Ozzy Blackbeard Knits And Sews

FO: Almost Ovals

2012-02-11T16:16:00.000Z

Almost Ovals is finished - hurray say all of you because you're probably tired reading about it!!

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions about Blocking Wires, they were really helpful, and I honestly didn't need too much encouragement to buy them!! I ordered this set from Hulu Crafts at the start of the week, and got them on Thursday.

Want to see some photos?

Of course you do!!

I took these this morning in what passes for daylight at the minute! I'm pleased with how the colours have come out, they are very like the real thing. I would say it's really a bit brighter.

And this is what the wrong side looks like.

Blocking wires are brilliant, and so easy to use. I took Helen's advice, and threaded them through the garter stitch edging. It was a bit fiddly, but once I got the hang of it, it was dead easy. I was about to pin it out with the blocking pins when I thought I'd take a few photos of how I blocked it.

Top left is it with wires and unpinned, then top right is it pinned out. My blocking board is a picnic blanked from Asda with a plastic backing. I pin my knitting to the plastic back (the dark blue bit) and then the water doesn't soak through to whatever is underneath.

Any time I've blocked something I haven't wet my knitting until I have pinned it out because I find it easier to work with when it's dry, and I don't like the slimey wet feeling! Once I have it pinned out, I then spray it with a mist spray thingy that you would use for plants - that's the bottom left photo. I spray it really well to make sure it's really soaked, then I put a big towel over it (bottom right), because, as most of us know, cats and knitting don't mix! I will leave it overnight, and then spray it again in the morning, and it's generally dry that evening and ready to unpin.

That's what I did with my scarf, and it blocked beautifully. I can't get over how lovely and straight the edges are!! :) I think it took me about half an hour to put the wires in, pin and spray it. Dear knows how long it would have taken without the wires!

The yarn is from Violet Green, and is called Eos Silk and Merino Lace 2ply. It is gorgeous yarn, I had 700 metres of it, but I've just realised I haven't weighed it to see how much I used.

In other news, I got a new crafting toy yesterday. It is absolutely brilliant, but I haven't had much of a chance to play with it just yet - but I shall tell you all about it when I do!!

Lynne

Almost Ovals is almost finished!

2012-02-05T12:10:00.000Z

Honestly!! I've one more row to do before I start the last repeat. And what spurred me into action? I've been off work since Tuesday because I have a cold. I'll spare you the details, but there's been a lot of lying on the sofa with my TV blanket, watching Charmed and knitting.

I am considering buying blocking wires to block this, because the thought of having to pin this out makes my head hurt. I was wondering if blocking wires can be used for non-lace projects though. Does anybody have any experience of this?

The colours aren't showing very well in these photos, it's more of an emerald green. When it's finished I'll try and take some photos in better light.

And here are my next four Innocent Smoothie Hats. There appears to be a ribbon/button theme going on - I didn't realise that until I went to take the photos!

One-Skein Wonder Shrug No 5, and an award!

2012-01-29T19:07:00.001Z

Hello all! Thank you all so much for your lovely comments about my skirt. I've loved reading them, and it makes me feel like I have some faint idea of what I'm doing when it comes to sewing! Generally I feel like I'm just winging it!! Today I've been working on the fit of the Sorbetto Top, and I think it's good to go onto the real fabric. Ooo!! But more of that another time.

As I had reached the half-way point on my Almost Ovals Scarf, I felt justified to cast-on something else. We'll not dwell on the fact that Almost Ovals is still at the half-way point, ahem. Moving on!! The something else is a favourite pattern of mine. It's the One-Skein Wonder Shrug by Stefanie Japel. According to Ravelry, this is No 5 for me!

I love these shrugs, they're so handy, and really easy to make. I've made all of mine with long sleeves, and this is the second one that I've used a stitch pattern on at the cuffs.

The stitch pattern is from another Stefanie Japel pattern called Bell-Sleeved Scoop-Neck Top, which is from the Glam Knits book. The yarn is Wendy Aran With Wool. It's one of these great big rugby ball sized balls of yarn. I used most of it on my Liesl cardigan.

Sorry about the rubbish photos, I didn't get around to taking any of me actually wearing it.

And I received a Liebster Blog award from Knitting Nix!! Thank you Nicky! Now, I have to admit that I'm a bit dim about things like this, so I had to google it. Liebster is a German word meaning dearest, and the award is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers. You link to the blog that nominated you. Then you choose 5 blogs of your choice to pass the award on to. Share a link to your chosen blogs and display the Liebster Blog Award button on your blog.

I'm going to have a ponder as to the blogs I am going to choose, and will post my list another time. Nicky has the award button on the side bar (is that the right word?!) on her blog, and I think it looks very snazzy! So I am going to attempt to do the same, but I'm not making any promises that it will work!

Now I'm off to do some ironing; oh, the excitement!

Lynne

It's So Easy It's Simplicity 2117

2012-01-22T17:29:00.000Z

In October I saw a gorgeous skirt on Tilly and the Buttons blog. The pattern is Burdastyle's Jenny skirt, and as lovely as it is, high waists and me don't mix. But it was the fabric I really fell for. It's called Autumn Maples, sadly I can't remember now which website I ordered it from.

I went with It's So Easy It's Simplicity 2117, which I bought in The Spinning Wheel in Belfast (got to support local enterprise!). I liked the pockets, and I haven't tried pockets before.

I am delighted with how it turned out! :) First of all I made a muslin, so I could check the size and work out how to do the pockets. The instructions were really clear, and the pockets went together easily. I was happy with the fit at the waist, but thought it was a bit big at the hips and wide in the legs. It definately looks more "pencilly" on the envelope photo. So I took the sides in from the hips down.

Instead of having darts at the front, it has little pleats, which I like very much. Again the instructions for these were great, and they were easy to do.

I hit a snag when it came to the insides of the pockets, because I knew the fabric print would show through. I made the pocket lining with some cream fabric, and also the waistband facing. Here's a photo of the inside.

But I was afraid that the print would still show through from the back of the pocket. So I split the back of the pocket and made the bit that shows on the outside with the printed fabric, and the bit that is the inside back of the pocket in the cream fabric. I hope that makes sense!! You can see the reverse of it in the above photo, and the front in the photo below. I cut the two pieces so they would overlap. I then decided to overlock the curved edges - not one of my better ideas!! And then I attached the two pieces using a zig-zag stitch because I though it would look nice, and it would have had it not been for the overlocking! But you live and learn!

One thing I did do was to make the overlap just inside the pocket, and not level with the front pocket edge, so it doesn't show from the outside. Hurray!

I should mention that I made this over Christmas, but I only got it finished off yesterday. I wasn't happy with the top of the zip, so I fixed it, and I also made a slip for underneath it. I would have liked to line it, but what with the pockets and a vent, I didn't know where to start - or indeed, if it's humanly possible!!

So I got some fancy lining material to make a slip, and do you know when I realised I hadn't used said fancy lining material?! After I'd sewed it up!! Dohh!! I had used some ordinarly lining instead. Then I was going to attach the elastic using a technic I found in a sewing book whereby you sew the elastic onto the fabric using a zig-zag stitch. I was all ready to go, then the zig-zag stitch wouldn't work on my sewing machine. Arghhh!!! And none of the other fancy stitches are working either - but the straight stitch is, thank goodness!! So I think the time has come to get my machine seviced; it will probably be grateful, it's over 30 years old!

But I haven't been neglecting my knitting, I am now half way through my Almost Ovals scarf. But more of that another time,

Happy knitting

Lynne

Here comes the Groom!!

2012-01-16T19:56:00.002Z

The Creepy Cute Groom is finished, and here he is!

Isn't he brill?! And I'm sure you'd like to see the happy couple together,

I made his body and hat yesterday in the daylight, so I had half a chance of being able to see what I was doing with that black yarn! I tell you what, it wasn't easy! Any more projects from this book involving black shall be left until at least the Spring time!

The curse of the unclear instructions struck again with his hat, but I just winged it. Then he wouldn't stand up properly because the weight of his hat made him fall over. So I've just taken his head off and put some 2p coins in the bottom of his body, and now he's standing up perfectly. Hurray!!

And I forgot about these last week, so here are my next four Smoothie Hats.

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Skelton Bride: now she just needs a Groom!

2012-01-08T18:52:00.002Z

And here she is from the back:

She's from the Creepy Cute crochet book. It was only after I bought it that I read on the internet that some of the instructions aren't very clear. Doh!!

I was ok with the body, except for the frilly bit at the bottom of her dress, but I winged it; the head was another story! Four hours, four hours people, I spent on half of it, and then it got ripped out! All I can say is thank goodness for Ravelry! I found a Creepy Cute Ravelry Group which is brilliant.

The first problem was "CH1 SC1 in same". I hadn't the faintest idea what that meant. I then found this link in the Creepy Cute Group to the Designers' web site - problem solved. :)

The second problem was that my stitch count was always wrong. Creepy Cute Group to the rescue again! Turns out you don't count the "CH1 SC1 in same", (of course!).

It was the third problem that made me want to weep. It was the instructions for Row 3, they were as clear as mud. I finally worked it out from the chart beside the written instructions. I have detailed it on my Ravelry project page here. Now I just need to make her Groom.

I have also been fiddling about with some sewing this weekend. I have decided the time has come to progress onto tops. I've been having a go at the Colette Sorbetto top. I made a muslin from an old duvet cover, and the back was too wide. So I spent last night looking up back adjustments, and I think I have it ok now. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of sewing/knitting free-time due to the whole "working full-time" business!! So I don't know when I'll get a chance to try out the adjustments on real fabric.

Tonight I feel like knitting, so I'm going to finish a Froggy Smoothie Hat, and do some of my woefully neglected Almost Ovals Scarf.

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Snood-mania hits Belfast - read all about it!!!

2012-01-04T18:35:00.000Z

Snoods, cowls - call them what you will: I call them brilliant, they're so great, I made two!

First up is the Gap-tastic Cowl, which is a free Ravelry download. I cast-on 111sts instead of the 131sts on the pattern, because A: I'm small, so I didn't think it needed to be so long, and B: I knew I wouldn't have enough yarn. I was right on both counts (naturally ;) ). I just kept going until I ran out of yarn, so didn't do as many rows as on the pattern. I used three balls of Adriafil Mistero, the colour doesn't have a name, it just called 003.

Apologies for the rubbish grainy photo, it was the best I could do!

I do not know how I lived without this! It is the best thing ever!! I can wrap it around my neck twice, and then put a bit of it up like a hood, and it's toasty warm, which is handy since the wind had been blowing a hooley the last few days. Here's a photo of it in better light.

Snood number two is the long version of the Chunky Cowl. I'm blaming Karen from Did You Make That? on this one! She's the one that started the Snood Sensation. :)

Again I cast-on less stitches - 100 instead of 140. Again I knew I wouldn't have enough yarn, so just kept going until I ran out, so it's not as wide as the other one. The yarn is Sirdar Indie (which is lovely), the colour is 0160, I used three balls which I bought at my LYS, Jean's Wool Shop.

And here's a photo in better light.

I've also made a bit more progress on my Almost Ovals Scarf, but I've got a bit sidetracked with sewing and crocheting. But more of that another time.

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Christmas Knitting Revealed

2011-12-26T15:26:00.001Z

I can now reveal my sister's hat:

To say she was pleased with it is an understatement! She, and Mum, thought it was fantastic! The pattern is called Moose in the Woods. I also made her some Owlings fingerless mittens. She didn't know about them, so when she saw them I was even more brilliant!!

I had intended to use beads for the Owls' eyes, but my beads were really small and difficult to see when I sewed them on, so I used some of the cream yarn from the hat. But, I tell you what, I nearly lost the will to live sewing on all those eyes! I thought I'd never be finished!

I hope everybody had a lovely Christmas. I had a great day, one of the highlights was that it didn't snow. We were reminising about last year when we were having our dinner. This time last year we had about 5 inches of snow, the pipe to the washing machine had frozen, and the temperature was something stupid like -8! Yesterday the temperature in my car was +12, I had to take my gloves off because my hands were too warm!

Yet again, the best part of my dinner was the stuffing, it's just so tasty! And Santa brought me a woolly present:

It's Sirdar Country Style DK. I've used this yarn before, and like it alot, and it's machine washable. The colour isn't showing very well in this photo (the plastic bag doesn't help!), but it's a lovely dark green. It's going to become a cardigan. I haven't definately decided on a pattern yet, but I have a few in mind, and have already been swatching with some of this yarn that was in my stash.

I also treated myself to this book when I was ordering some presents on Amazon:

I stumbled across it on Ravelry. I feel that every home needs a crochet Grim Reaper!! I called into my LYS last week to get some white, pink and black aran acrylic, but they didn't have any black, so I'll see if I can get some on ebay.

And I have also cast-on Almost Ovals scarf. I'm using some Violet Green 2ply that I bought earlier this year; it's gorgeous - 50% silk and 50% merino. I had intended to make something else with it, but it stubbornly refused to be the right tension. Then I saw Josiekittens' version, and the decision was made.

There was a bit of a false start caused by me not reading the chart properly! But once I got a few rows done and could see the pattern emerging, it's been going great. This photo is the end of the first pattern repeat. The pink thread is my lifelines. This photo does not do the colour justice at all, it's a beautiful rich emerald green.

I have also finished my Gap-tastic cowl, but I don't have any photos of it yet.

Happy new year!!

Lynne

It's Christmas!!!!!!

2011-12-19T18:20:00.000Z

There's a lot of Christmas madness going on around here, and this is the first chance I've had to get caught up with my blog! I had intended to work to 6pm tonight, but then I caught myself on and came home at my normal time! I finish on Friday, and I'm off until 2nd Jan. Hurray!!!!! :)

I have finished my sister's hat, but obviously I can't post a photo just yet!! It turned out to be the right size, so I didn't have to frog it. Phew!

The Christmas tree has been put up. We got a real one again since the real one we got last year was so lovely. A certain member of the Blackbeard household doesn't seem to be able to keep his paws off it though!

