Friday 30 July 2010

I'M VERY EXCITED

Tomorrow I'll be at a Knit Nation workshop learning to knit 2 socks at once. It's a technique I've (unsuccessfully) been trying to teach myself for the last year so I'm very very excited indeed.

I'll be a 7th dan ninja sock knitter before you know it!


Monday 19 July 2010

Share your work on the V&A website

I got very excited when I spotted that you can post work to the V&A website. There's some really cool stuff up there and I shamelessly posted my cheeky monkey blanket up there too :-)

Friday 16 July 2010

Isla Scarlett McCay Williams

I'm so chuffed I'm going to post this blanket twice.

Huge congratulations to my best mates whose daughter arrived yesterday. She'll be getting her blanket in the next day or so when she's ready for visitors.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thursday 15 July 2010

Smart Crochet

This is the latest glorious crafty thing to catch my eye - created by Magda Sayeg of KnittaPlease and spotted in Make Online. If you haven't checked out Make and Craft website, they're treasure troves of geeky crafty goodness.

Steeking part deux

Sewing's finished (the train tracks down the middle of the pic)
























Deep breath. And.....cut!!
























Ta dah!!



















FINISHED :-D Just 1.5 hours before my best mate's waters broke. The baby must've known...

Saturday 10 July 2010

I am steeking...

This is the terrifying Scandinavian process of cutting (yes, you heard right!) circular knitting to create a flat piece of work.

"Why bother?!" I hear you cry.

My thoughts exactly at this point. What the hell was I thinking?

At the time I started this endeavour I was wooed by the news that knitting complex intarsia patterns in the round gives much better tension than flat knitting (which I've discovered is true and has been a turning point in my hate hate relationship with intarsia thus far). Plus you're always starting your pattern from the right hand side of the chart.

For steeking:
1. take your lovingly knitted tube of complex patterning
2. Sew vertical lines either side of two columns of stitches with tiny sewing machine stitches (leaving a 2 stitch gap between).
3. Take sharp scissors, a deep breath and a swig of Rescue Remedy then CUT in-between the 2 stitches you left as a gap between your sewn columns
4. Cross your fingers and hope the whole thing doesn't unravel
5. Laugh hysterically with relief and punch the air when it doesn't

I'm at point 2. I'll let you know when the air punching commences...



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone