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Thursday, June 29, 2006

I'm back... with a FO as well!

Well, I did intend to tell my knitting buddies that I was off to sun myself in Jamaica for a week. I really did. But rather than spark jealousy and unrest, I slunk off quietly with a bottle on tanning oil and a ball of Paton's cotton and came back with the Saturday Market Bag from Magknits.

It is essentially one of the fastest knits in the West - each side is only 24 rows. However, I tried to knit this one on the plane with my Denise Interchangeables and the combination of shiny smooth cotton and resistance-free plastic needles left my precious work slipping and sliding through the turbulence.

I also misplaced the pattern when it came topicking up stitches around the top and forming the handles so I pretty much winged it. I am fairly happy with the results and can certainly see myself making a couple more of these beauties. I used it today to do my shopping and was more than a little pleased with the capacity.

So here's a synopsis...





Gratuitous modelling pic provided by Chris Dudley and the contents of Mum's fruit bowl :)

Pattern: Saturday Market Bag by Jodie Dannenberg

Yarn: Paton's 100% Cotton DK in Tomato, just under one ball

Needles: Denise Interchangeables, 10mm for body, 6mm for garter stitch top and 4mm for the straps

Time taken: Not long when actually knitting, could have been completed in about 2 hours if not for screaming babies and turbulence!

Modifications: They snuck in. I should probably have gone down a needle size in the first place but really couldn't be bothered to dig out the case so I just soldiered on. Consequently, a few stitches slipped off the needles and ended up being replaced in the wrong order. When I began knitting this, it looked a hot mess anyway so the mistakes eventually blended in... sorta. It hasn't effected the functionality of the bag but I can see them... here's a close up of the pattern as it should look.

Finished dimensions: Difficult to truly gauge! It's easier to think of it in terms of capacity - I managed a cantaloupe melon, 6 bananas, a bag of pears and a couple of tins with room to spare.

I can see me making a few of these as Christmas presents!

Kelly [ 11:45 PM ]

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Rogue is on the grow

I'm still here. And I'm still knitting of course. Rogue fell out of favour for a little while when I made a mistake.... I forgot a cable. Just skipped over it while watching Big Brother. I was so annoyed with myself - there has been some really hairy cables in this sweater and I have pulled them off fairly successfully - but this one just sneaked past my radar, angering me greatly.

The frogging, albeit only a few rows, was a labour of anger and took several days. On each of which I vowed to abandon this stupid jumper because it was crap and I hated it. But now I have attached the kangaroo pocket, a rather nifty little technique that seemed mysterious until I actually executed it, I am steaming ahead towards the top. I love knitting cabled sweaters and am trying to convince The Boy that he'd like a Durrow from Magknits but he proclaims it's a little too fancy for him.

Humph. You'd think a knitter would appreciate these things. And now Blogger is refusing to let me upload a picture. Fine. Be that way.

See the body o' Rogue here!

Kelly [ 9:30 AM ]

Sunday, June 11, 2006

She shoots, she scores!

Ok, so I know I was supposed to be on a strict fibre diet until after I return from holiday. I was doing well, even resisting discount Cashmerino over at Kangaroo. But when I wandered into the Marie Curie charity shop on Gloucester Road and saw this lovely stuff, I was powerless to resist. I saw that there were 2 bags... both weighted at over 500g. The plastic had been ripped so I slipped my hand inside to feel the fibre - it was warm, soft, and likely to be a blend of wool, acrylic and mohair. I looked over at The Boy who just pulled a face - he suspects we have enough yarn. What does he know?

Bag in hand, I approach the lass on the checkout to ask about the price. She looks at me blankly. She has little or no knowledge of wool.

"Ummm... £1? Is that ok."

Grin spreads across my face.

"Yes, that's cool. I'll take it all."

I leave the place £2 lighter and with a lot more wool.


Sorry for the poor-quality picture, my camera doesn't like to play ball on overcast days. I might try to squeeze myself a cropped cardigan from the pretty purples and pinks. The brown will be donated to The Boy to help fulfil his dream of a festival-worthy poncho...


