Back to basics

Well last night, in an attempt to rediscover the urge to make stuff, I started just about the simplest project possible. Using all my cheap acrylic yarn that came in kits with magazines, I'm making a giant granny square for a car blanket. No, the car isn't cold, it's me that needs the blanket when I'm in the car! When we're travelling home late at night from ice hockey games or gigs, my legs often get chilly and I don't really want the air con on as then my head just gets roasted, so really a nice cheap blanket that I can sling in the washing machine when necessary is the perfect answer. And it'll let me use up all the dodgy free yarn that, even if I make the projects intended by the magazine, probably would not be made in the specified yarn. So hopefully in the near future (or by next winter, anyway) I'll have a nice big multicoloured blankie for travelling, and in the meantime I have a nice, easy project that requires little concentration and no pattern and is thus ideal for my current, brain-cell free, condition.

Wire crochet

For my mother's birthday present this year, I decided to try something different.  I thought I'd try making a crocheted wire necklace, from this pattern by Leigh Manson-Brown.  It took a couple of attempts to get the right gauge, for some reason my tension is always off when I crochet, and frogging wire proved to be an interesting experience!  When I got it right, though, I was very pleased with the result and I'm sure I'll make more of these.

Knit Nation - the spoils

Here is my entire haul of goodies from Knit Nation:

At the back is a load of patterns from The Bothered Owl and Natural Dye Studios, some free magazines from Twisted Angle, all three of Ysolda’s books, Jeanette Sloan’s book and Best in Show (also pre-ordered the cat version). On the far left are some bags of fibre and some badges from John Arbon and a bag kit from Debonnaire. There’s more fibre at the front, this time from Krafty Koala. The yarn all piled up all over the sofa includes my lovely bingo prize, Habu mohair, four skeins of Wollmeise lace, three skeins each of WM twin and 100%, the yarn from the London in Stitches set, three skeins of different gorgeousness from Artisan Yarns, ten balls of Camelot from the Little Knitting Company in some lovely new colours, three skeins of Knit Global sock, four skeins of silk from NDS and ten balls of Papiro from LKC. On the far right and mostly hidden under everything else are several project bags acquired over the weekend. It looks pretty obscene laid out like this, but I’d been saving for ages and this was my big treat for the year! And it’s got to keep me going for two years this time, so… And anyway, for once I actually have patterns in mind for most of this, honest!  The yarn is shown below in more detail.

This is Habu's mohair/silk, for Cocoknits' Maria:

Mohair from Artisan Yarns, came as a kit with a cowl pattern:

Silk from Artisan Yarns, this is destined to be Nightsongs:

Artisan Yarns' Teifi Dance, which is likely to become a Damson:

Two skeins each in two different colours of The Natural Dye Studio's Precious silk lace, which will be the patterns shown with the skeins:

Knit Global sock yarn, which is intended for a stole pattern from Jeanette Sloan's Collection One:

The Little Knitting Company's Papiro, for a pretty scoop neck top:

LKC's Camelot, in red and purple, which I haven't quite decided what they'll be yet:

Yet another skein of Wollmeise lace, this time picked up on impulse on the Sunday, in Schwarz:

I have this crazy idea in my head of it being a Shipwreck shawl with red beads, but I know it would drive me insane to knit in black laceweight - what am I thinking?!!

This is the Knitting Goddess "A Path Through London" from the London in Stitches set:

Viola sock in Ghost, part of the bingo prize donated by Loop:

Wollmeise 100% in Campari Piccolo, bingo prize again:

Dye For Yarn in Nightmare of the Blue Sea, also from the bingo prize:

Polyester cord from the Debonnaire bag kit, it's for a string bag type shopping bag:

So, that was my adventures at Knit Nation!  Now I only have to knit all this stuff...