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

@crazyjinglist

Aww I'd love a knit and natter meet-up! This bloody application if dh's is s real rollercoaster ride though - they've now postponed (again!) the next stage until March fgs! Apparently they've been advised to do this by the local authority in the hope of finding some more candidates to get a wider field!

@crazyjinglist. They don't need a wider field when they have the perfect candidate! & how bloody rude to tell him that anyway! I'd be very tempted to tell them to shove their job where the sun don't shine!

Oh @CrochetBug sorry to hear about your friend. Sending virtual unmumsnetty hugs your way.

@MerylSqueak I really like their yarn. It’s acrylic but soft and works up well. I think most of my projects at the moment at using Deramores either DK or aran.

I'm sorry for your loss @CrochetBug. It's absolutely horrible losing a friend.

I’m so sorry, @CrochetBug - sending you a massive hug.

I'm sorry for your loss CrochetBug

Sorry to hear about your friend Crochetbug

So sorry to hear about your friend, @CrochetBug - I'm not surprised you're all discombobulated .

I'm just back from my spinning course! Usefully the wheel she had me spinning on was the one I think I might buy. I really enjoyed it and now have another hank of 'rustic' yarn . I think I'll use it with the one I made last time to make one of those chunky crochet storage baskets!

Thanks everyone. It's all so bollocks isn't it. Fucking blah.

@crazyjinglist sounds fab! I'm very jealous of your spinning!

Somewhere, put away safely, I’ve got a blanket that my aunt knitted for Ds1 when he was born, knitted out of yarn she spun herself, from her own sheep. I’d love to learn to spin - I’ve tried using a drop spindle, and I am really no good at it!

And it seems I am equally bad at counted cross stitch, cause I’ve found I’ve gone even more wrong than I thought yesterday - basically I need to start again from scratch. But I don’t know what brand of thread the kit uses, and I don’t know if I’ve got enough left - and I don’t know if I even want to do this design - as they say up here in Scotland, I’m completely scunnered with it (sick to death of it) - so I might do something completely different instead.

I did this black work embroidery for mum for Christmas 2020, and I’m wondering about doing this, or something similar, but putting their names and the wedding date in the middle, instead of the flowers - what do you think?

I think that would look fab SDTG

Oh no @SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius - sorry you're scunnered! I think that's a great idea though - it would look lovely with their names and the date in the middle.

I have drop spindles from the lovely @FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack, who had more than she needed! I'm definitely going to have another go with a spindle before I get myself a wheel (which may be some time). The more I practise at drafting the fibre the better!

My main worry if I get a wheel is that it's quite an expensive thing to buy and I may not find I have enough time to use it often, especially if I get a full time job!

Lovely, lovely mumsnetters! I think that’s a plan, then.

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius I think that would be lovely!

I did a cross stitch for my Dad and Step Mum when they got married. I unpicked about 3 hours worth of work because 1 stitch was in the wrong colour. 1 stitch in the middle of a bunch of flowers. It never would have shown up. But my inner perfectionist wouldn't leave it.

OMG, I am sure we are all nodding along and feeling empathetic pain reading about your stitch mistakes, @SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius and @CrochetBug. I recall lots of people (including me) spending a lot of time in 'counting corner' during our blanket CAL and having to unpick rows and rows!

I'm supposed to be doing housework and have spent far too long MNing and looking at spinning wheels

When I gave that embroidery to my mum, she looked at the irises, and said that the tiny flecks of yellow on the petals were the wrong yellow, so did I mind if she unpicked them and did them in the right colour! I was too gobsmacked to reply - thankfully my sister talked her out of it!

I don’t know if any of you read the Terry Pratchett books about Ankh Morpork, but he describes the guilds - including assassins, clowns and ‘seamstresses’ (ladies of negotiable affection) - and all the guilds have a badge and a motto. A TP fan who is also a knitter designed a badge for the Knitters’ and Yarn Crafters’ Guild, together with their Latin motto - Favete Linguis - Ego Numero - which translates as “Be Quiet - I’m Counting”!

If I ever get a tattoo, that’s what it will say.

Sorry to hear about your friend @CrochetBug. Sending gentle hugs your way 💕

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius I think the embroidery with the couple's names will be beautiful.

@crazyjinglist did you enjoy your spinning course?

No crochet for me today - I've been spoon painting again. Baabaa Black Sheep and The Wheels on The Bus, today. Just Humpty to do.

The girls' nanna has just sent all this up for me - the stuff with the flecks has no label I think it might be Poundland chunky...it definitely won't be anything expensive.

Some beautiful work on here! I've been crocheting blankets including Frida's flowers, magic lanterns and Persian tiles but have gone back to knitting a cardigan, it feels so slow!! Maybe it's because I'm doing a fair isle pattern but I'm sick of the sight of it 😂

Here is a section of the fair isle for the cardigan, I need motivation to finish it!

I can't seem to add the fair isle!🤦🏻‍♀️

Hopefully this works

Those are beautiful, @alloutofcareunits - I love your colour palette in both pieces!

I’m looking forward to starting the mystic lanterns blanket - have you done it joining as you go, or as individual motifs, joined at the end?

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius thanks, the magic lanterns was all made from leftover yarn so totally random, I joined into strips as I went then joined the strips at the end, I also made 1/2 lanterns for the sides and ends to finish it off

Thank you - I haven’t decided whether to do half lanterns for the edges yet.

Those are beautiful, @alloutofcareunits!!!

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius - massive Pratchett fan here. I love the Latin motto! And the idea of having a knitters' and yarn crafters' guild in Ankh Morpork. There surely would be one! That's made me think about which TP characters would be knitters... all the witches, definitely. Lady Sybil maybe. I can also kind of imagine Nobby Nobbs sitting in a corner with a very grubby, unidentifiable bit of knitting