Woollies and Wellies

Hello! Just a quick post to show off a couple of projects that have been seeing a lot of wear lately. Both patterns are by Ysolda Teague, Ripley (the hat) and Ishbel (the shawl). They're both 100% wool, which is exactly what you need in this weather we're having at the moment. The photo's were taken on Sunday, when we went for a walk. We kept coming across patches of snow in the wood and fields, and the wind was icy cold!

We've been walking further and further each weekend, and managed 6 and a half hours this week. We've got a map and a compass, but there was still about half an hour where what we were seeing didn't seem to match up with the map. Thankfully I recognised a path we had come down earlier, and we soon knew just where we were. The last hour or so walking back home was so tiring, we were certainly glad to be home! We warmed up with a home made mocha and chocolate chip brioche :)

If you'd like more info on the projects, Ripley is here and Ishbel is here. I'll be back with photos of Ebony's bag soon. I'll leave you with a photo of me enjoying my wellies :)

Dyeing with teabags!

I dyed some yarn!! With teabags!! As you can see it sent the cream Cygnet DK yarn a lovely coppery colour. I'm really pleased with it :) Word of warning though. If you do a test batch, make sure you do it with the yarn you intend to dye! I did a very small test batch using the Excelana 4ply, and it came out a very lovely autumn yellow. As you can see, the Cygnet came out far from a yellow! Luckily, I love this just as much as I love the yellow. Just be aware that it might not come out the same colour on a different yarn. 

I followed this tutorial. My test batch came out a similar colour to hers. The great thing about dyeing with food stuffs is that it's safe for your pans! The tea stained my pan slightly, but it came straight off with some magic eraser :)

I've dyed a second skein and intend to dye two more. It should be enough to knit the Peaks Island Hood from Whimsical Little Knits 2 :)

Ashley x

Socks and Narwhals

I love narwhals and I love toasty warm mittens. These mitts are both! They are lined with another plain knitted mitten. I forgot to take a picture, but it make them amazingly warm :) For yarn and pattern details my Ravelry project page is here. 

And I finally got to knit up a Zauberball! It's a Crazy Zauberball. The pinks are much brighter in real life. They are so cosy and warm :) This is the first pair of 4 ply that I've finished for myself that fit. Lovely :) My Ravelry project page is here for yarn and pattern details. 

And finally, do you remember that I had a cardigan on the go? Probably not, as it's so long since I've mentioned it. I split the sleeve stitches off so I had arm holes, and knitted about an inch more and then put it away. The more I looked at it, the more I didn't like the yarn. I bought it online as it was cheapish. I'm not keen on the colour and it doesn't feel too great. Plus, I wasn't sure on the fit. 

So. I bought some yarn that I love. It's Rico Essentials Merino Aran. The pattern calls for DK weight yarn, and although it says it's an aran, it doesn't look like it to me. I got perfect gauge and I like the fabric that it makes :) I've also gone down a size, as the 38 was a bit loose around the neck. I also took the advice of the pattern and increased at the front after the leaf collar to accommodate my bust. I'm much more confident in the fit of this one already. And the more I look at the yarn, the more I love it! :)

I had gotten about halfway through the raglan increases when I realised the armholes were wonky! On one side, there were six leaves before the arm and on the other there were seven! Argh! So I had to frog back to the leaves and start over from there. I'm almost back to where I was before.

The colour of the yarn actually has life to it. Does that make sense? It's not just a flat colour, it has subtle lighter and darker bits when you look at it closely. I like it a lot. The original yarn will get knitted into a scrap blanket instead :) 

Now I'm off to make some pizza dough. We're having pizza tonight! We took a look at a restaurant menu to come up with ideas for toppings. It's a great way to try new toppings that you wouldn't normally try. We're having olives, capers, red onion, roasted pine nuts, and sultanas on our pizza. I'd never have thought to put those things together on a pizza, but it's delicious! :)

Ashley x

The yarn pile

When Lianne mentioned on this post that she'd like to see my yarn pile, I thought 'Aha! A chance to pull it all out and take more photo's!' ;) I enjoy taking photo's of yarn, it stays still and doesn't complain when I take 20 shots to get the colour just right :)

I'm pleasantly surprised at how much there is, but at the same time I don't think there's that much of it. It's a 'stashlet' really.

I decided the best way would be to group it by weight with one big photo at the end :) But first here is the Malabrigo that I mentioned I got in my last post. 

