Day Zero

Sometimes serendipity throws good things in your path. The other day I stumbled upon Day Zero, a project whereby you make a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. Recently I've been feeling like I'm not achieving anything fast. Despite doing my OU course (which is giving me a greater sense of achievement in my life) there was still something missing. But this project has captured my imagination, and might well give that sense of purpose I'm looking for. My list is here, and combines study goals with crafty tasks, baking tasks, environmental/ethical tasks and many more. So far I've only got to 62 items, so if anyone has a suggestion do let me know!

I will post on my blog whenever I complete a task from my list, so you can follow my progress. If you want to.

Update

I told you it would be a while! Nearly two months into my course now and about to submit my second assignment. It's been intense - I've studied 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Frankenstein', 'Great Expectations' and 'Fathers and Sons', and learnt a heck of a lot of literary theory about the Realist Novel too. Sorry, I can almost hear my readers snoring. Except for the fact that I probably don't have any readers.

As you can imagine, I've had very little time for anything else. Knitting etc has ground to a complete halt, except for my occasional attempt to unravel the disaster cardigan so I can put the yarn to better use when I have time. I've been reading lots (obviously) but don't have tme to review what I'm reading any more, plus it's mainly textbooks. As for being green and ethical ... well, I'm trying to keep up with what I was already doing but I'm afraid I've not added much new to my Generous repertoire.

In cat news, Millie had to have an operation recently so we had the joy of listening to her lick the inside of a cone for nearly two weeks while her stitches healed, but she's fine now. Expensive, but fine.

Well, I don't really have any other updates. Next in my course I will be studying Romantic Writings, mainly poetry. Wish me luck!

Stash Wars: Defeat?

Ahh, just as I'm coming to the end of my stash, it all goes a bit wrong.

The tabletop sale I was preparing for in September didn't go too well. As well as the cupcakes and brooches I've posted about before, I also tried to sell these hairpins, catnip-filled toys and Christmas decorations:

Unfortunately, I only sold two things in three hours at the sale - a cupcake and a mouse. Not much money raised for charity then. I managed to double my sales last weekend when my Mum visited though - she bought a cupcake, a mouse and two stockings. I think she felt sorry for me.

As I had some green cotton left from the shrug I made recently, I used this to make some baby stuff - no, not for me unfortunately, but for a friend of my brother:

Soo cute! Unfortunately the socks turned out bigger than I'd hoped so they can't be worn with the top, but still, I think it's sweet. Still got some of the yarn left though ...

Speaking of my brother, he very kindly bought me some black Bluefaced Leicester as a belated birthday present, which I am shortly going to use to make myself some gloves as I've lost my old ones:

It's lovely and much appreciated as I am in dire need of some warm gloves, but I am a bit worried about how much I'll have left over.

Then came the biggest blow to my Stash War:

A work friend has been clearing out and found a bag of crocheting cotton, which she very kindly donated to me. I'm delighted with it - anything that will fuel my obsession with anything crafty is gratefully received, but I think we can safely say that the war is over and the stash won!! I am excited by this crocheting cotton though, mainly because I don't really know what you do with it. As you can see, it's been used to make a few doilies, but I'm not really a doily girl, so I'll have to get creative with it.

So there, I'm defeated. But hey, I couldn't have lost to a better opponent!

Stash Wars: Ceasefire

I took a break from my Stash war to make myself a shrug to go with the vintage dress I bought a while back, and here is the final product:

I got the pattern from 'Let's Knit' magazine, it was originally meant to be knitted in red mohair but I absolutely love the way this yarn makes the lace pattern look all leafy:

The yarn is Rowan Purelife organic cotton in Chlorophyll. It's naturally dyed as well as being organic, and it's lovely and soft. So not only is it a pretty shrug, it's Generous too! Apparently it can't be machine washed due to the natural dyes but I'm always dubious about these claims so might knit up a swatch and chuck it in a washing load.

