When the little voice tells you that you can’t

I have been a long time admirer of the recycled knitting needle bracelets made by Sassafras Creations on Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/sassafrascreations). I have a blue one and a red one and she was doing some biros about 3 years ago that I always wanted but never got, but that’s not really the point. I got my bracelets at different times over the last couple of years and I wear them often.

(Figurines available here - no affiliation.)

Then I got to thinking, “It’s a bent knitting needle. I have knitting needles. I could bend one.” And I did have the needles but then the little voice started telling me how hard it would be. I would need to heat the metal needles to get them to bend smoothly.

“OK,” I thought, “I’ll use the oven”.

But if I heated metal needles in the oven the coating might burn or smoke or melt or something.

“OK,” I thought, “I’ll do one and see what happens.”

But they are not all made by the same company. What works with one needle might not work with another and the next one might melt and ruin the oven.

“Well” I thought, “I’ll just give it a go.”

When you bend the needle it will be hot and you’ll burn yourself. And if you use a cloth or gloves you won’t be able to get a good enough grip on the needle and it will go wrong.

“That is quite offputting.” I thought to myself. “But a teatowel should be fine.”

When you bend it, it might snap and bits will fly off into your eyes and blind you.

“Yes that is very offputting.” I thought. “I’d better wait til I have some eye protection.”

And so on. So of course then about 6 months passes and I still haven’t so much as moved a knitting needle near the oven.

Yesterday is when everything changed. I had had a fairly bloody day and was grumpy. I’d had enough of listening to ‘the man’ and wanted to stick two fingers up to the world and do what I wanted – much like a 17 year old. I was, in fact, in a perfect mood to quell the little voices. I was also, and this is important, wearing one of my Sassafras bracelets.

So I got home. I got a plastic beaker. I retrieved one of my pretty metal needles form my stash. I bent it round the beaker. It didn’t bend perfectly so I bent it a bit more by hand. And it was good.

(Sassafras needle is blue, obviously)

Then I did some more.

And yes, they're not as good as the professional one, but then they didn't cost me anything and took about 5 minutes. And if I heated them up and used a proper vice and all that jazz they probably would look better. But I think they look pretty good as they are.

So to summarise, sometimes it is good to channel your inner 17 year old. And if you're reading this and you are 17, it all gets worse from here. Chin up.

Crafty Week

It's been quite an astounding week. Highs, lows, triumph, disaster, knitting, sewing...you name it, it's happened.

Office life was disrupted by the departure of Sam who has left to go back to Uni. We had a great send-off for him but it is going to take a while for a new equilibrium to form. Luckily his replacement, Jonesy, is shaping up well but still, it;s not the same. Luckily I had Dave's first strawberry to console me. It tasted delicious!

Nick, the brother strawberry plant, is yet to fruit. Bit of a slow starter.

Meanwhile my big project has had its contract signed so that piece of trauma it over. Just need the damn thing to be built now. It makes my other office success seem a bit less impressive.

Template is on my tutorials page here.

One bad thing about Sam leaving is that he was organising the cake world cup - started solely because he wanted others to bake cake for him to eat. It's the semi-finals and while the group stages were country based, based on the office sweep stake in which I got England, so I cruised in with a Victoria Sponge, the semi's are free-choice. So I have invested in this.

It's a giant cupcake! I've put the top on the bottom so you can see the shape, but you cook the two bits separately and then sandwich them together. Om nom nom nom.

My project coming together meant I could take Friday as a sneeky day off so I did a little shopping.

It was the box rather than the embroidery threads I bought. I didn't realise how many I had until I saw them all sorted like that. Wheeeeeee rainbow!

It was lucky I wasn't in a rush as the Jubilee Line was all messed up. It meant I ended up at Mile End station. I'd never realised before how much like a New York subway station it looks.

The underground does have such an amazing mixture of styles. On the same line way out west you go so far back in time that you end up with this...

...wooden escalators!

Coming back home was sad as they have been trimming all the trees nearby. Some of them were ENORMOUS!

I know this will be good for them int he long wrong and they'll grown back stronger, but it seems such a shame. Arriving back home I got on with my flower child top. Doing the front in one piece instead of 5 and seaming was so much more sensible.

