Paula purls...

WIP Wednesdays: Spin me baby, round round...

2011-11-22T07:53:00.002Z

Last few weeks have been a little crazy, which have been reflected in my absence from Ravelry and my blog. After I finished my exams, I planned a year long rest full of reading books and knitting. Turns out however that I'm back at Uni, full time this time, in January. In less than two months. And while this terrifies me hugely, it also gives me a way out of office dress code and into world of comfort, cosy knitting. So I'm queueing knitted bags, headbands and cardigans because for once I'll be able to wear anything I want!

In the meantime, I have been working on this beautiful legwarmers by Angela Rangel:

They knit up surprisingly quickly (once I sit down to knit actually!) so I hope to have them finished soon - I wear a lot of skirts so these are a must have for this weather!

I have also cast on for Cria, I've been tempted for a while and I need a fairly simple project I can take on the bus (knitting the above legwarmers on the moving bus + cables + two-at-the-time = disaster, so I leave them at home now).

So what have you been knitting?

And of course check out Tami Amis for more inspirations!

Much love x

Free Pattern: Snowflake Mug Cosy

2011-11-19T12:03:00.000Z

**Snowflake Mug Cosy **

Ravelry link

I designed this mug cosy when I needed a winter-themed quick gift for a friend last year. It knits up very quickly and it's a great first fair-isle project. There are only two colours so easier to manage stranding at your first attempt :)

I used worsted and aran yarns in two versions and it fits majority of my mugs at home. It can be easily adapted to be a single-snowflake mug cosy for travel mug. Newest version is knitted in Knit Picks Wool of The Andes Sport held double (as main colour) and Wool of The Andes Worsted (as contract colour) and uses approximately 60 yards of main colour and 15 yards of contrast colours.

Pattern includes instruction and is charted, it is also symmetrical so you can knit it either from right to left or the other way round.

I hope you like it! xx

It's good to be back

2011-10-22T13:45:00.000+01:00

So I haven't been the best blogger recently. I don't even want to think how long it's been since I posted something, but as usual, life got in a way.

I now have a job in which I actually have to work which means no blogging during work. I have just sat three maths exams and I'm recovering slowly from the information and stress overload. But on the bright(er) side, while waiting for the results, I have all my evenings back.

I have been knitting in the meantime, although not that much.

I fell in love (even more) with cables and took on two cable-y projects which I will photograph and share.

I'm slowly working through my stash.

I got my first drop spindle and some fibre (which I have yet to spin) .

Amber is still stealing all my yarn and tried to create complicated cowebs around furniture.

I knitted my first ever hexipuff and promptly lost it (I will be looking for it this afternoon but I'm sure kitty took ownership of it and it will emerge in few months time).

I'm starting (eek!) to think about Christmas knitting.

I have re-knitted (since I now know my right purls from wrong purls) my first ever pattern I published so I will be writing about it sometime soon!

I'm also celebrating a first anniversary of being a fully fledged knitter so there is a post to follow about this.

In the meantime, it's good to be back!

WIP Wednesdays: Gimme more

2011-08-24T07:39:00.000+01:00

Recently I realised that I really don't have many wips going at the moment, since I got quite good at finishing things. In fact, I only had one things yesterday that was a true wip and I badly needed a break from it - oh horror!

So I decided to cast on something new and exciting - I had this gorgeous yarn, variegated, which caused me great trouble because I never know what to do with it....To find a pattern that is simple enough to carry off many colours at once but interesting at the same time is a tricky thing.

So when one of my fav designers Army of Knitters published Spey skirt, I knew which yarn to use for it!

Because I'm using two strands of heavy dk, it knits up so quick which is a welcome change from the wip below!
I picked strands from two ends, one from beginning, one from end/middle of the skein and it's very addictive to watch how colours play together, sometimes there are long runs of the same colour in both strands!

(I have the same yarn in pink/greyish variety which I love so much and I'm very anxious to start Cria by Ysolda, since it's simple pattern that I think could work really well with the yarn, but I'm trying to some weight...!)

Now the other wip, which I'm slowly progressing on, is my Merlot shawl (Flamboyan by Stephen West). It was a really quick knit up to the point where I got started on the ruffle (ribbing + a lot of increases = not much fun). It takes me about 20 mins to complete one row on ruffle at the moment :(

It's gorgeous though!

I'm using Eastern style knitting for ribbing to make sure my purls are not stretching out my knits, it seems to be a very popular knitting method since Ysolda's book come out and I have to say I'm very relieved because it's the way that purl stitch has always been the quickest and easiest for me to do!

For more yarny goodness check out Tami Amis, I'm off to tackle some maths but looking forward to sitting down this evening to finally catch up with other bloggers :o)

WIP Wednesdays: Back On Track

2011-08-17T08:20:00.000+01:00

Well I did warn you I wasn't good with changes, didn't I? ;o) I've been a bad blogger recently, but with new job having long hours and my final exams at uni fast approaching, I decided to take a step back and stop knitting to deadlines.

Because, you know, world will not end if I won't finish every wip within a month of starting it.
Sometimes I have a hard time remembering that I knit for pleasure and I rush and try to finish everything as soon as I can. Until I was forced to put down my knitting for a few days (unthinkable!!) and focus on more important things, like sleeping for example (yeah, I used to get up BEFORE work to knit a little, not anymore...)

So my progress has been slow, but I'm enjoying it again. I got rid of that "must-knit-all-the-time" feeling.

So here's what I'm working at the moment:

My parfait Tunic has seen a some progress:

I'm also working on Stephen West Mystery Shawl but I will probably give it up because there's no way I'll be able to finish by the end of August!

Also, I'm working on my first ever SWAP! Very excited, so here's a sneak peek:

I have also been reorganising my yarn with new baskets/boxes (there are two more, but let's pretend they're empty, shall we??)

What have you been up to? Do you happen to lose your knitting mojo?

PS. For more knitting and crotcheting awesomeness, visit Tamis Amis

WIP Wednesday: Comfort Knitting

2011-07-27T07:45:00.000+01:00

First of all, this.

If you never heard this song, listen to it, it's beautiful.

Recently things have been difficult. I have been thrown out of my routine, and I am a creature of habit. I get used to places, people, schedules very easily.
And one of those evening when all I really wanted was to hide from everything, I decided to cast on something warm, something cosy, something that was soothing to knit.

I picked Knit Picks Gloss Fingering with gentle sheen, soft, squishy and in beautiful colour of red wine.

Pattern is Stephen West "Flamboyan", because there is nothing that a little bit of ruffle can't fix :o)

I'm knitting a monochrome version with just one skein at the time and stitch markers to remind where yarn B should be.

And it's been a dream to knit: smooth, silky. I love that red and the simplicity of the pattern that relaxes me and allows me to fall deep into thought instead of counting stitches.

We all need projects like that sometime, right?
So what's your comfort knitting? Any particular yarn, pattern?

So that's all from me today, head to Tamis Amis to check out what other crafters have been sharing today

FO Friday: Trick or Treat?

2011-07-22T08:29:00.001+01:00

Today's theme is... tricky-knitty! Both FO below presented some challenges and I learnt a trick or two while knitting them, so even though they are small, they deserve their own post :o)

Newest FO is this headband, pattern by Stephen West, which I made for my husband. I only did half the pattern since he wanted it narrow.
Yarns: Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk (Navy - two strands) and Knit Picks Palette (Blue - 3 strands).

Braids on the edges of the headband are amazing and very interesting in construction, if a little tricky at the beginning (particularly if you're trying to purl each sts in different colour using 5 strands of yarn LOL).

It only took me couple of hours to finish as I was really hooked by all the over-and-under yarn changes and wanted to keep going to see how the final effect will look like.

This pattern is also a great value as well since you get pattern for headband AND a hat together!

~***~

The second tricky knit was a test for Andrea's gorgeous Cabled Armwarmers.She used twisted stitches and a very interesting honeycomb garter stitch, I love learning new things!
I'm very prone to suffering from second-everything syndrome, from mitts to sleeves, so I decide to bite the bullet and try knitting two-at the time.Process went something like this:

22:00 Ok, let's google "mitts two at the time"
22:15 Hmmm nothing,, it's all about socks, I don't want to knit socks!
22:29 Maybe I could watch sock tutorial and convert it to mitten tutorial, genius!!
22:42 Ok, surely cuff-down socks are the same as mittens in terms on construction, yes?
23:42 Confused, I haz it. Go lie down in a dark room. Husbeast is nagging me to go to bed, but I'm trying to work magic!!
23.55 Ok, let's try, I can always ~~frog~~ do the unthinkable...
00:05 WTH? Two needles? Like I already haven't got a tangled mess using one!
00:14 Cast on is done, or something cast-on-similar, because I still can't grasp how this will work!
00:20 First row.... is done... at least I think so?
00:34 Second row and believe me, it's starting to look like two cuffs!!!! Magic!!
00:45 Yes, I know it's late, but I'm doing so well now!
01:03 4 rows done - yeeeeeah!!! Husbeast is not impressed when I show him effect of my work, not that there is much, but still, so much work! Is the "lack of common ground" enough for a divorce?

