In which I manage not to kill plants, and successfully grow a mushroom

About six weeks ago, I started a new round of attempting to grow things that were edible. I have to say, I timed it perfectly, as the heatwave we've been enjoying, coupled with me remembering to water them every day (much easier now I have a garden hose!) has meant the herbs I planted have grown beyond my wildest imaginings!

This was how they looked when I first planted them

and this is how they looked a week or so ago!

They're doing so well! Especially the mint, it looks super-healthy compared to the sickly little thing it was after we brought it home from the supermarket. We've even used the sage a couple of times in the last few weeks, in my homemade sausagemeat stuffing.

I also bought a grow-your-own Mushroom kit at the same time as the herbs. A few weeks ago, I prepared the kit and put it in our spare room (the warmest room in the house). After the prerequisite amount of time, I moved it downstairs to the cool confines of an empty cupboard in the kitchen. It wasn't as cool as the packet suggested, but it was the best I could do given the heatwave!

After a period of time, teeny tiny mushrooms appeared. And one monster!

This was eight days ago

I was quite curious to see what would happen. And then I forgot about the kit until Saturday. When I went to check on it, this is what I found:

It's meant to grow button mushrooms!! This is HUGE! We haven't eaten it yet. We're a bit scared, to be honest. Also, none of the other teeny tiny mushrooms have grown. I will keep a closer eye on it and see what happens!

Year of Projects 3: August 4th update

I've actually managed a fair bit of progress this week! Mostly, I've been a monogamous knitter, working solely on my Wingspan.

I've completed two whole triangles and started a third! I made sure to weigh my yarn after the first triangle, so I know it takes roughly 10g of this yarn on these needles. That means I might be able to squeeze an additional triangle out of it and make the shawl a bit bigger.

I have discovered something though, When I cast on for the second triangle, I used a cable cast on and then just knit normally into the stitches. It's left me with quite a loose cast on edge for those stitches. With triangle number three, I used the same cast on, but knit into the back loop for the new stitches, which has left me with a much neater, tighter edge.

I will do the rest of the triangles the same way, and leave the loose edge as a "design feature". I doubt anyone apart from me will notice it anyway, once I'm wearing it!

Yesterday, I also picked up Dragonfly Wings again, dug out my 5mm needles and started the lace border. So far, I've knit two row of it! I appeared to be one stitch out, so I have fudged it a little near the centre and I'm sure it won't make a difference when I'm done. Another "design feature"!

In other good news, while tidying the house for a visit from the in-laws yesterday, I found my missing DPN in the sofa. Which means work can start again on my socks.

Not likely to get much knitting done this week though, as I have a lot of studying to do before I go away for a course on the 12th. I think Wingspan and the socks will make very good projects to take with me to keep me entertained each evening when I'm sat in my hotel room all by myself!

Year of Projects 3: update 30th July

Ok, so I'm a few days late on my update, but it lines up nicely with WIP Wednesday over at Tami's Amis! I've been working fairly steadily on a couple of YoP projects since I last posted, although in a surprise turn of events, not the ones I had planned on working on!

Apologies for the dodgy iPhone pic!

I screwed up the courage and sewed my tortoise shell together. Never again, I have promised myself, will I be making anything that requires this much sewing up. This pattern is totally worth it though, because the end result is so cute! Currently missing all its limbs and head though, so no FO quite yet.

I tried to drag these socks out of hibernation the other night, but my ninth DPN appears to have gone walkies! I know I have knit on these recently, so I'm assuming the needle has fallen into the sofa and I'll have to go looking for it at some point, as I don't have a tenth I can use.

Dragonfly Wings has reached the lace section, which means I'm done with all the casting on oodles of stitches at the start of the rows. I finished that part quite late on Saturday night, and haven't been focused enough to start the lace yet (I'm also worried I miscounted somewhere along the way, and will find myself out on the stitch count).

All of which left me in a bit of a quandry the other day. I wanted to knit, but didn't want complicated. I would have loved to do more on my socks, but couldn't find the needle. Nothing for it but to cast on something new!

Say hello to Wingspan! Oodles of lovely garter stitch and short rows, with gorgeous changing colour yarn. Perfect for when I don't really want to have to concentrate!

Pick-a-Boo KAL update

So many people have already finished their first Boo Knits shawl in this KAL; many of them have started a second as well! I however am not that quick a knitter, especially when I've been distracted by kit making and other knitting projects over the last couple of weeks.

I've knit the easy bit of my Dragonfly Wings, and have now reached the point where I have to cast on extra stitches at the start of each row. I have to admit, the instructions in the pattern had me slightly flummoxed. Luckily, I'm knitting this alongside a great many other people, some of whom fell into the same confusion over the instructions. There was already a thread in the Crafts from the Cwtch group on Ravelry asking exactly the question I wanted an answer to. I asked for more clarification, got an answer back from the designer the same evening (as she is taking an active part in the group during this KAL, which is fantastic), and have been able to motor on with the next section.

I think you can just about see the sparkle
in the yarn in this picture

For me, this was a great demonstration of what is so fabulous about joining in a KAL/CAL. Even if the designer herself hadn't been around to help me out, I am certain someone else who had already got past that section of the pattern would have been along to give me some advice.

