Mobius scarf

Last Wednesday I ‘fessed up to having started a new crochet project, and although it was an expensive spur-of-the-moment project it was also, mercifully, a quick one.  The pattern is straightforward, and it was a pleasure to do something which came together so quickly (near-instant gratification is not to be sniffed at).

I mentioned in my WIP post that my flowers had come out smaller than the ones in the pattern, and as such I had to lengthen my rows across the length of the scarf, meaning that my scarf is made up of 50 flowers instead of 34 – but what’s sixteen extra flowers between friends?

It’s so pretty, but I’m already drowning in scarves so I will have to find a home elsewhere for it!

Yarn info: 2.5 skeins of Noro Silk Garden Lite (shade: 2048).  45% silk, 45% kid mohair, 10% lamb’s wool.

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Wednesday WIP

It’s been three weeks since my first Wednesday WIP post, and it’s been a productive three weeks.  I finished the shawl I was working on, I made a quilt, I’ve been making hexipuffs in spare moments (current tally is 160), and I’ve started a new crochet project.

I didn’t intend to start anything new, it’s all Sally’s fault.  I was having a read of her blog (I’m playing catch up with all the blogs I follow, and it’s a losing battle so far!) and saw her first crochet project.  It’s so pretty, and I love the way her version looks like stars because the tips of her petals have gone a little pointy.  I had a peek in my stash and found the Noro I bought at Stitch & Craft in February, and thought that might look nice made up into the Cassia so I made a start… and then realised that there was no way I had enough yarn in that colourway to finish it.  To compound my frustration my flowers have come out around 2 inches wide, and the pattern says they should be 3.5inches across.  Hmmm.  So I’ve already had to make the first row longer so that it’ll actually fit around my neck.

The colours are lovely, but of course I’ve had to order some more of that yarn (three balls…) so I can finish the cowl.  Most expensive spur-of-the-moment project ever?

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Fantastic Mr. Fox

Yes, that’s four new balls of yarn.  No, I wasn’t supposed to be buying any more until July… but I fell in love with another Tiny Owl Knits pattern and just had to try it out.

The pattern is this one, and the author also put up a vlog about it.  I can’t even remember how I stumbled across this pattern, I was clearly looking for something but whatever it was, it was driven clean out of my head.  I thought the Mr Fox stole was great, but it was the mini fox that drew me in utterly and completely.

So I ordered some yarn from Jamieson’s of Shetland (and was pleased with their service: I placed the order on a Friday afternoon and it was delivered on Monday), and as soon as the yarn arrived I made a start.

I was a bit wary as I thought the pattern would be complex, but it’s suprisingly simple.  The hardest bit by far was making the ears, which involved four double-pointed needles and nearly resulted in me throwing the whole caboodle across the room.

I persevered though and I’m so glad I did, because mini-fox is possibly the cutest thing ever.

He’s adorable, isn’t he?  I’ve named him Roadkill (for obvious reasons) and am currently a bit frustrated because I started him last Monday, finished him on the Wednesday, and the magnets I ordered on the Monday still aren’t here.  The magnets are going to be added to him so that he clings on around my neck, and until they get here I can’t wear him because he won’t stay put!  The magnets were ordered from Amazon, in case you were wondering which seller was so abominably slow.

Hopefully the magnets will eventually arrive and I’ll be able to wear Roadkill out and about.  I’ve got loads of yarn left over (I ordered two balls of the main colour just in case) so I’ll be making another mini-fox at some point, and I think that next time I’ll make the body longer so that it’ll fit round my winter polonecks which are quite thick. I’m also tempted to make an arctic fox version in grey, but that would involve buying more yarn and I’m not supposed to be doing that am I?…

Would I recommend this pattern?  Yes, absolutely.  It costs $5.50 (approximately £3.50), and I spent £13.83 on the wool (including postage, and there’s definitely enough to make two mini-foxes).  I used glass beads for the eyes, purchased from a local shop for about 30p each.  The pattern itself is clear and pretty easy to follow and Stephanie provides a stitch glossary so that newbies like me can follow what she’s talking about.  I did have to look up how to use stitch markers, and how to knit on four DPNs, but it’s really not hard to find that sort of information.  I’d rate this pattern as intermediate difficulty, just because the ears were SO fiddly to knit: I’ve been using 3 DPNs while making hexipuffs so didn’t think I’d struggle too much adding a fourth needle into the equation, but the addition of that extra needle made a huge difference and I did struggle a lot!

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Round round get around…

… I get around.  Yup, I’ve got the Beach Boys stuck in my head, but for quite a good reason.

A couple of weeks ago I bought some lovely merino wool.  It was a complete bargain at only £2.49 per ball (that’s over 50% off, it would have been a crime not to buy it at that price), and if you’re looking for similar bargains then visit Kemps.  I bought 18 balls and then had a crisis over what to make with them.  It was suggested that I have a look on Ravelry to see which patterns would match the yardage of the yarn I had, so I did and I fell in love with The Beekeeper’s Quilt.

