Say Cheese :0)

This is a catchup post, mainly cos the pics are already on the pc.

A long,long time short while ago an old school friend approached me through Facebook to do some commission knitting. Lisa, who is a very talented photographer and artist with her own studio based in Leicestershire wanted me to knit some props for baby photo's. She was venturing out into a Bumps to Babies series and wanted something to make hers look a little different. She sent me a link to show me what she wanted and asked whether I would be able to produce something similar but with an individual spin.

I wouldn't exactly say challenge is my middle name, I was more than a little nervous but I had a go.

The original samples I sent were a few of these cute, jewel coloured pixie style hats. I didn't get around to taking any more pictures unfortunately but if you go to Lisa's website here then you can see another in the slideshow gallery on the home page! Go on and check her website out, like I said a very, very talented lady.

Lisa's next request was for something the babies could be put in, she had found a US photographer who had babies in little sacks. The pictures are lovely but Lisa had a brainwave for her spin and was eager for a giant sock rather than a plain sack to put the babies in.

This was what I came up with, I was pretty pleased with the end result but again a little nervous. I hadn't got a baby handy to get measurements for so I had to do a little maths at how big to do it etc so a baby would actually fit. I looked at knitting a basic sock but using bigger needles/thicker yarn etc and crossing it with a Christmas stocking,.I've only knitted a few pairs of socks before but they aren't difficult, it was the scale that was the technical headache bit!

Finally this is a sack style cuddle bag for a baby to be placed inside. This also looks like a giants trainer sock though with my rubbish photography it's kinda hard to tell!

We Apologise...

For the interruption in blogging. Due to a technical error Knitternicky has once again been without an internet connection. However the shiny new and WORKING router arrived late this afternoon so normal service will resume presently!

The good news is due to an overload of time not taken up with online surfing, social networking and general piddling about on the net a good deal of knitting has been accomplished. This means there is a new wealth of blogging subject lined up for the very near future as well as the backlog from the previous router failure.

WHOOP WHOOP Finally I'm a Hooker (well almost)

Yesterday I found myself with one of those very elusive things.... a spare hour! Of course I had things I should have could have been doing but I was a little restless and more ironing etc for some absurd reason just didn't appeal???

I have been wanting to learn to crotchet for years quite a while, but although I've had a few quick lessons over a 20 year span I hadn't stuck at it past the lesson enough to actually get to grips with it!! One of the lessons (and probably the most productive one) was with the lovely GG. She is a fantastic friend whom I met through a knitting forum, she and her wonderful husband HWN kindly invited me and two others to stay at their house last year in order for us to be part of a group from the forum who were going to the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching show. She had promised me a lesson whilst at her house, but with so much chatting, getting to know each other and of course knitting going on it was nearly midnight before we knew and it and I thought my chances of learning were gone. GG however stayed up an extra hour (which was wonderful as we had a very early start the next morning) after the others had gone to bed and gave me a master class in granny squares of which the above was produced. Alas when I tried to recreate it at home I only ended up with a tangled mess, I put it down to being very tired during the lesson, and leaving it (a few days) too long before trying it again.

Anyway this came out more than 6 months ago in the UK and I bought the first 3 or 4 copies that appeared in the local newsagents but hadn't done anything with it since (you had to subscribe for the rest of the series and I wasn't sure enough of my commitment to commit to 2 years or so worth). In the first issue a free instruction DVD was included so I dug it out and put it in the DVD player.

These were the result.

My first attempt at slip stitch oooeeerrrr

My first attempt at double crotchet eerrmm umm yeah. Now this is actually where I ran out of hour, so the DVD lessons stopped at this point so everything after this point was an evening of practising double crotchet, which did (in my humble opinion) improve.

My second attempt at double crochet hhmm a little better!

and my third attempt, ignore the fact it doesn't look square, it is fairly square it 's just not sitting flat... honest.

OK, I KNOW I still have tension issues and when I first pick it up I automatically hold the yarn in the right hand like I'm going to start knitting instead of in the left but after a few seconds I figure it out and change hands. After another few seconds I can even get a rhythm going whilst I'm doing it so that is a major accomplishment.

Now I just need another spare hour to finish the DVD lessons and progress to triple crochet !!!

And on a final note, my sister did in fact like Jaiden's present, so much so she txt me to ask if I would make him another, so here it is. Just needs to be washed. I'm still hoping for photo's of him wearing one of them.

Prototype (I hope the force is with me on this one)

Autumn's fast approaching, the signs are all around us. There's already quite a nip in the air mornings and evenings, the kids are back at school (whoop whoop, I wasn't looking forward to them going back at all but once they'd gone it was a deep exhale then a gentle oh yes! ) and the leaves are already falling from the trees and turning brown. I was actually a little ahead of myself and bought the boys winter coats early this year, as in it was still the summer holidays when we went shopping for them instead of it being October half term and I'm scouring what is left in the shops for whatever will i) fit ii) is machine washable and hopefully tumble dryerable iii) they actually like and will wear.

My next thought was hats, after finishing a commision (future post honest) which had taken months and months I wanted something interesting but fairly quick and new hats for the boys seemed logical. I thought as well that I would have time for something a little more challenging as they shouldn't actually need them for a while yet so I wouldn't have to end up settling for yet more ribbed beanies churned out quickly because of necessity. Trawling round ravelry I came across these. Now the boys have become very into Star Wars over the last 12 months or so (it is the law to educate young boys in the way of the force, at least I'm sure it is!), just like my oldest son Luke was VERY into Star Wars at their age. As a consequence I've also been known to sit through the original movies several hundred times (at least it feels that way ;0D ) and the newer ones once or twice! Good job I enjoy them too.

