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

[lazylinguist]

All welcome! Previous thread here

Ooh, that sounds interesting @Leaningtoweroflisa, I got a braid of bfl and ramie with my latest order and I haven't spun it yet but it's like silk in its softness. I had expected it to have more of a linen quality and to be a bit stiff but it's so different.

I should really take a leaf out of your book and actually finish a couple of my so nearly finished projects before spinning it though Those mermaid tail blankets require a much greater attention span than I have, they're so much work!

That is very pretty lucysmam!

@lazylinguist who do you follow on Insta? I never really use it much 🤷‍♀️

Thanks Flavia & Sophs it's nice watching it grow; slightly frustrating that it's not faster but there we go.

I'm really enjoying looking at the wonderful work here and feeling a bit jealous that everyone is making so much progress. I've reached the button bands of an Aran cardigan (I posted a photo of the back on thread 1) which has dragged on so long, it has gotten past the point of enjoyment! I bought the Ann Budd sock book recommended back then ... still no socks! But, on the plus side, I have started a crochet blanket for DS(12), to take my mind off the cardigan for a while.

@Leaningtoweroflisa I love that mermaid blanket

That's lovely @lucysmam

I love my postman

@lucysmam I follow a few hashtags - e.g. #knittingaddict and #crochetaddicts because it's quite nice to see a a bunch of less 'curated' stuff made by random people all over the world.

I follow lots of knitting accounts, some of them are just random knitters, some are designers or yarn producers. My favourites are probably @weareknitters , @yarnspirations, @woolandthegang @twoofwands, @mairlynd, @ozetta, @1dogwoof, @starlightknittingsociety, @coastalcrochet and @knit.love.wool.

Ah @CrochetBug - you're back in the game!

Hi all sorry I started a thread then realised I should probably post in here where all the knitting gurus are!

I was wondering if I could ask you advice? I have learnt to knit (very poorly) and managed to make a rectangle. I don't think I can make a bigger but because it is the length of my knitting needle?

But I am thinking I could do maybe 4 or 6 rectangles and then connect them to make a woolly blanket?

Is this possible?

Hello @Mrstumbletap. I'm no guru but yes, you definitely could. Or you could just keep making it bigger lengthwise until it becomes a scarf!

Every time I start a blanket I say this time I'm going to make up some pegs with yarn and label with colours and of course I never do. The light I crochet under is quite yellow so I spent ages yesterday trying to work out which shade of green was meadow! Luckily it shouldn't matter too much if I get it wrong.

Yes I'm back in the game almost finished floral puffs, had to take a break half way through the last row so I could have my therapy session.

@tizwozliz if that's the stylecraft yarn that's called meadow I am very jealous. I really wanted it for the blanket I'm making next but it's been out of stock everywhere for so long I gave up and ordered pistachio instead.

I've finished Floral Puffs, so I shall bask in the very brief glow of being ahead.

Btw who has been being good and weaving in the ends on the CAL as they go along? Not me!

Ah, I was worried I was going to fall behind but I’m on row 3 of sonic waves! I might not fall too behind but work has been so busy this week and I’m not sure I have the brain capacity to even crochet much this evening. I don’t like the idea of falling behind though! And I know it shouldn’t matter! It’s just crochet and something fun and it’s meant to relieve stress but there is definitely a little voice saying I need to finish part four tonight. I think DH is going to want to do some Lego building too tonight which will obviously eat into my crochet time.

Btw who has been being good and weaving in the ends on the CAL as they go along? It started well! I was sewing in the ends every few rows so I only had two or three ends to do at a time. Part 3 it started falling apart. My ends got a bit short making sewing in a bit harder but I made myself sew in the ends for part 3 before moving onto part 4. Until yesterday, I’d hadn’t sewed any ends from part 4 in. I managed one or two last night and two this morning waiting to get on the server. It was looking quite good because I’ve got two ends left on one side but then I saw the other side of the blanket and there’s about 15 ends to sew in 😭 I probably need to make myself sew my ends in again before I move onto part 5 because otherwise I can just see myself accepting that I’ve fallen behind and putting off doing the border because I’ve got so many ends to sew in and I need to think while I do the first round of the border. Once I get the first round in, I’ll be fine and it’ll come together quite quickly but that first round is a bit meh in my head. I don’t need to add more barriers to getting past that bit.

