Knit, Crochet and Natter into 2021

[lazylinguist]

A thread for chat about woolly crafts. All welcome, including complete beginners.

Previous thread here

@CrochetBug

This is why turtles make the best pets. I don't think they even know I exist. Let alone try and get Involved in my crochet They aren't very cuddly though

We had a tortoise. DH was given him by an old lady whose family had grown up with him when DH was 10. DH had him for 43 years in the end . He sadly died coming out of hibernation in 2015. He was a real character and really miss him coming out to meet me when i went into the garden.

@bruffin DS2 has always really wanted a tortoise. Then my sister was rehoming some turtles so we had those instead. I've got weirdly attached to the funny things.

@InTheNightWeWillWish Ohhh he's a chewer alright! And a swallower! Our latest visit to the vets was to induce vomiting as he'd eaten a knitted baby sock in one go!

@Snackz yeh our pup is a vet bill waiting to happen. He’s either going to eat something he shouldn’t or jump off something he shouldn’t. He’s got no fear or sense of self preservation. The older one is much more sensible. I think the differences between male and females can be seen across many species. We’ve got a big bone for him to chew on - so he can’t swallow it. Have a google of ostrich bones. He can have those from very young and should take him a little while to get through, you’ll just have to supervise him and might need to limit him to begin with.

My CAL is at the side of the couch and NightPup ran off with my ball of yarn that is still attached to the CAL, dragging the blanket behind him. Fortunately I’d used a stitch marker to hold my last stitch waiting for me to pick it back up so he’s not undone my stitches. While I pack my CAL back away, he finds a row counter and decides that’s his. Little bugger

@InTheNightWeWillWish Is he a labrador by any chance?

I've heard about ostrich bones but never actually looked into them! He's usually quite happy with a carrot but they don't last him as long as they used to

InTheNight, your pup sounds very funny (and probably a bit of a pain in the bum too!)

I'm wondering whether to start the giant crewmate tonight - Nanna's going to pick up another ball of the bright, multicoloured, yarn from Poundland when she goes to town for her food shop. Or practise foundation dc for the cardi. Or something else...

snackz I see his reputation precedes him. He is indeed a Labrador. Here is a photo of the leader of the Yarn Liberation Movement! I’d also recommend Buffalo Ears, which you can pick up at Pets at Home, we got 1 hour of peace earlier as he was chewing that.

lucysmam he is a massive pain in the bum but really funny. There’s quite a few times I can’t tell him off because he’s got a really cheeky look that makes me laugh. If he isn’t pulling his cheeky face, he’s pulling his ‘I’m too cute, you can’t be mad’ face. As I said, little bugger.

Getting back on thread, as I’ve been doing the CAL I’ve been thinking it would really stand out with minimal colours (not jealous at all lazylinguist). Depending on how much I hate the CAL by the end of it, I’m tempted to do it again as a gift but with 3 colours - a neutral colour, main colour and then the odd little bit of contrasting colour.

@InTheNightWeWillWish Your stories sounded very similar to mine so I just had to ask He looks adorable (though looks can be deceiving as we have found with ours!).

I'm also amazed you have not just one soft toy for him but a whole crate of them! Ours likes to destroy them within a 5 minute time frame.

I'm definitely going to have to have a look :)

My dog doesn't get given soft toys. He adores them, but destroys them in minutes. He loves fluffy things and will steal the dc's soft toys, but he knows he's not allowed to chew those, so he just stands there with them in his mouth with his head down, looking sorrowfully apologetic.

Right, I'm trying to catch up, but I'm only on row 2 of the Lattice Stripe section!

I guess I need to start thread 3 shortly - we're at 935 posts!

@lazylinguist Sorry, I've derailed the thread to dog talk and I've only been here since this morning

Hi everyone. Can I join? I was having a read through the thread and the Cal looks great, what a nice idea. I'm a fairly beginner crocheter but my crojo has fallen by the wayside a wee bit and I'm sort of stuck buying nice yarn and then not being able to decide what I'll make with it. Seeing all your projects has given me a bit of a kick up the behind for the cardigan that's been waiting to be started though.

