The necessity of knitting

I've been lurking in various forums on ravelry recently, and I've noticed a recurring post, which is usually entitled something along the lines of: You know you're addicted to ... when

Now I don't think of myself as having a particularly addictive personality - sure I feel a bit miffed if I'm unable to get my weekly fix of Heroes, Torchwood etc., and after 'going cold turkey' from alcohol and caffeine (including chocolate - eek!), I realised how much I was relying on the latter to stay awake past lunchtime, I feel I am strong enough willed to resist most addictions.

However, I am developing a increasing compulsion to knit.

I thought I was just knitting for fun, for presents, or to improve my knitting skills for the future when I might need them (after the apocalypse, stuck on an island somewhere with a couple of sheep perhaps). But I think it's gone beyond that.

A case in point. I'm going to a friend's wedding in a couple of weeks. I need a new dress (don't we all, although husband disagrees). Upon finding a nice dress, the first things that rush through my head are:

I've got a hat (handknit) that will go with this ...

But wait a minute, I'll need a wrap (sleeveless dress in York in March)

Aha! I've got some kidsilk haze in exactly the right shade of green to look gorgeous with the dress and aforementioned hat, and if I make Knitty's Wisp shawl then it will be gorgeous and light but at the same time snuggly warm.

But I'll need a contrast colour somehow, so why don't I just nip downstairs to John Lewis' haberdashery department and pick up a second ball of kidsilk haze in a nice brown colour, which will in turn go with my shoes, and then I can get some brown tights (to go with the yarn).

Thus, decision to buy the dress was almost entirely based on the accessories I had already knit, or could possibly make to go with it.

I am actually starting to feel quite naked if I go out of the house without wearing something hand made. I made Knitty's Foliage hat the day before coming to work after Christmas because my previous hat was a bit felty. But then I had the hat so I had to make the mittens, and now I have the mittens I really could do with a scarf ...

And I have some comfort knitting (the Hemlock ring blanket / shawl in baby alpaca) by my bed ... just in case.

I am pretty confident that I could stop knitting if I really wanted to, but I think that my life would be emptier and certainly less snuggly without it.

Blogging hiatus

Well, that was quite a blogging hiatus. Nearly 3 whole months with nary a post nor a pic. I've been off the blogging radar partly by choice, partly by necessity, as I have felt increasingly tied to my computer over the last couple of months and I wanted to dedicate more time to non-screen based activities, plus my Christmas making and doing rather took over. Still, this means that I have quite a bit to talk about now!

So, following the traditions of diarists everywhere, and to put things into perspective, a review of my first ever knitting year.

I learnt to knit on 7th June this year. I can pinpoint the date as Rhona taught me the basics at my first KTOG meeting in Baldock. Needless to say I've not looked back. My cupboards are now full of yarn, I have needles galore from raids on charity shops, and have ventured into many corners of knitterdom. I'm going to list my 2007 FOs now, so look away now if you are of the opinion that "beginners" should not attempt anything other than garter stitch and scarves for at least the first 10 years (yes those people do exist - cowards!)

Pictured (not in order)

• Fetching fingerless gloves (Marisol Hacho)
• Knucks fingerless gloves (Rowan tapestry)
• Short row wavy scarf (Rowan tapestry)
• Zig zag scarf (Sublime extra fine merino)
• Thrummed mittens (Wensleydale DK and Shetland combed tops)
• Very warm hat (Twilleys Freedom Spirit and Wensleydale DK)
• Baby surprise jacket (Sirdar Baby Bamboo and cotton)
• Saartje's booties (Patons DK cotton)
• Breeze socks (random cheap sock wool from t'shop on t'market)
• Kiri shawl (Garnstudio Alpaca)
• Watch cap (x 2 - Rowan Freedom wool and Manos)
• Tea cosy (Matchmaker DK)
• Lace scarf (Handmaiden Lady Godiva)

Plus (not pictured):

• Monkey socks (Violet Green Sheherezade wool)
• Easyknits basic socks (Plums and Custard Easyknits yarn)
• Foliage hat (Brigantia fusion wool)
• Odessa hat (Rowan cashmerino DK and some loverly green beads)
• Koolhaas hat (Debbie Bliss Rialto)
• Bias garter stitch scarf (various shades of Rowan Scottish Tweed)

Phew! I didn't realise there were quite that many things! And I've frogged quite a few.

Other craft-wise, I was rather overwhelmed by my latest obsession, and haven't therefore much to show other than knitting (see below). I did make a start at the end of the year to wean myself off the yarn, and made some pretty stitch markers for myself and a couple of swaps (knitting related I know, but not actually knitting). I also, with the help of my handy husband finished this just in time for the arrival of the recipient.

