Saturday 29 January 2011

Tatting-attempt #5

This one actually became a finished item. Didn't take too long either.

Monday 24 January 2011

And a new project..

Knitting traditional norwegian mittens in bright lime green and black alpaca yarn (Artesano alpaca 4ply). Going to have to block these, I see, my knitting is usually neat enough that I get away without blocking most of the things I make...


Finished project

My shawl is finished. I hung it in the kitchen doorway to give some idea about its size. Knit in Artesano Silk Embrace which is a silk+suri alpaca mix. And Linus TOTALLY loves that yarn. I have more of it, in other colours, and he is doing his best to befriend it. Other balls of yarn he might fight, but not this - it is cuddly and he headbutts it to show his friendly kittenish intentions. And when he finds the shawl he starts purring. Every time.

Saturday 15 January 2011

Learning to tat

Tatting is a way of making a durable lace by knots. I first saw it being done about a year ago and decided then to learn, but I have so many projects going that it took until now before something actually happened.

The lace is made by the use of a small shuttle about 2 inches long. The yarn used is crochet thread, rather thin. Apparently I use thinner thread than is recommended for beginners according to my book. My original idea was to learn it and apply it on thicker yarn to make lacy looking edges for my knit work.

I have a book (with a DVD which I haven't looked at), and I decided initially to follow the steps to learn ("classes") in the book. However Class 1 meant making a foot or two of spiraling string (to learn the stitches properly). After a few inches I got bored. 
From left, attempt #1, 2, 3 and 4
Class 2 showed how to make a circle, then there was a project. This I skipped, and used the circle technique to make a small blue butterfly inspired by a photo on the back of the book. I also added picots from the explanation of Deliana from way back when she first showed me what she was doing  (incidentally, the first time I met her). 

Class 3 I think was actually making a butterfly so that I had already done. I started flipping randomly through the book, on the opinion that I already understood the basic techniques, and started making stuff from the pictures without looking at the explanations. Thus two strings of lace started coming into appearance, the first one simple and mostly meant to test connecting the circles, the second one will if I continue turn into a small circle which could decorate a card or something. 

This is the way I usually learn things. Hubris. 

Come off my needles

The hat I knitted Saturday morning a week ago, prior to going to meet H for some shopping. The scarf I knit up Sunday.

The scarf has been on my todo list for a very long time (the turquoise yarn is actually the hat which I eventually frogged), but since I bought the yarn I have discovered alpaca yarn and the fact that it does not irritate my skin the way wool from sheep do (such an allergic wreck). The width up and down can be adjusted by letting out the ribbons - the knitting itself is wide enough to go round my shoulders like a poncho.


Thursday 6 January 2011

X-stitch paperback cover

H borrowed one of my paperback covers this autumn for a while, and liked it - it does protect the book when you carry it around, and the built in bookmark means at least I don't put the book down back up but open to keep my place.

However we were unable to find any that looked good - pink ones that said Bible and similar were the only that seemed to be in existance nowadays. So I figured making one would be a good present for him. Of course, since I am not very adept at using a sewing machine, I completely underestimated the amount of work involved in the number of attempts I had to make at assembly. Not to mention the hours and hours of embroidery hell. Also, H just wouldn't leave me alone, wanting to visit me or me to visit him all the time, or for us to go out and do stuff.

Sometimes I was unaware he was heading here and I heard the key in the door and had to dive for cover.

But he never suspected and luckily he never went looking in my conspicuous white box that was randomly standing in the middle of my floor for weeks and weeks (maybe it seems normal, hehe).

Here is the result anyway. I hunted down screen shots which I zoomed in on to get as accurate as possible patterns, although it is still not exact.


Alpaca mittens

I have knitted two pairs of mittens in Schachenmayr Alpaka - both in a herringbone pattern. Mine have a trigger finger and from some angles look like Nightcrawlers hands. The other pair were a Christmas gift for H's mother, who likes to have her fingers free when she is driving.

My mittens are probably the warmest mittens I have ever owned - even in -20c they were very warm and cozy, even with the separate index finger. The herringbone pattern adds to the warmness since it makes them effectively double layer, there always being a thread of the opposite colour behind the stitch. The reason for the tridactyl design is that I like having the use of my hands, but gloves are colder than mittens. This combines the best of both worlds.

Christmas Gift Mittens



Nemesis

Slightly cross-eyed in all my pictures of her. I never noticed it before. 

NYE

NYE - and the two following days - were mostly spent playing board games. Among other games we played Robo Rally.






























Linus wanted to be in the dining/living rooms with us, after he finally realised where I disappeared to. For the first bit more than 24h he seemed perfectly happy staying in the three rooms where the cats were allowed. He was making squeaky noises on the glass door. He also scratched on the kitchen door. The last evening we let him into the dining room where we were playing and after alot of exploring he slept on a chair by my side. The last day before we left he wanted desperately to explore the rest of the big house however.. that was when I took these photos. He will have to save that pleasure for another time.