Purple fluffy, bobbly Snood

Infinite scarves a great don't you think?  No chance of them moving around and slipping off your neck unnoticed, and they keep you cosy warm too!

A ball of cosy, fluffy, knittedness.

This one was simply garter stitch, on big needles, to create a nice holey effect.  The blobs of purple fluff within the yarn add to the cosy look.

It's such a great way to use up an odd ball of stash as you don't need quite as much as you would when making a full length scarf.  (and you don't need a pattern either, just cast on and go......)

Sukie the Sirdar Woolly Doll

Recently, when I was going through my Mum's old vintage patterns, I came across this.... Sukie, the Sirdar Woolly Doll.

Did you ever have one?

They were quite the thing when I was young, I remember having a few, although my very favourite one was purple. 

Well, it would seem very rude not to make one when the pattern is there in front of me, would it not?

I might make one tonight, do you fancy joining me?  :)

Yarn stash

It's kinda like confession time again.  They say that the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.

I don't think I am quite there...... yet.

With a little help from Marie from Nim & Num, I set about emptying all the boxes of yarn bits, the bin bags under the stairs, the project bags with bits left in them and the big box full I got off a friend for doing a little task for her.

And this is what I had at the end.  14 x 32 litre crates, all colour coordinated and tidy!

FOURTEEN !!??

Those 14 crates were just part balls though, it didn't include the bags of stuff I have "to do" things with.  Like this lot....

Or this lot...

Or even any of the other three lots I didn't photograph.

But they are all stacked up nice and neat and tidy - and accessible.

What should I make?

Patons Valiani 'wet look' yarn

Just finished crocheting this gorgeous jumper.  I say gorgeous not as in to blow sunshine up my own bum, but gorgeous as in that is is a beautiful pattern and the most divine yarn.

The yarn is Valiani from Patons.  It was in the Hobbycraft clearance sale in packs of 10. I bought 3 packs  :)  2 red and a black.  

It looks rather odd with it's high shine, it almost looks wet.... or PVC ish, don't you think?

Based on that you might expect it to feel somewhat rough to the touch, so I got quite a shock when I opened it to find the softest, snuggliest, cosy yarn ever!

It is an Acrylic/Polyester/Wool mix and is honestly just beautiful.

Now what pattern could I possibly make with this?  I thought it needed to be more of an over top, so you could show the yarn of to it potential rather than it being solid stitches.

I found this lovely FREE pattern by Tammy Hildebrand, you can find it on the Red Heart Yarns website.

Oh, have you met my manequin?  She is called Claudette and she is skinny.  Never mind though, she does her job well and doesn't cost much to keep  ;)

My plus size tunic doesn't sit so well on skinny Claudette.

Let's nip it in a bit.  That's better  :)  (I wish!!)

Have a close up of the lovely design.

This only took 9 balls of Valiani yarn, so I have another full bag to play with in red and a bag of black.  What shall I make next?

Sirdar Aruba Scarf Yarn

Aruba Aruba........ (did you finish it off?  I know it's Ariba, but it's close enough)  ;)

Anywhooo, landing in Hobbycraft last week was the biggest bag of new yarn - this one, in lots of different colours.  When new yarn lands it takes me all my time not to dive in the bags and have a good rummage about.  

But this one certainly got my attention with it's curls and blusters of colourfulness.

It is Aruba, by Sirdar, and it is a 100% polyester yarn.  It is a 100g ball, which is enough to knit a scarf.  The pattern is on the inside of the ball band.  Basically though, it's just pick up 6 stitches and knit.....

It is simple enough to knit, you just have to get the normal knitting technique of your head and do something slightly different.  Instead of wrapping the whole strand around your needle, you just have to insert the needle into the holes provided.   This technique is NOT for speed knitters, it takes time to find those pesky little holes.  And casting off is a bit odd too - well not actually the casting off bit, but what do you do with the tail?  It's not as if you can sew it in, so I just cut it as close to the last cast of stitch and knotted it a little.

Makes a nice tactile scarf though, not quite enough to do that thing where you fold it in half and bring the ends through the loop, but enough to throw one end over your shoulder in a seductive manner.  (If that's your thing)

It's on display in Carlisle Hobbycraft, if you want to go and stroke it  ;)

DMC urban glam 'Rebel' yarn.

When I was in Cornwall a few months ago, I popped into a lovely little yarn shop, as you do, and got browsing through the yummy selection of yarns.

I spotted a DMC one, called Urban Glam Rebel - available in a few colours, I bought a ball of pale dusky pinky shades.

I  only bought one ball as I didn't have a plan for what to make with it, I thought if I was to make something large I could probably send down for some more.

But yesterday, the cat was sitting on my project box and I couldn't get in - you are not allowed to move a cat in this house - so I had to do something else.  I spotted the DMC yarn on my desk and decided to make an infinite scarf with it.