I didn't make that mitten, by the way, I bought it in B&Q. He only seems to be interested in the decorations that I've made. I'm not sure whether to be pleased with this or not! There has been some damage: I give you Exhibit A -

I made three of these little stocking last year (here's the pattern), and he broke the hanging plait on this one. Then this year I made three of these little cork men. The pattern is called Korknisse. The one in the photo has lost his hat - I still can't find it! I had to make another one!! There is also a little bear that I made last year who has now parted company with his hanging ribbon, so I'll have to fix him later. Grrr...

I have also been making myself a Gap-tastic Cowl. I had seen Tasia's version on Sewaholic, and thought it was lovely; but it wasn't until I saw Chrissy's version on Stitched Together, that I thought, "That's fabulous! I need one of those - now!!".

I am awarding myself extra bonus knitting points because I am using stashed yarn! :) I'm using Adriafil Mistero chunky yarn. I have three skeins of it, one had been made into a neckwarmer for a Christmas present, but I wasn't feeling the love for it, so it got frogged. Here's how it looks now:

I'm just about to start the last skein. I don't have as much yarn as is on the pattern, so I cast-on 101sts instead of (I think!) 131. I also don't think it will be as deep as on the pattern, but I don't think it will matter.

I've also been making some more Smoothie Hats.

I hope everybody has a lovely Christmas, and I shall look forward to seeing all the knitting pressies on everybodies blogs.

Merry Christmas!!

Lynne

Christmas Knitting Panic!!!

2011-12-05T10:56:00.001Z

First of all I have to thank you all for the lovely comments on my Selbu Beret! You are all too kind!! I seem to be on a fairisle kick at the minute. I don't actually do the whole "one colour of yarn in each hand" thing properly. I have tried to teach myself continental knitting, but I am very slow, and my tension is rubbish. So I've sort of invented my own fairisle system.

I keep my main colour yarn on my right, and knit with it normally, and keep my contrast colour yarn on my left. When I'm working with my main colour yarn, I sort of hold my contrast colour yarn between my fingers on my left hand, then when I want to knit with it, I just drop the main colour yarn, and knit the contrast colour yarn as normal. I am certainly not the fastest fairisle knitter in the world, but it works for me!

And on the fairisle note, I am now knitting this:

It's called Moose In The Woods Hat. The above photo is the one from the pattern. I swore blind I was not doing any Christmas knitting, but I didn't know what to get my sister. She has a big chunky scarf which she loves (I think it was from River Island), and she asked me to make her a hat to go with it. She picked this pattern on Ravelry, and I got the yarn on ebay for £3.60 a ball.

The yarn is Rico Soft Aran Merino, and is it gorgeous. It says on the pattern that this hat can turn out a bit big, and, boy, it's not wrong! I swatched it, and ended up making the toddlers size! It fits perfectly well on my head, so it will fit my sister. I've just started the decreases for the crown, and I fear that it may be too long. I have a horrible feeling that I may have to frog it and take a few rows out the pattern. There's nothing quite like Christmas knitting pressure!!!

Here's a not very good photo of some of the mooses. The colours stand out better in real life. And I seem to have a lot of other non-knitting stuff to do at the minute, so I'm knitting this in fits and starts.

I have to tell you about one of the non-knitting things though, last night my sister and I went to see The Darkness. Yey to The Darkness reforming!!! We'd seen them before, and they were just as brill this time! They were playing in the Ulster Hall in Belfast. It has been refurbished resently, and that is the first time I have been in it since it was done, and it was lovely. Then on the way home it started to snow. I had learnt my lesson after the last concert I was at, and had the wit to take today off work! I woke up at half past eight to this:

The frost damage on the plant pot is from last winter. :( Hopefully it won't last too long.

Have a good week!

Lynne

FO: Selbu Modern

2011-11-27T09:31:00.001Z

This beret has been in my queue for what feels like forever! I don't know what took me so long to make it, because it's lovely. Here's a link to the pattern on Ravelry.

I swatched it, and found it was going to turn out a bit too big for me. So after some calculations, I cast on 110sts instead of 128, and increased to 168sts instead of 192, so I could do 7 pattern repeats instead of 8.

The white yarn is Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply, and I had planned to use some Sublime Yarns Baby Cashmere Merino Silk 4ply for the contrasting colour. The colour I had was pale green, but it was too pale against the white, and I'd learnt my lesson on my Karin Kurbits Hat! So I used the Woolcraft Superwash 4 ply I had left over.

I'm very pleased with it. The pattern really is lovely, and I love how the decreases look at the crown. They are all done within the flower pattern.

And because I always think it is interesting to see, here is a photo of the inside with all the stranding.

Have a good week,

Happy knitting!

Lynne

FO: Levenwick Cardigan

2011-11-19T15:16:00.001Z

Levenwick is finished!! Here are some not-very-good photos of it on my dress form.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out as I wasn't so sure about it towards the end, but then I remembered the magic powers of blocking! I am always amazed at "before and after" blocking photos of shawls. So I washed it and pinned it out, and it's lovely!

The yarn is Patons Pure Wool Crepe DK, which came from my Granny. It's lovely, and, more importantly, machine washable. I truly admire anybody who makes a cardigan or jumper from hand-wash only yarn. I loath and despise hand-washing! I stupidly forgot to weight it before I sewed the buttons on, so I don't know how much I used, but I have enough left for a tank top. I feel another Angostura coming on!

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments about my skirt, they made my day! Liz, I had intended to wear it now, and put it on on Thursday with a black jumper and tights, but it was too light and I was freezing. But that could be a lot to do with the cough I have just now! I'm doing a far impression of someone who smokes about 200 a day (I don't smoke at all - never have - honestly!!). So I think I'll keep it to wear in the Spring.

And here are my next four Smoothie Hats. The colours haven't shown up too well in the poor light. I'm particularly pleased with the fairisle hearts one. And I got a card from The Big Knit folks thanking me for this year's hats.

Have a good weekend!

Lynne

Oriental Ginger

2011-11-06T22:20:00.000Z

After the success of my first Colette Ginger skirt, I decided to make another one. I read on a few blogs about some lovely new fabrics at Fancy Moon, so I had to have a look. I was not disappointed! The fabrics in the Printed Cotton Fabric section were right up my street.

I was tempted by this lovely Russian Doll fabric (I love their wee faces),

Matryoshka Russian Nesting Dolls Black, Trefle by Kokka

but turquoise doesn't suit me, and I don't like pink. I had red in mind, so I chose Imperial Kiku Red, Indochine by Alexander Henry.

I layed out the fabric, and pinned on my pattern pieces, but realised I would end up with the big chrysanthemums right in the middle of each pattern piece. And, as much as I like the big chrysanthemums, it would have looked a bit mad.

So I ended up cutting each piece separately, as I liked the black-edged flowers, and wanted to off-set them a bit (but I forgot to take a photo of that step). I think it turned out ok.

I also made the waistband half the height as on the pattern. I'm small and found the waistband on my first skirt is a bit deep for my short middle. I finished hemming it this morning, but I haven't top-stitched around the bottom of the waistband yet. I want to wear it a few times first and see if I need to make any adjustments.

I LOVE it!! It was much quicker to do than the first one, and I actually knew what I was doing!! Result!! :) I haven't forgotten about my knitting though, but more of that another time.

Have a good week! Lynne

Korknisse

2011-10-23T15:53:00.001+01:00

I'm still working on my Levenwick Cardigan. I've finished the body, and have started one of the sleeves, but it's nothing exciting enough to warrant a photo. So I thought I'd show you this:

I made him last night. The pattern is called Korknisse, and is free on Ravelry. He's for my Christmas Tree, and obviously he will need a few friends!

Levenwick WIP

2011-10-16T15:25:00.000+01:00

This week I have mostly been working on my Levenwick cardigan. Here are some not very good progress photos.

The front edges where the pins are will have an Old Shale buttonhole edging (the same as the neck edging), but I have to finish the body first.

I added a few rows of top-down short-row shaping to the bust using the brilliant instructions and calculations in Ysolda's book Little Red In The City. The colour is red in real life, it looks quite pink in these photos.

I have also completely finished my grey skirt. After several days of top class procrastination, I finally tackled the buttonholes. Here is the better of the two, with snazzy button. I got the buttons from Textile Garden. I also got some buttons for my cardigan. There are some gorgeous buttons on their site, and they posted them really quickly.

And I know the closing date for this years' Smoothie Hats was only last Friday, but I have already started next years'. Here are my first four.

The sheep is my favourite, here's a link to the pattern. I have to thank Liz at Thomasina Knits for it. I made his head as it was on the pattern, but it looked very creepy! So I made the head you see from the Froggy Pattern.

Happy knitting!

Lynne

New Look 6920 Skirt B

2011-10-09T15:58:00.000+01:00

The skirt I mentioned in my last post is now nearly finished. I just have to add some buttonholes. The pattern is New Look 6920, and I went with view B (short purple one on the front of the pattern).

I learnt something valuable whilst making this: the instructions with it are rubbish! I ended up referring to the instructions on my Colette Ginger skirt pattern quite a lot.

I appreciate I'm only comparing two patterns here, but if most pattern instructions are like this New Look one, then I don't know how anybody who is completely new to sewing would ever manage. Perhaps newer patterns have better instructions, this one is about 10-12 years old. The Colette pattern was brilliant, it's in book-form (not a big sheet), and every single thing is done step-by-step, with links to tutorials on the Colette website. I should mention that I did a sewing class a million years ago, and have some sewing experience.

There was some crazy pocket arrangement that was built into the front facing, but I just could not get my head around the instructions for it, so I left it out. Also the instructions for the hem were as clear as mud. It's a hem for pete's sake! How hard can it be!! End of rant ;)

I got the fabric from Minerva Crafts and Fabrics on ebay, I can't remember exactly what fabric it is, but it's grey with a tiny lilac stripe.

And, yes, I really should have ironed it properly before I took the photos!

I'm really proud of the zip! It's my favourite bit! I used a fantastic tutorial I found on Sewaholic's web site. There are two parts to it - Part 1 and Part 2. It was easy-peasy, and worked first time! I will doing zips like this from now on.

The waist-band was a bit of a faff because it wasn't all in one piece. It overlaps at the side seams, and this is where the buttonholes go.

The pin is where the buttonhole should be, and I'm working myself up to doing them. The buttonhole instructions in my machine's manual aren't very clear (I'm spotting a theme in this post!), even though it has a buttonhole setting and foot. Sadly my machine is quite old, so I can't find anything about it on the internet. So, I've been practicing using a technique I found in one of my sewing books.

As the buttons are just for decoration, I could just sew them through both layers of the waistband, but I would like to do it properly. But unfortunately I can't find the buttons I want to use!! I looked everywhere yesterday trying to find them, but they seem to have evaporated. Grrr.

In knitting news, I have started my Levenwick cardigan, but haven't done enough to warrant a progress pic just yet.

But I have been making pom-poms:

Aren't they great?! I made them last night whilst watching Strictly Come Dancing (Jase to win!!). I was reading this post on "Thomasina Knits" blog last week, and commented on how lovely the pom-poms were, and how hopeless I was at making them. Well, Liz very kindly posted this tutorial on how to make pom-poms. They were ridiculously easy to make once I knew how to, so thank you very much Liz for taking the time to do this. :)

FO: Karin Kurbits Hat

2011-09-25T19:39:00.000+01:00

My Karin Kurbits Hat is finished, and here it is:

Hindsight being the wonderful thing that it is, I really should have used a lighter shade of grey. The purple about a third down from the top is quite dark, and difficult to see.

But that said, I'm very pleased with, and it fits well. I didn't know how to block it, as I normally block my berets over a plate. So after consulting Ravelry, I blocked it over a ballon. A bit mad, but it worked!

The pattern was easy to follow, and I see the designer has another lovely hat called Edith The Hat that I could be very tempted by!

But I have several hats and cardigans I want to make, so I've been doing some swatching. I've done a swatch for Levenwick cardigan using some Patons yarn that came from my Granny; and I'm working on a swatch for Deco cardigan using Sirdar Country Style DK, and am also going to use this for a swatch for Audrey in Unst cardigan, and also Manu Cardigan. I don't actually have any yarn for the last three, so then I'll have to make a trip to my LYS. And we all know it's never a good idea to go to our LYS unsupervised...

I also want to swatch for Selbu Modern beret which has been in my queue for ages, and I actually have the yarn for it. Then after all those swatches, I'll probably cast-on something different entirely!

I've also been doing a bit of sewing, and have finished my sewing machine cover. It's a bit pants, so don't look too closely.

I think the bias tape on the curved edges wasn't one of my better ideas. But, more importantly, it fits over my sewing machine, and is much better than the plastic sheet I've been using for the last two and a half years.

I've also been making another skirt, but I'm only about half way through it, so more of it another time.

Summer Wind Cowl

2011-09-18T16:54:00.000+01:00

I finished this a few weeks' ago, but hadn't got around to blogging about it yet. It's called Summer Wind Cowl (Ravelry link).

I used one ball of Zitron Trekking XXL sock wool. There is a short and a long version on the pattern, and I went for the long one. The pattern says 420 yards for the long, and I had 459 yards, but I didn't have enough yarn. I had to leave out the last repeat of the border pattern.

You can see in the above photo that there are four rows of yarn-overs on the left edge, but only two rows on the right edge. But I'm very pleased with it, and thought it would be nice with my denim jacket now that it's getting a bit cooler.

Even though it's turning chillier, I am still absolutely refusing to put my sandals away yet! I won't put my boots on until 1st October! My friend in work thought I'd gone mad on Wednesday when I turned up in a skirt, bare legs and sandals, and laughed her head off on Friday at lunchtime when I walked in a big puddle. We'd gone out at lunchtime, and it was absolutely lashing. I had to take my sandals off and dry my feet! Serves me right!!

And in honour of my 52nd and final Smoothie Hat, I decided to make another frog.

It's he brill?! I shall parcel my hats up, and post them off this week.

And then I shall make a start on next year's hats! I think I'll have another go at one a week, is anybody with me?!

Happy knitting,

Lynne

PS, as you can see, I've been monkeying about with the background on my blog. I can't decide if this purple is just a bit too dazzling on the old eyes! Please let me know what you think!

Shameless Copy-Cat Post

2011-09-13T20:48:00.001+01:00

I was browsing the Knitting Blogs on Sunday, and got a shock when I read on JosieKitten's blog that the deadline for Innocent Smoothie Hats for The Big Knit is Friday 14th October. I have been merrily knitting away at one hat a week; I have been happily planning the next week's hat, and had completely forgotten the point of them all!

