Rain, Rain, Go Away

I'd rather it didn't come back another day too.

This morning I awoke to the sound of drums. 

Odd, thought my sleep befuddled mind. 

Nope, not drums - rain. BIG fat heavy rain. 

And wind. Lots of wind

I'm done with this weather now. I'd love to wake to a clear, crisp day. I don't need warmth, I'd settle for calm and cold. 

Any how. Rant over. 

How has your week been? 

Mine consisted of work and not a lot else really. No excitement. My work week passed relatively quickly and uneventfully. I had a rubbish day on Friday. I elaborate more about it in the podcast so I won't repeat myself here. Suffice to say I had a glass or two of wine that evening. 

I'm sitting on my sofa this morning writing to you, eating toast and drinking tea. I just looked up to see four little eyes looking at me. It seems the rats would like some toast for their breakfast too! I love watching them eat. Their little 'hands' are so sweet.

Any how, I  digress!

Feeling the love - 

The beginning of the week saw me finish up Marion's socks. I love the way they turned out. 

I love how the colour saturation matches on each sock. I had hoped to make matching cuffs with the remaining yarn. Turns out, I didn't have enough left over. So the pattern in my head goes on hold until such time as I can set it down in yarn. It may or may not be cuffs, I might turn it into fingerless mitts. I'll see when I start working out the finer details. 

I worked on my blanket at knit night on Tuesday. I snuggled underneath it as I worked. I think I'll keep it for this purpose until the spring warms up the walls of Mara's gallery. It was lovely crocheting while my lap was warm and cozy. 

I contemplated working on Ben's second sock towards the latter part of the week. I had started the toe, but when I picked it up again I didn't like the tension. It seemed way too loose. I ripped it out and then lost the will to knit it........... so I cast on a pair of socks for me! Oops!  They're a plain vanilla sock to carry round with me. They'll be done when they're done. 

My favourite thing I've worked on this week is Hana Hou. LOVE IT!!!!! I'm using 3 balls at the same time. When I swatched I learned that I didn't like the way switching skeins every 2 rows worked up. It made for a very stripey fabric, and when you're my size, stripes aren't necessarily your friend. It was suggested by a friend that I try 3 skeins and alternate every row. I love the results. The fabric is gorgeous. The yarn barf that results I love less so! 

I got myself into such a knot. Every time I turned my work the barf got worse. I'd knit a few rows, then untangle the mess and repeat. I've since got a system in place. Each cake is in a different place and when I turn my work, I rotate them. Problem solved. It is making for slower progress though. I'm not overly bothered. I'm just enjoying working with the yarn and the pattern combo.

Did I say I LOVE IT?!?!?!?

This morning I've had a great knitting session. I settled down with my tea, Hana Hou and Mel's latest podcast. I got quite a bit of work done. 

It's very purple. But you wouldn't expect any less from me would you!?

I've spun some this week too. I do love to spin. I just wish I had more time. So many nice things to fit into such a small amount of time I have left in my day. Sigh. 

I'm trying to spin quite thinly. I'd like to chain ply it and use it for socks. It's a merino silk blend, and I'm hoping that the silk will add some durability to the yarn. We'll see

On the Horizon - 

My mother in law sets off on a long trip today. She'll be away for a month. I wish her a safe and wonderful trip. 

I hope to continue making progress on all my projects, although I can sense a frogging coming on with the peacock shawl. I'm just not feeling it. I think it's because I don't seem to have enough quiet time to concentrate on the pattern. It's not difficult, it's just that I haven't got it set in my head yet. Maybe I'll try and devote some time to it this week. Maybe. 

Have a great week guys

Ellen x 

Episode 7

I've only gone and done it!

Morning folks!

Today, finally, I've woken to blue skies and bird song! What a difference it makes to the day. 

Week in review. 

Weather wise it's been a complete fail. We've had continuous wind and rain. Sideways sleet was a particular treat! It seems so long ago now as I look out of the living room window at the gorgeous blue sky this morning. 

On Tuesday we had the worst wind I've ever experienced. It's actually shifted the chimney on the roof. I suppose Matthew will have to shin up there and take a look at it before too long. 

My mum and dad where supposed to sail off on a cruise from Southampton on Wednesday. He rang me yesterday saying they where hoping to set off that afternoon. I have the distinct impression it's going to be a lumpy trip. 

Feeling the love - 

I finished Jean's Drizzle hat on Monday. I'm pleased with it. I worked it on a size smaller needle to make it a bit smaller. I concidered moving down a size in the pattern, but when I looked at my hat it's quite a loose slouchy fabric and I thought Jean would prefer something with a bit more structure about it

I also finished the first of Marion's socks. I love the way the colour has become more pronounced as I worked up the leg. I cast on the other toe and I'm now beetling my way towards the heel turn. I should really be concentrating on this sock, but my attention is being diverted by the urge to cast on the matching wrist warmer. I'm going to make up a new pattern. When I searched Ravelry I couldn't find what it was looking for. The creative juice are distracting!

