FO Friday - Puerperium Cardigan

I have completed the little cardi. I really like the colours, I seem to have an aversion to blue and pink for children!

I posted a picture of the half-finished cardi on my facebook page to ask my cousin if she liked the colours (she did!). This resulted in a commission for a second sweater from a friend of mine who has just become a great-uncle. He is paying and is very enthusiastic so that makes up for the extra knitting :) I ordered some pineapple ceramic buttons from eBay because the colours looked perfect. Unfortunately they had sharp pointy bits! I didn't think this was suitable for newborns so I got out my trusty pliers and mutilated modified the buttons.

Button before

Eek! Spiky!

I was pleased with the result and now had some rather rustic but handsome oval buttons to sew to the cardi. Now to finish the other one for my cousin.......

Hopefully it isn't noticeable unless you know!

WIPW - Baby Bright!

I said that I was craving a bright project and I wasn't lying! I am knitting the Puerperium Cardigan by Kelly Brooker in a bright yellow variegated colourway of Isis. It is really small, so I don't know how practical it will actually be for my cousin who is expecting a baby in August. Her husband is 6'2"...and all babies seems to grow so quickly and never fit into the correct clothes for their age. I've heard of so many new parents buying newborn sized clothing for their babies and not being able to use it due to the size of their mammoth offspring :) Why don't the clothes companies just change the labelling?

But I do really love the colours. The yarn is a bit stiff and unyielding as you'd expect from cotton and I wonder if I'm knitting tighter than usual as I try not to let any loose plies poke out of the knitting.

What is pure cotton yarn actually practical for anyway apart from washcloths? I think this is why I've sold or swapped most of the cotton in my stash!

So ickle!

FO Friday - Scrappy Sock Cardi

I finally finished this cute cardi with four little green buttons. I think contrasting buttons are best on baby knits so it's easy to see if any are missing.

All finished! :)

I'm happy with it but now I have a craving for a bright or striped knit!

Sorry for the bad picture, the weather is truly pants here!

WIP Wednesdays - Scrappy Sock Cardi

This little cardi has been on my needles for about 6 months. I always, always stall on the sleeves! It is technically still a WIP because it need buttons...

It's a great pattern by Fawn Pea. It's simple but a good way to stash-bust your leftover sock yarn. I used Araucania Ranco Solid and The Knitting Goddess 4ply bfl superwash which is now discontinued. The bfl could be a little scratchy to wear and the Araucania needs to be handwashed and bled a little when I soaked it in soak. This little sweater, therefore, cannot be gifted to just anyone! I think I will have to gift it to another knitter.

How serendipitous that one of my favourite podcasters has announced that she is expecting! Hopefully she'll accept knitted gifts once the playful baby is born :)

I did like this pattern but I think it's a bit too simple. I probably won't knit it again unless I find myself with lots of sock leftovers aka sock orphans.

New memes and weeding!

Today I weeded the front drive. Unemployment is driving me mad and making me do productive things at home and *gasp* sometimes garden and housework!

Before 

Before

After

After

Aaaaaah that's better :)

In other news, I have had ideas for new memes! Squee Sunday, where I gush over pretties and patterns - inspired by a vintage UK programme called Ski Sunday which my mum watched religiously when I lived at home.

Random Awesome Nice Thing (RANT) is something random that has made me smile or brightened my day. I have noticed that some blogs like to rant about muggles, inlaws, politics etc so I thought I'd redress the balance with occasional rays of sunshine.

Do you guys have any meme ideas?

FO Fridays - Helena

I recently finished my Helena made from Rowan Cashsoft DK which really is lovely and soft :)

This was a stash-busting project so I did the lace section in stripes to use up some navy, red and green scraps. It's a bit of a weird colour combo but I think it just about works!

I really liked the pattern and it was very well-written but it took a while for me to complete due to the sleeves and the picking-up of stitches for the button bands and collar. I tend to take ages to get round to doing them but they don't take long when I actually set my mind to it!