So I got all my hats together, and I have 51. I've been trying one a week, so I have one to go, then I'll send them off, and make a start on next year's.

In a shameless copy of JosieKitten's post, here are all my hats so far.

You may have noticed that there are only 50 hats here, so here is number 51. I still think he's the best hat ever, and I love this photo!

I have also been doing this:

It's one of my long list of winter hats. I stumbled across the pattern on Ravelry. It's called Karin Kurbits Hat, and I have to say I love making it. I've done fairisle Smoothie Hats, but never anything bigger. It took a while to get used to the two yarns, and I can't really get the hang of holding the yarn in my left hand so I'm sort of swapping between the two yarns, but it's going well.

I couldn't get the tension right on it, so after some calculations, I have made mine with five pattern repeats instead of six. I had a look through some of the projects on Ravelry, and quite a few people have done this.

The multi-coloured yarn is Crystal Palace Mini Mochi. I always knew this would end up being a hat. And the grey yarn is Woolcraft Superwash Sock Yarn. Yep, it's quite a combo, but it works!

I cast it on one evening, and was having doubts about the colours as the purple didn't seem to be much different than the grey, but when I looked at it in daylight, the colours stand out really well. The photo is very like what it is in real life.

I've done a bit more than in the photo, but the colours become a bit difficult to see in artifical light, so it will be early evening/weekend knitting.

Happy knitting

Lynne

Plum Cabled Hat

2011-09-04T16:54:00.000+01:00

I have matched action to word from my last post, and this morning I finished the Plum Cabled Hat. Goodness me, this hat is great! I foresee much wearing over the winter, and there are no itching issues. Hurray!

Here is a link to the pattern, it's a free one on Ravelry. I changed one thing on it, which was the direction of the cables on Row 14. I swapped the two cables around, so C2B was first and C2F was second. I just liked the way it looked.

I appreciate it's a bit difficult to see the cables in the photos, but they are the best I can do!

I have been attempting to make a cover for my sewing machine for a while now, and it's not going well. This could have a lot to do with the fact that I am making it up as I go along - never a good idea! I thought some bias tape would make a good edging for it, and this would also give me good experience in using bias tape. I found a great tutorial on making continuous bias tape here. I made some yesterday, and it went well, but I have discovered this afternoon that it is too narrow. Arghhhh!!!!

It is now going into the naughty corner/top of the printer to have a think about what it's done. Thankfully I have enough fabric to make some more, but it was a fiddly job, so it may be left for a while!

So here are some things that were successful - my next four Smoothie Hats.

I know I've already shown you the crochet one, but isn't the wee froggy great?! I found him on Ravelry here, and there is also a crochet version here. The original pattern doesn't have arms for him, but I thought he looked a bit wrong without them, so I just made two more legs and sewed them on. And, just because he's so great, here's a close-up of him!

I have to say, I love this new version of Blogger, it's so much easier to use. I just noticed it when I logged on to type this, although it could have been there for ages!

Happy knitting

Lynne

Druidess Beret

2011-08-28T15:50:00.005+01:00

I've had a bad case of Startitist recently, so I haven't had much to show for my efforts. I started to find this a bit frustrating because I felt like I was getting nowhere. So I made an effort to concentrate on one thing, and have finished this:

Yep, it's another beret (because we all know I don't have enough!). This pattern is called Druidess Beret. I love the cables, especially the plaited one. I used the same yarn as on my Menai Tank vest. I'm now in full-on hat mode again. I wonder if there's such as thing as Hat-Knitters Anonymous?!

I have also been doing some more crocheting. I had started a shawl, I'm not feeling the love for it anymore; but the important thing is that it has taught me how to how the crochet hook properly. So last night I started another Innocent Smoothie Crochet Hat, and finished it earlier today. Here it is:

Isn't it smashing!! :) I love it!! It's called Innocent Granny Crochet Hat and is a free Ravelry download. I'm now feeling brave enough to tackle a larger crocheted item, and I'm thinking of a hat (ahem). So I'm going to have look on Ravelry for something easy using chunky yarn.

I had also finished this last week.

It's a pattern called Fourteen, it was a free download on Rav, but the download doesn't seem to be available anymore. I had made two ages ago, and still had the pattern, so I made this one with one skein Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky that I bought in This Is Knit in Dublin last year. The skein was in the top of the hot press, and every time I opened the door it kept saying "knit me, knit me"! Well, who was I to say no?!

This yarn is gorgeous; unfortunately I failed to notice that the label said it has Mohair in it. Mohair makes me itch terribly, and when I put it around my neck I was itching like a big itchy thing! I suppose I could have given it away, but the yarn is too nice for that (and I'm selfish), so, it's been frogged. :( But it is very soon to become a Plum Cabled Hat.

Before it was finished and I realised the itchiness issue (and after I had falled for the yarn), I ordered some more of it. And you know how when you order yarn on-line, it seems silly to pay postage for just one thing?! Well, I ordered some Malabrigo Merino too.

The colour of the Lamb's Pride is Elderberry Wine, and this is what I'm thinking of making into a crocheted hat. The colour of the Malabridgo is called Paris Nights. It's much nicer in real life, the dark bit is navy, and the light bit is purply/blue. Guess what it's going to be?? (I haven't settled on a pattern yet, but there are quite a few aran/worsted berets in my Rav favourites.)

Last Saturday my sister and I went to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra. We only went to the Folk Museum part, because it took us an afternoon to walk around it! We hadn't been since we were children.

It's full of old buildings and houses from all over Northern Ireland that have been dismantled and re-built at the museum. There's a town area, which has a row of houses, and a row of workshops for different trades, a village green, and then lots of public buildings like a bank, police station, a little cinema, a church and lots of shops like a chemists, a sweet shop and (my favourite) a haberdashery shop. Then there's a rural bit that has lots of different farm houses, a school house, a water mill etc. There's a fair bit of walking in the rural bit, and I would recommend sensible shoes! It was great day out, and we really enjoyed ourselves.

There was also a gift shop, and it would have been rude not to have a nosey! They had lots of different needlepoint sets, and also a Cath Kitson book called Stitch. I had previously seen that book in a book shop in Belfast, and had been wanting it for a while, so I bought it. And I also bought a needlepoint set which is a bookmark with lavender flowers on it.

I have done some cross stitch before. Mr Blackbeard bought me a Winnie The Pooh bookmark set about 10 years ago, and it's been keeping my place ever since. Here it is:

As you can see, I didn't exactly centre the squares (!!), but I think it's pretty good; and here are the book and the bookmark set:

The bit at the top comes with the book, it's all the stuff to make the little bag that's on the front cover. I'm going to start it later on, and I think I'll use it to keep my crochet hooks in.

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Ginger

2011-08-09T20:25:00.004+01:00

I'm off on leave at the moment, and planned to do lots of knitting, but the spirit moved me to garden. I'd been procrastinating about the front garden for quite some time, so the spirit didn't get ignored! I spent most of last week digging, and I think I've been in every Garden Centre in Greater Belfast. Anyway, I won't bore you with that; I'll show you this!

One of the things I'd planned to do was some sewing. A few weeks ago I bought the Colette Ginger Skirt pattern. I found this fabric which came from my Granny; I haven't the fainted idea what it is, but it washes well and is lovely.

This skirt took 2 1/2 days of solid work. I told Mr BB that there have been wedding dresses that probably didn't take so long to make! I'm thrilled with it!! :) :) :) It's 50 times better than the skirt I made a few months ago. I really took my time, and didn't fudge anything. The only bit I'm not pleased with is the top of the waistband where the zip attaches. I don't think I clipped the corners properly.

The instructions in the pattern were really easy to follow, and there were links to tutorials on the Colette website. Panic struck though when it came to putting the invisible zip in, because I don't have an invisible zipper foot. I also have no chance of being able to get said foot, since my machine is about 30 years old! But good old Google came to the rescue, and I found this fantastic tutorial using an ordinary zipper foot.

I'm feeling extremely pleased with myself! And I will definately be making another one. It hopefully shouldn't take so long though, since I have a rough idea of what I'm doing now!

I've also been doing a bit of knitting; I made this wee case for my phone from some left over sock yarn. The pattern is called Aran Ipod Carrier, and is free on Ravelry. I've also finished my Serpentine Socks, but I haven't taken a photo of them yet.

And here are my next four Innocent Smoothie Hats, note the yellow one is crocheted! Get me!!! ;) Normally a hat takes me about 30 minutes, that one took 2 hours!

Happy knitting,

Lynne

FO - Angostura

2011-07-29T19:55:00.008+01:00

And here it is:
To say "I'm pleased with it" doesn't even begin to describe it! I love it! It's gorgeous! I wish it was winter so I could wear it! I did try to take some photos of me wearing it, but they didn't come out very well, so all these photos are on the dress form.

This is the cable on the right shoulder. The right front was easy-peasey, it was the left front I had trouble with.

With hindsight, I should have done the back cable a little bit higher, but in the great scheme of things, it's fine. This photo is the closest to the real colour.

I LOVE the I-Cord edging on the armholes and neck. It looks fab and there's no picking up stitches and making an edge - result!!

I still honestly have no idea where I was going wrong with the left front, but my problem was that my knit-stitch columns were not in the right places to start the shoulder cable. I had a ponder, and decided to take some of Ysolda's advice from the book. Can't recall which page it's on, but basically it's "if you're having a problem with a certain bit on a pattern; just swatch that bit". So I did.

I used the provisional crochet cast-on in the book, just to give it a go, and it was quite easy. I then knit up the cable:

Then I wanted to do a few rows below the cable to be absolutely sure where the knit stitches would be - hence the "oh, my eyes" orange yarn. Things started to make a bit more sense after that, and I was able to crack on.

I finished all the knitting about 11pm last Saturday night. I wasn't about to start joining the shoulders at that time, so everything got put in the knitting bag, and this is what I pulled out on Sunday:

All those life-lines made me laugh! I thought that if a non-knitter looked at that, it would just seem like a tangled mess! I didn't realise I'd put in so many life-lines. Once I knew a bit was right, I didn't look back at it. I'm so glad they where there though! And the ones on the right front are all one piece of yarn, I didn't even bother cutting it!

WIPs

2011-07-24T16:21:00.010+01:00

Angostura is nearly finished. Hurray!! The knitting is done, and the shoulders have been sewn together. I want to wash and block it now before I sew up the side seams. I finally worked out the left shoulder, but I'll tell you about that when I have the finished photos to show.

So today I thought I'd show you some other WIPs. First is the Serpentine Socks. Here's what I've done so far:

I don't think the pattern shows too well with this yarn, but just looking at this photo, it looks better on my foot than on the needles. The yarn is Zwerger Garn Opal Schafpate, and the colour is 2713. I bought it from my LYS, Jean's Wool Shop, which is fab for sock yarn.

The second WIP is called Kate Shopping Shawl, which I mentioned in this post. I started this about a month ago, but haven't blogged about it yet. I'm calling it my Forbidden Shawl because the tiny stitches make me think of the Forbidden Stitch in Chinese Embroidery - even though it's obviously completely different!

It's done with 2ply, so don't expect it to be finished any time soon! I'm using Filatura Di Crosa Centolavaggi Chine, which I bought on ebay. It's a clever construction, as it's worked from corner to corner, rather than the centre-back out. Then you pick-up stitches the whole way around to make the edging.

The pattern is quite easy as it's a four-stitch repeat, but the start and end of the rows vary, so I have to make sure I'm on the right row. The stitch pattern makes it into what actually looks like a herringbone woven fabric. It's very pretty.

And I'm always talking about the great big stash of yarn I inherited from my Granny, so I thought I'd show you a photo. Brace yourselves!!

This was it all spread out on my living room floor when I brought it home. It filled six big re-useable Tescos plastic bags. As I look at the photo I can see lots of things I've used.

I've used some red/purple 4ply for my Frost Diamonds Shawl and Razor Cami Vest Top. Then there's the purple DK which became Angostura and my Rose Purple Beret. Some of it, along with some lighter purple, became my Two-Tone Shrug. The navy DK became my Dad's Jacques Cousteau Hat; and lots of brown, turquoise, blue and beige DK became my sister and my's Hap Blankets. The sea-green DK became my Menai Tank-Top, and some beige 4ply got dyed to make my Neep Heid Beret. And finally, some of the eyelash stuff has become Innocent Smoothie Hats. Phew!! And there's still loads left! At least I gave it a good home! :)

Happy knitting,

Lynne

I've been sewing

2011-07-17T16:37:00.005+01:00

I have been threatening to make a bag for all my sewing stuff for quite some time, and, since I was off work this week, I did it. That, and the fact that my printer is broken, and I had to move all the sewing stuff off the top of it to try and fix it. Printer's still not working though. :(

Anyway, here it is:
It's based on a bag in the "Quilting in No Time" book I got for Christmas. The original bag has a round base, but it wouldn't have been big enough. So I made mine with a rectangle shaped base. I'm not overly happy with the handles, but the rest of it is brill (even if I say so myself!). There was a genius idea in the book for marking the stitching line for the actual quilting bit. It was to use masking tape, and it worked like a charm. I'll definately use it again.

In true Blue Peter fashion, the flowery fabric is an old duvet cover swiped from my Mum and Dad; and the green fabric is a pillow case from Ikea. I have loads left, and for my next trick intend to make a cover for my sewing machine.

The inside is lined in the green fabric, here's a photo:

I'd already started to put stuff in it when I thought of taking a photo. There's a lot more stuff in it now, and it's fairly tidied up my desk!

I'm now about half way through the back of Angostura. The cable on the back is beautiful. I think I'll do a bit more of it tonight.

As mentioned in my last post, I have cast-on a sock. It's called Serpentine, and is from Socks from the Toe-Up by Wendy Johnston. I haven't done too much of it though, and don't have a photo of it.

And on Friday I finally made a proper effort to learn to crochet. I am now an expert on Extended Double Crochets; but I think that warrants a post of it's own.

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Angostura

2011-07-11T21:20:00.004+01:00

Angostura is doing my head in!!! :(

I started with the front rather than the back (the back is first on the pattern), because I wanted to try out the calculations for the short-row shaping at the bust. It worked beautifully.

