toggle knits

toggle's knitting tip of the week

2009-08-04T19:33:00.002+01:00

The baby isn't newborn size any more, nor do you know anyone with a newborn size baby. It's a good idea to knit to a size you can use. If this is likely to be a problem, aim to knit something for the 5 year old, then if you screw up the sizing again, it will fit baby.

pattern: gumnut

2009-08-03T00:27:00.006+01:00

There's something about using the baby as a model for the patterns I knit her that never quite works out well enough, I had to get this picture as she was asleep, she wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get a closeup on the hat.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains,
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me.

I remember having to memorise that poem when I lived in sydney for a while. It wasn't the sunburnt brown deserts that fascinated me, but the faded grey-green hills in the Blue mountains.

I was gifted this yarn as part of a swap on ravelry. The faded green and pale brown reminded me a lot of the colours of the hillsides and there was just the right amount to make a hat, that an Aussie friend described to me as 'she looks like she has a gum nut on her head'

So the pattern is gum nut. It's a simple enough variation on many baby hats out there, but I wanted to make one of my own. So there.

yarn: leftover cashmerino DK

cost: to me, nothing because i swapped for it. to buy the yarn, about a tenner.but you would use about 1/3 of it

time: 2 hours to knit, 15 mins to finish

knitability level: beginner

needles: 1 pair 4mm (US 6)

gauge: 25 rows and 28 stitches per 10cm

Measure baby's head round the hairline, multiply the measurement in cm by 2.5 to get the number of stitches to cast on, round this up to the nearest 10, don't worry if this will make the hat a little large, baby's don't get any smaller.

Cast on in the pale brown colour. knit 7 rows in garter stitch, switch to the green colour.

Measure distance between baby's hairline and crown. knit in stocking stitch in green until the work measures about 3/4 of this distance. slightly under is better than slightly over.

begin decreases:

(k2tog, k9,)repeat to end, purl row
(k2tog, k8) repeat to end, purl row
(k2tog, k7) repeat to end, purl row

repeat in pattern, until:

(k2tog) repeat to end, purl row.

knit 8 rows in stocking stitch, then

(k2, k2tog, k to end, purl row)repeat until 4 stitches are left, knit at least 4 more rows in stocking stitch, you should have between 4-5 inches of tail on top of the hat.
cast off. sew up edge in mattress stitch, and sew in ends.

tie a knot in the tail on the top

Toggle's spinning tip of the week

2009-07-27T21:29:00.002+01:00

Carding dark blues into light coloured fibers looks mucky. it all goes a greyish colour and looks crap. it all looks a mushy grey colour and not very fun.

Roughly carded mixtures of pastels looks fab and sparkle carded into dark coloured fibre looks spectacular, sparkle carded into white fibre is nothing special

it was all too much for baby

2009-07-25T13:38:00.001+01:00

sleepy baby
Originally uploaded by toggle490

After a had day's crawling around on the floor, picking up bits of everything to taste, supper was just too much like more hard work.

Note to self

2009-07-23T00:04:00.002+01:00

That really pretty insect picture on your blog is in fact a moth, backlit in a very intersying manner by a black computer screen. However interesting it looks, it won't stay there, and you can't get it to move by waving the mouse pointer at it.

Toggle's spinning tip of the week, part 2

2009-07-23T00:01:00.002+01:00

When managing really annoyingly large numbers of plies and trying to add twist gets too much, try not adding twist, just wind the plies together, onto a ball winder, nosterapine or your wheel, I use my louet with the break band holding the flyer stationary so the plies just wind on.

When you have it all in place, you can then run your multiple plies through your wheel to add the twist.

Toggle's spinning tip of the week

2009-07-18T23:55:00.000+01:00

When plying with beads strung onto thread, don't stress about having to put all the beads on in one go, add some beads, ply until those are all used, then break the thread and string more. Hold the 2 ends together and tie a simple knit. You can then move one of the beads up over the knot, elaving the ends tucked into the bead.

gin 'n' tonic

2009-07-15T10:00:00.001+01:00

DSCF3046.JPG
Originally uploaded by toggle490

This is a sample of an art yarn inspired by the gin and tonic I was drinking while spinning it. I have turned it into a bracelet, I may make some more of this, or go along a different line to try to make something more arty.

fiberlicious

2009-07-08T22:45:00.001+01:00

DSCF3007.JPG
Originally uploaded by toggle490

This is some of my handspun, drying in the Cornish sun.

