3KCBWDAY6 - Improving Your Skill Set

3KCBWDAY6 - Improving Your Skill Set

How far down the road to learning your craft do you believe yourself to be? Are you comfortable with what you know or are you always striving to learn new skills and add to your knowledge base? Take a look at a few knitting or crochet books and have a look at some of the skills mentioned in the patterns. Can you start your amigurumi pieces with a magic circle, have you ever tried double knitting, how's your intarsia? If you are feeling brave, make a list of some of the skills which you have not yet tried but would like to have a go at, and perhaps even set yourself a deadline of when you'd like to have tried them by.

I have written about this before, but one of the things I find most depressing about the attitude of some people, not just in terms of knitting or crochet, or crafting in general, but just in life is that they have no desire to learn any more. They have settled at their level and have no need for further skills or knowledge. In an actual knitting scenario, I have experienced this at a couple of yarn stalls. Women queueing, waiting to speak to the stall holder to ask them to look through a pattern they have been considering. 'Does this have any stitches than knits and purls in it? I can knit to together, but nothing else'. Given the response that there might be a few YOs, or a SSK or two makes the pattern a reject. The knitters doesn't know how (which is fine - there was a time when none of us did) but, sadly, the knitter also has no desire to know how, and doesn't want to try.

This isn't learning stitches or techniques for the sake of knowing how to do them, but for the purposes of being able to knit a pattern that the woman clearly liked the look of.

I decided quite soon after learning how to knit (or, rather, learning the very basics of the ever-expanding skill set and range of techniques that make knitting wonderful) never to decide that I had learned enough.

A couple of years ago, during the first Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, I wrote about something similar. At the time I wanted to try a new fibre-related skill all together - spinning. Not having access to a spinning wheel or the funds to acquire one, I wanted to have a go at spindle-spinning, but didn't know where to start to even find a spindle. I was lucky enough to receive a reply from the lovely Saffie of Saff's Daily Dribble, who offered me a home-made, beautiful toy-wheel spindle, decorated all around with tiny paintings of various breeds of sheep.

With this I spun my first fibre into my first yarn. I then practised a little while and spun many other lovely yarns and added a new skill to my own little repertoire. I am so glad that I learned, as it is a wonderful thing to be able to pick up a stick with a little wheel attached and turn fibre into your very own unique yarn which you can then knit or crochet into something stunning.

I think there are still skills that I would like to explore - especially double-knitting, which I have not yet tried. I do find a reason to sometimes explore skills that are not called for in a particular pattern, but to me it is still not learning new things just for the sake of it as I know then that I have those skills ready in case I ever want to incorporate them into my own ideas for a particular project. As an example- I learned intarsia not so I could knit a pattern, but because I wanted to design a little project where I thought that an intarsia motif would be the best option for the idea I had in mind. Similarly, I have a project in mind for a double-knit project, and hopefully this will be the next skill I learn when I come to explore this design that exists as yet only in my head, in the near future.

To read all about how others taking part in Knitting and crochet blog week are expanding their sets of skills (or not!), simply perform a Google search for the tag 3KCBWDAY6, or click here.

3KCBWDAY5 - Knitting And Crochet Blog Week Creative Post Nomination Form

Have you seen a particularly creative post submitted for the 'Something A Bit Different' day (Day five of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week). If you think you have seen an especially fantastic post, where the blogger has been really creative and thought outside the box, please nominate it here. Choose carefully, as you can only nominate one post!

Note: The form below has been set up to ensure that a website can only be nominated once, so if you get a message saying that the information has already been received, or is not unique, then rest assured that the post you are nominating has already received a nomination and will be looked at. This is because during the photography competition a few people put links from their posts to the nominations form with a message saying 'please nominate me here!', and so the system became overwhelmed with duplicate entries for those posts, and they became really difficult to sort through as the form submissions ended up in the many-hundreds, whereas it isn't about popularity but creativity, and it does not matter if a post has one nomination or a hundred to get through to the next round.

So, what is this competition about?

It's back, and this time it has the most amazing of prizes (look for the prize for 'most creative post'). This was a massive success last year, and for many it was the highlight of the Blog Week, so this year you are challenged, again, to find a new way of blogging.This is an experimental blogging day to try and push your creativity in blogging to the same level that you perhaps push your creativity in the items you create.There are no rules of a topic to blog about but this post should look at a different way to present content on your blog. This can take one of many forms, but here a few suggestions:

• Wordless, photographic post

• Video blog post

• Podcast

• Cartoon/sketch of an idea

• Write about a subject from a different perspective (for example, you could write about a day in the life of a knitted sock from the point of view of the sock).