PS. If you want to save yourself some time, THIS tutorial is pretty good and explains how to master the technique (on sock example of course). One day I will make my own video about mittens for confused souls like me.

After much trauma, the result are these super-cute mitts that I love to bits and thanks to great British "Summer" I get to wear them every day :o)

For more inspiration, tricks and treats this FO Friday, visit Tami Amis!

WIP Wednesdays: Colour Me Pretty

2011-07-20T07:49:00.004+01:00

Edited To Add: I wrote this post at a very hour of the day, way too early for my brain to be fully functional. Therefore, the introduction is missing. Here it goes:

My newest crush, Stephen West has a Mystery Shawl KAL starting on and I decided to participate. I also decided one evening (wine, anyone?) that it would be fun to dye all three colours myself and have a truly "handmade" shawl (minus the sheep breeding and shaving). Since I only have one colour so far, it classifies as work-in-progress ;o)

Some time ago I was inspired by Tamis post about this gorgeous blue yarn that she dyed. There was a thought of playing with colours bouncing around my head and finally one day, after a quick read on Knitty, I ordered some undyed fingering hanks. And since they were selling them by bulk, I ended up with 500g worth of fingering weight yarn. Time for some shawls, me thinks?

I spied some food colouring in a convenience store and the fun began. I used about half of this little blue magic bottle

Then, after deciding that the huge pot that we bought last Christmas was the perfect size for my hank (note that I didn't really follow the instruction to start with 5g mini-hanks, I decided to go for it and throw in whole 100g of yarn into it).

Note: If you are ever forced to eat what I cooked, be very careful and avoid anything that has suspicious blue colour.

I poured some water into the pot, added dye (then added some more in various places to achieve the hand-dyed look ;o)) AND a whole lot, that is 125ml, of lime juice (I hate hate hate vinegar!) and kept it gently almost bubbling for about 40 mins.

I checked water every now and then to see if yarn was absorbing the dye

And nearly ready!

After leaving it overnight to cool down it was ready to go! Well, nearly, since it was soaking wet!

I used our faithful clothes dryer to hang the yarn to dry

Didn't turn out too bad, heh?

The final effect is *drums!*

I'm very proud of my blue baby and will certainly be making use of the remaining four hanks!

I also have some brown and pink (which really looks like orangish-red) in making

To check out what is everybody else up to this Wednesday, head over to Tami Amis blog

Knit Nation!

2011-07-18T09:35:00.001+01:00

I must say I'm a little bit sad that Knit Nation is over and the anticipation is gone. Although, it was a great fun and I can't wait for 2013 one - I just need a piggy bank :o)

It was amazing to meet everybody and bump into people I knew from either Ravelry or blogs!

I met Jeanette Sloan, few friends from Ravelry and Ewenique - it was great to catch up in real life and put a name to the face. And talk all about the yarn!!

I also spent some time with Sharon from The Great British Yarns who along with her husband have been dragged into helping me choose whether I would looked better in blue or green sweater ;o)

I took my camera but I was so distracted by urm...... yarn! shiny! pinks! blues! yarn! that I didn't take many photos.

Before I go on to the photos, I have to say that Knit Nation was a little different from what I originally expected. It was very boutique and unique, it wasn't a place to go and buy sweater's worth quantities of yarn. Stands were full of one-off hand dyed yarns.

It was a beautiful experience and therefore I'm very glad I grew up to appreciate sock-weight yarns and come out of my denial that only anything dk+ is worth knitting with. Who knows, I may be buying lace at Knit Nation 2013!

And here's what I bought:

First I bought some undyed yarn (this is my new thing, I'll write about it soon - expect disasters!)

These are Organically Farmed 100g Merino Fingering Hanks and some small Excelana 4-ply

Then I had Stephen West Mystery Shawl KAL in mind so I was on the look out for some gorgeous fingering yarn (see - how I changed!)

Since it's called Earth & Sky I wanted blue and browns. I added this beautiful mushroomy colour below to go with my navy (and blue, which I already have in stash)

I also got Ysolda's newest book, Little Red in The City:

Which she was lovely to sign!

I also won a pattern in her Lucky Dips :o)

Since I had the book handy, I thought it would be worth buying some yarn for a cardi, so I headed to Great British Yarns for some Knit Picks. I picked out Gloss DK which is wonderfully soft and glossy ;o)

I also got some Jawoll Magic in gorgeous purple-pinkish colorway (to make another Daybreak and something else, to be decided) - which is actually husbeast favourite apparently!

And then, finally, I plucked the courage and bought my first ever luxurious (read:expensive!) skein of sock yarn. I was tempted by wonderfully soft, springy and squishy Socktopus yarns and settled down for Sokkusu Original in Pinkly colorway.

It had to be pink, right?

WIP Wednesday: End of The Chapter

2011-07-13T07:59:00.003+01:00

Today is a time of big change, I'm leaving my current job and moving onto another. It's scary, exciting, terrifying and awesome all at the same time.
I'm swapping train for bus now and it saddens me that there will be no knitter on that morning train - who will people stare at! :o)

I'll miss my co-workers I spent with them 17th part of my life and they accompanied big changes in my life.

I'm making this little cute guys as goodbye gifts for my them. They are pretty quick to make and a great way to use up leftover yarn.

Added: instructions for Yoda :o)

Pick up and knit 5 sts where you want your ears to be. All in garter stitch

Knit 4 rows.

k2tog, knit to end

Knit 3 rows

Slip 1st, k2tog, psso

Thread remaining yarn through one end of the ear, don't pull too tight. Repeat for the other one.

I stuffed some of them with yarn that came with Let's Knit magazine. I'm also putting a pebble in so that they can be used as paperweights.

I'm sorry if I'm slow at commenting today but I won't probably sit down in front of the computer until this evening

To check out what other knitters and crocheters are up to, head to Tami Amis

FO Friday: She's like the wind....

2011-07-08T21:37:00.000+01:00

Ok this is a little bit annoying.

If you read my previous post, you know that I've been spit-splicing two skeins of Chroma so I can get stripes in my Daybreak that don't run in two colours per row.
Chroma is not ideal for this method due to nylon content, but it works acceptably well (unless you have a microscope!). As I started on the border, I decided to go with it and don't worry about rows since purl bumps separate colours in a pretty way.

However, as I was working on my 3rd bump row (I could smell the bind off from there!) I met first knot in the skein.
Well, hello there, Mr. Knot, you were not invited to the party. Please go.
So I had to dive into the skein once again trying to find out the place where I can attach my yarn pre-knot. And guess what - it was dyed the other way!!

So the colour were going:
Purple->blue->turquoise->pale blue->cream->yellowy->pinkish->pink->reddish->brown->purple

After encountering Mr. Knot, colours went this way:

Pink->pinkish->yellowy->cream->pale blue.... argh!!!

So I continued where the skein took me, in the end, it doesn't look that bad.

As I laid it out for blocking, wow it grew!!! It didn't look so big when it was on the needles

If you think these are office drawing pins and part of them is pinned to the carpet, then you're really, really wrong. I mean, who would do that?? ;o)

I took my Daybreak to the seaside today, I'm not 100% happy with the photos, but wind+rain is the only weather we get over here recently so for the time being these will have to do.

To check out what other folks finished today, head to Tami Amis blog here

WIP Wednesdays: Start me up, we're halfway there...

2011-07-06T08:07:00.000+01:00

....ooooh, living on a prayer! This post is brought to you by "Start Me Up/Livin' on A Prayer" by Glee Cast

First of all, drums please! Once I sat down to my Daybreak Shawl, it's gone quite quickly. Considering I've been "knitting" the first plain section from mid-May to end of June, the stripes took me less than a week!

I have even broke my inner resistance and ordered blocking mats. Well, not the pro ones, just some baby ones. It's a totally different matter that the letters are CUT OUT, dammit, and I will have to glue them together somehow so that they don't fall out....

Never mind, I'm sure the cat will be pleased with the new space where she can plop her fluffy behind on.

I'm working on the border now and I'm very happy to have to purl just one row in 4, I thought all this purling will kill me!

