 May 28, 2004
On a sunny day..
The weather hasn't been all that great for my week of sickness but it looks bright and sunny this morning. Which is good because it might just cheer me up by lunchtime. My laptop is broken. :( I cant see anything to do with my site or lots of other sites on it, but it seems ok from Wayne's laptop. Excuse my typing in this entry, the keyboard on his laptop is one of those tiny little 3/4 size ones and I keep hitting the wrong keys. Grrr.. Here's a taster of some baby stuff I've been making this week. First we have a little tank made out of some colinette wigwam oddments. I used 3 different colours and made an interesting design that means it wont have to be pulled over the baby's head. I'll get the pattern written up over the weekend and show you some more detailed photos next week.
I really like the way the wrong side looks as well, wigwam is such a fun yarn to knit with. Next we have 4 out of 7 hats that I've made. I want to make 1 more then I'll show you the next 4 next week. These are all made using slightly different patterns with different yarns and stitches. Again, I'll get the patterns written up at the weekend. I love all of them but Brooke and Wayne are divided, he likes the tiger one and she likes the white one.
I really like the idea of making a poncho from the giotto oddments, thanks for all the suggestions. I just need to find a pattern that will work or get designing one now! Its a long weekend here in the UK and guess what I'm doing on Monday? Going to the airport to pick up Carolyn, that's what! Yay!
Posted by Kerrie at 07:39 AM
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May 27, 2004
What would you make?
I have nearly 500g of Colinette Giotto in various amounts and colourways. See..
What would you use it for? A shawl, T shirt, various scarves? I'm open to suggestions... The colours go together pretty well, they are mainly pinks, greens and golds. Not sure about the blue, black and white at the bottom. The tangled mess in the middle needs a bit of organising as well..
Posted by Kerrie at 08:01 AM
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May 26, 2004
How decadent...
I feel like a proper lady of leisure at the moment, lots of sleeping, watching TV, knitting and sewing. I'm amazed at how quickly the days go by when I'm not actually doing anything at all! Still, I'm feeling a bit better, I haven't fainted for a couple of days and my blood pressure is coming back up so the rest is obviously doing me some good. I stocked up on healthy treats to make sure that I'm eating properly. I don't know what it is about a few weeks of sunshine but I start craving summer foods. Strawberries, avocados, salad and cherries are the popular choices of the moment, yummy. We also picked up a whole pineapple for Brooke as she was convinced that they grew in tins and not on trees, she enjoyed helping to cut it up and eat it. The girls then decided on a very decadent dessert, strawberries cut up into quarters and then dipped into a jar of chocolate spread. Not very elegant but a lot of fun!! I'm working on some baby hats at the moment, I've finished 3 this week that I've just made up as I go along. I'll show you the total finished hats on Friday. I'm hoping to have made 7 by then! I also cast on for Charlotte again yesterday but only worked 20 or so rows, no point in showing that until I've made a little more progress. No mistakes this time though, I hope! Other craftiness yesterday was this summery poncho that I made using my beloved Brother sewing machine.
It's reversible, can you see the plaid peeking out in the corner of the back? She doesn't like it that way around though, see the face here? She was saying "I want the snails back" Hee hee.. I actually ended up making 2 as the first one was a little too small for Brooke. It went over her head but she couldn't move her arms! That's what you get when you experiment with making up patterns as you go along! I'm thinking about making lots of these and selling some at a craft fair later in the summer, I love the way that they can be easily customised (think pockets and ribbon trim) and they are perfect for a little cover up on summer days. At least it will keep me busy for the next couple of days and get my fabric stash back down to a more manageable size. Other news, I'm working on some new designs that I'll be either offering for sale or submitting to a magazine. Very exciting! I need a willing volunteer to help with some test knitting, preferably based in the UK so that the postage etc doesn't take too long. If you're interested, please email me and I'll let you know what they are.. I already know that one of the designs has been accepted for publication in a book coming out next year so that is pretty exciting (and also on a major deadline!)
