Dalek Illusion Knit

My friend and I, when we were 12, developed a joint crush on Jamie McCrimmon in Dr Who, aka Frazer Hines. A week before my 13th birthday, it was my friend’s 13th birthday and her grandfather managed to arrange for us to go to a Dr Who rehearsal, where we met the Dr Who actors - Patrick Troughton (Dr Who), Wendy Padbury (Zoe) and of course Frazer Hines (Jamie). Meeting Frazer Hines in person killed the crush for me. Well, it was really Jamie I liked, who is obviously not a real person, whereas Frazer Hines definitely is. He seemed like a nice person, but was definitely not actually Jamie!

In honour of that long-ago day, and because I have fancied doing an illusion knit (see note below) for some time, I decided to do the illusion Dalek for her for the Facebook 2013 Crafty Pass it on thingummy.

There were no Daleks in the episode we saw the rehearsal of, but as one knitting friend said, it is symbolic.

This one is knitted in DK acrylic, but it could be done in other materials and thicknesses of yarn, which would obviously change the size. I used black and grey from my stash, so still on yarn diet!

I did think of making it as a wall hanging, but then to see the effect properly, you would have to be looking at it from below or above, not directly at it. So I decided against that and made it a kind of runner instead by putting a fringe on each end.

The top photo shows the effect when seen at an angle. The picture is supposed to disappear when viewed straight on as in the left smaller photo. It pretty much did in real life, so I guess the camera can lie a bit! The right hand small photo is what is looks like on the reverse.

(1) Illusion knitting: In case you are interested in how this is done, I was going to try to explain it but thought it best to direct you to Woolly Thoughts website, as it is explained far better there than I could do - and you can explore the rest of the website, if you fancy doing an illusion knit yourself, or just for interest.

http://www.illusionknitting.woollythoughts.com/introduction.html

Refuge blanket

I made a hair band for a friend in the Facebook pay-it-forward craft thingy. I made three crochet flowers like the first crochet flower I made (see post of 26 June 2012) and attached them to an i-cord band. Unfortunately the only photo I have is really rather rubbish, so you'll just have to imagine it.

I also made another hat for another friend in the same Facebook thingy, using Woolly Wormhead's Ruislip pattern, which I used for the Valentine hat I made for a swap (see post of 29 March 2013) but as it is identical, there is not much point in putting a photo here.

However, I did say back in my post about mitred squares (see post of 16 March 2014) that I had incorporated them into the last of our blankets for Refuge, so here is the finished item. I crocheted the blanket together and made a few other of the squares in addition to the multi-coloured mitred squares (the brown and cream diagonal one is one of mine). The rest were knitted/crocheted by DD, DM and various other members of the Croydon Knitting Group. I had hoped that someone else would offer to put together squares for future blankets, as I would be happy to do some more squares, but feel I have 'done my bit' as far as putting them together is concerned. It hasn't happened as yet...

Pink Lacy Cardigan

Whole thing

I got another Sirdar knitting pattern from ebay to keep up the variety of the cardigans I make for the Special Care Baby Unit. I actually had some Sirdar Snuggly (apt name) 4-ply so I was using the yarn recommended in the pattern for once! It is quite an easy pattern. The insetting of the sleeves is a bit different from others I have done lately.

 I already had the yarn - it was left over from the multi-colour cardigan I made DD some years back (see post of 11 May 2011), so I was keeping to my yarn diet, but I didn't have any pink buttons, so I got some cheap from ebay.

Lace detail

When I took it to the hospital, I saw a different lady and she commented that parents really appreciate having something to clothe their babies in, which is nice to know.

(By the way, what happened to April and May - I was going to blog at least once a month, but they keep going past too fast for me!)

Mitred squares

I  mentioned in the Entrelac Blanket post that I still had a bit of the multi-coloured yarn left. This is what became of it. I made one mitred square the usual way - cast on 63 stitches (or whatever number gives approximately twice the length you want your square sides to be) and knit three together in the middle of every other row. Then I had a thought (it happens once in a while). If you started with one stitch then knitted into the front, the back and the front again of that stitch, then did this with the middle stitch of every other row, wouldn't that also make a mitred square, but in the reverse direction? It seems logical, but just to make sure, I tried it and yes, it does.

