Harrogate Knitting & Stitching Show 2010

I had a wonderful day yesterday in Harrogate.  It's a couple of years since I last went to this show, and I felt that this was a much better event.  This year I felt that there were a more even balance between exhibitors on the knitting side and the stitching side.  The last time I went there seemed to be lots of stitching and lots of papercrafts but not so much knitting.  This time there were more interesting yarns to peruse, plus some great beading stalls.

We arrived at around 10.20am and because of my Blue Badge, we were able to park right outside the door and get the wheelchair unpacked and straight into Hall A.  The first stand where I was tempted to dive into my purse was the Bombay Stores from Bradford.  Mary Clare had asked me to pick up some sheer fabrics for her and they had a huge box full of sheer fabrics perfect for her requirements.  I was very impressed by the Bombay Stores stand this year, it was much better organised than last time, and luckily we got there before the frenzy started.  I was glad to get my purchase for Clare out of the way so early, so I didn't end up spending her cash by accident (which has been known to happen).

The next stand that caught my eye was the Jamieson's of Shetland, which still had lots of yarn on it.  This I felt was a sign.  Previously I saw the stand and nearly all the yarn was sold out and they had to send  my purchase to me in the post.  Because we were early I found lots of yarn in graduated tints, in the Spindrift (4 ply weight) and bought it with my Christmas money from my brother and sister-in-law.  Yay!!!  Free yarn!!!

I have thought about using it to make a Fair Isle bag, but my SIL thinks I should use it to make a graduated top of some sort.  I think she might be right.  The shades are too close together to make into Fair Isle but the shading would look amazing in a tank or something similar.  I shall ponder.....

One of my favorite finds of the show was the Artisan Yarns stand.  I actually made two purchases here, because I could not resist the amazing yarns and the wonderfully dyed colourways.  I couldn't resist the Silk DK yarn which was on special offer.  It was £10 for 200m of the most beautiful silk yarn I've seen.

In particular, this pink, that I would call Antique Rose, if I was naming the shade, grabbed my attention and demanded to be bought.  It was stunning and practically jumped into my arms.  This isn't even my colour and I know I won't end up keeping the finished knit, because it wouldn't suit me, but I just HAD to have it to knit with.

The other yarn I HAD to have, which I fully intend to keep and wear once it is knit, was the Soft Silk Camel Lace in my favorite shade of purple.

The sheen on this yarn is amazing and the camel softens the yarn and gives it spring.  It quite heavy for a lace weight and only gives 800m for the 100g, but it was perfect for me.  All I have to do now is find the right pattern.  This yarn was bought with my Christmas money from my Mum.  Yay, more free yarn.  My family know me so well, just give me cash when I go to a show.

Apparently this was Artisan Yarns first visit to the show, and will be fully launching the website they have soon.  I highly recommend that you bookmark the site, as they have the most amazing yarns I have ever seen.

Another independent dyer that I met at the show was Sherry from Ba T'at Hand Dyed Yarns, who sells through Create with Wool as well as through ETSY.  This lovely indie dyer was wearing her Travelling Woman shawl, which matched mine, in almost the same shade, just in her own yarn.  I didn't buy anything on the day from her stall but I will definitely be buying some of this yarn  in the future.  The sock yarn had a lovely high twist and the colours were lovely.  From the website I like the look of the laceweight yarn too.  One of the things I love most about shows, is that you get to touch and see in real life the yarns you normally only see on a monitor.  I think shows really help me decide which indie dyers I will buy from in the future, as it becomes less of a risk on the first purchase, once you have checked it out in the flesh.

I have one last yarn purchase to own up to, a ball of Schoppel-Wolle Zauberballe Lace Weight.  This is a yarn I have only seen online.  I had felt the sock weight, but not this lace weight.  I kept resisting my purchase because of my lack of knowledge, but as soon as I had this yarn in my hand I knew all my resistance was futile.  I had to have it!

This particular shade of the Zauberball has haunted me on eBay for sometime, so seeing it in the flesh at a slightly cheaper price with no postage, I felt was a sign, a reward perhaps for my strength of will (HA!).  Again I have no idea what I will do with this yarn, I only know that it's purchase was mandatory.

