2009- the year of the stash

This is the year in which I intend on doing most of my knitting from stash. I can't really see that being much of a hardship. I have a lot of stash and not a lot of time to knit with 3 children to look after, one of whom will very soon become an crawling baby. I'm also intending on finishing up the majority of my WIP's and generally condensing the quantity of 'stuff' I own into a more reasonable package.

When my stuff arrives here from London, I will be absolutely merciless. The vast majority of the crap is on it's way out.


On a slightly different note, there's some pinkness in my girl's lives arriving soon, like when I can learn to work my mother's sewing machine. I needed to purchase some fleece in order to make some new fleece nappy liners for the reusable nappies baby is in, and instead of just getting the half meter or so I would need for that, I bought 3 and a half meters of pink stripy fleece for about 11 quid, including postage costs, which is an absolutely fantastic deal. So as well as the world's supply of pink stripy nappy liners, the girls are both getting fleece blankets, as soon as I get round to cutting and sewing them. I'll stick in a picture when i charge my camera

the future is bright...

...the future is so very, very yellow.

I've knit about 3 and a half foot of 4 foot wide yellow fun for blanket. So far, I've used up 14 out of 40 balls of this stuff. I think I may have overbought slightly. I would say I'll use it up for something else, but there is a slight problem with that. I'm starting to get ever so slightly sick at the sight of yellow fun fur.

My only hope at the moment is that my tolerance for it will return once this project is completed, or this will become a huge white elephant

I also finished some socks in an unknown colourway of opal. Can't say the colourway impresses me greatly, but they are comfy in a plain wool sock sorta way.




Unfortunately, there's no show off the baby photos this post. She isn't well and isn't really looking her best right now. I will save taking more pictures for when she is at her cutest.

However, I asked on knittyboard and I'll ask here, do you have any project as crazy as a giant yellow fun fur blanket? If so, share the madness and tell me all about it.

you'd better not be making this for me mum

you'd better not be making this for me mum
Originally uploaded by toggle490

It's yellow, very yellow and it will be rather large.

I promised some knitting content to you and here it is, but probably not what you expected. But I got 40 balls of this yellow sirday funky fur for about a tenner, so the muppet pelt blanket has been born.

I was thinking about knitting myself a big fun fur rug for a while, but hell, that stuff can be expensive, so i needed to wait until the craze for it died back enough for it to go on sale. when it's a fiver a bag and on a BOGOF, you know that it's time to buy.

And it's not for her, it's for me, although i can really see the kids fighting me for it at some point.

trip to porthleven

Popped into the village for a pub lunch with the parents and to take a few snaps of the harbour. I looked over my shots of the harbour and I can't say I'm really taken by any of them. Always something in the shot that really dosen't look nice there.

However, I did find one good thing. (apart from the Salt Cellar workshops and their scrummy range of hats)




Little village yarn shop there, with a range of really cheap King Cole yarns. Under 3 quid a ball for socks yarns in the UK is something absolutely incredible. I did buy some elsewhere for nearly a fiver, and i doo need to use that up at some point, but I will be back there for more yarns, and possibly for some of the cheap chunky yarn for a long cardie for my older girl.

I've got a thing for long cardies. I've always loved them and now I appear to be fashionable so I can actually buy what I want. I probably look terrible in them, but I'm comfy and warm, so I don't care and I want to make the lass one as well (son has already tried to steal one of mine that drapes the floor on him)





Anyway, here's the compulsory baby photo. I was reading to lass and baby decided she wanted to join in.

I joined a club tonight

When I mentioned to my mother that I was looking into signing up for classes in digital photography, she mentioned that one of her friends was a member of a photography club that met weekly and held competitions and critiqued each other's images and generally learnt from each other how to take better photographs.

Now with that suggestion, I leapt at the chance to get out of the house with someone other than my mother and went along with her tonight and thought it was really good. I am in no way up to their standard and most of them are a bit older, but I think it may well be an enjoyable evening and I can learn a lot from them.

