Christmas Knitting

Sorry I fell of the face of the earth in December.  I am pretty sure, that if you are regular reader, you understand the craziness of the Christmas season for someone who has poor health.  I concentrated the whole of December on creating Christmas gifts.  I also went up to York to see my family and a consequence of this visit, was my inability to think straight for the next 3 weeks.  I didn't even manage to spend a weekend with my OH's family, which I was so sad about, but couldn't face sitting in a car for 3.5 hours on the day of travel.  In the end I was glad I didn't go, because that journey took my OH more like 4.5 hours which would have been hideous for me.

As a result of my painful Christmas and New Year I have decided that I need to see the doctors about tinkering with my pain medication again.  Whenever I have an increase in pain levels it always takes me time to adjust mentally and physically, which is why I disappeared.  I'm hoping that changes in medication (when it happens) will help me quickly and not leave me too spaced out.  In the meantime I will try and catch you up with the stuff I created for Christmas.

I made 5 gifts, 4 of which were for children. The non-child gift was a shawl for my sister-in-law that I made earlier in the year, so I'm only going to focus on the children in this post.  I used Cascade 220 Superwash for all of the children's gifts. It has become my "go to" yarn for children's knits because it is a nice bouncy yarn, that is machine washable, but is also wool so it is warm and breathable. It also comes in lots of colours and is reasonably priced. I get mine from Nutty Knitting Supplies.

Firstly I made a whale for my niece, who's favourite word seems to be FISH at the moment.  It was a crocheted whale made from a free pattern by Stacey Trock, who is my favourite amigurumi designer.  The pattern is M.Richard the Whale.

I used embroidery thread for the face and I am really happy with the way it turned out.  I used less than 50g for the whale, so I'm tempted to make another one for me ;-)

For nephew A, he needed more clothes as he keeps growing in spurts. He hates having anything pulled over his head and he suits nice rich brown colours, so I decided to give him another Beyond Puerperium, but in worsted weight and with long sleeves for the colder months.  Apparently it is a little big but I think that is much better than being too small, as he'll grow into it, and it means he can have layers underneath.

The button bands were knit simultaneously with the body of the garment, so I used intarsia to make the button band in a solid colour.

The buttons are made of plastic but they go really well with the cardigan.  I used embroidery thread to attach the buttons and I found a really good match in my old cross stitch thread collection.

I make a shaft by wrapping the thread around several times underneath the button, but above the knitted fabric.  This means that the button doesn't pull the cardigan out of shape.

For my other two nephews, O and K, they requested more monsters!  There was discussion about colours and types and there was several mentions of Mike Wazowski from Monsters University and I had to say that there weren't any patterns for Monsters University because of licensing issues.  THEN I discovered this blogpost.  A FREE Mike Wazowski pattern from Stacey Trock.  I was so pleased that I didn't have to disappoint the boys and got crocheting.  It took ages to make because there were lots of fiddly bits and, in fact, this quick snap was taken on the evening before it was wrapped to be delivered.  I cut very close to the wire.

I used a safety eye instead of felt for the pupil, because I think that gives more life to crocheted creatures.  I used black fleece for the mouth, because at the last minute I discovered I didn't have black felt (I'd already decided not to use it for the eye).  I decided not to put the teeth in, as I like this look better.  I'm really pleased with how he turned out and I was assured by my OH on his return from his family that K, loved his monster and wanted to make sure that my OH told me so.

O's monster was from Big Book of Knitted Monsters by Rebecca Danger and it was the Toothy Joe the Mailbox Monster pattern that I chose this time.  I decided to make my version toothless though.

He looks slightly sad from this angle, but from above he looks like he smiling (honest).  I love his long limbs too.

He is a perfect sitting monster, which I thought was more suitable for my eldest nephew.  Again the recipient made sure to tell my OH that he loved his monster and to tell me that.  They are both such polite boys as well as being great in all other ways too.  I am so sorry I missed seeing them at Christmas because they are getting quite mature now, and though I'm looking forward to getting to know who they become as teenagers and adults, it makes me sad that this might be the last time O admits to wanting a monster for Christmas.  He will, however, always be knit worthy as he has always loved my knitting and the knitted gifts he's received.

For O and K's younger brother who is a toddler, I got a long sleeved t-shirt in the same green as the knitted monster, with big scary monster eyes on it, so the boys all matched, gift wise.  I just didn't have it in me to do another crafted gift and he got a whole quilt last year.  I'm pretty sure he didn't mind ;-)

I hope you haven't fallen asleep with this massive catch up, and I hope that my next post won't be quite as long in coming, because that way I don't have as much to write ;-)

I hope you had a great end to 2013 and I look forward to spending 2014 with you.