The evil side of my Daybreak shawl

Yarn: Chroma Fingering in Pegasus & Palette in Cream

Now, the stripes were beautiful at the beginning, however, as they grow longer (purl, purl, purl...zzzz) the colour runs were not long enough to go through a whole row/two rows ideally.

Fortunately I had another skein of Chroma handy and a mad passion for spit-splicing (ohhh! magic!!) I took bits and pieces of the two skeins and put them together to make the colour go through at least one row at the time. This was an issue only with pale blue/turquoise, cream and pale pink sections.

***

I'm usually a one-project person. True, I may have started a few projects, but I put them down until I finish with the current one. I very rarely knit two projects in one day or even in one week.
However, there's been rumour on Ravelry that this new thing called "startitis" is really cool and everybody's doing it! So I decided to give it a try and casted on for my Parfait Tunic.

See? I'm swatching!!

Yarn: Lanas Stop Extra Merino (the one I bought in Valencia)

The yarn is so so yummy and squishy, I love it! The project goes really fast, I now memorised the pattern repeat and since there's no shaping involved, it's a very quick and easy project. Certainly a welcome break from the Daybreak shawl above!

***

On another note, I'm leaving my current workplace to explore pastures green & new. I wanted to knit something for my co-workers (even if they irritate me sometimes!) and there's only 10 of us.
I came up with the idea of knitting them little coasters - you see, we have this "tea rounds" when we all in turns make everybody else a drink.
This one is really cute, but husband says you can't really see what it pictures (a tea/coffee cup?) because people know don't knit will not go: Ooooh-it's-a-tea-cup-made-of-purl-bumps-against-stockinette-background!

So I tried to give it a little bit of contour but I'm not entirely happy with the result. If anyone has any idea for a super-quick projects that I could gift them, I would appreciate your suggestions!

That's all from me today (sorry it's a bit long!), to check out what everybody else is working on, head to Tami Amis blog here

Valencia Visit: Derecho y Revés

2011-07-04T09:10:00.001+01:00

First thing I did when we booked our flights to Spain, I researched yarn shops in Valencia. Derecho y Revés is located near the main train station, about 15mins walk from it and very close to where I was staying. I spotted it quite by accident as I didn’t know it was so close to the apartment. Then, after a week of passing by and waving to the sheep on the shop banner I finally made a trip on last day in Spain.
The shop is open until 8pm on weekdays (with a siesta break) and until 1.30pm on Saturday.

I was truly stunned by the choice and beauty of colours of cotton yarns. Over here cotton shades are quite limited, but there, my oh my, the purples, the pinks!

In the middle of the shop there are some tables and chair where I plopped my husband while I browsed the store. When we came in, the store was filled with boxes of yarn yet to be unpacked. I had a sneak peek and there were tons of merino and wool yarns as well as a lot of multi-coloured shades.

Lady working in the shop was extremely helpful and as a bonus spoke to me in English so we could chat a little bit about yarns and knitting (unfortunately all I can say in Spanish is “lanas!!!!!!” ;o). She said that she will be opening online shop via her blog, which will be soon updated so I’m very excited about this!

I was after Katia Azteca but I was informed that it’s a fall/winter yarn and will not be delivered until end of June. I guess they don’t really use wool in the summer like we do here in England! ;o)

Instead, very helpful lady showed me some yarns from Lanas Stop, it’s acrylic/merino wool superwash (yay!) mix and it’s very very soft. It comes in two weights, bulky and DK (however, it feels thicker than DK to me, more like a worsted weight).

Yarn comes in 100g balls and DK weight offer 262yds per ball and is amazing value at €4.50 per ball.

After much ummming and ahhhhing (thank you to the person who put those tables and chairs in the shop!) I bought 6 skeins of this yummy berry shade:

And five of gorgeous caramel brown shade, perfect for autumn.

I was also given 2 fee Katia pattern magazines, with instructions both in Spanish and English, for my love of Katia yarns – wonderfully surprised and very happy!

So, if you’re in Valencia, Derecho y Revés is definitely worth a visit!

WIP Wednesdays: Her Royal Knitness

2011-06-29T09:35:00.003+01:00

First, I'd like to say, that I'm not a big fan of Kate Middleton and I'm in no way inspired by her (I'm more Michelle Obama kind of girl).

However, I must give her the credit for inspiring so many wonderful designers to recreate her Waitrose Shawl.

I picked Milk Run Shawl by Cat Wong and started it last weekend. Knitting this shawl is just what I want knitting to be: relatively easy, enjoyable, great TV project. Body is garter stitch only, so no purling until you get to the ruffle! Ruffle seems a little bit daunting, I must admit, however it's only 14 rows and you basically repeat the pattern over two rows, so once you get hang of it, you don't need to read the pattern. Binding off however-many stitches I had too the longest though and it was quiet painful, but that's probably due to the fact that I desperately wanted to take if off the needles so I can try it on!

Because I'm only 5"4 (and that's barely) I finished my Pumpkin with 231 sts total. It sits just over 21in long, unblocked. It looks quite good without blocking if you ask me, so for the moment I wear it as it is (read: I keep forgetting to order blocking mats) ;o)

I have marked it as finished on Ravelry, because it's wearable, however I originally intended to have ruffle on each side, as in purple version of the pattern:

Photo from pattern page

But seeing how large the ruffle is, I'm wondering whether to add it or not? What do you think? Opinions please!

I tried to get Amber to model with me but unfortunately I don't think she has much model potential! Or maybe she's just practising her kitty pout

On another positive note, this shawl rekindled my love and admiration for shawls. I love how versatile they are, and most importantly, weight-loss-or-gain resistant.

I seem to have Palette compulsive buying disease, because even though fingering is my second least favourite weight to work with (right by the lace weight), I have accommodated quite a stash of it that has in total... 6,121.50 yards worth. Eeek.

So I came back to my Daybreak shawl, apologised to it, made up, and it's back on the needles again.

In the meantime, I'm on the look out for shawl that uses dk+ weight.

To check out everybody else's progress, heard to Tami's WIP Wednesday here

FO Friday: Leaving a jet plane...

2011-06-24T18:26:00.001+01:00

Well, not really, since I'm back in UK but I'm going to present you my two most travelled FO's.

Firstly, I started on my Fairytales Seas as it's an easy and mindless knitting project. As such, it was much needed so I took it everywhere. My co-workers thought I lost my marbles when I brought to work mohair/wool blend (not that they know the difference, but "it looked fuzzy and warm") at the beginning of June.
My cowl firstl travelled a little bit around Sussex (nothing special there), then a bit further to Arundel Castle (pretty, but OMG so overpriced)

I then thought long about taking it on our Easyjet flight to Valencia. After researching I managed to establish that it is safe to take bamboo needles on the plane and I was set to go.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find right bamboo circulars at such a short notice to take with me on board so I had to think about another option. About that in a minute.

Since I had no other easy project on my needles at the time, I took Fairytale Seas to Valencia (despite mum trying to convince me that this kind of wool is not really suited for a hot country). Turns out it came in handy when I sun burnt my bum and had to entertain myself while standing (sitting wasn't really an option for the first day!).
Quick check of the weather on our last day, and I knew I had to finish it before we land back in UK to prevent me from freezing.

Quick re-do of the seaming later, it's done!

It's such a great stash busting project, I will totally be making another one in various shades of blue that I accumulated to balance out my stash.

Now, once I knew I won't be able to take the above cowl on board, I figured out Easyjet said nothing about crocheting on board. I got two crochet hooks off eBay, this gorgeous pattern for Forget-me-knot frilly cape and hooked on!
After a lot of YouTube-ing and help from my mum (I used to crochet when I was about 10, then gave it up for ~~boys~~ studying) I completed the base before take off and then carried on with ruffles on board.
Although, me being me, I picked out gorgeous shade of CotLin - Blackberry - as you can guess, it's purple so dark it's nearly black. Not very handy when you're a newbie crocheter attempting to get some work done on a badly lit plane!

Instead of sewing ribbon in, I made a chain with yarn held double and here's the result:

I'm really amazed by the simplicity yet effectiveness of this pattern. It can be easily done in a couple of days and requires only minimal knowledge of crochet.

Modelled photos to follow since the cat was not willing to do that and I don't have my photographer on hand :o)

PS. To check out other knitters FO check them out here

Summer, summer in the city!

2011-06-22T22:14:00.001+01:00

This is a very overdue post. I was planning on posting this before I went off to sunny Valencia, unfortunately whowever is working on time machine, has not invented it yet and my allowance of hours per day is still meagre. On the plus side, there are some lovely photos full of sunshine to follow!
Below is my summer/holiday must-knit list

Remember the Witterings? The damned tubular cast off? Yup, nightmare. As I said last time, I came up with my own cast off method. Here's the final effect:

I'm very very glad I didn't give up on it. It's wonderfully fold-able and very comfortable. It protects perfectly from the sun so I didn't have to carry my sunglasses.