At the show were all the usual suspects on the fabric front, but I was very restrained.  Probably because I have been to two other stitching type shows this year.  The only fabric I bought was from Fabrics Galore.  If you see this stand at a show, go and check it out.  They have really good quality fabrics and good prices, and I'm pretty sure they don't sell on line.  They do have a Facebook page, which you can find by looking in my favorites on my Facebook page.  Fabrics Galore had a remnants bin, which Linda was fishing around in, and she pulled out some very pretty jersey fabric.  I grabbed it and then she found another piece.  I think there must have been nearly 5m in all, all for the princely sum of £12!!!

It reminds me of mint choc-chip ice cream!  I think I will be making another dress with this fabric as soon as my new sewing machine arrives.  Oh did I not mention that?  Yes I have ordered a new sewing machine.  My lovely man bought me a sewing machine for my Christmas (plus two birthdays) present!  It is being delivered next week some time and I will tell you all about it when it arrives.  Until then, I can tell you that it has stretch stitches on it, unlike my current machine - YAY!!!

On our way out of the show, while we were tired and ready to go home, I spotted a stand with some intriguing coloured fibres on it.  The stand was manned by the FLEWS Group.  I was so glad I stopped.  I've been to this stand in the past and spoken about wet felting.  I did buy a starter kit last time, and when I tried it, I found the physicality of the process exhausting.  However, at the stand they had a new product.  Short Fibre Merino.  You can wet felt these fibres without soap, and it felts incredibly easily.  After the demonstration I bought two sets of fibres in the hope that I could actually successfully wet felt to get the lovely fine felt that I desire, without breaking myself.  I really hope that I can finally wet felt something beautiful.

So these are my purchases, I didn't go mad this year, but got some really interesting and high quality items.  I was sad not to see The Knitter magazine as apparently they had a fabulous subscription deal at Alexander Palace.  I had planned on signing up if they were there, but as I couldn't see them (if they were there at all) I saved myself some cash.

I had a wonderful day with my SIL, her mother, Liz, and my friend Linda.  It was a fun day out, with pretty things to show for it.  What more could a girl want?  Oh yes, a new sewing machine - yippeee!



Sewing Again

I have been avoiding my sewing machine recently.  It's not because its really awful or anything, but I am planning on getting a brand spanking new one for Christmas.  I'm even going to the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show to check out any possible deals they may have there.  In fact this Christmas present is in reality a Christmas (and two birthdays) present, so I can get a decent one.  I think because I have this impending arrival of a super new machine, I have been avoiding the old one, because I keep thinking, "this will be easier on the new machine".  I also have been feeling quite a lot of pain recently, which never encourages me to sit at the kitchen table for any time.  Plus I have all this Christmas knitting that I will never get done if I play with all my pretty fabrics.

Today, however, I needed to sew.  Hear that - needed, who would have thought I would have uttered those words 2 years ago!  Do you remember my new iPod Touch case that I made earlier in the year.

I  was really proud of this case, but it has become very battered and the stitching is coming away.  I also knew I wanted to tweak the design a little bit, by adding a zippered pocked and a pocket for my phone.  I also wanted a long strap to hang around my neck for when I am out and about and wanting to listen to music.  It also would mean my phone wouldn't be at the bottom of my bag when it rings.

With all these design ideas in mind, I raided my fabric stash and found a fat quarter I got from my trip to The Bramble Patch, a few months ago.  I then added some left over bits of green from my funky bag that I made for my trip to Turkey and another pale green piece left over from something completely random. I gathered my fabrics and tools together and then got cracking.

I am really proud of how this little bag/pouch has turned out.  I particularly love the apple fabric, which is the one I just HAD to buy at The Bramble Patch.  I knew it would come in useful one day.

I am really pleased that I had a go with doing the twist lock on the front.  I never felt the velcro was strong enough on the old pouch, and you don't get much sturdier than metal.  It was a real fiddle to get the fabric cut away to the right size, but I think it was worth it.  It makes the pouch look really professional.

