Brushing the Dust Off!

It seems odd not having posted for ages but I've been contentedly knitting and spinning away and blogs have been far from my thoughts. Maybe it's the faint promise of Spring and the lengthening of the days that's drawn me back but here I am (admittedly it's too cold for me here so I'm wrapped up with Agatha!).

I've always wondered how some people can manage to knit so many socks in relatively short periods of time so I surprised myself by knitting and casting on for three pairs of socks in three weeks. Admittedly there are only 2 pairs and one lonely Elfine so far but I was distracted as I'll explain shortly. Obviously if you've read my previous post you'll know about the first of my finished socks which are my hand-dyed Plumkin Pie Chevrons. The pattern is one of the Chevrons from 'Sensational Knitted Socks' which isn't to hand right now or I'd give you the exact details! Nice comfy socks - shame about the bit of pooling around the heel flap but other than that I'm really pleased with my home made self- striping socks even if they are a bit like tiger feet!!

Next up was a first try of my Colinette Jitterbug stash in the Gauguin colourway which I got on holiday last year in Devon. The pattern is 'Lorelei' from 'Lets Knit!' a month or so ago which was done in the exact same colourway so I thought I may as well give it a go and try and avoid the odd pooling the Jitterbug sometimes seems to do as the socks in the photo looked great. And mine done on the same size needles? Weird purple stripe that turned into blobs on the soles of my feet (a Paul Simon song if I'm not mistaken!!) which made me think of either birthmarks or grape pickers feet! And the pooling on both sock was different to the other. But as for the sock - lovely and squishy and comfy but I think I'd have rather do them on smaller needles for a bit more of a snug fit but that's just being picky!!


Finally the aforementioned 'Elfine', a pattern I've been wanting to knit for ages now and have have wool set aside for ages specifically for it. I'm of a mind that I need the right colour sock yarn to go with a pattern sometimes and Elfine screamed greens to me. Now my wool looks nothing like the photo below the blues and purples are more vivid than shown but as Mum rightly says you can't really see the pattern for all the variegation of colour. All the same it's pretty and I like it. It also happens to be a good variation for me (like Lorelei) in that it's a toe-up sock but this time using a figure of eight cast on which is a bit fiddly to start but lovely and neat. the trouble is I need to be fully awake and have my brain in gear before I start the next one and lately I've just been that little bit too tired of an evening to gear myself up for a bit of work.

I'd finally decided that it was about time that my Japanese Feather Stole was finished off as it was far too simple a pattern for it to be neglected. So Elfine number two was delayed for the moment whilst I slogged on with the stole which grew quite quickly once I paid it some attention and thankfully it's that straight forward enough of a pattern that I was able to do it whilst DD was around which says a lot seeing as she's definitely going through the Terrible Two's (BTW what's next - Frantic Threes; Fearful Fours?) and I could even knit it at our Knitting evenings albeit slowly!!

I'm not sure if it's a Spring Thing but I've cast on for another shawl with Summer in mind. DH mentioned how many weeks it was before we'd be off to sunny Pembrokeshire for our hols and I decided to cast on to make sure it's be finished in time. It's Norah Gaughan's Medallion Shawl from Vogue Winter 07/08 which involves knitting up 15 separate hexagons which is actually quite satisfying to knit up. So far I've 9 knitted up in some Jaeger Alpaca 4ply in a cream shade making it look like little snow flakes (so much for a Summer shawl!!) and 6 more shouldn't take too long to do but I think the crocheting together of them all may be a bit testing of my meager crochet skills!

I shall leave you with photos of the extremes of the month. First off is a shot of the mountains from the moors behind Mum's house (one is probably Snowdon but I'm not too great at remembering the names of them from a distance) which was taken this Monday. And the final shot for you are some Dog Tooth Violets which appeared in one of my plant pots last year and are providing a beautiful shot in today's bright sunshine - definitely a month of mixed up weather!

Anyway I'm surrounded with piles of raspberry fluff to be spun up so I'll leave you for now and attempt to return with more news as soon as possible, hopefully within weeks and not months this time!

Plodding Along!

Believe it or not I did actually start another post in January. Admitedly it was the end of January so no real rush to post but it ground to a halt. There were even photos. But then I thought the best thing to do would be to start again. So here I am, waiting for a delivery and putting my time to good use!

