Knitting and Crochet Blog Week

So Knitting and Crochet Blog week is over for another year. It’s been a hectic week for me, both on- and offline. I don’t think I’d have managed to keep up without the wonders of scheduling posts, and through adding blogs to my Google reader early on in the week.

I haven’t read anywhere near all of the blog posts from this week, but I have started following a whole host of new blogs. Over the next few weeks, when I have time, I will trawl back through the lists of posts from each day, and see who else I can add to my feed. I probably ought to slow down though, as I’ve already got over 80 different blogs related to knitting/crochet on there!

I’ve doubled my number of followers this week, according to the widget in the sidebar there. So hello to all the new folks! I’ll try my best to remain as witty and entertaining as I have been this week (with plenty of gratuitous project photos for you, Marushka!). I’ve really appreciated all the lovely comments I’ve received on my 2KCBW posts, long may that continue also! Don’t forget to include an email address when you leave your comment through Disqus, and you’ll get any replies from me direct to your email. How awesome is that!

I have to say, looking back on the posts that I have read so far, that some of the topics produced far more variety in posts than others. It seems fairly uniform across the board that we all store our yarn in big plastic boxes or Ikea bookcases and that we knit/crochet whenever and wherever we can. I really enjoyed reading about so many different yarns, some I’d never even heard of, on Day One. Day Five was an absolute blast, so many different takes on “Do something Different”. I’ve compiled a short list of the ones that I loved the best, just in case you missed out on Friday:

Kismet’s Companion – Poetry Competition

The Gingerbread Lady’s Sock Cartoon

Mooncalf’s TL:DR

And quite possibly my favourite:

The Lonely Knitters Companion

Don’t forget, you can still search for 2KCBW posts using the google tagging system devised by Eskimimi, if you (like me) still have catching up to do.

Normal service will now resume! Although, I may not blog about yarn crafts for a week or so, I’m all worn out after this week. Luckily, I am the master of a thousand things, so there will be plenty of other crafty goodness to share.

KnitCroBlo Week - Day 7

So, it’s the final day of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. I’d just like to take a moment and say thank you to everyone who has popped by over the last seven days, to read my meagre contributions. I hope you’ve enjoyed it, and had time to check out all of the other fabulous posts that have gone up this week from everyone else.

I’d also like to give a big shout out to Eskimimi to say thank you very much for planning, organising, encouraging, designing banners and generally doing everything to get this blog week working and make it a success. You’re a star.

Today’s theme is Your Knitting and Crochet Time. I will tie this in to last year’s topic about Location, as it’s impossible to talk about when I crochet without saying where I do it!

Like most people, I suspect, I get most of my crocheting done in the evenings after work, in front of the TV. You’ve seen, earlier in the week, that I have all of my crocheting paraphernalia close to hand in the living room; sitting on the sofa, I can reach yarn, hooks, WIPs and reference books without really getting up.

I’m a bit of a fidgeter, so I’m never happy unless I’ve got something to fiddle with. Crocheting (or knitting, for that matter) is a great way to keep my hands busy without taking up too much attention. I get a lot of work done while I watch TV! It’s also really handy, because I have my laptop in front of me, so I can reference Ravelry, search online for tutorials if I encounter a stitch or technique I don’t have in my crochet bible, or need to watch a brief youtube video to double check how something should be done (you know what it’s like, when you read something and it just doesn’t make sense!). It also means I don’t often have to print out patterns I get online, as I can read the pattern direct from the screen.

If I’ve got a particularly portable project, I will take it along with me on (usually) Thursday evenings, to our weekly roleplay night. Again, because I can work on most things without too much attention, it’s a great way to keep my fiddling hands happy while we play our games. My project bag is essential for this! It’s good, as my friend Em also knits at the game, so we get to see what we’re working on and how it’s progressed from session to session.

A few of my projects, like the fingerless afternoon tea time gloves, and the tiramisu baby blanket, have travelled with me to work. I commute on the train, 25 minutes each way, so if I’m not currently reading a book, or taking my study notes with me, I can get a few rounds knocked out while I travel. I also then use my lunch hour to get more done, sitting in the kitchen in the office; while my female colleagues are mostly interested and impressed by my work, I have suffered the occasional comment from my older, male colleagues, who seem to think it’s funny that someone my age would be interested in crocheting or knitting. I mostly ignore that, but it does discourage me from taking my projects to work.

