Yarn Berry

Moving Home!

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:40:58 +0000

Blog home that is! Although I quite like tumblr, I’ve been playing around with blogger, and I really prefer the blogger interface. It’s much easier to like up tags for example, and the dashboard is a lot nicer than the one on tumblr. I also had a lot of fun playing around with the templates on blogger, which are much easier to customise than the tumblr ones. There’s also other advantages, like not needing to enter my Name/url to comment on other peoples blogs.

I’ve copied all of my blog posts over, although I know I’ve missed a couple. If you notice any mistakes, like missing titles, please let me know! My new blog address is http://yarnberry.blogspot.com/ Please come and join me over there and let me know what you think! Don’t forget to update your bookmarks/RSS Feeds!

WIP Wednesday 28

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:25:31 +0000

Well Wednesday is here and I have a new project to show you! I finally finished off the lace edge for Magrathea and it’s ready to be blocked! I have some new blocking mats - the interlocking ones on the way, but I don’t think they’ll come before tomorrow, or Friday, and I really want to get Magrathea blocked so I’ll probably get out spare towels and my yoga mat and use them tonight. My yoga mat is too thin to hold the pins so I have to put a couple of towels under it, which is why I decided to get some new mats - plus my yoga mat isn’t wide enough for big shawls. The bind off edge of Magrathea is going to take a bit of blocking to give it the same nice spikey edge as the other side. I’m really excited to see this one done, and I’m planning to take it down to London with me next week. Here’s a photo of the nearly finished lace for you.

I let my hairpin lace blanket fall by the wayside a little last week, because I was so keen to get on with Magrathea this week. But I picked it back up yesterday, and I’m currently on 250 loops on my third strip. It should be finished and joined up by the weekend if everything goes to plan.

And last night I cast on something new! I’m finally getting to use my stash addict yarn and it is gorgeous! I love the colours and the way they sit together, and the Blue faced leciester yarn is lovely and soft. I’m never used BFL before, and I really like it. I’ve cast on for Henslowe. It looks beautiful in the photos and hopefully it shouldn’t be too hard. It will be the first crescent shaped shawl I’ve done and so far it’s going well. I’m using 3.5 mm needles which are tiny! the only in my right hand is fine, but holding the one in my left feels a little awkward. I think it’s partly the change from 5mm to 3.5mm and I’m sure I’ll get used to it soon.

Check out Tami’s for more WIP Wednesdays!

Year of Projects: Week 29 Summary

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:56:00 +0000

Here we are at another Monday, and another whole week till the weekend! It was sort of light on my way to work this morning, so it’s starting to feel like spring is actually on the way at last! I’m looking forward to warmer days soon. I’ve been pretty busy this week. We’ve got a new TV - a flat screen at last, instead of our old huge bulky one - so we rearranged the living room to give us more space now we can have the TV wall mounted. It’s opened the room out a lot and makes it feel a lot bigger.

This weekend the Hairpin lace has fallen behind a little, because I’ve got swept away with Magrathea! Magrathea is nearly done! I used around two and a half skiens of yarn to make the body, which was 17 repeats long. Then I joined the fourth skien right befor starting the lace border. I didn’t want to have to join a new skien during the lace, so I thought this way would be best - which didn’t work out because I found a large ugly knot and had to cut it out, but I managed to get the join in the middle of one of the diamonds, so it shouldn’t show too badly. I’ve only got a few more rows left to go, so hopefully it’ll be done by the end of the week and I’ll get it blocked.

The blanket has been going along fine, although it was very ignored yesterday, after I’d started working on the border of my scarf! I have the colours all planned out, so I know which strips I’m doing when. The third strip is underway and I quite like the colours so far, although the pink is very hard to photograph well! The true test will come after this strip, when I move into other colours, and start to get a feel for how the colours will look together. I chose this colour scheme by putting all of the colours into a colour wheel, then taking every third colour , round and round in circles. I have 19 colours, so using every third number let it go round nicely, moving the pattern over one colour every time I went round.

The most exciting thing about being nearly done with Magrathea, is that I can start thinking about what to cast on next! I’m off to London a week on Thursday. I’m going there and back by train, which is a seven hour journey each way! That’s 14 hours of knitting time, with no distractions! I’m going to treat myself to a new audio book for the trip, and I’ll work on a Garter Ruffles Scarf on the trip! I’ll be making it with the Debbie Bliss Andes yarn my husband gave me for Christmas - it’s replacing the two options I had in my list before, because it’ll make better use of the yarn. It should be uncomplicated enough not to give me any problems - important when I don’t know if I’ll be able to get internet access on the train - but the short rows will hopefully keep it interesting. As for the next week or so, I should be good and work on my Childhood Memories shawl, but it’s another crochet piece, and I’d really like to have some knitting on the go, along with the blanket which is crochet. I’ve also been longing to do something with my Stash Addict yarn for ages! the blues and greys are gorgeous, and some of my favourite colours. So, I’m going to give in to temptation and cast on for Henslowe.

