Missing in action

Keeping a commitment to knitting while studying and working full time is harder than I though it would be. Basically I don’t have time to sit down and knit. 

I am hoping to release a new pattern on Ravelry soon but I don’t know when it’ll be written. It’s a cowl in Noro Kibou and so far is called Buxton. 

It’s worked in the round in 4.5mm needles and has a simple lace pattern making leaves appear. 

  

Back again!

As I’ve said many a time, life is hectic. Always has been, wouldn’t be anywhere near as fun if it wasn’t and hopefully always will be. 

Recently I’ve changed phone. Now I have an iPhone 6s which makes a change from having a 4. However most of my photos are on the 4. 

I’ve also entered into a CAP petite enfance course, which will qualify me to work with children from July next year. If I pass. I will pass. I hope.

I’m babysitting two lovely kids because of this, one who is nearly three, the other who is nearly four and they are so funny. L is a little girl who always asks questions and is very chatty and R is a little boy who’s more silent but very expressive. It’s two families and I babysit the two kids at the same time. 

And I’m still working out everything with Alexandros. 

Obviously I’m still crafting. Why ever would I have stopped?  

I made this recently which began to get tweaked because I didn’t have the pattern while knitting and lead to me writing up spending very similar for Alexandros. If recommend doing one of these. It’s a great hat and I’ve been wearing it non stop. 

I used Rico Creative Cotton which was a softish cotton to work with and I loved the bright red. Although it’s not my favourite cotton yarn. I also put a bell on the i-cord and tied a wee knot in the end. 

But the cotton caused it to be too big. The cables are all stretched out and it’s huge on me. 

Slouchy no slouch and coffee together

And here is the version I made for kids. My version was mainly based off the photo and reading through the pattern once. The yellow one was more carefully planned and done carefully to be perfect. You can find the pattern for that here for free! It uses Dk wool and I used the lovely WoollyKnit Diggle DK in Gold. And 4mm needles. 
Alexandros was very happy with this hat. I’ve got a photo to prove it. He was playing peek-a-boo with it and everything.   

 

Summer Jacket, almost done

Without buttons, my latest project pinned shut for a photograph

Since summer kind of came out of nowhere it’s now too hot to do much that doesn’t involve cotton, or linen, or I don’t know what that doesn’t make my hands all horrible and sweaty. It’s made worse by the fact my flat is in the roof, therefore gets all the heat. Gah. Currently because it’s too hot to knit I’m making a dinosaur, with acrylic yarn, God help me. This wasn’t a wise decision. After I’d been burgled I couldn’t find my knitting, so I kinda bought this by justifying that if I couldn’t knit I’d drive my roomie crazy.

My balls are ready to go!

Sadly I can’t wear my pretty scarf like creations, or hats, or much, I need to knit myself a summer shawl. But time, and money, and excuses! Instead I made a stunning jacket out of DMC natura just cotton. It came from a lovely wee shop not too far from where I live, but when you think of the size and transport system of Paris, nothing is too far from home. It’s called Une maille à l’endroit which translates to A knitted stitch and seemed kinda cute. They do classes and have a lovely selection of French based yarns, although a little limited, and some very nice needles and buttons. They only had a few colours of the DMC natura and it exists in so many shades.

While I was laying it out to get a few previews. Five colours worked great!

While I was still working on sewing in the ends. That was long and I’m not a fan of seaming, it’s evil.

It’s a 50g ball with 155m designed to be knitted as 4ply on 2.5-3.5 needles, machine washable and loosely spun. I used about five half balls on this jacket in the shades Prussian, Prune, Passion, Giroflee and Chartreuse. I found that this yarn went further than I expected as I was worried I’d have to buy more. I also bought some buttons in a sachet, but I don’t like to because it always works out more expensive. There wasn’t an orange in stock so I had a five colour rainbow to work with.

I worked this on my amazing Knit Pro interchangeable cable needles even though it was all worked flat. I used 4mm to make a loose summer fabric.

A close up of my lovely buttons. I love toggles, so vintage.

I fished out a pattern from January 2015 Simply Knitting with a child’s jacket, I can’t find the pattern on Ravelry, but it was a basic enough hoodie that I tweaked to do what I wanted. And I got a pretty good end result, although I should have just worked the whole thing in garter stitch, because the pattern was a pain in the ass, simple, but annoying enough that if you balls up it’s obvious. I balls up a lot at the moment with the dog to watch, he even pulled a sleeve off my needles while I was knitting it, but that’s another post for another time. I’d rather have worked it in moss or garter stitch. Anyway, I like how this turned out. I’ve got a few more ends to hook in and then those dreaded photos to take, but soon it’ll be up here in all it’s glory.

Sewing on the buttons, it was a long day but wasn’t too bad, the jacket looked great afterwards.

One last thing, I love how this fabric drapes and flows, for a cotton it’s very loose, very liquid. For a cotton mind. It flops I guess would be a better description.

My first yarn haul!

I ripped open the two bags in excitement!

Well, it’s not my first yarn haul, but it’s the first I’m blogging about. My mum got be an early birthday present because I’ve been a little bored, and she’s worried boredom leads to depression so she’s trying to keep me occupied. So for around £55 from Deramores she got this lot sent to France. I got really lucky, she ordered Monday and it was here on Saturday!

And here’s everything I ordered, almost tidily arranged.

So what did I get?

• Sirdar Heart and Sole. 4 ply sock yarn, 75% wool, 25% nylon. Two 100g balls.
• Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo. DK, so soft, 80% bamboo, 20% wool. 50g balls. Four skittle, the dark blue, then a golden yellow, reddish orange and a red.
• Rico Creative Cotton. 100% cotton, aran weight yarn. Two 50g balls.

The Sirdar Heart and Sole is for socks because I’ve been having really cold feet, although that’s got better since I stopped my medication. Unwanted side effect from antidepressants? I don’t know. I’m still trying to choose a pattern.

The Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo is for a jumper for Sandy. I found this jumper with a rocket on it in Knit Now and I had to have one for my son. So I love Baby Bamboo, it has great stitch definition, and it’s so soft and I liked this pattern and that’s why I chose that yarn. I’ve already finished the front and back and now I’m working on the sleeves.

The Rico Creative cotton is for a hat to match my new coat. I broke my black biker jacket, it wasn’t leather so it was going to happen eventually. My new coat is black and red check and has no hood, I need to have a hat to protect from the rain but my purple one clashes. So I’ll make a new one.

Sirdar Heart and Sole and Rico Creative Cotton

Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo

Buttons!

I also got buttons, they’re for Sandy’s jumper really, but I couldn’t decide which were better. The red are the perfect shade, so I guess it will be those. We’ll see, buttons are always useful though.

And my double-pointed needles…

I only had 4mm, 4.5mm and 9mm double-pointed needles, meaning making socks wasn’t going to happen, now I have these!

And a better shot of the Rico Creative Cotton

 

Knitted octopuses again?

This is a sneak peak of my next pattern. A little doudou comforter for Sandy. I’ve made an octopus and blanket, with his initial but I’ve not got a finished photo.

I’ll post one soon, I’m having a big adjustment at the moment. I’ve left hospital and moved back to Paris.