WIP, Weekend, and Mini Achievement

Whoa… it’s a weekend again? How’s your weekend?

People in the US, the Caribbean, Asia, Mexico, Sierra Leone… Everybody. I hope you are all safe out there. It has been a tough week, but hopefully it will pass soon.

My weekend? Well.. not quite as productive as I expect it to be, but I managed to work on my WIP, and a mini achievement.

I think this is my first time I knit outdoor. I was super conscious about it, and wonder if people would start staring. However, I think because knitting is quite a British thing anyway, people didn’t bat an eyelid seeing someone knitting in public. How wonderful. Maybe when the weather is getting better, I would do that again.

For an achievement… I finally completed my German course in Duolingo. Now, I know how to make a simple sentence in German. But does it mean I can start conversing with a native speaker? I doubt it. This course is great if you want to start learning the basic. In the end of the course you would know how to make a sentence, ask for a cuppa, and thank people when they show your way back to your hotel if you get lost in Berlin. BUT, you wouldn’t have enough vocabulary even to translate “Thumbelina” — not kidding, I tried.

Nevertheless, it was still an achievement. So, here we go… *clears throat*

“wenn ihr Deutscher seid, oder Deutschsprechen leute, und ihr würdet gern mir helfen zu lernen — bitte”

How’s that?

x ❤ x

This Weekend…

Hello you… and you… and you…

…

Goodness… It’s so awkward to sound like an outgoing person. Let’s just skip that bit. How’s your weekend?

I started a new WIP, a jacket for my husband. Or cardigan. I honestly can’t really see the difference. Do you know the difference between jacket and cardigan for men. My husband likes to call it jacket because it probably sounds more manly for him.

Whatever works, Bro…

I am using the green wool I bought from iceyarn long time ago. I had it when it was on sale, and I only had for skeins of green. That’s why I combine it with blue for the ribbing bits. Hopefully it would be enough. Husband chose the colour combo, and I though it works alright. Let’s see…

We also went for another cream tea day. Now we had one in Ludham.

The tea room is called Alfresco Tea Room. Tea is wonderful. Food is exceptional. Husband bought Norfolk Pasties for himself, and thoroughly enjoyed his meal with a glass of latte. We love it. Better yet, the food and drink are very affordable. That is surprising because they’re using high quality local produce.

Recommended. Obviously.

So… there. We had a great weekend, too bad that all good things come to an end… Hope you had a great one too.

x ❤ x

Watching Britain Knits

Do you like watching documentary programmes? In this household, we do. I am not sure where I get this penchant, because my parents would skip documentaries and watch soap instead. I am glad I don’t share telly with them anymore.

We watch documentaries of any kind. History, war history, pre-history, architecture, art, science… sometimes even nature. My husband likes nature documentary better than I do. I like it when it is related to human, and human body… not so much when they’re talking about critters. It gave me uneasy feeling.

So, I was excited when I recorded this particular documentary from BBC. Fabric Of Britain — The Golden Age of Knitting. Seriously… watching it wearing handmade knitted dress, while finishing up an FO… so much satisfaction.

However, I enjoyed it not because I am a knitter — although it did give me a smugness feeling when watching it. It was a great programme in itself. Even husband watching it with me, could not move from the sofa — partly because I was leaning on his arm too.

I think you can still access the documentary through BBC iPlayer. I am not sure if you can access it if you are not in the UK, though. Yeah… That’s the other thing that annoys me too when I am on holiday in Indonesia, and wanting to access BBC telly programme, and couldn’t.

Aanyway… back to my own golden age of knitting… This time, I did not forget to sew the buttons on. Ha!

x ❤ x

P.S.  Hubby commented during the documentary, that knitting is quintessentially British. Well… then, I am ready to take the citizenship test anytime.

This Picky Knitter Doesn’t Like Picking!

I love knitting. We all do. I mean, what would you do sitting down in front of the telly during weekdays while watching a rerun of NCIS? Knitting, obviously! But I have to say that there are some steps when I am knitting a piece of clothing, that I wish I could just skip.

Sewing up is not too painful anymore

 

Several years ago, that would be sewing up and blocking. Nowadays, I deal with sewing up better. I could do mattress stitch relatively faster than I did a couple of years ago, and definitely much neater too. Blocking is not so much a big chore either because after I pin the piece somewhere flat, I can just leave it there and kind of forget about it overnight. No biggie.

BUT… as I learn more about knitting, learn more new tricks and techniques, and knit more, I realised that doing complicated thing is not the bit that I don’t like. Like Kitchener stitch, or three needles bind off — for examples, they are very useful and neat way of finishing, and I love it. It is the small, monotonic step that I wish I could just avoid, such as picking and knitting along the front and neck to make button and neck band.

Ugh!

 

 

And then doing 1×1 ribbing!

My goodness that takes forever. So is my WIP… unfortunately…

x ❤ x

Whoops…

That is not the word you want to hear coming from your own mouth (especially) when you were in the middle of the WIP… It usually means that you either have to frog everything and start over, or you have to think how to wing it…

Now, before I admit what the potential disaster is, I would like to explain what’s going on about this crochet WIP.