Buoyed on with this success, I steamed onto the left neck shaping. After about 4 or 5 failed attempts, I discovered the fault - I needed to read the pattern properly!! I was working on the wrong size! I can't believe I was so stupid!!

I discovered this last night, so I frogged back to my lifeline (boy was I glad it was there!), marked the pattern properly, and went to bed. Today I started it again. I got to the shoulder shaping, and was one stitch short. There's no fudging on this, because there's a lovely cable at the shoulders, and there was no way it was going to work.

After much pondering, I thought I had cast-off one too many stitches at the underarm, so I frogged back to my lifeline: again. I'm now doubting my working out of the decreases, because my working out doesn't match the number of stitches for the shoulder. And it doesn't help that I'm not great with maths. Sigh.

So I've decided to leave the front for now, and have cast-on the back. Maybe I've been looking at it for too long now, and if I leave it for a few days it will all make perfect sense. Here's hoping!!

Anyway, here's a photo of the front so far. Note the skillful use of the TV remote control and the phone to weigh down the edges.
The cables don't show very well in this photo, and once it's blocked, they'll not look so squashed up. This yarn is quite stretchy.

So now I'm considering casting on a sock. I've been meaning to blog about my lovely pyramid bag for a while, but kept forgetting. Here it is:

Isn't it lovely?! I got it from Squirrel's shop, which is called Made By Sun Rae; everything there is gorgeous, and I can recommend it. It's a fab bag, and I couldn't resist the Russian Doll fabric! I also have some Pattern Keepers from the shop, which are one of those things that I didn't realise how useful they were until I got them. Can't do without them now!

Here are my next four Smoothie Hats, on a very motley crew of models!

I'm off to start a sock...

Lynne

Circle Socks, and a new WIP

2011-07-03T11:30:00.012+01:00

Here are my latest pair of socks. I used the Circle Socks pattern for the cuff, but my basic sock pattern is Mash-Up Magic Toe-Up Socks Recipe (MUMTO Socks) by Zhenya Lavy (both Rav Links).
I have now made seven pairs of socks, one Top-Down, and the rest Toe-Up. This, quite frankly, amazes me, because for a long time I never saw the point of making socks. Now I'm hooked! It's got me thinking about why so may Knitters love socks; here are my conclusions:

1. They are extremely portable.
2. Once you get your head around them, they require little thought - unless there's a complicated stitch pattern, or you're working on the heel.
3. There are plenty of different technics involved to stop you getting bored.
4. It's very pleasing to be able to make something which perfectly fits the akward shape that is a foot.
5. Non-knitters are always very impressed - until they start asking you to make some for them, then that's just annoying!

I love, love, love the MUMTO Pattern. It's a basic pattern for a plain sock which works out the number of stitches, rows etc for any size of sock. It then takes you through each step. It's written for two-at-a-time socks on a Magic Loop, but I do each sock individually because my one sock-sized circular needle isn't long enough (a good excuse to buy another one me thinks!). I also use this provisional cast-on. It's so easy!

I definately prefer the Toe-Up approach. I find doing increases for the toe and gusset is neater than the decreases done for Cuff-Down socks; but that could just be me! I also find the heel a lot easier to work, and like the fact that I can then try-on as I go.

I've finally calmed down after getting "Little Red In The City" on Friday. Mr BB is extremely relieved. He was sick listening to me going on about it. I think he would have taken himself and the cats to an underground bunker if it hadn't turned up!

It really was worth the wait though. The chapters on fitting are fantastic, and all the calculations are easy to follow; which is great for folks like me who are rubbish at maths. As previously mentioned, my favourite pattern is Angostura, and I cast it on last night. I've only done about 20 rows, so I don't have much to show just yet. I have been saving this yarn for it:

It's Wendy Merino DK. It's my favourite yarn from of the great big stash from my Granny. I've already used some of it for the edging on my Two-Tone Shrug, and also for my Rose Red beret (both Rav links). According to Ravelry this yarn has been discontinued, which is a crying shame because it's gorgeous. It's a joy to knit with, is soft, stretchy (but retains it's shape), the stitch definition is lovely, and it washes beautifully. I wish I knew of an easily available yarn that was a great as this.

I think I'll go and knit some more of it,

Happy knitting,

Lynne

PS After much hilarity the mouse was caught last Sunday at tea time. Furniture was pulled out all over the place, and eventually Luke Spookling caught it. He decided that underneath the table was the best place to play with it, but then he took it outside. After a while he got bored, and the mouse was last seen sneaking under the deck. A happy ending!

Little Red is here!!!!

2011-07-01T15:52:00.002+01:00

Look! It's in my hand and everything!!! I'm so excited!!! (deep breaths Lynne, deep breaths...)

Menai Tank

2011-06-26T15:35:00.008+01:00

The Menai Tank is finished! Here it is in all it's loveliness:

It's a pattern from Yarn Forward Magazine No. 34 March 2011, here is the Ravelry link. I made a few mods:

1. I purled 3 rounds before starting the actual pattern, and then did a purl edging to the neck and arms edges.

2. The original is purled across the chest and upper back, but I knit mine.

The cables are just so lovely. My only issue was that the cables at the front shoulders have 4 stitches, and the cables at the back shoulder have 5 stitches, so they didn't match up completely. But that's me just being fussy! Here's a cable close-up:

The Gretel Top has been frogged. :( I did about 2 inches of it, then put it on the dress form, and it was massive. I will re-try it, but I want to wait to get Ysolda's new book Little Red In the City first. It's so close I can almost smell it!! I already have the ebook on Ravelry, but would much prefer to study the actual book than read it on the computer; it's a bit difficult to stick post-its on a page on a computer screen! There is loads of information on fitting in the book, so I'm hoping it will help me out.

According to the Ysolda Group on Ravelry, some folks in America have already received their copies, (it was printed in America) but Ysolda says here (in post 1306)that it is currently in Customs. So hopefully I will get it this week. I shall be beside myself every day when I get home from work!

*** I interupt this blog to inform you that I have just been informed by Mr BB that there is a mouse in the living room (I'm upstairs). This morning one of the cat's (it was Luke - it's always Luke!) was trying to poke under the sofa, so that explains what he was up to. Oh the joys and delights of having two cats! Mr BB and the cats are now trying to catch it. I'm going to leave them to it; too many cooks and all that... ***

Yesterday I had another go at sewing a top, but it wasn't very successful and left me feeling a bit deflated. It's getting the fit right that's the problem. I've been procastinating about a sewing class, so now I think I'll look into it. If I've put that in print, then I'll have to do it!

So at lunchtime I made myself a new rule - when Formula One is on TV, I have to knit, and that includes the Qualifying. No more faffing about on Ravelry, no looking up sewing patterns or technics - just knit! So during today's race I got lots of my second Circle Sock done. I'm off to finish it,

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Mystery knitting revealed

2011-06-19T13:58:00.010+01:00

I can finally reveal the mystery knitting; here it is:

It's an Ysolda Hap Blanket, which I made for my twin sister. It was our birthday on Friday, and she loved it! Her exact words were, "it's the best blankie ever!!". You can't say fairer than that!

I was quite relieved because when I started it, it was one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time! She has always liked mine (blogged here), and had asked me to make her one in April. I said if she did the garter stitch in the middle, I'd do the edging, but she's left handed and always found knitting awkward, so she said no. That was when I had the bright idea to make it for her birthday.

The turquoise yarn is Patons Dipolma DK, and the brown is Wendy Ascot DK. It came from the yarn mountain I inherited from my Granny, so the yarn is as much my sister's as it is mine!

Mods: I doubled the size of what is on the pattern. It's all on Ravelry here.

Want to see more photos? Ok!

I have cast-on the second Circle Sock, and I decided on starting the Gretel Top from my list. My tension square was a lot smaller than given on the pattern, so I opted for the second size on the pattern, so I'll see how it goes. I haven't got too far with it though because I got side-tracked with other things.

One was my front garden; I was off work this week, and my Dad came over and helped me re-shape the grass and dig new flower beds. Who needs the Gym when you can dig in four bags of manure in one day! Phew!!

The second distraction was my birthday pressie from Mr Blackbeard. He brought me a dress form. I got it on Monday, and seriously don't know how I lived without it! Want to see?

"Ahh," I hear you ponder, "that knitting looks vaguely familar". Well, it's the Menai Vest Top that has been languishing in the naughty corner for months. I put it on the dress form on Monday, and fell for the cables again! Sadly they don't show very well in the photos. I have finished the back, front and one armhole, so the rest should be finished this week.

I've also just been using the dress form to take-in two skirts, one being the purple skirt I made. I was quite generous with the ease on it. Expect to see the dress form featuring a lot from now on!

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Decisions, decisions ...

2011-06-09T20:12:00.008+01:00

The mystery knitting is finished! Woo-hoo! For a while there I thought it wasn't going to be done on time, but after putting aside everything except breathing in and out, it was finished on Sunday. But I'm not at liberty to show it just yet. Sorry!!

But now that it's done, I have a list of things to finish:

1. Circle Socks - the first one is sooo nearly finished, I've only about 20 rounds to go, and I'll do a bit more later on.

2. Lavender Bags - You may recall them from this post. I got some more lavender, but haven't done any more yet. These will be done at the weekend.

3. Smoothie Hats - I was four hats behind, but not any more! :) See the photo further down.

So, this has left me with the decision of what big project to cast on next. Naturally I have a list:

1. Gretel Top (Rav link), using the gorgeous green yarn I bought from Violet Green when I was brave at the Dentists. Unfortunately I think the smallest size on the pattern is going to be a little bit too big, so I'll have to do some swatching and working out.

2. Kate Shopping Shawl (Rav link). There has been much excitement about this on Ravelry. It's one of several patterns copying the green shawl Kate Middleton was photographed wearing shortly after the wedding. I thought the shawl was gorgeous and very wearable, and I think this is the nicest pattern for it. There is a Ravelry Group, including a list of patterns, here if anybody is interested. Since I didn't have the right yarn, obviously I had to buy some! So I got this on ebay: It's from Filatura Di Crosa and is called Centolavaggi Chine. It's 100% Merino, and is gorgeously soft. It says on the band that it can be washed at 4o degrees, but I don't think I'll risk that one! I also had to get some 2.25mm needles, which I got from P2TOG. I can totally justify all these purchases as I didn't get anything in John Lewis! (See last post, and no, I'm still not over it.)

3. Angostura (Rav link). I (like half the knitting world) am impatiently awaiting Ysolda's new book, "Little Red In The City". Waaay back last year Ysolda had a photo (which I can't find) on her blog of the front of a vest top on a dress form. It was beautiful: I wanted to make it. Then she announced that she was doing a book. I pleaded to the knitting gods that the pattern should be in the book, so imagine my excitement when it was!

I have some lovely purple wool I've been saving, I've done several swatches; all I needed was the pattern. Well, it was released as a download on Ravelry yesterday to everybody who has pre-ordered the book!

So what do I cast-on first? I can't make my mind up!

Here are the next four Smoothie Hats, there's a tiny hint of the mystery knitting in one ;)

And finally in non-knitting news, I have to tell you where I was on Tuesday night. Me and two friends from work went to see Def Leppard, Alice Cooper and Thin Lizzy. It was fantastic!! Thin Lizzy were ok, Def Leppard were fantastic (oh how I love the Lep!), but Alice stole the show, he was just incredible. I got home at a quarter past midnight, and had to get up for work at 6.10am. For a while yesterday morning I felt a half day coming on, but never under-estimate the restorative power of tea! But, boy, was I tired last night. I think I'm getting too old for this rock and roll malarkey!

Happy knitting,

Lynne

I was in John Lewis in Oxford Street, London, and bought...

2011-05-31T15:16:00.005+01:00

...nothing!!! Seriously!! I'm still a bit hacked off!

Last Thursday night my sister and I went to visit our friend who lives in Buckinghamshire. On Friday we got the train to London. Naturally the haberdashery department on the 4th floor of John Lewis was on the shopping list.

I wanted to get some Sport/DK for a cardigan, a short Knitpro interchangeable cable, and have a browse. I didn't see any Sport/DK that I wanted, there was nothing of Knitpro at all, and I swear I knew they sold Malabrigo - well, they didn't! Talk about disappointed!! I was nigh-on speechless for a while! Next time I will factor in the time (and directions) to go to IKnit.

So then we strolled along to Liberty. I had no intentions of buying anything there as I knew it was very expensive; but what a lovely shop! I looked at all the Liberty print fabric, which was just gorgeous but the prices would make your eyes water!

I did buy one thing though. It's a button box, with buttons and a pin cushion on top. All for £6.95. And I got it in a lovely Liberty bag, which is now being used as a sock project bag. I also got a pencil case in Selfridges (I love Selfridges!) which I'm using for cable needles and all those wee bits and pieces that go astray. Want to see?!

I also got to meet my friend's new kittens. Oh. My. Goodness!! They're the most gorgeous kittens ever! I wanted to bring them home.

And obivously I brought some knitting to do. I started another pair of Circle Socks. I started them on Friday, and here's how much I've done:

They're going to be set aside though, as I have some mystery knitting to finish, and I'm now starting to panic that it won't be done in time! Everything else is now on hold, including Smoothie Hats.

In other news, I'm just in from the Opticians with my new contact lens. They are fantastic!! I was trying not to get my hopes up about them, as I know how awkward my prescription is. The left eye is perfect, which is brilliant, as that's my really rubbish eye. The right wasn't so great when I put them in, but seems to have settled a bit now. I have to go back to the Opticians in a fortnight, so the right one might need a tweek then.

I'm off to see how they get on with looking at the mystery knitting.

Happy knitting,

Lynne

2011-05-15T18:04:00.005+01:00

Hello all!! I'm back in the land of the blogging with a shiney new keyboard. Woo-hoo!! I couldn't face doing battle with that bloomin' laptop ago. Thank you for your comments about Luke, He's now absolutely fine, and eating all round him.

They both went to the Vets last Saturday. They got their check-ups and vaccinations, but because they forgot (ahem) to go for their vaccinations last year, they have to go for more next Saturday. No-one is looking forward to this...