I'm really pleased with how it's turned out, it's by far the hardest thing I've ever knitted (lace on DPNs? Now that's sadistic!) but it's also the most wearable garment I've made to date and I think my version is actually nicer than the original! How modest am I?

Well, time to get back to the war. The tabletop sale is finally organised for 26th September so I'll be furiously knitting things to sell - I've started on little cat toys and may make some potpourri sachets that look like sweeties which I've seen in one of my books. Hopefully they'll sell, I'm starting to worry that nobody will like my little creations!

Stash Wars: nearly there ...

Remember the free yarn I got recently? Well, I used up the black and white ball a while ago with the potholder and I then got some inspiration for the pink and brown ball:

I made these for the tabletop sale that I seriously hope my church are still doing at some point, once I've sewn saftey pins on the back they'll make very pretty (in my opinion) corsages. The pattern is based on one in 'Stitch'n'Bitch: The Happy Hooker' by Debbie Stoller and I first used it to make my best friend a corsage as a birthday present:

I made this a while back but she only got it this week so kept it under wraps. I'm very proud to say that she didn't realise I'd made it at first! It's a very fiddly pattern but once I got used to it I found I could play around with the yarn combination and petal sizes. Not only have the pink ones used up around half a ball of the free yarn, they've also finished off my pink acryclic and used most of my cream acryclic. Great! That, combined with some more baby booties that I've knitted for a friend who's becoming a dad soon (he'll never find my blog so I'm safe!), means my stash now looks like this:

Getting there! It will be increasing shortly but not for long, as I want to get some yarn to make a matching cardigan for my beautiful new vintage dress. But hopefully I'll be able to rid myself of the last of my stash soon - only to build it up again of course!

Stash Wars: Cupcakes and potholder

For the last few weeks (maybe even months) I've been trying to use up my nasty acrylic yarn by making cupcakes. I've now run out of beigey-brown yarn so I'm almost done with the cupcakes for now, they just need buttons for decoration:

Don't they look good enough to eat? Well, don't - it won't taste nice and the thought of squeaky yarn against teeth does funny things to my spine. 

I also figured out a way of using up one of the free balls of yarn I got recently - hubby mentioned that a potholder would be handy for the kitchen, so I found a crochet pattern in 'Stitch'n'Bitch: The Happy Hooker' and simplified it for my purposes:

Not the most exciting project, in fact it's really just a big tension swatch, but it used up some yarn I didn't know what to do with and it'll come in handy. Plus, it kinda matches our lovely new worktop. It's very different from the original pattern - that was made of two nearly-squares sewn together, but I only had enough yarn for one side. Plus the original had a skull picture on it - obviously, I had to simplify that bit slightly!

No stash update because, frankly, I can't be bothered getting it all out then putting it back again. But I think I'm making progress. Plus, I've started trying to learn to sew on a sewing machine passed down to me from my Godmother's mother - I'm really useless at it now, but I'm hoping I'll get better, I've got loads of fabric in my stash bag that I keep meaning to do something creative with!

Stash Wars: Attack of the free but useless yarn!

Remember I mentioned that my knitting magazine sent some free yarn? Well, I got it from my Mum's a few weeks back and here it is:

I don't like it. I'm not too keen on self-patterning yarn unless the colour changes are quite subtle, and I am mildly annoyed by the fact that nowhere in the magazine could I find information on fibre content. There were six patterns to accompany the yarns but I didn't much like them either (apart from the amigurumi cat, but I think that would look better in pure black, or another more catty shade). So I've been racking my brain as to what I can do with them. It would have helped if they'd both been the same colourway, two of the same would have opened up more options. But hey, I suppose I can't look a gift horse in the mouth - even if it does increase my stash.

I have been slowly stash-busting with little projects recently. Still working on the cupcake bottoms, probably have enough beigey-brown yarn for one more. And I've been making little pink flowers to put on pins and hairgrips:

As you can see, it's not reducing the pink yarn very quickly, I may need to do bigger flowers, or think of a big-ish project to use most of it up. Hmmm.

