious. Luckily I'm not one of those people who can hide it very well when I'm bored - usually people find out because I'm yelling OH MY GOD, I'M SO BOOORRRREEEDDD! at them ;) So the bf isn't expecting it to be finished tomorrow or anything. Just as well!

When I get too bored, I've been making small projects, so I can start and finish something quickly, and it distracts me. I've made these two skulls:

Pattern: Day of the Dead Crochet Skull by http://www.crochetyourselfhappy.blogspot.com/

Yarn: small amount of white acrylic, and red cotton

This pattern crochets up so quickly and is so much fun to make! I'm going to sew mine onto something, but I'm not sure what yet. I was going to sew the white one onto my denim jacket, but it turns out I put that into the charity shop a while ago, and simply forgot that I had done so, so I'll need to find something else to sew it onto.

I also made this choker (I haven't sewn the buttons on yet, but I have blocked it - a minor miracle for me!):

Pattern: Zigzag Choker by clarabelle This is a very lovely pattern, quick to knit up and very pretty. I made mine from red cotton that I had in my stash, but I don't know what brand it is.

I also finished a bunch of gloves and mittens, but I'll write about them later. I just wanted to get this post up, and get back to blogging. And to have something to do besides that ___ sweater. Never again, I tell you, never again!!

till next time ;)

Look What I Did Last Night!!

2009-10-24T10:31:00.003Z

I'm such a party animal, I apparantly spend my Friday nights making amigurumi birds!!

Pattern: Caroline's Birds by Marlo D. Cairns

I used tiny amounts of blue and yellow acrylic, 4mm and 2.5mm hooks. This pattern is a really good stashbuster for those tiny bits of yarn left after a project, and it crochets up super fast too. This one took me less than 2.5 hours, not sure exactly how long, but really quickly anyway!!

I love this bird! I keep picking it up and saying "Brrrrd!", I'm sure the bf thinks I've gone insane :D I can see I'll be making a few more of these, in different colours. This one was blue and yellow because I was making it for the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup, Herbology class. The task was to make something that helps remove garden pests. This little birdy eats up all sorts of insecty pests! :D

OK, boring pattern notes. A lot of people on ravelry seem to have got stuck around round 14, which almost made me want to choose another pattern to make, but I'm glad I stuck with this one. I didn't have any trouble on that round. The only thing was on the round after where it said work under the tail, I thought it meant just work sc under the tail, but it soon became apparant that if I did that I didn't have enough stitches to work the rest of the round, so it was all sorted quite easily and quickly. I've amended my printed copy to read "working under the tail" to make it easier for me to remember for the next bird I make! I'd recommend the pattern for people with some experience in making crochet amigurumi, just because of the way it's written, not as basic or straightforward as some other patterns, but I could follow it with hardly any trouble, just a little thinking at some points. But I'd definitely recommend it!!! Cute birds! What more could anyone ask for???

ETA: Oh, quick note. I also used this pattern mod for the wings, as I think they look very cute!

More FO Photos!

2009-10-23T13:22:00.005Z

I have 3 FOs to show off today. My ravlery profile page is slowly being removed of all those photoless entries! :D Of course, I had to decide to catch up just when the weather is turning cold and rainy and cloudy, and the light is absolutely terrible! Typical!

This is my Simone sweater. (pattern: simone by Kristeen Griffin-Grimes, from the book "French Girl Knits". Yarn: Stylecraft Special Aran with Wool, about 500g. Needles: 4.5mm, 5mm, 5.5mm, 6mm) It's no exageration to say that I got the book specifically for this pattern, I just love it! I'm really pleased with the finished object too, except that the sleeves are a bit short (they've been pulled and tugged quite a bit to get the photo). But I figure it won't be too hard to snip above the lace, knit some rows, then graft together again.

I have to stress that I love this jumper!!!! I love the flarey sleeves and the lacey cowl neck, two things that I'm really into right now!

This is my 9 to 5 Shrug, a test crochet for Nicole Carmen. It's taken me absolutely ages to get these photos up, which I feel really bad about :< beats self over head with ball of yarn in penitence The shrug is fantastic, and the pattern is very easy to follow. My gauge was a bit off, which was totally my fault, either my gauge or much more likely, I’m a bit larger than Nicole! So I substituted trebles for doubles, and all was well :) I love this shrug, it's definitely going to get a lot of wear!

And finally, I learned a whole new knitting technique for this one, double knitting!! For the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup over on ravelry, this month's arithmancy class task was to make something showing binary. One of the options was to knit something reversible, so double knitting immediately came to mind with that one. This pattern (which is the Double Knit Headband from Knit Hats!) seemed like it had the easiest to follow instructions out of all the ones I had, so I decided to make that. I would normally have made the large size because of my huge head, but I was using thicker yarn, so I made the medium (and I liked the leaf pattern better than the ones given for the large size).

The first row where you put the front and back stitches together on the same needle was quite hard and fiddly, and so was seperating them at the end of the leaf pattern. The actual double knitting didn't go too badly, although my balls of yarn kept getting twisted round each other. I'm sure there's a tutorial somewhere for how to avoid that, but I just untwisted them at the end of each round, and it wasn't too bad. I'd like to try more double knitting, it seems like a really good technique for making these picture, almost intarsia-like, images on a thick warm fabric. And I'm counting this towards my Year of Colour, as it's a colourwork technique! :D

And now after all that, here's funny pictures of Tupac wearing my headband :D He normally hates wearing anything knitted, but he doesn't seem to mind this. Especially if he's being bribed with a treat for posing!

