Revitalised Jeans Socks

 I've been going through some piles in various places round the house and decided to get rid of some project bags.
Some projects have ended up dum dum dum in the bin, yes, the actual bin.
I'll be in town tomorrow so I'll be dropping off some yarn to the charity shop.
So, I decided to tackle a project which has been sitting in the living room basket for ages.
When I first knitted these Jeans Socks in 2005 I didn't know much about yarn and knitted the cuffs, heels and toes in a soft Sirdar yarn which was unsuitable in the long run and showed signs of wear and tear much sooner than the proper Opal sock yarn.

I took them apart a couple of years ago and left them sitting, but I've finally refreshed them with the original yarn. Sock one came apart when I took the dodgy heel out so when I had redone the heel I had to graft the whole top to the whole bottom. I managed to avoid that with sock two and only had to to graft the top half.
Quite chuffed I managed to get reasonable pattern-matching with the yarn I had left.
By the way, I'm blogging again, as you can see! x K

An Unseasonal Finished Object

So, yeah, daisies in the middle of autumn!

I did most of the crochet for this last spring, when the daisy colours were very apt.
I did the assembly of the parts (ingenious) and the sewing in of most of the ends last summer, and then I started acting up at work and all things crafty took a backseat.
Back in my normal position at work now so I have a bit more free time at my disposal.

One thing I wanted to do was thicken the straps to make them stronger, and that seems to have worked well.

Here is my Daisy Bag then, my version of Inga's Hakelbeutel, which you can look up on Ravelry if you are so inclined.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ingas-hakelbeutel-2

It's made from Rowan Cotton Glace, 1 1/2 balls of the blue, less than one ball of white, yellow and green.

Don't let the time it took me to finish this trick into thinking that I didn't enjoy making it. On the contrary, I thought it was great, and I would gladly make another.

Why, yes, that *is* ladies and gentlemen playing croquet in the background of the middle shot!

I have included a closer shot of the daisy squares as the bright sunshine (believe it or not) is kind of bleaching out the colour in the main shots.
There are more shots of this in progress, such as how it it constructed, in this post from last year.
Daisy bag post last year

I'll use this as a wee project bag I think, certainly until next spring.

And lastly a shout goes out to karie bookish who first brought this pattern to my attention in 2010. x K

Holey moley

A shawlette made from Noro Kureyon Sock Colour S250.

That's all very jolly, but it's got a whopping great hole in it!!!

 I knitted this last summer and it has sat unblocked for ages.
I started with three stitches and increased from there.
I don't know really know why I left it untouched for so long, but after I had soaked it for a short spell and went to rinse it, I saw it had a blinkin' hole in it!

Can you see Toby's face keeking out? (I am Scottish, I say keeking, not peeking. I also say sook not suck, but that's a whole other discussion for a tea shop in Granada at 3am.)

 I don't know what has happened here.
When I was knitting it I was very, VERY conscious of the whole thick> thin going on with the yarn.
Have I just been unlucky that a lot of thin areas have aligned and caused a weak spot?
Is it a splice which has gone wrong (I don't actually remember splicing it TBH.)
Or, worst case scenario, have critters got to it?

 Is this the kind of thing moths would do to a knitted object?
I feel a bit sick of it at the moment and don't imagine myself doing anything at all with it.
If it were feltable I'd blanket-stitch round the hole and make it the centre of a flower or a sunshine or something, but it's superwash, so no joy there.
I may secure it and then put a fancy button or knitted flower or even butterfly over it.
Covering it with a button may also be an option.

 I do remember thinking while I was knitting it, "I'm glad I'm not actually making socks here, the yarn doesn't seem all that durable, but then again my other knitted socks are made from Regia and my
Jaywalkers, for instance, are six years old.

There are some other very weak spots too, likes of near the point.
I may just cut it up and make it into embellishments of some kind.
What do you think?
And what would you do?   x K

Granada shawlette

Without any preamble I'm going to launch into posting to my blog again.

Here are some pictures of a shawlette I made up and knitted in a lovely yarn by Janet Renouf-Miller of Create with Fibre based in Dalmellington. I had bought some of her yarns from the Galloway Craft Guild Shop in Castle Douglas earlier this summer. It's described as a sock yarn, a fairly heavyweight one, I'd say, but as ever I cannot resist sea greens and blues.

I cast this shawlette on on the train between Madrid and Granada, where I was having a study visit. On that train ride I was full of anticipation and a little trepidation wondering what my two weeks in Granada would hold.Well, I had an absolutely WONDERFUL time- I learned so much, met some fantastic people and saw the really beautiful city of Granada from up-close. I knitted bits of this scarfy shawlette while I was there, while I was on the train back to Madrid, and when I got back home.

Every time I wear it I will think of my wonderful experience in Granada, and all the friends I made there.

In a future blog post I'll tell you about how inspired I was by the tile-work of the Alhambra, but for the moment- Granada Shawlette! x K

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas to you and yours.

With best wishes, Kathleen xxx

4 part magnificat

DH has recently started a blog, a mixture of nostalgia, present-day adventures and music. You can find it at http://4partmagnificat.blogspot.com

It's lovely, it's got loads of lovely pictures :-)

Drop by and check it out if you like, and feel free to leave a comment.

x K

Daisy Bag in progress

Well, being back at work fairly impinges on one's crafting and blogging time, but anyway, here we are, I'll show you my Daisy Bag in progress.

Daisy bag comprises squares made of yellow in the centre, several rounds of white for the petals, green for the stalks and surrounding leaves and blue for the sky. All of this is in Rowan Cotton Glace on a 3mm hook. I went for 3mm to firm up my fabric because I used UK trebles.

You make 16 squares, you sew

them together in strips of four, you arrange

the strips in a pinwheel fashion and then you sew them together in an interesting way. I like the construction and I would certainly be happy to make this bag again, perhaps in a variegated yarn to minimise ends. I didn't grudge the ends this time because of all the versions I had seen on Ravelry

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ingas-hakelbeutel-2/people

I seemed to prefer the ones with a cohesive colour scheme.

I like my spring-like colours,

even though summer is now on its way out. Trust me, it was springy when I started it!

All I have to do now is attach the handles and go round the top a few times to strengthen and stabilise.

Hopefully won't be too long until I have it as a finished object to show you. x K