A Passion for Knitting Re-Discovered...

Happy New Year!

Well helllooooooo,

My NY's resolution is to blog more often, I have been inspired by my friend Sarah at work to take up writing in my blog again, I have been looking at Sarah's and it's brill! She has been telling me how to take professional looking product type photos, as I have been trying to sell stuff on Folksy and Etsy. Have a look at Sarah's Blog .

This post however will be without photos as I left my camera at my little brothers house at the weekend, I have ordered a newer and better one (as I was going to anyway) but that hasn't arrive yet.

For Christmas I received a book on making Fimo beads and a pasta roller and then I went to Hobby Craft and bought bead rollers and cutters and polishers as I thought I would try my hand at a new craft to compliment my knitting, but I have to say it's not as easy as it looks :-/ So for now it's been put to one side.

For Christmas I made some headbands for my nieces and sons girlfriends and they seemed quite popular. So much so that I am going to make a couple and stick them on my Folksy site.

 
I just pulled this piccie off my Ravelry site, of the headband, I have modified it slightly as I thought 6 petals was a bit much so I've cut it down to 5. My lovely boss  bought me in today 'The Knitted Gifts Collection' book which has over 70 designs they are based on projects from 'Let's Knit' magazine and I am thrilled with it, my mind is just spinning with things I want to make and ideas, but I'm so unorganised I just vere from one thing to another. I need some sort of project plan!!!

I have decided to have Friday and monday off work and I will try and put an action plan together!

OOoooooh, I made a fabulous kindle cover which I adore, it is sooooo sparkly and princess like, I got some austemann palila metallic wool with holographic sequins off of a lady on Ravelry and I knitted a strand of this with normal wool and the effect is lovely, It's for No 2 sons girlfriend Claire.

 
It's a shame you can't catch the sparkle in the photo :-( maybe I'll be able to when my new camera arrives!

For Christmas I also got the book 'Men's Knits' by Erika Knight and signed by her, my little sister is friends with her they both live in Brighton and she gave me 2 balls of her Regia Design Jazz Colors sock wool so I'm busily making myself a pair of socks. The colour is 'something Else' it sripes beautifully. I was sooooo excited, my brother-in-law said but she just knits, what's to get excited about, as he is an obsessed Tottenham fan I tried to explain to him that Erika is like the 'Harry Redknap' of knitting. Anyway he only went and told Erika what I said..... lol I bet she thinks I'm a right twit!

 
Now, see what I'm like! Whilst looking for a photo of Erika's wool I have found an adorable tea cosy I want to knit.

 
How cute is that!

So much crafting to do so little time :-(

Tuesday today so that means tonight is................. KNITTING GROUP :-))))))))

I love Tuesdays, tonight is knitting group and I have two projects to take with me, the first is my seventh (yes seventh) IPod case, the one that I told you about in my last blog. The different patterns for them have just been evolving as I go along, I love that, when you start a project and you are not sure how it's going to turn out or what colours you are going to use. Here's the 6 I have done so far......

 

 
I'm so pleased with them all! I have sold the two flowery ones so far and yesterday I had a lovely email from Kyoko from Cotton and Cloud who invented the pattern and she said " I love love love them" and could she link to my Etsy on her blog, twitter and Facebook as she wanted the world to see them..... lol (her words not mine) I was so thrilled that she liked them :-)))))))))

Anyway the second pattern I am knitting is for my friend at work Clare who as been through a really rough time over the last couple of years, she was out shopping in River Island and loved the new 'hoody scarfs' that they had in there. She came into work and told me about them and asked me if I would make her one if she bought the wool, so I had a look on good old Ravelry and found a lovely drops design pattern along the lines of what she'd seen. I had some stylecraft Life Chunky left over from another project so I am using two strands of that. If it turns out well I'll make some for my Etsy site.

 
On a non knitting note I took my naughty poodle Charlie to a new groomers today at the Grooming Centre, I picked him up lunchtime and he looks absolutley adorable! I'm really impressed with them, he was there for 2 and a half hours.

The last place I took Charlie they were finished in an hour and they had nicked his ear and his coat was really uneven but today he looks totally different from last time.

I will post a photo when I can get him to sit still long enough :-)

Anything knitting related :-))))))

A great little pattern I discovered

I know, I know I ahven't blogged for ages, that last post dated today I wrote back in May but it didn't publish for some reason but when I logged in today it was there waiting, bizare......... anyway I though I may as well publish it.

