Non Slip

 

The man who ordered socks asked me to put something non slip on the bottom. Can do. I found a spot in the Winter sunshine this morning to sew on a rubbery fabric that should do the trick. I've nearly finished knitting the green socks. They are for his wife, so will need rubbery patches too. 

Handspun

 

My spinning is pretty consistent, helped by the commercial preparation of the fleece, but I'm not a machine. I think I must have spun the brown wool a little thicker than usual, so I ran out before I got to the toes of the second sock. I undid the toe of the first sock and knitted them both in green. I used wool spun for the next pair of socks, but they're a smaller size, so I'm sure there will be enough. I did consider adding some green to the top of the socks so that it looks less like I ran out of wool, but I'll knit the green pair first. 

WIP

 

I'm working on the brown socks. I don't think I'll get them finished today. I've spun the wool for the next pair of socks, but still have to dye it. I've sold all the fingerless gloves and need to make more for the market, so I'm trying to keep at it. 

Denim

 

I've finished knitting the blue socks. They're for an order. I spent much of yesterday spinning the wool for the next pair. I dyed it this morning. It'll soon dry in the winter sunshine.

Replacement

 

I knitted another pair of celtic knot gloves to replace the pair I sold at the market. This pair won't get to the next market though because they've already been claimed. 

I'm working on the blue socks now. The colour is denim, now that it's dry. I like how the unevenly dyed wool is knitting up:

Solving A Puzzle

 

On Saturday, a friend of mine handed me an old, crocheted coat hanger cover and asked me if I knew how it was done. Mmm, no. I said I'd have a go at figuring it out. It was easy to see that the white part was done second, but how was the middle zig zag done? It took me a while to figure out that there's a central chain and then two sides of shells are worked down the chain separately, with a double crochet between each pair of shells. Single crochet in American terms.  Mine looks a bit more pointy than the original, but I think that can be corrected by working one chain between shells instead of two. I've sent Jenni notes about the method and I'm going back to knitting socks.

For Socks

 

I've been spinning for a sock order and dyed the wool this morning in the microwave. I didn't stir the dyepot because I didn't want to risk the wool felting, so I'm prepared for some unevenness. I added the skeins to the dyebath together so that the skeins would be 'evenly uneven'. I think it has worked, but I'll have to wait until the skeins are dry to be sure. 

Dawdled

 

I've dawdled rather, but have now finished the entrelac gloves. 

I did knit a pair of little bootees on Monday, but gave them away without taking a picture. 

Stashbuster Fingerless Gloves

 

I was looking through my pattern file the other day when I came across a pattern I'd photocopied from Interweave Knits magazine. The pattern is by Allyson Dykhuizen. I didn't have the name of the pattern, but I've just looked it up and it's 'Reservoir Mitts'. It can be found on Ravelry. I thought it would be a good way to use up the tiny bits of wool I have left over from making socks and gloves. It is. I've used Allyson's directions for the entrelac back of the hand, but made up the rest of the gloves. Allyson knitted the palm of the hand from side to side and her version has half fingers. I'm knitting the palm upwards, joining to the back as I go. 

I sold the Celtic knot gloves on Saturday and a few other things. I also have orders for three pairs of socks. I want to finish these gloves and a pair of boottees for a gift and then I'll start spinning for the orders. 

PS There were a lot of scribbled notes on the pattern, but I don't remember knitting them. I've just looked back on my blog and found them! I knitted them in 2014. As I'm doing now, I made up my own version of the palm.

Wool For Market

 

I've spun four skeins of wool, which I'll roll into balls before Saturday's market. I ummed and arred about dyeing them but eventually decided to leave them natural. 

Spragues Revisited

 

I'm running out of time to prepare for the market, so I didn't want to try a new glove pattern and risk it not working. I used this Spragues pattern by Galt House of Yarn that I used last year. This time round I know that 'spragues' is an old English term meaning alert or lively, thanks to Diane. 

Here's the whole batch of gloves together:

Another Pair

 

I've completed another pair of fingerless gloves for the market basket.  I can't see a name on the pattern I used. The variegated wool probably distracts from the lace and cable pattern a bit. 

