annarella | handmade : beaded stitch markers and original hand knits, london

« july 2006   september 2006 »

wednesday, 30 august 2006

Who's the lucky sod who gets a cold in the summer?

I am! I am! Oh bother!

This is going to be one of those "bored out of my mind" photo-less posts whose main aim is to let you all know that although I haven't updated in a while, I am still alive and kicking (well, as much as one can kick, considering that most of one's time is occupied by nose-blowing, sniffling, more blowing, occasional coughing, feeling sorry for oneself, and the likes).

Coming soon to a blog near you: a third parcel from my Secret Pal, aka the girl who rox* (I'm told there's also a book from Amazon to arrive still, yeyyyy!), a finished toddler sweater complete with FREE PATTERN by yours truly (I've been thinking of adding a patterns section for a while, just simple uncomplicated things, as I'm hopeless at keeping notes of my knits, what do you think?), a quick toddler hat thrown in for good measure and then of course we'll have the draw for July-August competition - you've still got until tomorrow to enter.

I'm off to blow my nose - toodle-ooh! x

* I have got this right, haven't I?

thursday, 24 august 2006

There is light at the end of the WIPs tunnel yet

This is the realisation I came to last night, when I counted my WIPs and was beside myself at the thought of only FIVE, yes FIVE knits to complete before having everything off the needles.

I can't quite convey the joy and relief I felt! You may think it's rather a lot, five sweaters/cardies sort of half-knitted, but for months I've been fearing that sooner or later I'd drown under all my WIPs, which slowly but steadly seemed to have spiralled out of control, instead only a finite number of knits is all that separates me from knitting sanity. Not bad at all, I think. I can honestly see I have a chance to complete all my projects within this lifetime!

So the plan goes something like this:

• finish Carnival sweater by the end of August - ok, not many days left, but I have just one and a half sleeve to go, and it's a baby knit anyway
• finish Very Berry sweater by the end of September - this requires some frogging... basically I'll need unravel half the sleeves (already completed, ends weaved in and everything...) and re-knit them cos I've slightly changed my mind, then knit the body from the chest down. Some more math will be essential to ensure I don't fuck up the lace pattern
• finish Redcurrant by the end of October - thank god, this is on 10mm needles (Rowan Big Wool) so althought all I've got done so far is the collar, yoke and half the body, it shouldn't be too bad. The fun part will be when sewing in the zipper, me thinks
• finish the Flounce Trimmed jacket by the end of November - this too requires some frogging and re-knitting, I've lost count of the times I've unravelled this, never happy with the length of the jacket
• finish Electra cardi by the end of January 2007 - no you didn't mis-read, ETA 2007! This is the awful Rowan fair-isle pattern with one zillion ends to weave in, so I need to allow plenty of time - have both sleeves and neckband to knit still

Meanwhile, I'm itching to start on the two knits above: the Simple Knitted Bodice and Madeline Jacket although I haven't really decided what yarns to use for either... (have you seen Jenn's version?) And I really should make a start on Ferdie's sweater (yarn bought last summer!!!!) if he's got any chance of wearing it this winter. I'd better go and make myself some camomile tea now...

PS: Please sponsor me!

It seems I have forgotten to blog about this: I shall be running the 5km in the Hydro Active Women's Challenge in support of the Alzheimer's Society on 3rd September 2006. I would love for you to come and cheer me on, but if you can't then I'd be even happier if you could spare a few pounds and donate whatever you can to the Society. It really doesn't matter how much you give, it's the thought that counts. I'm hoping that with your support we can help towards care and research in this debilitating illness that seems to be destroying more lives now than ever before.

So please sponsor me now! Many thanks for your support. You have no idea how much it means!

monday, 21 august 2006

You wait ages for one...

and then 3 come along at once! ;)

See, I do keep my promises eventually, but really, what's a month's delay between friends?!

