adventures in blogging

#4KCBWDAY6 – a tool to covet

Posted on April 27, 2013April 25, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I’m a big fan of two at a time, magic loop, toe up socks.
So much so I think I need an acronym as I write that phrase so often. TAATMLTUS doesn’t really have a ring to it.

When I figured out this was my preferred knitting project I treated myself to a set of Addi Turbos 2.5mm 80cm.

I’ve found even though I prefer bamboo for most other projects, I prefer metal for socks. I have quite a collection of bamboo circulars either in hat length or magic loop length in most sizes. I bought them from eBay when I first started knitting and didn’t really know what I needed.

My addi is slightly bent. But I haven’t knit a pair of socks on anything else since I bought it.
I know how many stitches I need and adapt sock patterns to my needles.

This apparently is how they want to be photographed.

It’s pretty amazing that they’re free! It’s probably so that I can get to work on my mascot project as soon as I finish my deadline knitting.

My addis in action!

#4KCBWDAY5 – and now for something completely different

Posted on April 26, 2013April 26, 2013 by bekswhoknits

Day 5 4KCBWDAY5
And now for something completely different….

This was so much fun. I didn’t think it was going to be, but thank you Knitting And Crochet Blog Week (I still have difficulty saying that) for getting me out of my comfort zone and in front of a camera. This was actually quite scary, not to make, but uploading it for all of you to see (although I do take comfort that it probably won’t be found by anyone but other knitters who are mostly non-judgemental).

So say hi to me and my couch!!
My first ever vlog, where I find out just how often I say ‘pretty!’, that the train noise is actually pretty loud (I’m so used to it), and I really do have a short attention span.

#4KCBWDAY4 – Colour Review

Posted on April 25, 2013April 25, 2013 by bekswhoknits

Hello my name is Bek and I have pink and teal hair. (Hi Bek!)

I don’t think I’ll be too surprised when I actually look in my stash to see that I like a lot of the same colours.

Black, charcoal, grey, and white are staples. Plus tardis blue (and other variations), Port Adelaide teal, pale sunshine yellow, and every shade of pink that catches my eye.

I know that I’m going through a green phase at the moment too.
I’m not very discriminate when it comes to colour.

I am one of the .2% of females who are colour blind. Which does pose a bit of a problem when it comes to buying yarn.
I’ve tended to steer away from picking colours to match each other. If my bloke isn’t with me in the shop (yarn shopping isn’t his favourite past time- just as fishing lure shopping isn’t mine) I stick to self striping yarn, or basic combinations like my last white, black, and blue blanket.
I find etsy shopping easier because there’s less decisions to make holding up yarns and asking strangers if these two colours look the way I think they look.

I can see colours if I concentrate. But I can’t tell a red or green traffic light from a difference. Telling the difference between shades has always been a problem too. I remember getting in trouble at primary school for using a blue pencil when I should have used a purple one (they looked the same to me). I remember getting in trouble at high school for wasting time searching for a red cricket ball in brown leafs. Once again I couldn’t see the difference. I still have to concentrate watching cricket or else I lose the red ball in the green grass (depending on the shades of course).

It probably influences my photography more than my knitting, because I think I’m getting the colours right but they could be completely different. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t make much of a difference.

The first yarn I ever bought was a pink splitty yarn.

This is my latest yarn haul from yarnvszombies. I’ve signed up for a yarn club (my first one) which will be fun this year.

And then there’s my football team colours. I will have feminine football merchandise even if I have to make it myself.

#4KCBWDAY3 – Infographic

Posted on April 24, 2013April 24, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I have a thing for flow charts and process mapping.
It’s something that I really enjoy and I’ve always think I’ve been good at finding ways to make things more efficient and (I’m trying not to say cutting out non-value adding tasks but I think I’ve outed myself as a bit of a geek anyway so hell) removing non-value adding tasks.
I like to say laziness is the mother of all invention.

