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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Some of you may be wondering why I haven’t mentioned a certain set of blue projects for a while, a set of three matching blue sweater vests to be exact, and the answer to that was…

Well, I finished them. Did all the picking up of stitches and ribbing, weaved in the ends, then shoved them in a bag and out of sight for…three weeks…?

I am ashamed to admit I have only just pulled them back out to photograph them and to share with you all!

Apologies for the photos being somewhat uninspired, but with so much blue, and it being three identical garments in various sizes…there’s not much you can do with that!

I’m planning on gifting these today, and if my measurements and maths are all correct, they should fit the FIL and the little Terrors well. Can’t wait to see them all matching!!

In current knitting news, I am doing a spate of Christmas knitting. These will get shared, in part, on the blog as the only member of the family who reads this and will receive them has been helping come up with ideas and inspiration behind it all. More on that later.

I did mention last week about sewing projects, and there’s been some fun photo shoots with regards to that, as well as a few extra little projects sneaking their way in. There’s debate as to when I should share these as I don’t know if I should before I send it off to its new owner, or wait until they have received it… When I get an answer I will post about it, until then, we’re all somewhat being kept in the dark!

In non knitting news, my new job has been going well. It’s strange working for a company that focuses on nurturing their employees and encouraging ideas and creativity, compared to being just a number who gets their workload increased until they crack…

There was a lengthy conversation with Engel where I explained that I was happy, but also anxious, because surely, at any moment now, the other shoe is going to drop and it’s all going to turn out to be some elaborate ploy with some awful catch attatched… I’m still waiting.

There’s been some spinning going on as well, I have a project planned that requires some hand spun, and some natural dying of fleece for no other reason than I wanted to have a play with colour.

Yesterday saw me getting my second Covid jab, which I am pleased to have now had. Its a strange one, I wasn’t keen on getting the vaccine for myself, as in my health, but was very keen to get it so I would feel that the risk of making friends and family and loved ones would be greatly reduced.

Give it two weeks and I will be giving out all the hugs!

Thats all for this week, sorry it’s a bit of a ramble, I feel like I have lots to say but also not sure what to say, or where to start.

Until next week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 107 (5 this week!!)
Wool bought – 33
Wool given to me – 47
Wool gifted to others – 4
Wool handspun – 9

Total – 882 (A net total of 15 down)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

Still working through miles of blue vests, so this week’s quick knit break was:

I’m definitely enjoying these cute knits far more than the vests, but alternating between is definitely helping knitting project burn out! The pattern for the Ice Cream Cat, like the Burger Cat, is a set of three cushion patterns called ‘Kawaii Kittens’ by Louise Walked from the book ‘Mollie Makes Knitting’. Popcorn cat is the remaining cat from the set, but I have plans to tweak the pattern to make other cute food variations…

Aside from the knitting, the rest of the time has been spent sorting out all my craft things (including ripping out a pile of old knitted projects in various states of completion which I had thrown into a naughty corner and forgotten about) and moving everything into the conservatory, sorting Engels things into piles for him to go through proper, and yesterday was a mammoth painting session – all the walls and ceiling are now painted, multiple coats required, especially on the ceiling, which is blue and now awaiting me to get the energy to paint some clouds on it.

Look forward to that, just waiting for the pain in my neck and shoulders to ease…

Hope you’ve all had a good week, and until next post, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 89 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 33
Wool given to me – 21
Wool gifted to others – 1
Wool handspun – 8

Total – 876

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

On a knitting holiday…not quite! Though the stars did align and a holiday has been had. We did a family trip to Wales where we explored little villages, chilled on beaches…

Were joined by the most awesome people in the world, my sis Rabbie and her husband! There we went on tiny trains and climbed up the Welsh mountainside to explore old ruins and castles…

There was playparks and dragon boats and an old copper mine that we explored, then suddenly we said our goodbyes and went back home…

I have lots of good memories, lots of fantastic photos and a fair bit of knitting to show for my holidays, but more importantly I feel like the world is just one step closer to being back to normal, and I’m ok with that.

Pattern being knit is a free pattern called Dad’s Cabled Vest by Ira Dearing which I am making for the FIL as well as matching ones for my Terrors just for cuteness sake. Unfortunately I was half asleep when I was doing my math after knitting a gauge Swatch and Engel thankfully realised several inches into the main body…at least I was able to begin the armhole shaping and now it’s the one earmarked for Felix. So I have cast on once again for the FILs…once all three are knitted I’lll do the finishing around the necks and armholes and show them on here. Until then its either going to be radio silence, in progress shots, or any distractions I decide to make instead of working in these!