Secret Pal: your first parcel helped me complete this sweater!! Just the extra yarn I needed, in exactly the same colour AND dyelot!!! Can you believe it?? Ta :)

Edited to add: it just occurred to me to let you know that you can click on the thumbnails to view the entire project, with more photographs and yarn/pattern details. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: in the last picture I've not totally lost my marbles, I was trying to emulate the pose of the model, but to no avail! ;)

I'm off to dinner & then to bed, night night xxx

friday, 18 august 2006

Can you tell what it is?

What's the word for something that's almost a FO but not quite? Well, that's what we have here: it's my cropped Victoria cardi knitted in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky in a teal shade and the discountinued Rowan Polar in Red Hot for the cuffs and button band. (It can do with some light blocking to even out the stitches and smooth the fabric, I'll get round to it, promise!).

So, what's left to do you may ask? Well, I have a bit of a dilemma with the buttons. See, I really really love ♥ the ones in the picture (btw, they're only sitting there, I haven't fixed them yet) BUT firstly, I only have 3 of them and the cardi needs 5 (I might find a few more from the shop, so that's not entirely out of the question), BUT I had originally envisaged some chunky wooden round buttons for this when I created the design. I'm not sure the hearts go with the style, which I see a somewhat rustic and rather relaxed... What do you think?

Btw, the Cashmerino was a huge bargain from Coldsprings Mills last summer, admittedly in a colour most unusual for me, but I had originally bought to make a scarf for somebody and I even went ahead and knitted it all, only to think such lush yarn would really be wasted on a scarf (especially when it was to be worn somebody else!!) and unravelled it. Well, I'm selfish like that, what can you do? ;)

friday, 18 august 2006

I need a portable project

You would be forgiven for mistakenly thinking that I had run out of stuff to knit, in fact I seems to be surrounded by large WIPs, sweaters or cardi, which all require some span of attention which I can't always grant to them (well, that's my excuse for not picking them up, and I'm sticking by it).

I realised I had nothing to knit in my lunch break today and felt unable to stop thinking about all the precious time I was wasting twiddling my thumbs, so the question is:

What could I knit, from stash yarn, which would be mindless enough to pick up for a few minutes at a time, but also portable to stick in my bag and knit on the go?

Ah, it's got to be on circulars (my new love!*), definitely no DPNs (no good on the train). Suggestions extremely welcome! Thanks! :)

-------------------------------
* whatever happened to me? I've always maintained to be a straight needles-under-the-arm kind of knitter, looking in disbelief at whoever chose circular needles for a project where straight ones would have done the job just as well and then what do I go and do? Become a circulars addict!! There's no going back I fear, I have a huge (well, everything is relative, isn't it?) selection of straight needles but time and time again I have found myself ditching them in favour of the more portable circular alternative. I am definitely slower on circulars, but am enjoying the process so much more. Alright, end of foot note ;)

wednesday, 16 august 2006

Lush hat

Thanks so much for all the wonderful comments and suggestions to soften my Multidirectional scarf in my previous post. I shall take them on board and see what happens when I wash it. Regardless of its scratchiness, I was just thinking how well it's going to go with my denim jacket in the autumn (form before function, as usual, eh?).

Meanwhile I thought I'd show you a picture of the matching hat I made with leftover Noro Kureyon. It's only matching in as much as I've used the same yarn, but doesn't have any diagonals running through it. I did start wanting to make properly matching hat, using short-rows, but the one 50g ball wouldn't have sufficed, and I refused to go out and buy more yarn, when the purpose was that of stash-busting.

So I went for a simple design that would emphasise the colour transitions, with some "bits" grafted at the top. I just kept adding bits until I totally ran out of yarn, a most satisfying feeling, I tell you! I really like the colours, and although I'm not a lover of green in any shade or form, I do think it's bearable in this hat, cos it works well with the other hues.

I seem to be in a hats mood at the moment, as I also made a big BIG hat (finished last night) which will house all my hair, whether it's up or down. Pics will follow as soon as I can.

saturday, 12 august 2006

It's scarves time!

