Relaxing

I thought this would be a good photo to start a post with! Hello everyone, hope you are all having a fab weekend. I am having a very relaxing one, in an attempt to recover from the tiredness I was complaining of last week.

S and I have a really nice day yesterday, walking around Bulter's Wharf and Wapping. I thought I would share these pictures with you, as this area is one of my favourite places in London. This is part of the London Docklands, not far form Tower Bridge. The whole area was re-developed in the 1980s, after it had fallen into decline. These pictures are of former warehouses on the south side of the river there. They've all now been converted into trendy (and eye-wateringly expensive) apartments. I love walking around there. There is something atmospheric about these buildings. I love that they have retained their original names, some related to the kind of goods that were brought to land there - there is a Java Wharf - and some which sound like they are related to owners or shipping companies - New Concordia Wharf, St Saviours Wharf. It's a great place to explore anyway.

I also managed to finish something this weekend! Here it is, my completed scarf. I think someone asked for the pattern after my last post. It's called Netherton, and can be bought as a Ravelry download from Mrs Moon here.

I'm quite happy with how this came out, and it was good fun to make. The pattern wasn't nearly as complicated as I thought it was going to be looking at the picture on the front before I started. It was really fund making the bobbles at each end too!

I think I can feel another version of this scarf coming on, perhaps all in one colour...

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

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Tired....

I am so, so tired at the moment. I feel so bad  about it. I just feel bad that I seem to be unable to do all the things I am supposed to do in life, and want to do. I am just not able to fill all the roles that I have to, and want to, to my own satisfaction at the moment. I really wish I had more energy, more time, that there was another me that I could send out to do everything for a couple of weeks while the first me has a rest!

My PhD is the thing I feel worst about at the moment. You know it's bad when you struggle to concentrate so much that even the fact that your coaster matches your mug is a distraction! Yup, that's the reason for the picture above - taken last Sunday when I was supposed to be studying, trying to bludgeon my brain into concentrating for several hours. Sigh.....

Well, I have just completed another 8000 word section of work. Who knows whether it will make it into the final PhD, but at least I feel I have achieved something, however flawed. As a reward, I've decided to stop being so hard on myself and give myself a break - literally and figuratively. So for Easter, I am going to let the PhD student role slide by for a couple of weeks and concentrate on the other roles - girlfriend, daughter, sister ... perhaps I can even squeeze in a little extra time just to be me too!

As you can see, I may not have had time or energy to blog over the last couple of weeks, but it hasn't stopped me from crafting! I have very much been enjoying working on this beauty in my down time. The yarn is an absolute dream to work with too. It is Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk, bought from Mrs Moon last month.

Isn't it luscious? Part of the fuzzy light in these pictures is, I think, just because the light is shining on the silk fibres and reflecting a sort of hazy glow. I wasn't using any kind of Instagram filter when I took these shots, I promise!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend, I'll be back again soon I hope!

Mammoth crafty update part III

Hello everyone, I hope 2014 is going well for you so far!

This post just about completes my update of crafty goings on in December. I managed to finish two other projects at the end of 2013.

Firstly this Kim Hargreaves sweater, called Longing, from the book Enchanted.

Sorry about the slightly rubbish quality of the photo - this was a really difficult garment to photograph. Perhaps it's because its cream, or perhaps it just the really awful lack of daylight here at this time of year!

Anyway, I hope you can see the picture well enough to be able to make out the stitch work and overall idea. I'm quite pleased with how this came out. I tried to make this sweater last winter, but had trouble because the sleeves on the finished garment were waaay waaaay too long! This time around, I decided to shorten the sleeves from the length specified in the pattern by about 5cm. It was a little nerve wracking as this was a bit of a guess based on other things I have made where the sleeve length has been ok, but I seem to have guessed well because the sleeve length is perfect this time around!

The other make I completed, on the very last day of the year was this little scarf.

Again, I'm sorry for the awful light in these pictures - it was really overcast when I took these, so the colours are all wrong.

The yarn I used for this was Madeline Tosh sock yarn, in shade Olivia. I used a basic leaf lace pattern that you can find in most stitch dictionaries of knitted lace. This post, from when I started this scarf waaay back in June last year will give you a better idea of the actual colour of the yarn! Now that I've looked back through this blog to find when I started this project, I can't believe that it was so long ago and that six months has gone so fast!

