'Snow in April'

I know I said I would post more frequently and I’ve not. I’m sorry. We were burgled recently and my laptop was stolen. I know that it is just a ‘thing’ but to be honest, I’m feeling quite down about it.

It isn’t just the laptop (although it did have all the patterns I’ve downloaded over the years and my new design on it); it is the thought that someone got into my home so easily and looked through all my things. I hate the fact that they might have touched my baby’s toys. This is a bit silly and I shouldn’t let it bother me but it does. We are going to get a new lock fitted soon, so that will make me feel a bit happier I think.

Everyday the blank spot on the coffee table where my laptop used to sit reminds me about the burglary. If I were to get close to explaining how I feel about it, I would say that mostly I feel foolish. It feels like ‘a slap in the face when you expected a kiss’ (by the way if you can tell me where this quote comes from and what the full version is I’ll be sooooo impressed). People are all so nice to you when you have had a baby and I guess I had got used to it! I was wondering around with my head in the clouds and a smile on my face and I really didn’t expect it.

Anyway, that is enough moaning about that. Let’s send it under the metaphorical bridge. I’ve been knit, knit, knitting away here. I can’t really show you as I am still planning on trying to get the pattern into one of the online magazines but I’m really pleased with it so far. By the way what are your views on beads in lace? I can’t decide whether to put some teardrop beads in the border of the design or not.

I’ve put some pictures of my finished scarf up. I was hoping to take some of me wearing it but somehow the only person who gets photographed these days is my beautiful Alex.

Serendipity Scarf* details

Yarn: Colinette Point 5 dusk - 3 skeins
Needles: 15mm Lantern moon (lovely, lovely, lovely)
Pattern: none really

I wanted to really show off the colours in the yarn and a simple garter stitch just didn’t seem to do it. So I used a kind of slipped stitch rib, which, as well as meaning it didn’t curl, made beautiful bud like stitches that seemed to bloom out of the fabric.

CO 14 stitches
Row 1: (RS) K14
Row 2: P2, (slp wyf, P2) 4 times

Repeat these two rows until you almost run out of yarn, BO.

*I'll explain the name of the scarf in a future post!

More lace

This is my favourite drawer in my entire home. Look at all that lovely lace weight yarn. The problem is that I really need to knit this yarn up before I can allow myself to buy any more. Knitting lace is definitely more difficult since Alex was born but during my maternity leave I came up with a new design and the temptation to start it was so great that last week I cast on.

I'm making it in Jaggerspun Zephyr in a gorgeous shade called Ruby (it reminds me of the colour of the Grand Prix roses I had in my wedding bouquet). I'm probably being a little bit over ambitious but I was thinking that perhaps I might try and get the design into one of the online knitting magazines. I know that this is unlikely as there are so many people trying to do this and most of them have much better patterns than me but I thought I'd give it a go. However, this means I'm being extra picky about the knitting and the design. I keep changing my mind and having to undo about 10 rows or so at the time and mistakes that I might normally turn a blind eye on have to be corrected. Anyway, I thought I'd tell you about my knitting ambition for 2008. If nothing comes of it I'll put it as a free pattern on here and try again another time.

Time for tea...

I'm going to have to write today's post pretty swiftly as Alex is beginning to stir and will soon be wanting his next feed. I think that I've got used to the way I live my life in 3 hour blocks around Alex's eating times now. It takes roughly an hour to do a complete feed and change his nappy, then about 30 minutes of play time, then he settles down for a sleep and I have an hour and a half to do housework, wash, eat etc. It took me a while to get used to this but now I've got it down to a fine art! I usually cook the evening meal at about lunch time and leave it on a low heat in the slow cooker for the rest of the day (this limits the options for meals but what's better than a tasty stew at this time of year?).