Anyway, this is a slightly different angle on the view from the house. I liked the way in which the sunlight on the houses was reflected in the water. I'd like to try and get that shot at high tide though, I think it would be a lot better. The whole creek area looks a lot nicer when the tide is up, smells a bit better as well.

As for the whole knitting thing, I've finished a couple of pairs of child socks, just need to sew up the toes. I've also been working on a crochet scrap blanket with the leftovers. I'll try and get some pictures of then when I have some time to spare during the day.

talking pix

I've been photographing the stash. One day I will learn to get good stash photos. This is some crochet cotton I eventually plan on turning into snowflakes.

I'm making a crochet 'paperchain' tonight

my crochet cotblanket

A variation on the granny square theme, all done as 5, 10, 15 or 20 rounds, then pieced together with a border added. It came out as just about the right size for a cotbed, so will do great for baby.

I'm glad people liked the piccy I put up yesterday. I really do like that view. I'm really quite looking foward to taking the camera everywhere and getting some good shots of the countryside and towns round here. It's all so different to what I'm used to, so it's exciting.

this week in cornwall

Lets start here.

If I'm going to do a bit of a tour about Cornwall as I explore the place as well as showing off the family and the knitting, I may as well start here and make you all jealous. This is the view from my bedroom window. Nice, isn't it.

settling in

I'm going to start blogging some more, take the camera out and show some of the local area, show off my knitting regularly as well.

2 weeks to go

then I get to finally move down to cornwall. Looking into housing atm, check out some letting agents and find out whaty sort of placed I can afford to get. Renting is only short term, so I won't be too fussy

planning a move

I've started looking at houses in cornwall, it looks like i may be able to get something close to my dream of enough space for an orchard and livestock, kids are helping plan it all.

It will take a while though, I've got the joys of starting to talk to letting agents soon, utter parasites that they are.

and now for some more crochet

Some wool from a karma swap and some sirdar nova from the stash and I have this, another stahsbusting baby blanket. I think i should get that set of shelves cleared and moved in time for the birth after all, I'm certainly on track so far.

been away a while

Needed a bit of a break from writing stuff for a while. That dosen't mean I haven't been knitting though, and i'm learning more about crochet.

What you see above is a 3.5 foot diameter baby blanket, it's nice and thick and soft, so I think will make a great blanket for baby to lie on the floor or the grass. Took a few days to complete, but not bad for a near beginner, especially since ti's got a good 700 yards of yarn in it. I had the purple left over from making a blanket for the she-demon a couple of years ago, and the white is the same yarn, one of sirdar's cotton/wool/acrylic blends, so sticking them together to make a nice baby blanket seemed a great idea

I'll add some pictures of some of the other sutff I've een doing recently as well later, dishcloths, baby cardie, a knitted baby blanket. need to hit the WIP pile and finish some stuff there as well.

oven glove

Finished the oven glove, the first of the projects I'm making for an article about recycling felted/feltable jumpers.

today's efforts

Not much for today. I am working on another little project that is taking a little longer than expected. Should finish that tomorrow

even more blanket squares

Knit a few more of these today. Fairly sure i have over 200 of them completed now.

more blanket squares

OK, moving on from the mad sock making frenzy, I've decided i need to knit something that can be shown to be a finished item or module every day. This may be part of a WIP like a jumper sleeve, or blanket squares, or a sock or a completed item from the WIP pile.

In effect, April will be my month of finished stuff.

I want to get the WIp pile to something reasonable, and along with the great stashbusting blanket, I should be able to get all my craft kit fitting into the boxes I bought for it. This will however, be classed as a minor miracle, so don't hold your breath waiting for it.

anyway, here's a picture of some completed blanket squares for today's 'finished' effort.

progress on the giant rug

Did that and planted some more seeds last night. Feeling very productive and pleased with myself.

day off from sockknitting

I think I will scream if i don't take the occasional day off socks. So today is the day. I'm rug knitting instead, sitting up, with a nice warm cat on my feet and nearly 2 foot of the rug done. Considering this is supposed to be the project for the whole of April and use up over 3 miles of yarn, having completed nearly a third of it is looking good.

