WIP update

After a much-needed week off, we are back to business as usual round here. This week off involved some knitting, but not a lot - mostly we were watching Game of Thrones Season 1 and I didn't want to miss any of it while cursing a dropped stitch! I've got one project that is so nearly an FO I'll show you later in the week, and some purchases from the Hobbycraft sale, but for now, I am going to do a WIP update. [Footnote: this excludes the two jumpers that I'm STILL working on; Lauriel is waiting for me to find the time / energy / patience to reinforce the button band on, Skelf has been ripped back to the armpits and is now waiting for me to work out what to do next].

The first WIP is sadly absent; I was knitting striped gloves for my OH, and left them with him in Aberdeen when I travelled south yesterday. Oh well, if anything there has been backwards progress on them since they were photographed in this post; had to rip back all the fingers and have only redone the little one, but have done the thumbs.

And to add to the general bum note that we are starting on, my good camera is not talking to my laptop (clearly they can't get past whatever happened while they were together in my backpack during my week away), so we are on my less good camera.

Onwards and upwards....

Mince Pie Mayhem has grown from maybe three inches to four and a half. There is a lot of cabling in this, and while it is all two-stitch cables (i.e. one over the other), I do this on trains, buses and in the car. Cable needle required. Progress is a little slow, but I am very much enjoying it; the yarn and pattern are great together, and it's one of those that requires the right amount of brainpower to entertain me on my commute, but not so much that I need to refer to the pattern every three seconds.

Though what has grown is the socks for my Grandma, but they are worryingly long and skinny, like my feet and not like Gramdma's feet. I'm hoping I can finish this one before I see my Mum at the weekend, who has more similar feet to G'ma and can give them a try on.

Also, the Stitching Bug is still going. A little cross stitch kit that I'm battling the backstitch on....

... and another that needs a few more stitches to turn it into a cat next to a flowerpot. If you squint you can see it!

Right, now for a cuppa and to crack on with some craft - I am determined to get something seriously progressed tonight!

My productivity is back!

I've been busy since I last blogged. After feeling a bit negative about crafting in general (in fact, pretty much life in general) the other week, I picked myself up, dusted myself off and started all over again.

Blueberry Pie

First off, I ripped back those socks I wasn't happy with, after deciding that they should be reborn as Mince Pie Mayhem from Alice Yu's Socktopus. Love the way they're turning out, though there are a lot of cables and I've not perfected the cabling with no cable needle technique.

If Some is Good, More is Better

And then, since that combination was going so well, I decided that more of the same could only be better. I consulted with my mum about making some socks for my Grandma - the genetic source for both my love of craft and propensity to have cold feet. She was a prodigious knitter of many decades, whose productivity has been curtailed by arthritis and general hand pain. Clearly a woman in need of socks, I've cast on the Om Shanti bed socks from Socktopus for her.

With one eye on my holiday next week, I decided to put the socks on hold for that and try something different....

OK, so those were all WIPs and I spent an afternoon finishing all four of them, but they are now done and ready to become something. Now I am trying to think what the should all be! This next one has already been decided upon, given that is was a kit, so I backstitched it and made it up:

And finally, I did this yesterday and the backstitch this morning. Another finished thing to turn into something :)

I've also been baking for Comic Relief and have some granola in the oven at the moment - I'll let you know how it turns out another day.

Time for a little craft

Though I am sure you are finding my holiday snaps incredibly exciting, I thought at their halfway point we would have a little interval, and talk about some crafting I did while I was away. I did try to do the May Cross-Stitch along but failed spectacularly - after that month, it did look basically the same as it did at the beginning (in this post). I took it to the USA and managed to find some time in transit and in the evenings to crack on with it, and so by the end of June it had blossomed into this:

Sorry to brag but I am well proud of myself! My first big cross-stitch, first that needed an embroidery hoop, first in about ten years that had that many colours in it.... But my ambition did not stop there. I assembled the materials...

... and then had a massive PhD-related freak out that involved pulling a couple of very long days, but after returning from one of them my mum had turned it into this:

Done I think using these instructions, I can answer questions if needed but anything too technical will have to wait until I see my mum again. It was done for my Nana's 80th birthday and it was kind of from all of us, so I don't think it's too bad. And the recipient was very happy with the result, hooray!

