Extreme Knitting

Hello all, 

When the word extreme is used, some of you may think of death defying things such as bungee jumping or tomb stoning. Others may think of more unique challenging such as extreme ironing.  Believe it or not this term can be associated with knitting!!!!

There are different types of extreme knitting such as knitting as fast as you can or running the London Marathon whilst crocheting (this has actually happen). I undertook a different challenging.....

I went to the Knitting and Stitching show in London and found a stall that sold extra large knitting needles. The theory was that you could knit up rugs and duvets in one go. To make these items with 'normal' knitting needles, you would have to make a few strips and join them together but with these needles anything was possible! 

The needles are sized 27mm and massive. The first problem I encountered was finding the space to use the needles. I thought my marriage was safe as I had made my socks but there was an issue again as I had to evict the husband off the sofa for a week :-s  Another issue was that I could only knit a few rows at a time due to the weight of the needles and  the work as it progressed. This is due to knitting 12 strands of yarn at the same time to compensate for the size of the needles. 

I decided to make a rug with a moss stitch on the outside. I like a moss stitch border as it stops the edges curling so hopefully there is less of a risk of falling over. I used a stocking stitch in the middle just to make the piece more exciting to look at. The whole project only took two days to complete and I now have an epic size rug. 

One of the ironic things with knitting is that you do not always want your end product to be used for it's intended purpose. I know I made a rug, but I didn't want it in a place where people would stand on it. I found a lovely spot in the bedroom but when I came back, I found that my cat had found her new bed. I am happy for the rug to serve this purpose. 

The rug and cat have a new home and my husband is welcome back to the sofa. I had to make him a few cups of tea to apologise :s

Until next time

Happy crafting

wwww.facebook.com/knitsnotperfect
Twitter: @knitsnotperfect
Raverly: Knit's Not Perfect

My Sockcess Story

Hello all,

I am proud to say that I have created my first pair of socks :) This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time but never found the knitspiration required. It is also considered to technically quite challenging. This is an essential project as I am fed up of my husband nagging me for putting my cold feet on him. If I had a lovely cosy pair of socks I felt that this would put an end to this argument once and for all. 

My knitspiration came in the form of a lovely ball of yarn from York. Whilst away in February, I went to a great knitting shop called Ramshamble. I love this shop as it has a great variety of yarns and most of them are natural fibres. My eyes fell upon a beautiful yarn from the Yorkshire Spinners. This was from a range called Signature and it is magical. Not only is it a lovely combination of wool and nylon, it is self patterning. This means that when you knit it the wool colour will change certain points to make the sock stripey. It is so soft and perfect for that lovely pair of socks that I crave. 

With this magical yarn, I finally got to work on my marriage saving socks. In order to create them, you need to use double pointed needles. Although it looks like a medieval torture device, I can assure you that it is not. It is a method of knitting where you need to use four needles as opposed to two. This means you knit a tube shape and reduces the amount of sewing needed at the end :)

When working on a sock, you tend to start at the top, also known as a cuff. This is usually started with a rib stitch for elasticity which is followed by a stocking stick. You will work to the desired length and then need to create a heel flap. This is achieved by working some of the stitches at the back of the sock so that a length for the heel is created. In order to make the part of the sock that is along your foot, you need to pick up stitches from the heel flap so that you are able to knit on the double pointed needles once again. The tube shape is continued until you get the foot length required and then sewn at the end. Looking back at this written instruction, it looks confusing but if you have practised each element in a different pattern, I can assure you it isn't :)

One difficulty I found with a self patterning yarn is that you need to ensure that your second sock is started in the same place in the pattern as the first. If this is not achieved the pattern and colour order on both socks would be different. Some people don't mind this but I do !!!!!!!!! After four attempts, I got this right. I no longer freeze my husband, I now have nice toasty warm feet. 

On Thursday I will be heading to TOFT for their knit night. It runs 4pm-8pm every other Thursday :) I love going here as its a cosy environment full of knitspiration and a lovely gang of knitters attend. I also love it as there is tea and cake a plenty. If you are in the area, I strongly recommend that you go. All skill levels are welcome.Check out www.thetoftalpacashop.co.uk for more and details and the great range of workshops they have.

 Toft also have a great open day on Easter Monday running 10am-4pm, this is soo much fun as you can see the studio, sign up for mini workshops and go on a tour of the farm to see all of the lovely alpaca :). This is well worth a visit if you are free. 