So putting together a flowchart to illustrate my knitting project decision making process seemed like a no brainier.

And I’ve now rambled on which probably defeats the purpose of creating an Infographic.

It’s a wonder I get anything done at all!!!

If I was doing a process analysis on that one I think there’s a lot of non-value added activity there.
But that’s half the fun.

#4KCBWDAY2 – a mascot project

Posted on April 23, 2013April 25, 2013 by bekswhoknits

Think of a bee
You are it’s knees
You waft through me like a summers breeze
Can I come round on Tuesday please
– a Bernard Black poem

Black and yellow stripes bore me. I’m not a Richmond fan, nor am I an extra from flight of the bumblebees.
So picking a pattern to match my house animal I thought would be difficult.

Starting where I usually start, I typed in “bee” into ravelry. (I wonder if they’ve noticed an increase in certain house animal search terms over the last few days. I also wonder how many results Manatee brings up. 9. Nine whole patterns.)

After browsing for a while, favouriting a few patterns, looking at what’s in my stash I usually gravitate towards socks.

Eventually my search screen looks a bit like this.

Hopefully one will take my fancy. In this case I found it.

I check the pattern notes, see if there are any red flags, before downloading it to my iPad and having a good read of the pattern.
It’s one has a couple of new techniques which I’m looking forward to trying out. The stitch pattern is really pretty, plus it has a provisional cast on which I haven’t tried before.

Plus I have sock yarn which is perfect! I am actively resisting not casting on immediately! But more on that tomorrow.

This exercise has become a little torturous. Now I have a gorgeous pattern which I can’t cast on until I finish my Mother’s Day Hitchhiker.
Aawwwwe.
It’s I’d why I can’t look at ravelry while I have a deadline project.

Pretty!!!

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week – Day 1 #4KCBWDAY1

Posted on April 22, 2013April 22, 2013 by bekswhoknits

This year I’m not on holiday (boo) like I was during last year’s Knitting and Crochet Blog Week so I get to participate (yay!).

I am so excited to be participating in the fantastic initiative which is Knitting and Crochet Blogging Week.
For those who don’t know what’s going on (like I did last year, I had no idea it was even a thing until I noticed knitting bloggers mysteriously blogging about the same thing at the same time) Knitting and Crochet Blog Week is a week of posting, where every day is about a different topic. The topics are decided here, and some of them are taking me out of my comfort zone, as well as making me think creatively about knitting.
I still think the best part is reading what other people have to say on the same subject.

Day 1 (4KCBWDAY1) is deciding which of the 4 houses I fit in to.
I could quite easily be a peacock because, well, look at my hair, clearly I’m attracted to bright colours. I drool over brightly coloured yarns on etsy, and day dream about tardis blue, pale sunshine yellow, and every shade of pink.

My Manatee side is me relaxed whilst taking comfort in what I’m creating. Its curling up on the couch with my favourite crocheted blanket, needles gently clicking in my hands.

The curious part of me which wanted to learn knitting in the first place is definitely House Monkey. My Monkey side also keeps me learning new things, trying new patterns, and taking me out of my comfort zone.

But they’re all just parts of me. I’m a Peacock in the Summer, a Manatee in the Winter, and a Monkey when restlessness strikes. I’m always a Bee.

I feel unproductive whenever I don’t have needles in my hand, and I often drift off to sleep visualising the last stitch pattern I was working on. (If you were wondering, rib stitch is particularly calming to visualise, more so than actually knitting it.)
I’ve demonstrated that I’m poly-WIP-erous on many occasions, just as a Bee should be.

Knitting is a way to improve my patience and attention span. Though I still gravitate to quick projects, particularly if one gets too boring.

So I’m proud to be Team Bee!

And the winner is….

Posted on April 8, 2013April 8, 2013 by bekswhoknits

Typical90schild!!!

Congrats. I’ll be contacting you soon to organise your prize.