Check out the etsy link, there is handspun and earrings for sale now.

selling stuff

2009-06-29T22:28:00.002+01:00

Finally got all ready to start selling that stuff. Only it's not felt, it's starting with handspun. I think it's scrummy.

sleepy baby

2009-01-06T23:40:00.001Z

sleepy baby
Originally uploaded by toggle490

Couldn't resist a nice picture of a sleepy baby.

Nothing much else to add right now, kids have started back at school, their father has been down to visit them and his family have sent them pressies, including the dress baby is wearing. i wouldn't have chosen it, but it's quite cute really.

happy new year

2009-01-03T00:22:00.002Z

Time to share a few more photos with you. I took this in Truro this afternoon on my way to take the kids in to see their father. It's for a competition in a few weeks, theme is 'derelict'

It just caught my eye as an interesting subject. I think the photo may be too dark, and I think i could get a better angle as well. It's near the park where I go take the children to play quite often, so I may try to go back there and get a picture in better light.

There is some knitting content as well. Here is a scarf I made that can sit and wait until I decide what to do with it. It may go to baby when she's a little older, or it may wait until it becomes a gift. I like to keep a few little child size somethings waiting for those moments when i get told someone's child is 3 today.

baby socks from an orphan ball of regia 6-ply silk that I bought for about 1.50. Since they suggest 3 balls for adult socks, this was being sold off as fairly useless to most people, so I snapped it up for fancy baby socks. You can see a great view of those amazingly fat thighs. Not a patch on her sisters at that age though.

And a better view of the little sweetheart. Not my best ever photo, but shows off how pretty she is. I need to start playing with a photoshop clone and get rid of that redeye

2009- the year of the stash

2008-12-20T16:52:00.002Z

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...

2008-12-15T22:19:00.002Z

...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

2008-12-11T23:19:00.001Z

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

2008-12-08T23:07:00.003Z

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

2008-11-27T23:53:00.002Z

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

2008-11-24T23:01:00.002Z

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

2008-11-23T02:21:00.002Z

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

2008-11-22T11:01:00.003Z

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

2008-11-21T10:29:00.001Z

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

2008-10-06T11:23:00.001+01:00

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

2008-09-29T10:32:00.002+01:00

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

2008-04-20T17:28:00.001+01:00

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

2008-04-17T12:27:00.002+01:00

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

2008-04-08T18:59:00.002+01:00

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

today's efforts

2008-04-07T10:47:00.002+01:00

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

2008-04-06T16:41:00.002+01:00

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

more blanket squares

2008-04-05T10:00:00.003+01:00

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

2008-04-04T14:29:00.002+01:00

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

day off from sockknitting

2008-04-03T22:26:00.002+01:00

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

2008-04-03T17:12:00.004+01:00

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

2008-04-02T14:35:00.000+01:00

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

2008-04-01T20:01:00.003+01:00

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

2008-03-31T14:27:00.000+01:00

And here's the pair.

day 19: chunky house sock

2008-03-30T18:14:00.000+01:00

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

2008-03-29T18:08:00.004Z

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

2008-03-28T22:05:00.002Z

and here's the pair....

first sock

2008-03-28T13:15:00.003Z

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

2008-03-27T18:07:00.003Z

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

2008-03-26T18:41:00.000Z

Another day, another sock finished.

day 14: pair of maggot socks

2008-03-25T22:26:00.001Z

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

2008-03-24T11:00:00.001Z

day 12: slipper sock

2008-03-23T10:58:00.000Z

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

day 11: second blue baby sock

2008-03-22T13:58:00.001Z

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

day 10: baby sockl

2008-03-21T10:04:00.001Z

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

2008-03-20T15:08:00.001Z

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)

2008-03-20T08:22:00.001Z

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

2008-03-19T12:03:00.000Z

I'll publish the photos and pattern tomorrow.

