string bag 1.0

i started on a string bag and just ripped it back to the crochet base! i'm using this method where on the first round you wrap one and knit two together, then a knit round, then one round of wrap one - k2tog again, but shifted by one stitch, then again a knit row. but somehow, maybe i because i want to knit in the round, it's not as straight forward as it sounds. after about ten rows i noticed i'd accidentally increased a few times, causing messy bits, and also i had half a round of a weird looking stitch, where i didn't have two twisted strands separating the 'holes' but only one! anyhow, i ripped back and now i'm going to try 'Turkish Stitch', like in this bag i think it'll also be more 'netty'! the stitch i was doing was a bit bulky.

interesting posts

i would like to post interesting and up to date things, yet, at this moment there isn't much i can post about...


so instead i will show you pictures of a birthday cake i made for my sister in law, it had 30 candles on it! unfortunately i don't have any pictures of it with the candles lit, they were blown out so fast! it's a chocolate sponge with cherries, fresh cream (about two pints!) and dark chocolate shavings. baked the cake at home, and then assembled it in longford, while the SIL went for a hair appointment. even though we'd had a big feed of sausages, wings and sandwiches, at nine o'clock at night, the cake went down well, there were only three pieces left after about twenty minutes, which we brought into the kitchen for my brother in law's wife and kids to have the next day, but his mother in law ate them late at night and didn't leave a crumb for them! three large pieces of a 3-layer-cake!




























i like cream cakes! proper real fresh dairy cream, not uht, not from a spray can, no sugar and vanilla in it...

rhubarb crumble

mmh... i just put the 1st rhubarb crumble of the year into the oven! we had to cut back our rhubarb plant allready, it started growing over the path (our garden is small so everything is small and narrow and close together). my mother in law's in longford has only just started sprouting, i didn't realise there was such a difference in climate! we're lucky though, our garden is south facing and quite sheltered.

we also did a little trip to woodies yesterday and bought a patio set: two chairs and a table. the table was put together quick enough despite the usual useless drawings and instructions, i mean, why do they have to label the pieces a1 and b2 and so on, why not just say outer left leg, inner right leg etc. it would save all the guessing and turning each piece every way to figure out whether it's a1 or b2! anyhow, for the 2 chairs we got 3 left arm rests and one right... so today i had to go back and swap one of them, it took the customer service girl, a boy, a manager and another boy, and some animated discussions amongst them, to get me the right piece, good job i brought the drawing with me, only after i showed that to one of them did they understand what i meant by 'i would like to exchange this left armrest for a right armrest'.


not many crafty news here, i have been extremely tired lately, i still haven't finished the cream wool clapotis scarf, or the mirasol sulka hat, but i've started a flannel blanket (just 2 pieces of flannel and a blanket stitch edging) and a granny square blanket, from a mixture of rialto, sublime cashmere merino and some other similar leftover yarn. i started 25 squares during our little easter getaway, i've used some pale grey and sage green so far, and a dark fuchsia. i will see how far i get. with what i have and then maybe buy some more in a matching colour to make borders for them all. i had initially thought i might make my usual 'giant granny square' but with every round in a different colour, but i thought if the different types of wool shrink differently in the wash it'll be nicer if each square has slight bumps than if the whole blanket's structure is uneven.



oh, and i cut up an unshapely cardigan in a lovely dusky pink soft loose knit, and made a thin scarf and a head band from the sleeves. i still have the body part, a strange round shape, to make something with! must take some pics. every time i dug this out of the wardrobe i though ' why am i not wearing this lovely soft cardi in that beautiful colour more often, only to realise after i've left the house in it, that it makes my arse look huge (it is quite big but not THAT BIG).


i would also like to make this blanket and this scarf, but with my current energy levels they will be projects for next winter.

i like this story

http://www.grannymar.com/blog/2008/03/16/the-important-things-in-life/

found via infantasia, which i love to catch up on with.

