I made lace!

I like a challenge, and I love a project where I learn a new technique or two. And I've been drooling over other people's lace project pics on Ravelry. So pretty! So delicate! So impressive!

I got a set of Knitpro interchangeable needles for my birthday this year, so I had suitable tools. Found a massive cone of lace weight merino on Ebay, so I had plenty yarn to use up (seriously, I could probably knit a shawl for my house and have enough left over for the shed). Spent weeks checking out other peoples' projects on Ravelry, and settled on the Haruni shawl as it had been tackled by lots of beginners   and no-one seemed to have given up and burned the pathetic results. And it was free.

Started the shawl on a Sunday afternoon after a big roast dinner, and within a few minutes I was considering quitting- this garter stitch tab thing, how does it work? I think it took five attempts and even then it looked like a child's first project. Still, I persevered. And continued to feel like a small child learning to use crayons. Or a cat trying to open a box of Whiskas treats. My hands were clumsy and i kept dropping the knitting.

Finally got comfortable with the skinny yarn, but following the pattern felt like doing differential equations (my Maths nemesis). I couldn't watch TV while knitting, couldn't even pay attention to music. My brain only had enough room for trying to follow the instructions, and then trying to figure out why the stitch count bore no relation to the pattern, ripping back to the lifeline and starting again.

Eventually I decided that this would be a practice shawl, and that I wouldn't feel bad about if it was a mess of mistakes (after all the cats had already decided that this soft yarn was destined to be a cat blanket). That did the trick. Instead of ripping out knitting, I just tried to fix the stitch count on the purl rows, making sure I had the same number of stitches on each pattern repeat by adding a YO or K2tog where it looked about right.

I finished it yesterday, and it just looked like a smooshed tangle of yarn. Then I looked up 'blocking', and here is the result.

Yes, you can see the uneven bits where I tried to fix the mistakes I'd made in the previous row. It's very far from perfect, but I am still ridiculously proud of it. I have now got the 'muscle memory' I think I'll need to make another, better, one. I also have an understanding go how charts work and how to 'read' my knitting and know more quickly when and how I've gone wrong.

I think I need to go and knit a couple of toys to get over the stress of Hard Knitting. Watch this space.

not knitting toys

I have been getting distracted my non toy knitting projects since about October. I think it's a combination of selling my car and so needing cosy hats and gloves for waiting at the bus stop, and the joy of learning new techniques. Here are a few of my winter projects.


some fingerless gloves for knitting al fresco

a cosy pair of wellie socks for my little brother with the big feet

a teapot cosy for lazy sunday mornings

my first socks for me! (sadly now deceased thanks to a washing machine incident)

My Ice Queen cowl in glorious kidsilk haze, and finally, a pair of legwarmers! no, I will not be wearing these in public. I wore legwarmers when they were trendy in the 80s, so by definition I can't wear them now.

I am now fully kitted out for a cold winter, just in time for the daffodils to make an appearance. Ah well, it should help me have more toy knitting time next year....

Puppets!

My other half is in a band, and one of my current works-in-progress is hand puppets of all 4 of them. The project has stalled a little thanks to some giant wellie-socks which were a birthday request for my 'little' brother- they killed my hands and left me unable to knit for a week. But here's Matt the singer's head.

One and a half more heads completed, and they're looking pleasingly Muppet-y. I really need to finish them up.

And here are the mega-socks that killed my hands. Look at the SIZE of them!

Some more monsters

This year I'm not doing much Christmas Knitting, it's better for my sanity that way, and having just started a new job I'm saving my spoons by only knitting what I want to- so here, have a couple more monster pics. These are more Rebecca Danger monsters, two from her book and one from a US magazine which was sent to me by a generous fellow Raveller.

I love these monsters, they knit up so quickly and have oodles of personality.

Giant Knitting

I've not been on here for a while, mostly thanks to the Beekeepers Quilt which seems to be stealing all my knitting time. But I had to come and post about the fun I'm having with some broom handles...



Yes, those are broom handles with the end whittled to points by my obliging brother. 3 strands of aran weight yarn is making a lovely soft drapey fabric. I'm adding in some cables because it's not challenging enough knitting with 25mm+ needles that are over 1m long :) It's wide enough at 60 stitches to make a blanket for a single bed.

Hard work on the shoulders, so I only managed 12 rows but it knits up so fast I could have a blanket in a week. I started doing this because I found out on Tuesday that I have a new job, and company policy at my old job is to pay you a week's wages in lieu of notice, and kick you out of the office- so surprise time off FTW!

Kitties are happy about this.



Please to be ignoring the state of my house. Surprise time off is NOT an opportunity to do housework.

Beekeeper's quilt

I've been remiss in updating my blog again. And this is why.


It's a knitted quilt made of tiny stuffed hexagons, or 'hexipuffs', and is a great way to use leftover wool. The hexipuffs are positively addictive, so satisfyingly squishy. I am on Puff 93 as of now, and expect to knit about 500 in total.

here is my puffy stash, a few puffs ago. Since taking this picture I have decided I need more neutral coloured puffs, for the sake of my retinas.


Kudos to the creator of this pattern, and I hope she earns enough from this to devote all of her time to creating more amazing patterns. 2462 Ravellers (so far) can't be wrong...

Monster Knits!

Thanks to a wonderfully generous Random Act of Kindness by a fellow Raveller, I am now the proud owner of Rebecca Danger's Big Book of Knitted Monsters. I may be addicted, these are the most satisfying knitted toy patterns I have ever knitted. Here, have some photos:


This is Colin the Canal Monster, who sits in the window and checks the canal for interesting floating rubbish




and these are mother and baby monsters, Leonard the Litterbox Monster (don't ask), and Mandy the Mardy Monster