I've also worked on my blanket. It's big enough to snuggle under while I work on it. I think it will be the project I take to knit night for a while. That way it will keep me warm while we chat. 

The rest of my crafting time has been spent swatching. I must confess that my SLYMI class has not felt the love this week. I've been focused on the Hana Hou cardie. I thought the yarn I dyed would be a perfect match but I've struggled with my guage. I've knit 3 swatches now on 3 different needle sizes the first one was just a basic swatch, no frills. I realised my stitch and row count was completely off so I ripped out and went up 0.5mm. This was my most epic swatch ever. I practiced my alternating skeins, I practiced my armhole decrease, my pattern band pick up and the cuff. It was at this point I discovered my stitch count was still way off. Normally I'd have cried, spit my dummy and decided I could not do it. This time though, I thought that I'd learned loads from this swatch, ripped it out and went up another 0.5mm. My stitch count is now bang on where I want it to be, the rows are off, but I'm happy with that. I can measure as I go, that problem is easily fixed.

The thing I'm most excited/nervous about is my new shop! I sucked it up, stopped pontificating and put the sock yarn I dyed up into a shop on Etsy. The shop is called KnitToStaySane. So far there is only the one item there. My violent violet sock yarn. If you fancy some, go snap it up!  I appreciate all constructive feedback. 

So at this point I'm going to publish this blog, have some breakfast, finish the housework, walk the dog snd get some knitting done. 

Have a great week

Ellen. X 

Episode 6

I need a lottery win.

I do!

I've far too many things to do, but I have to work!  It's getting in the way of my creative mojo.

Week in review. 

This week I have mostly been wrestling with migraines. Again. I am unamused. I've had one everyday since Wednesday.  This can't be right. I'm going to haves my eyes tested this week I hope to rule that out, then I'll ask the quack. Once upon a time I'd have one in a blue moon, this is rediculous

Before my week was taken over by headaches I went to knit night. It was a great night, there was just 4 of us this week so it was a cozy group chatting and putting the world right!  

Feeling the love - 

My WIP list grows...... I know! I know! I know! But I want to knit all the things, and I don't have time to finish them all. 

This week at knit night I worked on Marion's socks. I'm knitting them out of my hand dyed sock yarn. I'm excited by how they're knitting up. I love how the frequency of the colour splashes is increasing as I get into the cake. I can't wait to turn the heel and see how the leg works up. 

I've also been studying this week. I've been swatching like a good 'un. I'm studying with Mel from SingleHandedKnits who is convinced she can turn someone like me, who is violently allergic to swatching, into someone like her who speaks fluent 'Swatchese'! 

She's an amazing tutor. Her passion for her subject oozes from the page and is infectious when you listen to her speak. 

I can't recommend this course enough. If you're out there thinking "swatching? Ptchar! Swatching is for Jessies!" I'd give it a go. There's more to it than meets the eye!

This is the biggest swatch I've ever knitted and I haven't finished with it yet! I'm going to finish the ball and see where the course takes me and my swatch. 

I've also been working on a Drizzle hat for Jean, my mother in law (ish). She asked me for a hat at the end of last year and I promised her a Drizzle. I rustled her up a quick bulky beanie, but it's a smudge too big and so I've been powering through a Drizzle for her

Sorry guys, lord knows where the focus is on that photo! I'm not taking it again though! You'll have to squint and pretend it's ok!!

I'm about half way through the lace section, and then for speed I'm going to stick to stockinette. I remember when I knit mine, I had to concentrate when I worked the crown decrease in pattern. Jean needs her hat yesterday, so good old stockinette it is. 

I had a bit of a strop on Thursday. It had been a particularly painful day in the head department and when I got tome I took a tablet. These tablets make me feel a bit waffy which I why I don't take them at work. So after tea I snuggled into my sofa, it was chilly in the house - I looked for my blanket. 

Now here's the thing.  

Once upon I time I learnt to crochet. I crocheted large granny squares and made them into a blanket. I got utterly bored of making 12" squares and vowed I wouldn't do that again anytime soon. Ben said he'd like a blanket like mine. I gave him mine and set about making my log cabin blanket.

How was it then, that after making 2 blankets, I was sat on Thursday night with no blanket while Matthew and Ben had one each!?  

Clearly we need to be a 3 blanket household. 

I'm using up Aran weight yarn I have in stock.  Right now it looks quite good with the dusty green and blue, but shortly I'll be adding in a purple that I don't think will go, but meh! It's just for my house, so I'm not fussed. 

The reason for this week's title will soon become apparent. There's a new pattern being released on Monday. I must have it NOW!! 

 I have to wear Hana Hou now!

Since it's been posted on Ravelry I've been trawling the internet for yarn. Sport weight yarn is tricky here. It's not something that's readily available in the UK. And being the tight wad I am, I'm disinclined to spend yarn money on postage and import duty! 

