Crafty Little Rat

  The long bank holiday weekend thankfully gave me a nice break and a bit more crafting time which I was desperate for. Last week I knit pretty exclusively on Dad’s jumper. I managed to finish off the body – It’s hanging awkwardly here as it’s held together with clip stitch markers. I’m planning on sewing the shoulder seams together when I put the arms in. Speaking of which I managed to get a start on the sleeves before going to knit and natter on Saturday. Annoyingly you need to increase every 8 rows which means I still have to have my piece of paper handy when I knit on these but they’re a mindless knit as long as I remember to increase! We went to Cardiff yesterday and I stopped at The Button Shop. I’ve never been before bit it’s wonderful. I managed to stock up a little and once again shocked Rhys at how expensive buttons actually are! I’m building up a nice button box which is wonderful. The little hamster in the middle is an eraser/rubber from Blott ; no rat ones but ha

This week I’ve been trying to fight with my inner monogamous knitter. Admitedly; she doesn’t rear her head very often. I’m flighty and indescisive by nature with my knitting and I’m definitly more of a process knitter than a product one. Of course the things I want to knit are not the things I should be knitting. These last few days I’ve been forcing myself to work on my Dads jumper. I have about 30 more rows before I can bind off for the body. My aim is to have that and the cuffs for the sleeves done before Saturday so I can knit them at knit and natter. Marathoning Supernatural while knitting this makes it barely tolerable! It looks about as boring as it is to make it! In other news my final skein of Fyberspates arrived and I finished off the leaf edging. It used just under 20g of yarn to finish it off; but I think it was well worth it. Added bonus being I have most of a ball to make something for myself. Pattern: Wrapped in Leaves by Alana Dakos Yarn: Fyberspates High Twist

  When I ordered the yarn for Wrapped in Leaves I was a little bit short. I imagined being able to make it smaller and the thought that “Well you have to round up to a full ball” crossed my mind. This week I’ve not been able to put this shawl down and I made it onto the leaf edging on Monday. I still had 50g left and at that point I did start to doubt myself. Well last night I got to here. Uh oh! I had two options. Rip back the whole edging, rip back the shawl until I had enough yarn to finish or buy a new ball at £14.50. I bought the new ball. This is a Christmas present and ripping it back that far would just have made it far too small. So while I wait I’m working on some things I totally neglected this week. I have about 5cm to go before dividing for the arms on Dad’s Cardigan. I’d show a picture but it’s no more exciting than the last one you saw. Miles of stocking stitch. I found this cute ribbon in a knitting shop in town and had to have it. My aim is to sew one on the ba

  Who can believe we’re in August already! I’m still plodding along with year of projects however a bit more slowly as Christmas Crafting has all but taken over my life! I’m also taking part in a Make Your Own Sock Club Challenge on Ravelry. You choose 12 patterns and 12 skeins of yarn and it takes the estimates out of the knitting for you. By sheer luck more than anything else Francie came out first on my pick list. I’d already cheated and decided I would use the sock yarn I bought for Beth meaning that I’m killing two birds with one stone! My queue for this project is here on Ravelry. Speaking of Christmas today I cast on the shawl for my mum. I’m using 5.0 mm needles instead of 4.5s; I’m one stitch of gauge (19 per 4 inches instead of 20) but I prefer the fabric with the 5s. I’ve actually got a fair bit more done than in the photo; all I’ve wanted to do this afternoon is knit on this shawl. Only 100 more stitches to increase! In other news I’ve nearly finished my elephant. All