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Using up odds and ends
2007-10-30 00:55:00
Using up odds and endsYou wouldn’t think so, judging by the picture in the background, but once again I have managed to get inspired by my beautiful new lace book. Honestly, that book is the best buy ever!The end result should be a nice wee neck scarf. I can’t wait to see how it develops. This wool is one of the ones I got from Skrilla Knits some time back and I’m so excited to have it on the needles. I have only one ball, so I’ll have to dive into my stash to complete the project, but trust me, that won’t present too much of a problem!
More About: Odds , Ends

Finished at last - now with pictures
2007-10-28 22:13:00
I have finished my first proper lace project - and I'm chuffed to bits! Yesterday I goot out the Woolite and gently washed my beautiful shawl.After a gentle rinse, I was ready to start blocking out my handywork to see what it had turned into. I laid out a bathsheet on the dining table and started to smooth out the knitted piece, ready for the pins. The outer edge of the shawl is slightly flared, so it was a bit fiddly to get the right tension and distance between the pins.Eventually all the pins were in and now I just had to sit patiently and wait for it to dry. We were expecting people for dinner and i really had to restrain myself not to get the hairdryer out!Eventually it was there in all it's knitted glory and I could have spent hours just looking at it. I love it and can't believe I managed to get a shoulder wrap sized shawl out of just 50 grammes of wool. This is definitely not the last lace project off my needles! I can't wait to get started on another one. Maybe this tim...
More About: Pictures , Finish , Nish

Pay it forward
2007-10-24 13:34:00
I saw this "Pay it forward" on Pia Johansson's blog and decided to play along as I think it's such a wonderful idea.Pay It Forward - here's my promise to you:I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."Nice idea isn´t it?Now come on and play along. Christmas is only two months away, and is supposed to be a time of charity... Play, play, play - you know it makes sense. :)
More About: Pay It Forward

Experimenting with Brooklyn tweed's Koolhaas
2007-10-24 11:13:00
I saw a most amazing hat on Brooklyn Tweed 's blog and was simply dying to try out the pattern, however the pattern is featuring in an American magazine - and not easily available in England. What to do? Oh well, I decided it couldn't possibly be any harder than I could work it out for myself. At least I'd have a go at it, before I give up... I had one ball left of this green sparkly wool. It's a bit thicker than recommended, but will do for now. So far I have made it past the rib and in to the first set of cables. It looks as if I'm doing something right. We'll see what happens once I start decreasing...Wish me luck!

I bought a new book
2007-10-23 21:25:00
When I went to the Itchy and Scratchy show the other day I managed to find the perfect lace book, complete with loads of charts. The book in question is Jane Sowerby's "Victorian Lace Today" - and it's simply stunning and absolutely perfect for what I was looking for!I had promised myself that if I could find a nice lace book with good charts, I could treat myself, provided it wasn't tooooo expensive. My luck was in! Someone had visited the stall the previous day and had knocked the book off the shelf and caused some damage to the bottom part of the spine (of the book...). The lady who owned the stall let me have £5 off the retail price, because of the damage. Also, she told me that Jane Sowerby had bought a book of her years ago and that was how she got started knitting lace and now she's published her own book!I joked and said "you never know, I may be next..." - she wished me luck! I was hardly in the door, before I started reading through the book and studying all the diffe...
More About: Book

Are you feeling lucky?
2007-10-17 22:35:00
The Krafty1 has a contest on her blog. A contest where you can win wool. What are you waiting for? Get yourself right over there and partake. Then again - stay here, and let me win instead.Less competitors, bigger chance of winning...
More About: Lucky , Feeling

After destashing comes restashing...
2007-10-17 11:08:00
Sunday was the day of my annual trip to Ally Pally (aka Alexandra Palace) and the annual Itchy and Scratchy show (aka the Knitting and Stitching show). The greatest crafts show on earth - me finks. :)Sis-in-law and a friend and I made our way across London to arrive at the crafting mecca around 11.00 hrs. We had six hours of fingering wonderful wools, trying new tools and spending far too much money ahead of us.Alexandra Palace and the surrounding park is so beautiful, particularly this time of the year. I must admit though that I only brought along my mobilephone camera, and not the big old fancy one, even though I would have loved to have spent hours taking pictures up there.Back to the whole reason why we were there - crafting, shopping, touching, oohing, aahing, admiring and shopping some more.My friend Birgitte had a stand at the show for the first time. She has an amazing webshop; Scandinavian Knitting Design, selling all sorts of wonderful wools and yarns and much of it was o...

