Knitting and Crochet Blog Week Day 4! 2KCBWDAY4

2KBCWDAY4

Day Four: 31st March. Where are they now?

Whatever happened to your __________?

Write about the fate of a past knitting project. Whether it be something that you crocheted or knitted for yourself or to give to another person. An item that lives with you or something which you sent off to charity.

There are a lot of different aspects to look at when looking back at a knitting project and it can make for interesting blogging, as much of the time we blog about items recently completed, new and freshly completed. It is not so often that we look back at what has happened to these items after they have been around for a while.

How has one of your past knits lived up to wear. Maybe an item has become lost. Maybe you spent weeks knitting your giant-footed dad a pair of socks in bright pink and green stripes which the then ‘lost’. If you have knit items to donate to a good cause, you could reflect on the was in which you hope that item is still doing good for it’s owner or the cause it was made to support.

... aka the sad misadventures of the incomplete Amour Fingerless Mittens...

I have found that when I am making something for someone else, my motivation and energy seem to be boundless, the excitement of creation the very driving force that spurs me to complete the object...however I am a miserable procrastinator when it comes to making something for myself... :(

The sad reality is that there are precious few things that have seen the light of the Big Reveal, when the intended recipient is little 'ol me...

These alpaca fingerless mittens have been a work in progress for two years now...yes, yes, I know that's pretty pathetic, but it must be said that the road to functionality has been paved with supreme intention... I have worked on them in more geographic locations than the average migrating bird travels. They went to Verbier with me when we went skiing...they have travelled to the coast numerous times...they have been to London on a trip last year...they have been to Zambia when we went for my daughter's birthday...they have snuggled up to me in cars, planes, buses, trains and on foot. I may have to get them a passport...

What is it about a WIP that just seems to stall and stall and stall...will I ever finish them? Really, there shouldn't be any reasonable reason...they are soft, warm, pretty, have *pink* in them, have been lovingly protected from M***s, the dog, the kids and elves in the night.... why can I just not focus and finish them? Next week we are going skiing in Val d'Isere, and they would have been both attractive and useful to have. So, I ask you? Why are they half finished still...

Human nature is indeed a mysterious thing...

♥

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week Day 3! 2KCBWDAY3

Day Three: 30th March. Tidy mind, tidy stitches.

How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised? It seems like an easy to answer question at first, but in fact organisation exists on many levels. Maybe you are truly not organised at all, in which case I am personally daring you to try and photograph your stash in whatever locations you can find the individual skeins. However, if you are organised, blog about an aspect of that organisation process, whether that be a particularly neat and tidy knitting bag, a decorative display of your crochet hooks, your organised stash or your project and stash pages on Ravelry.

Ok, so today's post is really late and the photos taken at night in a hurry, so not my finest work :(
However, I was determined to blog and keep up to date with blog week, so here it is...

Really, the photos are an exercise in how to make things look neater and tidier than they actually are...and also for the very first time, Ladies and Gentlemen...the reveal of the shamefully huge stash that I have amassed...yes, believe it or not, I have never posted/taken photos of this hoard before (partly out of shame, and partly out of a sense of fear that I will have to organise it...).


I have a very small guest bedroom that I have annexed as my stash room and have several wall units for books etc...and of course part of the yarn stash. It's all very cluttered, but in truth I actually like to be surrounded by clutter (clean clutter kind you...). No, I am certainly not minimalist in any sense of the word...
Above is the left hand side of the pure cottons, and on the right hand side the rest of the cotton, the mohair, cashmere, and of course my beloved sock yarn.


Above is the undyed yarn that still has to be packed into ziplock bags (with a bit of soap), so that the dreaded M***s cannot get to them...


Undyed yarn and some divine cotton above, nearly ready for packing away...


More yarn (the pinks on the right I dyed up last night...cashmere, silk, alpaca sock yarn...divine!), needing to be tucked safely into zippies....



On the other side of my hoarders cave, is a wall cupboard, again filled with yarn. Here I keep the pure merino, handspun merino, silks, more cashmere, angora, and my superwash DK merino. Also there are some odds and ends...


The plastic suitcases towards the lower shelves have an alpaca blend...the suitcases are great for storing...



Some of my needles and interchangeables I keep in a handy cutlery tray... as well as some other tools...


Knitting needles and crochet hooks are also stored in pretty tins and more cutlery holders...





There is still quite a bit of yarn all over the house, and here I have a small rack in the kitchen next to my seat at our kitchen table...I mostly sit here and knit and crochet...

Well, a whirlwind tour...it's really late here in SA, so I'll say goodnight ...

♥

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week Day 2 2KCBWDAY2

2KCBWDAY2

Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year?.



I have been avidly reading the blog posts from yesterday's first day of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week :) It's wonderful to see so many people uniting to blog about the stuff we love to do....knit and crochet! It's amazing to see how fibre lovers differ in tastes...one man's meat etc etc :) Today's post is all about newly acquired skills, and although one of the skills I am blogging about is fairly conventional, the other is probably wayyyyy out there...


This year has been a good learning curve in terms of my knitting and crochet. I decided many moons ago that there is simply nothing that cannot be done, or a solution to a problem found, as long as there is a will. So, even if I am paralysed with fear (...does occassionally happens folks...) before attempting something (...right before bungy jumping, as I seem to recall...), I plunge headlong and work it out until I get it right (...don't think I will be bungying again soon though...). With this in mind, I tackled a project that I have been weanting to do for a couple of weeks now.

