Knitting Knightmare!

Well, on New years Day, I sent a few pictures round of my current piece of work - some 'Spingly Spangly Knitting' which will become a shawl for Aunty Bo or Aunty Marg (and another one yet to be started!!!) With Christmas over, I really needed to get a move on as I'm seeing the 2 ladies in question ion the 15th Jan.

I bought the yarn at the Knitting and Stitching Show (see previous blog entry!) from the Fancy Yarn Specialists stall. Very Jazzy it is too - hard to knit with (it's a sort of double stranded yarn with sparkley blocks like the rungs of a ladder joining the 2 strands), and the work grows slowly - I've been at this on and off since October.

Anyway, I decided I *really* needed to get moving and so Saturday I knitted like a mad thing. Finished the 1st ball, joined the second (the instructions are simple - cast on 100 sts - R1. Increase 1 stitch in 1st stitch, knit to the last 2 sts. Knit last 2 sts together. R2. Knit 1st 2 sts together, knit to last stitch, increase 1 stitch in last stitch. Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you finish 2 balls of yarn) and was going great guns.

Yesterday morning (Sunday) I got up and started at it again. The pattern calls you to always increase on one end and decrease on the other, so, as you can see from the picture, you end up with a diamond shaped piece of knitted spingly spangly material - aka a glam shawl. What this means though, is that as time goes on, you get a tail, along the decrease/cast of side, which hangs down, and every so often it wrapped round the needle at the end and needed detangling.

I'd already done it once yesterday morning and was just doing it, very carefully, for the 2nd time, when, disaster struck, the thing which popped off the end of the needle WASN'T the tail which had wrapped around the needle end but the proper stitches which should have been there. Not normally a major disaster (more an inconvenience) but in this case the weight of the fabric pulling down actually caused the stitches to run - like a ladder in a pair of tights.

As I lifted up the end to investigate what was happening, more stitches came of the needle and ran, virtually back to the bottom of the piece of work. Arghhhhhhhhhh!

Every time I touched it, it got worse. Not only that, but the end which the stitches had fallen off  was the shaped end - with the casting off - almost impossible to pick up again.

After screaming a bit (well inside my head anyway!) I laid the piece out on the floor and tried to look at what needed to be done. The loose nature of the stitches and the slippyness of the yarn made it nearly impossible. Every stitch investigated - even very very gently - resulted in the 2 either side being dropped. It was getting worse rather than better.

I knew the dropped stitches on the side by the shaped edge were lost, so I decided to grit my teeth and pull back the 10 or so rows which were really destroyed and pick up from there.

As it turned out, this was not such a good idea, just the act of pulling back each stitch had the effect of dropping the 1 or 2 stitches below it. Nightmare.

I kind of knew that I was going to have to ditch the whole thing, and actually coming from that point of view (like Mum's motto for fixing things which is "it's broken anyway, so I can't break it any worse" I thought I'd try and rescue *some* of the stitches, even if I didn't pick them all up perfectly, so long as I have a needle through them, I can then pick them up as I come past on the next row of knitting.

So I started by taking the whole thing off the needles and spreading it out very carefully on the floor...

I then started, with random double pointed needles and crochet hooks and cable needles to just *ssssssslide* the needles through any visible stitch loops - I didn't care whether they were on this row, or the one below or the one below that. The important thing was to stop them running any further down.

I still dropped stitches but I saved quite a few too. I kept thinking "I'll just get 5, or just 10 this time" and kept coming back to it all day. Another 5, another 10.

Soon, nearly all the stitches were at least safe on a needle of some sort...

It's a bit blurry but you get the picture - 3 different sized needles just holding the stitches!

Then I thought, what I really need is to be able to pick this up - all this was done with it (and me) lying on the floor. Stitch holders were the answer. But, I only had one, and it was about 4 inches long - not really up to the job. I was just about to head off to Hobbycraft to see if they had any, when I happened upon an article which explained how to make them out of coathangers!

I have no pictures of the next bit - but basically I transferred all the stitches on the needles laid on the floor, onto the 2 big DIY stitch markers I made, and the little one I had already. YAY!

I then decided to transfer all the stitches to a needle smaller than the one they'd originally been knitted on - I thought it'd be easier to catch them all - so I went for size 6 needles (the shawl is done on 10s) I also decided to pick them up the WRONG way - ie starting with the end where the thread was - because this would mean that I'd have to pass them from one needle to the other to get them the right way, and this would give me the chance to look at each stitch and work out if it was dropped and then do whatever was needed to fix it.

So by the end of yesterday, I managed to get them all onto a nice size 6, the right way and with 'nearly' all the stitches there... 96 out of my 100.