I wrote an article for downsizer as well as the knitting pattern today. This is the most formal writing I've done in a day since I last tried to write an essay. i'm feeling quite pleased with myself for this and for seemingly not completely messing up with the seedlings this year.

I've had a fair few disasters trying to grow herbs at home on windowsills from seed and this was very disheartening. Now I'm trying to grow veggies from seed to actually produce a reasonable amount of food and I keep remembering my earlier failures and worrying. Seeing stuff sprouting and then starting to set leaves really makes me feel a lot more relaxed about the whole thing.

simplest ever lace socks

I got this yarn through the ukarma swap on ravelry with the intention of knitting something for soon to be expected baby, however, my 4 year old decided she adored the yarn and recognising it as yarn that would knit socks, asked me to knit her a pair.

I've also been starting to add some complexity to my basic sock patterns, colour work, cables and now the simplest ever lace, with a yo, k2tog on every second row giving vertical ladders down the sock. It's not too fancy for her to wear comfortably at school, but interesting enough that I didn't get bored out of my mind knitting it.

The lass in question has 18cm/7 inch long feet. The length of the pattern could likely be adjusted to fit between 3 and 7 year old, given that the stretchy nature of knitted fabric gives a lot of leeway on foot width.

Anyway, after posting the pattern up to show the group that I got the yarn from, I was asked to show the pattern so here it is.

yarn: fleece artist sea wool. 70% merino, 30% seacell
349m, 115g

cost: free!!!!!!!!
since this was a karma swap, the yarn was technically free. apart from that, it will cost £13 per hank at getknitted.

needles: set of 2.5mm dpns

knitability: advanced beginner
another great second sock pattern

time: 15 hours


to knit:

1. leg

cast on 48 stitches and divide them onto 3 needles, 16 stitches on each needle. Join work, taking care not to twist the cast on and begin to knit in 2x2 rib (k2, p2, repeat) Work until the rib measures about 2cm, 1 inch. then knit the rest of the leg as follows

row 1: (k3, yo, k2tog, k3) repeat this 6 times, twice on each needle
row 2: k all stitches

repeat these 2 rows until the leg is the desired length. On a child, this is usually between 10 and 15 cm, 4-6 inches.

2: heel

knit 24 stitches, turn work, slip one stitch and purl to end. complete the heel by repeating the following 2 rows 12 times:

row 1: S1 k to end
row 2: S1 p to end

then turn heel:

row 1: slip 1, knit 12, k2tog, k1 turn
row 2 slip 1, p3, p2tog p1 turn
row 3: slip 1, k4 k2 tog k1 turn
row 4: slip 1, p5 p2tog p1 turn

repeat pattern until there are 14 stitches on the needle

knit 7 stitches onto one needle, knit the other 7 stitches onto a second needle and pick up stitches along the side of the heel flap, 13 along the side of the flap, where stitches have been slipped, and 2 in between slipped stitches and the front needle. knit across front needle in pattern, (k3, yo, k2tog k3) repeat 3 times, and pick up 15 stitches along the other side of the heel flap. knit the first 7 stitches of the heel flap. You should now have 2 needles with 22 stitches and one with 24.

3. Foot

Knit first round of gusset, knit the stitches that have been picked up along the sides of heel flap twisted (knit through back loop)then knit as follows

round 1: knit to last 2 stitches of first needle, k2tog, (k3 yo, k2tog k3)x3 on second needle , ssk then knit to end of third needle
round 2: knit all.

repeat these two rounds until there are 12 stitches left on the first and third needles.

then:
round 1: knit end first needle, k2tog, (k3 yo, k2tog k3)x3 on second needle , knit to end of third needle
round 2: knit all

repeat these 2 rounds until the work measures 3cm from desired length.

4. toe

round 1: knit to 3 stitches from end of first needle, k2tog, k1, k1 ssk knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1, k1 ssk, k to end
round 2. knit all stitches.

repeat these 2 rows until there are 20 stitches left in total.

Kitchener stitch toe and sew in ends.

she demon in socks

YOu can't see the face, I can. She's utterly delighted.