Posted by Kerrie at 10:06 AM
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May 25, 2004
Big sister shawl
You know what? There are some benefits to being on constant rest, the amount of time it takes to complete knitted projects - that's what! Totally inspired by this post on the Knitters Review forums the other day I decided to make a big sister shawl for Brooke. This is going to be a present from the baby to their big sister. Brooke loves to play grown ups and dressing up so I think this will be a special gift for her. I wanted to use Colinette 4 ply yarn in 2 of girly colourways but you remember the Colinette story from last week, don't you? So we looked around and Brooke picked up 2 skeins of Sirdar snuggly 4ply in a lovely pink and 1 in purple. I didn't tell her what I was making, just directed her to the appropriate section in John Lewis and told her to pick which one she liked best. Shockingly enough it is practically 100% man made fibres which is unusual for me but I reasoned that it would wash well and probably be more practical for a nearly 4 year old so I agreed.
It has a very simple eyelet stitch pattern with a picot top (here's a close up of the top) and fringe. I could have made the fringe a little longer but I wasn't sure how much yarn I would have left. In the end, the shawl including fringe only took 1 skein so I think I may experiement with the pattern slightly and make up 2 more. I sneakilly measured it against her when she was asleep last night and I think its going to fit just right. I'm sure I'll have time to write up the pattern this week, its not like I have lots of other things to do now is it? Thanks for all the compliments on the cotton blanket, I'm still undecided about what to do next with it. I'm not going to rush into a decision but as soon as its done, you'll be the first to know. About the top orange and yellow piece, I had a few dilemas about which way to slant them all and in the end just decided to go with the design I had. At the end of the day its a multicoloured patchwork blanket, I decided I wasn't that fussed about getting it symetrical!
Posted by Kerrie at 08:21 AM
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May 24, 2004
Cotton patchwork blanket
I spent hours over the weekend, seaming and sewing in ends. It was all worth it in the end though, almost a year after starting it the cotton patchwork blanket is finished!
I decided to spend the extra time weaving in all the ends on the back when I realised that the blanket was going to be too heavy if I used the fleece backing I had planned. So now I have one last decision to make. Do I : a - knit a border. The blanket is about 200 stitches wide. Do I really want to pick up those stitches and knit a border? Not really, but it is an option. I'm not in any rush to decide. If I didn't back it, I think the wrong side now looks neat enough that it could be left as it is. Don't you think? In other news, I'm off work sick all this week. Its getting boring already which isn't good but at least I'll get lots of knitting and sewing worked on as well as catching up on those all important day time programmes. A whole week of watching Discovery Health (baby stories!), UK Style (home make over stories!) and UK food (yummy) can't be all bad. Can it?
Posted by Kerrie at 08:55 AM
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May 22, 2004
Some housekeeping
Due to the fact that webmail on this domain is getting flakier by the day I've decided to stop using my current email address and instead will be using this new one : kerrieATmagknitsDOTcom I'm sure you know what to do to make that work! I'll still be monitoring the other account for a while...
Posted by Kerrie at 12:33 PM
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May 21, 2004
Knitted wedding anniversaries and Anouk
Its our first wedding anniversary in a couple of months and I'm already trying to decide what I can give to Wayne. I'm worried that the baby / house move / general stress of life will get in the way and I'll be forced to rush around at the last minute. I found this site that lists the traditional and non traditional gifts that you can give. I was amazed at how many of the traditional ones could relate back to knitting presents : Year 1 - paper (pattern books) Not for me to buy Wayne of course! He may also freak out at the thought of buying me knitting related stuff... Interesting idea though. Knititng wise, I finished Anouk last night in front of a double episode of ER. Not to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the UK episodes yet it was the one where the students graduated and that Carter and Kim played a big part in. Not the best choice for me but I knitted through it and came out OK!
I found some cute butterfly buttons that had been sitting in my stash for ages which looked perfect on the bright colours of Anouk. I love this dress, the only slightly scary thing is how teeny it is. I'm sure we're all going to be shocked at how small the baby is compared with Brooke, I can't remember her being any different from how she is now! Talking of Brooke, she wants me to make Anouk for her so that she can have the same dress as her baby sister. Resizing from 18 months to 4 years anyone? Bleugh..
Posted by Kerrie at 07:35 AM
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May 20, 2004
A Colinette story..