So I had a cunning plan. I'd use an Aran weight. The decreased stitch count will give me more ease as I'm a big girl and I want this to be a snugly cardie. You know, like the photos! Granted, it would take two of the model to make one of me, but with some jiggery pokery I can make this work. Yes? 

If when I swatch the Aran (I know! Get me?! Girly swot!) I don't like the fabric I do have some sport weight in stock. I didn't realise it was a sport until I was messing with the yarn. 

It's lambs wool it bought to dye up. When I was with Marion I dyed up 2 skeins and love the results. Snag is I'm not sure how repeatable they are. I put two 100g skeins into a bath which contained the remains of a couple of dying experiments. I know it's my purple dye, but I've no idea how much was in there. I've ordered 500g more, so I figure when it arrives I'll dye up the other 3 skeins I have left with the new batch and I'll have enough for my project. While I'm waiting for the time to get that done (pesky work!) I'll use the dyed skeins I have to swatch *faints with pride*!

With any luck I can get similar results with the next batch. 

On the horizon. 

I'll mostly be working. :-(

When I'm not doing that I'll be trying to keep up with my studies, I have to get Jean's hat done, and I want to work on the blanket and Marion's socks. 

What I REALLY want to be doing though is swatching for my Hana Hou. 

Hope you all have a great week. 

Ellen x 

Episode 5 

What I did in my Holidays

Good morning people!

Now THAT was a quick week. I can't believe that in 24 hour's time I'll be at work again. Boo Hiss.

Week in review and feeling the love -

Monday was a great day. A really great day. I spent it with my friend Marion. She is my fibre guru. There's nothing she doesn't know. And she's an all round good egg! What more can you ask for? I'd been planning to have a dying tutorial from her for ages,but life just kept getting in the way.  Finally though we got together and had fun.
First up I learned how to prepare my dye, what happens when you use different concentrations, and how to mix your colours.

How fab are those colours? Can you see there's a purple thing going on? These are the samples we investigated with. They're rug wool so Marion could trust me not to manage to break them! I'm thinking they need to be a fair isle tea cozy for something. 

Next up came different techniques for dying. We used hand painting and steam to dye some top of Marion's. Wow! The colours were wonderful. I am, however, a terrible blogger and didn't get a photo of that. Gosh darn it. 

Next on the list of things to do was tidy up. Well, use up what dye was lurking in the dye baths anyway. I had brought round the yarn I'd bought to play with so we dyed 200g of the lamb's wool. 

As an aside I was a tad miffed about that particular purchase. I bought a lot if 500g of lamb's wool from eBay. The listing did say that the lots weigh between 475g and 525g. Mine weighed on the nose 

475g. I have to way I wondered how many weigh more, if most of them weigh 475g and it's a cunning plan to get more sales from their product. Having said that it's not a bad product and for £12 I really can't complain. But I can wonder!

Any hoo, back to the dye pots. Those two 100g skeins turned out lovely. A gently tonal lilac. 

Then we started to play.

We caked up two 50g balls of my sock yarn. After a good soak we put them into a dye bath of turquoise. Once the dye was exhausted we turned the cakes over in the water and added purple (obviously!). I'm do impressed with the results

The skeins were supposed to be matched. After all, they where treated the same. They're clearly not the same, but I can't wait to make them into not quite matching socks. 

It was at this point I remembered I'm a mother and had a child to collect from school. Oops! In my rush to get packed and back home, I forgot to pick up my purple dye. As it was, it's not necessarily a bad thing. I may have been tempted to dye ALL the things for the rest of the week otherwise!  Once I collected the child, I did play a little bit though. It would have been rude not to!

These skeins where made using the same technique as the purple ones. This time I used yellow first and then added turquoise. I caked the yarn far too tight at the dye couldn't penetrate very far into the ball. But I like the results anyway. I like the speckled effect.  Soon they will be socks for Marion. 

Tuesday was also a dying day. This time it was me changing colour. I wanted to have quite a big colour change. I went to the hairdressers to have a dip dye done. Now, at this point I should maybe mention that it's been 25 years since my hair as been it's natural colour. I wanted to have the purple at the front covered over and returned back to my 'natural' dark brown and the bottom of my hair purple. 

I did say that I'd post pictures on the web of the results. They are conspicuous by their absence. I'm not 100% happy with how it turned out. I know my hair will go bright purple. I know this because I've been doing it for the past 5 years. The hairdressers didn't manage it though and the ends are a dark auburne red colour. Which in itself is odd because I watched them put on the exact same hair dye as I use. Still the results aren't bad. They just aren't what I wanted. 

A deflated, sad kind of day. I consoled myself with knitting on my scalloped tulip socks. 