• Interpretive modern dance (why does someone always suggest this?)

• A poem or piece of rhyming verse

• Stop motion animation

The grand prize for Knitting and Crochet blog week, as donated byJenACKnitwear and Fyberspates will be given to the most creative blog post after a nomination and voting round, and due to the immensity of the prize it is really worth putting  bit of time and effort into this. At the very least you will get an amazing blog post out of it.

Ten posts will be chosen to go through to the voting stage, where the winner will be selected to receive the grand prize, Prizes are also available for second and third places. Nominations will close in one week's time, at midnight BST, 4th May, 2012.

And that's my post for Day 5 of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week because it is, well, something a bit different.

3KCBWDAY4 - A Knitter For All Seasons

3KCBWDAY4 - A Knitter or Crocheter For All Seasons?

As spring is in the air in the northern hemisphere and those in the southern hemisphere start setting their sights for the arrival of winter, a lot of crocheters and knitters find that their crafting changes along with their wardrobe. Have a look through your finished projects and explain the seasonality of your craft to your readers. Do you make warm woollens the whole year through in preparation for the colder months, or do you live somewhere that never feels the chill and so invest your time in beautiful homewares and delicate lace items. How does your local seasonal weather affect your craft?

I decided to pose this topic for this year's Knitting and Crochet Blog Week after reading so many of my knitting friends speak of how excited they were for the warmer months and the  prospect of knitting in their summery cotton yarns, starting short sleeved garments and delicate summer items.

I have only been knitting three years now, but in that time I haven't really explored summer knits that much, and the idea intrigues me a little. I should say straight from the off that I am a winter baby. I love the cold and fresh air, snow and frosty mornings, mostly because they give me the best chances to wrap up warm in snuggly knits and have a genuine need to ask for almost constant cuddling, for warmth.

If I look at my gallery of finished projects (Ravelry link) I see an abundance of scarves, hats and mittens, things that allow me to surround myself in cheery warmth. Also, a mainstay of the British winter season, a number of these:

I do love a hot water bottle in the winter, and some of my favourite and most decorative projects have been made to keep hot water bottle cosy. The example above was knit and felted in a washing machine before having a (non-felted) ribbed top added and needle felting detail worked onto the surface. I made a similar hot water bottle cover for my Brother-In-Law one Christmas.

The felted surface acts as great insulation for the hot water bottle and so keeps the bottle warm for a very long time, whilst providing good protection from too-harsh heat. The warmth lasts for many hours, but no hot water bottle cover will ever beat Flossie for heat retention.

Flossie was made from a modified Skein Queen pattern, where I simply added an envelope-back opening on the cuddly bear's reverse.

What keeps Flossie super-warm, however, is the lining. Made from two layers of fleece baby blanket bought in a £1 shop with just a tiny amount of soft-toy filling between the layers, Flossie was the worlds warmest, most cuddly bear, ever.

I no longer have Flossie, but I was asked the other day if I wanted a new hot water bottle. I actually replied in the negative, because we are (supposed to be) in spring right now, but now that I think about it, a new Flossie would be great to help ease away all of those aches and pains, plus it is never too early to start on the winter knitting, I think. And I wouldn't want her to be stolen to rest At Mr Awesome's giant feet, so then I'd obviously have to knit him one too - maybe a Nordic Ski Sweater hot water bottle cover that I have fancied knitting for a few weeks now.

So, no, I don't think I am a seasonal knitter. Though I do see a few lace items such as shawls and lace scarves creep in to my summer knitting, I think I am a knitter that looks ahead to the months when I can pile on all of my knitted items, slip my feet into hand knitted socks and feel the benefit of my handiwork.

To read all about the seasonality of other people's crafting from those taking part in Knitting and crochet blog week, simply perform a Google search for the tag 3KCBWDAY4, or click here

3KCBWDAY3 - My Knitting Hero

3KCBWDAY3 - Your Knitting Or Crochet Hero

Blog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you. There are not too many guidelines for this, it's really about introducing your readers to someone who they might not know who is an inspiration to you. It might be a family member or friend, a specific designer or writer, indie dyer or another blogger. If you are writing about a knitting designer and you have knitted some of their designs, don't forget to show them off. Remember to get permission from the owner if you wish to use another person's pictures.

The people that keep me most engaged and enthusiastic about knitting (and the occasional dabble with crochet) are other bloggers, so in a way this is a nod to all of the knitting and crocheting bloggers out there, especially those that are taking the time to take part in and enjoy this event. any time I am feeling a bit blue I have a read of a couple of knitting or crochet blogs, and even when I am not feeling very creative myself, I can live my creative life vicariously through them.

