Tasteless Amigurumi

Meet Mr Period.

I made him to honour everything that's horrible about periods and also to cheer myself up while I was on my period. He's crocheted and is in a suitably bad mood.

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.

Knitted? I Think You'll Find That's Crochet

I love Harry Hill’s TV burp, it’s the only thing on TV that I get mad about missing but something has been bothering me for quite a while. It’s this: From the very first clip when the Knitted Character first appeared in Eastenders I said “that’s not knitted, it’s crocheted” but I let it slide because I didn’t think much of it. But now the character has taken off, you can even win one with the weekly competition. It’s driving me insane, partly because whenever I’m crocheting anyone who sees me goes “what are you knitting?” I then have 3 choices 1. Go into a lengthy diatribe about how knitting is completely different and uses two needles, whereas crochet just uses one hook and the look of the stitches and the feel of the finished garment is completely different 2. Answer “Scarf” 3. Beat them with my crochet hook until they’re no longer bothering me. There are two reasons it drives me mad, the first is that you’d never go to someone with coloured pencils and ask them what they were painting. Oh, and trust me don’t EVER ask someone who’s a Ham Radio operator if they’re doing CB radio. The second is it proves just how little knowledge and interest people actually have, crochet and knitting are different. They could ask “Are you knitting?” and I’d be fine, I’d probably even answer “Sort of, I’m crocheting, similar idea, different tools.” But they don’t, they assume I’m knitting and that really riles me. 

New Template

I accidentally cocked up my old template in a freak blog accident. As a result I've got this one, it's a work in progress but on the plus side it's a lovely blue colour.

It'll probably change a lot in the coming days. Please let me know if it's not displaying correctly or if there's any bits you think I should change!

Thanks :-)

Can't Talk. Busy

Oh my goodness, now I've gone and done it. I've only bloomin' well found the joy of Entrelac thanks to Alison of Freckles & Purls quite addictive Entrelac Scarf pattern (PDF).

All I think about is Entrelac. Is there a support group? Entrelac anonymous?

The funny thing is I'd always discounted it as something that looked too complicated. I was wrong. if you can knit, purl, increase and decrease you can Entrelac.

Curse you Entrelac, knitting will never be the same again...

Hats and Soup

I've had a bit of a crochet/knit drought at the moment. The only thing I have made is two of these convertible hats. I made one for me - the prototype, a black and red one. I then was told it was my sister's boyfriend's birthday, last year I made him an earflap hat and it literally never leaves his head. He has trouble buying hats as by his own admission his head is "well big" so I thought I'd make him one too.


This meant my Other Half started moaning at me as he also wants one, so i am now halfway through my third, it should be very useful for him as he can wear it round his neck when he rides his motorbike and tie it in a hat when he gets off it.


I recommend the pattern, it's easy to follow and works up quickly unless you have distractions, which I do as this week we decided to buy...

...A SCALEXTRIC SET!!!! I've never had one and always wanted one, so we set it up in the living room and have been racing each other like big kids all week. We've also bought two track extension kits and 2 more cars. We decided to get some cheaper cars until the dog gets more used to it; there truly is nothing funnier than a greyhound trying to catch a F1 racing car. It is not funny when he manages and the spoiler drops off!

In between races last night I had to make some food. We've been a bit slack this week and couldn't be bothered to go to the supermarket. I looked through the cupboards and managed to find the following:

• potatoes (about 4)
• onions (2)
• courgettes (2)
• a vegetable stock cube (made about 400ml of stock)
• butter
• milk (225ml)
• parsley
• salt and pepper

From it I made my first ever 'cream of' soup. I loosely followed this recipe and it was delicious! Better still, there's enough for tonight with a crusty loaf I've bought today!

Granny Squares on the Red Carpet

I saw this picture on the BBC's Entertainment Site's photo of the day section and thought I should share it with you (and by share I mean copy the picture and post it here - sorry BBC!) It's very cool, although I'm not too keen on the colours myself. No doubt it's been followed by a barrage of "Cate Blanket" headlines and might feature on those dreadful 'what were you wearing????!?!?!?!?' sections in fashion magazines but personally I think it's quirky and I love it!