This is my own design in fleece artist sea wool from a ukarma swap.

day 21: sea wool sock

i got this yarn as a swap, intending to make something for baby. Then she demon started cuddling it. So it has become socks for her.

day 20: pair of chunky socks

And here's the pair.

day 19: chunky house sock

Thought I'd take a day off knitting tiny cables and go for something easier. This is an aran weight house sock, something he can wear about in the house and keep his feet warm, or sleep in on camp.

day 18: tiny cables

lots and lots of tiny cables on a sock for maggot. I know they don't show up well, photographing dark colours like this isn't a skill of mine. But they are there, it's a 2x2 rib, with the knit side 'rib' as a cable.

day 17: 2 kid's socks

and here's the pair....

first sock

Going to knit a few more rows of the incredible stashbusting rug, then get the other sock finished.

no sock today, check out the rug

I started a giant needle multistrand rug, as part of the tidy and destash I'm doing this year. This will use up the vast majority of the leftover and charity shop yarns that just aren't any good for anything else. The shop i go to will sell part balls of yarns by the bag, so I will pick up a whole carrier bag for a quid, then sort it later. last time i looked at this, I worked out that it uses up about 20 yards per strand per square foot.

This time it's 20 strands, and it's looking at about 2.5 foot wide. That works out as about 1000 yards of yarn used per foot of knitted rug. I should be able to start moving yarns off the bags on the back of the door and out of one of the small sets of portable shelves when this is done. my stash will then fit in the space that was assigned to house it. I need to clear about 5 square feet of yarn in order to do that. I'll offer as swap what I don't want to use in this rug, so i can get more yarns that i can use in other projects and actually destash. This house will get tidier before i sprog again in July.

I did knit some sock, only I'm knitting both at the same time, at least both legs at the same time. I had a limited amount of a lovely NZ merino 4 ply and wanted to make sure I could knit a leg for both socks from the yarn. The foot is a tougher vintage brown 4 ply that will wear a lot better. I should have pictures of both to show tomorrow or the day after.

day 15: pair of baby socks

Another day, another sock finished.

day 14: pair of maggot socks

Finished the pair and he will get them in the morning.

Decided I don't like the birch needles i spent loads of money on. I may take the unused set back and see about getting some bamboo instead.

day 13: a pair of slipper socks

day 12: slipper sock

Using up the last of the mauve yarn, a purple slipper sock for the lass.

day 11: second blue baby sock

finally got a pair of these. Something small gave me an easy day's knitting

day 10: baby sockl

Used up almost off the rest of the first ball of the regia in this project, just a basic, top down sock for about a 1 year old. 30 stitch cast on, 2.5mm needles.

day 9: sock for maggot

Today's finished sock, for my son.

Kaffe Fassett regia, on 2mm needles. 48 stitch cast on, 3 inches of rib.

Son is delighted to see his sock.. I bought the yarn for him at the opening of the new Iknit shop and he started cuddling the balls as soon as I took them out of my bag, then jumped up and down loads when i told him I'd bought the yarn for him.

pattern: Azami (thistle flower)

I wanted a pair of thick house socks for the lass to wear for the winter. She had a pair bought for her last year that she grew out of and I wanted to make her a nicer pair. These should fit a child between about 5 and 8, depending on how long you make the foot. (leg and foot are 9cm wide when laid flat)

yarn:

Jaeger Matchmaker DK- 2 balls needed
100% wool
machine washable
120m/131 yards /50g
Cost: £3.20/ball

Debbie bliss cashmerino DK
about 20 yards of this is needed as the contrast colour.

Both were chosen because I had them in the house and they are soft scrummy yarns that are a similar thickness. Any DK weight yarn would do fine.

