2012 Challenges

This year I've joined in with four challenges.

The first two are on a forum of which I've been a member for eight years (I'm also a Moderator/Staff on that one).

The first one is a reading challenge which we also ran last year.  The idea is to declare how many books you are aiming to read during the course of the year.  In 2011 I said I'd aim for 17, as I get most of my fiction books from the library so thought that as the library lending period is 3 weeks, 17 would mean one book per lending period, with a week in hand.  In the event, I read 25 books with an average of 340 pages per book.  This year, I'm aiming for 20 books and have already read 4, although one of those was Franklin Habit's "It Itches" book of knitting-related cartoons and essays, which was a very quick read.

The second challenge is a photography one.  Photography isn't my strong point and I've had my camera for six years, so it isn't at the forefront of technology, but I thought this looked like fun.  We compiled a list of 50 words and the idea is to take a photograph related to each of those words.  Some are fairly concrete, such as 'bus', 'boat', etc, but some are more abstract such as 'inside', 'irritating', 'red'.  I've only taken one photo so far - some red berries clustered on a tree that I saw when I was walking the dog.

The other two challenges are knitting-related on the Phoenix Knitting forum. 

Challenge One is the same as one we had last year.  Finish at least one item each month and show a photo.  The FO doesn't have to be started and finished in the same month, but the idea is to get on with WIPs, some of which may have been lurking in the work basket or box for a while.  My January offering was the green Malabrigo socks which I'd had on the needles since last August or September, but kept passing over to knit or crochet other things.

Challenge Two is a stash-busting one.  Each time we finish an item, we count the metres of yarn used and add to a running total for the month/year.  In addition to that, any new yarn that we buy has to be debited against the yarn used, so if I use 350 metres of  yarn in FOs in a month and don't buy any new yarn, I'm +350 metres stash-wise.  However, after succumbing to the lure of Kemps last week and then having to order an extra skein of Mirasol Miski for a cowl I'm knitting, I'm currently -2821 metres.  Oops!

Someone on Phoenix also posted that Lidl will have yarn in next week and I've had a look and there's some cotton/acrylic mix that would probably  be useful for dish/washcloths.  However, I've decided that I'm not going to make a special trip to buy some (my nearest Lidl is 10 miles away), but if they've still got some the next time I'm shopping there, I might get a bag, or might not.  I'm not going to beat myself up about it and I went through my stash this morning and, if I'm totally honest, I've got more yarn than I thought I had and I know that what I went through this morning (re-winding half-balls that had gone loose and floppy etc) isn't all of it.

Better get knitting!

Until next time, take care and happy crafting :)

Fresco Hat

I mamaged to persuade DD1 to put on her new hat and let me take a photo when she got home from school on Friday. 

Please ignore her hair - it's thick and slightly wavy and she hadn't been in long!

The yarn's King Cole Galaxy in Neptune.  It's the same yarn I used for DD1's garter stitch scarf a few months ago.  The pattern's Fresco and is an easy knit, made in the round from the bottom up and only took a couple of days to finish.

The yarn even behaved nicely so I ended up with a black crown.

And the sequins were nice and evenly placed.

I made the larger size as I thought my tension might be tighter than the pattern stated and also because DD1 has all that hair to get a hat over!  The only modification to the pattern that I made was to make it less slouchy than the pattern said, mainly because I only had one ball of  yarn.  I'm glad I did though as any longer and it might have started to look droopy rather than slouchy.

So, that's two FOs in January which is good because I popped onto the Kemps website yesterday to look at a yarn that someone had mentioned in a Ravelry thread and before I knew it I'd bought 4 x 50g balls of Regia Flusi sock yarn and 20 x 50g balls of Rowan RYC Cotton Jeans.  I'd looked at the Cotton Jeans before with a view to making a simple cardigan or tunic-type sweater and it was 99p a ball.  The whole order including P&P came to just under £30, but it does mean I'm very much in the negative with regard to yarn used vs yarn bought!  More on that next time - the 'challenges' I've signed up for in 2012 deserve a post of their own!

First FO of the Year

I finished some socks last week and got round to 'blocking' them (ok - I ironed them on a medium heat with the steam on) yesterday.

The pattern is Go With The Flow which is a freebie on Ravelry.  I used the stitch pattern, but went with my usual toe-up construction (which is a method I've devised from various other toe-up gusset/flap techniques - one day I might get round to writing it up and posting it), used Eye of Partridge on the heel flap and did a 1x1 plain rib on the cuff.  For the ribbing, I tried out a slightly different way, which I'd read about on Rox's help article on Ravelry some time last year which tightens up the ribbing and makes it look neater.  It's very simple - when you do the purl stitch of the ribbing (or the last purl if it's 2x2 or 3x3) you wind the yarn around the needle the opposite way to usual, which takes slightly less yarn, but does mean you need to work the stitch through the back loop on the next row or round. 