On to to other stuff, I have been a busy busy bee lately and I decided to try and make some money from knitting by opening a little shop on Etsy and Folksy, I started off by knitting three cushions, but they took quite a lot of time and effort so I decided to try and focus on smaller items such as a mobile/camera case. I have an Iphone and I like to listen to audio books on it with my headphones but I don't always have a pocket to put it in so I like a case I can wear round my neck. I had made myself a quick rough one from some left over Noro wool and I felted it but although it did the job it wasn't very attractive as the colours faded significantly.

Anyway I found this fabulous pattern on Ravelry fo an Iphone Cover with a flexi clasp and a little pocket on the front and it's adorable! You can find the pattern here: http://cottonandcloud.com/blog/free-pdf-knitting-pattern-knitted-iphone-purse/ I knitted one for myself and added an Icord strap and an icord flower on the front and I'm so pleased with it. Unfortunatley I can't post a photo as I can't get the blooming photo to upload!!! I'll have to try again later :-(

Anyway I decided this pattern would be ideal to make and try and sell on Etsy as the design combinations are endless, I have made three already including the one for me you can see them here on my shops: my Folksy shop my Etsy shop now all I need is someone to buy something so that I get some feedback and then hopefully others will buy some...... fingers crossed!

 

A Blog for Sarah XX

Hello hello hello, I know it's been far too long, where does the time go! My fellow knitter the lovely Sarah has given me a*virtual* kick up the bum to do some blogging, so here we go...... well first I'll need to read back where I got to last time, hold on a minute.........

Wow that was a few weeks ago, well I got my gemini wool and it is gorgeous! I've started the sagratino shawl, but I'm not really enjoying it if I'm honest :-/ for one thing I stupidly assumed the gemini wool would be made up of long runs of colour but it isn't, so the shawl will look different than anticipated but I can live with that. The pattern has a lot of errors in it so when you get towards the end of a motif you have to follow your nose rather than the pattern. It's just not as fun or going to look as good as I hoped, ho hum.

 

This is what the gemini wool looks like when knitted, pretty colours.

I also finished my first pair of socks since last time and I blocked them using home made sock blockers form a pair of wire coat hangers, they worked brilliantly! The socks are far too big but for a first pair I am pleased.

 

 

TGIF

When I got home last night I couldn't wait to have a look at my charity shop bargain, the foam jigsaw mats that I was going to use for blocking, only to find that they fit together in a hopscotch formation :-/

 

But hey ho, I'm sure it will come in handy for blocking Dr Who scarves should I ever wish to make one... lol

I finished baby Joseph's knitted jacket which I am quite pleased with, I hope it will fit him as it has taken me longer than anticipated to finish it.

 

My gemini wool that I ordered yesterday has been dispatched so I am really excited about that, with this in mind my mission tonight is to crack on with my Violetta Shawl, which is really just about finished whenever I decide it's the length I want, in the hope that the new wool will arrive tomorrow :-)  

This is not knitting related in the lease but it is so cute! It's a cat playing with an Ipad you have just got to watch it!

Happy Friday :-)

New Knitting Project in mind....... (damn!)

I was so intending to be good over Easter,I did resurrect my Liquid Violetta shawl and I would say I am about 3/4 of the way through this project it's looking really pretty and will be lovely for a summer evening and I am really enjoying knitting it again, I even took it to knitting group this week and managed to make no mistakes whilst there. One sock is finished all bar the casting off but I wanted someone at knitting group to help me to cast off using the Kitchener stitch method, but it was a bit busy there this week so I'll try again next week.

My cardigan I was making, I really wasn't happy with it it was a 6 stitch knit 4 stitch purl pattern and the end purl stitch is always baggy for some reason, I had trouble with the pattern and had unpicked and knitted it back up numerous times. Everytime I thought of it I felt guilty and full of dread. I decided to just get on with it and get it finished BUT I couldn't find the pattern book! I looked in all the usual places and all my knitting hidey holes but couldn't find it anywhere so I took that as a 'sign' and binned it! I thought there would be no point unpicking it because it was a kid mohair blend and would be a bugger to unpick, so it's gone and I feel so liberated, Kelley Petkun was right.

