Moogly Block 8.1

I'm a little behind still but I am gradually getting there. My latest finish for the CAL is block #8.1 "Princess" by Melinda Miller

every little helps

Last week at The Craft Club's crochet workshop we made hedgehogs. I'm quite impressed that i followed the pattern and he came out looking like he should!

I had a slight issue with his facial features, hence the name, but i managed to sort his tache nose out eventually ;)




The Craft Club posted an update to Facebook on their total so far...

They are getting there slowly but surely! I should have another little collection of goodies to take with me next time i go to Rayleigh too :)

The Craft Club

Post by The Craft Club.

How to turn squares into a triangle

So i made the dishcloths and thought that would satisfy my Corner2Corner itch.

I was wrong!

It's fantastic camping crochet as like a granny square it's mindless, repetitive and soothing and i can still sit and chat while i'm crocheting too which means it's sociable (unlike the sock knitting but that's another story lol)

I had two granny squares of Elle Mexican Wave already made because i was going to make a bag with them but didn't like how the colours worked in a granny and i had a "ten stitch blanket" square made in some lime green James C Brett Marble DK that didn't get used in my blanket and they looked perfect together so i took them all off camping with us at the weekend and this is what happened!

The colours look so much better in the denser fabric, i am really happy with how it's coming out, i've done more to it since this photo was taken and i am nearly ready to start decreasing! I am going to reserve most of the green for the border and just put in one or two stripes on the decrease side. Probably.

:D

This evening i are mostly been...

...making a mushroooooom!

I saw a post on Facebook about The Craft Club's project to create a scene from The Magic Faraway Tree in the garden at Little Haven's Hospice and although i don't know anyone who has been cared for there my Uncle was cared for in their sister hospice at Fair Havens and The Magic Faraway Tree is one of my favourite children's books. Besides, i saw that they were running a crochet group alongside the project and who doesn't love an evening of crochet? :D

So, i booked into the first class which was "Toadstools" and managed to recruit my friend Gee to join me which was great cos it meant we got to have a catch-up and i got to meet her 17 month old toddler properly.

We headed off to the group which meets in a room in the depths of Asda at Rayleigh, Essex and honestly, they couldn't have been more welcoming, such a friendly group of ladies :)

We were supplied with patterns and yarn and i started "Tommy the Toadstool" only it didn't come out quite as expected, so i decided to go FREEFORM! EEEEK!

There were quite a few of us crammed round the table frantically hooking, you could tell when everyone was concentrating cos it would go really quiet and then there would be bursts of chat and laughter. I really enjoyed it, have i said that already? :D

Photo courtesy of The Craft Club

I'm actually really pleased with how my 'shrooooom came out, even though it was meant to look like this...

Photo courtesy of Gee :D

:D

Dishcloth set

We camped last weekend and i had a washing up sponge and tea-towels but no dishcloth so ended up using a tea-towel to wipe the sides down when i was washing up and tidying up. This is not ideal so when i got home i started checking out the dishcloth/washcloth patterns on Ravelry. Of course, none of the forty or so already in my queue was right so that meant a very pleasant stroll through the pattern browser. I love playing with it! I wanted crochet, i wanted free and i wanted texture on at least one of them.
I had a rummage in the cotton stash box - i try to keep all the cotton together for this very reason, it's so hard to match up colours etc when it's separated into the colour boxes so all the cotton is in one crate - and came up with a dark brown, a beige, a burgundy and a variegated mix of all three! The solid colours were bought as part of the Munks' wedding present experiment which turned into a Click hexagon blanket cos i realised that crocheting that much cotton would kill my hands and the variegated was part of a Peaches and Cream stash enhancement that occurred in late 2008! Apparantly i bought it for "Chrimble knitting - washcloths and tribbles"... Like that was ever going to happen! :D



I wasn't sure how many i would make, i just wanted to use as much stash up as possible and it worked out just right! I had to find something else to use for the back of the potholder as i had run out of all the others by then but i found some mercerised cotton in a pale pink that "fits" with the colour theme just about!
I had to then tweak the pattern slightly to allow for the smaller gauge but it just meant doing doubletrebles on the last round instead of trebles and it all worked out great as far as i'm concerned.