I like the ties, and they were much quicker than sewing on buttons - safer too.

Helena modelled by the Easter bunny, showing the differing dye lots of the  chicory Cashsoft!!

WIP Wednesdays - Million Stripes Loop

I'm currently loving my Million Stripes Loop and am knitting it using scraps of Rowan Cashsoft DK and some colourmart yarns. So it should be nice and soft and comfy round my neck. Hopefully I won't have any pilling problems because a cowl does not need washing often.

It's my first time using a provisional cast-on and will be my first grafting!

Combining colours make me happy when it works but sometimes it can look plain awful. The Mason-Dixon ladies like to use all colours except pastels, black, white and primary colours. I broke this rule and deeply regretted it. I started a red and cream section, but it looked a bit too much like something a football supporter would wear! It clashed horribly with the rest of the colours, so I had to rip it out. I'm now waiting on delivery of some more yarn so I can finish.

Please tell me that I'm not the only knitter who ended up buying more yarn for a project that was supposed to bust the stash!

FO Friday - Stripe Study

First off - this is a brilliant pattern, if you're pondering whether to make it, do it! It's simple without being mindless. Interesting without being taxing. I think I will be making this again!

I used Zettl Treviso/Cortina yarn which is a sock yarn from Lidl. It isn't soft but it is pleasant and warm, not at all itchy. They're very good value and feel hard-wearing so I'm happy that this shawl will last well and not pill. I plan to handwash it due to some felting issues with the Cortina yarn. The solid colours really suit the graphic nature of the stripes.

I finished my stripe study about a week ago. I only did 11 stripes instead of the 12 in the pattern because I was fed up of the short rows! The border took aaaages because the stitch count got up to around 300, but I enjoyed the way it ate up the yarn.

If I was to make it again, I think I would persevere and make 12 stripes as the shawl is just a touch small due to the asymmetry of it. Theoretically, if I had knit all the stripes it would have added about 100 yards of yarn to my FO. It is currently around 785 yards, the pattern calls for 880 yards.

 I like the colours I used, it's very unusual for me to use orange as it used to really hate it! But I think it is a positive colour and hope to use more oranges and yellows in the future.

I had a little problem with the blocking as you can see! But the stash guardians did guard it for me and aid the blocking process with their body heat! My blocking mats are not quite large enough for me to stretch the shawl out, so you can see that it's a little curved. The central spine is not as straight as I would like. When the weather warms up, I will re-block it but I think it's adequate as it is :)

P.S. May the Fourth be with you!

3KCBWDAY7 - Crafting Balance

I learnt to knit while I was at primary school, I think I was 8 years old. My mother taught me using squeaky green acrylic and red plastic needles that would bend when I tried to pull my stitches through. I hated those needles but in a funny way I wish I still had them! I remember one of my first projects being a garter stitch scarf for my teddy made in pastel pink, blue and purple. It was a little wavy with dropped stitches but I was very proud of it.

I re-discovered knitting after university. Someone gifted me a copy of Stitch n Bitch by Debbie Stoller, I bought a big bag of yarn from a charity shop and knitted a cat bed. 

My cat, Tilly and her kittens using the fugly but wonderful cat bed :)

It made me deliriously happy at a time when nothing else seemed to. It continues to make me happy and has introduced me to a lovely community of crafters through Craftster and then Ravelry.

When it comes to crochet, I can crochet...........a chain. I have heard that the first row of crochet after the chain is the hardest row, and this is definitely true. I did try making a granny square but it was misshapen, so I put down the hooks feeling that I had made a real effort to learn. This was in February 2011.

(c) Betsi Brunson

Pattern: Amigurumi Monkey with banana

I have seen some beautiful crochet projects, amigurumi and jackets and hats - oh my! I love the fact that crochet is so quick and has real substance to it, without having to use bulky yarn. The portability of crochet is also appealing, and the fact that it's more difficult to drop stitches, since you only have one live stitch on your hook (I think Tunisian crochet is different). I am planning on taking a learn to crochet class in the summer at a local college, because I am a kinesthetic learner, I need to physically do things to learn. Watching Youtube and reading books doesn't seem to be working.

