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

In other news, dh's interviews for the job he's applied for down south are postponed until January, following an Ofsted visit last week. Apparently the school want to wait for the report to come out so that the headship candidates will be fully aware of any issues before proceeding. Sounds as if it must have gone pretty badly .

Eesh, at least they're being upfront about it I suppose lazy!

I haven't got much done either, I'd done a pair of trousers and a head for Kevin and then got stuck trying to find faux fur /eyelash yarn that's the right colour for his hair without any luck. King Cole moments in Squirrel looks ideal but also seems to be sold out everywhere. I'm going to have to improvise something.

Hope all is well with everyone!

That's frustrating Lazy but it probably is best that he knows what he'd be taking on!

The pig I'm making is getting there. I've done all the tricky bits and it's just the head to go. It looks quite nice but if you look too closely some parts are quite scrappy. I'm not sure how I could have done it better, maybe a smaller hook? I was using a 3.5mm but the yarn is fairly thin. At the end of the feet I had to reduce an 8 stitch ring to 4 using 4 BLO Dec and it was just so hard. I ended up doing 4 FLO Dec instead.

@oysterbabe

I've never tried amigurumi but i believe yarning under as opposed to over gives less space and is "tighter" looking. I think there are a few tips like that. There's an invisible decrease method as well. If I were you I'd probably look up some videos on YouTube for tips. "amigurumi tips and tricks".

@lucysmam your little buildings are so cute and intricate. Can you remind me what they're for? 🙃 Is it a Christmas village or have I made that up 😂

@crochetbug that feedback is amazing. It's be so proud of that. She said such lovely, kind, authentic words. Just lovely. Be pleased, you're very talented!

And yes your hook Size is your best friend. It sounds like your instinct it's great 😁 (mean that genuinely, not patronisingly)

Mum has received the cowl with the sparkly buttons (comment under her breath "it's very small isn't it"). She seen my cable cardy "ohhh didn't know you could make clothes, I'll have to get one" just casually dropped in. She would want it ASAP in the finest wool, without being measured or having to talk about sizes.

Blue cable cardy went down a Storm.. Very greatfully received. That was heart warming. Her little face 😍 she just kept saying "I can't believe you did this for me" 🥰

Blue cable cardy went down a Storm.. Very greatfully received. That was heart warming. Her little face 😍 she just kept saying "I can't believe you did this for me" 🥰

Awww that's so lovely!

It sounds like the role may be a bit of a challenge if your DH is successful Lazy!

I'm glad to see all the lovely feedback that people have been getting for their work @CrochetBug and @Myshitisreal.

I still can't knit because of my sore hand - I've moaned so much about how much it hurts that I expect DH will wrestle the needles off me if I try. I have a half knitted sock and the front and back of my fairisle sweater done but the rest will have to wait a bit. On the plus side I 've been offered another 6 month contract for the self employed work I've been doing so I'm please about that at least!

Is it arthritis @nicecardigan?

That must be so frustrating. I'm assuming there's no way of adapting to enable you to knit?

@lazylinguist that must be quite frustrating, but I agree, at least your DH will know what he's in for!

@InTheNightWeWillWish I hope you're all settling into family life nicely.

@Myshitisreal your friend sounds lovely! Yes, they're part of a village. I'm about to attempt to finish the roof of the mansion house in a minute.

I've downloaded the sock pattern for dd1 - my friend has given me two balls of a nice Stylecraft dk, in purple which is the colour dd1 wanted, so I'm going to print it to read tomorrow. And I've been browsing additions to the village too - I've attached a couple of screenshots.

I actually came for a small moan. The TA at school has been given the HLTA job (thanks for telling me, Facebook), but the TA role hasn't been advertised & I've heard nothing further :(

In other news...dd1 is in the shower & keeps knocking all the bottles in there over like skittles. I'm giggling away at her swearing at them, standing them back up, then doing it all over again 🤣

@CrochetBug I keep meaning to ask, then forgetting...what did you end up doing with the socks you were working on?

@lucysmam that's disappointing about the job. I wish you'd come and work with us. For some reason TA jobs, which have always been gold dust, aren't getting applications here. We're pretty desperate. I've just had to cut one of 'my' lad's cover from 12 lessons to 5 and he's suffering. Our department is owed another TA but there isn't one to be had.

@InTheNightWeWillWish hope you're bothdoing well.

