princessdeia

August 26th 2011
Filed under 52 in 52, 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, 52 in 52, 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?

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 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.

July 16th 2008
Filed under General

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Solid in Chocolate
Pattern: Headband.
Needles: 3mm.
Notes: I lovely quick knit – I cast it in on the morning and was wearing it by the afternoon… as an after thought I blocked it over night and it completely opened up the lace, completely altering the look.

Modifications: I used smaller needles and finer yarn than suggested – to compensate for this I repeated the pattern for 14 inches.

July 7th 2008
Filed under Finished Projects 2008, Swaps

Last year, I decided to take part in the Pay it Forward scheme… well six months on I finally got around to sending out my parcels and a few months after that I finally get around to blogging about it!

As part of the One Skein Swap a few years ago I was sent a mini knitted bag, to this day the mini bag sits in my knitting kit, I use it to store hand cream, lip balm and a nail file for all my girly knitting emergencies! The bag has a special place in my heart, it was the first hand knitted gift I ever received but is also serves as a reminder of all the wonderful friends I have made via the knitting world and their generosity. I wanted to spread this reminder…

… So for the Pay it Forward, I made these little bags… each one is based on a sock pattern!

The “Pomatomus” Bag is done on 96 stitches on 3.25mm needles. I began with the twisted rib for 15 rows (including an eyelet row for the i-cord), then I started on Chart A from the pattern for 3 repeats.
Finally, I repeated rows 1-12 omitting the YO (therefore decreasing a stitch each round), the result was an amazing swirling pattern on the base.  Until 8 stitches remain.
Break yarn, leaving a long tail. Thread tail through the remaining sts and pull tight.

The “Jaywalker” Bag, started on 104 stitches on 3.25mm, 10 rows in stocking stitch (again including an eyelet row).
Row 1: K1 M1 K6 S1 K2tog psso K6 M1 K1
Row 2: Knit
Repeat rows 1 and 2 35 times, then omit the M1s until 6 stitches remain.
Break yarn, leaving a long tail. Thread tail through the remaining sts and pull tight.

The “Monkey” Bag is made in a similar fashion to the Pomatomus bag (with 96 stitches).

May 14th 2008
Filed under General, Socks

So like all sock knitters I have a bag of leftover yarn and no idea what to do with it… I did a little bit of research online and found a few patterns. I don’t have enough for a blanket, I thought these were cute, and of course there is the calorimetry.

In the end I thought I would knit another pair of socks. I enjoyed reading grumperina‘s experiments with Lorna Lace Spiral Socks, but I have mainly multi coloured yarn, so this wouldn’t work. With the leftover Lorna Lace from my Jaywalkers,  I brought some solid yarn to make the Old Shale Socks, but never gor around to making them. Then, last month I had a dream.

When I awoke, I had a strong image of the socks I had been knitting in my dream. I wanted the toe, base of the foot and heel all to be in chocolate and the top of the foot and leg to be in the multi yarn. I of course turned to Ravelry to see if anyone could help me find the pattern, in the end I discovered Hidden Passion (Rav Link) – which are almost right.

Instead of ordering the book, I took my yarn, needles notepad and pen sat down in the summer sun and started to knit. I figured it was just a case of knitting half a sock at a time on two needles, Using provisional cast on and the chocolate yarn, I began with the heel flap -30 sts for 32 rows (slipping the first stitch), then created the heel.

Next I picked up the slipped stitched to create a  gusset, then I knitted into the back of each picked up stitch for one row (I found here I had to knit with three needles). Continuing by decreasing one stitch at the beginning of each row until 30 stitches remained.

I carried on knitting, slipping a stitch at the beginning of each row until I was two inches short of the desired length. Then I used Dianne’s excellent description for a short row toe. Before changing to the multi-yarn.

I picked up the slipped stitch from the foot, and knitted it together with the first stitch on the needle. Knitted to the final stitch, slipped that and picked up the stitch from the foot and passed the slip stitch over. On the next row I slipped the first and last stitch (30 stitches).

Once, I had picked up all the slipped stitches from the foot, I undid the provisional cast on and started knitting on the round (with 60 stitches), until the desired length.

Then I changed back to the chocolate yarn for the rib – I did about 15 rows of rib.

Finally, I used the tubular cast off to finished (using Anna Bell’s tutorial).