Crafty birthday treats!

It was my birthday on Monday - boo, quarter of a century. I hate birthdays, bad things have happened around my birthday quite a few times so I'm always bracing myself for catastrophe at this time of year. But what did cheer me up was the big pile of pressies hubby got me! Including some Denise Interchangeable Needles which now pretty much complete my needle collection as they will serve me for all my circular needle needs, and this fab crochet book. I'd seen it in a magazine a while back, then my friend at work was leafing through a copy, and without even asking for it my hubby picked up on the fact that I wanted it and bought it for me! How sweet, and here was I thinking he ignored all my craft talk!

Current craft projects are little knick-knacks for the potential tabletop sale at church (although I've yet to hear when this is). I'm alternating between knitting the bottoms of cupcakes (I'll do the tops later, just want to see how many I can make after my last ball of beige yarn ) and crocheting little pink flowers. For the latter I've discovered the Magic Ring technique of starting crochet in the round, which is very handy indeed. I'm still mastering it though!

Stash Wars: The beginning of the end?

Well I got my doll assembled quicker than expected:

Isn't she cute? I altered the pattern a bit from what the magazine said, using cream instead of pink on her clothes, giving her black shoes and a funkier black hairstyle, leaving out some felt embellishments and a little yarn bag that, frankly, I didn't have the patience to make, and sewing her eyes on with black yarn instead of buying craft eyes. I also added the flower in her hair myself, using a bit of a pattern from 'Stitch'n'Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker' by Debbie Stoller. After making her I decided her name was Susie (although I'm sure that the future daughter she's intended for may change that!)

Here's what my stash now looks like:

Much more manageable. I've been told that my church may be having a tabletop sale to raise funds for refurbishment in May so I'm thinking of making some little trinkets to sell there, maybe some flower pins with the bright pink yarn, cupcakes with the beige and pastels, and possibly something clever and inventive with the blue ribbon, black mohair and leftover remnant of Blueface Leicester. That should reduce it a bit more.

But this isn't actually my entire stash - Mum told me that this week my new edition of 'Let's Knit' arrived, along with two balls of yarn. Yay, free stuff! I've no idea what it's like so I'll have to wait until I se Mum in a few weeks, but I'm sure the magazine will have patterns for it if I'm stuck for ideas.

New scarf and new dolly!

Well, I've been getting busy with my every-reducing stash recently! First I used the last of the gorgeous Bluefaced Leicester to make a funky scarf:

The pattern is from 'Let's Knit', a frankly brilliant magazine that my Mum gets for me and it's actually designed to go with the beret I made a while back and sadly lost somewhere between home and work one morning. The pattern had to be adapted as I didn't have enough to make it as wide as it should be, so this is a half-width version but I think it still looks good. I love the zig-zaggy pattern, created by short row shaping, and think it really sets off the beautiful yarn. I really recommend Bluefaced Leicester, I'm really sensitive to wool but wear this scarf load now and it rarely itches. And it's British!!

My current project which is nearing completion is from the same issue of 'Let's Knit':

It's an amigurumi doll, which is a Japanese crochet craze for making little creatures or people. I think this is probably bigger than your usual amigurumi piece but never mind. I just need to sew her together and then I have a brand new dolly - I just need to name her!!

I'm not sure what to do next, I'll post up a picture of my remaining stash after I've finished dolly.

Au revoir

Remember my funky beret? Well, it's warmed my head for the last time. I dropped it on my way to work on Tuesday and despite much searching I can't find it. It's my first experience of completely losing something I knitted myself and it's surprisingly upsetting. I was so proud of that hat, the knitting was quite complicated but I'd done it, I'd felted it to perfection (something I'm not good at) and I'd even used my sewing skills in it. All that work down the drain. Oh well, I'll just have to make a new one.

