Knit, Crochet and Natter 7: the School of Stitchcraft and Wizardry

[lazylinguist]

A thread for woolly crafters of all kinds, from beginner level to advanced sorcery!

Previous thread here

Well, I think it's mostly the sizing. I like the texture and the wool.

But I permanently borrowed one of my DF's Aran jumpers my great aunt knitted for him that I wear when I'm spending time on the beach in the winter with the DC. He's over 6' and I'm barely over 5' and I swear his jumper is smaller on me than this one and my gague came in slightly smaller than the pattern so it 'should' have been bigger 😄 If I was svelte and taller it would look great!

Well done @FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack. It looks expertly done.

That's why I'm always so nervous about sizing Flavia! I never have any confidence things will fit!

I have an afternoon to myself today. The hat is calling to me, but I'm meant to be blitzing the house and doing tons of laundry! The problem with supply teaching is that I can never rely on getting to do things like housework or supermarket shopping when I've planned to. I've decided the answer is to treat my hypothetically free weekdays/half days as not free and do all my chores before/after school hours and at the weekend. Then if I don't get called for supply, I can spend the day knitting .

I'm back from our holiday and just caught up with the thread! Such amazing things on here!
@lucysmam your little cottage is adorable! Did you have to PVA the whole thing or?
@CrochetBug I love the sock pattern you've used! Shame about it felting but at least you know now for future reference!
@Oysterbabe the mermaid is adorable, I hope the recipient loved it!
@InTheNightWeWillWish that little bear suit is gorgeous! Looks so snuggly! What buttons are you going to use?
@lazylinguist I'm so glad your mum hasn't got anything horrendous- even though IBS is no fun, myself, my sister and my mum have it (however I don't have it as bad as them thankfully)! The hat looks great, love those colours together!
@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack the jumper is beautiful! Such a shame the sizing is so off! Hopefully your brother or mum will get some use out of it though!

I'm so sorry if I've forgotten anyone, I'm on the app and it doesn't like me going back and forth to check so I have to try and remember everything!

The thread seems to be busy today!

@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack your jumper looks like ideal snuggly jumper material! I'm sure whoever eventually claims it will love it.

@sophs29 yes, soak the whole thing in 50/50 water and pva mixed together, blot any excess, then pin it out to the template size and leave it to harden & dry out.

I've tried to soak the base part a little more today; the sides dried stiff but the base didn't dry as stiff so I wasn't sure how well it would stand up. I'm going to try putting the first one together tomorrow I think 🤞

Right, house acceptable clean and tidy, dh i/c dinner. Just got to pop and pick dd up from her friend's and then I can settle down to knit a bit more hat. Hope you had a good holiday @sophs29!

@MerylSqueak Good idea about felt slippers. I can pretend that was the aim all along

@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack I love the colour of that jumper! Sizing is such a pain. I've got loads of "loose fit" ruanas that I made in the summer. 2 of the 3 tops I made don't fit and need frogging and adjusting. But it seems a little pointless as I'm hopefully going to lose weight with my new diet regime which I'm struggling to stick to.
I've got fish pie cooking for dinner. I've topped half with carrot and swede mash instead of potato. I'd make it all that way but DS1 won't eat swede. Fussy bugger.

I looove swede! I could eat a whole bowl of it all on its own (with lots of butter and black pepper). Roast chicken thighs with roast veg and homemade pesto for dinner here.

Oooh, we haven't had swede for ages! Dd2 is also fussy & wouldn't eat it 🙄

Do these look ok? They're meant to be candy cane holders but I can't decide whether to carry on with them or not. I was going to make them with hangers for my Rainbows and Guides if they're alright. They do need blocking but I figured I'll do them all at once if I carry on

That photo's actually dreadful 🙈

Ooh I see @lucysmam can't wait to see it when it's finished! How are you finding the tiny crochet? I still haven't started the micro crochet I wanted to try!