Long time no blog, uh? Well, work's been really hectic lately, but I do have one or two, no wait, three FOs to show you! The devil makes work for idle hands, don't he? Scarves's the theme of the month, as you can see ;)

Myriam scarf

First off we have a present for my friend's birthday, which is coming up next week. Happy birthday darling! It's a light summer scarf crocheted in a lace motif in Patons Washed Haze DK in a dusky rose, a lovely cotton blend, really soft on the skin and a pleasure to handle. If you're reading this, the scarf will be heading your way first thing on Monday and hopefully reach you in time for the big day, if not, even better, so it'll be a surprise!

Mr Show Off scarf

Next up it's a scarf for Ferdie which I just finished last night. A great stash-buster knit, I used 250g of Jaeger Shetland Aran in black left over from this. I still have 200g left (yep, I had wildly overestimated how much I would need for a sweater!). I absolutely adore this yarn, so squishy and warm, I'd never get tired of stroking it. I'm hoping the scarf will help Ferdie fight the next British winter as he insists of wearing his flimsy leather coat even in the most rigid of weathers. What a show-off, honestly! ;)

Multidirectional Diagonal scarf

Last but not least, here's a scarf I knitted whilst at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Olympia but totally forgot to show you. The colours are stunning, I absolutely adore how it's turned out, although I won't be using Noro Kureyon in a hurry again, really not suitable for a scarf, it's rather itchy and scratchy... so I'm not sure how I'm going to wear it, we'll see...

friday, 04 august 2006

I am the winner for a change

The other day I received the most exciting email for ages from one of the hostesses of Secret Pal 8 informing me I had won their button contest (don't know for which button, seen as I sent a few in) and would be the lucky receipient of some yummy goodies, which I would get to choose, yeyy!!

The choice was between KPixie and KnitPicks. Many of you will know that I've been wanting to make myself a sweater/cardi of some sort in KnitPicks Andean Silk for ages but they don't ship to the UK, so I thought it would be pretty much a given which shop I'd go for.

But after spending the best part of two hours browsing both sides, adding and removing stuff from my basket without being able to make up my mind, I finally capitulated under the call of pure indulgence and picked my prize: 2 x 4oz skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted and one skein of Hemp which I've never knitted with before. Let's all drool together now ;) Can't wait for them to arrive!!

On a different note, boy, am I glad the worst is over, the weather has cooled down significantly, I can finally resume breathing and functioning like a normal (?) human being, and drink camomile tea without any sweat dripping in my mug! It always surprises me how happy small every day things, which I take for granted most of the time, make me ;)

thursday, 03 august 2006

It's competition time, folks!

A tad later than scheduled (...oops!), here's my give away for July/August. It's just been way too hot in the last few weeks for me to get my head around all this, so as I'm combining two months, I'm offering some yarny goodies this time round :)

So, what have we got here? 50g of luxurious 100% alpaca in black (from Blue Sky Alpacas if you want to go check out the yardage, etc.) AND a set of Flower Power stitch markers also in black, part of my decorated glass collection, hand made by yours truly :)

We all know the drill by now, but for anybody who hasn't paid attention so far (well, why haven't you?), there's only one rule for this competition, and it goes like this: only one lucky person will win these goodies. All you need to do to take part is leave a comment on this post (emails don't count, sorry!) by 31st August 2006 and one lucky name will be randomly picked by my trusty helper. The winner will be announced towards the beginning of September. Good luck! xxx

Update: this competition is now closed and has been won by Sheila and Sharon - read more about it here.

wednesday, 02 august 2006

8,000 stitches...

... in less than 1 hour!

I didn't time myself, but I think it took me longer to cast on than actually knit the whole band!

Admitedly I did fudge the cast on row several times, so had to start over and over and over... but still it goes to show how amazing the knitting machine is... people, this is 4 ply yarn, it would have probably taken me several days of battling with 3mm needles to get this done! Oh, I love instant gratification! :)

This is the first thing I've tried to create on Abi's knitting machine, and it's nothing more than a simple rectangle with the ends seamed... but still it's all me :)

Now I need to knit one using colours I'd actually wear, and that don't make me look ill (green olive on my green olive skin... not a good combo).