Here's a photo of them. Luke is the grey one, and Valentine is the white and ginger one. This was taken a few years ago, and it's a long time since I've seen them looking this angelic, so don't be fooled!
I'm not long in from the Opticians. I had to get a glaucoma test as my Mum has recently found out she has glaucoma. She absolutely find, she has to put drops in her eyes every day, but that's it. Anyway, after I'd had air puffed in my eyes, and counted dots, my head was throbbing! But I did get a photo taken of the back of my eyes, and it looked like the planet Mars. Ooohh!!

I, like my Mother, have incredibly poor eyesight. I have an astigmatism (where the front of your eye is a funny shape), and apparently it's pretty bad. Opticians come over all funny when they see my prescription. I once went to see about laser surgery (which I can't have :( ), and the Optician asked if he could take my notes to a conference in Dublin the next day!

I used to wear contact lens, which I loved because I had peripheral vision! But haven't been able to get them for a few years now because my prescription is so bad. But today the Optician said there was one brand of lens I could get, and she's going to order them for me and it will take a few weeks. I'll let you know how they go, I'm very excited about them!

But back to the knitting! I finished this last week:

It's called Hera Head Band and is from Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders. I started it in green and cream yarn, but the colours were too varied and the pattern didn't show. And the chart absolutely did my head in!! And I'm a big fan of charts!! If this were someone's first introduction to charts, they'd probably never knit again. The knit and purl stitches were marked differently depending on whether it was a right or wrong side row. What's the point in that!! A knit is a knit, a purl is a purl! The row is immaterial!! (End of rant!)

Thankfully I had brought the book into work, and enlarged the charts on the photocopier. Then with my trusty pink highlighter, I marked all the knit stitches. This made life much easier.

I'm very pleased with it, and I think the cable pattern is lovely. There's no cabling involved though, you knit through the second stitch on the needle to cross the stitches over. Very clever. And it wasn't until I was loading up the photo that I realised the purple colour is right in the middle. That was a happy accident!

I've also been doing some sewing. I've been making little lavender bags:

The tutorial is here. I have more to fill, but I ran out of lavender. And, yes, that is my lovely new keyboard!

And here are my next four Smoothie Hats:

I'm now off to do some ironing. Those cats should have had it done for me! Tut!

Happy knitting,

Lynne

The world's most labour intensive top...

2011-05-01T17:17:00.006+01:00

... is finished!! Boy, did I learn a lot from this! I learnt to trust my insincts about facing. I thought, "I really don't think this needs facing", but the pattern said to face the neck and armholes, so I dutifully did. Twice!!

The first time, I followed the pattern to the letter, and folded the facing over. It was far too heavy, so it got un-picked. Then I put it in without folding the facing - still too heavy, so un-picked again! Then I did what I thought I should do at the start, and just hem it.

I have also learned how to measure and take-in the back. This was a lot more successful! Then I took the shoulders up, which I should have done at the start as now the bust darts are in the wrong place. But overall, it's ok for a first go.

I've found lots of advice on the Internet for amending patterns, and this is something I realise I will most likely always have to do as I'm so small. But I have lots more fabric that came from Granny that I can have a play with.

In knitting news, I've finished Christmas Knitting No1. Here it is unblocked:

This yarn really is lovely, it's so soft and not at all itchy. It's called Adriafil Mistero Trends. The pattern is called Anthro-Inspired Scarflet (* I can't get the link to work). It's not particularly well written, but I was able to work it out. For the wrong side decrease rows I P2TOG instead of K2TOG.

I'm also working on a headband, but I don't have a photo of it.

* I'm typing this on a laptop because the some of the buttons on the keyboard of my ordinary computer aren't working. One of my cat's, Luke, (there are two) was sick on it! I don't know what's wrong with him. He's not eating much, and has been sick a few times, but he seems to be his normal self. We were to take him to the Vets yesterday, but he disappeared, and we had to cancel the appointment! But the Vets is open tomorrow, so I'll see if I can take him then. So apologies for the wonky paragraphs!

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T21:00:00.011+01:00

Happy Easter everybody!! I hope everyone is enjoying the good weather and the extra days off work. Here in Northern Ireland we get Easter Monday and Tuesday as the Public Holidays, so I finished work on Friday, and don't go back until next Tuesday! And all for two days leave, what with the Royal Wedding and May Day. Result!! :)

I'm not long back from my Mum and Dad's where Mr BB and I, and my Sister and her BF were for our dinner, which was delicious. I finished the jumper for Sister and BF's monkey which I mentioned in my last post. They thought it was great (naturally!), and Monkey seemed very pleased with it!

I have written out the pattern, and will try and add it to my Blog, but as I'm not very technical, it may take some time (and curses, and help from Mr BB...).

I have to show you the lovely parcel I received yesterday. It's from Squirrel's "Pay It Forward".

There's a gorgeous Peaches and Cream washcloth (which is too nice to use!), and fab shawl wrap pattern with buttons, a lovely postcard and a chocolate sheep, which I ate last night, and it was delicious! Thank you once again Squirrel.

Tomorrow I intend to make a start on the top* I mentioned in my last post, but last Sunday night I got a bit carried away and ordered three sewing patterns from Sewbox.

They are:

Serendipiy Studio - The Sabrina Tunic

Colette - Crepe Wrap Dress

Serendipity Studio - The Monique Dress

I have no idea when they will be made (or, indeed, if I can make them!), nor do I have the fabric. But I am going to visit my lovely friend in England at the end of May, and fully intend to purchase lots of yarn/fabric then. I've already started a yarn list!

*And the reason why the top hasn't been started is because I didn't have any interfacing or a zip. So I called into The Spinning Wheel on my way home on Friday to buy some. You may recall I promised to buy some yarn there to support local woolly enterprise; so I bought this:

It's rather lovely. It's called Adriafil Mistero Trends, it's Chunky, and lovely and soft. I'm making an Anthro-Inspired Scarflet (Rav link) with it for a Christmas Present. Yes, you read that right! Sorry for mentioning the Christmas word!

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Damson

2011-04-17T16:42:00.010+01:00

My Damson is finished, and here it is in all it's loveliness: I had a bit of trouble blocking it though. I find it difficult to pin out a shawl, so now the edging looks a bit uneven. Here's a close-up of the lovely lace design: Remember Monkey from Christmas? Well he was getting a bit bored with his Christmas jumper, so I made him this: I used some left-over sock yarn. This is version one - the pattern is being refined, and I'm going to cast-on another one later on. It will be for the Monkey belonging to my sister and her BF. He emailed me a link to someone selling handmade Monkey jumpers on ebay. He is totally knit-worthy as he fixes my computer on a regular basis - I'm very good at breaking it!

Thank you all very much for the lovely comments about my skirt. I wore it to work and everybody thought it was lovely.

It has done two things:

1. Made me get over my irrational fear of my sewing machine; and

2. Created a sewing monster. I spend most of yesterday morning favouriting various sewing websites and patterns. Then I found some more material that came from my Granny, and some patterns. Here's what's next: I'm going to make the white one in the middle (but without the frilly bit) with this material. Which means I'll have to go into The Spinning Wheel for a zip and some interfacing, and as I mentioned in my last post that they're now selling yarn, I'll have to get some of that too!!

Here are my next four Innocent Smoothie Hats. Thank you to the Phoenix Forum for the inspiration on the buttons! Happy knitting, Lynne

Hello!

2011-04-03T14:02:00.015+01:00

Hello all! I've been off work all week (hurray!!), so you'd think that would have given me plenty of time to catch up on my blog; but apparently not! I have been busy though - the Menai Tank Top is back in the naughty corner. Sigh. This time I think it's "User Error". My stitch count wasn't right when I went to separate it at the underarms for the front and back. I have absolutely no idea how this happened. All the increases and cables are fine, and (most importantly) it fits. So now I've having work out the decreases for the armholes myself. Sadly this requires "thinking". I've done about half of the back, and a little bit of the front so far. So after this, I did what any right-minded knitter would do in such circumstances - I cast something else on! :) The something else is a Damson Shawl by Ysolda. I'm doing it with a different edging, the pattern for which is on Ravelry - here is link (thank you Minniemoll!). I think I'm on about row 4 of the edging, so it's not looking like much, but here's a photo: The yarn is Opal Surprise.

Something else I've done this week is go to the Dentist. This is a huge thing for me, as I turn into a gibbering idiot as soon as I walk in the door because I'm so scared! I had to get some fillings, but Mr BB came with me and I was very brave! Obviously such an heroic endeavour deserved some reward, so I treated myself to this:

Isn't it gorgeous?! It's from Violet Green, and it's called Eos 2ply. It's 50% Merino and 50% Silk, 100gms and 700 metres. I ordered it on Wednesday at lunchtime, and our lovely Post Lady brought me it on Thursday morning! It may become this.

I was also determined to do some sewing this week. I found some material my Granny had given me years ago, and got out a book I bought recently. It's called Sew What! Skirts. I'd read about it on some other blogs, and it's 16 different skirts that you can make without a pattern. Here's how it turned out:

I am astonishingly proud of it! I lined it (the one in the book wasn't lined) and it fits perfectly; my Dad thought it was the best thing ever! The buttons have been in my button box for years. I bought them when I was about 19 in a department store in Belfast called Anderson and McAuley's. It sadly closed down in the late 1990's, and it had a great haberdashery department on the first floor, my Granny and I were big fans.

The book is lovely, there are lots of different styles of skirts, and I will definately be making more. The instructions are very easy to follow, but I would say you would need to have some sewing experience though.

And finally for readers in Northern Ireland, on Friday I was in The Spinning Wheel in Belfast (beside the City Hall). I was getting lining material and a zip for the skirt; anyway, they're now selling yarn! There was a display of Debbie Bliss, and some other stuff too. The assistant told me they should be expanding their stock. I didn't buy anything, which I now regret, as I should support local yarn enterprise! It was up the stairs, and turn left.

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Citron, and other FOs

2011-03-20T15:41:00.011Z

I've been very productive and have two FOs to show you. This is because I've been off work since Thursday, which was St Patrick's Day, so I had the day off; then I took Friday off too. I got the garden tidied up, and got my Citron finished - and here it is:

I am very pleased with it. I knew I wouldn't have enough yarn to do the whole pattern, so I left out some repeats in the last section, and did the ruffled edge until I ran out of yarn.

I thought it would be nice with my denim jacket.

And here's how much yarn was left!! Not even enough for a Smoothie Hat!

I was trying out Continental Knitting on the Citron. I think I've got the hang of knitting, although the start and ends of rows are a bit tricky. I haven't tried purling or anything as radical as increasing or decreasing yet though!

A while ago I stumbled across a pattern on Ravelry for a wristrest for using with a computer mouse. It's called Earthy Mouse Pad Wrist Pillow. I thought I'd make myself one on Friday; well, it was so quick and easy, that I made two. One is for home, and one for work. I used the leftover yarn from my Bousta Beret. I'm using one of them as I type, and it's great!

I've also been working on my Menai Vest Top. I'm friends with it again, and it's coming along nicely. And here are my next four Smoothie Hats.

Hope you all have a lovely week,

Happy knitting,

Lynne

New tricks, and an FO!

2011-03-13T15:53:00.010Z

Recently I've been at the Physio for a dodgy knee (Chondromalacia patellae if you're interested - I'll live, and I don't need my leg chopped off ;) ). Anyway, I happened to mention my right elbow has been sore on and off for a while. Turns out I have Golfer's Elbow, which comes from a repetitive movement of the wrist, resulting in pain in the elbow - that would be caused by knitting then! :(

The Physio is a very nice lady, who was very interested in my knitting, and thought my Gretel beret was lovely. She said, "the only thing I can tell you is to stop knitting". Obviously I snorted and looked at her like she was a crazy person!

But this has got me thinking about Continental vs English knitting. I was taught English knitting, and have always knit this way, but I know Continental has less movement to it. So I have been trying to teach myself. I found this great video on YouTube, I've found it especially useful in explaining the tension. But I wouldn't say it's going too well! I have moments of brilliance with the knitting, but purling is a complete disaster! Fortunately my MIL is a Continental Knitter, and she has promised me she'll help me learn.

So I've been practicing on the knit rows on my Citron. Here's what I've done so far:

I think I have about one and a half repeats to do. And I've finished my Feet of Flames Circle Socks. They're warming my feet as I type.

The Menai tank-top made it's way out of the naughty corner earlier today. It's had plenty of time to consider what it's done, and the offending rounds have been frogged. I've done one round, so I now know where I am on the pattern; but I think this will now have to be a "spread out on the table" rather than a "lounging on the sofa" project. But I'm feeling quite proud of myself for having done it, because it's been staring evily at me for a while!

Having always been a avid reader, I have been enjoying Books on the BBC over the last few weeks. So I have made a pile of some of my favourite books to re-read.

(Can you tell I'm in a Jane Austen phase?!) Mr Blackbeard has never understood reading the same book over again, but to me it's liking visiting an old friend! I'm in the middle of "Sense and Sensibility" at the minute, then I think I'll read "The Secret Adversary" by Agatha Christie. I love Agatha Christie, I have every book and this one is my favourite.

But now I'll give Continental knitting another go, wish me luck!!

Happy St Paddy's Day for Thursday! I shall be spending the morning sleeping, as I get the day off work. Hurray!

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Progress

2011-02-27T14:50:00.010Z

There was much rejoicing in the Blackbeard household yesterday because, after two failed attempts, the new dishwasher was delivered! Hurray!!! The old (and not very good one) finally gave up the ghost at the end of January, so I ordered a new one in Currys. I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say there were "issues"! So I ordered one from a local shop called Dalzell's, who delivered it yesterday morning with no problems. The moral of the story is "support local businesses"!

I have also fallen out with my tank top. I was going great guns when all the cable sections (there are four) were the same, but now I have two different charts to work from. I clearly can't watch television, concentrate on two charts, follow increase rounds and remember where I left my cable needle all at the same time. :(

Here's how it's looking at the minute, but I'm going to frog back to the top of the ribbing.

There are some very dodgy increases at the back, and some of the cables went wrong. I did fix them, but I'd rather do it again properly, and I've somehow managed to be a row out on the pattern. I have no idea how that happened! Obviously it will have to spend some time in the naughty corner though.

