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!

FO: Afterthought Heel Socks

Last weekend, I had a great time in Fife with a lovely long walk on the beach from Burntisland to Kinghorn. It was a lovely sunny day if maybe a little on the windy side; we did sit down at one point, massive error as we both got a faceful of sand. On the upside, you get some great views of the Firth of Forth and Edinburgh, including this one along an old pier.

On the train, I finished my afterthought heel socks; they are to be a pretty late birthday present, the birthday was the last week in March, oops! I've been interested in doing a pair since reading about them on Eskimimi's Blog and, after picking the brains of my housemate Steph,  Googled to find instructions here (where it is called a waste yarn afterthought heel), though there are many options for video and audio guides to them too.

I've taken a few photos in different lights so I hope you can make out the colour of the yarn OK. The yarn is Crazy Zauberball in 2095 Indian Rose ( I think) bought at my current LYS, BaaRamEwe, and it varies between a scarlet red to a auberginey purple.

Vanilla socks, toe-up, with cast on with Judy's Magic Cast on and with a waste yarn afterthought heel. Sounds complex but really so simple! This really was brilliant, brainless knitting; after the toe plain stockinette in the round until  you had to knit half a row with scrap yarn, and then plain stockinette until the ribbing, mostly using 2.25mm needles (the ribbing I did on 2mm needles).

You do have to go back and do the heel and then graft it together and here is my pro tip: when grafting there is yarn on a needle, so it looked to me like a good opportunity to sew up the two small holes that can appear either side of the heel (this does also happen with a standard short row heel, I just pick up stitches).

I'm hoping I can photograph the week's other FO and get it out to you before my manic weekend of moving house but if not, see you on the other side!

PS. no, you do not need to adjust your set, some of these photos have weird aspect ratios; apologies for that. 

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??

FO: Snowbaby Blue

I do not knit for Christmas. It's a policy I have formed, knowing a) my tendency to bite off more than I can chew when choosing a pattern to knit as a gift and so it is late and b) the stress that some of my fellow knitters feel in the months leading up to Christmas ('I have 8 hats to knit in three weeks!', etc.). I do not need the stress of knitting so many gifts at the same time.

However, I do knit for birthdays and M (my other half)'s birthday falls in the week leading up to Christmas. Some months ago, I was browsing ravelry while he was pottering around, looking at the hat I was about to start knitting for myself. He looked over my shoulder and the conversation went something like this:

M: 'That's a lovely-looking hat'

Me: 'I thought so, I'm going to knit it for myself in purple. I'm really looking forward to trying this thing called Fair Isle, where you knit two colours on the same row. I was a resolution of mine to learn it this year, and it's September so I should really crack on with it.'

M: 'You know, I kind of need a hat....'

[long pause]

Me: 'Would you like me to knit one for you?'

M: 'Yes please'

Me: 'In navy?'

M: 'Yes please'

Me: 'For your birthday?'

M: 'Of course'

A few weeks later, after looking at a lot of navy yarns, I even managed to persuade him to come to the yarn shop with me. And to pose for photos when I'd finished. He's a good sort really :)

Pattern: Snowbaby by Eskimimi

Yarn: Artesano Superwash Merino DK, 2 in Navy (6416) and 1 in cream (SFN10). Bought at K1 Yarns, Edinburgh [near the Grassmarket and Victoria St. i.e. very very central].

This does mean we have matching hats. Not intentionally. Don't we look supercool? [not!]

FO: Hello Sailor! Socks

Well, they really did have to be called that, given the nautical stripes and the related pattern - Fishnet Socks from The Purl Bee by Purl Soho. A knit designed to be simple, easy and quick, to counter Orchid Thief. However, I got quite distracted with life / work / holidays and so they took me about a month. (also, in my rookie yarn-buying days, I'd bought a single ball of Regia not knowing you need two for a proper pair of socks, and this used it up nicely). My former housemate was excited when she saw me knitting them, exclaiming, 'Summer bedsocks!!' and since she clearly had a gap in her life for them I gave them away.

The modifications I made were to ssk instead of k2tog for the second sock to that the twists went the other way (which worked really well) and to knit the sole of the sock instead of continuing in pattern, to make it more comfy to walk on (which didn't really work, the twisting stopped for the foot). Only my second pair of socks so still learning but much happier with my picking-up and grafting skills. Though I'm hoping the next pair are toe-up, fingers crossed as I hear they're hard to start...

FO: Spring Forward (Blue)

This is my first pair of socks, and I may have bitten off more than I can chew with Spring Forward. Don't get me wrong, lovely well-written, simple pattern; it was just a little too much to learn picking up stitches, turning the heel etc. while doing a pattern. So, if you're new to socks, find a plain vanilla sock pattern and then knit these.

As with any 'first', there were trials, tribulations, and times when I just ran off to more experienced knitters, but overall I enjoyed the process. The yarn I chose was really easy to use and reasonably priced - King Cole Merino 4ply in Slate Blue, from Baa Ram Ewe, Headingley.

