Wool Craft Update

I've been busy and probably left this blog longer than I should have. I have been crafting though but as usual I've forgotten to take pictures. I'm not really cut out for this craft-blogging lark! I just thought I'd keep you updated with my crafting.

I've made one pair of mittens using a pattern that's so old the price was in shillings and pence (well, just one shilling to be completely accurate). They're a combination of knit and crochet for minimum boredom and they're a purple colour (because that was the colour that was nearestwhen I decided to try the pattern!) They're a good fit and are very warm, it's nice to know that hand sizes haven't changed much since decimalisation!! The main hand bit is double crochet so they're lovely and thick. The thumb is stockinette stitch and the cuff is k1, p1 rib.

I'm making a knitted square blanket, making7" knitted squares. So far I've got 12 squares, I'm doing this blanket when I'm too tired to concentrate but not so tired I don't want to knit. the colours are beiges and browns with a bitof white thrown in for extra measure!

I'm in the middle of a zigzag baby blanket using a pattern found at Attic24. I'd find you a link to the exact pattern but to be honest I thoroughly recommend reading her blog and finding it yourself as she has lots of other lovely thigns you'll probably want to try! Speaking of which I've now made 3 little crochet birds just for my general amusement, find the pattern on her site it's fun and quick to do!

I'm still on with the Entrelac scarf which I'm enjoying but can't always be bothered doing after a busy day. Plus there's always so many other patterns to try... why is there never enough hours in a day?

Finally I'm making a woolly hat for the Other Half who has a bit of a hat fetish. I've cast on 92 stitches and am knitting until it measures about 9" I'll then do a few rows of k2 together until there's few enough stitches to thread the end through, gather and sew down the side. It's an olive green colour and is so far about 3" from cast on.

When My 2 Hobbies Collide

I like writing. I like knitting. So I'm sure I should want to get involved with this but I can't help thinking that knitting a giant poem one letter at a time is a bit of a daft idea.

If you are up for the tiniest contribution in the biggest knitted poem ever check it out.

Weekend Yarn Fun

I'm addicted to buying yarn and every lunchtime I have the choice of 2 routes, past the cshop with the banjo in the window or past the wool shop. Both are as dangerous for me, I'd really really like a banjo but I haven't actually mastered the guitar yet so lately I've been choosing the wool shop route.

Here is my most recent purchase - hooray for pink! I have no idea what I'm going to make with it I just liked the colour, I'm like a yarn magpie!

I've also sorted out a frog pile:

There's a green vest jumper which I made stripey, it was meant to be a whole sweater but I got bored as it was using the tiniest knitting needles ever invented. It was from a seriously 1980s knitting pattern book my grandma gave me.

There's a pink crochet halter top which I made out of wool as I didn't have any cotton. The ideas right but it doesn't fit at all. I would be willing to post it to any brave people/strippers out there... 

There's a purple vest top I knitted from a pattern I got off the internet. Sometimes you can see why these patterns are free...

Then there's the knitted vest top I made, the colour of which can only be described as vermillion.Frog time methinks.

As well as frogging I've also been making, these crochet baby slippers.
I used the Crochet Flower Slippers pattern from Leisure Arts but in tpical Louise style totally changed it! Being a recent convert to crochet from knitting I still have issues with the fact crochet items can have huge holes between stitches. This pattern called for using a 6mm crochet hook with quite thick yarn - I didn't think that was right as they'd be a bit drafty and no-one likes drafty feet.

I started with a larger foundation chain and much smaller needle (4mm) and adapted the pattern as I went along to make more snuggly crochet slippers. I think they turned out great.

I'm now going Frankenstein some of more of Leisure arts  free patterns which you can find here!

Longest Knitted Project Ever

It has taken me 14 years to finish but I got there eventually. Last night at 11.30pm I looped my last half double crochet edging and it was complete. The patchwork blanket which I started when I was 14.