So last night I brought the kitchen steps upstairs, and had a poke about in the top of the hot press for some lovely sock yarn. It's called Lucia by Posh Yarn, and it's gorgeous. Citron has been in my queue for a while, and I had this yarn in mind for it. Here's what I've done so far:

This pattern is lovely, and really easy to follow. I'm using 4mm needles, and I love how the colours are turning out. The shade is called Sweetpea, and it's just lovely. When I untwisted the skein, the colours were so nice I decided to take a photo. Unfortunately I couldn't be bothered to walk allllll the way upstairs to get the camera (!) so took a rubbish one on my phone.

It could inspire me to do some dyeing. I've done a little bit of dyeing before with Kool Aid, but I'd like to give it another try. If only I didn't have to go to that pesky place called Work, I'd have lots of time to experiment!

Happy knitting,

Lynne

PS, I've also done about half of the foot of the second Circles sock.

Progress

2011-02-20T17:09:00.013Z

I finished the re-started Bousta Beret last night. I just love this yarn, it's so soft and gorgeous. It's blocking as I type - here's a photo:

I'll try a take some better photos during the week.

I've also finished sock 1 of my Feet of Flames Circle Socks. I'll maybe cast-on no 2 later on.

And here's the latest progress on the Menai Tank Top. I have 16 rows to do before starting the bust shaping.

My lovely BIL has a history of buying me great pressies. Two Christmases ago he bought me a tree for my front garden, and last Christmas he got me a gift voucher for my LYS, Jean's Wool Shop. Well, said voucher has been burning a hole in my purse ever since!

I couldn't decide what to buy because I had so many things in mind. And the shop isn't very big, but they can order most things in. But they have a fab range of sock yarn, and since I do have a fair amount of yarn in my stash, I decided sock yarn was what I needed. And, as we all know, sock yarn doesn't count as stash. Ahem...

Here's what I got:

I have no plans for any of it, but I now want Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders. I think I'll have to treat myself to it when I get paid. ;)

And finally, here are my next four Innocent Smoothie Hats. The top right one is made from some of The Thylacine yarn left over from the Bousta Beret.

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Casting on

2011-02-13T15:10:00.013Z

I've had a flurry of casting-on activity this week. First of all is the Bousta Beret I told you about in my last post. I ordered some more 4mm tips on ebay, and got them yesterday. They're great, they're shorter than the normal tips, and just the thing for a hat. I started it again last night, but have only got the band done. Here's the progress:

I was inspired by Snoopydog's blog to cast on some socks. I'm using some Trekking XXL to make some Circle Socks; although I'm calling them my Feet of Flames Circle Socks! Here's a not very good photo.

And finally, here's what I've done so far of the Menai Tank Top, which actually isn't very much. I'm blaming the sock on that one!

I think I'll do a bit more of it now.

Happy knitting!

Lynne

Frogging and sewing

2011-02-06T16:26:00.010Z

Before Christmas I had bought some yarn from The Thylacine to make a Bousta Beret. I finished said beret on Wednesday. Here it is:

Unfortunately it was frogged yesterday; it was too big for my wee head. :( But, it will be done again! I love the pattern (this photo really does not do it justice), and I love the yarn, it's so soft and squishy. I've already worked out how to adjust the pattern, but the problem is I am now using my one set of 4mm tips for this:

It's called Menai Tank (Ravelry link, where there are lots of lovely photos of it), and is in February's issue of Yarn Forward magazine. I've only done a few rounds, so there are no photos yet. And it may be re-started if I'm not happy with the size.

You may recall at Christmas I got a book called "Quilting in no time". Well, I've just made this pincushion from it:

It's not as round as it should be (it's very difficult to sew two circles together on a sewing machine!), but I'm quite pleased with it for a first attempt.

I shall go and do a bit more of the tank top I think!

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Jogless jogging...

2011-01-23T15:54:00.010Z

Jogless Jogs

I've learnt a new technique, and I'm feeling very proud of myself. Let me explain - below are my next four The Big Knit hats.

I knit the top two in the round, and did the yellow and red one first. Unfortunately every time I changed the colours, the stitches didn't match up - as you can see in the photo. I had a think about it, and decided there had to be a solution to this problem, as it is bound to effect anybody making stripey socks. So, after some Googleing, I discovered "The Jogless Jog".

It is, quite frankly, genius!!! I'm not even going to try and attempt to explain it, but if you click on the above link, all will become clear.

So then I had to try it out, so I made the pink and blue hat. The photo shows the bit of the hat where the jogs are. A few of the stitches look a bit uneven (especially a pink one towards the left!), but for a first go, I'm very pleased with it.

Dad's Hat

I gave Dad his hat on Thursday night; he loved it, and I am now the cat's pyjamas!! Here's a not very good photo of me wearing it. I know it's hard to see in the photo, but I really love how the decreases look on it.

Famous last words...

You may remember waaaaay back in my last post I said I wasn't knitting with dark yarn again. Well, that lasted one day! I wore the Mayrose Beret to work last Monday, but didn't have a scarf that went with it; and since I have a ball and a half of the King Cole Mirage left, I thought I'd make one. Then I recalled a pattern in a Twilleys pattern book, and cast it on on Monday night.

It has become my tea-break knitting in work, but I brought it home to take a photo. Here it is:

The pattern is called Multi Directional Scarf (Ravelry link). You start off at the bottom of the triangle and increase on each row. Once the triangle is the right size, you work short-rows, knitting together one more stitch every other row to make the bigger triangle. It's a bit like knitting together stitches on a toe-up sock heel. I found it easy enough once I got the hang of it, and can happily talk and knit at the same time - which is important!!

Have a happy knitting week,

Lynne

Oh, my eyes....

2011-01-16T16:18:00.012Z

I have often read of Knitters complaining about working with dark coloured yarn as it's so difficult to see, but I hadn't experienced it until now.

Both my current projects are dark, and oh my goodness, is it hard to see the stitches!! The first one is my Mayrose Beret which was finished a few days ago. I used some King Cole Mirage DK which is black with green, dark purple, dusky pink and black in it which produces stripes. The green and pink bit were ok, but the others were so difficult to see! Especially in the feather and fan YO rounds. But it's finished, and it's very lovely. I think I'll have to wear it to work tomorrow. :)

The second thing is the hat for my Dad that I mentioned in my last post. The pattern is called Jacques Cousteau Hat. I using navy blue yarn, and I only wish that the colour was as bright as in this photo! The yarn is from the huge Granny Stash, and is called Argyll Fernmoor DK, which must be obscure because I can't find it on Ravelry. Anyway, I'm nearly finished it, and then I'm never knitting with dark yarn again!!

And finally, here's a little flower brooch I made for my friend as part of her birthday present. She always admires the one I made myself which is on my purple coat. The pattern is called Lydia Flower, and I used some Twilleys Freedom DK.

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Mittens!!

2011-01-09T12:37:00.011Z

I don't know why, but I've suddenly felt the need for mittens, so I made these:

The pattern is called Basket Weave Mittens. I made them with some Rowan Little Big Wool which was from a frogged vest thingy. I used 6mm needles for the basket weave bit, and 5mm for the hands. I jingled the pattern a bit to make them fit my wee tiny hands.

I'm very pleased with them, and they're lovely and warm.

Here's an "in progress" photo of the Mayrose Beret I mentioned in my last post. It's going well, and I hope to have it finished this week.

My Dad has requested a hat to keep his head warm when he's gardening. I have some navy DK, and have decided on a Jacques Cousteau Hat. I've done the swatch, but just haven't washed it yet.

This week I have been watching "Stargazing Live" on BBC2. It was brilliant! I've always been a bit of a geek about stuff like that. I wasn't able to see the partial solar eclipse on Tuesday morning because it was cloudy in Belfast, but this photo of the eclipse was on the program.

Isn't it amazing!! The thing on the top left of the sun that looks like a something from Star Wars is the International Space Station!!

I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend, and it's not as icey where you are as it is in Belfast! Pants.

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T15:39:00.026Z

I hope everybody had a lovely Christmas and New Year! My Christmas dinner was the best ever. Seriously! The best bits were the stuffing, the roast potatoes and the pavlova. Mmmm....

The snow has finally gone here. Woo-hoo! It started to thaw on Boxing Day, the washing machine was still frozen, and then the pipe that runs into the garage burst! Disaster!! The pipe is under a flag stone outside, and the garage got a bit flooded, but it could have been worse because at least it wasn't in the house. Mr BB had to lift the flag stone, and M and DIL's neighbour's son (who is a plumber) came and fixed it. So now the washing machine is working. Result!

My sister also had a burst pipe in her hall, but Dad caught it early and fixed it. Phew!! We've been very lucky that we haven't lost our water supply. We haven't even been off for a few hours. The whole business with NI Water has been awful, it's like a third world country here!

Anyway, I have to show my great crafty christmas pressies. Here they are:

I got "Quilting In No Time", which has 50 different quilting projects. I'm going to start with some simple coasters, and maybe the pin cushion on the cover. I also got a skein of Malabrigo Worsted, but more of that later. And my sister got me Monkey. Her BF had got one free with his teabags, and my sister and I became quite obsessed with it! He said it was a rubbish present, but I thought it was the best one!

Want to see what I did with the Malabrigo? Here it is:

The pattern is called Brambles. It was wound before I left the house for my Christmas dinner, and started when I was at the table! My MIL (who is also a knitter) only stopped to "ooohh" over the yarn. It was finished on Boxing Day.

And here are my next four Innocent Smoothie Hats.

And now I've started another hat for myself! It's called Mayrose by Woolly Wormhead. I've only done the band, so I don't have a progress pic yet.

Happy knitting!

Lynne

What a week!!

2010-12-24T19:24:00.019Z

The Weather

It's been absolutely freezing here all week. I can honestly say I've never experienced weather like it. We had 5 inches of snow last Thursday, and it's still here! The temperature hasn't been above freezing all week. Apparently it was -18.7 degrees in Castlederg, Co Tyrone last night.

As I mentioned in my last post, I had that flu bug thing which is doing the rounds, and now Mr BB has it, but he's a lot better now. I braved Marks and Spencers and Sainsbury's on Monday due to the severe lack of food in the house, and I had to go back to work on Tuesday. Here's the temperature I was greeted with in my car on Tuesday morning:

-10, People!!! Brrrr..... I did have a great view of the eclipse though as I was thawing out the car! It been so cold, there's been frost on the INSIDE of my car windscreen, and the heater in my car is useless. Mr BB said it was about as much use as a mouse's breath - he's right! I now have a big piece of cardboard propped up on the inside of the windscreen, and two towels on the outside. It looks ridicious, the neighbours probably think I'm mad, but it works to stop the frost!

I'll tell you what has been the best thing ever though - my Peaks Island Hood scarf. Just the thing for keeping my head, ears and neck toasty warm while scraping ice and shoveling snow.

The worst thing though is the washing machine. It's in the garage (along with Mr BB's motorbike - which is why my car isn't!), and the pipes have frozen. This happened last year too. The only surprise is that it didn't freeze until Monday. Mr BB's Mum has done some washing for me, but I don't like to bombard her with it, even though I know she won't mind.

My Mum and Dad are in the same boat, they were relying on my sister to do washing, but now my sister's cold water pipes are frozen. It's all very trying!!! But according to the BBC Weather web site, we should have +5 degrees on Boxing Day, so hopefully everything will thaw out without any burst pipes!!

Thankfully the heating is still working, as it's been on the local news that frozen pipes have effected lots of folks central heating.

Knitting

On the knitting front, I have just finished the blanket!!! Hurray!!! It's rather lovely, even if I say so myself! I made it twice as big as on the pattern, and did one more repeat of the edging. It's 48 inches square unblocked. The pattern is called Hap Blanket, and I used lots of yarn from my Granny's stash. The blue is Wendy Merino DK, and the beige is Wendy Ascot DK. It was all done on 6mm needles. The yarn is machine washable, so I'll wash and block it whenever the washing machine feels like working again! I have about a gazillon ends to sew in now.

I noticed on Ysolda's website that her new book, Little Red In The City, is now available to pre-order. Whilst I'm not fussed on paying for something that I won't have until March, after the week I've had, I've ordered it. I have to say I'm stupidly excited about a vest in it called Angustora. I saw it ages ago on Ysolda's blog and loved it. There are also some lovely cardigans too. When you pre-order you get a Ravelry download with information about each pattern.

Christmas

Tomorrow I will, as usual, be going to Mr BB's Mum and Dad's for my dinner. I can't cook; and when it comes to Christmas dinner I have no shame, and will go to where I will get the loveliest food! I got a sneek peek of the dessert (pavlova!), and also the stuffing (top best bit along with the roast potatoes) when I was getting some washing done this morning! I can't wait!!!

I hope everybody has a lovely Christmas, and Santa is good to you all!

Lynne

Germs-R-Us

2010-12-19T14:55:00.008Z

There hasn't been much in the way of knitting done around here lately because I've had a cold. I won't bore you with the details!!

I did manage to put the christmas tree up before the germs kicked in. Here it is in all it's loveliness! I've never had a real tree before, and it's just lovely! I've hung the decorations that I made, and everybody thinks they're great! Mr Blackbeard and I put it up last Saturday while watching Ice Cold in Alex. I hadn't seen that film for years, and had forgotten how brilliant it is.

I was hoping to have my blanket finished, but t'was not to be. I picked it up again on Friday, and here is how it's looking: There are supposed to be three bands of the lighter colour around the edge, but I think I'll do four. It should (hopefully!!) be finished really soon, so I'll post lots of photos then.

We still have snow, it arrived on Thursday evening. There are 5 inches of the horrible stuff at my house. I am completely fed up with it!!! Hope it's not too bad where you are, and you're keeping warm,

Lynne

Peaks Island Hood and Crimbo Deccies

2010-12-05T15:58:00.004Z

Peaks Island Hood

This was finished on Friday. Here it is in all it's loveliness!

This isn't a great photo of the colour, it's brighter in real life. The "in progress" photo on my last post shows the real colour.

Crimbo Deccies

I found these two patterns on Ravelry (here and here - not Ravelry links) for wee stockings and teddies to hang on the Christmas tree. Well, I have loads of 4ply and they're so cute, I had to make some. Here's what I've done so far:

Well, I've done another stocking, but I don't have a photo of it. The wee bear could be better, I pulled the neck in at the wrong place; but it's a learning curve. I'm going to make two more bears, and they can go on the tree when it goes up next weekend.