I've seen "Corner to Corner" (also known as C2C) blankets popping up in my newsfeed on Facebook via the Creative Crochet group, it seems to be quite the in-thing at the moment and it had piqued my interest but not enough to want to do a blanket so a dishcloth was the perfect size to have a go at it. I can see why it's so popular! It's fast to work up and it is very rhythmic, i can see more in my future ;)
The "Squaring the Spiral" dishcloth was also another itch that needed scratching. I have tried spirals before but i end up getting really confused as to where i start and finish so i thought i would give it another go. It's not perfect but it will do and i have a better idea of how it works now. I would have liked the spiral to be bigger before it got squared off but i was following the pattern closely because i didn't muck it up again lol
Finally the "Flower Potholder" has been in my queue for about 5 ½ years and the handle on the new kettle gets quite warm so rather than have a tea-towel flapping around or burn my hand i thought i'd scratch another itch and get it made! It will also double up as a trivet to protect the worktop from the hot kettle :)

All in all, a pleasant few days of crochet. Now i just need to decide what will be next!

Ice-Cream Socks - finished!

This is Pair #4 for this year :D

As you can tell, i am really enjoying sock knitting again which is marvelous given that i have 148 entries on Ravelry in the sock yarn category. This doesn't mean 148 pairs of socks though. Oh no! That's 148 pairs of socks plus enough leftovers to make another 148 pairs of socks! If i can knit a pair of socks in a month that means i can knit a pair of socks a month for the next 24 years and 8 months :D

That is of course not going to happen lol
Quite a few "sock yarns" in my stash are far too nice to use for socks. I have made a decision only to use wool and nylon blends for socks as the pairs i have knitted with pure wool have worn through too quickly and i am not the kind of knitter that can throw something away after wearing something for less time than it took to make it!!

So, anyway, all that waffling leads me on to show you Pair #4!



With the rather elderly looking PukeyLukey wanting to get in on the act lol



Here you can see the difference between the inside and outside! :D

I enjoyed knitting them inside out actually, i like the reverse stocking stitch pattern without having to do all that pesky purling but i am still undecided about the afterthought heel. It is a bit too shallow for my foot despite me putting in extra rows on the second sock and the placement of the lifeline was a bit hit and miss and not being able to try the foot on to get the toe in the right place means it is a little short.
It's good that i am able to unpick it and knit a new heel should i need to but i'm not sure that outweighs all the bad points.

Bargello Adventures

Waaaay back in 2011 i bought a bargello kit at the Ally Pally show, i loved it at the time but as the years passed and i kept seeing it in the stash bag my love for it has gradually waned. I decided i needed to do something about this before i lost the love completely so in April i decided it was time to get it made.

Of course, i couldn't do something so simple as to follow the instructions and have asimple project. No. I had to do something different. Something that didn't involve leafy applique. Something that was slightly more interesting than a grid. And because i wanted it to hang on the wall i thought that Bloke ought to have a say in how it looked.

Over-complicate things? Moi? :/

So, what did i do? I cut up strips of paper and played around with them.

This didn't quite work for me and Bloke didn't like the shape i designed so i investigated computer programs. I found a couple that looked like they might have what i needed (i will have to edit this post when i am at my own computer cos i can't remember what they are called!) and so settled down to have a play around with them. I was able to scan my fabrics into the program and use them in the design which i have to say made it a lot easier to visualise than the strips of paper did!

Several hours later i had a design we both liked. None of which are in the photo above lol

By this time though i had really gone off the colours of the fabrics, i think it's sitting looking at them for so long, willing something to click in my brain and say "YES! That's it, the perfect design"

That never happened in this instance and actually, it rarely does for me. I am rarely satisfied with anything i make. I always think it can be improved somehow. I won't say "never" though cos that wouldn't be true :)

Anyway... I settled on a design and started cutting up the fabrics. It's a very repetitive process:

Sew strips together and make them into tubes

Cut the tubes into varying widths

Find the right colour spot to unpick the seam and make them into strips again

Sew two strips together to make one long one with the colours reversed while fiddling with the centre and end pieces because i decided to do offset strips which requires half blocks!