Thank to all of you for your support. It really does mean a lot that you took the time to have a look at my little corner of the Internet.

This also ticks off number 1 and number 2 of my 13 in 2013 project!

Thank you all!!!

Giveaway Time!!!! with Piccadilly Lilly!!!!

Posted on March 26, 2013April 23, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I’d like to introduce you to Piccadilly Lilly.

Lilly has a knack for finding cute fabrics and making them into pretty bows, hearts, and all sorts of lovely creations which you just want to adopt.
And somehow she found the most perfect fabric to suit my hair from the opposite side of the world!

So to celebrate the grand opening of my etsy shop, I’ve paired up with Picadilly Lily to bring you a bow-themed giveaway!

If you’re the lucky winner you will receive
– 2 ravioli bows (from Lilly)
– 1 bow cup cozy (from Me)
+ 1 felt ring (made by Lilly for good luck)

(No wine was harmed in the photoshoot for this post.)

So here’s how you enter.
Please leave a comment for each entry.

Go to my brand spanking new etsy shop Sparkles Knits and favourite me.

Go to Piccadilly Lilly’s lovely shop and favourite her.

Plus you can also
Follow me on facebook
Follow me on twitter

Please comment if you’re already following me. I don’t want to penalise anyone just because you’re trend setters and ahead of the curve.

A random number generator will pick the winner from the comments!
Please make sure when you comment that you leave me a way to contact you.
And it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, I will ship internationally.
This giveaway will close on April 7th, and then I’ll draw the winner!

Next Step Sock Sockalong

Posted on February 12, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I’ve gone a little cable crazy. I’ve cast on two cable projects in the last week, one of which is dangerous turns.

These are a good candidate for the Next Step Sock Sockalong (hosted by crafts form the cwtch and is about stepping out of the sock comfort zone and trying something new).

Firstly I’m knitting these out of cotton. Which I haven’t knitted with before. I have no idea if they’ll make nice socks but I wanted to give it a go. I’m a bit tired of using Noir all the time and I’ve promised myself not to buy it again, but I was in Spotlight and wanted instant gratification yarn, so I bought Panda Regal 4ply Cotton.

Secondly I’m knitting cables without a cable needle. I’m a cable beginner, who naively assumed that there was only 2 types of cables.
Well there aren’t. And last week they had me beat. The tutorial I used didn’t cover what to do when there was purling involved. And stubborn old me wasn’t about to use a cable needle.

Fortunately the answer came to me in a dream.
After nearly throwing them across the room, frogging them, and sobbing into my cotton, I wisely decided that I would sleep on it.
After dreaming about knitting (is this common?) I had the answer.

All of a sudden the cables fell into place and I knew what to do.
So I manually transposed the stitches. Once I had done that I could knit and purl as I pleased.

And then last night I figured out how to do it in one clean swoop, the grumperina way. And it seems so simple I don’t know why I didn’t get it before.

So these are my next step socks.
I’m hoping now that I’ve got the cables figured out for good and the early cables don’t look too rubbish in comparison.
Or that I forget it all and can’t figure it back our.
Or that I have actually ‘got it’ and haven’t just made something up which doesn’t work.

Eep, maybe I’m not as confident about cables as I thought I was!!

Fudgy Nutella Biscuits

Posted on January 22, 2013January 23, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I’d like to say I could improve this recipe from Ambitious Kitchen , but I can’t. It’s practically perfect in nearly every way.

I didn’t think it was going to work. When I mixed it with the hand mixer it just went everywhere.
So I kneaded it a bit before putting it in the freezer.

Even once it was in the oven after 10 minutes it didn’t look right. But I smushed it down a bit (that’s a technical term) and bung it in the oven for a bit longer.

I thought the sea salt was a touch of genius, but the other half didn’t agree and thought I was mad.
If he wants biscuits without sea salt he can make them himself.
Ok that’s a bit harsh, but don’t mess with genius.

Nutella biscuits to solve all ones problems.