FO: mobile phone sleeve, Etsy and other things

This probably looks pretty underwhelming but it fits the 'phone well (and I'm too lazy to dig out another camera just to take a picture of it in use, sorry!). 50 stitches on the Brother KH950i at T6 with some hand-manipulated cables. This was knitted during a one day event I organised at the Alex on Sunday just gone. I helped E knit a penny sock and C did a bit of fairisle and tuck. If you're local you can subscribe to my local events on the right hand side of this post, and even if you're not local I run a monthly machine knitting zoom and a whatsapp group, please sign up and join us!

Nobody will have probably noticed, but I've taken my three machine knitting crash course leaflets offline for the time being. Apparently I've made more than 2000 sales or too much money - neither are true, but I suspect Etsy has just sent a blanket email to everyone rather than do any maths - because I now need to register as a sole trader and get a tax code, even though I doubt I made more than 15 sales of £1.30 in a year (Etsy gets the extra 30p). As I've no idea how or if I want to go to the hassle of setting myself up with a tax code, it's all parked for now. I might well offer the leaflets for free anyway. Not sure yet! I've nothing against paying tax (I already do, being in full time employment), it's just a hassle I could do without right now because presumably once I register I have to do an annual tax return (even though I'm well under the £1k a year threshold). So, well done HMRC - though to be fair, this is an international thing - nobody seems to be in a hurry to chase down anyone big (with the exception of Apple). As the Etsy market was already flooded with lots of sellers selling scans (many of which are already available for free from the MKmanuals site), and the rest being copyrighted material that shouldn't be legally resold in such a manner, I was already swimming with the scum, so what is the point? I give up! As for selling the socks online, well, people would much rather buy store-bought and short-lived alas.

The weather seems to be mirroring my mood - wet, grey and grumpy!

Current mood: cynical

Passap E6000 crash course

A little plug - I updated and revised my Passap crash course leaflet. It's now 20 pages and will give anyone a good grounding in the Passap E6000. Available on etsy now. 

Anyone ever use the UX setting, aka "slick" - slips one way, tucks the other? Things like that intrigue me, the manual just says "for future use", but it already works - there just aren't any patterns for it. Something I need to investigate further I think... 

Some more finished socks for the shop...

Yes, I must be the only person bonkers enough to be making socks in the middle of a heatwave! Well, no time like the present!

Current mood: hot

New stock

Four new pairs of socks in the Etsy shop today:

Socks for sale

Ok, so it's a shameless plug, but I got a foot model recently (it never ceases to amaze me what you can find on Ebay!) and I couldn't resist snapping some socks in the last of today's spring sunshine. Also I'm trying to learn how to get the best shots from the DSLR camera...



Some of these socks are for sale here, and some are mine, all mine :) Always happy to do custom orders, whether it's a specific yarn you want, or a specific design.

Current mood: nerdy

FO: More CSM socks

These went up on the etsy shop at the weekend, technically they are "small" ie too small for me (I am a size 7). I think I might need to experiment with sizing and also maybe try taking needles out of the cylinder. A 72 cylinder makes a nice enough sock, but if you have very narrow feet or narrow ankles they might not be so good. Maybe I need to make a prototype pair for A at work, she is size 5 and has very narrow feet. Not that she's asked, I just know she is a narrow foot. Hmmm.

Of course, I could buy a new CSM with less needles, but I think the Cog might flip, we're already tripping over knitting machines as it is...

Still waiting on getting the shower fixed. Fingers crossed it'll be fixed today. Fed up of having to shower down the gym.

Current mood: grim

More socks and house hassles

Two more pairs of socks for the Etsy shop - I do love this Drops Fabel yarn, lovely to knit with!

I finally managed to finish an Ann Brown jacket I started in 2011 - I'd sewn the sleeves in wrong and then lost the pattern and hadn't knitted a final piece. It just needs steaming and a photoshoot. Feels good to get the UFO list down!

The sciatica has been playing up this weekend, so it makes it hard to sit still for very long. Saturday we finally chose and ordered a new shower - our tray developed a fault, and because the 750 square size is no longer made, we have to rip the whole thing out. The next standard size is 760mm, so for the sake of 1 cm.... so NICE to be forced into doing something right before xmas. Still, it will be nice not to have to shower in the bath anymore - where we can't leave the shower head attached to the wall, because the wall is not tiled all the way up.

Current mood: relieved

Tweaks and tribulations

Spent all day saturday teaching a new student on her SK840. The PC10 played me up again - well, it didn't, it's just not very intuitive to use when I've mostly been playing with the Brother lately. Must pull my finger out and get those cheat sheets written up, because I couldn't get it to produce 2 colour slip DESPITE following the instructions in the manual. Suspect I started at the wrong end, that's usually what does it.

Finally finished sewing this up last night:



The skulls on the back look meaner because I stopped the pattern a row too early, and the sleeves are 2 and 3 because the first one I managed to start on row 2 so they were jawless. The shoulders could have been better, too. Took me about 3 hours to sew up. Who said machine knitting was easy again? And yes, it really IS that red!

Sunday I spent quite a bit of time uploading more photos to the etsy store and tweaking it, because posting in US$ is a complete PITA. As yet, no sales - I do need to add some small and large socks, which will happen in the next few weeks. Added a lovely pair of merino mittens this morning. I guess it's early days yet!

Current mood: disappointed

New venture

I've realised I love making socks (and other items) but have no more wardrobe space for them- in fact, everytime I open my sock drawer, they try to make a bid for freedom. So I'm going to start selling some things on Etsy. Please take a look at my shop - there's not a lot of stock up there yet, because I haven't had chance to load it all up, but watch this space!

Current mood: excited