Till next week, stay safe guys!

(No wool count again as I didn’t record how many balls of wool I got through, but I will be able to work it out when I figure out how many balls I started with Vs how many I have left…)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

Still knitting things for that father’s Day market the school is running, and I’m pretty low on creative generic ideas so…more beer!

Lots and lots of cute tiny beer mugs! 40 in fact, to join the 23 beer mats I knit. Will be turning these into keyrings and/or adding a loop of thread in to them so they can be hung places. The pattern is a free Ravelry download and it’s Buy You A Beer by Tatyana Grigoryan

In other news, it’s been Engels birthday weekend and he definitely crammed as much as he could in to make up for not having anything last year! Japanese restaurant date night, family meal with his parents, met up with friends for sushi and a mooch around town…

Yes, Engels idea of a great time always revolves around food. He gets it from his parents.

Whilst having a mooch, I finally managed to enter a yarn store…and there was a wool-cident. You see, I have a lot of wool. A lot, a lot, a lot of wool. But of all that wool, there are no adult sized sweater quantities which are the same dye lot, same weight, or same composition of fibres. And I want to knit a sweater. A very specific one that involves three colours.

I walked out with 30 balls. 10 of each. Even though that’s enough to knit two adult jumpers, and by switching the contrast with the main colour, two more children’s jumpers…yeah. it happened. My out total is still far higher than my in total, but man I fell off the sheep something bad…

Enough moping! I’ve had a productive and fun weekend, and my more fun planned for next week! But more in that when it happens. (Fingers crossed!)

Till next week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 81 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 33 (30 in…)
Wool given to me – 21
Wool gifted to others – 1
Wool handspun – 8

Total – 878 (My plans of trying to get below 800 this year I think has been successfully dashed…)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

This week’s blog title definitely has two meanings. The fun one is to do with my most recently completed knitting project, the other…

Last week, lockdown fatigue had really, really set in. It was literally at the point where I felt like I was just dragging myself through each day, one day after the other after the other…the mantra of ‘Just keep going, just keep going’ playing in my head.

But the restrictions here have begun to ease, last Sunday our little family went an hour and a half down south to meet up with our friends and their parents dog and we had an amazing day at their local reservoir/water park – there was lots of new scenery, big play parks, a tiny train…it was amazing.

And exhausting. I am not a sociable creature by habit, but we are a sociable species, and finally getting that social contact…yeah, I was tired.

So this low followed by this exhausting high led to their being no blog post last week. As such, we are having not just one, or two, but three finished products to show off!

These are made following the free pattern 19 Fishes on a Mitten by Magdalena Svanberg, except I added extra length so there’s 24 on these.

The idea of this whole set came into being after Engel bought be some of Siobhan Crafts hand dyed mini skeins all based on fish, I looked at them and knew they had to be made into a gift for Rabbie. She did marine biology at university, she does diving still, and her love of all things that live in the seas, oceans, rivers and lakes is astounding.

This crazy bright creation follows Alternating Current by Alex Tinsley from the book ‘Doomsday Knits’ – I followed the pattern pretty much except I used 3.5mm needles rather than the recommended 5mm due to the wool weight.

Another reason Rabbie deserves all the cosy warm Knits’ is that she feels cold. Painfully feels it. I often joke she’s a lizard, but I do feel for her. So this satisfies my mother like instinct to swaddle her in all the hand Knits!

Another free pattern, Fishies by Jackie Ziegler – I was determined to use every scrap of this wool!

This weekend I’m seeing the same friends I saw last week, only they’re driving up to us. I’m excited about this, but no where near as much as the fact that I am finally allowed to see my sis again! Next week we’re meeting up and I can’t wait to give her all these warm and cuddly things I have made, and let her know everyone she wears them that she’s appreciated and how much I miss her.

This pandemic has taught me a lot of things. I am a much stronger person than I ever thought I would be, I am capable of being a teacher, a mum, a wife, a friend, a sister, an entertainer, a crafter, a story teller, a games master, and more than I could list in here. It’s also taught me that I can’t survive alone. I can be a mother and a wife, but I need the husband and father. I can be a sister, a daughter, but I need family. I can be a friend, but I need them too. When presented with the unknown, I fill it with as much as I can to make it seem less scary, and I burn out because of it. But most importantly:

All any of us can do really, is to just keep swimming. We’ll get there, wherever there is.