Wednesday was a frustrating day. I spent the morning battling with technology. Frankly I'm a little tired of it now. The result of my musings is that you can now stream the podcast without the need to download it. Unless a techno genius can tell me in words of one syllable how to get iTunes to listen to me, I give up. Sorry guys. But there's more to life! It seriously ate into my knitting time. How rude!?

On the upside though, I got the pattern finished and published for the Scalloped Tulip socks. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and I can't wait to see what other folk make of them. If love to see someone else knit them up and love them as much as I do. 

My afternoon was completely scuppered by family needs. Harrumph. But being a wife (ish) and mother will do that to you. I picked a poorly boy up from one school and a stranded boy up from another. All in all, not a lot of knitting got done. 

Thursday was my knitting day. I wanted to finish the in preparation socks. February was looming and I wanted to nail the pattern so it was ready should it be needed for Friendship Fetish February. I did finish them and I amended the pattern. That amendment has been linked on my project page and on last week's blog if anyone out there downloaded the first version.  It's essentially the same, but I've added some simple patterning on the back of the leg which ties up with the patterning on the top of the foot.  

It's not a great photo, contortionism isn't my bag, but can you see the purl detail which crosses around the back of the leg?

Friday was a busy day.  Lots to do. My parents visited yesterday so Friday was a day to haul ass and clean up. Not that the house was a pit, but you know what I mean don't you!? I did my Friday big shop. I cleaned out the rats (much less stressful for them now I have the travel box for them) I dusted, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom and got the washing done. 

I flew around the house with a sense of purpose. I wanted to get the jobs done so I could sit quietly and guilt free and listen to my first installment of my Swatch Like You Mean It class. I have homework to do! 

Before I got to settle down with my homework I felt like I needed to make some progress on Ben's socks. I got one done but didn't cast on the second because swatching has my attention now! I know!? Get me!?

On the horizon - 

Week one of my class begins properly on Monday. I can't wait to see what's in store for us. 

I need to work on Ben's second sock and also a hat I promised Jean. I'm knitting her a Drizzle. I've nearly finsihed the first stockinette portion. 

I need to finish my homework today and I'm not quite 2/3's the way through. 

I need to work on that poor unloved peacock shawl. 

And don't mention the spinning! I just realised yesterday that the brown merino/silk top has been on the wheel since the beginning of December! That is so bad!  I need to focus. Maybe after I've finished my homework I should dedicate some time to it. 

We'll see. 

Have a great week

Ellen x 

Episode 4

Of trauma and bloodshed

Morning folks!

Week in review - 

Up until yesterday, the week had been utterly uneventful. I could happily have had it stay that way too. 

Yesterday was housework day. I cleaned out the rats and usually I would have vacuumed today because both things stress the boys out. When you put the two things together it makes for very unhappy rats. While filling their food bowl I managed to spill some on the carpet, so I decided to vacuum yesterday. This proved to be a VERY bad move. Rusty started bouncing off the cage walls, stressed to the max and trying to escape the noise. I switched off the Hoover and then tried to calm him down, cooing at him and trying to soothe him. Next thing Ringo had Rusty by the mouth and was biting him. There was rat squeeling and panic! I was flicking Ringo to try and make him stop. Eventually they let go of each other and I could pick them out of the cage and check them over. 

Rusty was catatonic. He just lay in my hands in blind panic. I spent a good 10 minutes soothing him and his heart rate and breathing came down to normal. Ben noticed blood on his nose. I checked him over and realised quickly that the blood wasn't his own. It turns out Rusty was biting Ringo rather than the other way around. When I checked Ringo out he had a lot of blood on his muzzle which was swelling. I took him into the bathroom and cleaned him up. The bleeding stopped quickly, but the swelling is making him look like he's had filler injections! Trout pout! 

I went to the local pet shop and bought a travel cage for them. It's in their cage now so that they can get used to it. My plan was to finish the vacuuming today but to take them into Ben's bedroom first so that they're away from the noise. 

I got to test this plan earlier than I planned this morning. Bleary eyed, I stumbled into the kitchen. I filled the kettle and reached for my cafètiere. I was looking forward to a pot of Teapigs English a Breakfast tea. I put the cafètiere down next to the kettle while reaching for the box of tea........ and missed the counter top. The glass shattered and skittered all over the floor. Sigh! I cleaned up the big pieces and put the rats in Ben's room while I hoovered up the rest of the mess and finished up the living room which was put on hold by yesterday's trauma. 

Feeling the love - 

I did finish the first of my Scalloped Tulip socks. My plan was to knit the second sock using the pattern I've written to check for errors. I had hoped to get the second one done by this weekend and the pattern published. It hasn't happened. I blame Mel. It's all her fault! 

She told us about Friendship Fetish February. At some point, somehow we will find a new friend. We will share some of our sock yarn with this new friend and then knit a pair of socks together. I quickly decided that I'd like to knit the Thanks Socks by Regina Satter. They're a lovely free pattern with a simple lace eyelet pattern which flows over the foot. It's written with a heel flap and gusset which I wanted to change for my trusty Fish Lips Kiss Heel. I re-wrote the pattern to reflect the changes I made and I've put it on my project page. They're my In Preparation socks. I'll also put it here at the bottom of the blog. 