The Revised List

Scarves and Shawls

Lacey Crochet Scarf <- Finished
Iris Crocheted Shawl <- Finished
Shawl Collared Cowl <- Finished
Urban Shells <- Finished
Elise Shawl <- Finished
Betula Ring <- Finished
Recuerdos de Infancia <- In progress
Magrathea <- In progress
Happy Lavender Scarf <- In progress
Mochi Neck Warmer <- Frogging first Betula Ring for yarn
Branching Out - Patons Smoothie DK
Garter Ruffles Scarf - Debbie Bliss Andes
Henslowe <- Stash Addict yarn
Usoa Shawl <- Drops Fabel
My Kind of Town Cowl <- Wendy Serenity Super Chunky
Sunderland <- Wendy Happy (Cinders)
Long Nights Cowl <- Finished
Blue Lagoon

Amigurumi

Knit Bunnies x 7 <- Finished
Realistic Octopus <- Finished
Sheldon Turtle <- Have yarn
Tilly the Panda
Finola the Fox
Chester the Dog <- Knit picks yarn

Other Things

Tote Bag <- Finished
Windschief Hat <- Finished
Snowbaby Hat<- Finished
Skaði Fingerless Gloves <- Finished
Hairpin Lace Blanket <- In Progress
Genevieve <- In Progress
Faceclothes/Make up pads <- Drops Paris
Cap Sleeved Top <- Freedom Sincere
Calorimetry<- Have yarn
Phone sock/cosy <- Finished
Pin cushion
New Era <- In trouble!
Needle book <- Trying out entrelac (leftovers of blanket yarn)
Scissor case

FO Friday 25

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:33:35 +0000

Well, it’s Friday at last, and this week it couldn’t come fast enough! I’m normally at work by ten to eight (and finish at four) so I’m really looking forward to having a lie in tomorrow! I’ve got really behind on my blog reading this week - sorry everyone - hopefully I’ll be able to catch up tonight/tomorrow!

My FO this Friday is a nice little quick pattern. It’s a really neat little ball, that I think could make a great little baby toy. One of my friends is having a baby this summer, and I think some of these in a selection of bright colours would make great safe little toys. Especially if I could get rattles, squeakers and crinkly noise things into some of them. I don’t think I stuffed this one quite well enough. It felt really full before I closed it, but afterwards I thought it felt a little empty. It was a really nice fast little pattern, and I learnt and practiced quite a few techniques, like picking up stitches - I admit to resorting to my crochet hook a couple of times to pick up stitches! - and I learnt how to do kitchener stitch to graft the last end together. It was a really neat seam and I really like it.

I think while I’m working on big projects, I’m also going to keep looking for small quick projects that will teach me or let me practice new techniques that I don’t use often as a way of broadening my horizons and increasing my skills I’m sure by the end of the year I’ll hae learnt a fair bit.

Check out Tami’s for more Fo Fridays!

WIP Wednesday 27

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:36:00 +0000

Well this week, I haven’t got too much done. I had a disasterous time with my second New Era glove, which you can read about here. They’ve been banished to the bookshelves for a while, until I can face frogging them - they could be there till autumn! I did manage to finish the hairpin lace strip I was working on last week, as well as a second one, but I haven’t started the third strip yet. I planned out a few different ideas for a blanket and you can see more about the blanket here. My husband chose the pattern he likes best - it’s the middle one on the left in this image, so I’ll be starting that tonight. You can see in the photo, that I’ve joined the first two blanket strips together - they are really easy to join, so I’m going to keep joining as I go. So far I think I need 32 strips, but if I’m joining as I go I can either stop early, or put in some more colours.

Last night I picked up Magrathea again. I’m really glad to be working on it again, and I’m going to resist casting on any large projects till I’ve got it done - everyone needs some instant gratification every now and then! I frogged back to where I’d missed a yarn over the last time, and I’ve done another repeat or so since then. I’d forgotten how soft the yarn I’m using is! It’s gorgeous and I’m loving working on it again. I’m being very careful now, and counting the lace every time I finish a row now, to make sure I’m up to the right place. I need to always have an even number of stitches, either 24, 26 or 28. As long as I can keep that right, everything else should follow on nicely.

I’m already starting to think about this years Christmas presents. For the girls/women I want to try and do as many handmade things as I can - and for the guys too, although they’re a lot harder! I have plans to try a lot of new things this year, like making soap, and I’ll definitely be blogging about them all. So this year I want to start early. I always put a small toy in the boxes I make up for friends and sisters (have a look here). Last year I made knit bunnies for everyone. This year I want to make something else cute! There’s a lot of cute patterns on ravelry like bunny nuggets, chubby chirps, owl puffs and monster chunks. Loads of things that would be prefect for using up the scraps of blanket yarn I’m sure I’ll have, and be cute and cheerful little gifts. So on weeks when I know I’m not going to have anything else finished, and I need a little instant gratification knitting, I’ll be testing out these patterns with scrap yarn in my stash! This week I’m going to make an out of yarn ball. One of my friends is having a baby this summer, and I think some of these in loads of colours would make great little baby toys!

Check out Tami’s to see what everyone else is working on!

One a Day: Week 1

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:07:53 +0000

Well, today is time for my first One a Day update, and I can safely say I’m on track! My aim is to do 50 - 100 loops a day, and last week I did 614 loops. I think that’s preety good going! Hopefully I can keep it up. I made my first strip 500 loops long, then took it through and laid it on the bed to find a length I was happy with. I decided the bast way to keep the loops from getting tangled was to do the up - like you would for the sides of the finished blanket, so I did that, which helped me to work out exactly how many loops I needed. The answer is 414! Which isn’t too bad. I’m going to keep aiming for 50 - 100 loops a day, and I’ll manage to finish at least one strip a week, so the blanket should keep growing nicely.

I made and finished a second strip at the weekend, and you can see what they’ll look like together. The black is going to be a border at each side, and the reddish brown is the first colour of the blanket. I’ve worked out that 30 more strips should make it a good size for our double bed, and if I want to make it wider I can always add extra black strips at each side. I want to keep joining the strips as I go, which should keep things neat and make it easy to see how I’m doing. So to do this, I wanted to plan the colours. I’m still not quite sure which I like best. I have one here that’s random - and that was hard to do! One is a rainbow, and the other four I made up from taking the colours from a colour wheel going round and round taking every third/fourth/etc colour. I need to see what my husband like best too, but what do you think?