KEEP THEM IN THE RIGHT ORDER!!

I didn't take many photos because i found it quite an intense process. I tend to put my head down and get sewing otherwise i get distracted ;)

Once that is done it is a case of sewing them together to make the final panel.

I took a progress photo once i was halfway through rejoining the strips into the finished piece just to show how much it shrinks in width. I find it quite difficult to visualise the effect of losing half an inch off each strip so this photo really helps in that!

And then once i had finished joining all the strips it had to hang in the living room while i decided how i wanted the borders!!

Again, i couldn't keep it simple, i thought it would be fun to have really thin strips of colour. What i forgot is that it is hard work to keep the thin strips even. Especially with all those seams to go over.

So, it's not perfect in construction but actually, i do really like the finished design.

The borders are assymetrical on purpose. I wanted a contrast to the symmetry of the main design. Although with the variance in colours of the fabrics, tonally it's not symmetrical at all!

I love the placement of the dark splashes in the right hand border too, it was a little more wasteful fabric-wise to do that but it pleases me :D

All that is left to do is to back it and quilt it. That's another challenge for me, i know it doesn't want to be ditch quilted which is my go-to method of quilting but i haven't quite decided what i will do.

Oh well, plenty of time to ponder :D

I have learnt a couple of things with this project. The main one is to check placement of pieces. I could have rearranged the pieces slighty an achieved a better graduating effect instead of that "jump" on the right hand side. As it turns out i like it but i think that is only because of the dark smudge in the border.

Also, i learnt that i shouldn't buy something if i am not going to make it straight away. I came very close to falling out of love with this kit!

Sunny Spread - a little progress

This has been an ongoing project for over a year now. I pick it up every now and again and do a bit but i am getting bored with it now so i am trying to finish it. Actually, that's not true. I'm not bored with it. I just want to start something else!

I tried playing around with it....

But in the end i decided to stick with the pattern but not have holes in the corners.

The problem then was that when i started out i put 5 stitches into the corner then put it down for a while and when i picked it up again i had forgotten that and only put three in the corners... This has led to much frustration. Should i rip the squares out and redo them with five? Should i plow on and hope i can make it fit together?

Well, i plowed on and made them fit!

It's been a bit of a struggle but it's all of my own doing, the pattern itself is great!

I just need to decide what's next in the way of a border or more panels perhaps? It's hanging in the living room so i can ponder while i knit the Ice-Cream socks. 

Sock knitting is keeping me sane where crafting is concerned at the moment.

Too many long term projects and not enough instant gratification!!

Sock #4.1

I spent a lovely weekend at a new VW show called T.O.M.I.E. (The Only Meet Is Essex lol) and we had glorious warm sunshine most of the time, except when the sun went behind the thick grey clouds and then it got very cold! Surprisingly... ;)

So anyway, there was lots of time spent sitting around outside and i managed to finish off the first of the Ice-cream socks :D



I am really happy with the fit of the sock considering it is my first afterthought heel but i am not sure i should have done the heel and toe inside out too, i don't like the way it looks at the moment. That might change once it's been washed and worn and besides, i've sewn my ends in now...

Socks with Sarah #4

So i finally cast them on after some slightly stressful experiences with the circle blanket... It would appear i have totally lost concentration with it! I started out with a 4.5mm hook (possibly 4mm) and then proceeded to go down to a 3.5mm hook which obviously means that some circles are bigger than others... I have also squared some off differently to others with a group of five doubletrebles in the corners on some and a group pf three doubletrebles in the corners on the rest...
Needless to say they don't all fit together properly and i am going to have to do some fiddling to get it to work!

