Less of a productive week

Well no, thats not strictly true, its been a less of a productive week when it comes to finishing off my wip, I've been working steadily on my another pooling stole which btw I love how its turning out, the colours are amazing (Easy Knits deeply wicked in carnival), and it just looks good. But that apathy thing is creeping in. I'm only very early in to the project with a long way to go, so getting distracted very easily!

But I'm not technically adding to my wip list as I'm doing small things, very quickly! Last week I mentioned I was backwards engineering a hat, based on one my mum crocheted for Immy, well I did that and it came out well!

 

I've yet to write the pattern up properly, thats my next job, but I did experiment with it slightly and it will nicely upscale to different sizes, so Neala got one in the same yarn (which I'm sorry to say I've no idea on the brand of said yarn as it was given to me by a friend with no label, its wonderfully soft tho, so will be keeping an eye out for some thing similar!) so both my girls really do match up! Its kinda sweet, I think! 

Next came a shawl, no not for me! I had been thinking that Immy's coat left her neck really exposed, esp if she was in her carrier, but didn't quite know what to do, no to a scarf and a cowl seemed a bit odd to do for a baby. I was browsing looking for inspiration for a stole pattern for the yarn I frogged a couple of weeks back when a cute little pattern caught my eye, Scallo-pie, a little shawl pattern for little madams! Oh well that was it then!

 

 

 

Really like it, and even had me doing some thing new in the form of the scalloped edging, which is actually functional as you can use the end scallop and feed it thru the eyelet of another to hold it together, so its practical when using it too. I def feel a second one coming on thats for sure!

To round off the week I've been doing the girl version of knubbelchen which hands down is one of the cutest little snuggies ever, I did the boy version a few months back and picked out yarn to do a girl version, but its been sat waiting ever since, I did the head body and one leg all in one go, but its taken me another two days to do the other leg and an arm, but to be fair Immy isn't well, and have been out and about, but it should be done in the next day or so! 

 

So all in all, bad for wip this week, but busy on new projects, not really the point but I have gotten alot done since the start of the year, and I will have a new pattern to show for it too. Can be that bad! 

A productive week!

Had a good week, this knitting to blog deadline suits me well, plus not casting on some thing new is reason to knit faster!

Started off the week by blocking my Hypernova shawl I finished last week

 

I didn't pin it out along its entire length, just did the flared ends and its come out really nice, again, didn't take long once I set to it!

Next I set about finishing my trout river jumper from knitty, a cute pattern with detachable arms, so you can have both a vest and a jumper, and I added a hood to the original pattern as I felt it needed it! The coloured edges are my own handspun yarn which was nice to include!

 

Daft thing about it was tho, that all I had left to do on it was the top bit of one arm and weave in some ends, its been lying around for all this time and it took me two evenings to finish. Its daft!

Next I focused on a sock I've needed to make to complete a pair, so the rest of the week was taken up by that. 

Not bad at all! I picked up my pooling shawl to be going on with, I did try and find the other socks I have to finish but they've been put away some where and I'm not sure where! They'll turn up.. I hope! I may tackle my glow gloves, if I'm feeling brave tho!

Slight confession tho, I have cast on some thing new, but its a crochet baby hat and in all honesty I'll prob have it finished in the next few hours, I'm reverse engineering a hat my Mum (Hi Mum!) made for Immy, whos Immy? Oh yeah this is Immy! My 7mth old nutter, in her baby sophisticate!

 

Alot can happen when you don't blog! Any way, yes, my mum made her a really cute crochet hat, using little treble clusters, and I found some yarn in my stash today, thinner than the one my mum used and I'm attempting to recreate the pattern (adjusted for different yarn). I'm not sure if my mum used a pattern originally or just made it up, and I know I could just ask her, but I was just in that mood to do some thing different, and I may even write up the pattern too as I'm sure I've not seen one like it on rav, its one I reach for to put on her in all this cold weather, people have even asked me where I got it from, so it can't be bad! We'll see!

Nothing says knit faster like a looming deadline!

Beginning to think this post every Sunday thing was a good idea, it's forcing me to knit some thing so I don't miss my spot!
This week I mostly knitted my hypernova scarf, one of the few things I've declared wollmeise worthy! I had been about half way done at the start of the week but cast off late last night (photo to follow, I procrastinated all day, blame baby..) and hope to get it blocked at some point this week, can't be bad!
Took the decision to frog another project as well, I'm being realistic in what I'm actually going to finish, and whilst I loved how it was going (convertible from knitty in malabrigo) I just couldn't see my self actually using the shawl properly once it's done. I use my ordinary shawls, gloves, socks yet but this one was meant to be worn in lots of different ways and what ever I might have had a vision of when I started it, it's not the same one I have now! So it's now several balls of yarn again, more stash hehe
My wip list is starting to look more normal! I've a few projects I don't mind being long term, such as my hexipuffs or my crochet blanket, but every thing else I'm determined to get done, next on my hit list is a sock and a sleeve, sleeve first, I could probably get that done this evening if I stop fading around on here! Bests get on!