Don’t forget to stop by Gingerbread Girl’s and see how everyone else is getting on!

Year of Projects: Week 28 Summary

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:51:00 +0000

Well, this weekend has not been the most successful one for me, knitting wise. I started the weekend looking forward to making my second glove. In fact I was looking forward to starting so much, that I forgot I’d swapped to my 4.5mm tips for the thumb of the last pair, and didn’t swap back to my 5mm tips. I did discover the mistake eventually. But only after I’d finished all of the glove and started on the thumb. So I put them down in disgust on Saturday night and haven’t looked at them since! I’d be tempted to wear the glove and hope it stretched out over time, but the thumb hole is just too small and tight - even just trying the glove on for a couple of minutes I had a red mark around my thumb, so I don’t think that will work. Really I should frog it and start again, but right now I’m just going to ignore them for a while, lol. The next time I make gloves, I think I’ll make both at the same time - that way if I make a mistake like that, at least it will be a matching pair of mistakes!

I did make some good progress this weekend though, with my Hairpin lace blanket. I finished the first strip on Wednesday I think. I worked out that I needed 414 loops for each strip which isn’t too bad. I joined the One a Day group on Ravelry with this as my project, and I’m aiming to do 50-100 loops a day. I managed 75 on Thursday and Friday, 50 on Saturday, and then I decided I just wanted to get it finished and I did 214 on Sunday! I got the two strips crocheted together, and I think I need 30 more strips to make it a good size to cover the bed. I’m going to have one strip of black on each side, so if I need to make it wider later I’ll just add black strips. I have 19 different colours so it’s less than two strips of each colour which should be manageable. Once I’ve made the strips, I’m going to add them straight away, to save the loops getting tangled or anything like that. I’m also doing up the unjoined side for the same reason. Because I’m joining them as I go, I need to make sure I do the colours in an order I’m happy with, so I’m not starting a new strip straight away. My plan is to take proper photos of all the balls of yarn then plan out my colour scheme on the computer. So far, I love how the strips look, and they’re really easy and pretty quick to join together.

And that’s pretty much it for this week. I’m looking forward to getting on with Magrathea again, so it’ll be pulled out of the bottom of my bag tonight. I’m going to try not to cast on anything new until Magrathea is done and try and get through my WIP that way. It could be a struggle!

The Revised List

Scarves and Shawls

Lacey Crochet Scarf <- Finished
Iris Crocheted Shawl <- Finished
Shawl Collared Cowl <- Finished
Urban Shells <- Finished
Elise Shawl <- Finished
Betula Ring <- Finished
Recuerdos de Infancia <- In progress
Magrathea <- In progress
Happy Lavender Scarf <- In progress
Mochi Neck Warmer <- Frogging first Betula Ring for yarn
Branching Out - Patons Smoothie DK
Chinook/A Little Bit Bohemian - Debbie Bliss Andes
Henslowe <- Stash Addict yarn
200 Fingering Rocket Shawl/Usoa Shawl <- Drops Fabel
My Kind of Town Cowl <- Wendy Serenity Super Chunky
Sunderland <- Wendy Happy (Cinders)
Long Nights Cowl <- Finished
Blue Lagoon

Amigurumi

Knit Bunnies x 7 <- Finished
Realistic Octopus <- Finished
Sheldon Turtle <- Have yarn
Tilly the Panda
Finola the Fox
Chester the Dog <- Knit picks yarn

Other Things

Tote Bag <- Finished
Windschief Hat <- Finished
Snowbaby Hat<- Finished
Skaði Fingerless Gloves <- Finished
Hairpin Lace Blanket <- Replacing Realta Blanket
Genevieve <- In Progress
Faceclothes/Make up pads <- Drops Paris
Cap Sleeved Top <- Freedom Sincere
Calorimetry<- Have yarn
Phone sock/cosy <- Finished
Pin cushion
New Era <- In trouble!
Needle book <- Trying out entrelac (leftovers of blanket yarn)
Scissor case

FO Friday 24

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:32:55 +0000

Well, it’s Friday at last and I’m having a short day today. My office has a flexi-time system. We can start anytime before 10, have lunch between 11 and 2, and leave after four. You can either work extra hours and save up for 6 extra days off a year, or you can just use them as you go. I had six hours saved up, so I decided to make use of them. Instead of starting at 8am, I’m starting at 10 and having a 6 hour day! The perfect thing for a Friday I think.

Today I have the first of a new pair of fingerless gloves! I did most of the knitting over last weekend, and finally got round to sewing in the ends and sewing on the button last night. I really like this pattern! It’s really easy and pretty quick to make. The only problem I had, was as I suspected, with the thumb. The pattern had you place 11 stitches on a holder, and cast on an extra stitch when you made the thumb hole. Then you went back used those 11 stitches and picked up one stitch to give you 12 for the thumb. I tried it, but it just left me with a couple of big holes at the top of the thumb. So I picked up five stitches, to keep the pattern the same and after a couple of rows I went down to a 4.5mm needle. I’m really happy with how the thumb turned out in the end! It’s a great snug fit. The other problem I had was with the button hole. It came out too far to the left and too low down for me to be happy with how it held the flap closed, so I think I’ll skip it for the next glove. Instead I closed up the hole when I was sewing in the ends, and I sewed on the button where I thought it would sit best.

