Benjamin's Bunny

Hello all,

I am an Auntie :). The lovely Benjamin arrived into the world in April and he is gorgeous. Babies are brilliant  to knit for as the projects are small, quick to make and often adorable. I asked my sister if there was anything in particular that she wanted for Ben. Instead of the usual booties or hat, she asked for a bunny. Not just any old bunny but one similar to what we had as children. 

One of the first knitted items that my sister and I had as a children were a rabbits. One of our rabbits had red dungarees and the other had peach ones. The rabbits did not quite look right but we loved them very much. I can remember they were mainly made in garter stitch and the dungarees were formed in stocking stitch. 

This would normally not be a problem to make.....if you had the original pattern....or the original toy to refer. However, I had neither of these :s meaning I had to rely on my memory. To reduce the amount of sewing needed I knitted the toy on double pointed needles but to achieve the effect of a garter stitch, I had to use a purl stitch.

My poor husband had to endure confusing questions such as 'can you tell it's a rabbit but it doesn't quite look like one?' He decide to help by bringing me a lot of tea and reading quietly in the corner. 

I thought to make this item more specialized and gave the rabbit blue dungarees. I finally completed the project after a week and hand delivered the item to beautiful baby Ben. He seems happy with the end  product (well as happy as a 1 month old could be). 

More news is that I have finally opened a pattern shop on Ravelry. I haven't managed to post all of my designs yet but there is a good sample which can be seen on this link (http://www.ravelry.com/designers/sarah-coad).

Summer is on the way so I will soon be writing about some of my summer patterns :) 

Until next time

Happy Crafting

www.facebook.com/knitsnotperfect

http://www.ravelry.com/designers/sarah-coad

@knitsnotperfect 

Festival of Arts and fibre fest

Hello all,

I am now officially an award winning knitter and crocheter :). In my town there is a local competition called the Nuneaton Festival of Arts. Within this you can enter a number of different arts and craft ranging from poetry to quilts. I thought this year would be the time to give it a go.

My first decision was what I should enter. I was quite proud of my sockcessful knit so I wanted this to be entered. This did cause a couple of issues for the husband as it did once again mean that I had freezing cold feet. I also wanted other knitters to see a sample of extreme knitting so I had to whip my rug out from under the cat. She was also displease as she was cold. However, there was a lovely compromise as she now sits on my husband's lap. This means that the husband's lap is now too hot and I can help cool him down with my freezing feet :)

As there was also a crochet category that I wanted to submit some items here. My hook case was one of the first things I designed and I wanted it to be seen. I also loved my little hedgehog and he was my final submission. This did not cause any problems in the marriage you'll be happy to know.

Results were released within a few days but it seemed like a life time. When they were out I was over the moon as I found I was 3rd in the knitting category, 2nd in crochet and I got a certificate of achievement. I was honored to have been selected. 

I also attended Fibre Fest which was put on by the Fibreworks. This was a great day would as there was a range of crafts available from patchwork to lovely woolly gifts. The Fibreworks is a sweet shop that stocks an excellent range of yarn in gorgeous colours and fibres. There is a branch in Chipping Norton and Oxford. 

I learnt about Knit for Peace which is a brilliant charity. The idea is that it encourages people to knit and the items produced is sent off to different great knitting causes. Some knitted tops have been hand sent to India with this cause. This charity is something that I would like to get involved with. Please check out their website and help them out where you can (http://www.knitforpeace.org.uk/) 

There was an inspiring talk and workshop ran by the lovely Erika Knight. I feel so much more confident with using colour work within my designs. I loved the theory used and thought it was one of the best workshops I have attended. Check out Erika's work on http://www.erikaknight.co.uk/

 It was an extremely enjoyable festival and if you get to the chance to go next year, I would strongly recommend it.   

Until next time

Happy crafting

www.facebook.com/knitsnotperfect

@knitsnotperfect

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………