2012 highlights

Well, in terms of making I think there were very few.  Completing projects isn't my strong point!

I made a Christening gift in record time, but I never took any photos - foolish of me, I know.  I also knitted two Christmas pressies, neither of which I photographed to blog.  Obviously a complete failure for a supposed blogger.

And Newlook 6808 - well, here is the photo from when I rediscovered the rags under the bed:

Not too promising.  Fitting pics are even worse:

Good for a laugh though.  I cut out a 16 because those were the measurements that matched my size.  Oh no they weren't!  I always knew I was short, but after I butchered the darts and shortened the bodice to make the waist high enough I also found that bust apex was too low, so I took over half an inch extra on the shoulder seams.  Then obviously the sleeves were never going to work. I thought OK, so it can be sleeveless and added the neck facing.  See that gaping there at the front centre?  So I gave up.  It was meant to be a wearable muslin but I have somewhat gone off the fabric anyway.

So in other news I have lost quite a bit of weight since then.  Therefore the lack of fitting success is now irrelevant.  I actually measured myself at the weekend and was particularly surprised at the current smallness of my hips.  Always figured I was houglass.  Anyway, I think I will start again with a smaller size and attempt a FBA.  Not sure how to tackle the length issues.  I am beginning to wonder if I should try to buy a petite pattern to get throught the initial fitting issues.  I will succeed.

Other knitting blogs

I spent some time at the weekend looking at other UK knitting blogs. There is clearly a link between knitting and gardening. In fact a surprisingly large number of the ones I looked at had far more gardening posts than knitting posts. Little mention of outdoor knitting which you would expect might follow on there.

Then there are the people who knit on during their daily commute on public transport apparently. They have never travelled on any of the buses in my neck of the woods. I have to fold up my arms in a corpse-like pose to fit on the seat half the time. If I tried knitting there would be fellow passengers with perforations! And then where would I put my bag? And how would I keep the yarn? The only possible option here is knitting socks on dpns the size of cocktail sticks. Aah. Maybe I could knit socks for action figures!

Knitting for warmth

Thought I might manage a quick post before bed! I just found the photos I took of my last project. Last year I made the lofty mittens on the Straw.com web site. Well they were green and had cables if you will excuse the predictability of my project! They turned out pretty well - they are big enough to fit magic gloves under to keep my hands warm, although my fingers still go numb - it's a good job I don't live anywhere that's actually cold.

Anyway, I needed a matching hat and scarf. I knit the hat on the circular needle I used for the gloves. I used the same cable pattern as the mittens and worked out the number of repeats to get the size of my head. I think my tension was a bit tight though - no surprise there - so it is quite snug now it is finished. Here is the beginning of the hat...

It finished now. I do find that it doesn't keep my ears warm though. It is only single thickness round the band so the wind blows through. Hence I have hardly worn it. I think I will make an extra band to go inside so that it keeps the breeze out. And here is the start of my hat avec mittens. Ta dah!

I seem not to have taken pictures of the scarf. That could be the dark winter days we had around that time. Not good for photos. I had great fun trying to get the scarf right. I think I unpicked the last shaping of the hat three times before I got it to go right. On the other hand I think I knit about a foot of scarf three or four times and a whole ball of yarn once and frogged it before I got the needle size and right number of stitches to make the scarf narrow/wide enough and soft enough to wear. Good job I like knitting cables.

In case you were wondering the blue fluffy thing was my sister's Christmas present. Hideous eyelash yarn - hideous to knit that is. Well actually it is not hideous to knit, more hideous if you make a mistake or drop a stitch as you can't see the stitches to sort it out. I followed the pattern to the letter. One size fits all it said. One size that is very small! I got there in the end but I don't have pictures as it wasn't very photogenic. It looks like a blob. I tried to lay it out but it was having none of it. It made a nice background though.....

Mind the gap....

Should I worry about a 6 month gap in posts? Probably not. Over Christmas I did sew in the ends on the baby cardigan, then I lost the new buttons that I had bought (in the summer) so it still isn't finished.

I have found the buttons!! Original intended recipient is now over a year old. Last baby in the line is not tiny and I heard a rumour of a parental aversion to handknits. We'll see whether it makes it onto said baby.

This week I have free time so I should be able to get something done. I will sort out photos for blogging. I may sew on buttons. I may finish the top I started here. I may start on the muslin for Newlook 6808. Nah.

I may sit and gaze at the new telly. I know. I shouldn't. But I am digital. I have new channels, a shiny LED screen and the coathanger taped to the TV stand instead of a real aerial still works. Yay.

I thought this was going to be a craft blog....

When I started this was going to be a craft blog. It seems to be turning into a garden blog. Who knew?

I have made progress with my knitting however. I finished knitting the yoke on the summer top now, I just have to do the edges and make it up. OK, so maybe that will be ready for next summer ;-) And the baby cardi - is all knitted. Just to make up and buy the buttons. Buying buttons was a job for my lunch break today but I was landed with an unexpected one o'clock meeting, so that never happened. Don't you just hate those?

Of course its intended recipient is now six months old, but there is another baby boy who is much younger and another two babies on the way amongst my circle, so I'm sure it will fit one of them! If not maybe I will have to start up an Etsy store. A small one - one item at a time? Hey ho...

Just when I thought I was getting somewhere

So the hostas grew some new leaves, perforated as they may be. Then I split one and moved a bit to a shady spot I had made. It is now just little bits of stalk.

And despite my saying that I could not grow dahlias (even in pots) I had to just have one more try. They were a bargain from the garden centre (72p each!) as it was very late but they looked good healthy tubers so I thought what the heck...

They grew away well and had a couple of inches growth before - dun dun dun - the slugs got them. So I thought - Aha! They haven't eaten the lilies - I will put the dahlia pots (they were small pots) on top of the lily pots (and they are lily pots). The lilies haven't a sign of a nibble. They were doing so well and had more than one shoot each and some small leaves then I came to water them the next day and they were mown to the level of the compost. Aaaargh!!!!!!




So they are being nursed by my mum and have some tiny shoots emerging now. I think flowers this year will be out of the question, but maybe next year. I am thinking that it might even be worth the expense of nematodes next year. Do they work on snails too?




Anyway. Aside from my dahlia/slug trauma there have been some successes in my garden this year.




[Note: Did you notice the dead insect on the lily? I didn't til I posted the picture. I know it's dead because I just found it stuck to the stigma this evening!]

Too busy? Too lazy?

Guess where I was yesterday? Here's a little clue....

Too hard? Here's another....

Still too hard? Maybe the toadstools will give it away?

Well, just in case you weren't quite sure I was at Fusion. The Girlguiding UK Centenary Celebration with around 20,000 other Guiders, Brownies, Guides and Senior Section members. Here is a view of the crowd for the finale...

The flickr photostream pics are more impressive - I am clearly too short to get a good view! Like several feet too short. Check it out HERE


Forgot to mention - I am at the top right by the blue stripy marquee on the Flickr photo - not that you can see me!!