Happy New Year

Projects from 2018 - the sock bug has well and truly taken hold.  Health and happiness to all in 2019.

Hope all is well out there ...

Jane xx

Autumn days

Since my last post, when we were all knee-deep in snow, summer's been and gone (which included a long, and sometimes quite uncomfortable, heatwave) and we're now coming towards the end of what's been a glorious autumn.  I'm not keen on the shorter days, but the autumn colours have been amazing this year and they match my dog perfectly :)

My knitting needles haven't been idle, the sock collection is growing, in fact, it's becoming a bit of a habit and the sock needles are never empty and I'm pleased to be able to start wearing a shawl I finished in April (just in time for the warm weather - my timing is hopeless).  

I had planned to pay more attention to my blog this year but famous last words and all that.  Podcasts seem to be popular these days, but I find that if they're more than about 20 minutes long I stop watching and don't get to the end.  As for me, being camera shy (alot), I'm unlikely to follow in the footsteps of other bloggers to the laptop screen.  I have, however, started to read blogs again even though I haven't bothered with my own and I'm glad to see that some of my favourite regular bloggers are still out there which is definitely an incentive to rejoin the community.  So, see you soon???

Hope all is well out there ...
Jane x

Socks - clockwise from top left:  Drippity Drop socks by Kay F. Jones, Snowy toes by Trin-Annelie, Prairie socks (I modified the pattern a bit) by Kay F. Jones, Sweet Bee socks by Sew Sweet Violet.

Shawl - Void by Melanie Berg.

Click on the Ravelry button near the top right of this post if you would like to see more details on all the woolly elements of this page.

Quick change

Winter in Kent is usually quite a mild affair compared to other areas of the British Isles, but last week we were hit by an icy blast which plunged us into the kind of sub-zero temperatures that only come once in a blue moon. It even snowed in London.  The snow was fun but the rail networks struggled with freezing points (well, freezing everything probably).  Flora loved it, she went all setter and charged around in it in a wild frenzy of friskiness.  She didn't seem to notice the cold.  Then, it went away as quickly as it came, the temperatures went up this week (into double figures one day).

I've been joining in a knitalong over the last couple of weeks, hosted by Ami who is The Little Tailoress on Instagram and Ravelry.  We're knitting 'bonding squares' - pairs of 5-inch squares for hospitals to help mums and babies who are separated because of premature birth or other problems.  One square goes to mum, who wears it next to her skin and the other goes in the incubator with baby.  The squares are swapped after a few hours (about 12 I think) so baby is snuggled in with mum's scent and mum has baby's scent on her square when she goes home.  Mine will go to St. Thomas's Hospital in London.  I can't think of a better way to use up leftover yarn/yarn stash.  One of my daughters was premature and the separation is tough, not helped by the somersaulting hormones.  I felt a bit tearful at times while knitting these little squares, even after all these years (silly sausage!)

Hope all is well out there ...
Jane xx

Socks and shower rooms

The builders are in.  There's a lot of banging, sawing, drilling and a bit of singing.  After probably years of things in the shower room and the bathroom only half working, we decided that we really needed to do something about it.  

I hate the disruption but I have things to keep me sane - the sock bug has a firm grip on me at the moment.  As a novice knitter I never thought I would be capable of such things and I never thought there would be so many ways of constructing a sock:  rounded toes, whirlwind toes, German short row heels, heel and gusset, fish lips kiss heels (yes it's true!) and, no doubt, many more I've yet to discover.  Every time I knit a pair I learn something new, like Kitchener stitch (a way of grafting stitches together to make a seamless join) is best not attempted by a confused person like me.  For the moment I'm sticking to whirlwinds and fish lips kisses. 

Hope all is well out there ...

Jane x

Thorns, bark, lichen and tweed

It's mostly been a grey and gloomy start to January here in Kent but we have had a couple of frosty, sunny days and I like those days best; walking the dog in horizontal rain is no fun, well not for me - I'm not sure that Flora notices - and so on the bright winter days I like to linger.  Flowers in winter may be few and far between, but what winter lacks in flowery beauty it makes up for in texture and I adore the lichens that are hidden by green leaves at other times of the year.  Thorny stems and bark too get a chance to shine before green buds and spring flowers divert the attention.  I was surprised to see the little ladybird in the middle of winter.

