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

[crazyjinglist]

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

Previous thread here

@lucysmam I don't have a pattern for a dobby hay, but tbh I'd make it up as I went along. The hat part is just a basic UK triple crochet hat. The ears would be a case of increasing and decreasing at the right places.
There are some free patterns on Google, although the ears aren't as good on some
There's one on YouTube for a Yoda hat, which is exactly the same only green.
Those socks are so cool!!!

@MerylSqueak, January is the longest month!

@lucysmam those socks are lovely! I bet your DD is well chuffed?

@MerylSqueak I was only saying to DP last night that this month has been dragging on and on!

January is indeed interminable!
Dh got through to the next round of interviews for the Headship he's going for! Unbelievably there's yet another online one on Friday and then two more in person (on different occasions and over 4hrs away for dh). Already only 2 candidates left too!

I wouldn't be boring you all about a job prospect that isn't even mine , but can't stop thinking about it as it would be a massiveand exciting move for us!

Btw @MrsRussell, love the historical knitting! Dh is a history teacher and I showed him the picture you posted. He was .

I have no idea about yarn shops in Surrey @crazyjinglist but as Surrey is next to Berks we'll practically be neighbours

@MrsRussell the historical knitting reminds me of when my stepbrother needed a costume for school and asked my mum if she could make him some chain mail armour. She bought him some silver yarn and a crochet hook and taught him how to make his own.

Oh wow 'crazy that's fantastic! Fingers crossed for the rest of it!

I absolutely love your doorstop NiceCardigan, it's brilliant

That's really lovely QuantumWeatherButterfly! It looks so neat too and the colours are gorgeous!

Is your DD all chuffed lucysmam? I loved having a mum who could make me anything I fancied, it's like having a fairy godmother

Morning all - I'm very impressed with the socks, lucysmam

I've done the filler bits on my cowl scarf, so just the borders to do. Don't be fooled by the photo, I deliberately chose the 'neater' side for the picture! It was definitely much harder.

Question for the experienced crochet people: when the pattern says 'join to the top row', how are you actually meant to do that? I tried to Google it and all I found were instructions for connecting squares. But I don't want to do that, I want to connect new yarn to the work and then work a border row into it. I fudged it for the fillers** (which I'm sure I will regret), but I'd like to do a better job for the border.

I'm not sure I'd clocked you were in Berks, @CrochetBug! I used to work just over the border into Berks when we lived in Oxfordshire.

Good on your mum re: the chain mail! My mum is arty but resolutely non-crafty and wouldn't have made us costumes! She draws and paints well, but the knitting gene must have skipped a generation (my granny was a knitter).

@QuantumWeatherButterfly well done, that looks great! I would join a new yarn by putting my hook into the stitch I want to start from, pull up a loop with the new yarn and do a chain stitch. Then do the border and sew the end in.

You can start with a slip knot on the hook like at the start of the project but I don't find it as neat.

@crazyjinglist I'm Reading born and bred
Or as my Gramps would have said "Berkshire born and Berkshire bred. Strong in the arm and thick in the head good in bed"

@CrochetBug oh yay! Those were two of the methods I tried for myself, I can't tell you how pleased I am that I (mostly) did the right thing. Thanks so much!

Doesn't January last an absolute age?

Is it still January?! With Covid, I lost all sense of time. Even though I was working throughout the lockdown and attending virtual meetings, I realised that I mark the passing of time with annual events like Wimbledon, everyone going on holiday in July and August - even if I don’t partake in any of things myself. So that coupled with maternity leave and a mild winter, I’d probably believe you if you told me it was June. I’m relying on DH to let me know when things are happening. It’s my birthday next month and our anniversary and I’m probably going to forget unless he reminds me

@QuantumWeatherButterfly there are a couple of different ways to join. You can put a slip stitch on your hook, how you would start a chain, and then hold the slip stitch and hook in place, yarn over and pull through that slip stitch. I find this leave the knot of the slip stitch visible. The way Crochetbug mentioned is a lot neater but a bit fiddler when starting out. There’s also invisible joins which you can find on YouTube but I find the way crochetbug mentioned best enough once you’ve got the hang of it.

@crazyjinglist good luck to your DH, fingers crossed for him.

@lucysmam love the socks, has DD seen them yet?

@MrsRussell

Also *@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius*, may we see the embroidery, or is it a secret?

This is the embroidery, @MrsRussell - I just hope I can get it finished, or nearly finished by the wedding, then I can show it to them, then take it away, and finish and frame it.