Till next week, take care.

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 63 (13 this fortnight)
Wool bought – 3 (needed more black DK)
Wool given to me – 21
Wool gifted to others – 1
Wool handspun – 8

Total – 865

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 4 Comments

Last year Engel decided I needed a little treat and so picked up some of the beautiful hand dyed yarn over at Siobhan Crafts – and he selected the limited edition Halloween set of mini skeins in sock weight yarn.

(He also picked up a tropical fish set and an adventure bike set – the former will be a gift for Rabbies once I settle on a pattern and the latter is wishful thinking of socks for himself… Which I will probably relent to…)

So, without further ado…

Socks! And better yet, socks for me! So squishy and cosy and I have enough left over to make myself a second pair! The pattern used is a free one and one I highly recommend for those who are new to sock knitting and more importantly don’t like knitting a gauge swatch! Its the NO swatch, ANY yarn socks by Ida-Maria Tyyskä. Expect more socks using this particular pattern in the future!

In other news its a week until Easter, I have no idea where the time has gone this year at all! It feels like just a blink but also forever…but soon, hopefully, with luck, we’ll be out of lockdown enough and can start doing all the fun things again that we’ve all been missing…

Besides wishful thinking, there’s not been much but work and as I am on part time furlough, a big stab at the various large jobs that need doing about the house and garden…

Oh. And Rusty. A stray tom cat that’s been trying to move in. We have a microchip reading cat flap, and after finding him in the house for the third time, managed to figure out how he was doing it. Outbreak, our little lady, hears him calling at the cat flap, goes over, unlocks it with her chip and then let’s him in…

I wouldn’t mind so much, but he’s not fixed, and so sprays. So Operation: Messenger Cat began! I managed to collar him, as in put as collar on him, and a note asking his owners if he was on medication or had any allergies…

The next day, I for a knock on my door and found myself speaking to one of Rusty’s lodgers. It seems my house isn’t the only house he’s breaking into. In fact, theres about five. I also found out about his actual owner – after Rusty took to wandering they decided that since he left the house, he wasn’t welcome back, and washed their hands of him.

So he was effectively abandoned meaning…what to do? I got in touch with the local cat charity and explained the situation and tomorrow will be Operation: Cat Catch as they are kindly going to have him neutered as they can’t have a stray cat fathering kittens and being a nuisance. He’ll get fixed, chipped and as long as either myself or his many lodgers agree to ensure he’s kept fed, watered and sheltered, that’s it, he’s good to continue being as free spirit.

I wonder if the cat shelter needs anything knitted for them, I haven’t chosen my good deed yet for this year…

Until next week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 35 (10 this week)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 0
Wool gifted to others – 1
Wool handspun – 8

Total – 869

(I know a lot has been used this week, I’ll tell you why – I’m working on an Easter wreath and using up all those tiny odds and ends I have!)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

So…many…penguins…

No, really, there’s a lot of penguins. The last thread of the last penguin has literally been tucked in and this blog is getting updated. So, I mentioned previously that after getting caught out at Christmas just gone, I wasn’t going to try and knit 60 things in 12 days again. So I knit the 60 things as my first big at work and between projects knit…so it took three months, but there is 60 penguins.

(There is actually 61, but Engel pinched one to give to his boss who is obsessed with penguins apparently…)

In other knitting news, my big handspun project is blocked and I love it, and I do have generic in the garden photos of it but…I can do better. Photo wise. Hopefully next week for the big reveal!

In non knitting news, a friend is running a 40K RPG and despite the fact I am not a good player, I am playing it. It’s different. But I have a cyber mastiff called Fluffy. I have also started a big Cthulhu campaign and, if it wasn’t for my letting them spend luck to fudge their own rolls…well, total party kill ten minutes in and a player got eaten by the big bad monster…they are all now suitably paranoid!

I also decided to rip my living room apart, go through everything with a fine tooth comb, rearrange it, and put it all back together. I ache. Moving all my RPG books near killed me…

I hope everyone else managed at least a few smiles this week, and until next, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 25 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 0
Wool gifted to others – 1
Wool handspun – 7

Total – 878

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

The weather has been bitterly cold as of late, to the point the duck pond near us has completely frozen over. As such, I have been going through our stock of tea like crazy!