On the snow front: it's still here. Grrr.... We had some more on Friday, but nothing is thawing. My street is like an ice rink, and the bin lorry couldn't get in. I am now officially fed up with it. But I appreciate that most places have been a lot worse than here! Hope everybody is safe and staying warm.

Happy knitting,

Lynne

2010-11-28T13:07:00.007Z

Snow

As with the rest of the UK, the snow has hit Northern Ireland too. Here's the view from the window to my right as I type.

It's strange snow, it looks like tiny polystyrene beads. We've only had about a quarter of an inch though, I've seen it worse.

Christmas Decorations

I have to show you this Crimbo Deccy my sister gave me yesterday.

She got it in Marks and Spencers, she got one for both of us because she said it reminded her of Bod! For those of you who aren't children of the 70s, Bod was a childrens' show which was a big hit with me and my sister.

Wee hats

I'm keeping up with my one hat a week for next year's Big Knit. Here are my next four. I did the purple and pink one this morning. It was inspired by the winter. I feel a Smoothie bottle would like a big chunky hat today.

Mmmmerino Scarf

My Peaks Island Scarf is coming on beautifully. Here it is:

I've been wearing my purple one all week, and not only is it lovely and soft (and warm!), but it's been receiving lots of lovely comments.

I'm off to have some soup, and do some more of my scarf.

Happy knitting, and stay warm!

Lynne

2010-11-22T20:25:00.010Z

There hasn't been much done in the way of knitting or blogging around here lately, because, as my Dad would say, I haven't had time to look out of my eyes!

We've been re-decorating in Camp Blackbeard, and the place has been upside-down! Mr BB and I were off last week and first of all the back bedroom got re-papered. I had stripped all the old woodchip paper off the week before, and my Dad re-papered it last week. Dad is now offically THE BEST!!!! :)

The room now has one green wall and three cream walls, and it's gorgeous (even if I say so myself!). I picked green to go with the green curtains I'd made a few years ago. It was lovely flowery material I got in the sale in John Lewis when I was visiting my chum who lives in England.

So obviously everything had to come out of the back bedroom. This was the scary part, because it's all my stuff! It was piled everywhere - clothes, shoes and bags in the living room, boxes and boxes (and boxes) of wool in the front bedroom, and random furniture in the bathroom, box room and landing.

Then the night it was finished and everything returned to it's rightful place, the kitchen was emptied into the living room, because the new worktops were coming on Friday! But everything is now back to normal, and the worktops are gorgeous too. :)

It was a great excuse for a clear out though, and lots of things went to the charity shop and the dump.

I did manage to get a little bit of knitting done though in the moments when I was no use during two plumbing issues. I have finished the centre part of my Hap Blanket. I started this a while ago. This photo is the nearly finished centre part. I now have to do the edging. It will look a lot better than this when it's finished! Honest!

I finally got around to taking a photo of the Aviator Hat I talked about in my last blog. I'm not really feeling the love for it though. I think it's a bit too big for my wee head because it sits a bit pointy and weird at the crown.

And I finished my Woolly Wormhead Mystery KAL Pattern B hat, even though I didn't get the last bit of the pattern printed until a few days after it come out because the printer was buried under a pile of stuff! Here it is:

It's so lovely!!!

As I was waiting for some photos to load on here and on Ravelry, I started a swatch for a Peaks Island Hood. This is the second one I'll have done, this one will be in green Malabrigo Worsted to go with my lovely green winter coat. I hope I can knit it quickly, because I could do with it right now! Brrrr...

Happy knitting,

Lynne

Hats (and Socks)

2010-10-31T19:11:00.013Z

Hat 1

The red Manu cardigan has been put to one side recently because I was getting a bit bored of it, but I feel the need to start it again tonight.

So when knitting boredom struck, I decided to cast on a hat. Cos, let's face it - they're quick, useful (now it's getting colder), and I (ahem) don't have enough of them!!

I was looking for something that would come down over my ears a bit, and found this. It's called Amelia Earhart Aviator Cap. Here's a photo.

It might be a bit difficult to work it out from this photo. The loose yarn at the top is the crown, and the loose yarn at the bottom is the back of the neck. The pointy bit at the bottom left is the bit that comes down passed the ears. I will take some better photos once it's sewn up.

It's a very clever pattern. It's all done with short rows, a bit like Ysolda's Urchin Beret. The seaming is going to be tricky as I have to match up the knits and purls. I used half a 100gm skein of Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend DK. The other half made my Snapdragon Tam.

Hat(s) 2

I mentioned before that I was going to try and do one wee hat a week for The Big Knit for next year. Well, here's what I've done so far!

I'm feeling quite pleased with myself! I hope I can keep up with making them.

Hat 3

I was having a Ravelry browse a few nights ago, and came across Wooly Wormhead's Mystery KAL. I haven't made a Wormhead beret yet, but there are some in my queue. I have also never taken part in a knit-along, and am stupidly excited about it! This is a mystery KAL the pattern is released in three parts over three weeks.

I'm going with Pattern B, and happen to have the recommended yarn (yipee!), so obviously I was meant to make this! The yarn is Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend DK; and, yes, that is what I used for the hat I've just finished, but I had bought two skeins. Plus I got to use my lovely swift to wind the yarn: result!!

The first part of the pattern is published tomorrow, so I shall print it out as soon as I get home.

Socks

And finally, the toe-up socks are finished. Here they are together (the fact that the colours match is more luck than judgement!):

Happy knitting!

Lynne

New things

2010-10-10T09:38:00.007+01:00

I have been wanting to start another Peaks Island Hood Scarf, but the yarn I have needs winding. Mr Blackbeard and my sister are both veterans of yarn winding, and veterans of moaning about how their arms hurt.

So I had a mooch about the internet and found a site for making your own swift. Mr Blackbeard said he'd have a look at it, but then I found this swift at Brownberry Yarns http://brownberryyarns.co.uk/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=64&products_id=603 It wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be, so I ordered one last Saturday, and it came on Thursday. Here it is:

Mr Blackbeard says it looks like a medieval war machine! I wound the green yarn in the photo in about 15 minutes. It's brilliant!

I also got these little labels for sewing into my knitting. They were from here - http://www.wovenlabelsuk.com/Wide-Woven-Labels.html

And here's something I've finished. It was a quilted cushion kit I got on ebay. The pieces were already cut out. It's not perfect, and the cushion pad is too small, but I'm very pleased with it. I hadn't done any sewing for ages, but it's made me quite interested in quilting now, so if anybody can recommend a good quilting book, please let me know.

Happing knitting!

Lynne

I've come over all domesticated...

2010-10-01T16:20:00.012+01:00

... and decided to do some cooking! This doesn't happen very often around here - I'm not known for my culinary abilities! I decided to make the two things I can make from scratch: Stew, and Leek and Potato Soup (I can also make Chilli, but since this requires packet mixes and tinned stuff, I don't think it really counts). Here are the results:
I have to say, I'm feeling quite proud of myself. The soup is delicious, I had some for lunch. The stew is still, well, stewing! Although it should be ready soon, it's for my dinner. I've made loads so I can freeze some of it.

On the knitting front, I have some bad news about the red Manu cardigan. It got frogged on Sunday night. It was just too big. But I still really love the pattern, and have found some advice on Ravelry to make it a bit smaller. So I'm going to start it again tonight.

I have finished a sock though. I don't think I mentioned it in my last post. This is some of the yarn I got in Dublin. It's made by Wendy, and is called Happy. At first it was making me anything but happy! It's sort of splitty and slippy. But, I've got used to it now, and quite like it's softness. From memory I think it's 75% bamboo and 25% nylon. I finished sock 1 last night - here it is:

I'm using a pattern from Socks From The Toe Up by Wendy Johnston. I'll cast sock 2 on later.

I have sent off my little hats for The Big Knit. I think I made 28 in all. Here are the last four.

I've decided to try and make one hat a week so I will have 52 to send off this time next year. No.1 was made on Sunday night to cheer myself up after the frogging.

Happy knitting!

Lynne

2010-09-19T16:14:00.013+01:00

On the Belfast SnB group on Ravelry, we've had a thing called Single Skein September. As it's name implies, you use that lone remaining skein to make something lovely.

As I need no encouragement to make yet another beret, here is my contribution. It's Gretel by Ysolda. I used Malabridgo Worsted Merino which was left over from another Ysolda project.

There are three versions of the pattern: beenie, regular and slouchy. I had intended to go with slouchy, but didn't have enough yarn. Just as well, because regular is pretty slouchy on my wee head!

I came across a beautiful shrug on the Phoenix Forum. It's called Layering Shrug and I thought it would be perfect for the Manos Del Uruguay 2 ply I bought in Dublin. It's made all in one piece. It starts with a provisional cast-on, then you do the first few inches of the start of the cuff (this took me two goes). Then you cast-off, pick up the stitches from the provisional cast-on, and keep going on the sleeve.

Below is what I've done so far. It's probably about 3 or 4 inches long, and took me about 8 hours. To say it's completely doing my head in is an understatement. :(

It's all done in the round, and I've having trouble with the magic loop. Now: I'm a huge fan of the magic loop, but I'm finding the stitches at the ends of each half are pulling terribly. So I decided to change to DPs. Big mistake!! Some of the stitches fell off one of the needles just after a YO round. Disaster!!! :(

But I really love the pattern, and I know it will go with lots of things. So I've decided to put it aside until I've finished something else, and then I think I'll give it a go working it flat.

And here is the something else. This has been in my queue for a while. It's a cardigan called Manu (the second one down). It's by Kate Davies, and I'm using some DK from my Granny's stash.

This is coming along beautifully. The whole body is knit from the bottom up to the under arms (I finished that bit yesterday). Then you make the two sleeves (sleeve one pictured below). The sleeves are then joined to the body, and the shoulders are shaped using short-rows. The pattern is beautifully written, and I'm enjoying making it.

I've been having a big clear out, and was sorting out my stash last weekend. I came across some gorgeous pale blue DK Merino which came from my Granny. It's beautifully soft, but unfortunately pale blue is not my colour.

Then I was idly flicking through Whimsical Little Knits by Ysolda, and came across this. It's called Hap Blanket, and is based on traditional Shetland Shawls.

Well, you can never have too many TV blankets, so I cast it on. I'm using some Wendy DK (also from my Granny) as the contrasting colour. The pattern calls for heavy aran/chunky, so I'm making it twice the size for a really big blanket.

Here's the progress so far:

It's nearly time to send in the hats for The Big Knit. Here are mine. I had intended to make a lot more, but it just didn't seem to happen. Although, I have cast another one on whilst I've been waiting for my computer to upload my photos onto Ravelry and my blog.

They have to be in for Friday 15th October, so I think I'll post mine next week.

Happy knitting!

Lynne

Knitting Field Trip

2010-08-13T22:32:00.016+01:00

Mr Blackbeard and I went on a knitting field trip today to This Is Knit in Dublin.

It's about 100 miles from Belfast to Dublin, and it took about 2 hours to get there. We went on the new by-pass at Newry (just before the border), and used the toll road to by-pass Drogheda (EUR 1.90) - can't find the Euro symbol on my keyboard!

It was a lovely sunny day, and the only traffic jam was in the centre of Dublin; thank goodness for Sat Nav though! We got there about lunch time, so we went for our lunch and then went to This Is Knit. Well, I went to This Is Knit, Mr Blackbeard went for a sit down with a cup of coffee and a paper. I was under strict instructions to take my time.

The shop was lovely, and had so many gorgeous squishy yarns. And the ladies were really friendly and helpful, and chatted for ages. I can really recommend it if you find yourself in Dublin. It's just off Grafton Street, behind Brown Thomas. The directions are on the web site.

Want to see what I got?!

Here it is!!

Can you tell I like purple and green?! I'm not admitting to how much I spent, but I will say that everything was a bargain because 1 Euro was worth 83p today. From the top left:

- Lambs Pride Bulky (purple) - this is for a hat, I haven't decided on the exact one yet.

- Noro Sekku 1 ply (green and purple) - I don't have any plans for this, but the lady in the shop was making a shawl with it, and it knitted up beautifully.

- 2 x Debbie Bliss Rialto 4 ply (cream) - This is for this hat.

- Nature Spun 4 ply, which looks magenta in the photo, but is more purple in real life. This is for some wrist warmers.

- Wendy Happy sock yarn, which is self-patterning.

- Manos Del Uruguay Lace (purple) - this is hopefully for this top, I'm going to swatch it tomorrow.

- Malabrigo Merino Worsted (green) - this is for another Peaks Island Hood. I made one in purple with the same yarn, and I love it.

- Socks from the toe up by Wendy Johnson

- Some gorgeous buttons that are wee bees! They're for some booties I'm making for a friend who's expecting. I've finished one, but don't have a photo of it.

But I do have a photo of my first ever toe-up sock. Here it is:

I used this pattern, which is ridiculously easy to follow, and is written for a magic loop. The only thing that didn't work was the length of the foot, but I was able to work it out. I don't have the calculations to hand though.

I thought I'd be smart and add a moss stitch rib pattern instead of just plain stocking stitch. All was well until I started the leg, and I hadn't factored in the stitch count there! So I fudged it a bit, and it's fine. No 2 sock was cast on earlier.

I am now not buying any more yarn for the rest of the year. Honest...

Frog-fest 2010 - release your inner amphibian!!

2010-08-09T14:18:00.031+01:00

Frog-fest

You know how you see a pattern, and it's gorgeous, and you think "that would be a challenge", and you make it, and you learn new knitting skills - then you never wear the bloomin thing?! Well, I have collected mine together and have had a frogging party.

It really all started with a vest top I was making (it's at the bottom of this post). Well, it was too big so I had to frog it. Then the yarn needed soaked to get the kinks out, so I thought I do some more. Here are the results:

From left to right:

- The multi-coloured purple is Twilleys Freedom DK, which was a waistcoat. It was lovely, but had no shaping, so looked a tad square-shaped. I'm thinking of turning it into this.

- The black with green and purple through it is King Cole Mirage DK; this is the above-mentioned vest top.