I do have one more option, though, for a more welcoming time and place to work on my WIPs – the local knitting group that meets up on a Tuesday evening. It’s called Sticks & String. Because of my commute, and my exercise schedule (Tuesday is usually a swimming day), this week was the first time I actually found I had a chance to go along. Hopefully I can engineer it so it's a regular part of my week. In order for this to work, though, I need to have projects that are portable enough to fit in my work rucksack, which at the moment limits me to my several unfinished pairs of gloves. Hey, maybe that will be the incentive to get me to finish them!

Wow, for once a post with no gratuitous photos of my projects.

Thanks again for popping by, I’ve had fun this week!

Don’t forget, to read everyone else’s final Knitting and Crochet Blog Week posts, Google for “2KCBWDAY7”.

KnitCroBlo Week - Day 6

Today’s theme is all about aspirations. What pattern(s) or skill(s) do we aspire to? I am going to tie this in to last year’s inspirational pattern, as they are similar topics to discuss.

I spend a lot of time browsing the Ravelry pattern database. At the moment, I have over 130 patterns queued (both knit and crochet patterns), and have “favourited” 59 individual projects that I love (although there is inevitably crossover between my queue and my favourites).

In some cases, it is quite obvious that I have been inspired by a pattern/project on the database. My Fontana scarf is a good example of that.



Crocheted's Simple Textured scarf



My simple crocheted scarf!

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

Other projects in my favourites are purely there to inspire me, to remind me of the wonderful and amazing things you can do with yarn, if you put your mind to it.



Kotka's crochet umbrella



Janukke's Escher fish tesselation blanket



Gwendollyn's Gothic lace shawl



Enfys's clematis



Pudify's reasonably large but not
quite giant squid



Fruppi's crocheted fairy wings



Mintlatte's cathedral rose window afghan



Patterns which I aspire to making one day are mainly lace knits, as knitting anything more complicated than basic garter or stocking stitch is beyond my talents at the moment. In particular, I’d love to have a go at these:

Mirielgw's Beaded Hypernova scarf

KnottyEwe's Haruni shawl

Socialknitgirl's After Hours shawl

But as learning to knit beautiful lace shawls, scarves and wraps is going to require serious investment on my part (books, needles, posh yarn) I am going to have to put this off for a little while yet. Maybe once we get through the summer, and I want to start making things for keeping off the autumn chill, I will come back to this. Long winter evenings might be just the thing for getting my head around reading knitting charts, and complicated knitting stitches. I should have plenty of time for it, as if I pass my exams this June, I won’t have to do any more in December!

Head on over to Google, search for “2KCBWDAY6” to see what aspirations my fellow KnitCroBlo Week bloggers are talking about!

KnitCroBlo Week - Day 5

Today’s theme is Do Something Different. There is no set topic. Eskimimi has challenged us to find a new way of blogging about our craft, be it a video-blog, a wordless post, or whatever else our imaginations can come up with!

I've gone for an audio slideshow:

Don’t forget, this post is part of KnitCroBlo Week, search in Google for “2KCBWDAY5” to see how everyone has interpreted this unusual blogging challenge!

KnitCroBlo Week - Day 4

Today’s topic is Where are they now? We’re looking back at past projects. What actually happens to a knit/crocheted piece once it’s finished. Are gifts cherished, or shoved to the back of a wardrobe or cupboard to never see the light of day again? Do we actually wear all these lacy shawls we knit?

I’m too scared to go snooping around to find out if my few gift recipients use their gifts or not. To date, I’ve only gifted a few things to people who aren’t Jamie.

So I guess we should talk about FO’s I’ve kept! I think the most successful projects, in terms of daily use since completion, are the Remote Control Caddy (free pattern available from this blog!), the sofa throw and the sofa cushions . The remote holder is a lifesaver. We are so bad at losing remotes, standing on them, sitting on them. Even the cat sits on them. So having somewhere safe for them to hang, out of the way, while still being in both of our reach, well, that’s a great thing to have.

It has stretched somewhat, since I first nailed it to the wall.

I think I will pull out the bottom pins, and hammer them back in a bit further down, to pull the corners back straight again. Other than that, though, I think it is doing alright.

My first crochet project, the project bag has done sterling service since completion. I carry my projects around in it when I take them with me to work or to role-play night. Everyone loves it!

