Tomorrow is the start of the Olympic Games, and that means it's also the start of the Ravellenic Games over on Ravelry - yaaay!!
I've joined Team MinKnit this time - it's a team being captained by Mindy from MinKnit designs and also she hosts the Knitting Minknits podcast, which I really enjoy and recommend. She talks about her knitting and her designing, which I find really interesting. Her podcast is both informative and friendly - it's one of my favourite ones now. This is going to be a smaller team, which is ideal for me, because I get totally overwhelmed by the larger groups. I go on and see like 500 new posts in one day and just don't bother even looking. I think this group is going to be lots of fun. There are some lovely people talking on the thread already, and I feel like I can chime in at any time and be welcomed, which is always good in a team/group :)
Mindy has designed the Observer shawl, which is a $4 on ravelry, or free if you're in Team Minknit. It's beautiful! I've never made a circular shawl before, but I really like this one. I like the geometric-ness of the zig-zag lace, and I think it would look awesome in 2 or even multi colours because of the defined rings of lace. My first knitting of it is going to be in one colour though.
The pattern is designed so that the small size would use only one skein of sock yarn, which is awesome! I have a large cone of black yarn though - of a light fingering weight, so I'm going to make either the large size, or even larger :D
I've added my project page on ravelry, and changed my ravatar to the Team Minknit one - I can't believe I'm going to have to wait till 9pm tomorrow to cast on!
So that means that I'm taking part in the shawl sailing and the lace longjump events with this project. I've only officially added this project just now - if there's any time left after finishing it, I may add another, but I'll wait and see :)
Are you taking part in the ravellenic games? What team are you on, and what are you making - I want to know! :D
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Arrrg - Dyelots!!
I'm knitting - well, attempting to knit - the Kourtney Light Weight vest top by Mishellee Zaharis. I'm using a pink Stylecraft Special 4 ply yarn that has been in my stash for ages. I've tried to use it for 2 other large projects and it hasn't worked for anything. In fact, I kind of wanted to just get rid of it, but I'm a Taurus - I'm stubborn ;) I kind of had this idea that I could "defeat" the yarn, and make it become something lovely.
This vest is a lovely pattern - I like the ruffles round the front neck - totally girly and un-me :) And so I started knitting it in this pink yarn. My gauge was off - 6sts to the inch instead of 5, but no bother, I did maths (!) and knit the numbers for a couple of sizes larger. I even worked out the different numbers of row to account for my 8.5 rows to the inch instead of the 7.5 in the pattern. I get all the way to the armholes, change balls and look:
A great big stripe where the new ball is a completely different shade of pink! Arrrrg!
(Strangely, the yarn in the balls looked identical. Weird.)
I actually almost cried. It didn't take terribly long to knit this far because it's quite a loose gauge for the yarn, on 4mm needles. And up to the armholes only took one 100g ball! But still! To make matters worse - I have another half ball in this yarn (3 total) but this other ball matches the top darker stripe, not the bottom one! Of course, I had to start knitting with the odd ball!
So I (quite literally!) threw it in the corner, and went to sleep. My partner suggested just keeping knitting and then over-dying the whole garment, but I don't even know if that would work properly. I suppose I could chuck it in a basin full of Dylon! :D
But since I have this 150g that match, I guess it makes more sense (to me, at least) to start again, and re-knit the whole thing. Dying seems like a whole other step, and an unknown one at that. I haven't really done any dying before.
After having slept on it, it doesn't seem like such a disaster, more of a huge annoyance. But ooh, I was so angry last night! I'm sure the balls all had the same dyelot number, and stylecraft are usually very good at getting all the dyelots to match. Maybe it wasn't the same dyelot after all - I lost the band months ago when I tried to make it into some other random thing. But dammit, it should have been! Cos I wanted it to be!! Yeah, I've just gone into peevish mode now about it, which is better than angry crying mode.
(Seriously, crying over dyelots!!! In my defence, it was late and I was sleepy, and apparently I just am the type of person who would cry over such a silly thing! lol!)