A Pair

 

Well, it's been a bit of a slog, but I now have a pair of well-fitting fingerless gloves with a Celtic knot pattern on the back of each hand. It's just as well that I made the second glove as a test knit because I did find mistakes in my reworked pattern. I made corrections on the paper version as I went along and will now go back to the computer and make changes there. 

Wave

 

The pattern for these gloves is called Nalu, which apparently means 'wave' in Hawaiian. So I thought the blue/green yarn would be appropriate. The pattern is well written and the shape of the gloves ideal, so I thought I'd combine this pattern, by Sparrowhawk, with the Celtic Knot cable that I used last week. I unravelled the horrible gloves that I made using a pattern from Start Knitting and amalgamated the two patterns:

This is the first glove, a huge improvement on the original. I did have a false start when I placed the thumb too low, but I got there eventually.  I'm going to write out the new version now, so that I can test the pattern when I knit the second glove. I don't want to go through the whole thought process again when I want to make another pair. 

Colour

 

I dyed three different coulourways to knit into fingerless gloves. I dyed each one separately, in the microwave, then rinsed them all together once they were cool. I started knitting with the blue/green one:

 After my difficulties with the last pair of gloves, I thought I'd stick with a tried and tested pattern. It's Nalu, by Sparrowhawk, which I've knitted several times before. 

A Better Size

 

I had another go at Celtic Knot Fingerless Gloves from Start Knitting, adding 16 stitches to the original pattern. They do fit better. I like the cabled pattern, but there are other aspects of the design that I find less pleasing. The gloves are knitted downwards and the cast off ribbing doesn't hug the wrist well. And then there's the thumb. The pattern uses a waste thread method to make a place for the thumb. That's clever, but it leaves a loop of thread at the base of the thumb:

I sewed the loop down when I threaded in the yarn used for the thumb, but it doesn't seem satisfactory to me. I also prefer a thumb with a gusset. I might be able to reuse the cable pattern, but won't knit the pattern again as it is. 

A Bit Small

 

The wool is spun and I'm ready to knit fingerless gloves for next month's market. I wanted to try Celtic Knot Fingerless Gloves from Start Knitting website. I did think the number of stitches was a bit low, but since it's a complicated pattern, I thought I'd best knit it as written to begin with. Hmm. I have small hands and it's a very tight squeeze for me, so I don't think this would be good for the market stall. I worked out mentally how to make a bigger size, but when I came to knit, I realised that in order to get the ribbing to flow into the cable pattern, I would have to add 16 stitches. That's 56 stitches, which I think should be alright, given that cabling pulls the work in a bit. So I'm going around again:

Of course, I could have just knitted on bigger needles, but I didn't want it to look too loose. I hope this will work. 

More Socks

 

I've finished knitting the blue/grey socks and started on another pair. I'm also spinning more wool, which I intend to make into fingerless gloves. 

There seems to be a lot of turmoil on the Just Tatting facebook page. I'm wondering whether to ignore it or leave the group. Sure, copyright is important, but it's possible to take the concept to absurdity!

Tea With Miss Caroline

 

It didn't take me as long to sew the tatting to net as I expected. I put on a podcast and sewed with half a brain. The food net is ready for May's monthly market. To recap, the crinolene ladies are Martha Ess's pattern, the magnolia pattern is Nancy Tracy's and the butterfly is Jane Eborall's. The flowers are daisy picot flowers made to empty shuttles. 

Pinned

 

I've finished tatting all the elements for my food net and started putting it together. I've sewn the beaded edging and pinned everything to the net. I have long, fine pins that will hopefully keep everything in place. I won't have much time for sewing over the next couple of days, but I'm happy to have got this far. 

Progress

 

The long weekend was more sociable than I expected, so I haven't made much progress on the food net. I have finished knitting a pair of socks though, and started on another pair. 

Magnolia And Two More Ladies

 

Picotsnkeys suggested that I pair magnolia flowers with Martha Ess's crinolene belle on a food net. I knew I had a pattern for a magnolia flower in my tatting file and, after a bit of a search, I managed to find it. The pattern is Tatted magnolia bloom by Nancy Tracy of Be-stitched.com. It's three dimensional, but I think that it could still work on a food net. 