We had a discussion about blocking at knitting group on Tuesday as I was saying I never do it and wasn't sure how to go about it and what to block things on come to that. Sophie said she uses those jigsaw childrens foam floor mats which you piece together, what a brilliant idea! I was thinking my shawl will really benefit from blocking if I can do it! My mission this lunchtime was to trawl the charity shops and see if I could find any of these blocks. Guess what, I found a set in the first charity shop I went in to! So I have 10 of these jigsaw foam blocks each being about a foot square and they came in a nice littles zipped up bag all for £2.50, so I was really chuffed with that, then I went to the pound shop and got a water squirter bottle so now I am already to have a go at blocking.

OK enough of that, now to my naughtiness *blush* despite my good intentions of finishing my UFO's I have to confess to just ordering some yummy Pure merino sock yarn from The Yarn Gallery, I just couldn't be good any longer the effort was to great :-( 

 

Isn't it gorgeous though! I am going to knit the Sagrantino shawl on Ravelry, I think this will make a lovely evening shawl for the summer :-)

 

The shawl is knit in 34 hexagons, you start the second hexagon by picking up stitches on one side of hexagon 1 and so on. I can't wait to get started!

So long Union Jack Flag cardie...... (for the time being anyway) :-)
 

Hooray Knitting Group tonight :-)

I love Tuesdays because it's knitting group night!

I'm still listening to Kelley and the KnitPick podcasts, now this will make you laugh, you know I said I liked Kelley's relaxed voice, she talks so slowly and precisely, I've just realised I am listening to her at half speed!!! I've speeded her up to normal speed but it just doesn't sound like my Kelley anymore.... lol.... I have put her back to 1/2 speed and I do prefer it. OK I am still getting used to my I-Phone and how it works...

Ok back to the knitting.... my I-phone cover didn't felt well and didn't shrink much in size so I had to cut it in half and sew up one side, the colours faded alot too which is a bit of a shame.

  
  

However I am fairly pleased with it and it does the job that was intended for, even though my boss said it's very 1960's (but what does he know!).

Well, thats it, no more new projects I have so many half finished ones I think I am going to devote the Easter break to tackling some of these. They are:

1)My pair of socks - started last week, 2)A cardie for me started in Jan 2009! (it's about half done), 3)My African Adventure bag started May 2009, 4)Ice Queen No: 4 in black started probably October time, 5)My Liquid Violetta Shawl, which I do have the urge quite stongly to pick up again, started in September 2009, 6)Baltoro bag started in January 2010 as a knitting bag, 7)cabelishious cushion cover.... hmm may not bother to finish this as I don't know if it will work in my newly decorated lounge now?, and finally 8)Steve's dreaded cardigan!!! This has already been unpicked and restarted as a different pattern but I still don't like it and I don't think Steve will wear it (Steve is my eldest son).

Gosh 8 UFO's!! I have a desperate urge to knit this which is a Union Jack Flag with two sleeves set in it, it's such an unusual design and would be great to wear when this years world cup is on, I'm stopping myself buying the wool with the guilt of my UFO's, although Kelley says we should never feel guilty about them :-)

I can't believe I was am listening to Kelley at half speed......... :-/

Kelley Petkun is a Goddess!

Ok finish the phrase, 'Once upon a time there was knitter that loved -----' If you are a fan of the KnitPicks Podcasts then you will be able to answer that, it is of course 'BOOKS'. I am still adoring the KnitPicks podcasts, I am up to epsiode 26, I have been listening all weekend whilst doing my housework. I love the relaxing voice of Kelley it makes you feel so calm :-) I picked up a good idea from her this weekend, so simple I don't know why I didn't think of it before. As a knitter you normally have more than one project on the go, and knit different things in different situations. I usually have all my current projects stuffed in one big bag which gets a bit messy! Kelley has all her projects organised and 'ready to go' in seperate project bags, such a simple idea, doh!

I've been looking around for suitable project bags on the internet but of course they are all rather expensive, you could order little canvas bags but you need to generally order 100 or so at a time! Even I don't have that many projects on the go. Anyway I have found the solution......... (drum roll) ............ Tesco reusuable wine carriers, not the boxes of course but the little canvas bags, they are just right for small to medium knitting projects and at just 39p each you can't go wrong, they are durable waterproof and strong, of course you need to just snip out the bottle holder bit inside but that just takes a matter of seconds. I'm really pleased with the result and when I go to knitting group tomorrow (hooray) I will be much more organised.