I seem to have lost my tension a couple of times when I was knitting this glove. I think it’s partly because I was knitting a lot tighter than normal - the pattern reccommended using a needle slightly smaller than the one recommened, but when I used a 4.5mm needle I had no chance of getting my hand through the loop! So I decided the next best thing was to use a 5mm needle and knit tightly. I didn’t want to add stitches to make it wider because I didn’t know how far my yarn would go, and I only just had enough for these gloves. I really love the seed stitch band at the top, and the button. Instead of going up a needle, which made it a little too loose, I just relaxed my tension back to normal. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I’ll have a second glove finished, check back next week to see the pair!

For awesome FO’s check out Tami’s and see what everyone else has been up too!

WIP Wednesday 26

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:13:00 +0000

Well, this week I’ve been busy, but I don’t have very much to show you. I cast on for a fingerless glove at the weekend, but the first one is finished now - although I still need to sew in ends and put a button on. It’ll be ready for you to see on Friday. I’m not going to cast on a second one until the weekend. Just now I’ve been working on my hairpin lace blanket. I’ve joined the One a Day group on Ravelry, with the aim of doing between 50 and 100 loops everyday. I got 75 done last night, so my total is now 375. The first two strips I want to make 500 loops long, so that I can see how many loops I really need and undo any loops I don’t need . It’s always better to have too many to begin with because it’s much easier to pull them out than add to them.

Magrathea is still in timeout for bad behaviour, so I pulled Genevieve back out of the bottom of my bag. If I want to be able to wear this one, I should probably get on with it while the weather’s still cold. This is an old photo, because I only did a few rows last night, and really it’s still just a rectangle. I’m very close to putting the sleeves on now and then it should start to look more interesting. It isn’t the most exciting pattern to work on, since it’s just long stretches of the same stitch, but I’m determined to finish this one, and I just have to keep pushing myself to carry on.

To see what everyone else has been up to, check out Tami’s!

One a Day - Hairpin Lace Blanket

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:05:10 +0000

I’ve just joined the One a Day group, and this is my first post, so since there’s nothing to update, I’ll tell you what I’m working on. My big project is a blanket using hairpin lace. Hairpin lace is a really interesting technique which uses big loops of yarn held in place with single (double in UK terms) crochet stitches. It’s a really cool technique but it does take a bit of getting used to. You have a loom to hold the stitches and spend a lot of time swinging it round to form the loops, and feeding the crochet hook through from front to back. I made my own loom (although I can’t take credit for the design) using 5mm knitting needles and some bass wood with holes drilled through them. It was ridiculously fast and easy to make, with just one trip to the craft shop. I set my needles 3 inches apart because I don’t want to make the blanket too loose. I’d rather keep it tight and warmer.

I’m using a tutorial from Wee Folk Art to help me with my blanket! There are detailed photos of pretty much every step and it’s really easy to learn the technique. One thing I did do though, was start with a slip knot on my hook, and slip stitch to the first loop. I found it a much easier way to join my yarn. The tutorial uses aran yarn, but I’m using DK, do I had to figure out my own number of loops and sizing. I’m using a 4mm crochet hook and I’ve settled so far on between 400 and 500 loops on each side. I’m not sure how many strips I’ll need yet – I need to make at least two or three strips and then I can start figuring it out hopefully. I should have enough yarn for 44 strips, but hopefully I won’t need that many or it will take me forever! I’ve already done 300 loops for my first strip, and I’m aiming for between 50 and 100 loops per day, depending on what else I have going on. Hopefully by this time next week, I’ll have almost finished my second strip and be joining them together!

Check out everyone else’s progress at Gingerbread Girl’s blog!

Year of Projects: Week 27 Update

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:17:58 +0000

For a second time, I’ve lost my whole post when I pressed submit. I’m going to have to go back to writing these in notepad and copying them over. I can’t believe how fast January has gone. I’m still not used to it being 2012 and we’re almost in February! I think I’ve made pretty good progress this week, although I have had a falling out with Magrathea. I kept missing one yarn over, and not realising it until the next lace row. After ripping two rows out three times, and having to pick my stitches back up thne sort out the twisted ones, I was fed up! This weekend I also needed my 5mm needles for something new I’ve cast on, so Magrathea is having a week off, and hopefully we’ll work things out!

I managed to got my Long Nights Cowl finished last week, and I’ve been wearing it every day since. It’s fantastic and so warm. I waited half an hour for a bus this morning and by the time it turned up, my neck was the only part of me still warm! I used up two skiens of the Drops Nepal yarn I had. I couldn’t get gauge - I had 4 stitches in an inch instead of 3, so I just made my cowl an extra ten stitches wide, so it finished up the same size. I didn’t want to go up a needle size as I wanted to keep the fabric tight and warm. I also didn’t make mine as long as the pattern - I stopped at 21 inches, with just the right amount of yarn to do the two bind off rows and whip stitch the rest of the live stitches around and not enough for a single row more. I really liked this pattern, it was so simple and fast to make, but it is a great cowl. It would make perfect gift knitting I think.

I still had one skien of Drops Nepal after finishing my cowl, so I cast on a pair of New Era fingerless gloves. I’ve been using the magic loop technique to knit them, and it’s so easy! So far this pattern is going really well. I seem to be knitting tighter doing it in the round, so when I started with a 4.5 mm needle I couldn’t get my hand through the loop, even thoughmy hand is smaller than the pattern. I borrowed the 5mm needles from Magrathea and everything is fine now. The first glove is a little tight, but I’m sure it will stretch out with a little wear. I’m as far as the band at the top now, and everything has been going smoothly. It’s my first pair of knit gloves so I’m a little worried about picking up the stitches for the thumb. I’m a little worried it’ll be too tight, or too loose and holey. I’m just going to hope for the best though, and not over think it.

