adventures in knitting

Riff socks

Posted on June 15, 2012June 20, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Well this is my second attempt at Riff socks.

The first one (if you’re playing along at home) was a disaster.

The second pair were a little better.

Firstly, I do love the bare pattern. So much that I’ve cast on another pair with the same needles (2.5mm addis), same yarn (Moda Vera noro purple blend), same amount of stiches (60 all up – 30 a side) just without the riff part.

The riff part simply took too long. And it isn’t really seem worth it in the end.
It doesn’t stand out like I thought it would. It needs a plain coloured yarn choice.

I’m not the biggest fan of long socks, so I cut these short after three repeats of the normal pattern. I did start the transition pattern, but they were getting too long for me.
They would have looked fantastic, but I wouldnt have worn them. And I am a selfish knitter.

I’m only going to knit things for people who want them.

Maybe if someone looks at my socks, and says that they’d want a pair but longer I’d knit them properly.
But for now I think in retiring this pattern. Well the riff part anyway.

Cozy stews and Nanna blankets.

Posted on June 12, 2012June 11, 2012 by bekswhoknits

If there’s on theme that has kept cropping up in the last week it’s cozy.

I have an appreciation for all the seasons. Sometimes I think that we should have 1 month of each and that would solve all my problems.

The first month of every season is the best. In summer you start to wear pretty floral dresses without tights, and the heat is warm and inviting. By the time February comes round, the 40 degree days seem longer and the nights aren’t balmy they’re just exhaustingly hot.
We’re just beginning winter and so the jackets and hoodies are out of the cupboard. And everything is cozy. In two months time my bones will be cold and no amount of wooly socks, hot casseroles or squishy cowls will warm me up.

Well maybe this casserole might.

I really was impressed with myself.

the ingredients
500gm diced lamb
1/4 cup flour
1 diced onion
400gm tin chopped tomatoes
1 cup beef stock
1 cup beer
1 cup diced mushrooms
1 tbl spoon gravy powder
Dash worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper

the recipe
Fry the onions and garlic in olive oil. Once cooked put in casserole dish. (note: if your casserole dish doesn’t fit in the oven with other trays in, take them out now)

Brown the lamb in the same pot. Add flour and cook the flour a bit.
Once that’s brown, add the beer and beef stock. Bring to the boil.

Chop the mushrooms and put in the casserole dish.
Add the tin of tomatoes, worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.
Add the boiling lamb mixture and stir.
Add some herbs if you like (I added dried oregano and fresh rosemary)

Put in a 220 degree oven with the lid on.

Cook for 1 hour 30. While this is cooking make the dumplings.
Put the dumplings in the casserole at 1hr30 and cook for another 30 minutes with the lid off.

the dumplings
1 cup self raising flour
60gms cubed butter
1/2 cup grated cheese (Mmm Colby)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup milk

Rub the butter and flour together to make breadcrumbs. Then add the cheese and oats. Slowly add the milk until the mixture just combines.

Roll into even balls and place on top of casserole.

Wait for casserole to heat up the entire house and make it smell delicious.

Serve with potato bake and fresh green beans.

Await praise from boyfriend who helps himself to seconds.
Try and not lick the plate in front of said boyfriend.

Ahh the beginning of winter when the casseroles are cozy and the Nanna blankets are just warm enough.

(my 10 stitch blanket is coming along nicely btw)

Sport, movies, rain

Posted on June 11, 2012June 11, 2012 by bekswhoknits

It was definitely a weekend to stay inside and keep cozy.

Apart from going to my local to watch my boys lose and wait for a non-existent roast, which only in hindsight wasn’t worth leaving the house for.

So inside I stayed and knitted. I finished off my Riff socks (but more on those on Friday) and immediately cast on anothe pair with the same needles and yarn and basic pattern (without the riff part).

I then wore said socks for the rest of the weekend.

I finished watching firefly. Cried at the appropriate points during Serenity. And wished that there was more.

Then needing more Joss Whedon (I finally got around to seeing The Avengers last Tuesday so I’m in a Joss mood) I started watching Angel.

It might take me a while to get into it.

So my weekend wasn’t spent with my nose in a book as I originally intended, but I did keep my (warm and cozy) feet up.

Tea cozy

Posted on June 8, 2012June 8, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I was struck the other day when I was at the post office.
They always get you when you’re waiting in line to pick up a parcel, and all you can do is look at the books, DVDs, nick-nacks that are on the shelves.

I spotted these two books and after reading a bit of them in line I had to have them.

I started reading the knitting section, realised that the author really knew what she was talking about, and that there were sections on things I didnt even know about.
Then I saw the sewing one and thought if its the same quality as the knitting section this will be a great investment.
And I have learnt so much.

They were both $25 each, from Australia Post but I’ve liked them both so far.

And my first creation inspired by one of these books is my tea cup cozy.

The reason I was at the post office was that my new favourite jeans had a hole in them, and so I’d ordered another pair. But they were $40 and if you spent $50 you got free postage. So I spent just a little bit more than that. But one of the things I bought was this mix it cup with a pink mix it lid .
For $4 I now have a new tea cup which I can take on the train in the mornings.

But it gets a bit hot, so using on of the basic cables in the book I made a cozy for it.