This morning I started bright and early again - and this time I began knitting again - this time from the 6 onto an 8mm needle - another opportunity to check each stitch - and I found 2 where I'd hastily picked up 2 stitches into one - thereby finding 2 more, by the time I got to the end of the row. I also found a completely new dropped one I'd missed, and realised then that the final missing one must have been the last one cast on at the end of the row which is barely more than a twist in the thread until it's been knitted into a few times.

Yay! 100 stitches. What a relief. I knitted the next row also on an 8mm and so I was ready to go back up to the original 10mm super chunky needles that this all slipped off in the beginning (grrrrrr!)

So, now how to stop it happening again - my 10mm needles now have a "stitch guard" at the end to stop any chance of tangleing or to stop anything dropping off the end...

You may notice the festive theme - circles cut from one of the Christmas cards which are coming down today!

And so, here I am, back to probably somewhere where I was on Saturday, but not quite caught up as the thread which was pulled out from those 10 rows, still hasn't been used up...

As was posted onto my facebook status - I thought knitting was supposed to be a relaxing thing!
Sheeeeeeesh!

The Knitting and Stitching Show 2010

Way WAAAAAAAAY back at the beginning of my craft odyssey, or April, Jacq sent me a link to this, the "Knitting and Stitching Show" website.

I guess it must have been early days for me because I sort of discounted it as something that only REAL crafters do. However, after a few months of serious craft production, I realised that there was going to be no better place to go - and - it was an excuse to meet up with my mate Jacq for the weekend.

The conversation went a little like this...

Liza: So, are you up for this knitting and stitching show thing then?

Jacq: Oh yes, definitely.

Liza: I've been looking at the website, looks like there's the one in London, which would be nice, but there's also one in Harrogate - you could stay with me and also visit your Nans at the same time????

Jacq: Good idea.....but....have you seen where the other one is.....?

Liza: Dublin?

Jacq: Dublin!

Liza: Ohhhh, are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Jacq: Girls' weekend in Dublin?

Liza: It's a deal!!!!

Jacq: See you there!!!

Isn't it lovely when you have friends who think along the same lines as you?

So, with no further ado, we booked into the Gresham on O'Connell Street, and booked flights (from Leeds and Southampton) which landed within an hour of each other. 

Friday morning dawned (we were up already - it was an early start!!) and by 9:30am we were checked into the hotel, and off in search of breakfast - most important meal of the day - especially when you got up at 4:30am!

We found it in the pub about 5 doors down from the Gresham - Murrays Grill and Bar - who, for about one third of the price of the breakfast in the Gresham, provided, Tea/Coffee OJ and the most brilliant breakfast baps (egg, bacon and sausage!) ever tasted!!!

We confess to having one of these brekkies every day!

So then, thanks to Jacq's brilliant organisational skills, we had bought super all-city bus tickets for the 3 days, and jumped on the bus to the K&SS venue - this was a 15 minute bus ride out to the RDS in Ballsbridge (no sniggering)

By 10:30 we were getting off the bus (it has to be said - with many many other ladies of a certain age - maybe WE are now ladies of a certain age?) and crossed the road to the exhibition centre.

With our pre-paid tickets, we didn't have to queue, and after a "double Yorkshire moment" with neither of us wanting to pay to put our coats/bags in the cloakroom ("I'm not paying €2 to hang my coat up") we entered the main event hall.

WOW!

It was a bit mind boggling. A bit like a market with loads of tightly packed stalls...we were faced with wool, ribbons, buttons, lace, sewing machines - you name it - it was there!

So, we decided to proceed in the most logical fashion which was up the 1st row and down the next!!! Each stall was numbered and therefore we kept a note of the ones we liked, so that we could come back to buy things on another day. We could do this because when we pre-ordered the tickets, we spotted quite a good deal on a 'group ticket' which allowed us to buy 4 tickets at a reduced price, but the 4 tickets didn't have to be all used at the same time - so basically we decided to use 2 to visit the show on the Friday, and 2 for the Sunday, and then we'd have Saturday to explore Dublin itself!

So we trolled up and down, chatting to the stallholders - all of whom were crafters themselves and all of whom were available for a chat! It was really really nice. 

After a couple of hours, we were only about half way round and so stopped for a bite to eat - I think it involved chocolate muffins (although there was a full on canteen where what looked to be very nice food was being served) we stuck to the coffee and buns!!!

From the upper balcony of the exhibition centre, we were able to see all the stalls laid out below...

You can just about see the upper balcony with further stalls and exhibition stands - and people demoing their crafts - spinning, felting, embroidery. Fabulous!!!

We managed to keep going 'till about 3pm (not bad given the early start) with, I think, only one other stop for coffee and cake...

And then it was back on the bus to the city centre.