Day 7: child;s sock

2008-03-18T15:30:00.005Z

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

day 6: pair of baby socks

2008-03-17T09:24:00.001Z

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

2008-03-16T18:11:00.002Z

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

2008-03-15T10:34:00.001Z

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

2008-03-14T15:49:00.002Z

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

2008-03-13T22:31:00.003Z

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

2008-03-12T20:16:00.000Z

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

2008-02-25T20:17:00.006Z

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

2008-02-23T12:02:00.002Z

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

2008-02-20T10:45:00.002Z

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

2008-02-01T16:50:00.000Z

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

2008-01-30T16:27:00.001Z

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

2008-01-28T18:45:00.001Z

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

2008-01-21T22:07:00.001Z

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

2008-01-16T13:41:00.000Z

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

2008-01-16T11:08:00.001Z

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

2008-01-15T23:07:00.000Z

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

postie came again

2007-08-15T17:14:00.000+01:00

With a lovely package from the delightful Yorkie. A load of craft bits for kids to play with on camp, rubber stamps, beads, fima, foam, raffia, it will all get used to great effect I'm sure.

I also finished a craft project of my own,. the fish rug that is now on my daughter's floor and has had her bum sitting on it for at least half the day.

This has also been a week of food preservation. I used up a big bowl of lemons bought cheap off the market for salt preserved lemons, I'm making 2 batches of wine, one a kit and the other from scratch and I've just done blackberries preserved in whisky. I'm feeling inordinately pleased with myself atm.

Look what the postman brought me

2007-08-13T08:56:00.000+01:00

Isn't it pretty?

well, I think it is because I've bought so many variations that are similar to this colourway, it's getting to be quite a habit. This is the lovelly Mountain Colours aran that arrived in the post, along with some scrummy feeling alpaca this morning for me, thanks to lucyvanp. A lovelly pressie to cheer me up.

So whatsup?

Well, I'm working on more earrings, and planning some other bits and bobs, and still fighting the camera on a regular basis until I can work out how to take pix I'm happy with. I'm cooking up a storm, 2 types of homebrew on atm, a blackberry wine in a bucket having a good stink at me, and a cheap wine kit that will hopefully be ready in 2 weeks so I can take the wine to camp. That is bubbling away nicely on the kitchen surface.

Knitting wise, I'm working on one of my blanket projects, I've started a new big blanket project, a somewhat special idea that I'll launch in a few days, knitting squares for the urbanite blankets. I'm also working on a latch hook rug kit, that i should finish later today. The whole thing is a bit paint-by-numbers, not in the slightest bit creative but it cost me a quid and I know the girlchild will love it.

food heaven

2007-08-08T21:24:00.000+01:00

I don't know about yours, but mine has to involve blackberry pavlova. made the mix and put it in the oven while i went to pick the blackberries, Let it cool, topped with fresh whipped cream and the pick of the crop of berries.

Look what came in the post

2007-07-21T23:29:00.001+01:00

My beads arrived today. I made a couple of mistakes in ordering, some of the glass pendants are far, far too large to go with what I've got planned, but I'm sure I can use them at a later date. I really like the carved bone ones though, I got stars and flowrs.

i've also realised I need to hurry up and sell some stuff, because the bead shop sent me a catalouge and I want to buy loads of pretty beads and make loads of really scrummy jewelery. It's been ages since I spent any time making jewelery and I'd forgotton how much I enjoyed it.

I also spent several hours making felt beads. All I need to do now is dry these and I'll be ready to start putting together some earrings. I've got a good feeling about this one.

check out the earrings

2007-07-18T21:25:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the delay in blog posts but I've had quite a few weeks. I had a HUGE terrible looking and very painful lump appear in my left boobie. I'm still seeing the docs about it, but I'm just going to say, you know you are having one of those moments in your life when you are delighted to find out you have a abcess the size of your fist

Onto a more cheerful note, check out the earrings. This is the latest idea in my quest for world domination, Tidy things up a bit and they will appear on etsy. That will hopefully bring in the income to put some of my other plans into effect.

well, what do you think and what would you pay for them?

mystery stole 3

2007-06-29T19:16:00.000+01:00

finished chart A.

I know it's not a good pic, but i'm feeling a bit under the weather atm and don't want to be prancing abut outside to get better pix. I'm sure I've made mistakes as well, you don't have to point them out tc me. I like my design features in my knitting.

However, I like the pattern and I'm glad I signed up for this

beginning lace

2007-06-25T14:08:00.001+01:00

yes, you are actually reading that label right, 435 yards to the oz. it's finer than nylon sewing thread.

And this is what it's becoming, the first, beginner lace scarf in Victorian Lace Today. I thought if I was going to knit in something that fine, I'd at least try to make it easy on myself and knit a simple pattern instead of something hugely complex.

it's taking some getting used to working with something that fine, but I think I'm getting there. I've knit a bit more since I took that pic and I'm getting to the point where I need to start thinking about how long to make it. I've decided not to make it any longer than my arm span. It's too fine to be practical for anything, and will be very, very light, so I won't want really long ends flapping everywhere. I should be able to finish it tonight.

