Knit, Crochet and Natter 8: Keep Calm and Carry Yarn!

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A thread for woolly crafters. All welcome, from total beginners to experts!

Previous thread here

I just haven't quite been able to get on with them in the past. I drape them, rearrange them, fiddle with them, look in the mirror and go 'Nope' and put them back in the wardrobe. But I always see beautiful shawl patterns and am tempted.

Anyway... I've decided 2022 is the year I embrace shawl-wearing. Bolstered by the compliments, I spent the morning feeling smugly both cosy and stylish, and squidging my shawl and snuggling it around my neck and shoulders in a satisfied manner.

You know it's going to take me the whole of 2022 to choose yarn and a pattern, don't you.

I am torn today between digging up the front garden to reseed it and loading around drinking tea and knitting....

You know it's going to take me the whole of 2022 to choose yarn and a pattern, don't you.

No hurry . I love the choosing stage!

Things are a bit tense in the Fandango household. Dh has been suspended pending investigation of a (clearly vexatious) complaint by a student. One of the worst-behaved kids in the school, with a record as long as your arm. Didn't like being told off, apparently. Complaint won't be upheld, but it's bloody infuriating. Still... at least he'll have time to prepare for the interview he's finally got at that school down south.

Checking in for the first time in ages, I’ve been reading and enjoying the thread though, some lovely projects have been posted.

Your shawl sounds amazingly cozy lazy! I love the colours. That’s awful for your DH though. I hope he’s not too stressed about it and at least he’ll have the time to prepare. Best of luck!

I’d normally chose knitting Meryl but it’s such a nice day here I’d go for gardening I think, albeit mine is just refreshing the bedding plants!

Beautiful day here too. I've been enjoying some early morning knitting (ds' socks). Lots of housework to do, but also need to take dd into town for her covid vaccine later, so might stop for a coffee and cake!

Jealous of those with nice weather! It's pouring down here, and forecast that way all weekend! Can't wait to get into my garden! Our new neighbours have bodged the fence that fell down though and it's pissing me off looking at it 😤

Made my mum a fingerless glove, I'm quite pleased with it! (This will be 100th time trying to upload it) 🙄

That's lovely, @sophs29!

That’s lovely sophs! The colour and stitch pattern are so pretty together.

FairIsle sorry to hear about your DH but more time to prep is always a good thing. Hopefully it’s resolved quickly though. When is his interview?

Sophs those are lovely. The colour change is spot on too.

We’re away at the moment in the Yorkshire Dales. I visited the countryside museum yesterday and they have an exhibit on knitting sticks. The idea being that you could attach a knitting stick to your belt loop or your apron and ‘park’ your knitting while you opened a gate (implying it was the norm to walk the dales and knit ) or get on with something else. The knitting sticks came in lots of different designs and in England (and a few other European countries) they were love tokens so they’d be engraved with the persons initials. So it would obviously be rude to not buy some Wensleydale wool, which will be a cardigan for DD, and some buttons. The top two sets of buttons I’m going to give to my mum for her birthday. I also went to HobbyCraft earlier in the week and picked up the Hayfeild Spirit, which will also be a cardigan for DD. I’ve got a couple of other yarns set aside for cardigans and two in the process of being made. I’ve been working on MIL’s Phoenix blanket. I’m now on round 48/108, it’s getting get quite big now and probably at the point it’ll grow quite quickly now. MIL is visiting in two weeks but I don’t think I’m going to get it done in time.

Thanks @InTheNightWeWillWish - it's so galling, as he's done literally nothing wrong! The interview is a 2 day thing, on 22nd and 23rd March. He's not really sure he wants it any more. He's so had enough of the whole job atm, he'd love to be able to quit education altogether tbh . Or step down to a less senior position. But since nobody will give me a proper job, we need his salary!

Anyway, hope you're having a lovely time in Yorkshire - not too far from my part of the country! The knitting sticks sound cool! A bit like the knitting belts in the old pictures in my book about the history of Fairisle knitting- they were like leather bumbags stuffed with fleece, with holes in where you could park your needles. Similar idea!

Thank you everyone ☺️

@InTheNightWeWillWish those buttons are absolutely adorable! People always say when I tell them I have 2 DS's "oh are you going to try for a girl next" 🙄 no..I'm very happy to have two boys, the only time I ever get that little pang of wanting a pink one is so I could crochet/sew cute outfits! 😂

@Fairislefandango it's awful isn't it when you get so fed up of your chosen career you just want to give up all together! I hope things work out for you and DH very soon!

Sorry that you DH is having such hassle at work @Fairislefandango I hopefully it’s all resolved quickly for him.

The glove is lovely@sophs29.

I love the idea of walking around with my knitting @InTheNightWeWillWish!

I’ve been getting my stash under control so I now have a basket and a mini rucksac. I get a bit stressed if I have too much yarn so I need to use it up before I can buy more!

Thank you @NiceCardigan that rucksack is lovely!! Would you mind letting me know what pattern you used? My niece would love something like that! ☺️

@NiceCardigan - my stash is well and truly out of control atm. I have banned myself from buying any more yarn for a long while! The trouble is, I knit slowly and I'm busy at the moment, so I don't get much time to knit, so I don't get through my stash!

In other news, I'm planning on going back to my real life knit and natter group! I haven't been for literally years. I'd given up going years ago because of clashes with dc's activities, and had just decided to start going again and then the pandemic happened. In fact that was what prompted me to start the first thread! One of the two women who comes to my adult German class (they both knit!) is going to come too. It's on Wednesday.

