UFO

Of couse what I really should be doing is tacking down this quilt which is now taking up all the floor space, but I hate tacking, oh how I hate it. The holidays are just never long enough!

This Bank Holiday

So really I should be finishing things off like this cushion. As you can see, I am so nearly there, but I ran out of purple wool as it was just a left over bit of yarn which I lost all the details for. I am going to be better about keeping samples of the wool I buy together with its label so I am not caught out like this again.

On a more positive note, I decided that I must rise to the challenge and add another colour combination so I did some experimenting and settled of yellow. I am quite pleased with the results. I seem to be very rainbow coloured of late.





Obviously though, as I am so near finishing, I have decided to start something new. I got a bit bored of the basic granny squares so I started a new, bigger, more complex square. Again, it's all technicolour!

Liberties Quilty Pleasures

Liberties have just opened their Quilty Pleasures mini exhibition on the third floor, where they've hung four quilts. It's not the same standard as your average patchwork show but they are nice to look at and the window display is lovely - a real lesson in how to making quilting trendy! Featuring bundles from Kim at Worn & Washed and Maggie at Sunflower Fabrics. But of course I did go and burn my lip on my tea in the tea room and now I have a huge blister on my lip.

John Lewis Birds

I saw these knitted birds in John Lewis. Aren't they great!

Country Living Spring Fair

I went to The Country Living Spring Fair with Rachel to help out on her stall. Sunflower fabrics and Beyond fabrics were there which was great. They had some lovely things there and a lot of things which all seemed to blur into one.

Wool

So I have been busy with my granny squares. I decided that I didn't like some of the colour combinations I had done with the very very bright pink, so I have been doing more of the purpley ones. This has set me back slightly but it's all good practice. I am started to get a little tired of the square though and am itching to start the next big crochet project. I think it's time to start planning for a more advanced square pattern and maybe something a little bigger than a cushion.





When Samara first taught me crochet in the pub I went out and bought this book. My dream being to make an Afgan for myself. I decided to that perhaps I might try the block on the cover now I feel confident enough so I went on a pilgrimage to Loop to get some wool for my project.



I got big wool rather than the thin wool they recommend partly because it was in the right colours and partly because I thought big might make it easier to see with at first and cover a greater area in the end. And to top it all off, I got a free bag, Can't be bad! Rainbow crochet here I come!

Quilt Haul

A little roundup of Chillford. I didn't really have anything specific to buy as I haven't really done much patchwork recently so I just got some small bits. I thought I might make some needle cases for Christmas presents with these. You can buy this material from Patchwork Corner



Other than that I bought some fat quarters just to add to the stash. More spots as usual, but this time I saw a lady with these in her hand and I thought they really went well together. I don't think I would have picked up the brown Lecien floral otherwise, but I think it goes well with the spots.



This is from the new Moda range: Rouenneries which I think is really lovely. I might just do something simple and small with these as they were quite expensive so I only got a few fat quarters.

Crochet Book

So I showed my granny squares to my mum who was rather underwhelmed by them. Turns out she can crochet but failed to mention it. She said she learnt it all from this book she gave me which she bought from the local wool shop in the 80s. I just love how retro it is. Check out that haircut!



It's a folder with cards for every stitch then project cards.



It even tells you how to make granny squares!

Hooks

So my hook collection is pretty poor. I feel it is high time to upgrade to a set of coloured ones like the green one I got from the course which I LOVE. I am going to buy a set from 'Purple Linda' just as soon as the fraud department at the bank sort out who spent £255.50 on nuts at 01.38 using my bank details! Until then I have no card, no bank account. Oh the frustration of not being able to expand my hook empire!



Of course when I do get them, I will have to make a pencil roll for them!

Granny Squares

So I went to the second crochet course run by Bee and Claire of 'Make Do Mend' and now I am an unstoppable granny square machine I tell you. I wish I could go somewhere lovely like the Tea Rooms every Thursday evening and just practice crochet. It's so nice to have tea and cake on tap in this lovely shop which quite frankly is always so full of people normally, I can never get in. They had a big basket of wool to select your choices from and I got a green hook which I am very enamored of.





It took us the whole session to makes these two squares but we really feel that we could do it on our own now.



Some people were storming ahead but it was great as they had quite a few patterns they gave you which varied in skill level.







I really feel that I am getting there with how to hold the yarn and get the tension right. The following day I had to get up at 4.45 and get a ridiculously early train to near Brighton. It was great as the time flew by and I didn't feel stupid when people watched what I was doing.



I think I am going to make the cushion I set out to make before I try any of the more advanced squares. Not long to go now!

Crochet course

Last Thursday I did a tea and cake crochet night with Makedoandmend which was great. Two hours of beginners crochet. Although I can crochet, I can really only do one stitch and go round and round and round. I just thought it would be a good way to learn the other basic stitches in a few hours and it was.

They had people there that had never knitted or crocheted in their lives which was fine as basically once they taught us all a stitch and started slowly making their way round to check everyone and help them, it gave me time to endlessly drill the actions into my head and really concentrate on holding the wool right. As with my knitting, I am beginning to really appreciate how learning good techniques early can go a long way when you advance but can't seem to speed up.