This vest is a lovely pattern - I like the ruffles round the front neck - totally girly and un-me :) And so I started knitting it in this pink yarn. My gauge was off - 6sts to the inch instead of 5, but no bother, I did maths (!) and knit the numbers for a couple of sizes larger. I even worked out the different numbers of row to account for my 8.5 rows to the inch instead of the 7.5 in the pattern. I get all the way to the armholes, change balls and look:
A great big stripe where the new ball is a completely different shade of pink! Arrrrg!
(Strangely, the yarn in the balls looked identical. Weird.)
I actually almost cried. It didn't take terribly long to knit this far because it's quite a loose gauge for the yarn, on 4mm needles. And up to the armholes only took one 100g ball! But still! To make matters worse - I have another half ball in this yarn (3 total) but this other ball matches the top darker stripe, not the bottom one! Of course, I had to start knitting with the odd ball!
So I (quite literally!) threw it in the corner, and went to sleep. My partner suggested just keeping knitting and then over-dying the whole garment, but I don't even know if that would work properly. I suppose I could chuck it in a basin full of Dylon! :D
But since I have this 150g that match, I guess it makes more sense (to me, at least) to start again, and re-knit the whole thing. Dying seems like a whole other step, and an unknown one at that. I haven't really done any dying before.
After having slept on it, it doesn't seem like such a disaster, more of a huge annoyance. But ooh, I was so angry last night! I'm sure the balls all had the same dyelot number, and stylecraft are usually very good at getting all the dyelots to match. Maybe it wasn't the same dyelot after all - I lost the band months ago when I tried to make it into some other random thing. But dammit, it should have been! Cos I wanted it to be!! Yeah, I've just gone into peevish mode now about it, which is better than angry crying mode.
(Seriously, crying over dyelots!!! In my defence, it was late and I was sleepy, and apparently I just am the type of person who would cry over such a silly thing! lol!)
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Some Actual Knitting Content!
In my quest to slowly get back into blogging etc, I took some photos of some FOs that I finished at the end of last year/beginning of this year. Gloves and mittens are easy to take relatively decent photos of, so I started with them :)
First off, last year at some point I frogged my version of the Druid Mittens that I had started to make with fingering weight yarn (I posted about them here) They were just a bit too small, and I never got round to finishing them, because I kind of knew that I'd be unhappy with them. Then I thought of making them with DK weight yarn instead, as it would be an easy way to make them larger without having to mess about with the pattern. So I used this green yarn (it's wool/acrylic, possibly Stylecraft Life DK, but I've forgotten exactly. I'm about 80% sure it's Life DK though), and slightly larger needles I think. See, this is why keeping blog posts and putting things on ravelry is much easier when you do it directly after making the item! :D Anyway, I just knit the pattern as written, since I didn't have much brain space for modifications, and I just wanted to get them done and out of my queue. Here's some photos:
And here's a photo with one of them steam blocked and the other not:
Pattern: Druid Mittens by Jared Flood, from Vogue Knitting Fall 2008
My ravelry project page: here
I did another re-knit as well. I don't know if I'd ever posted about the Something Floral fingerless mitts, but I'd started to knit them in some fingering weight yarn before - in black and white. But again, they were small. So I decided to just frog them (I went through a bit of a frogging phase in my knitting slump!) But I really like the pattern, and wanted to make them, so I cast them on again. This time I used different yarn - it's possibly Regia sock yarn, but again, I've forgotten and lost the ball bands :)
This is the project that made me figure out that I need to knit colourwork either on very large needles compared to the pattern recommendation, or go up a yarn weight. They're still snug, even using larger needles, but they can at least go on now :) They'll be perfect for autumn days either with T-shirts or under a cardi or something.