When I finished the turquoise belle, I realised that she was facing the 'wrong' way. So I made the apricot lady to match.  In case you didn't see my previous post, the pattern is Miss Caroline, the Crinolene Belle, by Martha Ess. 

The Sun Is Shining

 

The sun came out last week, so I was able to wash and dye the wool I'd spun. I've knitted one pair of socks in natural. The pink and green was dyed in the microwave. I'll make a start on knitting this it this evening, after I've finished off another tatted crinolene lady. 

Miss Caroline

 

When I was looking through my tatting files for butterfly patterns, I came across Martha Ess's pattern 'Miss Caroline, the Crinolene Belle'. I thought she would make a good candidate for food covers. I have used her before for milk jug covers, but not food nets. My plan is to make a lady for each corner and then tat something else for the middle. Perhaps a different crinolene lady, there are several of them about. 

I was rather generous when I wound the thread for the first lady, so I made daisy picot daisies to empty the shuttles. You can see that my second attempt I was closer to the mark of thread needed. 

Butterflies And Daisies

 

I've finished the food net. I've dawdled a bit because there isn't a deadline. I've written about the butterflies here.  Did you spot that I used Jane Eborall's SCMR butterfly too? I must have one or two of them! 

Sorting Out A Muddle

 For the last few weeks, we've been sewing at our craft group meetings in a retirement home. First we made felt dolls. I showed the sample here. There's a wide range of abilities in the group, so some people work more quickly than others. Those that finished their dolls first made a bed for them. The plan is to give the dolls to a children's hospital, so I thought children in bed might like to have a bed for their doll.

 On Friday we sewed felt Easter egg pockets. They have a 'window' of net that shows off the Easter eggs inside. Everyone went home with a couple of eggs in their pocket.

Someone else will be running this week's meeting, making Easter cards - no sewing. So I thought it would be a good idea to sort out our sewing supplies. There were scissors in the biscuit box, patterns in the ribbon box, needles stuck in random bits of felt... You get the picture. It took me a couple of hours, but now everything is ship shape. And, I solved The Mystery Of The Disappearing Needles. I retrieved no less that twenty needles from the inside of my big pincushion! 

Butterflies

 

I've tatted a few butterflies for my food net. The one on the left is Butterfly with daisy picots by Jennifer Williams. The middle one is called Together we fly butterfly. It's a collaboration between Claudia Huber and muskaan, to create a pattern for a butterfly by an unknown designer. The right hand one is Mary's butterfly by Maria Pop of maryshandmade.blogspot.com. I made a mistake on the red one, so I tatted another one. It's a one shuttle pattern.  I had all the patterns printed out, but I think you could find them online with a bit of help from Google or Pinterest. 

Daisies and Daisy Picots

 

The weather still isn't ideal for washing wool so it's just as well I don't have any orders. I thought I'd leave the wool on one side make another food net. I was tatting daisies when it occurred to me that I was being rather lazy, just doing the same design as my previous one. So I thought I'd tat some different butterflies. I had a look through my tatting file and found several patterns that would fit the bill. 

I think I'll start with Jennifer Williams's Butterfly with 'Daisy Picots'. First I needed to practice tatting daisy picots, so I made a few little flowers. Just as well I did, because the first one was hopeless! On the second one I didn't pay enough attention to tension. Got it eventually. So now I'm ready to tackle the butterfly. 

Slowly

 

I'm making slow progress on the One Skein Wonder scarf by The Public Knitter. That's because I'm only working on it for a couple of hours each evening. It looks as though I'll be able to finish the ball of yarn and reach the dimensions in the pattern, which is good; I don't want left over leftovers. 

Four More

 

I've spun another four skeins, which I intend to knit myself, but the sun still isn't shining, so they'll have to wait. 

Four Skeins

 

I've duly spun four skeins of wool to hold in stock. The weather here is soggy and cold, so I haven't washed them. I'll wait until the sun comes out. 

Spinning

 

I thought I'd better spin some more wool, so that I have some yarn on hand if someone wants socks or gloves or whatever. I've spun one bobbin full, will spin another bobbin full and then ply the two together. There should be four skeins of plied yarn when I'm done.