More knitting exploration!

Yes, it seems I have become somewhat obsessed with knitting and crochet at the moment, I have a couple of projects on the go which I will blog about eventually, but I wanted to tell you about this Etsy store I have discovered belonging to ButterflyLove - based in the UK, this shop sells really cute amigurumi plushes AND patterns, and yes I bought one (you get them via email in PDF format) and tried it out - and love it!

Amigurumi is the Japanese art of crochet or knitted plush toys and there are a lot of them around at the moment - knitting and crochet are both coming back as a trend right now, and as I have said in my previous post, there are many Etsy stores selling them AND the patterns.

Now, this one that I saw in ButterflyLove's shop was something I could not resist getting!  I bought the pattern for this:

It is a planet and moon!  You need a wool with a stripey kind of pattern, but I was really pleased with this!  So much so in fact, I will be making more for a couple of other people as gifts.  It's really quick and easy to make, and you don't need to know any complicated stitches.

The only thing you really need to know is how to knit 2 together - which is pretty self explanatory - and how to "increase" stitches.  You can easily find out several ways of increasing the number of stitches on your needles, either in books or even on Youtube - I have used Youtube for many knitting and crocheting problems and I find it very helpful, especially as you can watch someone doing it as it is explained.  Everyone will have their own preferred method of increasing, and mine is to knit (or purl, depending on your pattern) in the front and back of a stitch, which is one of the visible and decorative ways of increasing.  Here's a good Youtube clip of it being explained HERE.

Happy knitting!

Siobhan x

Knitting and Crocheting Books!

Hello everyone!  Finally I managed to remember to blog again today LOL!

Okay, today I'm going to tell you about what knitting and crocheting books I have which I would recommend for other people to use if they are a knitting beginner.  Let's start with knitting.

I have "The Knitter's Bible" by Claire Crompton which I think is excellent.  There are really easy to understand instructions on how to knit different ways (right handed, left handed), what's knit, what's purl, increasing, decreasing - all the basics.  It also includes lace and cable knitting, and contains a buner of projects which you can do including scarves, bags, cushions, sweaters, and how to sew everything together. It really is a very comprehensive book on how to knit and it is IDEAL for beginners (like I was and ...sort of still am LOL!).  There is a "Stitch Library" at the back as well, which is really useful if you want to try something new or if you're after something really simple and just want to practice it over and over.  Really, this is an excellent book and I don't think I could recomment it enough - I taught myself how to knit with this book.


Moving on to crochet, I taught myself with Debbie Stoller's "Happy Hooker" which is in the "Stitch 'N Bitch" series - there is also a knitting one.  This has everything you need to know and the language is very informal and friendly.  The essential thing with crochet is to remember the differences between the names of the stitches with regards to whether you have an English or an American written book.  The patterns themselves are the same, but the names of the stitches differ.  This is explained in this book, but if you buy any other book with crochet patterns in, just have a look to see if it's English or American before you start, or you might end up with a slightly different looking item!  The patterns themselves I find quite easy to understand, so if you can make sense of them you shoudl bejust fine.  But this book is excellent at explaining everything and I recomment it for beginners, definitely.

Now, remember those flowers I've been crocheting?  The patterns of those come from a book called "100 Flowers to knit & crochet" by Lesley Stanfield.  Now, don't look at the cover and think "No way can I make any of these!" because you CAN make these.  There are a range of projects to knit AND to crochet, although I must admit I have only used the crocheting part of this one since I have had this book.  I will try knitting at some point though!  The book is really well laid out with patterns and instructions so you never have to rely on one or the other and there is a good variation of flowers, leaves, fruit, vegetables and the odd butterfly, bee and ladybird here and there.  It's full of really cute things to make, and both the knit and crochet sections are split up into 3 segments of Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced, so you can practice at whatever level suits you.  It's a great book to use and I recommend it if you fancy making some flower brooches, especially if you have some bits of wool you're not sure what to do with!

The thing I like about crafting with wool like this, is that if you make a mistake, you can take it back and start over.  If you make something as a practice piece, you can unravel it and make a hat out of it!  If you makea scarf or a bag as a project from one of these books and you find you're not using it, go ahead and undo everything so you can use it for something you WILL use.  There are plenty of books out there with patterns in like these, but these are just the ones I have and I highly recommend.

One thing I will say though - if you're planning on making something as a gift for someone, it's very important to find out if they are allergic to wool.  There are a surprising number of people with wool allergies out there, and if you really want to make something for them, it's so easy to choose a wool which is 100% acrylic, which is what I have done a number of times.  It's nothing to stay away from either - there are plenty of acrylic wools out there, the price is often pretty good (wool has been going up in price recently, at least in the UK), and it can be just as soft as any other wool you can find.  I made a scarf for someone with 100% acrylic wool at Christmas, and she told me it's really warm and snuggly.

Another great resource for patterns - free and for sale - is on the website www.ravelry.com -it's free to register and includes knitting and crocheting patterns, some of which I have used.  You'll be surprised to know that there are MANY knitting and crocheting patterns available for sale in PDF format on www.etsy.com too - which I have also bought myself!  Just search for them and see what pops up :)

Happy Crafting!

Siobhan x

Green, grey and fuzzy!

Yes, it's another scarf - as I said, I am making rather a few this year for Christmas!  This one is another simple double rib scarf like the last one, but the wool is different.  This is a sage-green wool with blue spots called "Wendy Mistral Chinky", and is a very similar wool to the grey one I knitted AGES ago.  This wool is 29% wool, 68% acrylic and 3% polyester, and I used 6.5mm needles to knit.  I am very pleased with this scarf, it's a little bobbly in texture, but the wool is quite wavy.  I added tassles as I did for the other one - actually I find tassles very therapeutic to do LOL!

