Author: Occasional Crafter

I like to make things, sometimes. I'm occasionally crafty.

Small, medium, large

Occasional CrafterLeave a comment

When I finished the shawl, mentioned in the previous post, I didn’t think I’d have much of a chance to wear it. Spring is (almost?) here and the weather should be getting warmer. As it happens, the weather isn’t warmer yet, and the company I work for switched to working from home 2 weeks ago. The room I work in at home is really cold (2 outside walls, no sun until the afternoon) so the shawl has been perfect – so warm. I’ve worn it every day. Too-tight stitches on too-small needles was the best thing after all!

I’m still missing knitting it though. If ever there was a time for mindless knitting it’s now. Stupid thing is, it took me months to find a shawl pattern I like and… that might be the only pattern I like! I like it because it doesn’t have a middle seam, and it doesn’t have big sections of knit stitch. Don’t ask me why, but I don’t like either of those things. Completely irrational I know. I also like how solid the Almina pattern is. I’m not a massively feminine dresser. I’m not one for lace trims etc (even though I quite like tatting lace trims). I just want something simple, and unfussy to wear. That shawl was perfect. I’m wondering about En Voyage next, maybe? It looks great in black too – even though I did say I should knit in brighter colours. Aisé is another option. I’ve already knitted Jared Flood’s Guernsey Wrap. If you’ve got any suggestions, let me know.

In the meantime I’ve been trying to finish the folks I started:

48758276-0B65-4C40-9806-05D1A6AAADFE

This is the small rabbit pattern, from Little Cotton Rabbits. It’s knitted in Rico baby classic DK yarn, on 2.5mm needles. I half made it just to see how big it would be.

B6FDEB09-EE92-42D1-B8BA-1522F229AFAA

The one on the left is the same pattern, but in cascade 220, on 2.75 needles. The dress on the right does fit the one on the left. It’s a bit tight to get on, but once on, is fine. But as it fits the one it’s on so well, I might make a new dress for the one on the left.  (Are you still with me?) The one in the middle is the standard pattern, also in cascade 220, on 2.75 needles.

I have a short pair of 2.75 sock needles which aren’t bad for travelling – they don’t get bent when they’re shoved in a bag in a hurry. I had to travel a bit over the last 4-5 months and spend some time away from home, so took these with me. Easy to make a leg on the train, or an arm in a waiting room.

Overall,  the cascade 220 ones are more robust, so better for the children I’m going to give them too. The one in Rico will have to wait to find a new home. She was an intarsia test too – I’m still pretty bad at it to be honest.

So that’s where we’re at. Still some clothes to make. Still looking for The Next Big Thing. How are you doing?

 

 

 

Background projects and progress

Occasional Crafter2 Comments

94AF1457-6DEF-4691-9CD2-D1ECE376BF6C

I started the Almina shawl (Ravelry link) in March 2019, and finished it in February 2020. That’s a long time to knit a shawl. It’s knitted on 4mm circular needles, with Cascade 220 wool. I bought the wool a long time ago to knit a jumper with, but given my terrible issues with trying to knit anything to scale, and having no idea what I’m really doing, I decided against making proper clothing.

22482288-DD77-49E9-BBBA-119AF3149B48

The wool is actually a charcoal grey. I thought I perhaps should never knit anything in such a dull colour again – because if you’re spending so much time with something, surely you should knit with something colourful and joyous… Like the golden yellow in the pattern example? But now it’s done I actually love it. It’s too heavy to wear outside the house I think (!) but in this grey, it’s perfect to throw on to keep you warm. I thought the triangular starting point would forever curl, but the stiff blocking in the top photo took care of that.

I knit far too tightly, but I know the yarn will relax eventually. I used the exact same stuff for the Guernsey Wrap, way back in 2012. Eeek! 2012. I haven’t progressed much as a knitter since then have I? I should be on clothing by now. Probably.