I have been busy, admitedly with a lot of none knitting related bits (like potty training - Fun!!) but also with some new knitting to show you all. There was a birthday deadline to meet to start with and I decided to make socks seeing as I'd not managed them for Christmas. Not content with knitting a pattern I knew and was happy with the results I decided to try a new pattern from Garn Studio which I liked the look of. Knitted up using 2 strands of yarn together on large needles (for socks at least!) it was a fairly quick knit once I'd got my head round the instructions. Not having done short row heels for ages as they're not my favorites my brain refused to comprehend what was going on for a couple of attempts but it got done in the end with fairly neat results. I'm happy with the finished socks and most importantly my Aunt is happy with them and they fit - what more can you ask?! Oh yes, the funny thing with these socks is that despite having 2 different yarns (both self-striping but different colourways) both of them got to a similar colour band at the same point resulting in obvious stripes in the midst of more random colours - weird hey?!



It's funny but knitting these socks and knowing they weren't for me has given me an urge for new socks of my own so no sooner had I cast off the Birthday socks then I cast on some for myself. The pattern is from Sensational Knitted Socks and is called Chevron (so simple to remember!) and I'm using some Blueface Leicester sock yarn I got in WoolFest that I dyed up during our big Dyeing Week and my Mums. Now I don't normally name my hand dyed yarns but this one screamed 'Plum-kin Pie' to me with it's shades of orange, brown and plum.

I have progressed a lot further than the photo shows now but then that it because I've been slow getting these posts done! So far I'm really happy with these, especially as Mum didn't recognise the yarn as stuff we'd dyed up and wondered where I'd gotten it from! Talking of Mum in connection with knitting, this next FO comes with many grateful thanks to her. Last birthday she gave me a skein of Posh Yarns luscious Cashmere aran weight which I'm ashamed to say I'd just not gotten round to knitting up sooner. This neck warmer is lovely to cuddle into and is based on a pattern for a whimple Mum found somewhere on the net - if I ever find the link I'll let you know!

DD is going through a phase of asking what I'm knitting for her everytime she sees my knitting something which is rather annoying as she doesn't seem to want to wear anything I've knitted for her. So I decided to knit her something she might play with instead and found this sweet pattern in amongst the huge pile of 'Golden Hands' craft books from the 70's. So far it's been a success.
And despite being a bad blogger and posting erratically Cyndy has kindly awarded me with the 'You Make My Day' award - Thank You!! so it now falls to me to return the favour and spread the award! To quote from Cyndys blog:
"Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times."

Where do you start?

• My Lovely Mum - I may be biased here but she always makes my day and makes me happy, except when she's feeling poorly and down because she's so far away and I can't always be right there in person for her.


• Kendra - because of all the beautiful things she makes and the fact that she'd designing a new lace project with a young baby - now there's dedication for you!


• sheephappens - well I have to support another February 70's child! And she has lovely pics!


• Jazzycrafts, CraftyDramaQueen, Piglottie and Nicola - for always being so busy with assorted projects.


• Woolforbrains - and not because she louses things up but because of the amount of things she knits up with her own handspun (yes I know she's already had the award but nevermind!)


• Jo - for pretty handspun pictures.


• hpny knits - for pretty pictures and projects.

Well there are 10 for you who may or may not have been awarded already. Oh and if you haven't seen Cyndy's blog before hand hers always makes my day as well because of her beautiful nature shots which sort of make up for the lack of snow we've had here!

Oh and just before I go I feel I ought to let you know that I've fallen off the 'Knit from Stash' waggon already - Ooops! I blame birthday money burning a hole in my pocket and having a knitting group in a LYS but there is new yarn and new knitting books to show you and I'll try to do this sooner rather than later!

New Year, New Post

Well it has been a while and I can't honestly think why I've not gotten round to posting since November! When I posted about 'Blogging without Obligation' I really had not planned on a break like this! There has been knitting, spinning and dyeing a plenty - I even had a great title for a post all ready for a quiet moment at the computer. I suppose a whistle stop tour of the past couple of months comings and goings will be in order and a selection of photos for you to browse through!

Those of you who read Artis-Anne will know that we had a grand spinning and dyeing week without Little Miss Emily and I was all set to tell you all how:

"I Dyed and Berried Myself!"

OK the picture is a little blurred but it does give you an idea of the colours we dyed up. Actually all of these ones are my selection with a small glimpse on the right hand side of our natural dyeing as well which Mum has more details of on her blog. The overall colour theme with me seemed to be rich berry and purple colours and 'tomato soup' orange! Here's another shot of that purple which is some luscious Teeswater fleece in the process of being carder with the very scary looking English Combs which are fantastic for preparing long fibred fleeces if you're careful!