Until next time

Happy crafting

www.facebook.com/knitsnotperfect

@knitsnotperfect

Mother's Day

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

www.facebook.com/knitsnotperfect

@knitsnotperfect

Tunisian Crochet

Hello all,

As a crafter who is able to knit and crochet, I will often do one craft for a while and then revert to the other. However, I have found a new trend that is emerging to be a mixture of the two. The only way to describe the instrument is if a knitting needle and crochet hook had a baby it would look like that. this technique is called Tunisian crochet. 

This is a technique where the yarn is woven to make a thicker piece. This is great for items such as rugs and placements. It is also different to normal crochet as you are picking up a number of stitches onto a hook as opposed to working one stitch at a time. This process involves working a front pass, this is where you pick up the stitches and then a back pass where you drop the stitches again. 

As this was a new skill, I decided to work on a simple project. I had left over lovely Rowan Tweed yarn. I wanted to make something small and practical and at the same time, I wanted to practice my tension and the technique. I took a drink of my tea and noticed that the mug had left yet another mark on the table. this is something that has been annoying my husband for a while and this is where I thought a coaster would be useful.............. hahaha my project was born :) 

I made up two plain coasters and two striped ones to practice the colour changing technique. This has now given me the confidence to try making other designs :)

I was also fortunate to attend the Knitting and Stitching show in London. This was excellent as I could find much Knitspiration under one roof. I stumbled across Rachel John's stall. You may be aware of extreme sports but there is such a thing as extreme knitting. Rachel has created knitting needles, Crochet hooks and Tunisian crochet hooks that are massive. The theory is that you can knit a rug or blanket in one piece and quite quickly. Of course I had to buy these tools and I am looking forward to playing with these items soon :) If it doesn't go to plan, I could at least frighten the husband with them :) 

The current project that I am working on is my socks. I will post up the finished project soon. This should be within the next two weeks...........as long as I do not suffer from second sock syndrome. This is an ailment commonly suffered by knitters whereby they finish one sock but don't really want to work on the second one as it involves repeating the whole pattern again. 

Until next time 

Happy crafting

www.facebook.com/knitsnotperfect

@knitsnotperfect

Fair Isle Phobia

Hello all,

I am proud to announce that I no longer have 'Fair Isle Phobia'. Fair Isle knitting is a beautiful technique where you can use two colours in a row. This is either extremely therapeutic as you can see a colourful piece appearing before you own eyes or it can lead to you needing your husband to cut you out of your project :s.

As I realised I was in much need of new mittens and wanted to face this phobia head on, I decided to attend a workshop. I found a brilliant workshop at Guthrie and Ghani (www.guthrie-ghani.co.uk/‎) and instantly put my name now. This is cute shop located in Birmingham which has a lovely range of material and yarns. I consider this shop to be a sweet shop for the crafter.

The workshop was run by Sarah Hazell, who I deem as a saint. Even though the workshop had 2 tables full of fearful knitters, Sarah made you feel like you were the only person in the room. She was able to take the time you needed to calm you down and help you continue with your work. I loved her style and I would recommend doing a course with her if you get the chance.

By the end of the workshop, I had a completed mitten. I did not end up knotted in my work once and I can now knit with 2 different colours with two hands (Yes I a super knitter). I was so please that I completed the other one in the evening.

No longer to I quiver at the thought of Fair Isle. I am now happy to embrace it. So happy in fact I am the proud the owner Shetland wool. As a crafter your holidays are often orientated around where the craft shops are. I met my sister in Oxford and this is where I can across The Fibreworks in Oxford (www.thefibreworksoxford.co.uk/‎). There is a vast range of natural fibred yarns and every colour of the rainbow. This is where I got my yarn from. I was in there quite a length of time dreaming about what I could make with these yarns. The owner was friendly and chatty and helped me selected colours that complimented each other. This is a skill that I need to develop further. They appear to have a good range of workshops which if I lived nearer I would love to attend.

