adventures in knitting

More pretty yarn and a warm blanket

Posted on August 26, 2014August 26, 2014 by bekswhoknits

I’ve decided what to do with the yarn I dyed.

This blanket fulfills two main aims.
A) it shows off the colours of the hand dyed yarn really well &
2) it gives me loads and loads of mindless, therapeutic garter stitch.

I need the mindless repetition of doing the same motion over and over like you wouldn’t believe.
There is stress coming out of my eyeballs, bruises emerging from me trying to quell the pain in my arms and legs, things to organise, things I can’t organise and the only way I’m barely sane is that repetition of knitting.

I’m vaguely working on a pattern.
Cast on a bucket load of stitches (200 odd. I did attempt to do math and make a pattern but decided to go for simple)
One row solid, 3 rows variegated.
And when I’ve finished with one colour I start with the next.

It is guzzling yarn! I’ve stopped at spotlight to buy more (Moda Vera pure wool 50g) and dyed that up, but I’m estimating I’ll need at least 9 more balls.

But the next 6 are dyed and ready to go.

These gorgeous flowers are growing in our front garden on the tree that our passionfruit vine grows on. I decided to try and use it as an inspiration picture.

It gave me a chance to experiment with dyeing methods. And it looks so pretty!!! I’m absolutely kicking myself for not taking a picture of it all skeined up. I can’t believe I don’t have one on my phone! I’m very disappointed with myself. Unfortunately my favourite skein has become tangled whilst winding.

So it’s current status is sitting in the naughty corner (exactly where it is now) until I can work up the energy to untangle it. Hopefully without having to cut it. That would really annoy me.

Little things that are making me happy

Posted on July 28, 2014July 28, 2014 by bekswhoknits

*electronic stitch counters that tell me exactly where I’m at in a pattern

*finding flowers pressed in a book that you forgot all about

*pretty knitwear in movies

*tea selections arriving in the mail

*yarn just waiting to be dyed- full of potential

*nail polish the exact same colour as my glasses with chipped paint

*glittery socks

*doctor who yarn club deliveries

*eyemasks with headphones in them

*being greeted by the giant ball of hair known as Cookie-Dog

FO11 – topographie hat

Posted on July 14, 2014July 14, 2014 by bekswhoknits

I don’t know which yarn fairy* I’ve pleased but Ravelry is now available for me to peruse from my work PC.
Previously it was in the same list as facebook, twitter, and pintrest and whenever I tried to access it, instead I got a red screen telling me that Ravelry was not an acceptable website to view at work.

Of course I absolutely agreed with that decision! The last thing I need is for my already short attention span to be distracted by another SQUIRREL!!! I mean time wasting website, when I’m desperately trying to focus on work.

But I do get a lunch break, which I usually spend untangling my brain and catching up on blogs, news, and now I can catch up on all thing Ravelry.

Which has made me realise just how neglected my account has been this year. And also how many more objects I’ve finished that I had forgotten about. (My Sisters Knitter recently blogged about why we remember what’s unfinished more than what we’ve finished. It’s worth a read as well as the Psychology Today article which inspired it.)

My topographie hat somehow made a mention in Knitting & Crochet Blog Week, but then I forgot about uploading any photos or updating my projects page.

Which is unusually odd as I actually wear this hat all the time! I love it’s slouchiness, and I think the pattern really makes the colours pop.

The yarn used is a custom dye from Ladybug Fibre Company in the colourway I call ‘Port Adelaide Agression’.
It’s Teal, Black, and Grey self striping in fingering weight, which I’ve held double. The pattern then asks you to watch what the colours do and so whenever the two strands matched I purled instead of knitted. I think it creates a bit of interest in what would otherwise be a pretty basic hat.

*the yarn fairy may just be my work-friend in IT whose daughter is learning to knit and so I keep sending him ravelry links of things which might help her out.
He’s probably annoyed that he can’t open them at work so he waved his magic IT wand.
It’s nice having friends in IT.

FO10 – SPARKLE SHAWL!!!!

Posted on July 10, 2014July 10, 2014 by bekswhoknits

Remember that gorgeous yarn from my lame attempt at video blogging?
Well I’ve made it into a shawl. and it is epically awesome.

The yarn is yarnvszombies Vampire (75/20/5 Merino/Nylon/Sparkle) Sock Yarn in a colourway inspired by the Fourth Doctor.
The pattern is 22.5 degrees by Martina Behm.

The construction is so simple it was my football knitting for many weeks. Something to keep my fingers moving and not stress drinking or eating, but simple enough that I could still concentrate on what I was watching and not take my eyes off the screen.

The row of scallops made me really nervous. They just didn’t look right on the needle.
Even though I had never made knitted scallops there was something about them. Fortunately I ignored that instinct because once I began to cast off it all fell into place and looked like it should.

I can’t wait to make another one and experiment with different yarn types and different gauges.
It would also be a great base for trying other decorative edgings.

Stop! Pajama time

Posted on June 17, 2014 by bekswhoknits

It’s bloody cold here at the moment.
And that’s not just me saying that, a radio announcer said that exact quote last week.

So I figured that the first project from Tilly and the Buttons – Love at First Stitch would be the Margot Pajamas.

