Organisation actually works

So focusing on certain things each month actually works. My brain is usually all over the place, capable thing that it is, but choosing some things to work on, and then actually working on them actually gets things done. Who knew?

As I said before, the shorts are done. OK, so they were a Jan focus, but they are done, so let's not quibble.

The hat to go with the January  Cigar gloves is also done.

He likes to wear it with the brim turned up, in spite of the fact that he asked for it to be baggy. Also, we don't know what it looks like with the gloves, as he has lost those. Cold hands again, but this time, it isn't my fault. :(

I also managed to  do a hat for the Meister, who had asked for a black and sparkly one.

It is made with the lovely Lang Lanulux from Purl City Yarns, which I got on a spontaneous visit. It doesn't photograph well because of the sparkles, I guess, but it looks quite nice, and has a bow.  It is helping to make up for the disappearance of the Frog Hat. On Dec 20th, 2011, on the way back from home ed drama, she was harrassed by a group of 4 kids from St Anthony's Catholic College in Trafford. They knicked her hat and ran off with it. :( It was a well loved Frog Hat (called Frank) and we shall have to make another one, but in the mean time, we have glam and sparkle.

I also finished the fingerless mitts that I was doing for the Changeling.

They are actually being sent to The One Who Has Flown The Coop, as she  didn't seem to mind them too much, and being hard to impress, I'll give her first refusal. That is fine, as I can then make the ones for the Changeling in the colour that I was going to do originally for her. Or I could do a pair to match the Fairisle gloves I am getting ready to start.

I also have a craft fair this weekend, at the Horse and Jockey in Chorlton, but I haven't really done any extra to prepare as I have a lot of stock.  Although I did do this one, which I tried on The Babe for sizing. 

The plan for February

I am sticking with the 3 project monthly focus plan, but I do have about 6 things planned for Feb. Oh dear. I am still working on the shorts, but I don't know if I should count that as one of the 3? No, I will have another 3 :-)

So we are doing a slouchy hat for the Boy to match his cigar gloves, in the same King Cole Merino blend.  And we are finishing off a pair of fingerless mitts for the Changeling. One is already done, so if I finish that, I may possibly start some Fairlisle ones for her as well.

Then there are the teddies. I have bought some patterns for soft toys that are absolutely lovely, and am really wanting to get started on them...Along with some slippers for me. I have the yarn for the slippers and the toys, so don't have to buy any. :-) And I don't have any crochet projects on the go, so I should start the Small Talk shawl for myself...

See! That adds up to three, doesn't it?

I think I might like GREEN!

Here are some recently finished objects. It occurs to me that I do like certain colours. Although the Changeling did pick out the King Cole superwash Merino in the olive colour for her Owls jumper. And I have been doing lots of other crocheted things for craft fairs. So much so, that my right hand was beginning to develop a bit of a tremor. Have decided to take a break and do some knitting instead. I am trying to work on the Rebecca cabled shorts pictured at the bottom, but the pattern is rather confusing and I need lots of time to sort it out.  They are also going to be for the Changeling, although the Meister is asking for her own Owls and Shorts too. Oh dear.

Owls by Kate Davies



Diamond Ridges Hat by Kristy Ashmore



Lattice Hat by Sarah Arnold



South Bay Shawlette



In progress - Rebecca Cabled Shorts

Making the world a prettier place...

and not being silly at all because I am getting older and my eyes are failing me.
The new reading, crocheting, knitting glasses have arrived.

Update on the craft fair. I sold 3 hats. At least I paid for the stall. I am doing it again, to see if I can pay for all of the yarn I used to make the hats in the first place. And now making some fingerless mitts as well, and more girly headbands and chokers and bracelets and things like that for stocking stuffers.

I have not done much on the cabled shorts for the Changeling, but goodness me the pattern is difficult to figure out, and I need a good couple of hours slot to get going. So far, I have not managed the couple of hours. They need to be uninterrupted hours. When will that happen?

Knitting instead of blogging

So having a 22 month old who has learned that if she grabs your working yarn, she will get lots of attention is fun, even if it does prevent you from being that productive. I have practically given up on blogging for the time being, but when I do get free time, I am still making things.

Flowery headbands. :-)

Daisy purse. Actually made a few months ago. I have made another purse for a friend for a birthday present this summer, but failed to get a photo of it.

