Damn, Knit & Blast It

Do you ever get one of those knitting projects you just can’t put down and they are a delight in every detail?

I’ve just finished one of those rare beasts – lucky me!

I cast on “I’m a Little Teapot” on last Saturday with the intention of it being my new commuting project – That’s this kit with the pattern and two balls of Jamieson’s Spindrift that I bought on my trip to Ally Pally in October.

From

Oh Boy! What a romp!

There are so many different and enjoyable details crammed into this tiny pattern.
As you have probably guessed – I couldn’t stop knitting it and have finished already so I’ll show you a finished shot – then I can show you all the fun bits.

From I’m a Teapot

So. The obvious fun is the fairisle wording. There is a big, bold, clear chart that is easy to follow in the pattern. To make it easier the diagonals of the “M”s and “N”s are embroidered in afterwards.
Like this…

From I’m a Teapot

The whole rhyme goes like this…

I’m a little teapot,
short and stout.
Here is my handle.
Here is my spout.
I get all steamed up,
then I shout.
Just tip me over
and pour me out.

It’s surprisingly easy to knit the letters as you know what’s coming next – even if it is knit from top so the letters are upside down as you knit!

Between the rows of words there are different fairisle patterns – all different and interesting to do…so easy to slip into,

“I’ll just finish this pattern block before bed. Oh, I’ll just get the next lot of letters set up so it’s easy on the train…Oh dear, it’s 1am. I’ll just finish the row…”

Once you get to the bottom there is corrugated rib (easy if you hold the purl stitch yarn in your right hand and the knit colour in the left)

From I’m a Teapot

To finish the top there’s Old Shale Lace (or my Mum calls this Feather and Fan)…

From I’m a Teapot

All of that little lot looks like this…

From I’m a Teapot

From I’m a Teapot

Then there is a little icord to gather up the top, poked through the holes in the lace…

And then there’s the steeks…Yes, I said the scary word….”STEEK”.

It’s actually all rather easy when you use the right “sticky” shetland yarn! I had to cast on some extra stitches and knit alternating colours for the steek where the handle and spout would be….

(Bad pic – sorry!)

From I’m a Teapot

The steek is the bit below the blue stitch holder with the parallel lines of stitches.

I held my breath and cut my steeks – what do you know? My knitting did not explode and unravel before my eyes. It just sat there obediently waiting for my to finish the edges…

From I’m a Teapot

At this point I had to abandon the pattern. I had nearly run out of yarn and couldn’t pick up stitches and knit a rolled stocking stitch edge as suggested. I simply crocheted and edging (single crochet), did blanket stitch down the cut edges of the steek (probably overkill – it wasn’t going anywhere) and loosely oversewed the flaps to the inside of the cosy.

Wanna see inside?

From I’m a Teapot

And how it looks on the outside with the spout and handle…

From I’m a Teapot

From I’m a Teapot

Now the big question is – What am I going to do with it? I rarely drink tea and I really don’t remember the last time I used a teapot!

Maybe Mewsley has some ideas….

From I’m a Teapot

The last couple of weeks have been fun in the Knit-Room – more screwdriver action than knitting

I do have lots to show you though- Prepare for photo overload

New carpet is down and nice Mr Ikea has left me a huge pile of stuff to build.

All there was to do was to put the “stuff” in the room according to my cunning plan – you will remember this…

From Knit-Room

…surprisingly little went wrong – except for me forgetting that there were light switches and power sockets So every thing shuffled up a bit and I lost some space in the bottom left corner

First we got the Beddinge sofa bed and my my new Norden table in place.

From Knit-Room

Norden will be used for my sewing machine when it’s leaves are up and as somewhere to stand my coffee for the rest of the time! It weighs a ton  – Didn’t realise that when I bought it -so not so easy to move around – mainly because of all the really solid, cunningly concealed storage draws…

From Knit-Room

Thankfully, the table fits and makes a bedside table with the sofa bed open too! (You had me worried there, Jacqui!)

From Knit-Room

“Where’s the wool??”, I hear you cry!

Ok, Ok….