I wanted them to be warm so I stopped by the local grocery store and picked up some flannelette sheets (which were on special – $10 reduced from $25!)

Tracing the pattern onto baking paper was the hardest part. I tried 3 different types of tape and about 5 different pens before I found a combination that vaguely worked. Even then they look a bit mangled.

Cutting out using Tillys instructions was almost easy!
Considering that’s the part which has tripped my up in my sewing adventures before that’s a win!

Then I diligently set about to sewing the pieces together. Even using the zigzag stitch to finish the edges which I’d never done before.

Once I’d sewn the legs together I looked at the instructions for the crotch and realised I’d sewn the two fronts together and the two backs together.
I had to unpick and start again.

But I won’t be making that mistake again!!!!

After that they went off without a hitch.
Ta-da!!! Pajamas!!!!

Too lazy to write. – FO9 Seafoam Shawlette

Posted on June 6, 2014June 5, 2014 by bekswhoknits

Shawlette Pattern

Tilly & The Buttons Book

yarn vs zombies

My shop

The tablecloth incident

FO #8 Sunshine & Lollipops

Posted on May 28, 2014 by bekswhoknits

I still don’t know what quite possessed me to make a bright yellow cardigan.

I guess it’s like when you see a paint sample and it looks really pretty, but then you put it on the wall and are overwhelmed by the overall effect.

When I was surrounded by the 40% off all yarn sale, with all those yarn fumes and balls of squishy goodness, the yellow Moda Vera Ayanna looked beautiful.

Teeny-tiny needles are not my friends at the moment so I’ve been looking for bulky yarns and chunky patterns.

Fezziwig absolutely flew off the needles relatively speaking. It still took me about a month to finish but as someone who is trying NOT to knit it still felt like it was going quickly. The construction was really easy, sure picking up 200+ stitches was a bit of a pain, but not having to attach sleeves more than made up for that. I’m terrified of patterns that have attached sleeves. It just sounds like a recipe for disaster.

The best thing about it is that it’s so warm. It’s like wearing a wooly blanket made from sunshine and lollipops with pockets!!!

FO 5, 6, & 7 – A couple of shawls

Posted on April 17, 2014 by bekswhoknits

It’s the middle of April and we’re STILL having 30 degree days!
I just want to wear jeans already!
And these two shawls that have been finished and blocked for ages now but can’t bear to wear them yet.

So no awkward modelling, but you can admire them from afar.

The green one is Multnomah made from Invictus Yarns Determination which was a dream to knit with. Except that it was previously had frogged yarn, but that’s not the yarns fault.

The purple one is Terribly Simple made from my own hand dyed yarn! I added a simple cable down the centre to add a bit of something special to it.
I’m so impressed with my dyeing job.
Totally love both of them and can’t wait for it to be cool enough for me to wear them. Obviously I’m more in love with my hand-dye because I could only find one photo of the multnomah.

(What the last pattern is is a mystery to me, but it’s yarn from Yarn vs Zombies Doctor Who yarn club so I must have finished it this year. I just don’t remember when. Maybe some yarn fairies came in and made it for me in my sleep.)

FO5 – a Liz Lemon hat

Posted on March 27, 2014March 27, 2014 by bekswhoknits

I’ve been watching a lot of 30 Rock lately and I’ve been very distracted by the knitwear of Liz Lemon.

The lady rocks the knits.

(this one is even on ravelry

And so I knew I needed a kickarse slouchy hat with a big pompom. So I found a suitable hat pattern, borrowed some moda vera marvel soft from my blanket stash, and even made a very poor pompom.

Bitches get stuff done.

FO 4 – all about hats

Posted on March 20, 2014 by bekswhoknits

I was fortunate enough to be given a copy of She Makes Hats to review.

I always enjoy hearing other people’s stories and am particularly curious about how other people got the knitting bug.

About 10 pages in I had already decided that Robyn and I were going to be friends.
She Makes Hats tells the story of Robyn and how she fell into knitting and decided that she would make 1000 hats and give them away.

Motivated by a need for knitting and noticing all the cold heads that needed warming she set to work and is now knitting 10,000 hats!!!! I won’t go into too much of her story because she tells it better than I ever could.

If that completely hooks you in, (as it did me) I’ve got a digital copy
to giveaway.
I wouldn’t be giving it away if I didn’t like it and think you would like it too. The only criticism that I have is that it didn’t have enough pictures. Fortunately Robyn’s bloghas all the pretty pictures of hats that you could ask for.

To enter this giveaway, leave me a comment about your favourite hat or hat pattern and I’ll randomly pick a winner next Friday 28th March.

In other hat news, I finished a Gwen Slouch hat.

This will be given to my Mum who recently had a shonky haircut. You know those haircuts when you want one thing and the hairdresser completely ignores you? She had a hairdresser who had little consideration for her hair. And so she is in need of my hat collection.

Dad will be required to collect a hat or two, but absolutely cannot be trusted to choose a suitable hat for mum, so I made her a video so she could choose herself.
Dear ol’ Dad has many lovely qualities, but his taste in hats is somewhat questionable. The hamburg hat at the end of the video is proof enough!!!!