Seekrit Santa

So last night was our Stitch and Bitch Christmas party, hosted by Kate - who was the hostess with the mostest.

Nibbles were eaten, mulled wine was drank (not too much for me as I was driving and working this morning). We are all rather fond of cooking and are all talented in our own ways of cooking; there was some fantastic brownies, cakes and key lime pie. As I have been crazily busy at work, I had to chicken out and bring nuts and crisps.

We swapped our secret santa gifts. We departed from the norm this year and all made a gift which we would then allocate at the party. I finished mine a few weeks ago and managed to photograph my gifts before I wrapped them up.

Apologies for the quality of my images, I misplaced my tripod (which has since been found!).

The scarf Smariek's Triumph Cable Scarf





As an added bonus, I made some Russian Doll stitch markers :)



I must say; the gifts that everyone picked really suited them :) The scarf looks awesome on James!

I will have to photograph the needle roll that I got, because it's awesome :)

Eye candy

After watching Merlin, I thought I'd offer up some tasty eye candy.

Gwain, aka Eoin Macken



Lancelot aka Santiago Cabrera aka Isaac Mendez from Heroes.



*sigh*

Podcasts

I have been listening to a lot of podcasts lately. Love 'em. I'm really loving the Savage Love podcast (which is an advice podcast) which is awesome.

It's something to do while I'm knitting - I sometimes watch a bit of tv or a film, depending what's on, but mostly there's not a lot that I'm interested in - I definitely don't watch soap operas and I find that it's good to have something on in the background. I do love a good audiobook too.

I'm currently knitting a laptop bag for my sister, who has been nagging me for a bag, ever since she saw the one I knitted for myself from the Stitch and Bitch book. It was a pain in the ass when I knitted it, but I kinda forgot how much of a pain it was. I've not knitted it in the chunky wool, I've gone with knitpicks wool of the andes bulky yarn, which isn't as thick, so I'm having to edit it as I go along. Even this thinner yarn is still quite heavy on the wrists so I can't knit it for long. You have to keep an eye on it as well as you change yarns every couple of rows, so it's not exactly mindless knitting. Buh. It'll be worth it though.

I've been neglecting the healthy eating and exercise, ever since I had my coil fitted. I am trying to get back into it, but I'm struggling to stay motivated. I think it's just the hormones reasserting themselves, making me crave crap and as soon as I'm eating crap food, I don't feel like exercise. I am trying to keep up with the exercise though, because I figure that it'll help me get back into the eating well.

Says me who is considering making mulled cider. Heh.

I am trying, honest!

Getting to know you survey

I just realised that I haven't volunteered much information about myself here, so I'd like to try and remedy that - I've dug out a quiz / survey thingy from a website, so here goes

1. What time did you get up this morning? Err, the alarm went off at 8:10, as I had to drive home from the boyf's to work. He lives in Birmingham, I live in Leicester. I hate the M6.

2. How do you like your steak? Meh, I can take it or leave it. Medium to well done though.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? I went to a zombie film festival at the weekend and saw 6 films in the space of 13 hours. The last film of the evening was Zombies of Mass Destruction. I reccommend seeing Dellamorte Dellamore if you are into Zombie films.

4. What is your favourite TV show? *shrug* err, I do like True Blood (currently working my way through series 2) and Russell Howard's show on BBC 3.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Hmmm. Not sure really. I'd love to go back to Cardiff when I'm old and wrinkly, but not having travelled much, I can't say that anywhere particularly takes my fancy.

6. What did you have for breakfast? Heh, fry up at work. Ooops.

7. What is your favourite cuisine? I love italian food. Risotto, pasta, pizza, olives...... You get the drift!

8. What foods do you dislike? Sprouts. Ugh.

9. Favourite place to eat? Sharmilli on Belgrave Road is tasty,

10. Favourite dressing? Honey and mint. It's spicy and sweet. Nom!!

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? A silver Pug. A 306 to be exact. Yay for turbos

12. What are your favourite clothes? I like my hand knitted socks and my pink and purple bra.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Sweden, Peru and Australia.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? never empty

15. Where would you want to retire? Cardiff.

16. Favourite time of day? Walking out of work time

17. Where were you born? Bridgend.

18. What is your favourite sport to watch? 6 Nations Rugby, Stock Cars.

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? I ain't tagging. You want to do the survey then copy it :D

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? I ain't doing it again.