I have placed the iPod Touch in the centre of the pouch, and used elastic to hold it in place.  I have placed the elastic carefully so I can leave the iPod Touch inside the pouch while I'm using it, which I couldn't do with the last case.  I also added a sheet of felt to cover the iPod screen for when the case is closed.  I don't want the metal fittings to scratch up my lovely screen.  I will probably end up using this to clean my screen too.

As you can see, I've added my longed for zipped pocket.  This is to store my headphones, which I don't use half as much as I use my iPod Touch.  After having just an open pocket for my headphones, I really wanted somewhere to put them, where they wouldn't pop out all the time.  This pocket should also take the the bag strap, if I don't want to have it round my neck.

I nearly always make my bag straps detachable, because I really like the look of the metal hooks.  I decided to team the hooks up with nice bright and shiny eyelets. I haven't had much luck with eyelets in the past, but I'm really glad I decided to give them another go.  These were a lot smaller than the ones I tried to use before, and I think that made a difference.  Yay me, for sticking with it, because they look fab!

Now the one thing I'm not proud of on this bag, is the pocket for my mobile phone.  It is a mess, and if I didn't need this bag for tomorrow, I would have ripped it out and started again, but I do and now the bag is made and I've run out of thread anyway.  So I'm stuck with it.  My one consolation is that the phone pocket is on the back of the bag, so no one will see it unless the phone rings.

See, its a mess.  I tried to make a darted pocket from my lovely book The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam.  But I firstly I got my measurements mixed up, and the pocket part was waaaay to short.  Then I couldn't find out how to determine the size of the darts.  Does anyone have any tips for this technique, or if you have a copy of the book and know the info is in there, please tell me where it is because I am obviously quite a dunce today. Basically the pocket ended up being a cobbled together mess.  But as I now know that a iPod case lasts around 9 months, its no big deal, I'll just tweak the pattern again next year!

In addition to the above changes to design, I also used iron-on fleece for the exterior fabric and iron-on interface for the interior fabric.  This makes the bag soft, yet firm.  In addition to the fleece, I used plastic canvas, cut into three sections.  I placed these sections between the interior and exterior layers and sewed half way between each section to create a fold.  The plastic canvas has added strength to the bag, and enhanced the shape quite significantly.

So apart for the mobile phone pocket disaster, I'm really pleased with my new bag. If you are at the Knitting and Stitching Show and you see my bag round the neck of a gal in a wheelchair, that will be me, so say hello!  I'm going to be away visiting family until next week, so when I get back I'll share with you all my booty from the show - ooo I can't wait to show and tell,  I'm going to have such girly fun!

WIP Update

This week I have been churning out my Graduated Stripes Shawl.  I love the mindless quality of this shawl, with the added bonus of the colours changing.  It is perfect for in car knitting and also social knitting, ie Knit Club.  The shawl seems to have grown quite a lot over the last week, but I only really did one evening at Knit Club and a few rows here and there while waiting for dinner.  Basically what I have so far is this:

 

I'm not quite sure how it got so big, but I'm not knocking it!  Now the weather is getting even colder, I think this will be a very handy garment to have around the house.

I do love the colours in this shawl.  They are quite hard to see because the light is so poor at the moment, so here's a little close up.

Aren't the colours pretty??

Speaking of pretty colours, I might have been just a little distracted this week, from my ongoing Christmas knitting mission.  It is all the fault of Litlemouse.  Basically this woman is a knitting temptress.  She has inspired me a lot with knitting since I've known her and I think her yarn loves and aptitude for lace have helped shape my growing love of the shawl. 

Litlemouse has been working on designing a new shawl.  The first one was lovely, but she has now started a new version, using Debbie Bliss Silk and Colinette Parisienne.  Oooo it was gorgeous.  It was so yummy, I pretty much decided that I had to do something similiar.  So when I went to Mary Clare's yesterday, I splurged on a skein of Rowan Kidsilk Haze in a gorgeous vibrant orange colour, and a skein of Debbie Bliss Silk DK in cream.  They are fabulous yarns separately, but together, they are sumptuous beyond words.  I am now knitting a scarf - for me.

