Heathwitch’s Stitchcraft

Sometimes I forget where my head is at…

Last night at my knitting circle I started a new WIP, having bought some of Sirdar’s new Big Softie yarn. Now, let me say that I love this yarn already — it really does live up to its name and it’s a joy to work with! I am thrilled — just can’t stop touching it… LOL :)

Anyway, the current WIP is a hat, in shade 335 (”Blancmange”) — which is really a lovely polar-ice blue. Gorgeous. The hat pattern is in four sizes — three child sizes, and one adult. I cast on the appropriate amount of stitches, knit away, and get to my decreases. Part-way along the first row of decreases, I realise that the number of stitches on my needles don’t match the pattern.

It takes a fews seconds to click — and by this point, my heart-sister Jo is laughing at me… Yup, you guessed it — I’d cast on for the smallest child size. Then I’d worked as per the adult decreases.

My reasoning is this: usually, I work the smallest size for a top (as that’s normally around a UK size 10). Because I’d seen the hat pattern as per any other pattern, I just did as normal… Except it’s not a pattern for a top, and so I have to work to the largest size in this case. I realised this and worked accordingly — but only when I reached the decreases. I didn’t realise this before I started. And so I’ve now ripped it all back and started again.

*headdesks*

One of these days, I swear someone will remind me to pick up my head on my way out… LOL

I can haz stash!

It’s always great when your favourite local yarn store is holding a sale on yarn. Today I got enough yarn to make a pretty strappy top and matching wrap for less than £15.

Now all I have to do is find the time to knit it! :p

First Cross Stitch Finish of 2008!

This little guy is my first cross stitch finish of the year — I finished him yesterday, racking up around ten and a half hours. As he’s from a little kit on issue 194 (Dec 2007) of Cross Stitcher magazine, I’m really pleased with the result.

“Wish Upon A Star” — finished 30 Jan 2008

Now, the nice thing about this free kit is that it came with the delightful star charm, metallic thread and a mount. I found the metallic thread to be irritatingly substandard, as the metallic coating started to unravel the moment I threaded my needle (even when using a needle with a large enough eye!) — so in the end I switched to some Madeira Metallic #10 thread I had in my thread box (colour number 342; another previous freebie from a cross stitch magazine). The results were wonderful and I had no problems with the Madeira thread whatsoever.

Even more annoyingly, the accompanying mount is not a standard size — so finding a frame has been a pain in the proverbial. It’s too large for a 6″x4″ frame, and too large for a 5″x7″ one — and given that mount apertures are based around these sizes, getting a bigger frame and having a double mount (which was my first idea) turned out to be a no-go. Whilst browsing for frames, though, I came across two potentials — one was a 3″x3″ frame, which meant I’d have to trim the mount down somewhat. I stood in the store and tried to visualise this — with the frame in one hand and the mount in the other — and decided I probably wouldn’t like the result. *sighs*

The other option was a 6″x6″ frame, which would mean that the mount would have a little gap either side of it once framed. Then I realised that I could use a piece of black card as the background behind the mount, and it probably wouldn’t look so bad. And so, that’s what I’ve opted to do. I bought all the bits (nearly breaking the bank at just over a fiver!) and will set to framing this little guy hopefully at some point over this weekend. I’ll post a picture when he’s done so folks can see how it turned out.

Now I’m onto a Lizzie*Kate design, and my first time stitching on linen. I’ve already done twelve stitches and I’m quite amazed at how easy it is — certainly not as horrifying as I’d imagined! :)

On the needles…

I went to my knitting circle last night, and had a great time. There were a lot there and I thought I would have problems squeezing into the shop but it was okay — there was one last seat! And there was even hot tea in the pot. LOL :)

I spent the evening working on a project which, after some thought, I realised I didn’t want to be doing. It was for a very nice strappy top — but totally unsuitable for the coming months. If I continued working on it, I wouldn’t be able to wear it until next year. :( And so, when I got home I stored it (to continue with in the spring), went through my stash and found some yarn for this lovely jumper, which is what is now on the needles.

I am knitting it in Sirdar Blur, and in a shade called “Down” (number 712), which is a lovely cream colour. I figure it will be something nice and wispy (but hopefully warm) for the winter.

Wish me luck!

A very crafty post…

I celebrated not one but two knitting finishes this week! They’re from the same pattern, but using different shades of yarn — in this case, it’s Sirdar Bigga, on 15mm and 12mm needles. Nice and big and chunky, and quick to do. The first one is for me, knitted in shade numbers 693 (black) and 692 (cranberry). The second was a gift, and was knitted in shades 699 (bracken) and 697 (tundra). The only other difference between them is that mine has a shorter strap.

I even enjoyed finishing them up, too — which now makes a grand total of four knitted finishes since I re-discovered knitting in February. Given the amount of other stuff I do, I don’t think that’s half bad. Whoo! :-)

And now on to the cross stitch… I don’t know what it is about this time of year, but looking back over past LJ entries it seems I always pick this long-running WIP up again around this time — maybe because it’s so seasonal. Anyway, it was just over a year ago when I was last working on Autumn, and so here’s where I am now:

Did I mention how much I really like this piece? Makes me drool for its three companion pieces, but $deity knows where I’d find the time to stitch those even if I did splurge on them. :p