Presents!

Look what I got today!! It’s so awesome. It’s a copy of Really Wild Tea Cosies by Loani Prior. And even if I never knit any of the tea cosy designs I still love this book as it makes me smile. The designs are just really good fun. I only have a small tea pot and I have made it a very functional cosy but I am really tempted to make it one of Loani’s now. But which one? there are too many to chose from. I may end up making some of them into baby hats instead as they don’t care what you put on their heads!!

I also got this wonderful bag made by my mum.  I chose the fabrics from her huge stash and she’s made it for me.  It has pockets inside for my phone and iPod and loops to tuck pens into so they don’t disappear to the bottom all the time.  I chose a turquoise lining so that I could see inside it –  I hate it when bags are all dark inside and black straps so they won’t show the dirt. 

It’s got a strip of multicoloured scraps down the middle that are a mixture of modern and older fabrics.  One was from a dress mum had, one used to be a shirt and there’s even a piece from a dress I had when I was little.  I can’t wait to take it to Amsterdam on Monday!!

Goodies!!

Ok so I haven’t blogged for a while AGAIN – I am sorry. My laptop is still suffering from lack of space and it’s making it a real pain to do anything so I’ve just been doing the bare minimum for it.  And good heavens I mustn’t even think of using iTunes at the same time as anything else as then it slows down to a standstill. Anyway, enough whining about technology.

While I’ve been absent it was my birthday and I got quite a few things you may be interested in, I had a week off and I’ve done some knitting so I shall get on with telling you about it all.

For my birthday I was given two books on making Amigurumi, Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haden (a.k.a Needlenoodles) and Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts: Amigurumi by Tomoko Takamori. They are both quite similar in that they have the basic instructions and patterns for making Amigurumi animals/creatures only Needlenoodles book is much more me as it’s all Zombies, Ninjas and other creatures of the night as it were. I’m not saying I won’t crochet any of the cute animals in the Kyuuto book but when given a choice I went straight for the creepy creatures. I’ve started making a mini Cthulu (wikipedia link) as I couldn’t resist!

I was also given Socks From The Toe Up by Wendy Johnson as I’d seen how fab it was on Jane’s blog. I had some leftover Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Wild Cherry colour from when I knitted my second Demeter so I have cast on the On Hold pattern (just noticed I’ve knitted them in a very similar colour to Jane!) as it was the one that required the least messing around with to fit on a sock with the number of stitches needed for my little feet. They are progressing nicely and I love the stitch pattern.

I also got Handmade Embroidered Purses by Jenny Rolfe as it was on my birthday list too. I have the Handmade bags book and wanted the purse ones. I have yet to make anything from either book yet but I will one day and they fill me with inspiration.

Other crafty goodies I got were: vouchers for a local bead shop, packs of scrap material by Jennifer Trollope, Lucy Neatby’s 2nd knitting essentials dvd and a pack of oil pastels for my art course.

FO Odessa Hat and more knitting plans….

Here it is my finished Odessa Hat.  It’s made from one 50g ball of Biggan Design First Cross Merino DK on 4mm needles.  I bought the yarn at the Knitting And Stitching Show at Ally Pally.  Biggan Design is an Australian company run by a swedish (I think) lady.  They have produced this DK merino yarn in a rainbow of 64 colours which are all wonderful.  It’s like looking at a set of felt tip pens or a wonderful paint chart.  This hat is knitted in Burnt Orange and I’ve also got 1 ball each of Saffron, Pumpkin and Bright Orange which I will use to knit a ribbed scarf to go with the hat.

I’ve been playing around with different ribs and have finally decided on the left hand end of this swatch.  It will be a knit 3 purl 2 rib with a moss/seed stitch border that is 3 stitches wide to stop the scarf from curling.  The right had end is a 1×1 rib and then a 2×2 rib and then I was playing with how I want to change from one colour to the next.  But I’m not casting on until I’ve finished the odessa socks and I have about 30 rows to go on the second sock. 