Baby knitting!

Yemma's dress test knit. Knitted yoke, sewn onto skirt. The skirt is actually a recycled dress that I made for my elder daughter about 10 years ago.

Beanie hat and flower made with left over bits. The hat is actually made with yarn that was given to me by another home edder years ago. It is at least 20 years old. So, does that make this vintage? ;-)

Jayne Cobb hat - Fave character from Firefly

Made with Drops Karisma from Purl City Yarns.

Crocheted halter to match the Ribbed Bolero. Bad photo - they look better in real life. Made with Paton's cotton twist.

Shalom cardigan in Rowan Cashsoft Chunky. The yarn was a bit of a disappointment as it was not very well spun and had lots of knots and slubby bits. :-( But the finished cardigan is appreciated.

I have some more baby knitting to do as well. Am nearly done with 2 sets of booties for Al's colleague who has had a baby girl - 4 weeks early! And there is a new baby on the street, who is in need of a brightly coloured vest. :-)  Then I have to get started on some knitted, cabled shorts for The Changeling.

A Baby's cardigan...

Started on the 30th. Had to recast on the next day - 2 and a half more times actually. Don't ask me why, but I kept looping an extra stitch on using the long tail cast on. Finally got there in the end.


Am determined to accomplish some knitting! The Babe is taking up every minute of my day, and I think I am beginning to suffer withdrawal. I don't want to exercise, I don't want to go to the allotment, I don't want to cook, even eating is taking a back seat! I just want to knit, uninterrupted for a few hours...days. :-)

Anyway, I knitted happily until I got to row 7. Had to knit this one back a couple of times, not really sure what I was doing wrong. Partly because I was up at 6.30 am with a toddler on a Saturday, and trying to keep her happy with a Little Bear DVD while knitting. In the end, it took me 1.5 hours to do row 7!

But I am very happy with myself. I got to row 9 and thought, "They've left out a yf." But I didn't trust myself. Did it like it says in the book, THEN thought to check online. And there is it. The mistake in the published pattern.  I was right! So I think I am a proper knitter.

Next step...designer....in a few more years. :-)

something for me.

I have gone back to the Buttercup. I started it last summer, with some yarn I got with a gift certificate my husband got for my birthday. It is nearly my birthday again. And maybe it is time I finished it?!
Good god, there are a lot of stitches needed to get around my boobs!

Mad crochet woman!

Doing loads! Getting repetitive strain injury! :-)


A shrug for the Meister. There is a matching halter...but not a photo of it.

This is the same cotton in an openwork mesh summer top for the Changeling. It didn't turn out at all like we planned, but she is happy with it. It was supposed to be baggy, but she likes it fitted, so I guess I get to try again to do a baggy one. :-)

 And this is the Granny Shrug that I am working on for fun with thinner yarn that I got from a Freecycler ages ago and haven't known what to do with. This is being done on a J hook, which I think is 6.5 mm .  The Changeling says she is interested in it if I turn it into a cropped top. We shall see.

There is also some work being done on another crocheted baby dress  pattern that I am trying to write up, and the toe up socks, and I may even get to work on my Buttercup again.

Owls

I have finished the knitting for the Owls jumper, but I am in a bit of a mood, so will write the story of it another time. (This is why I am in a mood.)
It is a bit tight in the armpits, so I don't know what to do about that. And the neck ribbing is a bit narrow as I ran out of yarn. But the Changeling looks lovely in it, and as soon I figure out the underarms and sew on a million buttons for eyes, it will be nice. And then she has to wait a few months for the weather to be appropriate for a wool jumper. :-)

Now I am going to do something in cotton. :-) Have been sitting in the garden knitting with Martine, so am looking forward to using cotton in the sunshine.

Aha!

 

Here is the lovely green cotton summer dress. It is little big, but still wearable, and probably will be for the next few years.  It is the Ruffled Baby dress   with one fewer increases so as not to be quite so ruffled, and no sleeves, so as to be more summery. Just a row of shell stitch instead of sleeves, which is cute enough for the Babe. Also got some lovely heart shaped spotty buttons that match the green perfectly from Folksy  but necessitated me sewing up the button holes a bit. The buttons are worth it though. :-)

Also, so nearly finished with these socks that I shall just call them finished and post the photo.

