Lockdown staycations and birthdays

Last week, the Cog and I had a nice "staycation", mostly visiting the parks in local towns, and popping to the odd farm shop. There are a few nice ones in the area.

Some finished objects:

I couldn't make head nor tail of the assembly instructions for this, so fudged it as best I could. This is rather snuggly!

This needs a bit of steaming to set the hems, but is otherwise finished. Alas, as I continue to WFH, getting the iron out will only happen if I start sewing again!

The weaving came out again, leading me to lust after a folding floor loom that I do not have room for. This has been packed away for seven months, as this is the table the Cog has been working from.

I finally had a go at programming letters on the Passap. These are photographed in the order they were attempted - I misread the code for N because I didn't have my glasses on! If you program one letter wrong you have to start again I think. Anyway, it really tickled me that I figured it out. Next step is to figure out how to stop it repeating, if that's possible.

I originally got into machine knitting because I was inspired to knit double-bed jacquard scarves; I forget where I saw them now, but a designer was selling customised ones and that just tweaked my interest. I can confidently say, dbj isn't for the faint-hearted, and it's still not a technique I do a lot of on the Japanese machines. But the Passap does at least make it pretty easy.

Yes, my birthday is now associated with the day the lockdown started in the UK last year. Meh, as if the Act of Enablement wasn't bad enough. I had lots of lovely cards, flowers by post, lovely meals and some nice gifts. It would be so nice to do something normal for a birthday, that could include friends. Never mind, at least everyone's in the same boat I guess. 

Current mood: loved

Broken threads

Seemed somewhat appropriate in these troubled times - put my weaving loom back up and one of the threads, which already wasn't threaded correctly, is now broken. I am blaming the cat for this, but I suspect it might have been a table leg or something.



My poor Swiss Miss has a rechargeable battery that is on its last legs - luckily, 36 hours of electricity and I managed to reset it. A new battery will be required, but I'd rather wait until lockdown as it involves de-soldering the old one and re-soldering a new one, and if that goes wrong I can't take it to a repair shop at the moment. Knitted this back before I started work this morning, but not happy with 4ply at ss8 - it's too sloppy a knit.

Learning to be grateful for small victories - a lovely delivery of haberdashery from Empress Mills this morning, which included a lovely rainbow-themed card which really brightened my day. It's kind of nice to order something at the moment - items being a little delayed means that they come as a lovely surprise. Gifts to oneself.

Current mood: awake

Weaving and a replacement for the ribber comb

Had a lovely day's Saori weaving at the Beautiful Cloth studio in Napton - great fun!

The crochet corner-to-corner scarf continues. Can't seem to find my mojo for much machine knitting at the moment. The weather isn't helping (it's chucking it down again today).

I've recently been teaching a student that has had a stroke, she has no use of her right arm. So I came up with a ribber "rag" that will replace her ribber comb. Alas, I did not think to get a photo of it, I will take one when I next see her.

Instructions:

Cast on e-wrap every other needle across the whole of the bed. Knit 20 rows main tension, 1 row T10, 20 rows main tension.
Hang hem.
Knit 6 rows. Make a lace hole on needle 1L, then at L15 and R15, L30 and R30, L45 and R45, L60 and R60, L75 and R75, L90 and R90.

Knit a further 10 rows. Knit two rows at T10, then cast off behind the gatepegs. Remove sample from machine and steam flat. Mark the middle hole with a permanent marker.

To use:

Hang on main bed needles, every other needle, as required. Bring ribber into work and put empty needles on ribber up into "hold" (but do not set ribber to hold). Hang weights evenly using lace holes.
At ribber tension, knit 1 row with ravel cord.
Change to main yarn, T0/0 and knit 1 row on all needles
Knit 1-5 circular rows at T1/1
Rearrange stitches at this point, if 1x1 ribbing is not the aim.
Set RC000 and knit ribbing as required.

Current mood: lethargic

Some mini sewing projects

Sorry if you came here for some knitting content - I'm part way through a cabled top but because I didn't swatch it as cables some refiguring of the maths needs to happen - it's on my to-do list but hasn't made it to the top yet haha, maybe Friday if there's no emergency alcohol required at the end of the week.