The orange/brown sock is the In Preparation sock. Is hard to see the pattern as it runs down the middle of your foot, but you can see the increases at the top of the leg and at the base of the foot. The original pattern doesn't tell you how to make your increases, and in the past when I've made these socks I've just picked up the bar between 2 stitches to make one. This create a hole which, in the original pattern, works well with the other patterning happening around the leg and foot. In my sock, it looks odd I think, and on the second sock I'll probably either knit front and back or pick up the leg of the stitch below. 

The purple sock is my Scalloped Tulip sock. From the angle of this shot, you can't really see the scalloped top, but I'm really pleased with it. 

So, this week I've made the first Thanks sock and cast on for the second; and I've worked on the leg of my second Scalloped Tulip sock. 

I DID finally spin a bit last night. Perhaps only for an hour, but it was lovely. 

I'm enjoying the humbug nature of the fibre and seeing how it barber poles in the single. This will be Navajo plied in the end and with any luck I'll make my first ever pair of socks with it. Fingered crossed!

On the Horizon - 

My task for next week is to finish these -

I've got, from  the left - my second In Preparation sock, my second Scalloped Tulip sock and both of Ben's socks! Oh, and I still need to get some work done on the Peacock shawl. And I want to spin. And I need to do housework. I wonder what might get done, and what might get ignored!?

So. I hope you all have a great week. I live in hope that I get lots done this week coming. 

Have a good one

Ellen x 

Thanks socks PDF

Episode 3

Technology fail

So there I was, minding my own beeswax, having my lunch on Tuesday, watching podcasts and I nearly choked on my lettuce leaf (sigh! I long for empty calories!). There was Mel telling all and sundry that I have a podcast. Now, it's some thing I've been thinking about for a while. I've enjoyed doing the odd video to embed in the blog, but I'm not sure I've got the time or the editing knowhow to do a video podcast with any regularity. But the thought of an audio podcast has been running around my brain, Mel just gave me a push to do something about it.

So Tuesday night on the way back from knit night I recorded a little message and then spent the next 3 hours trying to embed it in the blog and also set up a feed for iTunes. Now, at this point I feel I must declare that I don't class myself as a technophobe. I can usually muddle my way through pretty much anything; but on this I'm stumped. I've managed to embed YouTube videos with no problems and you can stream them from the blog. No matter how I fettle, I can't get my head around this. So, for now, I hope you guys can download the podcast file from the blog. I'm trawling through the techno speak to find how to make an RSS and how to submit it to iTunes. Until then. Bear with!

Week in review - 

This week I have mostly been dieting. I've been following the Atkins plan and it's made me feel atrocious. I mean just truly abismal. I've had headaches and migraines all week again! I've done this diet before and I can't remember it making me feel this bad, maybe I'm being too strict with myself. I've only eaten protein and a bit of salad for each meal. And the least said about the effects of so little fibre in my diet the better! ;-(

Feeling the love - 

Last week I told you I cast on a pair of Gansey socks. Well, I ripped them back out. Honestly! Me and Gansey just don't get on! Well........ My current concentration levels and Gansey don't get on at any rate. The yarn I'm using is a gently variegated yarn of dusty lilacs, vivid cerise and deep purple. The colours hid the purl bumps in the Gansey pattern, making it difficult to track where I was up to. So the yarn got wound back onto the cake and I started again. 

I do love a bit of lacework. I love a good YO!  When put together with a K2tog, or an SSK I'm ecstatic. So I had a trail through my old stitch dictionaries. I have 2 dictionaries I bought from eBay they're both 30 years old and I love them. I get so inspired to design when I flick through their pages. I'm always looking for old stitch dictionaries. I'd love to find one from the 40's. I wonder if they even printed them then.

Any hoo, I found a pretty, simple pattern which I thought would be great and set about putting it into a sock. The upshot of this is I've mostly been working on this new sock. As I sit writing to you this morning I'm a hair's breadth off finishing the toe of the first sock and I'm really pleased with it. I've been writing up the pattern as I knit, and I'll test it when I knit the second sock. With some good luck and a following wind it will be up on Ravelry by the end of January. 

The consequence of this is that pretty much all my good intentions for progress on my other projects went to the wall. 

I did try to spin though! I say try, but when I got the wheel out my son made puppy eyes at me and he spun instead. Ah, well maybe next week!

I did get some dying done though this weekend. 

I signed up to a knitting class last week. Mel of SingleHandedKnits fame is running an online class called Swatch Like You Mean It. The clue is in the name. Mel is an avid swatcher. She loves to play with her yarn and get to know it. That's probably why her patterns turn out so well she knows exactly how the yarn will behave before she puts pen to paper. Me? I have a violent allergy to swatching. It brings me out in hives! I HATE the idea. To me it's a waste of time and yarn.

