Stupid blogger is losing my posts again. I'm glad I had this one typed out on my pc before trying to post it!
It's a good friend's 40th birthday this summer. I stayed with him in Germany last September and while I was there knit him a scarf as a thank you present. He loves it and shortly after I came home I remembered that he would be 40 in July. At the same time I had been starting to teach my brother to knit and he was working on a baby blanket from one of the Debbie Bliss books. Basically it's a patchwork blanket made up of lots of 10cm squares, so a good starter project. I decided that I could do the same blanket but make it bigger to give to H. for his birthday. And then did no more about it. Last week I realised that if I wanted to get it done in time for his birthday I would need to be knitting at least two squares a day every day between now and the end of July. Aaagh. Better get a move on.
That estimate was based on four baby blanket sized ones sewn together, which would be about 140cm x 160cm. I'll probably try to actually make it a bit bigger than that so that it could be used as a cover for a double bed which is, I think 180cm or so. I had some wool for this project already, I'm using the Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran so I started in on it and knit a few dark brown and a few cream squares. I was thinking of doing it mostly in those earthy tones as I also had some nice green. And then I realised I also had a dusky pink and a navy. And I was already thinking it'd be nice to do a brighter colour for the border. Did I forget to mention the border?
Well, last week at knitting class I found out what moss stitch is. I really like the way it looks and it seems to be simple enough so when thinking about the blanket I thought it might be nice to finish it up with a border of moss stitch all around the stocking stich squares. That would probably give me the extra width I want as well.
All well and good but then I called into This Is Knit yesterday to see what other colours they had (I've had a strong feeling that there should be red in this blanket even though it may not go so well with my earthy tones and even though I wasn't sure that yarn is even available in red). I bought a few balls of different colours and am fast moving away from cream, brown and green to proper patchwork multcoloured. I now also have a lovely purple, wine, dusky blue, lighter green and red. Yes, they do it in red and it's a gorgeous shade. I'm knitting up a few squares in each colour so that I can see how they work together and am thinking I might be able to do up a simple spreadsheet of coloured squares to keep track of the whole thing. I'm very excited about this and have since come up with another idea. I'm positively shocking myself as I've never really thought of myself as particularly creative. I'm normally very much a follow-the-instructions kind of girl.
At the moment my plan is: knit a baby blanket sized blanket as per the Debbie Bliss pattern. Then knit a border around that. Then knit enough squares for three more baby blanket sized ones and use them to make the blanket out to the size I want (but not as simple as just knitting four small blankets and sewing them together). Finally, to knit a border around the whole thing in moss stitch. Now, I just need to decide on the colours. I also thought it might be nice (and easier) to sew all the squares together using one colour wool rather than sewing each square with the same colour wool as that square. So, I'll need to decide on a colour for that. Maybe that's where my red could come in. It's all very exciting and a good contrast to the frustration of the jumper! :-)
Monday, February 25, 2008
The Blanket Project
First, may I just say that I'm finding it very amusing that almost every time I type blanket, I actually type blankey. It's a silly thing but it has made me grin every time I've done it while typing this post (on my pc of course, I'd never do anything so silly as to type a post directly into blogger and then loose everything because of error bX-h59pth!
So, to the blanket project. It's a good friend's 40th birthday this summer. I stayed with him in Germany last September and while I was there knit him a scarf as a thank you present. He loves it and shortly after I came home I remembered that he would be 40 in July. At the same time I had been starting to teach my brother to knit and he was working on a baby blanket from one of the Debbie Bliss books. Basically it's a patchwork blanket made up of lots of 10cm squares, so a good starter project. I decided that I could do the same blanket but make it bigger to give to H. for his birthday. And then did no more about it. Last week I realised that if I wanted to get it done in time for his birthday I would need to be knitting at least two squares a day every day between now and the end of July. Aaagh. Better get a move on.
That estimate was based on four baby blanket sized ones sewn together, which would be about 140cm x 160cm. I'll probably try to actually make it a bit bigger than that so that it could be used as a cover for a double bed which is, I think 180cm or so. Of course I'm not so good with the square so at the moment I have slightly more regtangular shapes than square but I think once I've blocked them they will be almost square.
I had some wool for this project already, I'm using the Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran so I started in on it and knit a few dark brown and a few cream squares. Here are the first two brown ones, sorry, the colour doesn't come out too well.
I was thinking of doing it mostly in those earthy tones as I also had some nice green. And then I realised I also had a dusky pink and a navy. And I was already thinking it'd be nice to do a brighter colour for the border. Did I forget to mention the border?