 

 

My logic is that I need new scarves because it is cold, and I have a new hair colour now, so I need things that match better.  I had a cardigan in this shade of orange when I was at school and I practically lived in it.  I don't think I've worn this colour since, but the skein in the basket reminded me so much of this beloved cardigan, I had to buy it, plus it went beautifully with the cream silk.

 

I love how soft and light this scarf is becoming.  I have spaced out the rows of silk because I want to stretch it out a bit more, but I still think I will end up getting another skein.  This scarf will be perfect to wrap around my neck and tuck inside my coat, to keep me extra snuggly and warm.   I also think that my adult sized version of the twisted rib beanie, I created last week, will go brilliantly with this lovely light scarf.  Zingy colours complementing each other while keeping me warm!

So that is my progress this week.  I've linked up, as usual to Tami's Ami's WIP Wednesday.  Click on the button to take a look at what other lovely people have been up to.

Hats for Christmas

I have been in a hat knitting frenzy this week, when I realised that I have such a small amount of time until Christmas, and I was several presents short.  For two of the hats, I consulted my new ebook, Twisted Woolly Toppers by Woolly Wormhead.  The ebook cost £9 and you get 10 patterns in several sizes, which I think makes it pretty good value.  The first hat was knit for my younger nephew K.  He's a rough and tumble sort of child, who is constantly on the move.  For him I wanted a rugged hat that would stand up to all sorts of outdoor pursuits through the Winter.

This hat is called Tinker.  I know it is going to look so cute on K.  I haven't got a small head to model this beauty for you, so I've used a project bag stuffed with wool.  Just imagine a cute grin beneath the hat and you'll get the idea.

It is a great fun pattern, perfect for little boys.  The yarn is Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed, which feels quite rough to knit with.  I'm pretty sure it will soften up on washing and wearing though, and that roughness will give it some strength, which is what I want.

The second pattern from this ebook is for my friend's little girl E.  She is nearly 2 years old now, and I really wanted an excuse to knit Lollie.  A toddler is a perfect excuse don't you think?

I used Squiggle yarn from Sirdar.  It is a bulky weight yarn, which means that the tension was pretty tight.  I think I may have made this a little bit too small, but there is plenty of give in it, so I shall block the heck out of it and see if that works.  If not, it only took a couple of hours to knit, so I can knock another one up in no time, in a larger size.

My third hat was for my slightly older nephew O.  I decided the time was right to splash out on some Rowan Felted Tweed DK.  I've never knit with this yarn, but so many people have raved about it.  It's price stopped me buying it for larger projects, but I knew I would only need one skein for a boy's hat.  It is such a marvellously soft yarn.  Oh how I wish I could afford a sweater in this yarn!

I couldn't find a pattern that I liked for this yarn that would suit O, so I made one up.  I am so pleased with my twisted rib beanie, I might make one for myself, but slightly bigger.  It is quite stretched on my head, but it will be fine for O, and as it has plenty of give, it should be good for several years yet!  I'm so pleased I chose this yarn for O as he is always smooshing my yarn, and I am pretty sure he will appreciate the softness (and the funky colour) of his brand new hat.

Isn't it a great colour?  I love lime green at the moment. I'm also pretty pleased with my crown decreases too.  I think I'm finally getting the hang of them now LOL.

I do love the twisted rib, its such an effective stitch for creating texture and stretch.  Perfect for showing off yarn.  In fact, looking at these pictures, I'm going to get me some more yarn, as this colour and style works really well on me and you can never have too many hats!

Now I have reached the end of "Hat Week" I only have two more Christmas projects to do, but they are large ones, so I'd better get cracking, before time runs out.....the clock is tick, tick, ticking.

I'm linking up to FO Friday through the Blog Hub again.  You really ought to go and see some of the beauties that other people knit and crochet, they really are rather good you know!

(Half Hearted) WIP Wednesday

The reason this post is half hearted is that as I mentioned yesterday, I'm not feeling great.  My breathing is slightly easier today, but I'm more tired.  Anyway this malaise has resulted in my knitting quite a few new squares on my lovely baby blanket.  I now only have 12 left to do - woohooo!!!  But I can't be bothered to get my camera, go downstairs, take a million pictures until I get one that works, come back upstairs, upload it, tweak it and then show you.  It basically looks like the photo I took last time.

