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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Hi All,

I have very much recovered from the plague, and the majority of the household has too, I am however suffering from being an absolute nutter, but that’s all self inflicted.

Lets start with the knitting. After finishing Engels recent cat mittens, I had a case of the green eyed monster.

Or should I say green eyed fox?

Pattern is Foxy mittens by JennyPenny from her book ‘Winter Knits from Scandinavia’, and a huge thanks to Ratman99 and Rabbie for helping take this photo even as it was snowing!

These are knit on 2mm needles and had to be done only when I could concentrate. I managed to fail to flip the image whilst watching Avengers: End game…and realised after 15 rows…sigh…

But they are worth it! However, they need a matching hat…

Speaking of future knitting projects, unfortunately Rabbie was unable to knit the wool I spun for her the other year – knitting has never quite agreed with her hands, and the dual textures of mildly treated and heavily treated wool was too much for them. So I am more than happily taking on her project it’s a 1940s I spired cardigan, and compared to recent projects, is a nice, mindless, breeze of a knit for me!

It also means my wool count has increased by six balls of wool. Four now as I have knitted up two.

In non knitting news, Ratman99 and myself did a mad dash trip up north to Scotland, crashed at Rabbies, participated in Terminal Infection (nerf and zombies in a shopping centre!!!) and finished it off with celebrating Missys, my most favourite niece, and the most well behaved dog, adoptaversery! I cannot believe she has been part of the family for 8 years….

Unsurprisingly, I am absolutely beat now. Terminal Infection was amazing, the zombies were in character at all times and just amazing, and with the nice shiny floors of a shopping center, I could drop down and knee slide past the opposite team to flip over or acquire targets! And of course, the Nerfys Law Nerf team gear was out and worn with pride!

We looked silly, and expected lots of comments saying such, and there was plenty, but there were far more compliments on the actual work and thought that went into it all. I won’t lie, I felt incredibly happy and flattered about it all by the end! Even if I did get two proper zombie scares during the night, and a countless number of little frights!

Today, I ache. And after a long day of work, I am ready for curling up on the sofa with my kitties and my knitting!

Till next week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 843

Wool used – 15 (2 this week)
Wool bought – 1
Wool given to me – 6
Wool gifted to others –
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 847 (Net difference: -8)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

Or should that be ‘cloak and nerf blaster’?

Last year I mentioned I had a few sewing projects, the first and biggest one was to make a Gaunts Ghosts (a unit from a Warhammer 40K book series of the same name), style cloak for a friend of mine. I did achieve this after a few weeks of messing around and phoning Rabbie for help…

Not going to lie, by the time I sewed the last edges and tidied up the lining, I was pretty proud of my creation! Just one problem, photos.

The person receiving this lives pretty far away, and the size difference between him and myself is laughable. Nearly a foot taller, and about three times more broad in the shoulders, there was no hope of me getting photos wearing it! So poor Engel was drafted in, and wearing his motorcycle jacket, was much nearer the scale needed.

Well, in the shoulders, Engel is only a little taller than me so still a good bit shorter! However, you get the idea of the fit at least.

So, seeing as I took these photos in August, why am I only sharing them now? Well, the first reason is the cloak reached my friend end of September, and he did some footage of it which is stuck on a hard drive a cat decided to wee onto. I doubt any photos will be taken in the wet and cold of British winter so…yeah.

And…reason two may be that I have no finished knitted projects to share so figured why not just share this now?

Regardless of the reason, here is one of the first sewing projects I plan to share!

That’s all for this week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 843

Wool used – 4 (3 this week)
Wool bought – 1
Wool given to me – 0
Wool gifted to others –
Wool handspun – 0

Total – 843 (Net difference: -3)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 2 Comments

It’s a frisbee!! Made following the free circular How to Knit a Granny Square pattern by Frankie Brown.

As someone who knows how to crochet, and can technically do it, but can’t due to a knackered wrist, I was very keen to have an excuse to try knitted crochet, and these cotton frisbees for the Christmas set was a perfect opportunity!

