Sorry, Sorry, Sorry - Catch-up 1

Hellooo!!  Is anyone still out there??   Hmm.....it's hard to know where to start after nearly a year long  absence - but no excuses.

Time passes and seems to get swallowed up not least by today's labour saving new can't-do-without devices like my  iPod Touch.  I love it! How did I manage my music before?  And my iPad....and my iPhone.  And do I really need all three?  Of course not but they are lots of fun.  Summed up by my three year old  grandson Freddie's response when I phoned  his Mum to ask her what to do with my new iPad.  He took  a deep breath and said quite simply "....Well,  Grandma,  you play with it".  As simple as that!  I like to think I do a fair bit more,  but  out of the mouths of babes.....

So.  I think pictures are the way to go and thanks to instagram ..... no!  I'm not getting started on my favourite apps.

I made quite a few of these circle scarves last Summer, the size of the circles varied as I tried to make a fast and simple Sophie Digard look alike. Not surprisingly  I didn't succeed but I am still pleased with my efforts.






These are some of the other colour combinations I tried, all using left-over sock yarn.  In fact almost the whole year has passed with almost no yarn purchases!







And although this is not really a chronological record it seems that these snowflakes are a good ending for the first catch-up.

I made them at   Christmas time and some I included in our Christmas cards, some were given as little presents and some I kept for myself.  They were mainly made from Caitlin Sainio's  lovely book "100 snowflakes to crochet " - a joy to browse through and a joy work from.




I used crochet thread Aida 10, hook 1.25mm. I soaked them thoroughly, blocked them to shape and sprayed them with spray starch to stiffen them enough to hang in the window or on a branch. And I made about fifty!! Some went to the library to hang on the "knitted tree" the library knitting group made.

Frilly Scarflets

These are all based on Edie Eckman's lovely pattern



Edie Eckman's Flower Frills Scarf adapted to make smaller flowered, one sided, thinner and lighter summer neck "adornments".

The first one is Handmaiden Sea Silk colour Sangria 3.75mm hook.
The second, Natural Dye Studio Precious 4ply, with some Debbie Bliss (or Rowan?) pure silk mixed in, started with 3.75 hook to chain 154 and then 3mm for the rest.

The third one is a mixture of Handmaiden Sea Silk colour Sangria and Fyberspates red Unicorn.

And the last one is Hand Maiden Sea Silk - colour Mineral, 3.75mm hook.

Flower Frills Scarf (2)

Flower Frills Scarf. 3.75mm clover soft touch hook (I love it). Handmaiden Sea Silk colour Sangria

Frilly Crochet

My newly revived interest in crochet is being fuelled by three (!) books by Edie Eckman - The Crochet Answer Book, Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs and Around the Corner Crochet Borders

This is Edie Eckman's Flower Frills Scarf (Ravelry link) , you can buy from Patternfish.



Crocheted with 3.75mm hook

I used very very soft and very very shiny Handmaiden Lace Silk left over from long-ago made shawls in colours Paris (mainly) and Rainforest ( partly).
54" x 1 1/2" excluding the frills.




It's another "scarf" that is great for Summer - can be worn round your neck or as a belt. The lady at my lys kept correcting me when I called it "a scarf" - her word for it is "an adornment".

There are so many variations on this theme using the edgings from the borders book, I can't wait! In the meantime I'm hoping to show you a modelled photo from Katie because she "borrowed" it from me last Wednesday and I won't get it back for ten days or so.

Little Summer Scarf

I didn't really need to do anything other than follow a simple chart to make the motifs in my previous post but this scarf was slightly more complicated.




This was how it started...



With the medium sized motifs being joined together as they were made and enough separate smaller ones to make the tasselly ends as long as I wanted.

Then you crochet all along the long edge and continue down connecting the smaller ones, then back up the other side to the top dangleys. The charts are excellent.



The pattern is from the Japanese book "Pretty Colour Crochet and Knit". And you know there are so many other pretty thing to make.... I love these books - I've got four of them now!

Each motif measures about 1 1/4". I used a 3mm hook and Jaggerspun Zephyr wool-silk. Lace weight. Mine is three motifs wide instead of the patterns four and the finished size is 52"x 5".






The very first photo taken with a cheapo webcam under an energy efficient light bulb is the truest to life colour. Actually the second one is true too.

Flutter Scarf

Flutter Scarf is a very fast and effective pattern designed by Miriam Felton. I love the way the ruffles flow out of the eyelets.


Pattern: MimKnits Flutter Scarf
Yarn: Violet Green's 55%/45% Silk/Cashmere 2ply lace weight in colour Berries (55gm)
Needles: 4mm Brittany Birch
Size:8" x 52"



Lovely pattern and lovely yarn.

