June Yarn Haul

June’s yarn haul is a little late and this is entirely my fault. When I made the order with this fabulous yarn dyer I had requested to collect the yarn from her store after Lockdown. When I realised my mistake I contacted they dyer and paid the postage. The yarn then arrived the next day. I am excited about this months yarn because it’s beautiful AND this will be my first time knitting with this dyers yarn.

The dyer is none other than Sealy MacWheely. Sealy MacWheely has her own store (under the same name) in Kirkintilloch. I was excited to try her yarn because we have yarn friends in common who rave about her (as a person and as a dyer). When I went onto her website I was even more excited because her yarns had a sci fi inspiration. I am a huge sci fi fan and I couldn’t resist. So this first yarn is called Kaylee. Kaylee is a character from Firefly. I loved her character. So sweet and the least cynical of the group. She makes quite a contrast to the rest of the characters. This colourway suits her perfectly. I was also kindly given the sparkly version which again suits Kaylee.

The second yarn is again based on a character from Firefly. Fans of the show will know which character this beautiful colourway is based on straight away. The yarn is inspired by the character Jayne. He was a character that I didn’t take to straight away built found him hilarious by the end of the one and only season. The yarn colours matches the hat that he was famous for wearing. I have not always been a fan of orange although that has changed in the last five years. As much as it’s grown on me it’s still not a yarn colour I buy often. Therefore, I am really looking forward to knitting with this. It might even be my choice for my next sock Saturday/sock Sunday challenge.

There were also quite a few yarns which were based on Douglas Adams “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.” I was very tempted to go with my favourite character Marvin. Instead I went with this beautiful yarn which is based on the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. I love the colours. This yarn has silk in it and I’m not sure it would be suitable for socks. It’s super soft. I will need to have a think as to what I want to knit with it. Think it will need to be something special.

I am sure you will have heard me talking about the Flower Power Fund which raises money for Marie Curie. Marie Curie is close to my heart as they were one of many people who helped my mum. They also provide a fabulous service which we as nurses can access for our patients. Which is why I have knit socks for Marie Curie the last few years. The person who organises this (a palliative doctor) also organises volunteer yarn dyers who base a yarn on a flower and some of that money goes towards Marie Curie. This yarn was by one of those volunteer dyers, Sherry Iris. The yarn is based off the flower Honeysuckle. It’s so pretty.

Finally, we have my Sea Life yarn from Mothy & The Squid. This months yarn was inspired by the Giant Cuttlefish. I LOVE this yarn. Look at all those greens. I have someone specific in mind for this one. Looking forward to that.

I have two more months of yarn hauls planned where I pick a specific hand dyer to highlight. Like this month the following two will be by hand dyers I have never tried before. Looking forward to it.

Knit Like It’s 1999

Knit Like It’s 1999 by Tricot and Stitch (This link will take you to ravelry) is my 15th pair of socks this year. Granted most have been basic socks. I first saw this pattern on Instagram and instantly fell in love with it. It was fairly easy to follow and had charts for different sizes. I think this would make a good pattern for someone who wants to move past the basic pattern. The different stitches within the pattern are explained well so I don’t think there would be a problem there. The make up of the sock follows the basic pattern. Plus the end result is pretty. I am pleased with it and I think that I would do this again.

The sock yarn I used was by Mothy & the Squid. It’s from the first box I received from her Sea creatures box. This one was inspired by the Leafy Seadragon. Incredibly cute and I love the greens. I don’t normally choose this shade of green for myself as I’m always attracted to other colours first. However, I LOVE this. I also love how it went with the pattern. I think it worked well with it and there was no pooling. Beautiful to work with.

So this was the first pair of socks I finished with my sock Saturday/Sock Sunday challenge. To see the next pair you’ll have to follow me on Instagram. In the meantime I plan to sew more facemasks and work on my Victoria top. 

Piosa Complete

I am so pleased with myself. I’ll be honest this isn’t the best photograph to be showing it off. However, I have finished the Piosa cardigan by East London Knit. It’s also my first cardigan. I have to admit that the tutorials that came along with the pattern gave me the confidence to bite the bullet and knit my first garment. I think I would have put off my challenge to myself had it not been for this. The tutorials kept me right and I do appreciate the extra work that went into the design of this pattern as a result. I also enjoyed it. It’s a lot of knitting (compared to socks) but I was never bored. Instead I was eager to keep going and see there result of each stage of the pattern. Even without the tutorials the pattern is very easy to follow thanks to its clear instructions. If you break down the sections there wasn’t really much in it that I hadn’t done before just not together for a large garment. If anyone else wants to try something like this go ahead. I can highly recommend it.

I did make some changes and felt confident to do so. First of all I added length. The cardigan is a more cropped length than I like. So I added 20 extra rows to it. The good thing with it was that I could try it on as I went to see how happy I was with the length. I also held off on the pockets to the end to ensure that I had enough yarn (although I really wanted those pockets). Thankfully I did have enough. I also didn’t add buttons. I love buttons and I’m not afraid of button holes. I just tend not to use them on my cardigans and so I decided against adding them. I am so happy with the end result and I am proud of myself. I think my mum would have been too.

The yarn is Nua Worsted by Carol Feller of Stolen Stitches. It’s beautiful to knit with and the colour choices made it difficult to choose. In the end I went with Unexpected Macaw because it’s a blue that goes with most things and one that I wouldn’t normally pick first. I am so happy with my choice.