Thingies completed!

Well one week in to my must complete every thing campaign has gone well!
After my blog post last week, I decided to tidy up my corner, yet again! I put alot of yarn away, bagged up all my wip properly, and sorted my patterns out.
I rescued three wip from the wicker basket, one shawl, one hooded scarf (which had been intended as a new pattern..) and a circle cardigan for me.

The shawl was my memories of spring shawl that has been on the go for nearly two years, but I was finding the pattern tough going, not because it was overly difficult, it was the fact it has two stitch patterns of different counts running concurrently and I was finding it hard to keep both tracked, I usually make marks on a piece of paper but it was just doing nothing for me, so I made the decision to frog what I'd done, I wasn't even half way finished, so no big loss!

Washed and reskeined the yarn (it was one of those preknitted blanks) so its all ready to go for a new pattern, some day!

The hooded scarf, I had intented on making a new pattern, with some yarn I bought from aldi, but at some point I lost my focus and it lived in my basket for a while, didn't even count it as one of my wip, as I'd forgotten it was there! I was going to frog it back to salvedge the yarn but decided the length I had knitted before the hood increases would still make a good cowl, so sat on my kitchen floor (!) I ripped it back, returned stitches to a needle, bound it off and made a cute cowl for Neala!

 

That worked out better than expected! (Excuse the xbox controller, I had to interrupt minecraft..)

So on to the cardigan, I bought the yarn for this from Cold Springs mill in Yorkshire, I had gone hoping to get some thing better, but arrived to find lots of bog standard yarn, was slightly disappointed, but not wanting to go home empty handed I bought some bulky yarn in a colour I liked that reminded me of James C Brett marble chunky (still don't know what it is, but its so close feeling wise to marble chunky, it might as well be!), so bought it and immediately cast on for this when I got home, I did work on it rather diligently for a long while but it got lost in the bottom of my box, never to be worked on for months, when I dug it out, I looked at completed versions of the pattern on Rav and noticed it looked rather fab as a short sleeve, and when I measured it up, it was close to being actually finished, so with the addition of short sleeves, I cracked on and got it finished! 

Don't think its some thing I'll wear out of the house, and it could still do with a soak and pulling in to shape, but its great for lounging on the couch, very snug! Just glad I found the inspiration to carry on with it! Still a lot of the yarn left too, so all in all, not a bad yarn trip!

Lanesplitter has returned to my hands for the time being, its coming along nicely, just wondering if I should tackle some thing smaller (I've got some socks and a glove waiting) instead of getting bigger stuff done. Not that it matters, but my lanesplitter is good for tv watching as its dead easy to rattle off, I've got a glove to do that are slightly more (read as really really more) complicated, should really thinking about doing that too!

Till next week..

2013 Starting as I mean to go on!

So it's been two years since I made a blog post, hmm not really good, doubt any one will catch this post but hey, I decided it can help me in my mission to finish projects I've actually started so I can knit more stuff I want to.
My wip list is reaching epic proportions, I've single socks, half made blankets, short scarves and other things that if I spent just some of my time on (instead of browsing ravelry all day..) I could get them finished. But I don't, I browse all the stuff I,d love to make, dream about yarn I could use to make them, and I either cave in and cast on some thing new, or forget all my plans on what to knit! It's not like I don't want to finish my items, I do, I just lack incentive.
So, new year, new start. Blog, once a week, Sunday is good, to talk about what I've done this week, and if I force my self to blog, I've got to do some thing during the week to show off right? Well it's a plan....

I've currently got 15 things to finish. That includes 3 I've not listed on rav, and my hexipuff blanket which is a long term thing any way which I shouldn't be too hard on my self about, but you know, getting mini skeins for it every month and not knitting them is a problem too!

My current project is one I've not out on rav, it's a lane splitter skirt from knitty, cast on at a whim, well not so much a whim, I actually unravelled my noro jumper that I don't wear at all to do it, as I thought I'd wear this skirt more, I don't think I'll have quite enough yarn to finish it from what I got from my jumper, but the colourway is still out there, and it's noro, so dye lots.. No one will notice! Good chance I'll stop knitting this when I run out of yarn as I'll stall on buying more, but if I get a good way in to it, its a good excuse to keep going!


So that's me for this week, let's see if I can keep this up!

The Rolly Bag!

Yeah yeah, all I ever do here now is post patterns, but you don't want to listen to me blethering on about nothing all the time? Right? Any way, another free pattern for you, don't say I'm any thing but nice ;-)

Rolly Bag

Inspired by a bag I saw at a recent craft fair, this bag is made from a new yarn called Hoopla, made from selvedge material from t-shirt making. Its a very stretch jersey type material and is surprisingly easy to work with and lends its self to crochet very well!

Download the PDF version of this pattern here

You will need:

2 cones of Hoopla yarn (I used Key Lime Pie and Purple Nurple) or any bulky yarn (approx 200 yards) in two colours

8mm and 6mm crochet hooks.

Stitch marker.