The other great tip the lovely Kelley has given me is to download audiobooks that you can listen to whilst you are knitting, another great idea! I have joined http://www.audible.co.uk it's an Amazon linked company for an initial payment of £3.99 per month (£7.99 after 3 months) you can download a book a month. Today I downloaded Marian Keyes, The Brightest Star in the Sky which is about 16 hours long so what with my podcasts I should have plenty to listen to whilst I'm knitting.

Yesterday whilst I was doing the housework, I was listening to my podcasts but I had no pocket to put my Iphone in so I spent most of the day with it stuffed down my bra, which wasn't the most comforable place to put it, I can tell you, so in the evening I decided to knit a little Iphone case with an i-cord lanyard so that in such situations when I have no pockets I will have somewhere to put my phone! I used my last ball of Noro Cashmere Island wool (which I had used for my Lady Eleanor shawl) which would be feltable. I popped it the washing machine last night on a 60 degree wash, it felted fairly well but not enough so back in it went this morning. When I popped home lunchtime and checked it it was still quite large so I have stuck it back in on a 95 degree wash and I'm hoping for the best! GULP....... let's hope it's not shrunk to nothing by the time I get home :-/

Boring Wednesday and podcasts

Last night I went to knitting group HOORAY! It's such a stress buster and so nice to catch up with my knitting buddies. As usual we chatted about all sorts, if any of us have a new knitting book or magazine we take them along aswell so we get to see magazines and patterns that we wouldn't maybe buy. I took along my latest edition of Verna Magazine which my good friend Bennettbonce always gets for me as her husband works for a magazine distributor;-) Sophie took along her latest Simply Knitting Magazine which I meant to look out but forgot! That was probably because I was so busy chatting! I seem to talk constantly at knitting group, a complete load of rubbish most of the time but I can't seem to help myself! I look forward to it so much I seem to 'explode' when I get there!

I must try next week to give other people a turn :-(

My little Sarah wasn't herself yesterday and to make matters worse her KAL that she was doing with Sophie went wrong which upset her evening, she has a lot on her plate at the moment with some health concerns to get to grips with. We are all thinking of her, she is such a sweetie and organises us all, she got us all Ravelry buttons with our names on and made us home made biscuits for Christmas and she always brings us little treats each week, she would give you anything I'm sure if you asked her, and our group is a better place for having her as a member. Have a look at her blog here http://alittlemiffymagic.blogspot.com/ 

I decided to have a go at listening to some knitting podcasts.......... which reminded me I could be listening to one whilst I blog! So I have just googled and found one called 'The Knitmore Girls' so I am listening to that now whilst blogging. I have downloaded a few for my Iphone, the best one so far was episode 1 of 'Knitpicks' the ladies voice was so relaxing to listen too and you could tell she was excited and in love with knitting that you got hooked! Some of them have such monotonous voices that you just switch off! Most so far have been American, no dis-respect but I would like to listen to some English podcasts. I need to keep looking! The latest Knitpicks podcast which I listened to today was not the same lady as the first, she was interviewing a lady that was the author of a Toe Up Knitting book, but she sounded so patronising to the lady, her interest sounded so false! When I find some I really like I'll blog them.

Today I had to go to a meeting about the upcoming elections, as I work in LG. They are convinced the General Election will be along with the local elections on the 6th May and they are already looking at a further election in November if it's a hung parliament! I have to attend the count and make sure the computers are running smoothly and project the results to a big screen, I asked the Election Officer can I bring my knitting but he said I'd be far to busy for that :-( I hate pressured situations like that, it'll be full of election candiates and their agents, supporters and families, they scrutinize everything that is done as of course if the vote is close and they can get a re-count they will ask for it. Everyone on the night is very stressed! Knitting would be just the thing to calm me down :-(

My girlies at knitting group all knit or have knitted socks apart from me and Sarah, so I thought I really should have a go, even though I think it's a terrible waste hiding socks under trousers and in shoes. So I have ordered some wool today to make some! The wool is http://www.celticove.com/acatalog/Regia_Galaxy.html Regia Galaxy and it makes a really cool zig zag pattern and you get a free pattern with the wool! I haven't really knitted with pointed needles before so I'm worried it's going to be a bit of a learning curve, I did briefly try and got very confused! The pattern you get is just plain so it would be good for a 'first pair' although I am very tempted by the socks I saw on Knitty today, they are called 'Twisted' http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEss10/PATTtwisted.php so if I'm feeling brave I may give them a go!........