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! 

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!

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!

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

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!

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.

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

Friday at last on my first working week after Christmas. The weekend can’t come fast enough! I had some stitch markers to show you today, but I forgot to photograph them, so they’ll have to wait for next week. One of my biggest challenges this week, is trying to get through my Google Reader! I had over 500 things on it because I hadn’t read any over Christmas. I knocked off quite a few that I normally skim through, but I’ve been stuck at around 250 this week - it seems like the more I read, the more everyone blogs! So that’s one of my challenges this weekend, try to empty my reader and get back around everyone’s blogs and comment!

The next thing I have to show you is very geeky! I play a game called World of Warcraft, on the side of the Alliance. There’s quite a few WoW patterns on Ravelry, but most of them are for the Horde, the opposing faction. The only Alliance pattern I found was this pair of gloves, but they are missing the lion’s mane, and the eyes are a little hard to make out (they’re the loopy bits at the top). The pattern on the gloves is cute, but it’s also too big for my phone cover, and I really wanted the mane on my lion.

So with a little help from my husband, we turned the Alliance symbol into a knitting chart, and I made it into a phone cosy! The official colours for it are blue and gold, but since I didn’t have either colour, but I did have the left over yarn from my Snowbaby Hat, that’s what I used. The pattern is a little too wide for the front of my phone so it wraps around the sides to the back as well. I’m actually really happy with it. One little problem I did have though, is I think I pulled my floats and wraps a little tight across the back.

Once I had the chart, I mostly made the rest up as I went along! I started by casting on with Judy Becker’s Magic Cast On, and it is awesome! It’s really for toe down socks, but it worked perfectly for this and it’s so smooth! I love it! I did a few increases at each side over a few rows, then started knitting the pattern. I did have to rip it all out and start again a few times, once because I didn’t do enough increases and a second time because I started the pattern a little too late and it wouldn’t all fit on.

Once I had completed the pattern I did a round of brown and then started 2x2 rib. I had an odd number of stitches, so I finished with one purl stitch, but it isn’t really noticeable and it’s on the back anyway. I did a decrease row at the top, decreasing four times, then bound off in patter, using a basic bind off and it was done. I was going to use a stretchy bind off, but it actually made the top too loose and the basic bind off works fine. And there we have it - a geeky Alliance logo phone sock to those in the know, and a gorgeous (I think so anyway) Lion phone cover to everyone else! If anyone is interested in the pattern, let me know and I’ll put up the chart on Ravelry.

For more awesome FO’s, check out Tami’s!

Well this weekend has been busy! I finished my notebooks and origami boxes (which I’ll be sharing tomorrow) and I finished my Snowbaby hat! I loved working on the hat! The colourwork was a lot of fun. I was holding both colours of yarn in my left hand, which I guess is continental style? Because I knook (knit with a hook) instead of actually knitting, I tend to hold things as I do when I crochet - hook in my right hand, working yarn, and my work in my left - I should probably get my husband to take a photo sometime.

Once I got into the rhythm of reaching over for the brown and under for the cream, I stopped twisting my yarn up together, and got along pretty fast. The pattern was really easy to memorise, and was quite sad when it was over! I loved doing the colourwork, and I think I’m going to have to look for more patterns that use it! I’m also quite proud of the back of the work - I managed to keep the tension on my floats nicely without being too tight. I even took a photo of it to show you! It was minus five this morning when I wore my hat out for the first time and it was lovely and cosy! The cashmerino is gorgeous and soft, and I love it. I used a russian join again when I joined my second ball of the brown, and I wove in the ends of the cream while I was knitting too, so when I got the the end I only had two ends to sew in, which was also great, and I will definitely be using both techniques in future!

I’m also very hard at work on my knit bunnies. I finished a third (giant) one on Friday. I’d love to have a photo of the seven together before I give them away so I need to finish them by this Friday. I’ve finished another square that’s ready to be bunnyfied and I’m halfway through a second square. I’m going to finish the other two and a half squares, then put all my bunnies together at once.

I’m also starting to plan what I’m going to work on over Christmas, and making sure I have what I need. My Stash Addict yarn has been tempting me for weeks, so as soon as I’m finished my bunnies I want to start my Magrathea. I’ve ordered the 3mm Knit Pro Symphonie Interchangeable Crochet hook that didn’t come with the set I bought, and that I need for Magrathea. I hope it’ll come very soon, in plenty of time for Christmas. I also ordered some yarn for my Guenvieve cardigan, because I think a long holiday is a good time to start work on something that big! It’s worked flat, but in one piece, so seaming it together shouldn’t be too bad, but I do have to measure and alter the pattern to fit. Luckily though instructions are given at each step for how to fit it. I just have to follow the instructions properly. I also want to do more work on my Realta Blanket, Polo neck Bag, and my Recuerdos de Infancia shawl, so I’ll have plenty to do!

I won’t be doing my YoP update on Sunday this week, for obvious reasons! But I’ll probably have it up on Wednesday. Have a great time everyone!

The Revised List

Scarves and Shawls

• Lacey Crochet Scarf <- Finished
• Iris Crocheted Shawl <- Finished
• Recuerdos de Infancia <- In progress
• Urban Shells <- Finished
• Elise Shawl <- Finished
• Happy Lavender Scarf <- In progress
• Blue Lagoon
• Magrathea <- Have yarn
• Betula Ring <- Finished
• Mochi Neck Warmer <- Have yarn
• Shawl Collared Cowl <- Finished

Amigurumi

• Chester the Dog
• Tilly the Panda
• Sheldon Turtle <- Have yarn
• Realistic Octopus <- Finished (and awesome!)
• Finola the Fox
• Knit Bunnies x 7 <- 3 done (plus 1 square)

Other Things

• Tote Bag <- Finished
• Cap Sleeved Top
• Guenvieve <- Yarn ordered
• Ginny Cowl
• Realta Blanket <- In progress
• Polo Neck Bag <- In progress
• Skaði Fingerless Gloves <- Finished
• Hearts on Her Sleeve Fingerless Gloves <- In progress (one done)
• Calorimetry <- Yarn ordered
• Windschief Hat <- Finished
• Snowbaby Hat<- Finished

Is that it’s so easy to fit into my life! I love all sorts of crafts and I’ve done a lot of different ones in my life. Most recently I’ve done cross stitch and jewellery making in a lot of different styles. I also like paper crafts, and I’ve spent a lot of time making bird toys too. But the thing that sets knooking and crochet apart from all the rest is how easy it is to fit in around the other things I do! I can pick it up and put it down at a moments notice and it’s incredibly portable! It fits into a bag. I can carry it around the house with me, and I can take it in the car. All I need to take with me is yarn, crochet/knooking hooks, stitch markers and the pattern, which is usually on my phone. It’s probably the most portable craft I’ve ever hear of, and it doesn’t weigh much either! And after all the enjoyment of crafting with your yarn, you can then wear it, and take it with you everywhere. It amazes me how much potential there is in a ball of yarn. It could turn into anything at all, with just a little help from two sticks or a hook!

In February, I’m going to London with two of my best friends. We’re meeting at the train station and I have a seven hour journey. I’m choosing to look at this as “seven hours of yarn time” and I wonder what I’ll be working on then. I may need to add a small project or two to my Year of Projects list, especially for the trip!