Five needle voodoo

I've copied most of this out of my other blog so apoligises if this is old news to you but I thought since this was a knitting blog, it should go in here too.

I've been wittering of for ages about how I wanted to try sock knitting but I've also been looking at this five needle knitting lark and though Oh-My-God. Anyway putting aside my 'Whats wrong with circular needles?' question, last night I decided that I wanted to have a go at 5needle knitting and had been looking through my Stitch and Bitch Nation book and quite liked the look of the crocodile mittens for Jack. HA!! Knitting? Relaxing? Yeah, more like acupuncture when you have five needles all spinning around while you're trying to knit. Lots of swearing and stamping of feet later, I had it though. Here it is to start with.



Haha, I tell a lie. To start with I got all the stitches set out onto their needles then with the spare needle, knitted round, ending up with all stitches on one needle. Oh how I laughed!! M thought it was hilarious. Sooo I went and looked on knittinghelp.com and watched her video. Soon it was all a bit clearer and I managed to do it.

You knit the wrist-band in a circle. It was supposed to be a rib but yeah like I was going to attempt to rib with those needles?! Then you knit the rest of it flat with just two needles.
Here is the finished item on Jacks hand. Its a bit scraty with the sewing up because I was determined to finish it off last night so that I could see if it fitted him this morning. There are mistakes on the knitting anyway so I'm going to have to make another two but just so that you know what I was aiming at.
I'm feeling more confident at having a go at socks now. Its a pain to start with but once the knitting gets longer, it seems easier to knit so maybe five needles aren't too bad. The looks I was getting from M were a picture though......

Impulse buys??

HA!! I have a place to blog away my naughty-ness. Michael has found out about my main blog so if I blogged on there he would know that I have just bought some wool and spent £50 when we are already, to coin one of his phrases....'haemorraging money' at the moment.

what's worse I don't know. The fact that I don't actually need 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Maya in a lovely orangey colour?? I saw it and though 'Wow a hat' then 'Cool, imagine a booga bag in that.' and finally 'How cute would Looby-lou look in longies made out of that wool?.' That was my brain in the space of two seconds then I left it, went and made a cup of tea and stuff. That was yesterday. I left the picture of it on my screen all afternoon and was really good then today, while buying some wool for my Gran for her birthday I just accidentally bought it. On my credit card.That's like free money right?

Hellooooo!

I found your invite Nic - thank you so much...don't know what to say - my knitting is in novice mode....look...here is a close up of my dropped stitches!

I'm learning slowly - and would appreciate any guidance from you pros....

Sally x

Look!!

Its my 'Mel' bag for Em. I bought the wool when we went to that shop in Penarth, Claire. Oh yeah, good point, when you are looking for somewhere to have your shop, make sure its somewhere easy to find so that we don't get lost coming to spend all our money there ;)
Anyway, I've been having a crappy day, should have been doing boring paperworky stuff tonight but decided that I had to get crafty and snap out of my bad mood and since I was fed up of the cardigan I'm making Mum, haven't got the right colour to do any more of my Santa Gnomes and nothing else cooking at the mo, it had to be sewing up this bag and about bloody time I say!! I haven't followed the destructions about making it up because it was still really floppy with wadding and lining it so I've also added porridge-box sides and bottom, inbetween the wadding and lining to make it slightly more stable. What do you think?? I have sequins to sew on it yet because I thought it might be a bit plain for a 16yo girl and I also have to slip-stitch the lining and bag together, Hmm, I was going to do that tonight but then sat talking to Michael on the phone for too long and now its bed-time so better go........

Damn it!!

Look!! I was getting on so well with the cardi in the yarn that I no longer like. I measured it about thirty times before I cast the stupid thing off then I laid it on the floor, got the tape measure out again and the arm-hole is an inch too short :(
So I have a cunning plan. Its supposed to be cropped, I think (its the Louisa Harding Lavender thing out of Simply Knitting) so I am going to go with it as is at the mo, knit the rest and see what it looks like. Its for Mum for Christmas so need to get my finger out whatever I do really.
Oh yeah and its not knitted in LH. I've used Eskimo instead which although I lovbe the colour, I'm unsure of the texture and fluffy-ness. It feels lovely but I'm a bit worried that it will make Mum look like a red teddy bear.

Ahh, child up and running riot with my knitting.

Nic
xx

THE List!

Claire has reminded me that I was going to do a list of everything that I need to get finished for Christmas. The problem is that I keep adding things to it instead of finishing things and crossing them off the list so at this rate I'll never get anything finished but here goes.....

1.Cardi for Mum out of Simply Knitting (Nov). Its nearly 2/7 done if I'm going by the amount of yarn I've used but I'm still on the back!!! Its getting boring now but my kind Aunt has spurred me on because she told me that I'd never get it finished by Christmas.HA I'll show you :P

2. Rowan 'Mel' bag for my sister. This was going to be for my sister, Mel, but I decided that it was a bit plain for her and that our other sister would like it more so I'm adding sequins to it and making it for Em instead. I've knitted it, just need to sew sequins on, line it and sew it up. Haha, sounds soooo easy.

3. Chinesey style bag for Mel out of Simply Knitting (I think Oct issue). Haven't even bought the wool for this but it looks fairly easy and quick (don't you love how I said that!!)

4. Hahaha, don't laugh too much, I've joined a knit-along thingy, theoretically to inspire me to finish everything for Christmas but its giving me more ideas and I found someone making earwarmers for their other-half to wear to work under their bike helmet so I NEED To make them for Michael. I would give you a link but I can't find it at the moment.

5. Christmas Gnome thingys out of Simply knitting (damn that magazine!!). These aren't presents so not urgent but I had to start makingthem last night when I got back from a stressful weekend in Kent and I've done a beard.


Other things are in the backgrond, like socks, hats and scarves but they're not crucial. SOOOO come on, get writing your lists ;o)

Nic
xx

No longer crotchless!

WOAH! So I have finally found ten minutes to sew up Looby-Lous trousers and they are now no longer crotchless. In fact they are finished so tonight I'm going to soak them in lanolin so that they will be ready to wear for tomorrow night.
I used Debbie Bliss aran tweed wool that I found in my local wool shop, in their bargain bin for £2. The pattern is from Little Turtle Knits.
I have knitted these as pyjamas for Lucy, to go over her cloth nappy. Wool works as a 'waterproof layer' instead of having to using the normal PUL (Plastic) wraps. Moisture evaporates off the top of the wooly pants and dries all the time so that in the morning when they wake up, their nappy isn't sodden. I know I'm not making much sense tonight-I'm knackered.
So, Jodi, have you finished the scarf?? I think tomorrow I might make a list of all the things I have to finish (haha and start) in time for Christmas.

Night
Nic
xx