It's Crochet, Knit & Natter 10: New Year, New Yarn, New Thread!

[QuantumWeatherButterfly]

Time for a new thread for all the lovely yarn crafters!

Old thread here: http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/artsandcrafts/4557189-its-crochet-knit-natter-9-so-many-projects-so-little-time-oh-well-i-almost-made-it-rhymee_

Those are all lovely @GlowWine but the green socks are my favourite, I love that shade of green. I’ve made shawls similar to that before and they just squish up on the needles. I use 80cm circulars mostly.

You get badges @Fairislefandango jealous Wow to the orange/copper waistcoat with the flowers on it and the dress with the tartan, they’re impressive. In book form is a bit vague, I’d love to see the results when they’re finished!

I’m off to a guild meeting on Saturday and we’re doing raw fleece sorting which will be very useful. Unfortunately I’ve washed mine and mostly spun one so I don’t have a raw one to bring but I’m hoping to learn lots anyway and get a few hours to spin and chat.

@lucysmam My local hardware store had some lovely chunky turquoise. Next time I'm in I will try and look at the brand. I bought it for one of our pupil's birthday.

@GlowWine oo lovely!

Am I the only one hoping that @Fairislefandango 's membership badge will be knitted? I like the book challenge!

I haven't knitted a stitch in weeks. I'm trying to help DD through y10 GCSEs. She's low in confidence in general and it's been a slog. She's very hardworking but despairing now as school have just announced that mocks will begin 3 days after her last exam. Bastards. I'm sure it's just so they don't have to put the chairs in the gym away and get them out again.

@GlowWine your DD’s gloves are fab! It is a bit hot for knitting at the moment. I’ve almost finished the back of my “summer” sweater but can’t decide whether to make it round or v necked.

There’s lots of creativity there @Fairislefandango. I’m a traitor as I’ve joined the village garden club although I think if I planted anything now it would die of thirst.

I’m still here. Our house move is going to happen very soon or collapse. There’s boxes everywhere and that’s stuff we aren’t taking with us. I’ve got about half a row of crocheting done in about 2 weeks. So I’m going nowhere slowly both in house move and crocheting.

@MerylSqueak thank you, I'd appreciate that!

@MerylSqueak ah my commiserations. Good luck to your DD mine is in Y10 too, and the mocks timing is absolutely about the chairs :-) My DD has just found out that her school has been unable to replace/find a suitable D&T teacher for next year despite trying most of the year, so her written exam + coursework assessed Product Design GCSE is being turned into an Art: 3D GCSE with coursework + a 10 hour practical exam. Hmm, but she's taken it better than I feared, I suppose it's because there is nothing anyone can do about it and I certainly don't blame the school. "Creative" is really not DD's thing so we shall see. At least the work to date can be used and does not have to be abandoned/redone.

@StillNiceCardigan agree it's a bit hot but one of my pair of socks is cotton mix so I've been spending evenings sitting knittig in the garden which is very relaxing.

@SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound yes agree love the green but its a bugger to knit with, splits all the time despite really pointy needles. I unexpectedly found it when tidying my stuff, along with several other balls of 4ply sock wool that I had forgotten about. It would have been perfect for the shawl I'm planning now but no way am I frogging those socks now!

My mum has asked me to make a couple of crochet dinosaurs for her friends twin grandchildren. Started on one of them but have immediately lost motivation, often seems to be the case if I take requests.

Hi, everyone - I'm still here too! I haven't even picked up a hook since we got back from our holidays, so the Maria top is still very much a WIP. From memory, I had done the yoke and a few rounds of the body, but I haven't been able to find any time to do more - there has been far too much sitting in the garden with a glass of wine enjoying the nice weather going on! Plus, it is nearly DD's birthday, and I have managed to volunteer to run the busiest stall at the PTA summer fair, so lots to do that isn't crafting!

Those gloves are stunning, @GlowWine , and I absolutely love the green socks too!

I'm still here, I think I've melted into a puddle though!
@GlowWine that's all gorgeous. I think I'm going to abandon all my WIPs and make socks as they are small.

I've been spending a lot of time in the café while DS does his exams. Its his last one today, he hasn't missed any and I'm so so proud of him.

'Sophie' is too big to carry around in a handbag now, so I've started an Aviva top. I'm frogging something I made last year that doesn't fit.