I have so many ideas of things I want to knit at the moment, here’s the current list…

1. Orange/Autumnal scarf (see above)

2. Finish Odessa socks.

3. Knit 2×2 rib scarf for Bex for Christmas.

4. Knit lace something with 1200yds of blue laceweight yarn I got at Ally Pally.

5. Finish Wild Cherry Demeter – started in May 2008.

6. Finish blue Tofutsies lacy socks – started ages ago.

7. A black tank top.

8. Grey honeycomb tank top.

9. Crochet a cactus for a girl at work. I really shouldn’t make these flippant comments!

10. Knit Knucks for another colleague – zip my mouth shut someone!!!

11. Knit something with the 100yds of handspun I won from Erin. (see below).

So many things to knit and so little time….

Crochet coral reef

LOOK!!! this was the sight that greeted me as I entered Alexandra Palace on Sunday. It’s the UK Crochet Coral Reef and that turquoise bit near the bottom of the blue/purple stack, just above a pink fuzzy bit in this photo is MINE!! I made it.  I was soooooooooooooooooo excited.  I’m so glad I put a dark blue edge on it or I’d never have found it. 

Here’s a close up of my bit. Just above the purple piece.  How cool is that??

It all came about when the Institute For Figuring realised you could use crochet to produce models of the structure of coral.  And now it’s led to several exhibitions of crocheted coral reefs being used to bring the plight of the world’s reefs to everyone’s attention.  NY Times article

Crochet lessons and 84 Charing Cross Road

The sleeves and body are joined together!! I finished the second sleeve on Wednesday evening went for it.  I’ve knitted round the entire thing (leaving 15 stitches from sleeves and body at each armhole ready to graft together at the end) for about 2 inches and then decided to go with raglan decreases as I’m not knitting a yoke pattern.  It seems to be working so I’m quite pleased with it at the moment. 

This yarn arrived during the week – it’s Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in shades 16 and 10. I’ve bought 3 balls of each colour to knit something for two new babies (Ben & Leah). I intend to knit Leah a little lilac cardigan with green edging and a little green jumper for Ben with lilac edging. I’ve found a pattern for a little cardigan that is very cute but I’m not sure what pattern I will use for Ben’s jumper. It’s also the yarn that is used for the Victorian Shrug/Wrap pattern from the Crochet Me book I got for my birthday so I may have to crochet a gauge swatch before I knit the baby things.
Last night I decided I wanted to learn to do Tunisian Crochet so that I can attempt to make the Five O’clock Tank from the same book. There are some instructions in the Crochet Me book and in the Happy Hooker book by Debbie Stoller but not really enough so I’ve looked it up on the web today and found some really good video tutorials by Brianna of The Crochet Side podcast and I think I’ve got the hang of it. Now I just need to get myself a tunisian crochet hook from somewhere – any ideas?
I’m re-reading 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff as Little Brown publishing have just reprinted it in a lovely hardback version (see pic above) with a cover design by Marion Dorn. It’s one of my all time favourite books and if you haven’t read it, please read it – it’s very short as it’s letters from Helene Hanff, a writer in New York to Frank Doel, a second hand bookseller at a shop on Charing Cross Road. They corresponded from 1949 to 1968 mostly about the second hand books that Miss Hanff asked Frank to look for, but after a while she became friends with all the staff in the shop and some of their famillies and even sent them food packages in the years after WW2 when food was still rationed in the UK. It’s a lovely book and everyone should read it!!

I’ve just noticed that the Baby Cashmerino and the 84 Charing Cross Road cover all go very well with the sofa fabric that I’ve taken the pictures on.  It wasn’t deliberate, it’s more a serendipitous accident.

Presents!!

Yesterday was my birthday and I did quite well on the present front. I got this book:

Crochet Me: Designs To Fuel The Crochet Revolution by Kim Werker, from my dad, which I’m hoping will inspire me to crochet more than just rectangles. I love the victorian shrug on the front especially as the pattern has two versions a shrug and a cardigan. There’s also a tunisian crochet vest/tunic with an asymmetric top that I really like as well.

I also got the first Lucy Neatby DVD from work as they asked me what I wanted so I thought it was a good opportunity to get knitting goodies.  My mum got me some fabric and threads for my machine embroidery playing and this book: 

Fusing Fabric by Margaret Beal which has loads of techniques in that I want to try out. I will need to get a soldering iron though!

