An experiment…

…well two actually. The first experiment was trying out a new yarn, New to me at any rate. I thought I’d give some microfibre a try. Called ‘Smooth DK’ and made by King Cole, it promised to be soft and I had seen some colours that suited a project I had in mind. So I bought some, and yes, it is soft and very nice to work with. Not quite what I expected, but I think that is more me than a fault with the product. I don’t know if I am the only one who has thought about this, but I wonder if others hae also concluded that DK nowadays is more akin to 4ply. Or to put it another way, 25 years ago, I am sure I remember double knitting being thicker than it is these days. Frequently I pick something up thinking it will be 4ply, only to find that it is Double Knitting. Perhaps it is me, suffering memory loss, but I have to say that given the quantity of knitting I did throughout the time my children were growing up, you’d think I’d have remembered. It would be interesting to find out if gauges have changed. Needle sizing changed, just to confuse everyone, or rather the needles stayed the same but were described differently, now in mm which is mercifully much easier to understand when reading patterns from across the pond.

 

I’ve started to use King Cole Yarns more often in recent months and like them. I love the feel of this one, and the nice stitch definition.

The other experimental part of this tale, is the pattern I was working on. I decided to try and do a woven design, just for the fun of it, and I was really pleased with the way it turned out, although I have to say that I think I should have done another ribbon or two each way to make the weave tighter, but you live and learn through such experiences. This was the result, a little fragranced pillow  (lavender scented) made with the King Cole Smoothie. It’s a bit of a fiddle, but I really like the result so will undoubtedly do it again in the future.

 

 

Splash of colour.

A few days ago I finished a project that was really enjoyable. I decided to make a cat blanket, using scraps of yarn left over from other projects. The result was amazing. A rainbow of colours. Are cats colourblind, I wonder?  If that is the case, it may be a blessing, otherwise they might be dazzled.

I made approximately 100 little 2.5 x 2.5 granny squares, with a well known pattern (I see it all over Ravelry and other crochet sites), and double crocheted them together. The yarn I used was one of my favourites, Patons Sorbet. I think I have mentioned it before. It’s a cotton blend, aran weight (worsted weight for those who are in the States and Canada), and its good for things like bags or something that needs to be fairly thickish  or rugged, like a bathmat. So should be good for a pet blanket 🙂

I enjoyed making this so much, that I am now making something similar, though not for a cat. It’s so easy to pick up, do a few squares and put down again and makes my 50,000 stitch target for NaKnitMo, a breeze, (at least I think it will). I’m so proud of the girls who are doing this challenge, (actually, I think there is a male in there someone as well), but the totals some are racking up every day are incredible. For the rest of us, it’s just a chance to pick up unfinished projects and get them finished, make presents ready for christmas, and generally have a lot of fun. It’s surprising how quickly the stitch totals increase and several people have upped their targets already. I don’t think I will be doing that yet. I am managing to keep up with this blog for the NaBloPoMo, but haven’t done much for NaNoWriMo. I have been planning my plot, but not writing the book! Ah well, tomorrows another day.

High on catnip!

My lucky cats! They think it’s christmas already. I have made some catnip toys, with a view to making some more for christmas presents and swaps. of course the protypes have to be trialed, and thats where my cats score. I made two mice toys first, just plain brown in colour, nothing fancy. One of my cats played with one of them all afternoon, despite being nine years old. The toy is holding up well, given the viscious kicking, clawing and biting it’s been subjected to. The yarn was Patons Sorbet, which is aran weight, although many class it as chunky.

These two mice are the same but I varied the strings, doing a straight cgain for one, and a bouncy coli for the other. I don’t think one works any better than the other, but the bouncy one is quite good if the mouse is hung somewhere and the cat bats at it. Probably more interesting for the cat.

Having achieved a modicum of success with mice, I then decided to have a go at fish. These were not so successful, in that I should have stuck to the stronger cotton. I swapped over to a double knitting cotton, but its not really as strong or firm, so future toys will all be made in the aran cotton.However, you can mess around to your hearts content with colour and design, so it will be fun to do some more at a later date. The fish were made yesterday so qualify for the count in NanKnitMo, a meagre 1500 stitches, but they all count!

quackers…

That is probably what I’ll be after a month of frenzied writing, knitting and crocheting.

My first day produced 1117 stitches for NaKnitMo, no words for NaNoWriMo, and a blog entry. Room for improvement methinks!

Yesterday I decided to make a prototype duck toy. After lots of frogging, this is what I produced.

   Now, I think he is recognisable as a duck, but he has many faults, poor soul. The crochet isn’t tight enough and reveals his stuffing.  His beak, though the idea worked well, is too big and the shape needs refining. His head is too big, his feet need less stuffing, and are not joined in the right place, or at least so that they are pointing the right way. Poor Duck! But, I’ll work on his brother today and see if I can improve the design. I didn’t like the cotton I was using for his beak, so that needs changing as well.

However, I might make a start on something else first, we’ll see. Depends how the whim takes me!

 

 

 

Swap from down under

I received a swap from my Australian swap partner a couple of days ago. This was a yarn swap, organised by one of the groups on Ravelry. I am thrilled with the contents. I asked for Australian wool, since J is in Australia and she sent me some gorgeous Cleckheaton Country Naturals, which is 8ply (DK) and 100% wool. She also sent me two skeins of Moda Vera, bamboo / cotton, which is 70% bamboo and 30% cotton, which I am also dying to try. Having read my blog, J remembered that I prefer knitting with shorter lighter needles, (unless I have 200 sts ) and sent some adorable little duckie needles. Obviously they are for children, but I am not proud. I frequently knit with children’s needles. There was a really pretty postcard of a little Kaola to remind me of Australia, along with a keyring, and also some pretty papers and adhesives to do some papertole work.
I loved everything, and just hope J enjoys what I have sent her too. Thank you for a wonderful swap.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of what I had put together for J. So I hope she takes a photo and posts it on the relevant thread to remind me.

