Scrap Happy May 2023

Yessss I’m finally organised enough to join in with Scrap Happy!

I have some organza bags of leftover yarn. Anything too long to count as ‘ends’, but too short to be made into anything by itself goes into the bag. A couple of weeks ago I was inspired to start a Heidi Bears triceratops and I decided to make it a scrappy one, using these leftovers.

The first step was to pull out all the acrylic yarn of roughly DK weight (very roughly, as I just eyeballed it) and stick it all in one bag for easy use, and then I started my African flowers by pulling out random colours. My only rule is that if I pull out too similar a colour to the previous round then I’ll pick a different one.

To prevent it looking like total chaos I’m doing the final round of each flower in cream yarn, which I’ll also use to join them all together, and I deliberately repeated a couple of the colour combinations. I’m not sure if the cream yarn counts as scrappy; it was left over from wildly overestimating how much I would need to finish off a blanket a couple of years ago and there’s so much left I could probably make a whole dinosaur out of it. Either way, I’m enjoying putting all this yarn to good use!

If you want some scrappy inspiration, check out the other Scrap Happy-ers (happy scrappers?) and their blogs:

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
Jill, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol,
Preeti, Debbierose, Nóilin and Viv

Hannah

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WIP Wednesday 03.05.23

Current WIP count: 5

I’m 99% sure that there are no more forgotten projects lying around so I’m going with 5 WIPs at the moment. That’s pretty reasonable for me!

It was down at 4, but then I read this post and remembered that I have a few Heidi Bears patterns which, for some reason, have been sitting in my download folder untouched since 2018. I only started yesterday so there’s not much progress to show, but at least I’ve started.

Further news on my Love Note, and I find myself wondering how much I really want one. The original yarn is so sticky that I could only knit it with my metal needles. The only cable I have left for my metal needles is pretty short, so I’m knitting it scrunched up. It didn’t seem massively squished on there so I thought I was good, but I decided to stick it on some waste yarn and try it on just in case. Turns out I should have done that much sooner because it was enormous. Tent-like. So ridiculously big that strategic decreasing would never be able to fix it.

So I frogged it riiiiiight back to the beginning, cursing the sticky yarn with every stitch, and started again with a smaller size and helical knitting just to see if I could do it. I can! But now there’s a nagging voice in my head saying this size will be too small and I’m wasting my time. Sigh. I’ve decided not to check this time; I’m going to finish it and whatever size it ends up, somebody in the world will be able to wear it and that’s good enough for me.

Hannah

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WIP Wednesday 11.01.23

Current WIP count: 7

Harry Potter and the Whirl blanket

Wouldn’t you know it, I hit a snag almost as soon as I started. For the last three days I’ve been trying to work out how a repeat of 10 stitches is supposed to leave me with 88 total stitches for the round. The chart seemed to show the same thing so I just couldn’t figure it out.

Thankfully the pattern designer is on Ravelry and responds to comments. It turns out I was doing M2 (make 2) the wrong way, which knocked the repeat off by one stitch, and those one stitches added up through the round to give me a whole extra repeat that shouldn’t have been there. I’m going to fix it when I get home tonight and hopefully the rest of the pattern will go a bit smoother.

Jumper

I’m on to the mindless stockinette of the body so this is my new choir rehearsal project. We sing in lots of different languages so I need my brain free to focus on the words rather than counting stitches or rows. It’s fun getting to the end of a rehearsal and seeing how much I’ve done without really noticing.

Hedgehog 2

Part of the issue with hedgehog 1 was attaching the head to the body. I struggle connecting two 3D pieces together neatly and it ended up with no neck in a very not-cute way. This time I’m going to try making head and body as one piece, decreasing for the neck and increasing again for the shoulders so I don’t have to sew them at all. I’m far more confident with crochet than knitting so I’m not afraid to shoogle this pattern around and make it do what I want.

This time I’ve started with all the little fiddly bits so when I’ve finished the main part I can sew them all together before I lose momentum.

In non-crafty news, I already have an update on some of my new year goals.

Enter a powerlifting competition

There’s a competition specifically for ‘first timers’ in December this year, about 90 minutes drive from me. We’re still checking qualification weights and what equipment I’d be allowed, but my trainer thinks it would be great for me. I could be booked in by the end of this month (pending Scottish Powerlifting membership), which gives me at least 10 months to learn the proper commands and get as strong as possible. I’m already excited!

