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I'm a Big Fat Reject! But so what....
March 31, 2005
This is the second pattern that I have submitted to Knitty and had rejected, but I'm hoping you will all like it anyway! I like it!
I'm going to be selling it on this website, because I'd really really love to be able to cover the costs of hosting by selling a few patterns, and it's only £2.50, so it won't break anyone's bank :)
This one is called Midnight, and is for a bobbly cabley shoulder warmer, in one size because you can use the cord at the top to adjust the size. It uses 3 yarns held together, is quick to make, and I can confirm is super super soft.
Here you go!
Clickety click to see the photos!
It can be bought in my pattern shop, which is found here.
Enjoy!
Posted by jen at 08:02 AM | Comments (7)
Ooh La La! C'est Phildar!
March 30, 2005
I really wanted to do a cool French title, but it is now 4 years since I did my A levels and I've forgotten nearly all of it, so Ooh La La is as good as it gets!! (Such a shame though.....I should learn it again!).
I ordered the Phildar magazine with the pink jacket on it over a month ago from the Phildar website and was getting a bit pissed off that it hadn't come yet (they had taken the money), but yesterday it finally came with a really apologetic letter saying they had refunded the postage, and they sent me a free magazine too! So I don't mind at all!
Weirdly enough, with a bit of concentration I understood the letter (which was in French of course), it's just that I can't think of any French for myself. So I guess it must still be in there somewhere!
Anyway - here are the magazines they sent:
I really enjoyed flicking through, and saw some lovely stuff. The reason I bought the magazine (just realised I forgot to say!) was to find a pattern for the yarn that Carolyn gave me for my birthday last year, which was Phil Eponge in a lavender colour:
I found about 4 patterns I liked, and I could have made 2 of them with the yarn I have, but do I really want 2 tops in exactly the same colour? I don't! And then I found another one, which takes up exactly the 10 balls I have, and in the true spirit of making things I will wear, it is a cardi - yay!
Pretty! I love the belt. I have no idea when this will be started (although soon I hope), I just wanted to share the fact that finally my largest remaining load of stash yarn has been properly designated a project, which makes me feel much better about things. Phildar have boring names for their designs though, this one is called Le Nouveau Cache-Coeur....I'm feeling quite uninspired though so I will just call mine Chache Coeur for short until inspiration strikes!
Maybe some real knitting progress tomorrow :)
Posted by jen at 08:00 AM | Comments (7)
Easter knitting (or not!)
March 29, 2005
Hello - hope everyone had a fabby easter! I went to stay at my parents in Birmingham, and Adam came too, which was ACE. My dad loves cooking, and me and Adam do too, so we ate REALLY well for 4 days :)
I got there a day before Adam, so I finished knitting Gemma's first sleeve (I've not knitted anything else yet, I started with a sleeve):
I started with a sleeve because the body is totally covered in the 2 colour pattern, and I didn't want to start with that, but it turned out that row after row of st st was pretty boring! So I'm glad that's one sleeve down really. Although the Calmer is really lovely to work with.
Anyway, after Adam came I just spent time with him, and didn't knit another row! I guess now I'm on my own again the knitting will pick up :)
Posted by jen at 07:41 AM | Comments (3)
Fluff the Cuff!
March 23, 2005
Here are the promised "snipping the loops" photos for Roxie :)
It was ace fun to do, and quite different to anything I'd done before. Last time I made a fur trimmed jacket I just used a furry yarn!
I put photos of the stages up on their own page, click on the photo above to go and see :)
Posted by jen at 08:58 AM | Comments (4)
Roxie!
March 22, 2005
Yes! I finished Roxie! I was working away on her until late thursday night so I could take her away to Bristol at the weekend, and luckily I finished in time :)
I have worn her lots since I finished too, and am very pleased with the fit, the fur, etc.
Click on the picture to see Roxie's page!
I will try and post photos of snipping the loops and making it all furry tomorrow - I'll see if the photos came out ok!
Posted by jen at 08:23 AM | Comments (24)
Other Goodies From London
March 17, 2005
I have already showed off the yarn I bought for Gemma when I went to London last weekend, but didn't get round to posting about the other things. I also bought yarn for Elspeth:
Neither John Lewis or Liberty had the colour I wanted in stock, but the lady in John Lewis phoned up other branches until she found one that did have my colour, and then they posted it to me for FREE! Well the yarn wasn't free of course, but the postage was - very kind I thought. I bought the same colour as they used in the magazine - Powder Puff, which the lady described as "knicker pink"! Here's my 4 balls:
It's a lovely old fashioned pink, not a colour I'd usually go for, but I really like it and hope I look nice in it!
I wasn't planning on buying any fabric (I have SO MUCH fabric right now - I'll have to go over it in another post to make myself look bad and motivate me!), but I had a quick peek in John Lewis, and they had some lovely chocolate brown linen with a flower print. It looks like the sort of thing you'd see as a skirt in Monsoon for like £60 or something, so I bought a metre (£10) to make myself a skirt. Here it is:
I'm 2/3 along on Roxie's second sleeve, so will finish it and start seaming tonight! I see finished Roxie photos early next week - hooray!