Total cost: about £7

Also needed:

36 beads

optional: something for the sole. I cut up an old suede jacked that a friend gave me to use as material for this purpose. You could acquire leather in this way from charity shops, purchase it from a supplier, purchase ready made slipper soles or use some form of puffy paint or latex sole paint.

if using a separate sole, glue to attach sole, I use copydex.

gauge: 26 stitches and 34 rows per 10cm

needles:

3mm DPNs (US 2.5)
a tiny crochet hook for beading (I used a .75mm)

time 15 hours

Knitability: advanced beginner

If you've knit socks before, it's a simple and easy project on which to try out the basic fair isle and beading. Combining the two makes it a little more awkward, but the end result is pretty enough to make it worth doing. If you really can't face the beading, you can skip those bits while knitting and sew them on later.


To knit:

1. leg

Cast 48 stitches onto one needle. Beginning from the first stitch cast on, place first 14 and last 10 stitches onto separate needles. Knit 2 stitches from first needle onto last, creating a round. This is awkward to do, but it helps keep the join from stretching.

Work in 1x1 rib for 3cm (K1, P1, repeat and repeat and repeat)
Work in stocking stitch for a further 3cm (knit all stitches)



Now onto the charted section. I've shown a few repeats to give you the idea of how the pattern will look, but the repeat section is actually 8 stitches. Work from the bottom RIGHT hand corner.
The bead is placed as you knit the first green stitch of each 'stalk' and actually sits on the stitch above. To place bead, put bead over the crochet hook, catch stitch with the hook and remove it from the needle, pull bead over the stitch and replace stitch on needle.

For each 8 stitch repeat (each 8 stitch block is repeated 6 times for a complete round) :

row 1: (knit purple, place bead and knit green, knit 2 purple) x2
row 2 (knit purple, knit green, knit 2 purple) x2
row 3: knit purple, knit green, knit purple, place bead and knit green, knit purple, knit green, knit 2 purple
row 4-8: knit purple, knit green, knit purple, knit green, knit purple, knit green, knit 2 purple

Take care not to pull green yarn too tight or leave it too loose. If you pull too tight, it will affect the tension of the work, left too loose, it will get caught on small toes. If this is a particular concern to you, then the yarn can be tied in at the back on the second of every pair of purple stitches by wrapping the green yarn over the purple before the second purple stitch is made.

Break green yarn and continue in purple. knit 4cm in stocking stitch



Your work should look like this.

2. heel:

After the 4 inches of stocking stitch have been completed, knit the 12 stitches on the first needle. Then begin to knit only back and forth on the second needle with 24 stitches on it. Knit to end of this needle, turn work. slip first stitch and purl to the end of that needle. Working only on this needle complete these 2 rows:

row 1: slip 1, knit to end.
row 2. slip 1, purl to end.

Repeat these 2 rows 12 more times. Hell flap will be approximately 8cm long. After about half of this had been done, the stitches from the two remaining needles should be placed onto one needle. After the heel flap is completed, then turn the heel.

row 1: slip 1, knit 12, k2tog, k1 turn
row 2 slip 1, p3, p2tog p1 turn
row 3: slip 1, k4 k2 tog k1 turn
row 4: slip 1, p5 p2tog p1 turn

repeat pattern until there are 14 stitches on the needle.

knit 7 stitches onto one needle, knit the other 7 stitches onto a second needle and pick up stitches along the side of the heel flap, 13 along the side of the flap, where stitches have been slipped, and 2 in between slipped stitches and the front needle. knit across front needle and pick up 15 stitches along the other side of the heel flap. knit the first 7 stitches of the heel flap. You should now have 2 needles with 22 stitches and one with 24.

3. Foot

Knit first round of gusset, knit the stitches that have been picked up along the sides of heel flap twisted (knit through back loop)then knit as follows

round 1: knit to last 2 stitches of first needle, k2tog, k 24, , ssk, then knit to end
round 2: knit all.

repeat these two rounds until there are 12 stitches left on the first and third needles.

knit all rounds until sock measures 3.5cm from desired foot length.

4. toe

round 1: knit to 3 stitches from end of first needle, k2tog, k1, k1 ssk knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1, k1 ssk, k to end
round 2. knit all stitches.

repeat these 2 rows until there are 24 stitches left in total.

