It was cold when I started...

How to find a pattern

My sister had requested, if I had the time, 'one of those headband things that keep your ears warm.' Now please bare in mind she requested this whilst it was cold outside and snowy.

Now google-ing 'pattern for one of those headband things that keep your ears warm' didn't really help much so I shortened it to earwarmers. That didn't help much as all I got were earmuffs so I left it to my sister to find a pattern of one she would like. I needed something to follow a full pattern from whilst I wait for my super chunky wool. She found this pattern:
http://www.asarahgrieveproduction.com/2011/08/new-pattern-ooh-la-la-headband-and-ear.html

In the pattern it looked a little like this:


BUTTT I didnt have angora.. I gave her the options of 'light blue, bright pink, lilac, light green or dark blue speckly...'  and she chose dark blue. So I used some Blue DK that I had from another project I never got round to many years ago! 

So I got started...

Pretty easy really, just a combination of knit and purl which I have now mastered. Then I get
Row 3: K2, *K1, YO, K1, P2. Repeat from * 1 more times. K1, YO, K1, K2.
What on earth is 'YO' so I dutifully took myself off to youtube again, and once again I'm a little bit wiser! So I carry of repeating the rows as required. It takes me about 13 minutes to do a repetition so I started timing the Tea I was cooking by it. You know what I mean, Pizza takes 15mins in the over so I have enough time for one set and to get the plates out! Not that I eat Pizza all the time! Honest :)

Desired length..?! 

I had asked my sister to measure her head for me to make sure I got the right length for her. She had recently moved out for the first time so had no measuring tape at home. So in order to get an idea whilst at work she wrapped round a network cable round her head and measured it on a ruler! Turns out I didn't really need to check as I did it to the pattern anyway and it stretches just fine, but it was funny to watch!

I finally finished it!

The pattern looks really impressive, almost cable like but much easier!

I sewed it all together and it's ready to give her on Monday at work. Now that the weather is nice and it's no longer cold enough to need one!

But now my Super chunky wools arrived so I can get on with the big project!! YAY!

Time spent 1"=13 mins final band 18" plus finishing 4 hours
Time remaining 39.5 hours

Killing time - and perfecting 'ribbing'

I tried something small again..

I'm currently killing time whilst I find the wool I need for my big jumper which is harder than it seems.

I thought I would have time for another small project so I made these for my friend from work again.

The wool I used was really nice and speckly so I thought it would work well for a boy or a girl. I got the pattern for the hat from Ravelry after someone suggested it to me in a comment, then I adapted a pattern for the gloves to make them mittens.

I thought I would try knitting in a round. I had a set of needles that I had never really used. Though these needles are 30cm so not really suitable as they are too big! Soon worked that on out  :)

I used my stitch counter so got the ribbing perfected, and even managed my decreasing to the pattern rather than making it up as I go along.

I managed to get this done in record time, and here is the reason...

Ladies and Gentlemen meet Murphy. Whilst getting up early every morning for him to wee I managed a few more lines each time. Though as you can see I have had to battle with him for my wool each time, he ended up stealing a whole ball as his own!

Toilet training was going well as was my knitting so this was a double win in my eyes :)

Time spent 45 mins for the hat + 45 mins for the gloves = 1.5 hours
Time remaining 43.5 hours

Knit and Stitch show

A little misrepresented...

I went to Birmingham on Friday to attend what I thought was a knit and stitch show, hoping to get the wool for my next project. I dragged my boyfriend along, we both took the day off work and drove in the terrible snow conditions to 'sunny' Brummy.

I paid for us both to go in and entered my boyfriends worst nightmare! :)

The first stall we saw were a very friends GirlGuiding Midlands stall (I think it was Midlands) They had lots of badges and merchandise (luckily for my purse I already had most of it!) and we had a little chat with them. Its always nice to see like minded people, and for my boyfriend to see some more ideas of lovely presents for me.

So we turned left and started from the beginning. Not that there was a beginning as unlike Ikea you could go any direction you wanted which was a nightmare with women and their wheely suitcases everywhere! 

There were some lovely stalls, lots for embroidery and habidashery, card making and some exhibitions of students work. 