Some detail shots:
And mid-steam-blocking:
Pattern: Something Floral by Miranda Grant
My ravelry project page: here
And finally, a pattern I'd been wanting to knit for ages, in a yarn that I'd been wondering what to make out of for ages :)
Pattern: Susie Rogers' Reading Mitts by Susie Rogers
Yarn: a colourmart merino (DK?) that I got in my goodie bag at Knit Camp. I'd been wondering what to make out of it for ages, because I wasn't sure how much there was. Then I saw this pattern in my queue and the two matched together! I had a teeny bit left over, it just went in my scraps bag :)
My ravelry project page: here
Yay, a post about actual knitting! I'm going to try to photograph some more stuff later on or tomorrow - it turns out that even though I considered I was in a knitting slump, I still managed to get quite a few projects finished! :D
First off, last year at some point I frogged my version of the Druid Mittens that I had started to make with fingering weight yarn (I posted about them here) They were just a bit too small, and I never got round to finishing them, because I kind of knew that I'd be unhappy with them. Then I thought of making them with DK weight yarn instead, as it would be an easy way to make them larger without having to mess about with the pattern. So I used this green yarn (it's wool/acrylic, possibly Stylecraft Life DK, but I've forgotten exactly. I'm about 80% sure it's Life DK though), and slightly larger needles I think. See, this is why keeping blog posts and putting things on ravelry is much easier when you do it directly after making the item! :D Anyway, I just knit the pattern as written, since I didn't have much brain space for modifications, and I just wanted to get them done and out of my queue. Here's some photos:
And here's a photo with one of them steam blocked and the other not:
Pattern: Druid Mittens by Jared Flood, from Vogue Knitting Fall 2008
My ravelry project page: here
I did another re-knit as well. I don't know if I'd ever posted about the Something Floral fingerless mitts, but I'd started to knit them in some fingering weight yarn before - in black and white. But again, they were small. So I decided to just frog them (I went through a bit of a frogging phase in my knitting slump!) But I really like the pattern, and wanted to make them, so I cast them on again. This time I used different yarn - it's possibly Regia sock yarn, but again, I've forgotten and lost the ball bands :)
This is the project that made me figure out that I need to knit colourwork either on very large needles compared to the pattern recommendation, or go up a yarn weight. They're still snug, even using larger needles, but they can at least go on now :) They'll be perfect for autumn days either with T-shirts or under a cardi or something.
Some detail shots:
And mid-steam-blocking:
Pattern: Something Floral by Miranda Grant
My ravelry project page: here
And finally, a pattern I'd been wanting to knit for ages, in a yarn that I'd been wondering what to make out of for ages :)
Pattern: Susie Rogers' Reading Mitts by Susie Rogers
Yarn: a colourmart merino (DK?) that I got in my goodie bag at Knit Camp. I'd been wondering what to make out of it for ages, because I wasn't sure how much there was. Then I saw this pattern in my queue and the two matched together! I had a teeny bit left over, it just went in my scraps bag :)
My ravelry project page: here
Yay, a post about actual knitting! I'm going to try to photograph some more stuff later on or tomorrow - it turns out that even though I considered I was in a knitting slump, I still managed to get quite a few projects finished! :D
Friday, 29 June 2012
Tutorial: Ordering PDF Patterns From Knit Picks From Overseas
One of the reasons I wanted to start this blog up again was to write a tutorial. I recently ordered a pattern from the knit picks website () and OMG it was a convoluted experience!! I had to take information from various places on the internet, and combine them with my own making stuff up. Eventually I got the pattern, but I wanted to post how I did it, so that other people can follow the steps.
The problem is that Knit Picks does not allow shipping to other countries. But I just wanted to buy a pdf download, which does not involve shipping. You still have to put in a shipping address though, in the order form.
Now, the information used in this tutorial apparantly came from a Knit Picks employee and was then posted on ravelry. I found the information here, but apparantly there's an earlier thread that I can't find.
To illustrate how to order a pattern from "overseas" (not the U.S. in other words), I'll be using the order page for the Cabled Summer Top by Lee Gant, because it's a pretty top and I want the pattern ;)
So, first you go to the pattern page on knitpicks.com
Click on "get the pattern" in the right hand corner. It'll take you down the page to the "kit builder" where you could buy the yarn if you lived in the U.S. But you don't, or you wouldn't be using this tutorial, so ignore this and just click "add to cart".
