Knit, Crochet and Natter 3: Is it really still January?!

[lazylinguist]

All welcome! Previous thread here

@lazylinguisti live your simple blocks of colour, I think it makes yours look quite modern. Mine looks a bit chaotic. I do like the CAL but on first look it’s a bit of an assault on the senses As I’ve been doing the CAL, I’ve actually been thinking it would work really well in less colours. I think it would look really good if you did it in a sort of forest green with a sage colour and a cream. I’ve written little notes next to the pattern because at some point (very much a long time in the future) I think I’ll end up remaking the CAL with those colours. No idea who I will give it to though.

I don’t have any handmade blankets to snuggle under (yet) but I’ve been under my old next throw (very bobbly with lots of plucked threads) while doing my CAL. The CAL is getting quite big now so my thighs have been toasty with a throw and a pile of CAL.

Is your cushion cover a woodland ripple @JPduck ? Looks great.

Thanks @InTheNightWeWillWish - I was worried that the different stitches wouldn't show up so well in blocks of single colour, but I'm pretty pleased with how it looks. I'm on row 8 of 11 for the Stacked Waves now, but need to go and make dinner soon!

@lazylinguist the stacked waves never end. I felt it was a bit excessive to have 5 set of waves! 4 would surely be enough...

I’ve finished raised lines. I was a bit meh about the cream/gold (butterscotch) colour before but I really like it between the purple and turquoise. I’ve got a fair bit of those 3 colours left so might be looking at a project to use those 3 together when I’ve finished this.

@tizwozliz

Is your cushion cover a woodland ripple *@JPduck* ? Looks great.

Thank you. Yes it is. I made the woodland blanket from attic 24 for my cousins new baby and my friend loved the ripple, so had a go making a cushion cover.

Third attempt at this row of 'bricks' and I'm finally back on track. I think I must have been crocheting into one of the back loops I was meant to skip because the long dc occurs two rows below to make the brick iyswim? So I then had an extra stitch in my actual row that didn't need to be there & was throwing the whole thing out .

It's only taken all bloomin' day to figure out!

So have we all dragged ourselves out of the counting corner (for now)?

@lucysmam I can’t believe it took you all day to work out! Was there much muttering under your breath? ‘DD better bloody appreciate this blanket’? Glad you’re back on track on now. Hopefully it’s plain sailing from now.

So I’ve realised that my rescued Christmas cardboard that I use for organising my CAL yarn, is also useful for holding my wine and WIPs! This is probably one of those things I’ll have to hide when people are allowed to come over again

Im on row 3 of the section 4 popcorns and ran out of yarn half way through .
I tried changing colour, but it looked rubbish with the row below the popcorn and the row above not matching. I considered frogging it all and changing the colour for the whole section, but decided to give in and place a cheeky ww order any excuse
So that's 2 projects shelved until my order arrives. Including the CAL :(
@lucysmam that sounds infuriating!

@InTheNightWeWillWish that's genius!

@InTheNightWeWillWish on and off, in between trying to solve the mystery of the leaking bath that plumbers cannot solve , making a couple of little hearts for the bear and odd bits of housework. Oh, and a nip to the shop for wine.

I tend to pick up and put down quite often, whatever it is I'm doing.

For now... @lazylinguist but I’m not giving up my membership just yet...

@CrochetBug which yarn have you run out of, was it a full ball when you started? Have you been using the yarns as dictated in the CAL? I’m getting slightly concerned about yarn J. That’s got about 30g left (from 100g ball) but others still have about 70g left. That’s not a border colour but I’m still eyeing up the rest of the pattern and playing yarn chicken with that colour. Strangely that doesn’t seem to be the dominating colour when I look at the CAL as a whole though

@lucysmam oh you sound like you have a house like ours! Every tradesperson that we’ve had in, plumber, electrician, fireplace guy, carpenter, washing machine repair man, every single one has made the same comment: “huh, why have they done that?” It took the electrician about an hour just to work out what the switches on the fuse box were for, let alone actually fixing the problem.

I think it was yarn 'H' and no it wasn't a full ball, although I'd only used a tiny bit on the yoke of 2 toddler sized cardigans. I think it was 1 row on each cardi, so pretty much a full ball! So annoying. Most of the balls i have more than one of. This was one of the few that I didn't. Typical!