I must admit, I thought the wrap would never end. It seemed to take forever. There were times when I forgot it, and times when I was sick of it. But there were also times I was glad of it. Something to pick up quickly and carry on with. No real need to think about what to do, or where things were. No getting stuff out of cupboards as it just sat patiently waiting on the sofa. I took it away at new year on the annual trip I usually do with friends, and I was on the 2×2 rib by then.  What a joy that is to knit! So satisfying. Such a nice steady rhythm, no need to concentrate.

Now, after being so desperate for it to be over, I miss it. I didn’t realise how often I used it as a sort of guided meditation. There’s been a lot going on here, a lot to process mentally, and I think it’s helped having something ticking on in the background. Slow progress, but progress with every stitch.

There was the deer, too, which you can see in the photo underneath, on the left:

IMG_8940

I made her when Julie released the pattern – or at least, I made her head. I’d assumed I’d make a mess of it, but when that turned out ok, it took me 6 months to make a body and some clothes. She’s made of stash yarn, stuff that’s been knocking about for ages. I do like her dress and cardigan though, a mix of forest greens.

More recently I made the two unclothed rabbits on the right. The small one is Julie’s most recent pattern. I made them to gift, but due to the virus and cancelled plans, they won’t be gifted for a while. The mess in that photo was me trying to figure out what yarn would work for clothing – unpictured is the tiniest pair of rabbit trousers you’ve ever seen. Oops. I got there in the end, but now I have more time I think I might remake the jumper I was going to use. We’ll see. More photos another time.

I’m still trying to use up my stash yarn, so I’ll probably make some more animals while I look for the perfect Next Big Project. Animals are very satisfying to make. No big commitment, and I enjoy seeing their characters emerge. I also love that they’re knitted flat, and the patterns are so well thought out.

If you’re at home trying to work out what to do with your time, you could definitely do worse than use up some stash yarn, to try an animal of your own.

Very occasionally crafting

Occasional Crafter1 Comment

elephant

Wow. I didn’t expect it to be April before I got around to posting here. I also didn’t expect to have so little to show! Looking back at the very few photos I’ve taken, this wee elephant got her face on 4th January, and then her trousers on the 18th. I finished her jumper on 12th April, and gifted her on 13th. So it’s been quite slow in terms of making anything around here.

I made her for my Physio. (I have a bad back, my Physio is amazing. She got me from not being able to stand to actually walking when I slipped 2 discs at the same time a few years ago.) I almost didn’t hand her over, because while my Physio is wonderful she’s also kinda no-nonsense. I thought she might think it was a bit weird — although we had been discussing knitting previously. But then I thought, well, she has a niece, she could always regift.

Anyway. I’m so glad I did. She was so pleased – and hilariously said she wasn’t even going to show her niece incase she wanted the the elephant for herself!

So that was lovely. And her happiness made my week. (It didn’t make her go easy on my back though. Goddamn that woman has fingers of steel.)

So anyway, work has rather taken over. By the time I’ve had a free evening or Saturday I’ve either been too tired, or there’s been something else that needed dealing with. I’m really hoping that this will calm down soon.

The plan now is also to try and make time for myself. Although I said that a week ago and there’s been no luck so far. Next week I’m travelling for work, so it’s out then too. But sometime soon.

So fingers crossed. Now I’ve posted hopefully I’ll be back soon with something more than backache to show for myself!

A Christmas elf

Occasional Crafter1 Comment

merry_xmas

In the end, I did manage to fit in a tiny bit of Christmas knitting! This is a little elf ornament, mercifully knitted flat and then stitched up at the back. He’s relatively quick to make – as always the thing that takes the longest time is the finishing off. I do like the little collar though and the fact you can use the cast on yarn to crochet into a chain to hang him with.

The pattern is called Little Pixies and is by Amanda Berry. I kind of wonder if he should have legs actually, but when he’s hung up, he looks fine. He’s knitted on 2.75mm needles, and works out at a really nice size. Might make more. (Maybe I should do them right now, and then they’ll be done for next Christmas? I still can’t find my tatting bag so we’re still snowflake free).