It'll take you to the top of the page again, just click on the checkout button in the top right now, which will take you to this page.
Click "checkout" at the bottom.
Now,this is the complicated bit. Fill in your proper billing information, your name, address, email etc. Put "not applicable" for the state, and whatever your country is in the drop down box.
BUT!
Your phone number may not have the correct number of digits (this is the bit that threw me for ages!) American phone numbers have 10 digits plus the 1 at the beginning for the country code (for example 1-800-123-1234) You'll see on the first picture that knitpicks have their own phone number laid out on the top of the screen. You need to put in that many digits (minus the country code). My UK landline has 11 digits. What I had to do was drop the 0 at the beginning of my phone number, and just put in the rest of the digits, as in this example (this is NOT my real phone number by the way - I don't think it's any real phone number. It's just an example. Don't try and phone it!)
For the shipping address, put in knitpicks own address. This is the advice that was given to the ravelry member from their own staff, so I'm assuming it's OK. It works anyway.
Fill in the shipping address as shown in this picture. Then fill in your first and last names, and the phone number you used before.
If this works, you'll be taken to the credit card details page. I have deleted my personal details from this photo - you'll have your billing and shipping addresses shown on the left.
Scroll down and fill in your credit card details and click submit order, and away you go!
You'll see an order received page now.
And in your email, you'll soon get a link to download your pattern.
But wait, that might not be it!! You might get your pattern downloaded as a cfm file - for example "downloadpattern.cfm" Confusing, huh? Don't worry, just go to the folder where the file has downloaded, and rename the file to "downloadpattern.pdf" It will now open in adobe acrobat reader, and you can print out your shiny new pattern!
I hope this tutorial makes sense and helps you. This is my first time writing a real internet tutorial, I hope I've added enough pictures and made it sound easy, which it is really. All you're changing is the shipping address, the phone number and renaming a file. Let me know if it helps, or if you have any other questions. The information is out there on ravelry etc, but I thought it would be helpful to have it all grouped into one page :)
The problem is that Knit Picks does not allow shipping to other countries. But I just wanted to buy a pdf download, which does not involve shipping. You still have to put in a shipping address though, in the order form.
Now, the information used in this tutorial apparantly came from a Knit Picks employee and was then posted on ravelry. I found the information here, but apparantly there's an earlier thread that I can't find.
To illustrate how to order a pattern from "overseas" (not the U.S. in other words), I'll be using the order page for the Cabled Summer Top by Lee Gant, because it's a pretty top and I want the pattern ;)
So, first you go to the pattern page on knitpicks.com
Click on "get the pattern" in the right hand corner. It'll take you down the page to the "kit builder" where you could buy the yarn if you lived in the U.S. But you don't, or you wouldn't be using this tutorial, so ignore this and just click "add to cart".
It'll take you to the top of the page again, just click on the checkout button in the top right now, which will take you to this page.
Click "checkout" at the bottom.
Now,this is the complicated bit. Fill in your proper billing information, your name, address, email etc. Put "not applicable" for the state, and whatever your country is in the drop down box.
BUT!
Your phone number may not have the correct number of digits (this is the bit that threw me for ages!) American phone numbers have 10 digits plus the 1 at the beginning for the country code (for example 1-800-123-1234) You'll see on the first picture that knitpicks have their own phone number laid out on the top of the screen. You need to put in that many digits (minus the country code). My UK landline has 11 digits. What I had to do was drop the 0 at the beginning of my phone number, and just put in the rest of the digits, as in this example (this is NOT my real phone number by the way - I don't think it's any real phone number. It's just an example. Don't try and phone it!)
For the shipping address, put in knitpicks own address. This is the advice that was given to the ravelry member from their own staff, so I'm assuming it's OK. It works anyway.
Fill in the shipping address as shown in this picture. Then fill in your first and last names, and the phone number you used before.