I found two knitting stalls. Just TWO! One the wool was all over the floor in a massive pile and there were women everywhere diving through like a jumble sale. The other was much nicer and the lady helped me pick my wool, which resulted in me not buying it from her! 

I had picked my wool as a replacement for the one in the pattern as it would have cost me well over £100 to make other wise. The problem was my pattern is on size 10 needles, and even though I had picked up 'chunky' wool it wasn't chunky enough. The Lady taught me that I needed to look for what needle size was suggested on the packet and that would give me a good indication. I had picked one using 5 1/2 needles so it was clearly no good. She told me what I really need is 'super chunky' wool as this is going to be more suitable for me. They had none with them at the show but they gave me their website (www.abakhan.co.uk) and a money off voucher so I could get it at the same price as the show.

Feeling sorry for my self as I hadn't bought anything I subscribed to 'lets Knit' magasine, at 3 issues for £6 and a free goody bag worth £6. This made me feel a little better and gave me lots to look at when I got home. It has a pattern and kit to make some egg warmer's in the shape of bunnies which I may try for easter gifts, so all is not lost!

Note to self - check it really is a knitting show before braving the elements!!

Mothers day

Well for mothers day I think I bit off more than I could chew.
I decided I would make something for my Mum. My Mum always has cold feet, no matter where she is her feet are cold. So when I found the pattern in the magasine 'Let's get Crafting' for leg warmers/boot toppers I thought this would be perfect.

This is me thinking I was doing it right...

My first challenge was 'knit 2 purl 2'. The knit was fine, I just got myself a bit confused with the purl bit and was actually just knitting the whole time just making 2 stitches really difficult for myself. The worst bit was you cast on 50 stitches, so after about 10 rows I realise that its not looking very much like the pattern I realise I'm wrong. So I start again... another 50 stitches... still not getting it.

So I watch something on YouTube with the sound off, cast on another 50 stitches do 5 rows STILL NOT GETTING IT. What's wrong with me.

Failed attempts!

So this time I cast on 10 stitches. I watch the YouTube video over and over and over again with the sound on this time. On row 7 I get it. Thank goodness I was starting to go mad!
Turns out purl goes at the front and stays there. I was trying to move it over the the back where the wool was, not realising I had to pull the wool to the front. Also I wasn't getting I needed to alternate rows, so knit to start row 1, purl to start row 2.

Take 4
So I cast on 50 stitches again and give it another go. It's going great, got my stitch counter on and everything all working fine. Then I hit row 10 ish and forget if odd was knit start or purl. So I end up swapping by accident. It's ok I think I'll just do the same on the other one and tell Mum its a feature :) she'll never know! So I keep going as fast as I can, I end up doing a row in about 4 mins which really impressed me. As usual though I got bored and tried to cut a corner. The pattern says 50 rows, but I only did 30 because I knew my Mum wouldn't fold them over. So I cast off and made it up.

I thought phew! finished with a week before mothers day.. oh wait she needs two! So I try and speed knit the next one replicating my mistakes so they look deliberate. All knitted up finished on the morning of Mothers day, but she was coming over for lunch so my morning was spent cooking and cleaning and making the house mother proof. So it never got sewed up in time!

Once everyone had gone and the house was back to normal I finished the second one and here'd what it looked like.

Time spent so far 60 rows x 4 mins + 'all the faffing I did getting in a knit/purl mess' = 5 hours
Time remaining 45 hours :)

I finished the blanket!

By George it's finished!
Thank goodness!
Can you tell I got bored of squares. Well with a little help from my friends (thanks Andrea, and your Mum) I have finally finished the blanket.

As you can see it's a bit wonky.. I don't think that's all my fault. Though I put it together so it probably is. The problem started with the squares that one guide brought me that had been done as stockingette stitch. So it had started to curl around, plus it wasn't quite a square. I was then trying to make it up and failed terribly. But once a baby is under it no one will know!

I have given it to the other leader now and she seemed very grateful for all the effort the girls had put in. Hopefully it will brighten up any cot or buggy and no-one will know it's wonky. :)

Time spent so far 10 hours. Though I lost count so probably more... oops!

Small things for short attention spans and tiny people

Recently to carry on the baby theme, I made some booty's for a friend at work. I needed something that would give me a result quickly as I was beginning to loose faith and become bored with knitting... Dun dun durrrr! BOOTY'S TO THE RESCUE!