So Imagine this photo with one more row.  I think that just about covers the blanket progress.  I definitely recommend this pattern for when you feel rubbish as it requires very little concentration.  In fact the hardest thing is making sure you use the right colour on the squares.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to have lots of colours left over when this blanket is finished, maybe I should make another one - its not like I have a shortage of pregnant friends!

In the theme of "I can't be bothered" I have started a new shawl.  I needed something really easy but pretty.  Many moons ago I made a Noro Striped Scarf inspired by Jared Flood.

I loved knitting this scarf with all my heart, then and I adore wearing it now.  The colour striping just draws you on, as you knit it.  With this lovely knit in mind, I saw a wonderful shawl on KniftyRed's Blog.  It has the same graduated striping that my scarf had, and I knew I had to make one.  I went to Scandanvian Knitting Design and promptly bought two skeins of Kauni yarn.  It is 100% wool and quite robust, ie rough.  This is quite a good quality for a shawl, that I don't intend to wear next to my skin, but will be chucked around as I put it on and take it off.  I got colours EV:

and EZ:

This yarn is a 4ply, ie sock weight, and has long stripes of colour, which is perfect for a wide shawl.  The shawl pattern that KniftyRed used is the Oakland Shawl, which doesn't appear to be available in this country, so I've improvised my version.  I may decide to add a little twinkle on the outer edge or I might just keep it clean and simple. It is a very straight forward garter stitch shawl, as I want the shading to shine through.

I'm hoping that the colours I have chosen will contrast and shade as they are alternated.  I quite excited about how this simple idea will translate into the colours I have chosen. 

I did decide that I wanted the shape to be "more than a triangle" so I'm increasing at the edge on both the right side and the wrong side.  It would be lovely if the shape I get for this shawl is like the Traditional Danish style, which has ties long enough to go around the back and fasten.  I like this style that is like a cross between a  shawl and a cardigan.

This WIP is a pretty straight forward pattern, with very little room to go wrong, except when you are tired and it is dark, like last night.  I managed to get my stripes muddled and knit with the wrong yarn.  It took me ages to realise what I had done.  Lesson learned, don't leave it with a strand of yarn at each end of the shawl, make sure they are both at the same side.  That way you stand less chance of messing it up!

I am posting this to:

Click on the button to look at other lovely projects, and come back later on, when hopefully I will be up to more complicated knitting, and perhaps even some sewing.

Feeling Sorry For Myself

Yup, I'm feeling miserable.  I have an excuse, I am coming down with a cold.  My philosophy is that I am ill all the time and I really try not to moan about it, because it doesn't make me or anyone else feel better, so when I get a cold I'm allowed to whinge.  I mean everyone whines when they have a cold right?  And I have to cope with a cold when I'm in pain too, so I'm definitely allowed to feel sorry for myself.

As I've been feeling sorry for myself, I have not felt up to anything particularly taxing, so I've been knitting baby blanket squares for the most part and knitting hats for the Christmas stash.  I also finally got my cardigan off the blocking boards and onto my back, for which I'm duly grateful cos its the warmest coziest knit I've ever had.  This is exactly when a poorly girl needs to cuddle up in!

Please ignore the crap in the background.  Its just my usual crafting mess.  There are only two problems with this cardigan.  The first is that it has stretched slightly with wear.  I did wash and block my swatch but I didn't take into account that there is a LOT of wool in this cardigan and it is stretching.  The second problem is related to the first, the button band is pulling where the button holes are.

I plan to rectify both problems with one solution, I will apply seam binding tape all around the button band.  This will stop the front of the cardigan stretching length-ways and pulling sideways.  It is a simple genius notion, and while I'm at it, I might add some across the shoulders, where there are no seams, because it was knit in the round from the top down.

I quite like the way it looks when it is open, which is just as well as it is a mighty warm garment and needs to worn this way most of the time.

When the cardigan is worn open the back is quite drapey, which I like, but I also like it when it is buttoned up, which will probably look better with leggings or jeans.