Anyway, I have succumbed to the charms of bullet journalling, thanks to my friends C and M (hi guys, you know who you are!). Having started with a dinky little A6 Leuchtturm in a gorgeous powder blue, bought in Birmingham, then of course I found Pinterest and realised A6 just wasn't big enough to contain my inner artist (not seen since I left school and the temptations of doodling on blotting paper!). A scouring of the shops in Coventry for A5 gridded notebooks eventually turned up a plain black Moleskine number (Waterstones also has them in orange!). Not wanting to wait 'til my next trip to Brum I bought it, but decided almost immediately that it was going to get personalised! So I decided I'd use some weaving to make a cover for it. The weaving wasn't wide enough, so I've very carefully zigzagged two pieces together :)







I couldn't figure out how to release the elastic from the back of the book without cutting into the weaving again so used a kumihimo braid. I've plans to nip to Hobbycraft tonight to get some elastic, but in the meantime I think I quite like the braid! Yes, I know it doesn't really go but I don't happen to have the right colours of embroidery cotton on hand right now to make another one (there's another, thinner one in progress which might fit the bill). I am such a good little consumer, hunting down the "correct" book, aren't I? I found loads of lovely, lovely A5 books in WHSmiths that were just ruled on my travels. I think that's what I'll invest in next year, the grid thing is only useful for the odd table. Well, I'll see how I feel about it in December.

I've also gone back to my favourite Ness bag, got fed up of trying to close the rucksack one-handed all the time. But it doesn't have a pocket big enough for my poor old Nexus 4.





So I made a little internal "pocket" for it. There's a safety pin holding it down to the lining at the bottom.

Third thing I made at the weekend, a rather badly finished needle book to take to sewing class, as I keep finding threaded needles in the bottom of my sewing box in the painful way (ie with a finger). Ouch!

Current mood: awake

New Year, new post

As promised, photos of the two most recently finished projects:


Blue slubby cardigan for my niece - no, it's not supposed to flare out like that. It's too big for her alas, I forgot she's tall and thin for her age, like her brother. Never mind, she loved the buttons and liked the colour I think. Knitted this on the KH260 with reverse stocking stitch bands, I only did ribbing for the button bands. I assumed it was some sort of cotton but actually I think it might be acrylic. The cone wasn't labelled!


Finished table runner on our New Year's dining table. I think my edges would be less wobbly if I could just stick to a pattern for more than an inch or so! Ha! But got these yarns from My Fine Weaving Yarns so will be able to make another one if I can curb my enthusiasm and just do the zigzag pattern... :) Oh, there are glass table mats on it, I didn't suddenly figure out how to add black text to weaving haha! :) Sorry for the rotten picture but I shan't see daylight at home again until Saturday.

Didn't manage to get much crafty stuff done this week, but have enjoyed relaxing in front of the tv and helping the Cog get through all the naughty food. Did do a little sewing on a crossover top today, just got the sleeves to set in and some hemming to do. It hangs oddly but hopefully that will be fixed with the addition of a button and buttonhole.

Happy New Year!

Current mood: sad because the holiday is over. Boo hoo!

Lateral thinking - or how to really pee a sewist off!

Sometimes it pays to think laterally, or heed advice given you early in the search for something.

My Singer overlocker, an older model, blew its bulb a week or so before Xmas. As luck would have it, I'd already used it for everything I needed, and it still works regardless of the bulb being present. Being fond of keeping local shops in business, I duly tramped over to the local Singer shop in Coventry, but was dismayed to learn that the only bulbs they kept were 14mm bayonets (not the 9mm I required), and that the proprietor had never even seen a bulb as small as mine. I later rang a Coventry institution, Atkins and Barkers, purveyors of spares items for anything electrical. Did they carry a 12v, 6w, 9mm bayonet bulb? They did not, but suggested a car or motorbike spares shop. Anyway, a bit of googling turned up the UK Singer spares website, which appeared to sell the exact bulb I required. The picture was grainy in the extreme, but the text clearly stated 9mm, so I ordered it, along with some overlocker needles.

Then Christmas happened, so it wasn't until the 28th that I had time to unwrap the bubblewrap and discover, to my horror, that the 9mm bayonet bulb I'd ordered was in fact a 14mm. I duly emailed the website, asking for a refund (as said bulb won't fit my sewing machine either, being a Husqvarna, which uses an all-glass bulb with a completely different fitting). I clearly shouldn't confuse folks on email, because I got a response back indicating I was batty and had ordered a Singer spare for a Husqvarna machine, and I could return it for a refund. So at this point I called them and explained. The person in charge of customer service got a bit huffy with me, when I pointed out that his website clearly stated 9mm, which is what I wanted, but he had sent 14mm. He declared he'd remove the listing completely (which he has done) - I have no problem with him selling 14mm bulbs, but a larger bayonet fitting and some soldering is not how I planned on spending my week off! Apparently Singer no longer supply the 9mm bulbs and yah boo to anyone who needs one. I have no desire to scrap a perfectly good overlocker just because lack of light means it's not obvious when it's powered on, the fact there is a moving blade does make it a little unsafe without adequate lighting.

