Well, I clearly dropped the ball with the blog updates for a while!!
I have mostly been crocheting for the past 6 months or so, but I have picked up a bit of knitting again... I'm attempting my first ever socks! I am using the magic loop method (which I love, so far), and the yarn is Koigu KPPPM, in a shade I affectionally named "Clown Barf".
They are just simple stocking stitch, figured I shouldn't try and get too fancy on my first try!
Have taken a break from the hexagons this week - there's only so many bobble clusters I can do without losing my sanity!
Instead, I have been trying out some patterns for little things. Both the patterns are on the Lion Brand website (you need to register to view patterns, which is annoying but worth it, and because it's a US site it uses US crochet terminology), which I found through Ravelry.
The first thing I made was a red rose [Ravelry; Lion Brand]. I am actually from the "red rose county", but the choice of colour for this was purely coincidental - it was the first ball of DK yarn I found in my stash bag. I enjoyed making this a lot, it was very easy and very quick.
The second thing I made was an egg cozy [Ravelry; Lion Brand]. I remember getting yellow knitted chicks as egg cozies when I was little. I decided to crochet mine, because I think crochet works up faster than knitting, and I knew where the correct size crochet hook was - I would have had to looked through my plethora of secondhand knitting needles to find the right ones, and to be honest I couldn't really be bothered for such a small item. I am on more of a crochet kick at the moment. The last time I did any knitting was at the Stitch London night I went to in February, before that I'd guess it was before Christmas. Who'd have thought the crochet bug would have bitten me so badly?!
Anyway, on to the pictures!
You will notice that this poor little chicky doesn't have any eyes. This is because this poor little chicky is actually just a smidge too big to cover a Creme Egg nicely, so I'm treating it as a practice run. I have some safety eyes but didn't want to use a pair up on this. The pattern is pretty simple. I was using a 3.5mm hook and Paton's 4 ply yarn, I only did 2 of the listed straight rows, but apart from that I followed the pattern for the main body. For the beak, I only did one row - this made it into a triangle shaped beak (like a chick), rather than the more oval duck's beak in the pattern.
I am going to try this again I think, but I will try doing one less increase round, and only one straight round before the decreases. Hopefully that will be a better fit.
Back to the hexagons next week I think, otherwise the blanket will never get finished!
I went to a new knit group on Tuesday for the first time. I was surprised I found one so close to home - it's about a 5-10 minute walk! The last one I went to was in London, and even though I enjoyed it, it was a bit far to be travelling every week. This group is a lot smaller (I think about 8 people altogether, including me), but it was good! I think I will probably go to the next one. I took some crochet with me (more hexagons, quelle surprise).
For the most part I am trying to make all the hexagons before I piece them together, but I was getting impatient to see how they would look, so I have made one hexagon "flower" to satiate the urge.
As you can see I haven't blocked it (or taken a very good picture, stupid yellowy lighting). It has given me a bit of a boost and I have made quite a few more hexagons since I joined these together. My favourite of these is the blue/green one - I ran out of blue yarn right at the end. I think I will make a few in this style, but it's going to be mostly 1 colour hexagons.
That's it for now... I have a veggie Sunday roast with my name on it!
I am pretty notorious for failing to finish projects, so it feels quite odd to have finished two in the past week!
The first is the Flapper hat [Ravelry link; Pattern link]. I used King Cole Merino Blend DK, in BRIGHT ASS SUNSHINE YELLOW. I nearly managed to do it all in one night, but tiredness got the better of me and I figured it wouldn't hurt to put it down and finish it off the next day. I don't look good in many hats but the cloche style of this looks pretty good. I might make another in a colour less likely to burn the retinas of my fellow commuters.
I also made a cowl [Ravelry link], with some Koigu KPPPM I bought about four years ago, on holiday in New York. I just couldn't find the right pattern for it. So I made up my own. It has taken on quite a camoflage look, which I wasn't really aiming for, but I like it.
I can't wear the two things together of course (unless I am going for the 'I have no matching clothes' look). Now I just need to finish the wristwarmers I started and I can have the full set of handmade mismatched winter accessories!
I started making the Juliana shawl in October for my sister. I originally planned to give it to her at Christmas, and then for her birthday (the beginning of February), but neither of those plans worked out! I finally finished this week, and posted it off to her.
The yarn is Colinette Jitterbug. On the website I bought it from, the colour seemed a lot more yellow based; I know it is the luck of the draw with varigated yarns, but I was slightly disappointed. It is nice to work with though, I would use it again (maybe if I could buy it in person so I can be confident I'm getting the colour I want). The cream colour yarn is Patons 4 ply acrylic, I've had it for ages and it seemed the best match in my stash. My sister likes it though, so maybe I shouldn't be too harsh on the shade!
I bought some fingerless gloves from Accessorize recently, because my hands get REALLY cold in my office, and they were down from £12 to £3.60 in the sale. I think they look lovely (I especially like the sequins, haha), but they are not very good in terms of freedom of movement. I touch type, and these gloves tend to restrict my fingers, which is a bit annoying.
So, I have decided to crochet some stretchier, more flexible, fingerless gloves for the office. The yarn is black Rowan Calmer, that like most of my stash, I bought about 4 years ago in the midst of a very bad yarn addiction. It's just double crochet, into the back loop only, so it gives it a bit of a ribbed look. This is the progress I managed to make during my lunchbreak on Friday. I am impressed it is coming along so quickly! Hopefully I can get the pair finished pretty soon, before I get frostbite at my desk ;)
I am really enjoying the hexagon pattern, so much so that I've started another project! These are one colour only, mostly because I can make these at work on my lunch break, instead of carrying 4 different colours of yarn all I need is one colour and one hook :)
Here's what I've done so far - I've made as many per colour as I can per ball of yarn. I'm aware they are mostly dark colours so I will have to have a rummage and find some brighter, lighter colours hiding in my stash.
I am trying not to use acrylic yarn in my multicoloured hexagons, but I have a bit hanging around in my stash drawer, so I will probably use it up on this project. As I don't have to switch colours or weave as many ends in, these single colour hexagons are coming along pretty quickly, and I'm still enjoying making them. I can make one in about 30 minutes, hopefully the more I do, the quicker I get. The pattern is easy to remember, at first I had to refer back to it a few times, but I picked it up surprisingly quickly.
Here's a red/blue/green/yellow version:
Today, we visited Bletchley Park, despite the sat nav misdirecting us on the way there, we arrived in one piece and only half an hour behind schedule!
I took quite a few photos in the main Enigma exhibit, including this amazing Alan Turing statue made of slate:
They also have a wartime life exhibition, where I managed to get a picture of some of the handknit items, a scrap blanket and some clothing. There was also a really lovely fair isle tank top but I didn't get a good photo of it.
I like knitting, crochet, reading and drinking tea.
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