FO Friday 23.03.18

It’s done, it’s finally finished! At last I can cross the chevron blanket off my WIP list.

Blue and white chevron blanket

 

Yes, the ends need sewing in. Details.

I love my blankets with alternating BLO and regular stitch sections, but I think it worked better with the super chunky yarn I used for my massive chevron blanket.

Either way, it’s done and as soon as I get the ends sewn in this is going to my local cat shelter.

I also whipped up a wee birthday present for my dad, who loves hedgehogs.

It’s just shorter than the palm of my hand, really dinky and cute!

And look at the clever little bobble stitch feet.

I used this pattern for the body, modified to BLO to leave the front loops free for the spines. And this one for the spines (I don’t have any eyelash yarn) with three chains rather than four. I just can’t leave a pattern alone!

It’s so cute, I might have to make another one for myself.

A productive week all in all, so I’m happy. How’s your week been? Finished anything crafty? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx

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WIP Wednesday 21.03.18

Current WIP count: 6

I’m still working on these dratted bootees. I keep thinking I’m done with one, but then I look at it the next day and it’s just not right.

Right now I’m not 100% happy with the shaping at the front, but I might just let it go.

The baby isn’t due until June so I’ve also spent a bit of time on my Tunisian jumper and the chevron blanket. This is where my sleeve is up to.

I’m on the last section, just a few more rows and I start all over again with the next sleeve!

And I’m on to the final white section of the blanket. I’ll save photos for Friday because it will be finished.

That’s what I’m working on this week, how about you? Got any thoughts on the bootees shape? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx

WIP Wednesday 07.03.18

Current WIP count: 7

Since realising how quickly the chevron blanket moves along, I’ve been working on it more often. I even sewed in some ends on the train back to Glasgow!

I reckon I could finish the crochet part this weekend, but I make no promises about the remaining ends.

I’ve also started a commission for some baby dragon boots. I was given this skein

And I had some lilac in my stash that just begged to be paired with it.

They’ll be newborn size so shouldn’t take me too long. As long as I can stop squeeing over how cute they are and just get on with it 😉

So that’s what I’m working on this week. Has everyone got rid of the snow now? Did you have chance to wear some of your yarny makes this week? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx

WIP Wednesday 28.02.18

Current WIP count: 6

I’m going to apologise right now for today’s WIP photo, it is actually awful, but I will try to make up for it with some gorgeous NZ photos as well!

I’ve been chugging away with my chevron blanket, getting a few rows in on the bus and over a cup of tea. Now the pattern is becoming more obvious

I really should get some of those ends sorted, shouldn’t I?

Now, to New Zealand! Yesterday I went to the art gallery in the city.

And in the art gallery, I found a crochet piece.

It’s the moon, made from crocheted ‘craters’ made by members of the public!! And it’s an ongoing project, so they had hooks and yarn sitting there for anyone who fancied making their own!

Of course I couldn’t resist.

My crochet crater

I handed it in, and at some point my crater will be added to the piece. I can’t believe I’m going to be part of a work of art!

Then I went sightseeing:

I begin my flight home obscenely early on Thursday morning, and I’ll do a full NZ debrief when I get back. Be prepared for an overload of utterly gorgeous photos.

So that’s been my crochet week, how’s everyone else doing? Got some WIPs to share? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx

WIP Wednesday 21.02.18

Current WIP count: 6

Okay I’m kinda cheating, it’s actually Thursday here right now. But I know it’s still Wednesday at home so I’m counting this as on time!

Of course I brought a few yarny projects with me, and this week I’ve been working on the chevron doggy blanket.

It’s not quite far along enough to see how the pattern is working, but the white sections are getting longer as the blue get shorter. I think it will have an interesting look when it’s finished.

I also went for a run in the glorious sunshine this morning

Isn’t New Zealand gorgeous!

WIP Wednesday 24.01.18

Current WIP count: 6

I told you there would be some Tunisian WIPs coming up! I’m starting off simple, just a skinny scarf in this pretty blue-green colourway.

The yarn is 60% cotton and 40% acrylic from Hobbycraft.