I'm easily derailed onto dog talk tbh! Here's mine. He's a pointer.

Ahem...well, it was the cardi I decided to start but I have bought dk instead of aran in my enthusiasm to crack on. So I'm now wondering whether to double up, or find another use for the dk & order the aran I actually needed 🙄

I haven't picked a pattern for the yarn cakes yet either.

So I'm going to do the first leg of the giant crewmate after all

Aww all these doggies are so sweet, we hope to have our first dog as a family soon my eldest and youngest have autism so its been a real journey to discover what breeds will be best! Plus the cost of doggies at the moment is crazy!! We are having to save even more!

Managed a few hours tonight! I am very slow but so so over excited by how the shells are coming out, I thought they would be a stumbling block for me but I have really enjoyed them! Fingers crossed I can be finished with part 1 tomorrow, i would like to do some of my sons blanket over wed/thus/fri as I assume we are on to part 2 of the CAL on saturday? Or are we waiting a bit?

That's looking great, givemebooks! There were shells on my last crochet blanket, so hopefully I won't find them tricky.

snackz I think if he destroyed his toys, we wouldn’t keep buying them. Fortunately, our older dog is great with toys and I think he’s learnt how to look after his toys from her. She did tell him off in the first few weeks if he was being rough with her toys. As older dog is so good, we’ve got 4 years worth of her toys including some of her puppy ones. We have more than just those in the crate , we have a bag in the conservatory and swap them around every week or so. I think we definitely fall into the category of having more dog crap than human crap, although give it a few months and my yarn stash might tip the scales back!

lazylinguist my grandparents had pointers. They’re gorgeous. DH absolutely loves them and is saying the next dog (not for many years hopefully as we’re having more than two at a time) is a pointer. Sorry, I’m encouraging the derailing. You should probably call the next thread lego, pets, mountain views, yarn stashes, yarn yearning and maybe some finished projects.

givemebooks those shells are looking really pretty. I think it’s part two onwards that will be a stumbling block for me. Some of the instructions are just ‘make a puff’, I know there is a written description for the stitches at the beginning but some of them just went over my head when I read them. I might have to get out the practice wool for some of those stitches first.

Or not; I need to go down a hook for the yarn she's picked so will frog & go again tomorrow 🙄.

I thought I might regret my grey and cream choice when I saw all your lovely brightly coloured CALs progressing, but actually I really like it. Part-way through the first row of Shell Fans.

@lazylinguist been my first ever CAL and having no stash of wool I went with the wool and colours suggested as you know! but wow wow wow!!!! i love the grey and white theme think yours is my favourite colour scheme so far!

Omg just catching up with the posts - all these cute pups and blankets  I'm in love haha!
I love the bright colours of the CAL but do think your grey & white @lazylinguist looks so nice! I think at some point (after my many other projects I want to start) I might make one in the Bollywood (I think) themed colours, so the pinks, purples navy's etc! they're just so gorgeous! also there's a pattern similar which is called 'the spice of life' which is still gorgeous but would be slightly different to this one so would keep my brain motivated & inspired hopefully!

Thank you for your nuce comments about my non-colourful colour scheme! I'm not sure whether it's partly my colour scheme, or whether it's the gauge or the yarn I'm using, or that I've just got a bit better at it, but the overall effect is definitely neater and more regular than my previous blanket. In spite of me going up a hook size, the texture is a bit tighter and less floppy. I know I said I wanted a bit of drape, but I'm liking that it looks neater!

The spice of life is lovely. Its made by the same people as the one we are doing, it was their first one.
I love how different the blanket looks in different colours. I don't think I could choose a favourite!

Anyway. I'm just getting ready for a funeral. It comes to something when that constitutes a social life

Yes that's how I found it @CrochetBug

Oh I'm sorry to hear that, thinking of you today