A Tale of Two Sidneys - my first FO after 2 years :)

Hi, everyone. I apologise for the lack of posting over the last couple of weeks. You see, I've been busy knitting my blanket and then I came across issue 66 of Let's Knit Magazine which had the coolest freebie! Sidney Owl toy kit :)  The kit came with yarn, felt and buttons and a booklet of toy patterns, Sidney Owl pattern included :) I looked at the pattern and thought it was so easy that I decided to give it a shot.

I learnt a couple new stitches, whilst making Sidney Owl, one of which was the k1b (knit one below) stitch which I was so confused by because the stitches looked nothing like the picture, I'd frogged Sidney Owl at least 3 times, but luckily I had a bit of help from someone from Ravelry.

So, finally, Sidney is complete after a couple of weeks. Actually, Sidney has been ready a little over a week, I just finished the last bits like sewing the face this week.

I enjoyed making Sidney Owl so much that I decided to make a Big Sidney Owl as well :) Big Sidney was made using Sirdar Hayfield Bonus Chunky This took me a week - knitting chunky and using 6.5mm straight needles is not easy. I should have used circular needles which I'm sure would have been a lot easier to manage but never mind. So Sidney Owl has a big sister also called Sidney lol ! I still have a fair bit of this yarn left over so if anyone has any ideas on what I can knit to use what i have left over, it would help :)

Both Sidneys will be off to their new home this week - Big Sidney will be going to my best friend's eldest child, and little Sidney will be going to her baby boy, who will be able to play with him when he's older.


Stitches learnt:

• PSSO
• Knit 1 Below
• K1FB (knit one front and back)

Making my first knitting mistake grrr!

Well I've made my first beginner knitting mistake...well actually make that my second beginner knitting mistake.  It turns out that my knitting too tightly earlier made my squares smaller if you compare them to what my not so  tightly knitted yellow ones look like now. So i have 8 white small squares and 5 yellow mediium squares - and now i feel like pulling my hair out.  So I guess blocking would be of use here, wouldn't' it? Well that or I unravel the whites and start over again. Oh i feel like such a ninny.



I did find a blog post which sort of helps me when it comes to blocking these squares so its a great tip on Blocking Acrylic Yarn. Hope it works!

Wish me luck lol!

Been on the learning curve this weekend

So this weekend I got bored of knitting the squares.  I found it too repetitve in a way that I was getting really bored with it all, and I should be enjoying my knitting not hating it. So, i opened up my copy of Knitty Gritty: The Absolute Beginner and there is this project bag I've wanted to knit since I bought the book. so i started on it and I learnt how to do the cable stitch for the first time.

 The first few rows

A few rows more

I am quite pleased how its going, although I feel I've made a bit of a mess with regards to knitting CB4...(see left hand side). To me it looks like the cable pattern is looking a bit odd..but perhaps its just me?  The yarn I am using for this bag is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. I have to say, i do love the feel of this yarn.   I had this yarn in my current project bag because initially i was going to knit a jumper with it..but i don't feel ready for a jumper just yet, and the pattern said i should use Aran yarn so i thought hey i have some, so why not just use it?

Apart from that, I also learnt how to do the Thumb Cast on and the Long Tail Cast on. I have been using the Knit Cast On  method since I learnt how to knit, but I find that too time consuming so i wanted to learn a faster way of casting on. I'm so glad Youtube exists. Its great there are some video tutorials there to show you how to do what.

Blog title change I think

OK my blog seemed to have turned into more of a diary than a knitting blog although its still about knitting my posts seem to feel generally as if I'm writing a diary rather than writing about my knitting. So I'm thinking of changing the title of this blog.  Ideas, readers? Do leave feedback.

On the knitting front I am going to stop trying to knit this blanket until further notice. Still getting finger pain and i even tried knitting continental and that hasn't helped either, if anything the finger pain has gone from my right hand to my left. ARGH! So I'm going to ask someone at home to lock my knitting in a cupboard until I receive advice from anyone in the medical field. I only hope I quit for another year like i did the last time and something can soon be sorted out.

Advice please all knitters - any tips gratefully appreciated

OK so over the weekend after a week or so of resting my hands I thought OK let me try again. I thought maybe the reason for the pain in my hands or fingers was the way I was holding the needles and yarn and I think my theory was right. So I went and found this Youtube video and when I saw the way she was knitting I was like "aaah thats whats going wrong?" So I followed her method on Sunday and knitted for a little while, and  had no problems - until this morning when i could feel the tingly pain in my fingers and my left wrist was a little achy too - arrgggh!  Maybe I'm not meant to be a knitter?   Or maybe its the needles? Should I try knitting with bamboo again?  Or should I try knitting flat with circulars? I have tried the continental method but as easy as it looks, I don't actually find it very easy.

In other news though with regards to my blanket I've knitted a total of 8 white squares and 1 yellow square lol! At least with any luck this blanket will be ready for May when the baby is due.  

I have learnt where I went wrong....

Taking a back seat from the knitting....as my fingers are hurting again...what the hell am i doing wrong? I am doing the stretches, I am not knitting without taking a break argh! I took knitting up as a hobby as something I could enjoy but clearly its not working...grr....I'm thinking of getting myself one of these Handeze gloves that nearly every website I've read re knitting hand pain, recommends...a good idea you think, readers? 

Meanwhile whilst taking this little break until my fingers feel somewhat normal, I have been going on You Tube looking at knitting videos and I do wish I had come across this video before I started picking and knitting the the squares I knitted earlier at the start of knitting this blanket! Doh! No wonder my knitting looked...wodgy (wonky and dodgy mashed up lol) Oh well a lesson learnt eh?   I think I'll make this blanket one  day though, It looks really nice and would be a nice blanket to cose up to in the cold wintery period.

I'm already thinking about my next project lol

Knitting the baby blanket is going well. I found picking and knitting  the  stitches of the squares of my blanket a bit tiresome and some what exhausting and I found in a way, that I am ruining the squares by doing so - you could see it from the picture I posted in my last post. So I thought I'd just knit  the baby squares and seam them in when its finished. It might take some time but its better than ruining what is supposed to be a lovely present for my BFF's baby.

Meanwhile, whilst the blanket is still a WIP (for those who are reading my blog first time and aren't knitters,  WIP stands for Work In Progress),  I am already looking at what my next project should be. I came across this knit pattern: Converse Booties. While on the baby theme, why not? So cute, so tempted to try!  Can anyone suggest any other easy knits I can knit for a baby?