There are both good and bad points in this story, lets start off with the bad and work up to the happy stuff shall we?? I'm feeling a little sorry for myself when it comes to Colinette at the moment. Wayne had agreed that for my birthday weekend (coming up in mid June) we could go to Wales, visit the Colinette millstore and then stay in a hotel and enjoy a little weekend away. 7 weeks before the baby is due this was to be our last chance for some quiet time away together before descending into the mass of nappies and sleepless nights again! But Colinette are not open on Saturdays so that plan has gone out of the window. How sad. Then I decided to cheer myself up by ordering a couple of skeins of Colinette 4 ply. I have a cunning plan that will use this yarn, 2 skeins in any kind of pinky shades is all I wanted. I called Colinette only to be told that they are having building work done and all their 4ply is buried under piles of building stuff. They said to call back at the end of June and they would see if they could get to it. (Do I really want it after weeks of being buried under building supplies??) So now I'm really sulking. I tried ringing around a few Colinette suppliers but 4 ply yarn isn't the most popular from the Colinette range and no-one seems to have any. Such a shame, my cunning plan will have to wait until the end of June now. Oh yes, and we need to pick another location for my birthday weekend away - preferably one with some good yarn stores!! But, all is not lost. While I was on the phone to Colinette I decided to order one of their creative threads packs, have you seen these in the millshop? Talk about worth every penny, did you see the line in the description where it said this 1kg bag of yarn is made up of short threads (or something), well that's not strictly true. OK, some of the mini skeins were teeny and only weighed about 10g according to my kitchen scales but most of them were between 30 and 50g and I even got one skein of Point 5 that weighed over 60g! There is so much I can make from this bag, I'm itching to start. Here's a photo of the stash.
Top row - left to right - mystery yarn. Think its about dk weight and feels scratchy. Mohair. Prism. This is what I've decided to make so far... A simple scarf from the green and pink Giotto (between them they weigh 110g) My favourite yarn that I haven't seen before has to be the Prism. I'm in love and need more of this, I have a pattern for a gorgoues crocheted throw that uses this yarn, now all I need to do is to learn to crochet!
Posted by Kerrie at 07:33 AM
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May 19, 2004
Girls like shopping and boys like football
Yes, we're a bit stereotypical in our house. Brooke firmly believes in the divide between boys and girls (Action Man v Barbie, Blue v Pink - you get the idea) For once she was spot on last night, Brooke and I went to Bluewater shopping while Wayne went to watch West Ham get through to the final of the promotion playoffs. (For anyone who is remotely interested they were relegated from the Football premiership at the end of last year and last night won a place in the promotion playoff final. If they win at the end of the month they are back up in the Premiership. Honestly, its exciting to some people - hubby included!!) Then when we got home from shopping, I put Brooke to bed about 8pm and procrastinated seaming the blanket. What a productive procrastinate it was too! Look what I achieved in about 4.5 hours (a little on Monday and then about 3.5 hours last night)
Yes, that's right I've started Annouk. I know I have lots of other projects on the needles that I'm supposed to be working on but I couldn't resist! I'm using Phildar Licorne cotton instead of the Pima Tencel called for, its a similar gauge and easier for me to get hold of. I did the flowers on the pockets using intarsia and I'm making the 3 month size. I was shocked at how quickly it knit up, as soon as I finished the front I couldn't resist starting one of the pockets and half an hour later convinced myself to finish the 2nd one. Here is a close up of the unblocked pocket. I haven't stitched them to the front yet - too tired after staying up late to finish them! I'd forgotten how quickly tiny baby clothes knit up. I've grown accustomed to knitting for a 3 / 4 year old which is quick enough but 3 month sizes just seem to fly off the needles.. The colours I chose are brighter than the original Annouk but I love them. Its turning into a cheery bright dress. If I have a boy I shall have to either give the dress away, donate it to one of Brooke's many naked dolls or try for a 3rd child and hope that is a girl. (sorry Wayne!)
Posted by Kerrie at 06:19 AM
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May 18, 2004
Baby knitting continued..
This is how the centre square turned out on the blanket.