And let me just say that the ginger cake. Crikey, it was good. I am on a mission to make my own like that; almost black.

They gave us some lovely wool to choose from and I got a hook that I haven't already got so I was stoked. Next Thursday I have signed up for the granny square night which I am very excited about. I want to make this!


I am now going to go and organise my meagre collection of hooks and think about getting some more!

The weekend

So I found out that I get train sick on Pendalino trains which meant I couldn't launch into my knitathon. In fact I got very little knitting done! But I did get some new bowls from Ray which are amazing and graceful as usual. They are going to go really well with my white knitted blanket!

Cabling Progress

I must be getting better, or it must just be the rewards of big wool, but I feel like I am storming along. I had two scary moments where I had lost the cable and had to take the whole lot off the needle and pull it out until I got back to where I thought I'd gone wrong. Going back is what I really need to perfect. I found that putting the stitches back onto thinner needles made it easier to knit the first row back and work out which were twisted stitches. The whole thing feels a lot smaller than it looks in the picture though. Part of me wants to make a matching strip for it to make it twice as wide! I am not sure if I could hack that though, we'll see. I have a four hour train journey this weekend so I am expecting a lot of progress!

Ravelry

So I finally had a proper look at Ravelry today and put up some projects. It seems like a great way to document knitting projects and specify patterns, needles and wool etc... You can see my notebook here I am going to spend a long time trawling through and favouriting projects!

Big Cable Stole

I think it's the snow outside, or else it's because Sam has started knitting. All I know is that I am inspired to keep knitting! Here is my knitting inspiration... behold the blanket that Ray knitted me! A wonder! I LOVE it. Well I'd love it more if either it was bigger or I was smaller.



About a year a go I bought some lovely Blue Sky Bulky Natural wool from Loop. It's pretty pricey which is probably why I put it away until the shock wore off. I never bought quite enough, thinking that I would go back the following month and buy the remainder... Well a year later I happened to be passing. I happened to be into cabling... and voila! I just went in and bought the rest!

The pattern I am just starting isn't the same as Ray's but it was the inspiration behind it. We saw in the shop and the idea was born. You can find it here or on Revelry if you're a member. I'm not really planning to wear it, I just want to make it into another blanket.



I bought some wool in the great Cucumberpatch sale which was £2.50 a ball! What a bargain! I might have to make it twice! I mean you can never have too many blankets in this constantly cold weather now can you?



I also splashed out and invested in some nicer wooden needles as mine our plastic. Although these are heavier, they're just nicer to play with and they make a much softer sound as they clash together. I am all set now never to go out again. I am just going to be a kitting machine! I have had to copy the pattern out though as I can't get with this 'row 5, repeat rows 8-11' stuff. I just need to know what one row is after another so I don't have to think too much. I'm going to Manchester next weekend and I plan to knit all the way there and ALL the way back!

Knitted Cowl

So I finally finished my neck cowl last night. I made loads of mistakes on it but by the end I felt like I could start again and I would do it right. I agree with the other people I know who have made it though that it's easier to wear the other way up from the pattern. I might make a proper chunky one like the original when I next find myself in front of some Rowan Big Wool, but it would cost 20 odd quid to make with that whereas as my thinner Robin chunky cost a fiver to make.

Knitting Again

This is the first weekend this year where I have literally had nothing to do. I was so excited about it. No plans. No one to see. No need to go outside. No need to get dressed. It's been as great as I anticipated. Three exciting events have taken place:


1. The Christmas tree has finally come down. It feels very blank without it. It was the first time in my life I have ever had a fake tree and I think it was perfect. It was that choice between not having one at all because we simply weren't going to be here and having something makeshift. Now we'll always have it just in case. The bottom of it is the only annoying thing. But it's all packed in the loft now should the need arise again.


2. It was chutney production time. ALL the chutneys everyone had ever given us had been consumed. I went through the cupboard and found loads of out of date unchutney products, but there was nothing else. Shop bought chutney was experimented with and found sadly lacking so chutney production began in earnest.


3. It seemed high time to get back into some knitting. It has been such a long time that I seemed to be rubbish all over again! It didn't take long to get back into the swing of things though. I think my needles are just a little too big to hold comfortably. I spent last year re-learning to hold my needles in a better way. I know that it helps with your speed eventually and I wanted to not fall into bad habits.

I have found that utube really helps. There are loads of knitting videos on there. I found this great one from Elsteffo which I am going to try and stick to. I also have problems with how I wind the wool round my hand which inevitably affects the tension and evenness of the stitches. And I think I knit a bit too tightly because I always have to stop and push the knitting along. I will be converted to the path of knitting righteousness!


So I am making this free Rowan Cable Neck pattern. Two people I know have made it. One looks just like the picture, but the other person made it out of thinner wool and it's kind of saggy which I really like. I guess it makes less of a statement but I am fine with that. She also made it with much cheaper wool! Robin chunky here I come!

Not having followed many patterns, I am finding it quite hard going. I have knitted the first two bits, albeit quite badly, but I am not quite sure exactly how to do the next bit. I shall spend today trying though.