These two (with their dangle yarn ends tucked in) have been incorporated into a blanket for Refuge (more about that later)

Winter is Coming Cushion Cover

sewn side

knitted side

I was going to do a post about all three cushion covers I have made, but unfortunately realised I have no photos of the ones I made for DD in their completed state, just the progress photos. I have asked her more than once to take photos of them but I am still waiting...

This one was done for a Ravelry swap entitled Winter is Coming. For people who are not Game of Thrones fans, this is the motto of House Stark and was also apt as it was an autumn swap. The lady I got to send to likes autumn colours.

The sewn side (yes, I know this is a knitting blog, but sometimes things have to involve more than one craft!) is made from the cut-off bottoms of some friends' curtains, which I acquired in a craft swap meet. The border (down the left and right side in the picture) is the very bottom of the curtain. I cut two pieces the same and inverted one, so that the two halves (there is a seam down the middle) are (more or less) mirror image.

The knitted side is made entirely from stash, except for the burgundy, which I bought quite cheaply (so still sticking to yarn diet, more or less). I asked the recipient to imagine looking at a picture an autumn garden at the edge of a forest, then the picture is smeared (whether by hand or Photoshop) diagonally. The brown represents tree trunks; the two shades of beige (not easy to discern in a small photo, but there really are two) represent dead leaves; the burgundy represents copper beech leaves; the multi-coloured yarn represents a mish-mash of leaf litter etc; the yellow is the odd ray of sunshine through the trees; the pink is the odd faded rose in the garden; and the tiny bit of blue, which really should be at the top, not the bottom, is a little patch of blue sky. Yes, maybe I did get a bit fanciful and carried away with this, but it was that sort of swap and it was very well received, I am glad to say.

Minty Baby Cardigan

Can't believe I haven't put this on my blog yet! I made this for a work colleague, who went on maternity leave well before I left that job over 6 months ago.

This is not one of my blended efforts. It's almost as the pattern (the one I used for the stitch pattern for my blended cardigan) says, which means it is second size, which I sometimes do for new mums, as they probably get plenty of first size stuff, then their baby grows a bit and they have to start buying franticly.

I have modified the pattern a little (do I ever just do a pattern?) in that I didn't fancy doing the cable effect on the tiny needles that the ribbing is done on, so that is just k2 p2 ribbing (round the bottom, the bottom of the sleeves and the button/button hole/neck band)

Another colleague said she thought the pregnant lady would be pleased to get a hand-made gift, but I was not prepared for the mum-to-be's reaction. I was hugged and she cried, she was so pleased to receive it!

Entrelac baby blanket

Another one for the local hospital's SCBU. The stripy yarn was left over from the gloves I made my friend some time ago and the blue was in with a batch I bought cheap on ebay some long time ago. The colours seems to go all right and I thought they'd look good knitted as entrelac. I started at one of the short ends. I underestimated how big it would be initially and had to undo one triangle to make it about the size that SCBU requires.

When I had done all the knitting, I crocheted a border (doubles) in a fortuitously matching yellow I happened to have. I like my blankets to have borders - I think it kind of brings the whole thing together/makes a nice finish.

There was still a little left of both the stripy and the blue when I had finished this - the stripy has now finally been finished (further post to come...)

Blended Socks

First post of the New Year - still trying to catch up a bit. If I made New Year Resolutions, mine should be to keep up with my blog, amongst other things...

These are blended socks, because I blended two patterns. I used the same basic pattern and the same yarn (from the everlasting cone of acrylic/cotton blend as my last two pairs) as I did for my first toe-up socks, but added the lacy pattern from a cardigan in a magazine (Simply Knitting Issue 102 February). I had another idea initially, but it didn't work. I had some problems along the way - one heel had to be completely redone - but I am pleased with the result. (Not sure why the photo has come out sideways - I was looking down at my feet and the pic saved on our computer is as that would be...)

Little things please little minds - I am a bit pleased with myself that I started the lacy part of the second sock with the second half of the lace pattern, so these socks are mirror image. Also, as my toenails tend to go through socks (and shoes!) I decided to try to reinforce the toe area by using the same technique as the pattern uses on the heel. As there are increases to make the toe shape, this staggers the effect, which I think looks quite good - you may be able to see what I mean in the more detailed photo to the right. If you want more info as to what I mean, please do message me and I will send you a more detailed description.