Well, last week at knitting class I found out what moss stitch is. I really like the way it looks and it seems to be simple enough so when thinking about the blanket I thought it might be nice to finish it up with a border of moss stitch all around the stocking stich squares. That would probably give me the extra width I want as well.
All well and good but then I called into This Is Knit yesterday to see what other colours they had (I've had a strong feeling I should have red in this blanket even though it may not go so well with my earthy tones and even though I wasn't sure this yarn is even available in red). I bought a few balls of different colours and am fast moving away from cream, brown and green to proper multcoloured patchwork. I now have a lovely purple, wine, dusky blue, lighter green and red. Yes, they do it in red and it's a gorgeous shade. I'm knitting up a few squares in each colour so that I can see how they work together and am thinking I might be able to do up a simple spreadsheet of coloured squares to keep track of the whole thing. I'm very excited about this and have since come up with another idea. I'm positively shocking myself as I've never really thought of myself as particularly creative. I'm normally very much a follow-the-instructions kind of girl.
At the moment my plan is: knit a baby blanket sized blanket as per the Debbie Bliss pattern. Then knit a border around that. Then knit enough squares for three more baby blanket sized ones and use them to make the blanket out to the size I want (but not as simple as just knitting four small blankets and sewing them together). Finally, to knit a border around the whole thing in moss stitch. Now, I just need to decide on the colours. I also thought it might be nice (and easier) to sew all the squares together using one colour wool rather than sewing each square with the same colour wool as that square. So, I'll need to decide on a colour for that. Maybe that's where my red could come in. It's all very exciting and a good contrast to the frustration of the jumper! :-)
So, to the blanket project. It's a good friend's 40th birthday this summer. I stayed with him in Germany last September and while I was there knit him a scarf as a thank you present. He loves it and shortly after I came home I remembered that he would be 40 in July. At the same time I had been starting to teach my brother to knit and he was working on a baby blanket from one of the Debbie Bliss books. Basically it's a patchwork blanket made up of lots of 10cm squares, so a good starter project. I decided that I could do the same blanket but make it bigger to give to H. for his birthday. And then did no more about it. Last week I realised that if I wanted to get it done in time for his birthday I would need to be knitting at least two squares a day every day between now and the end of July. Aaagh. Better get a move on.
That estimate was based on four baby blanket sized ones sewn together, which would be about 140cm x 160cm. I'll probably try to actually make it a bit bigger than that so that it could be used as a cover for a double bed which is, I think 180cm or so. Of course I'm not so good with the square so at the moment I have slightly more regtangular shapes than square but I think once I've blocked them they will be almost square.
I had some wool for this project already, I'm using the Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran so I started in on it and knit a few dark brown and a few cream squares. Here are the first two brown ones, sorry, the colour doesn't come out too well.
I was thinking of doing it mostly in those earthy tones as I also had some nice green. And then I realised I also had a dusky pink and a navy. And I was already thinking it'd be nice to do a brighter colour for the border. Did I forget to mention the border?
Well, last week at knitting class I found out what moss stitch is. I really like the way it looks and it seems to be simple enough so when thinking about the blanket I thought it might be nice to finish it up with a border of moss stitch all around the stocking stich squares. That would probably give me the extra width I want as well.
All well and good but then I called into This Is Knit yesterday to see what other colours they had (I've had a strong feeling I should have red in this blanket even though it may not go so well with my earthy tones and even though I wasn't sure this yarn is even available in red). I bought a few balls of different colours and am fast moving away from cream, brown and green to proper multcoloured patchwork. I now have a lovely purple, wine, dusky blue, lighter green and red. Yes, they do it in red and it's a gorgeous shade. I'm knitting up a few squares in each colour so that I can see how they work together and am thinking I might be able to do up a simple spreadsheet of coloured squares to keep track of the whole thing. I'm very excited about this and have since come up with another idea. I'm positively shocking myself as I've never really thought of myself as particularly creative. I'm normally very much a follow-the-instructions kind of girl.
At the moment my plan is: knit a baby blanket sized blanket as per the Debbie Bliss pattern. Then knit a border around that. Then knit enough squares for three more baby blanket sized ones and use them to make the blanket out to the size I want (but not as simple as just knitting four small blankets and sewing them together). Finally, to knit a border around the whole thing in moss stitch. Now, I just need to decide on the colours. I also thought it might be nice (and easier) to sew all the squares together using one colour wool rather than sewing each square with the same colour wool as that square. So, I'll need to decide on a colour for that. Maybe that's where my red could come in. It's all very exciting and a good contrast to the frustration of the jumper! :-)
Rats!
