In The Bag...

The gift bag is complete. Ignore the unplanned slant upwards to the left - it actually works quite well when being carried... ehem... I suspect the lining will actually fall to pieces in a very short time, as it's only old curtain lining, which was already fraying at the edges, but it should last at least for the birthday! I struggled initially on how to make the handle; I thought about using my new French knitter:

but the cord created was too thin, so it was going to take too long to get both the desired length and thickness. Then I considered using a square flower loom, but that made the knit too baggy. So down came the knitting machine again, and after much cursing and invoking of my late Nanna (cast-on and bind-off are still not happening!), I finished the handle by the end of NCIS!

So no more hand-creating things for my Dad's 60th! As soon as I've finished the final tie design (printed by an online company - I hope!) and the cake, and booked the table for dinner, it will all be over bar the partying... Yep, it's finally time to pick up all those old, abandoned projects... She says as she begins something completely new... Eek...!

Tied and Tested

The second tie is finished. I don't think it's as good as the first one, but at least it's complete. Tomorrow I finish the gift bag and then finally I can get back to knitting for me, me, ME!!!

<-- What I was trying to copy...

Loose your disillusion...

I had to put the knitting down for a bit, despite being on a tight schedule, as I was growing a little disillusioned with a particular project - namely the second tie for my dad's 60th (and distracted by my iPad). I had hoped to be really clever and make the whole thing on the knitting machine, until I realised I wasn't able to reduce rows yet - I haven't reached that far in my education. Over-enthusiasm getting the better of me, I still decided to knit the back half on the machine, as it's just a straight strip, and I hand knitted the front piece. The embroidery hasn't been working out though - trying to recreate the four Beatles in 'Help!' pose is not easy with 3ply wool. I'm also really struggling with the backing material, as the only suitable colour I had was black - from an old, damaged pair of trousers. It's thicker material than that used with the Yellow Sub tie, and is causing me a lot of grief... I'm in two minds whether to quit while I'm ahead and just try and buy an alternative, but as I've yet to settle the previously mentioned dispute with the other online vendor... It's all a bit exasperating!

On the slightly more plus side, the gift bag is coming along OK. I began the embroidery before taking a break:

and carried on working on it in the last couple of exam invigilation sessions, including yesterday morning, when I spent my birthday in a packed room full of miserably concentrating students! And today I finished it all off, to this:

Am now arguing with myself over whether or not to do a material lining or a knitted patch behind the embroidery...? Hopefully the handles will be machine knitted, and then I'm nearly there... Less than two weeks to go!

Knitting-related birthday presents were:

Two new books: Brave New Knits (dad) and New England Knits (mum); a French knitting dolly and some pale pink fluffy wool (sister); and some bright pink wool from my Nan! My mum seemed to think it was awful, but I think there are a couple of patterns I could knit with it - any wool is useable!!

A little success...

Lining the Yellow Submarine tie has really helped to flatten it out. I did try crocheting the edges, but that didn't help at all - stocking stitch just insists on curling! I took quite a bit of yesterday afternoon and most of this morning, but this tie is finally complete:


Even though my sewing job is a bit rubbish, I'm still pretty impressed with the final result! :) Now I'm trying to decide whether to try a slightly different pattern for the second tie I need to complete over the next couple of weeks...

My BIG success last night was a return to the very beginning of this blog. A return to my Nanna's knitting machine. (That's the Transatlantic Sessions on TV.)

I decided not to be too clever yet, just to try knitting something in blocks. I attempted the e-cast on with no success, although I'm going to retry that over this weekend, as I've had a few thoughts on how I might be able to get it to work. Casting off was also a total disaster - it might well be possible, but the needles are so tiny and thin, it's just too fiddly! So I used a piece of thin wire with a bead on the end, with no apparent and obvious usage, from the bag of stuff that came with the machine to thread off the knitting, transferred the stitches to my smallest set of needles, and cast off by hand. Still fiddly and time consuming, but a bit more successful. Casting on and off definitely need more practice.

BUT, on the plus side, unlike my past attempts which failed fairly quickly to reach any great lengths, yesterday (perhaps by invoking the help of my late Nanna?) I completed three pieces of knitting, which will eventually become a gift bag as part of my dad's presents:


Sewing up in front of the football today...

Tied up

Lots of distractions lately - Easter, Royal weddings, iPad apps, programming my dad's Advent Vega... Star Trek films on Film 4... So the knitting has been slower going. I've been working on parts of a design of my own, which doesn't really look like anything yet, so isn't worth showing. However, I do have one completed item.

It's less than a month until my dad's 60th, and I've been working hard to get his presents sorted - all on the theme of 'sixties'. So, even though he doesn't really wear them anymore, I've been trying to purchase six ties, and more specifically some from the Beatles tie range. This has turned out to be a nightmare! Everywhere claims to be selling Beatles ties, but when you order, you get:

• 'sorry, we don't have that one in stock, but we could send you an alternative?' or


• 'they should be with you in 28 days (?!?). Haven't got them yet? Oh dear, never mind, wait another two weeks and we'll chase up...' or


• 'yeah... we don't have any of those in stock...'!

It's ridiculous!! I'm currently stuck in a difficult situation with the second point above, and I have strong suspicions I may get nothing - no ties, no refund - from the company. Frustrated, I've given up waiting and decided to take matters into my own hands: literally.

Whilst watching Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan on Monday:


Whilst watching Star Trek: The Search for Spock last night:


And finally, over breakfast this morning:


Tonight I'm going to attempt to line it and try and flatten it out a bit, and then try another design. I don't know why I didn't just think of this in the first place...!