Hello again!

Well, Happy New Year to anyone and everyone who happens upon my blog!  I have been AWOL for over a year, due to a massive and unpredicted change in my personal circumstances which I'd rather not go into right now.  Suffice to say that Jennyanydots and I have come through it together, and knitting, crochet and sewing, together with lots of lovely crafty friends, have kept me purposefully focused.

Jennyanydots (Jenny for short) is the cat I adopted from the RSPCA in September 2017. She is a brilliant companion who keeps me company and listens intently to my conversations with her.  I have to admit, they are a bit one-sided, but a request for a head rub is a good reply to pretty much all topics of conversation.  Oh, and another plus point, she has absolutely no interest in yarn!  She is happy for me to knit and crochet while she's on my lap with no interference whatsoever.  I might get a baleful stare if I accidentally touch her back with a knitting needle, but she never attacks the wool. Cat spam follows:

Prowling her territory - the back garden!

Snoozing in the sunshine on my lap

What do you mean, you want to make the bed?  I'm comfy!

Through all the upheaval in my life I have kept on knitting and crocheting.  I have made a few blankets and clothes for refugees and others who have need of warmth and comfort.  

I have also completed my first pair of socks!  Sock knitting has been a particular bugbear for me, but I persevered and here is the result:

I'm sure I'll write more about socks in a future post.  In the meantime, I hope that 2019 is the year in which you are happy and fulfilled.

The final three!

With one day to spare, the final three hats are done.  There's a man's chunky blue and black hat, a lady's dk dark red hat, and a newborn dk hat.  As ever, I've been combining yarns make inroads into the donated coned yarns and to get different weights, so the man's hat is a strand of black aran and a strand of blue 4 ply , while the lady's hat is 2 strands of 2 ply red wool/cotton and a strand of 2 ply grey mix (probably acrylic, but I can't be sure).  The baby hat is made of some King Cole Bin Ends yarn which is very pretty and puts me in mind of cup cakes sprinkled with hundreds and thousands!

This completes my self-set challenge to complete 12 boys' jumpers and 52 hats in one year.  This target has certainly spurred me to knit and crochet more this year than I have previously.  The donations of yarn that I have collected on behalf of Loving Hands this year have also encouraged me to think more laterally about what I can make and how I can combine yarns to get different effects.  I have used up almost 16 kilos of yarn since January, without counting December's finished items.

I have, however, decided not to set any targets for 2017.  It will be interesting to see whether I use up just as much yarn when I am free to make whatever I like.

There is one final item that I finished off just after Christmas.

I took these two cones from my stash in November.  They are both 4 ply, and the bright pink is very bright!  The paler pink is from a range called Magicolour, and has a rainbow of other colours running through it.  Working directly from the cones, so no ends to darn in, I started a corner-to-corner blanket.  This photo gives you an idea of the different colours:

The completed blanket is 42 inches square and looks like this:

It is bright and cheery and will be going to Chemogiftbags, a charity which provides support for people undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Happy New Year everyone, and thank you for reading and commenting on my posts in 2016.  

Hat chase nearly over

Just a quick post to report that I have finished hat 49 of 52 for 2016.  These are 3 chunky, tweedy hats, made with multiple strands of stash yarns.  The green ones are adult size and will be going to the Mission for Seamen.  The grey and maroon one is child size, and will be for Operation Orphan's 
2017 campaign to Keep a Child Warm.  On 27 December we will be driving up to Twickenham to meet friends and go to the Harlequins rugby game at Twickenham Stadium, so I will have time to make progress on a matching scarf go with the child's hat.  I don't tend to knit hats in the car because of the danger of losing dpns under the driver's seat.  Once bitten, twice shy definitely applies in that case!

Still lots to do on this Christmas Eve; both my sons and my daughter-in-law will be arriving later today, so there are beds to prepare, baking to be done, and still quite a few presents to be wrapped and stockings to prepare.  So I will use this picture of our local woods in the snow to wish everyone who happens on my blog a very Happy Christmas, and thank you for taking the time to read my posts.

Mixing colours

At the start of the year I set myself a challenge to knit 12 boys' jumpers and 52 assorted hats by the end of the year.  As we start November, I've managed 10 jumpers, and another is well underway, so I'm pretty sure I will reach that target.  But I've fallen way behind on the hat front.  I have recorded 31 hats so far, which leaves 21 to complete by the end of the year.

I've started by knitting these 2 children's hats:

Although they are quite different in appearance, they both use the same multicoloured yarn as their base.  It's another King Cole bin end yarn, which is great value for £1 per ball.  I love the different colours in the yarn, but as a fairly thin DK (or at least that's what I think it is - you have to guess with bin ends yarns) it needed boosting to make warm hats for children.  Coned yarn to the rescue!

Two strands of 3 ply wool / acrylic mix in ivory went into the paler hat, while two strands of alpaca / acrylic 2 ply in a camel colour went into the darker one.

They both make interesting mixes that could be worn by either a boy or a girl.  I am enjoying experimenting with mixing colours like this - I might try with some green next!

Continental knitting anyone?

