February review 2020

Stash used this month: 9.5 skeins

Total stash used this year: 11.5 skeins

Stash remaining: 344

The numbers look really good, don’t they? But I didn’t actually use up all those skeins myself.

After 7 months I finally convinced the boyfriend to try his hand at knitting, and he has already used the phrase “just one more row” several times – he’s officially A Knitter now! Four skeins have gone into his first ever project; a super chunky infinity scarf.

I got my hooks and needles out every time I has a spare few minutes, and I was ill for 4 days with no energy to do anything but knit, so there are a few things to show for the shortest month of the year.

Charity makes

Super chunky hat

Fingerless gloves

Blue spiral hat (no decent photo yet)

Makes for myself

A few more Roses for Grandma squares have been added to the pile.

Makes for others

Fingerless gloves for the bf, which he has worn every day since I finished them. I’m so pleased!

I do love a goal, and with the bf’s help I’ll get through my stash even quicker (until he starts buying his own yarn), so I’ve decided to aim for less than 300 skeins left in my stash by the end of 2020. That will be just under 4.5 skeins per month – totally doable!

Hannah

xXx

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Yarn as a memory aid

Current WIP count: 7

The texture on my blue hat turned out less subtle than I expected, but I still like it.

The purl stitches make it slower going than the previous hats, so this will probably do me another couple of weeks at choir before it’s finished.

It’s interesting (to me at least) that I seem to be learning the words to songs quicker than usual when I knit/crochet at choir.  Not sure if it’s my brain shoving the information into my memory quick so I can get on with the yarnery, or if the physical act is somehow helping the words stick.

 

I’ve also been working on the boyfriend’s fingerless gloves and for this project the yarn is giving me fairly random stripes.

I can see why socks are so addictive; the small circumference means I’m whizzing through these! Maybe I’ll tackle socks next. Although I do quite fancy a pair of gloves for myself now I know how quick they are. Would it be too cutesy for us to have matching fingerless gloves, do you think?

Hannah

xXx

Chonkster

I do love super chunky yarn. Look at this gorgeous hunk of squish.

It only took a few hours to make, and a lot of that was trying to get the pompom to believe it’s meant to be a sphere rather than some weird egg shape.

It’s a bit too big for me or the bf so it’s gone into my Knit for Peace box. Hopefully someone with a large head will be happy to find a hat that actually fits.

There’s still a whole lot of super chunky yarn left in my stash, so I can definitely see some more of these chonksters in my crafting future.

ETA: This is the Chunky Pebbles Hat, which is a free pattern on Ravelry.

Hannah

xXx

On a hat binge

I just can’t stop making hats at the moment.

The current one is an attempt to use up a big multipack of yarn I can’t remember why I bought. Each skein is 200g and for some reason I got four of them, so there’s a lot to work with!

It’s plain blue and I can only deal with boring in one aspect of my crafting, so I decided to add a wee bit of texture into this hat. After the ribbing I’ve started a 7-stitch repeat over a number that doesn’t divide by seven evenly, in the hope that it will offset and create a subtle spiral pattern.

Not quite pictured: unicorn stitch marker

I’ll see if it works out soon enough.

 

The thought has just occurred that I could use some of this stuff to make a Flax for myself. It would be much quicker than the Flax Light (yay for thick yarn!) so I’m seriously tempted…

Hannah

xXx

Final bears

Current WIP count: 7

Okay this will be the last post about Simba bears for a while, I swear. I just wanted to show the whole set of sizes all lined up now they’re finished.

Thankfully that was enough bear for now and I’ve been able to get back into Roses for Grandma properly. All the current squares are finished and I’m now making motifs again, as I decided I want a bigger blanket than first planned.

It’s not quite mindless enough to work on at choir, so I’ve also started another hat. This is strictly for choir/travel crochet so it won’t take any time away from my Grandma blanket.

I think I’m finally getting a good balance between charity makes and projects just for me. Hopefully I can keep that up.

Hannah

xXx

Helpful FOs

You’ve got to love the crafting community. The Animal Rescue Collective Craft Guild (link here) has received so many donations for Australia that there’s currently a stop on sending any more, to give them time to take stock and work out what’s still needed. What an excellent ‘problem’ to have!

So there’s been no crafting for Australia for me just yet, and I’ve been finishing up my other charity projects instead.

I now have four bears to go to Simba.

Still not looking like twinsies.

And two hats to go to Knit For Peace.

I was going to block both hats, but I tried on the rolled one and I actually really like the look of it so that’s staying as it is.

I’m still hooked on the charity-crafting thing so now I’m making a pair of large bears for Simba. Once they’re finished that will be a full set of sizes and hopefully my crojo will let me get on with some of these WIPs that have been lying around for months.

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

One week to go!

Current WIP count: 12

I’m not panicking, why would I be panicking, are you panicking?

My Dad’s hat just needs 3 more centimetres before I start decreasing. And it looks like I’ll have to get the train down to my parents rather than driving so I’ll have plenty of time to finish it.

I hit a slight snag with the bracelets when the covering kept unwinding from the elastic, making it too wide to fit through the bead holes, but I gave the ends a quick coat in clear nail varnish and now I’m rolling. These will be done in a couple of hours, max.

There’s been a slight reprieve with baby Flax Light. My friend hasn’t had chance to sort all her Christmas shopping, so we’re having a meet up in the new year to exchange presents instead of making this week more stressful than it needs to be. So I now have an extra week or two to get these sleeves finished and I can focus on other presents, yay!

My running hat now looks like this, and I’m trying to decide whether to give it ribbing or not. Thoughts?

Also, I’m a glutton for punishment and started ANOTHER gift. In black. The yarn is Paintbox Simply Chunky so it should work up pretty quick. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

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

November review

I met my goal for November!  I have done something creative for the last 30 days straight, which I’m pretty proud of.

There were a few marathon knitting sessions, plus my usual crafting while singing at various choirs, but it’s mainly been 10 minutes here and there when I could fit it in. That didn’t sound like much at the beginning of the month, but I’ve made some real progress.

Baby Flax Light just needs some sleeves:

My cupcake hat is nearly finished (it’s one of those where you knit a tube and then cinch the top row of stitches together):

And I’ve made a solid start on my running hat:

Plus, as you might have noticed from the Flax photo, I learned a new-to-me technique this month after Ava suggested using magic loop for the tiny little sleeves. Turns out it’s not scary at all, although it is quite fiddly and I’m not entirely convinced yet. Maybe I just need practice and it will grow on me.

So yay, that’s a win for me goals-wise! But I’m still not going to set any for December. There’s too much Christmas going on to be thinking about goals, so I’m just going to buy presents for most people and work on the few planned handmade gifts whenever I get chance.

Hannah

xXx

November goal – week 4

I’m currently dealing with a mild case of start-itis. As well as the cupcake hat I cast on last week:

There’s also a crochet hat in the making, using some new Starlight yarn with reflective thread. I ‘need’ it for going running in the dark, you see, so I had to start it.

With flash so you can see the shiny bits

If I’m honest, these are both procraftination because I’m reluctant to start the sleeves on the baby Flax Light. So tiny. So fiddly. So…possibly needing a brand new-to-me technique that scares me a little bit.

I really should just jump in and get on with it. But at least I’ve done some sort of crafting every day of November so far – I’m pretty proud of that! With only 2 more days to go I’m confident that I’ll meet this month’s goal no problem.

Hannah

xXx