Run every week

I hit a snag last week, as my new running shoes didn’t arrive when I thought they would. But instead of giving up and writing the week off as a fail, I set up my bike on the indoor trainer and did 30 minutes of cycling instead. The real point of the goal is to work on my cardio fitness so I still count that as a win.

I’m very glad my running shoes arrived at the weekend though; it astounds me that bikes have been around for so long and nobody has figured out a way to make the seat even a little bit comfortable.

Hannah

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WIP Wednesday 04.01.23

Jumper

I got into a rhythm and forgot to try it on, so I’m just sticking with this size. If it doesn’t fit I’ll give it away, and if I run out of yarn then I’ll just have to buy more and that’s never a hardship.

Teddy ear bonnet

I have absolutely no concept of how big babies are. I made this bonnet once and the Fiancé suggested it might be a bit too small, so I frogged it and I’m now making a larger size with a larger hook. Hopefully it will end up a wearable size.

Hedgehog 2

I’m determined to get this hedgehog finished by the end of next week. I wasn’t too pleased with the first one so I’ll see what I can do to make this one look a little cuter.

Advent socks

These were not finished for Hogmanay, obviously. It’s a bit hard to tell with no heel in yet but I think they might need an extra stripe added on to fit my Hobbit feet, so I need to decide which stripe to repeat.

Rainbow socks

These still need their afterthought heels. I can’t seem to get over the fear of cutting into my knitting – it just feels so wrong!

Black + yellow socks

After a good long stint in the naughty corner, I’m ready to face these again. Not only was my tension way off on the second sock, I’d also missed a decrease round after the heel turn so there was a whole extra motif in there. I’ve frogged it right back to the heel so I can fix the mistake and hopefully by the time I get back to the colourwork I shall be nice and relaxed again.

Hannah

xXx

Not socks

Contrary to popular belief, I have been making more than just socks this year (mainly socks, yes. But not ONLY socks). One of my best friends had a baby last month so there was a lot of teeny tiny knitting and crochet going on. First up was a love heart blanket with a matching hat, in the colours of my friend’s nursery.

Right now I’m working on a matching hat and mitten set with some self-striping yarn that my mum sent me. I’m using the Barley hat pattern from Tin Can Knits, but I’m really not sure about the sizing. The smallest size, labelled “baby size”, seems way too small, so I tried the next size up and the difference between them is ridiculous. I might have to see if I can fudge the pattern to land somewhere between the two.

Mum also sent me two crochet kits to make this hedgehog.

I struggled with this one. First of all the pattern is in UK terms, and yes I did get more than halfway through before realising this and had to frog it all. Grr. The yarn is quite stiff and hard to work with so that’s not fun. Plus I just don’t like the construction – there are gaps at the edge of the bobble stitches, I had to fudge the spacing of the bobbles on the head so they didn’t end up lopsided, and I just don’t think it looks as cute as it could.

Next up is the beginning of a jumper, using a ball of Melange that I got from Jinty & Baa, the yarn shop in Dunoon. The idea was to use the one ball to make a top for myself, but I was quite a bit smaller when I bought it so there’s a distinct possibility that it will end up as a cropped, short-sleeved jumper. I just stuck the sleeve stitches on waste yarn, so I can do a few body rounds and see how it’s fitting. I am prepared to frog the lot and start again if I can get away with a smaller size, but we’ll see what happens.

I also got a commission for some personalised robin baubles this month. Instead of taking the easy route and finding a pattern to follow, I decided to just make it up as I went along. Mistake. I also left it to the last minute, big mistake. I put everything together, sewed their little hats on…and realised that I absolutely hated them. They were nothing like the happy little robins I’d planned in my head, but I was already running 5 minutes late for choir rehearsal (where I was supposed to hand them over) so there was no chance for a re-do.

During the rehearsal I decided to give my robins a beak, as it couldn’t possibly make them look any worse. And you know what? They somehow changed everything. Suddenly I didn’t hate the robins. In fact they were pretty darn cute. It makes no sense to me, but thank goodness I took the ten minutes to add that finishing touch.

I mean they’re still not perfect; if I were to make them again I would give them smaller bodies, and do a ribbed brim to the hats rather than a rolled brim. But considering how disappointed I was with them before, I’m counting this as a solid win!