May Cross Stitch Along II

I have a confession to make: I don't like fudging cross stitch. Maybe the odd stitch, but I have made systemic errors in this project and it is driving me up the wall. It looks exactly the same as it did three weeks ago. There has been a lot of going back and taking, and I have tried my best but I still see errors everywhere. Or maybe I'm lost in the giant pattern, I don't know. But it is either going to the bottom of the giant list of things I have to make, or it is going to need concentrated effort. My current plan is for the latter, so I'm taking it to America where I hope I will have the light to do it. If not, I'm hoping the light evenings will help once I'm back home....

May Cross Stitch Along

After having a good bit of inspiration about knitting, I suddenly had a rabbit-in-headlights moment; there is so much I want to knit, that I don't know where to begin. A lot of it I already own the yarn for too, so I can't really use that as an excuse for not cracking on. I've been in this situation but only realised during my week off (or rather, week not in the office but still working) that I am not going to meet any of my mental knitting targets. So I decided to hang them, and do some cross-stitch instead. Just as my knitting-decision-skills became totally paralysed, a couple of my twitter pals decided to have a Cross-Stitch Along, so I signed up. (Here is one of the other posts)

I do like doing flowers, they normally involve great colours; these are not the brightest but I like them all the same. I started this at Christmas, realised I'd made a mess of it, and put it to the bottom of the list. I think having a deadline will help this, but might be a bit ambitious; this is far and away the biggest project I have attempted in the last decade, and definitely the most complicated. There are a lot of little clusters - a few stitches of a colour here and there - so it it involves changing colour lots or incessant counting. To compound matters, I may have volunteered to turn in into a cushion or something for my Nana's 80th birthday in early July. Just what have I let myself in for??

Day 7: Crafting Balance (3KCBWDAY7)

I have an open mind when it comes to other crafts. Knitting is my main passion, but it is not my first love; that is cross-stitch. I joined a cross-stitch club at school when I was nine and really took to it. In my teens, it all fell by the wayside, and then at 21 I learned to knit again and never looked back. I have also returned to cross-stitch, but am nothing like as prolific as I am with knit projects. I do enjoy both, but I think knitting just fits into my life much better - cross-stitch lends itself less well to train and bus journeys, and for me at least requires better light than knitting.

I do like giving good cross-stitched Christmas card. 

I have dallied in other crafts, too. At Harrogate Knitting and Stitch Fair (but expertly missed in the relevant blog post), I bought a beading kit. I am progressing with this, but it requires sitting still for quite a while so progress since November has been slow. I have now finished the beading but not done the background, and am very much enjoying it. I'll give more details when it is finished.

I have tried crochet, and though it caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth on my part, I will try again sometime this summer (as I mentioned yesterday). I also intend to do some more sewing. But on the whole, I feel like I have a good crafting balance already, and even when I am in a just-knitting phase, I feel like I have a good balance. As long as I am doing some kind of craft, I am pretty happy.

Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Fair 2011

I was glad to go to Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Fair 2011, though now I have been three years on the bounce I think it may be time to have a year off. Don't get me wrong, it's still incredibly inspiring and full of as much craft stuff as I might ever need; it's just that I totally forgot to take photos while I was actually in the place, felt a bit ill and a bit claustrophobic. So yes, sorry, not one photo of an awesomely artistic quilt or crazy knitted fashion project, just photos of my haul.

First a parade of sock yarn. We have some Daffodil by Bar T'at yarns (available from Create Cafe, Ilkley) which will probably become some sort of spring shawl / scarf, possible for Mother's Day. The ZigZag ball is destined to become socks, hopefully skew socks [knitty, ravelry] for myself, but we shall see who else asks for socks before the year is out! The last ball of dark blues is what my mum asked for some legwarmers in. God only knows why I didn't point her in the direction of chunky yarn, but I have made my bed and must now lie in it.

And then the parade of cross stitch kits. The bookmarks are definitely for me, the other flowers may become Mother's Day presents and the little ones are probably going to be framed or something as part of Mum's birthday. It does seem like my mum is destined to do rather well out of my crafting in the coming months, but I guess that's her reward for taking me!

New Year Confession

It would seem I'm addicted top starting things at the moment. I haven't finished a project - like properly finished - in a very long time. There are some many of them, I've categorised them. So, my knitting resolution for the week: I Will Finish One Of These Things For FO Friday.

1. Going along nicely

My heart scarf is going along OK. It is large wool which is easy and satisfying, so this is the first piece and I'm three out of eleven repeats into the second. Then they just need grafting together. However, I would like some matching gloves that I cannot find a pattern for, so I'm going to desgin it - scary! But there is a first time for everything. And at least I have the wool:

2. Stopped due to lack of brainpower

First, my Spring Ishbel. It went up to Edinburgh, and I really enjoyed it all the way there and all the way back. But, when I got home, I'd started the lace pattern and the concentration and long rows do not fit very well with my knitting at home (do little bits between tidying / eating, while watching TV or listening to the radio). So this shall be deemed my Journey Project.