The Christmas knitting didn't progress very far and really put me off knitting for a while. I think it was the whole idea of having to knit things and the pressure of a deadline. December seemed hectic enough without adding to it so I only ended up making 2 presents - the cable socks for my Dad and a scarf for my cousin. That's not to say I didn't knit anything in December - just not for Christmas presents! After finding some Sublime Merino Angora yarn half price I decided to treat myself and made 'Agatha' which is a faroese style shawl and such a lovely pattern to knit up and quick growing to boot! 'finished in time for Christmas it's lovely and warm and the yarn is so soft and squishy even if it is almost too fluffy (grr angora!).



And the latest issue of Knitty had quick temptations as well for the Christmas period that were ideal for using up some of those stash yarns (this years resolution - knit from stash or spin something suitable!). The results of this was a Toasty Topper knitted up in some of my early hand spun and a virtually finished Quant using a ball of Noro Silk Garden. Now I'll admit that the Silk Garden has failed to live to my expectations - bitty and uneven though the colours are nice. Typically though Emily won't wear the hat/scarf but that's no surprise as she doesn't really wear anything I've made for her even if she does constantly ask what I'm knitting for her.

The latest FO hot off the needles is a stash buster using some unknown chunky yarn recycled from a jumper I no longer wore (sorry Mum!). It's one of Garn Studios patterns which was quick and simple to work but then again it could have been such an enjoyable knit thanks to the Christmas present from my beloved DH - some ever so pretty Knit Picks Harmonies!!

On the needles right now? Well for once I'm knitting something that DD might actually be glad of and make use of - a dress for her dolly!!

Right am off to knit and will make a definite effort to get back into blogging and will try to work my way round catching up with everyone. Finally I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year and Happy Knitting!

November already?!

I guess you could say I've been a bit lethargic of late when it comes to knitting, blogging, etc and I really hadn't realised quite how long it's been since I blogged last. Recently I've not been doing much knitting at all anyway and have been reading instead some of my favorite books from childhood, namely Susan Cooper's 'Dark is Rising' series which I found again in the attic last month. There have been glimmers of creativeness here and there but I think the whole 'must knit these for Christmas' deal is putting me off it all and so I'm pulling the breaks on and have decided that I will knit things for people and they'll get them when ever but more likely after the festivities!! I also forgot that MIL already has her present of lace weight merino and a pattern so there's one less thing on the list already!!

Autumn finally seems to have arrived here and has lead to my current obsession with photographing mushrooms and fungi.




And my Aunt finally introduced me to her charges - 15 adorable Ryland sheep on the Formby Dune Heath which she 'watches' one day each week (counts them and feeds them and checks they're OK). They're on holiday from the Liverpool City Farm which has lost some of it's funding and so is unsure if these sweeties will be coming home again or not. They are such friendly little things and, with no rudeness involved, just look at those furry little bottoms - like mini Alpacas!

They did actually come up to you and were strokeable. Emily really enjoyed this but I told her she had to be quite with them and say 'Good Morning Mr Sheep' which she obediently did - can't get her to tidy up but say hello to a sheep? Of course!! Definitely a spinner/knitter in the growing!

Back to the glimmers of creativeness - I've found a 'local' Spinning guild. I say 'local' as it's about an hour away near Abergelle in a fantastic spot and in my first meeting we did rush weaving which was great fun - can you tell what it is yet?

It's a mat of course!! A bit holey and bumpy but I love it and I'd love to do more again. The lady who taught us was Mandy Coates and she had some wonderful creations on show with her made from both rush and willow and apparently goes to a lot of shows in North Wales wearing her woven hats so do look out for her! I've been back to the guild since for a spinning afternoon and the next meeting for me will be a show and tell - eek!! Will have to prepare myself for that one!


Talking of SWD guilds you may remember Mum has done some weavings with her guilds, the name of the lady escapes me now but I'm sure Mum has note of it somewhere on her blog. Anyway I had a little go at one as well way back when she did her first one but hadn't got round to finishing it off for ages. Now I can finally present it to you all:


Maybe there should be a prize for the person who can guess what it's meant to be. DH had trouble even seeing it in the flesh but then he does sometimes have trouble seeing things right in front of him - bless him! He was also the cause of a woolie mishap when my Twillies Freedom Spirit tank ended up in the wash. Poor DH hid it thinking I'd go mad with him (a bit annoyed granted but I've not killed him for it!) and when confronted with the felted mass he said 'Can't you frog it?' which impressed me with his knowledge of knitting terms - can't go mad when he's learnt that much, there is hope he may learn more!!

My knitting course progresses all 8 weeks of it including homework one of which is this bag in Sirdar Bigga which was an insanely quick knit but needs lining at some point before I call in properly finished.