The colour isn't showing properly - it's the deep purple by Secret Pal got me. Yummy.

While shopping I also got some new scissors since sharpening my old ones seemed to finish them off.

They are weird because they are spring loaded but it actually makes it much easier to cut. My first project with them is covering these nasty plastic tape measures.

I cut a circle big enough to wrap it in. Then marked a place where the opening would need to be to get the tape measure through. Then I made a buttonhole along that line and ran a line of stitches around the edge of the circle. I pulled the stitches tight and stitched a few stitches to secure it. Then I used my birthday glue gun to attach a button to either side.

Not the neatest glueing ever, but only my second time using it. Glue guns are awesome.

So quite a crafty weekend so far and still a day to go. Crafting is so therapeutic. So relaxing and reassuring. Makes it much easier to get through the funny little things life throws at you, like a sister who consistently makes your life a little harder. Half an hour sorting buttons and contemplating what to do with 8 rainbow polka-dot FQs and suddenly she fades into the background. Luckily Pooch is pretty good too. Even when being cutely grumpy.

Tutorials

I love tutorials. So inspiring. These are just some I've spotted this week.

1. Pot Holders (I'd like these for placemats though)
2. Amazing illustrations
3. Button Bouquets. Not a new idea, but reinvented here with the addition of paper!
4. Making Bias Tape (via Craftzine)
5. Visual Tricks with felt-tips
6. Macaroon recipe - must try for Pooch!

I heart iPhone

I got my iPhone 2 wednesdays ago. I totally love it. Because of SkipNorth and being so hectic at work I've only just got a cover for it and, naturally, I wanted it to be polka dot. It was proving pretty hard to find a suitable one and so it occurred to me to let loose with the shoe paints on a plain one. So I found a cheap leatherish white one and....

Step 1: Take some address labels and hole punch them. Then spend ages trying to get the buggers off the backing sheet and place them strategically on your plain phone cover. Alternatively find some circular stickers the right size and use those.

Step 2: Coat with 3 coats of lumiere jacquard paint in metallic red.
Step 3: Peel off the stickers, and discover a number of them have let paint in at the edges.
Step 4: Use cotton buds to remove excess paint up to a point.
Step 5: Seal with two coats of flexible varnish.

Step 6: When dry, add iPhone.

Love. Love. Love.

I am really enjoying discovering the many apps. I've only paid for one so far, which is called Toodleoo and is an amazingly useful to do list. I've got KnitCounterLite which is basically a row counter but also prompts you on increases and decreases, a camera one that lets you upload straight to ravelry, a ravelry hotlink, a knitmap hotlink (which tells me of any knit shops within 1, 2, 3, etc miles of my current location - it works out exactly where I am itself), and others that tell me how the tubes are running, tracks messages on twitter and link to my email. Awesome. Pooch is still very annoyed and thinks me disloyal, but as I said to him, as soon as he trains to be a chartered landscape architect, I'll buy a Sony phone.

I've spent a fair bit of time in the last few days finishing my lecture for my old school which I'll be giving on monday morning. I have managed a bit of knitting though, and also made a new strap for my watch, since the old one, which was plaited wire, was catching on my connie's henley cardigan - which is definitely not to be tolerated.

Purty.

D(uc)K Feet

Duck feet booties in DK yarn. Holla.

Yarn: 40g DK yellow. I used Patons Fairytale but anything would do.
Tension: 5 st to 1 inch in stockinette
Needle: 3.75mm circ/dpns or whatever you need to get guage.
Also need: 1 stitch marker.

I did these as magic loop but you could do 2 circs or dpns. If using dpns then will be easier to use 5 rather than 4.

• Cast on 32st using your favourite stretchy cast on. Join to work in round and place marker to show beginning of round.
• Knit 18 rows in 2x2 rib

Now we're going to do a short row heel over the first 16 stitches. You can change this to a different heel if you want and just pick up the instructions later on. A tutorial on a short row heel can be found here.

• Knit to 2nd to last st, wrap and turn
• Purl back to 2nd to last st, wrap and turn
• K to stitch before last wrapped st, wrap and turn
• P to stitch before last wrapped st, wrap and turn
• Continue til 6 stitches wrapped on each side

You'll just have done your last wrap and turn on the purl side. You'll next be doing a knit row starting in the middle of the heel.

