Technical Difficulties

I'm having a few technical difficulties with my computer at the moment, Internet Explorer keeps throwing a wobbler and closing down on me. If anyone has any suggestion's on how to fix this problem please let me know.

Not Slipping Back into Old Haddits *update*

I received my Ravelry invitation on Monday so I have been trying to get to grips with that.



Unfortunately I miss spelt my username, hitting T instead of Y so instead of being knittyknackynoo I'm down as knittyknacktnoo, rubbish! But if you go onto the people page and type in knittyknackynoo you can still find me. So if you are on Ravelry come say hello.

Ignore that last bit. The lovely people at Ravelry have corrected my miss spelt username for me.

Finished Backyard Leaves Scarf.

Pattern Backyard Leaves, Scarf Style.
Yarn Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK, colour #136 - Tulip.
Needles 4.5mm.
Finished Measurements 12cm wide, 200cm long.

With hindsight I should have ether cast on more loosely than I did or used a cast on method that had more stretch to it, because after each half had been pressed, the cast on row was narrower then the rest of the scarf, so I had to improvise slightly when I was sewing the two pieces together.

It took a while to get off the ground but after I'd translated the pattern chart into text I found it much easier to understand.

Not Another Bag!

That's what my mum said when I told her of my plan to make Brea Bag from Berroco.I found the pattern ages ago, but never got around to looking for an alternative yarn, Berroco yarn isn't available in the UK. The yarn I'm using is some cheap and cheerful acrylic DK from my local market. I've done one side already. It knits up really quickly, because you decrease eight times every other row. Here is a picture of the first side of the bag, though I think in this photo it looks a pair of big knickers.



I decided to knit the bags gusset next after reading on a forum that someone found it really tedious to knit, because it's just moss stitch. I'm over half way along, she's right it is tedious, but the good thing about it is that you don't have to concentrate very much.



I've also finished the first half of Backyard Leaves scarf from Scarf Style and am half way down the other side. The colour of the yarn is actually paler than it looks in this photo.

Perfect timing finishing this post, have just enough time to go to the loo, get a drink and some biscuits and get parked in front of the TV in time for Jericho.

Funny Fruit

This year my mum decided to try growing tomato's, she's always liked gardening, but never tried growing anything to eat. The result of growing her own tomato's has produced some weird and wonderful shapes.

Firstly we have a duck. Quack


And then we have the old English gent with a big nose and a magnificent moustache. 'what what!'

I know it's daft, but I have a very small brain and they made me laugh!

Sorry again.

Sorry for the long gap in posts again. I was just thinking a few weeks ago that I really should update my blog, but then my nana past away suddenly, so as you can imagine blogging was the last thing on my mind.
Strangely I've been knitting more since my nana died, she was always interested in what I was making, so it seems like quite a good way to remember her.

I started thinking about what Christmas gifts I was going to make a couple of months ago, I so far have have 2 projects on the go, a scarf for my auntie and socks for my uncle. The scarf, which is Backyard Leaves from Scarf Style,
was almost a non starter, it took a little while to suss out the first 8 rows, once I'd worked those rows out, I then got stuck on row 9. No matter how many times I pulled it back and knit it again I always had 1 too many stitches, I decided to leave it alone for a while 'cause I just couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I picked it up again to give it another go earlier this week and as soon as I looked at the pattern I realized where I'd been going wrong, instead doing SSSK like the pattern tells you to, I'd been SSK.
Note to self, pay more attention when reading patterns.
The biggest issue with the pattern is that there is no written stitch pattern, only a chart. I can knit much quicker if it's written, otherwise I have to remember what all the squiggles and whosamwhatsits mean.




The socks that I'm making for my uncle are Spey Valley from Knitting on the Road. I'm about half way through making the first sock, but I wanted to give the scarf another go, so they are on hold for the moment.



That's it for now. I'll try not to leave it so long before I blog again, though I think I've said that before.

Another Bag for the Collection.

I very seldom buy bags - it's not really my thing, but I do seen to have a habit of making them. My latest is a felted clutch from One Skein. It took no time at all to knit, though the fact that it was knit on a 10mm needle was slightly problematic when it came to placing stitch markers, I didn't have any big enough, so I improvised by using some key rings.
Anyway, here it is before felting.



Here it is after felting, finished off with a brooch that belongs to my mum.



I made the clutch to go with an outfit I'd got for my cousins wedding.
I don't have a photo of me wearing the said outfit, but I did do have one of the dress, shoes and clutch before I packed them.



The wedding was in Poland, the bride is polish, so all the family went over to Poland for 5 days, the wedding celebrations lasted for 2 days. We all had a great time. We drank vodka and had a bit of a dance, had more vodka and danced a bit more, which was remarkable for me, bearing that I don't normally do either.

Bookmark and Stuff.

It's a while since I've done any cross stitching and I made a couple of little mistakes on the bookmark, but unless you know where they are you can't really see what I've done wrong. I also wish I'd made have made it a little bit longer, but it doesn't really matter. The pattern came from a 1998 edition of Cross Stitcher magazine that my mums friend gave me.