In the pattern, the individual triangles should have 9.5 cm length in every side, and 8 cm tall from the tip to the base. I know how important it is to make a swatch, especially when the pattern relies on the number of triangles you made — instead of the length of the piece as you knit it. So, I did measure the triangle, twice, and I even adjusted the size of the hook to achieve the correct size.

You know you’re going to hear a but, don’t you? Yes… BUT, I think the pattern did not take the shrinkage of the length caused by the joining of the triangles as you go.

You see? When you were joining the triangles as you go, by making a slip stitch into the chain space of the main piece, you inadvertently pinched a very small bit of the edge. I don’t know if this happens to other crocheter, but when I do this, it will take some milimetre worth of the edge… times twenty triangles.

That’s the problem. In the end, after they’re joined in the round, I realised that the shrinkage on each triangle is then accumulated into a good inch and a half in circumference. I tried it on and it is still loose in my waist and chest so it might fit. I also count on the size after blocking, but I shouldn’t be too confidence that it will be anywhere closer to the size suggested in the pattern.

Yeah… a big whoopsie there 😦 But I think I am going to go through with the WIP, and see…

x ❤ x

It Might Be A Boy… I Need Help!

I just realised that I have never even tried to find a knitting or crochet pattern suitable for baby boys. Not that I have a personal preference for baby girls, but I never had to make any knitting stuff for boys. Now that I know that my best friend is pregnant, and the baby might be a boy, I am in trouble…

Wait… You don’t think it’s my baby, do you? Of course not…

Anyway, do you have any simple jacket pattern for baby boys? Or your favourite jacket pattern for baby boys?

I always love it when the yarn finishes in the end of the row…

Right… while looking for a pattern, I have a WIP to show off. Apparently the Gosyo pattern is not as difficult as I think it would be. It goes really quickly, I think I quite like the yarn too. What helps me a lot is this link… https://dancingbarefoot.wordpress.com/2011/07/26/shaping-notation-in-japanese-patterns/

Wish me luck…

x ❤ x

Pierrot Gosyo Pattern

I have seen their patterns a lot in Ravelry. I really want to do them as they really look cute. But every time I see their patterns, I backed down again. They are confusing for me.

The patterns are usually made of pictures with very little instruction. You will have to decipher what the notation means, and you might have a different interpretation from your other fellows doing the same thing (at least, at that time I thought so). There are so little information — or I just didn’t see it…

k1p1 rib… not to difficult to understand so far…

But the pull is too big, and I thought I might want to give it a try. So, I started with this simple stockinette project. If I have known how the basic pattern works, I suspect I would be able to make it with the more complicated project.

Wish me luck 🙂

x ❤ x

 

P.S By the way, have any of you work with Japanese knitting patterns? How’s it?

Which One is Better?

It is always great when you have an FO, especially during weekends. It does make you feel like you have achieved something while doing nothing.

Previous FOs waiting for buttons

Unfortunately the buttons I have been waiting for haven’t arrived yet. So now I end up with three very cute lacy baby cardigans, without buttons 😦 Oh well… not much I can do about it. I’ve been thinking of doing something else after this, at least until the buttons have arrived.

Talking about FOs… I do really like the white cardigan. I think I like it more than the yellow one. What do you think? Which one is better?

Steady On!

I quite like it when the project just goes smoothly. Which means no frogging, nor pretending not to notice that I have accidentally skipped one yarn over in row 14 — or trying to convince myself that every tiny mistakes in handmade stuff is what makes it unique. Yes… that defines a good day for me.

In those kind of day, I would end up with FO, or at least something that resembles an FO.

I would love to call this an FO, mainly because I have done all the important things. I have knitted all the pieces, and sewn them all together. I have tidied up the loose dangling yarn, and it actually look finished for me. Problem is…

It doesn’t have buttons too!

I have ordered buttons for the previous almost-FO, but the buttons haven’t arrived yet. Now, I have two almost-FOs, waiting to be buttoned up. Of course, I am not going to let the buttons situation ruins my day… I don’t think you would let that either. Instead… I am starting another WIP…

Don’t you think this heart lace pattern looks good with white wool?

x ❤ x

 

WIP Weekender…

Okay… I have to admit that picking up a title for a post is getting more and more difficult. Of course I can always use “WIP update” or something generic like that, but I don’t like using it too much. It sounds so… meh. How do you creative people make up titles for your posts anyway? Tell me tell me tell me…

Anyway… Weekend! Again! This time it is this wonderful Bank Holiday weekend… apparently. Usually… there are two things that might happen in holidays and weekends: 1. You have a lot of activities — going to the city, shopping, dining out, or even getting a day trip to nearby historical towns. Or 2. The plan is to do as little as possible, and only move from your sofa when it is needed — and knit all day and all night, while having this crime drama on the telly.

Of course you can always have something else in between, like having fun in the allotment plot when the weather is less crappy, or banning husband from the kitchen while baking some awesomeness in the kitchen. Or combination of everything…

But I am glad that I have time to blob in the sofa for a long time and knit without any husbandly intervention. It does feel like a holiday when I slouch, and knit, and every now and then there is a husband approaching and offering some hot drinks. Gosh! Luxury…

Look what spoiling can do to the progression of a WIP…

x ❤ x