But I suppose it is a bit of a cop-out to say 'all bloggers', and with so many of my favourite blogs having been stopped over the past year (Mooncalf, Mags and many others) and a couple of years ago my favourite blog of all time, that of the lovely Smashing Puffin, who I just want to cuddle endlessly, I am going to go and publicly call out the wonderful JenACKnitwear as one of my knitting heroes. She is a multi-talented, super fantastic amazing person of the highest degree. Writer, designer, creator, all-around wonderful perfect bundle of loveliness, and most importantly, a friend.

I don't have any pictures of Jen's work to share as she didn't know I was going to write this, so I haven't asked for permission to use her images, but that doesn't matter - go and click that link above and it will take you to her blog, and you can see for yourself.

In a completely different way, I am also in awe of another one of my knitting heroes - Kaffe Fassett. Google Kaffe Fassett via the image search and your screen will suddenly be ablaze with colour.

Looking through Kaffe Fassett's designs on Ravelry, I think it is safe to say there are a fair few that I wouldn't wear (though he has been designing for many years, so some of the garments are simply outdated, fashionable at the time), but his use of colour and motif are awe-inspiring, and I can enjoy that sense of colour in another way thanks to his yarns. Working with Rowan and Regia, Kaffe has, in the past, produced lines of yarn that allow us all to enjoy a bit of his world of colour, such as this 4-ply sock yarn in the colourway Landscape (fire).

I have knit and crocheted with Kaffe Fassett yarns a few times now. Skeins of yarn that take you on a journey through a whirlwind of colour. Some combinations are muted with highlights of rich jewel tones, and others are like a troupe of clowns on a carousel.

Kaffe Fassett is a knitting hero of mine because how could you ever feel down for too long when you have something as happy as this on your feet? Thanks, Kaffe.

To read all about other peoples' knitting heroes from those taking part in Knitting and crochet blog week, simply perform a Google search for the tag 3KCBWDAY3, or click here

3KCBWDAY2 - Photography Challenge Day!

3KCBWDAY2 - Photography Challenge Day

Today challenges you to be creative with your photography, and get yourself in with the chance to win the photography prize. Taking interesting photographs in this instance isn't about flashy cameras or a great deal of technical know-how, it's about setting up a story or scene in a photograph and capturing something imaginative. Your photograph(s) should feature something related to your craft, so that might be either a knitted or crocheted item, yarn, or one of your craft tools. One example of setting a scene would be to photograph a girl in a knitted red cape walking through the woodlands with a basket of goodies, as in the Red Riding Hood tale, or you might photograph a knitted gnome hiding among the flowers in your garden. Photo editing is permitted for competition photos. 

I've already seen some amazing photos submitted for this challenge. Wonderful work, people - keep it up. Obviously I am going to make myself ineligible for the prizes, but it was fun to take part in the daily post anyway. Here is a Firefighting hero, making sure to rescue the important things...

To see many other bloggers' pictures for the Photography Challenge, from those taking part in Knitting and crochet blog week, simply perform a Google search for the tag 3KCBWDAY2, or click here.


Have you seen a particularly wonderful photograph submitted for Day 2 of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - The Photography Challenge?
Why not nominate it for the Photography Challenge prize, here? Choose carefully, as you can only nominate one picture...

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week Photography Challenge Nominations

Have you seen a particularly wonderful photograph submitted for the Photography Challenge (Day Two of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week). If you think you have seen an especially fantastic photograph, please nominate it here. Choose carefully, as you can only nominate one picture!

Today challenges people to be creative with their photography. Taking interesting photographs in this instance isn't about flashy cameras or a great deal of technical know-how, it's about setting up a story or scene in a photograph and capturing something imaginative. The photograph(s) should feature something related to knitting or crochet (or both); so that might be either a knitted or crocheted item, yarn, or a craft tool. One example of setting a scene would be to photograph a girl in a knitted red cape walking through the woodlands with a basket of goodies, as in the Red Riding Hood tale, or maybe a photograph of a knitted gnome hiding among the flowers in a garden. Photo editing is permitted for competition photos. 

Ten pictures nominated will be chosen to go through to the voting stage, where the winner will be selected to receive the Photography Challenge prize, Prizes are also available for second and third places. Nominations will close in one week's time, at midnight, 1st May, 2012.

3KCBWDAY1 - Colour Lovers

3KCBWDAY1 - Colour Lovers

Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects - do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

I am not intimidated by colour, and I don't have a preferred palette of hues beyond the fact that I love bold, bright saturated colours, especially in accessories. A well-chosen bright accessory expands a more subdued basic wardrobe into a selection of base pieces for any number of looks, and my knitting and the colours that I choose to work in reflect this rather well.