Alex usually has trouble settling down to sleep in the afternoons and I stay next to his bed to soothe him and cuddle him when he needs me. This has officially become my knitting time as I can sit near him keeping nice and quiet and just put my knitting down whenever he needs me. If he is really unsettled though we go for a nice long walk (and Mummy buys chocolate from any shop she happens to pass, which is almost as good as knitting). The title of the post comes from the fact that Alex has a tea sensor. He knows when I have a cup of tea and invariably wakes up. This means that by the end of the day there are usually at least 3 cups of cold tea sitting around the house. There is definitely no time for tea here!

I didn't manage to get pictures of my finished project yet as my camera is out of batteries but I've put a picture of one of my other projects up. It's Buttercup from one of Kim Hargreaves collections. I'm enjoying it so far - I always like Kim Hargreaves' designs though. Everything is done with such style and care. I love the new book by Kim Hargreaves - I'm finding it hard to resist. Has anyone else bought it yet?

Anyway, I'll leave you with another photo of Alex. He has no trouble settling down to sleep like this - who would?

Easing myself in: comfort knitting

I didn’t really understand how much work looking after a baby would be. I secretly laughed at comments from friends about having no time to myself when the baby came. ‘No time to myself? I’ll be off work for an entire year!’ I thought. How wrong I was. To give those of you who don’t have children a measure of how much work it is, I will now tell you that my baby was 8 weeks old before I managed to knit a single stitch. 8 weeks without knitting, how did I cope? Well to be honest I didn’t even notice and that’s not just because the lack of sleep meant I barely noticed that I hadn’t brushed my hair, ironed my clothes or eaten my lunch. It is because I was mesmerised, obsessed and totally in love with my beautiful son. A day could easily go by in which all I had done is fed, cleaned, cuddled and looked in adoration at my baby. Eventually, however, I have slowly begun to be able to change a nappy in less than 30 minutes (without him taking out 3 outfits – mine included) and I gained back a few hours every day while he slept and during which I didn’t need to do housework and I knew I could knit again.

I’ve got a few projects on the go at the moment – something I hate. I’d much rather concentrate on one project at a time but the yarn keeps getting the better of me. But I needed something to ease myself back into knitting, a project which could be put down and picked up at the drop of a hat (or the wail of a baby) and luckily one just dropped into my lap (literally - I’ll fill you in on this in a later post). This project is very different to anything I’d normally knit but I love it. Big needles and bulky wool equal instant gratification.

I’ll post pictures of the finished item tomorrow. Yes tomorrow! To wean myself off spending any spare time staring at the baby monitor and waiting for a cry, I’m challenging myself to post every day until Easter… We’ll see if it works!

Anyway, I’ll finish with a picture of my baby. Isn’t he perfect?

Thanks for all the good wishes you sent to my little family.

Free Pattern: Celtic Knot Stole

I’ve finally finished writing up the Celtic Knot pattern. Sorry for the delay, I really have been so busy lately that it’s ridiculous. Thank goodness for bank holiday weekends.

The pattern is finished but in order to fit the charts into a document that would actually be printable I had to cut them up a bit. However, if you want to see the chart of the complete stole I have also uploaded an excel version of the chart. I’m afraid that the pattern is chart based, so I apologise for those who prefer it to be written out. When I have some spare time I’ll try and get round to doing this.

If anyone does knit this please could you let me know if there are any mistakes? I’ve checked through carefully but you know what those pesky little errors can be like!

The pattern is probably for intermediate knitters, but in lace terms it is quite an easy pattern. It requires a crochet cast-on for the border and I’ve done a quick tutorial on this in my post below (just in case).

ETA: Please see the pattern links in the sidebar.

Tutorial: crochet cast-on

I did this quick tutorial as I use this cast-on method in the pattern for the Celtic Knot Stole.

1. Make a slipknot on the crochet hook.

2. Hold the crochet hook in your right-hand and the knitting needle in your left-hand. Hold the knitting needle on top of the yarn (which is held taut by wrapping it round the fingers of your left-hand and passing it over your index finger, I also find it useful to hold the short tail tightly between the middle-finger and thumb of my left-hand).