Both of these have been soaked and dryed, I haven't done the rest yet.

- The small amount of white, and the light purple are Rowan Little Big Wool. This was a lovely waistcoat/body warmer thingy from Domiknitrix. It was lovely, it fitted perfectly and the increases and decreases were gorgeous (even if I say so myself!). But I never got around to putting a zip in it.

- And finally, the darker purple is Sirdar Click DK. This was a Sirdar pattern 9104. But it was too big across the back.

I have to say all that frogging was quite liberating!

Shawl

I was afraid that the above would apply to my lovely shawl from my last post. Then I saw this on Stefanie Japel's blog. It was the third photo that made sense (and isn't that shawl beautiful!). So I ordered some shawl pins on ebay, and here's the result.

Gloves

I mentioned in a previous post about making some wristwarmers like one's I saw in an expensive shop in Belfast. I started them - twice, but I was having trouble with the thumbs. Then I had a brainwave. I had wanted to make Ysolda's Snapdragon Flip-tops but they would have been too big for my wee tiny hands. So I experimented, and made them with the 4ply for my wristwarmers. Here's the left one:

I changed the thumb a bit. The original was a closed thumb, but I left mine open at the top so it can be folded down. It fits perfectly (like a glove you could say!). It's size is 6 inches around the palm. Here's a photo of the right one. I'm a bit further along with it though. The thumb is finished, and I'm about half way through the flip-top.

Now I'm left with a dilemma. I now know what I want to do with the thumbs on my own wristwarmers, and have enough of this yarn to make them. But, since I now have a pair of gloves in this colour, I think I may (ahem) have to buy some more single-coloured 4ply...

I have FOs!!

2010-07-19T20:21:00.014+01:00

I took a leaf out of Laughing Yaffle's book, and banned myself from the Internet. (When I say banned, I mean limited my time: when I say Internet, I mean Ravelry.) So, finally, one of my WIPs is now a FO! I honestly though it would never be finished. The pattern is called Frost Diamonds. Here's a close-up:
And here's the whole thing:

This photo below is closest to the real colour:

The pattern used Worsted weight yarn, put I used 4ply. I did two more repeats of the design than was on the pattern. This was where the "I'm never going to finish this!" came in. I roughly counted the stitches about 3 rows before I cast off - I got 539. Yes people, that's 539 stitches!!

To tell the truth, I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to use this shawl for. I just took a notion to knit one, and I think it's a "I knit it because it was there" project. When it was OTN, I saw this on the Phoenix Forum, and found this link very interesting. I'm not sure if I would knit another shawl though as the really long rows towards the end are, well, really long!! (That could be "famous last words" though!) I can see that a stole/wrap would be a bit more wearable.

I have to tell you about the yarn. It's called Argyll Ambridge 4ply, and is a tie-in to the BBC Radio4 show "The Archers". It came from my Granny, and this is the best photo I could get of the label. I have absolutely no idea where my Granny got it, and I think it say 1983 or 1984 on the label somewhere.

I finished casting the shawl off on Saturday night, so treated myself to Ravelry, just to change the status to finished... Anyway, I was browsing some blogs, including one I ready by the Designer Kate Davies. She's a great Archers fan, and on her current blog she has a link to an old post. Here it is. I nearly fell off the sofa when I saw the photos! Priceless!!

When I got about halfway though the shawl, I felt the need for a quick project; so I settled on this. I though it would be quick and easy - how wrong was I!!

I cast it on whilst watching the start of the Ladies Wimbledon Final, thinking I would be almost finished by the end of the match. Well, I think I was well into the crown by the end of the match, but decided I wanted it a bit slouchier. I had cunningly put a life-line in just before the crown decreases, and frogged back to do a few more rows. This is where it all went horribly wrong - I noticed a dropped stitch about halfway down. I had to tink back six rows. Six rows isn't much I hear you say - but it's very fluffy yarn, and then there were all the YOs and SSKs, the beads, the magic loop...

Anyway, here's the result. I am very pleased with it, it will be lovely and cosy in the winter. I used about one and a half balls of Twilley Freedom Super Chunky, and the beads were from ebay. They have little sparkles in them.

So now I'm about halfway through the tank top/vest thingy. Hopefully I'll have a progress report for my next post. Happy knitting!!

ETA: I finally got the links to work!! Only took 2 hours!! Woo-hoo! I think I'll treat myself to a caramel square...

A Virtual Tour Of Belfast

2010-07-10T20:42:00.048+01:00

I have only one FO to my name, and a not very good photo of it. Also, all the WIPs are, well, still WIPs, and not very exciting; but that's for another blog. So I thought I'd take you on a virtual tour of Belfast.

At the start of June my lovely friend (who used to live here) was visiting from England, so she, my sister and I went on an open-top bus tour of the city. There are several bus tours on the go, we went on http://www.belfastsightseeing.ie/ and I can recommend it.

It was raining when we got on the bus, but then the sun came out, hurray!! Spare a thought for Belfast now. I'm not a big fan of heatwaves, but as the sun is splitting the stones in the south of the UK today, we are basking in what we like to call "liquid sunshine". The rain hasn't stopped all day, no gardening for me. :(

Anyway, this first photo is of the cranes in the Harland and Wolff Ship Yard. In it's hayday, the Ship Yard in Belfast employed thousands of people (including one of my Great Grandfather's), and was one of the biggest Ship Yards in the world. The most famous ship build there was the Titanic. The area around the Ship Yard is currently being re-developed, and the Drawing Office where the Titanic was designed will be a Visitors Centre. These cranes were built in the 1960s by a German Company called Krupps, and are still in use. They're called Samson and Golith (no, I don't know which is which!). They are a real landmark in Belfast, and the first thing you notice when flying into the Harbour airport. When I see them, then I know I'm home!

This is Parliment Building in East Belfast, where the Northern Ireland Assembly (our local government) sits. The 6 pillars in the middle represent the 6 counties of Northern Ireland. There are 365 windows in the building, it is 365 yard long (one window and yard for every day of the year!) and 52 yards wide (one for every week!). It was painted black during the Second World War so it wouldn't be a target for bombing raids. Also during WW2 it was used as a base to direct operations in the Atlantic.

This is a sculpture which was put up in the last few years. It's in the centre of Belfast, right beside the river. It has a name: the tour guide on the bus told us, but I instantly forgot it. I just call it what everybody in Belfast calls it - The Doll on the Ball.

This is Belfast's very own leaning tower. You can't tell from this photo, but it really does lean! It's the Albert Clock, which is at the bottom of High Street in the City Centre. It was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert. That's him standing on the front of the clock tower. The earth under Belfast is heavy clay (I know: I've dug my garden). Over the years the clock has subsided, causing the lean. About 10 years ago, the clock was cleaned and under-pinned. It now has 21st century foundations that won't subside, but the lean wasn't able to be corrected. Just as well, because it's part of the clock!

I can't show the good sides of Belfast without showing the not so good sides. I'm sure you are aware of at least some of the political history of Northern Ireland, and these next 2 photos show some of it.

In various areas of Belfast, where there has been unrest, peace walls have been built. The idea is to stop both sides getting near each other, so they can't do any damage. This photo is part of the peace wall off the Shankill Road, a Protestant/Loyalist area in North/West Belfast. Since the Ceasefires it's became a Tourist Attraction! People from all over the world write messages of peace on it (you might just be able to see the dark writing on the pink paint). It's most famous visitors include President Bill Clinton, and the Dali Lama.

Belfast is famous for it's political murals, and these are the most famous on the Falls Road in West Belfast. This is a Catholic/Nationalist area, which is divided from the Shankill area by the peace line in the photo above. The peace line and these murals are about level with each other on the two roads, but are divided by only a few hundred yards as the crow flys. These are only 2 of many murals on the road, and they are updated regularly.

This is Queens University in South Belfast. It was designed by a man called Charles Langon, who designed many of Belfast's older buildings.

This is the Europa Hotel in Belfast, which is in the City Centre. It's either the most bombed hotel in Europe, or the World. I can't remember which!

This is the Crown Bar, which is directly facing the Europa Hotel. It's quite a famous bar in Belfast, and is the only Public House to be owned by the National Trust. I'm not much of a drinker, so unfortunately I can't tell you if it's a great place to go! I was in it once about 4 years ago and it was quite dark and dingey, but I think it has recently been refurbished.

This is the Grand Opera House, Belfast's Victorian Theatre. It's beside the Europa Hotel. It is even more elaborate and beautiful on the inside. There is an extension to it, which I deliberately did not photograph, because it's the ugliest thing ever! There was a whole hoo-haa when the extension was built a few years ago.

And finally, this is the City Hall, right in the centre of the City. It too is even nicer inside. It was re-furbished recently to celebrate it's centenary, but I haven't been in it since it re-opened. It now has a tea room which is supposed to be lovely, so I should make an effort to investigate! The grounds around it are lovely, and in the summer folks who work nearby go and have their lunch there.

Well, that concludes my virtual tour; I hope you enjoyed it, and I didn't bore you senseless! The normal knitting blog will resume, hopefully with some FOs!!

PS I can't get some of the photos to line up, so they'll just have to do as they are.

OXO Socks and WIPs

2010-06-20T21:20:00.006+01:00

OXO Socks

These were finished just over a week ago. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. There are a few more photos on my Rav page http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ozzyblackbeard/beginner-socks-magic-loop-variation

Frost Diamonds Shawl

I've recently felt the need to make a shawl, so I chose this pattern by Stefanie Japel. It's called Frost Diamonds, and was free on Knitty. http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter09/PATTfrostdiamonds.php. I'm doing mine with some 4ply from my Granny's stash. I've just started the second repeat on Chart B, here's a photo. This is nothing like the real colour, it's much more purpley.

It was started with about 3/4 of a ball that was under the bed. When that ball was finished, I went under the bed to find it's friends - they weren't there! I had to work up to looking for them because they were in either two black bin bags in the top of the hot press, or in a big vaccum bag in the roof space.

Yesterday I plucked up the courage, got out the kitchen steps, and tackled the hot press. Turned out there were three black bags: the yarn I wanted wasn't in any of them. :( I found it in the roof space.

4 Ply Wrist Warmers

I was in the gorgeous, but dear hole (that's Belfast for "very pricey"), shop that is Avoca, where I got my button jug and mug. http://www.avoca.ie/home/ I saw the most beautiful moss stitch and cabled cashmere wristwarmers (I can't see them on the web site), but they were £19.95!! (Yes, you read it right.) I instantly turned into my Granny and said, "I could make those!". So then I had to go the The Wool Shop in Ards, and bought some Sublime baby cashmere merino silk 4 ply. Here's what I've done so far.

Unfortunately I can't make anymore socks as I only have one 2.5mm circular needle, and they're being used for the above. I want to have a go at toe-up socks next. I briefly considered ordering another pair from P2TOG, but I never seem to be able to buy just one thing from them! I've just recalled some lovely Mini Mochi 4 ply I bought from there. When I was in Avoca I also saw some gorgeous Feather and Fan Wristwarmers (I was too scared to look at the price), and the Mini Mochi might be the thing for them. But they're at the planning stage in my head at the minute.

Cobweb Frill Camisole

Here's a progress photo. It's a good mindless "watching soaps" thing. The green isn't just so bright in real life!

Liesl

2010-06-01T20:05:00.004+01:00

Liesl is finally finished. Here it is:

Definately worth all the hassle it took to cast on! I've put some more photos on my Ravelry page http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ozzyblackbeard/liesl, but they're pretty pants. I will try and take some better ones. This photo doesn't do justice to the colour. It's much more purpley.

The yarn is Wendy Aran with Wool. It's one of those great big rugby ball shaped balls, so there are no joins to contend with. Hurray! I have loads left, so I might made a shrug; cos I don't have enough of them... ;)

I've finished sock one of the OXO socks, and am half way down the cuff of number two. I've only done about 3 inches of the tank top thingy, it seems to be going very slowly. Hopefully I'll have something to photograph for my next post!

WIPs

2010-05-23T09:45:00.004+01:00

WIPs

Liesl

Most of my recent knitting time has been taken up with this. It's another Ysolda pattern. http://ysolda.com/patterns/sweaters/liesl/ I can't even begin to express the frustration I had with starting this. The tension on the pattern says "Worsted to Chunky weight yarn, any yarn with recommended gauge of 18-14 sts per 4" can be used to give different effects". Fair enough; but then it says to use 7mm needles, and the sizes are from 30 to 54 inches, going up 4 inches each time. Result: I hadn't a bloomin clue what size to go for as I was using Aran weight.

So I hit Ravelry, with no luck. All the gorgeous finished Liesls were mocking me! I decided to wing it, and swatched about 4 times. Then I cast on and frogged with a variety of different sizes and different sized needles. This must have happened about 6 times. To say it wasn't going well is an understatement!

But I loved the pattern so much, and my yarn is such a gorgeous colour; so I went back to Ravelry. My big problem was getting it to fit around my neck. I stumbled upon a suggestion to cast on with larger needles and knit a few rows of garter stitch before changing to smaller needles and starting the pattern. Also, a lot of people using Aran had gone up two sizes on the pattern.

I would usually go with 32 inches, but as this went from 30 to 34 inches, I took a punt on 38 inches, and cast on with 8mm needles. I did 3 rows of garter stitch, changed to 7mms, and here is the result:

I love it so much!! And it fits perfectly!! Hurray!!! :) It's a much nicer colour than in this photo, and I've done a bit more of the left sleeve. I've detailed everything on my Rav page. I'll post a photo as soon as it's finished.

OXO Socks

My sock is coming along slowly as I have only managed to do a few rows every morning when I'm having my breakfast. I've very pleased with it though, and I love the colours!

Cobweb Frill Camisole

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cobweb-frill-tank I made a top similar to this last year, and wear it a lot. I found this pattern on Rav, it's been in my queue (and the yarn has been in my stash) for ages. I finally cast it on last week. Unfortunately I haven't got too far with it, but I'm blaming Liesl on that!

Once it's finished, you have to drop a lot of stitches to make the cobweb look. I'm using King Cole Mirage, which is gorgeous. I can forsee problems though, because I used this yarn for my Clapotis. It's a bit fluffy, and tends to stick to itself, so I ended up having to use a crochet hook to get the stitches to drop.