More Knitting Projects

Lately I've had quite a bit of time to get some knitting project started and even some finished. My current 'Me' project is Knitty's Leaflet in James Brett Marble Chunky, which actually ended up knitting to tension, which is great because I have enough balls of this yarn to make it long sleeved for the winter.

I cast on at the start of this week and despite some initial worries about the pattern chart, as I'm pretty new to charted patterns, I've managed to get to the sleeve and body divider part. I like the fact that as this is top down there'll be no major seaming and weaving in.

Also I've had a go at knitting some dish-cloths with a pattern taken from The Gentle Art of Knitting by Jane Brocket. After seeing the pattern in the book I remembered I had some bright Rowan cotton yarn leftovers from one of my first projects from about 5 years ago and my local yarn shop had Stylecraft Craft cotton available- I managed to get 3 cloths out of one 100g ball, which was perfect for my 3 colours.

The only adaptation I made to the pattern was that I knit one row in colour after cast on, before starting on the cloth middle and then did the same before cast off.

Dad's new joke to the many relatives who have been visiting lately is that 'this is what you'll be getting for Christmas this year', so maybe I'll just end up knitting him one giant one this year as his present.

On the needles

So I've been a little busy over August, but I've been able to make some bits and pieces as well.

Firstly I've been making some small embroidered badges to sell on my Etsy Shop and i've been really pleased with how they've turned out- the bear is a particular favourite.

 Also while my Mum's been in hospital I've knitted her birthday present- as it's often difficult to get things made for her as she's around a lot. I've done a lacy scarf in Rowan Kidsilk Haze and the pattern is Frilly Filly from the Stitch 'n' Bitch Superstar Book.

This is one of the first things I've properly blocked as I've just invested in some cheap kids foam flooring panels which are perfect for laying out and blocking on and dismantling when you're done for storage.

'Felt' like posting an update

Ok, so bad pun out of the way I'm just posting a quick update to show I actually am still making stuff, although things have been a bit manic lately and will stay that way for a while yet so posting may be very sporadic.

These are just a couple of shots of a small idea I'm working on that's taking more effort than I thought!

These photos are taken on my new digital camera and has all these lovely effects without having to do post production- like the one above where only specific colours are shown.

And here's a slightly better colour photo- can you tell what it is yet?

Happy Easter!

Nothing says happiness like a bit of homemade-ness, so here's some Easter cheer!

I knitted the rabbit and needle felted the egg, but the little chicks are some of the mass produced fluff ones that are all over shops this time of year- but they're too cute to resist :)

And a couple of trays of chocolate shredded wheat nests with mini (very mini) eggs. Easter nests are a bit of a tradition and this year's are pretty good!

Projects in Hand

A slightly Work-in-Progress based post today- mostly because I've got so many going at one time and I'm excited about all of them!

First off is my quilt blocks for a king-sized quilt I'm planning using Oliver + S City Weekend fabric from Moda. The colours and prints are amazing and I've got some co-ordinating blue for spacing blocks and edging- so I'll have to get my maths on for that part.

Next is my almost completed 'Tulip Top' from Stitch 'n Bitch Superstar , only it's done in Patons cotton in Pomegranate and will have a Sage trim . The yarn is lovely and it's been a pretty quick knit for me- but it's also a good example of how rubbish my maths is (not that it's too noticeable, but it doesn't bode well for the quilt!).

I'm also going to have a go at making the Study Hall Skirt from Anna Maria Horner which I'm doing in V&A Quilting fabric with pink cotton contrast. I'm a bit of a sucker for pleated skirts, so if it goes well I may do a more winter weight one with some lovely cranberry corduroy I've got.

Finally a completed project in the Cath Kidston spoon competition, which John has also entered and is definately worth a look!

On the downside I think my camera has busted with over 5 years worth of service so it may be time for a new one!

Kool Aid: The Return

Following my first post about dyeing yarn with Kool Aid I've been desperate to try more, so I picked up some cheap Kool Aid in mixed colours from ebay and a couple of skeins of Alpaca/Wool/Nylon mix 4ply yarn from DT Crafts, which is wonderfully soft.

(Yarn skeins soaking in water and washing up liquid)

My first colour way was 2 sachets of Lemonade, 2 Sachets of Orange and 2 Sachets of Strawberry.

I wasn't expecting the Strawberry to be so strong- I sort of wish I'd only used one sachet, but the colour looks nice, it's just pretty strong. Lemonade seems like a bit of a duff colour- it's very pale and so almost got completely drowned out by the stronger colours- a mix of lemonade and a more orangey yellow like mango might have gone over better. I dyed that lot in the same way as the previous batch, but was a bit more 'rough' with the mixing so that the yarn was more evenly coloured. The second skein I dyed with 2 sachets of Grape (although I bought three, but didn't need the third), 2 sachets of Cherry and 2 of Ice Blue Rasberry Lemonade.This one I 'painted' with the dye, instead of mixing in the saucepan, and it worked really nicely. It's more controlled than just pouring over the wool, but I'd probably use newspaper to lay it out on next time. (Please try to ignore the kitchen debris- I should have made more of a tidying up effort!)

I love the contrast between these colours- the cherry is a nice deeper red than the strawberry.

With all the nice weather we've been having lately it was perfect weather for drying.

John's taken a more 'arty' picture of the yarn drying so I'll post that with the photos of the wound yarn later, when he gets around to sending me the pictures.

I think one ball will be for socks and the other for a lacy scarf.

This is so addictive- I've already started gathering some more Kool Aid together for a one colour dyeing, hopefully of a lot of wool to knit a jumper or something out of- exciting!

Plain Paper Sketches

Just so this blog starts living up to it's name, I'm posting some sketches done over the last few months- trying to get my hand less rusty on the drawing front. It's a mixed bag- most are sketches copied from magazines, but there are a few from my spate of drawing what I wore on a daily basis and one is a test piece for a rubber stamp. Hopefully I'll get some scanned from my small brown paper book soon.