Heartsease bags

A member of our knitting group brought some leaflets to a meeting early this year. Ruth and Belinda (www.ruthandbelinda.co.uk) have teamed up with Kids Company, which delivers services to vulnerable children, those 'not properly cared for' as the founder Camila Batmanhelidjh puts it, and set up a project for knitters to make heart-shaped bags for use in therapy sessions with the young people Kids Company work with. They are trying to get some large number (can't remember the figure) by 14th February 2014. I therefore set to and made a heart-shaped bag, using one of their patterns. Unfortunately I did not read the pattern properly and left out 12 rows at the sides of the heart, making it a somewhat dumpy heart, but I decided to leave it as is rather than undo and correct. I added a little i-cord handle, a tassel at the bottom add a butterfly I found somewhere.

It occurred to me, however, that maybe boys would not be keen on a heart-shaped bag. I consulted DS, who is not particularly vulnerable, but has been a boy fairly recently and he said in no uncertain terms that he thought heart-shaped bags would not be suitable for boys, so I emailed Ruth and Belinda to see what they thought. They said something to the effect that I had made a valid point and that bags of all shapes would be acceptable. So I then made a boy bag. It started like a scarf, but after about 8 inches, I started decreasing to make a triangle at the end, the folded it in half (minus the triangle) and sewed up the sides. I gave it a toning button and to cheer it up a little embroidered a little yellow thingy (supposed to be a sun with little rays, but it could  be interpreted differently - as a flower or just a funny blob). I also attached a long enough i-cord for the bag to be worn over the shoulder. I've shown two photos to show the length of i-cord in the top one and a bit more detail in the bottom one.

Both were made with acrylic DK yarn I already had, left over from previous projects. Thus they are machine washable and stashbusters (although I had quite a bit of yarn given to me recently... Oh, well).

I still have my doubts as to whether any boys would like any shape of bag, but nevertheless I sent both off with the Tunisian crochet one I made some time ago and some others made by members of the knitting group, including the stripy one made by my Mum mentioned way back. I do hope they'll do some good.

Pentagon coaster

Slightly odd this one. I found instructions to make a Tunisian crochet hexagon coaster and followed it, triangle by triangle, but after five triangles, there was no room for another, so I sewed it up and made a pentagon. This was actually the second attempt, but the first went off in a swap package without being photographed. The same happened with that one too. Hmm...

White diamond pattern cardigan

Oops! I realised it had been a while since I last added a post here and that I had a few things to add, but I didn't realise it had been eight months! I'll try to add one or two things a day for a bit to catch up.

This is obviously the V-neck version of the pink diamond pattern cardigan I did earlier. The yarn used was Keynote Acrylic Nylon, which was given to me by a knitting group friend for the purpose of making things for SCBU. You can tell from the name (if you're old enough) that it is quite old yarn. I think it is good that it has finally been found a use. More items to follow before long...

Third diagonal baby blanket

This one's made the same way as the previous ones (the pink and white one and the blue and cream one), except for the border. I used up a lot of tatty old bits in this and was a bit worried that it looked a bit of a mish-mash, but I think the white border (added because I realised I had made it a wee bit small) brings it together well enough. Some of the yarn I used was specifically given to me for the purpose of making baby blankets for the local baby unit and some was left over from previous projects (including some from at least 30 years ago), so as well as being a useful item, it has been a good stashbuster.

Dropped this in to the Acorn Suite last Saturday (23 March) along with the pink cardigan also posted today. Now I've finally got started on another pair of socks for myself, which will of course turn up on here eventually.

Pink Diamond Pattern Baby Cardigan

Yes, it's yet another baby cardigan for the local special care baby unit, but it's a pattern I haven't done before. Also I've been doing 3 ply ones so far and this one is in 4 ply and for a change it doesn't have raglan sleeves (I'm sure there's a proper term for the sort of sleeves it does have, but I'm not sure what it is). The Acorn Suite (SCBU) have stated that they want newborn size cardigans, but looking at the pattern (Sirdar Tops and Pants 3613) and comparing the number of stitches with other patterns, I thought their 0/3 months size would be a bit big, so I followed the instructions for the largest of the premature sizes - and it still looked a bit big for newborn to me, but the nurse who checked it when I brought it in confirmed that it was the right size. She commented that she was checking because sometimes people bring cardigans that are too small (may have said before, but they don't clothe the babies until they are newborn size - presumably keep them in temperature-controlled environment!).