I've now finished all of the knitting and will be spending the next couple of days weaving in ends, seaming and backing. Yay. Or maybe nay... Look how many ends there are on this square alone, multiply that by 25 and you can see the job I have ahead of me. (yes I am the mad person who enjoys fairisle in the flat and loves intarsia.) I've posted a list of future baby projects on the left hand side, I'm going to be starting the hooded Phildar jacket early in June and Annouk at about the same time. My yarn for Annouk arrived yesterday courtesy of Stephanie who also kindly included some Phildar Onde in Nenuphar and a chocolate duck for Brooke. Thank you Stephanie, I can honestly say the chocolate ducky was one of the best presents Brooke has received in the mail. She loved it! And finally, here are a few snaps from the weekend for no reason other than I love them. Meet the tweenies tent, occupied here by mum, Brooke and Wayne and here by mum, Brooke and dad. Can you see a pattern? Yes, that's right. Mum and Brooke were in there most of the afternoon with guest appearances from Wayne and dad. I'm proud to say I was the only one in the house who didn't go in the Tweenies tent all day!! Also, to prove that even city kids (and husbands!) get down to nature sometimes here is Brooke exploring a magical fairy glade in the forest. We didn't find any fairies, I expect they were sleeping. She also climbed her first tree, only I'm not sure it counts as it had fallen over long before we got there!
Posted by Kerrie at 07:45 AM
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May 17, 2004
Beautiful weekend
Isn't it funny how a bit of sun makes everything feel much better? We had a gorgeous weekend, the weather was beautiful. Saturday we relaxed in the garden all day, Sunday we went to visit our new house being built (still no roof but its looking exciting!) and then took a picnic to the forest. I spent all weekend running after Brooke, covering her in sun cream and making her wear her hat. It was only when Wayne and I collapsed in front of the TV last night that I noticed I'd managed to turn an attractive shade of red on my arms, chest, legs and shoulders. Typical, worry about Brooke and forget about me! Thanks for all the kind comments about my house rant on Friday, we had a pretty good weekend with house type developments. I'm not going to jinx myself by telling you all about it but it looks like it will all work out. As soon as we've signed on the dotted line you'll be the first to know! Knitting wise - I finished the 4th strip of the blanket and the first 3.5 squares on the last one. That means about 2 hours knitting and it will be done. Then I need to sew in the ends, join the strips together and back it. Expect pictures later this week.. I started another little project at the weekend as well which is taking a lot longer than I expected. I should be able to show you some pictures mid / end of the week. If we ever find the cable for our camera that is!
Posted by Kerrie at 08:59 AM
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May 14, 2004
Buying / Selling houses
Warning, severe rant below. Nothing to do with knitting. Don't read it unless you are prepared for some bad language and general grumpiness. :( This whole buying / selling home process sucks big time. Its all screwed up. You can go to view someone's home, put in an offer and if its accepted the house is taken off the market. You then apply for your mortgage, if that is accepted then a surveyor is sent to the house to make sure it is structurally sound. From applying for the mortgage to survey can take up to 3 weeks. If all is OK then your mortgage application goes ahead and the solicitor that you have instructed applies for land registry searches. These can take up to 2 weeks to come through depending on your area. If all is OK with the searches, the paperwork is drawn up and contracts are signed by both parties. The contracts are then exchanged and ONLY AT THIS POINT DOES IT BECOME LEGAL. After exchange, a completion date is set and that is when monies are released and keys exchanged. The whole process from start to finish can take anywhere from 1 month to 4 months plus depending on how speedy everyone is. Just imagine having someone make an offer on your house, have it accepted, apply for mortgage and then change their mind. This has happened to us. It wasted over a week of our time. What about if someone made an offer on your house, had it accepted, applied for mortgage and then never made contact with you again? This also happened to us. It wasted nearly 3 weeks of our time before the mortgage company said that they were ready to go with survey but no-one had heard anything back from the buyer. Really, are there no serious people left out there any more? Don't people realise that I'm having a baby in LESS THAN 3 MONTHS and that we need to move house? We have found somewhere to buy. Our mortgage is approved. The survey is being done and we are ready to go. Unfortunately for us because it is a new house we had to put a deposit down right at the beginning which we now stand to lose if we can't find a good buyer in the next few days. This sucks. We put the deposit down because we were 100% serious about going ahead with the purchase. To lose that because someone else is screwing around is hardly fair on us but it looks like that is what is going to happen. Did I mention that this sucks? Did I mention that I'm really pissed off with the whole thing? Every time we take the house off the market I breathe a sigh of relief. No more living in a show home. No more having to worry about whether Brooke's toys are scattered about, if we have washing hanging out on the line when the estate agent calls to say someone wants to view now. No more having to traipse around the house pointing out plug sockets and wall lights. And every time we get the call to say the buyer is not going ahead and we have to start the whole process again I want to scream. So instead I decided to write about it. Thanks for staying with me if you made it this far. I'm sure it will work out in the end, its just so frustrating in the meantime!! And I cant even go and drink a bottle of wine to make me feel better!!