Right now I'm knitting another scarf, although I'm on my third attempt - I'm trying to make the rest of my Bluefaced Leicester last out so keep decreasing the width of the scarf so it can go a bit longer. I'll post a pic when it's finally done.

I'm also spreading my knitty knowledge - a couple of girls at the youth club I help run said they wanted to learn so last Friday I started teaching them. Not easy, I'd forgotten how hard it all seems to a beginner. I let them take away the needles and yarn to practise, so I'll have to see how they've done without me tonight!

Stash Wars: THE cardigan

Yes, tis true, the cardigan is finished! Only it didn't go quite to plan ...

The pattern is from 'Stitch'n'Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook' by Debbie Stoller and is called the 'Go Everywhere, Go with Everything Cardi'. Those who have the book will know where I've gone wrong - it's meant to be waist-length! Because I was using yarn unravelled from a tired old jumper, I was very conscious of making sure I didn't run out because finding matching yarn would be practically impossible. So I knitted one of the front panels much tighter than the rest, so had to do the same with the other front panel and hope for the best. I could've redone the back too, but that would have taken ages and I was losing the will to live, so I tried to make it work. The result is an unintentionally cropped and slightly A-line cardigan which looks a bit wrong. Hey, it might work as maternity clothing in years to come! I'm still quite proud that I recycled the yarn though, the only bit I bought were the buttons. And it means I've reduced this pile of yarn ...

... to this ...

Not bad, eh? Although what I'll do with those oddments I've yet to work out. Otherwise, I've managed to reduce my stash from this ...

...to this...

Not a huge reduction, especially as I missed a couple of smaller balls out of the original picture and had that little transgression last summer when I bought the beautiful Bluefaced Leicester. But I'm going to work on reducing it even further now. Next project is a scarf made of said beautiful Bluefaced Leicester, then I might do a few novelty projects like dolls, cupcakes etc to reduce that nasty pile of acrylic. But no more big garments for a while, I couldn't face another one!

In other news, the Christmas fairy (i.e. my Mum) got me loads of needles for Christmas, so I now have almost a full set of single pointed needles, just a few chunky ones outstanding, hurrah! Even better is that Mum got them secondhand at a charity sale, so they're Generous needles too!

Belated festivity

Just to prove I have been knitting recently, here's a picture of Millie getting into the festive spirit ...

See, as a break from knitting THE cardigan, I decided it'd be funny to make a Santa hat for Millie, so I got out my red and white cheapy yarn and figured out a pattern myself (clever me!). I like the way she wears it at a jaunty angle in this picture. There is a better picture of it, but it has me in a bathrobe in the background and that's just embarrassing. Anyway, I was going to post it before but couldn't work out how to get the picture off my phone, then forgot. Sorry that it's now a touch unseasonal.

The cardigan is coming along by the way, just not quite as expected. I'll explain when it's done and I can post a picture, but let's just say I'll be very careful about tension in future ...

Ooh la la!

Remember a while ago I mentioned making a beret that was way too big for my head and made me feel sad? Well, I've now transformed it into this:

So chic it makes me want to speak French! I just stuck it in the washing machine with some clothes on a hot wash (normally stick to 30 but on this occasion went higher to achieve the effect)and it came out looking like a fancy felt beret from a shop! The wool content of the yarn makes it a bit itchy but I've sewn some ribbon into the band to stop it scratching my forehead - so I'm also getting my stitch on a little!

So now I'm just knitting scarves to go in Christmas shoeboxes for children who won't otherwise get a present. I've done one, nearly finished another and I might have enough spare yarn for a third if I don't get sick of knitting them. I also need to get back to my cardigan, not even half-finished and the winter is upon us!

Knitter's Block

I have a confession to make - despite promising to start a new knitting project this week, I haven't. In fact, it's nearly a fortnight since I knitted.