I often choose to work with bold, solid coloured yarns as I feel they give me the greatest control over what I am working on. I can introduce a number of colours through the use of colour work, so I can place each section or motif of colour exactly where I choose it to be.

Another way in which I enjoy employing colourful yarns is to use a self-striping yarn, with long stretches of uninterrupted colour, or yarns which fade slowly from one colour to the next to produce a slowly emerging spectrum in a knitted piece.

Yarns that fade from one colour to the next are among my most favourite to work with. Often I will let the yarn just do it's own thing (keeping an eye on the colour progression to make sure that it isn't interrupted by a knot that ties a sharply contrasting piece of green yarn to a red end, to give a break in the wonderful flow of colour) but sometimes I will choose to manipulate these changing colours further by striping them, either with a solid coloured yarn or against another section of the same yarn but at a different point in the run of colours, as with my stripy Baktus scarf.

The one combination of yarn and colour I have avoided until recently, however, have been variegated yarns, especially where the colours in the yarn have been bold and with strong contrast, as although I know some people love the excitement of discovering whether a yarn will pool or not, I personally find projects that pool generally not to my taste. However, experimentation and experience have recently lead me to try a few new tactics with variegated yarns, and a combination of choosing the right type of project to work with the right type of yarn, and a good knowledge of knitting stitches and what various stitches do to manipulate the yarn, has lead me to start to get a good grasp on making variegated yarns work for me, as you will see by the current works in progress in my sidebar. Though I think I will stick to solid colours and yarns that either self stripe or fade from one hue into another for the majority of my knitting, it is good to know that all avenues of yarn are now open to me, and that as long as I remain willing to experiment and admit to myself when a project just isn't quite working that I will be able to enjoy variegated yarns from time to time.

To read all about other peoples' love of colour from those taking part in Knitting and crochet blog week, simply perform a Google search for the tag 3KCBWDAY1, or click here.

Weaving In Loose Ends

I meant to sew up a few loose ends in a blog post on Friday, but Mr Awesome came home from work three hours early without telling me, as a surprise, half frightening me to death as he walked in whilst I was blissfully unaware of him walking through the door due to David Bowie playing on my headphones whilst I was doing a quick bit of spinning.

All of this was fantastic for my weekend, but it did that I didn't get around to rounding up a few open points from earlier in the week.

Firstly, thank you for everyone who volunteered to do a little test knit of the lace pattern. Christine65, Paula, MoMoCraCra and Kristen, I will drop you a line shortly with the (written) pattern instructions. I really hope you enjoy the pattern!

Secondly, thank you to everyone who responded to the Creative Pay If Forward post. The first three respondents were pdxknitterati, Jennifer and Createbellacreate. I'll drop you each a line shortly, for your address details.

I'll soon be finished with the first half of the Fleece Artist fibre, and I have been tying with the idea of chain-plying the singles to keep the colour changes clear and uninterrupted, but as the colours don't so much fade from one to another but change after a certain amount of fibre has been spun, I think i shall stick with my original plan of plying two of the fleece artist singles with a merino single in a lichen green. It may take a while, especially as this fibre is slightly matted, but I think it will be a beautiful mix of ocean colours when completed.

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week begins tomorrow, don't forget! You'll be glad to know that I have prepared none of my posts in advance, not taken a single picture of even assembled a single thought on what to post, so I'll be blogging on-the-fly. Hopefully I am not the only one taking the 'exciting' route.

A Creative Pay It Forward And A New Spinning Project

I came across an idea for a handmade Pay It Forward on the blog Life and Yarn Or Yarn And Life whilst I sat down to enjoy my lunch today, and whilst these sort of things do not usually grab my attention, I thought that this one was definitely worth putting a bit of time and effort into.

To explain, here are the rules as copied and pasted from the above blog:

1.  I will send a surprise gift to the first three commenters on this post. The gift will be handmade by me.  It will be sent sometime in the next 365 days. It will be a surprise.  We all love getting surprises in the mail, right?

2. To sign up and receive a gift, you must play along, too. Pay it Forward on your blog, by promising to make a surprise for the first three people who comment on the post.

3. You must have a blog (that is updated, as I will blog stalk you to find the right gift for you).

4. After commenting here, you must repost this or something similar to your blog in 48 hours.  If not, I will chose the next person who comments…

Which is all pretty straightforward. It works pretty much like a pyramid scheme, where you get you of it something more than you put in. Oh, but yes, the cynical of you might have realised that you send out three items but receive only one! of course, that is not what you get out of something like this, it is that warm feeling of satisfaction that you will get to make not one but three people's days!

