Single man WLTM yarny type for knitty fun

This is Karl.

He's a knitting doll.

Along with a group of other knitting dolls, he went to Yarndale.  

All of Karl's friends found new friends at Yarndale.

None of Karl's friends returned.

Karl is all alone.

Very alone.

Rejection is tough for a small wooden knitting doll, and to be honest, Karl isn't taking it well.

If you can offer a loving home to a slightly depressed, broken-hearted knitting doll who's struggling to deal with rejection, you can find him here.

Still going round in circles...

Remember this?

Yep, that's it, the one with the twist that I didn't notice until too late and continued knitting anyway.  Well, I am still knitting it.

It has grown nicely. I think one more ball of yarn should do it.

Should be done in time for the er... warmer weather. Hmm.

The Glencoe Scarf

You may remember that bit of knitting I started.  You know, this one:

As it's grown, I have been casting about for a purpose for it and it looks like it is destined to become a scarf. I know. How original.

When I ran out of white, I added orange. I didn't think about it, it was just what I grabbed out of the yarn basket. Next to the orange was a ball of purple and a ball of sage green. For a while now, I've been thinking about how these three colours remind me of Scotland, in particular Glencoe.

We were there in the Autumn and it is one of my favourite places in the world. Knowing this, and knowing that I like a good jigsaw, The Beloved gave me this for Christmas:

See what I mean about the mix of purple and green and orange?  So that's what will be going into the scarf.

I'm looking forward to wearing it next time we're there.

Going round the twist

The circular knitting is progressing.

The stitches on the needles are a darker blue.

There is about twice as much fabric as there was in my last post.

And there's something else...

...something I was warned about...

..."just make sure it's not twisted when you come to join the ends after the first round", said the nice lady in the yarn shop...

..."hoho! Thought I, as I approached the end of the first row of stitches. "I have been warned about this, not for me the rookie error!"...

And I was, I will admit, a little bit smug.

And I knitted on.

And on.

And on.

And then I saw...

There are no words for this.

Going round in circles

The knitty action continues here. I haven't given up on the other bit of knitting, it's still there in the work basket, weeping silently in it's unfinished state, like so many other crochet projects... Anyway, yes, I haven't given up on the straight needles, but they're not very handbag-friendly, so I treated myself to a pair of circular needles at the weekend.

A sensible, restrained person would have knitted their current project off the straights and onto the circulars. But then a sensible, restrained person would have missed out on the opportunity to try some new yarn.

This is Rico's Fashion Iro DK. My photo doesn't really do it justice, it's a much more greeny-turquoisey-blue in real life. I ordered it despite knowing I would never crochet with it because it's just plain lovely. I'm going to go out on a limb here: variegated yarns and crochet don't go. Not for me. Crochet stitches use up so much more yarn than knit or purl stitches that rather than a nice gentle colour change, or neat stripes, to me, it just looks blotchy.

As you can see, the colour of the yarn and the colour of my knitting are quite different. This yarn has a nice gentle fade from dark to light. It's a delight to knit with too. 100% cotton and works up into a nice soft fabric. The label recommends 3.5mm hooks/needles, but I'm using 4mm. I'm sure it'll be fine. It's very easy to use for a non-mercerised cotton yarn. Truth be told, I was expecting it to be a bit more splitty.

'But what are you making?' I hear you cry. Well, er...a tube. That's big enough to get my head through. So I guess I'm making a snood.

Orange

Exciting times here at The Hookery.

The knitting has changed colour!

Running out

I've been keeping up with the knitting.

It's growing slowly, but as a consequence, the ball of yarn is shrinking and I'm running out of cream.

Looks like I'll be googling how to change colour soon!

More Knitty

In my last post, I said I'd show you how I squared off the ripple. Unfortunately, since writing that, this happened:

Yup. Snow, frost, ice and freezing fog. Not in great quantities, but enough to warrant a little extra care on the roads, so the ripple has been packed in the car along with spare warm clothes, emergency chocolate, cat litter (in case the car gets stuck, you spread it in front of the tires to get some grip. Not in case I have a cat with me who needs the loo...), etc. It's just too cold to go out there and retrieve it to photograph. I will show you how I did it though, promise.

In the meantime, of my January resolutions was to knit more. I've been plodding along quietly with a few rows a night and I've been taking it to work to make sure I take a proper lunch break, rather than scoffing a sandwich in front of my PC and working through (easy done, January is busy at the day job).

I haven't got far. I knit slow. Real slow. Painfully slow. But for now at least it's delightfully free of holes.

There's no special patterning planned, for now I just want to be a bit quicker at the basic knit/purl rows.  I don't really know what it will be. It's just knitting. It is roughly the width of a cushion cover though...

In the work basket...

In the work basket there are lots of balls of cotton yarn. However, they are obliterated by one thing in particular. The ripple blanket.

The ripple is finished. Well, nearly. I have finished the main part of it and now I'm onto the border. Sadly, the only thing not in the basket of random cotton yarns is any more of the blue I was using on the border.

So work has temporarily ceased on the blanket while I order some more yarn (yes, MORE!). Then it should be a quick enough job to whip around the border in another round of red to finish it off. I can't actually wait.

In the meantime, in accordance with my January resolutions, I have been knitting. More about that anon.

Freebie

As a Rico stockist, I've been sent a bundle of free patterns. Alas, I don't actually stock the yarn, but if you've got a bit of Rico Loopy stash, or Rico Can Can in your stash, maybe you'd like a pattern?

There's one knit and one crochet bag pattern. Makes a change from frilly scarves, no?

Anyway, if you'd like a pattern, leave a comment below and I'll be in touch.

Knitty

This weekend I decided to get a move on with one of my New Year's resolutions.  I decided it was time to...

*drumroll*

LEARN TO KNIT!

I started on Saturday.  I have since learnt to cast on (thumb method - could not or the life of me fathom how to do it with both needles), how to knit and how to purl.  It's been fun, in a challenging, mildly  painful way.

As it turns out, I have a gift for knitting holes and stabbing my left index finger.

Also, purl is my default setting.  As soon as my concentration drifts even a teeny, tiny bit, I find myself slipping back into a row of purl.

It's been quite a learning curve, but I do finally feel that I *get* knitting.  I can see how it works, how the stitches go together.  It's so different from crochet, which although you can work in rows, is usually quite geometric. It feels like quite a breakthrough!  As you can see from the photos, my knitting is riddled with mistakes, but I think it's just a case of practice and concentration - I find the 'knit one, purl one' routine really challenging!

And what prompted this sudden burst of two-needle action?  Well, apart from the New Year's resolution, a secret envy of hand-knitted socks and a life ambition to make a fair isle jumper, these patterns will soon be in stock at The Hookery...

...and I really, really like both of them.  I'll be stocking the yarn too!

Freebie for knitters

I've been on a mission to clear my desk and in the process, I came across these....

I have no idea why I have them, I can't even knit!  Can you knit?  Would you like to knit socks or other sort-of-round-shaped things (I think that's what you use DPNs for )?  Leave a comment below and you can have a set absolutely free.  First come, first served and I only have three packs.  I'll get back in touch with the first three to comment to get your address.