I’m off work now for a week so I will be playing with my sewing machine and relaxing as work has been a real pig for about 5 weeks now.  Also next Tuesday I’m going to Scotland to visit my friend and her new baby (the one I made the little pixie coat for) and have planned to knit masses on all the public transport I’ll be going on and found a knitting shop in Edinburgh that I should have time to visit on Thursday before I come back home.  I also simply HAVE to buy a new dress as I am going to a wedding reception next weekend, the trouble is since watching Sex And The City I want a really wonderful dress and fabulous shoes.  My budget may not stretch to something Carrie would wear.  Shame really. 

Spiralling out of control

Yet another really crap week at work. I’m so busy I can’t remember anything and too tired in the evening so I’ve hardly done any knitting this week. But enough about that as it’s a 3 day weekend!! Last Sunday I finished knitting the second end of my Juno Regina wrap by Miriam Felton, I grafted both pieces together using kitchener stitch and then on Monday I blocked it pinned to a towel on my bedroom floor.

It’s not completely flat but I’ve come to the conclusion that A) I have unrealistic expectations of blocking; B) double knitting yarn even silk will never block as well as laceweight; C) it doesn’t matter because it’s beautifully soft and I love it!!

I did knit some of the little pinafore but haven’t taken any pics for you yet.  I just have to knit around the edges of the neck/shoulder straps and add buttons and it’s done.  (Note to self: Buy Buttons!!)
On Friday we had a multicoloured casual dress day so I wore knee length rainbow striped socks (commercial not hand knitted I’m afraid), one blue shoe and a matching red shoe.  When I was picking out this outfit on Thursday night (and no I don’t chose my clothes the night before every day, it was a one off because of the multicoloured theme) I was reminded that two years ago I bought 8 or 9 balls of Debbie Bliss Cotton DK in various bright colours. They were bought so that I could crochet a bag for use in the summer but I have never done it. I got into knitting and the balls of cotton were shoved in a bag in my wardrobe. Well I’ve dug them out and I think I’ve finally decided how to make the bag that I want. I’m going to crochet spirals of various sizes and then crochet them together into a bag shape.

Here are my first two spirals in progress. I’ve started each colour with 4 single crochets, then 4 doubles and then into trebles so that the spirals start tiny and grow and it also helped keep it round when I joined on the second and third colours.

Lace and the Coral Reef

Well, what do you think?  It’s my Juno Regina by Miriam Felton knitted in Debbie Bliss Pure Silk shade 24.  I started it on Sunday and I’m really enjoying knitting it.  I didn’t at first, I started it on Sunday morning and it just wouldn’t work so I undid it and put it aside for a few hours.  During which I went for a walk whilst listened to some knitting podcasts and then made a necklace and earrings out of some black/white/red beads that I bought at The Bead Shop on Tower Street, near Covent Garden last week.  And THEN I was ready to re-attempt the Juno Regina, and this time I had obviously found my mojo as it worked really well.  I knitted all evening until quite late and barely stopped to make some food!  The pattern is great, it’s not too easy but once I’d got the hang of double yarn overs and how to knit both bits of them in the next row it was just nice to knit.  The silk yarn is lovely, so soft and drapey I can’t wait to block it.  I realised on Thursday that 3 skeins is definitely not enough to make it a sensible length.  If you look at the top right corner of the picture you can see some yarn ends because that is where I started the second skein, so I’ve had to do some shopping around on the net to find somewhere to buy 2 more skeins so it’s long enough.  I will learn from this mistake, I promise.

I sometimes have to cover reception at work during breaks and I’d recently started taking my lunchtime knitting with me (usually socks) but this week I decided to crochet a hyperbolic coral reef to send to the iKnit London knitting group as they are making them for charity.  I think it’s too increase awareness of the coral reefs being destroyed around the world.  So on Friday I sat on reception happily crocheting a twirly bundle in turquoise acrylic yarn and loved the look on people’s faces when they said “what are you knitting?” and I replied “it’s crochet not knitting, and I’m making a coral reef”.  At the moment it looks more like one of those netty-sponge washing things for showering that you get in Boots/superdrug.