I'm starting to hate frogs.

I can't believe I'm doing this but I'm about to frog my shawl.....for the 5th time!

I'm just drinking a brew and building up the courage to 'rip it' (this is frogging to anyone who hasn't heard the term before, due to the sound they make!) it's a term I am becoming far too familiar with....

And all because I'm a chatterbox and tried to multitask following a complex lace pattern whilst gossiping with my friend! Think I should stick to concentrating on one thing at once so I can actually finish this project! :)

A very disgruntled Mrs K
xxx

Baby block progress...

Hi all!

I should slap my own wrists, I keep slacking on the updates - it's a good job I don't have more followers to be honest because they'd be disappointed with the lack of reading material on here! :)

My intentions was to update you on each block as it progressed but since I have just finished my 18th square last night and am half way through sewing up my 3rd block I suppose I'd better do this all in one go!

Here's the first block I made and sewed up:



I was really pleased with it although I struggled with the filling - it's so hard to find sponge that's the right shape and size and has the right 'squeezability' to it for baby blocks - I tried upholsterers but their sponge was too good a quality and I struggled to squeeze most once they were cut to 5" cubes so then I decided on car sponges, but they're too small so I had to cut them into smaller pieces and build a cube from them (this is what the blocks are stuffed with in these first pictures). But even though they looked pretty good, as soon as I showed them to one person and they squeezed them, all the little blocks became dislodged inside, despite the fact that I had actually sewn them together to stop them moving!

So back to the drawing board - I decided, mainly due to impatience and irritability, to just plump for the toy stuffing which I already had in from the monkeys I made in an earlier post (incidentally, why is it monkeys for plural rather than monkies??)

I'm really please with the stuffing for 'squeezability', however it does tend to make them look a little rounded rather than cubes - you'll see this when I post my completed photo of the 3 blocks once my last ones sewn up - maybe you can come up with a better suggestion?

The other bonus for using toy stuffing is that I can insert a bell/rattle more easily and it make noise when shaken. My first and second blocks are just plain stuffing but my third has a bell in the middle. I'm not sure for the rest, I would like to do one with scrunchy plastic sound then maybe another bell and a few more plain (there will be 8 blocks in total) - my mum suggested a squeaker in one but you'd have to squeeze the block right in to get to the little squeaker in the middle so might not work........hmm.

Anyway, I digress - when I was half was through the second block I came across a tutorial video when browsing one lunch that showed how to knit fairisle two handed (this wasn't an issue for me as I taught myself to knit really and don't hold the needles or yarn correctly at all - I've tried since to teach myself to speed up my knitting however I always fall back into my quirky way where I seem to use my whole arm to wind the yarn around!). I'm really trying to stick to this method now as it means I can knit both left and right handed holding the yarn correctly but I still seem to be adapting the technique so I can knit it my quirky way.

So once I'd watched the video a few times I decided I would use this for the remaining squares I would knit - it means that you don't get those irritating yarns stretching across the back of your work because you weave them in as you knit - this will be great for when I tackle something a little larger with fairisle such as a jumber or Christmas stocking so you have a neat back!

Here's what the 'F' square looked like mid-knit on the reverse:



You can see at the bottom of the square (to the right) I did the first couple of pattern rows with the yarn stretched, but then the rest are using the new method - I was so excited when it worked that I took this photo!

So after all that, here are the 6 squares to make up my second cube:



And here are 5 of the squares for my 3rd cube:



I didn't get a photo of the 6th square as I only finished it last night and immediately started sewing up the block so the next photo I add will be of the 3 blocks together which I'll be giving to my niece, although it may be a while until she can play with them as she's only 6 weeks on Friday! :)

Speaking of which, I didn't ever get around to announcing her birth on my blog so here it is - welcome to the world Isobel Victoria Douglas!

I am one proud auntie - I already have a beautiful little nephew on my husband's side who is at such an amazing age where his development astounds you every time you see him, he will be 2 in a few weeks, I can't believe how time has flown! And now I have a gorgeous little niece to complete the set - here is my first photo with her:



Well, that's it until next time folks!
Love Mrs K
xxx

iPhone Cable - my first time...

Well, it's been a while...I really need to start blogging more about what I'm doing but to be honest I work that slowly there's probably not a lot more I can tell you!

So here's an impromptu little project due to me getting distracted by learning new techniques and discovering the art of cables! I take my knitting into work with me on the off chance I'll get a bit of free time at lunch to work on something (but rarely do!) and found that colleagues have a habit of requesting things making for the homes which I promise to add to my every increasing to do list and of course never get round to making :)

a side note here: I do keep promising myself I will make some of these smaller items and sell them as a way of starting up my dream business where I picture myself sat in a little craft room in a summer house with the birds singing while I sew and knit away......aah, the dream.

I didn't take any progress shots so here it is, the finished, rather amateur looking but lovingly hand-made article:

I decided to line it with cotton and wadding so it's nicely padded (just in case my friend has a few too many shandies and drops it!). This little bit of sewing has reinvigorated my love for all things quilted and I've decided I'm going to tackle another project to remind myself how to use my sewing machine as it's been sat gathering dust for several years now I'm ashamed to say. If I'm going to quilt I'd like to try and do it properly rather than winging it like last time so I've decided I'm going to try and source a free-motion darning foot for my machine and have a go at some embroidery!

