Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2013 - Day Three: Infographic

Ah, I do like to start projects, I don't tend to finish them very quickly though. I'm terrible with blankets though, usually with the thought of "Oh, this'll decrease my stash!" but you know what? It never bloody does!

Log Cabin Blanket (not yet on Ravelry)

"Stash Depleting" Blanket

Sock Yarn Blanket (not yet on Ravelry)

Weasley Blanket

Log Cabin Squares

Bee Keepers Quilt

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2013- Day Two: A Mascot Project

I quite like that I'm a bee. I love bees. I love the internet meme's about bees, well I say "about" I think I mean more along the lines of "mention". Be it Batman saying "Bees. My God." in Amazons Attack or Nic Cage screaming "Not the bees!". I love it.

Now knitting? Well obviously there's the Bee Keeper's Quilt, which I've been working on for over a year. All those delicious little hexipuffs that go together like honeycomb.

In my quilt, I've been adding things I love in bit by bit. There's a hexipuff in there with the Deathly Hallows symbol on it. There's two hexipuffs with butterflies on it, to look like Fluttershy's cutie mark.
There's even an owl in there! I love owls.

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2013- Day One: The House Cup

After reading through the choices on Eskimimimakes (and donning my Gryffindor hat) I think it's fair to say I'm at home in House Bee.

There's always a new pattern I want to cast on, or a yarn I want to use, a look through my project bags and my Ravelry page can tell you that.

Hey, I haven't finished my Bee keeper's quilt yet, but I do a few hexipuffs here and there, it'll get done soon enough. I have a few scrap blankets on the go, one for sock yarn and two (or three) dk ones. A couple of lonely socks without partners, hanging out together. A teddy bear, a couple of shawls. They'll get finished when they get finished.

To be honest, life can be crappy, so if I feel like casting on something new I'm going to cast on something new.

I'm a bee.

Hey, it's okay;

You know, being a perfectionist could drive a person crazy. So I've decided to let things happen as they will with my knitting, loosen my gauge.

Hey, it's okay;

• If my stripes don't match when knitting that second sock.
• To cast on new projects without finishing old ones.
• To buy another skein/ball of yarn without a project in mind.
• To not follow a pattern to the letter.
• To substitute yarns.
• If knitting with lace weight mohair isn't your thing, even if it did cost more than that aran jumper did.

There's a few of mine for you, I'd love to know yours.

Inspiration Shall Strike

Forgive me for being such an absentee blogger, my karma for this? Well I'm feeling a little rusty on the writing front. So before I jump back into frequent blogging, I thought I'd do a post on something other than knitting. "Something other than knitting?" I hear you cry, yes, dear reader, I'm afraid so!

Knitting is all well and good, but what is the point of creating if you aren't inspired? Given that inspiration can strike at any moment, where do I begin? I figure with my reading material as of late and then proceed to films I've seen lately, though in some cases these may intermingle.

Given the film's release this winter, I chose to reread The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. The thrill of going back to the Middle Earth of my imagination was wonderful! I can see Bilbo's perfectly round green door, his homely hobbit hole, the landscapes and the caves, for me it was like going home. Then I went on an adventure of my own; to the cinema to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, though my journey there wasn't unexpected, I've been anticipating it for years now. That first glimpse of Hobbiton, along with the score, actually brought tears to my eyes!
After seeing this again I chose to cast on my Hitchhiker in the green and yellow of Bilbo's front door.

Another book I've recently finished reading is Jam by Yahtzee Croshaw, an internet reviewer of video games and rather hilarious. It's about a Jampocalypse, really, strawberry-scented-man-eating-jam. I urge you to read it. It's rather refreshing, in a sticky-jammy way, given the recent rise of zombies in the media to have an apocalypse so sweet!

The weekend just passed I took Craig to see Wreck it Ralph at the cinema as an early Valentine's gift [it's only just opened in cinemas here in the UK]. My love of video games comes from character, story, history and art, and I am nowhere near the gamer my other half is, but that isn't to say I didn't grow up with Lara Croft, Pokemon and Sonic the Hedgehog. So this film was a real treat for the both of us, getting the in jokes, noticing characters in the background, being amazed at everything/everywhere in general, of course it had it's Disneyisms but that was easy to put aside. It really reminded me of what I was knitting when I started; pokemon characters and using 8-bit sprites as colour work charts. I miss doing that. One of my New Years goals is to knit what I feel, and I feel nostalgic.