STCLKAL Updated Number 3

This KAL seems to be whipping past.  I can't believe this is my third update post.  It feels like quite slow going on my project.  The Professoressa Cardigan is knit in one piece from the bottom up and I'd forgotten how long it takes to do one row when it is the whole circumference of the garment.  The other thing that is making it feel like slow going, is the cable panels.  I have discovered that I can only do a maximum of 10 rows a day before my hands start to hurt.  The tiny teeny twists of the cable panels seem to be causing me grief, so I'm trying to be sensible and changing up my project throughout the day.  However, the cardigan does seem to be growing slowly, until you compare it to the previous week's photos!

You can see the decreases on the back quite clearly in this photo.  I had to decrease quite sharply to reduce from the hip measurement to the waist measurement.  I decided that I was going to put a lifeline in to mark where the increases for the bust started.  This was because I was unsure about my increase maths.  I decided to do much more rapid increases at the front than at the back.  The increases on the back are spaced out much more than the pattern calls for, as I was surprised to find that the measurement between my waist and my underarm is significantly longer than the pattern is written for.  This information has made it clear to me why, on shop bought garment,s the waist always sist too high on my body!  The things you learn through knitting!  I always thought it was because of my large bust that they sat high, but there was more to it than that.  I will certainly consider this measurement when I knit future garments.

You can see how quickly I've increased the bust, in this photo.  I think I'm doing the right thing by having the increases close together, at the beginning of the shaping, and then slowly spacing them out more and more. I still inserted the lifeline to make sure I can rip back easily if the shaping is wrong.

When you put the garment into the shape of how it will be worn, you can see how the shaping is effecting it. If the centre panels are laid straight and flat the bust shaping makes space at the front of the garment.  It does look strange without a body in it, but it's hard to do that kind of modelling with a bottom up knit.  I think it's promising at this stage.  I kind of wish I'd gone back and moved the darts slightly further out, but I think when the garment is worn the darts will be placed in a good location to give the required shaping, it's just not as smart as it should have been.

This week, I can also tell you about a fabulous new prize that arrived in the post for you.  It was from Deborah at Fondant Fibres.  The prize you receive will come in a lovely project bag that Deborah has made for you.

This bag is made up with patchwork stripes and is fully lined with black fabric.  It has a purple drawstring cord and a spring-locking cord-stop.  It measures 9" wide x 14" high and 3" deep.  Inside the bag will come either some fibre or some yarn handspun by Deborah.  The choice will be up to the prize winner to ensure that if the winner is not a spinner they will get something they can use.

The fibre prize is Shetland wool, dyed in a gradient, with some pretty stitch markers.

The stitch markers are made with fairies and blue and pearlescent beads.

The handspun fibre also comes with stitch markers, which are made with blue and white striped beads.

The main skein of handspun yarn is 116m of superwash merino with tencel, spun into a 2ply yarn and weighs around 90g.

There are also another two skeins that haven't been labelled, as a bonus.  The one on the left weighs 46.5g and the one on the right weighs 90g.

I can't believe how generous Deborah has been and the prize that isn't chosen will be available in a future giveaway as Deborah send TWO project bags.  What a lovely lady, go and check out her website as her products are gorgeous.

We have a HUGE prize pot for this KAL now and I am so grateful to everyone that offered things as prizes. There are people still joining in on the KAL with new projects appearing in the Progress Thread and more conversations in the Chat Thread.  I am really enjoying this KAL and I hope you are too!  If you need a reminder of the rules, they are in this blog post.

Keep posting on Instagram and Twitter using the #STCLKAL tag, I love seeing your progress there, as well as on Ravelry and on blog posts.

Recent Blog Posts:

The Many Knits of Nadine

I'll add more links as I come across them, or they get shared with me.

STCLKAL Update Number 2

So it's been another week since the beginning of the Stitched Together Crafting Library KAL (STCLKAL). There has been LOTS of chatter on the Ravelry boards and a few new people have joined in. I love going to the board, several times a day, to see what people have posted and just to catch up with the people taking part.  The chat thread started out as a thread about the KAL, but has rapidly turned into a general chat thread with some KAL stuff thrown in!

I've had a couple of people ask if they can still join in.  This KAL is set up so anyone can join in, whenever they want, provided they can enter three photographs taken over three days to show what they have achieved, in the Progress Thread.  This means you could even join in with only 3 days to go!  Remember, you don't have to finish your project to be entered into the prize draw, you just get a bonus entry if you do.

