Recent happenings

Many things have happened, but I’m just going to focus on a few of them.

Firstly, I got a new job (yes,another one) and I think I might actually like it there, which I wasn’t sure would ever happen again. So yay for that!

Secondly, I feel 1/7th less silly for the last time I had to frog this sock:

I don’t know whether it’s a mistake in the pattern or it just assumes you’re actually paying attention and will adjust, but if you follow it to the letter then the heel flap does end up on the front of the sock rather than the back. It’s all sorted now and I’ll definitely be ready when I eventually get to the second sock. 

And of course I saved the best happening for last. As of last month I have an excuse to make aaaaaaaaaaaaall the tiny pretty things, because my amazing cousin had a little baby girl.

This is Phoebe:

She really is that teeny tiny! I’m definitely going to have to downsize my patterns for a wee while. 

If all goes well I should be meeting my little niece next week, so my hooks and needles are whizzing away trying to get everything finished in time to hand over. This is my first offering because babies always seem to be swamped in pastel shades and I find it terribly boring.

There will be more to come in all sorts of fun colours too. Ooh I can’t wait for some squishy baby snuggles!

Hannah

xXx

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No socks Monday

Believe it or not, I don’t have any socks on my needles right now. Gasp!

What I do have is a serious case of finish-itis. I’ve sewn in all the ends on the baby jumper and my Diagon Ally socks, and I’ve been super focussed on the boyfriend’s jumper. It’s odd not having the slightest urge to start something new.

However, I have hit a bit of a snag with one finish. Earlier this year I mentioned completing my Roses for Grandma blanket before 2021. All of the squares are finished and now it’s on to joining them together.

But I can NOT understand the joining instructions. At all. I’ve tried a few versions of what it might be trying to say, but none of them turned out useable, never mind correct.

There are no diagrams in the pattern, no notes on Rav, and no videos on YouTube that I can find, so I’m a bit stuck. I don’t suppose anyone else has made it before and can help me?

Hannah

xXx

November review 2020

Stash used this month: 3.75

Total stash used this year: 46.75

Stash remaining: 323.5

Well I felt super productive last month!

I finished up two pairs of Diagon Ally socks, a cowl, an ear warmer, a little headband, a toddler jumper, and one sleeve of the boyfriend’s Flax jumper. Go me.

Don’t be expecting too much from this month though. My wonderful mix of anxiety and depression has been having a field day since the redundancy, and adding Christmas on top is not helping anything.

I’ve already decided that I’m not making any new presents this year. If something in my stash of finishes catches my eye then I may give them as gifts, but otherwise I’m going with Etsy or simply sending a card. The people I love already know that I love them, so they’ll understand.

Hannah

xXx

WIP-ing on a Thursday

Current WIP count: 7

Having a job isn’t helping me keep track of days at all, so no alliteration for today’s post title. I’m sure we’ll manage.

I have finished the first sleeve on the boyfriend’s jumper, but haven’t picked up stitches for the second one yet.

If you think that sleeve looks a bit long then you’re right. The boyfriend and I like our jumpers and coats to come down past our wrists, for maximum warmth and snuggly-ness. He has tried it on and approved.

The blanket is coming along nicely, with four squares now finished.

I’m dithering a bit over that latest square. It’s all very red and orange and part of me wants to sub in some more yellow in the second one, but I also want to stick with the pattern and keep both squares the same. What do you guys think?

Hannah

xXx

UFO upgraded to sleeve island

You may remember (or possibly not, as there’s been the whole pandemic thing since then) that I started a Flax jumper for the boyfriend earlier this year. For some unknown reason, I made it halfway through the bottom ribbing and just stopped working on it.

The poor Flax sat in that state until Friday, when it took IT over three hours to get a programme sorted on my work laptop. They had remote control of the laptop so I couldn’t actually do any work, and the jumper was sitting on top of our pile of blankets right next to my desk, so to pass the time I picked it up and finished off the ribbing. That was all it took to relight the fire and I haven’t put it down since!

Wahey sleeve island. You may be able to see that I’ve gone completely over to team DPN and I’m not using circulars at all for the sleeves. I can’t tell if it’s quicker or not, but I certainly feel happier about it.

Hopefully I can finish this before winter rolls round.

Hannah

xXx

WIP-ing on a Thursday

Yesterday was bad, but today will be better.

The blanket CAL calls for another 2 squares this week, and it’s a bit of a challenging pattern. I’ve finished one:

And started the second, mixing up the colours again:

I can’t say I’m entirely sold on the colours for the second square, but then I wasn’t too sure about the first one and that turned out pretty in the end so I might just carry on. Orrrrr I might frog and start again. Who knows.

These squares are so fiddly that I haven’t had much chance to work on anything else. But I’m determined to finish the ribbing on Flax this week. It’s virtual knit night tomorrow, which always helps me focus, so it’s totally doable.