It's no surprise that I'm inspired by Deadpool, I get so excited waiting for each new issue, I even knit a doll of him recently. I adore the merc. with a mouth, he's my favourite in the Marvel roster.

 Yesterday I watched Midnight in Paris. My stars! This film is magical! Given that I adore the 1920's anyway, it made me want to visit Paris more now than ever. I loved seeing all the notable figures of that era, and the clothes and the music. That's the magic of film, you can bring anything to life. I am on a Tom Hiddleston kick as of late, but he's such a fantastic actor! He's so eloquent and has a voice meant to listen to. He acts with such a passion that I find myself so inspired by his performance. Doesn't hurt that he plays Loki, either.

So, this is my inspiration lately.

Until next time. xo

Festive knitting, sadness and kindness

Note: I wrote this a while ago but never posted it for some unknown reason, though I thought I'd post it non the less to get it out into the world.

I have to begin this post, like so many others have, with a tribute to KnitPurlGurl. Karrie was a lovely lady and a pretty prominent figure in the online knitting community. Although I didn't know her as well as others did, I did enjoy our tweet exchanges. She had such a sunny personality that made watching her podcasts so enjoyable, so kind too, starting the RAP movement (Random Acts of Pattern) which has been continuing in her memory and it is wonderful to behold.

I received my first RAP last week from LittleRiaHen which was the Hitch-hiker, which got cast on as soon as I got it. It's brilliant, thank you again!
I've knit up my first skein but at the moment I'm too lazy focused on finishing other WIPs before the new year to wind up the 2nd skein. It's a really enjoyable knit too.

Hitch-hiker wip

This may actually be a picture heavy post, woohoo! Okay, titular subject, Festive knitting. The two sweaters I was knitting as gifts have been completed! I am very happy with how they look, I love them!

Craig's sweater is knit out of Hayfield Bonus Aran and is a size Large. Accomplishment achieved, he said he wouldn't wear cables until he was 30 (ha!) but now he buys them of his own accord. He looks very handsome in cables, I can't wait for him to wear this sweater.

Brandon's sweater is knit out of Stylecraft Life DK and is a size Small. I hope he likes this when he gets it, I mean teenagers are choosy, right? I know I was. He chose the orange shade when he saw it in my stash, but it had to be softened with the brown else he'd look like an Oompa Loompa [doobidy doo].

I've knit myself some more socks! These are also my first after thought heel socks, fit great so I'm proud. They're knit out of Regia World Color in Italy, though I bought it because it looks Christmassy. I don't think I'll ever be bothered by mismatched socks, I'd rather let the yarn do it's thing. 'Happy accidents' I used to call things like this at art college.

There are a few other things I've finished, but these are my favourites. So I'll leave you with Gort, the biggest monster I've knit so far. He's knit out of Robin Paintbox DK on 4mm double pointed needles.

Weasley is our King

That's why Gryffindors all sing; "Weasley is our King!" 

So, I've decided to knit Ron Weasley's blanket, y'know seeing as I'm a sucker for any replicas from the Harry Potter films, even though they piss me off sometimes.

Anyway, so you're going to want the good stuff. The pattern is The Ron Weasley Blanket by Penguineer (Ravelry link).

I figure it's a good idea, seeing as I'm on a quest to knit up my acrylic stash oddments. I love this pattern for the detail it goes into. I mean, I can look through the squares and identify the yarn from other knitting projects in the films. Then there's the Hogwarts House colours, which I think is sweet. I can just picture Molly Weasley finishing one of the Christmas jumpers then knitting a square[s] with the leftovers.

Ugh, I love Molly Weasley.

So, my plan of attack:

I'm using 5mm needles and DK yarns, mostly Robin brand, seeing as when I started knitting I only bought the cheap yarns.

I have written a list of all the recurring colours and how many squares I'll need of them. I'm starting off with the solid block squares seeing as they're simple t.v knitting. I'll go on to the fun stripes last.

If I knit some that are next to each other, I sew them together. Simple. Seeing as sewing up is my least favourite part of knitting and this is the problem I seem to be having with my bee-keeper's quilt.

Single squares are good pallet cleansers too.

I've drawn up a little grid, and can cross off squares as I knit them, so I know which ones I have. I also seem to love cross referencing. Odd.

Other project updates: I have finally finished Craig's Christmas sweater and only have a sleeve left to knit on my nephews.  I've knit a stocking, just need to weave in ends and I've knitted 4 mini sweater ornaments, they're so cute! A bauble. Been working on some socks. Knit my first afterthought heel. Knit hats. Knit gloves.

That's all I can think of for now!