I liked the sleeves in the end, after attempting them six times.

I think it makes the sleeves very neatly set in, when you pick up and use short row shaping across the top.

The buttons work perfectly with this knit, and I'm so glad I blew my budget by getting them.  I haven't taken a photograph of this, but the cardigan looks quite nice with only the top three buttons closed.  I'm also thinking of making a belt to use as another way of keeping the front closed.  What do you think, will it look too fussy?

I used the above buttons on the inside of the button band to help keep the front pieces in line when it is fastened.  I only used two and it definitely needs more, so I will probably sew on poppers to the inside of the seam binding.

I have no idea when I'm going to get round to making these little adjustments, as I'm feeling so rubbish and I have so many Christmas knits to get done, but at least I am planning to get round to it one day - I even have the seam binding!

Now I'm going to browse through Ravelry and plan what to knit when I'm up to the challenge.  See you when I'm feeling a bit less miserable.

FO - Final Knotted Cap (for a while anyways)

I have finally completed the Christmas present that started off the Knotted Cap pattern creation.  Originally I bought some Babylonglegs yarn for my friend Martin's hat, but after consultation with his partner we decided that it was a little "flamboyant" for his tastes.  Which is good news because it means I get to keep that lovely Radiance yarn I bought - woohoo!!

I knitted this final version in the Large size of the pattern, as I made Martin try on the hat I made for my brother as part of my "sizing" procedure.  I decided that my brother's Medium hat was still not quite big enough for Martin - who knew he had such a large head (I certainly didn't) must be all the brains he keeps in there.  After knitting my brother's hat in the lovely brown coloured Rowan Pure Wool Aran, I decided to use the same yarn but in a gunmetal grey colour.

 

I think this is a really smart colour and the solid version of the hat really shows off the cables.  As this is the Large size I've had to model the hat with the brim folded back.

I really do love my new hair, I'm starting to get used to it, at last.  The rest of the modelling is done on my lovely polystyrene head, that  is also the same size as my head, but you get the idea.

I haven't blocked this hat, I don't know if it needs it, what do you think?  This colour yarn really makes the cables pop, more than the brown.

You can definitely see the crown decreases better than on the other samples I knit.  I am still really proud of those.

I am sorry to say that this is the only finished object I have to show you this Friday, because my cardigan is still damp on the blocking boards.  I think it is because there is so little air movement in the house, which is good for insulation purposes but bad for drying blocked knits.

I have been told by my knit group that I have to bring the finished item to the meeting on Thursday, even if I have to spend all of Wednesday stood over it with a hair dryer - it is beginning to sound quite tempting.  I want my cardigan, it's getting rather chilly.

While I wait for my cardigan to dry I will have to start another Christmas knit, despite wanting to start knitting another lovely thing for myself.  Its quite frustrating I tell you.  But I'm sure you all know that feeling at the moment.

Maybe some of the other's on our linky party have had more success with finished object than me.  Why don't you take a look?

The Cardigan is Finished (Nearly)

I have finally got this cardigan off my needles.  It seems to have taken forever, when in actual fact it has only been a month.  I think since I switched to continental style knitting my speed has made me used to quicker knits.  The main reason this project took so long wasn't because I was doing other projects, which is my usual reason, but because I had to knit 6 sleeves instead of 2!

I know that this doesn't sound quite right to you, but it is because I wasn't following a pattern, but making things up as I went along.  This was only the second time I had done a top down set in sleeve and it showed.  My first attempt at this style of sleeve was nicely disguised by the boucle of the yarn, though I don't think there was really anything wrong with it.

This latest cardigan took a while to get the short row shaping correct, as my maths temporarily deserted me, and I also had problems on decreasing along the length of the arm.  I also seemed incapable of judging what length the sleeves should be.  Anyway, that is all sorted out now, and the results are below.

Yup, that is a big ole pile of yarn there.  It desperately needed blocking, so it is currently sitting on my foam mats getting dryer by the hour.  I tried to take a photo of this process, but the cardigan is so big I can't get high enough to take a decent shot.  This means you will have to wait until FO Friday to see what the final results are.  I have to say, that I think this cardigan is going to be a very cozy garment indeed, well once I have sewn on all the buttons anyway.