Another very handy knitted garment was my Seaside Ruffle, a cotton skirt. I was a bit worried it may be too heavy and slide down my hips because it's knitted in Rowan Handknit Cotton, but I had no such problem. It's very comfortable and retained its shape beautifully.

Iron Man approved ;o)

I wore my Hattie several times too - it was a bliss to have as it's loose and doesn't irritate poor sunburn skin. I'm thinking of making another one, smaller size and knee-lenght.

For bikini cover-up I took Lacy Beach Halter, again made using CotLin (did I mention it's my favourite yarn? ;o)). It only took 3 skeins so it's a great stash buster!

And finally, Malabrigo sleeping mask because it's quite hard to have a lie in when the intensive sun is trying to wake you up!

I have many summer items in my queue, and I really hope we may get some sunshine here in England this year. So far unfortunately I've been wearing my Cromarty because it's so windy and chilly!

I got little knitting done while we were in Valencia (not that I'm complaining ;o)) so when we decided to spend day on a beach and just relax, I took my five skeins of Rowan Kid Classic (Do you know how difficult it is to wash out sand from mohair wool?? Ask me how I know!) and worked on Fairytale Seas. Not to mention I got uncomfortable knitting while lying on my tummy so I decided to sacrifice my even tan and sat up. Everything would be great, if I was smart enough to apply suncream on my exposed sides. Nevertheless, cowl is finished, but I'm sunburnt on the sides and I look like something tried to chew me.

I have then resorted to knitting in the beautiful Turia River Park (well, we were too lobster-like to go out on the beach again....)

That's it honey, I quit, I'm moving on...

2011-05-25T10:35:00.000+01:00

Somebody (I’m sure it was someone important) once said that you should pick your battles wisely. I’ve been more or less following this since I realised that I don’t need to be the best in everything. So I put my knitting to a side for a moment, and fought battles with the mother of all sciences, mathematics. I won, if you’re keeping score, and I’m back.

I have however failed my first ever battle with knitting.

Generally considering myself a learner, I always try new tricks and techniques.

Cables – check

Lace – check

Pleats – check

Mattress stitch – check

Dpns – check

Gauge swatches (duh!) –check

Because I’ve been only knitting since October last year, when I pick up a project, there is bound to be something I’ve never done before. Couple of weeks ago I decided to put this beauty to test

and casted on Daybreak Shawl.

It's much bigger now!

I never knitted a shawl before, but a few chocolate bars and a thousand of videos later, it’s progressing very nicely, thank you.

My first every pair of mittens was knitted flat because I was scared for my life dpns. Never mind the fact, that in my genius I cut a normal pair of circular needles and tried to sellotape it together to create a circular needle of such a small diameter. Epic fail.

I’ve faced my monsters and in the last month I whipped up TWO pairs of mittens using 2.75mm dpn. And I enjoyed it.

Honeycomb Twist Mitts

So you get the point, I don’t give up so easily.

Until I started working on Witterings. The hat itself was a pleasure to work on, it was very easy and memorable pattern that didn’t require much technique apart from knitting and kfb, which I despite, but can master.

Yes, it requires some duplicate stitching to even out the stripes!

I should have known better, really. All going well, you finish the brim and then knit-front-back into every stitch. I should have heard alarm bells ringing at this point. Surely you don’t double the number of stitches for easy-peasy cast off right?

Never mind, I continued knitting one and slipping the other stitch like a faithful knitter. Then, after even more bars of chocolate I got to the actual cast off, googled tubular cast off and started working.... if you can call that. It was a disaster. My stitches were so uneven that I looked like the kitty had my Witterings for breakfast and then returned them via upper digestive system. Not pretty.

So I spent next 30 minutes undoing my failed tubular cast off and came up with this simple idea:

I’m going to thread brim wire at this point, and then do the k2tog bind off. So bind off 2 stitches, cast off another 2 stitches, pass over, k2tog, pass over... etc. Works like magic, although there are over 500 stitches there so you may need to wait for a FO photo a little longer.

Witterings-in-progess

And while on the subject of Witterings, I was failed by Ravelry too. I wanted my hat to be one colour only because it would look neater, but I only had scraps of Rowan Handknit Cotton. Checking patterns projects, it looked like I will need 2 skeins of each colour I wanted to use, so 4 skeins in total. I had 3 and a half, so I didn’t want to risk it. I came up with this idea of decreasing-increasing stripes. All good, but I’m on the bind off part now and I’ve only used 1 skein in Line and nearly 2 skeins of Decadent (purple). So I would have been fine if I wanted to knit my hat in all purple. I may make another one some other day, when “tubular cast off” doesn’t send me running away.

So, what’s your oh-no-can’t-possibly-do-it aspect of knitting?

Twist & shout

2011-05-04T10:08:00.000+01:00

I’ve been buried under my maths textbooks for the past few days but now I’m back!

Summer season is fully upon us so I switched from wool blends to cotton blends. I know that a lot of people dislike working with cotton, but having been knitting with Rowan Handknit Cotton I must say I’ll take it over any other yarn! It’s delicious – soft, smooth, wonderful stitch definition and the colours are amazing. I’ll try to get photos of Handknit Cotton WIPs later today, for the moment I’m having a pick & mix, that is some finished objects and some in progress ones.

First of all, I finished my Erquy!

Or rather, I finished it weeks ago but never got round to taking “in action” photos. I adore it – the fit is very flattering I think! Still can’t believe that pattern so simple can have such stunning effect, when I first saw it I thought there was no way in hell I could knit it.

Mine is slightly longer so it sits on the hip and I’m toying with the idea of making another one slightly longer to wear as a dress. If only I had as many hands as an octopus, sigh

My butterfly mittens are done and gifted now.

Pattern is very easy to follow and they knit up so quickly! Perfect last-minute gift, and this is exactly what they were – recipient loved them.

Totally see another one coming, this one for myself.

I have also finished Beach Halter by lovely Andrea Rangel. To make it longer and more pie&ice-cream friendly, I did 8 repeats of lace pattern. I went down needle size for the garter section so it’s less see-through.

I made a small mistake at right hand side in lace pattern but I didn't realise until later on so I continued knitting. Really hope this won't be terribly visible when worn.

Pattern is very easy to follow and it knits up fast - I was a bit hesitant at first because I've never done lace project on that large scale but I think it turned out just fine :o)

I skipped i-cord for the lace-up back and braided three 80in strands of yarn instead. Made me feel like a teenager again when I spent my afternoons braiding friendship bracelets like this:

And finally I want to share my newest musci obsession: Adele! I'm a bit late to hop on the wagon but I fell in love with her music. Enjoy!

Whipping up WIPs

2011-04-27T12:17:00.000+01:00

I wanted to post my WIPs but after I looked at my Ravelry project page I decided to keep it to CURRENT WIPs. I think I may need to start categorising my WIPs:
*current
*past and possibly future
*beyond hope

First of all, I'm knitting a gift! I despite when people ask me to make them something so this time recipient has no idea what she will be getting. Catching Butterflies Mittens are nearly ready, I'm just waiting for some kidsilk yarn to make butterflies.

Made of cotton/bamboo blend they are wonderfully soft and have delicate sheen. Knitting them was a pain though, as I came up with this brilliant idea that I will hold DK weight yarn double so they're not floppy but rather sturdy and warm. Yeah, sure, but I was working on 2.75mm dpns. I have very little experience working with dpns, and none with ones so tiny, but I made it! Now no ~~toothpicks~~ dpns can scare me.

*~*~*

Another WIP that I've got nearly finished is Luxurious Eye Mask. I need one of these to rescue my sanity as husbeast often goes to bed after me, keeping the light on and basically keeping my awake and robbing me of my sleep. Consider it a divorce-remedy.

Made of luscious Malabrigo in Holy Hocks this mask is sooooooo soft. And I'm ever so slightly irritated by thick-thinness of the yarn.

All is left to find a suitable band, either a ribbon or an i-cord.

On another note, Amber the Kitty Cat fell in love with Malabrigo and snatched it straight away.
However, I'm sad to report that the yarn failed Amber's softness test.

Being brave kitty as she is, she decided to save Malabrigo's honour and make it soft as required, (to save humanity, you know) by kneading it.

For 20 minutes.

*~*~*

Next is line is my Mermaid skirt. I had to put it off to hibernating-bear basket I'm afraid as 100% wool + hot weather + sweaty hands don't mix very well.