So far so good, until I came to the first texture change - what's this I see?  A knot!  Ok, I have come across knots in yarn before - most annoying, but it happens.   I give the yarn a little tug and the knot comes apart.  Well, that would have been good if I had just worked over it, my scarf would have fell apart in time.  So I re-knot the yarn and off I go.  Of course, now I have ends to sew in, which isn't ideal in this design as it is a large stitch effect, but as it's different textures all over the place it probably wont show too much.

A few meters down, another crappy knot - crappy in the sense that it is just not tied very tightly and comes apart at the slightest pull.  Then another, and another...... and so it continues with each texture change.

The knots are not only not very tight, but they have also been clipped so the yarn ends are right beside the knot, this is why they come apart as easily as they do.

All in all the quality is pants, the yarn isn't half as nice as it looked on the ball - and it wasn't cheap you know, somewhere around the £6/£7 a ball mark if I remember correctly.   I read a blurb on one website that says it is "knotted by hand to create an interesting patchwork effect".  Whoever knotted it wants to learn how to tie a proper knot.

The yarn does work up quite nicely to be honest, it's just a pity it's not properly joined.

If you fancy the "patchwork effect" of this yarn, do yourself a favour and go buy a few balls of various different textures and knot them together yourself.  :)


ps:  I can't show you what I made from it as it's a Christmas pressie  :)  Will show you all in the New Year.

Wool Swap tomorrow.....

As part of the World Wide Knit In Public Day we are holding a WOOL SWAP at Carlisle Hobbycraft.

It is tomorrow (Saturday 15th June) and I have been busy preparing all the yarn to kick start proceedings.  I weighed over 120 lots...phew!

So what you do is bring in your yarn, we will weigh it and give you a little voucher with the weight written on it - like a cheque.

You then have a good old browse and feel of all the available yarn and once you have picked your lot, you bring it to us and 'pay' for it with your vouchers.

Sounds fun doesn't it?

Are you coming?  It is in Carlisle Hobbycraft, from 12 noon until 2.00pm  :)  See you there!

Cosy Knitted Cushion

The boss at work wanted a cushion knitted,  I can't remember the full description but it was something along the lines of "like a waffle"  :)

I got to work, using Bonus Chunky yarn in Sandstorm.

Would you like the pattern?  Here you go then.

What you need:

• 250g Chunky Yarn (137 meters per 100g)
• Size 6mm Knitting Needles
• Knitting Sewing Needle
• 3 large chunky buttons around 38mm in diameter
• 18" Cushion Pad

What you do:

• Cast on 65 stitches using the thumb method.
• 1st Row * K2, P2  rep from * to end K1
• 2nd Row *P1, K2 rep from * to end P2
• Repeat the last two rows another 5 times making a rib of 12 rows.

• ***13th row *K1, P4 rep from * to end
• 14th row *P1, K4 rep from * to end
• 15th-18th row - rep last two rows 2 more times
• 19th row - Knit
• 20th row - Purl ***
• From *** to *** is the pattern, repeat it until you have 28 pattern repeats in total,

Rib & Buttonholes
This is the buttonhole sizing for a 38mm button, but you can make the holes smaller by casting off less stitches, or larger by casting off more.

• Using the rib pattern, work 5 rows.
• Rib 12 stitches, cast of 5, Rib 13, cast of 5, Rib 13, cast of 5, Rib 12
• Rib 12, cast on 5, Rib 13, cast on 5, Rib 13, cast on 5, Rib 12
• Work 5 rows in rib.  Cast off.

Making Up

• Lay the piece flat on the floor and fold both ends in to make an envelope, the buttonhole rib should sit on top of the plain rib.
• Sew up the sides including the rib (sewing through the rib will be sewing through three layers of knitting, Pull it tight to look neat)
• Position the buttons to match the button holes and sew to the underneath rib.
• Stuff with a cushion pad and button up!   Ta dah.....

And here is the finished product on display in Carlisle Hobbycraft where you can buy all the products needed and grab a free pattern at the same time  :)

© Sue Simmons / SoozintheShed

2013 

World Wide Knit In Public Week

As part of the "World Wide Knit In Public Day" (KIP) Hobbycraft in Carlisle will be hosting TWO exciting events.

The first one is "Meet a fellow Knitter", this will be held on Tuesday 11th June 2013 from 2.00pm-4.00pm.

All you have to do is come along, with your knitting, sit and knit while meeting other local knitters - oh, and you can eat cake and drink tea too  :)  All FREE.

The second event is a "Wool Swap", this will be held on Saturday 15th June 2013 from 12 noon - 2.00pm.