Right, I'm weary now - coming down with a cold and having a tiresome few days (and nights) with a poorly DD who not only is full of cold and coughs but has nasty big back teeth coming through as well so lots of sleepless nights and whingey days poor love. Will try and get my knitting mojo back but the old knitting/tennis elbow is still bothersome at times so it may be dribs and drabs. Oh, that reminds me - I've a new link in the side bar for 'Knitting without Obligation' which I found from a comment on ArtyFartyKat's site which seems a really sensible approach to blogging which fits my mood lately and I've decided to try not to make this blog seem a chore and blog when I feel up for it. I will try and catch up with you all as soon as possible but it seems to be the hibernating season for quite a few blogs lately - maybe it's the time of year! Catch you all soon!!

FO Flashing!

Well as promised I would give you all the full details of my latest knitting as soon as it was finished and here you have it! It was finished last Tuesday/Wednesday and I'm pleased with it - it really is warm but being such a heavy chunky wool has given me a case of Knitters Elbow with my left elbow and wrist being painful. So there was no knitting for a few days to ease the ache!
The pattern comes from N.Y. Yarns but mine has been modified due to lack of yarn. The original had a fold down collar which I didn't do. Instead I did some short row shaping around where the collar would have been and I also added another button hole to stop the from gaping open quite so much. In these pictures there are only 3 buttons because I didn't buy enough (typical!).

I went to visit Mum for her birthday the other week which was the perfect chance for a photo shoot! Mums treat was a pic-nic to a local beach, Black Rock Sands, where we had chip in the camper van. We had a great time going for a walk as well even if it was a wet and blustery day.

And I even braved the weather to 'flash' my FO!!

Mum called this my 'Norman Wisdom' pose!

Well in my defense it was cold and wet!!

Here's a 'normal' pose for you! It had a brilliant test drive on the beach - it's lovely and warm and cosy and I've been wearing it loads since! Definitely a success which I'll be knitting up again but will try and spin enough for a collar as well next time!

Sorry it's a bit short and sweet this time. I'm feeling a bit anti-computers lately and have been avoiding it a fair bit. Yes, even avoiding Ravelry. No Computers, no blogging, no Knitting even - what's come over me? I think it's a case of the blues right now but DH has promised me a week away at my Mums without Emily at some point in the near future!!!! Bless him, he's good and I certainly feel due to escape and switch off for a while! Right I'd better go and get ready for week 2 of my course - so far so good. I promise I will try and be a good blogger this week and attempt to catch up with all your blogs ASAP, thanks for sticking with me!

Edited to add: The yarn I used was my own chunky handspun Merino/Silk from the giant batt I got in WoolFest. I'd decided to set myself a challenge of spinning enough yarn for a garment and knitting it up before the 31st October as that will be a year from when I first had my spinning wheel and I thought it would be a good way to see how much Id learnt in that time! I am really pleased with the result and the thought of spinning for garments now doesn't seems as daunting anymore!

I'm In!!!

Hurrah!! My Ravelry invite has arrived and I'm all set up - if you're on I'm KraftyKath, come and find me!!

What a great way to loose hours - I've been meaning to post here since Saturday evening but have been lost in Ravelry until all hours of the night. And at least I know I'm not alone, a certain Piglottie was also on there near midnight on Saturday!

Anyway - there has been knitting going on as well which is another reason for the lack of action here. I've been putting a determined effort into knitting up my merino-silk hand spun after the fiasco that was 'Lacy Waves'. I did start off with one of Sirdars 'Peru Naturals' patterns but decided I'd do something else before I'd even completed the back.

I've nearly finished this now - I'm just picking up 222 stitches round the front edges after sewing the shoulder seams. I never really enjoy picking up stitches so the thought of 222 is not fun. It's a really simple pattern, just a k4, p2 rib with rows of reverse stocking stitch every now and then and as it's knitted up on 6mm needles is a quick grower. You'll have all the details soon when I do the final reveal!

I had a bit of a surprise on Friday in work when I was asked to go on a course for them today at short notice - could I get a baby sitter? Well - how hard do you think I would try to get a babysitter so that work could send me on a knitting course?! So I will be off this afternoon to head office in North Wales to join all the other paying customers in Abakhans very first 'Advanced Knitting Course'! My boss did add that she knew I could knit well already but she thought I might be interested in the chance for a free course 'to improve the service we offer our customers'! Who am I to refuse?! And Mum thinks the instructor is a lady from one of her Spinning guilds - small world!

Anyway I should go and get myself ready and stock my knitting bag in readiness! Full report to follow!

A Measure of FO's

There are times when I am in love with my Finished Objects and there are times when I wonder why on earth I even bother knitting at times. 'Lacy Waves' has been finished but I'm sorry to say that it has a tale of woe for you.