My Hairpin Lace blanket has been going quite well. I now have 300 loops on the loom, and I’ve worked out each strip needs to have between 400 and 500 loops to be long enough for our bed. I figure it’s best for the first couple to be too long - then If I want to I can rip back some of the loops easily. If the strips are too short they’ll be harder to fix. So far it looks like I’ll be able to get at least two strips from each skien of yarn and since I have 19 coloured skiens, plus three black ones, I’m sure I’ll hae more than enough yarn for my blanket. Once I’ve got the second strip done, I’ll start joining them together and hopefully be able to work out how many strips I’ll need. I’ll also be able to plan how I want the colours to go. I don’t think I want to do rainbow stripes, I’d rather mix up the colours a bit. Since I want to be able to join the strips as I go, some planning is definitely needed. I’ve joined the One-a-Day group on Ravelry so I’ll be posting about it again tomorrow. I’m aiming at between 50 and 100 loops per day, which should be enough to keep it going nicely, while still giving me plenty of time to work on other things.

The Revised List

Scarves and Shawls

Lacey Crochet Scarf <- Finished
Iris Crocheted Shawl <- Finished
Shawl Collared Cowl <- Finished
Urban Shells <- Finished
Elise Shawl <- Finished
Betula Ring <- Finished
Recuerdos de Infancia <- In progress
Magrathea <- In progress
Happy Lavender Scarf <- In progress
Mochi Neck Warmer <- Frogging first Betula Ring for yarn
Branching Out - Patons Smoothie DK
Chinook/A Little Bit Bohemian - Debbie Bliss Andes
Henslowe <- Stash Addict yarn
200 Fingering Rocket Shawl/Usoa Shawl <- Drops Fabel
My Kind of Town Cowl <- Wendy Serenity Super Chunky
Sunderland <- Wendy Happy (Cinders)
Long Nights Cowl <- In progress, Drops Nepal
Blue Lagoon

Amigurumi

Knit Bunnies x 7 <- Finished
Realistic Octopus <- Finished
Sheldon Turtle <- Have yarn
Tilly the Panda
Finola the Fox
Chester the Dog <- Knit picks yarn

Other Things

Tote Bag <- Finished
Windschief Hat <- Finished
Snowbaby Hat<- Finished
Skaði Fingerless Gloves <- Finished
Hairpin Lace Blanket <- Replacing Realta Blanket
Giselle
Genevieve <- In Progress
Faceclothes/Make up pads <- Drops Paris
Cap Sleeved Top <- Freedom Sincere
Calorimetry<- Have yarn
Phone sock/cosy <- Finished
Pin cushion
New Era <- In Progress
Needle book <- Trying out entrelac (leftovers of blanket yarn)
Scissor case

FO Friday 23

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:26:00 +0000

I already wrote this all out once, but then Tumblr had a fit, and eerything disappeared, so here we go again! I have an FO to show you this week, as I finished my Long Nights Cowl on Wednesday! It was actually really easy to finish - instead of binding off like normal, you bind off a couple of stitches at each end, then whip stitch the live stitches to near the start, to make it into a tube. It works really well and looks really neat too. Another thing that you can’t really see from the photos on Ravelry is that it has a mobius twist that you put in right before sewing it up. The cowl is super warm! Its definitely the warmest cowl I’ve made this winter and it was just in time since we’e hit another cold patch. The cowl hugs your neck really close so that no drafts can get down, and unfolded it’s long enough to keep your face warm too.

This was a really easy knit. The yarn I used was Drops Nepal, which is a wool/alpaca blend and was really nice and pretty easy to work with, except that stitches kept wanting to jump off my needles. I think wood might have been better for the yarn, or maybe that’s just and excuse for me to get some Symfonie needles for my interchangable circulars! I couldn’t get gauge - I had 4 stitches in an inch instead of 3, so I just made my cowl an extra ten stitches wide, so it finished up the same size. I didn’t want to go up a needle size as I wanted to keep the fabric tight and warm. I also didn’t make mine as long as the pattern - I stopped at 21 inches, with just the right amount of yarn to do the two bind off rows and whip stitch the rest of the live stitches around and not enough for a single row more.

Check out what everyone else has been doing this week over on Tami’s!

WIP Wednesday 25

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:16:51 +0000

Well, it’s Wednesday again, and I always look forwards to Wednesday lunchtime as it marks halfway though my week, and means I’m halfway to the weekend! I managed to get quite a bit done this week, and I’m happy with how my projects are doing, although I am getting a bit bored with so much garter stitch in both my projects. I really want to use my stash addict yarn so I might start the Henslowe shawl on my Year of Projects list, but I should also work on some of the things that have been hibernating for a little while. On the other hand though I should really use up the last of my Drops Nepal making some fingerless gloves, if I have enough yarn left, before the weather warms up and I don’t need them any more. At the moment though, I’m being strong and resisting the urge to start anything new until the Long Nights Cowl is finished.

Speaking of which, my cowl is now 19” long, with five to go! Hopefully I’ll be able to get most of it done tonight, then assemble it tomorrow and have an FO for you to see on Friday. I have still got some off my skien to go, but I’m not sure how much - I should probably weigh it. Hopefully it will be enough to finish off the five inches, but if not, I’m tempted just to let my cowl be a little bit shorter - provided I can still get it over my head! To bind this off, you sew the last row to the straight section to join it in a loop. I’ve never done anything like this before so I’m not quite sure how it will work out, however, I guess the best thing to do is just to try it and see.