Well, a rat. A dead one to be precise. In my compost heap. The cheek!
I went down to add more stuff to the compost on Saturday morning (would have done the same on Wednesday but it was dark so didn't notice anything) and noticed some mangy looking fur lying on top of but kind of burrowed into one corner. I've seen cats climbing over the compost heap before (collapsing the top of it every time, I really should put a solid top on it) so although it didn't really look like a cat that was my first thought, that a cat had dug in for the heat. But cats don't like to get dirty, do they? I gave the fur a poke and it didn't move and then I noticed the big long tail at the end of the pile of fur. Eeeeww!!!! Which reaction caused me to think I may not be cut out for country life one little bit! I was also, to be honest, quite scared and had every fact/myth I'd ever heard about rats running through my head. I don't run or else I might very well have run screaming up the garden into the safety of the house. As it was there was definitely some shuddering and I was no sooner in the "safety" of the house when I remembered there's a cat flap in the back door (from previous owners) which doesn't shut and my head was promptly filled with visions of giant rats invading via the cat flap to take revenge on me for messing with one of their dead.
Hmmm. Yes. This is why I never watch horror films on purpose.
I left it alone and went out yesterday morning and it still hadn't moved so I bit the bullet, grabbed it by the tail and put it into a plastic bag and threw it in the bin. Really, finding a plastic bag was the most difficult part of the exercise. But I'm still a bit shuddery.
Now for the practical bit where I need to probably dismantle that compost heap to make sure there's no nest in it (it gets turned about once a month and I've never noticed anything before). Can I use that compost safely or should I make sure to only use it on flowerbeds and not edible ones? I'm sure I've seen this discussed so will have to go and search. Anyone with any tips please let me know.
I went down to add more stuff to the compost on Saturday morning (would have done the same on Wednesday but it was dark so didn't notice anything) and noticed some mangy looking fur lying on top of but kind of burrowed into one corner. I've seen cats climbing over the compost heap before (collapsing the top of it every time, I really should put a solid top on it) so although it didn't really look like a cat that was my first thought, that a cat had dug in for the heat. But cats don't like to get dirty, do they? I gave the fur a poke and it didn't move and then I noticed the big long tail at the end of the pile of fur. Eeeeww!!!! Which reaction caused me to think I may not be cut out for country life one little bit! I was also, to be honest, quite scared and had every fact/myth I'd ever heard about rats running through my head. I don't run or else I might very well have run screaming up the garden into the safety of the house. As it was there was definitely some shuddering and I was no sooner in the "safety" of the house when I remembered there's a cat flap in the back door (from previous owners) which doesn't shut and my head was promptly filled with visions of giant rats invading via the cat flap to take revenge on me for messing with one of their dead.
Hmmm. Yes. This is why I never watch horror films on purpose.
I left it alone and went out yesterday morning and it still hadn't moved so I bit the bullet, grabbed it by the tail and put it into a plastic bag and threw it in the bin. Really, finding a plastic bag was the most difficult part of the exercise. But I'm still a bit shuddery.
Now for the practical bit where I need to probably dismantle that compost heap to make sure there's no nest in it (it gets turned about once a month and I've never noticed anything before). Can I use that compost safely or should I make sure to only use it on flowerbeds and not edible ones? I'm sure I've seen this discussed so will have to go and search. Anyone with any tips please let me know.
Knitting
I had a big long post about all my knitting achievements all written and then got an error when I tried to publish it. Blogger having lulled me into a false sense of security by working perfectly for months now, I didn't have a copy and had just typed straight into Blogger. Oh well.
I think I was saying how I had my second class and that after spending the entire week between classes swatching our teacher spent a good five or ten minutes checking my swatches and getting just as frustrated as I had because they just didn't seem to make sense. At any rate, we finally decided on 7mm needles - quite a difference from the 12.75mm (US 17) needles recommended in the pattern. Oh well, my row gauge was exactly right with 7mm and as this is a sideways knit that was most important.