As I recall, there was then, a torrential deluge - during which I realised my mac wasn't waterproof...because by the time we arrived in the pub in Temple Bar, I was actually soaked through to the skin!!!!

Fortunately, a pint of Guinness and a Hot Port soon warmed me up again and we were able to continue on for dinner.

Farewell to some Friends

Claire and Colin - the most frequent holders of the Dingbat award!

Colin and Chris

Simon and Atilla

In November, our team at work was cut back from 7 to 4 - new contract from the customer - which meant that Colin, Claire and Atilla were off to pastures new. We had a bit of a last supper together in Brios at the end of the road - it was a nice little send off.

Still sorry to see them all go though. Noone to have intelligent (or otherwise!) conversations with in the office.

Apologies for the break in transmission!

Wow, I've not blogged since September 27th - phew, I think that's the longest gap in the history of this blog. I sort of have an excuse - I've been crafting like mad for Christmas (is that a poem or a song title??) and therefore have been unable to blog about any of the creations which have been flying from the ends of my needles!

For whatever reason, the inability to blog about that has actually stopped me blogging at all - that and the fact that I've been crafting like crazy (another song title?) has meant I've had less time to blog.

Anyway, here I am, back on the wagon and thought I'd start by telling you I've created a 'Cyber Stitch and Bitch' Facebook group! It's a sort of  all crafting together and sharing the results online. There are other real life groups which actually meet (like this one) - where often cake or wine is involved - but as we are geographically dispersed, it makes sense to have a virtual group.

The remit of the group is to share stories, big each other up when we complete (or struggle to complete) projects, ask and answer questions, and generally be a supportive, creative crew. There have already been some interesting discussions, and we have had our 1st piece of crochet from a novice crocheter so it's all very inspiring.

It's a closed group, invite only, so If any readers of this blog would like to join then as long as you are on Facebook, just send me an email and I'll invite you in.

Craft-wise then, what have I been up to??

Well it was both Janey's & Michelle's (Dan's mum's) birthday in October and I was a little bit crafty there - I made them both this super duper cowl/scarf thing...

As you can see from the link to the pattern...http://www.cocoknits.com/knit/garments/accessories/fear-of-commitment-cowl.html it can be worn in multiple ways and there is no button needed - hence 'Fear of Commitment' ie you don't have to commit to putting in a button hole!!!!

So, I made Janey and Michelle one of these each. Michelle's in green (pictured) and Janey's in purple to match her new coat.

 The stitch, which produces the MASSIVE rib, is called a seeded purl (v easy once you get the hang of it!) and with the super chunky yarn and size 10 needles, makes it very quick to finish, and I did each one in 2 evenings!

Not so some of the other things I have had on the go (or still on the go!) but more about those soon.

Craftyness

I've been in a bit of a craft black hole recently - fighting with the same few things over and over - pulling them out, starting from the beginning - pulling them out - and starting them again! Now I'm getting better at crochet, knitting and sewing (and I AM getting better) it's not just enough to finish something, I've got to get it almost perfect (note: I said almost perfect - I'm trying not to get back into my perfectionist ways).

So, what have I been making? Well, anyone who follows me on FACEBOOK will know that this weekend I've mostly been doing Formula 1 and Knitting!!!!

Jan's Glove-things!

My lovely friend Janice asked me to make something with some 'camel wool' she'd bought. Camel as in dromedary and not just the colour, although, as you will see, it is, actually camel coloured too! Who knew?We scooted around the internet for a pattern or 2 and she found these - very trendy wrist warmers - the latest fashion accessory.

So, armed with...

1. Zero experience of knitting on double pointed needles and 
2. No idea whether the wool thickness or needles were the right ones for the pattern,  

I forged ahead with them...(Thanks for the 'opportunity' Jan!)

I used some tutorials on YouTube to help with the double pointed thing. Love Love Love Youtube for tutorials!

I began to knit. It came out looking like a camel coloured tube - this was what I wanted!!!

I kept going - it seemed to fit my hand/wrist - this was also what I wanted!!!

I had to do a couple of alterations to the original pattern around the thumb hole as the pattern called for 8 rows of a gap to stick your thumb out and I decided this would have caused circulation issues, so I increased the count there, but all the rest has been more or less the same as the pattern.

With things being a bit busy the last couple of weekends, though, I've had no time to do any knitting since I got so far a few weeks ago, but yesterday, during the Grand Prix, I managed to finish the 1st one...

...and, get on with the 2nd! Yay!

I'm now up to the thumb hole on the 2nd one (it was a looooooooong race, wasn't it?) and hopefully, it will be done in a day or 2!!!

They look a bit irregular - I think that's partly due to my inexpert knitting style, but also the wool is of varied width and thickness - so it makes them a little 'rustic' looking. I hope Jan likes them! I think they're fab and will be making myself a pair very soon!

