KAL vs craftification

I’m currently working on the Crafts from the Cwtch spring knitalong pattern, Miss Winkle. I’m using a stash yarn, a luscious merino silk blend in dark pinks and sage greens.

It’s lovely, and now that I’m over the newly-begun-pattern grumps, the shawl is growing slowly and it’s relatively easy to work with around little ones. But I’m feeling the need to work on something larger to give me a bit more instant craftification (n. craft gratification) …

I’ve been planning a blanket for our new hallway snug sofa for a while. The yarn arrived but other things pushed it down the priority list. Now’s the perfect time to cast it on. It won’t give me finished object craftification anytime soon, but the combination of big wool, big needles and lots of stitches means I will see it grow quickly between my fingers!

Makers at the Makers

A month or so ago, my artist friend Lynne set up a group of like-minded creative mums, planning a skills exchange programme. We meet at a local pub, the Pattenmakers, hence the name. Lynne has run the first couple of sessions so I’ve blundered into the world of still-life, charcoal sketching and observational drawing. Completely out of my comfort zone, but hugely enjoyable as the sessions are the first time I’ve spent any creative time away from my youngest, a welcome break while she spends quality time with her grandparents.

I’ll be running a beginner’s crochet and knitting workshop in a couple of months so I’m busy planning for that. Next month is brooch making, so I’m making a few crochet flowers, I hope people will like them.

More WIPs than FOs

After a few years of knitting and crochet, I have finally caught a case of startitis. This condition generally rears its head in the new year, so I’m a little behind schedule as we heave towards March (already?). My symptoms include lots of scribbling down of plans, raiding my bin bag stash of bargain wools, swatching like crazy (something I have generally not done until recently), hunting online for patterns and filling the traditionally non-woolly areas of the house with piles of yarn, just so it’s to hand if I need it. A moment of clarity made me google startitis and I have a classic case …

Going with the flow for a moment, here’s a list of current WIPs:

Little Bear’s berry flavoured porridge
Rainbow Pogona
Sofa blanket
First ever pair of socks
icord headphones for my niece’s birthday
Shawl for my other niece’s birthday
Second great divide
My first pattern

Oh, and once the idea popped into my head, I really want to yarnbomb the tree in my front garden!

It’s too many! Progress on Little Bear and Pogona is good – it should only take a couple of days of concerted effort to complete the last two squares on the former, and a few nights of insomniacal knitting for the latter (I’m at the 25-minutes-per-row stage now). Additional yarn is on the way for my sofa blanket so I really shouldn’t cast on until that arrives, but it’s too tempting!

New needles

I’ve always used wood for crochet, but chose metal ChiaoGoos when I bought my first set of interchangeable knitting needles a year or so ago. While I’ve enjoyed using them, I’ve been thinking for a while that I wanted to try wood and/or bamboo.

I began by ordering a 100cm fixed circular KnitPro Symfonie 4mm and a pair of bamboo Hiya Hiya 4mm tips with an 80cm cable. I would have preferred a tip/cable combo for the KnitPro so it was a more comparable contest, but didn’t want to splash out on the starter kit.

I’d already swatched for and cast on my mystery rainbow Pogona, and was part-way through the increases when the new needles arrived. I decided to try the Hiya Hiyas first. I loved them from the very first stitch! They are of course grippier than my metal needles, but nowhere near as grippy as I was expecting from things I’d read about bamboo previously. The grippiness allows me to work much more in the tips of my needles than I ever have with metal, and although there can’t be much difference in terms of weight, they are light enough to feel like I have no ‘equipment’ between my fingers, and the fabric is simply being made by my hands. They are great for a slippery yarn like the mystery rainbow. I’m really enjoying working with a thinner, more flexible cable than on my ChiaoGoos, and I think I’ll be much happier working magic loop with them. The cable also has the ability to swivel, so I no longer find myself twiddling the needle round to the correct angle at the start of each row.

I was so impressed with them that I was very tempted not to try the KnitPros at all, well, at least not until I started a different project. But in the interests of fairness (and setting out what I originally intended to do – to road-test different needles on the same pattern/wool), I switched to them about a third of the way through the Pogona. They lasted only a few rows before swapping back! Although the wood was smoother, it felt waxier than the bamboo and ironically grippier. I was not impressed by the join, even though it was a fixed rather than an interchangeable tip, and there was a slight burr on one tip (something I have also experienced with their crochet hooks).

I’ve already ordered a set of the Hiya Hiyas; for me they won hands down!