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Well, I'll be back to normal posting with my next post, we're pretty well caught up now! I have to share one very exciting thing though, which I'll go into more detail on in my next post. I think I have mentioned before, one of my very favourite independent yarn and haberdashery shops is called Mrs Moon, in St Margarets, near Richmond upon Thames. Well, Mrs Moon have an annual Christmas prize draw, and guess who won this year! Yes, it was me! I am such a lucky, lucky girl, and prize is an absolutely amazing haul of yarn-y goodies! I will share full details in my next post!

Communication breakdown

Annoyingly my internet connection is temporarily out of action while our service provider "upgrades" our broadband.  Not sure why upgrade should necessitate broadband outage for nearly a week! Seems counterintuitive to me - surely upgrade should result in improved service rather than no service! 

Well anyway,  the lack of connection is the reason for my lack of blogging this week.  I'm posting this from my phone so please excuse typos! 

I had a nice time visiting London's Loop yesterday and bought some skeins of Madeleine Tosh sock yarn.

I'm working on turning some of this into a lovely scarf ready for autumn

Well that's all for now, I'll be back when my internet connection permits!

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Blossom petal wrap

I spent my evenings over the Easter weekend working on a wrap for myself. It has been such a cold spring and I am so tired of having to wear my winter coat still, I thought I needed a nice pastel-coloured spring like scarf to snuggle in. Something that wouldn't look or feel too wintry, but would still keep me warm.

So, the blossom petal wrap was born, so-called because the colour used reminds me of cherry blossoms whenever I look at it (lovely spring like thought - the idea behind my wrap was working before I had even finished it).

These cherry blossoms were blooming quietly away in Wapping on Sunday. The colour really is very similar - that very delicate sort of pink.

The stitch I used also reminds me of flower petals. Its called Iris Stitch, from The essential handbook of crochet stitches. The yarn I used is a 4 ply pure merino wool, with a 4mm hook so that the stitches were quite open, and like the grey scarf I made last week, the finished wrap is soft and drapey. 

To finish the wrap off, I worked a round of double crochet (that's single crochet if you're in the USA) around the edge, just to give it that finished look. I didn't want a fancy edging, I think the main stitch is pretty enough to speak for itself. 

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Scarf love

I am in love with my new crochet scarf, made in only a few evenings work this week.

I finished it last night. The pattern is a peephole chevron stitch from a stitch directory. This was a spur of the moment make really. Lately I have seen some lovely crochet shawls and scarves on Pinterest, and felt inspired to have a go at one myself. Not feeling quite brave enough to attempt some of the more complicated designs I have seen I decided to try something simple, but pretty instead. Then I remembered that I had about 4 balls of grey pure wool 4 ply lurking in my stash. I ran upstairs, dug out the yarn, found a suitable hook (I decided to use a 4mm hook as I wanted the stitches to be quite open, and the scarf to be drapey and soft) and was soon happily ensconced on the sofa, hooking away.

How do you like it? I think maybe it needs a little edging on the sides just to finish it off, perhaps in a contrasting colour, as I have used up all the grey I had.

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My orchid has developed 4 new buds over the last month or so, and one of them opened this week.

I'm impressed that this plant seems to be surviving so well - it was a birthday present at the end of November, and according to the tag was only supposed to last 2 months. I've now had it for 4 months to the day almost, and haven't done anything but giving the occassional watering. It seems happy enough!

I'm heading off to spend Easter weekend with S later today, so I'll see you all in April. I hope you have a great weekend whatever you do!

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A winter's tale

The weather here this week has been so cold. Ok, I know temperatures of freezing or just below are spring like for those of you in more nordic climes, but for the UK, it's pretty cold!

To be honest, I haven't felt like doing anything much this past week other than hibernating, which is why I haven't been here. It can pretty grim at this time of year if you are a commuter. Anyone who has to rely on public transport to get them to and from work, and works more than a few miles away from where they live will know what I mean - getting up in the dark, standing around waiting for buses and trains in the freezing cold and the knowledge that you will barely see any daylight that day because by the time you head home it will be dark all over again!

Still, I can't complain too much - I am happy to have the job I do! It's just hard getting going at this time of year. And, freezing weather isn't all bad - a walk in the park last Saturday meant a chance to see some more lovely early blossoms. I hope they haven't all been killed by the snow this week!

Of course cold weather is also an excuse for snuggling up in lovely handmade knit and crochet garments - as if any excuse were needed!