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? I'm not.

22. Bird watcher? Erm. I am mildly curious, but not curious enough to do it. We have some kind of owl living in the area.

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? Depends on whether I'm not in work or not :)

24. Do you have any pets? Disco Sue the disapproving cat and Hobbes the kitten (he is a year old!!)

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I've been looking at jobs. There's one I can do standing on my head, but the money is crap, however it is more than I'm on now. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

26. What did you want to be when you were little? A fairy.

27. What is your best childhood memory? Snow!

28. Are you a cat or dog person? Cat

29. Are you married? Nope.

30. Always wear your seat belt? Yes

31. Been in a car accident? Yes

32. Any pet peeves? people telling me what to do with my life.

33. Favourite pizza toppings? olives, onions, pesto and rocket lettuce.

34. Favourite Flower? Rose. I have one tattooed on my boob.

35. Favorite ice cream? Mint choc chip...

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Subway

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Zero.

38. From whom did you get your last email? Facebook, telling me someone had commented on someone elses' status.

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Any store that sells beautiful yarn.

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? Not nearly spontaneous enough these days. Time for a change methinks.

41. Like your job? Lame, but it suits me for now. Need to get college sorted soon.

42. Broccoli? indeed.

43. What was your favourite vacation? Probably one of the many trips to Devon:D

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? dinner dinner dinner dinner dinner dinner dinner dinner batman!!! No, seriously. John (boyfriend).

45. What are you listening to right now? QI reruns.

46. What is your favourite colour? purple

47. How many tattoos do you have? 4

48. How many are you tagging for this quiz? Zero.

49. What time did you finish this quiz? 00:51 GMT Bedtime!!!

Fibre Flurry 2010

I went to Fibre Flurry a few weeks ago and it was brilliant.

It was held in Kings Norton in a beautiful building called St Nicolas' Parish, next to the church that was full of beams. It had been beautifully restored by the Restoration show where the public picks a building that gets restored.

My morning was taken up by a lace workshop with the Yarn Addict, AKA Anni. I am sort of ok with lace knitting, but am rubbish at reading charts and this was where I wanted the support. I have also seen some lace patterns in The Knitter that are done in sections which confuse the hell out of me, so I was looking forward to getting a bit of confidence in using charted patterns.

I now see the benefit of using charts and I'm looking forward to starting knitting some gorgeous lace stoles, shrugs and scarves. I'm hoping to try my hand at designing some patterns using lace so I think that getting the hang of it is vital.

Then onto the shopping. I well and truly bashed my yarn diet into submission, buying 2 skeins of (sock weight)Babylonglegs Semi Precious in the Petrolhead and In My Blood colourways.

I then bought 100g of laceweight in an alpaca/silk/cashmere blend from the Krafty Koala in the Custard colourway.

I then spotted a solo skein of Twinkle sock yarn at the Easy Knits stand and I had to have it. It's in the crushed charcoal colourway, so black and twinkly!!!

I then bought 100g handcarded batts from Daniela at the Felt Studio. It's merino, baby alpaca, tussah silk and sparkle in greens and browns. It's gorgeous!!

I bought a couple of shawl pins and also some Lego stitch markers (Pirate ones, Pirates!!!!) from the The Bothered Owl. I just love that name!!

It was great to see old friends and chat to people. The atmosphere was a lot more relaxed than other shows I've been to and it was packed out. I definitely want to go to more shows next year :) I'd better get stashbusting then!

I think that it was really well organised. It's a shame Erica Knight couldn't make it as I think a lot of people were looking forward to it.