Now I have got this enormous project off my needles I decided that I needed to make something quick and easy and without maths, so I have cast on one of my Christmas gifts.  You never know, I might have something else to show you on Friday!  I'll give you a clue, it's a hat.

Oh and before I go, I have to show off my recent purchase, it is from BabyLongLegs, you know her, my "go to" dyer of choice.  Well she has just finished dying her last batch of the gorgeous British Merino Aran, of which there is no more available ANYWHERE and she posted it on her shop on Sunday.  I tried to get there early but there were only a couple of skeins left.  Luckily the batch I got was one I have always quite liked - Yoda.  I got 200g and I have NO idea what to do with it.  I could find a pattern, but somehow that feels like cheating with this yarn.  I know it will tell me what it wants to be soon.  I just have to listen hard enough.

If you wanted some of this yarn, there is only one item in her shop left.  I'd hurry if I were you!

I'm linking this entry up to Tami's Amis, for our usual fun and frolics on a Wednesday.

Random Sources of Distraction

I love reading posts on Ravelry forums.  Sometimes they give invaluable advice, or cheer you up, or make you sad, sometimes they just take you in strange directions on the internet.  This time I found a post about The Hive.  I decided to join up, cos I can!  You can find my details here if you are interested.  It's a new arts and crafts community website.  I thought it might be an interesting way of finding new blogs to read.  It's worked already because I found some more blogs to read via the forum post that started it all - I love you Blog Hub Group!

Anyway the blog entry that started me down a really random path was from Lazy Knits and Purls.  She posted a Wordle.  I had never heard of a Wordle, so of course having endless amounts of time I went and had a play.  Wordle describes itself thus:

"Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends."

 So of course I had to play with this using my blog and I got this:

I like how "pattern" is the biggest word, but I don't like how big "really" is.  I must stop using this word as much!

So thank you to Lazy Knits and Purls for a new way to kill time.  I think The Hive may suck up some hours as well - like I need any help with that one!!

Friday FO is a Pattern!

I don't know if I can technically say that this post is a FO, but I'm going to stretch the point anyway - cos I want to!

I have finally finished getting my new Knotted Cap pattern tested, tweaked and released.  I showed you a couple of the prototypes for my pattern and the sizing in previous posts about the new pattern and test knitting.  This pattern is my first attempt at sizing and I'm quite pleased that all the maths seemed to work out for the lovely testers, found from the Free Pattern Testers Group on Ravelry.

The hat comes in three sizes, to fit heads sized: (S) 19”-20”, (M) 21”-22” and (L) 23”-24”, so most adults or teens should be catered for and uses less than a 100g skein of aran or worsted weight yarn.  The hat above is knit in Babylonglegs Radiance Aran, in the Stingray colour.

The above hat was knit using Rowan Pure Wool Aran, and the solid colour really shows off the cabling and the crown decreases.

The cable actually looks more complicated than it really is, with only 4 stitches being moved around with each twist, and it would be a good design to try cabling without a needle, as by the end of it you will have mastered the technique!  The method I recently learned was from a magazine, but WendyKnits has posted a YouTube video, shown below, that uses the exact same method.

As this FO is a pattern, then I should maybe tell you a bit more about getting it finished.  I use OpenOffice Draw to write my patterns up, which has a built in PDF creator.  This free software is brilliant for writing patterns as it allows easy embedding of photographs, simple diagram creation and easy movement of paragraphs around the document.  I previously used the Write part of this package, but found it restrictive when creating longer patterns.

Once the pattern was created I posted a request for testers in the Free Pattern Testers Group and got several requests to take part.  I selected three testers; Ann, lumberjill and dragknit, plus another online Ravelry friend Kwoodie had asked to join in, so I sent her the pattern to get the feedback.

When all the patterns had been knit I got feedback from all the knitters about how the pattern was written, where they had spotted any errors, and recommendations about changes that would make it easier to read.  I read through the feedback and amended the pattern, based on what I had read, plus my own opinions, and got the pattern up onto Ravelry.