(c) Vogue Knitting

Pattern: #33 Circle Jacket

So, to sum up, at the moment I'm a knitter through and through but I hope to be a crocheter too! This may take some time though as I seem to have more plans than time or money!

(c) The Dainty Daisy

Pattern: Shell Stitch Beanie

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3KCBWDAY6 - Skillums

Improving Your Skillset
How far down the road to learning your craft do you believe yourself to be? Are you comfortable with what you know or are you always striving to learn new skills and add to your knowledge base? Take a look at a few knitting or crochet books and have a look at some of the skills mentioned in the patterns. Can you start your amigurumi pieces with a magic circle, have you ever tried double knitting, how's your intarsia? If you are feeling brave, make a list of some of the skills which you have not yet tried but would like to have a go at, and perhaps even set yourself a deadline of when you'd like to have tried them by.


I've been knitting for 5 or 6 years seriously. I've been happy to do simple projects because I am a process knitter. The FO is important to me but the process is what really makes me happy, so I'm happy chugging along doing miles of garter stitch or stockinette. However, I'm realising that some of these simple projects are a bit uninspiring and I recently had a clearout and donated some FOs to charity.


Perhaps I am slowly becoming a product knitter....


This year I would like to learn cables and socks. Both seem like a mystery to me at the moment but like other techniques I've tried; it should all become clear after a few stitches. You just have to jump in and try! As a champion procrastinator, this is the hardest part for me. I'd really like to learn colourwork but all those floats scare the beejesus out of me, I get crazy-tangled just doing stripes!


I think my first cable project should be a small one. I currently have Salty Dog Mittens in my queue. Bella's Mittens are also a possibility...


For socks, I plan to follow Silver's Sock Class which has been in my queue for over a year. A YEAR! See? Procrastinating again :)


I'm hoping the Ravelympics will give me a kick to get started on one of those projects! Go Team Sasquatch!


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3KCBWDAY4 - Raining in my art

A Knitter or Crocheter For All Seasons?
As spring is in the air in the northern hemisphere and those in the southern hemisphere start setting their sights for the arrival of winter, a lot of crocheters and knitters find that their crafting changes along with their wardrobe. Have a look through your finished projects and explain the seasonality of your craft to your readers. Do you make warm woollens the whole year through in preparation for the colder months, or do you live somewhere that never feels the chill and so invest your time in beautiful homewares and delicate lace items. How does your local seasonal weather affect your craft?

The UK is famed for its wet weather. I am always cold, even in the summer. Conversely I also over-heat easily! My thermostat is broken...

I love to knit wool and wool mix items because I never manage to perfectly time the completion of a summery cotton project so that it coincides with the month or two of true summer we get in England. I've found that I don't like knitting with cotton very much so that could be the other reason!

Scarves and shawls are awesome for layering but I don't like a big thick lump of wool round my neck so I like to make them in fingering weight yarn.

I made my Colonnade in Bessie fingering weight yarn from SuperKnits. If you haven't checked out the shop, you really should! Her colours and especially her teals are amazing. I wore my Colonnade pretty much every day over the autumn and winter but I recently left it at a friend's house by mistake. She smokes (yeuch!) so when little Bessie Colonnade got home she was most stinky so she had a bath in some Soak and a re-block for good measure :)

This year I hope to make many more items in fingering weight or lighter weights such as Whisper Cardigan by Hannah Fettig and Rubbish Mojitos by Woolly Wormhead because I just love the look of knitted fabric at this gauge. And because wool is so warm and light it's perfect for our changeable weather and my broken thermostat!

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3KCBWDAY3 - My crafting hero

I greatly admire many designers, knitters and podcasters. Veera Valimaki, my Ravelry friends and greentrianglegirl of A Playful Day podcast and blog spring to mind.