I have to say I’m not all that happy with it.
I forgot how much Moda Vera Ella stretches. And so most of the time it ends up falling off the cup.

But it was so quick to make i’ll probably make another one really soon.
I’m thinking maybe a bow – that would be really cute.

Has anyone ever made a tea cozy?? Any tips I should know about??

Lesson learnt.

Posted on June 4, 2012June 4, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Always, always write down why projects you’re working on.

Particularly when you run out of yarn and don’t know when you’ll buy more.
Particularly when it ends up being about 6 months between shopping trips.

Because you’ll probably forget what pattern you were working too. There’s a lot of lacy baktus scarf patterns around.

Lesson number 2? When you don’t know what pattern you’re using, put a lifeline in place so when you have to frog back it’s a bit easier.

And frog back I did. 4 times.

I really was ready to thrown the damn thing out the window. Perhaps use it as a mop, or leave it in a draw with velcro.
But I persevered and ended up finding this photo still on my phone.

So apologies to whoever created the pattern because I’ve lost all other evidence.

But I’ve finished the damn thing and now I don’t know what to do with it.
I really don’t like it.
It’s not something I would ever wear, and dear ol Mumsi took one look at it and declared it not to be her either.

So it will sit in the gift bin until someone deserving comes along.

It’s such a pretty yarn too (Moda Vera Beauvardia) and fortunately I have a lot left to make something that’s actually pretty.

A slice of organic life

Posted on May 21, 2012May 20, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I was given this book a few years ago now, and it’s since become a constant companion.

It’s quite light on, but it does give a nice overview about living organically.

It makes me day dream about keeping pigs, and making jam, and living more sustainable.

I’m quite glad that my Mister shares these dreams and aspirations (even if he day dreams of chickens, ducks, geese, and weiros, which would be slightly more useful, but not quite as relaxing for this bird-fearing girl).

Last Christmas I started a trend of all handmade gifts. This year I intend on continuing that, but I do want to diversify. I also want to have those ‘last minute gifts’ handy in the cupboard.

So I spent most of this weekend knitting up dishcloths.
I felt very proud of myself as they were wish homespun yarn from our recent Bridgetown Adventure.

At the time I felt a little disappointed with this yarn, because I just didn’t know what to do with it. It is quite coarse and doesn’t feel nice on your skin; it wouldn’t be good for clothing.
But it is knitting up into dishcloths quite nicely, and I can see them being quite good for exfoliating cloths.

This is why I started looking through that book. I think these would be lovely presents with a home made lavender soap.
I have a lovely lavendar plant in my garden, which is very underused.
Unfortunately this book didn’t have a recipe for soap, but I will make a carrot soup tonight.

The rib goes marching two by two

Posted on May 18, 2012May 18, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I really can’t tell you much about this one.

It’s made from gifted stash yarn, in 2×2 rib, until I used up the ball.

It is pretty though. And because the yarn changes weights it looks really specky.

But it’s a simple rib which took no time at all.
Just like this blog post.
Which is good because life has been manic this week and I’m out the door again!!!
Have a good weekend everyone!

The moral of this story is the point we hope we’ve made

Posted on May 11, 2012May 7, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Reading a knitting chart after 3 white wines is never advisable.
Not the first time you read it, nor the second, and you should know better by the third.

Well I do know better now it’s the third but, this riff sock has had be confounded.
Obviously after a few white wines I don’t know my left from right, or my
Because I’ve done this twice now.

The first time I persisted, mainly because I was driving (passenger seat) and naively assumed that the pattern would eventually ‘make sense’. Well it did, but only when I read it correctly.
I eventually persisted and ended up with my laughing stock socks.
These were a failure from start to finish.

The second time was me being careless. I forgot about the previous failure (I don’t quite know how as they were quite literally on the Mr’s feet in front of me) and I didn’t double check the pattern properly.
Needless to say this time I frogged them and have since started again.

The other ones weren’t quite so lucky.
I made them on 3.5 mm needles. Which was too big for the sock pattern but too small for the yarn. So they are huge. Too big even for the Mr’s size 12 man-feet.
Then there was the pattern error at the beginning of the sock, but also at the cuff section.
And then I was so sick of them instead of fixing them I just finished the round of pattern and started the rib.
So they don’t fit properly around the heel.

So they’re my laughing stock socks.

Although I will say one thing about them, they’re nice and squidgy. And the pattern does look ok if you follow it properly.

So I’m casting on again. Let’s see if I can learn from my mistakes.

I didn’t have the heart to take more photos.

And if you’re wondering about the title of this post??? It’s the last line of this video.

I made cushions!!

Posted on May 10, 2012May 1, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I can make cushion covers.
I can sew straight seams. Ok well it took me a little while and a I had to unpick a couple, but I got there in the end.

When Spotlight recently had a 30% off everything sale I picked up some quilting flats. They’re 40×40 cm squares and pretty much made for cushion making.

Its all straight seams with an opening to put the inserts in.
Pretty easy and ended up less than $10 for two.

(I know that there’s a pretty black polka-dot fabric in there, but I don’t want to talk about it – there was a cushion disaster)

Totally cute and I can’t wait to make more to shake things up. Maybe next time I’ll get a little more adventurous like these gorgeous ones by .

And here’s me trying out spin cam…
http://spincam.net/s/ghpu/i