WIP - Lace Scarf

I have had this Wendy Happy yarn for quite a while now. This was one of my impulse buys - it was 50% off marked price and the colour combination spoke to me at the time.

Now, I said it before and I say it again - I am not a fan of multicoloured yarn and I have not idea why I keep getting drawn to it. Somehow this one screamed "socks!" at me and it was in the bag.

Since I bought it I did cast on a number of socks but none worked for me because the yarn is so stretchy that when you come to pick up the heel flap side stitches for the gusset you end up with gaping holes.

So, that idea was binned - what next?

A cardigan would have been great but I did not have enough of the yarn for that and there was no way I was going to buy another two balls at full price, just to find out later on that I may also not like the cardigan.

You guys know me, so far I have not kept one item of clothing other than scarves....

Aha!

There it was - the idea on what to do with this yarn: a scarf (because I don't have too many already...)

I searched through ravelry and found the Sojourn Falls pattern, which I cast on straight away and the baby pretty much flies off the needles.

Naturally this will need some serious blocking to bring out the pattern, but I am really excited about the scarf. Because the Wendy Happy is so light it can be worn in the summer time too.

For some more WIP's check out Tami's Blog

The Good Life

The past couple of days I have been reflecting on my life and you know what?

I am stinking happy with it - content and thankful at how good my life is.

Most of the time a lot of us humans spend a looooooooooooong time talking and thinking about what is bad in our lives but isn't that just wasted energy? If something bothers you - change it and turn a negative into a positive. It is much easier than you think. 

If you are annoyed about things others do - get over it, if you don't have the power to change it don't dwell. Just think of something nice instead.

Don't I get annoyed at all? 

Heck, of course I am - when I get shouted at on the phone by an irate customer or read the hurtful words in their letters to me. But instead of getting all uptight about it and building up the anger inside of me, I just think that I get paid handsomely to witness other people making complete asses out of themselves. And don't get me wrong there are also some very nice letters we get.

Even though my job is demanding and sometimes draining - I do enjoy it.

It enables me to enjoy my life by paying off my mortgage easily, enjoy good food, travel, spend precious time with Mr P and overall be a content little bunny.

Sometimes, when I start to rev myself up about things like unruly kids on the ferry at 7:00am in the morning and their parents not giving a crap that their offspring is screaming/playing computer games with the sound sound on high/running around bumping into other people I start to calm myself by thinking "at least I don't have to deal with those annoying little turds 24/7", plug in my i-Pod and listen to Metallica or Rammstein which then takes away my anger.

Seriously, it does work to try to find a positive in anything that seems negative to you at the time. 

And since I have limited my internet time and signed off sites like Facebook I have become so much happier.  I don't let the www. rule me and my social life anymore, I rule how often I allow the www. into my house.

If you feel overwhelmed in your life with things - get rid of some that waste your time. Start with something seemingly small, just to get you into the habit of letting go.

Start saying "no" when someone asks you for a favour or asks you to join them for something you don't really want to. If they are friends they will not be upset and if their are upset, they are not friends and you don't need them in your life.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with thinking about yourself first - because what good is it to you if you make everyone else feel happy by doing things you don't really want to do?

Being a little selfish is ok because if Mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy.

And here endeth today's sermon :))))

It is here...

...gasp

I have been waiting with baited breath for this special issue of Designer Knitting (Vogue Knitting in the US) for crochet. Once I had seen the teasers I checked WHSmith daily to make sure I am not missing the issue.

Yesterday the time hath cometh and I think I may have squealed with excitement while pushing another lady out of the way to the shelf (you can never be too sure and as I only spotted one issue I had to revert to drastic measures. )

It is mine aaaaaaaaaaaaall mine

Oh, there are so many things in this issue I want to recreate - actually pretty much all of it like with its sister magazine Designer Knitting Spring/Summer.

This is actually a full length coat and I think I will most probably die if I don't possess this, but it will take a long time to finish that baby (and a lot of yarn)

Then there is this gorgeous boho-chic cardigan - I SO SO want to do this but it uses Tunisian crochet and broomstick lace, both techniques I am a stranger to.

And what about this stunning leaf shawl?

And finally there is this cool top...nom nom

See, what I mean? And those are just a fraction of the things I would like to do. Check out all the contents here:  The Mag

All images - source

I shall not be defeated....

...by the beast that calls itself knitting.

'memba that only last Wednesday I proudly showed off how my knitted cardigan was coming along?

Uhm, yeah - oddly enough what I feared most, the seaming, was not so bad after all but the fit of the garment was atrocious.

Maybe it is time that I do a gauge swatch after all?

I followed the instructions on the pattern to the latter but the cardigan was too big and the arms waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long.