I recently bought a chunky knitting machine, in an attempt to knit big blankets for my girls for winter. I wanted to use divine yarns, in lovely bright colours...something they can curl up under when having an afternoon nap, or watching tv. Sadly, I found that the average knitting machine bed is very small/narrow, and nowhere near the size I wanted to make.

So, I merrily called the manufacturer and asked if there was some way in which I could join up two machines to make a longer needle bed. "No, it cannot be done...", I was told. Ha! I thought, the magic words! So, I set myself the task of making it happen (didn't have any idea how yet...)

I spent the morning dismantling the two machines to find out how they were put together. The whole mechanism is actually very simple, with only a few moving bits.
I worked out that I needed to saw off a tiny bit of one of the needle beds (to slot into its neighbour and create the width of a needle), and drill a few small holes in the base plate (to have access to the screws that hold the needle count bar down)...really extremely easy and simple to do!

When I had finished the whole process, I had a knitting bed that was over 260 needles wide, capable of knitting up something nearly 2.5m wide...bliss!!!!

The other skill I felt is worthy of mention is learning to dye my own yarn. Again, quite easy to do, but opens up a whole world of possibilities...
I love that I can plan to use a specific colour and dye up any yarn type and weight to match what I want. It also means not running out of a colour... and above all it is addictive and fun!



Another skill that I have begun to understand and (...hopefully...) master, is to knit intarsia in the round. As you all know (if you've read any of my past posts), I HATE seaming anything and will avoid it at all cost.... so I Magic Loop virtually everything! Of course, the holy grail of circular knitting is doing intarsia, entrelec, double knitting all in the round, and I am happy to say, that all that is left of these is the entrelac...perhaps this year will bring the yarns of change and I will have the time to master that skill in full :)

Tomorrow...how I manage my shamefully huge yarn stash...

♥

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week Day 1 is here! 2KCBWDAY1

2KCBWDAY1

Yay! Knitting and Crochet Blog Week has arrived! March was a really bad blogging month for me , but I am determined to blog every day for Blog Week :) A lot of stuff happened in March, and after blog week, I will devote some time to that...until then...here's Day 1 's post!



Let me start off by saying that I just LOVE yarn...I love the feel, the smell, the colours, the promise of something being created from it...I love that you can make an awesome FO from what comes down to sticks and string :)

That being said...I have to admit to being the most terrible yarn snob *blush*... I am of the opinion that if you are going to spend a long time making something, you better make it from a great quality yarn, or not bother at all...yes, I know...not an attitude shared by all, but works for me... :)

My favourite types of fibre are cashmere, alpaca, angora, silk and cotton and merino. I especially love a wonderful sock yarn from Fyberspates called Nef sock yarn. This is a wonderful blend of Cashmere, Alpaca and Silk, and is surely the softest yarn that I have ever touched. It is simply the ultimate in sock luxury...

When it comes to DK yarns, I adore Dana's hand-dyed superwash merino. This is a wonderfully soft, squishy , balanced yarn, with a fantastic twist...so no splitting my dears! I have way too much of this stuff in my stash, because it is so divine to knit with... I am making a huge blanket from this yarn...I will post photos of the completed blankie later this week. The stitch definition is fantastic, and it is available in a huge array of colours...




One type of yarn that I love for it's look and feel, but absolutely cannot knit with... is Bouclé Mohair. For some reason I always get my needle points stuck in the loops of yarn, making me pick up stitches, drop stitches, tear the yarn...a nightmare! So, although it is a wonderful yarn, I don't buy it anymore because of this problem...

Other yarn brands that I love are Rowan (Milk Cotton, Handknit Cotton, Kidsilk Mohair), Colourspun (DK Cotton and Aran Cotton), and Fyberspates (Angora/Merino Lace)...

Tomorrow I will tell you about a skill I learned recently, and why I am so pleased with it!

♥

Japan Earthquake and Medecins Sans Frontieres

I have been watching with horror as the events in Japan have unfolded. As I sit in my comfortable home with my kids safe and provided for, I cannot but feel that every person who is in the same position, may want to help in some way. Knitters and crocheters are collectively a huge force to be reckoned with (Ravelry has over a million members!), and if each of us does something small (or even big :) ) , we can make a difference. I have made a donation to Medecins Sans Frontieres, who already have people in Japan, helping. I would like to ask every person reading this, to make a donation as well, however small. If I were in Japan, with a family and all the fears that the Japanese people must be facing, I would be relieved to know that someone unknown is doing whatever they can to help me. We may not be able to up, and leave to help there, but we can do something by sponsoring those who can.

Please...donate something :)

♥

Share your Project

Kaffe's Brilliance

Happy Friday everyone! It has been a really busy week and I have just not had the time to blog.... :(

Adorable Hippo Ballerina Pincushion

However, I have been working on a secret project which will be out next week! It has been a challenge getting it just right, but I am mighty pleased with the progress so far. I think you will all love this little item :)

Gorgeous Sewing Projects for kids

Miss Ellie Pincushion

I went to Hobby-Ex yesterday with my friend Dana. Hobby-Ex is an huge Expo, with all kinds of things related to hobbies on display. You will find everything from woodworking equipment to yarn. I managed to buy some gorgeous books at next to nothing prices, and also bought some cute pincushion kits. When I will have the time to actually make them , is another thing, but they were so adorable, I couldn't resist...

Kaffe again

Debbie Bliss bliss...

So all in all a good week... :) It's also Friday, so that means it is Project Share Day! Please upload your WIP/FOs for everyone to see... Thank you to all who have submitted projects in the last couple of weeks... :)


Have a great weekend!
♥