I have already finished my Secret Santa thingies for Stitch and Bitch, but won't erm, show them here just in case they get spotted. Pictures will appear once the gift has been opened. *action man eyes and innocent whistles*

To stash or not to stash

I have a problem.

My yarn stash is enormous. Most, if not all knitters will also regale you of stories of their stash.

I have a chest of drawers that is mostly full, a big tub full and a linen box thingy full of yarn and squishy fibre to spin with (as well as the kilo of undyed merino to spin).

Sometimes, you'll be at your local yarn store and will see some yarn that speaks to you. Sometimes it's the colour, sometimes it's the sheen and sometimes it's just the sheer squishability (what??, it's a word!!). Sometimes you'll have a pattern in mind and the yarn will just scream to be made into something.

For most of this year, I have been on a yarn diet, attempting to reduce my stash so that I can buy more yarn loveliness. I did succumb when I came across the sock yarn in Lidl - 200g for £3.99!! I bought 800g in a cream colour, thinking that I could overdye it and turn it into something awesome (as I did for my lacy baktus with lots of beads).

The thing is, by depriving myself of yarn now, what if something comes by that I can't get hold of again (I'm thinking specifically of some of babylonglegs' yarn)? I can only knit at a certain pace and while the patterns tend to be available for a while, I don't tend unpick and reknit stuff after a horrendous experience of trying to unravel some Rowan Kidsilk Haze (the horror, the HORROR!!).

Also, there are patterns that I love, but being on the bigger side, would need large amounts of yarn for. Sometimes the yarn is quite expensive and can be tricky to substitute (gotta love Ravelry for looking at yarn choices when browsing patterns). I tend to knit things like scarves and gloves. Sometimes I have too much yarn of a certain type and colour (yes KnitPicks Palette in not quite Teal, I'm looking at you) to consider knitting these items, but not quite enough to knit something bigger.

When is it good to destash (but I might neeeeed it!!) and when is it good to hold on to yarn because of a pattern that you have in mind, but just haven't got round to doing (I'm thinking of the felted corset I have swatched for but haven't started yet)?

Also, I'm thinking that with our knitting group Secret Santa coming up, it might be an opportunity to knit up some of my un-needed yarn and gift it (I'm looking at you again KnitPicks Palette in not quite Teal), but I don't want to gift something that might be quite hideous to someone else, but nice to me (I'm looking at you massive crocheted granny square in blues and greens).

I also note that going into a yarn store and squishing yarn has a restorative effect when I'm feeling stressed. I hate clothes shopping with a passion (and I'd do it all online if I knew it'd fit) and after flouncing out of a clothes shop when the music was pissing me off (note to self, must take earphones next time), I headed into the haberdashery department of John Lewis and squished some yarn and felt much more relaxed. So maybe there's a psychological reason for surrounding myself with yarn; combating the stress of life with yummy, squishy yarn.

I'm rambling now, but I'm headed off to Fibre Flurry this weekend. I'm doing the lace workshop as it's not something I'm terribly confident at but would like to be. So the question is, do I enhance my stash, or be sensible and work to cut down on yarn mountain?

Buggeration

Damn.

I've been designing a pair of socks using a cable pattern I found in a book. I'd started and restarted these socks as I was struggling with them. Just as I thought I had the pattern down and was ready to start the heel flap of the first sock, this months copy of The Knitter arrived in the post.

In it was a pattern with the exact same cable. Granted, it was for a purse, knit flat, but still, I'm not happy with going ahead with designing the socks now. So yeah. Frogged :(

Ah well. I will look for another pattern, maybe a nice lace pattern for some socks. In the meantime I fancy designing a scarf.

In other news, I have been eating healthily and exercising on the Wii Fit, which is all good fun. I tend to find that with exercise in my routine, I seem to spend the whole day feeling hungry. I've upped the water intake, just in case it's thirst instead of genuine hunger, but I can guarantee that within an hour of me eating, then I'll be hungry again. I can work with this by drinking something, then having a small, healthy snack. Right now, I'm loving carrots, hoummous, rocket lettuce, corn on the cob, sparkling water and grapes. Not necessarily all together mind!