• Knit across and knit the wraps and stitches together a la the tutorial.
• Knit across the other 16 stitches
• Knit across the first half of the heel - knitting the stitches and wraps together - then knit across other side of heel.
• Place marker. This is your new beginning of the round.

So for magic loop I've now got two batches of sticthes - 16 stitches each. The first is the top of the foot and the second is the bottom. If you're using dpns you may need to do some shuffling at this point.

• Knit 12 rounds in stockinette (knitting every row) This will give you a foot length of about 2 inches.
• Increase round: *k1, make 1, k14, make 1, k1* twice (This is the only increase)
• Continue over the 36 stitches you now have in stockinette until the foot measures 4 inches.

Now you need to close the 'toe' of your bootie. I turned the sock inside out and used a three needle bind off. You could also graft or crochet it closed.
Sew in ends and repeat for the other bootie.
They fit a Kermit's feet very well.

Secret Pal Challenge - Baby Knits

I challenged my Secret Pal group to post their favourite baby knits - and it's quite a list! There are so many ideas here and lots that I hadn't come across before which is brill! Thanks everyone for posting your favourites...and here they are:

• Grrrr, lion washcloth. Kids of all ages just love the loops! FREE
• Petal Bib
• Z's Baby Blocks FREE
• Bella Basic Yoke Dress (can't find it on Ravelry)
• Circle of Friends baby blanket
• Umbilical Cord Hat
• Baby Dress
• Curly Purly Soaker FREE (scroll to bottom of page)
• Baby Hi-Top Converse (Personally I've always loved the mary jane pattern by the same author!)
• Tailored Sweater Method to design your own baby sweater
• Lilly hat FREE
• Helena Cardigan FREE
• Phazelia's Mitred Baby Cardi (I also have this queued)
• 8 hour baby afghan
• Hat fit for a boyfriend (but with fewer stitches for a baby size) FREE
• Baby Yoda Hat FREE

Names of all those who posted their favourites were put into my very own KnowKnits sock knitting bag (a present from a former secret pal of mine)....

...and then picked one out with his hairy but beautifully formed arm....

I'd love to tell you who it was and who contributed their favourites but not until the end of the swap and everyone has found out who their spoiler was! Just rest assured I have already let her know (before making this post live) so if you haven't heard from me I'm afraid it's not you. Better luck....next time.....!

Reports of my death slightly exaggerated, mainly by me

Turned out not to be pig flu - just a rotten cold which has left me wheezing like a portable church organ. Ah well. Gave me some bed-time to do some knitting, listen to some audio books and go through old patterns I had filed and weed out the unworthy. In doing this I had a chance to have a proper go over some vintage patterns I bought last weekend in Greenwich Market.

Isn't that great? It reminds me of this blog where she tells stories based on the illustrations of dress patterns from around the same era. It's a good blog and worth dipping in to every now and again. Going back to the booklet it has that pattern and some wonderful embroidery ideas too. I am thinking of doing it for my mum for christmas. Apart from the patterns what I like most about these types of things are the adverts. Reflect, for a moment, upon this one:

What is it, exactly, that would have been 'soluble'? The mind boggles. Or what about this one?

I find this a bit confusing. There is no date on the magazine but it does have adverts relating to coupons and the war so it must be somewhere before rationing ended. I guess it must have been after the war ended and is celebrating that because we don't need to produce airplanes anymore we can put that steel back into knitting needles?!

And then this one just goes to show there is nothing new in marketing. They were playing on the "but I thought it was white" paranoia of parents even half a century ago.

Not being a parent myself I find it hard to believe most parents actually worry about this. Should I ever succomb I am certainly not going to dress the enfant terrible in white. That's just asking for trouble. It's bad enough with pooch.

One of the other patterns is especially twee.

Looks like two broomsticks wearing booties and a fake head. But the booties are rather cute!

A while back I reported that my foliage plant thing has unexpectedly flowered. well, it's now gone into overdrive and has not just flowered, but mutant flowered. Is this normal?

I have no idea and the internet seems as suprised as I am.