I'll have to finish something else before I get another cast on though. So far, I'm wavering between my branching out and starting to try and get some of the cloth bags completed so I can start using them.

another FO

2007-06-23T10:22:00.000+01:00

Crochet wristbands this time. Found in the UFO box only needing to have ends sewn in. So that done and I can call another pair of FO done and cast on something else.

My book arrived today, so I'm flicking through images of women on stunning lacely stuff wandering about stately homes. Don't think I'm going to look like that, but I do like the lace. There's a lot of simple, non fussy stuff that will suit me and be easy enough to knit when I'm not a lace expert. The main question at the moment is how many of the patterns I want to knit. So far, I'm looking seriously at at least 8 patterns and a bank loan for laceweight yarns, which aren't easy to get here.

girls like handbags, boys like....

2007-06-22T20:24:00.000+01:00

Well, i wasn't really sure, but I wanted to make something for my son to keep a few bits in. So I made him a small bag with a belt loop, so he can wear it on his waist.

To keep up to date on the WIP along

finished: handspun wrap and broach for the wrap

cast on: laceweight grey clapotis

finished: boy's bag

I'll update my sidebar after the weekend

I'm really at it today

2007-06-19T22:02:00.000+01:00

Here's the pin I made to hold the ends of my sheep wrap over my chest. I knit on needles 2mm smaller than the wrap, so it's holding it's shape really well.

here's the pix

2007-06-19T13:35:00.000+01:00

3 finished objects in one picture.

the background is the giant rug, knit on 18mm, 4 foot long needles.

then there's the dark brown sheep wrap, a knitty pattern. Dark brown wool doesn't really show that well in pictures, but it is a beautiful black coffee colour and I'm sure it will be very warm to wear. it's Shetland wool, so a shoulder wrap instead of a scarf that would be round my neck and against my skin was a good move I think. This is what i did with my first vaguely usable handspun, so the colour does help hide how wonky it is

The blue/green is also handspun, but without the benefit of a dark colour to hide the wonkyness. it is a nice soft warn scarf though and I'll wear it camping.

I've decided that if the book doesn't arrive today, I'll use the rest of my aran weight handspun to knit a broach for the wrap, possibly something flower shaped. If I can finish that, I'll be ready for my next cast on with the whole diet thing

WIP along progerss

2007-06-19T08:54:00.000+01:00

finished: happy socks from magknits
giant knit rug

cast on: girlchild wrap

finished:handspun scarf
girlchild wrap

cast on: a lace something when my book on order arrives.

I've ordered Victorian Lace Today. I don't normally order books I haven't seen in person, but after seeing several of the projects from this, I decided I loved enough of them to make buying a book worthwhile.

Plan is for my next cast on to be something from that. I need to finish plying the handspun Shetland laceweight that's sitting on multiple loo rolls on my desk. Then measure it and determine what I've got the yarn to knit, and yes, it is actually spindle spun laceweight. No pix, because pix of plain dark brown yarn wrapped round a tube is pretty boring, but I reckon I'm in there calling it laceweight at about 30 wraps per inch. I'll show you when I've started knitting with it.

Oh yeah, i'll have pix of the other 2 finished objects taken later to proove I'm not cheating.

it's a wrap, it's a girlchild wrap

2007-06-15T18:15:00.000+01:00

OK, So anyone who guesses where I misquoted the title from wins an ice cream, but I just couldn't resist. This is what happened to the roving from dragonfibers on etsy that Fee gave me. It was so scrummy and soft, I just had to spin it as a low twist chunky to keep it that soft. And since it's super wash, a gift for girlchild was definitely in order.

So I adapted a pattern to make it right for me to knit and for her to wear and here we go, a girlchild wrap that she said thankyou for without any prompting at all and absolutely refuses to take off.

So these are another pair of happy socks from magknits.

I'm still waiting for the giant rug to dry so i can weave in ends, then I'll finish another project and cast on for another giant rug, this time tying together small balls of leftovers and stuff as well as using up some more of the rug yarns.

Cast on Diet

2007-06-14T15:25:00.000+01:00

I'm working on a specific plan here, for each project I cast on for, I have to finish 2. I think this will effectively mean that I'll finish one old WIP and one newer project for each cast on. In some cases finishing will also involve writing up the pattern or article that goes with it.