The yarn is Malabrigo Sock in the Lettuce colour and blimey, it's certainly soft.  I don't expect these socks to last ages, but I don't care as my feet will be happy!

These were worked one-at-a-time using magic loop on my 2.25mm Addi lace circular.

I've also finished a hat, but can't show you that until I've got it back from DD1 (the intended recipient) and taken a photo or two!

In the meantime, I'm making a pair of vanilla socks in Regia Garden Effects, am still crocheting away on DD2's Rainbow Ripple blanket and have frogged my St Brigid sweater because I've decided I'll like it more if I knit it in pieces and seam it rather than knitting it in the round.  I think it'll hang better.

2011 Review

So, another year ends and I thought I'd look back over things I've finished during 2011.

I've even made a mosaic:

In total, thats:

- 7 scarves or shawls
- 4 pairs of socks (one pair I didn't photograph)
- 4 Baby Surprise Jackets and 2 February Baby cardigans
- 1 hat
- 2 adult-sized cardigans
- 1 cardigan for DD1
- 3 blankets (2 knitted, 1 crocheted)
- 1 crocheted bag
- 4 crocheted cushion covers
- various crocheted dish/wash cloths

These finished items total 20,807 metres of yarn.

Not bad going, even if I do say so myself.

Happy New Year to you all and may 2012 bring everything you hope for :)

On Top of Things

This Christmas, because I'm working this evening from 5pm until 10pm when the store where I work closes (a Whole Hour Early - so I've got to go in an hour earlier than usual!) we've had to have Things done so that hubby isn't a grumpy bah humbug when I get home because he's had to spend the whole evening wrapping presents, cleaning up and then getting the children to bed.  So, the presents are wrapped, the turkey will be defrosted in time to go in the oven at lunchtime tomorrow so we can eat late afternoon/early evening, the bathrooms have been cleaned, there's a ham steam-baking in the oven (it's 4kg+ and I didn't have a saucepan or stockpot big enough for it to bubble away on the hob so it's in a large roasting pan in the oven, with water in the bottom and the tray covered in foil), I've even cleaned out the fridge.  All that needs doing now is a general tidy up in the lounge and the vaccuum cleaner to be pushed around downstairs.  Hubby will bring presents down later, once both girls are asleep.  It's lovely, not feeling overly pressured on Christmas Eve!

The only thing I'm not sure about is this:

It's hubby's (not often used) exercise bike and it's in the dining room.  It may have to be wheeled into the hallway tomorrow once my in-laws arrive for the day!


Here's a photo of our 'forest' of trees.  The big tree is the same one we've used for a few years now (decorated by the girls - I leave them to get on with it).  The small tree usually sits either in the hall or in DD1's bedroom, but my mother-in-law bought the green foil trees for us this year and we thought it would be nice to have all the trees together in one area of the lounge.

I've even finished knitting the Hitchhiker scarf for my mother-in-law's birthday present.  Her birthday's 2 Jan and I wanted to get this finished, washed, blocked and wrapped before Christmas, which I've achieved.  It's a nice pattern and is a fairly simple, straightfoward eight-row repeat.  The yarn is a skein of Unicorn I bought a couple of years ago from Fyberspates.  It's no longer available as it was a special yarn for a 2009 club run by Fyberspates and The Natural Dye Studio and is 70% baby llama, 20% cashmere and 10% silk.  I chose the pattern because it doesn't really need to be blocked after washing but can be laid out flat or lightly steamed.  I thought it would  be a bit off giving the scarf as a present along with an A4 sheet of paper giving detailed instructions for blocking!

Some photos:

 It's quite wide, but not overly deep, which I like.

It's started at one edge with stitches increased during each eight-row pattern repeat until you either have enough yarn for one more repeat plus enough to cast off, or you think it's long enough.  Then, you cast off and the cast off is the other diagonal edge of the scarf.  This means the two diagonal edges aren't symmetrical, but I like that as well.

 Once it's rolled up to make wrapping easier, it looks nice!

Increasing at the neck edge on each row gives a nice, gentle curve to the scarf.  I like this too!

The yarn was, on the whole, pretty well behaved and for the most part striped nicely, with only one patch of pooling in the centre.  However, as the yarn's dyed in three shades of blue, the contrast isn't severe and I think it works.

Can you tell I'm pleased with the way it's turned out?  I hope mother-in-law does as well as I've never made anything for her. 