I have done quite a lot of work on my Professoressa Cardigan this week.  I was able to concentrate a little better than the previous week, and now I've done a few repeats of the cable chart, it is becoming less fiddly to do.  I've got most of the way through the waist decreases.

I will just about fit in all the decreases before the dart hits the cable panel.  I really should have moved the darts over a bit, but I'm not ripping back now!

You can really begin to see the cardigan taking shape.  I am tempted to slip it onto a longer cable to see how it hangs on my hips.  Maybe I'll do that when all the decreases are finished.

Of course, the decreasing number of stitches doesn't hurt when it comes to making progress!  Hopefully I'll be all the way up to the start of the increases, for the bust by next week!

I have another prize to add to the pot for this KAL, donated kindly by Lara Smoot and Shalimar Yarns. Lara has generously offered to donate one of her patterns, Nikomedes and Shalimar Yarns will supply the yarn, Zoe Sock to knit the socks with.  The yarn is in the Petal colourway, and it is 411m/450yds of merino yarn in the fingering/4ply weight.

Lara will send the pattern electronically through Ravelry or email to the winner:  The pattern is an interesting one, with some interesting twists.

This isn't the first time Lara has donated a prize to my lovely readers and listeners, but the yarn is a very nice bonus from her employer Shalimar Yarns.

I'm so amazed by the generosity of people and there is becoming quite a nice pile of prizes to be won with the KAL.  Remember there is still plenty of time to join in, all you need is a pattern from a book, or magazine, on your shelf, some yarn and needles, and away you go!

If you have a blog post that relates to the KAL, please let me know and I'll link to it in next week's update. Remember to post on Twitter with #STCLKAL, or on Instagram so we can all see how our KAL mates are getting on!  I'm having a great time, I hope you are too.

Recent Blog Posts From Participants

ms.tee.kay
Sewing Slowly
The Many Knits of Nadine
Knitting For Sanity

STCLKAL Update and more Prizes!

As promised last week, I am actually posting on a Monday to let you know how the Crafting Library KAL is going along.

I've been slogging my way through the largest number of stitches, around the hips.  I have finally reached the point where I can decrease down to the waist.  From here on in, there will be fewer stitches!

You can finally see the the cabled panels clearly as there has been a full repeat and a half of the charts.

I've been working my way through the maths for this project.  It feels like I'm completely re-writing the pattern to make it fit me properly.  I have discovered that the length of my torso is almost exclusively situated between my waist and the upper bust.  No wonder I nearly always end up with the waist of garments sitting way too high.  The things you learn whilst you are altering patterns.  I still haven't done all the maths because my brain started to hurt.

When I had wound all the skeins of yarn for this project I realised I didn't have a project bag big enough to hold it all.  I decided that was a good reason to buy a new one!  I found a great linen/cotton bag on ETSY from KnitterBag.  Whilst the shop is based in Lithuania, and therefore International postage has to be paid, you don't have to pay customs charges because this country is part of the EU.  As the basic postage charge went up to quite a heavy weight, I ended up buying two bags, but I will only show you the one I bought for this project.

The bag holds SO much.  It has screen printed owls around the bottom of the bag.  It is 22cm x 10cm (8,5" x 4") in size and it's height is 32cm (14").  I have 10 wound 50g skeins, the current half knit skein and the project.  There are also swatches in there AND the pattern book!

It also has four pockets inside the bag, which come to approximately 2/3rds of the height of the bag.  In the photo below there are two skeins stacked on top of each other, so you can judge the scale of these slip pockets.

The pockets run all the way around the bag, 2 wide pockets and 2 more narrow pockets.

It's really well made with it's draw string top and the strap handle is really useful.  The service was great and I got the bag really quickly.  I really recommend these bags for us Europeans.  I love how my entire project fits in so neatly, including the book!  I will get great use out of this bag.

Going back to the KAL, I have been contacted by a couple of members of the Stitched Together Designs Group on Ravelry with lovely generous donations of prizes for the KAL.  Sarah, aka ForeverKnitting31 has offered one winner a pair of her Awesome Boot Toppers from her ETSY store, HomemadeSunshine11.

Louise, aka madmum, has offered up some lovely yarn from her stash.  The yarn is a skein of Araucania Ranco Multy in colourway 308.  I really like this yarn and I used it to knit an entire cardigan, but it would make great socks.  It is 344m/376yds in length and is made up of 75% wool/25% nylon.