The yarn is in the wardrobes! We built them to have 8 big lidded pullout draws to hold yarn and some shelves for other stuff,  plus some hanging space in the middle for the occasional guest. The wardrobes are from the Ikea PAX range where you buy the frame and chose all your own fittings for the insides….

…And,Yes, I said “8″ draws for yarn…

From Knit-Room

I have been good though and only filled 7 of them!… and a big box of handknit cotton but I’m hiding that… One draw has been used for my fabric stash too – mostly left over from making curtains.

Wanna see?

From Knit-Room

From Knit-Room

When not in use, everything is neatly obscured behind frosted glass doors…

From Knit-Room

The draws have been filled roughly by gauge…

• a 4ply draw
• 2 x DK draws
• an Aran draw
• a Chunky draw
• a miscellaneous “wont fit anywhere else” stuff  draw
• and of course – an entire draw of my beloved KidSilk Haze…

From Knit-Room

By this point in the yarn sorting frenzy,  the men in my life were flaking out…

From Knit-Room

Thug wasn’t much help either….

From Knit-Room

He did have a chat with me about ornaments  though-

From Knit-Room

Thug recommended this display for the table made up of an old vase and my beautiful glass needles…(clever cat, that one!)

From Knit-Room

Last thing to show you for now are the books….

They have a new home in two Billy bookcases, complete with beautiful doors (I love those doors!!)

From Knit-Room

I also learnt something alarming about Billy bookcases. If you build them, then try to hang heavy doors on the front, they fall over onto you when you’re screwing the doors on! There was much squealing but no harm done. There is a good reason Ikea give you widgets to screw them to the walls  -take note!!

I took the opportunity to update my Ravelry library while I was putting all my books and mags away.

I was a little surprised to discover I own 85 books, 83 magazines, 51 booklets and 5 PDFs
Those of you on ravelry can see the true horror here -> Susan’s Ravelry Library

Here’s some random shots of the insides of the Billys (just in case you’re feeling nosey and want to see what’s inside;-) )

From Knit-Room

From Knit-Room

From Knit-Room

From Knit-Room

Even Boofle and Monkey have settled down on the window-sill -Well, they are both knitted!

From Knit-Room

I am so thrilled with the results of the Knit-Room.

I feel a very privileged knitter to have such a room

The Flower Blanket is finally finished

I am so relieved.

First I must say, “Thanks you” for all the sympathy, empathy and support on my Despair Filled Wailing post – I think I’ve gotten over it now

Before I show you the inevitable “Finished Blankie” pictures, I guess you’d like to know about the edging?

I pretty much used the ideas from my wonderful Debbie Abrahams blanket books and threw in a couple of my own embellishments too.-

So, I picked up 37 stitches per block (that’s every stitch top and bottom and 3 out of 4 down the sides) and got 370 stitches.

I was worried I didn’t have much lilac left so I just did one row of lilac and….

….well this is getting boring – I’ll just show you!

From Flower Blanket

Some of each colour and a few beads nestling in with the garter stitch – just to pick up the “beadiness” of the blanket.

It worked really well in the corners too..

From Flower Blanket

Enough teasing – want to see the final, finished Flower Blanket??

Taaa Daaaa!

From Flower Blanket

I kinda liked this swooping shot of it too…

From Flower Blanket

It has been a slog to get it done but I have enjoyed most of the process
But the important question is – do the cats approve?

Hmmm… look what happened about 30 seconds after taking that photo, and putting the blanket out of harm’s way on the back of the sofa…

From Flower Blanket

Yes, that is Ben and his handknit, Brooklyn Denim jacket in the background – knitting every where you look in this house

“But, you made this for me. Right? Didn’t you??”, Said Mewsley – pulling her best ‘sad face’.

From Flower Blanket

“Don’t care. I worked hard on the snuggle-ability testing – I deserve it.  My paws and claws are tucked in and it’s mine now… I’m ignoring you…

“

From Flower Blanket

When I get the Flower Blanket back from Mewsley, what am I going to do with it? Honestly – I don’t know – I started it when I lived in my flat and had a purple living room…maybe my knit room should be purple???