@lazylinguist it was a great holiday thank you, now I need another holiday on my own to recover from that holiday with 3 fussy boys (I've included DP in the boy category) 😂

@lucysmam they look great to me! Do you weave the candy canes in and out of the holes? What a sweet idea!

@sophs29 yeah, like these. I haven't bought the candy canes yet though, too tempting having lots of nibbley stuff about the place 🤣

The tiny crochet's actually not as daunting as it looks. The thread's fiddly to work with but it's ok once you get the hang of it. I may have been browsing other patterns last night 🤔 someone posted a pretty parasol on one of the fb crochet groups...not that I'd ever need a parasol, but it was beautiful!

My oven dish, which has had a crack in it for ages, broke!!! I'm so gutted. Now we have no fish pie, the oven needs cleaning and I'll have to spend forever looking for another dish that's the perfect size and shape for lasagne.
Its the most proper cooking I've done for ages too. I actually want to cry.

Ah no way :( I'd be gutted if mine broke. Mine's a glass one from Wilko -it was only a few quid but it's just right for us.

Oh no CrochetBug I'd probably cry too, how gutting!

Those candy cane holders look brilliant lucysmam, I love that idea...

Glad your holiday was good Sophs! Imagine another holiday to wind down with some crafts, totally a dream

@CrochetBug at my local Tesco they're selling off a range of sizes of the blue and white enamel ones cheaply. I've seen them recommend on here so I bought a few of the smaller ones.

I love trusty old things. I bought myself new roasting tins to replace old, worn ones which I was a bit ashamed of because they're so thin and cheap. I never use them. Love the old ones.

Oh they're lovely @lucysmam and they'd be great presents! My mum always hangs candy canes on her tree so I may have to make her a few! I'm surprised she hasn't got me to decorate the house for her yet, she's obsessed with Christmas!

@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack a crafting holiday sounds absolutely perfect!

@CrochetBug oh no! I hope you found something to have for dinner in the end! And I hope you manage to find a replacement!

Crafting holiday - sounds like a great idea!
I've settled into making the hat now. Sometimes it takes me a while to get to grips with a new yarn. The Methera is a bit fuzzy and I'm using dark blue atm which makes it harder!

Ooh, I've just remembered, the next guild meeting I'm going to in December has a sort of secret Santa lucky dip. You put in 50g of fibre or something you've made with 50g of fibre. Decisions decisions, I'm a newbie so do I play it safe or what?

I could do a scarf or handwarmers or just buy some hand dyed fibre...

@sophs29 I always feel like i need a holiday to recover from a holiday

I remember the first holiday mum and I went on when the DCs dad left. We planned to do loads of craft once the boys were in bed. I think we took more craft stuff than we did clothes. And we did nothing. It didn't even come out of the car! The accommodation was about the size of a shoe box. If mum unfolded her sofa bed in the lounge you couldn't get in or out of the bedroom

Luckily i have more oven dishes, including individual sized ones. I managed to save enough of the pie last night to make mini ones today. Last night ended up being freezer food because I was grumpy! Annoyingly this one was just perfect for lasagne, it came free with Old El Paso kits a few years ago so i can't get another one the same. Oh well. I need to make lasagne with courgette sheets instead of pasta so I guess the squareness matters less.

@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack that sounds fun! I think I'd prefer 50g of yarn if it were me. (Although when I first read your comment I thought you meant fibre as in food and was thinking I'd be really sad if i got 50g of fruit and fibre in a lucky dip )

Lol, imagine 😂 I love fruit and fibre and we all fight over the banana chips in our house but 50g in a secret Santa might be a bit of a let down

Fruit and fibre

Oh @CrochetBug wishful thinking on crafting after the boys were in bed! I have that struggle everyday, I always think of all the things I can do once they're both in bed then I either can't be bothered or one of them wakes up! 😂

@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack we also fight over the banana chips here 😂 they're the best part! Aldis one you get loads in 😍😂

My first cottage is almost complete - the roof's just drying then I'll stick the doors later on. Second is half way ish done & I've blocked it's doors already. Roof and base still to do.