I joined the two balls of yarn using a Russian join, supported by this website and the ever-patient Steph. It was a little confusing at first but actually is a great idea and worth persisting with.

Yeah, slight second sock syndrome though - I did the join well into the second sock as you can see, and there was snow on the ground. That second sock only took two months. But again, worth it in the end - knitted for my Mum, she was really touched and proud of how I'm coming along as a knitter (though, since she taught me to knit, maybe a little worried about what she started!!)

FO: Spring Ishbel

It would seem blog week has thrown me all out of whack. I finished two projects that week and still haven't blogged about them. And there's all sorts of knitterly topics I have in my head or things on the horizon.

So to Ishbel.

(taken using flash)

I really, really enjoyed this pattern. Though the lacework meant it was needed a fair bit of brainpower, as I got into the swing of each row I found I could at least watch TV or a film. I used to live with a lovely fellow student, now teacher, and I saw the yarn and thought of her instantly. I showed it to her online and she make squeaking noises. Another day, I showed her the pattern and more squeaking ensued. And so her birthday present idea was born in my mind.

(taken with no flash)

I used Zauberball in Flowers (aka Floral Language, aka Durch die Blumen), bought at Harrogate Knitting & Stitching Fair way back in November. I cast on between Christmas and New Year, and after a couple of train journeys was making good progress; it was looking good, knitting up quickly, and the green was peeking through and making me rather excited.

However, there was a go-slow when the lacework started - the rows became too long to take it on the train, it became too difficult to do socially, and I was so crazy busy that my knitting time at home almost vanished. I took it to a fabulous craft day with ewenique and this really sparked my love of it again, especially as she gave me a coincidentally matching project bag 'for Christmas'.

Initially, I knitted the small version, but then I had only one stripe and loads of yarn left so I tinkered about a bit and managed to do the pattern section: ABABAC - first two rows of D - E. And trust me, that is literally as much as the yarn would allow (at least at my gauge) - there was a lot of cunning lifeline placement! The two skills I learned were lifeline placement and blocking by myself - so proud of it I even took photos of the blocking stage...

But the best part by far was giving it to my former housemate. She was so genuinely touched that she could not stop thanking and hugging me. This cheered me up so much after a few rough days that it made all the trials worthwhile.

Where are they now? 2KCBWDay4

Whatever happened to your __________? Write about the fate of a past knitting project. Whether it be something that you crocheted or knitted for yourself or to give to another person.

This topic I almost wimped out of. As soon as I saw it, I thought, 'I'm not sure I want to know'.

I knit a lot of things for other people (occasionally forgetting to photograph them), and I get lovely thank you texts, cards, and hugs. People usually seem genuinely touched about getting something handmade, in my experience at least. Even my mum, who requested I knit a white acrylic 2x2 rib hat one Thursday, was really chuffed when I presented it to her the following Monday after a weekend away (memorably exclaiming, 'I knew Inverness was a long train ride away, but I didn't think it was that far!!').

However, I normally get a little paranoid when I see the person over the following weeks and months, and they're not wearing the knitted item - or worse, wearing a different hat / scarf / etc. Did they really like it? Or was that beautiful thank you card given out of pure politeness?

Fortunately, my faith has been restored. I knitted this hat and gloves for an old friend, Hannah. She requested mustard yellow and I went as close as I could without gagging...

When I gave them to her, she let me take a face of how they made her feel. A week later, she sent me a little text saying she still loved them and was wearing them every day.

But then, when I saw her over Christmas, another pair of gloves was being worn, and I thought another one bites the dust. Then, when I saw her on Sunday night for pizza and G&T (yes, that's how we roll), the hat and gloves were on when she appeared on my doorstep. And my heart glowed with pride.

FO: Humanity Mittens

Apologies for the quality of the picture, it was late at night and there was a birthday deadline the next day!

Pattern: Humanity Mittlets. (ravelry link(

Yarn: King Cold Merino Blend Chunky in Navy

Needles: 4mm bamboo dpns.

Generally please with my cabling skills (first time for everything!), but I'd used a bit of the yarn for another project, so ran out and made the thumbs shorter. Turns out, this is a good thing, as it's useful in some guitar-playing way.

This project was made for my housemate, who I've been stressing about (and probably being fairly passive-aggressive to), in a kind of I-cannot-believe-he-thinks-it's-acceptable-to (for example) leave a panful of curry on the oven uncovered overnight, use my baking things for cooking, or use my kitchen scissors to cut his hair. However, while making this project, I thought about this. Maybe I do have high standards but, even if that's OK, I cannot possibly pull him up on everything and I definitely cannot change his whole attitude. So, I'm just going to do it all; clean up what I can, when I can, because if you do it regularly it doesn't get so bad. And maybe just buy new scissors when he moves out...