They are made with Violet Green sock yarn, doubled and on 4 mm needles. I started at the cuff with a 1x1 rib, over 42 stitches, and then changed to a pattern of k3 p3 for 3 rounds, and p3 k3 or 3 rounds, to give a checkerboard effect.


Have also started a pair of toe ups, but not really following a pattern, more like following about 5 patterns, as I try to get my head around how to do this. Thank goodness for Knitty.com and this great magic toe-up cast on.

And here is cheeky Babe, who wouldn't stand still or look at the camera while I was photographing her in her new dress, but who was more than happy to climb all over me and do her best to prevent me from photographing anything else, other than her lovely smile surrounded by a few dairy free chocolate brownie crumbs. ;-)

Gone and arrived!

What is gone are the Gentleman Socks. Frogged. With Glee.

I had gone back to them, figured out where I was in the pattern, turned the heel, kept up that twisted rib, and then suddenly I was missing stitches, and couldn't figure out what I had done wrong (which was knit while watching a film.)  I knitted back and bit, and some more, and eventually just pulled out my DPNs and pulled out a few rounds. I found my mistake, and started picking up the stitches again. Usually, this is a fairly straightforward exercise. But with all of these twisted stitches, it isn't. I had out my crochet hooks, was picking up so many dropped stitches, but I was perservering...I had come this far, I was damn well going to continue!

I only threw it across the room once! And then I went back that next day, nice and calm - again determined to finish these damn socks. The yarn kept splitting - I was picking up bits.  And then it hit me. I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO DO THIS ALL OVER AGAIN! I WAS ONLY ON THE FIRST SOCK!

So they have been frogged. :-)  And I am trying to decide what to do with the yarn now. I thought I would try socks on two circulars, or doing toe-ups- or maybe magic loop? But it was all too much for me. I could not make all of the necessary decisions. So I will do a regular cuff down pair of socks, and maybe stick a cable on them or something.

The thing that has arrived is a photo of the one who has flown the coop in her Rowan Felted Tweed jumper that I knit for her just in time for spring. :-)

The other thing that has arrived (after I went out to get it) is some yarn. I know I am supposed to be on a self inflicted yarn buying ban, but Purl City Yarns are having a March Madness sale, and they have King Cole Merino Chunky for £2.50 a ball. I am meant to be doing the Owls jumper for R before autumn, and this would be really good for that project, so I gave myself leave to buy that yarn. :-) R and I hopped on a bus, and went into Manchester, and had quite a nice time. She introduced me to vintage heaven as well. As for the yarn, she narrowed it down to the cream or the green, and they didn't have enough of the cream, so green it is going to be. But the cream would have been lovely. hmmm......I wonder if I can find that online anywhere.....

Progress and the real world.

So the Ribbed Baby Jacket is finally finished! She has actually been wearing it for over a week now, but I am just getting around to posting a photo.  I immediately wanted to start something new, and talked to R about doing some yoga socks for her, but then she went off to college and I changed my mind about the pattern, so I had to start something else. :-)

Am crocheting a dress for the baby in a rather bright green cotton, but I am not really happy with how it is going. It may fit when she is three. And then I got out an old lapel jacket from a Bernat pattern that I started when I was still pregnant and completely forgot about. It would probably only take me a couple of hours to finish, except that I must have been addled by pregnancy hormones while I was doing it as what started out as a jacket crocheted from side to side with 100 now has about 120 stitches. WHAT!?!?

So I thought I would go back to finish some other things I have forgotten about, and am back on the Gentleman's Socks that I started as a Violet Green KAL in Feb 2008. Oh Dear. How time flies. The socks look lovely, but for some reason, this pattern and me are not a good combination. It is slow and slow and slow. So I gave up. But I am back now, and will finish at some point.


At least I hope I will. (No, really, I WILL!) But the real world does keep infringing on my knitting time. Firstly is the Toddler. Lovely, but has decided to distract me from things yarny by wrapping herself up in my working yarn, or just by climbing on my lap, as if it is hers. :-) She is far too cute to ignore, so away goes the knitting. Until I get insomnia.

Plus Al has got this week off of work, and we are getting jobs done. Spent yesterday in the garden getting ready for some planting and rearranging things.