This idea especially appeals to me because of the line stating that 'it will be sent sometime in the next 365 days'. The fact that a completely unknown little handmade gift might arrive on my doorstep at any point in the next year is strangely appealing.


So, yes. If you would like to receive a little handmade gift from me at some point in the next 365 days and agree to take part on your own blog and pay it forward, then leave your details below, and the first three respondents shall be selected. If you don't make the first three, why not pop along to Life and Yarn or Yarn and Life and see if she has a spot available on her blog. Or, have a look at the blogs of the first three respondents here (remember, there are 48 hours after your comment appearing here for you to post the Pay It Forward on your own blog, otherwise I will move on to the next person). I'm happy to accept respondents worldwide, too.


As for the rest of the day, I have got very little makery-type stuff done. Constant rain and thunderclouds made even taking a few pictures a difficult task. I thought I'd spin up a little fibre that I have had for a while now, and was pondering weights and ply, what spindle to select and whether to keep the fibre as is or to combine it with a solid colour single.

I seem to favour quite a fine weight single, and would love to be able to spin a bit thinker for a nice worsted or Aran weight 2-ply, but I as I have never spun a 3-ply before but live the seeming 'roundness' of a hand spun 3-ply yarn, I think I might split this fibre into two sections and combine it with a solid colour for a nice 3-ply yarn of 70-75g, which should knit up nicely into a nice hat or pair of mittens if I knit wisely.

I want to thank all of those that volunteered to run their eyes over the written lace instructions for me yesterday and test knit a few rows (or even an entire scarf, if they wish). I shall drop the first two or three people a line with the written instructions tomorrow, I hope you all enjoy the pattern. 

Charting Your Progress

Whilst the poll has by no mean run its course yet, the first few hours of voting have produced what I think are some very interesting results. As the vote stands (though it may well have changed by the time you are reading this), there are currently 70 votes (62%) from people who prefer their lace patterns in chart form, 29 votes (25%) from people who preferred written instructions, and 13 votes (11%) from voters who have no preference. (The figures have been automatically rounded up or down by the poll, which explains those missing few percent).

If you are a knitter, in which format do you prefer your lace pattern instructions?

I deliberately did not put a 'both' option in the poll as I think that most people would naturally tick 'both' (I myself would) because very few people would turn down the offer of both sets of information, even if one were never to be used, and I wondered how much use a set of written instructions would actually get. Where people use both the chart and written instructions in conjunction and have commented to explain their working method, I am very appreciative of your explanations into how you combine both sets of instructions to best decipher the pattern.

Whatever the eventual outcome of the poll, the fact that 28 people have already stated a preference for written instructions has come as quite a surprise to me. I thought that the poll would be much more heavily in favour of charts over written instructions than the current 62% to 25% shows. To me, a chart not only conveys the information about each of the individual stitches in a clear and concise way, but also bears a visual resemblance to the item you are knitting in a way that written instructions simply cannot. If I lose my row counter from my needle (as I did this morning) I can easily glance at the chart and see exactly what row I am on, because the chart looks like my knitting. Moreover, with very long rows of complex lace instructions, I can see, by comparing my knitting to the visual clues in the chart in front of me, exactly where I am in the row I am working on, whereas whenever I try to knit from written lace instructions I have to read along the row, knit the ten or twenty stitches I can remember, then try to find my way along that row of instructions to the place that I left off. I'm perfectly comfortable knitting from written lace instructions, but just find it speedier to knit from a chart as I always know where I am, and I wonder if the same is true in reverse for those who prefer their instructions written?

I quite recently granted a request for one of my charted designs to be written out for a member of the Ravelry group Chart Haters Anonymous, when a user posted in the group requesting help with the charted pattern of the Rubber Ducky Facecloths patterns.

I was quite surprised when a kind and generous Ravelry member contacted me to say that the request had been made and could she (with my permission) convert the charted pattern into written form for the chart-hating knitter? I was surprised not because someone preferred to have their instructions in written form, but because the chart in question was for a simple design in only knits and purls, which I would have thought of as the easiest thing in the world to knit from a chart, or at least very simple to write the instructions for, line by line, yourself? But I guess some people's brains just find the information in charts difficult to interpret. I would, however, always encourage all knitters and crocheters never to decide that they outright cannot achieve a technique, but to keep trying once in a while, as it will often just fall into place one day.