Tutley asked about the shoe painting. The original article which got me interested was in the now defunct CRAFT magazine but there is a "how to" here. The paints are Lumiere and you need to use some kind of floor sealant (?) as a varnish which makes sure the colours don't run and is flexible so won't crack. I actually got my paints etc from the website whose owner wrote the article but they don't seem to ship to the UK. I am sure you can get similar at hobbycraft or by googling and at least the sassyfeet website gives you names of everything you need. I wore my painted shoes last week and received many (two) compliments. Very pleased with them.

Lastly, having not been outside for 2 days and having spent most of that thinking I was going to die any minute, what would a girl do but decide to dye her denise needles. It is well known that I *love* my Denises. I have long been interested in dyeing them and have often considered getting another set just so I could get these. But then I joined the denise diva group on ravelry a while back and recently caught up on this thread about dyeing your denise needles. The people on there were largely american so I decided to try about some Dylon. Lo and behold....

I used the little tins (which on investigation they don't seem to do anymore. I assume these are the same?) and a good blob of salt in some tupperware that I had no intention of using again. Mixed it with boiling water. Chucked in the needles. Microwaved on high for 2 mins. Left to cool for half an hour. Zapped again for 30 secs. Left to cool then rinsed. I used a whole tin of Madonna Blue. Am going to be getting some more colours next week to do the rest!

Tawashi Pattern - Furry Mitt

I tend to crochet in the round by spiralling rather than joining seperate rings before starting a new one. It means things tend to lean to one side in a diagonal type way but that doesn't really matter in this kind of thing. Spiralling means that when you get to the start point of the row you just crochet straight on into the next stitch and keep going round and round.

I used Peaches and Creme Worsted and a 3.5mm hook to give me quite a firm fabric. My mitt is roughly 10cm wide. Make bigger or smaller by chaining more or less stitches.

Uses: approx 30g worsted cotton, 3.5mm hook.
Finished size: 10cm wide by 14cm tall
sc = single crochet

INSTRUCTIONS

Chain 30 and join in the round. ##Keep the inside facing you while crocheting## This is very important because the loops for the loop stitches always form on the back of the fabric.
1st round: Work one round in single crochet.
The first 15 stitches are now 'the front' and are the stitches you are going to work the pattern stitch across.
LOOP/FUR STITCH:

1. Insert hook into next sticth as usual. Using finger of free hand pull up the yarn to form a loop of the required size (I used about 1.5 inches but is up to you). Using the hook pick up both strands of the loop and draw them trhough the stitch.
2. Wrap the yarn over the hook and draw through all 3 loops.

2nd, 3rd and 4th round: Loop stitch 15, single crochet 15
5th round: Work whole round in single crochet.
Repeat rounds 2-5 three times more. Your mitt should now resemble a tube about 11cm tall.
You're now going to decrease 4 sc per round to form the top of your mitt.
Next round: (1sc, sk1, 11sc, sk1, 1sc) repeat once more to reach end of round.
Next round: (1sc, sk1, 9sc, sk1, 1sc) repeat once more to reach end of round.
Next round: (1sc, sk1, 7sc, sk1, 1sc) repeat once more to reach end of round.

Next round: (1sc, sk1, 5sc, sk1, 1sc) repeat once more to reach end of round.
Turn mitt inside out and close top either using whip stitch or by using a line of single crochet to join the remaining stitched. Fasten off and sew in end.
Done!

Catch Up Part 1

I have had an impromptu few weeks off from blogging and podcasting...but I'm back again and have lots to share.

This is the year I turn 30 and so I have being trying to decide how to mark it. One idea I had was to dye my hair red. But I'm not 13 so I couldn't bring myself to do a DIY full change so this is the adult version.

This is the adult version with me momentarily captivated by something on tv.

The red is underneath with brown above and below. Bit like a jam sandwich on granary. To go with my new hair I went for a new experience - a recording of "I'm sorry I haven't a clue" in Hammersmith. This is the gang on stage.

Jeremy Hardy was the fourth team member and all together they were very funny. Humph even played the trumpet and it was absolutely magnificant.

Back in the real world the travelling button swap on ravelry arrived at Byrne Towers. It is a lovely idea - fill a box with buttons and send it round the participants. Each time it arrives you take out what you want and put the same amount back in. I scored this lot.