Kitchener stitch toe and sew in ends.

optional: affix sole of your choice in the manner of your choice.

day 8: pair of her socks

I'll publish the photos and pattern tomorrow.

Day 7: child;s sock

Socks for the lass. I need to write up the pattern for these.

day 6: pair of baby socks

And here's the pair.

Also the inspiration for another pair of socks in the same yarns for someone slightly older.

day 5: dk baby sock

Another day, another sock, this time a baby sock sized for a 3-6 month old.

Made in matchmaker dk, with the highlight in debbie bliss cashmerino, it feels really soft and scrummy.

day 4: jaywalker

Spent all day knitting this, finally finished the toe and crashed out.

I've had some real problems with the fitting of this sock. While the leg is fine, the foot seems designed for someone with feet as wide as they are long. I'll finish the pair eventually, but it's not my favourite pattern.

knit in opal rainforest. I do love that colour

day 3: 2 purple socks

Well, here is proof there is now a pair of purple socks. I'd photo the lass modelling them, but she's asleep in my bed atm. A visit to the hospital this morning and then to the park seems to have tired her out.

I've also started on a jaywalker. Think that will take more than a day to complete, but i'll see how i go. those tiny socks don't take more than an hour, so I think it will all average out if i knit for about 3/4 hours a day like normal.

Saw that Iknit are opening their new shop tomorrow. I need some new sock needles and maybe an addi lace for the cap shawl I plan to knit when i get too big to move. Seems like a good chance to have a bit of a day out . Himself is off, so the only sprog i will have to worry about is the one that incessantly kicks my bladder.

day 2: sock for she demon

This is the second day of sockage, some leftover green yarn, I think a wool blend but I'm not sure, as a highlight on a purple sock. Again, looser than a normal sock, 4 ply wool on 3mm needles.

She is bugging me for it to be finished, so I may complete the pair tomorrow

basic toe up sock, cast on 24, up to foot/leg width of 48.

day 1: first baby sock

I had a thought, I want to knit more socks and kid's socks don't really take that long. So lets see how long I can keep up knitting a sock every day for without going mad, running out of yarn (I'm on a yarn diet, swaps only) or deciding i never want to see a sock, ever again.

This is some vintage 3 ply knitting up into a basic top down sock, 2.5mm needles, 32 stitch cast on. I'm sure you can work out the rest.

Iit's not as tight a fabric as I would want on an adult sock, but it's for someone that won't be walking, foot is about 3 and a half inches long. Without the high level of wear, socks don't need to be knitted so tightly. Therefore i see no need to strain my hands and my eyes and use even smaller needles that I'm scared of snapping.

pattern: heather legwarmers

With 3 balls of single colour sock yarn and a belief that knitting plain coloured socks were seriously boring, I decided to make up a pattern that would be interesting enough to knit, but something i could knit on a LONG tube journey to a friend's house. With my daughter complaining that her legs were cold, the idea of stripy leg warmers as born. Although I knit these to fit her, it would be easy to adapt the width and length to any kid.


Yarn: Cygnet wool rich 4ply.

205 yards per 50g ball
75% wool
25% polyamide
machine washable
lilac, denim mix and pine mix

cost: £2.60 per ball, although less than 20% of each ball is used in thsi pattern as written

time: 10 hours

knitability level: advanced beginner, it's a good first dpn project.

needles: 2.5mm (US 1.5)

gauge: 30 stitches and 36 rows per 10cm

Cast on 60 stitches onto one needle, spread these stitches equally over 3 needles, 20 stitches per needle and join work into a round, taking care not to twist the cast on. Knit in 1x1 rib ( k1, p1, repeat until end of round) for 3 inches. After a few rounds you may wish to place a marker to indicate the end of a round. All colour changes should take place at the end of a round.

Then switch to stocking stitch. keep knitting in the round following the stripe pattern of your preference. Make up your own, use a random stripe generator or follow my stripe pattern that I will put at the end of the pattern. You can carry the yarn up the inside of the tube or cut and sew in ends after every row. For a child's pattern, yarns will need to be twisted with the working yarn on every row so it isn't caught by small toes when it's put on.