Magrathea is still getting longer and wider. Each row takes longer and longer to complete, but it’ll be worth it in the end. I try to do a minimum of one repeat per day to make sure I keep going. I’m going to London at the endo of February, so I’m aiming to have it finished and blocked before I go so I can wear it when I’m down. I’ve finally reached a point where I’m beginning to remember the pattern. For some reason it’s taken me a long time to remember how the four rows (not counting the purl rows) go.

I also started my Hairpin Lace blanket this week. So far I’ve done between 70 and 80 loops. I kept losing count last night, so I put it down and left it. I’m going to aim for an easily accomplished number of loops per day to keep this one moving a long too. Hopefully I’ll be able to complete one or two strips a week this way. I might even join in the One a Day group on Ravelry to keep me motivated and moving along with this one. If I can get this blanket done, then I’ll have a lot more room in my yarn boxes!

For more WIP Wednesdays, check out Tami’s!

Hairpin Lace

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:18:03 +0000

I decided that since I had lost all motivation for my Realta Blanket, I had to find another way to use up all the yarn I had for it. After looking around Ravelry for a while, I fell for Hairpin Lace. It’s a really nice tchniques, while being fairly simple, and it’s also feels different to crochet and knitting, so I hope I’m less likely to get bored with it!

I’m using this great tutorial to get started, although I find the way she shows of joining the yarn at the start quite awkward. Instead, I started with a slip knot on the hook, then slip stitched the first loop (I hope that makes sense, I’ll try to take photos when I start my next strip). I couldn’t find a loom here, but it was ridiculously easy to make my own. I got a strip of Basswood from the craft shop (modeling shops - especially railway ones will sell it too), cut two five inch pieces from it, then drilled 2 holes in each. I made my holes 5mm in diameter, and placed them 3 inches apart. I did have a pair of long knitting needles which claimed to be size 9 and should have been 5mm. However, they were thinner than 5mm and more importantly were very old, and very bent, so I could never get the loom to sit flat. So yesterday my husband bought me some new 5mm needles (mine are 40 cm long) and they fit perfectly. The fit with the holes is so tight that I don’t have any problem with the wood slipping.

I really like making this lace. It does feel a bit strange to begin with, but you quickly get in to a rhythm. Moving the hook from the front to the back is a bit awkward though, and I hope it will improve with more practice. I’m using DK yarn so I made the gap between the legs a bit smaller than the tutorial, and I’m using a 4mm hook to crochet the lace.

In the photo I have 60 loops and it doesn’t look very long! I think I want it to cover our bed, which is a double, although we have a king sized duvet, so it would have to be around that size, or I could make it into a throw for the sofa. I’m going to work on this strip and get the length I want, then count how many strips that is. Once I’ve made a second strip I’ll join the two of them together and then I’ll hopefull be able to work out how many strips I need, and be able to plan how I want to put them together. I have one skien each of 19 different colours, as well as 3 skiens of black, which should be plenty to make a big blanket!

Year of Projects: Week 26 Summary

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:37:28 +0000

Another week is over, and we seem to be getting through January quickly. It’s even still a bit light when I leave work now, so it feels like we’re on the way to spring. I’m starting to think about my birthday and Christmas presents for people this year. One thing I’m considering, is letting my best friends choose a few scarf or shawl patterns they like on Ravelry, then making it up for them in some gorgeous yarn. One of my friends is also having a baby, due on the 31st of July, so I’d like to have something ready for her when the baby arrives, so there might be a few more things on the list soon!

This week I’ve been working on my Magrathea. We bought a couple more skiens of yarn to make sure I have enough to finish it. The yarn was on sale in the shop, so I got two for the price of one which was a bonus! The pattern states you need 25% of your yarn to complete the lace border once you’ve reached the length you want. That means, I can use up to three skiens to make the rest of the shawl. I’ve just joined my second skien and I’ve done 8 pattern repeats. I think I probably want it around 16 repeats long, so hopefully I should have enough yarn for that, bearing in mind that each repeat uses up slightly more yarn as the body gets wider. Sorry for the awful photo - my desk isn’t big enough anymore, so I laid it out on the bed, but the lighting is terrible.

I also started out on a Long Nights Cowl, to use up my Drops Nepal yarn. Originally this yarn was going to be a Broomstick Lace Scarf, but I didn’t really like the way it felt when I crocheted it. I love it in garter stitch though, and it feels lovely and soft. I’ve just joined my second skien of yarn for this, and I think I’m around halfway through. I’m hoping that I won’t need to use my third skien of yarn, because I’d like to turn it into some fingerless gloves. There should be just enough in one skien to make a pair.

I’ve added a scissors case and a needle book to my list below, as they’re a couple of things I have missing from my knitting bag. I’ll probably make a case for my crochet hooks later too. My plan for these (and the pincushion) is to make them out of scraps and left over yarn.

I’ve also changed the realta blanket on the list. The idea of making 80+ hexagons, and even more squares and triangles for the blanket is just too boring and I can’t motivate myself to do it. Instead I’m going to be making a hairpin lace blanket - I expect it’ll probably still be boring, but I’m not going to need nearly so many strips - probably only 20-30, so hopefully it won’t be so tedious, and I love the joining method, so I won’t have to sew anything. Once I’ve made a couple of strips I should be able to work out how many I need for the whole blanket. I’ll definitely be blogging about hairpin lace later this week if you want to pop back.

Hope you all have a great week!