So there you go, I do still know how to make things other than socks 😀

Hannah

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WIP Wednesday 10.11.21

Current WIP count: 8 (plus a lot of ends)

So far I’ve cranked out five charity hats in various sizes and one matching scarf, finishing up one ball of mystery rainbow yarn and taking a chunk out of the cream yarn.

Then I did a bit of a stash dive and pulled out these odds and ends.

The blue-green-yellow one was pretty much a whole skein so I decided it could be a hat all by itself, and for the rest I’ll probably stick with the original plan of mixing them with the cream until it runs out.

I have told myself that once I get to ten hats I will sew all the ends in before starting any new ones – who thinks I’ll actually stick to that?

Hannah

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WIP Wednesday 20.10.21

Current WIP count: 8

I had a look back through my WIP list this week and I couldn’t remember why I had abandoned the crochet fingerless gloves. The answer, of course, was ends.

180 ends.

Clearly they’re not going to sew themselves in so I had a word with myself and got on with it. So far I’m 5 down, 175 to go.

This might take a while.

Hannah

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WIP Wednesday 06.10.21

Current WIP count: 8

The pug progresses, although I’ve already decided that this isn’t the right colour for his wee body (it’s more grey in real life) so I’m definitely making another one when he’s finished.

Let’s call this the practice run because I already have some tweaks to the pattern I want to try, mainly to deal with the massive holes in the tummy and where the legs join the body. I might end up with a pug army by the end of this!

Hannah

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WIP Thursday 30.09.21

Current WIP count: 8

My manager at my new job has had a terrible time for the last three years, and this week her wee pug puppy has been very ill and ended up in the ICU.  She is such a lovely person who doesn’t deserve any of it so I just had to make a wee something to cheer her up.

Obviously I haven’t got very far yet, but it’s going to be a teeny little pug. It’s a free pattern that I found here at Stella’s Yarn Universe if anyone else feels like making an adorable puppy for themselves.

I’m actually not 100% sure about the colour at the moment; I’m struggling to picture the finished puppy so I’ll probably end up making two versions and giving my manager the one that looks most realistic. And I’ll just have to keep the other one for myself, what a shame!

Hannah

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FO Tuesday (because if I wait until Friday I’ll forget)

The Mandalorian bandwagon has been out, done its rounds, and got back to the station, so of course I chose now to jump on it.  One of The Fiancé’s nieces loves baby Yoda and she had a birthday on Saturday. I mentioned that I could crochet one in time, and he came out with possibly the silliest thing he’s said to me so far: “do you have the yarn?”

Do I have the yarn??  I probably have enough yarn in my stash to make a Death Star, the whole crew, and a 3D landscape to display it in.  Of course I had the exact colours I needed and he turned out suuuuuuper cute.

I will definitely not be making any more though; he’s smaller than my hand, and my amigurumi is very tight, so the sewing together was not a fun experience. But hey, I made a baby Yoda that stands up on its own and the recipient loves it so I’m happy!

Hannah

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That is the ugliest effing square I’ve ever seen*

*it’s not plagiarism if you change a word, right?

I thought I had my mojo back up and running, but then I made the mistake of ignoring that little voice telling me I didn’t like what was appearing at the end of my crochet hook.

What hideous colours. But the next few rounds will fix it, won’t they?

Nope. Still hideous.

I frogged the whole thing and now it’s in the naughty corner for a while.

It’s strange that the colours I chose for the blanket all look so good together, but take out two or three of them and it can end up a disaster! I used to think I had such an eye for colour.

Well, I’ll try shuffling some around and maybe swapping some out, and see if I can get something workable. Maybe even pretty. Wish me luck.

Hannah

xXx

No mojo

This year has not started out as I mean to go on. I’ve not blogged at all and that’s partly because I haven’t touched a hook or needle for weeks. I have no reasons, or even excuses; my mojo has just vanished.

The last thing I did finish was my Roses for Grandma blanket. After more than two years of working on it in dribs and drabs, I finally crossed the finish line at some point between Christmas and new year 2020. And here it is:

The pattern is (Rav link) Roses on Lace by Pat Gibbons, exscept for the forget-me-nots that I designed myself. The roses and forget-me-nots are mostly Eco Cotton yarn, with some Ricorumi for the leaves. The cream is a little bit of cotton I had leftover in my stash with no label on, but mainly Women’s Institute Soft & Smooth acrylic. And every last bit of it is infused with memories of my Grandma. I never could forget about her, but it’s comforting to have something physical that I can wrap around myself and be warmed by as I remember.

Hannah

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