Hello to you all,
I hope you had a great mother's day, I know I did. the rabbit and cat were kind enough to send a card to their mother......my husband. I had a meal with my mum and nanny, which was lovely.
As a knitter I will try and make my own gifts for special occasions. Do not assume that any gift is impossible as I have knitted gifts from hats to a mini starship enterprise for my dad. As it was Mother's Day, I wanted to stay on the more sane end of the spectrum.
My mum has always liked frilly scarves and this is something that you are able to knit. You can by a special yarn where the texture is similar to netting. It is straight forward to work with as you purely need to knit rows to get the desired affect. It is fiddly as you have to twist the yarn as you go. This got to be quite frustrating and I had to give my work a good telling off on a couple of occasions.
Of course when you are making a scarf you need to ensure it is long enough. This is where you need a live model to wear it to determine how much length is required. At present there are no other females in my house, apart from my cat and rabbit, so the only option I had was for my husband to try it out for me. I think he looked great and I may consider knitting him one up for his birthday.......however, he did not seem to agree :s
Once I had made a scarf my Mum, I made one for my Nanny. Both scarves were greatly received and I would recommend anyone to make these up as quick gifts.
I am proud to announce that my latest pattern has been printed by Inside Crochet. The inspiration for the mug cosy came about at the Toft Knit Night that I regularly attend. There was a lady who crocheted in the front and back of a treble post and I loved the affect this gave. This creates a rib type affect and this made me think that this was a great idea for creating stems for flowers. From here my pattern was created! This goes to show that going to a knit night can give you inspiration :) The latest issue of Inside Crochet is out in the shops now.
Next time I will share my sockccess story :)
Until next time
Happy Crafting
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Hello Everyone,
What a busy time it has been! I did my last two craft fairs of the year, which was great fun. I need to seriously replenish my stock in preparation for next year. However, before I do that I need to knit up my jumper and a baby blanket.
It took a lot of time but I am proud to announce that my jumper is completed and ready for Christmas. For my first ever jumper, I think it doesn't look too bad. The pattern was from Sue Stratford's Christmas jumper book and the pattern was easy to follow and really tested my skills. This is the first project where I did a tension square. I practiced my intarsia, which was fine until I managed to knot the wool repeatedly :s. I also practiced weaving the wool into my work so it was tidier on the back. I also finally learnt how to ptbl. I avoided it for years but I finally watched you tube and now get it :). I like the technique suggested for M1 which involves wrapping the yarn round. I found this much easier to work with and will use this method in the future. I also learnt the importance of reading instructions before jumping ahead. I had to do the bottom of my jumper twice as the first time I did a 1 x 1 rib instead of a 2 x 2 gggrrrr. I had to adapt the pattern as I found the arm lengths too short. I decided that each time I increased I would add an extra row to ensure it is long enough. I am happy with the project and I am sure it will bring much festive joy.
I attended the Knit Night held at TOFT. It was a good evening as we all gathered to try and completed Christmas Projects. At the time I was working on my jumper but I did learn two new stitches. As I had learnt how to ptbl, I was able to learn how to do a twisted rib stitch. This looks lovely and I can't wait to incorporate it into a project. I also learnt about crocheting into the front and back of the post to create a stitch equivalent to the knitted basket weave. It was a great evening and I would recommend attending a knit night if you get the chance. You also have to check out their huge mugs. They are great as they come with a knitting pattern on it :)
My Christmas knits are completed and wrapped and I hope everyone enjoys them. I will be able to post what I made after the big day. One project that I can post is the one I made for my mum.....as she has already opened her present. This was the first time that I had used the yarn specifically for scarves. It looks complicated but once you get your head around it, it's quite easy to use. I liked the project as progress could be seen quickly. I hope my mum enjoys it as I was happy with the end product.
I also began the mission of tidying my yarn stash. I had been avoiding it so long as I had needles, mixed with wool and mixed with crochet hooks :s. After two hours, I was able to untangle it all. One of my New Years resolution is to keep the draw tidy.
I have had 3 great knitting gifts. The first was a knitting mug from my school friend Becky (many thanks). I use this every morning for breakfast :). I also have a new knitting mug for work. This was given to me by Secret Santa, thank you by the way Frankie :) The final gift was a Knitting Loom. I have read a lot about these and wanted to get hold of one. A colleague at work gave it to me and I was really chuffed. Amy (my colleague) said that she had seen someone create a rug. This sounds great and If I can get large enough yarn, I like to give this a try.
