June 24, 2011 · 4:29 pm

Gentle Art of Knitting – Jane Brocket

My copy of The Gentle Art of Knitting arrived. I also have The Gentle Art of Domesticity and The Gentle Art of Quilting.

I know there was a bit of controversy about the cost of some of the projects (£55 tea cosy), but I’ve turned my thinking around and now view my knitting as entertainment and the yarn as a valid entertainment expense. So, for example, today I bought more sock yarn at a cost of $21.50, but it will take me at least 10 hours to knit the socks. So that is about $2.20 per hour for my entertainment (seems reasonable to me).

Having said (or written) the above, I do understand the other point of view …

Anyway here are some of the projects that caught my eye.

Socks! – I do like Socks!

Chunky Cushion – should be a quick knit

and I thought this idea of using tapestry wool for the edges was great.

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June 20, 2011 · 1:42 pm

Dino Quilt

I’ve started work on a new quilt for Miss P. I’m using three different types of dinosaur fabric – there is a blue base very similar to the green in the image above as well. This quilt is going to consist of nine patch blocks and solid blocks with white sashing.

My current plan is to have a girly grown up backing, so when she is over the whole dinosaur craze she can simply flip the quilt over.

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June 17, 2011 · 12:34 pm

May/June Socks

I’m sure this is a knitting rite of passage, but I’ve ripped my sock and I’m starting again with something simpler. It’s going to be a plain vanilla sock as described here.

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June 13, 2011 · 4:38 pm

May (and now they must be called June) Socks

I’ve been slowly making progress on my May sock – I’ve actually turned the heel and am now working on the foot (it was just too dark to take a photo).

I think it was an error to choose this sock pattern. Although, it is easier than my March/April sock , it still requires a lot of focus. I can’t mindlessly knit while watching Chamomile Lawn – trust me I’ve tried. Having a knitting project that requires great concentration can be a good thing – it can be meditative. However, there are other things I need to concentrate on at the moment (like this book, or this book, or Miss P’s Dinosaur quilt).

I’m thinking about starting something else in chunky wool and a simple pattern …

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June 2, 2011 · 2:05 pm

Fete Apron

It’s a ‘fete year’ at my girls’ school (they happen every three years). We’ve all been asked to make an apron for the craft stall (that’s mine above). I have to say it’s very fiddly – not hard, but time consuming. I’ve spent four hours on it already! I’m determined to get this thing finished before I move onto something else – which means nothing fun is happening (and I need some fun it’s been a hard couple of weeks – sickness, plumping issues (sewage in the garden), leaky roof that was meant to have been fixed.

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May 26, 2011 · 11:36 am

May Sock Progress

My May sock is coming together quite quickly (well compared to the March and April sock). The pattern is very easy to remember and as there is no purl stitches it moves along quite quickly.

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May 12, 2011 · 2:36 pm

Another Finished Object

I finished my scarf! The exclamation mark is well-deserved. I’ve been working on this scarf since July 2009! It’s a Jo Sharp pattern (Long Ridged Scarf) and I used Jo Sharp DK wool in Ink.

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May 11, 2011 · 4:02 pm

May Sock

I’ve selected my sock for May. Might be a bit ambitious given that I haven’t even knitted a tension square and it’s the 11th of May.

The pattern is from The Knitter (Issue 20).

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May 9, 2011 · 2:21 pm

At Last!

I finished my March (and April) socks! Original mention here. I’m happy with how they’ve turned out. I like the fact that the toe decrease it a bit less than usual – I grafted 32 stitches when normally I do 16 stitches, which makes for pointy toes! I would, however, make the leg section a bit shorter. All in all I would recommend this pattern (it’s from here – although my copy is from The Knitter magazine). Now I need to find a quick and easy pattern for May.

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May 5, 2011 · 2:40 pm

March, April and Possibly May Sock

This is my March sock – first mentioned here – from the above image you can see that one sock is completely finished. With the second sock I’ve turned the heel and I’m decreasing down to the foot. I’ve really struggled with this pattern. In fact I kept having to fudge the pattern after row 8 – I was sure there was an error somewhere. I checked The Knitter website for errata, but found nothing. It wasn’t until I was halfway through the second sock that I realised I’d been reading row 8 wrong (duh!). Anyway, it’s a good thing I used stripy yarn because you can see my mistakes.

I do plan to knit a May sock, but it will have to be a very simple sock if I’m to get it finished in time.

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