@CrochetBug Absolutely - socks are small and portable. I have quite a few pairs of that simple ribbed pattern as they are my default thing to do when I am travelling / attending things with much waiting. Those I can even do standing up in a train / queue. And I can't resist buying sock yarn at random, so there's still quite a pile for the next time.

Well done to your DS - nearly done now! Hope you have a relaxed weekend.

My third instalment of my Christmas present came this morning, a hand dyed yarn and pattern from toft subscription. I haven’t made the other two yet or even put the hanks into a useable form. This one is so pretty.

Also have an extra demand on my time now (and potential additional yarn thief!)

@GlowWine I have so much sock yarn it's actually embarrassing! Mind you, a fair chunk of it isn't machine washable. Life's too short to hand wash socks!

@WeCanLiveLikeJackAndSally that's gorgeous. Are the hanks all coordinating?

@tizwozliz oh...oh... I'm not a dog person and my heart has melted.

@WeCanLiveLikeJackAndSally Ohh nice! I really really want as LIKE button (again)

@CrochetBug no, they are individual to make a toy from Kerry Lord the woman who writes Edward’s menagerie. The one at December was a black and white one to make a porcupine. The one in mark I’ve forgotten what animal it was but it’s a cream colour with specks of pale yellow, green and pink. June’s is by far the prettiest though. The pattern is to make a shrimp but I might just leave it as it is because it’s so pretty to look at.

Oh @tizwozliz he/she is absolutely adorable!
Mmm - that yarn is gorgeous, @WeCanLiveLikeJackAndSally

@CrochetBug - wow, your ds has done a great job. Hope the last one went ok! My dd did her last A Level exam on Wednesday and is lounging around at home until she finds a summer job.

@CrochetBug well done to your DS, and interested to hear about your Aviva!

@tizwozliz trouble on 4 legs, but how gorgeous!

@Fairislefandango oh I've got an 18 year old that's been "looking for a job" for about 2 months now. He's applied for about 2 and told me there's nothing available

@LancreWowhawk here's my Aviva so far. I'm only about 15 rows in. I sized down because I don't want 5" of positive ease, that's just looks like I'm wearing something too big imo. I also went down a hook size as my gauge was off.
Then I did fsc to start rather than a chain and then the 1st row. But managed to do the 2nd row into the bottom of the fsc
So this is technically my 3rd version so far

It's far more purple than the picture shows.

My new yarn has arrived. The two skeins were labelled in the same colour way, but are so different that I need to adjust my plans and not run them together. I understand about hand dyed yarns and unmatched batches, but the difference here is quite drastic, the shop had 7 skeins in stock when I ordered I wonder if I got the completely unmatched one they needed rid of? The "orange" is what I expected, and it looks like someone reached for too many blues and greens in the second one. If I run them together I'll end up with brown. The photo does not quite show how different they really are. No matter, I'll just knit in stripes. And it feels GORGEOUS. Now to start my knit!

It looks beautiful, @GlowWine , but at those supposedly being the same colour!

I'm only knitting a doll but very unmotivated!
Loving seeing everyone's work. Especially love the Sophie and the squares.
I might do some squares next for practice

@lucysmam here's your photo! I took a photo of the dark and light turquoise.

Ooh, thanks @MerylSqueak , the darker one might be just right actually! I'll have a look online for it now, while I'm drinking my cuppa.

I'll pop back later & show you all a photo of my top so far - I think the writer's stitch counts are well off on the pattern but it seems to be working out ok so long as I don't wind up with an oddly shaped garment.

I've put my "For..." away for now - it was too warm for blanket crochet last week.

@GlowWine your yarn looks lush, despite the colour difference.

I was going to come back and show you all my start on my top but, I've just spent the past hour frogging it instead - the miscount was bugging me! I'm going to start again...

I actually did some crochet last night! 2 more rounds on the body of my Maria. I'm increasingly sure I won't have enough yarn, but it's too late to panic about it as the dye lots are long gone. I'm working in stripes of 5 different colours, so all I can do is hope the differences aren't too much when there is plenty of space between them!

@CrochetBug oh, nice! I think I started it three times too, but in my case it was due to my persistant inability to match my gauge swatch tension in my actual work!

I did FSC too, and it's worked brilliantly for me before but really struggled this time. It looks too loose and loopy. I think it's because I found the Drops Muskat especially difficult without the weight of work to kind of hold it steady for me, if that makes any sense at all. What yarn are you using?