The Revised List

Scarves and Shawls

Lacey Crochet Scarf <- Finished
Iris Crocheted Shawl <- Finished
Shawl Collared Cowl <- Finished
Urban Shells <- Finished
Elise Shawl <- Finished
Betula Ring <- Finished
Recuerdos de Infancia <- In progress
Magrathea <- In progress
Happy Lavender Scarf <- In progress
Mochi Neck Warmer <- Frogging first Betula Ring for yarn
Branching Out - Patons Smoothie DK
Chinook/A Little Bit Bohemian - Debbie Bliss Andes
Henslowe <- Stash Addict yarn
200 Fingering Rocket Shawl/Usoa Shawl <- Drops Fabel
My Kind of Town Cowl <- Wendy Serenity Super Chunky
Sunderland <- Wendy Happy (Cinders)
Long Nights Cowl <- In progress, Drops Nepal
Blue Lagoon

Amigurumi

Knit Bunnies x 7 <- Finished
Realistic Octopus <- Finished
Sheldon Turtle <- Have yarn
Tilly the Panda
Finola the Fox
Chester the Dog <- Knit picks yarn

Other Things

Tote Bag <- Finished
Windschief Hat <- Finished
Snowbaby Hat<- Finished
Skaði Fingerless Gloves <- Finished
Hairpin Lace Blanket <- Replacing Realta Blanket
Giselle
Genevieve <- In Progress
Faceclothes/Make up pads <- Drops Paris
Cap Sleeved Top <- Freedom Sincere
Calorimetry<- Have yarn
Phone sock/cosy <- Finished
Pin cushion
Fingerless gloves <- Left overs of Drops Nepal, hopefully
Needle book <- Trying out entrelac
Scissor case

FO Friday 22

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:06:53 +0000

I’m so glad it’s Friday at last! This is a very long week for me - it’s the first time I’ve worked a 5 day week in nearly two months and I’ve been missing the extra knitting time. This is also my 100th post on my blog! So I want to say thatnk you to everyone who reads and those who comment.

I haven’t finished anything I’ve been working on this week, but I have some stitch markers I made during the holidays to show you. Once I started I couldn’t stop, so there’s quite a few for you to see!

I made them with charms and beads, using some nylon coated wire and crimp beads to hold everything in place. I did four with earring clasps, for using on crochet. I made the loops using my 10 mm crochet hook as a guide, so I should be able to use them for most projects. Pretty much everything I used, other than the wire, were things I had in my jewellery making stash, from the last couple of years Christmas presents for friends. I don’t often wear jewellery, although I enjoy making it, so it was nice to make up these, as I know they’ll get plenty of use, and they were fun to do - so much fun that I made 16 just for knitting! I doubt I’ll ever have them all in use in one go.

For some yarny FO’s check out Tami’s and see what everyone else has been up to.

WIP Wednesday 24

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:05:20 +0000

Well Wednesday is here again, and I’ve been doing very well with my blogging this week. I’ve had a post on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, so today makes four in a row. I’m not sure what I’m going to post about tomorrow though! This week I’ve been quite busy. I’ve done a bit more on my Magrathea and I think it’s about a third of the length I want now. The thing I love about patterns like this, is that I can just keep going until it’s as long as I want. I have four skiens of yarn for this shawl, and the lace border at the end takes 25% of your yarn according to the pattern, so I can keep going until I’ve used up the other three skeins. I’m about to finish my first skien of yarn and I have the russian join all done and ready.

I also cast on a new small project this week. I was considering turning this yarn into fingerless gloves, but instead I’m making it into a Long Nights Cowl. The cowl looks gorgeous in the photos, although the instructions for assembling it look a bit strange. I’m hoping it’ll make more sense when I’ve reached that stage and I can try it out for myself. It find things often make more sense to me if I just try it instead of overthinking it. I’m really enjoying the yarn for this project. It’s Drops Nepal which is a wool/alpaca blend and beautifully soft. It’s funny because I bought it originally for a crochet broomstick lace scarf and I wasn’t really keen on the feel of it then, but in garter stitch I love it. It’s surprising how differently crochet and knitting make yarn feel sometimes.

To see what everyone else has been upto this week, check out Tami’s!

My Yarny Journey Continues

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:57:14 +0000

I was around May last year when I first started to play with yarn. I had just started using Google Reader, and one of the few things (those were the days!) on it was Craft. One day they posted up this article, of a floral coaster. I thought it was gorgeous, and set about finding out more about crochet, and started with amigurumi. You can see more about how I started off my yarny journey here. I really enjoy crochet. I just can’t stick to one thing! Looking around on Ravelry I slowly got pulled in to the world of yarn, and got more adventurous with my crochet and did everything that caught my eye.

Looking around for a while, I found the knooking group. I thought this sounded really intreging and eventually decided to give it a go. If you haven’t heard of knooking before, basically, it’s knitting with a crochet hook.. You have a cord attached to your hook, which acts as your second needle, and you use your hook essentially as a needle, doing knit and purl stitches. You can make literally any knitting pattern this way, and it’s an awesome tool, especially for working in the round.

Now I’ve started knitting - properly with two needles - and I have to say, I feel a little bit guilty, because although I started out with crochet, then flirted with knooking, I think knitting is actually my favourite yarn craft, and I feel like I’m cheating on crochet! It’s not just my love for garter stitch (so soft, squishy and warm) or how soft the fabric is, or the neat little holes which make such amazing patterns in lace, all of that I can get with knooking - and knooking at least uses a hook, so that’s a bit more like crochet, even if you are making knitted fabric. It’s the way both of your hands work together, and the way your needles click I think that I love best. Really I think it reminds me of my Granny, and it feels very comfortable and “homey”.