It’s been a quiet week all told. Work is quiet, so much so near all of us are on part time furlough – feels strange only doing three day weeks but I imagine I will quickly enjoy it! It will also give me a chance to do all those jobs round the house I have put off all winter, as it’s been too cold or wet…

Chinese New year, usually a big occasion, was also quiet. Felix, upon seeing her red envelope, was initially excited, before stating “Oh, it’s lockdown. There won’t be the dragon parade or dancing lions”. After speaking with Rabbie, it was decided that if there is no official dragon parade, then we will have our own! It’s amazing what Engel can produce with cardboard, fabric and a glue gun! The kids decorated his creation, and with some red fabric, we had our own parade!

It was chaos, and there was more falling over laughing than parading, but it was so nice to hear laughter! There was also Skype calls with both Engels family, and my own, and it was actually really nice.

Felix’s best friends birthday is today, and we arranged a small meeting at the park to exchange presents and let the kids fun around. The cold kept the visit short, and we all welcomed hot showers, fluffy pyjamas and tea when we got in!

Which leads me to this week’s knitting news – part of the gift given today!

A striped butterfly hat and a tiny cup and saucer with milk and a biscuit. The latter part of that gift was actually a request she had given me three times so I figured her birthday was the perfect time to cave and make her it!

The pattern for the cup and saucer is Teacup and Saucer by Sarah Keen from her book ‘100 Little Knitted Projects’ and the cookie is a free mochimochi land pattern!

That’s all for this week, until next, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 14 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 0
Wool gifted to others – 0
Wool handspun – 4

Total – 887

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

Despite my best wishes and hopes, the start of 2021 was far more eventful than I wanted. That said, it wasn’t all bad!

The worst part was that, as I suspected, we’ve been put into lockdown again. So no school for the terrors, but unlike last time, I’m not on furlough. Cue many sleepless nights, much stressing and general feelings of despair. But, it all worked out. Both myself and Engel have been deemed as critical workers and we have secured places for both Terrors at school and nursery.

On a better, eventful note, I was surprised by a review video of my knitted Escher Ganger!

You can watch it here!

More eventful news, I won a toy pattern and two sweater patterns through the Wild Knitting challenge! I am really looking forward to doing some knitting for me, but I really need to reduce the stash before I can justify buying two sweater quantities of wool! I’m working on it, managed to burn through 6 balls this week!

In less eventful news, I have managed some spinning for one of my big projects, been plodding away at my year long project and finished a quick little one for Engel just last night which I will share now!

It’s Snorlax! Engel demanded that he get a Pokémon hat after Felix’s Eevee hat and Inklings Meowth hat, so I asked the kids what Pokémon I should knit for him and within three seconds, the answer was Snorlax!

Now the kids are demanding I should make one for me, but there are just so many choices… Gengar? Wooloo? Purrserker?

Till next week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 6
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 0
Wool gifted to others – 0
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 891

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

Good riddance 2020, roll on 2021, may it be a pleasant and uninteresting year!

Amongst the pre new year clean up, the post Christmas toy playing, the snowball fights, sledging and snow trolls I have managed to squeak in one quick last finished knitted object!

A little mat with a pair of hops on it, using bits of cotton I had on hand. It has three shades of purple for the background as I knew I wouldn’t have had enough to do the whole thing with any one shade.

Here’s a close up of the hops.

But why this knit with this design? Because Engel. I got him a number of empty kegs and a dispenser for his Christmas to make bottling up the homebrew that bit faster and easier. So hops for beer and a mat because the dispenser drips a little after initial use before the pressure settles and it’s all good. Here is it in action:

And that’s really all to say this week. I’ve got a big project on the needles which I am still spinning wool for (spun two this week, need to do the next colour now), a multiple small item project that will be done here and there between projects for probably the whole year, and an idea brewing that I am debating whether or not I should knit it. There is also the very long to knit list that needs working through!

So keep safe till next week!

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 0
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 0
Wool gifted to others – 0
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 897

The wool count has been recent as I do every year, usually I aim to get 100 balls out of stash, which I have done, but stash in was much higher. This year I aim to simply have more out than in, not including handspun, as that is just turning fleece stash into a usable form!

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