Until then it might end up living on the table, waiting for a good idea…

From Flower Blanket

So what am I knitting right now while dreaming up Hetty colourways?

I’m still trying to get back to being “one WIP at a time” girl. I hate having half done projects hiding in corners, reproaching me for abandoning them.

So I had the choice of my two remaining WIPS – My see-through sweater or my nearly finished Flower Blanket…

Flower Blanket wins!!!

This has been a bit of a saga…If you want to read the previous blog posts about this blankie they are here:-

Purple Flower Blanket – The Design Phase

Flower Blanket – The knitting begins

Flower Blanket – Taking Shape

The Blanket Rules

Cat Subdues Yarn and a Dumb Blunder

Not Enough Yarn!

I Need More Knitting Time

And the Flower Blanket Goes On

It won’t take long to complete the knitting will it??  After all It’s nearly finished…. isn’t it??

Out it came…

…where’s the rest of it???

“Thug!”, I yelled, “Help me look for more blanket!”

He did quite a bit of searching as you can see…

From Flower Blanket

Nope! He didn’t find any more than the barely half done blanket I already had.

Probably because he is a cat and also because he is blind!!

He did suggest I check my blog – Yep, progress was there in in black (purple)  and white.

This is how I had left it…

From Flower Blanket

Six and a bit of the 13 columns of squares done – exactly half way. Urgg.

Well, I have been very dedicated and have had some dedicated supervision from both Thug and Mewsley…at the same time…

From Flower Blanket

…so I can report that I now have 85 out of 117 squares complete – 72%!!
Nearly three quarters

Here’s the plan now …

From Flower Blanket

But it looks more impressive in the flesh…

From Flower Blanket

One thing I really noticed was all the paraphernalia I have for making this blanket…

So much so that poor Ben accused me of having a “Knitgasm” on the living room floor…

You can see what he meant!!

From Flower Blanket

Gosh! I’m expecting to be mobbed for an autograph and and be asked to open a shopping centre the next time I go out amongst my public….

Why am I deluded into thinking I have achieved such superstar status??

The Guilty Knitters and I have made it to the National Knitting press!

This month’s (July 2010, Issue 21) of The Knitter has a two page gallery spread about us.

That’s this mag if you’re searching the Newsagent for a copy…

From The Knitter

I do enjoy The Knitter, lots of challenging interesting patterns and articles. So many of the other British knitting mags are full very simple patterns and assume the majority of knitters knit for their grandchildren! No problem with that if that’s what you want – but I’m not that market.

If you have a copy, check out page 84 to find my grinning face…..

From The Knitter

…and some fabby knits by my friends…It’s easy to see where my inspiration comes from and why I have to keep the standard of my knitting up, after see how great  their projects are.

Of course, my biggest fan and helper had to check out the article too,

“Not enough cats!”  was his only comment!

From The Knitter

I can’t believe I started Halcyon back in April.

It’s taken me two and a half, very dull and uneventful months. To be fair, it has been delayed by my usual attack of SKS  (Summer Knitting Slump) – there were a couple of weeks there I didn’t knit at all – shocking!

I’ve also been distracted because Thug hasn’t been too well. He suddenly seemed to loose a lot of weight and meow even more. I was worried sick. The good news is that he’s had every test the vet can think of – stopping short of opening him up! The vet can find nothing wrong and I’ve changed his diet to fatten him up. He seems OK now after a couple of vitamin and steroid shots but he is 18 . He’s an old man. But enjoying all the extra meaty treats and so is Mewsley

Just in case  you’ve missed his appearances, here he is in a favourite picture of mine, inspecting the conservatory..

From Halcyon

On top of all this – more DIY – This time we restored a dilapidated greenhouse from badly weathered wood, green algae covered glass and doors hanging off to this, my potting Tardis!!

From Tardis

Love the view from inside looking up!

From Tardis

Enough of this – you really want to know about Halcyon don’t you? The pattern is deceptively easy and became quite boring to do. I don’t normally knit such voluminous garments so I’m not used to the sheer amount of knitting this took. Nothing at all wrong with the pattern, easy to sew together- It was just a long slog.