There will be two categories in this swap, the first one will be budget yarn which will be swapped by weight.
Each ball (or part ball) will be weighed in and marked with the weight and you may swap it for another of the same weight.

The second category will be luxury yarn, this can be marked with a price of what the swapper thinks it is worth and swapped with another luxury yarn marked at the same amount.  What price you put on your yarn is up to you and exchanges will be between swappers so if there is nothing suitable, you don't need to proceed.

I will remind you nearer the time, but for now make sure you pop this into your diaries, and please do share this post with anyone you think might be interested.

I am off to sort out my yarn stash, looking forward to trading for something new  :)

Kidsilk Haze Stripe Scarf

I started making this scarf for a display at work.  I picked this particular wool as it is a slow seller, something, I think, to do with the price tag as it is a hefty £17.99 a ball!  Or rather, it was - as it is now in the Hobbycraft half price clearance sale.

I love this yarn so much, it is soft, gorgeous, silky, fluffy, warm and super cosy.

Knitting with it, however, was a bit of a pain.

Usually when I knit a scarf I can bash one out in an evening, or at a push over a weekend.  This one has taken about 3 weeks.  It knits up at around an inch per half hour.  And as it is around 70" long, I reckon that's about 35 hours work!!

One of the issues is that this yarn is so slinky that you cannot speed knit, if you are a bit hasty with your knitting needles then you find yourself with an empty needle and lots of dropped stitches - it just slides off.  And they are horrible to pick up, they just shrink away and you have to go and find a crochet hook to knit them all back up to the top again.

A few inches in I was desperate to go and buy a few balls and make myself a jumper, having now knit the scarf I am thinking again  :)  It would be lovely, but I know I would get bored and probably never finish it.

Still, it's a beautiful, gorgeous scarf.  If you live near Carlisle, pop into Hobbycraft and go and visit it.  It is upstairs, on the end of a display, you can even stroke it if you like  :)

Yarn eggs

On my Facebook feed I saw a photo that someone had 'liked' featuring yarn eggs - so I Googled it, as you do.

Must have a go at that, I thought to myself.

That afternoon, it was a Saturday, I spent 1 hour 55 minutes exactly (I know this as time was running out for the car park!)  searching for water balloons.

Being an adult (allegedly) I didn't realise that water balloons would be seasonal and hard to get hold of.

Hobbycraft didn't have any, the local News Agent didn't have any, neither did Hawkin's Bazaar or Poundland.  Wilkinsons was lacking in them too, as was The Works.  B&M Bargains had none and neither did WHSmiths.  The little newsagent in the market and the newstand in The Lanes, they didn't have any either.  My very last stop was to be Toymaster  - ta-dah!  They had them!!   Although they had just come into stock that morning.  (would you believe it - the very next day they came into Hobbycraft!!)

So, armed with a pack of water balloons I went home to start my craft session.

Now, have you ever tried to blow up a water balloon?   Well, let me tell you, they are the strongest balloon ever and my lungs didn't hold enough puff to even get the balloon stretched.  My cheeks ached for days after overstretching them. The balloons came with a little funnel to put water in, so I thought I would stretch them that way, then let them dry out and puff them up once stretched.  That didn't work, the water just fountained out of the funnel.

I set Shona and Marie a challenge - blow up these balloons.  But I also wanted two chocolate eggs popped in them at the same time.

In a whole evening they managed to blow up just 5 moderately usable balloons.  I say usable as some of them had little holes in and after all the huffing and puffing, and the tricky act of tying a knot in the top, the balloons shrunk slowly and hugged the choccy eggs.

Now really, you should be doing the wool wrapping as soon as the balloons were blown up, but as they took so long it was another 4 days before I could find some spare time to carry on.  This meant that the balloons were getting a little soft.

Still, not to worry.  I grabbed some wool....

and some PVA glue....

I hung up a 'drying line' between my kitchen cupboard doors...

and got messy with it....

When I say messy.... I mean MESSY !

There was glue everywhere, imagine trying to wrap sticky spaghetti around a balloon that it really doesn't want to stick to, imagine then thinking you have it sorted and noticing a huge gap, so you have to then fiddle with the sticky spaghetti to try and fill in the gaps.  Imagine having more glue on your fingers than a 6 year old would have.

I managed to do three.

That was enough!

They took a good 24 hours to dry, that was 24 hours of not being able to get into the cupboards to get out food ingredients. (lesson to be learnt there)

Once dry, the instructions I found was to carefully puncture the balloon, holding onto the knot so it didn't disappear inside the egg.  Well, I did this, but the balloon didn't go down, it just stayed stuck to the wool.  So I let go of the knot and eventually managed to poke and prise it away from the wool.

So there we go, some crappy yarn eggs.  Don't think I will be doing this again.

Have you made any?  Would love to see, feel free to post links if you have.