princessdeia

August 29th 2011
Filed under Making Monday

I brought some Freedom Organic Cotton and was planning on making another Bamboozelle baskets, but having looked at the yarn more closer at home, I decided it wasn’t at all suited to the pattern (it is loosely twisted 6 ply yarn), plus the pattern was pretty hard on the hands and I didn’t think that my hands needed that amount of tormenting again. So instead I opted for a simple crochet square basket, adapting a pattern that was meant for Peaches and Creme Cotton.

Unlike the Bamboozelle baskets this one didn’t need to have a cardboard base as it is sturdy, but I did want to line it so they “matched” the other baskets. Seeing as the pattern originally asked for PnC I also decided to make another mini basket with some remaining PnC, so now I have a nest of pretty baskets.

EDIT I’ve just looked at the photos I have taken for this post and they are awful so I will add some photos in the morning. I just wanted to make sure the post was ready for Making Monday.

August 26th 2011
Filed under Finished Projects 2011, General

Here it is the finished Hexagon Sock Yarn Blanket, two years in the making, days worth of knitting and hours worth of seaming. It still is a little “small” for a blankets – about 42 X 42 inches wide – it really is more a lap blanket, perfect for covering your legs whilst watching TV, knitting or both.

When I look at this blanket each little hexagon reminds me of another project I have knitted, the Opal yarn from my first sock, the Chocolate Old Maiden Aunt Yarn from my Ishbel shawl or the Pink and Green from last year’s Knit Love Club (the sock I was too scared to knit). It is almost like a love letter to my past knitted projects. I will be honest I am not 100% happy with the blanket, the edges aren’t perfect, I think I will crochet a little border in grey. I’m going to leave it for a while – enjoy using the blanket rather than working on it anymore.

Whilst, I have been obsessing over my lap blanket, the rest of knitters out there are obsessing over the Beekeeper Quilt, which I do love I just can bring myself to commit to another long term project right now. I still have a little sock yarn leftover which I am willing to donate to any knitters out there who are knitting the Beekeeper Quilt.

I spend last night watching Mad Men season 4 and wrapping these mini skeins around an old notebook (25 times around is about 15 yards) putting together complimentary colours ready to send out. Some of the yarn include it Lorna Lace, Knit Witches, Knit Picks Palette, Cherry Tree Hill or Alchemy Juniper (I will include a complete list with the package).

So if you want one set of 5 mini skeins to add to your Beekeeper Quilt, all you have to do is comment below with your email address and the colours you would like. I don’t expect anything in return just remember to pay it forward!

EDIT: All the sets have now gone!

August 23rd 2011
Filed under 101 Things, Finished Projects 2011, General

I have been trying to “make” something each week, On top of the random baking. I want an actual project I can show off. The truth is over the last few weeks all my free crafting time has been devoted my two blankets, for the sock yarn hexagons and squares for the runner. I have been working with squares that are 48 stitches over 70 rows in sock yarn so a couple of these of these is the equivalent to a sock! So I figure my blanket is equal to several weeks of making!

I have also been experimenting with my sewing machine, I will be honest I’m not very good at it, but I am trying. My first attempt was two cushion covers for my Mum’s bed. She has recently redecorated and had some old cushions on her bed with green and brown covers that didn’t really go with her new pink colour scheme.

Taking inspiration from some cushions she had seen in Monsoon and Next, I made these two cushions. Mum found an embroidery kit in John Lewis with a peony (although I am not convinced it is one), which matched her duvet cover so the first cushion was just a simple “frame” for that. The second was a collection of ribbons from V.V. Rouleaux, I hand stitched the ribbons, as I was not that confident about sewing straight lines with the machine.

Next up I have these bamboo baskets, I actually started the small basket back in February, following the bamboozelle pattern from knitty. I wasn’t keen in the bottom of the basket as it left several small holes in the knitting, so I planned on re-working it, but the bamboo is tough on the hands so the WIP was left in the forgotten pile. Just recently I thought about making a larger basket with the leftover yarn, and so decided to finish them off. I still am no completely happy with these and I think I am going to make a cardboard liner to make them stronger.

To incourage me to craft more, I am going to try and contribute to The Yarn Yard’s Making Monday Challenge starting next week. Who is up for joining me?

August 16th 2011
Filed under Project Spectrum 2011, Sweaters

I’ve been a little slack at updating about Project Spectrum, which is a little odd as the last two months have been my favourite colours, so obviously I had loads of yarn to work with and I did! For most of May, I have been working on my Not-So-Granny-Smith cardigan (I think the colour might be more teal than green).

I’ve re-worked the pattern to work the body all in one. Yes I know there is a lot of debate over seams versus seamless, but at the end of the day I hate seaming so I knitting the body all in one and am going to knit the sleeves on the round.

Speaking on seaming, I finally finished the knitted part of my Bed Runner, in the end I had 42 square which all needed to be sewn together, and I discovered not only do I hate seaming I am pretty slow at it!