Whilst visiting the chart haters anonymous group to find the above URL, I actually came across another poll in the Ravelry Techniques forum, which asked a similar question to the one I asked above.

Now, do be wary to take those results with a pinch of salt. Firstly, the answers are a bit leading and unbalanced (for example, the 'extremes' of both preferences state on the one hand that people who very much prefer their instructions written will only work with written instructions, though those who very much prefer charts strongly prefer them, but will 'make them from written if necessary' suggesting, for some reason, that one group is more flexible than the other. Also, there may be a degree of user bias in that poll, as it was linked to from the Chart Haters Anonymous group where the poster linking the the poll stated 'looks like we’re in the minority so I thought I’d spread the word here', which isn't entirely helpful when trying to gauge the feeling of a group of people, to have one interest group unbalance the bias of the respondents.


Though I suspect that the balance of chart readers to written instruction readers is therefore probably a little better represented in the poll on this blog, the proportion of people preferring written instructions is still very much significant, so I will definitely be including written instructions for the lace scarf as well as charted instructions.


Now, if you have made it all of the way down to this part of the post and are still reading, and you happen to be a chart hater, or prefer your instructions written, or are comfortable with either, I was wondering if there was anyone out there with a spare skein of yarn (100g of fingering/4ply weight) who fancied doing a spot of test knitting for a free advance copy of the pattern? I know that the charted instructions read true (as I'm following the chart I drew up myself) but would like to make sure that the written pattern reads true. If nobody fancies it, that is fine, as I am sure someone in the Free Pattern Testers group will help out, but I thought I might as well ask here first.

The pattern tester(s) wouldn't have to knit the entire scarf (though it's a nice pattern, so why not?) but a picture of a few (minimum of three?) repeats of the lace would be wonderful, just to make sure it is correct. And, you know, free lace scarf pattern and lots of gratitude will be coming your way. I anyone is looking for a relatively simple lace scarf project, and thinks that this one might suit what they are looking for, please could they leave a comment below, and leave either a way of contacting them or a link to their Ravelry Profile in the URL field so I can drop them a line.

WIP: Sea Glass Lace Scarf, With Poll

Many knitters will be familiar with feeling like they didn't mean to cast on another project, and that it 'just sort of happened'. This problem can lead to yet another beautiful Work In Progress foisted upon them by powers outside of their control, commanded by the greater forces of nature and chance.

This must have been what happened when I accidentally went and won an amazing skein of yarn in the Yarnscape giveaway.

The fact that Mr Awesome immediately reached for the Jumbo Ball Winder (for winding jumbo balls) wasn't something which I had foreseen. That fact that I tripped at that exact point, with the yarn falling in a graceful loop over the swift of need, was completely out of my control.

I'm not quite sure what happened after that. I must have passed out, because when I awoke, this was on the needles:

Honestly, I don't know how it happened. There was a pad of paper beside me with many calculations for working out the stitch pattern and zig-zag garter stitch border, and what looks like a hand drawn lace chart, but it was definitely cast on accidentally.


However, now that it appears to have been started, it would be rude not to continue, so I guess I am bound to keep on knitting this wonderful pattern with this wonderful hand dyed BFL/Silk blend yarn. Yes, I know. Oh woe is me.

Note: This pattern is already written up in chart form, but I may publish this one with a written version of the instructions as well, for those that are chart-averse. I'm wondering what the proportion of people who prefer written patterns to chart (specifically for lace knitting) is? If you have a moment, please take a moment to vote in the poll below, or leave a comment suggesting the reasons for your preference (if any). Many thanks!

If you are a knitter, in which format do you prefer your lace pattern instructions?

Knitting And Crochet Blog Week - Just One Week To Go!

There is just one week left until the launch of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. Hopefully everyone is excited and has great things planned for all of their blog posts, but especially the Creative Blog post and Photography topics which have really fired people's imaginations this year.

As there are seven days left to go, I thought some clarification on the post tags was in order, as I have had a number of questions regarding them over the weekend. There are three different places where you might wish to place your tag. Either in the title of your post, in the tags/labels section of your post, or in the actual body of your post, like so:

Each tag will begin with the characters 3KCBW, which stand for '3rd Knitting and Crochet Blog Week', and there is an individual code for each day. As long as the code is typed into one of those three places, Google will find it on your page, and that is the most important thing.

'Why is Google finding the post tag on my page important?'


The unique, daily post tags are what help Google and other bloggers/readers find your posts on the daily blogging topics. The codes are designed to be unique, and have never been used on any webpage before, because they are a nonsense string of letters to most readers, but to anyone who looks for one of these blogging codes after the launch of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week they will return results for all of the blog posts that have taken part - yours included. To see one of these blog codes in action from last year, click the following link to perform a Google search for the tag for day 1: 2KCBWDAY1.