In the evenings we've been appreciating our blankets and I was glad to finish the tweed blanket that I've been making for what seems like an age.  As is my usual way it's very simple - double crochet with a frilly edge of trebles.  Here are the details:

• The main blanket is worked in Stylecraft Alpaca Tweed Chunky in colourway 1658 aran (20 balls) and the border in Stylecraft Life DK in colourway 2307 black (2 balls)

• Starting with the Stylecraft Alpaca Chunky and a 6mm hook I made 166 chain, then starting from the second chain from the hook I worked a row of dc to the end.  Before turning I worked 1 chain (remember to make this turning chain at the end of each row) then worked the second row.  I worked 210 rows of dc in total, using 19 of the 20 balls.  I used the last one to work one row of dc all around the edge of the blanket, working three dc into each corner to keep the square shape

• Using two strands of the Stylecraft Life DK and a 6mm hook, I worked another row around the four edges before changing to one strand and the 4mm hook and working four trebles into each stitch to get the frill.  And that's it (after sewing ends in).  

Hope all is well out there ...
Jane x

Happy New Year

Favourite projects from 2017, a year when I found that knitting isn't quite as scary as I thought.

Health and happiness to all in 2018.

Hope all is well out there ...

Shawls

I can't believe this is my first post of the year - I hadn't intended to leave it so long.  Anyway, I think I've developed a bit of a shawl fetish.  I didn't think I was much of a shawl person before I made this one, Annette Ciccarelli's Nordic Shawl, about 3 years ago - and then I discovered that, yes I am very much a shawl person.

It was worked in a mixture of yarns, mostly Sublime extra fine merino dk - details here. I gave this one away so set about making another as I missed it more than I thought I would.  

I used Kate Eastwood's Easy as Pie Shawl pattern and it is just that - easy as pie!  

I worked mine in Rowan Summerlite 4 ply - duck egg and navy.  

Next up, a knitted one that I found on Ravelry:  Pure by Cabinfour.

I love the simplicity.  It's worked in Quince & Co. Osprey - petal (aran weight).  It came up smaller than I thought it would but it would be easy to make it bigger.  I love it, so I decided to use another of Cabinfour's patterns - Rosarium (also on Ravelry): 

This one is a little more adventurous and is a one-skein project so will perhaps be better worn as a scarf.  Working this in Shalimar Yarns Breathless in antique - 75% SW merino, 15% cashmere, 10% silk and it is soooo soft!  I don't normally like wool around my neck because it's too itchy but this will be no problem.  Still at WIP stage.

Last month I decided to take part in the #HOBCAL, run by Sandra, Cherry Heart and Sam, Betsy Makes.  The pattern they chose for the CAL was Christina Hadderingh's Hotel of Bees Shawl (again on Ravelry).  To be honest, I didn't really know how I was going to get on with this, it's quite different for me - lots of detail - but I really enjoyed it and am pleased with the results.  

Nice to go out of your comfort zone once in a while.  I've also been grabbed by the sock knitting bug, but that's another post. 

Hope all is well out there.  

Jane x

Christmas blanket

I finished my Christmas blanket at last - as a WIP, it was around for a long time. 

I used the sumptuous and squishy Debbie Bliss Rialto DK in white (001), claret (063), vintage pink (066) and willow (059) with a 4 mm hook.  

As for the pattern - easy, just traditional granny squares, five rounds, join-as-you-go.  I like to keep things fairly simple so, as you can see, it's the same colour sequence for each square. There are 108 squares in total and it measures approx. 110 x 148 cm. 

For the border I just did one row of treble clusters all the way round, followed by one row of double crochet and one row of picot (UK terms).  

As I always like to have a blanket WIP I have already started another.  I've gone for hexies this time.

Hope all is well out there ...

Jane xx

Night and day cowl

Last year I made my stripey cowl and I've worn it alot, so I thought I would make another - same pattern, fewer colours.  For this one I used Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino (again) with a 3.5mm hook in the following colours:  mist (057), white (001), amber (066) and black (300).  I can wear this lovely yarn all day long and it doesn't itch!  

 The pattern is simple:  make 41 chain then 1 dc into the second chain from the hook and continue in dc to the end so there's 40 stitches in the row.  Turn, *make 1 chain then 1 dc into each dc to the end, turn* and continue from * to * until your scarf/cowl is long enough (mine measured 126 cm long before I joined the two short ends together and it's 22 cm wide).  There are four rows to each stripe and 16 stripes of each colour. 

