I hadn't realised just how long it had been since my last update, November seems to have evaporated in a cloud of stress and brain fog!
I'll be doing one more very special update after this, but this will be my last standard update until 2016. So, what have I been up to that Gift Confidentiality doesn't prevent me from telling you about...
FOs
Up until yesterday, this was going to be a very small section! But I've stepped up to the plate and dealt with the sewing, so actually, there's a reasonable amount to show you now:
Yes, this is a finished object! I know it doesn't look like it, but that's deliberate.
I have several friends who are involved in the theatre business, and In February, their company will be putting on a play called "And then there were none." It is necessary for one of the actors to appear to be knitting something from grey wool during this play, and later, the knitting will be yanked from the needles and placed on top of another actors head, in mockery of a judge with his black silk handkerchief about to announce a death sentence. So this piece of knitting needs to look like a work in progress, but not unravel when pulled from the needles, in order that the prop can be re-set for the next performance. To achieve this, I bound the work off, then sewed loops in place of active stitches along the top. The spare yarn isn't actually attached to the work, because although this would provide excellent continuity, it would also look very silly as the actor decried his lines while a ball of wool dangles from his head, and rolls away across the stage! I'm quite pleased with it actually, and it was an excellent use of left-over yarn.
This is my Saturnalia TGV, completed, and ready to be worn at the Countess Ablaze Saturnalia Party this weekend.
The pattern is one of my favourite basic shawl patterns - TGV, by Susan Ashcroft, and the yarn is Viscount of Spark, in the colourway Saturnalia by Countess Ablaze.
I know someone who is going to get excited about this photo, even though she claims that her children are spoiled, I know that she loves it when I knit them things :) These are gifts to go in the Christmas Stockings of my 2 youngest godsons.
I spent a while debating the all important question - Pompoms, or no pompoms? But I'm assured that all kids hats need great big pompoms!
The pattern for both of these is Irish Hiking Hat, adapted to get a good fit for toddlers. The yarn is Rico Baby So Soft, and is one of the handful of acrylic yarns that I really recommend. It's perfect for kids, easy to wash and hard-wearing, but as soft as new lambs wool. It's a shame really that the Rico Design website is so dreadful that I can't give you a link to it, but it's easy enough to find in every other online commercial yarn retailer. I bought mine at my local craft store.
Yes, several months after I finished the knitting, I have finally put the finishing touches to the pram blanket for my sisters new baby. I saw her yesterday, and the babys appearance is looking pretty imminent to me, so I thought I'd better get a wiggle on and make sure this would be ready in time!
The pattern is just a basic basket weave and moss stitch combination, made a bit more exciting by an intarsia checkerboard of different colours. The yarn is another of those rare acrylics that I actually love - Soft & Cuddly by The Womens Institute.
Now here's a strange thing; I knitted this item specifically with the intention of selling it.
I thought I'd never do that, because the pressure of turning my hobby into my work is something that I'm not sure I want. However, I do have a lot of part-used balls of beautiful yarn that I'd really like to do something with, so this is the answer. Phone pouches, knit to my own pattern, from gorgeous artisan dyed yarn, and sold at Knitting and Penguins.
In this particular case, the yarn in question is Count Cashmerino high twist, in the colourway "Why, this is violence!" by Countess Ablaze. Since I use a lot of Countess Ablaze yarns, I suspect that many more of these will appear over time made from CA yarns, but there will be other yarns used too.
It's not knitting! But it is a thing that I've made. Kelly is learning how to perform holistic massage, and this requires the use of a bolster cushion to aid in positioning his clients, but it's very important that everything he uses is cleaned before he uses it again, and that's not easy with a cushion. However, cushion covers for bolster cushions don't seem to be an easy thing to buy, so I got out the sewing machine and made this cover that can be removed and washed easily. Again, I'm no seamstress, and my sewing skills are limited, so I'm quite pleased with how this turned out in the end :)
WIPs
For some reason I expected this section to be enormous. It genuinely feels as though I'm working on about 27 things at once, however, it turns out that I've just got the plans for the next few things already in my head, and the yarn already by my knitting nest, but I've not actually cast on all of the things that are making my brain overflow.
I'm actually only actively working on 3 things right now (I'll be casting on a 4th tomorrow, but that doesn't count yet!)
The first thing is the Christmas stockings that I'm knitting for all of the children in my life. There are 6 of those in total, I'm currently working on number 4. I've already shown one photo of a completed stocking, so I can't imagine that repeated in progress shots of all the rest will be terribly exciting, although later on you might notice that I do manage to sneak one in anyway, but not right now.