Now that I have finished may first cardigan I am now about to start my first top. I bought this pattern from The Loveliest Yarn Company a while ago. I love the lace design and the 3/4 sleeve. I thought it would be perfect to wear on management days in work (before current times when it’s best not to wear your own clothing in work). Let’s be honest here. If there was anything that initially attracted me to the pattern it’s the colour. My sister made that comment the other day. “You bought that because of the colour didn’t you? It’s a Karen colour.” Yep, I did indeed. As I really wanted to knit it in the colour in the photograph I was sadly unable to order my yarn from the same place (which is a shame as Michelle had the deep pink in her recent sale). It is a lace weight yarn and therefore there is a huge difference between this and the worsted that I was knitting with. Both the pattern and the yarn is by West Yorkshire Spinners.

So tonight, I plan to wind the yarn and knit up my swatch. Wish me luck and watch this space.

Sock Saturday/Sock Sunday

I finished these socks a few weeks ago and I have been meaning to post about them since. I actually had plans for this specific post on Wednesday. It wasn’t until evening (despite my bullet journal) that I remembered and it was too late to take photographs. I had started these socks before I cast on my cardigan. I decided to keep going as it would be good to have an easy knit that I could work on at times when concentration was not required. Hence the basic sock pattern. I’m so glad that I did as I love these socks. This is my colour.

The yarn was part of my May haul. It is Blue Footed Booby (inspired by the bird) by Mothy & the Squid. I love her yarn and love knitting with it. I especially love her inspiration for her yarn colours. I mentioned in the haul post how the bird this yarn is based on took me back to my childhood. Those colours though. As I said these are my colours. I love the blues and I love how it knitted up.

So last Saturday a lovely lady on the ‘The Loveliest Yarn Company’ knitting group page suggested that we have a mini challenge which was to have sock Saturday. The challenge is to see how much you can get knitted in a day. I joined late in the evening and so decided to continue on to the Sunday too (although I was at work for most of the day. Above is what I managed to get done which is most of the first leg. I think I would have got one sock finished had I taken part early enough.

So I have decided that I will do this challenge every weekend (Sock Saturday and Sock Sunday sounds better than Sock Weekend). I’ll be updating on this on my Instagram and after today I will only really be showing my finishes here. So if you want to see my progress over a weekend you can do so there. I will give you some details of this sock though. The yarn is from Mothy & the Squid and it’s part of her sock yarn club. Again I showed this on last months yarn haul post. The pattern is called “Party Like it’s 1999” by Tricot and Stitch. I am loving how it is knitting up and it’s an interesting pattern to knit.

In other news, I am still working on my Piosa cardigan. As of now I am on the hem and I will have enough for pockets. Which means I will then just need to sew in the ends and block it and I’m done. I’m so proud of myself already.

Piosa Part 3

My cardigan is really coming along. This image shows you that I had started the hem. I had an extra skein of yarn and so I used it to add length to the body. The good thing about this is that I can try it on as I go. I was glad that I added that length to it. It was nice in its original form but I like length to all of my tops and the extra has this sitting exactly where I like it. I know this because since taking this photograph I have finished the hem and cast it off.

In fact I am now on to part four. I decided to start the sleeves before the pockets in case I didn’t have enough yarn (despite that extra skein). I really want the pockets so I very much hope that I do. I think I will but not getting my hopes up in order to not be disappointed. I will probably be one of the last to finish this but that’s okay. I am enjoying the process and I have been enjoying seeing others finish theirs. It encourages me to keep going. Although I haven’t lost my enthusiasm for it. Without wanting to be too optimistic, if I keep going at my current rate I might have it completely finished by the end of next week.

All for Protection!

I’ve had the sewing machine out for the first time in years. I think the last time I used it was before I moved in to the flat. I always make promises to bring it out but other things seem to take priority. We are now being asked to wear masks on public transport and so I thought I would make my own. I watched a video on Instagram by Tilly and the Buttons which gave a very simple tutorial on making them. You can find her tutorial on YouTube as well as her website.  

So a few things about picking up sewing in so many years. I had to remember how to use the machine again. For instance, threading the bobbin, attaching the foot and remembering to put the foot down. Yep, I made all of these mistakes. I also made the mistake of cutting my fabric before watching the tutorial in full so that my little toadstools are all travelling in the wrong direction. They are still cute though, right? It took me a while to make the first one but quickly zoomed through the second. It now takes longer to measure and cut out my fabrics than it does to sew it up. I have made one for my dad and uncle and have plans to make a few more. For my dad and uncles I actually struggled to find fabric that wasn’t girly. Then I remembered the bedsheets that I have that I don’t use anymore. So they now have orange and white striped masks.

I chose to go with he ties for the masks because the elastics are sore on the ears. Not a problem if your are only wearing them for a short time. However, I wear masks all day in work and it does ache. Some of us have to twist the elastic to ensure that it is secure to the face which makes it more painful. So these little knitted bands of fabric with buttons helped. The elastic goes round the buttons instead of the ears. This means a tighter fit and saves the skin behind the ears. I used leftover sock yarn to make them. I used my sock needles to cast on 25 stitches and I knitted up 15 rows. Didn’t take long at all.

I know that restrictions have eased a little but I hope that you all still stay safe and take precautions when you do go out and about.

I had also planned to do a separate posts to highlight some of the devastating events that’s came to light since the murder of George Floyd. I decided against it as I didn’t want my post to drown out the voices of those that really need to be heard. My little blog isn’t that far reaching but I didn’t want to take the risk. Instead I have donated and I have ordered some books as part of my own education. If you are interested on seeing those books I will post them on my instagram when they arrive and on twitter.