Having been made quite furious by the brusque attitude (maybe one shouldn't have mentioned the trades descriptions act - but in this case, it was warranted!), we had decided to make a trip into Coventry anyway, but swung by the local Halfords (car spares) on the offchance. Guess what? I can get a two-pack of bulbs, 5w not 6w, but otherwise identical, for £1.49 - as opposed to £3.12 for a single incorrect bulb from Singer. Took me about 10 minutes to locate the packet and for that price it wouldn't matter if it didn't work, and if it did, I now had a spare too! If I'd paid attention to the chap at Atkins I could have had this sorted before xmas, had it not been a case of trying to avoid the retail park that Halfords is located on, because of traffic madness. But there ya go - lesson learned!

The table runner is off the loom and drying in the bathroom, it just needs a quick press for it to be ready for the New Year's Day table. We are planning on roast chicken and all the trimmings. I've not done much else crafty - work was very stressful in the last week or so, so lack of sleep has stolen my mojo somewhat. I am sticking to surfing, reading, playing with my camera and general pottering about.

After a spate of celebrity deaths, I was saddened to learn my mum's cat, Chloe, was put to sleep yesterday. She had a cancerous growth on her nose which had grown to the size of a 20p piece but was otherwise perfectly healthy. She must have gone downhill fast after Boxing Day. I hope she's chasing butterflies in heaven somewhere.

Being sent to the Netherlands on Jan 3 for a 3 night stay for work - I'm already under enough time pressure on the current project, and am now losing a whole working day to needless travel on top. We have Skype, there really is no need! Could really do without it - I sleep badly in strange places and then have the joy of having to drive back from Brum International at 9pm of a Friday night too (the car will no doubt be frozen!) when I'm so tired I'd be hard-pushed to remember my own postcode, let alone remember where all the blasted speed cameras are on my route home. I might take the M6 but they do like to dig it up after 8pm. I'm a homebody at heart; all my friends and hobbies are at home! Sigh... I shall be there alone too, so midday and evening meals will come out of my own pocket initially, in the "longest" wage month of the year, too. Yeah, I'm overjoyed, can you tell?! :S

Will post pics of the table runner when it's finished. Time to make a start on dinner so ironing boards will have to wait!

Current mood: relaxed but also anxious about the trip

FOs and WIP

Rotten photo, this bag charm is sewing-themed and is attached to my sewing machine bag. You might be able to make out a tailor's dummy, scissors, safety pin and bodkin:



Cranked these out at the weekend, yarn is Knitpicks Felici:


Almost wish I hadn't accidentally bought such a big loom - it takes up most of the table. Almost! Since redecorating, the warp got loose, the ratchets swung open. I will try and make sure that doesn't happen again, because some of the warp is now very tight and I can't figure out what's causing it as it was warped up pretty well before the move. Oh well.


Had weird dream that not only was Dad still alive, but that he was Mum's second husband and she'd secretly been married to a Spaniard. Pay no mind, it's mostly the plot of a book I'm currently reading!

Current mood: curious

FO: red cardigan and Lucy coatighan

Finished this on Thursday night, would've worn it earlier but it wasn't dry. The yarn (Patons wool blend aran) was rather rough when knitted, but softened up a treat. My new favourite cardigan. Literally had just enough to finish the fringe, and luckily I accidentally bought an extra ball of the wine coloured yarn because I needed it.



Finished this on Saturday - the crepe yarn reflected the flash, it's actually a lovely deep red.

And when I wasn't doing that, I was threading up this, most of the weekend (it's going to be a table runner):


I'm going to stop using the, count the wraps and divide by 2 method for working out epi and use the various reference tables I've since found online. I warped it as 8 epi and then realised that was too loose so resleyed it as 10 epi, which is still on the loose side. I really don't like warping back to front, it's such a PITA. Would much rather use the reed as the raddle. Got some weaving books on order so that should help.

Himself is on his way back from the third snowboarding trip this year - house has been very quiet without him but I kept myself busy.

Current mood: okay

Completed objects 2015