So I googled 'easy free baby booty patterns' and I found this lovely one http://www.craftbits.com/project/charity-pattern-easy-baby-booties
And I happened to have the evil evil wool that went with it!
So here is my version.

The wool was so fluffy it was hard to get into the stitches properly to knit, and it was hard not to accidentally increase your stitches. It also is that kind of microfibre that sticks to your hands if they are dry which mine always are so its was a weirdly uncomfortable knit! I also lost count when I was doing my initial ten rows, so I think I ended up doing 13, unlucky for some, but I replicated it on the second one so shush no-on will know! It's bad when your 10 year old Guide tells you to get a stitch counter because its clear my 'old brain' can't cope with counting! I dutifully did buy one, so my next knit will be according to plan, I hope!

I have to clue why one is bigger than the other! I was speaking to my friend Rachel about this and she said I should always make 3. 1 to get used to the pattern so its all neat and tight and the other two because I know what I'm doing then.. I think she over estimated my skills... And I don't know many three footed babies!
I didn't have any ribbon either so its not as pretty as the ones on the picture but my friend liked them.

It worked though, less than an hour each booty to knit then sewing up takes me to my quickest project yet at 2 hours total :) just about as long as it took me to watch the new Bond film.. though my boyfriend kept complaining about my squeaky needles. I must have been pulling it too tight. One point I even snapped my needle! That made him jump!! Good job it wasn't my glass ones and only thin plastic or he would have had a bigger shock!

I think I will try this pattern with normal wool and see how they turn out who knows the next stop could be mittens!!

Time taken so far 9 hours - getting there slowly!

My grandma...

I texted my Grandma this week to tell her that I had mastered knit, purl, k2TOG and ssk. She replied, 'well done, you get a Brownie point for that'.
I then sent her a copy of this blog and she wrote me a letter saying how good it looked and that I could have ANOTHER Brownie point.

Being as my grandma has never been in guiding, though she did help me with carnival one year, I feel she is handing out points Willy nilly! I need someone should authenticate these points as I know they are well deserved (I may even get some gold stickers to put on my chart) Grandma has no authority behind her handing out points.

Calling all Brownie guiders, please can you allow these honoury points?
Either way though, to be fair, I'm going to keep them!

Time spent so far 7 and a bit hours. Too much writing not enough knitting!

'Cos I was going square eyed..

I decided a little break from straight squares and to try and teach myself some better stitches.

So I made a little heart :)

This sounded really simple but as you can see I didn't quite get the hang of the difference between K2tog and SSK so one side is a little loose. The pattern made two of these the stuffed them and made them into a keyring but I only made one for now, so I something to look forward to after more squares!

This is the first time I have had to cast off some of the stitches which had been worked on more whilst leaving the others on the needle and rejoined the wool to them afterwards.

Practise will make perfect but I'll keep trying! Thanks to Let's Knit's valentines edition for this one :)

Time spent so far 7 hours and counting...

Project one, stage 1 and a few more..

Project one - the baby blanket aka operation teach the ones with the short attention span to knit.

The first stage of this I had decided was to knit something for our other leaders baby that was due in February. This started as me knitting some booties and perhaps some hats but as my ideas progressed I thought it would be nice to teach my guides so they could make something for her too. Now my guides are between 10 and 16 (because I have a few young leaders) and some have a particularly short attention span, oh and did I mention there's 18 of them! This may have been a death wish but I was determind..

Gathering equipment:

The first challenge was to gather everything I needed to teach the girls. I checked through my knitting needles box and I definitely didn't have enough, and most of mine were bent as they were a hand me down from my heavy handed Nana. After horrible images of sword fights with metal needles I settle on the idea of trying to get plastic 'guide friendly' needles for them to learn with. After some failed exploration missions I decided to write to the magasine I had been buying and see if they could help me with any of the spare free bee's they give away. My luck was in, and the very lovely editor of 'Lets get crafting' sent my enough needles for the whole gaggle to get learning. 