Since finishing my colour therapy throw, I've been working up a cosy crochet scarf for myself:

The pattern used is the Arcade stitch from the Essential Handbook of Crochet stitches by Betty Barnden. The yarn used was Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply with a 3mm hook.

Its the first time for a while that I've attempted a stitch like this and had success - I normally end up with wibbly edges! I seem to have it figured out now though!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Marmalade scarf

I thought I would share with you a pattern for a crochet scarf that I have devised. I'm calling it the Marmalade scarf - because of the colours its worked in.

As the year starts to turn here in the UK, and autumn arrives I always get drawn to those really rich autumn leaf colours - gold, red, and orange tones. I wanted to make a scarf inspired by those kinds of colours, and the Marmalade scarf was the result! This scarf is worked lengthways, in striped bands of Kid Classic and Kidsilk Haze yarn. This pattern is also available from Ravelry.

Here's how I did it:

Materials:
2x balls of Rowan Kid Classic shade Ochre 881
1x ball of Rowan Kidsilk Haze shade Marmadlade 596
1x ball of Rowan Kidsilk Haze shade Fudge 658
1x ball of Rowan Kidsilk Haze shade Ember 644

6mm crochet hook
5mm crochet hook

Notes: this pattern uses UK crochet abbreviations. The pattern also requires you to work some rows using 2 strands of the same colour of Kidsilk Haze held together to double the thickness. You may find it easier to wind half the ball off into a separate ball before you start, for each of the Kidsilk Haze colours you use. This pattern is worked using a slightly larger hook size than suggested for the yarn, to give a very open, soft, airy scarf.

Using Kid Classic yarn and 6mm hook, loosely make a chain of 203.
Row 1: Work 1 treble into 3rd chain from hook. Continue working 1 treble into each chain until end.

Row 2: Chain 3 (counts as first stitch), skip first treble in row (becuase you already made your first stitch using the 3 chain), and work 1 treble into top of each stitch to end of row (you now have 2 rows of simple treble crochet).

Row 3: Change to the first of your shades of Kidsilk Haze. Holding the yarn double (see notes), work 4 chain (counts as first stitch and 1 chain). Skip first 2 trebles. Work 1 treble into next stitch, *then work 1 chain, skip next treble and work 1 treble into following stitch. Repeat from * to end of the row - you should end the row by working 1 treble into the last stitch of the row. You have now created a series of 1 chain spaces along the length of your scarf.

Row 4: Chain 3. *Work 2 treble into 1 chain space created in last row. Repeat from * to end of row, so that you work 2 trebles into every 1 chain space created in last row, running along the entire length of the scarf. Finish row by working 1 treble into top of the last treble stitch, to keep row end looking neat and even. You now have a series of clusters of 2 treble stitches along the row.

Row 5: Chain 4 (counts as first stitch plus 1 chain). Work 1 treble in between the first groups of 2 trebles from last row (note - your first group of trebles in the row will actually be 3 trebles instead of 2 because of the extra treble worked at the end of row 4.). *Chain 1, work 1 treble in-between the next 2 clusters of 2 trebles. Repeat from * to end of row, working your last treble into the top of last stitch in the row.

Row 6: Change back to Kid Classic yarn. Chain 3 (counts as first stitch), work 1 treble into top of each 1 chain and 1 treble into top of each treble from previous row, so that you switch back to another row of plain treble stitch.

Rows 7 - 10: Repeat rows 3 - 6 once more, using a different colour of Kidsilk Haze held double for rows 7-9.

Rows 11 - 14: Repeat rows 3 - 6 once more, using a different colour of Kidsilk Haze held double for rows 11-13.

Row 15. Chain 3 (counts as first stitch). Work 1 treble into each stitch to end of row. You should have finished with another 2 rows of simple treble stitch. Fasten off.

Making up

To tidy up ends of scarf work 2 rows of double crochet along short ends of scarf, using 5mm hook and Kid Classic yarn. You should work about 34 double crochet stitches evenly along each short end of the scarf, but it doesn't matter if you have slightly more or less stitches.

Adore scarf

I finished the adore scarf from Kim Hargreaves book Misty last week, but I'm only getting round to posting about it now.

I made it in a nice blue bell colour, which Rowan call 'Ultra' - shade 659.

Pictures below - its lovely, but I think it might be a bit fluffy for the warmer weather we're getting now. Maybe its more of an early spring/autumn thing.