Just as an aside, my Mum admired the stitch pattern of this and copied it for her next square towards our latest blanket for Refuge.

Valentine Hat (Woolly Wormhead's Ruislip)

I've cheated slightly with this post - just straight copied from what I've put in my projects on Ravelry. (I usually say things slightly differently here from there - dunno why).

Now that I know this has been received and fits, I feel I can write it up here. Didn’t want to before, as it would have spoiled the Valentine surprise!

Some long time ago (2 or more years?), I bought a mixed batch of yarn ridiculously cheap from someone on ebay. In among this batch were two large balls of red DK yarn wound double. They have sat in my stash ever since, waiting for me to have inspiration.

I signed up to the Sending Some Sunshine Valentine’s Day Swap 2013 in January. Then I received the March issue of Simply Knitting (it was still January! I know magazines come out well before the month on the cover, but really!) and saw the Woolly Wormhead pattern for Ruislip and it instantly popped into my head that it would look good in red and that I had red yarn already, so I wouldn’t be breaking my yarn diet, nor would it stretch my finances. All I had to contribute to it was time. So far so good. Remember that little phrase above - ‘wound double’? I thought, ‘I’ll just rewind one of the doubled balls into two balls of single wound yarn, then I can get going on this hat’. Ahem. I started rewinding it in the morning of 2 Feb, thinking I would just do that before going out a bit later in the morning, then I could get going on the hat at our knitting group meeting in the afternoon. I soon realised that ‘just’ rewinding the ball would take more than a few minutes, packed it up and took it with me (with needles too so that I could start it later). I did my DD a favour lunchtime, so fortunately for me, she owed me, so I enlisted her help with the rewinding. It was still taking a long time and two other members of the group got involved with the rewinding too. About half an hour before everyone left, we had got it sorted and I managed to get started on the actual knitting.

The pattern says to use dpns, but (a) I don’t have the right size dpns and (b) I have a tendency to give up trying to join knitting in the round with them and throw them and the knitting across the room. I considered using two circulars, like I have done to make socks, but then thought, why not just use one (interchangeable) circular, then I can use magic loop, which I had not done before, so I would be acquiring a new skill, even if it isn’t a very complex one. DD had said how easy magic loop is and she was right.

Then there’s the problem of what to do when you get to the decreases. It gets too small for the circular needle. I then used an idea devised (possibly not the first person to do this, but the first person who suggested it in my presence) by another member of our knitting group. Keep one end of the correct size on the interchangeable circular and attach one a size smaller end on the other end. Put the two other halves of the pairs on another cable and use the larger size to knit onto (knitting off the smaller one). Hope that makes sense. It would be easier to demonstrate, probably.

Anyway, it worked and the hat got finished. The only other modification that I made was to slightly round the end of the button tab.

I was going to put a heart-shaped button on, which seemed right for a Valentine present, but when I held it up against the hat, it didn’t look right. I rummaged through my button stash and found a red button, which was not only the right size, but matched perfectly. Voila! Sorted. Got it finished, not in time for the suggested deadline for mailing, but in time for it to arrive by 14 Feb. And now it has been received and fits. Yay!

Winter Sky Wingspan

Quick - get in a post before February has gone!

My DD received from Secret Santa the Wingspan pattern and some white and grey yarn with sequins to make it with. She made it and called it "Winter is come" (as a sort of quote from Game of Thrones) as the yarn looks like clouds and snow and the sequins are the sparkly bits in the snow (when there is enough sunlight to make them sparkle!). I looked at this and remembered I had bought some similar-coloured yarn (no sequins) a few years back, intending to make a hat for DS's then girlfriend, but then had made the hat out of a plainer grey yarn (pic under Hats - May 2011). They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Well, whatever, I decided I'd do one too and as the yarn is sort of winter sky colours I decided to call it Winter Sky Wingspan. Mine is two triangles shorter than DD's, so a bit short for an adult, but would be fine for a girl.