I love the felt softies all over the web at the moment, and have been wanting to make something felty for a while. I drew out some random blobby shapes using circles as a basis, then cut out lots of them and arranged the pieces on the dining room carpet, distributing the colours by squinting from a distance. I happened across a massive bag of embroidery threads in a charity shop earlier in the year (I yelped - v embarrassing, but its usually slim pickings in our local shops) and used random colours of these to stitch up the shapes and hang them from the beautifully cut, drilled, fixed and sanded frame. There are also some bells in there for added interest/parental annoyance, and some of the shapes are stuffed with bean bag beans rather than stuffing. I think the small one appreciated it, although he was still at the cross-eyed snuffly phase when we met him so it was a little hard to tell!

I participated in a few swaps in 2007, with varying degrees of success. The International Scarf Exchange was by far the most fun, as knitting something secret for someone you have never met, on the other side of the world, and knowing that someone else is returning the favour for you is a marvellous experience. Both my up- and downstream swap partners were lovely people, and it was amazing to see my scarf being worn thousands of miles away. I'll be hostessing for the next round of this exchange in a very short while, so come and join in the fun!

I was also a member of the Monkey Sock Swap, Stitch Marker Exchange, and Secret Pal 11, although I am not sure if I will participate in the latter again. I received some nice bits and bobs from my pal, and I think my downstream secret pal appreciated her parcels, but sending random stuff is not quite the same as handmaking something for someone.

Speaking of which, I received some amazing handspun skein from Yoshimi (pic to come once I dig it back out of the yarn cupboard!) as part of a Pay It Forward scheme. If any of the 3 people who signed up to receive something from me are reading this - rest assured that I am raring to go after the Christmas present debarcle, and your gifts will be in the post in the near future.

Finally, I must mention a couple of purchases. I was incredibly lucky to become the adoptive parent of Sven, who is of course, a Little Cotton Rabbit.

I have never typed a blog comment so fast as i did to snaffle him, but am very glad I did. Here is Sven posing for you (he took a fancy to other people's Christmas trees and was last seen in our drinks cupboard - I can see that he is going to be a fun rabbit to own!)

Secondly, my sock knitting now travels in style, in one of Monkee Maker's mini totes.

My own monkee made of knit still sadly lies in pieces, but may be revived in the new year so that I can join in with the monkey business spreading like wildfire across the globe.

Next, some plans for 2008. I'm not calling these resolutions as I will never keep them if I do.

I would like to branch out and put my crafty tendencies to good use by making some things to sell. Not sure what yet, but there is a limit to the extent my stash can grow without good reason (or cash).

I will make bigger things. I've already started knitting a hoodie, although I discovered the other day the perils of knitting with variegated yarn and starting a new ball in semi-darkness. Namely, a big stripe right across the back. Sigh. I've decided to press on though as the wool is 50% wool and 10% alpaca, so I think it will probably overdye quite nicely. I'll not be put off though and already have a couple of other 'big' things in the pipeline.

Finally, I will become a 'Fearless knitter'. I think I am already quite fearless, but I'm sure I can be more daring ...

A little brightness to cheer things up a bit

So the previous post was lovely muted greens, greys and blues. Well, how about this to brighten things up a little ...

Amazingly gloriously purple isn't it? This fabulous creation is from the International Scarf Exchange, from my lovely secret pal Rhonda.

But I'm getting ahead of myself ...

My parcel arrived earlier in the week, but due to the fact that the Royal Mail delivers to my street at 1045am (I mean, who is in then?) it veered off before it got through my door and went to stay with some other parcels in the Sorting Office. Unfortunately the sorting office is not in a nice part of town, so I had to wait until it was either light (unlikely at this time of year) or husband was available for driving duties before i could go and get it. but when I did ...


ooh, the dilemma. It was wrapped in christmas paper, and said happy holidays - should I wait until December 25 to open it?

nah! of course not! And look at the many reasons why I should have ripped open the packaging

... gosh, I am lucky aren't I? A loverly skein of Manos cotton yarn in the brightest of all reds, some delicious sounding herbal teas (to calm me down when I get too excited about my knitting - yes, it does happen), and look, look, some Bertie Botts every flavour beans - ISE5 pal you are marvellous. I still haven't found these in the UK, so I was so pleased (yes, I know, small things amuse small minds - hee!) - these will be saved until I spend time with my little (well, 25) brother, and then I think a game of jelly bean russian roulette might be in order ... earthworm flavour anyone???

You can't really see (unbelievably it was too sunny for photos. Mind you, it was also below freezing) but I also got a gorgeous little bird stitch marker, which is now helpfully marking the middle of my Kiri shawl, and a very cute ceramic sheep.


