FO Friday 29.12.23

Look, I actually know what day it is! That probably won’t last.

Parts of Gerald the giraffe wouldn’t do as they were told so I had to finish off and hand him over after Christmas. But I think he’s cute enough to get away with it.

Even with the extra bit I added to his neck he’s still smaller than my hand, so most options that people suggested to support his neck were too big. I ended up using a pipe cleaner folded in four and it seems to be working perfectly.

I also added in more brown patches than the pattern suggested because I think it makes him look even more giraffe-like.

What do you think?

Hannah

xXx

Rookie mistake

The Fiancé and I have come to Dunoon for Christmas, to get a bit of peace and quiet (although there’s currently a storm blowing). We have so much free time and I, like an absolute amateur, only brought one yarny project with me.

Then today, this happened:

At any other time I would just go to Jinty & Baa and buy a new one, but they’re closed for Christmas so I’m stuck.

I think it might be time to invest in some metal needles that my heavy hands can’t snap!

Hannah

xXx

WIP Wednesday 20.12.23

Current WIP count: 5

I’ve been giving my brain a workout with these mittens, fiddling with the stitch count for a slightly smaller child, but I got there eventually and now they’re ticking along nicely. I am loving the green and white together.

Gerald (I renamed him) is also progressing; the body is done and now I’m onto the neck.

One body

I’m going to do it a bit longer than the pattern says, to make him look more giraffe-like, with the hope that a pipe cleaner will be strong enough to keep it straight so he’s not constantly staring at the ground. Or if anyone knows a better way of reinforcing an amigurumi neck, please do let me know.

I can’t believe how close we are to Christmas!

Hannah

xXx

WIP Thursday 30.11.23

Current WIP count: 6

It’s soooooo good to get back to my usual multi-WIP ways. My brain does a little happy dance every time I pick up something different to work on.

I got back into my selbu mittens, working on the child-sized pair and lining up the pattern for baby mittens so I can get going straight away when these are finished. I strongly suspect that I won’t get through every pair of mittens I was planning to make for this Christmas, so some people might have to wait until next year. Oh well.

It makes no sense to sign up for a pattern test with Christmas so close and so many mittens to make, but I just couldn’t resist this one. It’s going to be a stocking with cute little skulls on. I had to!

And my latest pair of choir socks is nearly finished. They should just last me til the end of this term.

Ahh variety, how I missed you.

Hannah

xXx

Advent socks – not finished

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, and you’re enjoying this weird period of time when nobody knows what day it is.

The advent socks were going entirely to plan, until day 23. On the first try the patterns were not quite matching up; I thought I must have messed up the count on the first row so I tinked back and tried again. Same result so back I went. The third try still didn’t quite feel right, but I kept going (as you do) until the final round. At this point I decided to count the stitches and found that I was missing one.

Both socks then went into the naughty corner for a few days and I got on with Christmas.

Last night I looked back and realised that the missing stitch had been dropped on the previous stripe, and I hadn’t noticed because it was such a simple pattern that still looked like it lined up properly. Gutted. For fear of that one loose stitch laddering down and undoing the whole sock, I stuck some needles into the last correct stripe, ripped out the two wrong stripes, and started them again.

The diagonal stripe pattern went as easily as last time (with the correct stitch count all the way through) and I’m now working my way through this final stripe hopefully for the final time.

If I don’t mess up anything else these might be finished in time for Hogmanay!

Hannah

xXx

Advent socks day 17+18

These stripes are supposed to be twinkly stars, but to me they look like tiny ghosts. Especially the blue ones.

A Christmas Carol has ghosts though, so they’re still Christmassy!

Hannah

xXx

Gauge matters

The mitten on the left is the large adult size from The World’s Simplest Mittens. The mitten on the right is the toddler size. Gauge matters, people.

I’m going to donate the bigger pair so a child can have nice warm hands, and I think I’ll turn the little ones into tree ornaments somehow. If they were made of something more easily washable I might have sent them down to my 3-month-old niece because they would probably fit her fine!