But was it worth it?? I think it was!

From Halcyon

From Halcyon

Do you remember how we painted the Conservatory a striking shade of green?

Well, we’ve now put some furniture and plants in there and created a favourite snoozing spot for Mewsley!

From Double Vision Cushion

Do you like the cushion on the chair behind Mewsley? It was bought on a whim from Ikea.

Here’s a better look (right way up too!!)..

From Double Vision Cushion

We really wish we’d bought a second one we liked it so much but they have discontinued it – Bah!!

There was only one thing for it – Knit a matching cushion!

First I gathered all my likely green and yellow stash wools together in a big heap…

From Double Vision Cushion

Then I had a couple of disastrous attempts at randomly combining them – You can laugh at these attemps if you like – I did

The random stripe disaster…

From Double Vision Cushion

Then the random colour blocks using the Ten Stitch Blanket pattern.

From Double Vision Cushion

This is a clever pattern that spirals out from the centre. The problem was my attempt at random colour blocks! Looked like something a very old beginner knitter might do to use up oddments…

The pattern is better suited to random dye yarns and when done properly, looks like this…

From Double Vision Cushion

So enough of laughing at my failures…what did I choose?

I’ve always gasped with amazement at the beautiful Afghans designed by Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer of Woolly Thoughts.

I was thrilled to see their Double Vision Afghan technique as a Cushion.

From Double Vision Cushion

The cushion uses 4 colours and blends them in all possible combinations (with yarn doubled) to give the 16 squares.

I chose my 4 colours and some ancient black mohair (left over from a long dead 1984, cropped mohair jumper) and got carried away….

What do you think so far? I really trying to mirror the colours and proportions of the Ikea cushion…

From Double Vision Cushion

From Double Vision Cushion

I am so pleased I can’t wait to finish!

Of course, that is just one side…

I like having the back of a cushion different so I’m knitting diagonally (so I can easily get the right size) and repeating 4 rows of each of the 10 possible colour combinations.

Like this so far…

From Double Vision Cushion

Hopefully, this will be finished a bit quicker than Halcyon….

…which has taken a shamefully long time to knit….watch this space for an update….

The paint fumes probably are the reason….

…I seem to keep seeing knitting  where I shouldn’t….

…even in the election coverage!

This strange and slightly worrying tenancy started when I was in Israel in 2008 (When I made Geno, and Hedera on holiday)…everyone else saw a sculpture dedicated to world peace…I saw…a giant ball of wool!

From Geno

So why the paint fumes?

I’ve been at the DIY again. Up til now the only person using the grubby, tired, sick-green conservatory was Thug.  Occasionally for it’s acoustic properties for a good long “Meowing Opera” but mostly for his afternoon nap, on a thoughtfully placed blanket, when the sun was out…

From DIY 2010

I was jealous. I really wanted a comfy chair out there for knitting in the sun.
A quick tidy up, lead to a quick clean which lead to a total inside and out scrub complete with Ben and a water powered death laser (pressure washer to you and me)!

From DIY 2010

Once we had gone that far we kinda had to paint it – there’s not much wall so we chose a brave, strong green to bring the garden in…

From DIY 2010

Yep that’s my garden knitting chair through the windows. The chair I restored a while ago – one must have a choice of knitting venues, suitable for all weathers 

So that explains the fumes…what about a knitted election?

Have you watched the BBC coverage? Have you looked at the BBC Election website?

Seen the BBC election logo at the top of every page?

From Election

Am I obsessed or are those a bunch of knitting needles??

Once you’ve seen it – you can’t un-see it…. 

The observant among you may have noticed I’ve not posted much of what I’ve been knitting recently-there’s a reason for that.  It’s not been going so well.

Thug and Mewsley have been having a tough time settling in to the new house and they haven’t been up to writing their usual contributions to the site or helping me with the knitting.

So. First the knitting update.

Before I moved…when I was hyper and frantic to, ‘just get on with it’,  I started Catrin, from Rowan Classic Heartland.  I chose a glorious choccie brown flecked Rowan Silky Tweed.