The stripe sequence works as follows:  I started with mist and alternated it with white until I had 8 of each colour, then changed to amber still alternating with white until there were 16 white stripes, I then changed to black, alternating with the amber until there were 16 amber stripes, then changed to mist, alternating it with black.  Does that make sense?  Hopefully the photo helps!  

I had intended to make this for myself, but it could end up as a Christmas present - I can always make another - must remember to sew the ends in as I go along next time!   

Hope all is well out there ...

Jane x

Bobble hearts and other shapes

I've had a bit of a thing lately with bobbly shapes.  They're really quite easy to do, all it takes is a little planning and some graph paper.  

To make this little bobble heart I drew my basic shape.  When working out your shape you need to remember that you need a double crochet (UK terms) after each bobble and a row of double crochet in between rows of bobbles, so on the diagram below each shaded square represents a bobble and each white square represents a double crochet.  

To make good sturdy bobbles, I always make them from the wrong side - sounds a bit odd, but this way they don't try to pop themselves inwards.  So to make a bobble start by making a treble crochet but don't finish it - leave two loops on the hook; make three more half-finished trebles into the same stitch and you should then have five loops on the hook, yarn over and draw all five loops through.  When you double crochet into the next stitch it will anchor the bobble.  

You can do all sorts of shapes, provided you keep them reasonably simple.  

 My hot water bottle cover was worked in the same way only with a bigger heart.  The colour change for the bobbles looks more ambitious than it really is. 

And that's it!  All you need to do is make sure you keep count, so probably best not to watch the scything episode of Poldark while you're working your shapes.  

Hope all is well out there ...

Jane xx

Experiments in bobbles and yarn

I really enjoy making bobbly crochet so, since the big bobble blanket and the baby bobble blanket were finished, I've been experimenting a bit with a couple of squares to make more but slightly different bobbly blankets.  I had a couple of ideas, the first being a flower square, and ended up with this - the Tulip Square:

I think they look vaguely like tulips and I want to do some detail in the corners which will form another pattern when the squares are joined together - something simple, which should be easy enough. I'm having more trouble in deciding what colour to go for (that happens to me alot), but I have managed to decide that it will be all one colour.  

The second is a snowflake.  No worries about colour here, just white I think. 

Unlike the Tulip Square this one is worked back and forth and I can't decide whether to make squares and join them or make one large piece with snowflakes dotted around. This one is going to take a bit more planning but I'm really pleased with it so far.  

The last make is an experiment in yarn using an old pattern.  I made my bobbly coasters like the one above a while ago now and wanted to make a much larger and more chunky tablemat, so the same pattern with two strands of dk yarn and one strand of lace altogether came out like this:

I'm pleased with the effect the three strands together produced.  Right, that's my brain exercised for the year!  

Hope all is well out there ...

Jane xx

Sluggish

All was not well in the Flowerhouse garden last week. The slimy slug army came, saw and conquered and my runner beans fell - spectacularly.  The borlottis also lost the battle.  I sowed more even though it was a bit late but, as my mum says, "you never know your luck until your braces break".  Another blow was dealt when I discovered that biological warfare had been declared in the greenhouse in the form of tomato blight.  But although the vegetables are looking sorry for themselves, the flowers have been holding their own.  

"Oh well, look on the bright side, it's my birthday this week", I thought - but I woke up on my birthday only to discover that we'd left the EU; it's not what I voted for so naturally I was disappointed, well gutted actually, but I told myself that we live in a democracy and we are fortunate to have the chance to choose the path we would like to take.  The TV interviews in which people were saying that they had regretted voting to leave, or that they didn't know that we would actually be leaving, or that they didn't know which way to vote so they voted leave were slightly worrying - are they feeling regrexit?  Then, after a game of football, we (or England at least) had managed to leave Europe twice in one week - that's got to be a one-off.  

It's not all bad, I've been garden visiting at Sissinghurst and Perch Hill with my dear friend Gill over the last week.  Standing in the beautiful white garden at Sissinghurst or in Sarah Raven's famous cutting garden at Perch Hill, I felt as though I had been given a great big floral hug - just the job.  

The cutting garden, Perch Hill

The white garden, Sissinghurst

And, it seems that my braces haven't broken just yet:  as I drove home last week I saw a sign outside someone's house that said "runner bean plants for sale".  

A second chance.  

Hope all is well out there ...

Jane xx

PS:  I've just realised how weedy and untidy my garden looks!