Despite the sizing issues I am really pleased with them. I probably could have faffed with the yarn a bit more to get a thinner red stripe on the big mitten thumb, but I’m pleased that both pairs match pretty much perfectly. I count this as a job (fairly) well done.

Hannah

xXx

To arms!

I have received the yarnery call-to-arms! My workplace is collecting donations for a homeless charity for Christmas and the wish list includes hats, gloves, scarves, and socks to fit all ages, shapes, and genders. Time to get stash-busting.

I’ve already picked out this mahoosive skein to be used up first, probably with different pops of colour because that’s my jam.

This 400g baby ended up in my stash because I wildly over-estimated how much yarn I would need to finish off my Roses for Grandma blanket, so it’s perfect for quick charity makes. Plus I think Grandma would be pleased that something made for her will lead to other people being kept nice and warm during the Scottish winter.

I’m actually really excited about this – I love making for charity. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to start the first of many hats.

Hannah

xXx

Was Santa good to you?

Well I was spoilt rotten this Christmas, with lots of crafty gifts.

My mum got me some gorgeous crochet books.

A diamond painting card kit.

This adorable colouring book.

Plus some crafty bits and bobs.

My sister also added to the collection with these two books, and a little pack of yarn to make them with.

How lucky am I!

What did everyone else get for Christmas?

Hannah

xXx

Happy Christmas 2019!

My last present just this second came off the blocking board. So organised!!

I hope everyone has a lovely, lovely Christmas day (or Wednesday if you don’t do Christmas)

Hannah
xXx

Keep calm, everything is under control

Current WIP count: 10

It may look like things are getting out of hand with my ever-growing WIP list, but I know what I’m doing. Honest.

One of the new makes is a bracelet, so that won’t take me long at all.

Lookit these gorgeous beads!

The cupcake hat just needs a pompom and that’ll be off the list.

I’m about 3/4 done with the first sleeve of baby Flax Light.

Yes, the top section is thinner than the rest because 1. I’m a dingbat and used the smaller needles I had lying out ready for ribbing, and 2. I was NOT tinking back 4 inches to fix it. I’m just going to block the hell out of that top part and tell myself babies don’t get to wear clothes for long before outgrowing them anyway, so it doesn’t have to be perfect.

The blue hat is chugging along. I’m using the Hubby Hat pattern, but decided that was just the wrong side of boring for me, so I’ve added in a wee garter stripe.

This is my easy peasy mindless knit that I’ve been working on before bed to help me switch off. It’s great!

There’s also been a tiny bit of action on my running hat, because I just needed some crochet in my life. When did I become a knitter?

The big day is coming up fast; how is everyone doing?

Hannah

xXx

WIPs, WIPs everywhere

Current WIP count: 8

Ah, Christmas. That time of year when my WIP list runs out of control and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Actually that’s not true; I exerted some control this year by deciding to only make presents for a select few people. It would be lovely if I had the time and resources to make for everyone, but I somehow skipped half of October and November, and I have a full-time job that takes up far too much of my day, so that’s just not happening.

I compromised a little for my other friends, and raided Etsy for handmade-but-not-by-me gifts. This way everyone I love gets something special, I don’t end up having to pull all-nighters from now til Christmas Eve, and a few Etsy sellers get to do a happy dance. Wins all round!

As for the pressies I am making, obviously baby Flax Light is now going to be a Christmas rather than birthday present, as I only have this much of one sleeve done:

There’s also a hat present in the works (thank you, Alissa, for bringing this gorgeous yarn to my attention months ago):

And I decided the cupcake hat will also be a gift, as I have a couple of friends who love bright colours as much as I do. I just need to work out how to attach a pompom so it stays put.

Considering there are only 3 weeks until the big day, I’m feeling pretty calm and in control about Christmas this year. Probably because I’m not thinking about all the Christmas cards I want to make!

Hannah

xXx