So, I guess gauge is important.

This is how my cardigan looks now - and I haven't even dared to tell Mr P yet as he will only do this annoying tutting sound and the all-knowing-rolling-of-the-eye-thing

If  I ever manage to complete the new cardigan I have in mind (gauge swatch and all), I will proudly show it to Mr P and he would not know the difference :)

Oh well, I guess it's back to the drawing board (which incidentally is packed with tons of unravelled yarn waiting for its next adventure...)

I wonder how many time you can unravel yarn before it becomes brittle and breaks?

If anyone can find out, it's gonna be me!

WIP - The Cardi Pt II

I am so pleased to say that my cardigan is as good as finished. All I need to do now is the sewing together (yuck) and add the neck- and sidebands. 

When blocking the pieces I only took pictures of the back piece, doesn't it showcase the fair isle effect the self striping Sirdar Crofter DK yarn achieves just wonderfully?

Now I need to find the kick to start the sewing process....I am really dragging my feet on that one as I never seem to manage straight lines. And also, maybe a raglan type cardigan was not the best idea to start with - but I guess I just have to learn one day, right?

For more WIP's check out Tami's Blog

Good Day Sunshine

Oh what a fabulous day we had yesterday - for the first time in months we had sunshine the whole day long and for the second day in a row...yeah, I know! We could hardly believe it and made the most of it by hopping on the bus and getting ready for a hike around the Island.

The plan was to walk through Firestone Copse and the carry on to Bembridge - around about a three to four hour walk. 

We set off and I was celebrating the return of the sun with my interpretive dance pose.

Notice the Wellies? Because it had been raining pretty much non stop for about four weeks all the grounds were kinda muddy, so I came prepared...and a good choice that was as we came across some areas that were just yuck!

Next stop was a duck pond which amazed the heck out of me, because it appeared to have a gazillion of different kind of ducks, swans, geese and and and.

There were small ducks, big ones, but my favourite ones without a doubt were these fellas at the back, with the tuft of fluff on their heads (you can't see it on the white one too well in the picture though)

They so looked like punk ducks and were quite the rebels in the water too :)

While I was totally excited over the ducks, Mr P got heart palpitations when we came across his beloved rapeseed fields. I don't get his excitement but each year he's like a kid in the candy store when we come across all the yellowness

Look at the happy face :)

Afterwards Mr P thought he died and gone to heaven when the road took us right through the middle of two rapeseed fields...gnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh. The yellow was SO dang bright that I was thankful I had my sunglasses on.

Like I said, I don't get the obsession and I made my point quite clear, me thinks.

We didn't quite make it to Bembridge because after two and a half hours I was done. I used to be so fit and we would walk and walk for hours on end but since last November I have had the difficulty with every step I take being painful. Once the doctors found out what it was (fibroids of the larger kind...) it made perfect sense why I have been unable to exercise or even do a longer walk without crumbling down in pain. 

So, once I started to get my "twinges" we knew that was it and had to carry on home by bus.

But we decided on the spur of the moment that we should go to the cinema and watch The Avengers in 3D.

That was one of the best decisions we have made in a long time.

LOVED the movie and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it in 3D. Would you believe that this is the first time ever I have seen a 3D movie in the cinema? Yup, I am almost ashamed seeing that I was around when 3D became hugely popular in the 80's.

I kinda liked the 3D effect, it was fun to enjoy it but I would not need to do that again. But what I need to do over and over again is to watch this movie. So far it is my favourite of this year. I laughed my behind off, got teary, slid to the edge of my seat - it just has it all: action on comedy.

Here is one of my favourite quotes from the movie

Thor: Have a care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother. 
Natasha Romanoff: He killed eighty people in two days. 
Thor: He's adopted. 

WIP - the failure

I just knew that this yarn is jinxed and I wish I had never set eyes on it in the first place.

Of course I am talking about my Rowan Handknit and you can see its journey here, here and here and its final appearance here.

I was so happy with the poncho until I started on the last couple of rows, because I was presented with a big ole shock when I realised that the last two balls were such a difference in colour to the previous lots that I could not use them at all. See for yourself:

The last part is so extreme (and even more prominent in real life) that I could not leave it and had to frog the last bit. This also meant that the poncho was not long at the back, as it should be and looked distinctively out of balance. Oh how I cussed and wailed and threw a number of fits.

Mr P tried to calm me down as best he knew how to by saying "but it looks funky", which made matters worse as I did not find this look funky at all but kinda shitty...

I know that there is already a slight difference in colour in the top half but luckily it was the same for front and back, so it looked like it was intended but the last bit is just awful!

Now I know why people are so determined to get the same dye lot - I never really paid much attention to it as I thought "how different can the same colour way be"... HA! I learned my lesson the hard way.