3. With the hook to the left of the yarn bring it over the needle and through the loop on the crochet hook forming a stitch on the knitting needle.

4. Take the yarn back under the needle to the left.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until there is only one more stitch to cast-on.

6. Slip the loop remaining on the crochet hook onto the knitting needle.

7. Ta da! The method makes a nice knitting edge that looks similar to binding off. For lace try to keep the tension fairly loose (it helps to use a bigger hook than you would normally use for the yarn).

Acceptance

Yesterday I cast-on for the Endpaper mitts and I am in love with colour stranding. It is just so much fun (almost as fun as knitting lace - gasp!). I’m using the method described by Theresa Vinson Stenersen in the most recent issue of Knitty - knitting with one colour in my left-hand continental-style and the other colour in my right-hand English style. I always think it is so exciting to learn a new technique and on this project I have already learnt how to use colour-stranding, how to knit continental-style and how to do a tubular cast-on. The tubular cast-on is wonderful, it is so much more stretchy than a normal cast-on (it almost feels as if there is elastic in the ribbing!) plus it is so neat and tidy looking.

The pattern called for an Italian tubular cast-on but I have a confession to make- I couldn’t do it! This is where the title of my post comes from, one of the great things I’ve found about getting older (I’m 27) is that it is easier to admit that I can’t do something. The other day I overheard some teenagers talking in a pub and one of them was showing-off about how great they were at something, then the other asked her to show her how to do it. It then became apparent the first didn’t really have a clue - I was cringing in my seat because I could remember that as a teenager never wanting to admit that I didn‘t know something, that I hadn‘t seen a particular episode of Friends on TV, that I didn‘t know the latest gossip… But now I know that part of what makes life fun is that everyone is good at different things, there are some things that you are naturally good at, there are some things that you can get good at through practice and there are some things which will always be a challenge but there is no shame in admitting if you don’t know how to do or can’t do something - in fact telling someone is the quickest way to finding out how.

Here is my list of things which I can’t do:
I can’t drive (I had some lessons when I was 17 but I was BAD).
I can’t sing - it doesn’t stop me trying ;-)
I am not a linguist - I struggle getting my words out correctly in English!
I can’t play any sports - I still remember the look of shame on my Dad’s face when he came to watch my brother and I at our Junior school sports day…
I could carry on but I think you get the picture.

In Knots

This is a progress picture of the Celtic Knot Stole. It might not look like much but if you knew the number of times I have frogged, redesigned, and re-knitted this over the past week you would understand my joy at being safely on my way - I'll hurry up and finish the pattern repeat so you can see what it is actually going to look like. Besides, my faith in the blocking process has increased dramatically,so I‘m not too worried that it isn‘t looking that great right now. I’m so addicted to seeing the beautiful transformation that sometimes I haunt lace knitters’ blogs waiting for that final photo!

By the way you might notice the un-ironed sheet in the photograph and I am hanging my head (if only slightly) in shame. My Mum is one of these incredible women who even when working full time managed to iron everything (even the tea towels). I will never be able to do this - I find it hard enough to stay on top of the other housework. So tea towels and duvet covers rest easy - I will not iron you.

The Kim Hargreaves’ top (Hawthorn) is coming on well. I’m using it as my on-the-train knitting and I’ve almost finished the back. I’ve also ordered the wool to make a pair of Eunny’s Endpaper mitts. This will be a real challenge for me as I’ve only ever knitted big blocks of colour before. But I’ve been seeing so much amazing colour knitting going on that I couldn’t resist trying some myself.

I'm going to make an effort to post on this blog once a week from now on. I keep letting the days slip by.

"Seize opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind."

