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

NiceCardiagn I love the temperature blanket, it’s making me wish I’d done stripes for mine now. I’m not up to date with mine but not terribly behind though and hopefully should be able to catch up quite easily. I’ve been practicing my knitting and crochet has taken a bit of a step back. I’m trying to do little bits here and there though and I’m really enjoying seeing the warmer colours come in now.

It’s been a nicer project that I expected - I’ve enjoyed seeing the changes in temperature and can see when we have an especially cold or warm few days. As it’s just plain knitting I save up a week or so and enjoy a bit of doing something easy. The other thing I’m working on is a blanket from DD1 to go on her sofa. I’m seeing her in a couple of weeks but I’m not sure if it will be done by then.

That looks great too, @NiceCardigan!

I think I might have decided what to make next. I have a gorgeous skein of hand-dyed merino dk which I've been wondering what to do with. And I have a Katie Davies book (Buachaille) of entirely dk patterns which I've never used.

I'm thinking of making the bunnet and/or the pawkies using the hand-dyed stuff as the mc and a yarn picking out one of the darker colours for the contrast (probably either a damson or russet colour). What do you think? bunnet pawkies

I vote for the pawkies - but I am a fan of fingerless gloves & never wear hats, although I do like the pattern on top of the hat!

Stego has his eyes now, & I'm 3/4 of the way through the hat part of the butterfly life cycle pattern 🦋

I love them both @Fairislefandango! You’d definitely need a really strong contrast colour, maybe one that’s a few shades darker than the ones in your skein even…

You’ll be so organised by Christmas @lucysmam!

I’m messing around with tablet weaving at the moment, I sacrificed a set of playing cards DH got with a Christmas present and I’m trying out a shoelace pattern. I think it may end up being too thick to be shoe laces but I’ll try it with my DM’s

@SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound it's funny you should say that - the girls have re-useable advent calendars & I ticked off my list for those, this morning. Just some chocolate & a fiver for our Christmas eve trip to the market to add closer to December 🤣 And their stockings are well on their way too...

What's tablet weaving? I'm off for a google

I love the way you innocently and casually drop new crafts into the thread to tempt us, @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound

at least it only costs some yarn and some cardboard squares so it’s a free activity

Free yarn?

Speaking of yarn, I've just ordered some for my contrast colour. It's Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino in a strong russety red, which is a colour that features in my hand-dyed stuff (fairly sparsely, but it stands out from the other colours quite strongly).

OMG - I just accidentally pulled one of my dpns right out of the stitches on ds' sock . I'm very bad at dealing with mistakes in knitting, snd much shrieking and swearing ensued . It's very fine, slightly fuzzy sock yarn, but fortunately I managed to get the needle back in all the stitches! Ds and dh were at my dramatics

Yikes nice save!

Oh, that is a real lovely yarn, it’s so soft!

I may be adding tablet weaving to my hefty list of things to try; thanks @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound! I wonder, actually, if my Guides might enjoy it once they got the hang of it 🤔 Seems like it might be something to pick up/put down as and when? There are some who always sit out when we play games - maybe this would be a good alternative & they'd get a 'thing' at the end. I shall ponder some more & try it first!

My caterpillar now has her butterfly hat & her cocoon is coming along nicely 🦋 I had started the belt the wings attach to, but mine seemed bigger than the one in the pictures so I frogged & will try again tomorrow at some point, once the cocoon is finished.

That is so cute @lucysmam!

That's an adorable caterpillar, @ lucysmam!

I've nearly finished ds' second sock,so I'm looking forward to getting started on my new project when my yarn arrives! I blocked ds' first sock this time. I haven't bothered blocking socks before, but I bought some sock blockers at Yarndale so I thought I should use them! It does make them look nicer!

That’s so cute @lucysmam! That’s such a good idea too about how to learn the lifecycle.
I think your guides would enjoy it, you can make little bookmarks using DK wool which is really quick once the cards are threaded. The threading is the fiddly bit really.

That looks really soft @Fairislefandango! Sock blockers do make such a difference aesthetically..

Lovely shades of blue @Fairislefandango. I see everyone is having a very productive Easter weekend!

We've had a lovely day out today in Chester (zoo, then city centre)! Only got back an hour ago and found my contrast yarn for my hat has arrived already! Settling down in front of the tv to carry on knitting ds' sock. Determined to finish it before I start the hat!

Lol, that is very industrious Fairisle! You jogged my memory of my sock WIP with your photo so I had a good hunt though my wool cupboard this morning and finally found the little ball of green for the contrast heel and toe of my long stalled sock so I have no excuse not to crack on with it now

Having thought of lots of options for my next project I promptly ditched them all when I spotted this www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/peerie-leaves-jumper

I love how different it looks in all the different wool types.

That's beautiful, @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound!

New mumsnet has broken my username! I’ve just had a lovely day at the V&A with my friend at the mens fashion exhibition. I have sore feet now though from all the walking.

I'm just doing the edging on my giant granny Square blanket that I have done in ombre DK, I'm keeping going until I have used the last two balls of yarn up. I want to do another one next but I can't decide what yarn to use, I fancy a super chunky one, I have seen the chenille yarn but I'm not sure how it will wash, has anyone else used it? I'm fairly new to crochet & not very experienced in yarns.

@Nat6999 I have some chenille yarn. I bought it to make re-usable water balloons last summer. It's quite frustrating, I think - I found it hard keeping track of where my stitches were 🙄

I'm regretting not bringing any crochet with me on holiday. I chose not too as my current WIPs aren't very portable. Might have to break into MIL's stash and do some little hearts or something just to keep my hands busy

I've just had fun using my skein winder for the first time. Dsis bought it for me for Christmas, so I sent her a video of me using it

I don’t know whether it’s tagging people or using smilies but this new site is not happy :-0 I’ve been trying to post and I keep getting a pop up stopping me. It also appears to hate capital letters at the start of sentences.

Nat my DM made a granny square baby blanket with chenille, she didn’t have any problems with it, though tbf she can crochet with her eyes shut…

That’s a brilliant gift Fairisle!

I have serious museum envy StillNiceCardigan that sounds like an amazing day out!