After every 4cm of knitting, M1 stitch at the start of every needle. Knit until stocking stitch measures 17 cm, this will give you an even number of stitches for the end rib. (an even number of increace rows is needed if you choose to adapt length)

Complete the end rib of 3cm and cast off loosely.

Sew in ends.

Repeat to give a pair of leg warmers and present to the small child of your choice.

To adapt the size, change the number of stitches for the cast on, (keeping an even number of stitches for the rib) and the length knit, keeping an even number of increase rows so there is an even number of stitches for the end rib.

The leg width is adapted by measuring the diameter of the child's leg just above the ankle and adding 2cm. Multiply the number of cm by 3 to give your cast on number, adding a stitch if necessary to get an even number.

To alter length, measure the length of the leg from just below the ankle bone to the crease at the back of the knee. This is the length of the stocking stitch part of the leg warmer. This leaves a 6cm growth allowance before the legwarmer no longer covers the whole calf.


green: 3cm rib plus one stocking stitch row
lilac: 12 rows
green: 4 rows
blue: 12 rows
lilac: 3 rows
blue: 7 rows
green: 12 rows
lilac: 10 rows
blue: 7 rows
lilac: 1 stocking stitch row plus 3cm rib

Feb challenge update

Well, I'm doing all right on some of those, not so good on others.

I have not knit anywhere near enough to keep up to my knit a mile, because I took 10 days knitting my pomotamus socks. They do look scrummy though.

I have bought no new crafty stuff, what I've received has been through swaps.

I have finished 4 of my long term WIP's.

I'll sort the charity stuff out later today.

I've given up entirely on the spin every day challenge.

I will look for some stash hand spun and a pattern that it will work with and make that my next cast on.


So, some good, some bad.

Gotland wool

My friend Cledry Yarner sent me a bag of gotland this morning. It's a lovely range of creams and greys. I now need to work out what I'm going to do with it. Something that will show off the colours.



Gorgeous, isn't it.

My february challenge

In February I challenge myself to:

1. knit at least another mile of yarn

2. buy no new yarn or materials for other crafts.

3. finish a quarter of my WIP's, that is about 8, although some need no more than sewing up.

4. finish last and this month's charity knit items and take them to the hospital.

5. knit more socks. adult, child or baby, doesn't matter. I'm over a week behind on my pair a week self challenge

6. spin for at least 5 minutes every day.

7. write out at least one improvised WIP into a pattern

8. knit one item out of handspun

9. organise my personal pdf and saved website library

homemade bacon

Well, 3 days in a cure for the pig belly and this is what I got. I'm going to estimate that this was about 15% of the meat by weight and I've got 7-8lbs of bacon.

Having the confidence to leave meat out of the fridge, even in salt took some doing. having the confidence to believe the recipe that said it only took 3 days to cure took even more. But it's definitely bacon, hard, dry cure bacon, more suitable for cooking with thna for frying up with egg and saus on a Sunday morning, but this will add flavour to sauces and soups for months. I already tried a bit in a leek and potato soup and it was LOVELY.

As a first experiment in home curing meat, I've got to pronounce this a great success. We're already looking forward to the hams and I'm looking into the possibility of dry cure ham and home cured salt beef.

she-demon

I decided not to show off pictures of my latest efforts and instead concentrate on my daughter's work today.

I've bought half a pig. A significant proportion is currently in my conservatory looking very unappetising and turning into ham and bacon. The fact i think it looks icky did influence my decision not to share ickyness.

i'd also like to say a thank you to some of the people on Downsizer for some great gifties and swaps as well as their help in many things. You know who you are. Thankyou.

Cuteness

Couldn't resist showing off the cuteness. It's taken a while by she cat has calmed down and girlchild has calmed down and they are starting to make friends. They aren't actually asleep in that pic, just relaxed and happy.

Anyway, I've added a bunch of patterns to ravelry, just to keep track of what i've actually knitted in the last couple of months. Lots of socks and some other nice bits. I need to take a bunch of photos to show them off properly though. I've stuck that on my list of things to do tomorrow.