When I was little my parents bought me a set of modelling clay called Fimo. You probably remember the stuff - it came in bright coloured little blocks and cost so much that it seemed very precious to an 8 year old. Anyway, I would dream about all the stuff I wanted to make with this clay but I was so worried about wasting it that I would only ever use tiny amounts to make miniscule things. Eventually one day I decided to risk it all and make something incredible but when I came to unwrap the clay I found that it had gone hard and crumbly and difficult to use. That is what my New Year’s resolution is going to be this year - I don’t want to be nibbling at the edges of life only to find when I come to take a big bite it has all gone stale. This year I am going to grab my opportunities by their beards like the title of my post (a Bulgarian Proverb - don‘t you love it?) suggests.

I did make a huge list of resolutions to post but then I realised that really they all boiled down to this - having the confidence to do the things I want to do.

Knitting content? Please take a look at my finished Jaywalkers! Plus my resolution applies to my knitting too. Less procrastination: more knitting.


Pattern: Magknits - Jaywalker by Grumperina
Yarn: Hip Knits Cashmere sock yarn (sorry I don’t know what the colourway is called but it is pinks, rosy reds, and greys. This yarn is lovely and soft but feels very strong and hardwearing. The only downside is it is a little bit 'splity' but not enough to make it unpleasant to knit with - I'd definitely use it again.
Needles: Long story but started on my Monkey Sticks and then moved on to Blue Sky needles both 2.25mm DPNs.


I’ve also started a reading blog to record all the books I read in 2007. Just because I thought it would be fun. I’m not going to post there as often as on my main blog but I wanted a way of remembering what I had enjoyed this year.

The Knitting days of Christmas

What a Christmas! Monkey and I have finally returned home after our festive trip round the relatives and I have managed to heave my mince pie-enhanced figure onto the sofa to do a bit of blogging and of course a lot of knitting.

First of all let me show you all the lovely knitterly gifts I received from my generous relatives. I think that the fact that I am totally obsessed with knitting means that pretty much everything I got was wool related! Anyway, you may wish to step back from your keyboard to avoid drool related problems as you read the list below:

For the first gift of Christmas,

my family gave to me,

A Knit Tin full of goodies.

For the second gift of Christmas,

my family gave to me,

Two Kim Hargreaves’ kits*,

And a Knit Tin full of goodies.

For the third gift of Christmas,

my family gave to me,

cute blue sky needles,

Two Kim Hargreaves’ kits,

And a Knit Tin full of goodies.

For the fourth gift of Christmas,

my family gave to me,

three sets of markers,

cute blue sky needles,

Two Kim Hargreaves’ kits,

And a Knit Tin full of goodies.

For the fifth gift of Christmas,

my family gave to me,

A book of Finishing Techniques,

three sets of markers,

cute blue sky needles,

Two Kim Hargreaves’ kits,

And a Knit Tin full of goodies.

For the sixth gift of Christmas,

my family gave to me,

A clever needle sizer**,

three sets of markers,

cute blue sky needles,

Two Kim Hargreaves’ kits,

And a Knit Tin full of goodies.

*Buttercup and Fay
**Absolutely adorable you have to check out this link.

I received lots of other lovely non-knitting gifts too. The best of which was a slow cooker (Crock Pot)! If anyone has any good recipes please let me know.

Over Christmas I knitted a Jaywalker, as pictured in true Christmas style above (this has to be the most popular sock pattern ever doesn‘t it? I think I am the last person in blogland to knit one). Notice the “a”- I’ve only knitted one so far but I’m part way through the second and I’ll post some better photos of them when I have a pair. I have to admit I’m not a big sock knitter but I’ve really enjoyed knitting these and I love the Hip Knits variegated cashmere I’m using. It is so soft and it is interesting waiting to see what the colours will do on the different parts of the socks. So maybe I won’t leave it so long before I knit a pair of socks next time. Although finishing something and then having to knit the exact same thing all over again is a bit annoying. Maybe I’ll just knit odd socks from now on…

Anyway I’m going to go and ponder on my new year’s resolutions.