One finished experiment!
2007-10-17 00:42:00
Yippee - one finished project, giftwrapped and handed over to the birthday girl.I hope she liked it, as I was rather pleased with it myself. I washed it in some wool wash and couldn't believe how soft the wool was. Absolutely amazing. I will remember that, if I ever come across Schulana wool again!
More About: Experiment , Finish , Nish

Ten weeks left...
2007-10-16 10:33:00
Maybe I should try FINISHING some projects, rather than starting them all the time. I just realised that it's Christmas in TEN weeks time. YIKES - how will I complete all those things I want to use for Christmas gifts, if I don't get my finger out soon? Having bought a new lace pattern book at the Itchy and Scratchy at the weekend, I just HAD to put some new wool on the needles to see whether I could work out any of the charts - and I could. :)I think I am on to something here. I just love the process of creating beautiful patterns with yarn. It looks so complicated, but the charts make it so much easier. I wonder whether I'll ever find time to upload a few pictures from the show and to show the few bits (I'm trying very hard to make it sound like nothing...) that I bought. We had a wonderful time and this year there was so much knitting related stuff; right up my street! More about that in another post.
More About: Left , Weeks

Another experiment
2007-10-14 01:34:00
This time my experiment is a very small, but rather fun experiment. I am trying to work out a really nice wee crocheted flower to use for decorating scarves and shawls.When I was tidying up my stash, I found so many tiny portions of wool, which was perfectly suited to crocheting flowers. Here's a sample of my experiment so far.
More About: Experiment

Are we nearly there yet?
2007-10-14 01:20:00
Only another 11.069 people in line before me and then I'll find out what to do with the long awaited arrival of ravelry in my world.It is a small consolation that there are over 4.500 people behind me in the list. :)Are you signed up yet? If you are, and you haven't received your invitation yet, you can check here where you are in the queue. Maybe we're standing next to one another. How funny!Tomorrow I'll pretend I'm on ravelry, when I go to the Itchy and Scratchy, ehmmm... I mean the Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally.I can't wait to see what the hot topics for this year are. Last year my trusted craft-show-pal aka the sis-in-law and I missed the Ally Pally show, as we were away for the weekend. Thankfully we had a great time away, as anything else would have been just awful!This year a friend of mine is exhibiting with Garnstudio. I'm so excited for her. Take a look at her site. There are so many free patterns in many different languages. I am sure her stall will be...

Steady progress
2007-10-09 11:44:00
My experiment is coming along in leaps and bounds. I managed to add around 30 cms to it last night. The wool is super elastic and a pleasure to hold, but a tiny bit of a pain to knit, as it snags really easily. It is so delicate! I love it though, both the feel, the colour and the fact that it is lambswool.I bought the wool on Ebay, but it is from Schulana in Switzerland, who appear to have some amazing wools. Maybe I can go wool shopping in Switzerland one day... I think I've worked out how the wrap thing will work, but am not 100% sure yet. I anticipate crocheting a couple of wee flowers for decoration. I have so many pretty wee odds and ends that will match the wool perfectly. In fact, I'm feeling more and more positive about this experiment the more I think about it.
More About: Progress

Wool on the needles, chick flick and a glass of brandy!
2007-10-08 00:20:00
My husband is busy helping out his brother with some computer problem and I'm left in front of the telly with a chick flick (Hitch with Will Smith) on the telly, and now a glass of brandy on ice by my side. Could life be much better?The knitting, by the way, is yet another experiment. It is my friend's daughter's birthday on Sunday and I thought I'd knit her a scarf. Off course, not just one of the long slim straight kinds of a thing, no, off course, I had to go for some wrap around design that I have seen somewhere on the internet, but haven't got a pattern for! When will I learn?
More About: Chick , Brandy , Glass , Flick , Chick Flick