I am going to get dh to put a stitch or two in, and I thought of asking ds2 and ds2, as well as my mum and dsis - so it's something we've all had a hand in.

Once it is done, I will need to start knitting, because ds1 and his fiancee are expecting their first baby in the autumn. I did consider making a lace shawl, but I think they'd prefer something a bit sturdier and more practical, so I've been trawling Ravelry, looking for inspiration. I'm thinking of doing it in cream, and choosing something with interesting textures - maybe the Apple Tree blanket. And once they find out the sex, I can start knitting clothes too. I keep seeing patterns for the cutest knitted dresses!

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius that’s lovely. I love the idea of everyone adding a stitch too. For DS1’s baby blanket, have a look at patterns in Sirdar Sweetie. My mum made DD one in cream, she said the wool can be quite expensive and it cost about £20 for the blanket but it works up quickly. I call it the tummy ache blanket, I don’t use it for unsupervised sleeping but every time DD is struggling to settle I put her on my chest and pull the tummy ache blanket over us and it works most of the time. It’s also cosy enough that I’ve curled up under it for a few naps on the sofa, for that reason o wish my mum had made it slightly longer I’d take a photo but it needs a wash and as it’s in use nearly everyday I don’t seem to find a time to get it washed!

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius my Mum knitted me DD the most gorgeous baby blanket using a Debbie Bliss pattern. It's worked in squares of plain knit and moss stitch, with a moss stitch intarsia teddy bear motif on the plain squares. It is absolutely gorgeous, though mum did say is cost a fortune and was a total pain to do!

Those blankets all sound good - my future DIL’s mum knits too, so this is going to be a very woolly baby!

I've just bagged up an absolute load of DD's now-too-small hand knitted cardigans to go to charity. All that love is too precious to waste. I really hope someone else can use them too.

Aww baby blankets! I really wish I'd discovered the delights of knitting by the time I had my dc!

I think I'm done with blankets for a while, having crocheted two big ones during lockdowns! I'm enjoying my smaller projects, but still going pretty slowly with them.

@InTheNightWeWillWish sorry I didn't see your last post about the granny square blanket, I have seen that one but we have so many blankets in this house I don't really want another one floating around 😩😂 I find knitted blankets so much more cosier than crochet too!
Although saying that I wish I had a baby to crochet for (not my own baby, my nearly 15 month old is the little devil at the minute and I'm definitely done at 2 DC 😂)

Just caught up on the thread and everyone seems to using the very very long January to keep busy.

We covered how to read crochet pattern charts in my crochet class yesterday this has opened up a whole new Pinterest rabbit hole.

The picture is my completed homework!

We've just exchanged secret Santa gifts (delayed to Australia Day) with my family in Australia. My parents flew out last week. I've got two little ricorumi kits so might start on one of those if I need a break from my blanket.

That looks great @NiceCardigan. Is it a course you'd usually go to physically or an online one only?

Good luck to your DH @crazyjinglist. I hope you get what you want. I too wish I had started to knit when mine were babies. I'd have lived doing blankets (although considering how many I ruined getting the corner caught round the wheel of a pushchair, maybe not).

@InTheNightWeWillWish
'so that coupled with maternity leave and a mild winter, I’d probably believe you if you told me it was June'
That made me laugh

@FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack that yarn is beautiful!

Not much knitting news here. I seem to be getting about 4 rows a day done only at the moment. I fancy knitting some chunky cottony (maybe bamboo etc ) bedsocks. Can anyone recommend me a Aran or chunky yarn to do them in? For once, I'm fed up of looking for yarn. Weird I know, but I'm blaming January ....

@MerylSqueak it’s a course that you actually go to. It’s nice to get out of the house and spend a couple of hours having a chat and crocheting.

Sounds wonderful. I'd love that!

@Turnitupto11

JugglingJanuaryWhat about doing the lantern blanket where it is done in pieces but they're knitted into the blanket as you go?
Thanks, I'll have a look, is it on Ravelry?

Sorry, I missed your post. Yes, it's on Ravelry & there's are a few different ones. If you Google magic (or mystical) lantern crochet pattern you'll get lots of lovely photos.

There's definitely one that shows you how to put it together as you go. It has a bit more 'surround' around the pieces, so you'd feel like you were building as you go, rather than loads to put together at the end.

@Turnitupto11

Apologies!!! I'm suffering terrible brain fog! I've just realised you were after knitting & I've sent you down a crochet black hole!

Sorry 🧶