Posted by jen at 11:46 AM | Comments (1)
Sleeves and a surprisingly good fastening!
March 16, 2005
I am now working on Roxie's sleeves. The furry trim on the sleeves is almost twice as thick as on the body, so it took me ages (and a TON of yarn) to do, but now I'm zooming away up the first sleeve:
That photo looks pretty good on my laptop but rubbish on my work computer, just totally black - I'm having trouble photographing the colour because it's a dark shade maybe?
And in the foreground on the notebook you can see the fastening I bought yesterday. In the shop I went to they didn't have much haberdashery, and the only hook and eye fastenings were either small and metal, or large and dark brown - LUCKY! So it matches Roxie perfectly. I can't wait to finish!
Posted by jen at 12:11 PM | Comments (3)
Roxie Rox my Sox! (I know, I know, awful!)
March 15, 2005
This weekend I had nothing to do (that's A LIE, I had plenty to do, but couldn't be bothered), so apart from going to London and hanging out with my old school friend Jess (she of the plaid mittens), I worked on Roxie.
A note on the following pictures - the colour came out rubbish for some mystery reason. Look at my first post on Roxie to see her true majestic CHOCOLATE colour!
Here's the completed back:
And (I was speeding along), here are the completed fronts:
Only two rather large sleeves to go! Plus I need to buy a hook and eye for the front fastening.
I'm torn - I'm loving knitting this jacket (chunky print is ace), but also I want it finished so I can wear it! I also am itching to snip all those loops and attack them with my hairbrush to make them all shaggy. But I really think it's best that I wait until I've seamed her and tried her on!
Posted by jen at 10:51 AM | Comments (7)
Introducing Gemma
March 14, 2005
On saturday I went to London on my own (no one else could come!) to get some yarn. Oxford has no yarn shop, and the places that sell Rowan yarn in Bristol (where Adam lives) and Birmingham (where my parents live) rarely have all the colours or even all the types of yarn, so I am now doing all my yarn shopping either on the internet or in London. I didn't want to order the yarn for Gemma online because I wanted to see which colours went together best. But in the end I decided the exact same colours that were in the magazine were the nicest, so I bought those!
This is Calmer in Calm, and 4-ply cotton in Ardour (the same shade I used for Rosa!). When I got home, I realised the 4-ply cotton is not as soft and nice as other times I've used it - weird. I hope it softens up.....
Anyway, I started a sleeve just to try out the stitch pattern and see how the colours looked:
I love how it looks, and the calmer knitted up has SUCH a nice feel - it will be lovely to wear :)
My only problem with this design is the number of ends there will be to darn in.....the pattern repeat is 6 rows, and even with carrying as many yarns up the side as I can, each repeat creates 4 new ends to darn in - ick ick ick. Not so bad for the sleeves, as only the cuffs are in a fancy pattern, but the entire back and front are in the pattern! Does anyone have any tips? I've never knitted anything which generates so much mess to weave in before.
Back soon with Roxie progress!
Posted by jen at 01:11 PM | Comments (8)
Roxie!
March 10, 2005
This is my new project - Roxie from Rowan mag Big Just Got Bigger:
This is the back - it's a bit scrunched up on the needles, but I am just starting the increases above the waist. In the magazine the border looks a lot more furry - you snip the loops and brush them at the end to make them furrier, but I'm not snipping any loops until I've finished all the knitting - imagine if I had to rip and had already snipped them all! There would be a billion little ends of yarn - horror!
I'm making this in the same colour yarn as in the magazine - initially I wanted to use the grey shade of Chunky Print instead, but when I saw the brown in the shop it was loads richer and chocolatey than you would think from the photo in the magazine, and I really liked it.
I have already finished one ball, which must mean I'm already 1/8 of the way through - another quick knit then! But I love the yarn and am enjoying it. I think it's the sort of thing I'd wear a lot too :)
Posted by jen at 09:25 AM | Comments (5)
Knitting Funk My Arse
March 09, 2005
Firstly, thanks for the comments on Sis! She is blushing even pinker with the praise :)
I think Rowan 37 has fully cured me from my knitting funk! I really do think it's a mixed bag of designs, but there are some things in it that are "must-knits". When I say "must-knits" I mean if I had infinite time and money I would make them, not that I WILL definitely make them all! Weirdly all the ones I like are in Calmer, which is nice because Calmer comes in lovely colours, and isn't tiny gauge either - perfect.
The first one I like is Elspeth (by the way I couldn't find pictures I liked of all these on the internet to steal, so I photographed my magazine, yes I know I'm a weirdo!):
I would TOTALLY NOT wear it like this though. I would wear it with low slung jeans, over a sleeveless T-shirt, in the summer/spring just to keep my shoulders warm. I think that would look really pretty? I am definitely making this one - a TRUE "must-knit"!