P's Gran

Who would have thunk it! She got her way and is out of hospital, back at home, out of bed and feeding herself again! They have a nurse coming in once a day and P's mum is doind A LOT of work, and one of her sons is staying in the house every night. She has a baby monitor in her room so at night she only has to call out and he can come in and get her what she needs or he can call P's mum to help. I'm so glad she's at home and might not have to die in a hospital. At this point it's about quality -not quantity- of life for her, and her doctor now agrees. I just hope it's not too hard on P's mum! The granny's weak now, and needs a lot of help, and a wheelchair, but just so happy to be home, I don't think P's mum is letting on how much work it is for her.
No other news, really... I'm smothered with a cold, i even was off work for a day! i'm much better now, but sound like a phlegm ball and am coughing like an old man... not pleasant.

a few photographs

the dunes, eaten away by the water, roots exposed.



the last minute 'purled' beret, now with 'beanie topper'



new shoes - green



new shoes - red!

p's granny (2)

hi, thanks for your comments! p's granny is stable, still holding up, she's very weak though. himself and his brother went down to visit her yesterday, the hospital is very busy and she's on a big ward, there's lots of children and grandchildren wanting to see her and they take terms sitting by her side. p's glad he went to see her again, i'm not going to go down to the hospital myself as it's so busy and i don't want to take time away from her grandchildren, granny herself is sleeping through most of it.

p's granny

p's granny is very sick, she had a slow heart attack and there's nothing more the doctors can do at her age, she's getting pain killers and had her family around, taking turns staying with her. she's quite calm and recognising everybody but she can't really talk as she's getting oxygen. p's going down this afternoon, i might follow this evening or tomorrow...

aprons

Isn't this the loveliest apron ever!?
It's so flattering and the colours are brilliant and it's reversible, too! I don't usually buy many patterns, especially not for practical things like aprons, but I am very very tempted! It's by Meg from Montessori By Hand, a very talented lady!

These are some photos of aprons i made over the last few years...

this one's made from habitat teatowels, for my friend





the first ovenglove was a bit too snug for its own good, it got donated to my other friend's kids' toybox... the second ovenglove was a little better and is actually still in use in hel's house!

this one is my own, again, habitat tea towels... i am planning to make matching oven gloves with the left over tea towel, using the pattern from lotta jansdotter's simple sewing book.



i made this little one for p's niece, she loves it!


and these two for p's granny. she's not been feeling well for the last two weeks and hasn't been baking. today she was brought into hospital! i hope she'll get her spirits up again, she's been a bit down about being weak and old and everybody around her is very worried.

This hat actually suits my friend Catherine really well, making me realise how it doesn't really suit me, after all, I think it may be the colour more than the shape though... Anyhow, C will be wearing this hat from now on, she prefers the knit side, so I'll redo the weaving in to look better on that side, also she requested a beanie topper which I will attach... I think I'll also add a bit of elastic in the brim...

That sorted, and after some green tea with ginger honey had been drunk, we then went for a quick walk on the beach, just in time before the sun set.





Other news, I got myself a ravelry account! Like I don't have enough time-eating internet hobbies already... Must take photos of my 'stash' soon and put them up... I love that site, it's great to see what other people made from the same pattern...

P's brother is coming to stay with us for 3 months! That's a long time for a small house like ours... And we only just 'got rid' of the last 'tenant', a friend of P's who was waiting for his house purchase to go through and didn't want to take out a lease on an apartment in between... Ant, as I like to call my brother in law, will be doing work experience for his college course in Dublin. I just hope he'll behave himself and clean up after himself... he's the baby of the family, 19, and very much used to mammy looking after him...

aaargh - blogger header picture

i just noticed that i now can easily add a header picture but it's soooo frustrating, i don't seem to be able to get it in at the right size or ratio! i think i spent an hour half heartedly messing with it, and now i've given up... i'd be a lot happier if i could get it to be centred in the header border, but even that i can't seem to get to work... i managed to crop one picture so it's not aligned left any more, but it's still aligned to the bottom and doesn't look great. i'm not used to looking at code any more... help, anybody???

cream wool scarf

this is the cream wool scarf i'm working on at the moment, it's 100% merino (Schachenmayr 'extra merino big' , €3.50 per 50g). I got the wool in Germany before christmas. It's the 'clapotis' pattern from knitty but i'm not making it as wide. I'm hoping it'll keep me warm when i walk home from the train, if it's very cold i like to wrap my scarf around my head and neck so it needs to be wide enough and long enough , not the most stylish but by far the warmest solution. I like the way it curls when not stretched.

