Hulu Lulu
Posted by: Vicky on: 9 August, 2009
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Meet Lulu…
She’s my new shop mascot, hence the name Hulu Lulu.
She’s an Alan Dart pattern from the August 2009 issue of Simply Knitting and I thought she and her friends (other hula dancers, a guitar player and a drummer) were sooooo cute. I just had to knit one. Alan Dart patterns lie this are great because you can use up all sorts of odd bits of yarn from your stash.
Off on holiday on Friday. Yay! South of France here I come! Not sure if I’ll take some knitting with me or not. I’ll have to see if I’ve got room in my bag or not!
Sewing projects for fabric scraps
Posted by: Vicky on: 6 August, 2009
The other day I came across these cute ideas about what to do with left over fabric. They seem quick and easy to do, ranging from a patchwork cushion to hair accessories to small toys.
http://www.allaboutyou.com/craft/sewing-crafts-craft-ideas-fabric-scraps/v1
Just thought someone might be interested!
Another Kidsilk Haze Cushion
Posted by: Vicky on: 26 July, 2009
Thought I’d just show you a cushion that Mum has just finished making. It’s like the St Ives Cushion I did recently, just in different colours.
It’s made with three balls of kidsilk haze, pink, yellow and green. You knit with two strands at a time and by doing so you can use one strand in one colour, and the second strand in a different colour to achieve a blend or colour wash effect. In this case Mum blended the yellow and green.
The back is a 50cm piece of Amy Butler fabric – this one’s called Happy Dots.
FO: The Tunic Dress
Posted by: Vicky on: 26 July, 2009
Finally, over a year after I started it, the tunic dress is finished!
And it’s fits perfectly. I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out.
I took it to knitting club this week to start seaming it, and everyone was full of compliments and they all loved the feel and drape of the yarn. I used Debbie Bliss Pure Silk and it’s probably the most expensive yarn I’ve ever bought. I used 10 skeins for this dress size (32″). Not sure I’d use the yarn again though. I think it might be the characteristic of silk yarn, but it does fluff up a bit and the spinning isn’t terribly even – there was the odd thick lump in it. It also twists as you use it, a bit like embroidery thread does, which was annoying and the stitches don’t look terribly even.
The pattern was from Debbie Bliss’s Coastlines book. The pattern wasn’t wrong but I struggled with understanding what she meant in a few places, which is why I put it down at the bottom of my knitting bag for a year. But actually once it had clicked what was going on with the lace panels, I did it quite quickly.
I just need to find a suitable occasion to wear it now for it’s first outing!
And it’s back to the Scandinavian blanket squares again for me now.
Picking up the tunic again!
Posted by: Vicky on: 17 July, 2009
Sat at the bottom of my knitting bag, the tunic dress has been lingering… hiding… from me… for probably about a year. It’s one of those projects which I was really keen to get started. It was the most expensive yarn I’d ever bought (Debbie Bliss Pure Silk) and I had plans to finish it to wear to a wedding last August.
That didn’t happen.
I got the whole of the back half finished, and did the skirt section of the front, but the lace panels on the front defeated me. The pattern isn’t wrong, but it’s just not been very clearly written and I just gave up. It took me ages to understand how I was meant to even pick up the first row, then incorporating a 16 row lace pattern, together with various armhole shapings, was just too much. I was having to rewrite out the pattern, row by row.
But after all these months, yesterday morning picked it up again.
And almost put it down last night.
I was getting on quite well, but made a couple of silly mistakes which when I tried to fix, made it look worse and then had to rip back 22 rows.
Not happy.
Working on the next blanket
Posted by: Vicky on: 15 July, 2009
Haven’t done all that much knitting lately. Some evenings I’ve been working on a cross stitch by way of a change. But of course, I’ve needed to get on with something at Knit and Knatter, so I’ve been making squares for the Scandinavian Throw that is the second blanket in the Art of Knitting series.
Our Knit and Knatter meeting last week was a fun evening. One of the regulars brought along a friend who has just started knitting for Rowan. She’s now working on her third assignment for them, using a new yarn that’s not on sale yet (it doesn’t even have a ball band) and knitting a jumper for an upcoming magazine. She has to finish it by the middle of July and send it back to them for them to use in a photo shoot. So perhaps it’s for the Spring/Summer 2010 magazine.
All she has is a sketch of how the piece should look and the written instructions. She seems a very experienced knitter so I doubt that will be a problem for her. She had to supply Rowan with lots of samples for them to assess her tension and it sounds quite stringent. I suppose they have to be though.
Jewellery for knitters
Posted by: Vicky on: 6 July, 2009
I was having a browse on Folksy this evening and came across this crafter who makes brooches, earrings and necklaces with mini balls of wool and knitting needles.
http://www.folksy.com/shops/MaxsWorld
They look really cute. I might treat myself to a brooch!
Looking for a knitting group
Posted by: Vicky on: 23 June, 2009
In my experience, it’s not always easy to find out whether there is a knitting group that meets somewhere near where you live. Your local yarn shop might run one or know of one, but you might not live particularly close to a yarn shop, especially if you’re in a rural area. Or maybe the group meets during the day when you’re at work and you’d like to find another evening group.
There are threads on various forums and Ravelry where people list details of where and when their knitting group meets, but I’ve never thought that is a satisfactory way to list them. It’s not easy to search and the threads can get really long so you could simply not spot a group that might be suitable.
Therefore I decided to build a simple website, where people can add details of their group, and where knitters can look for a group that meets near them. The groups are organised by region so it’s easy to search.
The site is called Knit Together and can be found at www.knittogether.info
Please visit the site and add your knitting or crochet group.
Knit in Public Day
Posted by: Vicky on: 22 June, 2009
Last Saturday was World Wide Knit in Public Day and I joined a group of ladies to knit in Plymouth city centre.
I was with them for about three hours and we had a hilarious time! The more outgoing members of the group enjoyed stopping passers-by, teaching them to knit and asking them to do a few rows on a giant scarf, started by another of the ladies. I’m not sure the shoppers in Plymouth quite knew what had hit them! Great fun though 
FO: St Ives Cushion
Posted by: Vicky on: 12 June, 2009
It’s been ages since I last blogged, but I have finished a couple of things in the interim, one of which is the St Ives Cushion.
The pattern is from Little Luxury Knits by Alison Crowther-Smith, and uses 3 balls of Rowan Kidsilk Haze. I’ve never knitted with Kidsilk Haze before and quite enjoyed it. It’s not that easy to rip back though, so you need to be careful not to go drastically wrong.
The clever thing about this pattern is the way the two shades of red are blended together. You knit every row with two strands of yarn, but the two strands are not always the same. What I mean is this: you start by knitting a few rows with two strands of blue. Then a few rows with two strands of dark red, then a couple of rows with one strand dark red and one strand light red, then a few rows with two strands of light red.
I backed this cushion with a piece of Amy Butler fabric, called French Wallpaper in duck egg blue. I love this fabric. It’s such good quality and the pattern is so pretty.
Tomorrow is World Wide Knit in Public Day and there’s going to be a gathering in Plymouth which I’m planning to go along to. I think there’s a group planning to come up from Cornwall, but it will be nice to meet other knitters from Plymouth. Maybe they’ll be interested in coming along to our Knit and Knatter group. I hope it doesn’t rain!