That's annoying, @CrochetBug - terrible to have to do another yarn order . Still, it might just slow you down enough for the rest of us to catch up.

One thing I am not going to do is run out of CAL yarn. I bought 9 100g balls of both colours and I'm only a little way onto the 2nd ball of each!

@Leaningtoweroflisa - that jumper looks great. And the bowl is amazing for a first time. Well done! One of my neighbors does pottery - maybe I should ask her to make one for me. She has just made 5 wine goblets for my mom's birthday. They are so beautiful.

Everybody's CALs look wonderful. I am still in the part of the thread where @lazylinguist is fixing her's. I will try and catch up now.

I also just received some new wool- in the middle of an ice storm! Very exciting - I am going to open it next. I love new wool day!

I know @lazylinguist having to buy yarn is such a hardship.
I'm kind of annoyed because I really wanted to do it all using my stash but just couldn't cope with throwing another colour in!
Plus the scheepjes I needed was in stock and almost all the others I wanted. I had to switch the shade of green but I'll be able to get started on my friends baby blanket once it all arrives. I made a massive Mickey Mouse blanket for her son and now she's having a girl so I'm being completely unmumsnet and making a pink and purple girly blanket

You'll all over take me now. Maybe I'll actually finish something else

Loving watching the CAL progress even if I don’t always know what you’re all on about! I finished my second sock so now have my first ever pair and they’re far too big but I’ve been wearing them under my slipper boots.

Finished another one tonight with a different loom and this one actually fits, and is really comfy and warm so I’ll make the second one tomorrow. I think with this one I’ll do the heel and toe in a different colour to the main as I’ve realised that seems to be standard (I’ve been wearing socks for 33 years but apparently this is news)

I’m jealous of all the socks and so started looking into crocheting socks. I know there have been a few discussions about socks but I didn’t pay too much attention to them at the time as I was just trying to keep up with rows. So I’ve got a few questions.

• clicking on sock yarn in WW they’re all 4 ply, makes sense you don’t want a really thick sock if you’re wearing them with shoes but can you practice with dk? Especially if you don’t wear them with shoes.
• saw a mix of compositions on WW, does it matter what material you use? I figure you probably want natural materials on your feet, cotton or wool, as they’re the type of socks I would buy in a shop. 100% wool socks might be too hot, I have a pair of merino wool hiking socks and they’re lovely days like this but when it’s not freezing my feet overheat. Or I wear them with wellies.
• does yarn that is labelled as sock yarn work better than normal 4ply? Is it less stretchy/more stretchy (I can’t work out whether you’d need more stretch or not to make a sock)? Basically if I buy regular 4 ply yarn that isn’t sock yarn, will my socks fall down all the time?

Most sock yarn has some nylon in it - maybe partly for stretch, I guess, but I think mostly for durability. If you are constantly walking on the knitted fabric, crushing it and effectively rubbing agains shoes or floor, it will get felted and wear out quite quickly.

There's no reason in theory that you can't make socks out of pretty much any yarn weight or type. My beloved Ann Budd sock book has patterns using everything from super fine yarn to chunky yarn. My first ever pair were made from Aran, but I only use them as bed socks.

Meant to say - yes, they are really warm! I have some (bought) very thick wool walking socks, but somehow they are still not as warm as the less thick ones I made myself. Different quality wool, I guess.

Wow so many lovely things to catch up on! I'm still on stacked waves but the last row! I've just lost motivation for it but hopefully the next part is more enjoyable!

@JPduck that cushion is absolutely gorgeous! did you make the Pom poms? I ordered myself a new set of Pom Pom makers the other day, but mine never look that professional and dense if that makes sense 

Thanks lazy. I might practice with some dk that has no home yet then buy nicer wool later.

I’m trying to crochet today but the leader of the Yarn Liberation Movement (puppy) is up to his old tricks. So far he’s used his toy lion to steal the ball, then batted it along the flood chasing it with the lion in his mouth and also got the toy pig tangled up in the thread and proceeded to walk circles around the footstool!

I'm still on stacked waves but the last row!

Exactly the same place as me!

@lazylinguist it's just gone on and on and on and on haha!

I’m back in counting corner. I seem to be missing a stitch on popcorns but the previous row is right and I can’t find the mistake. Urgh. Been trying to do this row all morning.