Hannah

xXx

WIP Wednesdayyyyyy

Current WIP count: 8

Oh look, another WIP crept on there. It looks a bit creepy at the moment, but this is going to be a frog bookmark for the boyfriend.

It’s probably darker than it should be, but it was the closest yarn to me and he’s happy with it so on we go.

I’m still on the bottom ribbing of his Flax. Not too much left to go though, and then it’ll be sleeve island for me.

I now have a heel on my sock again, and I’m away down the foot.

It was soooo much easier the second time round – I’m almost looking forward to the next one. It is quite addictive, isn’t it?

Hannah

xXx

Frog socks

Current WIP count: 7

So the heel worked, yaaay!

But.

I tried it on and it fits, but the leg is just too long for me, and I’m seriously considering frogging back to shorten it.

Is that a bad choice? I think I might do it anyway.

Flax was my procrastination project while I was avoiding the heel so I’m almost at the bottom ribbing.

I was put on furlough from work today so it shouldn’t be too long til this is finished. Silver lining!

It’s definitely time to get some of these WIPs finished off so that will be my focus for a while.

Hannah

xXx

March review 2020

Stash used this month: 4 skeins

Total stash used this year: 15.5 skeins

Stash remaining: 340 skeins

Not too much progress this month. The boyfriend got frustrated with purl stitch and took a break from knitting, so he hasn’t knocked any off the stash this time. But I know how addictive knitting is – I’m sure he’ll be back at it soon.

As for me, I’ve been working on some bigger/more complicated projects so there aren’t many FOs to go on the list.

 

Charity makes

I made two baby bonnets to test a pattern, and they’ll both be going to charity.

They’re not makes for this month, but I finally sewed in all the ends of a bunch of items that have been lying around for months (years?) that will also go to charity.

 

Makes for myself

A COVID-19 stress ball.

The beginning of a pair of socks. At least I think they’re for me. We’ll see if they fit.

 

Makes for others

It looks like this Flax will be for the boyfriend. Or charity if he doesn’t like it. But really, what’s not to like??  I’ve found that I really enjoy making things for him so this probably won’t be his only jumper from me.

 

It’s not been too bad a month, considering everything that’s going on at the moment.  My work is looking to furlough me (is that how to say it? Nobody seems to know) pretty soon, so I’ll have all the crafting time I could ever want. And then some. Let’s see how much I can get made next month!

Hannah

xXx

All of the WIPs

Current WIP count: 9

Yes, actually nine, but I can explain!

I’m doing a wee test knit of some baby bonnets. They took less than an hour each and as soon as I stitch the ears on they’ll be done and off the list.

I do so love cute baby makes.

I’ve also been chugging along with Flax, and you can already tell it’s going to be a jumper.

Turns out miles of stockinette is still miles of stockinette, even with a thicker yarn, and I’m starting to get a bit twitchy with it (hence the pattern test). But just working on it a little bit at a time throughout the day will get me there eventually, and at least it won’t take me 9 months like the Flax Light!

How’s everyone doing? I hope your yarn is keeping you happy and less anxious 🙂

Hannah

xXx

 

No sports

Current WIP count: 7

Oops that count is sneaking up again. I really must keep an eye on it.

I am utterly LOVING how fast this Flax is knitting up, at least by my standards. I’ve already finished the raglan increases and now it’s stockinette for a few inches until I split the sleeve stitches off. Easy.

Hooray for worsted weight yarn!

Speaking of yarn weight, did you know that we don’t really have sport weight yarn in the UK? I’m dithering over joining in the Arachne KAL, but a filter of my Excel spreadsheet told me I don’t have a single scrap of sport weight in my stash. So I jumped across to Hobbycraft’s website and found that sport isn’t a filter option; they don’t have any either. Mothy and the Squid – no. Siobhan’s Crafts – no. Sealy MacWheely – nope. It’s just not a thing over here.

This is not helping the dithering. It should make it easier, right? I refuse to add to my ridiculous stash mountain, so no sport weight = no KAL for me. Especially considering I know nothing about fiddling with gauge for different yarns.

But I wanna!

I first saw the Arachne pattern at some point last year and I wanted to make it IMMEDIATELY, and that feeling hasn’t gone away after all this time. There must be something I can do.

Any suggestions would be welcome, but in the meantime I shall just plug away at this Flax, and dream about fancy cobwebby jumpers.

Hannah

xXx

Swatchless Flax-ing

Yes, I started knitting a jumper without a hint of a gauge swatch. Didn’t even entertain the thought for more than a second. But it’s okay; I have a plan.

I’m following the pattern instructions for a Medium, which is the boyfriend’s size. If it turns out my gauge is right then yay he’ll have a new jumper. If my gauge is off it’ll likely be looser than recommended, which should make the end result big enough to fit me and I’ll have a new jumper – It’s a win either way.

And if it’s a total disaster that doesn’t really fit either of us then I have a charity box just waiting for some more goodies, and it will still be a good chunk of yarn out of my stash. But I’m optimistic that one of us will get a squishy new jumper out of this.

Hannah

xXx