Crafty Little Rat

Scarf with Nordic pattern on it; Gonna be frogged/binned soon. Just not digging the thickness of it. Might try with a slip stitch pattern maybe but again; not sure. Finished Socks for Rhys! Don’t think he’s worn them yet. Standard toe up pattern, 2.5mm needles. More dishcloths for my mum. Standard (UK) Treble crochet increased circle. Simples Top Down 2 at a time Jaywalkers. I’ve so far got to the turning of the heel. Jaywalker is designed for DPN, and singularly. Turning the heels two at a time and on magic loop is proving a little tricky for my fragile brain at the moment. I *will* get back to them soon because as soon as the gusset decreases are done it’s easy street. Look at how awesome the striping is!   These next two are part of my Granny Square blanket. There’s 18 rounds in each. I’m going to have 9 squares in total. It’s my scrap-gahn memory blanket out of all of the odds and ends of double knitting. It’s a long term project so I’ll be finished next year sometime; I

So I was going to participate in NaBloPoMo this month but 9 days have already slipped by without a post and it seems far too late to start it now. Largest problem is that it’s SO GLOOMY right now. By the time I get home at 6.30pm it’s already dark. Today (Wednesday) was my day off and I spent most of it in bed due to my M.E playing me up today. I woke from a nap at 5pm ready to get some stuff done and looked out of the window to find it pitch black with the street lights on already. Very depressing. In fact my big long list of things to do today hasn’t had *anything* crossed off it at all. I’m about to go bottle up my Apple and Cinnamon Vodka and try and get a bit more hooky time in, but that won’t cross off a large portion of the list! See what I mean by the light? This is part of a very disappointing- get it out of the way for Ravelry (I *HATE* those empty no picture uploaded spaces) Photoshoot of Rhys’ Red socks. The yarn is Superba Mexico in shade 007. If you remember I was kni

It’s been a while since I’ve updated- especially a knitting while. I seem to be on a roll at the moment finishing off lots and lots of small projects. September has so far seen about 8 F.O’s, very few of which are photographed yet! But lets go through the ones from October and the one or two I’ve successfully photographed from this month too! The problem is now that I’m working 5 days a week getting the time and the light to take decent photographs. I start work at 2pm, and on Thursdays I’m teaching Crochet in the mornings so I leave the house at 9am! If I have things to do in the morning before work it just all seems like a massive rush in order to get some photography time in the mornings and by 6pm it’s pretty dark, too dark to get decent pictures! Still, although I’d much rather be knitting/crochet and spinning all day it sadly doesn’t pay the bills. This is a very badly blocked(!) Helena. The pattern is from Knitty. I love the patten, but not too enamoured by the yarn colour it

Normally by knitting nature I’m pretty monogamous; this month I seem to be anything but. Currently on the needles, 2 pairs of Socks for Rhys. I’m knitting 2 at a time (2AAT) and toe up. One of the two is Superba Bamboo and the second is made of Regia. This great plan means I didn’t have to divide my ball into two, but instead of second sock syndrome I have second half of each pair syndrome. I’m not even up to turning the heel yet. Luckily for me my week has between 4 and 6 hours of Knit N Natter each week, so I’m chugging along steadily and I know I will get there in the end. Second project that’s on the needles is a baby cardigan for a little boy. I know of no one who is having a little boy, or even of anyone who is due to give birth within the next 6 months but I’ve been suckered in by very tiny, very wee baby things that are awfully sweet. This is a pattern of my own improvising using the Sheep Yoke cardigan to get my increases right for the Yoke and then using the Owl cable patt

On our local archery circuit my parents have become practically famous for their Raspberry whiskey. Now I live on my own, I do miss the occasional hot toddy when I’m sick or during the long winter nights when it’s too miserable to do anything else. So last year I took up the gauntlet and started making my own. From 4 bottles of starting Whiskey I got 5.5 bottles, and over a year later we still have not managed to finish a whole bottle. This year I’ve decided to go different. This year it’s Schnapps time. One lot of Watermelon and Blueberry One lot of Strawberry and Kiwi. It’s pretty simple actually when you get into it. Fruit, hooch and sugar. This is the schnapps my 2 Rumtofts and a mixing bowl, good for weighing out fruit all ready for take off!   I used 1/2 the watermelon and still ended up with over 2lbs of fruit! That’s NOT including the massive slice that Tiff and Rommie got. That’s Tiffany there experiencing her first ever watermelon. After a boat load of fruit, a con

Dory from Finding Nemo is famous for the phrase “Just Keep Swimming” I think she had it wrong, I think the key to inner life happiness is to Just Keep S p i nn ing Life is throwing me a curve ball. So I’m doing what makes me happy for a day or so. Cuddles with my wonderful boys (both hamster shaped and human) and with my new girlies whom I’ll post about later when life, well when life just gets back to normal for a day or two. ProTip: Watching Rats try and work out what to do with a hard boiled egg with the shell still on= priceless. And Spinning. Spinning for me is so much more meditative than knitting or spinning. In a fit of terrible luck my most commonly used needle (5mm) broke yesterday. It was a cheap Chinese one, part of the large sets on Ebay for £20 or so, I think I’ve had it around 4 years. It didn’t have a bad life, but replacing it is out of the question at the moment while I’m looking for work. I also broke a 4mm plastic crochet hook this morning although luckily th

More of a Crochet update than a knitting update unfortunately. I learned to crochet about 2 months ago now through the wonders of Youtube. A month ago my new (shiny!) LYS started offering a learn to crochet course and I'm really glad I went because it confirmed that what the internet taught me was right. I am far more of a visual in person learner than I am an online one. I am, excuse the pun HOOKED! it's great fun and has such great uses and is so much faster a lot of the time than knitting. A week ago I thought "I want to make my Gran a blanket for her 80th birthday!" This project took me just a week. It measures 30.5 inches square and is incredibly light due to the 3 or 4 ply yarn used to make it and a 4.25 mm Boye hook.. My parents and Uncle and Aunt have paid for her to go on a bus trip holiday to Yorkshire, and even though she's going in July this should be light enough for her to take with her if she needs it in her suitcase. All in all for a week it

At least one room in the house is now sorted. My apologies that it's still a little messy in here, especially the coffee table and the spare sofa (which is an Ikea Solasta that becomes a Sofa Bed) but exam revision has taken over from unpacking and the tidying is all being left to the wonderful Dragonboy who is working a full 40 hours a week currently. This is the view from our door. Ludlow's cage is down to the left and Attie on the right of the sofa bed. This is the left hand side of the room from the door. You can just see Dragonboys desk and my (very messy!) sofa. I am trying to be far better about what stays on the sofa. It's often been piles and piles of coursework in previous houses. Not so good to turf off when people want to sit down. See what I mean about messy! It is nice though to have a set up where I can chat to Rhys and he's not over the other side of the room like he was in the old flat! Me and Dragon boy have been together for 3.5 years no

The newest member to the McHammington family, little Atticus (after Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mocking Bird). We picked him up in January and he's a little love bug. I'm waiting on my camera charger to arrive as my old one got lost in the move, when it turns up I have a LOT of knitting, house and even some Crochet news for you all!