*~*~*

Wait, there's moar!!!!

Finally, I'm working on this gorgeous Beach Halter.Using CotLin and my new Zephyr 4.5mm needles. I must admit this combination is a bit squeaky, but so much better than CotLin + Harmony Wood where I had to wrestle to get my stitches off the needle.
Lace pattern is super easy to remember and it knits up amazingly quickly. I making a longer version so it covers all my tummy.

Amber approved:

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside!

2011-04-19T12:33:00.000+01:00

Weather has been gorgeous here on the south coast of England.
Sadly, I have only experienced it through the window as I have been dealing with insane network flows. However, with many Bank holidays and long weekends coming my way I’m ready to get into spirit of fun by the seaside! (minus thousands of desperate city-dwellers who will flog to *my* seaside in the following weeks)

Today I haven't got much to show for myself I'm afraid. Therefore, a selection of patterns in my favourites tagged "sea"!

Last week I started knitting Baile, a lovely skirt that I plan to make with one ruffle and in gorgeous teal colour - I'm calling it my mermaid skirt!

Yarn for my Mermaid Skirt comes from super-large order of Knit Picks Wool of The Andes, which I originally bought to make this pattern, The Life Aquatic, published in Stitch 'n Bitch Superstar Knitting

It is firmly staying in my queue thus I plan to make it, just...em... some other time. Hopefully before Autumn 2012!
Another one of my sea-tagged queued patterns is this lovely cowl, I think it's very classic and grown-up!

Ships & Seaside is designed by uber-cute Tiny Owl Knits and you can find it here

Finally, if you like shells, sand and mermaids, here's a great post about ethnic issues regarding yarns. Save the mermaids!

As I dive over the finish line...

2011-04-13T12:27:00.001+01:00

... First of all, it's a song. Song that I heard while watching Radio Free Roscoe show, it was ages ago, but for the love of all kitties, I couldn't find lyrics to it. It always puts me in a sentimental mood, enjoy:

There's also another reason that I chose this line for the title.

I'm a terrible marathon knitter. When I start on the project, I carry it everywhere and use every minute of my day to work even a few stitches. I knit during movies (I have yet to master the technique of trying to not look at my knitting while knitting, unfortunately when I try to do it I end up with half of stitches twisted and the other half dropped) or during playing games. I even knit in a bath if it's a small project. I rush, run, push to get the item finished so I can finally try it on, see how it fits (or how it doesn't. I'm even known to get up before work to finish up the project so it's ready when I come back after work to take photos in natural light.

Yes, I'm that crazy (sometimes!)

Paula's collection of wips:

I'm ashamed to say that I can't find this wip anymore. It's somewhere, probably.

There's also My Cloche Divine, which I finished in December I recall, but I have to redo the bow as it was my first wrap&turn project and it's a bit wonky. So the winter is gone, but I still haven't got round to it. But look have many pretty things I've knitted in between!

However, I noticed that with all this marathon-knitting, when I get to the end and all I have to do is sew, weave in ends or block, it can take me weeeeeeeeeeks.

My Erquy is finished, I have even outdone myself and sew on strap over the weekend. It's Wednesday and the second strap is sadly hanging from it, desperate to be united with the body.

But, Dear Erquy, it's wip-Wednesday, it would be against rules to finish you today, so I'm going to start another project to keep up with the spirit of wip-Wednesday, right?

I'll talk to you on FO-Friday. Probably.

I call it my "nearly-there" syndrome. All the curiosity of how the project will turn out is already satisfied, you tried it on, you know what you look like in it and all. Now just the small mundane task of actually doing the boring bits so you can click "Completed" on Ravelry.

OK, I cheat, I click "100%" and "Completed" when I take knitting of the needles and it's in its "nearly-there" state.

Or it is because I have some many other exciting projects waiting to be started that I can no longer be excited by the one that is, essentially, finished?

Surely I can't be the only one who does this, right?

Step away from the needles, ma'am

2011-04-09T10:56:00.002+01:00

So my mum is coming to visit in June. She's getting a bit worried about getting lost, finding her way around the town, understandably. My dad, who knows about my knitting passion, but never ever saw my stash, just heard what I'm buying, came up with a brilliant idea: he suggested that because I have so much yarn, my mum should take a few skeins when she goes out, unravel them as she goes, and then ravel them back as she comes back to the apartment.
Surely I don't have that mush stash to be a joke in a family, right?

It's a beautiful morning here, hubby is gone ("No, honey, totally, I really need all this yarn. And a little bit some more") and pulled out all my yarn and put it proudly on our king size bed.

Excluded are skeins attached to various projects, that would add another ~10 balls I think. And some random, half tangled skeins that had pleasure of meeting the cat.

I'm actually surprised how much blue and green shades I have.

And my fairly modest pink/purple collection (note to self: need to expand it):

Amber made sure all yarn was accounted for and made notes in her little kitty diary about which ones she wants to play next when I'm at work.

Colour Me Pink!

2011-04-07T10:03:00.000+01:00

I’m fashionably (or not) late for wip Wednesday. Working on Erquy is a dream; I can’t believe that pattern so simple can be so effective. Colours really remind of a basket of summer berries.

Here are some of my progress photos

Quality and softness approved by Amber The Yarn Inspector

Seems like today’s theme is pink, so may I please introduce you to my new set of babies.

I’ve been trying to find my perfect needles for some time, starting off at aluminium Pony needles, as those were easily available in any LYS. However, they are very slippery and I tend to knit loosely, so not the best combination. Cue: see my other posts about my knitted items turning out to be elephant-sized FOs.

Some time ago I discovered KnitPicks needles or KnitPro as they’re known in UK and fell in love with Harmony Wood. At the time I was working on acrylics/wool mostly. However, when I picked up few balls of cotton blends Harmony Wood knitting became terribly tiring and uncomfortable. I knit fairly quickly and rely on my stitches to slip off the top of the needles, I don’t really fancy wrestling with each and every one trying to pull it or push it off it. One row of Hattie (259 sts as far as I remember) and I had enough. They were making me knit very tightly and my wrists hurt. I switched back to aluminium and continued my search.

And then came Zephyr/Spectra needles. I only noticed them really because of the funky colours and slightly see-through design. I wanted them for some time and recently Meadow Yarns had 20% off them so I had to have them. They arrived yesterday and O M G I’m in love.

First of all, they are pink. They deserve best needles award just for that. I mean, 6 months ago I thought the only needles you could ever get were grey and was dreaming of having pink needles.

I also love how cables match them in colour!

I took for a little test drive and they have more grip than aluminium ones, but are not as tricky to work with as Harmony wood. They also feel a bit sturdier – when I work with my 3mm or 3.25mm Harmonies I’m convinces I will break them sooner or later and I’m just waiting to the cracking sound.

They’re also very light.

Now as for the yarn, they work beautifully with cotton blend and thin 4ply wool. I tried them with Wool of The Andes Worsted and I think I may need more practice. Stitches don’t slip as easily as while using aluminium needles, but this may be a good thing considering my gauge woes. A little practice is all I need. Over the coming weekend I plan to knit small swatches in yarns I’m most likely to use.

Overall, I’m very pleased with Zephyr/Spectra. However, if only KnitPro made needles in sizes below 3mm I would be even more delighted.

Knit, knit, knit-a-long!

2011-04-05T10:46:00.001+01:00

I'm participating in my first Knit-along ever!

Gorgeous summer top by Army of Knitters

KAL is here click-click

I'm using some leftovers I had after I finished Hattie dress, so bonus point for doing a bit of destash!

Working in Knit Picks CotLin in Cerise and Pallette in Mulberry:

Hattie

On Sunday I have finally completed Hattie! I'm so so pleased with it, it's certainly the prettiest thing I knitted so far. If only the weather was kind enough to launch itself into summer mood and let me wear it.
Here are some pics of the beauty, unfortunately, as I said before, I have attention span of a goldfish when it comes to posing for pictures (hence the fidgeting and all).

Kitty is, as always, unimpressed!

First wip wednesday!

2011-03-30T12:30:00.000+01:00

Seems like I haven’t been here looong long time.

I have fallen victim to that evil creature that eats all of my time and is constantly hungry and asking for more.

Since it’s a Wednesday, I’m doing my first wip-Wednesday ever. I have quite a lot going on since I’ve been visited by yet another monster, Starting projects monster that is. Most projects are on hold for eternity, or at least for as long as I need to take to solve all maths problems in the world. Which hopefully won't drag past October since I graduate then and somebody else will have to take care of that. I will be knitting on the beach.

