Wonton

wonton2
Originally uploaded by cob_web

Tiny little FO!

Its one of the Feline DimSum from Knitty and I made it for my sister's boyfriend's cat (talk about convoluted!). The cat's anme is Cindy and she is lovely. Matt (yep, we've both picked blokes called Matt) kind of adopted her, or did she adopt him? She was a stray anyway. She only has a little stubby tail - I think she lost it in a car accident.

Anyway, whatever, the cat is cute, and Matt loves her, so I wanted to make her a little toy to add to his christmas present. I made her the egg roll before, but it was quite big, and she is only little. So i made the wonton. Yes, there is catnip in it.

Soph said Cindy likes things on string, so I need to get some ribbon to tie it to.

Just for info the yarns used were Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere and some random liliac acrylic - I think left over from Eeeyore.

Sheldon

Is a disaster :-(

My mum kindly finished off the crochet for me (really fast!) but now i've got to the bit where you attach the shell to the "attachment panel" and I don't know what happened but they don't even vaguely match up in size. The shell is far too big. I can't figure out the I-cord join thing either.

*sulk*

Dragonfly Scarf

dragonfly3
Originally uploaded by cob_web

Well I finished my "Dragonfly Scarf" just in time to take to my Parent's house on saturday. Thats thier front door. Rather unflattering picture. You can see some close up shots on Ravelry, but they aren't very good pics in themselves so haven't posted them here.

I used Patons Art yarn in Dragonfly which I got 3 balls of as a gift for my birthday back in march. It was a bit short with 3 balls but I emailed the shop in Beeston where it was bought and they had some in stock so send me an extra one. If you are interested a kind soul also tracked it down to MCA Direct on the interwebs. I spent HOURS looking for it, I am a numpty.

Anyway, I used the Yarn Harlot's "one row scarf" pattern which is an interesting rib. It has produced a very heavy, warm scarf. Certainly one for winter!

I'm glad I didn't compromise and went for the 4th ball.

If only the christmas scarves were knitting up as quickly!

A scarf for ME!

DSC00330
Originally uploaded by cob_web

I'm plodding along with the christmas knitting, but decided to start one for me with the lovely yarn I got for my birthday from friends. I've only got three balls of the yarn, so I don't think it will be very long, but the colours are lovely and its really soft.

I'm using The Yarn Harlot's "one Row Scarf" pattern, which I really like.

I haven't seen the yarn IRL or online anyhwere, but its Art but Patons.

Sock love

I'm wearing my new socks today, and I think I am a little bit in love. They fit SO much better than my first pair and they are lovely and warm.

I also went to my LYS for the first time - InterKnit Cafe in Farnham. Oooh, it was quite overwhelming for someone who does all their knit shopping online! I left with just two pairs of needles and a crochet hook (only for rescuing stitches, not actual crochet, but my largest one currently is 3mm, so I got a 5 for bigger yarn).

I have to be careful knowing that shop is just down the road! It took a lot of will power to leave with no yarn. But that way madness lies. I have promised myself not to buy yarn unless i know what I am going to do with it.

I fell in love with a colinette yarn, and wrote down what I thought was the name, but turned out to be just the colourway. So I had to ring them up. Apparently it was Graffiti - which I used for Hayley's scarf. The colour was SO different that I didn't recognise it. So now I need a project so I can buy all the purply goodness and make something with it. I was thinking of a long cardigan to cuddle up in in the house, but I can't find a pattern for chunky yarn. I've put a plea on Ravelry but I'm not getting many replies. Graffiti takes 10mm needles...

Crochet

Thanks Aber for you comment about my socks! I can't work out how to reply to comments... :-/

Anyway, since I finished my socks I decided to try and finish Sheldon too. So I dragged him out and almost immediately remembered why I had put him away in teh first place. I. CAN'T. CROCHET. I was close to SCREAMING in frustration when the phone rang. It was my mum wanting to know if my cold has gone (not really). So I told her how annoyed I was and how I wished I could just PAY someone to do it for me, when she said "I can crochet".