[In original post: And at this point I was going to put in a picture, but the facility for uploading a photo from one's computer has disappeared. This happened before when I was using Internet Explorer, but then DD suggested going back to Google Chrome, as this is a Google blog, which seemed to make sense and indeed, yes, there was the facility. Now it seems to have disappeared even when using Chrome. So, I'm going off in a little huff now and will come back sometime and see if it has become possible again and if so, edit this post.]

Added on 9 March 2013: and now it seems to be possible add a photo again, although the method seems to be slightly different. Why do they have to keep changing things?

Hat for me!

I looked at the Charleston yarn I acquired from the old lady's stash previously mentioned and had a feeling that, if I knitted the Tam pattern with it, it might actually turn out large enough to fit me. I did the increases and got started on the decreases, then realised I didn't have enough yarn to finish it. Fortunately a nice person on Ravelry happened to have some and very kindly sent it to me free of charge. By the time I got the further yarn, I thought I still knew what I was doing but realised after a few decreases that I should have been doing them every other row, not every third row. D'oh! Then I looked at it and realised it made a slightly more domed shape, which would actually fit my big head better, and decided to continue as it was, rather than undoing a dozen or so rows. I also decided this is not the sort of yarn that suits a pompon.

I tried to take some photos of it actually on my head to show that it does fit rather well, but they were awful, so I modelled it on a plastic pudding basin instead.

Small after comment: Having made it, thanked the nice Ravelry lady and worn the hat a few times, I looked in my stash boxes for something else and guess what I found. Blush. Some more of this yarn. Really don't know how that came about, as I was sure that I there had only ever been a whole skein and a partial skein in the old lady's stuff, and that is what I started this hat with. But there in the box was another whole skein and another partial. Oh well, now I can make a scarf to go with it if I want! But how embarrassing when I've begged some more!

Spotty Cardigan for Cousin's Grandchild 2

With bootees

Just my work

My cousin's son had a baby last year and I knitted a cardigan for that baby, who turned out to be a boy (see Once More with Bootees last March). Now my cousin's daughter is pregnant, so I thought I'd better get knitting a cardigan for this baby too (who, I am told, is a girl). Ah, I have set a precedent. I could think of worse ones!

This time I decided to make a second size one, as parents generally get given many first size clothes for their baby, which of course baby grows out of quite quickly. I know I am not original in this thought. One of my aunts gave me some second size clothing for my first baby for the same reason.

My Mum knitted some bootees (see second photo) and I packaged the cardigan and bootees and sent them off to Canada a couple of weeks ago.

Lacy Baby Cardigans

What happened to July, August and September?

Lacy Cardigan - Cream:The yarn for this was bought some time ago from Allders which has since sadly closed!. I think they were selling it for £1/50g. The ball bands had been lost and it was bound in till receipt paper, so there was no clue as to what brand it is, but it feels like Sirdar Snuggly.  I decided to use it to make a cardigan for a band member/friend's 'Bump'. The pattern, which I had fairly recently got from ebay and not used before, is just called Cardigan.  The instructions are for three sizes (19 to 21 inch) in three different yarns (3-ply, 4-ply and DK).  I used 3-ply and followed the instructions for the smallest size, which I would estimate is a bit bigger than newborn size, which was fine for this one, as it will no doubt fit Bump at some stage.  I was in a bit of a dilemma (or should it be trilemma if there are three possibilities?) about the buttons.  The yarn is a sort of buttermilk/creamy colour and I have some buttons which are a very good match, but rather old and tatty, or somewhere I have some yellow buttons, which I think are a bit too yellow and the other possibility, which I went with in the end, was some white, slightly translucent buttons I got from ebay some time ago. Being translucent, they take on the colour underneath to some extent. The end result is shown on the left, as nearly as possible being worn by the baby it was knitted for. (Acknowledgment: this photo was taken by DD, who went to the shower held for the mother and handed it over for me).

Lacy Cardigan - Pink I was quite pleased with the result of the cream one and decided to do one for the local hospital, as I hadn't done one for them in a while.  I used some pink 3-ply Robin yarn which was given to me by a member of the Croydon Knitting Group for the purpose of making cardigans for the hospital.  I wanted to do this pattern again, however, as mentioned above, the smallest size instructions come up a bit bigger than newborn size, which is the size they want.  So I decided to try to be a bit clever and knit using 3-ply yarn and the needles recommended for the 3-ply instructions in the pattern, but to follow the 4-ply instructions and make the parts all ½ and inch shorter.  I used some more of the slightly translucent white buttons, as I don't have any pink ones, and the result is as on the right. Ideally the top button should be a row or two lower, but I think it turned out rather well for an experiment and I may well do a white or blue one the same soon. I took one photo with flash (above) and one without (below) and have included both as the flash one is the truer colour, but the non-flash one shows better detail.