Some Actual FOs!!

2009-10-18T10:51:00.003Z

It feels like ages since I posted much about knitting here. I have been doing lots of it, I've just been really lazy about taking and posting photos. But now that autumn is officially here, I'm feeling much more motivated. I always feel more lethargic during the summer, and pick up again as soon as the weather turns colder. And now it's time for my picking up, yay!

My ravelry profile page still seems to be full of photoless entries, but I've been catching up a little at a time. Firstly, I got photos of my feather and fan shawlette

Pattern: feather and fan comfort shawl by Sarah Bradberry. This has been waiting for months to get photographed. It's kind of small to wear around the neck, but it is wearable (I was getting a bit fed up with knitting laceweight on 2.5mm needles, and just bound off when I felt like it). It's really good as a headscarf though, I should get some photos of it like that . . .

Next up, my sparkly white snake amigurumi:

Pattern: Ayame The Snake by Mary E. Smith I used a sparkly white boucle that I got off ebay. I actually wanted the black sparkly boucle, but it came with a ball of white as well, but it turned out fabulous for this project! I love this pattern, it goes so quickly, and as you're stuffing it as you go, there's hardly any finishing at all! It's a really good stashbuster, and I totally want to make more. I want stripey ones, and different coloured ones. My house is going to be filled with amigurumi snakes if I'm not careful!

I also got a photo of my Berry Hill fingerless mittens

Pattern: Berry Hill fingerless mittens by Liz Thompson. I love this pattern! It's one of those ones that I got obsessed with as soon as I saw it on the recently added patterns page on ravelry. I "fixed" by BPT jacket, which deserves a whole other post (I cropped it and added ribbing, it's now perfect for me!), and this is what I used the leftover yarn for. The pattern is really well written and easy to follow, and these are now my favourite pair of gloves. I've been wearing them loads because the weather has turned so cold so quickly!

There are a few more FOs that require photos being taken, but that's plenty for just now! And here's some pics of my latest WIP

Pattern: Owlmittens by SpillyJane.

I LOVE this pattern! I thought I would manage to resist the whole owl craze thing that's going through the knitting world right now, but it turns out I couldn't after all! I saw this pattern on her blog (link above), and just went nuts over it! The little owls are so cute! It's a good re-introduction to my Year of Colour 2009 (that kind of fell by the wayside over the summer. I don't think that's a good time of year for me to be knitting colourwork. It's too fiddly when I lost concentration like that).

I can't believe I'm knitting something so pretty! I keep looking down at it and marvelling. Colourwork seems like some kind of magic to me, it's just amazing to follow the chart mechanically then look down and see THAT! I want to make another pair already, this time with a white background and black owls. I want to experiment and see how the colours change and how the owls will change. I'm interested to learn more about the way the colours change when they're on top or bottom. But first I'll have to finish these ones! I started them yesterday, and that's how much I did in one evening! I would have done more, but my left hand started to get sore. I remember that happening when I first started doing stranded colourwork at the beginning of the year. It's just because my hand isn't used to that type of motion, but it's very inconvenient having to stop! If it wasn't for that, I think I would have kept going till I finished the whole first mitten, it's very addictive!

New Blogs!

2009-10-14T12:25:00.002Z

I've started a couple of new blogs, because I have some things that I want to write about, but I don't want to clutter up this page with lots of random stuff. I've been getting way back into non-fibery arts, like drawing and photography, so I'll be writing about that over on Yarndancer's Art Blog.

I also decided to make a seperate page for my 101 in 1001 project. I've actually done a few things off my list, but I kind of feel that they don't belong here, so they never end up getting written about, and it's kind of like they don't exist any more. So I'm giving it its own space on the web :) I know I'm like, halfway through my 1001 days already, but I figure I'll probably do another after this one, so it'll be good to have the site for that. And I'll be going through the things I've already done and writing about them over at Yarndancer's 101 in 1001.

Come over and join me on the new sites! I'll still be posting here just as much as I do now, because these are totally seperate subjects that I want to write about, but I'd love to see you all over there too :)

Jewel Of Yorkshire Time Again!!

2009-10-09T09:36:00.002Z

Quick post before I set off for Jewel of Yorkshire, the fantastic belly dance weekend!!! I'm doing 3 workshops this time, 2 with Ava Fleming (very excited about these, I love her dancing) and one with Ozgen Ozgec. I'm also very excited about this one. It's a drum solo masterclass, yay!! I did a class with Ozgen last year, and he was fantastic, broke everything down, even though it was a masterclass, and was very clear about everything. And he's an awesome dancer, so it's always good to get classes from him. I just wish I could go to more! I'm doing a 3D moves class with Ava, and an Isis Wings class, very interested to see what she does with the wings!

I'm all packed, but my bag seems surprisingly empty :/ Don't know what's going on there, it's usually bursting at the seams! But I've checked everything off the big list of things to pack, so I think I've got everything. Hope so, it's too late now! :D

See you all when I get back!