Ho hum! At least i can't bugger up socks! :D

With this in mind and still sulking i decided to cast on for my Ice-cream socks at long last! They have been in the planning for years... I queued the pattern in 2010 when i first saw it and i have had the yarn since 2007 when i was a member of the Yarn Yard sock yarn club.
Oh dear, i am very good at collecting and not so good at using. I am trying to change that though.
Honest :D



I've decided to try out an afterthought heel on this pair. The main reason being that i am doing the cuff, heel and toe in a toning colour and when i took them to knit group last week i was ready to start the heel but only had the main colour with me. D'oh!
I figure if it happens again i can just get on and knit my waste yarn in, knit the foot then sort it out when i finish the toe :D

This picture doesn't do the pattern justice really as it is knitted inside out to avoid all that tedious purling :D



Here's the start of the sock. I knit the cuff in "Toffee" and half a pattern repeat then striped the two colours to blend them a bit and then moved on to the main colour "Mint Choc Ice"

I love the little ice-cream cones that are appearing :D

Moogly Block #4.2

Slowly catching up. Veeeery slowly lol but i am getting there!

I've played with the colour placement again, and i also did the later rounds slightly differently to get a different look.

I kinda like it! :D

I also spent some time taking nicer pictures and playing with Aviary in Flickr although i now realise i forgot to add a frame :/

I took the pile of Moogly Blocks to knit group with me last time and spent a couple of hours sewing the ends in which was fun. I think i have three left that need tidying out of the ten blocks i have made and i now have 6 blocks to make in order to get up to date!!

Best get hooking!

Baby Jack's Quilt

My friends had a little boy last November (the 8th in fact!) and of course i had to make him a quilt :D
Yesterday was his "Wetting the Baby's Head" party so i was able to finally pass it on to them, plus we got to eat some pretty awesome cakes!

I had some fabric left over from another baby quit i made and then when i was at their house i realised i had the perfect fabric to match the nursery curtains and it also blended really well with the "Grow with Me" that i had left over :D

Perfect!

That's "Grow with Me" on the right and the spotty on the left and "Sassy" middle and left :)

I then had to settle on a design which of course i couldn't just have got from a book or a website. Oh, no! It had to be "right"!! I saw a couple i liked but they weren't quite right so i decided to take inspiration from them and combine them. There's Bounding Rectangles and Little Leapfrog both from the Project12 blog.

I started out with my squared paper and an idea...

and then i got cutting! Always a heart-in-the-mouth moment this. I dither for ages before cutting as i am terrified that i will have worked something out wrong!

Fortunately this time it all went smoothly...

 ...and i ended up with a lovely pile of bits to play with :D

After much fiddling - again, i can't just lay it out and say "that's lovely, it'll do" - i have to fiddle for hours, even days to get it "just right" before i can commit to the sewing but i eventually got there.

and then all i had to do was decide on the final layout and sew the top together!

I had all this finished back in October last year but i had to wait until i found "just the right" backing fabric until i could complete it. Luckily Lisa and i had our annual trip to the Creative Stitch and wotsit show at Sandown Racecourse where i found the most gorgeous giraffe fabric with just the right colours in it :D

My First Patchwork

I may have finished a fair few quilts and other patchwork projects since but this is the quilt that started it all off way back in 2011!

Lisa (who else!) talked me into a Jelly Roll workshop in early February 2011 and this is what i made. I can't for the life of me remember what the pattern is called or where it came from*** but i do know that the fabric is "Fandango" by Kate Spain. I've also managed to glean from a forum post that after the top was finished it was put away until the Stitching Show at Sandown in early 2012 where i bought the yellow fabric "for the borders".

So, I had a day trip to Plush Addict on Saturday where i bought several Kona Solids to co-ordinate with some of the Stash - including the pink/purple range of "Eastern Miniatures" by Fabric Freedom, yes, i am finally going to do something with it!! I have admired it for long enough and it is now time to take the plunge and cut it up before i fall out of love with it because i can't decide what it wants to be LOL

But i digress... As usual! I decided that as i was buying MORE fabric i should finish some longstanding projects and  really, shouldn't the most longstanding be the first finished?