Well that's all for now folks,
promise I won't leave it as long next time...
Mrs K
xxx

ABCs aren't as easy as I thought...

Hi guys,

Well I’ve had a productive few days, I’ve almost finished designing my alphabet and pictures for the building blocks! The pattern only comes with ABC which will make 1 block (6 sides including a picture for each letter) so I have copied the format and designed each letter of the alphabet and a picture for each…they took some deciding on I’ll tell you, to be honest I’m still struggling with a few letters to get them finished off! I'll post pictures of each square as I finish them (or maybe each few as there will be a lot....) :)

Also I’m still not sure on how I’m going to make them up as there will be 3 letters and 3 images per block which will run through the alphabet in order, I’m not going to try and get clever with how they are position to be able to spell words etc…, they are for a newborn after all :) But obviously there are 26 letters in the alphabet and this isn’t divisible by 3…..so I’ll have 8 full blocks and 2 letters and pictures left over – any ideas from anyone how to correct this? The only thing I’ve come up with is to do the old XYZ as the 24th block (which will help a bit with picture issues, but then what do I do for the picture on there as it’s only a small space?

The over the weekend I’ve finally achieved a life-long dream – I’ve taught myself to crochet!! I’ve tried so many times before but never quite managed to master it, I became a dab hand at making the first chain but the thing I always struggle with is identifying where the loops are to crochet into, but I’ve found that after your first row it’s a lot easier as you’re going through the stitch. I still need some practice because I’m nervous when it gets to the end or beginning of a row where I should be stopping, it’s still quite hard to identify the stiches around there, and of course I can only do the crocheter’s equivalent to the knitted scarf at the moment so I have all the weird and wonderful stitches and techniques to learn but at least I can do the basics now! Here's my first piece of crochet (incidentally the ideal size to sit my iPhone on for my desk at work! :)



Catch up with you soon,
Mrs K
xxx

As easy as ABC...

Hi peeps!

Firstly an apology - where are my manners!

I was shocked at myself when I had a quick look at the blog last night to see that I didn't wish you all a very happy new year in my last post (3rd January)! So here it is, wishing health, wealth and happiness to you and your families for 2012!

There, that's better - now on with the post.

Since hearing about my sister's forthcoming arrival I've found so many little things I'd like to make! Especially since last week when we found out she's team pink! (although on this note, my sister like myself isn't a pink fan as such so there will be a rainbow of lovely colours for ther nursery, toys and clothes but none of them pink...well until bump grows up a little bit and puts her own stamp on things :))

So my next project, using the wool from my earlier post that I made the monkeys with so the toys are coordinated, is this lovely building block which I'll be making 3 of to produce a set:

Of course I'll be amending the colours and using my wool and was going to put a little bell inside one of them to make them a little more interesting for the little lady.

It would be lovely to see some other creations on here too, what projects are you all working on at the moment? :)

TTFN
Mrs K
xxx

Glitzy Wrap Progress

Here's how it's looking so far......

I'm really pleased with it I've got to say, although it's more narrow than I was expeciting it will still look lovely (and I couldn't bring myself to increase the width and making it an even longer project!) :) I didn't think it would ever take off as I started making it 5 times before I got past a few rows of pattern without totally losing track and messing up, but once I got into the swing of it I've got the pattern remembered and am sailing through...well, I nearly hit a metaphorical iceberg a few days ago and had to unpick a few rows but managed to get back on track and haven't got one single error or dropped stitch....yet! :)

In fact that's my main focus to start this year, practising how to identify the stitches by paying attention to my knitting and learning how to become more methodical with my corrections and not just unravelling a few whole rows until I can pick up how many stitches I had and just squint my eyes while I re-knit a row hoping it will work out!! I'm confident I can identify which way a stitch should lie on the needle now as I've had to undo a few stitches here and there and learnt from making mistakes, always the best way I find :) Does anyone out there have any tips on how to learn from your knitting mistakes and to not be as much of a 'wing and a prayer' type of gal?

I've always loved all crafts but there's something about knitting that seems to have just got me hooked and I'm hoping, in time, I'll become a pro! I've been looking at new techniques too and have got really excited about trying some of these but am concious I don't want to start loads of separate projects and get none of them finished so I'm in the process of deciding which I'll start alongside this one I'm currently working on - the options at the moment are fairisle (which I had a bit of practice on with the stockings), intarsia (this seems to be a bit more flxeible than fairisle as the yarns aren't attached on the wrong side of the work so I might choose this method for a cardigan/jumper...) and cable knitting!....then of course there is knitting in the round and four needle knitting which I've never had a go at....so many ideas!

I was also thinking of making the site more interactive rather than just being me talking about my projects and boring you all with progress pictures :) All I've come up with so far is to start including patterns, I think I might go back and add links to the patterns I have used on each project so far and maybe add in a section for patterns I collect along the way. I could also have a little section on methods I'm collecting along the way but I feel that I should try these out myself first to see if I can understand the instruction before trying to distribute them to others - there have been so many stitches and techniques along the way which, being a novice, I haven't encountered before and have resorted to the wonders of Google and YouTube to help me out and I've struggled to find good instructions on a few of them so thought it might be useful to save them for future reference and I could pool these together for you.

What do you think and do you have any more ideas for things you'd like to see on here?

All suggestions welcomed!
Until the next time...
Mrs K
xxx