Next was wool. I had some but I thought it would be easier for girls to have a ball each and I felt this was getting a little expensive. So I put a plea out at work on our sales and wants, asking odds and ends of wool and explained our predicament. I got a great response and one lady sent me all the free balls of wool she has been getting with her magasine for the last few months which meant they each had a ball of brightly coloured double knit each. 

Perfect you think.... but now I have to teach them!

The quickest meeting in history

Now my guides meets for an hour and a half. This particular week seemed like I was there for 5 minutes! I had to choose a meeting when Rachel wouldn't be there so it would still be a surprise when we handed her our finished blanket, did I mention I decided to make a blanket? I thought each girl could make me a square or two and I would put them together to make a mini blanket to give to Rachel for her baby. I decided on 20 stitches and then how ever many rows it took to make it square, as I hadn't worked it out with the wool and needles the girls were using. I showed most of the girls how to cast on, and some taught each other as they went to knitting club at school. Some girls were not interested at all, so I set them a challenge to write thank you letters for all that had helped me so far. My young leader got very into it and even suggested we all joined in with Movember next year.

Grace, getting in the swing of it all

Others got the hang of it super quickly and couldn't put it down even while the were walking out to meet their parents. Before I knew it, it was time to go home and I hadn't even gotten around to all the girls yet, so I told them to work on it at home if they wanted and bring me back the squares in the next few weeks, but they had to remember to do it carefully so that Rachel didn't see the squares and get suspicious.

The next few weeks of my life...

The new weeks I had around 15 squares brought to me, which was great! Two of the girls brought me a large package of tinfoil, encased in side were 8 squares they had made together. I'm not sure why it was wrapped in tin foil, but it hid it and it made me laugh! One girl brought me her square still attached to the needles as I hadn't shown her how to cast off yet! So I showed her and she cam back with another square the next week! a few girls brought me 2 squares each, one they had made and one their mum had made which I thought was a really nice way for them to be learning together (or remembering together). One girl brought me a square twice the size of all the others as she had restarted it at home and forgotten the size I had told her. I had only asked them to use garter stitch, though one girl was ahead of me and brought three squares back in that used sticking stitch, she did better than I could at that point! My life since has mainly consisted of making more squares or sewing them together. I had to make more, even though the girls have still been bringing me some in sporadically, as my Grandma advised me it wasn't big enough. To be fair I doubt it would had fit around a baby but it did look good!. 

This is before I started sewing them together, but after I had done a few squares

With the squares all being at slightly different tensions, and quite of few of them done a different needle size once they got home, putting the together was harder than it looked. I started with the extra large on in the middle and I have been sewing them round in getting bigger and bigger.

This is after I have sewn quite a lot on, but I have still got a way to go

My life is still concentrated on making this blanket and my deadline is the end of February so stand by for finished photos!

Time spent so far 6 hours and counting...

In the beginning..

This is the story all about how my life got flip turned upside down, by trying to do my Queens Guide award in lightening speed and complete the whole challenge in a year.

So far it's going well, but so far all I have done is plan and knit so really it's working well for me. The Queens Guide is a very prestigious award that can be gained by GirlGuiding UK members up until their 26th birthday, which is why I am on a race against the clock. My partner is doing an OU degree so I take the opportunity whilst he is studying to sit on his study floor and knit as then I have no distractions (apart from the numb bum so I made him buy me a bean bag). I have to complete 60 hours of my chosen hobby and prove that I have improved in that skill over the time, by the way I chose knitting as my skill)

I have set myself 3 main projects. My first project was related to my unit and one of the other guiders who helps me. Rachel is pregnant so I decided I wanted to make her something baby related. I thought with it being small it would keep my interest and help me improve my skills. My second project is one I found in one of my 'research' trips to see my Grandma. As the most seasoned knitter I know I knew she would have some good ideas and patters. Luckily she had just 'treated' herself to the latest Lets Knit magasine, with an amazing jumper on the cover with the pattern inside. This jumper is an oversized chunky knit, with a big heart pattern on the front. I thought this would be good for me as I'm desperate to wear it! The last challenge will be to master cabling, and my boyfriend has requested a cricket style jumper so that will keep me busy!

In between all these I have my normal guide unit to run, I have my indoor camping license to gain, and a research project on an issue that I choose amongst many many other things. I hope this gives you a good insight into what I am doing and you enjoy reading the rest of what I have to say.