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

It's such a pain Meryl, 100m doesn't go far! I'm considering abandoning the effort and giving fibre instead. I've got about a week left to make it. Those are lovely mitts though, tempting, for me

Very difficult to find something that you actually want to knit!

Ah sorry you've had to go back in Night I hope you get into a good routine soon. The first few weeks are so tough.

I finished my pig. As soon as I saw this pattern I had to have it, I love it. Some parts were hard and fiddly and I've made a few mistakes but it's a really fun pattern and my kids are going to love playing with it. If I make it again I'll probably use a smaller hook and complete some training as a neurosurgeon.

Practice makes perfect, on we go!

Oh InTheNight sorry you're back in. Fingers crossed you're both back out, and home again, soon 🤞

Meryl I have no idea what I'd study tbh. I haven't even thought about it properly, there doesn't seem much point.

Oysterbabe I have that pattern up on my etsy so I don't forget about it! She's ace 🥰 What's next?

My friend has asked me to make something for her imminent grandchild and I'm doing that next. I'm waiting for her to confirm if she wants an elephant or a bear.
After that I have the dragon and egg pattern by the same designer that I'm going to make. I have a couple of people begging me to make the sheep for them.

That is simultaneously terrifying and brilliant Oysterbabe What dragon pattern are you going to do? DS is reading a series about dragons and I was going to make one for his stocking...

Lucysmam DH mentioned to me yesterday that some of the schools here are advertising TA vacancies on their Facebook pages to reach more people. Just thought I'd mention it to you in case your school has done something similar. I don't follow DS school's FB page so wouldn't have had a clue...

Did anyone do Deramores spin a wheel thing during the week? I got "sorry no luck this time" and then got an email with a voucher for nothing. Now I've got their black Friday emails but they've put my back up 😂

This is the dragon.
www.etsy.com/uk/listing/994865369/dragon-with-hatching-baby-crochet?ref=share_v3_lx

OMG Oysterbabe - are you sure you're a beginner?! That pig is brilliant!

Right, I'm setting off down the M6 shortly on a 4hr journey to go and help my parents prepare for their house move. I hate doing long car journeys on my own! This one at least isn't navigationally too challenging (even for me), and I have my trusty satnav just in case! I've packed my knitting. Still pleased with how the hat's coming along.

@lucysmam do you mean the sock that wasn't machine washable? I'm going to make, and wash, another one and they can be slippers. Sorry the job hunt isn't working out. It's so stressful isn't it!

@InTheNightWeWillWish sorry the feeding isn't working so well. Hopefully they will sort it easily. I 2nd the recommendation for the breastfeeding network. I used to be a peer supporter for them and they are fab. (It was 13/14 years ago though so I'm rusty and probably not able to give advice)

@Oysterbabe I love her patterns! I've been eyeing them up forever. But don't know any one who would want one. Although I think she does a unicorn in an egg which DS1 would love!

In other news, DS1 told me this week that he has a boyfriend. I knew he was gay, and had suspected this "friend" was more than a friend. But my wider family are quite vocally homophobic, as is his dad so we've got a rocky road ahead.
And my friend (meant to be "with benefits" but the universe is against us and we've never managed the benefits part ) has had a heart attack and has to have surgery next week.

Oh gosh crochetbug I'm so sorry to hear about your friend.
And your poor son, hopefully his dad and wider family will change their tune when it's someone they know and love. I can imagine DH's family would be difficult if one ours is gay. At least he has you in his corner.

Your hat is amazing lazylinguist I can't fathom how it's even possible to do a pattern like that

I love all the designs by Laura Sutcliffe on Etsy, they're so fun. Luckily I have an enormous pool of children of friends and family who would love them.
I want to have a go at this one. The main thing that puts me off is that quite a lot of the ones people have made in the reviews really don't look good.

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/836315989/birthing-mother-baby-crochet-pattern?ref=shop_home_recs_5&crt=1

Thanks for the love everyone. We’re back home again and might have some visits from family over the weekend, depending on the weather.

crochetbug sorry to hear about your friend. Sending positive vibes both your ways. Hopefully your family and DSs dad come around but he’s got great support from you if not.

@crochetbug i bet you feel so proud of your son. That's Amazing and a great reflection on you that he has the confidence to come out, despite familial beliefs 😡. You've got his back, that's the most important thing.

Hope your friend recovers real soon.

@inthenightwewillwish so glad you're home safe and well ♥

@lazylinguist hat is simply fabulous. Is this your one or husbands one??

@nicecardigan sending healing vibes to your hands. Are there any other crafts you can pick up for when your hands are so bad? Arm crochet??? 😂 🤣

👋 to anyone I've missed.

Glad you're home InTheNightWeWillWish!

Oh I'm sorry to hear about your friend CrochetBug and I hope your family and ex behave themselves about your son. Glad he has you to support him!

Wow lazy, that's gorgeous! Hope you arrived at your destination without any detours and maybe even got a bit of knitting done

DS2's school was closed today so we went round to my parents and I hijacked my DM's knitting machine while he played. I got 50g of the handspun I was originally going to use knitted into a cowl and I've got it soaked and it's blocking now. Now I've just got to get Kevin finished. He's so fiddly and the tension is so tight I'm having trouble starting his shoes from his trousers..