I learned the hard way that it's near impossible to go back past a dropped stitch row! i forgot a y.o. and didn't realise until after i had dropped... in the end i had to fudge it to make an extra stitch where i needed it. not great but hopefully the edge will curl and it won't be too visible. Has anybody else had that problem? Has anybody managed to fix a mistake further back?

I also made this hat from the last minute 'purled' beret pattern, using rialto aran, and 5.5mm needles. I had to photoshop my face as i'm a little camera shy, also my husband says the hat 'dwarfs' my head (I do realise it's hard to tell with my thorough photoshopping job! I still like it, kind of. If I was to make it again I'd use a fluffyer yarn and knit it with thicker wool or thinner needles to make it less floppy. It was really quick and easy to make!
Has anyone got suggestions for hat patterns or styles that don't 'dwarf' a long narrow face?


I knit on the train the other day, I felt a bit self conscious, but I just kept my head down. I haven't seen anybody knit on the train, in the two and a half years that i've been taking it, or on the bus for that matter, and i've been taking buses here for the last 6 years. Is it different in the US, or UK? I find in Ireland there isn't as much of a culture of younger people (i.e. below pension age) making things. At home it was part of the secondary school curriculum so by the time you left school you had a lot of basic skills. And most of the girls I knew were doing something with their hands after school/uni/work, home decorations, fixing up furniture, knitting or sewing, gardening... here it seems to be highly unusual in my age group! Even the older generation, like my husband's mum, don't do much knitting or sewing! What's it like where you're living?

moss stitch scarf

just came across this photo of a moss stitch scarf i made for my sister in law, it's the only one i have, at just a few rows, the finished scarf was over 2m long! top of the door frame is two meters, right?
the photo quality is bad, i took this with my not very advanced camera phone...

the first sock in years...

i haven't made socks since 1st year in college! i got some lovely multicoloured cotton in LIDL and had to give it a go straight away! i called my mum for instructions and browsed the web for a quick refresher and it's surprising how it all comes back to you...

i cast on 32 stitches (long tail), knit 14 rounds k1p1, then one round k. the i did the heel with 16 stitches, in stocking stitch, 13 rows. on row 14 i k12, k2tog tbl, k1. turn. k4, k2tog tbl, k1. turn, and so on until i had 10 stitches on the needle and a perfectly turned little heel.



i picked up 8 stitches (maybe 7 would have done, it's a bit 'crowded' at the bottom corners) from the sides, knit 2 rounds and then started k2tog (through front loop)on either side of the top of the sock every second row, until i was back to 32 stitches. then i knit some more (this is just a trial, i need a reference sock or baby foot to see what length it should be) and started decreasing (k2tog through back loop). in this case i k2tog every 5th&6th stitch until i had 25 stitches. then every 4th&5th 5 times, then every 3rd and 4th 5 times, then every 2nd and 3rd 5 times, then the remaining 2tog 5 times, then bound off. this made for a lovely "star" pattern but also for a very sudden end to the sock, i will unravel and when i know how long the socks should be come up with a better decreasing. i like when they decrease round rather than flat. any suggestions?

the finished cropped cardi! - and some more photos

i even did the leaves. Bring on the summer and the strappy dresses!


and another wraparound apron for p's granny, she was wearing the other one i made every day, so now she can have one for weekdays and one for the weekend...

our nativity scene! these figurines were in my dad's house when my mum moved in, so they were probably bought by my grandmother. We only have the family and one angel, poor baby jesus' head broke off when i was a child, we liked to take him out of his manger to play... the two chocolate reindeer are standing in for the ox and donkey that there usually would be. i think i will keep a lookout on ebay to try and find more kind of matching figures over the years! they are made from some kind of plaster or bakelite. Joseph is about 17.5 cm, the angel, which i thought was bought later as it is a little different, is 11.5 cm. Mary's face reminds me of my granny, it's the cheeks i think, and the look in prayer, my granny was quite holy, too, and named Maria!


this is the baby blanket my mum made for me when i was little, it's crochet, and yes, i was born in the seventies... does anybody have an idea how it's made? my mum can't remember, except for: it's two rows of purple and one row of orange. the stitches are worked into the row beneath creating a quite dense fabric. it'd love to find out the name of the pattern, i can see this working with a plain dark wool for the purple and a variegated brighter one for the orange. the other crochet stitch i want to try is the catherine wheel, i think that's the pattern moonstitches' scarf is made from.