Wildcard Topic//Knitting and Crochet Blog Week (3KCBWWC)

I can't believe it's the last day of KCBW already, I've had a blast doing this -  it's been so much fun and I've made some new friends along the way. I'm excited for the next year and I have a goal in mind for this blog - and some exciting new features coming your way. Anyways onto Day 7 - I decided to go with the wildcard topic as I feel I have covered most of the Day 7 topic on other days.

So my perfect day??? I would start by going to my knit club in the morning, and staying for maybe 4 hours, have a quick lunch and get someone to teach me a little more about fairisle knitting. The rest of the day would be spent in my little nook, sitting in a chair knitting, catching up with podcasts and drinking hazelnut latte's - sounds like my idea of craft heaven.

Thanks so much for stopping by this past week - I very much appreciate it and if you're a new follower, HI and welcome.
Have a super knitty Sunday, V xxx

Improving your Skillset//Knitting and Crochet Blog Week (3KCBWDAY6)

 Today's topic is a good one for me, I love to make lists and find things that I want to learn - for me my knitting career is just starting so why not learn more? I actually learned to knit back in 2005 when I was in hospital for a while; I knit squares and scarves and then life got busy and I stopped knitting. Fastforward to January 2011 and I decided to start knitting again - it took me 11 months but I finally finished my first piece - a knitted bag. It was the first time I had finished something that wasn't just straight up and down knitting, and I was hooked!!! In January I started shopping for yarn, I fell in love with needles and I knit a hat. From hats to finishing 2 shawls by April, I am in LOVE with knitting.
So why not crochet? I've tried but I just can't feel the love for it and I'm not really very good at it at all - so for now I'm sticking to knitting. One day I'm going to get a spindle and try a little bit of spinning my own yarn, that sounds like fun to me. I also want to try dyeing some yarn.

Anyway on to improving my skillset, while thinking about what I want to try next I popped over to Pinterest and gathered some images  so here is my skillset 4 - my goal is to attempt each of these by the end of the year:

Fairisle
I love the look of fairisle but it does make me nervous - where do you put all the yarn? How does it even work? I am going to have a go - but I think I'll start with just a little at first.

(source)

Amigurumi
I love tiny animals, they are so cute - and I know you can do knitted versions, but you have to be so precise, probably even more so than in bigger pieces.

 (source)

Intarsia

I love this jumper, and would love to knit something similar:                

 (source)

Socks

With the ravelympic fast approaching I'm going to be trying out socks - for definite!!!!



(source)

What's on your list? Do you have a time set for when you want to be finished? I'll be back tomorrow with Day 7.

V xx

Something A Bit Different//Knitting and Crochet Blog Week (3KCBWDAY5)

This is a blog takeover, oh dear, that makes me sound a bit hostile doesn't it? I'm not at all, infact I'm lovely and fluffy. Who am I? I am an owl-cho, or at least I will be. This post is kind of a wee takeover by me - shhh V doesn't know, it's a wee surprise. This is how I look right now:

Yup that's some pretty ribbing going on, this will form the top of me - wow I am going to be super cute when I'm finished. Right now I've been shoved in a bag:

That sounds a little harsh though, right? In actual fact V, is doing housework - I mean WHO DOES THAT? You have a pretty little knit on the needles, and you're doing HOUSEWORK? Seriously?!?! And I'm sitting next to other knits - I don't WANT to be beside other knits. I feel like I should be the most important knit. There I said it. It might be a little harsh and wow I'm not coming over well but I'm pretty and wonderful, well I think so anyway.
What do you think? Do you think I'm super cute? Remember I have some power - if you don't love me I WILL force your knitting to unravel, for stitches to drop and for patterns to change.
Thanks for dropping by, be sure to leave a wee comment for me - I could use the boost.
Twit Twoo, Owl-Cho xxx

A Knitter or Crocheter For All Seasons?//Knitting and Crochet Blog Week (KCBWDAY4)

I'm not a seasonal knitter, there I said it. I don't care about ONLY knitting winter things in the spring/summer months and ONLY knitting spring stuff in the autumn and winter months. I like to knit what I feel like knitting - it I don't get to use it for 6 months then so be it. But our weather is so changeable you can easily wear a chunky knitted sweater in the spring or a pretty light shawl in the late autumn.

I know that some people like to knit things at certain times of the year, but I don't honestly get it. Right now my Work's In Progress look pretty much like this:

Dragon Lady Shawl:

So this has only been on my needles for a short time but I'm loving the yarn and the pattern is so beautiful. I'm knitting this for a very good friend of mine.
First Baby Jacket:

This jacket seems to be taking ages to finish, but I'm getting there - I'll be doing the picking up and ribbing in no time at all.

Purple Jumper

Purple jumper is probably my biggest nemesis at the moment, it's taking so long to get done and the pattern is driving me up the wall!!! So why not just frog it? Because it's such a pretty jumper, and I can always wear it in the autumn.

Owl Poncho

I found the pattern for the fawn-cho on Ravelry but I'm not a big fan of the fawn so I'm going to do some cabled owls around the bottom edge of mine. I love the pattern and the fit of my owl-cho.
Recovery Buddy

And of course, last but certainly not least, is Ella. She's going to take me a while to get finished I think, I wish I had used straight needles and just sewn her up though - it seems to be taking longer to knit because of the circulars.

So quite a range between wintery and springlike things; the purple jumper might not be finished before the winter so it may be a while before I get to wear it but I just don't care - I knit firstly because i enjoy it and secondly because of the practicality.