I will say that it was still hard on my wrist, and I had to take breaks from it more than if I had been knitting normally, but I could do it for far, far longer than crochet!

Curiosity satisfied, another present finished.

In other news, you will have noticed I didn’t post last week – you can blame Rabbie for that one! You can read about the chaos on her blog, but regardless, I was just too tired from the week, the weekend, and the start of another week to actually take the time to post anything!

There has been family meet ups, Dog fest, socialising, work stuff, gaming, littlest terror has started his swimming lessons and oldest one has gone up four book bands this school term already…it’s been busy!

Project wise there’s quite a lot on the needles, and as such, not a lot of progress on any of it! I’m usually a monogamous knitted but…yeah…more on those as and when I have things to show.

Until next week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 128 (2 this week!!)
Wool bought – 35 (2 this week, but for a specific project, promise!)
Wool given to me – 47
Wool gifted to others – 4
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 865 (still a net total of 32 down!!)

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by RoxyPosted on Posted in Knitting 1 Comment

As I mentioned previously, I’ll alternate between the more boring practical Christmas knits and the cute and random ones that seem to appear frequently in my life…

And so, I present:

Rather than wrapping paper, or a plastic bag, I’ve opted to knit several large Boardwalk Beach Bags by Holly Beemer (a very easy, quick free pattern) out of cotton and a cotton/linen mix. But me being me, I couldn’t resist making them look cute, and thus bumble bees! (Though more than one person has pointed out that the darker yellow/orange and black ones look like Hufflepuff house colours…which is perfect for my sis, who is a self declared Hufflepuff!)

I have also made two small ones which will hold little knitted cotton pads for cleaning faces/removing makeup (worryingly most of the supermarket ones contain plastic! Didn’t realise that till I looked at the packaging…)

And that’s all for this week regarding Christmas gifts.

I’m currently working on three things at the moment, and very shortly a fourth which will involve me spinning a fair bit of wool. All I’ll say on that is “Rabbie, you’re a genius, and that’s going to look awesome on the wall – may have to make two!”

Its been a weird week this week – work has been quiet, giving me lots of time to start thinking things over, and plot, and plan… I’ve also started training someone and accidentally became their buddy, which is quite hilarious seeing as I have been signed off after the fact on all my own training!

This weekend has been two family fun days, and despite panicking every time anyone came near me, it was brilliant – the kids even got to play with a fireman’s hose and go into the cab! So jealous! It’s strange though, post Covid, in that even though it was crowded, everyone kept themselves separate from everyone else…

I am thoroughly shattered though, physically and socially, I have definitely got to start building up my tolerance of being around people again!

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 125 (6 this week!!)
Wool bought – 33
Wool given to me – 47
Wool gifted to others – 4
Wool handspun – 11

Total – 866 (A net total of 31 down!!)

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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 1 Comment

I’ve not even reached the bank holiday Monday and I am beat! It has been a manic week. Monday and Tuesday where my last part time furlough days and I made use of them, painting some of the fences and the main gate, gardening, the never ending cleaning and tidying and sorting of the house, and on Friday after work if was IKEA for new armchairs and meatballs. That evening the sofa was taken apart, armchairs assembled and much laughter ensued about pretending to be cats in giant boxes…

Saturday was a dump run, rejigging the living room a bit then some Nerf at the local park with a set of friends. It’s amazing how easy you can maintain your 2 meter distance when wielding various blasters…

The big thing this week? Today I finally got to see Rabbie!!!! We met halfway in Cumbria at Lowther Castle and had an absolute ball. The Terrors got to see their favourite auntie and uncle and fur cousin, as well as run around the ruins of a castle and explore the fifty million things scattered around the grounds…Despite a tiny bit of drizzle, the weather held and even had us wriggling out of a few layers!

Back home now, Terrors are tuckered out on the new arm chairs and I’m putting my feet up for a well deserved cup of tea and a break.