I do try not to make things that won’t be used. I think so far, the FO that has seen the least amount of use is this poncho:

I made this with the leftover yarn from the sofa cushions. Brown and cream, held together, with a rather chunky 10mm hook. I ran out of cream just before the end, so the final row is finished off with two strands of brown held together! Not one for massively showing off, but it is lovely and warm, so I have worn it a bit around the house. I just don’t find ponchos to be a particularly easy item to wear. I have another one I bought years ago, which is crocheted also, and I hardly wear that either, but I love them to bits so won’t get rid! In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if I made more, they are so easy and quick, and look impressive. Plus, you don’t have to worry too much about them fitting!

Don’t forget, this post is part of KnitCroBlo Week, search in Google for “2KCBWDAY4” to find out what has happened to everyone else’s FOs!

KnitCroBlo Week - Day 3

Before I get started, I just wanted to say a massive thankyou to everyone who has popped in to read and commented so far this week. It's been so much fun reading everyone else's posts, and I've certainly added more than a few new blogs to my reading list!

Today is all about Organisation. Tidy mind, tidy stitches is the official topic header. I expect we’ll see quite a variety of posts on this topic today!

A place for everything, and everything in its place.

I like to think of myself as being quite an organised person. I like for everything to have a place. However, I am extremely messy and lazy, so once I have organised everything, it rapidly falls apart and becomes a mess again.

A place for everything, and nothing in its place should be my motto.

Of course, organising your knitting/crocheting is far more than just where it’s kept. I have my nest, my area of the living room you see above, where I keep my yarn, books, tools and WIPs. It’s also where I do most of my work, so everything is close to hand.

When I started out, I didn’t have much to keep organised. I was working on one project, I only had the materials and tools needed for that one project. As time has gone on, I have built up a little mini stash of spare yarn, mostly leftovers. I have not yet got to the stage where I go into yarn stores and just buy yarn because it’s pretty! I can’t get my head around that. Of course, my collection of tools has expanded as the projects have come and gone, as I’ve needed a variety of different hook sizes and so forth.

Staying organised is really more about keeping on top of the projects I’m working on. I’ve gone a bit crazy of late; I currently have eight WIPs on the go, whereas before I would have maybe one or two. Admittedly, I’m only working consistently on one or two at a time, so a week may go by before I touch a project again, if I’m not in the mood for working on it.

Ravelry is a great tool to stay organised. I can keep track of my library, my stash, my hook selection, my finished work and my current projects. It’s also a great planning tool. I’ve built up quite a queue of patterns that I’d like to have a go at someday. But because they’re all in my queue, I don’t have to keep remembering them. When I get to a stage where I want to start a new project, I can search my queue instead of the whole database.

Ravelry helps keep my stash in check too. Because of the yarn information on the site, I can easily narrow down my selections for projects where I need to substitute yarn. A lot of the patterns are American and suggest using yarns not readily available in the UK, so substituting yarn is fast becoming an essential skill for me. Searching through Ravelry means that when I finally get to the yarn store I know I’m only looking for one or two yarns, I don’t have to search the whole shop, peering at ball bands and trying to remember what gauge I’m meant to be working at. I don’t get distracted by pretty yarns that are no use to me, either, which keeps my OH and my bank balance happy!

One thing that does annoy me though, is when people don't bother using Ravelry's features to the full. I have to substitute yarns a lot, so it's really helpful to go through the finished projects and find ones using the yarns I'm thinking about using, to see exactly how much it will use etc. So often I see the projects without vital details, like how much yarn was used, or which hook size was used. Or people who say "I made some modifications to the pattern" and then don't say what they did differently! I try to make sure all of my projects contain information that is not only useful to me (e.g. keeping accurate track records of how much of a particular yarn I have left in my stash) but for other people. I want people to find my project pages helpful, so I make sure they contain all the information I would want to see. I just wish everyone did the same.

And of course, keeping track of everything’s progress via WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays means that I stay on top of my active projects, and make sure everyone gets some attention at least once a fortnight, to save on embarrassment when I have to announce for yet another week “I still don’t have any FOs to share”!

Don’t forget, this post is part of KnitCroBlo Week, search in Google for “2KCBWDAY3” to find out how my fellow bloggers keep their crafts organised. Who knows, might all learn a thing or two from each other today!