I'm also getting a tattoo tomorrow - woohoo! It's going to be a rose to symbolise the new me and also because you can't get something gorgeous like a rose without manure - and I've had plenty of that in the past, but it's all in the past now. Time for the beautiful things :)

Ooops

I just noticed that I had comment email notification turned off. I've switched it on now, so should be able to respond to comments faster!

Book Review: A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns

I have been wanting to buy A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G Walker (Schoolhouse Press). I asked for it for my birthday, not expecting to get it and it arrived! Marvellous!

It's a book aimed at those who already know how to knit and want to be able to design patterns. It has a comprehensive section on charts and how to understand them with a key of symbols for lace and 80 (yes 80!) cables.

There's an interesting section on garter stitch and lots of information on what you can do with it, with lots of mosaic style samplers. The lace and cable patterns are beautiful and would create interest in many garments.

I reccommend it to anyone interested in designing knitwear and for those who want to understand charted cable patterns more effectively.

Marillion and F1 Stock Car Racing

It's a bit of a diversion from my usual sporadic ramblings about knitting and jewellery, but something struck me recently and I wanted to talk about it here.

I am a Marillion fan. It may surprise to you to know that there are still a few of us about. They are still making albums. Most people know of them via their single Kayleigh which was released in 1985 and write them off as a 1 hit wonder.

Many people thought the band split up when Fish (lead singer) left. Not so. In fact, they've recorded 15 studio albums; 4 with Fish, 11 with Steve Hogarth (who oddly enough, is still the "new" lead singer in some peoples minds).

The band are still making music, but they rarely chart. They last got in the charts in 2004 when the singles You're Gone and Don't Hurt Yourself got to number 7 and 16 respectively. They are something of an unknown to most people and those that do know of them and are fans of the Hogarth era too tend to be passionate about the band. Myself included. We love the music and often tend to think that it's often underrated by the music industry. Ask a radio station for some Marillion and they'll play Kayleigh, or if you're lucky, Lavender or Incommunicado. What many Marillion fans would love to hear is some of the later Hogath era Marillion on the airwaves.

We are that passionate about the band that we will preorder albums and pay up front and wait for up to a year for the album to come to us. The band couldn't afford to tour America, so the fans clubbed together and raised the money for the band to be able to do a decent tour of America. I remember chatting to a guy on the last tour who had flown over from America to see every UK based gig. Must have cost him a fortune, but this is the level of passion and love for a band that is mostly unknown to Joe Public.

What does this have to do with F1 Stock Cars?

I had never heard of stock car racing until a few months ago. If you'd have mentioned them, I'd have thought you were referring to banger racing, which couldn't be further from the truth. The cars are custom built with odd looking spoilers (shale or tarmac spoilers, dependant on the surface the cars are racing on) and are raced anti clockwise on a short oval track. Contact is allowed, but by no means is the race a destruction derby. The cars engines are huge (I can't remember the bhp off the top of my head, but it's quite high).

It's not a team sport, unlike the Grand Prix. During the race, it's every man for himself (or herself!). However, it's a sport that has involved 3 or 4 generations of families and while there's the famous Smith v's Wainman rivalry, there are also fans and drivers who have made good friends through their love of stock cars and might only see each other every few months. When they do meet, it's as though they saw each other only last week.

I have noticed that the F1 stock car fans are also passionate about stock car racing. I have only been to two meetings and for me, it's been as interesting to observe the fans as it has been to watch the races.

Both sets of fans will say that their idols (for want of a better word!) are underrated and are some of Britain's best kept secrets. Amongst both sets of fans are people that are devoted enough to get tattoos (I have a Marillion tattoo myself!) of their favourite drivers numbers or logo from their favourite album cover.

To me, stock car racing seems to have brought families together - it's very much a family friendly event. It's common to see kids running around "playing" stock cars, while the Dads are looking at the cars in the pits (fans are allowed access to the pit areas). It is very much a family day out.