I visited York which is a crafters paradise. There is a crafters’ trail which takes you around the city to about 5 different craft shops. If you are into knitting, sewing or into beading you will not be disappointed. This is where I stumbled across Ramshambles. This is again a haven for knitters and crocheters. Here there was a brilliant range of Yorkshire yarns and I have fell in love with a magical sock yarn. This will apparently form stripes if I knit it up correctly. I am a bit of a sock phobic……..hhhhmmmmm Guthrie and Ghani do have a sock workshop in May………

A New Yarn Thief

Hello all,

I am very surprised to see that it is now February. The 2 remaining projects that I thought I would complete before now are .......still not completed :s. I have began to hand quilt my Christmas decoration but I feel it may be a couple of months before it is fully completed. My patchwork blanket is still one patch short but I have found a sewing club (that welcomes knitter too) where I can go to finish it. The group runs Wednesdays at the Quilter's Den in Warwick. This shop sell items to quilt with and the workshops are great full. It's well worth checking out the website  http://www.thequiltersden.co.uk/ The sewing group was lovely as I felt really welcomed and it was nice to see a mixture if crafts under one roof. 

I have not been able to post current projects as I have had interest from a magazine. I will post what I have been up to when I can. Not too long though :) 

The Dinosaur blanket 

I travelled down to Reading to visit my sister. I was able to pass on the dinosaur blanket and she was please with the outcome. This will hopefully be something she will use more when the new addition to the family arrives. Whilst in Reading I though it would be a great opportunity to sample the local yarn shops. To my horror I could not find any independent ones (Oh No).On a plus side it did mean that my yarn stash is not going  to take over the house. I have managed to force the current room shut and no one must every enter or they will drown in a sea of yarn. John Lewis had their yarn section which was lovely and I particularly liked their display. 

Badger the Yarn Bandit

Whilst in Reading, I felt that my project was safe from the yarn bunny bandit....however I was wrong. There I was just quietly working on a new design when out of the blue something jumped into my knitting bag!!!!!!! I looked and to my horror, there was a new yarn bandit.....a little black and white cat also known as Badger. He ran away with a ball of yarn and he also stole some of my work. I was in such a state of shock I let him keep it :s

To help recover from this sadness, I have booked to attend two events. The first is tomorrow and is at Guthrie and Ghani http://www.guthrie-ghani.co.uk/. This is a cute shop located in Birmingham in an area called Moseley. Lauren (from the Great Sewing Bee) runs this shop and it welcomes not only sewer but knitter and crocheters too. This is a fair Isle workshop where the end product is a pair of lovely mittens. I wanted to go as this work shops covers knitting with 2 hands...which I am not great at. I am also intrigued to see how to change colours in rib stitches. I am really looking forward to this :) Check out the website as there is a monthly Knit and Natter group too. 

I have also booked to attend The Sewing/Hobbycraft/Stitch show at the NEC between 20th-23rd March. I enjoyed the show around Christmas and thought that if the opportunity was there again, I would go. I will be on the hunt for knitting and crochet bargains. 

With that, I have a project downstairs that I am dying to get on with :)

Happy Crafting

Sarah Coad

www.facebook.com/knitsnotperfect

@knitsnotperfect

Catching Up.......again

Hello all,

I am currently undertaking my spring cleaning in the form of finishing off my left over projects. 

I stepped away from knitting and put my quilting hat back on. I started a Christmas decoration about 2 years ago and I have only just had the courage to finish this. I had to make a lot of strips of material and sew it all together. I am at the point where I cannot go any further without any assistance. This means I will be making a lovely trip over the the Quilters Den in Warwick. If you ever want to take up quilting I would stringky recommend that you go there. Anita (the owner) has the patience of a saint. She is a great teacher and I do know how she manages to split her time equally between all of her students. She runs a sewing group on Wednesday evenings and this is where I will be taking my project. I also would like to complete the quilt I started. This was a monthly course that I attended but I missed one session. This will be another project that I would like to complete this year. 

I have also had a clear out of some items that I am not using. Please look on my Ebay shop 'Knit's Not Perfect' for my things I need to sell such as books and magazines. I am at the point where I think I have too much yarn......I did not think that I would ever reach this point. I feel I will be spending a few months on ebay just trying to clear, so I can save up more money for more yarn :p

I have finally typed up all of my written projects, which means I cannot loose them. Happy days :). With my new tablet I will ensure that I write projects as I go to avoid this mess again :s. I have been working on some designs which have been in my head for a while. Hopefully some of them will be printed in Inside Crochet :) Watch this space! 

I am learning new stuitches too. I am enjoying working with raised Treble stitches and tonight I will hopefully be looking at a double crochet rib. 

I will be heading to Reading at the weekend so I will be visiting some of their local yarn shops :)

I have to get back to the day job now!

Happy crafting

Sarah x

www.facebook.com/knitsnotperfect

@knitsnotperfect