Violet Green's Silk/Cashmere is very like Posh Yarns Eva - same composition and yardage but *slightly* easier to acquire!! I love Posh Yarns yarn but I haven't been fast enough to buy any for at least the last six weeks - and not through lack of trying. In fact last Sunday all the yarn seemed to be sold within about 5 minutes. Dee has got an incredibly effective way of selling and Well Done Dee!! But.... I find it so stressful! I'm sure it wacks up my blood pressure. I expect I'll carry on trying to buy it but I don't hold out much hope that I'll get any.

And right now I'm very tempted by this and this....

ETA The second "this" link above worked when I first typed it but since then I bought 3 hanks of it and I must have had all there was because it's not there now! This link is another colour I liked and this is the link to all the Silk/Cash.

Birds

Besides being a model tree the lovely cedar is also the new home of DH's birthday present.

You can see it easily in the sunshine



But against the light it's very camouflaged.



It's not just a bird's nesting box, it has a little camera inside it. Well, we haven't actually put the camera in yet because I'm still checking that it works ok and I didn't want a wireless one so we've got to organise the cable too. I know that no bird will use it this year or even next but they'll get used to its being there so hopefully, eventually, we'll be able to watch them in their nests- I think the blue-tit sized ones will be most likely. It's a colour camera -except for at night when the infra-red will kick in and it can link either to the tv or direct to the pc; I'm told it's easy to make dvds of them in their nest......

Worcester Peregrines

I love the way web cams have made it easy to see bird activity that otherwise would be hidden.

I've particularly enjoyed watching a pair of peregrine falcons with their two chicks in their nest on St Andrew's spire in Worcester. I think there are still two more eggs to hatch. This web cam updates every 10 seconds, so although it's not a movie it's fast enough to be interesting.

Twist and Lace Scarf and a Quandary

Twist and Lace Scarf designed by Brenda Patipa.


It's lovely isn't it? I love everything about it. I love the yarn - Poshyarns Sophia 2ply lace weight. I loved the actual knitting of it and I love the pattern. It is gorgeous to wear - so soft and floaty.

A different story with this one however. As yet it's unblocked, but the pattern instructions only suggest very light blocking and I haven't worked out how to block its cylindrical shape. The crumpled part at the top is the part that goes over your head.


It's Lily of the Valley Smoke Ring designed by Susan Lawrence. I used 3.75mm Addi Lace and Mushroom Jaggerspun Zephyr that was a present from Laura after I'd test knit her South Seas stole. Thank you Laura - I love the colour, it's perfect.

So I love the yarn, I love the colour and I love the actual pattern stitches (although with nupps on almost every alternate row it wasn't fast). My problems start when I try to wear it. I just can't make it look good on - well on me but even on my model. Look

and (don't laugh)


You see what I mean? So I don't know whether to undo it all and make a scarf using the same stitch pattern or sew the ends in, block it somehow and - well, what then? I'm not at all sure how to wear this sort of scarf thingy. And I've got a sneaking suspicion that the cast on edge -the edge that frames your face- is a bit too tight. There were no hints in the pattern to suggest this would be better looser and I just did my usual cast on but I definitely feel it would be better looser. And is it difficult to undo the cast on edge while still keeping stitches above to cast off from?

In fact I seem to be having a spate of poor project decisions. I almost finished the first of a pair of Cat Bordhi's socks - the ones that have a cat design round the ankles. But after a couple of days on and off working I realised it was looking nothing like cats - some sort of weird monster creatures, not at all what you'd want on your feet. So another frogged. Before any sort of photo...

Hopefully this next one will stand more success of being finished.

This is Marguerite from Louisa Harding's Design Collection book and I've knitted it twice before, so I know which size to make and what adjustments to make so I should be on safe enough ground here.
The yarn is Louisa Harding's Kimono Angora Pure - 70% Angora/25% Wool/5% Nylon. I've not used this before but it's knitting nicely and not shedding too many fibres.

It should be a relaxing knit to do in odd moments over Christmas time.

Huckleberry Ascot and Twist and Lace

This is the beginning of Brenda Patipa's Twist and Lace Scarf from here. I am using PoshYarn's Sophia lace weight although the pattern suggests a 4ply. I decided I would prefer the lightness of this finer Cashmere yarn - and I do -it is so soft and frothy! This is how it started...


and now...

It's just over half done and looking good isn't it? There has to be a brief delay because I need more yarn.


At the same time and in the same yarn although this time used double, is Huckleberry Ascot





It's a quick and simple project, garter stitch with short row shaping at the ends to make the flouncy bit and then the bobble row is worked from stitches picked up from the two ends. The pattern is in IK Holiday 2007.

Bits and Pieces

The model isn't perfect for this scarf ...

It's the first of my man-presents.



Rows of triple crochet crocheted on a 4.5mm hook, the pale grey yarn is just called "Ecological Wool" from Uppingham Yarns and the lime and dark grey are Drops Alpaca from Scandinavian Knitting Designs, both used double. And yes, the lime does look yellow in the photo. I've been having so much trouble getting colours to display correctly, in fact both my camera and I are having a complete colour crisis. I don't know what's the matter with my camera but my problem is I that I don't have the right wool......