...

really?! So I'm going to take Sheldon with my when we go for my Dad's birthday next weekend. Hurrah! ITs so strange. All my life my mum has sewn, and used to make a lot of my clothes when I was young (when it was cheaper to make your clothes than buy them). She also used to do cross stitch and tapestry... but I NEVER KNEW she knitted until I told her I had started. She stopped knitting when I was born and never started again. So I shouldn't be surprised that she can crochet really. Anyway, either she can teach me what I'm doing wrong, or at the very least do the crochet bit for me.

Finished Socks

Opal Socks 1
Originally uploaded by cob_web

I finished my 2nd pair of socks today!

I think I made a small mistake in teh toe section, but you can't really tell. They are very snug fitting, and I had a bit of trouble getting them on over my tights. I'd probably add a couple of stitches if I were to do them again. But of course I won't I've already started looking at new and exciting sock patterns!

I have 2 more balls of self-striping Opal that I was given as a gift. Feel free to tell me your favourite sock pattern that will look good with self-striping yarn but is more interesting than the bog-standard pattern shown here.

Knitting in Public

Craft corner
Originally uploaded by cob_web

Since the main part of this post had no photos I thought I'd show you where I store most of my crafty things. Its a bit messy at the moment! Its a lovely wood storage unit from Ikea. In the top cube the two drawers have all my needles and other bits and bobs. The cube with the door has my bag of odds and ends of yarn, plus a big bag of the dreaded eyelash yarn. The bottom set of drawers has my sewing kit in the top drawer and the bottom drawer has my collinette stash from Hayley. The open cubes have my crafting tin, a bag with Sheldon in, a plastic crate for yarn and a bag kit.

So Knitting in Public.

I don't do it very often, but those of you who read my livejournal will know about my nightmare train journey back from Sutton Coldfield on Thursday. I got my sock out on the train from New Street to Reading. It was a fabulous move! I got a few rows done, and then the man next to me got off. After the train got going again the lady opposide me lent over and said "are you knitting a sock?".

I had its pair in the bag with me so I showed her the finished object and she was amazed. She thought I should make them to order and sell them! LOL. I didn't bother to explain how long they take me to do! But it was lovely, because after we had a chat about knitting we started chatting about all sorts of things, which made the journey go so much faster.

So hooray for KIP! I shall try and do it more often.

knitting bag

knitting bag
Originally uploaded by cob_web

No more post from me this weekend I promise! I'm too ill to do anything aother than hunch over my laptop midlessly surfing the web you see.

Anyway, there is a point to this post. I find my knitting kit bag to be unsatisfactory. Which isn't very surpriseing as it was a freebie from Simply Knitting.

You can see my crochet hooks have a bit of elastic to hold them in place, but it doesn't work. Everything else just floats around and falls out when I open it.

In my kit-bag I have:

- a couple of crochet hooks
- two wheels of pins (which I rarely use!)
- stitch holder holding my beaded stitch markers
- needle holder (another freebie from SK)
- little pot of plastic paper-clip style stitch markers
- needle guage
- tape measure
- Burts Bees hand salve
- emergency plaster for when the sock knitting kills my finger.

Oh, there is usually a small pair of scissors in there too. Where the hell are my scissors?! I also have a small row counter which is currently tied to my sock.

So, any suggestions for a new knitting kit bag? preferably one with a few separate pockets to stop things becoming a big jumble. I also have another tape measure, a big row counter you hang round your neck and some needle protectors that could take up resisdence.

More Yarn Porn

rook-y_an_cu
Originally uploaded by cob_web

Why do I fall in love with yarn from the US? Damn that stretch of ocean!

Today I bring you the ulitmate in goth yarn, the Raven collection from Blue Moon Fibre Arts. Just go and read their description of the collection. Pure Genius. Obviously I need some of this yarn.

Yarn Porn!

Zak and Sara
Originally uploaded by cob_web

I found this shop through Ravelry and I have fallen in love with this sock yarn. The colourway is called Zak and Sara and it would go SO WELL with my new trainers.

The website is here: Snarky

Sadly the international postage is more than the yarn, which I just can't justify to myself. But isn't it FABULOUS? So unashamedly '80s. So PERFECT for my trainers.