 I told you, I'm tight! There's a vicious rumour going around that I invented copper wire by fighting with someone over a penny!  

This chronic aversion to swatching probably explains my equally powerful loathing of knitting garments for myself! If you don't swatch the likelihood of you project turning out as you hope is slim. I know this, but I just can't get past the waste of yarn thing. Yes, yes, I know! I can hear you shouting at me! It's a vicious circle. 

BUT!!!!! 

I bought Mel's Halele'a pattern. Wow!!! Now THAT'S what I call a swatch! It's basically a trial run at the pattern. You practice all techniques you need to knit the full garment. The cast on, the decrease, the pick up for the button band, the button holes - everything. 

This is a revelation. A lightbulb moment. If I read the pattern I want to knit through properly before I start, if I practice the techniques on my swatch I might prevent major disaster on the real project. It's more than checking tension and picking needles, it's getting it right first time. 

Who knew?!

Mel has sent out a list of things to gather ready for the class starting. One item needed is 600 yards of dishcloth cotton. Now, I don't do dishcloths. The idea of washing dishes with my beautiful knits makes my blood run cold. I'm not a huge fan of working with cotton either. It makes my hands hurt.

So I had to go shopping for cotton. I found 6 balls of a generic cheap and cheerful dishcloth cotton online in a rather dull ecru colour. Not very inspiring. So I decided to dye them. Here's what happened: 

I knew from checking online I had to approach this differently to my previous forays into dying with wool. My acid dyes wouldn't work. So I went to town and looked for Dylon cold dyes. I was looking for the solid disks of dye but came home with three packets of powdered dye. I bought a jeans blue, a navy blue and a dark green. 

When I read the packet it said that one packet will dye 250g of fabric with the intensity of the colour on the packaging. Hummmmmmm........ I thought. I have 600g of yarn. Therefore if I use all three colours I should be ok. Right? Erm, not exactly!

So the first task was to skein up each of the six balls. Turns out each one was 170 yards in length so I've more than enough (maybe I'll knit dishcloths with the remainder!). I twisted them up really tightly. My plan was to dye one colour, untwist the skein and re-twist it in a different way to expose different areas of the skein each time. After that I left them to soak in a bath of warm water with salt added while I walked the dog. Soaking allows the dye to penetrate the skein easier and also allows my poor right arm to recover from skeining 6 balls of cotton with my homemade, very heavy, niddy noddy!

Next I drained the yarn and refilled the pot with more warm water and salt. I then added the whole packet of jeans blue dye. One packet does 250g of fabric and there's 600g in there so I should get a light shade of blue, right?

Erm!?

At this point my heart sank! That's a dark blue; really solid, dark blue!! I waited the hour advised on the packet and came back to find the dye bath as full of colour as I left it. 

With a heavy heart I tipped out the pot

Can you see? My heat lifted as I caught the smallest glimpse of cream. Top right of the photo! Can you see? I unravelled the skeins

Whoop whoop! Happy days! 

I reskeined the yarn which was no easy feat with wet cotton I can tell you! As I twisted I thought. 

When I used the whole packet I threw most of the dye away. After all most of that 600g of yarn is unavailable to the dye because it's twisted so tightly. So I'll only use half of the packet this time. Dark green is next

After the second hour I still threw most of the dye away, but I was happy with the colour. I unravelled the skeins for the last time 

As I was unraveling I thought again. Originally I'd considered stopping at 2 colours. But because the first 2 were so dark and intense I thought that the natural colour was too much of a contrast. So I went with the final navy blue colour. This time I only used a quarter of the packet. 

Still a very saturated dye bath! I was slightly concerned that the last dye would ruin the previous 2. I didn't retwist the skeins this time so that all the yarn would be in contact with dye

Ta da!! 

I'm really pleased!  Now I REALLY can't wait to start swatching like I mean it! 

Oh, and next on my dying hit list is the yarn I bought for Halele'a. It's Sirdar Countrystyle 4ply. It's too blue, I wanted a more grey/blue. I think I'll take it to my dying lesson in a fortnight. 

What? 

Didn't I tell you?

Oh, I'm having a dying lesson. I'm so excited! My friend Marion, who is a member of Woolclip, co-organiser of Woolfest, design guru, dying queen and all round good egg is going to show me how it's done! Properly I mean. I hope to be able to dye with intent at the end. Rather than hoping for the best and having to endure those buttock clenching moments when you think you've ruined 600g of cotton! 

On the horizon -

Will I get to grips with iTunes? Hopefully

Will I get my second sock design finished? Pretty please

Will I get some spinning done? Fingers crossed

Will I get some progress made on the Peacock shaw? Possibly ;-)

Have a great week guys. 

Ellen x 

Episode 2

Can you hear me now!?

Hello there readers.

How would you like to be listeners too?