In the meantime, the yarn I thought I had, which I was going to use to knit a baby hat over Christmas, I didn’t have at all. Seems I’ve used it all up. I started another hat, keeping fingers crossed that I had enough yarn to complete it, then went wrong while TV knitting and so am down from about 25 rows in, to 5. Ah well. This is why I don’t get paid to knit.

Onwards! Happy new year!

A bear (left) behind

Occasional Crafter1 Comment

How on earth is it December? What a weird year. I can hardly remember… well, the summer even. It feels like so long ago. This year feels like it’s been 5 years in 12 months, without time to catch a breath. A never-ending stream of things that needed to be done. I’m not sure why, but it’s been a restless year. There’s been no rhyme or rhythm to it.

no_nose_bear

I haven’t had a lot of time to make anything, so the things I have made have happened a bit sporadically. I had a huge panic about the yarn I have just sitting around in boxes, so I made this wee bear, but she never got her own blog post.

Made from Lorna’s Laces sock yarn, she’s actually a really nice size. I think sock yarn could be a good weight for toys. I don’t love the stripes (bit busy), but they’re not as bad as they could be. The pattern (as is often the case) is from Little Cotton Rabbits.  In this photo she has no nose (how does she smell?! etc). I ummed-‘n’-ahhed a lot about whether or not to give her a nose, and seeing this photo I’m still not sure it was the right thing. I think she looks quite cute without it.

with_nose

Here she is with a nose, and with my favourite elephant for a size comparison. And here she is larking around with the rest of the gang…

gang

The dress was another random make to try and get rid of some cotton I don’t really like! To be honest it doesn’t really fit her – and nor does this pink jumper. Both a bit too big.

pink

I really did think about buying more yarn to make her some clothes, even though the whole point of making her was to use up yarn in the first place. As I type there are 2 arms, 2 legs, a body, 2 ears and an almost finished elephant’s head in the kitchen, using up more of the yarn stash. I think I started that in August maybe, but I just haven’t had any time to finish it off.

markers

I did finally make a human sized jumper though! But it was for a very small human. A friend had a baby, and it seemed like a sensible, and hopefully nice thing to make a little jumper. There were a lot of stitch markers involved which almost gave me a nervous breakdown in the beginning, but once I got going, really helped.

progress

There’s a small cable down the front, which made it a bit more interesting to knit. The sleeves were a horror though – I just could not get nice purled cuffs when I was knitting in the round. I was on DPNs (ie, not using the magic loop on circulars) and I’m not sure if it’s just harder on DPNs or I was doing something really wrong, but after 3 attempts, I decided to go for ribbed cuffs. (You don’t even want to know about the language that got me through this phase.) After a severe bit of blocking it turned out ok, I think. Not perfect, but just about ok enough to gift.

blocked

Actually the mother of the recipient wrote me an incredibly nice thank you note. The baby is still a bit small to wear this (it’s for 3-6 months I think) so we’ll all have to wait a bit longer to see if it’s actually functional at all!

I recently moved house. And I also recently had to go away for a week for work. Could I find my tatting bag? No I could not. It’s somewhere in the house purposefully placed so I can find it easily. WHERE THOUGH?! Where is it? I just can’t figure it out. This means I travelled with nothing but a book for entertainment, which must be the first time in years. Tatting is so small, you can always find room for it so I take it with me almost everywhere. It feels weird not having shuttles to hand even if I haven’t been tatting for a while. I’ll have to start yet another hunt. I haven’t made a single tatted snowflake this year.

And on that note, I should go. There are obviously, more Things That Need To Be Done. I hope that wherever you are, you have a good holiday season, and a great new year!