I'm hopeful that now I have got over my "I don't know what the pattern is telling me to do next" wobble, the rest of this shawl will fly off my needles and be done by the end of the KAL at the end of August.

FO and New Pattern Release!

In my haste to get sidetracked by even more new projects, I spent my Saturday crocheting not one, but two new bits of kit for my current LRP character.

First up, a new snood. I've been wearing the old blue one at every event since I first made it two years ago. While perfectly serviceable for normal daily wear, it doesn't really pass muster any more for a special occassion. As we are holding a coronation at the next event, and I've been talked into wearing a "proper" dress (this one, if you're interested), I decided I needed a new snood in the right colour. I picked up a ball of bright red Patons 100% Cotton 4 ply and got to it.

As it turns out, I modified the original pattern quite seriously when I made the first one, but didn't make any useful notes. I had to get the old one out and keep comparing the two to make sure I was doing it the same. I think I've achieved that! I also made notes this time, so when I come to make a third one (I'm thinking yellow/gold next time) I won't have to figure it out again.

To go with the new snood and the fabulous dress, I decided I needed matching gloves. I had intended to go back to the Afternoon Tea Fingerless Mitts and do another pair of those, but I don't seem to have a copy of the pattern (and I certainly don't remember having to pay for it before!).  A new plan was needed. I had a look on Ravelry but couldn't find anything quite like I wanted. Luckily, inspiration struck and half an hour later I had a brand new pattern flying off the hook.

Aren't they fab? The construction is quite interesting, working into both edges of a foundation single crochet chain before adding the button band and button holes seamlessly. Then it's join in the round and within a few short rows the entire glove is done. The best bit is that they are ridiculously easy to modify for size!

To help explain the construction of the cuff, I even drew up a chart. The pattern is available for free in my Ravelry store here and I can't wait to see if anyone else decides to knock up a pair.

Year of Projects 3: July 21st update

I haven't done so well at staying on track this week. Between getting sidetracked by exciting sewing projects and the heat, I've not touched Dragonfly Wings or started test-knitting my Game of Thrones charts. I have completed two new projects, including a new design which I shall be releasing this week!

My distraction knitting this week has been a new project as well, but thankfully one from the list. A few weeks ago Chrissy suggested she might host a KAL starting in September, with the aim of making us go back to our bookshelves and actually knit/crochet from one of the books we've had but haven't ever used. Everything about the KAL appealed to me, from the timing (starting after the Pick-a-Boo KAL has ended) to the fact that I already had my eye on a book on my shelf to help me fulfil my Christmas gift knitting I'd added to the list, for all my friends' children.

Of course, once I got hooked on the idea.... you understand perfectly of course!

I dug through my stash to find this gorgeous selection of colours, to knit the Patchwork Tortoise from Zoe Mellor's book Knitted Toys: 25 Fresh and Fabulous Designs. I only had a couple of colours where I had enough yardage to be sure of completing the main colour sections, which forced me into this pink/purple theme.

It looked a bit like roadkill at this point

I've done all of the knitting. Now all that is left is the mind-numbing task of sewing the damn thing together. Seriously, this thing is in way too many bits.

That's not even all of them.

If I'd thought ahead, I'd have planned the colours for the shell in advance, and knit the hexagons in strips, rather than doing each one individually. That would have saved me some sewing up time. I expect it will still be in this state by the time Chrissy's KAL officially starts!

Not to worry though, I've already lined up another pattern from the book to knit during that KAL, the Roaring Dinosaur.

Getting sidetracked (again!)

When I came back from the last event in June, I found myself suddenly needing to crochet a giant tablecloth in less than four weeks. Having succeeded at that, I have returned from the most recent event last weekend with an even more complicated project in mind! Luckily, there is more time between now and the next event (August Bank Holiday weekend) so I should be alright.

I've decided I need some more costume. I have one vest that I wear all the time because it is so comfy and goes with everything.

Photo by Nikki Flynn

I decided I needed more of them. I don't have a pattern, so had planned to reverse engineer from this one (which was I believe originally from Next, although I got it on eBay). Then I found some old cardigans from New Look that I thought I could adapt for a lot less hassle.

It's a nice drapey viscose fabric, which has the added advantage of not fraying when you cut it! I hacked the arms off just below the shoulder seams, and cut the length down to get rid of the very modern-looking pockets.

I need to find the right material to trim the bottom hem and sleeves, to match the style of the other vest. In teh meantime, I've turned my attention to the motif I'm going to embroider on the back. I've designed a symbol based on my character's current allegiance to two different factions.

The dragon represents my current faction.
The lion represents my new faction.

I made a stencil and quickly mocked up the motif in paint on a different black fabric, just to check it looks ok in my chosen colour scheme.

I'm quite pleased with it. I've sprayed the stencil (in reverse) on the inside of my vest, and an slowly embroidering the image on using some white and red embroidery thread that I had lying around. So far, I've done most of the lion and it's looking pretty good. I think I might have to match the trim to the red embroidery thread, which could be difficult. It's a much more winey red than the paint I used.

Will share some progress when I'm done with the embroidery!