I spent a good proportion of yesterday afternoon sat on the grass in the park near my house, with my knitting and crochet, and an ice cream that melted far too fast. It was lovely :)
FOs
So, what have I been up to this month? Mostly, preparing for ALL THE BIRTHDAYS!!! July and August are the busiest months in my calendar for birthdays. During my university years, there were so many of us that we just used to have one big joint summer birthday party, otherwise we'd be partying every other day for about 6 weeks solid, and twice on some days! (Yes, I know that traditionally this is what students do, but I promise you we didn't, if for no other reason than financial restrictions).
Anyway, some of the people with birthdays during this time are definitely knit-worthy. One of them is my youngest godson, who will be one year old in August, and I have finished the sweater that I was making for him during my last update.
It's made from Ella Rae superwash worsted, and the pattern is adapted from the Busy Baby Boy Sweater, by Lorna Miser. I'm really pleased with the result, although I suspect that the recipient will be more excited that I plan to include some chocolate in the gift package!
I've also been introduced to a new yarn craft, one that I had never heard of, although it seems that I'm the only knitter in existence who didn't know about it! It's called nalbinding, and it's an ancient technique that pre-dates both knitting and crochet, although it's still used in some areas of Scandinavia, and South America. In the UK is is mostly used by Viking re-enactors, as an authentic means of creating certain clothing items.
Nalbinding uses a large needle, rather like a tapestry needle, but usually bigger, and slightly flattened, and traditionally made from bone or wood. It uses short lengths of yarn, as the entire thread is pulled through as you work, rather than creating a loop as knitting or crochet does. I tried it out myself, and varied the colour with each new thread, so you can see when I've had to join a new length.
I sort of like the incongruity of using such an ancient craft to create such a modern item, I hardly think the vikings needed protectors for their smart phones!
WIPs
Last time I posted, I'd been trapped away from my stash, and was therefore restricted to just one active WIP. You'll be pleased to know that the car is now fixed, and I'm back at home, so this time I've a little more to show you.
The theme being birthdays still, I'm now working on a sweater for my middle godson, who will be 4 in August, is older brother to the youngest, and their birthdays are just a few days apart. Their mother loves the colour grey, so of course, this sweater is grey too:
I've chosen a pattern for this one that is similar, but different to his brothers sweater. As a young child I hated being made to dress identically to my sister, but similar is nice. This one is knit with Drops extra fine merino DK, and the pattern is Abernathy, by Terri Kruse.
The next birthday present on the list is for Stephens mum. She knows what it is, and she's seen the yarn I'm using, so I'm not worried about posting photos here.
Although Pams birthday is at the start of August, we won't get a chance to see her until the end of that month, so I do have a bit more leeway in getting this finished than my other summer birthday projects. It's a lovely thing to work on though, the yarn is gorgeous, and the pattern is simple, but not boring. This is Hypernova, by Arlenes world of lace. I've wanted to knit this pattern for years, I even have the yarn to knit a version for myself! This version is knit in Araucania Botany Lace.
There are two more summer birthdays that I'm knitting for, but I can't post about those just yet, as the recipients are people who may well read this blog, so you'll all just have to wait for those :p
Finally, there's the project that you may have spotted in my sunny day in the park photos earlier. These aren't for a birthday, they're for Yarndale. This will be the third year that Yarndale has run, and both of the previous years included displays made up of items crafted by yarn addicts from all over the world. The first year was the famous bunting, then last year the beautiful mandalas, and this year there is to be flowers. I sent my own contributions on both previous occasions, and I intend to do the same again this year, even though this time I don't think I'll actually make it to the event myself.
This particular flower was invented off the top of my head, because I just took my yarn into the park and sat down to chill. I'm going to make more than one, of course, so at least some of the others are going to be made according to patterns from 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet, which has to be one of the best pattern books I've ever invested in. These flowers can be used to accessorise a plain knit item, or used in yarn bombing projects, or used for charity, as the patterns include poppies, daffodils, and forget-me-nots, and probably many other flowers used to represent charities that I am currently unaware of. I'm using Rico Designs Creative Cotton aran to make my flowers for Yarndale.
Stash Enhancement
Errm, oops? This section was supposed to be empty, I'm supposed to be on a yarn diet, excepting birthday gifts (that's tomorrow!) until September. Well, I broke it, but only a tiny bit...
I had a full loyalty card for my LYS, giving me £10 to spend. I also had a bad day last week and needed some cheering up. I've also just learned that my sister is expecting another baby!!! And for complicated reasons, I needed some orange yarn, and orange isn't a colour that I would normally keep in my stash. So I didn't actually spend very much real money, and everything I bought has an immediate purpose, so it doesn't count, right?
This is Rico Baby So Soft Prints, and I've bought it to make baby hats. We don't know the gender of the new baby, but this has white, blue, pink, and purple, so it covers all bases, and should be suitable for a girl or a boy. Obviously I'll get more than one hat out of this, so the spares will go to the local neonatal ward for premature babies.
This is the yarn I've bought for making flowers, and herb pouches. The purple, green, and red are all Rico Creative cotton aran, the orange is Stylecraft cotton DK.
Other News
This is exciting stuff my dears - DancingGeek is back! Yes, that's right, the very lovely James of what Stephen calls the Big Gay Podcast, is back on form, and recording again! I don't know about you, but I've missed his enthusiasm, his refreshing honesty, and the unique way he genuinely invites you into his life for a couple of hours. If you've never seen him before, or never watched a podcast before, then I really recommend that you go watch James, although I do suggest that you set aside a reasonable length of time to do it! Settle down with your knitting and enjoy the conversation :) This announcement even ties in with the theme of this update, because James is another of the summer birthday brigade!
Penguins!
Yes, there are penguins again! A couple of weeks ago I got a new phone. A smart phone! It has internet, and facebook, and instagram, and maps! When transferring all the info from my old phone, Kelly came across the microSD card inside of it, and asked if I wanted to keep whatever was on it. I said I didn't even know what was on it, so he had a look, and this is what he found:
Some years ago, Stephen took me on a trip to the Bridlington. One of the few downsides to living in Sheffield is the distance from the seaside. For someone brought up near the coast, it's a sad thing to not be able to just pop along for a paddle at any time. So Stephen took me out for a drive to the beach. We parked up at Sewerby Hall, because we like to look around old stately homes, and discovered that they have a small wildlife garden, with Humbolt penguins! And it was nearly penguin feeding time! I'd forgotten that I took photos on my old phone!
Look at that!!! My eldest godson (still only 4!) made this for me! Isn't he awesome!!! He and his big sister (my only god-daughter), were also responsible for several of the penguins I received last Christmas. I think maybe they know me too well :)
That's all for now my dears, enjoy the sunshine!
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