Then there is a Christmas card that didn't get finished. It's perfectly lovely, but I need some good light to tell the shades of brown apart and brainpower to put a branch in the right place, relative to the robin. So, this shall I shall finish in my lunchbreaks this week.

3. Stopped because it went wrong

I'm making myself some properly warm flip-top mitts, because Yorkshire is cold and so are my fingers. Especially when I start walking to work. But as I'm walking, my fingers warm up and so I pull off my gloves. Then they get cold, so I dig them out of my handbag and put them on again. And then the whole sorry saga starts again. And this is especially sad because this is the reason I started knitting, really. Someone got me some for Christmas some years back, and I loved them and wore them until they were mostly holes. I hoped someone would buy me some for the upcoming Christmas, but no-one did (despite hints). So, I went to my high street to get some for myself, and then I understood why no-one had taken the hint: Prohibitive Cost. But then I thought surely I can make some for myself for less than that!! Hence, I learned to knit. And I started them, and made the mitts bit. The flap I made was too small though, and while this is not the end of the world, the mitts do work at keeping my hands warm almost well enough that I can't be faffed making the flaps. I just need to bite the bullet.

And then there is the long-hibernating dalek. I have tried and failed to make the appendages several times, to no avail. And also, I have something that looks a lot like a dalek anyway. I need to bite this bullet too, but I might do it at a knitting night, since I can't run away from it there!!

4. Stopped due to lack of resources / knowledge

I have finished knitting the cranberry bolero, but it needs blocking. I have only ever blocked hats. There is a blocking party on this afternoon though, so I can use the skills of the excellet Steph.

Cross stitch kits I'm going to turn into cards, but I left my card-making stuff at my Mum's.

A kit I got for Christmas and am determined to finish (unlike so many of these things I've had in the past), but I cannot find my white thread. The shop awaits.

And then worst of all, I really need to do things about two birthdays. And not ones I can wriggle out of: my Mum and my housemate. I have the stuff for the projects (socks and mitts, respectively), except some of it is at my Mum's house (awkward when it's for her present!!) and I need to print off the patterns. And, should I really start anything new this week? I'll need to make a list of 'Current Knitting Projects' as well as that list of Future Knitting Projects in my head. I'd best not think about that too much though!!

Hope you've been enjoying your FOs!!

Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Fair

Oh my gosh, it has been a long time since I wrote this! Things at work have been picking up pace, things at home are still a little mad, but all has ceased this weekend. For today, I am ill. And it may be just a cold with some not fun achy aspects, the snow is just the prefect excuse to stay in.

There is much news on the crafty front. On Friday, I played hookey from work and went to Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Fair, with the lovely Steph. There was so much I wanted, but I miraculously kept to budget and got some lovely things in the process.

1. Some little cross-stitch kits, because cross-stitching got me into craft, they are quick and easy, and I am a sucker for cute little things.

2. Zauberball, in the colours admired by my former housemate. Will almost certainly become an Ishbel for her birthday in March. I'm really looking forward to it, but I feared making my first shawl for someone else. Hence....

3. Lang Jawoll Magic Superwash in green, which I saw and thought 'Simple City'; though the pattern was intended for a Zauberball, I've been wanting to do it for ages but thinking the colours can go a little dark and rainbow is a little mad for me. So I might do it with this, or I might go to my LYS and think about getting another Zauberball for it. While still in this quandry, I encountered...


4. Artisan Yarns, while their website is lacking stock at the moment, had a lovely stall full of sock yarn, including the fab lavendar's dilly. The winter light coming through my window doesn't really do it justice. I told myself, 'I'll make a practice Ishbel for myself, before cracking on with the one for March...'. Total Deviation From The Plan. But then, we went downstairs...

5. A full-length needle roll, just like I'd been dreaming about all these months! I feel so sorry for my poor well-loved straight needles, wrapped in elastic bands and shoved in a carrier bag, in the depths of my knitting bag. Now they have a lovely new home!! The shop can be found here, and all the fabrics make me drool a little...

So none too shabby! Also, this was the weekend of the mug-painting trip to Create in Ilkley, and of course I should tell you what's actually on my needles, but I will save those for another day!