I've been crocheting the ends in along with each row apart from a few odd ones where I've forgotten so even though I'm going to be behind, at least I can be smug about not having to sew in all my ends haha!

I was sewing my ends in at the end of each part. We'll I did after part 1, and possibly 2. Then I've done about half of 3. Aiming to finish part 4 tonight and then sew all the ends in ready for part 5.
Are we on part 5 next? Or have we only just finished 3. I can't remembered and if I switch tabs on my phone to check mumsnet deletes my message

I haven't sewn in a single end . But I'm probably going to be continuing doing extra pattern repeats long after the rest of yiu stop, so I won't need to worry about the border for a while!

@CrochetBug we start part 5 tomorrow, if we do one part a week.

Doh, just found an extra stitch in a previous but one row. Trying to decide whether to correct or unpick...

I thought we were due to start part 5, but it doesn't feel like we've been doing it for a long as 4 weeks already!

I started looking at the border and it looks so confusing. Then I remembered that patterns often sound really hard. And then when you start doing them they really aren't!

I don't think I'll be ready to start Part 5 tomorrow - I'm only on row 4 of Sonic Waves!

Uff; the Ricorumi I'm using for the little bear isn't going to be enough & it's oos on WW :( I only bought the one because I didn't have any specific plans for it 🙈

Where else is there to look? I've only ordered the once, from WW. Somewhere that might have free delivery or a discount code would be nice.

What colour do you need?

Part 4 done. I noticed that a couple if the first bobbles (the pink ones) only seem to have 3 part TCs, not 4. But I don't think its noticeable enough that I want to frog and redo 2 whole rows.
Like a PP (can't remember who sorry) I'm loving using colour combos I wouldn't have picked myself. I'm in love with the blue, cream and orange on the raised lines.

@lucysmam that's why I have so many WIPs. I hate buying yarn unless I'm spending enough for free delivery. So I end up with loads of things that "need finishing but only when I need £25 worth of yarn"
Luckily I "needed" some yarn to make a baby blanket so could also order the 2 colours I'd run out of!

Trying to ignore the fact I missed a stitch on my pocket shawl, it's not noticeable to anyone but me. Realised I'm often too much of a perfectionist with cfochet so nothing gets finished so trying to be OK with things not being exact. I'm almost finished with it too so looking forward to wearing it on break duties.

@lucysmam I’ve just had a look and Hobby Craft have Ricorumi yarn and it’s £20 rather than £25 for free delivery. There is also 3 for 2 on some other brands if you need to bulk out the order. Also check for local wool shops though. I’ve got two local wool shops that are closed at the moment, one sells ricorumi, both are doing online/fb/call shopping and free local delivery if you spend £10.

Can’t believe you’ve done part 4 after not working on it for a week @CrochetBug!

I’m halfway through the final row of sonic waves. I need to pop into town to get a notebook for work - it’s not work driving for 40 minutes to the office, letting everyone know I’m coming in and if there’s space for me, to get the shit notebooks (no margins) that they have at work! So I’ll treat myself to a notebook from WHSmith We also need to finished our Lego set but then hopefully I can crochet most of the day. Hopefully I can start part 5, after sewing my ends in, this afternoon sometime. If I get a chance now we’re so close to the end, I’ll just continue on with part 6. I’m not letting myself start any more projects until I’ve finished one of my WIPs and this is closest to being done. I’ve bought quite a few new yarns this week, using some vouchers I had and putting an extra order in. So I’m itching to start something new and use my pretty new yarns!