As for Marillion, I know of at least one couple who got together due to their love of the band. Marillion fans often say that the band provides the soundtrack for their life, because of the depth of the music and the meaningful lyrics. In fact, one of the taglines on the bands websites is "Find a better way of life".

The pride and affection of both sets of fans is incredibly clear to me. I think that's why I'm drawn to stock cars; because I want more people to know about it in the same way that I want more people to know about Marillion.

If you've read all this, have a beer :)

Being a bit cheeky here....

My current beau spent most of last year shooting a TV programme about stock car racing for the BBC and it's going to be screened next week!

It's on BBC 1 at 10:35pm on August 2nd, so if you know anyone who appreciates car racing, please let them know ;)

Here's a link to the show.

I had the opportunity to go to a couple of stock car meetings myself and I must say that it's very exciting. It's well worth a visit if you fancy an interesting afternoon or evening out.

I swear beads breed

I have just been having a look at my bead stash and I swear I didn't realise I had so many.

I am undergoing a bit of a change at the moment and my tastes seem to be changing in what I make. This is a good thing as I want my jewellery to be more cohesive as a collection. I adore what I do with charm bracelets and watches, so they will be staying. As will the brooches and the stitch markers, but I think I can do better. So I'm going to be going through my beads and clearing out what I don't think I'll use any more via eBay. Any money I get will be spent on new beads.

I do have something exciting to show, but I need to photograph it properly first. I have had some fossil pendants come in, which are gorgeous. I have made one necklace, with sterling silver findings and leather, but I'm looking to do something a little bit more unusual with them, so I plan to do a bit of research and see what's out there first though.

I have to say that True Blood makes an excellent accompaniment to bead sorting and Stephen Moyer is totally on the bang list.

Off to knitting now in the rain! Ah well, at least my garden gets a good watering. I just hope that this isn't it for the summer now.

Hmmm...

I see that The Knitter is running a competition to design a hat for Mencap.

You have to design one with a celebrity in mind. I'm not sure who I would design for but I have spent the afternoon knitting swatches. I do have a rough idea in mind but I'm not sure how I'm going to implement it, so I'm going to give it a go and see how it comes out.

I had a pattern book for my birthday and it's already proving to be invaluable, giving me an idea for a blanket made from scraps of yarn left over from other projects, but we shall see. I already have a blanket on the go!

Flossie's Cabled Gloves

I am very pleased to announce that I am ready to publish my glove pattern.







Introduction

I came up with this pattern after experimenting with cables for a blanket square and wondering what it would look like in the round. I liked the results so much that I decided that I wanted to turn it into a garment rather than a blanket square (although it would be quite cool as a blanket square too), so the long cabled gloves were born.

I added a couple of bobbles either side of the cable, in between a purl border to frame the cable. There's no cuffs at the top or fingers because I thought it detracted from the pattern.

I love the yarn I chose for this pattern. I had some set aside for a blanket but loved the way the cables and bobbles stood out. As the gloves are knit from the top down, you can adjust the length, which is great if you have a smaller amount of really sumptuous yarn. You can substitute any DK weight yarn too so these gloves are a great stash buster.

If you don't like bobbles or want a plainer glove, substitute the Bobble stitch for a knit stitch.

The pattern is named after the knitted sheep I threw at Adrian Edmonson's band, The Bad Shepherds. He had commented that they were bad shepherds because they had no sheep. The next time I saw them at a concert, I felt that I had to provide them with a sheep, who I named Flossie.

Many thanks to Amy for helping out with pattern testing.

Materials needed:

Yarn: 2 x 50g balls of Rowan Purelife Organic Wool (100% Wool) 125m / 137yards
1 set of stitch markers
1 set of 4 4mm double pointed needles
Stitch holder or scrap yarn to hold stitches
1 cable needle

Gauge:

22 sts and 30 rows = 10cm on 4mm needles

Pattern notes:

C6L
Slip 3 stitches onto the cable needle and hold to the front of your work, k3 stitches, then k3 from the cable needle

C6R
Slip 3 stitches onto the cable needle and hold to the back of your work, k3 stitches, then k3 from the cable needle.