Getting the pattern onto Ravelry is a little bit tricky but there are plenty of tutorials to help budding designers.  If you have any pattern that you want to offer to the world, be they small or large, free or costly I really do recommend you giving it a go.  Ravelry is an excellent place for knitters and crocheters to learn the design craft, and you never know, you might make a few pennies to offset the huge amounts spent on yarn every year - well I'm working on that bit anyway!  If you are interested in having a go at design then there are few groups on Ravelry that can help; Budding Designers, Self-Publishing Knitters, Ravelry ShopKeepers, and of course the Free Pattern Testers.

If you want to buy this new hat pattern, you can do so by going to the Ravelry pattern page, or by selecting the link in the right hand column, or checking out the Download Page I have on this blog.  This page gives more details about my patterns that you can read before purchase.  If you can't be bothered to go anywhere else, you can also click the button below!

Knotted Cap Pattern - £1.50 

I hope you forgive me stretching the Finished Objects Friday point, and I hope that maybe I've given some new information to the interested.  If you aren't interested in my FO, then maybe you will find something in some of the others that have been listed on Tami's Amis.

Missed my WIP Wednesday Post

I didn't mean to miss the Work in Progress Wednesday post, but I got so wrapped up in the project I was working on, I last track of time and then the light had gone.  I actually got the project finished by the end of the day, and I'm pretty pleased with it.

My project is a sewing one.  I am really enjoying spending time at my sewing machine at the moment.  I'm becoming more and more confident with each sewing session.  My completed project was skirt, which I bought on special offer from Clothkits (the link takes you to my purchase).  I signed up for the Clothkits mailing list at a show earlier in the year, where I saw the skirt I eventually bought.  I didn't buy it at the time because it was a little dear and it was the start of Summer and I thought needlecord might be a bit too warm.  Then about 6 weeks ago,  I got an email from Clothkits with a voucher for 25% off any skirt purchase made within 24 hours.  I leapt at the chance of getting one of their lovely printed skirt kits and when I saw my skirt I snapped it up.  So here it is, in all it's glory.

It sits a lot lower on my hips than I think was intended, but I am really happy with that as it is a fixed waistband.  If there is no stretch in a waistband and it sits on my waist too tightly, then sitting can become very uncomfortable as it presses against my tender tummy.  Having this looseness means I can wear the skirt, even on really sore days.

I love the printed panel around the bottom of this skirt.

 

Panels like these are one of the reasons I love Clothkits.  If you haven't come across them before, Clothkits are fabric and pattern merged into one.  Basically the pattern is printed directly onto the fabric, which means any panel, like the one above, can be placed accurately and the maker doesn't need to waste fabric getting things to match.  I really like their linen skirts with photographs printed on the fabric.

From Clothkits Website

They also have some wonderful skirts with artwork printed on.

 

From Clothkits website

There are also massively cute kids clothing and toys and bags.  It really is a great concept in producing really fabulous clothes.

I think with this skirt I have finally got the hang of zippers inserted in seams.  Maybe I'll get confident enough one day to put one in the back instead of the side.

Sewing corduroy was a new experience for me, and I really enjoyed it.  The nap helped keep the fabric stuck together while I was sewing and it feels nice and substantial on the sewing machine.

I decided, with this make, to do as suggested in the pattern notes and hand stitch the hem and the inside of the waistband.  While it did take much longer, it is definitely neater looking and it meant I could do all that stitching on the sofa.  This was a boon after all the time sat at the sewing machine.  (If only I could set up a sewing machine table that I could use while laying down!)

The pattern instructions weren't perfectly clear, but, as I have done a couple of patterns now, it didn't cause me too much trouble.  I think though these kits are supposedly aimed at people who haven't done much sewing, I think in truth it will help if you have done some.

Basically I love my skirt and the fabric is lovely.  Its a great addition to my Autumn/Winter wardrobe.  I feel quite proud that I have managed to increase the size of my wardrobe this season with minimal buying of finished clothes and with more making.  I am pretty sure that a pair of woollen trousers may be next on my sewing list, but I might wait until it has got a little colder before I reach for the scissors.  I think my knitting is feeling a little bit ignored!