The WIP list is getting ridiculous. I think there's a few things in bags that I haven't added to the list either, not to mention half done bits of spinning for various project ideas, and swatches and balls of yarn out t start on that I can't remember what they were for.

It is time for me to reduce this pile and start actually finishing some stuff. If it's worth knitting, it's worth actually completing. I'm spending too much time working on things I don't get to enjoy as a finished item for months.

I'm not setting myself a specific time limit on this, but I think I should continue until I can get the WIP pile down to under 10 items and I should endeavour to keep it that way. The yarn diet I started for my April challenge hasn't finished yet. I used the month to look at the yarn I already had and began to use up some of that. Since then, I've only bought small amounts of yarn from charity shops and i'm working on some great ideas from the stash I already have. I'm hoping a cast on diet will help me appreciate those things I've started knitting and think about how to finish them or whether they are viable as projects at all.

And this has already started. The rug on big needles was the last free cast on. Although that is now almost finished, I just need to tidy up and weave in ends, I'm waiting until I finish a second project until i cast on with the yarn that I spun from the roving fee gave me as a birthday pressie.

I'm quite impressed with how it turned out. It was so deliciously soft, i didn't want to take away any of that, so it's quite a low twist chunky. The 100g gave me about 130 yards of yarn, enough for a wrap for the daughter. Fee has suggested a pattern that I think will work if I do a few adaptations to it.

However, i have to finish something else before i make it. So the second sock to go with the one in St James' Park is being rapidly finished off. I have one more pattern repeat, then an inch of rib. I should be starting the wrap tonight.

my new sock

2007-06-10T13:44:00.001+01:00

Toggle and her new sock in St James' Park
Originally uploaded by SueP

World Wide Knit in Public Day was an interesting experience. First came the fun with security guards who have decided they don't like you, but know they can't do anything about it and keep blustering thinking they will get their own way. First we were an event, then an organisation,l then a public performance. Then he announced he hated his job and i knew we had won. He blustered for a few more minutes and then wondered off

Photo was taken in St James' park by Sue. We grabbed a few beers after the knitting and caught some sun and some rest. All in all a good day and Sue has some more pix of the event if you want to see.

Writing up my buisness plan today.

2007-05-30T13:20:00.000+01:00

I think I've got an idea for something interesting to offer for sale, not necessarily something incredibly sellable, but something that will hopefully attract a lot of attention to the more mundane and more sellable items I can offer. I'll need to buy a bit of kit to start off on making them, probably 50 quid's worth and that is a quarter of what I have to start this thing off. however, if it works, it will be worth it.

I've got several ideas for other things I can be selling. I'm not going to discuss them here, but I am going to start getting together the things I will need to make them.

With my daughter starting nursery part time in September, I need to do something so I don't end up sitting at home twiddling my thumbs. i also owe it to my partner to at least try and make some money to take the pressure off him and be able to pay for some of the things I want. he offered to spend 200 quid on a wheel for me. I've decided that i'll take the 200 quid and use it for this idea and hopefully buy my own wheel and more.

knit rug

2007-05-29T22:57:00.001+01:00

What would you do with a load of free and nearly free scritchy, veggie matter filled rug yarn?

Knitting a rug on 4 foot long needles would be a good place to start. My dad made these needles for me ages ago and I've tried several projects on them, never finding quite the right one. Now I've got it I think, 10 strands, 6 of various wools I got for free or in a charity shop bag for a quid and 4 of a cotton tape I got 24 balls of for a fiver at a car boot sale.

Only problem is that it's heavy. I've knit about a foot of it so far, at 4 stitches, 5 rows to 4 inches, the needles are in fact 18mm, the yarn bundle itself works out as about 2 wraps per inch. and a foot of rug weighs a good 3 pounds. Th3 finished rug should be at least 4 feet long, so I'm going to give my wrists quite a workout.

Oh yeah, and that's what happens when you wear one pair of sandals all the time, tan lines on my feet, get em every year

last 2 handdyed, handspun yarns

2007-05-21T20:19:00.000+01:00

well?

3 more spun

2007-05-20T22:05:00.000+01:00

Went on camp this weekend, spinning in public for the first time and lots of people found it utterly fascinating. It's been suggested that I offer to demonstrate for the local primary school.