For once I actually decided to block all the finished pieces out to the stated measurements before I even started sewing 'Lacy Waves' up. I was so pleased with myself for being professional (so I thought) and taking the time and effort to do things properly. I did make a little adjustment to the pattern in that I did a three needle bind off at the shoulders and was pleased with the result. It was when I washed the pieces that I had a bit of a surprise - the wool decided to grow despite all my careful washing. The body length up to the armhole had grown from the 14" I'd knitted to 17.5" and the body width was also larger than intended. The arms were longer but I wasn't bothered by this as in the pattern photos they did look like 3/4 length and I rathered longer sleeves. And at any point in my careful blocking did I realise what lay before me? Not at all.

Lace Insert detail.

Impatient for everything to dry and realising that Emily would soon be back from Nursery to trample over my knitting blocked out on the floor I started sewing the damp mass up. At this stage I was still pleased with how soft the washed wool was and how neatly I was sewing the garment up but as I sewed the last seam it dawned on my that the stupid thing looked massive. I knew the pattern wasn't going to be my usual fitted garment anyway but this was bigger than it should have been.

The fitted sleeves were loose and baggy and the body was overly wide threatening to fall down all the time. Admittedly I had yet to crochet round the neck but at this stage I knew that 2 rows of crochet were not going to save this. 'Lacy Waves' had drowned to become a Bagpuss jumper - saggy and baggy but not loved. Well, I lie - I did/do love the lace insert which was a clever piece of textural knitting combining lace and cables but the rest of the jumper is an utter waste of time. And what cheap and badly behaved yarn was this knitted in? Jaeger Matchmaker DK so I can't even blame that. What happened with the tension square you may very well ask? I hang my head in shame here and know my downfall - no tension square. It was the right sized needles - why bother?

With no smaller size 'Lacy Waves' pattern I'm not sure what I'll do now about reknitting this again. And the yarn itself worries me a little - will it grow again after reknitting? So far the plan is possibly to knit 'Daphne' the lovely little cardi that Mum has just finished and hope that the smaller needle size will keep the yarn in check but for now that yarn is going to sit in a corner out of my way until I'm less disappointed with the whole fiasco.

On a brighter note I do have some photos I promised you last time of some Monkeys I found hanging round in the woods by Mum last week - thank goodness no-one saw me with my feet up a tree taking photos of my socks! I'm still really pleased with these even if they have a tendency to fall down a bit for what ever reason. The Lana Grossa Mellienweit is lovely and woolly and such lovely soft colour blending - will be interesting to see how it wears.

Also as requested here is my bobbin of handspun. Blended on the drumcarder predominantly using shades of purple, blue and pink hand-dyed Texel and Cotswold curls with odd bits of yellow and red thrown in for good measure. The photo doesn't really do the colours justice as there is so much more variety in the colours than can really be seen here. Still need to finish the other bobbin to ply this up with so will report back later with the finished yarn and it's details.

Whilst at Mums I cast on for yet another project - not something I really needed to do as there are so many around the house. Can you tell what it is?

Can you tell where the deliberate knots in yarn end and the unintentional ones start?

Okay - it's a 'Scarf with the Striped Border' (not the most exciting title!) from 'Victorian Lace Today' knitted in some HipKnits lace weight silk which is such a slippery thing it will not stay in a ball and is permanently making it self into knots whether I like it or not!

More pretty things for you all - goodies from our trip to the Colinette Millshop! I did very well and resisted most admirably (could this be due to a certain 2 year old causing major distractions?!) and came home armed with this small offering:

The blue and yellow are both 'Jitterbug' from the sale room in unknown colourways and, as always, another cone of 4ply wool for my collection - such good value I can not resist! And all lovely bright colours for happy socks!

Whilst at Mums we had a lovely walk round a local lake that I've driven past so many times but have never actually walked round. What a pleasant surprise that was. Emily had a whale of a time running round with the dogs and playing 'Pooh Sticks' on the bridges and it was such a lovely day - we even managed a pic-nic!

Emily plays 'Pooh Sticks'

And why the surprise at the lovely location? Can you see the building in the photo below? That is the decommissioned Trawsfynydd Nuclear power station, something I've always grumbled at and never really before seen what really surrounded it. The only drawback to it going is that the funding has gone for the visitor centre for the lake and so there are no more details available on all the lovely walks surrounding it all.

Well, all those photos have put me in a better mood now. I shall ignore that pile of green for a while and forget the excitement of a lovely lacy jumper gone sour. Ah, knitting - why do we inflict ourselves with it?! Sorry about the photo heavy post will try to keep it brief next time!