I made it up myself @sophs29!

I’m quite speedy with knitting and crochet. I tend to do some most evenings watching TV while DH snoozes. A real life knit and knitter sounds great @Fairislefandango.

I love the rucksack too - I have some crochet squares but I think they might be a bit floppy to make into a rucksack! You are very clever to have made the pattern up!

That bag is lovely @NiceCardigan. I've got a rucksack pattern in my head. Just need to finish some WIPs first. and buy more cotton

@Fairislefandango sorry your DH is having a crappy time. Hopefully it will all be sorted soon.

@InTheNightWeWillWish lovely buttons. Hayfield Spirit is lovely to work with. I've got a shrug made from it and still got loads of balls of it. Goodness knows how much I bought!

@sophs29 I get the same comment about having a girl. Based on my disastrous relationship history I think another baby is definitely not going to happen. Mind you, DS1 and I have interesting conversations about how attractive various men are. It's both weird and lovely at the same time

My mum found a lovely pattern for a knitted Cape thing to make for me, with lots of cabling (which she loves doing). We picked yarn, finally decided on a colour and bought the pattern. The biggest size is 10 inches smaller than my boobs . So she's going to use bigger needles and see if it fits

@NiceCardigan that's very clever of you!

@CrochetBug it's so annoying isn't it, when I found out with DS2, instead of 'congratulations' I got 'oh, did you want a girl though' 🙄 can't wait to see your cape when it's finished! Which colour did you choose or are you saving it for a surprise? ☺️

FairIsle sorry DH is struggling with the education system. Has he thought about outreach work maybe? I don’t know much about the education system so I might be way off but it might be a way for him to use those skills and bits of his job he likes. For example, I work for a water company and we have an education programme but lots of companies are looking into education programmes. So if DH is a science teacher maybe look at the Royal Society of Chemistry. That’ll be lovely to get back to you knit and natter group. I’ve been going to the library and noticed one of the other libraries has a knitting and sewing group but it’s on the other side of the county.

nicecardigan I do not have the coordination to crochet and walk. I’ve barely got the coordination to just walk! I like the idea of walking somewhere, sitting with a picnic and crocheting but the rest of my pack would not enjoy just sitting still and as I learnt the other day, I need to get a lot fitter again before I can do some serious walking.

I get a bit stressed if I have too much yarn so I need to use it up before I can buy more!

I think I like to collect yarn. Just to know I have some in. It’ll get used at some point but I have some different yarns in at different prices, just in case I need to crochet something in an emergency!

sophs we didn’t find out what we were having which a lot of people didn’t understand because how would we prepare? I actually think there are so many lovely boy outfits and especially fabrics. The girls section is Disney (I do like Disney but it seems to be all I can buy her) and baby pink. The boys section has bright colours and animals that could be worn by any child. We had quite a bit of unisex clothing for newborn and 0-3 but her 3-6 clothing has mostly been gifted to us, she looks like a marshmallow half the time. The buttons are called ‘Dress It Up’ and there seems to be a few UK stockists and I’ve picked the flowery ones because my mum is making things girly for DD and the glittery ones because it has a bee in it (DDs name is the patron saint of bees so we’re doing lots of bee related things, poor kid), otherwise I think the animals work for boys and girls. They have some very cute boy buttons too.

crochetbug the hayfield spirit just spoke to my soul I’d be so happy having balls and balls of that in the house, although I think I’d just spend all day looking at it or looking at patterns for it (but obviously not a pattern for something I’d give away ).

This was my latest hat creation. Knitted as well!! The bobble didn’t go as well as it should have done 🤣

Lovely hat @BlueCookieMonster.

@sophs29 it's so weird isn't it! I didn't know what I was having until they were born. Now ex SIL used to tell everyone I cried when DS2 was born as I was so disappointed . Weirdly I don't remember her being in the delivery room to know! And when my brothers 1st DD was born he asked me to try not to hate her for being the first Granddaughter . Bloody weird. I love my boys and couldn't care less that I don't have a girl!

This is the colour I've settled on for my Cape. At least I thought I had until I saw it on a different website and it looks totally different!

Your hat looks lovely and warm @BlueCookieMonster I like the colour combination.

I can’t wait to see the cape @Crochetbug that yarn is really nice.

@InTheNightWeWillWish I completely agree in regards to fabrics/colours for boys, I just always struggle to find actual patterns for boys apart from dungarees 😂 for girls, there's skirts, dresses, play suits, jumpsuits, cute jumpers and cardigans, little hats, scrunchies 😂 I could go on 😂

@CrochetBug that's so strange!
Lovey colour for the cape 😍 bet your mums so excited to start it!

@BlueCookieMonster that hat is lovely! Great colours!

I like the colours in that hat @BlueCookieMonster.

And that shawl @CrochetBug. Such nonsense about boys and girls. How annoying.

I hope your husband is bearing up ok @Fairislefandango. We've had similar in our family and the person involved found it very stressful.

Thanks for all the kind comments about dh. He's bearing up ok on the face of it - enjoying a lie-in and being able to get out for nice long walks with ddog. But he's not quite himself.

@InTheNightWeWillWish - we are not too far from the new Eden Project. He has already done some stuff with them, as they've set up a new vocational nature/environment-type course linked with Eden for some of the students at his school. He'd love to get an outreach job with them when the project is eventually finished and set up.

Weird about the boy/girl expectation thing. I wasn't fussed either way, and ended up with one of each!