I’m also rocking my newest complete pair of socks! A retake on Siobhan Crafts Halloween colourway – stripes instead of blocks – and once more using the pattern NO swatch, ANY yarn socks by Ida-Maria Tyyskä. Seriously can’t recommend this pattern enough – just about convinced one of my knitting friends to take the plunge into sock knitting using this recipe!

Anyhow, I am ready to hit the hay, so enjoy your long weekends and till next week, stay safe!

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 64 (1 this week)
Wool bought – 3
Wool given to me – 21
Wool gifted to others – 1
Wool handspun – 8

Total – 864

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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 2 Comments

Hello everyone, if your like me you’ll be lamenting the long easter weekend now being a distant memory, and the warmth and sun we had then too…seriously, it keeps snowing and its definitely spring.

In part to bring some of spring inside, but mostly because, well…

My little terrors gave me a chocolate rose on a little plastic stem for Mother’s Day, and it was really cute especially as I hadn’t expected anything. The sentimental part of me wanted to keep it…but the glutton in me also wanted to eat the chocolate…

Who says you can’t have your rose and eat it?

Its from a free pattern, Rose by Libby Summers, and knit with my own handspun. The reason for the pink wool is to continue my quest to knit all my kitties – the ginger ninjas Outbreak and Lockdown are next on my list but one ginger cat looks much like another…so their collars will be different.

But that won’t be for a while as I have some very fun yarn I’m playing with at the moment as part of a gift for Rabbie for just being awesome during this time of plague.

In other news, I went through my wool stash today with the ‘help’ of my terrors and one of the felines, and counted a lot more wool than I thought I had. Let’s just say it was about 100 out. I’m choosing to say the maths was done wrong, or the counting, due to my ‘help’ and will therefore continue with my current wool totals.

And on that note:

Wool Count

Starting total – 897

Wool used – 50 (10 this week)
Wool bought – 0
Wool given to me – 21 (MIL ripped out a jumper I made for FIL many, many years ago as he has lost a of of weight since then, so its made its way back to potentially be turned into a slimmer one. I really didn’t have the heart to tell her in could have just taken in the existing one and save myself the job of knitting one…)
Wool gifted to others – 1
Wool handspun – 8

Total – 875 (Up by 11, sigh…still more out than in though!)

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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

I survived! And no one was sacrificed to Great Cthulhu! The birthday party (slimmed down to just Felix’s best friend as they are in the same bubble) went well – better than expected to be fair!

The only down side to the whole weekend was I was too busy playing games and dancing and wrangling children to do much knitting, so much so I have nothing to show this week. And if I had finished, it would have been a somewhat boring pair of cabled sweater vests for Inkling to wear to school… However, I have a few cute cat themed KAL’s with a friend of mine, and i’ve joined a knitting challenge on Instagram so I’m sure there will be cute stuff aplenty soon!

But in the meantime, I have a special spinning project I can at least reveal! It’s taken five dying experiments to get the colours of the fleece just right, but finally, finally I can present:

Missy? Yes. Missy. The Missy of The Grand adventures of Little Miss daisy. My sister and I decided that such a beautiful loyal and loving member of the family deserved her own wool. So with her being tan and black and her signature pink collar, I got to work.

Natural black Hebridean, fresh coffee dyed Suffolk-Texel and acid dyed pink Suffolk-Texel. I present ‘Missy in the Meadow’.

I had tried used coffee grounds, beetroot and purple kale to get the colours but fresh coffee and the acid dye where the best matches.

But I needed something else, and so, a contrast colour was decided upon.

Depending on the light, her tan colouring can change quite spectacularly, and in the moonlight, it fades to a much fuller brown, and so the used coffee grounds Suffolk-Texel was spun with more natural black Hebridean to give ‘Moonlit Missy’.

There’s approximately 317m of Missy in the Meadows and 196.5m of Moonlit Missy making its way to Rabbie. I look forward to seeing what she makes with it, and will be sure to feature it here!

Last photo – promise – of the two colours together!

Stay safe everyone!

(No woolcount this week as no changes.)

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