There are a few reasons for this. One is that I've just started a new job and feel permanently tired, so the thought of lifting a pair of needles at the end of a day just seems too strenuou, particularly in comparison to stroking Millie's tummy. (Millie's a cat in case you're not a regular reader)

Another reason is the project I've just finished. Well, it's not really finished, but I'm done knitting it. It's  a beret knitted from a pattern in 'Let's Knit' magazine and not only was it rather awkward to knit with lots of short-row shaping, I had to use some short needles which worsened my hand cramp so it took ages, and now it's done it's enormous! I've no pictures yet to back this up because taking it out of my knitting bag makes me feel sad. It's a disaster like I haven't experienced since I was a very new knitter and attempted mittens for my Mum. So I feel rather disheartened by this. Plus, I've decided to felt it to try and shrink it a bit, then I need to sew some ribbon on the inside of the band to stop it itching, so it's not really done, and I hate leaving things unfinished but I never remember to put it in the washing machine with a load so I'm falling at the final hurdle a bit.

Then there's the simple indecision about what to knit next. I could do some more of my cardigan, but I also need to knit at least one scarf or hat before the middle of November to give to the Christmas shoebox appeal and I'm not sure I could do both in time. I've still got about a skein of the black wool I used for the beret to use up which I was going to use for a scarf, but I've never liked scarves so the thought of making a start on one is enoguh to put me off doing anything remotely crafty.

So I've generally lost my knitting mojo. Any other knitters out there experience this?

A hat for hubby!

Remember that gorgeous but illicit yarn I bought in Staffordshire? If you need a reminder, here it is:

So beautiful ... mmmm ... anyway, now around half a ball has been transformed into this lovely head cozy for my equally gorgeous hubby:

I should explain ... my hubby doesn't have a freaky alien pixelated face in real life, he just doesn't like his face being on the internet so he photoshopped it. But that's fine, because the real star of the picture is the hat! It's based on 'Hot Head' from 'Stitch n Bitch' but without the striping effect and using bluey-green instead of reds and yellows, so I've dubbed it Cool Head (clever, eh?). I love the patterning effect and the supersoftness of the Blueface Leicester wool, I think it may spend more time on my head than hubby's!

Unfortunately it didn't use up much yarn, so there is still plenty of evidence of my torrid liaison. Oh well, I found a fab pattern for a scarf in this month's 'Let's Knit' that should use up the rest, but for now I'm back onto the cardigan.

Illicit yarn, project bigamy ... what am I turning into?!

Stash Wars: fighting a losing battle?

Well, my attempts to deplete my stash have fallen on rocky ground recently. Not that I haven't been knitting - I've been a busy bee! First I made a tea cozy for my Mum:

The slogan on it isn't very clear but it says 'Coffee, Tea or Me?' I got the pattern from 'Stitch n' Bitch Nation' by Debbie Stoller and hoped that not only would it provide a nice present for my mummy, but that it would up a good chunk of my not-too-pleasant acrylic yarns, which I don't really want to use for clothes. I got through a lot of the pale blue but it barely touched the white or cream. Then I made myself a lace pattern skinny scarf:

I designed this myself using a lace pattern from 'How To Knit' by Debbie Bliss. It was supposed to use up a spare skein of Jaeger Trinity yarn but I don't think I even halved it before the scarf got stupidly long and I got sick of repeating the same four rows over and over, so I have to think of a way of using that yarn up too. My next project was to make a little cozy for hubby's new DAB radio:



I figured out the design myself from the gauge and dimensions, and knitted it up in moss stitch to make it a bit more cushiony to protect hubby's precious new toy. Sadly it used up a puny amount of my aran-weight denim-effect yarn.

Not downhearted, I decided to abandon the little projects for a while and embark on a biggie - a cardigan knitted with the yarn from a frogged old jumper. It's going to take months but currently looks like this:



That's just the start of the back. Hopefully this'll be one big stash-buster! I don't like big projects so may break up the monotony by doing a different project in between pieces.