Firstly, I recently had my first major Knit Picks order delivered, containing beautiful Chroma (worsted weight).

Here’s the beauty in Mesa:

I long contemplated what I wanted to make of it, but finally decided that I have neither the time nor patience at the moment for something more complicated than a scarf. I settled for Noro Scarf and paired Mesa with Wool of The Andes Worsted in Cloud. I love how it looks.

However, I ‘m really glad I didn’t decide to knit something else of it. Turquoise sections run thick and thin from lace weight to chunky weight and as long as it sorts of cancels out in a scarf because it’s teamed up with another solid yarn, I wouldn’t like the look on anything else. When I first saw my skein I was like ”damn, it’s so pretty, I should’ve ordered more”. Now, I’ll only order Chroma if I ever need another scarf :o)

Another gorgeous wip I have on my needles is Hattie the Summer Dress from the Army Of Knitters.

It looks quite complicated, but the stockinette sections are long enough to keep it easy but at the same time not be too boring. I’m nearly finished now and I’m very excited. Pattern will be released in late spring so come over to AOK group here on Rav to check out other fab designs!

I love how Amber the kitty is sitting there playing the prettier one in the picture

Sadly, weather here in England does not seem to agree that it is time for spring/summer yet.

New beginnings

2011-03-11T10:59:00.000Z

Some time ago, when I started my adventure with knitting, I did what every eBay-addict will do. I went online, searched for yarn and then bough most random selection of yarn you could get. Anything that I considered cheap.

I then went on Ravelry and wanted to employ my shiny new yarn to make a beautiful garment. Considering the fact that all I ever knitted was, erm, a square “handbag” I made when I was 12 years old, this was not the best idea. I always considered myself a doer and hence the idea of knitting a multicoloured scarf never cross my mind. I settled on a vest. Yes, a vest.

Step 1. Order any yarn that is under 50p per ball on eBay.

Step 2. Gauge is some fancy French word that means another type of cheese, probably.

Step 3. Yardage is something that only mathematicians and astronauts are concerned with.

Step 4. Yarn is yarn, simples right.

Step 5. DK, fingering and chunky are just the sub-names of the companies, right? See step 4.

Step 6. Pattern is like a recipe, you follow the general instructions but you tweak it as you wish.

Step 7. Who needs shaping armholes when you can simply bind off some stitches and then continue knitting?

Step 8. There’s absolutely no need to count how many stitched you bound off on the first armhole, you will just estimate what you need to bind off on the other one.

Step 9. Weaving is another fancy word. What is wrong with a simple knot?

Step 10. Blocking? My dictionary doesn’t extend to using this word in knitting terms.

Result is this:

The ribbing in knitted in super chunky yarn.

Some stripes are DK weight, some are fingering and some are aran weight.

Believe it or not, I actually made back to this vest. I sew it together but frankly because differences in yarn, the stripes didn’t much and it was shaped like a vest for a camel with extra room in the back.

Nevermind, I thought. I can start again knitting something smaller and I’ll get going from them. My then-still-boyfriend asked me to knit him a squirrel. Since I had some of that random yarn left over, I picked brownish-red and white. The white was 100% acrylic in chunky weight and brown was DK cotton blend with slight sheen. Don’t ask.

At that time, I had one pair of needles on beautifully universal size 5mm. It actually never occurred to me that finished measurements of the squirrel were supposed to be like, 2 inches tall. So I happily started working on 5mm needles and with chunky yarn.

Oh, and obviously I never heard of dpns or mattress stitch at the time.

Drum drum drum may I please present the gigantic squirrel. It’s nearly 8in tall and it’s very very wonky.

Needles to say, I gave up knitting for nearly three years. I have only recently started and gradually I learnt new techniques and methods. I can actually calculate my yardage estimate now, yay!

But, the point of this post was that I still have shed lots of yarn from the period that I was buying because it was cheap. I would buy anything that was around £1 mark. As a result I have very random selection of balls of yarn available.

Thanks to Rav and my desire to get better at knitting, I started exploring different yarns. The further I ventured, the more I started to appreciate the quality of yarns and how much difference they make to whatever I’m knitting. When thinking about the ratio of weight vs. price I started thinking in terms of not skeins, but in terms of finished products. And while £5 per 50g ball of lace yarn is something that would make me freeze and think that knitting is only for posh people three years ago, I know can appreciate the effort put into knitting. Not to mention the pleasure of wearing high quality merino wool scarf, that when Topshop was selling, I would be willing to buy at triple the price

Hence, I’m very happy to say that I’m now a proud owner of Malabrigo Worsted in most gorgeous shade of Hollyhocks.

So, my, slightly late resolutions for 2011 is to use up my ~~all~~ most of stash to replace it gradually with gorgeous, super-soft, scrumptious yarn.

Therefore, no buying yarn* until stash is reduced unless it’s something I will definitely use, either for myself or for a gift for someone.

And I vow to make 11 knitted items made of yarn in my stash until the end of the year. I will share my WIPs as I get along.

*Chocolate is allowed in any quantities to ease the stress and to help resist temptation

Now time for a happy song that I’ve been listening to this sunny morning:

Vesta (free pattern)

2011-03-08T12:01:00.004Z

Some time ago I acquired ten balls of wonderful Debbie Bliss Como. Apart from petting it and staring at it loving, I had very little idea as to what to make of it.
Then, one chilly morning I realised that in my whole knitting "career" I never ever made a scarf! I played with few ideas and narrowed it down to these criteria:
*long
*sqoooooshy
*not too bulky
*pretty pattern
*must have tassels!

To design the scarf I used Roman Stripe pattern. And with the gorgeous warm orange colour how could I name it other than Vesta, Roman goddess of warmth, family, whose symbol was fire?

Because the scarf is knitted in needles smaller than recommeded, it adds to the firmnesss of the yarn and the lacework is kept nicely open and it's not too bulky and sturdy.

Few notes worth mentioning:
As it is made of single ply yarn, do not use pointy needles, try the ones with fairly rounded tip. I used some plastic needles that were added to Let's Knit Magazine.

My scarf took total of nearly 300g of Como, that is approximately 5.7 balls (including tassels). If you make yourself without them, it would take 5 balls of yarn.

I got between 7 and 8 full repeats of the pattern from one ball of Como.

Full repeat of the pattern

Finished measurements of my scarf:
7in wide x 85in long

You will need:

7mm needles
300g (or depending on lenght you want) of super bulky yarn
Darning needle

The pattern is worked over even number of stitches, keep in mind that the first and last stitch is always a knit!

Cast on 16 sts (or any even number)
Knit 3 rows

Pattern:
Row 1: k1, *yo, k1; rep from * to last st, k1
Row 2: k1, purl to last st, k1
Row 3: k1, *k2tog; rep from * to last st, k1
Row 4: k1, *yo, k2tog; rep from * to last st, k1
Row 5: k1, *yo, k2tog; rep from * to last st, k1
Row 6: k all stitches
Row 7: k all stitches

Repeat pattern required number of times. After Row 7 of last repeat:
Knit 3 rows
Bind off loosely in knit

Weave in ends
Bceuae of the lacework, it's best to weave loose ends horizontally rather than vertically across the pattern.

(My Ravelry pattern page has a free dowload of the pattern which includes a sheet that you can print off and tick off pattern repeats. Check it out here)

Make and attach tassels (as per my tutorial here) and it's ready!

Wrap yourself warm and enjoy!

Making a tassel and attaching it (Tutorial)

2011-03-07T10:10:00.000Z

One of the many reasons I love creating knitted items is the endless possibility of customising them. You can change colours, add beads, make things shorter or longer, embroid details, all the works. One of the simplest, most fun things to add on to knitting is a tassel.

Here’s my guide to making a tassel and fixing it on a scarf.

You will need:

*yarn

*scissors

*darning needle

*piece of cardboard.

1. First, choose the length you want your tassels to be. Then add about 1-2cm as you will need to trim it. Cut the cardboard to be a long rectangle.

Next you will need strings of yarn that are about 3 time long as the tassel length. Put them away for now.

Take ball of yarn and wrap around the cardboard piece, beginning at the bottom. Choose how fluffy you want your tassel to be, mine is wrapped 5 times each side, so it will have 10 strands.

3. Now thread one of the strings of yarn through tapestry needles. Pull the needle with the yarn under the yarn wrapped around the cardboard.

Tie the end together, making sure the shorter piece of yarn string (the one without the needle) is slightly longer than the tassel length. Pull the shorter end of the yarn so it joins other stands of yarn in the tassel.