Stash feng shui!
2007-10-03 21:28:00
A couple of weeks ago, my husband disappeared abroad for a couple of weeks and left me with the opportunity to get my yarn stash sorted out once and for all, without having to listen to a whole load of sighing and "why don't you just chuck it, you'll never get through all of that!"I sorted and I sorted and I was REALLY hard on myself. I took out almost all large quantities of cheaper wools and bagged them up to send to my mum, who knits for Red Cross on a regular basis. There was nothing wrong with the yarn, but it was stuff that I had either gotten for nothing or for very little money and much of it had too high a content of man made fibres for me to be able to wear it!My bedroom looked like a bombsite for days on end, but slowly, slowly I began to wind up all the lose ends and divide the yarns in to quality and colours.I came across this brownish thing that I must have started knitting for my husband, but evidently never finished. There was a whole kilo of yarn! The pattern was ...
More About: Feng Shui

Ally Pally - and time for a wee update
2007-10-03 21:12:00
I am working extremely hard at the moment and have had very little time to knit or blog for the longest time - BORING, I know, but that's life. I am, however, still alive and kicking, and, as it happens, I'm making progress on the lace knitting experiment. These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago, and a lot more yarn has passed my hands in the meanwhile. In fact, I got bored of the pattern and yesterday decided to start looking for a pattern for a border. I'm working on one and I think it'll work out ok. More about that once I have something to show for my efforts.I just noted the date and realised it must be time for the annual outing to Ally Pally for the Itchy and Scratchy show - aka: the Knitting and Stitching show. According to the website, I'm right. Alexandra Palace plays host to the wonderful show on 11-14 October 2007. I've better have a word with the sis-in-law and get her lined up for which ever day suits her best. I spent the weekend in Denmark, at my parent...
More About: Time , Update

New wool for lace knitting
2007-09-11 00:58:00
Whilst I was on holiday I came across so many wonderful yarn shops and I really had to control myself in order NOT to add too much to my ever growing stash!I was "allowed" to look for some nice, soft wool for lace knitting and off course I had to buy a few different ones.The first shope I went to had this wonderful baby blue bundle on offer. I bought two balls and swiftly gave one of them to my sister, who has used what she needed and is sending the rest back to me. Good, 'cause it isn't stretching quite as far as I was hoping it would. Anyhow, more about that later in this post. The second lot, from Duddine's shop (sorry, info is in Danish), was this gorgeous baby pink ball of fluff. It is so light and beautiful that I just HAD to buy it. The fact that it was reduced to around £2 per ball also helped. I never can resist a bargain - particularly not when it comes to wool.Finally I found some gorgeous silky wool for making myself a nice wrap. I'm saving this until my laceknittin...
More About: Knitting , Lace

Charity shopping
2007-09-09 10:38:00
I went to the Char ity shop just to have a nose around. Off course, the minute I stepped through the front door I clapped eyes on two baskets of yarn. I think I may need glasses. My eyes have a funny tendency to focus on the nearest bundle of yarn!Anyhow, the yarn was highly uninspiring; until I noticed the thick blue wool. It had been frogged, but looks ideal for making some slippers for felting! I bought all four bundles. I'd guess there's 400g, so enough for a bit of experimenting!I am sure I promised myself that I wouldn't buy any yarn this year, but Charity shop purchases and purchases when you're abroad don't count; do they?
More About: Shopping , Hari

Cool link - for London crafters
2007-09-08 12:57:00
Whip up posted this very cool link and I'm completely smitten!The Make Lounge is a place where you can go to meet people and learn how to make stuff!The classes look very basic, but you have to start somewhere. I'll be keeping my eye on what they come up with. Maybe they'll even do a basket making course... For now, I'm rather taken with the idea of making soap. That must be a lot of fun. I can't wait to show this cool place to my sis-in-law; oh, that reminds me - what date is the Itchy and Scratchy show, sorry, I meant the Knitting and Stitching show in Alexandra Palace?Appears it's on the 11th to the 14th of October. Note to self: put in diary!
More About: London , Cool , Link

Google name image meme
2007-09-08 12:07:00
Tina at Mummified times five tagged everyone who read her post for this name meme.The "rules" are as follows:Go to Google (I use the English version, you may use another) and click on Google Image s. Type in your name and search. Select the picture of the weirdest, coolest, nicest, thing/person that shares your name. You may find several... Post the picture on your blog - and invite others to join in the fun.Here goes - I typed in my name, and here's (some of) what I found:How APT! I'm experimenting with knitting lace, and one of the first things I find is a beautifully knitted square shawl - carrying my name! Unfortunately the charts for the pattern weren't online. :)The next picture was featured on one website, but gave me a link through to Tina's Groove and I'm loving it! Check out Tina's bio:Tina - Single, sweet and over 30, wherever her groove takes her, Tina is happy being Tina. She isn't "waiting" for her life to begin - she's living it! Tina is the every woman of our ...
More About: Meme