I don’t know if it’s the slightly stonewashed quality of the colours, but to me it feels like that favourite pair of jeans you wear until they’re moulded to your body and soft as butter. Whenever I’m not working on it, I just end up stroking it.

Still loving the texture, and the fact that it looks a bit like knitting on one side.

For some regular crochet, I’ve also dragged my chevron blanket from the UFO pile. It will be finished this year!

That’s my WIP list for the week. What’s everyone else working on? Having a good week so far? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx

WIP Wednesday 04.10.17

Current WIP count: 6

Progress so far on my commissioned doily:

I’m still suuuper unsure about the colours, but my hope is it’ll look better the more I add in.

This is the current state of the chevron doggy blanket:

Yeah.

I was absolutely positive I had some more of that blue yarn lying around somewhere, but having gone through my entire stash I can’t find one bit of it.

So my plan was to frog back to the first blue section and remove a couple of rows, then the rows removed from each section could be used for the shorter sections later on.

But (of course there’s a but) I got nearly to the end, the final blue section with one short white section either side, and it all went pear-shaped. I made the mistake of putting the thing down, and when I picked it up again I didn’t check which end I was frogging from. I spent half an hour frantically picking at the white row, wondering why it wasn’t just undoing like the rest of the blanket, why this particular row was so sticky and unwilling to frog.

Then I realised I was undoing the foundation row. Face. palm.

I confess, for a couple of hours I seriously considered just throwing every last bit of this nasty, cheap acrylic into the bin. But there is something inside me that just cannot do that to yarn, no matter how awful it is, as well as a mile-wide stubborn streak. So I frogged it all and off I go again.

It’s a good job I like chevrons…

I got a massive ball of Marble Chunky for my birthday in April, and it’s been staring at me since then, begging to be made into something warm and snuggly. So I had a dig round Ravelry for a pattern and found the waffle knit cowl by Cate Carter-Evans.

It’s a really simple repeating pattern so I can work away while watching something on my laptop, it’s chunky so of course it’s growing really quickly, and OH THE SQUISH!! I keep stopping just to squidge it for a bit. I also love the stripes that are forming with the gradual colour changes in the yarn. I think I might struggle to give this one away.

And I’m re-blocking the scarf part of my scoodie in the hope that it’ll straighten out and I won’t have to undo and re-attach every square. Fingers crossed.

That’s my WIPs for this week. What’s everyone else working on? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx

May’s end

Not news of the current PM’s resignation (sadly), but a review of my goals for May.

 

1.Finish pic-notting the baby blanket and get it sent to my sister

I get half a point. The blanket is finished and ready to go, but it hasn’t actually gone yet.

0.5

 

2. Finish the kindle cosy and get it sent to my cousin

No points whatsoever. I didn’t even pick it up!

0

 

3. Finish the lacy scarf and list it in my shop

Well the scarf is finished, but currently still sitting on the blocking mats right now.

I’m letting myself off with this one because the stitch was causing me so much wrist pain I couldn’t work on it as much as I was planning to.

1

 

4. Finish the chevron blanket and gift it to my friend

DONE!  I finished in two weeks (much quicker than I expected) and gave it to my friend. He loved it, and it just happened to fit exactly on the back of his sofa!

1

5. Get all my zentangle cards listed in the shop

Yet another half point. Although I finished up all my zentangle cards, I hit a snag with my photography.

I thought I’d found the perfect set up; the sun was shining on the back of the house, but not coming directly through the window, I had a pale coloured sheet and off-white walls in my bedroom. It looked great!  So I took about 50 photos, really getting into it. I loaded them onto my computer and…

Blurry. Every last one.

0.5

 

6. Make at least one knitted item Work at least 2 rows of knitting every day

It’s a good job I modified this goal, because  last week there was a disaster. I tried to move the stitches a bit closer to the tip of the needle so I could knit them better, and this happened

I don’t even know what counts as a stitch in there, so I had to frog the entire thing and start again from scratch. I may have cried a little bit.

1

 

7. Have at least 10 items listed in the shop

Like… a quarter point for this. I have more than 10 things ready to go, which is a much better situation that the start of the month, but they’re never going to sell if I don’t actually list them!