Bit of Technical Stuff - For those who are interested in the mechanics of knitting: I have used a slightly different technique for the decreasing on these ones.  Usually you get k2tog on one side and k2tog tbl (or ssk or sl1, k1 passo) for the other side and I have always found that the K2tog tbl was never as neat as the k2tog. I have read various suggestions for rectifying this and not been satisfied with my results using them (not saying they don't work for other people).  What occurred to me after much thought over some long period of time is that it's not so much the k2tog tbl that looks untidy, it's that the in-between rows don't lie in line with it like on the k2tog side.  It is just the stitch on each previous row that is the problem, so I tried knitting just that stitch (on each relevant row) taking the yarn round the needle in the opposite direction from usual.  I'm not sure if that makes sense and I don't really know how to show it with a drawing (plus being rather useless at drawing anyway).  I suppose a video would do it, but I really don't want to get into that at present (maybe one day).  Anyway for me it works pretty well.  The k2tog tbl side is still not quite as neat as the k2tog side, but a great deal closer to it than I have ever achieved before and I will be using this method in future.



First crochet flower!

My posts are like buses - none for ages, then three at once!

I have been trying on and off for some time to find a flower pattern, knitted or crocheted, that I could make for various purposes, e.g. to be sewn onto a hair clip.  As has been mentioned before, I have had no success in following crochet patterns, except for the very straightforward crochet for beginners type book (can't remember the name at the moment, but may edit it in later).  However, I saw a pattern in this month's Simply Knitting for a bag with a flower on it.  I thought doing the bag may be a bit ambitious, although I now don't completely rule that out for some time in the future, but the button looked doable.  I already had the pink yarn, but felt a flower needs a yellow middle, so I "had" to buy some yellow yarn, which I got at the same shop and the same time as the flower for the BlackBerry cover.  This is the first purchase, other than the occasional very cheap purchase at a charity shop, I have made of yarn in a long while - and this particular shop's prices are very reasonable (and I used a tiny bit of it to sew the flower button on the BlackBerry cover - because flowers have yellow middles ;-) so it's already been used for two things).

I dug out a 3.5mm hook and sat down with it, the two yarns and the magazine and about an hour later, the result was as shown on the left. (For some reason I couldn't get both the centre and the 'petals' equally in focus).  I know other people knock out flowers 19 to the dozen in a variety of patterns, but this is a real achievement for me, so much so that I even told DH (and he's really not into knitting or crochet).  He duly made an impressed grunt, which was all I was after.

I suppose now I'll have to find or borrow some other flower patterns and give them a go.  Even if they are not successful, at least I know I can do this one!

BlackBerry cover

A friend asked on Facebook if anyone knew where she could get a cover for her new BlackBerry phone or would be willing to make one for her.  I thought, "I could do that", nearly chickened out, then offered anyway.  The criteria were that it should be purple and have a flower button on.  I started Tunisian crocheting it and even thought that the reverse side of simple Tunisian stitch looks kind of blackberryish, then realised that the ball of yarn I was using would not be anywhere near enough to make it that way, so I frogged that and started knitting it in stocking stitch.  Part way through doing that I found some more of the same yarn (grr!) but decided to stick with the second version.  The yarn was left over from a cardigan I made DD some years back and I lined it with some material I acquired from the (previously-mentioned) old lady's stash.  The only purchase was the button, which I bought for 25p at KPound Plus by Church Street tram stop.  The recipient insisted on paying, although I would have made it for the price of the button!  I have delivered it to her sister, who will be visiting her tomorrow.  I hope she likes it!  I have shown it here with my (not BlackBerry) phone inside to round it out a little.  I did think I had made the top flap a bit too short, but the sister bought her another cover which has two motifs on a dangle, one of which is going to be sewn onto this cover, so perhaps it is just as well I left a bit of space for that.