Bobble
(k,p,k,p,k) into the same stitch without dropping it off the needle, turn work to the wrong side, p5, turn work back to the right side, slip one stitch knitwise, (k2tog) twice, psso, pass second stitch on right hand needle over first stitch as if to bind off. 1 stitch remains.

PM
Place marker

SM
Slip marker

M1
Increase by inserting your left hand needle from back to front in the strand between stitches and then knit through the front of the stitch

Pattern:

Right and left glove:
Using long tail / continental cast on, CO 48 sts, dividing the stitches between 3 double pointed needles. Join in the round.

Round 1: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times
Round 2: As Round 1
Round 3: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, (C6L) twice, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times
Rounds 4 – 6 inclusive: As Round 1
Round 7: (k3, p1) 3 times, k1, Bobble, k1, p3, k3, C6R, k3, p3, k1, Bobble, k1, (p1, k3) 3 times
Round 8: As round 1

Repeat these 8 rows 7 more times.

Left hand and thumb gusset:

Round 1: k3, p1, PM, (k1, M1 3 times) PM, p1, (k3, p1 twice), p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times (51 sts – 3 sts increased)
Round 2: k3, p1, SM, k6, SM, p1, (k3, p1) twice, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times (51 sts)
Round 3: k3, p1, SM, k1, M1, k4, M1, k1, SM, p1, (k3, p1) twice, p2, (C6L) twice, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times (53 sts – 2 sts increased)
Round 4: k3, p1, SM, k8, SM, p1, (k3, p1) twice, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times (53 sts)
Round 5: k3, p1, SM, k1, M1, k6, M1, k1, SM, p1, (k3, p1) twice, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times (55 sts – 2 sts increased)
Round 6: k3, p1, SM, k10, SM, p1, (k3, p1) twice, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times (55 sts)
Round 7: k3, p1, SM, k1, M1, k8, M1, k1, SM, p1, k3, p1, k1, Bobble, k1, p3, k3, C6R, k3, p3, k1, Bobble, k1, (p1, k3) 3 times (57 sts – 2 sts increased)
Round 8: k3, p1, SM, k12, SM, p1, (k3, p1) twice, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times (57 sts)
Round 9: k3, p1, SM, k1, M1, k10, M1, k1, SM, p1, (k3, p1) twice, p2, k12, p2, (p1,k3) 4 times (59 sts – 2 sts increased)
Round 10: k3, p1, SM, k14, SM, p1, (k3, p1) twice, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times (59 sts)
Round 11: k3, p1, remove markers and place 14 thumb sts on holder or waste yarn, CO 3 sts, p1, k3, p1, k3, p3, (C6L) twice, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times (48 sts on needles, 14 sts on holder / scrap yarn)
Round 12: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times
Round 13 and 14: As Round 12
Round 15: (k3, p1) 3 times, k1, Bobble, k1, p3, k3, C6R, k3, p3, k1, Bobble, k1, (p1, k3) 3 times
Round 16: As Round 12
Round 17: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times
Round 18: As Round 17
Round 19: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, (C6L) twice, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times
Round 20 to 22 inclusive: As Round 17
Round 23: (k3, p1) 3 times, k1, Bobble, k1, p3, k3, C6R k3, p3, k1, Bobble, k1, (p1, k3) 3 times
Round 24: As Round 17

Bind off all sts.

Thumb

Transfer 14 thumb gusset stitches to a needle then divide stitches evenly between 3 needles. Rejoin yarn, leaving a 15cm tail and knit 6 rounds. Bind off all stitches.

Sew in all ends and sew the hole at the thumb using the 15cm tail.