When I was writing this post originally I had done a couple of inches and was just a few rows into the start of increasing. Since then I've spent a couple of hours at it but haven't gotten very far as increasing throws out the cable and I don't like the way it's looking. The rib pattern is RS: P2,K2 and then WS: K2, P2. For the increasing part of things I'm supposed to P2, K2, increase by 1 then continue in rib until four before the end, increase by one more and finish with K2, P2. Then do the same every second row twice more and then every fourth row nine times. However that means I don't have a simple K2, P2 rib on the WS anymore. Nor on RS then next time around. It's very frustrating but I'll do another hour or so this evening and then see what she says tomorrow evening. That'll be the third of five classes but I think once I have this part figured out I might be able to get a good go at it so that by next week I might have something that's starting to look like a jumper.
This is what it looked like at the end of my class last week:
I'm going to do a separate post for my other knitting project - the blanket.
Edited 2 March 2013: I've been clearing out some old drafts and it seems like some of the posts I thought I had lost ended up somewhere in drafts and in a later version of blogger have become visible again. At least, I'm sure that's the reason I couldn't find them before. Anyway, here's the post which I assume I was referring to above, just as I wrote it then. Sorry if it's duplicating something else I've posted but since I wrote it, I decided to just go ahead and post it.
I've made some progress on my jumper. I spent all last week swatching and just could not figure it out so the day before my next class (last Tuesday) I decided to rip it all up and do new swatches which I could bring in and let Aileen decide on. This pattern calls for US size 17 needles, which are 12.75 mm. Knowing I am a loose knitter I thought maybe 10mm would do. Ended up swatching 10mm, 9mm, 8mm and 7mm to bring with me. Even Aileen couldn't figure it out and spent a good few minutes with the measuring tape and looking every bit like she wanted to tear her hair out (i.e. the same feeling as I'd had all week!). We finally decided on 7mm as being the closest on stitches and it's perfect for the row gauge, which is particularly important for this pattern.
So, I got started and have about 1.5" knit of the first sleeve. Hope to get a good go at it this weekend and get that sleeve finished and expand out into the body of it.
I also made a start on a present which I'm planning for a friend's 40th this summer. I decided to knit him a patchwork blanket ages ago but finally realised that if I don't start soon I'll never be finished by the end of July. I'm basing it on a pattern in a Debbie Bliss book of baby patterns and plan to knit about four times the number of squares given for the baby blanket. This means I need to knit about two squares every day until his birthday so last night I did my first two. I'm using Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran, although I think the pattern uses cashmerino chunky so my blanket's going to be a bit smaller and I may decide to do more squares if I have time. The cashmerion aran has some gorgeous earthy colours which are perfect for what I have in mind. So far I have dark brown, green and cream and I'll knit what I have before deciding whether to add more colours or not. I also want to then knit a border for the whole thing, which I'm thinking of doing in moss stitch. I've just found out how to do that and love the way it looks.
I also have three scarves on the go and have promised one more scarf to another friend (can wait till next winter now I think!) and a tea-cosy to another friend. And all of that is more than enough to keep me busy for several months so I'm trying not to think about how much I want to learn to knit socks so that I can make myself some fuzzy feet. I have to say though, that it's a very rewarding hobby. Would be nice to be able to spin too so I could make my own wool but I think that will have to be a project for another year.
I think I was saying how I had my second class and that after spending the entire week between classes swatching our teacher spent a good five or ten minutes checking my swatches and getting just as frustrated as I had because they just didn't seem to make sense. At any rate, we finally decided on 7mm needles - quite a difference from the 12.75mm (US 17) needles recommended in the pattern. Oh well, my row gauge was exactly right with 7mm and as this is a sideways knit that was most important.
When I was writing this post originally I had done a couple of inches and was just a few rows into the start of increasing. Since then I've spent a couple of hours at it but haven't gotten very far as increasing throws out the cable and I don't like the way it's looking. The rib pattern is RS: P2,K2 and then WS: K2, P2. For the increasing part of things I'm supposed to P2, K2, increase by 1 then continue in rib until four before the end, increase by one more and finish with K2, P2. Then do the same every second row twice more and then every fourth row nine times. However that means I don't have a simple K2, P2 rib on the WS anymore. Nor on RS then next time around. It's very frustrating but I'll do another hour or so this evening and then see what she says tomorrow evening. That'll be the third of five classes but I think once I have this part figured out I might be able to get a good go at it so that by next week I might have something that's starting to look like a jumper.
This is what it looked like at the end of my class last week:
I'm going to do a separate post for my other knitting project - the blanket.