Posted by Kerrie at 04:23 PM
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Back to square 1..
So, Charlotte. She was going OK, I'd reached row 75, making some good progress. Got the hang of the lace pattern etc. I knew I made a few mistakes early on in the pattern but I was happy to leave them as they were. Until I saw Jen's beautiful picture. Then I became obsessed with the mistakes I made and yes, you guessed it - ripped out that whole skein of Koigu that was nearly half way through the row count (if nowhere near half way through the actual knitting) and now I have to start again. Ho hum. I'm glad I did though. I'd always have seen those few errors and now I know what I'm doing with the pattern I can make some good progress without too many tears.. Oh, and I also ripped out the baby slippers I started to make with my new Baby Merino the other day. They just didn't look right so I figured while I was in the mood to rip, why not. Gone. At least they are only teeny and wont take that long to reknit... I haven't ripped anything else recently (you may be glad to know!) but I also haven't knitted much either. Too busy thinking about my sewing machine and planning my sewy projects for the weekend. I am determined to finish the current patchwork strip and also make it to the half way point on the final one so I should have SOME knitting progress to show you next week. In other news, I'm starting to hear from people who have received their copy of the Rowan newsletter and noticed my article and little picture of my blog in it. Here's a sneaky preview for those who aren't Rowan International members or who haven't seen their copy yet. Thanks to everyone who's emailed me to say that they've seen it, I am still ridiculously excited about them publishing the article!
Posted by Kerrie at 07:18 AM
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May 13, 2004
Shop till you drop
I popped over to John Lewis earlier this week with a little shopping list. Typically I managed to walk out having bought lots of things that weren't on the list and forgetting the main reason that I went. So now I have to go again at the weekend, such a shame!!
I got to see the new R2 magazine and yarn from Rowan. The paper and rag yarns look like loads of fun and I bought a copy of the magazine to flick through. Its not really my style but I wanted to see what they were doing. After spending 10 minutes reading through the mag I decided that it wasn't something I wanted to keep so if anyone wants to trade a copy let me know and you are welcome to it. I also picked up 2 metres of the most beautiful volie patchwork fabric in the world! I have no idea what to do with it, I just want to look at it and stroke it all day. I think that by waiting for the perfect project this might stay in my stash for a while! The Noro book that you can see is in eager anticipation of my trade with Kimberley. I have no idea what I'm going to make from it but I love most of the designs so that shouldn't be a problem. The multicoloured Merino and bamboo needles were bought specifically so that I could get the bus home from Oxford st and knit all the way, they are soon to be a pair of baby booties, I'm making the pixie boots from Zoe Mellor's book. Last but not least, the beige cotton is going to be my first baby project. Its a Phildar hoodie that I'll be starting in June, more on that later..
Posted by Kerrie at 08:48 AM
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May 12, 2004
Cotton Patchwork Blanket
Does anyone actually remember me starting this blanket? I think it was nearly a year ago that I made the first strip and here I am, finishing it off now! The patchwork squares are from the Debbie Abraham's book, and I chose to knit them in strips instead of squares to minimise the seaming at the end. I'm making 5 strips of 5 squares and so far I've completed 3 and a half of them, including the 2 that go at the edge. See?