So, how come I did not realise the difference in colour before? Mainly because I worked on the poncho in the evening when everything looked the same colour. 

I am in no mood to frog again and what I have done for now is that I banned the poncho and the left over yarn from seeing daylight. I packed it away and hid it in a chest of drawers. If I have not looked at the yarn again within a year I will just give it to charity  - as usual.

Now go and check out some people's WIPs which actually amount to something over at Tami's blog

Discarded Treasures

I love looking through charity shops, because you can find absolute treasures amongst the stuff that others have given away. Of course what is a great find to me will not make everybody else's heart racing, which makes it even more exciting when you find something that no one else appears to have any interest in.

Like these two books I picked up the other week for a mere £2.00 each 

The Crochet Scarves is a fairly modern book, published in 2005 and has a few nice ideas in it. To be honest, I mainly bought it because of the shape of the book and because I liked the pattern for the cover scarf a lot. For one pattern alone it would have been worth the price but there are a few others in there that I may try out too.

As for the Knitting and Crochet book from Good Housekeeping, now this is real gem. Published in 1979 you can imagine the images you would find in there, right?

Just like the wonderful vest and jumper for the hip young generation

But crocheting does take the crown in the "what-were-they-thinking" category. I would have disowned my parents had they put my brother and I and this wonderful set of  dungarees

Seriously, the pictures alone made me want to buy the book because I love a trip down memory lane. But the best bit of the book are the fantastic stitch patterns for both crafts. Not only that, this book explains everything you need to know for knitting and crocheting.

If you could only buy one book in your crafty life, this should be it.

Just look at how awesome the different stitches are displayed:

And for knitting there are even instructions for socks and mittens (with and without fingers). For crocheting there are many different blocks and stitches and I have found some bits in there that I intend to share via a CAL (Crochet-A-Long). Hopefully I will get permission from the publishers to share some of the patterns online.

Have you had any wonderful finds lately that made your heart skip with joy?

The Movies we watched in April

Here is April's run down of the movies we enjoyed

Dirty Harry 

Image Source 

I like a cop who doesn't mess about - he is so politically incorrect, which makes him a joy to watch. And the way in which he gets the guy from the rooftop who wanted to commit suicide is just a classic. Plus every good movie has to have The One line everyone who watched it remembers:
"You gotta ask yourself, do I feel lucky? Well, DO you, punk?"

Them Thar Hills

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Absolutely hilarious...Stan and Ollie taking a  break in the mountain and on advice of Ollie's doctor drink plenty of water. Little do they know that the well from which they draw the water was filled with moonshine. Yep, they get terribly drunk without realising it and what follows is pure slapstick at its best

Tit for Tat

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The sequel to Them Thar Hills as Stan and Ollie open up a shop next the guy whose wife they got drunk without realising that the water they offered her was contaminated with moonshine. You don't get better comedy than this

X-Men 2

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Well, what can I say - we have of course Wolverine as my particular eye candy in here, but also my favourite mutant Kurt Wagner...oh how I love him. His character is so sad yet so loveable. I just wish he would have appeared in the third movie as well.

X-Men The Last Stand

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Of course we had to watch the third X-men as well and whilst I was sorry that there was no more Kurt Wagner, I loved Kelsey Grammer (best know for playing loveable shrink, Frasier Crane) as Dr Hank McCoy. I do not like the third movie as much as the others but it has its charms.

PIF Winner

The day has finally come to reveal the winner's from my giveaways - so I am keeping this short and sweet.

I only had one taker for the handmade PIF - so Erin will get something handmade from me soon.

As for my giveaway of the BreAlley yarns I could not work with - the winner is Hege. Have a look at her blog and see what funky stuff she creates, I am sure the yarn will find a perfect home with her!

Thank you to everyone who played along and have a fabulous and creative day ahead of you.

WIP - The Cardigan

I am loving my current WIP, a simple straight forward cardigan which looks quite intricate due to the self-patterning yarn. The Sirdar Crofter will present you with a Fair Isle mock pattern and is probably one of the coolest yarns I have worked with so far.

Mixed with the Sirdar Country Style the two colour ways totally compliment each other and make for a light but not boring looking cardigan.

I would have never chosen these two colours on their own or even thought about using them together but when I browsed my favourite online store Deramores, I came across a pattern for a cardigan and fell in love with it straight away. For the first time every I bought a pattern and the exact suggested yarns within.

It does scare me a little bit because I have never worked like that before, I am more a kind of "winging-it-knitter". But I have high hopes for this one (even though I said that about almost every thing I knitted recently).

WIP status: 21 April 2012


For some more WIP's check out Tami's Blog