Oh, and I mustn't forget this lucky little chap

But now to the scarf, and what a scarf it is. It is in a gorgeous soft silky yarn, which drapes amazingly, and I absolutely love the viney lace pattern. In fact, I think lace patterns in thicker yarns are fast becoming my favourite thing, so Rhonda, you must be a mind reader. I could effuse about this beautiful object all day, but I have knitting to do, so I will go and wrap myself in it and leave you with a gratuitous scarf shot. enjoy!

Catch up post

Well, it's been a while, for various reasons, so here is a post laden with some yummy knitting goodies. I am in the middle of furiously knitting christmas gifts for various family members, and in fact the only thing I have on my needles for me is my second baudelaire sock. Sigh. Still, this will be remedied after christmas, when I shall knit myself lots of goodies (he he he).

My christmas pressie list is currently running at 6 WIPs, all, for some reason, in really muted colours. Perhaps this is because I am knitting for men, but it really is no excuse. Dad's scarf (don't look dad) is the closest to being finished, as I am running out of yarn. It's a zig zag pattern I picked out of Jan Eatons ripple book, and is turning out lovely, although I am still struggling with the whole 'carry yarn loosely up side of work' aspect of things - it always ends up looking messy so I think I will have to fold the edge under and seam it before I am satisfied.

Secondly, I am in the middle of making warm things for my little brother, who is off to Iowa in January to visit his girlfriend, and where I am reliably informed it will be -23degrees. Thus, we have the very warm hat (Zimmerman)
The outside (or inside) is Freedom Spirit wool in pale grey, blues and a little brown (not really shown in the photo, oddly enough it was rather too bright!). The inside is some lovely silky Wensleydale DK in a very dark navy. For DK it is rather thin, which mean that the knit lining will be quite loose gauge, but I think this will work nicely - don't want his head getting too hot. I do hope this fits - its quite a tight fit on me but I do have quite a large head. Blocking will be the order of the day methinks.

I have also decided (perhaps misguidedly) to make him some thrummed mittens. Thrumming is the process of knitting in bits of fleece (in my case combed Shetland tops) into a fabric See the yarn harlot for comprehensive information.

I'm using the Manly Mitts pattern from knitty.com as my basic mitten pattern, but have added a few extra stitches to accomodate the thrums and the fact that the wensleydale needs smaller needles than you'd think for a DK (not that it isn't lovely, just slightly uninformative - no gauge or needle guide whatsoever on the ball band). So far, it looks like something from another planet, but rest assured I have not murdered some small space creature for the sake of my brothers paws.
We shall see. It could end up huge and ridiculous, but then, I don't think I have made the equivalent of Mark Darcy's cringeworthy jumper in Bridget Jones yet so something had to go pearshaped.

I also have a Kiri shawl (pdf) on the go for my nanna, in some glorious Drops Alpaca, but it currently looks like an crumpled mess so pictures will have to wait until I have blocked it.

Pay it forward

I have discovered that I really like participating in swaps and exchanges. Friends I have spoken to often scoff at the idea, because of the risk involved trusting someone you don't know, will never meet and is likely on a different continent to send you things in return for what you post out. In a way this is true, as my expenditure on the various exchanges has been quite high, and I am still waiting to hear from various people about returns. But this is not the point.

The point is that you can really make a difference to someone by sending them something you have made, or found out specially for them. I think that is the point. I really don't like receiving cash for a gift. Yes, I know it is easy, and some people like my nanna don't have the resources to go out shopping for gifts, which is fair enough, but I would much prefer to receive a handpicked gift worth 50p than a cheque for a lot more. So with the aim of reviving the art of gift giving, I am participating in a couple of 'Pay it Forward' exchanges.

Well, these are not exactly exchanges. I've signed up with a couple of people who will send me a handmade gift of their choosing at some point in the future. In return, I pledge that i will send handmade gifts to three more people, who in turn will pledge ... and so on.

Here is the first pledge:

Pay It Forward Exchange

The Pay It Forward Exchange, where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness pass it forward too.

I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but I promise that it will be sent (within 6 months).What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I will now Pay It Forward to you THREE, I wonder who you will be?! Please, be a PIF! You will enjoy it just as much as we do!

And, remember...you have 6 months to get your gifts done! Come on, you know you would love to be one of my angels. Then, one day, but you don't know when....you will get a gift that I have made especially for YOU!

Please remember, you don't have to knit or crochet to participate, anyone who can make a nice handmade gift is welcome to join.

ISE5 news!

So I got an email a little while ago from my ISE5 pal, saying that she might post my scarf out in the next couple of weeks. Now, is it just me or is that the most exciting news you have ever heard? No? just me then.