If this works, you'll be taken to the credit card details page. I have deleted my personal details from this photo - you'll have your billing and shipping addresses shown on the left.
Scroll down and fill in your credit card details and click submit order, and away you go!
You'll see an order received page now.
And in your email, you'll soon get a link to download your pattern.
But wait, that might not be it!! You might get your pattern downloaded as a cfm file - for example "downloadpattern.cfm" Confusing, huh? Don't worry, just go to the folder where the file has downloaded, and rename the file to "downloadpattern.pdf" It will now open in adobe acrobat reader, and you can print out your shiny new pattern!
I hope this tutorial makes sense and helps you. This is my first time writing a real internet tutorial, I hope I've added enough pictures and made it sound easy, which it is really. All you're changing is the shipping address, the phone number and renaming a file. Let me know if it helps, or if you have any other questions. The information is out there on ravelry etc, but I thought it would be helpful to have it all grouped into one page :)
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
I Aten't Dead....
I've just been on hiatus, I guess ;)
It's been over 6 months since I last posted - I'm sure no-one's still subscribed, but here I am anyway lol!
I totally lost my knitting mojo over Christmas and winter. I just couldn't think of anything I wanted to knit. And whenever I did try something, it went wrong - like it would be too big, or too small, or too... something. My stash was totally hanging over my head - I would stare at the bookshelves of yarn, and wonder just what on earth I could do with all of that yarn! And some things, I had plans for, like pullovers and clothing items, but I was having (mental) issues with my body too, and just felt like nothing would fit or look nice, or if it fit now, what would happen if I ever managed to lose weight? Or what if I put on weight? What was the point?
So I dropped out of knitting for a while. I sewed a little bit - made some fabric flowers and bettered some of my hand-sewing skills. I didn't go anywhere near blogs or even ravelry - there were just all these pretty, amazing objects taunting me with their makeability. So I spent months reading books, playing video games, or just sat on facebook. Which is full of all my bellydancing buddies and that's fantastic, but I still missed knitting.
Slowly, I seem to have come out of my knitting slump. I started with some small objects - fingerless mitts mostly. You can't go far wrong with them :) And now I'm back to knitting sweaters! I've crept back onto ravelry and my queue has started expanding again - it appears that so many amazing patterns have come out while I've been away! And now I'm going to slowly get back to blogging and reading other people's blogs. :)
I rearranged my blog reading layout - I used to use blogger to keep track of all the blogs I read, but it wasn't really a good layout at all. And then they changed it while I've been away and it's even more convoluted! So I've dragged all my fave blogs to a toolbar folder on firefox, and I can just scroll through that instead of having to open another program, or go to a specific page, which I was just forgetting to do. Soon I'll be back to commenting on them all, but I'm taking it slow this time - I don't want to burn myself out again by jumping back in too soon. This social networking stuff takes a lot of energy, and my levels are just starting to rise again! :)
I've also decided to stop beating myself about photographing all my knits. I kind of felt that they should all be photographed in lovely natural light, with fnacy bokeh effects and everything. This kind of hung over my head too, because in Scotland in the winter - this isn't really possible without big fancy photography rigs and tons of spare time to take 100 photos of every object from every angle. So I was beginning to feel like there was no point in taking photos if they weren't totally professional quality. I know, totally dumb, right? And I had this big thing against using the flash on my camera, when sometimes it's just the right thing that needs to be used... I'm so strange. From now on, I'll just try for the best picture I can get. With flash or without, indoors or outdoors depending on the weather and light, it doesn't really matter. A crappy photo with flash in front of a mirror is better than no photo at all, right?
I've been thinking a lot about my expectations for myself, and what I do. For this whole blogging thing - they were far too high. I'm not sure what I wanted my blog to be - a big professional looking site full of gorgeous pictures, and a tiny thin version of me in beautiful handknits posed on an Icelandic beach or something. Um, that's not my life?! So I'm going to endeavour - not to lower my standards or expectations for myself, but to make them reasonable, and realistic.