Right hand and thumb gusset

Round 1: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) twice, p1, PM, (k1, M1 3 times), PM, p1, k3 (51 sts – 3 sts increased)
Round 2: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) twice, p1, SM, k6, SM, p1, k3 (51 sts)
Round 3: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, (C6L) twice, p2, (p1, k3) twice, p1, SM, k1, M1, k4, M1, k1, SM, p1, k3 (53 sts – 2 sts increased)
Round 4: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) twice, p1, SM, k8, SM, p1, k3 (53 sts)
Round 5: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) twice, p1, SM, k1, M1, k6, M1, k1, SM, p1, k3 (55 sts – 2 sts increased)
Round 6: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) twice, p1, SM, k10, SM, p1, k3 (55 sts)
Round 7: (k3, p1) 3 times, k1, Bobble, k1, p3, k3, C6R, k3, p3, k1, Bobble, K1, p1, k3, p1, SM, k1, M1, k8, M1, k1, SM, p1, k3 (57sts – 2 sts increased)
Round 8: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) twice, p1, SM, k12, SM, p1, k3 (57 sts)
Round 9: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) twice, p1, SM, k1, M1, k10, M1, k1, SM, p1, k3 (59 sts – 2 sts increased)
Round 10: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) twice, p1, SM, k14, SM, p1, k3 (59 sts)
Round 11: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, (C6L) twice, p2, (p1, k3) twice, p1, remove markers and place 14 thumb sts on holder or waste yarn, CO 3 sts, p1, k3 (48 sts on needles, 14 sts on holder / scrap yarn)
Round 12: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times
Round 13 and 14: As Round 12
Round 15: (k3, p1) 3 times, k1, Bobble, k1, p3, k3, C6R, k3, p3, k1, Bobble, k1, (p1, k3) 3 times
Round 16: As Round 12
Round 17: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, k12, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times
Round 18: As Round 17
Round 19: (k3, p1) 4 times, p2, (C6L) twice, p2, (p1, k3) 4 times
Round 20 to 22 inclusive: As Round 17
Round 23: (k3, p1) 3 times, k1, Bobble, k1, p3, k3, C6R, k3, p3, k1, Bobble, k1, (p1, k3) 3 times
Round 24: As Round 17

Bind off all sts.

Thumb

Transfer 14 thumb gusset stitches to a needle then divide stitches evenly between 3 needles. Rejoin yarn, leaving a 15cm tail and knit 6 rounds. Bind off all stitches.

Sew in all ends and sew the hole at the thumb using the 15cm tail.

Edit: Charts for this pattern are available here.

© Jennifer Higgins, 2010. No reproduction without prior consent. For personal use only. Not to be used to produce items for commercial purposes. Thank you.

Pattern testing

Pattern testing for the gloves is complete (one small mistake found)!

I will have the pattern up soon, but I need to take some pictures of the gloves. I'm getting shown how to take better pictures by my partner who happens to have a) a photography degree and b) the patience of a saint!

I'm a very visual learner and prefer to be shown how to do things, which is why I took to knitting through the use of books, videos and practise.

I will get the pattern up as soon as possible - within the next week anyway. I'm thinking that it could be fun to do a hat or maybe a pair of socks next, but we'll see :)

On the needles at the moment: a pair of plain toe up socks in Regia yarn and a pair of Sweet Chicory socks from Issue 17 of The Knitter in some hand painted yarn with 2% silver in it.

Jewellery plans at the moment are for more stitch marker brooches.

A preview....

I have to go and get ready to drive to Birmingham now, but I have listed a few things in the shop as a preview of the goodies to come.

Here it is!

Here's what I've listed so far...







I've got more stitch markers, bookmarks, a necklace, some charm bracelets and perhaps some earrings to come.

Right

Got my Folksy shop done, now it's time to list some beauties! I will update when I'm done with listing my goodies.

Managed to get some brooches with little hand painted Russian dolls on them, which I will be turning into stitch marker brooches.

It's warm and I have to work over the weekend - sods law that the weather is always good when I have to work at ye olde Tesco store. Still, I get to look at photos of my pretties and am sitting here with some cherries, a gentle breeze and Natalie Merchant on Spotify (which you don't need an invite for any more!).