I want a roomful of this yarn to roll about it. It is that soft and lovely.
So, the lace weight:

Sock yarns and 4ply (can you tell I like this weight?)

Onto the sport weight:

And the DK:

That Cygnet is a pain to photograph! You can see a better representation of the colour here.
And all of it together:

And so you can see the full extent, here are my six, yes, six WiPs (work in progress) :

So there you go! It's not huge, but every skein or ball is dearly loved and I have plans for most of them :)

I just realised I forgot to photograph the blanket I am working on. It's made from leftovers and skeins that I didn't know what to do with. I'll have to take a photo soon, it's an intentionally ugly knit ;)

Feel free to ask about any yarns you'd like to know more about, or if you're on Ravelry my stash page is here. I try to put in all the info I can, so if you're wondering what colour way a particular yarn is you can find it there :)

I've enjoyed pawing through my yarn for this post, and I hope you enjoyed seeing it :)

Ashley x

ps. In case you're wondering where I keep it, the yarn lives in a bag I made as a proto-type of a pattern I made myself ages ago. I lined it and even made a divider in the middle! I still have the pattern pieces, but now I can't remember how it goes together! I'm not a fan of the fabric (I got it from the market as something to practice with!), but it's thick and sturdy so keeps my yarn safe. I keep my WiPs in various little bags :) You can see the zip is bulging slightly, I struggled to get it closed!

Gathering

I've been slowly putting the shell of my Chantilly together. For the bodice gathers, I decided to try using three lines of basting. There was a post a while back on the Coletterie that showed the difference between two lines and three lines of basting and I wanted to see for myself :) For the lining, I only used two lines of stitching, and you can see the difference. Here's a very cropped zoomed in photo:

The gathers are much bigger and so not as even. So three lines of stitching certainly looks better, but it does take longer. The extra line of stitching takes more time, the actual gathering took longer as you're wrestling with three threads, and of course you have to unpick at least one line of stitching as it shows on the right side. I think the results are worth it though! :)

In knitting news, I may have acquired more yarn ;) One I bought, and one I was given as a thank you because Sarah from Spins and Needles asked me if I'd like to knit a shop sample!! It was very flattering to be asked :) She has just taken delivery of some Malabrigo Sock, so wanted a sample to show off in the shop. Sarah chose Damson by Ysolda Teague as she also stocks Whimsical Little Knits 2 that the pattern is in. I finished it last night and it's currently soaking ready to be blocked :) And as a thank you I got to choose a hank of the Malabrigo Sock for my very own! It's lovely yarn, so soft and the colours are beautiful. 

And another Zauberball. . . I think a yarn diet is in order! Though not a very strict one. I'm going to try and only buy yarn when I go to the monthly knit night. And I'll try and keep it to one projects worth.
Hmm, we'll see how long that lasts ;)
Ashley x

Crazy magic

I just cannot leave these things alone. I must've picked them up at least 20 times today just to look at them! :) (in case you don't recognise the labels, they are Crazy Zauberballs. Zauber means magic in German, hence the title of this post!). 

I hope you have all had a lovely Valentines day! I baked Dom a keylime pie using this recipe on Saturday as he couldn't wait until today (I used all digestive biscuits for the base and it worked fine). It came out looking just like Delia's and tasted amazing :) He had the last slice with his lunch today. I also picked up some chocolate and chilli fudge and some licorice root for him too as a surprise. The fudge has quite a kick to it! 

We're relaxing now with a cup of tea and an episode of 'Ashes to Ashes'. I think Gene Hunt is my most favourite fictional character ever. Seriously.

Did you do anything special for Valentines day?

Ashley x

What zip? And a story about my nan

Zip? What zip? There's no zip here! Ok, ok, there is, but it's my very first invisible zip!! The Chantilly calls for an invisible zip and I thought it was about time I learnt. I LOVE them!! And the invisible zip foot is so clever. What makes my first invisible zip foot even better is that it's still invisible even though the zip is navy and the fabric is red :)

You might notice there is no Month review today. That's because the only project I finished was the Stockholm scarf and I haven't taken a photo of it yet. The big thing this month was the return of the sewing mojo!

Moving on. . . It was the monthly Stitch 'n' Bitch at Spins and Needles on Monday night and Sarah was having a sale! So I took some spending money. . .

I have vague plans for these, but they'll probably change as I change my mind. 

Today is also 12 years since we lost my Nan. I was 8 years old and I'd never lost anybody before. It hurts like nothing else. She taught me to sew, you know. She'd let me turn the handle on her hand crank Singer. She made her own dresses, and would make me a matching dress from the scraps. She made me dressing up costumes too. 