I'm very grateful to Louise and Sarah for their generous offers of prizes.  The more prizes, the more the chance of winning!

I am enjoying all the chat going on in the Group so much, and the projects being knit are lovely.  There is still plenty of time to join in the Stitched Together Crafting Library Knit-A-Long, why don't you come and join us?

Remember to use the hashtag STCLKAL on twitter and Instagram, and on blog posts, so we can find each other and see how everyone is coming along.  Hopefully by next week's update, you'll be able to see more of a garment!

KALs in Progress - STCLKAL, NEWTOYOUSAL, MSROBKAL

September has started with a bang.  31st August, was the start date for the Stitched Together Crafting Library KAL (STCLKAL) and it seems there were several of you waiting with baited breath.  There is lots of chat in the thread on the Ravelry group board, and there are already several progress photos posted.  It's really exciting and inspiring seeing what everyone is casting on. As you might have guessed, I too have cast on.  I have a measly 1.5" knit, but then I have to remind myself that this is the whole body being knit around and I had to do lots of sums first!

I have decided to make this cardigan to fit me perfectly - assuming I lose 2" all the way around my circumference!  I am currently losing weight at quite a good rate so it seemed silly to make the garment to fit me now, because by the time I've finished the garment it will be too big.  I have assumed that my back measurements won't change a lot, nor the proportions between the height of shoulder, waist and hip.  I am making the size that fits my upper bust measurement less 2", but as there is quite a large range between sizes it actually should just about fit my upper bust now, which is fairly comforting!  I should be able to wear this even though it will be a little small on my full bust and hip.  I know from past experience that when I lose weight my proportions remain fairly consistent, so I feel safe making these assumptions.

I am placing most of the additional stitches required for my bust at the bust darts and some at the side and the additional decreases for my waist will happen at the sides and the back darts.  I also know that I need to add length to the torso and between my shoulder and bottom of the armhole as I have a long rib cage.  There are lots maths involved and in order to get started I've only done the bottom bit of maths, the hip!  In about another 2" I'll have to start the decreases and I'll need to do more maths.  I'm really enjoying this challenge after reading Knit to Flatter and I'm hoping this garment will really fit me nicely.  Even when I've added bust darts in the past, garments don't fit me perfectly because of my long torso and relatively small waist.  It shall be interesting to see what kind of difference it will make to my appearance.

The cabled panels, at the front of the garment, keep things interesting.  The cables are single stitch crosses and the knit stitch is nearly always twisted by knitting through the back loop.  It looks great but it makes things a bit slower.  I'm knitting the cables without a cable needle.

The panels are mirrored, so you need two charts, but I think it makes it look really polished.  I started to knit this using Addi Lace circular needles because I couldn't find my ChiaoGoos and they really weren't pointy enough to deal with the cables.  I was so relieved when I dug out my ChiaoGoo Lace Interchangeables from an unused project bag.  The difference in doing the cables was significant as the point is so much sharper.

I have added the additional stitches equally between each front and the back, as there are false seams, and kept the back and bust darts in the same locations as if there weren't additional stitches for the hips.  I'm not sure that I will keep those darts in that position until I've knit a little more length so I can compare it to my own body and work out whether I should move them a little.  I like the look of the fake seams which involve slipping the right side stitch and purling the wrong side stitch.  You can see the effect above.

I hope I have more to show you next week.  I plan on having a regular STCLKAL blog post.  I was intending to do it on Monday, but I wasn't very well earlier in the week and couldn't face blogging.  If you are blogging about the STCLKAL then leave a link to it in the comments.  It would be good to see what other people are thinking about this KAL!  Remember to use the tag #STCLKAL on Twitter and Instagram, as it's been great seeing what people are doing on those platforms.  If you don't use Instagram, I highly recommend it, as there is an app for iPhone and Android now so you can easily see your friends' photos.

This project is actually a double dip KAL.  I am applying it to the Must Stash podcast's Rhinebeck or Bust KAL.  The ideas is to make a stand out item that you would be proud to be seen wearing around The New York State Sheep and Wool Festival at Rhinebeck (usually just referred to as Rhinebeck).  I am fairly sure that this cardigan will fit that!  I can't win any prizes for my KAL, so I'm double dipping to win somewhere else!

Speaking of prizes, there have been a few people who have offered additional prizes for the KAL, which I will hopefully tell you about next week when it's all firmed up.  They are good ones that I think you'll like!