The stripes and spots pattern will go all the way around the outer edge and the squares and diagonals will go around the inner edge. I weighed the yarn that it took me to make one of the diagonals and it was only 10g of each colour so I should have enough to do 4 squares and have a leetle left over. I'm yet to decide on the centre square except that I want to use up as many colours as I can in small amounts and that it needs to be suitable for boy or girl so no flowers anywhere. I'm toying with the idea of a heart or a star right in the centre. What do you think? The blanket is knit entirely in All Seasons Cotton and Handknit DK. A big thanks to Alison for trading her leftover ASC oddments so that I could finish this. these are the leftovers that I have so far, I'm going to make some striped baby cardigans and hats out of the remains. I think there will be a lot of the purple and blue left over with reasonable amounts of most of the others. The blanket is all in stocking stitch, I decided against any texture - instead concentrating on colour. I love intarsia (although I know a lot of people have different opinions!) and I'm finding this a nice easy knit. Each square takes between 1 hour for the stripes and squares to nearly 2 hours for the intarsia spots. Its good in front of the TV knitting. In fact I'm enjoying it so much that I've decided to swap over the deadlines for this project and the Onde tunic so that the blanket will be done before next Thursday and the tunic by the end of the month. The only piece I keep forgetting about is the backing. I'm thinking of taking the lazy approach and instead of weaving in all those ends just securing them and attaching a fabric backing. I have some of the blue jersey left from the wedding blanket so I may just use that..
Posted by Kerrie at 08:34 AM
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May 11, 2004
Wave and Shell fini
I finished blocking the Koigu wave and shell shawl at the weekend, it stretched out to be about 17 inches wide which was OK and didn't lose anything from the length so I was happy enough. This is going to be the perfect size when it is folded in half as shown to fit in a car seat, imagine the baby all wrapped up from its toes to its chin in Koigu as it sits in the car, perfect!
Blocking this was interesting, I had it spread out on towels on our bed for a whole day while I willed it to dry OK. Someone was looking down on me because by the time Wayne and I were ready to go to sleep it was all done. Phew, I had visions of explaining to Wayne why we had to sleep on the sofa - not sure he would have understood!! I also worked some on Charlotte and the patchwork blanket at the weekend, they are both looking good. I'll show you photos of one of them tomorrow, just depends what mood I'm in tonight!
Posted by Kerrie at 08:46 AM
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May 10, 2004
Stretch and Grow, reach for the skies
For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of knitting with Phildar falaise before let me try and explain to you just how stetchy, springy and bouncy this stuff really is. It contains a high lycra content and just bounces from needle to needle. Its such fun to knit with, I love it!
This is the completed B&B knitalong ribby vest. Leigh and I both made something similar last year from Rowan Cotton Glace (here's a reminder of mine last year, and Leighs) and both girlies loved them so much we decided to make more this year. Except I decided to use falaise and stripe it baby! This vest was a quick and easy knit using blocks of 10 rows for each stripe, some simple shaping on the front, a low back and icords for straps. It used just under 1 skein of pink and 1 of orange (I decided to make the straps both in pink) I made it a little longer than the original style called for, Brooke doesn't like things cropped. This was such fun to knit that I'm almost sad to see it finished. So with this I get to say goodbye to 2 of my knitalong buttons, I'm calling an end to my Phildar Filly days. Although I plan to make lots more Phildar patterns over the next few months with some Phildar yarn I think I've fillied enough to meet my quota for the knitalong. It was fun though! PS - click on MORE. You should know by now what you'll see there! ;) PPS - I'm at home with a little sicky today, can you all keep your fingers crossed that it is just some kind of virus please. A number of children in her school have chicken pox and that is something this household can do without at the moment!!
Posted by Kerrie at 08:31 AM
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May 07, 2004
Still on that Koigu kick!