0.25

 

Total: 4.25/7

It’s over half, I suppose.

The thing is, I know exactly why I didn’t meet my goals – I was too busy doing other stuff!

I did a few rows on this star blanket

before realising it was wrong all the way back at the beginning. So I frogged the whole thing and started again, doing about 20 rounds.

I tested a gorgeous pattern for Ocean’s Originals

I did Some face painting

Had my first go at blocking

 

Joined in with #aheart4mcr

And just basically had fun rather than getting down to business.

I’m not saying that’s a bad thing – having fun is important, and even if I hadn’t completed a single goal I still would have dropped everything to make hearts for Manchester. But I do need to work harder on getting the fun/focus balance right.

So with that in mind, here are my goals for June

1. Have at least 10 items listed in my shop (for realz this time!)
2. Finish the kindle cosy and send it to my cousin
3. Post at least twice a week on this blog
4. Work at least 2 rows of knitting every day
5. Create a logo (more on this in a later post)

And that’s it. Totally doable!

How was everyone else’s May? Productive, not, or halfway between the two like me? Got any goals for June? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx

 

FO Tuesday

I couldn’t wait til Friday!

Over the weekend I finished my chevron blanket and baby star blanket. 

The star border only took about 20 minutes so I’m not really sure why I’d been avoiding it for so long.  

After 2 weeks of almost entirely working with chunky yarn, it felt very strange to go back to baby DK yarn. A bit like working with dental floss!

I also finished the chevron afghan, after only two weeks. That was quite a bit quicker than I expected so I’m really pleased, I’ll be able to hand it over to my friend this week. I really hope he likes it.

So about the blanket. I love stats, so if you don’t then just admire the photos 😉

This afghan weighs juuust over 1.5 kg (1517g if you want to be accurate)

It measures 142cm x 181cm (it’s taller than me!)

The yarn is Painbox Simply Chunky in Vanilla Cream, Soft Fudge, Slate Grey, and Coffee Bean

It consists of 101 rows double crochet, and 2 rows single crochet with picots at the points

Each cream section is 8 rows of straight dc

Each section of contrast colour is back loop only dc, alternating 6 and 9 rows.

The side of each chevron is made of 13 stitches (my favourite number)

Each dc row contains 180 stitches

The total stitch count for the whole thing is 18,544 stitches.

18,544

I can’t believe I just made nearly 20,000 stitches….

I was planning to calculate the number of hours I spent on this, but after having to restart it 5 times to get the chevrons to actually chevron, I decided not to.  Let’s just say every spare hour I had over the last 2 weeks.

So, does anyone have any tips for folding/rolling a mahoosive blanket so I can wrap it up before giving it to my friend? Or how to take good photos of something so large? Because I’m struggling!

Hannah

xXx

May goals

Time for some progress updates I think

I’ve done some more work on the Love Knot scarf, but the hand action I use for this stitch is causing some serious pain. I couldn’t get to sleep last night because my wrist and pointer finger were throbbing. So I’m only working on this one for 5-10 minutes at a time, and researching a more ergonomic way to make the stitch so I can hopefully minimise/stop the pain.
The flat-warming blanket is over two thirds done:

There are 3 more rows of grey, one section of dark brown, and two sections of cream to go. I’m considering doing a border of some kind, probably just something really simple like single crochet in cream. I might also picot (actually this time) the points at the top and bottom of the blanket, just to make them a bit pointier. I want it less wave-y and more chevron-y.

I’ve realised I was wildly optimistic in my goal to finish a knitted object, as I’m using pretty thin yarn, aiming for a shawl, and a very slow knitter.

So I’m changing that goal to ‘knit at least 2 rows before bed every night’. Added bonuses: the time spent knitting rather than looking at my phone/laptop helps me switch off and sleep better, and the different hand actions ease some of the pain caused by Love Knotting.

No progress at all with the pic-not baby blanket or kindle cosy, but I have finally ordered some foam mats so I can start blocking things ready to be listed in the shop.

I’ve also made a start on some more zentangle cards.

I reckon I’m right on track to meet most, if not all, of my May goals
Hannah

xXx