Thought I'd show you some of the other cross stitches I've done. I made my mum these silhouettes several years ago. I haven't really done much cross stitch since making the silhouettes, apart from the odd bookmark, because I think you are quite limited as to what to do with cross stitching, but that could just be my lack of imagination.



I've added some new links to my blog in a little music section, if you're interested. They are all MySpace sites, cause it's the easiest way to hear some of the bands/artists music. My current favourite is Kate Nash, I heard Foundations the other week and at first I wasn't really sure, but by the time the song had finished I loved it. The only trouble is that there isn't an album yet.

Progress

Well a bit of progress anyway. I've started knitting my Jaywalker socks again, after giving the other one to my mum to rip out for me - I never have the heart to do it myself. Now I've change up to bigger needles it's turned out fine, though I did get a bit carried away when it came to decreasing for the foot, so I had to pull it back about four rounds. I've finished one and am now onto the second sock, which is really quite appalling considering I would normally have knitted a pair of sock within a week, I must have been working on this pair for at over a month.



When I blogged last it was supposed to bring up to date everything I've made in the past few months, but I forgot all about these placemats that my mum and I made for Christmas. Mum made the mat's and I then sewed the snowflake onto them. You can't really see in the photo, but the snowflake is sewn in silver coloured thread, which wasn't much fun to sew with, it kept snapping. One of the many, many times it snapped it whipped up and hit me in the head, lets just say that a few expletives were used!



The only other thing I'm working on is a cross stitch bookmark. Cross stitch was kind of my introduction to craft and I've made several of these bookmarks for family a few years ago, but I never made one for myself. I've started to run out of bookmarks recently, because if I get a bit bored of a book I put it down for a while and read something else, but I've done it quite a few times now, hence my decision to make one.

Back to Blogging

It hasn't taken quite as long as last time to post again, just over a month, but in my defence I was on holiday for 2 weeks during that time. I was in Corralejo, Fuerteventura getting prickly heat instead of a tan, oh well maybe I'm just destined to be "pale and interesting" forever. I'm really annoyed though, people always used to tell me I'd grow out of it, but I'm 24 and I still get prickly heat.



I made a summer skirt before I want on holiday, before I posted last actually, but to be honest with you I couldn't be arsed to take a photograph. I got a chance to ware it while I was on holiday, though I had to careful because Fuerteventura is quite a breezy island and it's quite a full skirt, it nearly ended up around my ears a few times. I don't have a photo of me wearing the skirt in sunny Corralejo, but I do have one that I took the other night, which is better than nothing.




Right now I'm working on a crochet bag for myself. I'm not following a pattern as such, though I am using a Essential Crochet pattern as a guide. I've been finding it quite difficult to concentrate on things that I'm making for myself lately, I haven't picked up the bag for days. If I'm making something for anyone else I'm more disciplined and I'll get of my lazy arse and pick up my needles or hook and crack on with whatever I'm making, but at the moment I would rather go on the internet and play games or look at random photos.
I've go a few months though before I need the bag, so hopefully my crafty slump will have ended well before then.
There really isn't much point in showing you a photo of the bag so far 'cause it's just a white rectangle at the moment, so I'll show you a photo of the latest pair of socks. I started them while I was on holiday, but it wasn't until I'd nearly finished the ankle part of the sock that I noticed how narrow it looked and realized that I couldn't get the sock over my heel. So that has been temporarily abandoned.

2006, Bad Year For Bloging, Good Year For Crafts!

I know it's bit far into February be referring to the new year, but I've been really lazy when it comes to updating my blog over the last few months, so I'm going to try to bring you up the date.

First of all I have 6 new books, Knitting on the Road, Scarf Style, Essential Crochet, One Skein, Happy Hooker and Spin to Knit - Spin to Knit was a Christmas present from my sister.



Speaking of Christmas presents, my parents got me a Boye Needlemaster



Are they not the most beautiful coloured knitting needles you've ever seen? There is only one thing about my Needlemaster I don't like, the case the needles are in. With all the lovely coloured needles in the Needlemaster you would think that they would have continued the colourful theme, but I'm afraid not, what colour did they chose, shitty brown. I mean black would have been better then dysentery beige. I might see if I can cover it somehow or make a whole new case.



I'd been trying to think of a way of keeping my double pointed needles together, all I could think of was cigar holders, and the ones I saw on the internet were like £8 or something. One day my mum presented me with a toothbrush case. They are the perfect length for DPN's, there is also enough room for a pencil and the best bit is that they are only 50pence.



Now onto the knitting. I've made 5 pairs of socks in the last few months, but I only have a photo of 2 of them.
1st. These are what I made for my mum, with a pattern form Knitting on the Road.



2nd. Jaywalker socks for my sisters friend Faye.



Most of socks I made were for Christmas presents. My sister asked me if I'd make some for her friends Faye and Jonathan again, I also made a pair for my auntie and my nana.

And finally I've made 2 little crochet bears, photographed next to a CD to give an idea of the size.



I found the pattern onCrochetville. The bear in the original pattern was about 7 1/2 inchs high, but I used a smaller hook and crochet cotton for the white bear and random bits of pink & cream embroidery silks for the pink one.