Anyway, I'd love your opinions on the colours

I'm sure i recognise this

2007-05-18T16:54:00.001+01:00

Actually, I do recognise this. I'ts the fiber that I couldn't afford to buy a couple of weeks ago because I had too many bills to pay. The fiber that fee bought for me as a birthday pressie.

I had a good day, girlchild behaved herself for the most part, got a bit wet in the fountain, but that's the be expected. And she had a good look about the museums.

Now of course the dino exhibit leads right out to the gift shop. I usually ignore this. but I couldn't resist hair-metal-o-saurus here. looks like something straight out of the 80's with a leopard print spandex suit and red dyed hair.

number 3

2007-05-17T23:38:00.000+01:00

I like the pink and green much better than the pink and blue

second spun handdyed

2007-05-17T09:54:00.000+01:00

I like this one a lot, and although it's 3 colours instead of 2, it's the same width stripes as the first, which is telling me ti's the colour combi, not the effect I don't like.

first spun of my roving

2007-05-16T22:34:00.000+01:00

Well, the first to dry was the blue and pink, which i think was the one fee said she liked. Can't say i like it as much spun as I did as roving. Looks a bit mucky to me.

test dye of roving

2007-05-16T16:32:00.000+01:00

I just spent the afternoon with some Blue Faced Leicester roving, a microwave, a bottle of white vinegar and some food colouring. This is the results.

to recover from absurdities

2007-05-14T23:42:00.000+01:00

I need to get back down to earth, or in my case, down to compost. I moved the bootfull of compost out of my car this afternoon, unfortunately, it will then need to be put back into the car and transported from my postage stamp of a front garden to my allotment, having been soaked for a few days. I am really delighted at the prospect of this task.

I've also knit more blanket squares and started on a couple of new projects.

1. another pair of happy socks because I like the pattern

2. a freeform blanket, just garter stitch, but with random shaped patches and colours, because I had bits of leftover handspun and handspun is too precious not to use it all up.

Camping again this weekend. Just one night this time. I'll have to pack my Thursday, because I'll be meeting up with bumblefee on Friday. I'm also skipping out on a few hours of camp to see a few London area knittys. Another busy weekend and a big hint that I might finally be growing something vaguely resembling a social life. I'm not entirely sure about that though. I've been without one so long, it's hard to recognise one creeping up on me.

carrying a river over a river

2007-05-12T19:47:00.000+01:00

Sometimes in life, the utter absurdity of something hits you all at once. The moment when I got a tv camera pointed in my face while i was carrying the knitted river alongside the Thames was one of those moments and I got the giggles, which didn't impress the person holding the camera much, which of course, amused me even more.

These are my highlights of the march through London, which ended up with me, the camera phobic being photographed repeatedly outside the doors of 10 Downing Street. Now considering I could still breathe, I figure I got over a lot of the camera phobia today.

Kids had a great day. I got sore feet, but I think it was well worth it.

getting on with cozy

2007-05-10T12:54:00.000+01:00

From my first attempt ages ago to do this pattern,I know i've got used to knitting lacey stuff a lot more. I can follow the pattern, see where the repeats fit in with previous rows. It is just working. I'm knitting it instead of fighting it.

I'm about halfway done on it now. Used up 4 of the 8 balls of the alpacca I bought last year at the Olympia show where i met my first knitty heads and showed them what I could shop like.

My sp is getting the last 2 balls. hope she likes it.

artsygal yarn, socks completed

2007-05-09T18:36:00.000+01:00

With the eventual arrival of my custom dyed artsygal yarn, I got knitting. There is a spiralling thing going on there, but I really quite like it. Its definitely there on both feet, but far more clear on the right.

Close up of the lace pattern. Fairly simple, but I think it looks great.

Back from camp

2007-05-08T10:28:00.000+01:00

Which was an interesting experience. Compost loos, mechanical ants and Abba round the camp fire.

I was told by everyone that when girlchild got older, camping would get easier. I never quite believed them, but they were right. I barely had to parent girlchild compared to other camps. It helped that there were a lot of girls on this one. 14 year olds who went all gooey over her being cute and a lot of 4-8 year olds she could join in and play with. I spent a lot of time hiding in the kitchen tent, helping out in there. it was a break for me and I got to do more useful stuff than before on camps.

