Category: Knitting

Wrist-warmers and Embroidery

IMG_3075

Waaaay back in 2014, I knitted my Mother in Law a pair of basic wrist-warmers as a gift.  Fast forward to early April 2018 and a plaintive request for new wrist-warmers was received. So I put my sock down, went stash and Rav library diving and took up some Blacker Classic Aran and Karie Westermann’s Baker Street, a pattern I have knitted for myself before (1.5 times – the half was to replace one of the original pair after it went AWOL – sadly, the pair has since gone AWOL as well, last seen on a train. 😦 ) and thoroughly enjoyed.

It’s a lovely pattern to knit – aside from being in aran weight, the lace is intuitive and very quick and these took me approximately a week of knitting time to complete and then a couple days to block. Of course, no sooner had I completed them, we had what will probably pass for ‘summer’ in the UK but as it has now returned to being quite chilly, they have been posted off and gratefully received and put to use.

They have definitely reminded me to put this pattern at the top of my ‘quick gift knits’ list and I have a couple more balls of Blacker Classic Aran in the stash that may well become future gifted Baker Streets in the future. They took a ball and half for the pair, so at least one more pink pair could be made before I need to break into the other colours in the stash but there’s enough in the stash that I could knit at least another 7 pairs.

IMG_3060

Other than that, I have also been entertaining myself with a bit of embroidery, using a cover gift that came with an old issue of Mollie Makes I’d picked up and wanting to do something a bit different while watching a film.

Not having to do any pattern transfer prep definitely sped things up and the pattern itself only required satin stitch, french knots (I was very pleased with my french knots!) and a tiny bit of chain stitch. It was also a ‘just one more stitch’ project so I had it completed within a couple of days.

Always nice to do a project using a skill set I don’t use very often.

I’m back to the socks now though and the second sock has been cast on! Whoooo! I am, of course, paying very careful attention to my setup zigs and zags now!

Once Upon a Sock: April 2018

Suddenly posts on this blog are like buses; you wait ages for one and then two turn up. Or something. But I am joining the lovely ladies of the Once Upon A Sock sockalong/monthly blog post so will be endeavouring to post about socks on the first Thursday of the month.

ACS_0001

So, said sock! It’s still the first, solo Rivercat in La Bien Amiee’s Merino Twist. And it was once much further along than it is now until I looked down while at the hairdressers (I currently have blue-green under-layers, so a trip to the hairdressers is ideal for knitting time!) and realised that I had zigged when I should have zagged three repeats back and was continuing to zig instead of zag as a result. *sobs*. And I’d somehow picked up an extra stitch.

It was the kind of mistake that a non-knitter would probably have never noticed but would have driven me into second sock syndrome if I’d carried on. So I a) sulked for a wee bit and then b) ripped it back. And that meant all the way back. To the heel flap. *sobs some more*

But I am much happier having done that – the heel pick up stitches are neater, the pattern is back in the right place and I am almost back to where I was so I hope to be at the very least onto the second sock come May’s post. And then I can think about my next sock project, in which I hope to combine two new to me techniques and do a helical sock with an after-thought heel. Dare I attempt this TAAT?  Maybe at least have them on concurrent needles. We shall see, present socks must be completed first!

onceuponasockovalstripes

So, Once Upon a Sock Ladies: (links to be updated once they post)

Can’t wait to see what they’ve all been up to!

 

 

 

Yarnalong – April

Got to get moving somehow, so why not with joining in with the Yarnalong?

Reading:

I’ve just finished I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, which is an in-depth look into the unsolved case of the Golden State Killer. Michelle passed away before completing this book, which is a great pity as I think this would have been a even better book than it is.  It’s a page-turner and I can see why the case hooked her. Probably not an ideal read on your own though. 😉

IMG_3009

Cheerier reading though, in the form of Fresh Clean Home by Wendy Graham, author of the Moral Fibres blog. I do like experimenting with DIY cleaners – I have made my own laundry powder for several years and tend to reach for vinegar etc. when cleaning. I enjoy Wendy’s blog so borrowed the book from the library before the Easter weekend and tried a couple things out. I made the toilet cleaning tablets (smell delicious but might need a couple weeks to see how they go but then, I don’t inspect my u-bend when I’ve used shop bought tablets so who knows, eh?) and the window/glass cleaner, which I am very impressed with! The only downside so far is that I can now see exactly how filthy the outside of my windows are, which isn’t ideal as cleaning the outside of the windows in our flat is…difficult, due to being a first floor flat in a house conversion.
IMG_3006
And another recent arrival is a copy of A Year of Techniques from Arnall-Culliford Knitwear (and a bonus gift of the London Craft Guide, which was kindly added to my parcel from Brit Yarns as part of their closing down sale), which I am looking forward to working through. I definitely have helical sock plans!

Knitting/Crocheting:

Knitting wise, I am still knitting the Rivercat socks  previously mentioned but I will save that for tomorrow’s sockalong post (inorite? Like buses…) and I am so close to finishing my Keith Moon but it is currently in the naughty corner with the purl side pick up stitches I need to do to complete the collar. Apparently I can’t read and have picked up double the number of stitches in really dark yarn. I plan to pick it up again this weekend though as I really want it completed and off the needles so I can start my Good Intentions Quarter #3 project without guilt.

Crochet wise, I really must get a move on with the blanket WiPs. I think I might (slightly) retrospectively join in with the #100daysproject and do a minimum of a row a day on the blanket for my mother. That will definitely move that one along!

Best Foot Forward

*blows dust off internet, vanishes behind massive cloud, wild coughing ensues*

Many moons ago, I had a regular craft blog. And then life happened and it slipped away but I want back on that craft blogging horse so here we are.

Shall we start, not so much at the beginning but with a round up of Things That Are In Progress, eh?

IMG_2901

First up, a sock! On my 18 for 2018 list, I have a goal to knit at least six pairs of socks this year; a) because I like wearing them and b) because I have waaaaay too much sock yarn in the stash. I’m actually one pair in already as I located and then finished a pair of socks I started and misplaced in 2017. #cheating? But these are the first pair started in 2018 and they are a pair of Rivercat Socks in some beautiful rainbow sprinkled Merino twist from La Bien Aimee in the colourway Wee Happy Feet.  It’s a very pleasing and easy to memorise pattern and I have just finished the gusset decreases at the moment.

Normally I would knit these two at a time but I was hedging my bets on sizing and so only cast on one to start, which was good as I hedged too far and had to rip back. #sheepish

In larger scale projects, I have a Keith Moon on the needles, in Cream, Dark Brown and Red, which is actually a Knit British Good Intentions Club project – I have avoided an extended stay on Sleeve Island by doing them TAAT and first (partially so I could practice the double hem on a smaller circumference) so I have finished the shaping now and look forward to going round and round and round towards the end. 😀

In the crochet corner, I am still working on an Attic24 Hydrangea blanket for my mother. I’m using, as her request, the Moorland blanket colour pack and I have a but for the joining/edging half completed Pick ‘n’ Mix blanket from Lucy Croft’s CAL for Simply Crochet last year. I really must pick up and finish the joining/edging on the remaining twelve squares!!

So that is where I am currently and I am hoping that getting back on the craft blogging will help spur me along, especially for the larger scale projects *cough* blankets *cough*.