Bloody Belle

The blood-splattered wool project is beginning to take shape:














Plus, I have found the perfect pair of shoes to match it when it's all finished! :)

Old Project...

About six months ago, I knitted this cardi-shawl using some rather nice wool I bought from eBay:


It was based on the Berroco Free Pattern: Juliana. It wasn't a great success however - the lacy pattern was very hard and resulted in a few too many mistakes; I ran out of wool for the sleeves; it isn't quite long enough to tie behind the back so I have to use a band to tie the two sides together; and by god was the wool heavy by the end! Still, I'd give it 7/10 because I can still just about wear it and I like the wool... :)


Wool: Rowan Luxury Cotton/Silk DK - 50g balls - Sable

Who came up with this wool...??

Am currently knitting with some old wool I found in the bottom of my wool box. I think my Nan gave it to me.



It's a little awkward to knit with at times, though it feels as soft and fluffy as a freshly washed towel, which is nice. But the more important question is - what the hell was the designer of this wool thinking??

If I'm being nice, I'd say this yarn reminds me of cherry ice cream...

But it also reminds me of a snot rag after a nose bleed.

And in my darker moments, I keep thinking of Santacide...!


Wool: Wendy Ikon 892

Slippers

I needed a new pair of slippers, since my old ones are old and falling apart, quite literally, at the seams. So, just for a laugh, I decided to knit myself a new pair. I used some old peach leftover wool and a free slipper pattern from my favourite, and probably the best, online free knitting patterns site ever: Drops Design.

They're hilarious, but were dead easy to make, so who's complaining?

The making of, and the finished products.







I'm thinking of learning how to crochet flowers - I have some purple fluffy wool I fancy turning into little blossoms to decorate the outer straps... :)


Wool: Unknown peach stuff!

Tunic Completed

Another day's knitting and the sleeves are finished, sewn together and the whole piece is complete:



I'm quite chuffed. There are hardly any mistakes, and no obvious visible ones (for a change)! Considering it was medium skill, I actually found it fairly easy! The hardest parts were, I suppose, the box stitch pattern, because it's just a bit time-consuming-fiddly, though not difficult, and the 'seed stitch' borders, which look completely different in my knit to the picture, though I swear I was following the chart!

Unfortunately, my concern was fully founded, and the jumper is considerably smaller than I'd expected:



Most definitely a "fitted" knit!! And the sleeve pattern was crazy - I don't exactly have the most muscular arms in the world, but decreasing the stitches during the box stitch pattern? It's now such a tight fit, I can barely pull it up!! So, success rate has to be 9/10. And in future I know to make the next size up... :)


Wool: Patons Caressa DK 4579

Textured Tunic...

After a whole weekend's knitting, just pausing for the one football match, I have completed the body of the tunic! :)

My only current concern is... it seems a little smaller than the pattern suggested it would be (or am I just fatter than I think I am...?)...



Front and back

Tunic Evolution

Over a year ago I purchased a couple of knitting pattern books: Fitted Knits and Glam Knits, both by Stefanie Japel, because finally I'd found someone writing fashionable patterns! I also bought some wool, but didn't get much further than that for quite some time...

After my knitting machine disasters, I pulled out the books and my old wool collection and decided to try and match a pattern to the available yarns. For a long time I'd wanted to make the cover jumper from Fitted Knits, but I was concerned that it was rated "Medium" skill level. Still, after two days of unpicking, I was no stranger to failure, so why not?



And, as you can see, after one day, it seems to be going alright! It's also my first attempt at knitting a sweater on circular needles, which is turning out to be more convenient than I'd expected!



Fingers crossed...!!

Knitting Machine part 2 (Epic FAIL!)

Day 2 of my attempts to master the knitting machine (well, it is raining outside on this fine August day!).

As the pink failed me yesterday, I decided to have a go with another leftover cone. And, why be boring? Why not try two?



Answer: because when I tried to swap between the two colours, it buggered everything up again!The brown wool broke, the blue wool got caught in the brush rollers... [*sigh*] Time to try something else.

So, undeterred, I referred back to the instruction book, written in clear 1960s English, and decided it might be fun to have a go at Fairisle...



That didn't work either, but it looked quite good while it was vaguely doing it's thing, and I learned a lot more about untangling the brush rollers and trying not to twist two yarns together... [*deeper sigh*]

Then I had a brainwave: maybe it wasn't me or the machine at all - maybe it was the wool? So i went into town and bought some 2ply patterned wool in the hope i might be able to make my dad a nice scarf using his mum's old machine. I won't bore you with more pictures, but you could probably hazard a guess at what happened... After a huge mound of tangled wool, I finally gave up, admitted defeat and sadly packed the machine away. Knitting machines are obviously not my thing. I asked dad if Nanna had ever got that frustrated with it and he said probably, but then she had lessons on how to use it. I don't think they still offer knitting machine lessons - certainly haven't seen any listed in the Adult Ed catalogue lately...

So it's back to needles and the hard graft for me. I did, however, get an invite to a knitting club when buying the wool and have plans to attend the next meeting...

Knitting Machine part 1

Spent the day fighting with my Nanna's old knitting machine. I really want to be able to make something with this one day, even if the most I ever make is a scarf...



I was, in fact, shocked that I managed to get as far as I did with this piece:



So when I ran out of 'taupe' wool, I got a bit cocky and decided to move onto the next leftover cone, at which point it all started to go wrong again:



I have become an expert at two things today: casting on and unpicking!



Still, I managed a patch of knitting that was more than fifty rows long and more than I'd ever managed on the machine before. All I have to do is work out how to fix slip stitches and I could be knitting more than just small plate mats!!