I have the last piece of sewing she ever did. The weekend before she died, we went to see her just like we always did. I had a magazine with me, you got a teddy bear with it with the fabric all marked and ready to make it an outfit. I couldn't work it out myself, so nan hand sewed it for me. I can see her now, sewing a navy and white stripy nightgown for this teddy bear with light brown thread. I love that nightgown. It's tucked away safe at my mums. Looking at it now, I can see how ill she was. The stitches are loose and slightly uneven. She must have felt so ill, but she did it for me anyway. 

I stopped collecting the magazine soon after she died. I had a couple more outfits to make, but it wasn't until I was 11 or 12 that I finally felt like sewing them up. 

I like to think she'd be proud of my sewing and knitting. I think she'd like that my choice of hobby is influenced so much by her. I miss her lots.

Thanks for reading, I needed to share that.

Ashley x

Socks and Swallows

Pretty stitch markers that mum got me for Christmas :)

This yarn has caused me no end of trouble! It's a lace weight mohair/silk mix. (Angel by Debbie Bliss if you're interested). It was the first 'designer' yarn I ever bought, and this is the third pattern I've tried in it. The first was too boring. The second pattern I chose seemed to be going well, I didn't work on it for months. I picked it up again at the weekend and did a row. I had an extra stitch. Hmm. I tried to fix but it was so hard to see where I'd gone wrong in this yarn. Anyway, I've settled on the Swallowtail Shawl (link goes to Ravelry page). When I chose the second pattern, I passed over the Swallowtail as I thought it would be too hard. However, I've made a shawl or two since then and I'm pretty sure I can do it now :) Of course, it's all going to go wrong now I've said that ;)

I've also been working on a pair of socks for Dom. They're the Manly Aran socks from Toe up socks for everybody. I've finished one so far and I'm currently having a little break before starting on the second one. Here's a sneak preview:

It's a great pattern and I've learnt to do cables without a cable needle! It's pretty scary at first but I think I've got the hang of it now :) They fit him really well and he keeps asking when they'll be be finished.

My fabric order from Croft Mill was dispatched yesterday, but my pattern order from Sewbox is still processing. Hmm, might have to work on something else while I wait!

Ashley x

Catch up

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! :) I had a lovely time at home, and the new house is gorgeous. I thought I'd do a quick catch up post, as I knitted quite a bit while I was home :)
Here's are my WiPs.
A Rose Red by Ysolda. This still counts as a WiP as it hasn't been blocked :)

A Stockholm scarf (pattern available on Ravelry here). It's actually a cowl, and it will be huge!

And an Ishbel, also by Ysolda.

I was also lucky enough to win a giveaway at the lovely Suzy Sewing blog! I won the knitting bundle and among the goodies were two balls of yarn!

I've had a play around with them already, and I can't wait to knit them up :) I just have to decide what I want to knit.
I also received some lovely craft related gifts for Christmas too!

Books!! I love craft books, just flicking through them is so relaxing. I can't wait to try making a bag, my finishing has always left a lot to be desired so I'm hoping now that I have access to the proper techniques I can make a bag that looks lovely! I also received some stitch markers from my mum, but I forgot to take a photo. I'm sure you'll see them on a WiP at some point :) I also received lots of other bits and bobs too like chocolate, a very pretty dress, a lovely cardigan, some strawberry and cream tea, a couple of fiction books ( the Thursday Next series if you're interested. I highly recommend it!) and many more lovely little things :)
I was also lucky enough to get some spending money too, so I took a trip to Spins and Needles today :)
For the Fiddler's mitts in My Grandmothers knitting:

Some yarn for two pairs of socks (one for me, one for Dom):

And this is an old photo, but I bought three more balls of this too so I can make a matching pair of gloves for the Rose Red hat :) (yes, the colour is completely off in the photo of the hat above):

If you're celebrating the new year, I hope you enjoy your celebrations tonight :) I'll be back with a round up of the Christmas presents I made tomorrow. And probably a hangover too ;)
Ashley x

