Library Girl Knits!

As many knitters know, the enthusiasm can overtake what you can actually do at one time, and before you know it, you have piles of projects and not much done on any of them. It is a good thing to have a couple going at one time for when you get frustrated with one of them or stuck, and need a rest on it. Sometimes you can have too many… Here are mine.
1) Shirley’s birthday scarf – no pic in case she inadvertantly sees it before it is finished. She might be scared by it before I block and iron it! I can reveal that it is a 3×2 rib in Noro Kureyon. Woo!2) and 3) The SnB charm bag. I’m making one for me and one for Sarah M. Both are in Noro Iro (can you spot a pattern emerging here in my yarn?). My bag is all knitted up, and I have just started on Sarah M.s version. I have still to get some nice lining and handles for mine, and let Sarah M. pick some for hers. The pattern isn’t that accurate, although it could be my yarn substitution. They wanted a discontinued line in the book, so I went for one of the same guage and weight, and ended up only using a third of what I ordered. That means Sarah M. gets one without farting about for yarn, and I get to use up all the stash, with perhaps a bit left over for a matching purse (maybe felted).
Here is my bag so far. Just looks like a big tube at the mo with a bit of a curl to it, but once it is stitched together and lined and handled, I think it will work rather nicely 🙂

4) An ad hoc bag for felting. I bought some yarn in the bargain bin when I bought the Noro for Shirley’s scarf, with the help of the lovely lady who owns the shop (Up Country in Holmfirth) because I can’t get any cheap felting yarn in Huddersfield (the woman who owns the only wool shop didn’t know what it was!). I don’t know if it will work yet, and I have no idea how far to knit to account for shrinkage, so I’m just playing it by ear. I’ll add a pic when there is enough to look at of it! Just for my own memory, I cast on 24 stitches on a round 5mm needle, knit 12 inches of garter stitch for the base, then picked up all round the base and knit a few rows in the same colour. I have 5 balls of yarn mostly in red and purple, with one green tweed for contrast, plus threw in a Kureyon ball cos I’ll have some spare. Interesting mix to come, but I just hope I get the ratio correct or can at least use the finished product for something or give it as a gift!
5) Miffy Illusion scarf. Looks ok for a first attempt so far, but I haven’t even finished the first Miffy and I’m bored of it. I’ll probably frog it and use the yarn for the SnB punk rock backpack. It has already been frogged from the SnB Marsupial bag, because it wouldn’t felt 🙁 Lets hope it survives another one…
I also have plenty of projects lined up – the SnB pinup queen jumper, something to use up the rest of Kureyon (perhaps the Boogie bag :D), some two needle mittens, some new knitting and felting books ordered from Amazon… 😀

I thought I’d better add this as it has been finished for a while now. This was made from a pattern in one of the best knitting books ever – Stitch ‘n’ Bitch, the Knitter’s Handbook, by Debbie Stoller. This jumper isn’t actually that representative of the content. The book is basically a very young pattern and instruction book, and is a fantastic remedy to the patterns you see on the web and in magazines that insist you are about 80 and must only knit blankets and bad fair isle jumpers. This jumpers is a kind of grungy slobby comfort jumper. It does nothing to make me look any thinner, and actually adds about 2 stone to me, but it is warm and cosy, and perfect for cold days. It is the first jumper I’ve ever knit, the first cable I’ve made, and I’m quite pleased with it, even if I look rubbish in it. In this case, the look is not as important as the achievement. It was a pretty quick knit – it took 2 weeks and a bit longer cos I was lazy about sewing it together. I made it in a medium, and was a bit worried it might be too small, but blatently not judging by this pic! I’m wearing two t-shirts underneath this, and have at least 3 inches at the bust to spare…

Morning everyone. I’m up early as usual, something that I always end up doing, whether I’m on leave, sick or at work 🙁 Some of my friends just can’t understand it, but I suppose it means I get to, in theory, make the most of my day.
Having been off sick all this week, waking up early means being horribly bored because I’ve had no energy to do anything interesting. I have mostly been knitting and staring at the idiot box, watching a mix of good and incredibly cheesey films. But the knitting has been of the giddy kipper kind…
Last week I had the amazing stupidity that can only be described as foresight. I bought some cheesey wool with the idea of making a scarf, and then bought some more even cheesier wool to mix with it. The first is Sirdar Bigga, and it is what it says on the tin – bigga. Vvvv chunky 🙂 I knew it would be good for a quick knit and that it would be one of those instant gratification jobs. The second wool is Sirdar Fizz, a really silly novelty yarn with loads of ribbon and fibre eyelashes on it. I fancied mixing the two together, and it actually came out ok. Was only a couple of hours, which is good therapy, especially considering that 2 other current projects are for other people and I won’t get to see much of them once they are done. Non-knitters don’t realise how long it can take to make something, but nevertheless, they seem to appreciate that they have something unique and yummy.
Anyway, here is the silly scarf, as it is now officially known. 6 and 3/4 inches across, and long enough to hang to the waist when wrapped around the neck. Very soft and cosy, so not only was it instant gratification, but a good comfort project. The eyelashes look a bit sharp and coarse, but they are as soft as anything. Whether I get stared at when I go out in it is yet to be seen…

Pardon? Sorry, didn’t quite catch that… It is far too late at night for a little girl like me. With a cough and nasty lung things.
Anyway, before I forget, this is the new version of my site. And because I’m 1) half-arsed and 2) boring, I’m slapping my knitting stuff in here too.
Knitting is a good destresser, distraction from cleaning the house (no point cleaning when you’ll get bits of fluff everywhere from finishing off some knitting you know), and helps to keep you busy instead of picking your nose/bum/insert orifice here. Oh and you get nice things at the end of it. And most of the time it is much cheaper than shopping for clothes and lovely shoes, but still satisfies that shopping craving. Yum.
And who knows, I might actually update occassionally…

Testy test test. Blah di blah knitting blah di blah, choccy blah di blah.