On Saturday, I found myself in Hampstead, North London.  I hadn't been there for many years, but I lived there for 3 years in the early 1970s when I went to University.  Sadly, Westfield College, the arm of London University that I attended, has long since been merged with Queen Mary College, and all the wonderful buildings and spaces we lived and studied in have been converted into luxury flats.  It was jaw-dropping to see 2 bedroom flats in our old library building being advertised in estate agents' windows for £1.1 million!

But I wasn't there for nostalgia, I was attending a knitting workshop run to raise funds for Knit for Peace, in their headquarters in the quaintly named Radius Works, Back Lane, Hampstead.  The workshop was for continental knitting and fair isle, and was led by expert knitting tutor Juliet Bernard.  Wool to practise with was donated by Rowan Yarns, and Juliet, as well as giving her services for the day for free, also provided one of her own patterns for us to have a go at.

I've mentioned in a previous post that I struggle to purl in the continental style, and Juliet showed us several ways to do it so that we could select the one that worked best for us.  I practised on the rib of the hat, and, as the picture shows, I have a long way to go before I can call myself able to do it properly, but at least I now have a technique that I can manage with.

I enjoyed the day enormously, partly because I went with my niece, Amelia, so we were able to catch up as well as compare one another's progress.  The picture above shows how far I got with the fair isle hat, although I have to admit that I went horribly wrong with following the chart and had to frog a few rows before I got to that stage.  I will be carrying on with it, and will report progress in future posts.

It was good to be in Knit for Peace's HQ too, and to see where they sort the garments they are sent.

There was also a table full of all sizes and types of knitting needles and crochet hooks that had been donated, and were awaiting being sent out to different projects where people are being taught to knit and crochet to be able to support themselves and their families.

Altogether it was a lovely day spent knitting with like minded people, in the knowledge that, while enjoying learning new skills, we were also supporting a charity that helps others both here and abroad.

How many strands?

I've been enjoying a bit of experimentation this week.  The garments that I'm knitting and crocheting now will be passed on to charities for distribution in the autumn and winter months.  In their latest newsletter,  Knit for Peace were asking for hat and scarf sets, particularly for older children and teenagers.

Time to start combining yarns, then, to make thicker and warmer garments.  When I was sorting out the cones, I noticed some smaller ones (250g or less).  There were a couple of sparkly yarns, and also some multicoloured ones.  I chose two, and teamed them with a navy blue 4 ply.

Using my new toy (the wool winder) I wound them together to make them easier to crochet with.

Somehow I managed to produce a ball that weighed almost exactly 100g.  First I crocheted a simple beanie hat, then I used the Spring petals scarf pattern on Ravelry to crochet a scarf with the rest of the ball.  I like this pattern because it is light and lacy-looking and is a single row repeat.  Using a size 6.00mm hook I got a lovely drape to it, and as the combined yarns were more than aran thickness, the hat and scarf will be quite warm to wear.  

Flushed with success with a 3 strand combo, I went for broke.  I picked 3 strands of 2 ply and wound them together, then paired them with a 2 strand ball of 50% wool 4ply.  Effectively, aran plus dk, so overall chunky weight.

I tried my luck with knitting this time.  I used a simple broken rib pattern (knit 3, purl 1) and made a scarf and hat.  I was really pleased with the outcome, although using a rib stitch meant that the scarf was narrower than I at first planned.  I will knit a wider one that will be more suitable for a teenager.

I probably knitted a little slower than usual, and kept checking that I had all the strands in each stitch.  But using the winder meant that the multiple strands were quite easy to control.  I think it was a good investment!

Experimenting with colourwork

I don't often knit with chunky yarns, and I don't think I have ever bought any, but I found I had several part balls of chunky in my stash - I think it could be part of the breeding programme that seems to go on in my yarn cupboard if I leave it closed for a few days!

I picked out white, green and lavender, and felt there was enough for a scarf, so off I went, knitting on size 6.00 needles.  I chose a broken rib pattern because it offers stretchiness and texture as well as interest to what can be quite a boring accessory to knit.

The scarf turned at just over 4 feet long.  It's very warm and drapes well, and should be suitable for a 6-8 year old child.  Apparently the rule of thumb for scarves is that they should be as long as the child is tall.

There was still some of the yarn left, so I thought a hat would be good too.  But frankly, knitting the scarf had been a bit boring, even with the rib pattern, so I thought I would go for something a bit more challenging in the hat.  Opting for basic colourwork, I used the lavender for the brim, then started rounds of alternating coloured stitches.  The first round was one green stitch, one white stitch, then the next round was one white stitch, one blue stitch.  This is the effect it produced:

I was particularly pleased because I finally got the hang of holding one colour in each hand while knitting - a really important skill for fair isle and similar knitting.  I also got the tension reasonably right, so that the yarn behind the stitches doesn't pull, but forms a good insulating layer.  This will be one warm hat for whoever gets it via Operation Orphan.

There was just enough yarn left at the end to make a pompom!

This is the completed set.  Does it look like a set?  I'm not sure that it does, but it doesn't really matter.  Incidentally, the scarf is doubled in the photo, which is why it doesn't look very long.  So far this year I have now made 14 hats towards my target of 52 - just about right for mid-April.