@CrochetBug I have a very gender-non-conforming dd who may well be a lesbian. Your wider family may be homophobic, but the wider world is increasingly not, so he has every chance of an open and happy love life! Especially with a lovely supportive mum like you!

Your hat is amazing lazylinguist I can't fathom how it's even possible to do a pattern like that

It honestly isn't very difficult! It's just normal knit stitches. You just grab hold of the other colour when it's time to do a stitch in the other colour!

Glad you're home again @InTheNightWeWillWish. Give baby a squeeze for me!

That hat is beautiful @lazylinguist

Thanks everyone for your comments about DS and my friend. Friend is off for surgery next week. I'm secretly terrified for him.

DS is wonderful. He's very into musical theatre and whatnot so I'd be surprised if anyone else didn't already guess he's gay. (Sorry for the stereotype ) My mum and step dad won't care, they love him anyway. Or at least my step dad won't say anything if he does have an opinion. I don't think my step siblings will care either.
My dad and brother otoh often make homophobic comments and pass them off as "jokes" . My dad refuses to watch strictly every since they has a Same sex couple. Even though its perfectly normal for 2 women to dance together. I told DS he can tell them, or not, when he's ready and I've got his back, always. He said the only people he cares about are me and my mum anyway
Actually my cousins DD is gay. When I asked my uncle if he'd met her GF he said "I'd rather not talk about it. It's probably a phase"

@CrochetBug wishing your friend all the best and a virtual hug for you. You sound like a great mum.

@lazylinguist you're inspiring! I might have a go ata bit of colour on my new gnome.

@InTheNightWeWillWish glad you're home.

@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack thank you for the Drops /Purple Sheep tip a while back when I was struggling to keep up with the thread. I've spent the morning putting samples in my basket and feeling embarrassed there are so many. I think it would be easier to phone them and ask them to do the lot!

I am thinking of starting a jumper. I have a pattern in mind (the colour fade one I posted a while back called Pouf) but the yarn I want to do it in isn't right. The pattern is for two strand of four ply held double. I want to do it in Drops Alpaca silk held single. It's officially Aran weight but it's not really because it's so fluffy. I'm going to do a swatch later but do you think it's worth a go or shall I just give up and find another pattern? Never done a jumper before!

Can someone just check I'm reading R1 right please...I need to mark (for size XL) the first 5 sts, 7th st, sts 9-13, and st 15?

I'll pop back to see what you're all up to shortly, I want to try and get a couple of rounds of these socks done while the girls are busy!

Thank you for the kind words everyone my hand is a bit better today and I had my COVID booster this morning and am feeling fine so far. I think it is arthritis so I’ll have to find a way to live with it.

I hope your friend is ok Crochetbug you sound really supportive to your DS.

Oh wow Meryl that would be so super fluffy and light! It’s definitely worth swatching and seeing what you think of the fabric. Sounds like it could be gorgeous! Glad the purple sheep thing worked

I’ve spent bits of today doing a DIY loom, I fancy giving weaving a try and I think in theory it should work.. Theory is a wonderful place but if doesn’t I’ll have only wasted bits of scrap and time instead of money so won’t be too bad. Nearly finished it and then I can get yarn onto it and try it out!

I tried working it out but got confused lucysmam, sorry! Plus I’ve lost my reading glasses which isn’t helping!

Me too Flavia! I'll try it and see how far I get. I didn't even manage to make a start yet 🙄

@CrochetBug I hope your friend's ok. & your ds will be just fine with you behind him!

@MerylSqueak I haven't come across either of those yarns yet to comment either way, sorry.

@InTheNightWeWillWish I hope your family visits are going well, if they weren't snowed/blown off! Don't forget you need some down time too though! It's knackering having a whole tiny person to be responsible for!

I have the mansion roof, and the bandstand, ready to block tomorrow hopefully. Then I'll try the church again. I was struggling with my tension on that one before, so hopefully it'll work better this time.

I can't make head nor tail of that pattern @lucysmam the more I read it the more confused I am

@MerylSqueak I'd swatch it and see how it turns out.

Don't say that @CrochetBug I'm slightly regretting it now but sure they'll turn out fabulous! 🤔

Thanks lucysmam my mum got caught by the snow on her drive so didn’t make it down and she doesn’t think she’ll make it down for a couple of weeks until she’s due to come down for a week and help me out when DH goes back to work. It’s a bit rubbish but there’s not much we can do. My dad’s visit was fortunately only a couple of hours so not too overwhelming.

We’re going to go to town tomorrow and show her off The wool shop is shut on Sunday so I can’t take her in there for everyone to coo over her, so that might have to be next week! However, the market is on tomorrow and we’ve got to know one of the traders so we’ll be showing her off there. I’m definitely at the point of being in awe of making something so tiny whilst still going about my life. I feel like turning up to work on Monday and being like “look what I made while still doing my job these last few months, what have you lot done?”