Need to pick a project to work on now though. I've knit my way through the baby surprise jacket, and need some inspiration to hit me. I'm hoping it will hit me in the direction of one of my multitude of WIP, although that is rarely likely. I'll wait and see.

basic baby bib

I had a look at the patterns for baby bibs that were available on ravellry and none of them really did anything for me. Simple is one thing, however, all the patterns I could find seemed to be completely unshaped like the one in Mason Dixon Knitting. Although that seems a very popular pattern, it just isn't my cup of tea, so I decided to design a bib myself with a bit of added shaping at the neck.


yarn: dishcloth cotton

100% cotton
machine washable
heavy DK/worstead weight

cost: £1.50

time: 2 hours to knit, 15 minutes to finish

knitability level: beginner

needles: 4.5mm/ US 7

gauge: 21 stitches/34 rows per 10cm in garter stitch

extras: 1.5cm diameter plastic button
sewing thread to attach button

instructions:

Cast on 36 stitches. Knit all rows until work measures 7 inches.
k14 turn (place remaining stitches on holder or waste yarn)
k14
ssk k10 k2tog
k12
ssk k8 k2tog
k10
ssk k6 k2tog
k8
ssk k4 k2tog
k6
knit all rows until work measures 11 inches in total.
cast off.




place remaining stitches back on needle.
cast off 8 stitches
k14
ssk k10 k2tog
k12
ssk k8 k2tog
k10
ssk k6 k2tog
k8
ssk k4 k2tog
k6
knit all rows until work measures 11 inches in total.

*k1 k2tog yo twice ssk
k3 p1 k2
knit 2 rows*
repeat from *to * 4 times

cast off

to finish:

sew in ends
sew on button to shorter ends


Many of the dishcloth patterns with a square garter stitch border could be used as the front panel for this bib, simply by adjusting the centre cast off of 8 to an appropriate size for the dishcloth patters. Or simple embroidery could be added for a personalised look.

the month of finished items

I've decided that january shall be the month of finishing many items. Some shal be new, sme shall be from my WIP's, some shall be small simple items like baby hats, some shall be more complex.

I started this a few days into the new year, when i finally started recovering from being ill over christmas, having then just started recovering from having been ill from october. it all really showed me quite how much stress I'd been under, how much damage to my system that having a large abscess can cause. A healthy adult is not ill for over 6 weeks with flu.

Anyway, I started a new project with sale yarn. I'd been knitting river in mint green KSH. Just not me, not my colour. So I frogged that and restarted in a pale lime (yes, i still like green) and knit until that was finished.

That was my first FO of the year. Since then, I've added to the list.

river in matchmaker 4ply.
6 charity baby hats in Dk acrylic
mp3 player pouch in calmer
2 pairs approx toddler socks in sirdar snuggly 4 ply
wavy headband
cable headband


I'm now about to go start on a pile of bibs in dishcloth cotton.

I'm back

After a long time away from the internet, various illnesses etc, I'm now back. I shall endeavour to start to blog regularly with loads of nice piccys when i get my decent computer fixed and therefore have a connection that is stable for more than 2 minutes at a time.

Anyway.

here are my knitting resolutions for 2008

1. i shall knit at least one charity item per week
2. i shall finish half of my WIP list. I need to update that. i intend to remove the sidebars and just link through to ravelry
3. I shall knit from stash or swap or charity shop purchases only until ally pally. The aim shall be that I can fit all of the stash on 3 shelves and in 4 boxes. The exception to this is yarn purchased for items 4 and 5, although this should be swapped for if possible
4. I shall knit one pair of socks per week.
5. I shall knit one lace item per month
6. I shall knit one item from or partially from handspun each month

general resolutions:

1. the house shall be clean and tidy before july
2. i shall grow more food this year
3. i shall read at least one book every week
4. I shall cull at least 200 crap books before july (possibly some through some form of swap system) This is to clear off enough space to store craft items on shelves.
5. i shall make a start on selling some of the stuff i have made for the buisness
6. I shall make enough jam over the summer so i don't run out before christmass