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

Oops forgot the pic.

That’s a lovely little cottage lucysmam

I’ve finished work I’ve not got much crochet done this week as I’ve been trying to get on top of everything at work. They’ve not got cover in for me, despite knowing for bloody months. It’s not the type of work that is just passed around the team, we all have our own projects. I’m really annoyed with work that they’ve not got anyone in and don’t seem overly concerned. DH keeps saying it’s nothing to worry about, which is easy for him to say as he doesn’t have to fix the mess when he goes back after 9 months. A lot of my work is partner relationships and I’ve spent years building my projects up, building up the relationships, building up the brand and I’ve had to send a half arsed email of “when my cover starts they’ll be in touch”. Anyway, I’ve used my first day of maternity leave to take the Christmas card appliqués over to the care home and to buy some buttons for the snowsuit. Fingers crossed for a white Christmas this year because it looks like I need to go for a cold, snowy walk on Christmas Day to make the most of these buttons and the snowsuit

Congratulations InTheNight both on starting your leave and the impressive array of card toppers They look lovely! Those buttons will be adorable on the snowsuit 😍

That is annoying about work, I bet they get themselves in gear when they suddenly realise what they'll have to do in your absence though. If it's any consolation, mine was similar when I was having DS1 and I got a promotion after I went back, it does drive home what you actually do when you're not there to do it...

That looks really good lazy, thanks, it's right up my street

Flavia thanks. I really enjoyed doing the card toppers. They were quick to work up and I could use up bits of my scrap yarn. The only limiting factor was that I didn’t have any red yarn - which is obviously a fairly popular Christmas colour. I have a red, black and white yarn. I have rust coloured. I have a burgundy. I have every colour and in most cases I have several shades of colours… but no Christmas red! So I guess every time I’m a couple of £ away from free shipping over the next year, I’ll just chuck a random red ball in the order and hopefully be able to make a wider range of Christmas things next year! I’m not sure my work will offer me a promotion and if they did, it would just be adding senior to my job title which nobody understands what I do anyway! I will be arguing for a pay rise when I go back though (not just because of this but I feel like this is the cherry in my evidence for a pay rise).

I'd write all your evidence down now in bullet points while it's fresh in your mind InTheNight!

I cast on a new cowl thing last night, I wanted to try to use some of my handspun yarn and thought I'd try these two colours together for the craic. I'm not convinced but the purple will fade into a goldish colour soon so I might keep going just to see what it looks like...

Oh I think that sounds really nice with the fade into goldish, Flavia. Yes the book really is fascinating - I really like reading books about knitting and wool that have some history and local knowledge in them. Reading a bit of it again last night really made me want to visit the Shetland Islands.

InTheNight - congrats in your leave starting! I hope your work pull their finger out .

It's an absolutely beautiful day here (for a change), so dh and I ditched the lazy teenage dc and went for a lovely walk up Gummer's How (shortish walk but fab views over Windermere). This affernokn/evening will be watching the rugby and knitting, and dh is making game pie for dinner. Perfect Saturday!

Flavia, I agree with lazy the fade into goldish does sound nice.

InTheNight, enjoy your mat leave! How long do you have left now?

I've just pinned out my second house to dry - it's doors are already done - so I can assemble it tomorrow. I might start the mansion house tonight

flavia the case to good sounds lovely. Purple fading to gold sounds really nice, when are you going to expand your hand spun yarn into an Etsy shop? Asking for a friend

Lucysmam I went into triage today and I’ve agreed to an induction at the end of the week 😬

How many houses are you planning to make for the village?

Ooh how exciting, InTheNight! I was induced with both of mine. Can't wait to see your new bundle . I don't get to have vicarious baby excitement normally - my age group are 50, and their dc aren't old enough to be having children yet!

Ooh, how exciting! I hope you'll keep us updated when you're able.

I think there's the mansion house, a church and a bandstand left on the pattern. Plus a small tree, and large tree. I may make a second one each of the small houses, we'll see when the rest is done.

Very exciting Inthenight!

@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack that's looking stunning already! I love the colours together 😍

@lucysmam wow! That looks great! I bet the bandstand will too!

@InTheNightWeWillWish how exciting! Sending you all the best wishes and how exciting to know you'll soon be meeting your baby 😍

Ooh, not long till baby snuggles InTheNight! How lovely

I couldn't handle the pressure to make it good enough to sell! It's why I'm having such trouble knitting something with 50g of wool I've spun. It's fine for me but for someone else who's had years of experience...

I ended up frogging the shawl, the colours just didn't work together. 50g of yarn doesn't go that far either!

Ah that is exciting InTheNight
Mine are 3 and 5 and I get spells of broodiness and feel a bit sad as the baby things are being given away. I hope it all goes smoothly.

Spinning your own wool is very impressive FlaviaAlbia I thought the shawl looked great but maybe it was different in the flesh.

I've finished my octopus. A simple thing but I was happy to have the chance to learn a new stitch. I've moved on to a classic Teddy bear, which will be a gift if it turns out well.

Very impressive @Oysterbabe!

Oh that looks brilliant Oysterbabe, so cute!

