Crafty Little Rat

  I finished my Ziprelaxagon socks the other week. Finished objects just don’t seem to be flowing at the moment… life seems to be getting in the way. After Thursday evening we’ll have been to the bank 3 times in the last 2 weeks. Once to sort out something, then back because we forgot some important information and then to switch over the ISA to a better rate one. That and vets visits, with 3 lump removals in as many months (Esme first, then Gytha, then Maggie’s today) means coming home, sleeping and going back out again! Probably not helped by the long term project being a heavily cabled laceweight shawl. I do only have 15 rounds to go on that though; so I’m hoping for an October finish. Anyway, here’s a stretched out picture; I wore the socks on the day they were photographed and they are SO COMFY. The first sock was started on 2.0mm needles. You start with the foot, working upwards (the toe is added later) and there’s a choice of 3 unit sizes, small medium and large dependi...

  Things seem to be incredibly slow coming off the needles at the moment. This might be because I’m working on a large, long term project (Malgven) or because it feel like I’ve not been knitting lots this last week or two. I’ve been working on Septembers Secret Sock parcel. Rhys picked out Ziprelaxagon and some orange-yellow sock yarn I bought last year from Aldi. Sock one nearly done –I plan on knitting the cuffs at the same time. The sock has a really unique construction, It’s made up of modules, a bit like a cross between a mitred blanket and Entrelac. You start by casting on and knitting a hexagon shape; and then other hexagons are made by a combination of casting on stitches and picking up and knitting ones from other units; then doing a cool “zip” cast off to close them up. The patterns fully customisable to any foot shape by using different sized units, and then even more so if you adjust your needle size. For this sock the 9 foot units were done in medium size and the...

  It’s been a good few weeks of changes! My other half started a new job 2 weeks ago. We now work in the same building (though for different departments in the same office). We’ve talked about a car a lot of times before, but as it would have been a bigger benefit to me (1 hour commute, £3 a day bus fare) we felt it was more important for me to actually learn how to drive first! However now we work at the same place, both spending £6 a day on buss fare we thought it was time to get a car and I’ll take weekly driving lessons as I go – with practice in our car. This is Freddie, he shares his registration date with Mr Mercury’s birthday. He’s an Aquatic Blue Mazda 2, Tamura spec. I didn’t really want a brand new car – truth be told but at 0% finance it’s very hard to argue; we’d have needed to take out finance for a car anyway.   My Finished this week is my second Doctor Who Scarf. I love the way these look – but I’ve got to say I’m so so glad it’s finally done. Miles ...

  Lately I’ve been having fun making some stitch markers – I really enjoy making them and I hope you’ll like them too!   These are owl charms from Beads Direct. The clasps are lever back earrings – I find myself drawn to these more and more. They can be slipped directly over a knitting needle up to a fairly large diameter OR you can unclip them and put them into crochet. I finally found a use for those sugar skulls I bought forever ago in Cardiff! The green beads were bought in Nottingham; I think they work pretty well with all of the colours. This is a set I made for Angie – Who’s exclusively a knitter. I found winding the purple wire tricky to do myself and I’m glad I found another option! Which was these – Toggle findings for Jewellery; obviously with the toggle part thrown away. Angie loves cats as well as Purple so these were ideal! Several people have suggested I sell these… I’m not so sure!

  These last few weeks I’ve been very busy knitting and crocheting away – but had a few things I couldn’t show because I didn’t know if the recipients read the blog. That means a bumper F.O Post today though.     I’m still keeping up with the LSG Secret Sock Club projects; or what I call my “Year of Socks”. This is officially pair number 8 for the year – August’s Socks. I’ve actually knitted 10 pairs already this year but these were chosen randomly from stash yarn and queued patterns. After last month’s Broadripple’s turned out too tight I was secretly happy when I pulled the pattern again from the queue. This time I knitted them using 3.0 mm needles and they fit and fit well. I’m debating pulling out the pair I did last month and re-knitting them with the larger needle. We’ll have to see. The yarn is Stylecraft Aviemore and has been in stash since September 2012 according to Ravelry.   Earlier this month I knitted, sewed in a zip and lined a knitted pouch f...

  I’ve finally finished some spinning! I’m an infrequent spinner – I enjoy it, but never seem to find time to just sit and spin – something I’ve tried to remedy by having my wheel downstairs. This is a skein of mostly worsted weight Shetland Humbug from Wingham Wools. Fibre from when I first got my wheel! Due to a non working scale (boo!) I spun as a single onto one bobin and then made my first attempt at N-Plying. As you can see I got a bit too much twist into the plying in places but I’m happy for a first attempt. There’s 110 meters here – so a cowl possibly. Who knows? Next up is some Baby Camel that I bought 3 years ago at my very first wonderwool!

  Guinea Pig that is! I love the way his eyes look in this one – he’s a piggie with ‘tude! Rhys’ cousin has three wonderful girls and we’ve been invited for a 4th birthday party for the middle girl. Who’s apparently mad on Guinea Pigs at the moment. I don’t blame her – piggies are awesome. This was an incredibly simple knit – - a Debi Birkin Pattern ; I’ve knitted her Nip and Nora rat patterns a few times and knew before I’d even started that this was a pattern worth paying for. The body is plain stocking stitch and afterwards you take a slicker brush with wire teeth and brush the living hell out of it. I used an acrylic boucle which worked pretty well. The success is dependant on being able to pull out loose fibres from the yarn and she recommends Mohair for this which I think would work fantastically. This is a toy for a child though; and I’m on a yarn diet so it had to do. The only modification I made to the pattern was to make the front feet proportionally smaller. Gu...