OK, Jenny - you've saved Charlotte from being frogged for a final time! Thank you so much for the Excel spreadsheet you sent over, suddenly it makes sense. I should have thought of doing that myself. Now I'm all excited about getting the falaise vest out of the way either today or tomorrow and getting on with Charlotte again. Woo Hoo... Seeing as I'm only using one colour for Charlotte do you think I'll still use the full 5 skeins? I have no idea how much the fringe will use, those of you who have finished - did you have much leftover? I've not finished the first skein yet and I'm 50 rows in. I know the shawl will start to get much bigger so perhaps that's where the other 4 skeins will go. It will be exciting to see.. You could be in for lots of nice photos next week, the Koigu wave and shell experiment is blocking as I type this. It looks like it might have stretched out to a good size. I want to use this as a blanket to wrap around little ones legs when they are in their car seat so it doesn't have to be massive. Just enough to cover from feet to chin and tuck in nicely. I think this will be perfect. If I was patient enough I'd consider making a wider border (I just used a 4 stitch garter stitch border at each end of the lace) Has anyone else renewed their Rowan membership recently and received the new free gift? Its no longer the tumbling blocks cushion (even though the text still says that on the site!) but a table runner made from Linen Drape. Yes, what else are Rowan going to do with it all now that its discontinued, give it away as a gift that's what! Its not a bad pattern, I kind of like the way it looks but not in these colours, I don't think they go together at all. So now if I'm going to make it I need to find 2 skeins of Linen Drape in a neutralish colour.
Posted by Kerrie at 09:58 AM
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May 06, 2004
Steek - stashbox call
Dominique from Belgium - please can you email me if you see this? The box is on its way to you but I need to speak to you before you send it on and I don't have your mail address. Thanks!
Posted by Kerrie at 04:25 PM
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Links
I've been finding some fun crafting links recently, it started with me buying a copy of Crafts Beautiful magazine. Its a great magazine and the website has lots of cute crafty ideas. Here is a link to their free knitting pattern page. Here are a collection of free sewing projects. Check out the GORGEOUS bridesmaids slippers at the bottom! I also discovered a new knitting site called GetKnitted.com. It has lots of cute patterns for sale, a free pattern for a felted bag and Lorna's laces sock yarn for sale in the UK! First time I've seen that anywhere. Can you tell that I haven't knitted much over the last couple of days? I've been busy going through some of the first MagKnits submissions and getting involved with lots of house type projects. It hasn't left me much time for knitting but I managed a few more rows on the Falaise Phildar ribby tank for the Brooke and Becky knitalong. I'm still hoping to get that finished over the weekend, so I should have photos on Monday. Polly was asking where I find the time to knit! In the evenings after Brooke goes to bed at about 7.30, the next couple of hours are my relaxing time. Wayne usually watches TV or works on the PC while I sit and knit and we gossip. So its a maximum of 2 hours per night, a little more at the weekends (especially if we visit mum and dad!) and occasionally half an hour on the train if I'm lucky enough to get a seat. The reason that it seems like I knit quickly is because I generally make little things rather than adult sized garments!!
Posted by Kerrie at 08:09 AM
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May 05, 2004
Progress Update
OK, its time to go through all of those projects that I have on the needles and work out where I am with them all. Onde Tank One side fini and the other side only just cast on. Planned finishing date - May 20th. Charlotte 50 rows in. One slight problem, I'm not enjoying the lace pattern as much as I hoped I would. I've reached the end of the charted area and still don't know what I'm doing! Think I need to rip back a few rows and try again to get the hang of the lace pattern. Planned finishing date (all things going well) - end of June Falaise Ribby vest. One side fini and the other side 50% of the way through. Planned finishing date - May 8th
ASC blanket 3 strips done. One strip on its way and the 5th still to be thought of. Planned finishing date - end of May.
Posted by Kerrie at 07:43 AM
Posted by Kerrie
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May 04, 2004
Charlotte
I started Charlotte over the weekend (celebrating taking wave and shell off the needles to block which I still need to do!) and she is coming along nicely. I know this isn't too much to show but I'm pleased with the way she is coming along.
I'm 50 rows in and haven't quite managed to get a grip on the pattern yet. I had to rip out the first 15 rows or so 8 times before I got with the lace pattern. I was ready to give up at that point but then it all just seemed to come together. I can see this becoming as addictive as the wave and shell pattern was. I'm using Koigu in colour P305 which is a mixture of blacks and purples, its not as gothic looking as I made it just sound though. I decided to use the same colour throughout so mine is not going to be one of those nice multicoloured ones, this is a same shade throughout Charlotte. Its still going to be pretty cool though..
Posted by Kerrie at 06:38 AM
Posted by Kerrie
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