Yeah, the shawl was strange, in some lights it looked fine and in others the colours just went wierd, then I got to the goldish bit and the tones clashed unpleasantly... I think I've bottled it and will just wrap up some nice fibre instead. Plus at heart I'm a selfish knitter, I like to be sure people will definitely appreciate the gifts I make for them before giving them anything or I could be making stuff for me with my time instead 😂

How are you getting on with your crochet jumper @Sophs29? I really like that pattern

Oh @FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack shame about the shawl, but at least you didn't spend too much time on it!
I haven't touched my jumper since I last posted the picture on here, I think it's a mixture of my depression and just literally not having the time to do it, it just makes me not want to even pick it up to start with. I did get the urge last night but my 1 and 3 year old had other ideas but hopefully soon I'll get the motivation/time to continue it as I love it too!

Fair enough sophs! One of those alone is enough to scupper crafting time, hope you get time and peace to craft soon!

How exciting @InTheNightWeWillWish. I will look forward to the updates.

I used to get lots of newborn cuddles as I was a breastfeeding helper but I've stopped that now. I do miss little flossy heads! DD announced she would like another sibling. I think it's because we're missing their little Spanish cousin growing up due to COVID. It's such a shame. I'm 48, though so I am afraid I can't oblige and don't especially want to.

Totally cute octopus @oy

I don't like the colour wool I ordered for the blanket, so that's going to be an expensive return. I think I am settled on the Jared Flood pattern but I am not going to buy it yet as I am not officially getting the wool until Christmas. Still open to suggestions if anyone has a favourite pattern

Pressed post by accident. Cute octopus @Oysterbabe

Your yarn looks great @FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack. Did you dye it yourself too? I'm planning to try making anthotypes with vegetables from the garden one day I have no knitting to do. Can't imagine what day that might be though!

@lucysmam I'm just in love with those!

Thanks everyone. I think the enormity of it is starting to hit me now. Having a bit of a wobble about the dogs being OK while I’m in. I could do with a DH clone to stay and look after the dogs and have real DH with me.

Sorry you’re struggling a bit to find the time and motivation at the minute sophs. The good thing about crochet is that it’s always ready to be picked back up when you’re in the right space for it. I paint (occasionally) and I find with painting it’s so much harder to just put it down for a while and then come back to it. I started painting our wedding flowers shortly after we got married (closer to 6 years now than 5) and I can’t get it all drawn and painted in one session which means it gets picked up usually when I’ve got two weeks off with not much else happening. You mix the colours differently or see it differently. So there’s the rough shape of the flowers drawn and the base of one yellow gerbera but it needs more detail worked into it. With crochet, you’re still using the same yarn and following the same pattern, a quick count of where you’re up to and you’re off again. Well, once you’ve remembered which hook you were using! It’s why I have so many bloody WIPs!

Oysterbabe the octopus is really cute. I enjoy making toys. I love the construction of them and seeing how the stitches link together to make the shapes. I’ve asked for some amigurumi books for Christmas and I’m so excited for them.

My mum or MIL has sent one of the amigurumi books to me and I opened it accidentally. I’ve just gone to show DH my book and ask him to put it away until Christmas… and it’s in German! 🤦‍♀️ I don’t think my skills are quite up to crocheting in German yet.

So it looks like I’m going to be asking my MIL (a knitter who can’t crochet but does live in Austria) to translate for me. She obviously won’t understand the abbreviations but can translate that to English and hopefully I can try to decipher what to do from that.

Yes @InTheNightWeWillWish my other main hobby is painting, and I recently managed to paint my mum a Christmas 'card' it's more like a big canvas but I thought it's something she can get out every year as a decoration. But that took me forever and made the house look a shithole as I had to leave everything lying around just incase I had a chance, also I use acrylics so they obviously dry super quick, so I just got the right shade, then one of the dc would need me and the paint was dry 😭 I just need to wait a little while to have some 'me time' I think!

I love your octopus @Oysterbabe! I still have never tried toys/amigurumi. I'd like to have a go, but I don't have any small children to make things for!

Sorry you're feeling down, @sophs29. This time of year doesn't help either, with the nights drawing in. Dd has asked for a SAD lamp for Christmas as she gets really gloomy with the dark and cold!

InTheNight - you're welcome to pick my brains for the German crochet book - I speak German, but crochet terminology isn't really a vocabulary set that I have in my repertoire .

sophs I also use acrylics, I can’t use oil as it gives me a headache. I know what you mean about the house being a shithole. I leave my crochet out on the couch but it does only take 5 minutes to put away. It’s also all contained to the couch (unless the pup knocks the yarn somewhere with his waggy tail). I wouldn’t paint on the sofa in case I dropped some, so you’ve got to set up a space, get the water and then there’s a risk of it being knocked over. I’ve had some success keeping acrylics wetter longer bu using old yogurt pots and cling film. The downside of this is obviously you still have to store them somewhere, it takes an age to pack up and when you aren’t painting you’ve just got millions of yogurt pots, and in my case, a paint stained old jam jar for my water. DH took up water colour painting and it’s exactly the same issue. So we have loads of paint supplies in our house but it’s just hard finding the time to do it.

I’ve watched the odd episode of landscape painter of the year and I love when they use different mediums. I’m really tempted to try and make pictures with yarn. It seems like it would enable me to still put things away after but ‘paint’. I’m not going to get the same brush definition though.