Well seeing as how Mel decided today that I podcast I thought I might as well give it a go!

Having things to say won't be the problem. Technology might be the problem though. Now I'm no technophobe, but this interweb malarky it's tricky!

Let's see what happens

Episode 1

Ok, so Episode 1 can be downloaded but not streamed! I'll work on that!

Of migraine and frustration

Saints preserve us! What a week!

Week in review - 

As the title suggests I've had a migraine or a headache most days this week and it's left me feeling "off". Not unwell or anything I can put my finger on. Just off. 

Because of this it's not been a week of huge progress. This is where the frustration side of the title comes in. 

When I've had the motivation to knit, I've not had enough concentration to do a good enough job. And, well, when I've not that the motivation, nothing at all got done! So I can only hope that this next week sees some kind of improvement in my knitting mojo levels. 

School went back on Monday. Both boys are back in the swing of things now. Because Matthew travels to the station by bike and the weather's been so foul, I've been taking him in the car. It's strange that just that little bit of change in my routine can throw me out. I usually get to work early, somewhere between 3/4 and an hour before the pharmacy opens. This gives me time to tidy up loose ends, put the kettle on and sometimes get a couple of rows of knitting in to soothe my brain. Because dropping Matthew off eats into that time, my pre-work knitting has suffered. I wonder if that has contributed to that "off"-ness I've been feeling?

And because school is back, that means swimming club is back too. I'm back to teaching my 5 sessions. This first week is always the hardest I think. It's a trial to get back into the rhythm of things. I soooo don't want to go, but when I'm there it's just as much fun. It amuses me how the kids' swimming slips with just a 2 week break. Happy days. 

Feeling the love - 

This week I've concentrated on Mara's mitts. I'd finished the first one by knit night and got Mara to try it on. As I mentioned last week, I was concerned about the fit. I increased a bit too quickly for the arm, knit it straight until almost the end, and then decreased again for the last few rows just to get a snug fit on the cast off edge. As it turns out, Mara loved that mitt and it fit great. Snag was it took some doing to get her to part with it at the end of the night! Sadly the second ball of the Katia Darling was as irritating as the first. I still found breaks and clumsy joins. *sigh*. But they're now an FO. I'll give them to her on Tuesday. 

Next on my hit list was the peacock shawl from my KAL. It's been sat on my work box in my beautiful yarn bowl for a week unloved. Or at least I thought it had had no attention. I came to work on it last night and I discovered that someone had given it some attention. That someone hasn't owned up yet, but I suspect that one of my cats had decided to play with my gorgeous project! I started to knit and as I ran the working yarn through my fingers, I noticed that it the yarn felt strangely crispy. Almost as though it had been sucked! Blah. Then I discovered that, not content with making the yarn all nasty and sucked, the evil animal had actually chewed through the yarn! Aaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!!!!! So last night I ripped it out, decided it couldn't save the manky bit and cast on afresh. I had 2 goes at getting started and gave up. It seems like my heart wasn't in it. I kept losing my place in the chart and making silly mistakes. I gave it up as a bad job and went to bed to read. 

I'm still ploughing through The Casual Vacancy. I can't say that I'm enjoying it yet. I won't be defeated by it, but I'm hoping that the story will start soon and grip me. Right now, I'm definitely not gripped! But that might be because I've had little or no reading mojo either this week. 

So here I am on Sunday morning. My knitting morning. The boys are still in bed and I cast on the peacock shawl........ again! I've made good progress. I've put in stitch markers this time at the border and centre stitches. It's helping no end. Lord knows why I thought knitting without them would be a cunning plan. It's so much easier to track back and work out where I am in the pattern now. 

On the horizon - 

I now have 2 'at home' projects.  I have my peacock shawl and I have the Gansey socks which have felt no love at all this week. Of the 2, I think the socks will be TV knitting as I proved last night that lace and TV aren't a good combination for me at the moment. I need to cast on a mobile project. It will probably be a pair of socks. Or maybe a hat. We'll see. I'll have a rummage through my stash and see what takes my fancy. 

I really want to spend some time spinning to. Whenu sits looking woefully at me. She needs to feel the love!  This week. This week I will spin. Honestly! Hopefully!

What are you guys up to?    

Have a good week 

Ellen x 

Two Steps Forward

And at least 3 back!

Week in review-

I finished reading 'Rachel's holiday' and also read 'Here's looking at You' by Mhairi McFarlane. Rachel's holiday was another pleasant read. It wasn't challenging in anyway and make good reading while I knit. Likewise Here's looking at you; no brain was needed. I knit vanilla socks and was pleasantly entertained by this story. Both books ended happily ever after. It's been nice to read something I wouldn't normally pick. I'm a sci-fi and fantasy girl usually, while these books have been enjoyable, I'm not inclined to change my reading habits now. I like to have something to get my teeth into. Some action, suspense, mystery rather than superfluous fluff. To that end I read 'Die, my love' by Penelope Fletcher. Sigh! More fluff. I suppose I should have read the synopsis. I saw vampire and thought "ooh, blood guts and gore!" Nope. I got vacuous cack. I have a horrible feeling that there are more in the series. I won't be buying them!  I'm now reading 'The Casual Vacancy' by J K Rowling. I'm not that far in, and so far I'm still struggling with the tone of the book. I know I shouldn't, but I can't help thinking that the language used shouldn't be coming from the pen of the woman who wrote Harry Potter! 