Two safety pins

Instructions:

DC= Double crochet

(Please note this pattern uses British crochet terms (DC=SC in US terms))

Main body

Using the 8mm hook, chain 50 stitches in your main colour

Row 1) DC in 2^nd stitch from end and continue to end, chain one and turn

Row 2) DC in the back loop of the stitch (as you look at the V, dc in the leg furthest from you!) This will give the raised up edge you can see in the picture. Continue to the end, chain 1 and turn.

Repeat row 2 16 more times and fasten off at the end of the last row.

End pieces (make two)

Using the 8mm hook and your contrast colour, chain 4 and join to form a ring (use marker to note start of ring)

Round 1) 2DC in every stitch (8 stitches)

Round 2) *DC in next stitch, 2DC in the next stitch, repeat from * until end

Round 3) *DC in next 2 stitches, 2DC in the next stitch, repeat from * until end

Continue as set, increasing the space between the 2DCs until you have reached 6 spaces in between the 2DCs and fasten off.

Bag Handle

Using 6mm hook, chain 4 stitches

Row 1) DC in second space, and work unil the end, chain 1 and turn.

Repeat until bag handle is desired length and fasten off.

Making up

The main body piece has a natural curl, so we are going to exploit this some what! Roll your body piece to make a tube, leaving an overlap of about 3 inches (this is for your bag flap) and pin in place on both sides. Take one of your end pieces and your contrast colour, use slip stitch to join both pieces together, but leave the overlap hanging free.

One you have done one side, repeat on the other, attach the handle on either side of the tube in your desired place, weave in ends and you are done!

This is my first crochet pattern and the making up has been hard to explain, so if you have any questions or suggestions, please get in touch!

Naturally this is a free pattern, and you are free to use it for your own personal use, but you are not allowed to sell any finished items, or distribute the pattern without prior permission or crediting the work to my self!

Seed Stitch Socks

Hmm yes I know, we are now in to the New Year and I'm still not blogging much, but in my defence, I do home school three kids, and we got a dog, and my free time is taken up by knitting, so you know... I do want to blog, but its sitting down and doing it!
Any way, once again, I bring a new pattern to make up for it!

Seed Stitch Socks

I got the idea from an old pair of slipper socks (you know the kind that have grippy bits on the bottom?) and decided to see if I could make a pattern similar and this is what I came up with.

Download a PDF version of the pattern here

You will need:

Fingering/4ply sock yarn, 100g solid colour (A), 30g contrasting variegated colour (B)
(yarn I used isn't available any more, but its Middlearthknitter yarn, in Not Just for Goths (B) and Jet (A) )

2.5mm dpn needles

Waste Yarn

Tapestry needle

Pattern will assume that you basically know how to knit socks, but I'll link to any thing unusual!

Stitch pattern is in multiples of 8.


Cast on 64 stitches with colour B and divided over 3 dpns

Knit 2 purl 2 rib for desired length, I usually do approx 1inch

Switch to colour A

Row 1 K4, P1, K1 ,P1, K1. Repeat to end of round

Row 2 K5, P1,K1, P1

(I arranged my stitches so I wasn't purling a stitch at the start of a row, by splitting up a K4 in to two knit stitches over two needles, but this is personal preference, I just don't like purling at the start of a needle, I get ridiculous ladders! You do what is comfortable!)

Continue repeating Row 1&2 until leg length is desired length (pictured sock is 5inches.)

When you have reached your desired length, you need to take your waste yarn and knit 32 stitches with it (or approx half of your total number of stitches) This is for your afterthought heel. Do not break your working yarn (A) as you'll be using it again in a moment

The 32 stitches you have knitted with waste yarn, are now the bottom of your sock, you'll need to jig it a bit, but divide these 32 stitches up between two needles, whilst having the other 32 stitches on one needle. This is so you are keeping your pattern stitches and sole stitches separately, and makes decreasing at the toe stage easier!

Go back to your working yarn (A) and carry on knitting as follows

Needle 1 k16
Needle 2 k15, P1
Needle 3 Repeat rows as established in leg section

Repeat until desired foot length is reached (for my size 6 (US9) feet, this was 36rows)

Switch to colour B and start decreases for toes, continue until 28 stitches remain and graft toes using Kitchener stitch

Now for the heel. Lets call in the expert with pictures, the Yarn Harlot (in this she didn't use waste yarn and cuts the the yarn where she wants the heel, that scares me slightly and my waste yarn bit works just as well!)

Basically, you unpick your waste yarn, catching the now live stitches on two needles (one top one bottom) and then using colour B, you knit another toe! I decrease as for a toe until I had 30 stitches remaining and then grafted together.

Weave in ends, make another to match, and you are done!

Even now there are things I would change about the sock I did, the purl stitch on needle two is to seperate the pattern from the foot, if I thought about it more, I would have jigged the pattern round so it looked better, but thats hind sight etc

I do feel I could have written this a touch better, but if you come across any problems, please give me a shout and I'll do my best to help as much as I can.


Naturally this is a free pattern, and you are free to use it for your own personal use, but you are not allowed to sell any finished items, or distribute the pattern without prior permission or crediting the work to my self!