These tags and the resulting search results will also form the basis of how the prize draw prizes will be awarded (please note that this does not include the prizes for most creative blog post or creative photograph, which will be voted upon). A Google Search will be performed for all of the post tags, and a random number generator will then be used to choose a page and entry number for each of the prizes.

Is there any reason for me not to want to use the tags?


Yes, if you don't want anybody to find your blog posts by searching for them in relation to Knitting and Crochet Blog Week or because you simply cannot stand winning gorgeous prizes.

So, where are the codes again?

FO: A Few Festive Stitches

Whilst I was feeling sorry for myself in a cloud of influenza last week I found it difficult and uncomfortable to get any knitting done. I was getting frustrated with anything cumbersome or difficult to manipulate, so I turned tot he smallest and most portable of little projects, some little cross stitch motifs.

I wasn't too pleased with this first bauble, not because it looks anything other than perfectly charming, but because I don't think the impact was quite equal to the amount of time and effort spent on it. It isn't a large design, and the shape is rather simple, but what you might not be able to see from the picture is that it is absolutely full of fiddly half-stitches. I am sure they are bread and butter to a lot of cross stitchers, but I have stitched enough little motifs now to know that I find most designs charming enough without those minute details, especially on a very graphic design such at this. I have two more baubles to make from this free kit that came with an issue of the Cross Stitcher last year, but I think I will knock up my own simple bauble design before actually stitching them.

The second little Christmas-themed project I stitched was from another little project kit included with a past issue of Cross Stitcher magazine (their 'Christmas' themed issues seemed to run over about five months, so Christmas and cross stitch must be particularly well suited.)

I enjoyed this second little project a great deal more. It still features a few of those pesky half stitches, but in this case I think they were used to great effect. This design is more 'organic' in feel (in contrast to the geometric design of the bauble) and so lends itself to the detail afforded by the half stitches which occasionally help to keep lines fluid and smooth. Those fiddly little half stitches are fine when stitching on evenweave, but on aida I think they are best kept to use sparingly and where needed, and not just for the sake of it.

These two little fancy pieces have been put into the growing box of Christmas delights to adorn cards or be hung up around the house at the end of the year. First there is spring and summer to enjoy, and now that I am feeling better, more knitting to be done!

FO: Trilobite Fossil Pendant With Tutorial

I was quite surprised when the first comment on yesterday's post about my latest cross stitch project included the line 'Eee, I see a trilobite outline'. Indeed you do, Carla, and I am impressed with your powers of recognition! You really should play me on Draw Something as my artistic skills on that really do take a bit of deft identifying.

As I was thinking of trilobites yesterday (as you do) I decided to try and make myself a trilobite inspired pendant necklace, similar to those I have seen sold in a few of the tourist shops on the south coast, in fossil rich areas. These stores sometimes carry quite nice pendants of real trilobite fossils set into metal surrounds. I have no real trilobite fossil, so I thought I would make my own.

All you need to play along is some polymer clay, a round cookie cutter or bottle lid (something to make a slightly curved indent) and something to poke a hole in the finished piece, like a tapestry needle or cocktail stick.

I have used three small pieces of polymer clay for my pendant, but you could use a single colour. The colours I have used are Sculpey silver 1130, Sculpey gold 1088 and Fimo sapphire blue 8020. There is no particular rhyme or reason to these colours other than they are the colours I am using for my cross stitch piece and I like to dress like my wall art.

I mixed the blue and silver clays together to give me a colour close to that of the embroidery floss I was using for the cross stitch. I had intended to blend them completely, but part way through I got distracted and when returning to the table decided I quite likes the marbled effect so left it at that stage. Obviously just do what you think looks nicest.

Take a small rolling pin or similar smooth cylindrical object (such as a glass jar) and roll some clay to about 2.5mm thick. Using an oval cutter or a knife, cut an oval about 4cm long, and lay to one side.

Taking another piece of clay, form a slightly smaller oval with your hands, giving it a slightly 'domed' appearance. You should now have the two basic pieces of your pendant.

Using a knife, cut the top off of your domed oval.

Use a round/oval cookie cutter or anything else with a curved edge (such as a bottle top) to make curved indentations down the length of the domed piece.

Roll a small 'snake' of clay, tapering at one end, and lay the thinnest edge at the rounded bottom edge of your domed piece, down the centre. Trim the top piece off so it is the same length as the domed piece, then press along the length, to flatten it slightly.