Spun

I bought this yarn at the Lincoln Christmas market on Thursday night :) There was a section of the market called the Medieval market, where everything had a medieval theme to it. The yarn was spun and dyed by the lady selling it! And it was the very first stall we went to :) It made me giggle because Dom saw it before I did, but he didn't say anything as he knew I'd be excited. When I went over to it, the lady's husband saw me looking. All of the vendors were dressed in Medieval style clothing, so it was particularly funny when he smiled and said 'Adding to the hoard?' because he looked like he belonged in the game World of Warcraft! :) (In WoW there are two sides that you can play as, the good side is the Alliance, and the evil side is the Horde). It's 300 yards of DK weight pure wool. It's soft, but also has a nice roughness. And it smells like sheep. But I kind of like that. There's something wonderful about knitting with a sheepy earthy yarn :)

There was also a stall selling jerky, made the traditional way. They had some tofu jerky, which was very tasty (a bit too tasty for my liking). Dom bought some, and it was gone within half an hour when we got home! They also sold something called 'fruit leather'. This was delicious, and we'll definitely be ordering from their website! Nom! I might also have some photos to share soon that Dom took, as I didn't take a digital camera :)

Also, I finished my little sisters Christmas present today! Both of my sisters asked for the same thing, some ear warmers like they had seen in a shop. But in their favourite colours. So here is Ebony's, in her favourite colour!

Yes, I am fully aware she's going to look ridiculous but it's what she asked for! I'm not sure what it's meant to be, but I'm sure Ebony can decide :) It's Cascade 220, and the pattern is simply an inch of ribbing, 2 inches of stockinette, and another inch of ribbing. And of course pom poms. I hate making the damn things, so tedious. I worked out how many stitches to cast on from my gauge and Ebony's head measurement. It's got an inch of negative ease, so should be a nice fit. Especially since her head is the same size as mine, and it fits me fine. No, there is no photographic evidence of this thing on my head ;P

Ashley x

Just a quick hello

Just a quick post, to say I've got another post up at the Crafty Christmas Club! If you're family or a close friend, step away from the link!

It's here. I really like this one, the colour is gorgeous :)

Also, I have discovered the joys of the uni library. I spent 4 hours there yesterday, and managed to do 800 out of 2500 words of an essay!! And it isn't due in for 5 weeks!! How organised am I? :D I find I work much better when away from home as there's nothing else to do but work :)

And because it's too pretty not to share, I bought some yarn the other day:

It's Botany Lace, and is sooooo soft! :) It's a good incentive to get cracking on more Christmas knitting!
Ashley x

Pendrell Dress - part 4

That's how far I got today! I re-traced the front bodice pieces as the they were covered in sticky tape. Then I drafted a peter pan collar vaguely following Casey's tutorial. And then I cut the main fabric pieces :) I haven't cut out the collar yet, but I'm planning on block fusing the pieces. I now have sore knees from the scratchy carpet. I also managed to scratch my thigh with a pin which has come up in a super sore scratch. 

I also finished up two knitting projects today! I finally finished the Rosebud socks! It's so good to have them off the needles! And I also finished up the Scroll lace scarf. Now here's the annoying thing. I bought 2 balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, totalling 250 metres. The pattern calls for 250 metres. I ran out of yarn with half a row and the cast off to do! I didn't want to undo all that knitting so I decided to just buy another ball and find a project on Ravelry for the left over. It's currently drying on a towel, as it had to be blocked to open up the lace and also to try and get rid of the edge curling that I had going on:

I'll get photos of both the socks and the scarf soon :) I'm going to ask Dom to take them for me with his new Pentax K5 camera. He got it on Tuesday and he's been playing around with it ever since. And of course who does he take pictures of when he's playing around with it? ;) Yep, me! No matter what I'm doing he'll come over to take a picture with a new setting that he's found or to just play around with it. I don't mind of course, but some of the pictures must be awful! lol 

I also bought some more yarn this week. I'm planning on making two more Snapdragon hats. I chose these two colours, as then I will have a hat that goes with everything in my wardrobe. I think I'll do the matching gloves at some point too. 

Cygnet Superwash DK

British Breeds Blue Face Leicester DK

I can't wait to finish up my current secret knitting project so I can sneak in a Snapdragon! :) My current project is my first Christmas knit. I've got three planned, but there might be more depending on how soon I finish them. When the Crafty Christmas Club starts up again this year, I'm going to join so I can share my Christmas makes :) I've been keeping an eye out for sewing projects too that I think friends and family might like. Not sure yet :)

Also, as Dom now has a new camera he has passed his old one onto me. It's a Pentax K2000. Dom felt he had outgrown it, but it's all new to me! I've only ever used it on Auto, so the photos of the yarn and the scarf are from me learning to a bit about the camera. I know a little about aperture and ISO and what not from having a film camera, but I've still got a long way to go!! :)

Ashley x