In reality though, without crochet grabbing my attention, and knooking teaching me the basics, I don’t think I’d have got to the stage of knitting, which is quite special in it’s own right. Crochet was a gentle way to work, which helped me get used to holding yarn in one hand, my hook in the other, and get used to the idea of an even tension and gauge. Knooking took it a step further, giving me a simple way to learn knit and purl stitches (again, since I did once learn to knit - badly - as a teenager), and get used to the different movements, with a familiar tool. Knooking always gave me a safety line across the last row I had don, so dropping stitches was less of an issue - and if I did drop a stitch and have to pick it up again, I had my hook ready for it. The hook is really what makes it easier - all you have to do is catch the yarn in it and pull it back through the loop. You don’t have to slide it round the needle and off, and I think that’s what really made a difference. It made the learning process simpler.

Last week I got my first set of knitting needles. I went for circular needles, as you can use them for flat and round knitting, and I think they’re much easier to wield than long needles. I got a set of Knit Pro Nova Metal needles. I really love the Knit Pro interchangeable crochet hooks I have, and they came with a set of cords that fit my Nova Interchangeables too. I love these needles so much already, and it hasn’t even been a week yet! I love how smooth they are, the way they fit in my hand and the way they click together. While I still like and enjoy crochet, I’ve noticed more and more knitting patterns getting into my favourites and on to my Year of Projects list, and I think in the future knitting will be my favourite yarn craft.

Christmas Presents

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:18:16 +0000

This is the post I was supposed to do last week, about what my husband got me for Christmas. He is quite awesome, and this will probably be a pretty photo heavy post! My main present was a gorgeous knitting bag. It’s huge and I can fit a lot of yarn in it, which is awesome. It has long pockets which are perfect for my crochet hooks, a couple of small pockets and two big pockets. There’s room for my knooking hooks, crochet hooks, tape measure, stitch markers, patterns, safety pins, cable needles, mini scales, lots of yarn and now my knitting needles too. The bottom is also removeable too, so I can remove it for cleaning, and it’s solid so it can hold itself up nicely.

I love my bag and it comes around the whole house with me. I always have everything I need just within reach - or at least I will once I get a pair of scissors and a needle case for my bag. I also got some Debbie Bliss Andes, which is gorgeous silk/alpaca yarn in a fantastic red colour, and some Rowan Belle Organic Aran, which is a wool/cotton blend, which is one of my favourites, in my favourite colour.

Year of Projects: All Change

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:08:00 +0000

It’s Sunday night and I’m being good and writing my blog post on time! I have no idea which week I’m on right now, I’ll have to count up sometime.. This week, I’ve been completely reworking my list. I still have some decisions to make, but for the most part the list is done. When I buy yarn, I usually buy it for a certain project. But sometimes they don’t work out, or I change my mind, and I currently have a yarn stash in two plastic boxes. Admittedly one box is completely full of yarn for my blanket (more on that later), but I also have quite a few other balls of yarn.

The new list is using as much of that yarn as I can. Most of it is scarves and shawls, which I love making, a couple of things I haven’t chosen patterns for. The blanket is really my biggest problem. I should be working on my realta blanket, but I haven’t done anything to it for ages. I think part of the problem is that the tiles for it are quite big and take a while to make, but at the same time they’re very repetitive. I love the look of the finished blankets, but I have no motivation to get there. I think what I need is either smaller blocks, or more variety, maybe both. I haven’t made a decision about the blanket yet. That’s this week’s challenge.

This week I’ve mostly been working on my Magrathea after finishing off my phone cosy (top photo) on Wednesday. I had a minor disaster where I had to take out a whole pattern repeat yesterday because I’d done something weird with one of my k2togs. I’m not really sure how many pattern repeats I’m going to do. The pattern is 25 repeats, but that’s for fingering yarn, not aran. I’m just going to keep going until I’m happy with the length. I love how soft it feels, and the garter stitch body is deliciously squishy! I’m also knitting it now, instead of knooking - but more on that next week - it deserves it’s own post!

So here’s my new list, with all my new projects and many removed.

The Revised List

Scarves and Shawls

Lacey Crochet Scarf <- Finished
Iris Crocheted Shawl <- Finished
Shawl Collared Cowl <- Finished
Urban Shells <- Finished
Elise Shawl <- Finished
Betula Ring <- Finished
Recuerdos de Infancia <- In progress
Magrathea <- In progress
Happy Lavender Scarf <- In progress
Mochi Neck Warmer <- Frogging first Betula Ring for yarn
Branching Out - Patons Smoothie DK
Chinook/A Little Bit Bohemian - Debbie Bliss Andes
Henslowe <- Stash Addict yarn
200 Fingering Rocket Shawl/Usoa Shawl <- Drops Fabel
My Kind of Town Cowl <- Wendy Serenity Super Chunky
Sunderland <- Wendy Happy (Cinders)
Blue Lagoon

Amigurumi

Knit Bunnies x 7 <- Finished
Realistic Octopus <- Finished
Sheldon Turtle <- Have yarn
Tilly the Panda
Finola the Fox
Chester the Dog <- Knit picks yarn

Other Things

Tote Bag <- Finished
Windschief Hat <- Finished
Snowbaby Hat<- Finished
Skaði Fingerless Gloves <- Finished
Realta Blanket <- In progress
Giselle
Genevieve <- In Progress
Faceclothes/Make up pads <- Drops Paris
Cap Sleeved Top <- Freedom Sincere
Calorimetry<- Have yarn
Phone sock/cosy <- Finished
Pin cushion
Fingerless gloves