My ultimate crafting hero is my paternal Grandmother who is sadly no longer with us. My Grandmother, Joan was a prolific crafter and artist. As far as I know she did not sell any of her work, though much of it was of an amazing quality. She inspires me to craft every day.

Tapestry rug handmade by Joan

When she passed away, we were shocked to discover how many of her clothes she had handmade. She had made all of the curtains in the house, all of the cushion and chair covers, all of the quilts and had even beautifully repaired some of her cane and wicker furniture.

The sheer amount of sewing, knitting, quilting, cooking, painting, gardening and crafting she did in her lifetime is definitely impressive. But she is my hero because of her fearlessness when it came to trying new skills and crafts. She was never ashamed of her mistakes because they always taught her something.

She taught me to hand-sew and showed me her latest projects whenever I visited her. She always involved me in all she did, be it gardening or needlepoint. When I was small, she sewed me pretty smocked dresses and knitted me jerseys and my very own Paddington Bear. She made me a huge, beautiful quilted dressing gown when I was 8 which I used every day and which still fit me until it finally fell apart when I was 15.

Her knitting needle gauge

Joan was born in 1922. The Second World War began when she was only 16. Growing up in such a uncertain time meant that she was very thrifty and never threw anything useful away. It always astounded me that her house was clutter-free and spotless until I realised that she was always on the go, hardly watched any television and cooked every meal from scratch. She only sat down to rest at about 4pm when everyone had a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

When she passed away in May 2011, it was a huge shock. She had always been so active and healthy.

I inherited her craft books and sewing machine which inspired me to learn to sew. It helped me grieve as I felt closer to her when I was sewing or reading her books. My Grandfather had been a bookseller so books have always played a big part in our family life!

I hope to continue learning new skills and crafts for the rest of my life, and to instil a respect for crafts in future generations just as my Grandmother did.

My Grandmother and I on Easter Sunday last year

3KCBWDAY2 - Photography Phail

My camera has decided to pack up today, hopefully I can get my pic up tomorrow morning.

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3KCBWDAY1 - Brown In Town......

Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects - do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

I love colour! I think all knitters and crafters do! 


I like strong, saturated colours. Being pale-skinned, pastels just seem to wash me out and I'm never attracted to them.

Over the years I have noticed that I'm always attracted to blues and greens and teals. Sometimes a pink or orange or sunny yellow yarn will catch my eye and make me smile. But my first instinct is to go for oceanic tones! 

Mmmmm teal.......

The fact that colours do not have to match and do not have to be tonal has been a big lesson for me. I love an eclectic mix of colours together. This has led to some rather disastrous striped 'stash-busting' projects.....


The colour that a garment is knit can be important, I try to pay attention but sometimes I just want to jump in and use what I have to see how it looks. I have decided that I will never knit a garment in black yarn because it does not show detail well and attracts all the fluff and lint present within a 5 mile radius! Having two cats has helped in this decision :)


I do not like brown, my father always told me never to wear brown in town, and since we lived in town, I never wore it! But I've recently found that I quite like brown-toned rather than silver-toned greys. The greys are richer for their slight earthiness and I'm really liking how it's working with the orange in my stripe study. So I think grey-browns may be the way forward!

Stripe study in Zettl Treviso

To read all about other peoples' love of colour from those taking part in Knitting and crochet blog week, simply perform a Google search for the tag 3KCBWDAY1.

3rd Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week starts tomorrow!

I will be taking part because I love blogging and reading other people's blogs. But sometimes I think no-one is reading and no-one is interested so I stop. Self-fulfilling prophecy or what?!

So I've decided to give blogging another chance, and this seems like a really good way to get involved :)

Are you taking part?

Resolutions - How did I do last year?

2126 in first half of year + 1536 in last half of year = 3662g (7006m) knitted last year.

I wanted to lose 7 pounds from my stash, which is 3178g. So I smashed it!!