Instead you get this thoroughly informative photo! I'm not saying what it is though, because it is a gift, and the recipient will probably read this blog, but I want it to be a surprise.
I will say that the yarn is a sparkly merino sock yarn by Rosie's Moments, in the colourway "Night Sky".
This is my current "selfish" project. I have to have something on the go that is in luxury yarn, and intended for me, so that I don't go crazy!
This project is special for an unusual reason though. A very lovely friend of mine who is an absolute genius with a crochet hook, is getting married next year. She saw a shawl at Yarndale that she decided was perfect for her wedding day. The problem is, that shawl is not just knitted, but exceptionally intricate knitting, with lace, and beads, and it's *huge*! She's not as confident with knitting as she is with crochet, so she asked if I would help her through any rough spots, and in exchange, she gifted me a copy of the pattern! I would have done it for the joy of seeing a friend happy, but hey, bonus!
It turned out that the pattern is technical enough that it's much easier for me to help her if I'm knitting it at the same time, so I cast on my own version, and I'm trying to squeeze in a bit of time to work on it every day.
The pattern for this shawl is Alberta, and the yarn is Gleem Lace, by Fyberspates, in the colourway "Peacock".
Beads
Yesterday the beads that I'm going to use for the Alberta shawl arrived, which is perfect, as I'm just up to the section where you start adding beads.
These are size 8/0 Miyuki seed beads, sold by Bead Stampede.
If you're not familiar with bead size nomenclature, then it's worth saying that the bigger the first number, the SMALLER the bead! This is because historically the number referred to the number of beads that would fit in 1 inch. I use size 11 - 14 beads for bead weaving, they need a special extra fine needle, you could never use them for beading knitting, except perhaps for cobweb lace, and that would be an almighty faff.
For knitting purposes, you nearly always want to choose size 6/0, or 8/0 beads. 6/0 works best with 4-ply yarns, and 8/0 works best with laceweight yarns. You're also going to need a 0.5mm crochet hook to be sure that you can get both yarn, and hook, through that tiny hole in the middle of the bead. Also be careful about the brand of bead that you choose, sizing isn't standard between brands! For Miyuki beads, a size 6 bead is 4mm diameter, and a size 8 bead is 3mm diameter, but the more usual sizing is actually 3.3mm for size 6, and 2.5mm for size 8.
Stash Acquisition
It seems I've actually bought quite a lot of yarn during the last month, but in my defense, a lot of that has been specifically for Christmas knitting projects!
Not these though. These are a brand new yarn base from Countess Ablaze, called The Curious Observer. It's kid mohair and silk, and it has a very full halo. Yarns with this much halo are remarkably difficult to get hold of, so having one stocked by an excellent artisan dyer is a very exciting thing! The colourways that I chose are "Grey skies in Manchester", and "Zombie Princess". I think it's pretty obvious which is which!
This is also not a Christmas knitting yarn. This is another ball of Zig Zag by King Cole, an excellent, inexpensive, British, sock yarn. The colourway is "Smokey".
I have to confess that although I am a big fan of this yarn, I wouldn't necessarily have bought it when I did, were it not for the fact that Knit Nottingham have recently started stocking these gorgeous project bags by Bertie and Poppet, and when I saw this one I absolutely had to have it!
This is definitely Christmas knitting yarn. From this lot I'm hoping to get 2 adult sized hats, and at least 1 penguin. The yarn is another from Rico Design, so impossible to link directly. In this case it's their Essentials Merino DK, and I bought it from Love Knitting.
I can't allow a Countess Ablaze special update to pass without buying at least one of those stunning limited edition yarns. This month it was the turn of a Viscount of Spark sock blank, in the colourway "Do not answer him at such length". This particular colourway is actually dyed symmetrically, so if you choose to use it to knit a pair of socks, then you can start one sock from one end of the blank, and the other sock from the other end, and when you meet in the middle, both socks should match! Amazingly clever!
I'm not going to use this for socks though. I want this to be a double gradient shawl instead.
I'm a fairly impulsive person, especially when I'm over-wrought, and in pain. I guess you've figured that out by now. Well, about a month ago my doctor and I started an exciting experiment with my medication. The conclusion after around 4 weeks was that it had been a bad change, and I should go back to what I was on before. During the experiment however, I was often in a vast amount of pain, and my fatigue was insurmountable. So when I saw this float past on my instagram feed, I decided that it was fated to be the impulse buy that would help cheer me up.
This is a 4-ply merino sock yarn by Yarny Love, and the colourway is "Roses".