KnitCroBlo Week - Day 2

Today’s posting topic is all about skills. What new skills have I learned this year? It ties quite neatly in with last year’s topic of “what new skills do you want to learn this year”, so I expect a lot of today’s posts will include a look back to last year’s post, and seeing if people actually learned the skills they wanted to.

For me though, this post will neatly tie into another of last year’s topics: Why did you start? Because this time last year, I had no idea I’d even be interested in crochet. Let alone obsessed with it.

I have learned so many new skills this year. But I have also rediscovered old ones. My Gran taught me to knit when I was little (more on that, later on in the week), but I didn’t have much of an interest. A terrible, ten stitch wide garter stitch scarf was the best I managed. I soon abandoned it for other pursuits.

It would be a long time before I picked up the needles again! Back in 2006, I suddenly had the urge to knit Jamie a scarf. I had in my possession a wonderful red-and-white striped scarf that Gran had knitted for Dad, many years previously, to wear to the rugby (red and white being the Welsh team colours, of course). It's a whopping 75" long, 8" wide, with alternating 2" stripes.

I had bought myself a fleece scarf branded with my rugby club’s logo, but Jamie didn’t have one for his team. Rather than buy one from the Ospreys’ shop, I thought “I know, I’ll knit him one, like Gran knit one for Dad”. I rushed out to the shop (in this case Jacksons, the wonderfully old-fashioned department store in town that has a craft section, including a huge yarn selection. Think Are You Being Served but less camp) and bought knitting needles and yarn. Black and white yarn. I have no idea what yarn it is; I suspect it is acrylic of some kind.

Armed with my purchase and printed instructions on how to knit and purl from the internet, I set about re-learning how to cast on, and do basic knit stitches. I also did a brief tutorial in colour changing, as the team’s strip that year was black with white stripes. The end result was this rather ugly scarf:

Which, while warm, is too wide and too short to be really useful. It’s quite stiff fabric, and it feels a bit like a neck brace when you wear it! However, during the process of making it I found myself bitten with the knitting bug.

A second scarf, from a fun scarf knitting kit, proved to be my undoing. Stupid novelty yarn! This was a disaster. I started out by casting on too many stitches, and stubbornly refusing to start over. I dropped stitches everywhere. Eventually I abandoned it and went back to painting miniatures and cross-stitch to get my creative fix.


See, I did finish it eventually

 Fast-forward a couple of years. As part of a Christmas gift, Jamie’s parents gave me two scarf-knitting kits. I started working on them; Fontana stalled massively. Marbella was lots of fun, although I needed the assistance of my knitting friend Em to cast on the crazy novelty yarn. For my birthday last year, though, I was gifted a pattern for a bag (future MiL knows I like bags, you see) as the pre-made version she had intended to get me was sold before she could buy it. So she figured if she got me the pattern, I could make my own!

Having never crocheted before, I ran straight to my knitting friends and cried for help. Luckily, Tams does crochet, so she showed me the basics, and encouraged me to give it a go. “It’s easier than knitting!” she said. And she was right.

I used exactly the yarn and hook specified. I got horrendously confused, because I’d learned crochet stitches from the Stitch ‘n’ Bitch Happy Hooker book (US terms) and the pattern was from Simply Knitting (UK terms). My first square came out huge because I’d used US trebles instead of UK trebles! After a short while peering at the pattern photos, I soon figured out what the problem was, and quickly rattled out 24 blocks.

I was hooked. And I’ve gone from strength to strength through the year, constantly looking for new projects to challenge me.

As you can see, I’ve accomplished quite a lot! There’s still plenty to learn though, so this next year will be about trying new patterns, branching out into more complicated amigurumis, and trying my hand at knitting beautiful lace shawls.

Don’t forget, this post is part of KnitCroBlo Week, search in Google for “2KCBWDAY2” to find out what other new skills have been learned this year!

KnitCroBlo Week - Day 1

The 2^nd Annual KnitCroBlo Week is finally here! Are you excited? I sure as hell am. I’m no stranger to linking blog posts to form a little posting party, we do it on here every week with our WIP Wednesday and FO Friday posts. But KnitCroBlo is much, much bigger than that. Tami’s linky parties have up to 30 regular participants. KnitCroBlo should hit hundreds of blogs, right across the world.