My next favourite (and also a true must-knit) is Gemma:
All the photos I've seen on the internet are of the other (pink and purple) colourway, but I like this one better - I think it's GORGEOUS! But I won't buy the yarn for this over the internet, I want to go to a shop and hold lots of balls together just to check it's the best colour combo - which will be fun :)
Next I like this one, Chicago:
I really love that sherbet yellow colour, but I know it makes me look sick - but maybe with all the colourful flowers next to my skin I wouldn't look sick? I wish I knew! Also it's beaded as well and so I might be afraid to wear something that special.....so I love it but may well never make it.
Finally (!) the other one I like a lot is Hike:
I think it's lovely and I know I would wear it a lot, but it would be pretty dull to knit. I would have made it in a shot a year or so ago, but I'm just into more interesting knits at the moment, and there is a LOT of st st in this design....I'm not sure!
Well, I have no idea if this will interest anyone or not, but I thought it would be interesting to document this, and see if I actually make a single thing! Tomorrow: My current new project!
Posted by jen at 08:55 PM | Comments (3)
Sis!
March 08, 2005
Wow - 2 posts within 12 hours and I was really telling the truth about Sis!! Normally when I say finished tomorrow I mean in 2 weeks or something :)
But here she is! Sis is a design from the Rowan Magazine Big Just Got Bigger, and took 7 balls (although the pattern said 6 - and it took 7 FULL balls) of Rowan Big Wool in the discontinued colour Shocking. The only change I made to the pattern was to make crochet chain ties instead of using ribbon.
Click on the little picture to see more:
Next time - new projects!
Posted by jen at 08:15 AM | Comments (19)
Sis! Nearly there....
March 07, 2005
Sis is almost finished - this photo shows the border with the back and fronts knitted on:
The fronts were tiny and very quick to knit - I did them this weekend at Adam's, while he did some geeky things on his computer :)
He is back from Germany and I am VERY happy about it! I was really glad to be with him all weekend.
I also bought some yarn this weekend, but you will have to wait 2 days to see it! I think there will be quite a bit of yarn buying in the near future - I have a copy of Rowan 37 now and while I think there are a few oddballs in there, I really love some of the designs. But I'll go into that in another post.
Come back tomorrow to see Sis finished!
Posted by jen at 09:00 PM | Comments (1)
The Previously Promised Pinky Goodness
March 04, 2005
More Sis! To make the body, you crochet the border of the whole body, but pick up and knit the back and fronts separately. This could probably have been done all in one step, but I'm in a blindly following the pattern sort of mood, so I'm doing it like they tell me! The back was gratifyingly quick, as half of it is the crochet section. Here's a picture of it:
Now only the fronts to go, and they are very small - less than half the size of the back each. You could probably make this entire jacket in a weekend if you didn't have much else on. I partly love projects like that (instant gratification) and partly don't love them (lots of money on yarn, only one weekends knitting). But Sis has pulled me out of a complete knitting funk so I can't complain :)
Sadly that's all the crochet done, and I enjoyed it a lot (there is a double crochet border but that's not very exciting). I have a very old crochet project that I'm really tempted to pick up and finish after doing this (the Bonbon jacket from Rowan 33), and that's with 4-ply cotton so should probably take a million years to complete!
Posted by jen at 08:39 AM | Comments (2)
More Stuff!
March 03, 2005
Thanks for all the comments about jobs - I was just having a whinge and didn't expect anyone to be interested! But thanks a lot - it does feel better that no one else had their entire career planned when they were 21 either! Although having said that a lot of my friends DO, and that was what was worrying me.
Onto other matters! When I was at my parents last weekend, me and mum went shopping and bought sales stuff in Laura Ashley (I got a jacket!), but also there was a really lovely jumper in the sale, it was a simple fitted grey one with a big neck, made from a cotton and cashmere blend. I nearly bought it but couldn't bring myself to when I knew I could make one. Is that stupid? It would probably cost me more to buy the yarn than it would to buy the jumper! I would love to make one, but the only cotton/cashmere yarn I know is Debbie Bliss and she doesn't have the right shade of grey (I'm so picky). Anyone used Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere and can think of a good substitute? It has to feel lovely as well as match the gauge....
And finally! I have put up a page for Tropical Sunset - it can be seen here.
Sorry there was no pinky goodness today - tomorrow perhaps?
Posted by jen at 09:21 AM | Comments (0)
Stuff
March 01, 2005
I'm feeling blah. I'm worried about jobs and the fact I haven't applied for enough (difficult when you don't know what you want to do!), and my boyfriend is still in Germany and I miss him! I'm a big sap! Plus it's ALL MY FAULT about the jobs because I should have found out what I wanted to do years ago!
Rubbish.
But, anyway, knitting!
The new magknits is out, and if you go there you can see my design, in all it's pink and orange glory :)
My internet went funny for an hour this morning so I couldn't put up a page for the design, but tomorrow I hope. Anyway, here it is and click on the photo to go to the pattern:
It's far too cold to wear it at the moment - but perfect for the beach :)
Kerrie did an ace job - hooray for Kerrie :)
Back soon with more pinky goodness.
Posted by jen at 09:25 AM | Comments (6)