 

This is my new white disentra (bleeding heart). I have wanted one of these for years, and here is it in a relatively shady part of the front garden, behind the snowdrops, and protected from full sun  by the  Viburnum bodnantense. (Just found out what that one is called, thanks to the lovely staff at Hulme Garden Centre,  so I am showing off a bit.) 

Here we have the other bit of the front garden, which doesn't get much full sun because of the plants in the bit in the first photo. Big green pot is strawberries, little green pot is lemon balm, orange pot (to be changed soon) is my favourite Verbascum, (Southern Belle) some of which I have put in the ground there as well. In the terracotta pot is the dessert gooseberry which I took out of the ground because it stopped anything else from going in.

In the ground are tulips (transplanted at completely the wrong time of year, so fingers crossed) and some lovely dark pink Astilbe which is just coming up, and some trailing ivy to cover a bit of ground. It is all there in the photos, but you won't really be able to see until summer, when things are flowering.

.
Here is the veg patch in the back garden.
This was Al's digging. :-)

In the corner you can see a couple of pots, these are two of the tree blueberry pots. They are doing well and will be transplanted soon to bigger pots. In the ground are a couple of dessert  gooseberries. This is where the tulips were and why they had to be moved.

Here are the raspberries in front of the new fence the neighbours put up. I hate it. It blocks us off from one another too much - it is too high. But I pulled up all the weeds around here yesterday, and cut back some new shoots so the energy will go in the fruit growth. They are actually budding, but hard to seen in this photo - it is only my phone camera.


Along the fence on the other side of the garden we have strawberries, Michaelmas daisies, chives, more gooseberries, more strawberries and some other stuff which we are not sure what to do with right now.This patch up against the other neighbours fence is in shade most of the time, except in the late afternoon in high summer. I think we are going to put some climbers in, and train them up to the trellis. There is a pretty white climbing rose behind the compost bin which I may try to move. 

 

We used to do most of this with the kids, but they have other interests now, so Al and I just get on with enjoying our middle agedness. :-) Although we did have the Babe toddling around picking up leaves and putting them in the garden bags with us, and eating dirt. Of course.

Some good news and some bad...

The good new is predictable. I have finished something!!! I finished the jumper for S Sunday evening, got the ends woven in, and dear Martine took it to the post office for me, since my hip is playing up (again!)  I am waiting for a photo of her wearing it, weather she likes it or not :-) although she doesn't have to wear it after that.  Here is it, looking sad laying flat on the sofa... (It needs a body in it to make it happy!)

The sleeves are extra long, as that is the way she wanted it - let's hope it has a few years of keeping her warm in the future. :-)

Now for the bad news. The Babe has plenty of things knitted and crocheted to wear, but this was one of the nicer ones. It was a Tiny Tots pattern done in Sirdar denim ultra, and she has been wearing it pretty regularly. But alas no more. Big sister has seen fit to play with bouncy putty stuff and then forget to put it away, and it has gotten on several fabric items. A fleecy blanket has gone in the bin, her denim shorts have been rescued, but there is no rescuing this. Not even after a couple of days in the freezer.

Children are forbidden from buying any more of the dreaded muck, this will have to go in the bin as well, as there is little point in saving the yarn from the pieces that are not affected. I will just have to get back to work on the ribbed jacket I am doing, so the poor babe doesn't have to go too long without a cardigan knitted by her mum. How will she cope? :-)

Retraining my hands...

Any home ed group we go to these days is being turned into a knitting and crocheting circle as more and more people get funky with yarn. It makes me happy. :-) At the drama group last week, the Marias each showed up with new projects. ( I don't know why I call them the Marias. One is Irish, the other Australian, although both are lovely people.) Aussie Maria was making a scarf in a lacy stitch that looked way to complicated for a beginner. Irish Maria was practising her knitting and was talking about the videos she had seen of people Continental knitting.

I didn't know it for years, but apparently, I am a thrower. This is what the English way of knitting is called, in which you use your right hand to wrap (throw) the yarn over the needles. Continental knitters hold the working yarn in their left hand. I have tried this once or twice and always thought I wanted to learn to do it properly, but it all takes time and practise, and I am not always that patient.

But the Marias have reminded me how great it can be to learn something new. Like how proud I was the first time I turned a heel. :-) So I am looking at the videos on Knitting help.com and practising my continental style. I seem to have the basics, but I need to retrain the muscles in my hands to know what they are doing, and figure out how to adjust tension. Here I go....