Booties for Sam

Sam...

The first pair I made were WAAAAAAAAAAY too small. Massively cute tho...

He has little (big) feet! So, I drew around his toes and then started another one. I made one, and still have to finish the other.

A bag for me

Yes I'm actually making something for myself!!!! It's a gorgeous wool in shades of brown and cream. I'm going to attempt to crochet in some round wooden handles. I will also line it and do all the proper pockets etc. This too, has been taken out and redone, twice. I'm going without a pattern so I just have to see what something looks like, in order to work out if that's what i want!!!

Mum's Cardie

Mum's cardie is becoming a real stop and start job. I've completed the back and the left front. I'm only about 5 rows away from completing the right front. Then, I only have the sleeves to go. It's not that it's taking a long time, it's more that I get going on it again, only to drop it when another new project comes along!!!

Some other stuff

A couple more bags on the go - can't tell - they're surprises!

F1 and knitting

What a good combination!

Lunch

Roast Beef

Plus...

Equals...

Fabby roast dinner

Bring on the Roasties!

Squids and Things

So, Dan posted this rather innocuous looking link on Facebook...

I'll explain for those of you who don't know how facebook works - (Mum, Jane, Uncle Ste, I'm talking to you!) On Facebook, you can link to websites, and you can link to other people on Facebook - and this is then posted onto a public noticeboard which can be seen by your friends. You get notified if someone links to you (you can tell by my name in blue that Dan linked to me) and so I was notified, and was intrigued; I clicked on the link. It took me here...

Stitch-A-Squid - Stitch London

The general premise, if you don't want to go onto the site and read all the blurb, is that a social knitting club were getting together with the Natural History Museum to enjoy their Deep Sea Exhibition.

You were to meet, with needles and wool, in the main exhibition hall of the NHM, and join fellow nutty knitters to create a squid. Yes, that's correct!

If I *could* have been there, I would. Leeds is a little far away from the NHM. However, this wasn't a problem, it seemed. Deadly KnitShade, the driving force behind Stitch London had created some patterns for various squirmy deep sea creatures and was going to publish the squid one on everybody's favourite Knitting Website - Ravelry!

I bought eyes and orange wool.

I set the "waiting with squiddly anticipation" flag.

I waited.

Finally, the pattern appeared. I paid my dues (no it wasn't six quid, arf arf arf) and downloaded the pattern. I had no idea what was beginning. I began to knit...

...and knit

and knit!

I put a photo of my 1st 3 squid back up on the Ravelry Website where DeadlyKnitshade had posted the pattern in the 1st place, and guess what? She wrote to me to tell me how nice they were! How cool is that? I love the internet!!!

As I write this blog, I have yet another squid in production - just sewn the head together. I think this will be No. 10!! I had no idea how addictive squid could be. 

Not so long ago, Dan, posted this on Facebook

Pigeons. Tiny. Round. Cute. I think I'm done for!

Mind you, once you start looking online for cute little craft projects, you never know what you will find...

Cork Ninjas. OMG!

Mum's Birthday

Way back in August, I arranged to meet Mum and Dad here...

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I told them we were meeting up for lunch - but it was all a ruse! We were meeting in the above car park because it was really close to my planned surprise destination...

The Concorde Viewing Park at Manchester Airport.

Why was this a nice surprise, you may ask? I remember back in the late 1970s / early 1980s. Concorde used to visit Liverpool for the Grand National. Mum would either drag us out of the house (or later on, the Shop or the Restaurant) on the Saturday afternoon, to watch it fly over - usually twice in the day. Going back a little further, I remember camping out at Eastham Woods, waiting for it to fly over. I seem to remember there were Fish and Chips involved (mind you, F&C are ALWAYS involved if you're going to Eastham Woods, it's the Law)

Note the excellent vantage point for seeing the planes taking off and landing at Liverpool Airport!

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In subsequent years, Mum has always followed the Concorde story in the press, and always imagined that one day she might get to fly on it. I think the thought of a long haul flight (something she'd never contemplate) was always made better by the knowledge of how much less time it would take to do the same journey on Concorde.

Obviously after the double tragedy of the Paris crash in 2000, and then the 9/11 attacks in New York in 2001, the aviation industry was decimated and noone was flying. The Concorde programme was shut down in 2003. This meant that Mum was never going to get on board a Concorde.......or was she?

I discovered that the BOA-C Concorde, the flagshop of the fleet, was flown to Manchester and then housed in a hangar there and being made available for visitors to go and see it.

So, after a little bit of planning and some stealth, we found ourselves clambering up the stairs, to the flight deck of Concorde.

Check out Captain Mum!

And here are our other photos.....

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