Kelly [ 11:24 AM ]

Saturday, June 10, 2006


Rogue knitter - mwa ha ha...

I started to blog about these gorgeous Rogue sleeves last night but then I realised they showed how much I had been slacking on my first jumper. So I knuckled down and finished the second one last night, casting on for the body this morning after I was rudely awakened by the cat.

They seemed to take forever last night and as you can see, it appears The Boy was not up to the hardcore challenge.

Kelly [ 8:16 PM ]

Friday, June 09, 2006

I'm back! And I have actually been knitting!

Well, it's been a long time coming but I have finally found a layout I like. Everything seems to work smoothly but if you get swallowed and chewed up by some nasty code, I cannot be held responsible. And while this HTML chaos has been swirling, I have been knitting. Which is probably what you're interested in. Shall we take a look?


I put together this (badly photographed) swap package for a lucky recipient in a Craftster swap. She sent a list of favourite colours over so I tried to use a little of each. In case you cannot make it out, there's a panta, some hand dyed wool, a polka dot headband and some nifty fabric. I actually really loved that fabric but she's an awesome seamstress and will probably do it much more justice than I ever could!


The panta was made from some delicious hand dyed goodness from The Natural Dye Studio - I'd had it stashed so long that there's no way I was going to make much useful out of it. It's pale pink with little flecks of brown... it reminded me of salmon. Anyway, it was deliciously soft.


The fortunate weather meant that my hand dyed wool could dry on the line. It's Jaegar Matchmaker DK, hastily bought as House of Fraser were closing. It's dyed with Koolaid and then skeined and wrapped. I have left the photos a little blurry to conceal the identity of the recipient - clever, eh?

Blogger is acting up but I will finish this update later!



Kelly [ 7:57 PM ]


Lovely new design!

We're just squeezing out the problems and then I'll be back with a hot new update. Promise!

Kelly [ 10:18 AM ]

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Yup, welcome to default layout hell.

I swear I will fix this soon.

Also, my local Martins sells Knit 1. And The Boy bought me a copy this morning. And there's actually something in it that I want to make?

Do I make the knit boxer shorts as a thank you?

Kelly [ 9:52 AM ]

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Houston, we're changing layout. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

Kelly [ 9:43 PM ]

Friday, June 02, 2006

No knitting to blog about but...


This is Leroy. He is gorgeous. He'll be rifling through my knitting basket with glee from the end of June when he comes to live with the rest of my nutty knitting brigade.


He has already won over The Boy and I fear I will be hopeless against his long-whiskered charms.




Kelly [ 2:30 PM ]

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Finally!

It seems that Blogger was sick of my rantings and decided to refuse to let me update for the past few days. It seems that I am the winner though...


Mmm... admire Rogue! I have actually now completed this sleeve and am well on my way with the second one. Unfortunately, I made that timeless mistake of knitting during Lost. And "lost" track of what row I was on. Consequently I ended up with a squat mystery cable that was very hard to rip back. Luckily, The Boy was on hand to fix it. I also runied an attempt to do a Luckenbooth medallion in the pub. Some days I hate knitting.

Which is a shame as I have a family knitting legacy...



I inherited this lovely box of wool over the weekend. It's a real mixed bag - mostly 4ply acrylic/wool blends and very dusty - but I feel compelled to make beautiful things with it. I think Fair Isle mittens and socks might not be a bad idea and intend to procure a copy of Folk Mittens from the library this afternoon.

And the new Magknits is up! None of that foo foo weirdness from Knitty... just lovely and rather practical things.

My favourites:
Mmm... socks.



Gorgeous Melissa does it again with her phenomenal patience for fiddly wool and small needles. I don't think I can stretch to cashmere for this one sadly.

Right, back to the grind. And then home, to a poorly Boy and the second sleeve of Rogue, who has declared herself a one woman knit and not something to attempt during any sort of conversation :)

Kelly [ 9:35 AM ]