These colours are slightly more accurate

But the palish greeny colour has gone now.

It is subtle but not invisible for goodness sake. Perhaps it's the hairy nature of the Alpaca thats making it difficult to photo.

This is the first of a pair of fingerless gloves - "Little Gem Mitts" from Interweave Knits Holiday 2007. I've used the Drops Alpaca again for the main fawn colour and oddments of sock yarn for the rest on 3mm needles. I think the two gloves will need less than 50gms. I'd forgotten how fiddley colour work is and when the last stitch is cast off there are so many ends left to sew in before its finished.

I've finished two pairs of socks as well but I'm not happy with their photos so I'll try again in the morning....honestly, photography and general messing with the pc has taken *hours* this week

Knitting and Crochet

I definitely prefer to knit but sometimes my fingers need a change and I want the effect and speed of crochet. I love this little "One-Skein Scarf" from Debbie Stoller's The Happy Hooker.

It tiook no more than two hours.It's very pretty and drapes beautifully thanks to the lovely PoshYarn Sophia 6 ply (DK) colour Ruby Tuesday. The pattern is in Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker. I used a 4.5mm hook for most of it and a 6mm hook for the beginning 130 chain. It is 3" wide at its widest and 48" long used all of my 55gm skein.



This one has quite a look of crochet about it but is in fact knitted. The pattern is in Simply Knitting Spring 2006 Issue 14. I used Rowan Tweed left over from Kate's bag (scroll down) on a 6mm Addi turbo.

It's one of those Moebius scarves that were popular a while back. This one has the twist built into the cast-on which is in the middle of the scarf and as you knit you are working both edges at the same time.

Hmm...that sounds very complicated if not incomprehensible. I've ordered Cat Bordhi's "Treasuryof Magical Knitting" and I know there is a very detailed explanation here. It should arrive early next week.

I enjoyed knitting this and I think when my book arrives I shall make more!


Another crocheted one in different yarns.

The grey is "Ecological Wool" that I bought at the Knitting and Stitchcraft show at the NEC Birmingham a week or so ago and the lime and dark grey are Drops Alpaca from Scandinavian Knitting Design both used double.


The yellowy colour in the scarf is actually a lovely lime -the colour is more like the ball at the very bottom of this next picture.


Now I'm not sure exactly what to do next. I need one or two more rows of trebles but I can't decide which colour. Any ideas?

One Finished.....

Mystery Stole 3 - Swan Lake


I used a lovely lace weight merino from The Yarn Yard. It's much finer than anything I had previously used and took me a while to get used to it but it was worth it. I wasn't sure I would like its lack of symmetry with a point at one end and the wing at the other but I love the finished look. It has got beads on but they are really hard to see in the photo...in fact if I made another I would use more obvious beads.
Finished size 72" x 14 1/2"


The wing "feathers"




The wing is curving round the front and the point is hanging down.


And another close-up.




...Another one started....

I started this in France but I've been busy with other things and progress has been slow


It's "Lacy Kerchie fScarf" by Lisa Daehlin and the pattern is in Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2006. I'm using Phil'Bambou from Phildar on 4mm needles, colour Eucalyptus. The yarn is really drapey and with fantastic stitch definition but like other bamboo yarns I've used very splitty.

More Holiday Knitting

Things have quietened down a bit now and I'm able to do a bit more knitting.




I am so pleased with how this scarf has turned out. I think the photos above are the best for showing accurately the vibrant shades of this yarn.

But you can see how soft and drapey it is here


Fiddlehead Scarf from Morehouse Farm Merino

It was thoroughly enjoyable - both the knitting of it and the actual handling of the wool. And I love the colour. It was altogether a delightful project.


This is the start of Eloise from Jane Ellison's Noro Knits - a request from Rachel although I feel very tempted to knit one for myself - perhaps she won't like it or maybe it won't fit . We'll see.


I love Noro Blossom and I think this is my favourite colour. It's very light relief after the various lacey scarves etc. In fact I'm having to have a complete rest from MS3. I'll get going on it again soon.

And another one started -

This is going to be Poppy, a V-neck jumper from Yarnplay by Lisa Shobhana Mason in two Noro yarns - Silk Garden and Cash Iroha.

And Florence is finished all but the little floral decoration and I haven't got just the right colour for it here but I will do it because I think it just finishes it off..


I still have reservations about shrugs in general and this one hasn't dispelled any. It's a bit tricky actually putting it on so that it hangs right - I can see from the photo I didn't get it quite right but we don't have a proper mirror here. This sadly might be one that I don't wear much - if at all.
Edited to add details:
The pattern is Florence from Rowan's Classic Art. The yarn is RYC Luxury Cotton DK in colour Tang (252) on 4mm and 4.5mm needles.
Thanks Vanessa :)


Thanks for all your comments and my apologies for the lack of links and individual mentions - and for my lack of comments on your blogs. The laptop is slow, I'm slow and the internet is snail slow!! It is very difficult here!