*wants*

Replying to comments?

Two people kindly replied to my post about casting on socks - but I have no idea how to reply!! I know this isn't LJ, but I'd have thought you could reply to people? Any ideas?

I have a knitting in public story to tell, but I think I'll wait until I am less ill so I can tell it properly.

calorimetry

calorimetry2
Originally uploaded by cob_web

Today I finished off Calorimetry from Knitty. I finished knitting it on tuesday, but had to cast on my socks for travelling, so didn't finish it off.

I'm quite pleased with it, its a nice pattern. I cast on 10 less stitches than the pattern cos I know my sister and I have tiny heads. Good job too cos its slightly big. I think Soph has a bigger ehad than me so it will probably be fine for her.

I picked a 100% organic rare breed wool for this, as Soph is very much into organic and animal welfare. It was a nice yarn to work with but it shed quite a bit and made me sneeze! There was also bits of hay - but I like that in this kind of yarn I think!

I had to cast off one row early due to running out of yarn, but I don't think it matters.

Casting on socks

So, I have to spend the evening in a hotel by myself tomorrow night. I HATE hotels and I HATE being in them by myself. So I obviously have to take some knitting to do. There isn't much left to do on my Calorimetry, so I am going to cast on a sock tonight. I finished its friend ages ago, so it will be nice to have a pair!

I hate casting on for socks. I always have to do it a number of times. The main problem is the joining bit - I often end up with a gap, which is annoying. Do most people cast onto one needle and then redistribute?

Organic Yarn

I'm knitting Calorimetry in a Soil Association Certified Organic 100% Wool from rare breed sheep. Its a very different type of yarn. Very rough and ready, but I guess that is to be expected. Its undyed, and is a lovely dark brown with little pale flecks in it. It sheds a bit as I knit it, but it knitting up well so far. We'll see how it goes.

Finished Scarf

hayley_4
Originally uploaded by cob_web

I finished Hayley's scarf last night. I'm quite please with it. The yarn problems (see previous post) didn't help, and meant a lot of weaving in of ends (bleurgh) but its done, and its fat and long and cozy. Hurrah!

My first attempt at a fringe, which worked well.

Obsevations about scarf knitting and skeins

So, I've been moaning about knitting scarves. Scarves are generally a beginner knitter type of project, but I have never actually knitted a scarf before. My very first project was a cushion cover, and then I jumped in at the deep end with eeyore.

I was getting very fed up of eyelash yarn, but took a break and knitted the mobius strip pattern and now I'm knitting a drop stitch scarf with some lovely Collinette yarn.

One thing that these two scarves have given me is the chance to learn a couple of new techniques. The first (from Moibus) was some basic lace stitches, which were very cool. Plus the challenge of figuring out the cast-on. then with Hayley's scarf its the drop stitches. So simple, but as with everything there are a couple of tricks that have meant my technique has improved over the length of the scarf.

Usually when I knit he first stitch of a row I pull it much tighter than for the rest of the row - otherwise I end up with flabby bits of yarn making my edges look messy. Not so much of a problem where the edges become seems, but important in a scarf. However, you can't do this with a drop stitch, otherwise you distort the knitting too much. I found after a while that if I put my finger on the yarn when I had it how I wanted it while I knit the next stitch, just for the first 3 stitches, then the fabric stabilised and I could pull as tight as I wanted and it wouldn't change the stitches (if that makes sense - its hard to describe).

So this is only the third lot of yarn I've used where its in skeins. I have a chair I can hang them over now while I wind them into balls - but I am intrigued by talk about "swifts" and "yarn winders". They seem terribly expensive to me (swifts at least) and I'm not sure it would be worth the investment. I've also seen no clear explanation about how they work anywhere. I wonder if yarn is sold in skeins more int eh US, as its Americans I see talking about them more. Maybe I have just been knitting with crap yarn?!

I'm glad I'm knitting a scarf with this Collinette, the skeins had been attacked by the cats a bit, and as I wound it into a ball it broke in a number of places so I've had to keep joining new bits in. I hate hiding ends though. HATE IT!

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post :-)