Crochet scarf, section 4

I received the next scarf in the traveling scarf journeys. This one belongs to a lovely lady in California. As usual I had several attempts to find a yarn or yarns that would blend in nicely, or at least not clash. I think I frogged my section three times and eventually decided to do something plain and embellish it, rather than use a multi-coloured yarn or mix colours in a pattern. So, I chose black chunky shetland wool as the base, and used merino wool for the flowers and leaves. The scarf’s owner wants it to be mostly greens and blues so that’s what I used for the embellishment. I hope my friend likes the result. Here are the pictures of the scarf, before I added my bit, my contribution and the scarf as it is now, ready to travel on it’s way back to America.

Beanies and Berets

It’s a long time since I made a hat. When my children were little I seemed to be forever knitting hats, balaclavas (remember them?) and a weird and wonderful assortment of gloves and mittens. Hats with pom poms, tassles, ears; gloves with lacy trims, whiskers and noses, and fur cuffs. Those were the days! So when I had the oppoerunity to join a hat swap group on Ravelry, I grabbed it, thinking it would be a good short term project. I relished the choice of patterns I knew I’d find on Ravelry. All I had to do was wait until I was assigned a partner and then ask her for her design prefences and colours and yarns. Likewise I had to think about my own prefences.

I made a beanie as requested for my partner. I used a pattern called Christina’s Beanie  and embellished it with my own flower and leaves. I hope she liked it.

Meanwhile I received a wonderful beret from my other swap partner in Canada. She chose a wonderful pattern, and the perfect colour. I asked for a raspberry colourway, but never dreamed she’d manage to get the exact colour of my coat. It’s a perfect match and so pretty. It’s also lovely and soft and warm. Almost makes me regret it’s spring as I’ll have to wait until the end of the year before I can wear it. Not only did my partner make me a beautiful beret, but she sent a parcel full of goodies. It was like Christmas all over again. One of the items in the parcel was some Rooibos tea. It smelled lovely so I put some in the pot and had a cup without milk, and then one with milk. I liked them both, but do prefer it with milk. It’s Rooibos spicy chai and it tastes gorgeous. I will definitely be getting some more. Thank you so much Melinda,  for your generous parcel and my lovely hat. I am well chuffed.

 

Crochet starter 3!

Well as mentioned in my post below, the crochet scarf I started and sent on, doesn’t appear to have reached it’s destination, so I have started again. Not being well the last few days, I had to make do with something from my stash. It is wool, but not merino, so I hope folk will be able to work with it. I am hoping to get it out in the post today. Of course, the minute I publish this post, my lost starter will suddenly turn up. I wish it would…the thought of another thirty earrings!!

Ah well! here’s what I will be sending off this time. It’s very plain, just to get the scarf going…to anchor it, so-to-speak 🙂

Yarn test.

I have been knitting since I was five, which is a very long time ago. I learned to crochet not long after knitting, and honed my skills throughout my childrearing years. My children had all their clothes, well, a good proportion of them, handmade by me, either knitted, or sewn. I was never without a project on the go, and as well as being a useful hobby, in that it helped with the family finances, it was also theraputic.

Now I find myself in the lovely position of not having to knit for anything other than pleasure. In the intervening years, many of which were knit-free because I was too  busy working, the yarns available have improved and diversified beyond belief. The only ‘fancy’ yarn known to me was mohair, and it was expensive. We relied on clever patterns to jazz up our knitting! Nowadays there are wonderful yarns wherever you look, and we don’t have to stick to the local yarn shop, (though we should all frequent them as much as possible as they offer a valuble service), we can shop online and buy yarn from countries on the other side of the world. Incredible! The choice is only limited by your budget and imagination.

So, as a result of this, one of my favourite occupations of late, has been exploring foreign markets and testing out some of the yarn on offer. This week I sampled a Lion Brand yarn, called Suede. Like a chenille, or velvet, it is 100% polyester, and wonderfully soft to touch. Its a chunky weight, so requires bigger size needles. I couldn’t resist the urge to have a go at another bag, so clutching my size 6mm crochet hook, I made this from the one skein  (ball) of yarn, and still had a wee bit left over. The colour is called Denim by the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved this yarn and will definitely be using it again. It would make a fabulous scarf or hat, so maybe I’ll get some more for the christmas project box!

Hello…it’s me!

Yes, really! It is! Lol.

I know, it’s been a very long time, and although I would like to say I am going to blog every day from now on, I just know that that would be the kiss of death. I think I said it last time I had a break, and look what happened next. Let’s just say I’ll try and write at least once or twice a week.

It’s not as if I don’t have plenty of crafty things to talk about. I have been drawing and painting, knitting and crocheting, making ATCs … although I haven’t made many cards. Much of my craft equipment and supplies is impossible to get at, so I am operating on a skeleton selection of goodies, although I have been adding to the yarn stash steadily. I won’t run out of yarn for a while yet (probably never, given that the minute I finish a ball, I take it as justification to buy another, or two!)

My latest creation is a bag. I haven’t made any bags since last summer, I think. I was knitting my five inch section of a travelling scarf, (more of this later 😉 ) and liked the combination of Peaches and Creme, (daisy ombre) and Stylecraft Eskimo (lemon) so much that I thought I’d make something else in it. Thus the bag was born. Sturdy, and with an inside divider, it’s in fresh sunny colours. Or another description would be, fried egg colours! I’m afraid that’s how I refer to it myself. Anyway, it’s basically knitted in garter stitch, but I did the joining together in double crochet, and I made the strap by crochet. The bag is fastened with a antique silver coloured bead.