I'm also taking part in a SAL!  "What is a SAL?", I hear you cry.  It's a SPIN a long.  Melia of the Yarn Raising podcast is running a New To You SAL.  New to You means using a fibre, technique or tool that you've not used before (or maybe just sampled).  As I've not done a full skein on my Tibetan spindle I am using that and spinning the Fyberspates fibre I got in their sale.  The blend is merino/silk/gold stellina.

It is spinning like a dream!  It's so quick to draft.

The new technique I want to use is chain plying.  I think this would be a lovely 3-ply yarn and I think this would be a heavy lace or light fingering when it's done if I carry on with this thickness while I spin.  I think this fibre would work well as a chain plied yarn as it's got a limited palette and they colours blend together beautifully.  I'm really excited about this spinning and I'm glad I decided to join in with the SAL, even if it is another commitment!

As this is technically a WIP post as well as a KAL/SAL post, I'm linking up to Tami as usual.  I'd love to know what KALs you are joining in with at the moment.  Please tell me I'm not the only lunatic!

Baby Gift Reveal

Several months ago I finished making gifts for my new nephew, who was due on 31st May.  He was born 10 weeks early and spent several weeks in the Special Care Baby Unit.  While he was there I was not allowed to see him.  It was a tough few weeks being the only immediate family member who wasn't allowed into the Unit, but they have to draw the line somewhere and aunts are on the other side of the line.  I was really sad about this, but it gave me a little longer to finish off some baby gifts.

As you might remember from last year, I made my niece a crocheted bear, when she was born.  I decided that her brother should have a similar stuffed toy, but slightly different.  I chose a pattern from my book, Crocheted Softies: 18 Adorable Animals from Around the World .  As Stacey Trock (the author) designed my niece's bear, the toy I chose for nephew matches in style.  I chose to make La La The Panda.

He is a little boss-eyed, but this is the nature of sewing yarn onto crocheted fabric.  I couldn't use safety eyes because this was for a baby, and babies can chew the eyes free of the fabric.  I used Cascade 220 Superwash which is great for baby things as it is wool, but it can be slung in the washing machine without fear of felting.

His arms are curved, which wasn't as easy to do as I anticipated.  This panda is crocheted at a fairly small gauge and crocheting black yarn in a poorly lit room (which mine was) is not fun.  However, the result is.  When my niece "helped" by unwrapping her brother's gifts she grabbed hold of the curved arm straight away.  It is a perfect child handle!  The panda had to be smuggled away whilst she was distracted by her birthday gift.  This panda is pretty small, but as it's owner is only wee, I thought it an appropriate match.

As well as the panda, I, of course, decided to make a blanket.  All new babies need blankets.  It's the law, or something.  As I was on a crochet kick I decided to make a crocheted blanket.  I wanted to make squares for the blanket, but I wanted to make them fairly solid.  After some trial and error and searching I found this free pattern.  It was the perfect square for what I had in mind.  I bought lots of different bright shades of Sirdar Snuggly DK and some dark blue in the same yarn, as contrast, and crocheted each bright square before crocheting them all together with a dark blue border round each one.

I decided to single crochet the blocks together with the wrong sides facing to make ridges on the right side of the blanket, to create texture for little fingers to play with.  I edged the whole blanket in the more of the blue.

The first round of the edging was only crocheted into the back loop of the stitches.  After finishing the edging I then slip stitched into the front loop of that first round to create a matching ridge to create a frame that matched the inner squares.  I think it worked quite well.

As I had some brightly coloured yarn left over from the blanket I decided to make a short sleeved Beyond Puerperium, by Kelly Brooker.  I made a long sleeve version for my niece and I think it has had lots of wear.  As we are supposedly in the warmer months, I thought a short sleeved version would be appropriate.  The good thing about short sleeves, is that the cardigan should last longer, as most babies get longer before they get wider.

I love the bright stripes, but there were an awful lot of ends to deal with.  I wove in as I went, but the ends still needed a bit of tidying up.

I made the 3 month version of this pattern, again in the hopes that it could be worn for longer.  Having short sleeves means it should be ok to be worn straight away, and last well past the 3 month mark.  Full details of the cardigan are on my Ravelry Project Page.  I love this pattern and I think my niece and nephew will be getting several more versions of this design as they get bigger (unless my SIL and brother tell me to stop!)

So, at last, now I've met my little nephew, A, I can share his presents with you.  I think they were well received.

As it is Friday, and these are finished objects, I'm going to hook up with Tami.  Click the button to get more crafty inspiration.