I also dug through a load of my long term storage bags and found a fisherman's jumper in there. I think it was bought for my father on a family holiday to Guernsey when i was about 6. he's not a jumper sorta person, so I guess it was dumped on me at some point. Anyway, I took it on camp to wear round the camp fire at night and to sleep in. Woke up at 4am, I think it was an over amorous pheasant in the woods, and I'd wriggled most of the way out of my sleeping bag and was still warm. I've decided it will go to every camp with me from now on.

sock in progress

2007-05-04T12:03:00.001+01:00

My Artsygal yarn finally arrived and it is absolutely delightful. It feels really scrummy and soft and I'm really enjoying working with it. It is becoming happy socks from magknits.

I've got loads more news to share. A delightful package from my sp, the progress of my allotment and my seeds and loads of other knitting bits. However, I'm supposed to be packing to go camping this weekend, so all that will wait until I get back.

april chalenge revisited

2007-04-30T14:51:00.000+01:00

lets see how well i did on these, yellow ones I completed, green ones partially completed, white I didn't get near.

A is for allotment clearing. dig up bramble roots.
B is for baking bread at least once a week
C is for finishing christmas pressies from last year
D is for drive home from cornwall
E is for exercising for 20 mins per day
F is for finishing 3 other WIP
G is for tidying the garage
H is for clipping the hedge
I is for knitting an item using intarsia
J is for junk clearout, 1 box a week to charity shop
K is for knitting an item from handspun
L is for lawn clearing, mowing, weeding, regrowing grass
M is for making swatches for at least 3 pattern ideas.
N is for not buying any more yarn this month
O is for organising my kitchen shelves and cupboards.
P is for getting out my secret pal's final package.
Q is for 20 mins quiet time to read every day.
R is for cooking at least one new recipe every week.
S is for spinning at least 100g of the roving
T is for clearing the front room table
U is for undie and sock drawer clearout.
V is for cooking at least 3 veggies in each evening meal
W is for weeding the front garden
X is for eXperimenting with dyeing roving (ok I cheated badly there
Y is for yarn tidying, clear up the stash and sort the WIP.
Z is for finishing putting the stars on my daughter's ceiling above her bed- zzzzzzzz

I don't think that's a bad effort considering my late start and the enormity of some of the tasks I'd set myself.

However, I now need to set myself a challenge for May. The suggestion has been one for gardening, something outdoors to take advantage of the scrummy weather we've been having recently. I shall see what I can come up with for that.

knit a river

2007-04-28T23:57:00.000+01:00

I know that many people donated squares towards the water aid knit a river project. This is nearly complete with the march through London to attempt to increase awareness about lack of clean water for so many people, happening on the 12th may.

I went along to one of the sewing up sessions today at water aid's London HQ. They have recieved 60,000 knitted and crocheted squares. When the project was first suggested they weren't expecting more than a few hundred and have been absolutely astounded by the response from around the world. I don't think they will underestimate the generosity and compassion of knitters again.

There are more pics on my flickr account, but I didn't want to stick up too many here and and make it unviewable for anyone on dialup.

thankyou

2007-04-26T12:28:00.000+01:00

Firstly, a big thankyou to curlytop, who sent me this yarn to go to camp with me this summer. We've taught knitting on camp before, and it went down pretty well, but we don't have a lot of money to spent on craft materials, so your donation will be much appreciated.

Secondly, this is a selection from the squares I'm knitting towards the great blanket swap. I found that a search through the stash got me a LOT of yarns that will be suitable for this, probably enough for 6 blankets. I think my problem with this one will not be where to begin, but where to stop. I'm enjoying working with loads of colours, seeing how they go together, which si great for learning about colour before spending loads on expensive wools for garments and they are great mindless knitting for when I'm stressed about how much I have to do.

Thankyou secret pal

2007-04-19T22:48:00.000+01:00

My knitty sp sent me a scrummy package with yarn, chocolate, gifts for the kiddies and a garden ornament.

this is some of the yarn she sent me. I'm taking part in a group project with my knit group. We're all knitting squares out of scrummy coloured wools that we will then swap with each other so we can all make really nice coloured blankets. Made one as a group project for a preggers friend as a baby blanket and decided it turned out so well that we all wanted one for ourselves. This yarn will be absolutely perfect towards my share of the project. I also got some really nice variegated cotton. Wish I could get cheap cotton in nice colours here, but a taster is certainly better than nothing.

Girlchild took great delight in finding play dough. She adores this stuff and will spend hours playing with it. The lad is rather impressed with it as well and has stuck his poster up on his wall.

So thank you sp. Can't wait for the next instalment.