 

 

 

 

Busy/not busy

Occasional Crafter8 Comments

I’ve neglected this blog a little (ok, a lot) as I’m still in craft limbo. I talked before about not being able to settle into a project and it’s still the same. Starting and then not understanding a human-sized pattern hasn’t helped:

delayed

This was going to be my go-to project for a bit. ‘Go-to’ projects are good I think – you know what you’re working on, there’s no decision to be made you can just pick it up and carry on. You just relax into it and the process itself is relaxing. Getting stuck means that I kind of feel bad for not persevering, but then after a busy week at work I’m not sure I can face the perseverance. Then what do do? Not skilled enough to make what I’m supposed to be making, but still want to make something… so…

I made this chap recently:

sketch

And actually, he’s very badly knitted, but I am a bit in love with him. He started out with a pink embroidered nose, which I disliked, so I left him as just a head for ages. A visiting friend picked up the head and berated me for not giving him a body. Feeling bad I unpicked the pink nose and did as I was told. (Who knew you could also unpick a nose…)

knitwit

I think he’s a really nice size. And also, maybe I’m really just a kid who hasn’t grown up… I really like making toys. That said, this Millennium Falcon belongs to the Mr:

millenium

Aside from that, I stitched up a few lavender bags from the tatting I had lying around:

offcentre

This is kind of hilarious because honestly, that little ribbon is so off centre it’s a miracle it’s even in the shot at all. The power of photography, eh? I did get a bit impatient with the sewing machine. I always want to be better at things than I am.

Time this year has also been taken up in other ways. I’ve worked on our little garden a lot, and it’s been really lovely to watch it grow. On a work trip to Boston (USA) earlier in the year I had a spare Sunday afternoon and walked to the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum. There is a central garden inside the house, and many of the balconies had window boxes full of beautiful trailing nasturtiums.

nas_1

The lighting was a little tricky, but hopefully you get the idea. (And yes, it does look very Italian, despite being in the USA). I came home and immediately planted a packet of mixed nasturtium seeds, all of which dutifully sprang forth.

nas_3

People talk about ‘splashes of colour’ – I’m not sure there’s a more apt description. This photo was taken a week or so ago. They look a bit battered today as the rain has been so heavy this weekend. I’ve also been baking a fair bit.

biscuits

These are ridiculously easy ginger biscuits. A little darker than usual as I ran out of sugar and added some black treacle. (Good move). Baking has all the joy of craft I think, with the massive added bonus that you can eat it at the end…

As predicted…

Occasional Crafter5 Comments

bunny_1

I’m really not feeling that great. I’ve been waking up around 4am every night for the last seven days with coughing fits. It’s getting really wearing. I’m kind of ok in the day, just this ridiculous chest cough at night. It’s steadfastly refusing to turn into something more, (like a proper cold) and just wearing me down bit by bit. Really tedious.

Anyway. That coupled with general ‘fear of starting a proper project’ and ‘oh my god, how did you end up with so much yarn?’ made me think I should take it easy yesterday and use up some more of the orange.

bunny_2

Actually when you pair this orange with white, it’s nowhere near as horrible. If you pair it with anything else it’s either too milky (It’s Rowan Wool Cotton – they’re all kind of milky) or just too… orange. Perils of buying yarn online I think.

I made this bunny’s head last year but wasn’t thrilled with it. Yesterday I thought ‘use up more yarn! Do something easy, lazy and finish-able!’ And so I decided to finish this off. It is, of course, a Little Cotton Rabbits pattern. I have a feeling it might be one of the first ones that Julie (the designer) made available.

While I was knitting it, I thought many things, mostly:
• Oh my god, what have you become? You’re knitting an egg cosy. Are you like, 90?
• Umm, are you sure this is going to actually fit an egg? You know you knit really tightly,right?
• Friend [X] keeps chickens and has 2 which produce tiny eggs. You can give this to her! It’ll be O.K.
• Damn it! How is it even possible we have no eggs in the fridge?

bunny_3

At 4.45am this morning I thought I should just get up, because lying down really wasn’t cutting it. As I made some honey and lemon what did I see in the fridge?! We did have eggs after all!

I did a little photoshoot there and then. It does it fit, just about – and you know what? I love it. It’s ridiculous, but I love it. I might even make another one. It’s really cheered me up.