In my mind...

...I am very creative and make loads of things, and plan to knit and crochet all the day through. In real life, I think about things, browse patterns on Ravelry, try to make things up which then sit around half finished, and buy too much yarn.

Last year's resolution was to do more garments. I chose lots of patterns. I even PAID for a few patterns, which is unheard of. I bought the Owls pattern (scroll down to adult sized one) to make for one daughter, bought the Scalloped hat to make for another, and also bought the Vanilla soaker pattern to make for the Babe. I have made none of these.

I have bought the yarn to make tops for myself, and jumpers for 3 daughters, and a Rowan vest for the Boy. I have finished none of these.

I have added several patterns to my Ravelry queue, printed up several more, planned on using others, and of course, not done any of them.

Somehow, I have managed to do lots of things, but rarely what I plan to do, and usually requiring me to buy more yarn. I have also bought boxes to store and organize my yarn. :-)

So, am I a typical knitter, crocheter? Or is the world full of people like Audrey,  who make things, finish them, design them, wear them, give them as gifts, actually take photos of them, and still have time left to be Guide leaders, have jobs, and bake cakes for other Scout Mum's attempts at Scout fundraising? She doesn't look like superwoman, but I think she secretly is, and she does look nice wearing her finished projects. :-)

Me? I feel like I have accomplished something if I manage to have a shower, go for a walk, eat something that I have had to peel, do something productive with the kids, and then still have time to knit, knot, crochet, and read lots of patterns.

Aye, there's the rub. I am a reader at heart. And while Martine, and the other members of my family, read actual books, I read patterns these days. I have lots of books piled up by the side of my bed, and lots of book cases full of things to read, and a great library nearby, but I read patterns. Maybe because they have so many pretty pictures. :-)

The best thing I have ever made...

...is this frog hat. Simply because I think M likes it better than anybody has ever liked anything I have ever made. It is Sirdar Snuggly, frog colour, and I made up the pattern, which is why the ear flaps are wonky.

I also see from the photo that somebody has been writing on the wall. Funnily enough, I did not realize that when I was in the room. Which says something about the state of the room.

And here is the babe, wearing the Felicity hat that was made for S. It was a bit small.

She is a clever babe though, as she is playing with hooks and needles and yarn, like she sees me do all the time.

Silly thing is trying to knit with two crochet hooks.

Some knitty news and thingswhatImade...

So I did get some yarn when I went to America. Not much, but I got some Addi Clicks as well, so I am in no way complaining. 

These were all from Nancy's Knitworks on Wabash Ave in Springfield, Illinois. The Plymouth Select worsted is hopefully going to be for a Little Red Riding Hood cape for the baby. I have a year or two to get that one finished. :-) And the Berocco vintage chunky is maybe for a waistcoat for me. I just fell in love with the colour, so bought it on a whim. Of course, I promised myself that I would not do that while I was in America. I don't want to get to the last 6  inches of a project and realize I don't have enough yarn, but I have done it anyway, and no doubt I will end up making something with this yarn for somebody smaller, but who doesn't like it as much as me. :-(

I also went to Knitwits, which is also on Wabash Ave. Acutally, everything in the world that you could ever need is on Wabash Ave, the wool shops,  a game shop, the health food shop, most of the places I wanted to go to get things for people. :-)

From there I got some Rosewood DPNs, which aren't as fabulous as I thought they would be to knit with. They are beautiful to look at though. The Addis are just so much nicer. And some sock yarn.

The colours are lovely, for me anyway - but it was ridiculously expensive. So the socks will be for me too. If I ever get around to knitting anything.

I have been crocheting a lot for a while. I don't get as much free time as before baby, but I do still get to do a few things.  Here are some photos from the craft fair I did at Fallowfield Library.

I sold 4 hats, which was ok, considering there were harldy any punters there. There were only 5 stalls, and it wan't advertised very well. I guess it was sort of a trial, to see if they will be having more. And it was a fun day, because I did it with Tish, who sold her first pair of earrings.

This weekend in the Explorer Scout's Christmas Fair, which is really stressing me out for some reason. We are doing all sorts of things there, and I will try to set up another craft stall, to sell things for the Scouts going to the Jamboree next year. I really like making things - but I don't like having to sell them. :(