As soon as i got home i got the sewing machine, iron and irong board out and got to work. I decided to forego borders so that i could use the yellow fabric as the backing and actually it makes a lovely sized cover for my legs and feet :)

I used the backing as the binding, even remembering how to turn the corners properly and then i hand stitched the binding. I have always machine stitched the binding but i think i am a convert! Yes, machine stitched is a LOT quicker but hand stitched looks beautiful and actually it is very relaxing. This one took probably about 3 hours, maybe a little more but that's just an evening in front of the telly!

Here are the Kona solids that i bought on Saturday, along with the fabrics they were bought to go with!

On the left we have Pool, Peridot and School Bus (top to bottom)
At the top we have Crimson and Sweet Pea
At the bottom we have Cayenne.

Picking out these colours was a lot of fun, the reject pile was MASSIVE due to the fact that Plush Addict carry over 200 colours of Kona Solids.
I can't wait to get these made up so i can go and choose the next lot! :D

Now, shall i finish my "Mountain Majesties"* quilt or my "Twisting the Night Away"** quilt next?

Decisions, Decisions!

*Mountain Majesties was another workshop quilt. This time it was on June 7th 2012 and the top was finished on 18th June 2012
**Twisting the Night Away top was finished on 22nd June 2012 but i can't remember or find any other details than that!
***The pattern is called "Strip the Willow" and it is from Two From One Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott :)

Finishes!

This is my second go at this block and i am so much happier with how it has turned out than the first!

The block is "Hugs n Kisses" by Aurora Suominen and i took some inspiration on colour placement from the talented members of the Ravelry MooglyCAL group ;)

The completion of this block leaves me with three more to do to get up to date, and i think i have about a week to do it which should be achievable now that the socks are off the needles. I'm not going to cast on another pair now until my current batch of projects on the go are completed because i find that the sock is taking precedence where really it should be a back seat project!

Speaking of finished socks....

They are so finished i have even sewn the ends in!! :D

Circle Socks by Anne Campbell
I ::heart:: them so much, i cannot believe they have been in my Rav queue since January 2009 and i have only just got round to making them! I'm so glad i matched my stripes up too, i wouldn't normally be that bothered about matching socks but i think these socks deserve it :D

So, things to finish before i cast on new socks are:
Roxanne Shawl -
Hedgerow Mitts
Moogly blocks #4.2, #5.2 and #6.2!

At least that will give me some time to ponder which pair is next on the needles ;)

Moogly Block #6.1

More V's Please by Melinda Miller
Really happy with how this block has come out. I feel like i am getting better with my colour placement on my first attempt now rather than making an ugly block and then getting it right!
Followed the instructions to round ten and then did two rounds of trebles instead of a round of half trebles.

Moogly Block #5.1

Moogly Block #5.1
a photo by franneyk on Flickr.

Lion's Mane by April Moreland
Really happy with the colour placement on this one! Nice simple to follow block, didn't have any trouble with it at all other than adding on extra rounds to get it up to size.

Circle socks

Circle socks
a photo by franneyk on Flickr.

Thought i'd upload a photo just to prove I am actually knitting at the moment!!

These are my Circle Socks using Regia sock yarn
One sock is being knit with 2.25mm Chiagoos and the other with my fancy new "Sock Rockets" - nickel plated sharp tips with lovely flexible cables <3 p="">I thought i'd go fancy and made sure i started each sock in the same place of the colour repeats and so far it's working out just about right!
This pattern has a lovely Eye of Partridge heel which make them squishy and hard wearing and i fancied a change from short rows :D

Batt Dropping!

This beautiful batt of fluff arrived this morning after i was enabled into it at the weekend!

It's a "Batt Dropping", so-named because it is made of the random fluff that is left on the drum carder after the proper batts have been made.

You never know what you are going to get fibre-wise or colour-wise.

This is mostly blue with leeeetle hints of green and pink flashing in amongst it.

<3 p="">

Oh, and there are sparkles! :D

I am rather looking forward to spinning this up, i only hope i can do it justice!!

Moogly Block #4.1

This is installment 4 in the Moogly Blog CAL, the block is called Veronica's Rose
I made some adjustments to the final rounds to get it to the right size by repeating the eyelet round and adding another round of "ribbon" and i am really pleased with it, So pleased in fact, i have sewn my ends in LOL