Could do with these tunes on my iPhone to listen to while I drive to see my man in Birmingham later.

Finished

I have finished the pattern to the gloves! Hooray!

I have someone doing a test knit for me at the moment, because I want the pattern to be as readable as possible. One of my bugbears is badly written patterns and I wouldn't like a badly written pattern to put people off knitting it. I can't spot any mistakes yet, but sometimes it's hard to see the wood for the trees!

Also, having realised that not everyone likes bobbles, I was thinking that they can be left out (and the stitch just knit) or substituted with a bead. As long as the bead can be thread onto DK yarn, then I'd say it's good. You'd need 44 suitably sized beads in total.

I also need a name for the pattern. I have to be careful because I have a penchant for odd names. I developed a fondness for the name Doris after watching Gavin and Stacey!

In other news, I've decided to move my etsy shop to folksy and undergo a bit of a name change. I've yet to sort through the jewellery I want to put on there yet, so today I will be going through a few bits and bobs and then taking some good photographs. Once I've got the shop up and running with some actual stock, I'll post again with an update.

Twitter

I've added my twitter feed to my blog to the right there. You can follow me as @interiorlulu on twitter. I post random stuff about my life as well as craft related stuff too.

The gloves are coming along nicely. I have decided to make them a little longer on the hands, so am adding an extra pattern repeat. I'll be knitting another pair to be photographed with the pattern when I publish it.

One thing that's good about this pattern is that they can be made shorter if required. At the moment, I'm recommending 100g of DK, but if they are made much shorter on the arm, say 2 or 3 pattern repeats, I'd say you would be able to use 1 50g ball of DK weight yarn. A great stashbuster :)

New beginnings

Ah yes, I did have a blog before, but neglected it in favour of knitting, jewellery making and partying. Now that I'm actually designing knitting patterns (more on that later), I decided that it was about time that I start afresh and start blogging again.

What have I been up to? Well, lots of knitting, a bit of dating, some jewellery making (I totally cocked up my first efforts with precious metal clay, but I will try again!) and going to gigs. I threw a knitted sheep at Adrian Edmonson.



She is called Flossy, bless her :) I can only hope that she is travelling with Adrian's band (The Bad Shepherds) as I type.

I'm currently working on a couple of things. I have a potential commission for a charm bracelet in the offing. I have plans to move my shop from etsy to folksy but I need to sort through what I have to put up and then get everything rephotographed; I'd like to say I'm being thorough, but if I'm honest, I'm procrastinating.

I am yarn dieting, because my stash is immense. For some reason I am excluding fibre from my diet (because it's not yarn yet!!), so have a kilo of undyed merino sat next to me, plus the goodies that I have from Babylonglegs to spin up into the yarn for a shrug. In my attempts at destashing, I have got a pair of socks on the needle (I always have a pair of socks on the go to be honest!), a shrug that's 70% done and won't take long to complete and a pair of gloves that I'm designing.

I never had myself down as a pattern designer, but I've always fancied the idea and after knitting myself some gloves, I decided to have a go myself. I am thoroughly enjoying the process. Even the stage where I've been trying to work out what looks good; knitting and reknitting the cable, deciding where to put bobbles, deciding on how many stitches round the gloves should be, trying out different yarns, etc. It's been a good challenge for me.

I'll have the pattern up as soon as I can. I want to make sure that the pattern comes out the way I intend it to, then I have to make sure that it makes sense to someone other than just me. Just to tease you, here's a sneak preview!



It's in dark yarn, so maybe not the best for photographing, plus it was taken on an iPhone camera but you get the idea. I should say that the yarn I chose (Rowan Purelife DK in Tannin) is lovely, but the dye is coming off on my fingers. Think I will knit a pair in a paler colour too.

I will sign off now so that I can continue to test knit (I have yet to reach the thumb gusset and am undecided on how to best approach it).

But yay! I'm back :)