The biggest blow to my Stash Wars, however, was this:



I mentioned in an earlier post that I went to The Threshing Barn on holiday. Their craft shop had some gorgeous yarn. A non-knitter cannot begin to understand the temptation this poses. So I bought two hanks of this gorgeous, hand-dyed British wool. My excuse is hubby picked it out because he wants a hat. But it's so beautiful I want to just cuddle it and drool over it with glee rather than knitting it. Oh well.

So all in all, I'm not winning the war. But I've learnt a lesson: small projects just don't cut it when it comes to stash-busting. I've also learnt that going into a shop that sells yarn so gorgeous I nearly explode is too much temptation for me.

New links!

A few months ago I got a text from Shoegal with a couple of websites she thought I'd be interested in. Now my problem is, I read texts, think, 'oh that's nice', and promptly forget about them (I think I have the brain of a goldfish. But I finally remembered today and discovered an interesting website - Hippy Shopper. It's hosted by Shiny Media, which also hosts Crafty Crafty, and so I clicked on that link. That led me to find Little Cotton Rabbits - free knitting patterns for little projects that I couldn't possibly get bored with. So I've added that little lot to my Websites of Note. Have a look!

Baby bits!

Well, part 1 of my stash wars has been completed - I've managed to reduce one-and-a-bit skeins of Rowan All Seasons Cotton into half a skein by creating these little beauties for a friend who is pregnant.

Aren't they cute? They are the One Hour Baby Booties from 'Stitch n Bitch Nation' by Debbie Stoller and the Umbilical Cord Hat from 'Stitch n Bitch' also by Debbie Stoller. I love Stoller's books, the patterns are all very modern and funky and because they are contributed by lots of different knitters (mostly non-professionals) you get a lot of variety and varying levels of challenge. There aren't many baby patterns in her books but the ones there are tend to be more modern than in other books whilst still being really cute.

I'm really pleased with how these have turned out and I hope they will be appreciated. Luckily enough, the remaining half-skein may be enough to make some more booties for when I have a baby (whenever that is!)

Stash Wars!

Every true knitter has a stash issue. There are two main contributing factors: the buying of a little too much yarn for a project, leaving you with an often useless amount of yarn, and the fact that yarn is so very pretty that you can find yourself buying it even when you don't really need it, and then can't find a project to fit. It's the first one that's a challenge for me. Here is my main stash:

See what I mean? A real problem. And that's not even all of it, after taking the picture I realised I'd not put in some of the smaller balls I've got. I can remember where most of the balls came from. The two bigger black ones are from when I knitted myself a tank top about two years ago, the smaller black one was given to me by a friend who'd bought to just use a bit for a Sunday School game (along with the red, cream and one of the browns). The other brown and the pale pink were bought for making knitted cupcakes. The yellow ball is left over from a tea cosy I made for hubby's Grandparents. The white one I saw in a charity shop and bought with nothing to use it for, it's been used for cupcakes and a matinee jacket I made to send to Moldova. The pale blue was bought from Poundstretcher when I first started knitting because it was cheap and has been used for cupcakes, a baby cardigan (also went to Moldova) and a headscarf that I don't wear because it makes me look like someone from 'Little House on the Prairie'. The denim blue wool was for a crocheted shrug.  And the bright pink is left over from my Mum's shawl. Oh and the weird brown thing on the edge is Millie's tail, she wouldn't move.

In addition I have the yarn I 'thrifted' (a horrible word but fitting) from a jumper that had seen better days:

All in all I've got a lot of yarn. So I've decided not to buy any more (unless it's for a special gift) until I've reduced this little lot to oddments at the most. I'm using the jumper yarn to make a cardigan, the bright pink for a skinny scarf, the yellow will make some baby boottees and maybe a hat for a friend who's expecting, I'm thinking of making a beret out of the bigger black ones and I also need to make a tea cosy for my mum out of a combination. As for the rest, any suggestions would be good, otherwise it'll be cupcake mania!!

I'll keep posting the results as I go along!