And the winner is …

Pogona!

Swatching was spot on for gauge, so I cast on, frogging the garter tab a couple of times before being happy with it. I’m following the modified yarn overs, but I’m not sure I’m doing them correctly, or if I’m happy with the results yet. Giving it a bit longer before I decide …

Mystery yarn

This beautiful yarn arrived today. I’m not normally a rainbow fan, but the listing peaked my curiosity (unknown brand, blend and weight). The seller guessed it had some silk content and was DK weight. You can definitely smell the silk, and it is luxuriously soft, but I’ve measured about 15 wpi, so I’m guessing it’s more of a fingering/sock weight than DK. It’s the first time I’ve attempted to work out wpi though, so I could be wrong.

The biggest mystery will be what to make. It’s such a soft yarn that it begs to be worn next to the skin, so I’m thinking a small shawl, cowl or scarf. The two skeins weigh just over 100g so if I’m right about the weight I should have about 450m to work with, squeeee!

Off for one of my favourite pastimes, pattern hunting … I might even swatch to see how the colours pool. Until recently I didn’t really make swatches, but I’m beginning to realise how important they are now I’m beginning to design my own patterns (more on that another time).

I’m back!

Real life definitely caught up with me over the last few months. I won’t go into details as this blog is for my crafty life, but I’m back and have been crafting!

I have tons of ideas brewing, have several WIPs underway and a bustling notebook. I don’t normally have new year’s resolutions, but this year I want to reupholster my sad old rocking chair and challenge myself to read at least 12 books from 1964.

What are your plans for 2014?

Progress!

A while ago I posted the beginnings of a 2013 to do list. I’m updating here as I’ve finally made some progress:

1. Complete my current WIP: insomniacal granny unstripe blanket (for a baby due in June) FINISHED

2. Wrap-pod conversion FINISHED
3. Milo or Puerperium for baby small
4. Knitted monkey for baby small’s 1st birthday (September)
5. Several crocheted items from Kat Goldin’s Crochet at Play which arrived this week FIRST ITEM ALMOST COMPLETE
6. Craft Fairy items for the Natural Mamas gift swap FINISHED
7. Knitted item for me going into autumn/winter

Natural Mamas’ latest round of the Craft Fairy gift swap has just finished with a flourish this weekend. I was pleased with the items I made, and think I was realistic in my ambitions and timings, as I didn’t want to over-commit myself. Now that it’s done, I’m thinking of what comes next.

I started the lovely cabled yoke cardigan from Crochet at Play before Craft Fairy, but put it aside for the sake of secret crafting. It’s almost complete now, but frustratingly I ran out of yarn with the second sleeve and buttonbands still to do. Happily I managed to track down additional yarn with the same dye lot, but it’ll take a day or two to arrive and I want to plan other lovelies!

Craft Fairy always showcases beautiful makes. This season featured a lot of shawls and I’ve decided to make one for a wedding I’m going to in July. As that’s only a few weeks away and I’m a very slow knitter, I was inspired to try the Elise crochet pattern, which looks so beautiful when blocked. It’s quite a departure for me as I tend to wear chunky scarves, but it’s just so pretty.

So off yarn-shopping then – my favourite activity, after making of course!

Shhhhhhh …

I’d like to say that my recent silence has been because I’m silently crafting away, too busy to stop for updates. In the last few days that has been a little bit true, but mostly it has been real life and sleep taking over, blended with some secret crafting for a gift swap on the Natural Mamas forum, which I can’t post about for obvious reasons.

I have finished my homemade podaegi though …

Will post a full tute when I get more time, honest 😉

Darwinism in action

Just over a week ago I declared myself to be a crafter in the order of monkey, someone who likes to challenge themselves with each project and implying a degree of sequentialism in their work. Ha! I am now transmuted into house of bee, where I am truly polywipamous and flit between projects when attracted by shiny new things.

Having decided to take part in this spring’s round of Craft Fairy, I emailed in my completed questionnaire before yesterday’s deadline and had confirmation of my fairee. I’ve had a few ideas about the gifts I will send, but I must remember that we only have a month or so to complete and send the items, so I need to be imaginative, creative, fiendishly stalk my fairee and above all be scope-realistic!

This week’s shiny new thing has been the arrival of yarn for the cabled yoke cardigan from Crochet at Play which I’m making for baby small. Ordered yesterday, arrived today, on the hook this evening. I love the almost-instant gratification of my craft.