This is my first attempt at Fairisle in over 20years and to be honest I'm pretty chuffed with the result. It is a prototype because I wanted to knit it in 4ply to get as many characters on there as possible and wasn't sure about sizing etc as I very rarely knit in 4ply. So I suppose you could say it is in effect a whole tension square.

The yarn I used is just oddments out of my stash, the black is Sirdar crepe 4ply and the grey and white are some Sirdar Countrystyle in DK.

I was also pretty impressed at the wrong side too. It is however a pity that it doesn't quite fit either of them, it is a little too tight so although they can both get it on their heads it pinches their ears. It is also just a tad on the long side so if it wasn't too tight then it would come down over their ears.

This is Max giving it the thumbs up

Zakk though had a little moody as he was trying to play on the laptop and wasn't in the mood to try on hats.

For Jaiden

I know I know, my blog posts are like a number 11 bus, you don't see one for ages then you get several at once! The silence before my last blog post was an enforced one due to a faulty router which my broadband provider (Sky) were for some reason was very reluctant to replace even though the very expensive engineer who they sent to check the lines first said they cost them only pennies. The result I was off line for about a month in total although the first week of it was whilst we were away in Cornwall. My oldest lad Luke wasn't a happy bunny though, home for the most part alone (he is 20 and had to work so couldn't come away with us), a pc pretty much to himself and no internet. He wasn't quite crying on the phone to me to say he couldn't get anyinternet on the Sunday morning (our first full day away)but almost. Life can be so cruel.

Anyway, this blog post is for the pressie I knitted for my new Nephew Jaiden. The new baby son of my half sister Bobbie, born a few weeks ago. I haven't seen him yet, in fact I don't see my sister or her other little boy a lot but I am hoping to visit in the next week or so! I'm still adding to the pressie with some vests and trousers etc to make it a full outfit so will be taking it round when I'm done and hopefully whilst it still fits as he was a big baby at 8lb 7oz.

This matching hat and jumper were taken from Sirdar booklet 338 Tiny Tots DK book and are design A. They are both knitted in Sirdar Snuggly DK in a pale beige. Both items took around 80grms just over 1 and a half balls and I knitted the smallest size 0-6 months. Another quick easy knit in easy care yarn to make it easier for mum to wash them. Just hope my sister likes them.

Feeling Good

By Sarah Hatton is just one project recently off my needles. It was my holiday knit (well one of three taken with me but only this one actually got started). It was started in the car on the way down to Cornwall and despite my best efforts of knitting whenever I got a chance

I only managed to complete the back whilst away and about a third of that was in the 7 hour journey on the way home!! I did manage to start the the front as well but only around 2 inches or so.

The photo was taken at Bude Harbour. A good afternoon for us all the boys loved these giant fireplace alcoves we were sat in for the picture. They overlook the harbour and looked pretty old to me. I don't know anything official about them I'm afraid

The rest of Feeling Good took another week or so to complete after I got home.

These pictures were ironically taken back home in the sunshine.... we had one glorious day of sunshine in Cornwall and the rest of the week was all rainy at some point!! To be fair it was raining mainly early mornings which would then dry up mid morning leaving the rest of the day to be a little overcast and a tad on the blowy side but not cold and so we were able to go out and about. We even managed the beach everyday except one!

I'm really happy with it so far and have worn it a few times. I say so far because I have only washed it for the first time this morning and I am desperately hoping it hasn't grown even though I've followed ball band instructions to the letter etc. Bamboo however.....

OK details are... the pattern is Feeling Good by Sarah Hatton taken from Simply Knitting magazine issue no 70 August 2010. Yarn is from my birthday booty post Rowan Bamboo Soft in the soft Aubergine/purple. I don't know what the official colour way is except it's very pretty It took almost exactly 9 balls (I had a few meters left and believe me I was sweating whilst doing the button bands in case I run out!).

No close up of the buttons, my apologies especially since they were bought in Bude. I managed to find a little bead shop in a shopping precinct just as you go into the town. The precinct is hard to spot as although on the main road into Bude it is a little away from the main shopping area. There was a shop selling biker t-shirts on the front of the precinct and it was just down an alley way at the side of it. As well as beads the lady also sold some very pretty buttons and a little acrylic yarn. She was also very friendly and chatty. I was very sorry I had a mini gang of males (hubby and the youngest two boys) behind me and who were not as interested and enthralled as I. I suppose 10 mins was very patient of them but I could have easily spent much longer and a lot more than my humble couple of pounds that I paid for some scrummy buttons including a perfect match for my work in progress.

I must also mention The Remnant Shop just further down from the precinct, a TARDIS and Aladdin's cave full of fabric of all sorts of descriptions and delights. I left hubby and the boys in the pub round the corner and explored this heaven on my own. My sewing skills are hopeless even though I have a couple of machines, some beautiful patterns and very good intentions of practising to improve. I loved this shop and again could have spent a lot longer to browse than I had the opportunity to. It just kept going on and on (hence the TARDIS label) there were so many little rooms just stuffed with rolls of fabric, big truggs and baskets of remnants, I didn't think I was ever going to get to the back of the shop. There was so much choice and I know I didn't see a fraction of what they stocked. It's a good job we've already booked up to go back next year, so I can hopefully be a little more keyed up on what I need and actually buy some next year.