You have been updated with my adventures. I will shortly begin work on the blanket for my sister. I wish you all a Merry Christmas.....and if I do not post between Christmas and New Year, have a safe and Happy New Year :)
Thanks all and happy holidays :)
Knit's Not Perfect
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Hello all,
This has been a very busy week. I have had more minions to make, 4 orders for scarves and a craft table to think about :s
First of all a quick update on my Christmas Jumper, I have yarn :). I ordered it from www.woolwarehouse.co.uk. the prices on this website is great and my order arrived the next day. I would recommend this to anyone. There is the option to buy acrylic and natural yarns. I have worked out as well where I can add rows to make the sleeves fit me better. The next step is to knit a tension square, which will be on hold until next week.
I attended the Wool Party at TOFT on thursday. It was nice as we could see some of the new yarn which is made out of wool as opposed to alpaca fleece. It was a great evening as there was tea and cakes and a great group. We tried to catch up with our UFO's but tea and chatting took over. I would advise you to attend a knit night at TOFT so you can meet the gang and also look at the great range of yarn available.
Knit night at Esquires Coffee shop went well last Friday. I had a lovely group who were knitters and crocheters. I even had someone interested in learning basic Tunisian Crochet. My group is special as we have some Deaf Sign Language users. I am fortunate that I am a signer so communication is not an issue.
I had two orders where I did not have the correct colours. I was fortunate that I went to Derby and came across a knitting shop called 'Wren's' The staff are friendly and there is a good variety of yarn colours. You can even buy neon colours if you like. However, I was most impressed that they held pretty much every colour available in the Style craft range. I was able to get the colour needed for my bespoke cowl and also I got some acrylic wool to make a scarf that is in the colours of West Brom football club. I would recommend a visit.
I have been working on the West Brom scarf first as I know it will take the longest. I decided that since I have brought DK wool, that I would double it up to make it chunkier. However, this is proving to be difficult as the yarn keeps knotting up. Meaning this project is taking longer that anticipated.aaarrrrggghhh
I have now added to my stall stock winter headbands. They are made out of Rowan Big Wool so are lovely and warm. Speaking of my stall, I have two events this weekend. The first is in Nuneaton and the second is in Rugby. For both of these events I am sharing a stall with my friend Kazam Jewellery (www.kazamjewellery.co.uk) who makes lovely pieces of work. check out her website for more.
The craft fair at Nuneaton is Saturday 10am-3.30pm at the Nuneaton URC Church, Chapel Street, Nuneaton, Warwickshire CV11 5QH. there are about 15 different stalls and entry is free.
On Sunday come to The Rugby Hotel, Sheep Street, CV21 3BX 11am-2pm. This is again a free event so come on down and support local crafts.
Hopefully I will see you at the weekend at the craft fairs but if not, happy crafting until next time :)
Sarah Coad
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This week I have been playing with chunky wool to make scarves :). I have found a great yarn for this to be Rowan Big Wool. I particularly love the orange and purple in this range. I wanted my items to be made with one ball of yarn to keep costs down.
The first design is a moss stitch scarf. I knitted it on straight needles, which was no problem. As I feel that my sewing is a not a great strength, I attempted to knit this on the round. I did not realise that you do not knit on a knit stitch and it is actually the opposite way round. I kept on making errors and ending up with a rib stitch instead so reverted back to the straight needles. It is a shorter scarf in size but it is really warm and snug to wear.
After this, I decided to make a scarf that was longer in length. I was missing my crochet hook so though I would crochet one :) I have grown to like a wavy chervon pattern so that is what I have used as the pattern on my scarf :) I think this turned out well and I am happy with it. I have attached pictures of my scarves
I am off on holiday tomorrow to Weymouth with the family. It is apparent that my addiction is still present as I have already begun making a list of the local wool shops to visit :) Hope the family haven't made too many of their own plans :s I may also stop at a shop in Salisbury if I am lucky as my brother lives there and we are collecting him :) I hope I am not the only knitter who does this :s
Whilst away I will hopefully have 3 project. The first a commissioned one the second is knitted spiders and the final is Christmas items ready for my next craft fair. I still can't decided if it is took soon from Christmas good in an October craft fair but we will see. Can't wait to work on them all.
I am sure that I will have a lot to write about when I am back. So until then, happy crafting :)
Sarah
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