Remember to use today's lovely little unique code, so people can find you - today's is KCBWDAY4.

V xx

Hero//Knitting and Crochet Blog Week (3KCBWDAY3)

So it's day 3 of knitting and crochet blog week, and you've to talk about your knitting hero.

 I've been following this lovely lady on Twitter for a while now but discovered her podcast, a playful day, just last month - it took me just weeks to get through the whole back catalogue and I fell head over heels - yup I have a girl crush. I love people who knit; but people who talk about it as well are my passion - if I had recording equipment I would probably do my own podcast. Anyway here is a lovely interview with miss greentrianglegirl herself:

1. How long have you been knitting and who taught you?

I have a typical knitting story in that I learned from my Grandmother when I was young, got as far as a garter stitch 4x4 square and ran off to find fairies and unicorns. I came back to knitting much later in life after a horrible dance injury meant I had to give up most of my studio time and I had no idea how to occupy myself. I didn't remember much so the wonders of Youtube taught me most things! I'm a sponge for knowledge so I read books and blogs, joined knit groups and was knitting lace and socks within a few short months.

2. What is your favourite thing to knit?

That's just MEAN......... just one thing? I like to fall back to vanilla socks, kind of a default position if ever I'm in doubt. I find hats intensely satisfying and I love a shawl but get horribly dramatic about long rows. Seriously, it's embarrassing.

3. Who is your biggest knitting inspiration?

I take inspiration from a variety of sources: friends, my knitting crushes, the wonderful knitting types I now work with and other podcasters. I have favourite knit books that I turn to time and time again, just for the pleasure of re-reading and if there's anyone who gets me thinking about the joy of knitting it's Elizabeth Zimmerman.
4. What is your favourite finished object of your own?

I am a litle fickle in regard to my FOs. If I adored working a particular yarn or was thrilled with the wonderful pattern a designer has produced, I will wax lyrical about it until it's finished and then almost mourn that it's off the needles. Despite this, I am NOT a process knitter- I need to see results. I think my current favourite is the Whippoorwill by Carina Spencer because I adored the NorthBound Knitting Superwash Merino that I used for the body of the shawl. The colour just spoke to me and I spent ages turning it to the light to see it's subtle shifts as I knit. Wonderful stuff.

5. What inspired you to start your podcast, a playful day?

I think I wanted a playful space: somewhere reliable for fun and adventure with lots of interesting content and an extension of the playful blog. I'd been thinking about it for a while and then blog week challenged us to try something different. So I did. A year on, I'm having so much fun.

6. If you could give 3 pieces of knitting advice, what would they be?

1. It's your knitting and you are in control. Make yourself happy and that's all that matters.
2. Invest in the time to learn good technique, it will liberate you and keep your love for the craft going strong for many years to come- the opportunities to learn and experiment are endless.
3. Ergonomics- pay attention to how you work and take care of yourself. Pain is not fun.

Thanks so much to the lovely greentrianglegirl for this interview - you are definitely my knitting crush!!! Check out her blog, twitter and the a playful day ravelry group for more information and leave her some love. Also over on the ravelry group there is a giveaway happening until the end of April - so you've got 5 more days to enter - all you have to do is post a wee comment saying what you love about the A Playful Day podcast; if you've never listened now is a good time to start.

Check back tomorrow for Day 4 of the knitting and crochet blog week; and remember to tag your posts with the unique tag, today's is (KCBWDAY3)
 V xx

Photography Challenge Day//Knitting and Crochet Blog Week (3KCBWDAY2)

Today's challenge is photography, to do something a little unusual - to try something new.

 My photo is my Recovery Buddy Eric (I posted about Recovery Buddies earlier this month) watching on in happiness as a new Buddy comes to life infront of him. This buddy will be called Ella, she already likes rainbows, spring showers and teacups:

 I'm excited to see the unusual photo's everyone else has, the examples Eskimimi put on her blog are wonderful - I particularly love the bat in flight. Tomorrow I have a lovely guest on my blog, as it's hero day!!!! If you're joining in remember to share the unique posting tag, today's is 3KCBWDAY2).
That's me for today, I'm really enjoying this so far!!!!
V x

Green Grass of Spring Shawl//Design

This is my very first pattern that I made, and I decided (due to a few demands) that I would make it available on my blog - if you do a wee search on Ravelry you'll find it also. So here's the pattern:

Yarn - RYC Cotton Jeans in Jute or any other 4-ply yarn (you could knit this in a sports weight)

Needle - 6.5mm circulars and straights

1. Cast on 1 stitch on straight needles, knit 1.

2. Increase 1 at beginning of row, purl to last stitch, increase 1. This

    will be your basic pattern.

3. Every odd row will be a knit row, and every even row will be a purl row.

4. On row 11 (knit row), knit 5, *sl1 k1 *carry on in this way to last 5 stitches, k5

5. Purl row 12 and carry on

5. Every 10 rows - 11, 21, 31 etc follow the instruction 4.

 When my scarf started to get a little big, I swapped to circular needles and carried on. You can make this as big or small as you want - just get a good size to wrap around your neck.

Cast off loosely and enjoy your new scarf.
Thanks so much for taking a look at my new pattern, I hope you have enjoyed it - if you have any questions feel free to contact me as knittingv on Ravelry or email me vicki.yelland-browning@hotmail.co.uk
V xx