Feeling the love - 

On the crafting front this weeks blog title says it all!  It started so well! I finished the vanilla socks

Despite measuring umpteen times, I still managed to make the leg on the second sock a good inch shorter than the first! For this reason, they're now my socks and Jean will get another pair! 

Mara's mitts saw significant progress - I've nearly finished the first mitt. I ripped it out twice which was no mean feat I can tell you! I'm using Katia Darling yarn. It's a 100% merino single and it's been an absolute swine. Ripping back was problematic because it's fluffy. That fluffiness objects violently to being unknit! Also the yarn has been processed badly in my opinion. It's a gradient, and being a single, it's more delicate to deal with than a plied yarn. I understand this, but when the single broke during processing there has been no care taken in re-joining the yarn. The colour progression stops dead and it's crudely tied to a completely different colour. This means I now have lots of bits of yarn where I've broken the knot and then had to pull out the ball to find the next section which is in the general area of colour change I was at before the break! It's frustrating. My frustration was compounded by my inability to get the Gansey pattern Mel designed. Don't get me wrong, it's nothing to do with the way Mel has written the pattern, it's me! It's not a difficult pattern by any means, but it seems to be beyond me. Dear lord! I've managed the most complicated lacework, and yet knit and purl defeats me! I must confess I've given in and substituted a different pattern into that section. It's a 2 row repeat that I can cope with! I've put them down now because I wanted to buy buttons so I can check the fit. I'm quietly convinced that I've done the arm increases wrong. I don't think the pattern section is going to sit straight on the arm. 

I've done nothing on my KTSSKAL project since New Year's Day. Mara's mitts and the epic fail that is the silver birch sock had taken most of my time. The silver birch socks are now frogged and even deleted from my project page. I just didn't want to focus that hard on a sock right now. The pattern is full of cables and twisted stitches. I also decided I was knitting the wrong size. It's a pattern I definitely want to do, but not now. I've got a complicated pattern on the go in the Peacock Shawl, so I need a mindless project to work on. 

To that end I've cast on a pair of Gansey socks from 'Socks from the Toe Up' by Wendy D Johnson. It's a simple diamond pattern - we'll see how I get on with this Gansey. 

I do have an FO this weekend. I test knit the 'wave and box hat'.  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wave-and-box-hat  It's a great knit. Just 100 yards and a weekend produced a lovely hat. The simple slipped stitch pattern gives a great effect and the floats give a little extra thickness and warmth to the fabric. It's due for release towards the end of January and I can't recommend it enough. 

On the horizon - 

I'll work on the peacock shawl this week I hope. 

I'll also get some buttons on Mara's mitts and check the fit before I continue any further. 

Then there's my 12 socks in 2014 challenge. I need to work on pair 3 - the Gansey socks. I'm ahead if the game right now, and I don't want to fall behind. I'm thinking that my March - April KTSSKAL project will be a complicated sock pattern. 

Will I spin at all? I hope so

Have a great week guys. 

Ellenx. 

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a good New Year's Eve and this morning is not proving to be too traumatic! 

The purpose of this post is to flesh out my ideas on the Knit To Stay Sane KAL 2014. This year I plan to knit and spin from stash. My problem is that I go through my stash and pick a skein, then I spend hours trawling through patterns pontificating about what to knit next. To that end the KTSSKAL 2014 aims to facilitate this. Every 2 months a new round starts. 

What you need to do - 

Go to the Knit to Stay Sane Ravelry group and post in the "lets KAL 2014" thread. Make a poll telling us what yarn you want to use and give us 3 or so choices of pattern you fancy knitting. There are instructions in the thread telling you how to make a poll. Don't panic it's a doddle! After a week or so, take the results and cast on. 

There is a chatter thread for doing just that. Post a photo of your FO in the FO thread and at the end of the 2 months I'll pick a winner. Please don't chatter in the photo thread, it makes things tricky when picking a winner and I hate to delete what others have said. 

Use  #KTSSKAL to keep us posted on Twitter and Instagram. Use KTSSKAL to tag your projects. 

What say you? Is it a cunning plan?

I've started already. I'm casting on the Peacock's Feather shawl by Annette Socken-Wahsinn. I'm using a skein of Fyberspates Gleem Lace in the Tweed Imps colour way that I picked up at Woolfest last year. 

I'll keep you all posted on my progress

Happy knitting. 

Ellen x