You know you’re sick when…..

• You want tea but the effort of moving off the sofa to make it is just to much
• The dog steals your cup of tea (which took you ages to make) and when you try to tell her off all that comes out is an unintelligible croak followed by a coughing fit
• The lady who answered the phone when you called the doctors for an appointment tells you to ‘take your time’ because she ‘knows you’re struggling’ but it still takes 5 goes for you to give her your name
• When you eventually make it to the Doctors he takes one look at you and tells you to ‘sit down before you fall down’
• It takes you 2 whole days to type even a short blog post
• You haven’t got the energy to shop online for yarn or yarny things.

and the most serious of all…

• You know you’re sick when your knitting is beside the bed but picking it up is just way to much effort.

Blowing someone's trumpet…

One facet of being British is that we’re often raised to believe it’s unseemly to blow your own trumpet.  If you watch our athletes at the Olympics they don’t do the celebratory strutting that some other nations are known for.  That said, I’m not saying there is anything wrong with a celebratory strut, just that it’s not a large part of our national psyche.

I find it particularly difficult to ‘blow my trumpet’.  I even find writing my c.v. a harrowing experience and have quite a few friends who are exactly the same.  So I thought perhaps I should get the trumpet out for one of them……

Ann is a fabulously creative knitter who has recently sold some patterns to a national knitting magazine.  They are due out later in the year but she’s not telling a sole about it.  Even people at our local knitting groups! Now I’m sure part of this is worry that something may happen and they won’t get used.  However, I suspect a larger reason is that British affliction.  She doesn’t feel able to blow her own trumpet. 

This sock pattern is called Billie and isn’t one of the ones that has been accepted by that magazine I was talking about.  She has loads of lovely patterns like this sitting in the corner in a big file.

Now don’t you think that is a crying shame?  They range in difficulty from what I would say is beginner (as in your first pair of patterned socks) through to OMG I’d never be able to knit that!  Although I’ll admit that given her creativity it is nice to know she suffers from the same difficulties as the rest of us when it comes to photographing her own feet hehe. I keep telling her that she should write some of these patterns up and put them on Ravelry. 

Anyway she’s recently (after a bit of nagging) started a blog and I hope that she’ll have lots of her wonderful knitted stuff up there soon……

Silk Flowers

I love flowers.  Most girls do as far as I’m aware.  Unfortunately they don’t last long, and having two dogs and three cats doesn’t help.  Vases get swished off tables and knocked off windowsills.  Enter silk flowers…

I have several different types of the traditional type of silk flowers in various places around the cottage.  The are much better at surviving a swipe from a paw or a waft of the tail.

Recently however I came across a very simple way to knit flower shapes.  So I dug out some dk silk that had left over from Elle the Elephant and also a ‘pet skein’ I was given by the same vendor at Ally Pally.

They really are very simple to make.  Firstly decide how big you want your flowers.  The number of stitches should be a multiple of 6.  So far I’ve made two small ones (starting at 36) and two large ones (starting at 66)

You then need to knit in stocking stich a few rows.  For the small ones I did 6 rows and the large 10.  You should end with a purl row.

On the next row knit 6 and then rotate one of your needles through 360 degrees to form a twist.  Repeat this to the end of the row.  Next row purl.

Then knit 1, knit 2 together to the end of the row.  If you started with 36 you should now have 24 stitches.  Purl back.

Next row knit 2 together to the end and then purl back (12 st).  Repeat these two rows (6 st).

Then break your yarn and using a needle thread the tail through the remaining stitches.  You can then twist your flower round and use the tails to stitch it in place.

Your flower is now ready to either be sewn onto something or attached to a clasp to create a broach.

More Colours…..

I’ve been playing with my dye pots again. Why?  Well why not.  It’s great fun and I get pretty coloured yarn at the end of it. 

Unfortunately I forgot to charge the battery on my main camera so I had to use the camera on my phone to get a photo to show you.  I’ve got more yarn drying though so I’ll take some decent photos of them all together in a few days and post them up.

On a separate note I finally managed to knit my way out of the knitting black hole which I had been trapped in.  I’m now sewing the wrap vest up and when I get that done you’ll be the first to see some photos of that as well….

Is that an event horizon I see before me?

Have you read any of the Yarn Harlots books?  Have you heard about knitting black holes?  The theory goes like this……

You have a project which you work on for a while, and then (like all good knitters) you measure how long it is.  Now we could all pretend that we do this because we’re perfectionists and want to check our progress/gauge.  But lets be honest here folks…. you’re bored of the pattern and want to know how much is left before the next bit.

You measure it and it’s 15cm.  You have to continue with this pattern until your work measures 22cm.  So you put the kettle on and keep knitting.  Several hours later you measure your work again and it’s 15cm.  Puzzled you knit a few more rows and then measure again, 15cm.

You are stuck in a knitting black hole.  No matter how much you knit, how fast or for how long your knitting simply doesn’t grow.  Some strange quantum version of a black hole is sucking in all your knitting, time and effort.

I’m stuck in one of these right now and it’s a particularly mean and vindictive one.  I’ve been trapped for over a week.  I’ve been knitting, honestly I have.  But nothing is happening!  I know it must be growing as the number of balls of yarn in my project bag is going down at an alarming rate. Sob….

I’d post some photos of what I’m working on but there is no point as it looks exactly the same as the last time (it’s the Wrap Vest).  Sob sob….

Perhaps a cuppa tea will make it seem better – or a different tape measure.  This one may end up as a burnt offering soon….

A First :-)

Recently I set up a Folksy shop for the yarn I’ve been dyeing.  I love dyeing yarn using natural dyes, Turmeric, Alkanet, Madder etc…..  However I tend to dye much more than I could possibly knit up myself, and so Fantasia Yarns was born.

It’s named for my beloved cat (Fantasia) who is no longer with us.  She was very special though and the thought that she can live on in this way somehow makes me smile.

Anyway why am I mentioning all this right now?  Well yesterday I made my first online sale.

A DK in purple which I named Libby after my friend who loves her purple.

So I am excitedly packaging it up ready to go to it’s new home – I hope they enjoy knitting with it as much as I enjoyed dyeing it…

Best Intentions……

Remember all those good intentions about finishing projects off before starting any new ones?  Well does buying the stuff to do a project but not actually starting it count?  No! Phew….

Another local knitter Christine blogged earlier in the week about a fabulous scarf called Volna she had just finished.  So beautiful.  Unfortunately I read the post yesterday just before heading off to meet up with another friend at a cafe next to the Wool Cabin yarn shop in Clacton……  Yeah you know what happened.

 

The pattern suggests either a solid colour way or one with long colour repeats.  Now I know as soon as someone says long colour repeats many people immediately reach for the Noro yarns.  But instead I came home with two balls of Rico Design ‘Creative Poems’ Aran.  Different colours but both very very pretty.

Of course they might not end up as a Volna scarf but seriously, at least I had an excuse to buy the yarn.  I normally don’t even bother with an excuse.  Hey come on, give me some credit for at least coming up with an excuse……