It got me thinking about sending my pal's scarf soon too, once I have finished blocking it (turned out that half of the scarf is longer than the other half if you know what I mean - I knitted until I had 50g left and then started from the other end, but I guess there must have been less/more than 50g in the skein. Sigh. Still, it shouldn't be toooo noticeable, unless my pal reads this blog!)

This is not a picture of the scarf I hasten to add. I would not be that stingy! This is the sample I knitted when panicking about the disasters that could happen when blocking a silk/wool yarn in a hard water area. But it all turned out ok, as is the real thing.

It'll be in the post today I think. Hooray!

Stitch markers!

Just a short post to say THANK YOU! to the two lovely Angelas (one American, one Canadian) whose stitch markers I received as part of an exchange in the last couple of weeks.

Not much sunshine here now, so here are some pictures of the lovely things (needed increasingly as my stash and pile of UFOs grow) on a dingy windowsill (note to self, encourage cat to learn how to dust after sitting on windowsills).

A weekend of knitting (I wish)

I've not been blogging much, so much time, so little to do, and so excuse me while I waffle.

This weekend, I suggested a walk in the park. Richmond Park to be precise, 2360 acres of Royal hunting park. It was a glorious afternoon, and we spent several hours wandering about in the woods and fields, getting really close to the deer (fallow and red) which was amazing as the stags are in full rut so had huge antlers.

Then we saw this, and I remembered about London's newest inhabitants:

Photo courtesy of BeardyMan

There must have been literally hundreds of parakeets in that part of the park, and all screaming and screeching at the tops of their voices. There have been some moves in the press to cull the beasties, saying that they are competing (and winning) with the local wildlife, but in my opinion, having the opportunity to see something that funky and exotic on a cold winter's day has to be a good thing.

Of course, in order to get to the park we had to go via Vauxhall tube, so I had the perfect opportunity to nip into IKL, which happened to be having a 'Crafternoon tea', celebrating the launch of Jane Brocket (aka Yarnstorm)'s new book, The Gentle Art of Domesticity. In true gentlemanly fashion, and on promise of a cup of tea and a cake, husband deigned to stay for Jane's talk, and he even bought me my tickets for the Stitch and Bitch day in a couple of weeks (he is very lovely).

Big cat and his ways

I found a lovely basket/trug in a charity shop the other day. It only cost £1.50, which pleased me mightily as I have been looking for one for ages, and next year it will come in handy for collecting all our lovely veg.

However ...

I was rather annoyed (although not altogether surprised) to find this scene in the bedroom late the other night:
He clearly doesn't realise that the basket is too small for him, and that he can't actually curl up properly in it, and that he looks rather silly. He spent the whole night there, on top of a snuggly cardigan that I had foolishly left in the bottom of the basket.

Sigh. I think I may have to go basket shopping again, this time for the puss monster.

Spinning (no, not knitting, in the slightest!)

I've been a little lax in blogging recently, primarily because I work at a computer all day and I am trying hard not to be tied to it at home too. But fear not, I have not been neglecting my blogworthy crafts, so today I bring to you my very first (well, this time round) bit of spinning wheel spinning.

The story goes something like this - a few years ago when i was working at york, I toddled along to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Harrogate, and was persuaded by some very nice Shetlanders (from Jamieson & Smith) that spindle spinning would be great fun, and here, have half a sheep's worth of Shetland combed top to get you going, and 500g of Wensleydale. So I gave it a go and thought it fun. Then a friend at work mentioned that she was in the local Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers and would I like to come along and have a go on her spinning wheel? So I did, and Lo! it was more fun and less hard on the arms (admittedly, after my first go on it one of the legs (of the wheel) broke, but that was apparently not normal and not my fault either!). Then the lovely friend moved to a remote scottish island, proclaimed that she had never got to grips with the wheel anyway, and bequeathed it to me. Hooray!

Then (are you keeping up?) I moved house, twice, and never seemed to find the time to get spinning again. Along the way I acquired a jacob fleece, a bog standard sheep fleece, and two from a Wensleydale/Jacob hybrid creature, all of which are sitting under the stairs smelling sheepy.

Finally, last weekend I was looking at the blogs of my ISE5 secret pals (as a hostess I feel obliged to look out for their blogging wellbeing, and came across this post. Well, there was nothing for it - I snapped. "Spin" I cried, "I must spin or be damned. Just call me Sleeping" (or something like that.

Inevitably, events overcame me (mostly housework, as per usual), but I finally got 5 minutes to myself, and reinitiated myself into the art of the humble wheel. And this is the result:

A small picture for a very waffly post, but I am quite pleased that having only had one spinning lesson I can produce something that, if you squint, could possibly resemble wool.

Roll on next weekend and I'll be churning out skeins of the stuff! (ever the optimist)