Teddy has arrived

My first post was about a blanket I was knitting for a university chum.. well yesterday her little one arrived and for once I'd finished the present in time!


I had carried on knitting round and round the blanket all over christmas and everyone who saw it couldn't understand how it was going to end up square (I started to have a few doubts myself). I finished the edges with 4 rounds of seed stitch which is the same as the top of the teddy's pocket and once I'd washed it I was AMAZED how square it came out. I've used my teddy, Teddy to show how I'm envisaging new teddy sleeping under the blanket. [My Teddy.. been with me since I was 4.. looking a bit tired now but still in one piece although his head it very wobbly]

Then I set to knitting the teddy...













So all that there is for me to do now, is send it off to the new family.. but while I'm here I'll also show you the card that I made for them.. i'm rather proud. (yes there are 5 of them.. mum dad, big bro, sis and little bro!!)


kxx

Knitting drives me loopy

A slightly late christmas present is currently on my needles.. and I don't mean my little sticks I mean my MACHINE NEEDLES.. I love my knitting machine.

I bought it off ebay late 2007 and then enrolled at a evening class to learn to use it. I've made a few things on it, a wedding blanket for some friends this summer but mainly it's been used for socks. (I love socks almost as much as I love my knitting machine).

One of the weird things about machine knitting is how much the edges curl in when they are being knitted.. It takes a LOT of steaming to uncurl them afterwards and a dear chum commented that this curling back under made them perfect to copy a scarf she once saw.

This christmas I aimed to make her one of these beloved scarfs. I decided on 20 needles wide.. the scarf is only about an inch wide when it curls in but I think it's mainly for beauty rather than warmth and each loop is 100 rows long. I wanted the seams of the links to be as seamless as possible, so rather than cast off each time I transferred the stitched on to real needles (oh dearie me) and hand grafted them with kitchener stitch

So here it is on the machine.. The little green section is a block of waste yarn so that I didn't have to cast off and on again for each loop. It was these green stitches that I transferred onto real needles to graft off. i'm also not knitting on the middle of the machine.. this might be bad practice by it was mainly because my table is a bit weeny and to knit in the middle I'd keep banging into the wall.

I'd really like inspirational pictures of loveliness over my desk but I currently have a star.. it's nice and all but it's just not made of wool is it?? one of my new year resolutions is to sort out this room so that there is enough space for all things science and boyey and my shit (I mean creative masterwork)

so finally this is what the scarf looks like now.. Obviously it's going to get a bit longer.. I don't think it will provide much warmth but at least it can wrap around her neck.

kxx

Oh and pleased as I am with this scarf present idea, I was TOTALLY blown away by my pressie from Lady Kitsch

Twelfth night

Never let it be said that I'm over superstitious but I do like to take my christmas decorations down on the 6th of January and not a moment before.. Alas the tree had to come down about a week ago because it was starting to look more like a twig than a tree as all the needles had dropped off and if there's something lovely about the Admiral it's his love of hoovering and it was ITCHING to clear up the mess.

So it's all packed up for another year.. the knitivity is back in it's bag, the dolls house lights are wound round a tiny dolls house board to stop them getting knotted up and the new addition to my ornament collection.. my swap shop has been put away too.

This year I've been reading a lot of crafty blogs and becoming a bit more aware of what I like to do in the craftzone.. I've head quite a lot about swaps and I didn't really understand.. nice crafing folks from all over the world package up their loveliness and post it to other craftying folks across the world.. how very random. (I haven't got my head around give aways yet at all) I saw one swap of christmas ornaments organised by these crafties Cake and Pie and freshly blended which I was just having a nosey at.. when I spotted it had a flickr site of all the ornaments which were sent in the previous year.. well after some serious soul searching moments of my crafting abilities, I decided I'd sign up and if everyone wrote and said my ornaments were rubbish, well I'd just cry and not play again.

OMG I was sooo excited

then I was slightly less excited.. my design relied rather strongly on my sewing machine.. which I had inherited from my Nanny when I was 14, I'm now a touch older than that so when it finally gave up the ghost on the day set aside to make my ornaments, I was crushingly disappointed that I couldn't make them, but appreciative of the service and support it had given me over the years.

Fortunately Farmer's Wife (tobe) stepped in and I borrowed her machine, made my ornaments and posted them off within a day of the addresses being sent out.

It took a week or so before I got any back..and I still haven't received all my ornaments.. some I was more pleased with than others.. a few just aren't my taste at all.. but I was rather pleased with my haul and may well take part in a swap shop again when people stop getting married/having babies/celebrating birthdays and all those other excuses I make up for starting a new craft project.

[maybe I should make a little apology now.. I am by NO MEANS a professional photographer.. I have also just spent more of my life than I care to admit in trying to put these all in a little table and have failed miserably.. I feel particularly sheepish as Lady Kitch is rather a whiz at that kinda thing and I can almost see her shaking her head at my pitiful attempt.. although that leads me to another question.. names in blogs.. I settled on the Admiral for the admiral after a couple of attempts, Famer's wife(tobe) just is her name.. but Lady Kitch is a blogster herself and so if ever I mention her do I need to mention her blog too?? as my readership is pretty limited (currently.. you never know!!) I think I'm probably safe, but do correct me if I'm committing a blog faux pas.. it's not covered in debrets you know!)




Oh and which ornament is mine.. it's the stripped green tree at the top with a button for a star.. yes I'm kinda fond of all things stripey and buttony too!!

Christmas with the dogs

Cripes i've been away a long time.. initally it was December and that means all manner of preparation busyness and then I was STRUCK with the illness. I went to work on Tuesday, met a chum in the evening for our ritual christmas film (has to be the cheesiest number available at the time) and by the time I was home I felt decidedly swollen in the gland region and spent the next 4 days in bed. EUGH EUGH EUGH. Only made it to the sofa on a couple of days to watch diagnosis murder (and if i can't get out of bed for that, there's no chance).

So mainly I've spent christmas coughing.. so much that I now have a it of a bark every now and again.. and that inspired me to introduce the dogs to you..

this is little dog and lady dog..

I knitted little dog about 4 years ago from a pattern by Jean Greenhowe (who is a tremendous lady) and when the Admiral met him, they got rather attached and i'd come home from work and find little dog in all kinds of scrapes and mischief. then last valentines day, little dog got a card through the post and would you believe there was a new dog just outside the door. rather pleasingly lady dog is slightly smaller than little dog.. and she has a pink collar rather than little dog's red collar.. They came with us on our christmas tour (which took in Plymouth and Reading.. not too huge but plenty long enough thank you very much).. they even had a few jelly bones on Christmas morning.

the dogs have been together for nearly 7 (dog) years and I suspect there may be the pattering of tiny paws quite soon.. just as soon as I find even smaller needles to knit them with!!