All it leaves me to say is *Merry Christmas* and, if I don't manage another post next week, *Happy New Year*.  I'm hoping (once the girls are back at school) to get all my FO photos together in a mosaic, together with stats of how much yarn used, etc during 2010.  In the meantime, I'll be carrying on with DD2's ripple blanket.  It's about halfway there!

Simple City Shawlette

I finished the knitting part of this a couple of weeks ago, but didn't get round to blocking it until a couple of days ago. 

The pattern's Simple City by Mimi Hill (Eskimimi) but I'm not sure if it's still available to buy as she doesn't have  her website any more.

The yarn's Rico Design Superba Poems which is a fingering weight yarn with long colour repeats, a bit like Zauberballe.  I wound the yarn into two equal-sized balls and alternated the balls, knitting two rows with the first ball and then two rows with the second.  The yarn was supposed to be 100g, but when I weighed it so I could divide it equally, my scales came in at 130g, which was a bit of a bonus!

I used 3.5mm needles for this and ended up with a decent-sized triangular scarf.  If I made it again, I'd go up to 4mm needles with this yarn as it doesn't drape as much as I thought it would.  The yarn's a bit thick and thin in places and was a bit rough to knit with, so I don't think I'd use it for socks.

The scarf design is fairly easy.  It's garter stitch for the main part and then the foxglove edging is done by increasing every other row, although you do end up with lots and lots of stitches per row.  When I was blocking it, I couldn't get the foxgloves to sit up, but as the scarf dried (I ran some cotton  yarn along the top edge but didn't pin out the other edges) they popped up a bit more and, although they're not all exactly the same, I'm pleased with the overall result.

The photos were taken on my bed this morning and the light downstairs was particularly bad, so sorry for the wrinkly background!

I've just weighed the finished scarf and it's 120g.

I've also finished knitting the blue Hitchhiker scarf and just need to sew in the ends and block it, although it's not going to need a great deal of blocking.

A Very Special School Christmas Production

Yesterday was 'our' day to go and see the Christmas production at my younger daughter's school.  When I say 'our' day, that's because due to the number of people who want to come and see it, they can't fit everyone in for a single performance, so there are three, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and the classes are allocated a day to go and watch. 

You see, DD2 is autistic and she attends a school for children with special needs.  It's in a village about nine miles from us and she gets picked up and dropped off by mini-bus along with six other children from our locale who go to the same school.  Unfortunately, the school was originally built to educate approx 80 children who wouldn't manage in a  mainstream school, but now has a approx 160 pupils - but the school's the same size.  It's a bit of a hot potato subject, as the school hasn't been made bigger or moved to bigger premises, but many of the pupils have portacabins as classrooms.  They're quite smart portacabins, but still......  There was even a story in the Daily Telegraph last week about it as the headteacher (who in my opinion is the type of person who should receive an OBE rather than someone who scored two goals for England) is Fed Up.

Anyway, yesterday, my parents, my mother-in-law, my older sister and I squeezed into the hall along with lots of other parents, grandparents and other people who wanted to come and watch and were entertained for a couple of hours by these special children, many of whom find every day a struggle to get through due to their varying disabilities and sensitivities.

Younger Daughter's class did a version of the nativity.  She was a mouse.  I sent in a pair of white trousers and a white t-shirt and ears on a headband were made, and facepaint was used for whiskers and a pink mousey nose!  She said her one line "I can't see for all these animals" in what I assume was her mouse voice, but didn't really want to join in with the first song.  For the second song though, she got hold of a microphone.  The teacher did attempt to get the microphone back, but my littl'un wasn't having any of it, so sat on the front of the 'stage' and sang the whole song into the microphone - drowning out all the other children.  She wasn't allowed the microphone for the third song, so had a paddy and was taken back to the classroom! 

What's so good about this school is that such behaviour is accepted as par for the course.  A teacher in a mainstream school may have been embarrassed or got cross with a child whipping away a microphone (that would have been the case at DD1's primary school). At this school, they accept that there are some things that can't be managed without a great deal of fall-out and upheaval and if it's not going to be that much of a problem, they just let things ride for a while. 

It was a lovely morning and there was a fair bit of sniffling and tissue-use, especially at the end when one of the senior boys announced that the next class on would be singing "Feed the World" for all those less fortunate than they are.  That's food for thought.

There were two raffles.  One, for a signed photograph of Sebastial Vettel (no idea who managed to get hold of that) raised £400-odd and the second, for various gifts such as hampers, spa vouchers, that type of thing, raised just under £1100, which was a fantastic effort from the PTA.

The event was filmed, so I'm hoping it's the version that will make it onto the DVD that parents can buy.