4. Cut the yarn wrapped around the cardboard at the bottom and remove the cardboard piece.

5. With the longer end of yarn still thread through the darning needle wrap it a few times around the tassel about 2 cm from the top to create “head” of the tassel..

6. Now take the darning needle with the remaining piece of yarn and pull it through the “head”. Pull out at the top of the tassel.

7. Remove the needle and voila, your first tassel is ready. Trim to required lenght.

Repeat for the number of tassels required.

Attaching tassels

1. Once you have all the tassels you need, take the piece you want to attach them to. In my case it’s a scarf. Thread needle through the yarn sticking out of the top of the tassel and thread it between stitches on the cast on/cast off edge of your knitting.

2. Tie the yarn and knitting edge securely and using the remaining end with the needle, push the needle through the top of the tassel so it comes out below the “head”.

3. Remove the needle and your tassel is in place!

PS. Of course there is a reason for me to post this - I will be posting a pattern for a scarf with tassels very soon! Very excited!

Discounting

2011-03-04T11:19:00.001Z

There's this interesteing theory in Economics about why we are so prone to put things off. It's called dicounting. Discounting is basicall assigning certain values to activities or acts in two categories: now and in future. It's based on the fact that while we value certain things highly and aspire to them, everyday life differs from what we would like it to be. While we have dreams and plans we live right now and while some of our choices are affected by those dreams we hope to achieve some time ahead, most of our decisions are affected by our current state.
This, in my opinion, closely interlinks with so called "hot and cold" states. If you're upset and tired, you get peeved off easily. Whem you calm down and have a glass of wine, you vow to never get upset over silly things again. In the first instance, you were in "hot" state, you were irrational and your judgement was a bit cloudy. Second instatnce, you were in your "cool" state when you were calm and were making plans for future.
This is my discounting table on scale 0-10 points (10 being the most valued and wanted, 0 being for something I don't really care about):

*Activity*	*Points value in the future*	*Points loss, i.e. what is the cost of doing it in terms of “now points”*	*Points value discounted:* *“future points” minus* *“now points”*
Signing up to the gym	Great body : 5 points	Lack of time: -4 points	5 – 4 = 1 points
Doing the dishwasher	Clean dishes: 3 points	Time it takes: -2 points	3 – 2 = 1 point
Tidying up my study	No falling over scattered folders: 4 points	It will get messy again soon: -2 points	4 – 2 = 2 points
Getting up an hour earlier than usual	Catching up with my studies: 6 points	Lack of sleep: -2 points	6 – 2 = 4 points
Studying instead of knitting	Catching up with my studies: 6 points	No me-time: -3 points	6 – 3 = 3 points
Making proper dinner	Tasty meal: 5 points	Time spent cooking & shopping: -2 points	5 – 2 = 3 points

This is obviously my table and is it represents my personal preferences.
In the second columns I rate how much I value advantages given from given activity.
In the third column I rate how much points I deduce because of the cost of the given activities
In the forth column I sum up two previous columns.

Now, you can see that while I value highly the IDEA of catching up with my studies (6 points), when I come back home from work, it does not seem that appealing anymore despite ideas in my head of me prancing around in toga waving my shiny new degree (value goes down to 3 points).

In Spousonomics, book I read recently, this subject is approached in connection to why we try, but fail to be wonderful spouses we always dreamt of ourselves to be. Worth reading!

So, on the days like today, I really wonder whether I have chosen the right path. I wonder how much happier RIGHT NOW will it make to be able to go home and just do what I enjoy doing. Not feeling guilty about sleeping a bit longer. Watching TV. Playing with Amber. And obviously knitting.
I mean, we don't even know if our ambitions and dreams will come true at that point in the future we wait for. If they won't, won't we be all better off actually enjoying living in the present moment?
Sometimes I wish I could have a little cottage somewhere in the country where I could hide and just live the simple life. And yes, I'm very happy Waitrose does home deliveries.

Loosen up my buttons baby!

2011-03-03T10:24:00.001Z

I love buttons. I add them to almost anything and they have this so-tiny-so-much-difference factor.
Unfortunately I also have I lovely cat who thinks that buttons are just one of her toys designed to be stashed away and then sold on kitty eBay.
Seriously, I think all felines create this secret stash of lost/stolen items and then they sell them or trade them. How else would you explain all those things thta go missing in our home?

I usually look for quirky buttons in charity shop and on Monday I got really lucky. I picked up 3 packs, two of them didn't have the price on it so the lady sold them to me for 49p a pack. Yes, 49p!

Now check them out! *drools*

These are my favourite ones. They have this vintage feel I love. I haven't found the project for them yet, but I hope some inspiration will come soon. I was thinking lacy cowl or lacy frilly wristwarmers

Now this beauties remind of chocolate buttons! They have slight sheen to them and are a bit worn on the edges. But the brown hue is so pretty and yummy that it makes me hungry by just looking at them. I have a project for them, it is one of my favourite projects and it's been done and waiting for right buttons for ages.

I have finally got them, yay! I sew the braid together and luckily this morning we had most amazing sunny weather so I persuaded hubby to take some photos for me.

Apart from loving vintage buttons I'm a big fan of large statement buttons. As soon as I saw the big red ones smiling at me, I had to have them.

I love oversized buttons because they make the simplest projects special. The ones here are now accompanying this lovely cowl:

Happy Days!

2011-02-26T19:21:00.000Z

My uber-happy song of the day:

Amber is doing really well, surprisingly well in fact.

If it wasn't for the shaved bit on her tummy I would have thought she's been to the day spa. So relaxed and playful. Not at all groggy. She's still being very affectionate and is still speaking to me...
Or maybe there was a back entrance for kitty spa and I missed it! Her tummy does look like a bit of bikini wax gone wrong... Hmmm...

Kitty loosing her femme fatale side...

2011-02-24T10:34:00.003Z

Being a knitters kitty is not a easy job. You think you will be able to play in wool stash all day long, but some other responsibilities come along and you have to deal with then, sigh.

There’s the “What do you think about this (sweater/tunic/mitten/hat)” which me has to reply carefully because if I give the wrong answer, my hooman will be sulky, and sulky hooman is no fun to be around.

So I has to sugar coat my answer “Yes, of course you look fab and slim in it da-hling”

even if I really think:

“Seriously? You’re going to wear that? OUTSIDE? I’m glad we don’t go out together”

Other times, my dear hooman brings her big project so me settles comfortably on her lap (or the hank of yarn, depending on preference)

and then the counting begins...

“8, 9, 10... in 3in!!! Oh no the gauge is wrong again”

Half an hour later

...8, 9 10... in 5 in!!! No freakin way!!

Then I think gosh, again, sigh and hide me-precious-self because I know that hooman upset with gauge (who the hell is this gauge anyway?! She must be one naughty lady) is most likely to blame the poor kitty (like “it’s all your fault, if you didn’t interrupt me I would be right on the spot!”)

There is also high probability of needles or balls of yarn flying around so it’s better to duck.

Oh no, not the gauge again! *ducks*

Sometimes the hooman will bring new yarn into my castle but decides to put it somewhere she thinks you will be too lazy to try to get too.

But what she doesn’t know is that you will go to ANY level to check out your new toys.

Even if it takes climbing the mountain range that is way ouf of my comfort zone (it’s dangerous, ya’know)

On the good day the hooman will finally leave me toys for kitty to play with and then I roll, I toss, I tangle right, left and centre and have the time of me life!

For some mysterious reason, the hooman then returns with this red face and mumbles something about these not being my toys, but, hello, didn’t I just announce there WERE mine?

Time to run methinks!

Yarn may seem to be a nice ball of fluff, just like me, but it can show it’s dark side too. It’s the same way like we kitties have hidden tigers inside us, ya’know.

If you get too comfortable with a ball of yarn, it can swamp you, like a...mmm... like a black hole!!

Remember, if you ever fall asleep in close proximity to the ball of yarn, you might be in serious danger.

But generally, we have the same properties, we’re both pretty, soft and nice to touch so we get along just fine.

It can even be a good replacement for a companion if your hooman is in the bad mood and doesn’t want to hug me. Or tells me to go away because she doesn’t get up at 6 am to satisfy my needeness and attention-seekiness. Moi, attention seeking? Never.

Anyway, sometimes I just prefer the ball to that selfish hooman of mine.

Unless of course, my silly hooman thinks it would be absolutely hilarious to make you wear this one shapeless fingerless mitten that she made some time last autumn and it looks like... something terribly ugly.

And it’s in hot pink, which OBVIOUSLY doesn’t go with my orange/tan patches of fur, right?? Someone call the fashion police!

One of the most boring aspects of being a knitty-kitty is helping my hooman to look for a new pattern for this brand new wool I just tangled for her. There is this website, Ravadavadoom and my hooman spends ages there.