The yellow daisies on the right are really lovely - I've got quite a collection of lower buttons now. There are also some lovely metal ones and some pretty inlaid shell ones too.

It had been some time since Pooch had come home with a weird present for me so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when he produced this:

Yes, it is a bonsai. Anyone without a bonsai is probably thinking it's quite a nice present. Anyone with one I already thinking that kittens are less hassle to look after. It's not the weirdest present he's got me and it has made it through the first week so there's hope yet I suppose.

My biggest achievment since I last blogged is to have made a pair of shoes (ok, slippers). These are out of a japanese craft book I got on ebay a while back. They are not much but for a first attempt I think they're not at all bad and I have been wearing them.

And of course they do help sustain my complete polka dot fixation. Check them out with my pyjama bottoms...

With the instructions being in japanese I had to half work them out myself so as an aide memoire for next time:
1. Assemble uppers - sew at heel on outer and lining first and then sew two together around top of foot.

2. Attach soles. Double layer arranged as attached. I left the toe open so I could insert a commercial insole from Boots.

3. Inset insole and sew toe shut by hand. Voila!

This is a similar book to the one I used and it is the same seller. I've had quite a few books from her and she's very reliable.

One bit of knitting I have been doing is my version of the button up socks from Ravelry. The pattern on there was something crazy like $8 so I winged it using my two-needle pattern. This one is a tad too small so the next will be a bit looser.

Yarn is ridiculously cheap on etsy from here. It's called Vinca and is kind of slightly hairy as if it had a small amount of mohair in it. I looked it up on ravelry and its been reviewed well. I love this colourway. I'm considering another sock yarn jumper in it.

Quite enough of a catch up for today. Tutankhamun and more knitting to follow another day soon.

Yarn Cake Pattern

This is what we're aiming for - it stops your yarn cake falling apart or getting tangled in your keys in your bag.

When reading this pattern keep in mind that I am not built for speed, lettuce or writing patterns and so am not sure whether I am using english or US terms but I know it works for me. Some kind person may leave a comment and then I'll make it better so it makes more sense.

First choose your yarn - I tend to use leftovers of cotton 4-pky or dk. You'll need about 15g. Choose a hook suitable for the thickness of the yarn. In the photos I used DK cotton and a 4mm hook.

Make a slipknot and chain 10. This base chain decides the width of your finished net so if you are using one of those mega ball winders then make this number bigger.

Chain 5 (first treble plus 3ch), 1 tr into 5th chain from end
Chain 2 skip 1 and treble into next chain. Repeat 3 more times. DON'T TURN THE WORK!
Into same stitch ch3 treble, ch3 treble. This effectively turns the corner and enables you to do the same loopy thing up the other side of your starter chain.
Repeat to match first side of chain (where made first treble). Ch3 and join to 2nd chain of first treble.

At this point it should look something like a freaked out sea cucumber, a la picture below.

That's your base done.

Slip stitch across 2 chains - you're now on the peak of one of the little loops. Ch4 and dc into next space. You now repeat this round and round in a spiral.

At the end of the first round you might be tempted to join the end of the round with the beginning at the place the hook is pointing to below.

RESIST THIS TEMPTATION!

Instead make your last ch4 work a little harder and just dc into the next loop, where the yellow arrow is.

Keep going round until the cake holder is a bit shorter than you want it to be (about 9cm unstretched/7 loops high for me with my low tech average size ball winder). It should look a bit flacid and useless, like the pic below.

Now you're going to sort out the top so it can be gathered tighter to keep the yarn cake in it.

From wherever you are on the brim ch3 (first treble) *ch1 skip 1 1tr into next stitch. Repeat from * to end. Join this round to the 3rd chain of your first 3ch. You've created some little gaps like the pillars that held up aquaducts in ancient rome.

To neaten it off do a round of dc around the top. Cut yarn and sew in end. Use approx 50cm yarn to make a twisted cord and thread it in and out of the aquaduct spaces, indicated by yellow arrows.

You've finished! Put your yarn cake in it and tighten the top cord to keep it in. The centre pull end of the cake comes out of the top. Tighten the cord around the top as your cake gets smaller.

The pattern is on Ravelry as 'Yarn Cake Keeper'. Let me know if you spot any mistakes!