Don't worry, I'm not the world's slowest knitter, it hasn't taken me 14 years to knit 180 squares. I am, in fact, the world's laziest sewer. The squares have sat in a bag for 14 years, screaming at the back of my mind "join me up you lazy cow!" but only this winter has it been cold enough to motivate me to do it.

I must say I'm quite pleased with the result (it also contrasts quite well with my Stashbusting Crochet Cushion which is making a guest appearance in the bottom right of this photo:

This is essentially another stashbusting project. I used 3.5mm needles, casted on 20 stitches and knitted 20 rows (I impressed myself when I remembered how many stitches I used after all these years when I needed to make a couple more to finish a row). I knitted hundreds of the bloody things, packed them away for 14 years then got them out and sewed them together (I really hate sewing).

I love all the colours, the image is slightly blurry as the flash has gone bonkers. Plus I was very tired at 11.30pm

For the edging I went round once with a single crochet in a nice purple I had left over but it wasn't quite thick enough. I then went round with a half double crochet to make it thicker. I'm pretty pleased with it.After temperatures over the last couple of weeks that never reached zero degrees celcius I was looking forward to snuggling up under the blanket, but today is one of the mildest days we've had in ages. 13 degrees. Typical. I should have packed it away for another 14 years!!

Sneezy Lack of Wool Week

I have had a very bad cold since Friday, when I've not been coughing I've been asleep or blowing my nose. As a result all my yarn projects have gone on the back-burner. Can't go spreading germs with my woollen craft can I?

I felt a bit better yesterday so began looking for ideas for Christmas presents. Thanks to Ravelry I stumbled across this Nintendo DS holder which I think I might have a go at for my little sister.

I also found these cute Amigurumi toys, I'm not sure if any of my family would want them but they are fantastically cute. I've never tried Amigurumi before but may well start, my main problem is I have nowhere to keep stuffing!

The checkerboard scarf is coming on ok but I've been too grouchy to knit much of it. I've managed a few rows but then the yarn gets tangled up and I end up putting it down in a snuffly strop!

That's why last night I started crocheting rather than knitting - I find it less taxing on the brain and I've started making these slippers as a present for my grandma, only in blue and with less alarming legs.

Checkerboard Scarf

I'm in the process of knitting a chessboard scarf. I've always wanted to knit chessboard patterns but everytime I've tried it the squares were not joined together. I stumbled upon this video tutorial last week and I'm now please to announce I'm 14 inches into a successful cheesboard scarf! I'm still not sure what I was doing wrong in the past but at least now I seem to have mastered it.

I'll post pictures later.

Slippers

I've finally followed a pattern (almost) I used the right sized needles but just grabbed the nearest wool. Again I didn't knit a gauge square, what can I say? I like to take risks with my yarn!

I'm please to announce that I followed a free pattern without changing it a bit and have knit these, they were easy and keep my feet toasty warm. They are very comfy and knit up relatively quickly. As you can see, they're lovely and red. I used quite thick red yarn. They really are simple to knit, all I can say is trust the pattern, they will fit at the end, even though while you're knitting them they look tiny.

Booties

All my friends seem to be having babies at the minute which has got me in the mood for knitting booties. These are a recent creation, I adapted a free pattern (Im not sure which one) but it was probably one of these but I can't remember which. I changed the size and used totally different sized needles to the ones recommended then added the ears and face to turn them from run of the mill booties to cute little bunny ones - aaaaaawww!

My knitting technique is largely experinmental. No tutting but I honestly have never knit a gauge square in my life! I go by guess work and I often grab the nearest needles I can find rather than searching through my hundreds of needles to find the right pair.

To make these I actually used double pointed needles which I hate! I'm not sure how people knit socks - I find double pointed needles unnecessarily fiddley! I'm also not a fan of circular needles!

These booties used no more than a ping-pong ball-size of wool. They are very cute. The only problem is they're so cute I don't actually want to give them to any of my friends, I just want to look at them and go "aaaaawww!"