Normally I don’t mind as this mean she sits still and I can cuddle next to her, but sometimes enough is enough and I have to take drastic measures to separate my hooman from this electronic device and as a brave kitty I am, I put myself between them.

Hooman then says “Stupid cat, get off my keyboard” which I reckon means that mission is accomplished and she appreciates my devotion.

Don’t get me wrong, I love assisting my hooman with knitting, but all this ball rolling, stitch pulling, yarn tangling and playing with stitch markers is very time consuming and sometimes I feel that my day is all work and no fun at all! I sit and watch my hooman and then I feel me eyelids getting heavier and heavier and I drift away into the world of dreams where all yarn is made of kid mohair and stitch markers sparkle.... zzzz

Note from hooman: This post is dedicated to my lovely kitty Amber who is going to have surgery tomorrow and will have her femmale fatale side removed. I'm really worried about her so please keep your fingers crossed she wakes up from anesthesia ok and spings back to being her lovely yarn-loving self!

Thank you x

Silence of the yarn

2011-02-21T09:53:00.007Z

It's really not like I gave up knitting or blogging for a while.
It’s just that the sume of my “usual” pick-me-ups in the recent weeks look like this:

# of bubble baths = 0

# of times I got up after 6.15am = 0

# of times I had to use dry shampoo (yuck) due to lack of time > 0

# of teas drank per day (average) = what you should not exceed + app. 10

# of nights I slept more than 7 hrs a day = 0

# of days I watched Greys Anatomy real time, not on reruns = 0

So it’s not been a great few weeks. Intstead, I have been doing this

6.15am – 8.15am this:

9am – 5pm work

6.30pm – 10pm – this:

10.pm - 10.15pm feel sorry for myself for not being able to knit more during the day, pet my yarn and shed a tiny tear. At the all time low, text YON friend or hubbs (Yarn-obsessed-NOT ) and moan, much to their non understanding and lack of proper support)

11pm go to bed.

Yes, the cat no longer recognizes me and no, I haven’t found the solutions to the equation yet - but I have the nth idea how to do this, yay!

It seems though that the more my brain is pressed with mathematical formulas, the more creative it becomes. In the past few weeks, I have come up with three patterns, I have written in all out in Excel (this goes into “work” section of the day, sorry boss) and ordered yarn & needles to make the projects.

I have now finished the hooters so I will be working on first of my projects soon.

Here’s a peak!

Re: hooters, on another note. My gauge was fine.
But clearly having blues is contagious and mid-sweater the gauge decided to wander away to ponder its own existential pains and it never came back... the sweater is pretty but definitely not fitted ;-)

Oh and the note to self:

Coming to the office proudly wearing your just finished OWL sweater and shouting excitedly while pointing at your boobs “ Check out my hooters!!” is not the best idea to start Monday.

I WILL survive (although this sweater will not!)

2011-02-13T19:56:00.000Z

Let me introduce you to my recent major disaster.

First I was afraid
I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never do the cables
on that massive scale
But I spent so many days
thinking how I could just knit it
I grew strong
I casted my first sweater on...

It was a pattern from one of the knitting magazines I bought and I loved the vintage feel to it. I saw similar sweater in Banana Republic recently and I decided that kinda cabley, boyfriend sweater was just what I needed.

(See, clue: boyfriend sweater!!!!) Sooo, I casted on about 2 sizes to large. Now, after doing the ribbing I figured out I didn't want my sweater to come out as a tunic so I decided to cut out every 6th row of the pattern so it's shorter...

All good until after passionately knitting for like nearly two weeks I realised that the sweater was TOO SHORT and very wide, i.e very boxy. Not exactly the perfect look, unless you're a Kate Moss, which, trust me, even in my best years, I never was even close to.

It does look fairly good on ~~paper~~ floor, doesn't it?

Well you, see, I totally forgot about THE SLEEVES. I happily did them following the pattern dot to dot, purl by purl. Until I realised, that obviously, I was knitting sleeves and body in different sizes!

So, being a creative soul (and heavily medicated, but about that later*), I decided to... make puff sleeves! Gathered up the yarn, pull through, and it looked amazing actually! If the sweater wasn't too large so the shoulder seams fell like near my elbows that is.

Like every determined knitter, I refused to admit my failure and frog it, or I really believed that it will work, and I finished the sweater. Laid it out on the floor to block it I left it overnight believing that the sweater will come to its senses and when I wake up next morning, it will be all as it was supposed to be.

Only my cat decided to throw up all over it.

Yup, that was me, I admit, it was a horrible thing and I wanted to save my hooman from wearing it, right??

After washing it I hanged it to dry in a desperate attempt to actually stretch the damn thing to a proportionate size. Didn't work.

So ladies and gentleman, may I present my major-sweater disaster:

*My only explanation is that I was taking a looooot of painkillers, which clouded my judgement and they were making me hungry. All the time. Can't think when I'm hungry!

And a farewell song to the sweater:

And so you're there
in FO basket
I walked in to find you laying proudly here
with that stupid shapeless look you have
I should have frogged you half way there
I should have made you into a scarf
If I had known for just one second
you'd be haunting me for days

(...)
you're not welcome anymore
weren't you the one who tried to make me look so fat
you think I'd crumble
you think I'd wear you and show you to the world

Oh no, not I
I will survive
as long as I know how to knit and frog
I know you will stay in balls
I've got all my other yarn to knit
You're back to the frogging bin
and I'll survive
I will survive

DPNs aka poking :-(

2011-02-13T12:14:00.002Z

My dpns arrived yesterday. Altough all I ever knitted on dpns was a thumb gusset for my Bella Mittens, I decided to sacrify myself and my nerves and knit sleeves for my hooters as required by pattern.

Now, sleeves... where do I start?
I hate sleeves.
I especially hate long sleeves, I always pull them up or scrunch them up. So, obvious choice, I'm knitting 3/4 sleeves. After doing some more-or-less ~~correct~~ gauge calculations around 1am last night I casted on 36 38 42 40 stitches. I will increase to 44 in the next two rounds after I finish ribbing.

So my battle with dpns began. I started off with working 4 needles but quickly realised that if I don't want to look something like this:

I have to stop immediately. I mean I love swiss cheese to bits, but not when my tummy starts to look like one!

So, right now, I'm working on 3 dpns and an extra one which I finally figured out how to use! During my previous attempts I put my stitches on, 4 needles, and knit in the round, i.e. knitting stitches from one dpn to another one. So at the end of a round I had like 60% stitches on one needles, and 40% on the other one. I will then knit from the 60% needles using 40% needle. Hard to explain, trust me, even harder to master ;-)

This is my current set-up, although I swear my dpns are NOT luminous!!

PS. An update! DPNs are going great, I'm already 1/2 way in. It took a few attempts to stop pulling the wrong needle out but now I'm totally converted. Magic

Cats (demand) and yarn (supply) = catonomics

2011-02-11T22:18:00.000Z

Love this!

Pic from http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/funny-pictures-cat-has-found-yarn.jpg

I wonder whether there is a relatioship between the supply of quality expensive yarn and demand of cats to play with it (aka destroy it). It could perhaps look something like this:

11.02.2011

2011-02-11T14:37:00.000Z

My long awaited package with Knit Picks Wool of Andes Bulky arrived yesterday!! I got straight to knitting my Owls, however, I soon realised that the reason 60cm needles were needed according to pattern was that, well, they were needed. Unfortunately, local LYS never heard of that length of a circular needles, eBay search brought results at the price that I could actually buy a whole new project yarn for the sweater so I gave up and ordered 40cm ones. It may no be perfect for trying on (I wish I had a waist like that!) but hey, at least I’ve got the right size.

I must say though I see why this sweater is a slim fit with no or negative eas. Being used to knitting with acrylics, Andes feel wonderfully...stiff – not in a bad way, but in a way that “I’m a good quality yarn, I hold my shape and no soft squashing will make me loose my shape”. I’m very excited about this project and already are eyeing up different colours and debating whether to get them from US (slightly cheaper) or UK (I’ll get them sooner)

I was so desperate to get on with the owls, that I broke the sane-person-rule and took my knitting onto the morning rush hour train. I did final row of ribbing only to realise that I actually forgot those 40cm needles!! Since my waist hasn’t reached the size of 80cm yet, I had to put knitting on hold and sulkily came back to knitting my Spring Ashley Hat, which is coming around lovely.

The things is, the more I knit it, the more I love it, and the more I don’t want to finish it.... since I have nothing green, I’ll have to knit along some mittens, some scarf or a cowl and here we go again!