To learn more about The Beekeeper’s Quilt you should pop along to the designer’s site.  Click here and it’ll open in a new tab.

It’s a beautiful pattern and there was only one problem… I’ve never been very good at knitting, and had never tried knitting in the round.  Bah!

Time to learn a new skill then.  So I got myself some DPNs (Double Pointed Needles) and settled down to give it a go.  My first attempt was fairly successful…

Can you spot the mistake?  I got the increases and decreases right, and I successfully managed to knit in the round… but I was concentrating so hard on the increasing/decreasing and juggling of the three needles that I completely missed out all the rows which weren’t an increase/decrease.  A very daft mistake, but I did laugh about it!  On the bright side I did feel that I’d got the hang of using the DPNs enough to start using my pretty new wool, so off I went.

My first proper hexipuff, such a proud moment!  It turns out that although I’m a rubbish (and very slow) knitter when using normal needles I’m actually pretty good with DPNs.  This is an astonishing discovery but I think it’s down to two things.

1. DPNs are short.  One of the things I’ve really struggled with when knitting in the past is the needles being so unwieldy (I know, I know, this is probably an issue with my technique).  DPNs are more like a crochet hook so I’ve been getting along very well with them.  I did have a bit of a Goldilocks moment though: the first set I bought were 20cm long and they kept getting caught on my sleeves (see, unwieldy), so I bought a set that were 10cm long… and they were too short to get a proper grip on… I finally got a set which are 15cm long and they are just right.

2. I hate purl stitch.  Vehemently.  I find it fiddly and a nuisance.  Knitting in the round, with this pattern at least, there is no need for purling.  Yay!

So I’d mastered knitting in the round and I was very keen to know how many hexipuffs I’d get out of one ball of yarn so despite being hugely excited by all the colours I had, I resolutely worked my way through an entire ball of blue.

I was pretty sick of blue by the time I’d finished, but I think it was worth it because I now know that I can get 16 hexipuffs out of a single ball of this particular yarn.  I’ve got 18 balls, so this merino wool should make a total of 288 ‘puffs.  That’s about three quarters of the quilt, and that works out perfectly because I want to introduce some other colours too.  Namely these pretty yarns I bought at Stitch & Craft.

I think they’ll go well with the main colours, and I will be keeping an eye out for any other posh yarns I can use too.

Anyway, having worked (im)patiently through one ball of blue I was very keen to play around…

… and didn’t just go for one different colour, I went for two.  Stripes!  Very exciting, a bit too exciting really, no one should get this excited about a bit of knitting should they?

Stephanie (the woman who designed the pattern) suggests that this project is perfect for working on in between other things because each puff is relatively quick to make (it takes me somewhere between 45 minutes and 1 hour to make one).  I like this idea, especially as she suggests taking it with you to waiting rooms etc., but I don’t really go anywhere other than work or home!  I can’t knit while I drive, and I can’t knit during tea breaks at work (grubby hands, the joy of being a gardener), so for me this has become my evening project and I’m turning out hexipuffs while I’m watching telly at night.

My aim is to complete the quilt within a year, and I reckon if I can average ten ‘puffs a week that’s a reasonable target.  At the time of writing I’ve got 35 finished ‘puffs and I’ve been at this for two weeks so, thus far, I’m on schedule.  I’ll post another update in a few weeks

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Going for the treble

Not a footballing reference (given the slow start my team had this season), but another crocheted blanket.

I was given a bag of yarn a couple of months ago by one of my mother’s friends, which was brilliant but my goodness the bag took up a lot of space.  I’m serious, the ball of oatmeal-coloured yarn was the size of a football!  The bag also contained half a dozen balls of purple and grey yarn too, thankfully of a more normal size, and the whole lot was taking up space that I simply don’t have.

What’s a girl to do?  Look for a pattern that a) eats yarn, and b) is quick to work up.  A quick browse on Ravelry solved the problem and I settled on this pattern (you’ll need to register to view it, but registration is free).

The oatmeal-coloured yarn was a chunky one, but the grey and purple were regular thickness so I worked with double strands to match up with the chunky.  It was a remarkably quick project, taking only a week from start to finish.  The result is a good sized throw which measures 155cm x 105cm, just right for snuggling on the sofa.  Ironically, considering the size of the ball, I ran out of the oatmeal yarn first so ended up altering the pattern to put a thick border on each side (one purple, and one grey) which actually works very well.  I’m really taken with this pattern as it introduced me to a new stitch, which results in a cable-knit type effect.  I’ll definitely be incorporating that into my next crochet project.

So, mission accomplished.  I still have a bit of the purple and grey yarns left, but the giant bag of yarn is effectively gone (the leftovers fit nicely into my regular crochet crate) and we have more space.  Plus another blanket for winter snuggling.  I’d call that a good result!

Apologies for the somewhat dull looking photos.  I forgot that at this time of year there’s bugger all natural light after about 3pm!

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