This is a good plan, I think, and I'm going to slowly work on it. And maybe I should apply the same thinking to other areas of my life... Actually, seeing that last sentence on the last paragraph written out - it makes so much sense. Why have I not been thinking like that already??? So, to repeat:
I'm going to endeavour - not to lower my standards or expectations for myself, but to make them reasonable, and realistic.
Gosh, this post has been all therapeutic and stuff! I'm really excited about getting back to my online knitting life now! :D
It's been over 6 months since I last posted - I'm sure no-one's still subscribed, but here I am anyway lol!
I totally lost my knitting mojo over Christmas and winter. I just couldn't think of anything I wanted to knit. And whenever I did try something, it went wrong - like it would be too big, or too small, or too... something. My stash was totally hanging over my head - I would stare at the bookshelves of yarn, and wonder just what on earth I could do with all of that yarn! And some things, I had plans for, like pullovers and clothing items, but I was having (mental) issues with my body too, and just felt like nothing would fit or look nice, or if it fit now, what would happen if I ever managed to lose weight? Or what if I put on weight? What was the point?
So I dropped out of knitting for a while. I sewed a little bit - made some fabric flowers and bettered some of my hand-sewing skills. I didn't go anywhere near blogs or even ravelry - there were just all these pretty, amazing objects taunting me with their makeability. So I spent months reading books, playing video games, or just sat on facebook. Which is full of all my bellydancing buddies and that's fantastic, but I still missed knitting.
Slowly, I seem to have come out of my knitting slump. I started with some small objects - fingerless mitts mostly. You can't go far wrong with them :) And now I'm back to knitting sweaters! I've crept back onto ravelry and my queue has started expanding again - it appears that so many amazing patterns have come out while I've been away! And now I'm going to slowly get back to blogging and reading other people's blogs. :)
I rearranged my blog reading layout - I used to use blogger to keep track of all the blogs I read, but it wasn't really a good layout at all. And then they changed it while I've been away and it's even more convoluted! So I've dragged all my fave blogs to a toolbar folder on firefox, and I can just scroll through that instead of having to open another program, or go to a specific page, which I was just forgetting to do. Soon I'll be back to commenting on them all, but I'm taking it slow this time - I don't want to burn myself out again by jumping back in too soon. This social networking stuff takes a lot of energy, and my levels are just starting to rise again! :)
I've also decided to stop beating myself about photographing all my knits. I kind of felt that they should all be photographed in lovely natural light, with fnacy bokeh effects and everything. This kind of hung over my head too, because in Scotland in the winter - this isn't really possible without big fancy photography rigs and tons of spare time to take 100 photos of every object from every angle. So I was beginning to feel like there was no point in taking photos if they weren't totally professional quality. I know, totally dumb, right? And I had this big thing against using the flash on my camera, when sometimes it's just the right thing that needs to be used... I'm so strange. From now on, I'll just try for the best picture I can get. With flash or without, indoors or outdoors depending on the weather and light, it doesn't really matter. A crappy photo with flash in front of a mirror is better than no photo at all, right?
I've been thinking a lot about my expectations for myself, and what I do. For this whole blogging thing - they were far too high. I'm not sure what I wanted my blog to be - a big professional looking site full of gorgeous pictures, and a tiny thin version of me in beautiful handknits posed on an Icelandic beach or something. Um, that's not my life?! So I'm going to endeavour - not to lower my standards or expectations for myself, but to make them reasonable, and realistic.
This is a good plan, I think, and I'm going to slowly work on it. And maybe I should apply the same thinking to other areas of my life... Actually, seeing that last sentence on the last paragraph written out - it makes so much sense. Why have I not been thinking like that already??? So, to repeat:
I'm going to endeavour - not to lower my standards or expectations for myself, but to make them reasonable, and realistic.
Gosh, this post has been all therapeutic and stuff! I'm really excited about getting back to my online knitting life now! :D
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Some Small Projects: Fingerless Mitts
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 :)
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 :)
Friday, 30 September 2011
It's been a while...
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
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
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