Edited 2 March 2013: I've been clearing out some old drafts and it seems like some of the posts I thought I had lost ended up somewhere in drafts and in a later version of blogger have become visible again. At least, I'm sure that's the reason I couldn't find them before. Anyway, here's the post which I assume I was referring to above, just as I wrote it then. Sorry if it's duplicating something else I've posted but since I wrote it, I decided to just go ahead and post it.
I've made some progress on my jumper. I spent all last week swatching and just could not figure it out so the day before my next class (last Tuesday) I decided to rip it all up and do new swatches which I could bring in and let Aileen decide on. This pattern calls for US size 17 needles, which are 12.75 mm. Knowing I am a loose knitter I thought maybe 10mm would do. Ended up swatching 10mm, 9mm, 8mm and 7mm to bring with me. Even Aileen couldn't figure it out and spent a good few minutes with the measuring tape and looking every bit like she wanted to tear her hair out (i.e. the same feeling as I'd had all week!). We finally decided on 7mm as being the closest on stitches and it's perfect for the row gauge, which is particularly important for this pattern.
So, I got started and have about 1.5" knit of the first sleeve. Hope to get a good go at it this weekend and get that sleeve finished and expand out into the body of it.
I also made a start on a present which I'm planning for a friend's 40th this summer. I decided to knit him a patchwork blanket ages ago but finally realised that if I don't start soon I'll never be finished by the end of July. I'm basing it on a pattern in a Debbie Bliss book of baby patterns and plan to knit about four times the number of squares given for the baby blanket. This means I need to knit about two squares every day until his birthday so last night I did my first two. I'm using Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran, although I think the pattern uses cashmerino chunky so my blanket's going to be a bit smaller and I may decide to do more squares if I have time. The cashmerion aran has some gorgeous earthy colours which are perfect for what I have in mind. So far I have dark brown, green and cream and I'll knit what I have before deciding whether to add more colours or not. I also want to then knit a border for the whole thing, which I'm thinking of doing in moss stitch. I've just found out how to do that and love the way it looks.
I also have three scarves on the go and have promised one more scarf to another friend (can wait till next winter now I think!) and a tea-cosy to another friend. And all of that is more than enough to keep me busy for several months so I'm trying not to think about how much I want to learn to knit socks so that I can make myself some fuzzy feet. I have to say though, that it's a very rewarding hobby. Would be nice to be able to spin too so I could make my own wool but I think that will have to be a project for another year.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Fruity silliness - I'm a pear! :-)
You Are a Pear |
 You are independent, intelligent, and a free thinker. You can accomplish great things, especially when you do them on your own. You are direct, honest, and sometimes even a bit brutal. There's not much that gets in the way of you and your ambition. While you are hard nosed, you do have a much sweeter side to you. It takes times for you to soften toward someone, but once you do, you'll be their friend for life. |
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Knitting
I've been knitting away and have fallen in love with Rowan Big Wool, which is 100% merino wool. And which has led to me blowing my budget for the month on buying enough of it to make myself a jumper. I had my first of five "Make a Sweater" classes yesterday evening and spent the entire time swatching. I was very pleased to learn how to do this properly though and, as I knit even more loosely than I thought, glad I took the time to do it. I'm knitting a jumper which has a sideways pattern i.e. you start at one sleeve and knit the length of that, increase once you get to the body and knit the body and then decrease when you get across to the other sleeve and knit that. It's a pattern from a book my sister brought home from the States for me last year called Hot Knits. I chose a pattern made with Big Wool as I think it should knit up quite quickly and so I'll hopefully be making good progress before I start to get frustrated. Although as I need to go down three needle sizes from what's recommended to get gauge it's going to be a bit slower than I thought. I'm ignoring minor points like the fact that I left it late to get the wool and wasn't able to get all 14 balls from the same dyelot.
I also finished my tea cosy last week and have sent it off to my swap partner in Australia. I had a lot of fun doing that as I didn't use any of the patterns available free online but instead made my own up. It was essentially the same hat pattern that I've made several times before but doubled in size. This involved a half-an-hour or so with a calculator to figure out the shaping part of it and what I ended up with was HUGE but as it was being felted that was okay. I'm not going to post photos until my swap partner receives it just in case she sees it here.
I also finished my tea cosy last week and have sent it off to my swap partner in Australia. I had a lot of fun doing that as I didn't use any of the patterns available free online but instead made my own up. It was essentially the same hat pattern that I've made several times before but doubled in size. This involved a half-an-hour or so with a calculator to figure out the shaping part of it and what I ended up with was HUGE but as it was being felted that was okay. I'm not going to post photos until my swap partner receives it just in case she sees it here.