Enough of the preamble! Let’s dive right in to today’s blogging topic: A Tale of Two Yarns. Which neatly ties in to last year’s Day 7 topic: What a Yarn.

Yarn. It’s a funny word, isn’t it? Growing up in the UK, I have a tendency to call it all “wool”, even though I now know that is massively incorrect. Of course “wool” is only yarn made from sheep fleece. Ravelry has opened my eyes to the huge array of materials yarn can be made from, both natural and man-made.

Budgetary concerns have kept me at the low-end of the yarn market so far. The vast majority of my projects made to date have been made from acrylic yarns (or blends with 50% or more acrylic fiber). There’s a lot of talk and opinion about acrylic yarns. I encountered the term “yarn snob” in the Ravelry forums, meaning a person who only uses expensive, natural fibers and turns their nose up at acrylics regardless. Then there are folks like me, who are happy to hook with the cheap stuff, and love it for its machine wash- and dry-ness. It’s great for baby stuff, and for amigurumi too. It comes in fantastic bright colours, which do not fade. It is warm. Very warm. And did I mention cheap?

My 100% acrylic of choice so far has been Sirdar Bonus DK. It’s £1.90 per 100g in Hobbycraft, and comes in a wonderful array of rainbow-bright shades. Where else could I find the eye-wateringly garish orange I used in my tiger striped starghan?

How else could I afford to attempt such an ambitiously sized project as my enormous granny rectangle afghan? I’ve had a go at calculating how much yarn I have used/will use for this project, it’s something like 2 balls of each colour, plus probably 4 balls of black by the time I am done. The total cost of this blanket is going to be less than £30. I couldn’t afford the yardage needed in a natural fiber.



one of these days I'll take a new photo of this

Not forgetting of course the number of small ami’s I’ve made using acrylics. Or the charitable crocheting I’ve been able to do using my lovely, cheap yarn.

I have been branching out, and made a number of projects in other yarns, notably Wendy Happy sock yarn (a bamboo mix) and the King Cole sock yarn (wool/nylon mix). But I am yet to step up to the heady heights of a pure merino, or cashmere, or alpaca.

I do have lofty yarn aspirations though. I hear a lot, in the Ravelry yarn forum, about some of the more popular “posh” yarns. The name Malabrigo comes up a lot, in particular the Malabrigo Lace yarn, 100% pure baby merino wool from particular sheep bred in Uruguay. There are over 13,000 projects loaded to the Ravelry database using this yarn. It has an average of 4.5/5 stars from user ratings. It is a very light weight, ideal for lace projects, as demonstrated by the many lace shawls knit using this yarn on Ravelry.

See how beautiful it is!
This pic belongs to Ravelry user LindaLovesLace



This pic is ElaynaKnits's

Gorgeous stuff. However, I am scared to try it, because I have also been reading that it felts really quickly, even with just light wear, and possibly even when you’re still working on it. My hands get very hot when I work on my crochet, so I’m terrified of spending upwards of £10 per skein on this yarn for it to be ruined even before I finish the project. Perhaps I will have to knit this yarn, instead of crocheting it. That might save me some problems.

There’s also the fact that “posh” yarns like this can’t be machine washed. Hand-washing is not something that  gets done very often in my house, and I don’t really have the space to lay things out to dry flat. So I don’t want to spend all that money on yarn to make an item that I will only use until it needs washing the first time, at which point it would get shoved to the back of a cupboard and forgotten about.

I have heard equally nice things about Knit Picks yarns, with the added bonus of more exclusivity in the UK, as only Great British Yarns stock it here. It’s also cheaper than the Malabrigo. But the Knit Picks Shadow lace yarn I’ve been eyeing up (only £7 a skein) is also 100% baby merino, so wouldn’t that have exactly the same issues as the Malabrigo?

There is so much to learn about these different yarns. I can see the only real way I’m going to find these things out is to take the plunge, buy some, and see what happens. I have a rather nice shawl pattern in my Ravelry queue, which I’m thinking the Knit Picks Shadow will be perfect for. Perhaps I will treat myself on my birthday!

Jane Austen shawl by yarnishness in Malabrigo Lace



Jane Austen shawl by Arianabeads in Knit Picks Gloss Lace

Don’t forget, this post is part of KnitCroBlo Week, search in Google for “2KCBWDAY1” to find and read the rest of the bloggersphere’s contributions to today’s topic!