This is probably a Christmas knitting yarn.
Several weeks ago I ordered some mustard yellow merino DK, but it has not arrived :( The rules of Royal Mail mean that replacements can't be sent to me until December 10th, meaning that they're unlikely to arrive before December 14th. The last day that I can post Christmas presents and be reasonably certain that they will arrive in time is December 21st. That gives me just 1 week to knit the gifts that require the yellow wool. I don't think it's long enough. So yesterday I went shopping in real shops for an alternative. It turns out that Yellow merino is hard to find, but I did find this. It's not merino, but it is lovely and soft, and I really hope that it will work in the project I want it to.
This is more of the Womens Institute Soft & Cuddly, and it should be on the needles tomorrow.
This is guilt-free yarn! It might also be Christmas knitting yarn.
I've been meaning to subscribe to my 2 favourite knitting magazines for months. I buy them every month anyway, and it's more expensive to buy them one at a time from the supermarket. Then a couple of months ago there was an offer in Let's Knit: subscribe then, and receive a free skein of Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran, plus a Fyberspates pattern book! Free merino and silk yarn! It was exactly the incentive that I needed to get that subscription sorted. So here you have a skein of Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran, in the colourway "Deep Teal".
Now I just need to get the subscription to The Knitter sorted too, but that will have to wait until after Christmas now.
Penguins
OMG, ALL the penguins!
So remember how last time I made a comment about this being the time of year that all the penguin tat appears in the shops? And how I've been sore, and miserable, and vulnerable, and I've needed a lot of cheering up?
Well...
First Kelly bought me this. Sorry for the blurry photo, steady hands haven't exactly been my forte over the last month. But look! Penguins will rule the world!
Uhm, sorry about this, but you're going to get a totally unreasonable number of selfies from me in this section. I don't have a copy of photoshop, and even if I did, I have no skill with such things. What I have is a copy of Paint, and enough shame to blur out the background on at least some of my photos, so you can't see how much of a mess I let my home get into when I'm sick.
Anyway, I drove up the Newcastle. It was very cold. I bought myself a new sweater. It has a matching bobble hat.
I drove back from Newcastle, the route was mostly roadworks, and I couldn't manage it in one go, so I stopped at the services to buy a medicinal hot chocolate. And a medicinal giant penguin, who seemed somewhat perturbed by the hot chocolate.
There were Christmas Markets in town. One stall was selling handmade fimo jewelry, including all manner of penguin things. I restrained myself to buying only the badge, and putting it on my handbag with some other badges.
The supermarkets even have their own cartoon penguins, they put them on mugs, and bags, and socks, and... I only bought the mug of this one.
The flouffiest and warmest slouchy sofa sweater in the whole world. With a penguin on it.
This one isn't for me! This is a gift for a little girl who loves pink. The penguin is entirely incidental, and I'm trying my best not to indoctrinate her Arctic loving family with Antarctic sympathies. Honest!
This year, circumstances mean that I will be spending the majority of Christmas day on my own. Don't be sad! I'm not! I've planned a day of knitting, and dreadful tv, and not having to cook, and wearing my PJs. But I needed new PJs, ideally with penguins on them...
I went out to meet some knitting friends for coffee in town. I had to buy a birthday card while I was there, and all the penguin baubles accidentally fell into my basket! Then one of my knitting friends also bought me the penguin mask, and Kelly bought me another T-shirt, and a tin of wafer biscuits, just because there was a penguin on the tin!
I forgot the snowglobe, this also fell into my basket.
And I wore the mask while knitting in the coffee shop. I think I might also be wearing another penguin top that I bought while up in Newcastle in this photo, but I've worn this top several times since then, and basically if I'm not wearing it, then it's in the laundry, so I forgot that it needed photographing!
Another friend, who I've not seen for ages, came to visit, and she brought me these! See the tiny penguin poking out of the top of my book!
I made this little fellow. He's smaller than the other felted penguins that I've made, and I hung him on a silver string, so that he can be a tree decoration. He's not for me though. I'm making a few more of these, and I'm selling them in my Etsy store. (Shelley, if you're reading this, no! you don't need to buy one! I'm setting one aside for my fellow penguin-o-phile, and if you let me know your address I'll make sure it gets to you!)
Finally, these arrived! My little Knitting and Penguins Etsy store might not be much, but it's my little bit of achievement, my last vestige of self-esteem, and now it looks almost professional!
That's all for now folks! I'll be back next week to tell you all about the Countess Ablaze Saturnalia party :)
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