Anyway, I would say who this is for but he might be reading this blog so I'll just say it's a gent's scarf....and no, it's not for the model in the photo - my boyfriend!  He's not really a scarf person, but he wanted the grey scarf I mentioned earlier.  Actually, speaking of that grey scarf - I actually knitted a hat for him to match, which was my first time using circular needles, using the same rib stitch as the scarf.  In all honesty I'm not really a huge fan of circular knitting needles, it kind of irritates me having to push the wool around constantly!  But I think I ended up with a nice hat.  I have tried crocheting hats but it doesn't really seem to happen for me!  I'll be posting a few of my crochet results at some point - the successful ones of course!

Lastly, regarding the beads - I have began to play with seed beads and bead stitching and weaving.  It's nice to do, but for me as an inexperienced person at this particular craft, it does take me quite a long time.  I kept imagining how long people take to make those huge necklaces with all that intricate bead weaving!!  Anyway, the point of doing it is part of my voyage of creative discovery, and I think I have to say that bead weaving and stitching is not really for me.  But I tried it - and this is what I'm figuring out!  I'll get on to the gemstone jewellery soon, I know I will! :)

A simple warm scarf

Before I show my scarf off, I'll just provide an update regarding my handmade jewellery!  I have made quite a bit of progress - although it won't seem so to some - I have created a website on which I just need to purchase the URL and upload photos, plus I hav an Etsy widget on there so people can go straight to my store if they like what they see - this widget will make it onto this blog when I start putting new items up for sale.  I have a Twitter acount which is ready to go, a Facebook page which is ready for photos, and I will be working on combining the two to save time on advertising and promoting - I hope I can use Tweetdeck for this and have it sent to my Facebook page!  I have designed business cards too, but I need photos of new jewellery which I plan on putting on the other side of them to give the cards a little bit of interest.  Other than that, I think it might actually be time for me to start experimenting with new techniques!  I can't wait!  In the meantime I have a book about "Web Marketing for Dummies" although I honestly feel I have read enough about that these past 2 weeks that I could probably write my own book about it!

Anyway, my latest knitting project is a scarf for a friend - this one is for Christmas so it needs to be warm in time for the January and February chill!  I LOVED this wool and I still have a ball of it left to play with.  It's SIRDAR Escape Wool Rich Chunky (51% wool, 49% acrylic) and I knitted this one on 6.5mm needles.  Not too big, not too tiny.  The colour is a really vivid blue from dark to light to dark again.  I want this scarf for myself but I have made it for a friend and it will be given to that friend, come Christmas!

This was just a simple double rib pattern, great to do in front of the TV in the evenings (which is when I usually knit) as there is little room for error, although I probably went wrong a couple of times, but its hard to notice really.  It's soft and of course it has tassels, I love making those!  Very easy to do with a 3 - 4 strands of wool and a crochet hook to pull it through.  Simple, soft and warm :)

BRRRRRRRR!!!! Knit something warm!

Brrr!!  It's so cold outside isn't it?  I don't know about you, but I hate the cold!  I'm not a big fan of snow, as I prefer to look at it whilst drinking a hot chocolate, rather than go out and play in it (well, yes I used to make snowmen when I was little but that was then....this is now...!!).

Anyway, I have discovered KNITTING, and I am SO incredibly addicted to it!!  I have knitted lots of scarves and I thought I would post some up so that, if you are feeling chilly, looking at these will make you feel warm, and / or if you want to know what certain stitches might look like, here are the results! :o)

First off, I knitted in moss stitch and this was the result:

And I LOVED making the tassles!! :o)  You can look us moss stitch anywhere but I am pretty sure its K1 P1 every row, but you have to remember to Knit the Pearls and Pearl and Knits on the next row.   I used 4 balls for this one.

If you use the same pattern and Knit the Knits and Purl and Purls, you will end up with a rib stitch, like this one:

Now, you might not be able to see the ribbing as such, but the wool seems to constrict and get closer together when you do a rib, so if you want to do a rib stitch and be able to see the knit and the purl lines, be sure to add a couple more purls which will make it wider, yes, but you will be able to see the ribbing.  I used 4 balls for this one too.

Next up is this one:

Now, the pattern for this one is here: http://knitting.designedlykristi.com/freepatterns/DKlavishscarf.pdf and mine looks different because I put more stitches onto the needles to make a slightly wider scarf, therefore not as long as the one on the pattern.  I am kind of regretting making it as wide as I did, but it's all experience, isn't it? :o)  I used ONE ball of wool for this one - the pattern is for one ball but as I said, I began with more stitches therefore its wider and consequentially shorter.  And yes, you have large holes running down the sides where you thread the ribbon - or whatever you like - and create tassels with them too!

The final one I made was this one:

I made the pattern up myself.  Its K2 P2 (wide rib) and remember to Knit the Knits and Purl and Purls!!  Do this for about 10 rows.

THEN switch to:

Row 1: K3 P3

Row 2: K1 P1

And do that for about 10 rows.  Alternate this pattern and be sure to start and end each row with a knit stitch for a nice border.  This pattern also means that your scarf will be slightly wavy! :o)  4 balls used for this one too.  I also began and ended with the wide rib just to make it look more symmetrical I guess!

I love using chunky needles for these scarves, but anyone can use whatever they like.  I like to use chunky wool too, I find it so much more therapeutic! :o)

Hope you have your Christmas crafting leftovers from crackers and cards......my next blog will be of a Christmas theme.  I know, Christmas is just over, but in the crafting world, it's always Christmas! ;oD