@Myshitisreal and @CrochetBug I'm glad your things are going down well. I've just finished my green scarf. I love it. Hope my friend will too.

@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack how's your 50g coming along? I've got some bright orange eyelash yarn if you want it but naturalistic it isn't.

@NiceCardigan just wondering if you work for the same company as I do a bit - beginning with A? Does stretching help your hands? Very frustrating not being able to craft!

I think it’s some sort of arthritis @Myshitisreal. I’ve had problems before with my shoulder but it generally calms down again fairly quickly with a bit of rest and painkillers.

@MerylSqueak do you work for an academy?

I'm feeling rather deflated tbh. I think job hunting is definitely on hold until after Christmas now. As much as securing something would be a weight off, I'm rather fed up of looking.

I realised I forgot my screenshots on my last post but must have only taken the one 🙄🤷‍♀️

@MerylSqueak the organisation I’m doing some work for begins with “The” (not very helpful!)

I’m planning some weekend knitting so here’s hoping the hand is better by then.

@lucysmam-job hunting is horrible full stop. No we're just a big standard comp. I work for the centre for hearing impaired children inside it which is funded by another bit of the council. TAs who work there are funded by the LEA. One of our has gone part time and not replaced so we have had to rework my timetable to accommodate this. The kid I was talking about is named after a Star Wars character and is, quite suitably, hovering between the secondary version of the light and dark sides.

@NiceCardigan not the same then

Aah, I wondered, with you saying 'A'.

We've apparently had funding for several positions but very few seem to be being advertised. New staff appear as if by magic though 🤔

I'd look at going back to college but highly doubt I could afford it.

Should have stuck at uni but I tried 3 different courses & absolutely hated it!

What would you look at doing at college?

I'd been reading up about arthritis NiceCardigan because it's probably inevitable I'll get it with my family history of it and they seem to be able to do more to prevent worsening of symptoms once they start nowdays. It might be worthwhile getting checked out if it's affecting your day to day life now.

I think you probably asked just as I was frogging a cowl with it Meryl it's a gorgeous pattern (and free!) and I love it but I knit 10g then realised I wasn't going to have enough length to make it comfortable. I'm definitely making it again for me though www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/maenporth

If anyone can suggest a pattern for about 100m of DK/worsted weight wool I'd be very grateful!

lucysmam sorry your job situation isn’t going well. Job hunting is so soul destroying, it’s just relentless and so few people get back to you. Fingers crossed the new year holds more luck for you.

nicecardiagn hope your hands feel better soon.

We had two days at home but now been readmitted as baby lost too much weight. I’m on a ward with lots of breast feeding support but they all have a different tact, so I’m feeling pretty confused and getting conflicting advice. My family were going to visit this weekend too which in probably going to have to delay, so feeling a bit sorry for myself. Also every ward I’ve been on, the woman in the bed next to mine seems to be obsessed with watching the Chase. I think I’m going to permanently associate the Chase theme music and Bradley Walsh with lying in a hospital bed.

Oh I'm sorry to hear that InTheNight, I hope you both get home soon! DS1 was a complete nightmare with feeding and I ended up mix feeding him for a couple of months until he got his tongue tie clipped. When I had DS1 a La Leche League consultant would come out to you for a fee, I think it was £40. She was amazing and diagnosed the tongue tie immediately after midwives took the tactic of just trying to squeeze my boobs into all kind of shapes to get him to latch

Miss your post lucysmam sorry the job hunting isn't going as well. It did sound like your head had your in mind for a specific role though, so maybe they're waiting for something to do with that?

Getting to see a GP is impossible where I live Flavia I have done an econsult with my local surgery and am waiting for them to get back to me on whether anything can be done so at least I'll get a response from a doctor even if I don't physically see one.

I've been getting winter aches and pains for a few years now but its the inability to knit that has spurred me into action!

I hope you get home soon InTheNight

Sorry to hear about your feeding troubles, @InTheNightWeWillWish - hope you're home soon!

I had a similar problem recently@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack (which I solved by buying more yarn ) but I still have these in my list. I haven't looked at them closely. Love the pattern you chose btw Any good?
www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/a-noble-cowl

www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/eowyn-mittens

www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/napy

Sorry about the bf woes @InTheNightWeWillWish
I can recommend a phone chat with the Breastfeeding Network. Helped me a lot. They're very up to date with their advice