This pattern

From this book

Firstly, the choccie brown – I’m not sure the complicated cable pattern will be done justice with the dark colour and the flecks confusing it. My knitterly friend (whom I trust) said it’d be fine – I carried on.

Here’s a progress shot – I’m up to the armholes on the back…

Secondly, this pattern is charted needs good eyesight, to see the chart and to see the knitting! This is a problem – I’m at “that age” where I’ve suddenly started need my glasses. And I need to have my glasses upgraded.

Even my close up is blurry!

On top of this slight hiccup, I managed to bust my favourite lamp in the move. The new living room has poor ceiling lights so I’m knitting in the dark. With out of date glasses – if I remember to put them on 

Can you understand yet why not much has happened???

I’ve now got a new lamp and bought some snazzy new stronger glasses

But in the mean time, while sorting out those little issue, I started another problematic project…but that’s for another post !

On to the kitty cats.
Several of you have enquired about the furry beasts and how they are doing “post move”…
On the day of the move, we had cleared one room completely and put all their favourite toys, blankets, cushions and food by a nice warm radiator for them. They also were treated to anti-anxiety drugs, on advice of the vet, as they are rather old and set in their ways (18 years old in April!!)

Mewsley was terrified and spaced out and hid in her “Migloo” like a good cat. (thats a fabric cat Igloo …. Mewsley + Igloo = Migloo) .

Thug went hyperactive and wrestled his way out of the bedroom (with much meowing) and tried to investigate what was going on. He chased several removal men around the flat. My heart went out to him – It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve seen him really frustrated with being blind and not being able to see what’s happening. Eventually he wore himself out and sprawled in the middle of the living room floor and went to sleep. Luckily my removal men were cat lovers and they tiptoed around him

In the new house…
Mewsley:
Mewsley was terrified. Mewsley crept into our bed, under the duvet and hid…for 2 days. At night she came out and slept on my pillow – or cuddled me in the bed. She hadn’t eaten so, worried, I bought food and water upstairs and put it just outside the bedroom door.

After a huge scoff and an hour’s sleep she was a new cat. Wanting cuddles, exploring, scampering up and down the stairs (that’s a novelty if you’ve been living in a flat).

She’s still happiest in the bedroom, but now it’s beside the radiator or on the bed. Downstairs is still rather scary….

Thug:

Thug was his usual brave, fearless self. He set about stomping around mapping every room. Unfortunately, his elderly, walnut sized, post brain tumour brain got a little confused by the scale of the change. He got lost and confused. I could see him trying to walk the same route he’s had in the flat. Heartbreaking

We’ve had a lot of sleepless nights with Thug too. There has been meowing. Lots of it. At 3am to 4am to 5am. And a bit more during the day.

I suddenly have sympathy for parents of teething toddlers!

First, he wanted to go out – I taught him the route through the utility room, out into the conservatory, out a second cat flap into the garden. Where he drinks some rainwater from a muddy puddle and comes back in again – I do change his water bowl daily but muddy rainwater is clearly superior.

Then he was meowy because he was lost and lonely, I taught him how to find us (half asleep) in bed.

Then he was cold overnight… again, he’s got the hang of cuddling up on the bed , usually around my feet (handy that – I get cold feet!)

Now we’re down to “I’ve just come in from the garden and I’m gonna meow-ow-ow to let everyone know I own this place” type meowing – 5 or 6 yowls then it stops – sometimes I can sleep through it!

I have been seriously sleep-deprived over the last month and was starting to have most uncharitable thoughts about my furry ginger companion.

He’s settling now and  has started to discover we have a big garden, and a pond, and fish – exploring is high on his agenda for the summer.

Right now he’s happy that his Mum is nearby on her computer and he’s found his basket, thoughtfully placed by the radiator next to his Mum’s desk so he’s available to for a 30 second head scratch at short notice.

Thug and Mewsley have promised they will help me sort Catrin out,…once they’ve had a little nap….

(Yes they are lounging on my denim blankie!)