As I was dealing with different thickness of yarn, the seaming of each square became a maths problem with a complex equation to workout how to neatly sew them together. All of this resulted in my managing to only sew a few together each night and it took me over a week to finish the seaming.

June 2nd 2011
Filed under General

One of the great things I have discovered about Project Spectrum in the past is re-examining your stash, well this year I have enjoyed I new discovery. Re-examining your WIPs, first I finally got around to finishing my red 2luvcrew sock and then I rediscovered my leftover sock yarn blanket. I started working on this blanket over 2 years ago.

Originally I started knitting the hexagons one at a time, sewing them together as I went, but I soon discovered it was a lot easier to leave the stitches live and Kitchener stitch them together or knit one long hexagon scarf. Before I started knitting more I figure I should sew up what I had, realizing I nearly had enough for half the blanket. Then I dug out all my red leftover sock yarn and added a few more hexagons.

May 4th 2011
Filed under General

I am due to post The Things I Love for April, but I’m forgoing that post, to write about what I have been knitting! Over the last few months I have been focusing my knitting time between knitting square for my blanket and knitting a super amazing sock for a special project, you’ll have to wait until October to see the official photos of that project but here is a sneak peek of the blanket.

I’ve been trying to knit a square a night, but that hasn’t really been working as I get bored of the stocking stitch, especially when knitting with sock yarn! To help relieve the boredom, I signed up for Alice’s Socktopus Mystery Shawl (SMSKAL), I’m a little behind with the clues, but am loving the challenge.

March 9th 2011
Filed under General, Stash Enhancement

The one thing I have been really keen on with our new bedroom is to have a luxury bed, somewhere to really unwind after a long day. As a result, I have become obsessed with thread counts and togs, I want the feel of a 5 star hotel in my bedroom! Whilst the High Street shops seem to be pretty good at realizing the luxury bedding market, there is one area they fail in, Throws!

In my research (walking around the stores in Westfield), I saw several throws that would be suitable for our bed, I have obviously picked a colour that is en vogue in home-ware because every store had something to offer. I saw a lovely chenille type one, an elegant woven one and in one department store one that was sold as being hand-knitted. But when I looked on the tags, what did all these throws have in common, they all said 100% Polyester!

I don’t consider myself to be that greater a yarn snob, and I do understand the need for polyester or acrylic in the modern world, I don’t like the feel of knitting with acrylic, and I definately wouldn’t knit a garment in it, I might consider buying an garment, but only if it was really stunning! I am certianly not going to have a polyester blanket in my luxury bedroom! And to add insult to injury, there was the price tag, the average price was £90! For that amount of money I could buy the yarn and knit a blanket! Yes, it would take a long time, but at least it would be personal.

Having a quick look through my stash, I found several yarns within the colour range (and some of the yarn left over from the cushion), each yarn has a story to go with it. The mohair was a present in the One Skein Swap, that Interweave organised back in 2006, one sock yarn was from the Socktopus Launch and the other from a competition on Ravelry. In a way this blanket will tell a little story about my knitting adventures. I’ve knitted over 10 squares so far – without buying any extra yarn!

I popped down to Peter Jones today, with some of the squares scoured the shelves for any yarn that match, buying up 3 more yarns in the aqua family. I do realize this yarn doesn’t have a cute story attached to it, but don’t care as my blanket a little personal!

July 31st 2009
Filed under General

I forgot to post my progress on last week’s clue for the SMSKAL – I managed to complete the clue in one evening, only to notice an error on the first repeat so I ripped the shawl back and started again the next night!

Luckily, I had no mistakes on the third clue, however it did take a lot longer to knit (there are over 300 sts on the needle towards the end). The shawl still needs blocking but you can see the orange blossoms blooming all over this shawl.

As I needed a little side project to kill time in-between waiting for the clues to be published I opted for these Flower Cloths from Weekend Knitting. I brought this Peaches and Creme cotton over a year ago, I always intended on making this cloths, but never got around to it.

May 19th 2009
Filed under General

I have been knitting socks for over four years now (I know it was a shock to me too) and have built up a large collection of leftover sock yarn,  I have been hoarding it away hoping one day to knit a blanket.

I have always loved Erika Knight’s Patchwork quilt (the one on the cover of Classic Knits at Home), making a traditional patchwork from yarn, and also the way she mixes several textures and includes fabric. Turning all this sock yarn into one blanket.

After some research, I discovered there are two ways to knit hexagons, on the round as described here,  or back and forth as explained here. I am hoping to use a combination of both to graft them together.

February 12th 2009
Filed under Finished Projects 2009

I ended up with a lot of leftover yarn after making the Advent Booties, that I decided to make some quick and easy mug cozies, I used MKCarroll French Press pattern – but opted for a quick cable pattern instead of the flock design.

The silly thing is Jason and I each have a special Liverpool FC mug that we brought on our visit to Anfield last autumn. It seems like such a shame to cover up this mugs, so when Ravelry user Starkie81 posted a Chart for the Liver-bird Logo, I knew it was the prefect way to keep up coffee warm without burning my hands.