This year's tutorial
2007-09-02 02:18:00
My mum has always been very crafty and has taught me most of what I know about crafting; more than anything she has taught me the joy of making things with my own bare hands.My sister-in-law loves crafting as much as I do and every time I take her to my parents we ask my mum to teach us something new. This years lesson was a lesson in making lavender dollies, or as I like to call them "lavender smellies". I love the smell and look of lavender and these wee dollies are so much nicer than your average "air freshener".To make a lavender dolly we picked 22 very long stalks of lavender with a nice bloom. You need an odd number of stalks to make the weave work, we wove over two stalks each time, hence the 22 stalks made the odd number of 11. We tied the lavender together with a nice silky ribbon right underneath the flowers and bent the stalks down to cover the flowers. The stalks had to be distributed evenly around the bundle to make the weave nice and even.You weave over pairs of the ...
More About: Tutorial

What happened to August?
2007-09-02 01:42:00
I'm looking at my blog and slowly realising it has been a month since my last post! I can't believe it. Time ran away with me.I was SO busy prior to going on holiday, that I had not time to knit, nor any time to blog. Anyhow, we went of on our driving holiday on 10-25 August and I managed to find some good yarn stores and find a few "souvenirs" to bring home. The pictures below are from three different yarn stores, two in Denmark and one in Sweden. They have fantastic wools, and great yarns in general. They do tend to be rather expensive, but I always find a bargain, no matter where I go, and this was no exception. I'll have to take a few pictures of the very modest stash I brought home. One of them has made it onto the needles already, and a fine bit of lace is making its way into this world.My bloglines is full to the rim and I can't wait to catch up with all my favourite knitters, crocheters and crafters to find out what's going on the needles around the world. Hope everyone...

Lacy shawl pattern...
2007-07-29 12:50:00
I have three bundles of very fine Schulana lambswool in this lovely turqoise colour that I have been dreaming of knitting into a lace shawl for some time. I found a free pattern on the LionBrand website, and set about learning the pattern.The pattern, however, is giving me a bit of a headache. I think I'll have to draw it out in a diagramme as firstly the pattern repeat is over twenty rows, but doesn't set out how the pattern behaves after your first row 20... and secondly the pattern has a couple of lines where the amount of stitches don't seem to match with the increases from the previous return!The pattern is mirrored from the middle, so if I draw a proper chart, it shouldn't be too difficult to get it to work. I now understand why the pattern was free!This morning, whilst the rest of the household were sleeping, I sat in the dining room and worked the first repeat of the pattern. It looks pretty, but I'm not 100% sure that I won't change pattern!We'll see what happens. (",)
More About: Pattern , Shaw

I got some knitting done!
2007-07-26 00:43:00
In fact, I even FINISHED something, well, or rather; I nearly finished something... I have stille to find a suitable button for the front of this wonderful wee cropped waistcoat, knitted using the instructions given by Knit-and-relax. I love it! I'm sure it won't be the only one I'll ever knit. I used some yarn from the stash. The pale colour is 100% lambswool with a gold thread in it and the darker green is some silk I got from a weaver. I used two strands to make it as thick as the other colour.I love making things from the stash. It feels like the yarn was free and it feels so good to be using some of it up!I'm trying to decide what I'll do next, but I don't have a lot of knitting time on my hands at the moment, so I'll carry on thinking for now.I have some great and very fine wool, which I may have to make into a lacy summer stole or maybe a wee cardigan. We'll see; I'll come up with something.Danke schon Susanne, the pattern ist WUNDERBAR!
More About: Knitting , Done , Some

Oh yes, I am knitting BUT!
2007-07-23 01:32:00
My progress is SO slow. I'm incredibly busy at work at the moment and equally busy at home and that means minimum knitting time.I do have one wee experiment on the needles at the moment though. More will follow in a couple of days. I might even get a chance to FINISH it on Wednesday. A tiny project taking several weeks, what is the world coming to?
More About: Knitting