Use the same cookie cutter (or alternative) as you used before to make another row of curved indentations, this time down the length of the thinner centre piece. They should roughly match the indentations on the domed piece below, but this need not be perfect (fossils are rarely, if ever, perfect).

You should now have something that looks like this. It's looking good but needs a bit of detail.

Roll a long, thin snake of clay and lay it around the outside edge of your domed centre piece, trimming the ends to fit.

Roll two very small balls of clay.

Lay these towards the outside edge of the flat piece of clay as eyes. You can now either take small pieces of clay or (optional) seed beads to form the centres of the eyes. Lay these eye centres on top of the balls of clay and flatten slightly with your finger to attach them to the clay and shape them at the same time.

Roll two more snake of clay and curl the ends back on themselves, laying them between the eyes of your trilobite and alongside the edge of the head.

Your basic trilobite is finished. Give him a smile and use this opportunity to smooth away any fingerprints if you wish.

Next, use a tapestry needle or similarly pokey thing to make a hole towards the top of the pendant, between the eyes. Don't place it less than 2mm away from the edge, so the pendant hanging stays nice and strong.

You can now, if you want a particularly sparkly trilobite, apply any mica powders or age the pendant using some ground up artists pastels. I have used a bit of bronze mica, just because I saw it in the box as I was tidying away. Opportunity knocked and I answered.

If you have put any mica powder on your piece, now is a good opportunity to put it on the windowsill and see how lovely and sparkly it is.  Ooh, shiny.

Now, bake that piece! Fossils take many millions of years to form, but yours should be done in around 25 minutes at 130ºc (or 275ºf for those of you who are metrically challenged).

Make a sandwich and a cup of tea.

When the trilobite has finished its trip to the oven, let it cool completely, and then decide if he wants a coat of varnish. I have varnished the gold areas of mine, because I decided that things can never be too shiny, and also it would stop the mica from rubbing off at all. I left the centre marbled area for a bit of contrast.

You can then either thread some cord through the hole, or attach a jewellery finding such as a jump ring before stringing the pendant on a chain, cord or piece of ribbon.

Now put on your new necklace and stand next to your trilobite cross stitch and blend into the background in an exercise of super geeky urban camouflage.

WIP: Well Heeled And New Materials.

There hasn't been a whole lot of crafting going on here recently, because last week I was stuck in bed feeling sorry for myself with a bout of 'flu, followed by a weekend which was spent half under-the-weather and half relaxing and keeping warm and snuggly (apart from an impromptu trip to Ikea for lunch with friends that were passing by) so what I have done recently has mostly been in short 15-30 minute bursts of activity.

Most importantly, I have got a heel knit onto one of my Rose Pebbles socks, which I was anxious to do to see if there was enough yarn in the miniature pink skein that accompanied my YarnYard Bonny variegated yarn to knit both matching heels and toes, and weighing the remaining yarn today I am exited and very please to note that there definitely is.

Knitting a short row heel (or toe) is a perfect little pick-me-up activity. It's almost like a miniature workout where you don't have to move from your seat. You start off quite lazily,warming up by knitting long rows punctuated only occasionally by the turn, then after a while the points at which you turn get more and more frequent until you reach the shortest of rows and you are turning quite fast now before turning again and finding a slightly longer row before stopping, pausing, turning again, now less frequently as your rows get longer and longer in the warm down until the longest of rows and then relax, your heel is complete.

I've knit these socks quite short in the leg as the colours are very spring/summery, a time of year that rarely requires longer woollen socks, though the could of course be knit to any length.

My other current work in progress is a little something to decorate the walls. The living room still looks a little bare sometimes, so I am cross stitching a little decorative bit of geek art to adorn one of the walls (we are leaving the longest wall bare because it does make the room look ever so huge (at first it looked too huge, but now that we have a giant dining table it seems like a lovely little feature of its own - the bare wall).

I am, for the first time, using a  piece of evenweave for this project. i have always stitched on aida before now, simply because it is what has been available to me. There is no doubt that the evenweave just looks so much nicer for a project like this, but it is a little fiddly, first because I am using quite a large piece for this (10x12" rather than the tiny little motifs I usually work) and the relative fluidity of the fabric after being used to fairy sturdy, stiff aida. I think this is a time when an embroidery hoop would probably come in useful, but as I don't have one I have resorted to rolling up one of the sides and holding it in place with a few miniature clips whilst I work, just for easy access whilst I sew. It's not entirely comfortable, but as I form my stitches by taking the needle down into the fabric and back up through the fabric in one step it's not totally unmanageable either, and it will be worth it once it is up on the wall.