I had a bit of a sad moment last week. We had our first LRP event of the year, and it was a particularly wet and muddy weekend. Naturally, this meant my kit was also incredibly wet and muddy when I got home. This isn't usually a problem, as I have been relatively sensible in buying and making costume for the events which is machine washable. Including the handknits.

About three years ago, I made a gorgeous pair of gloves to wear at events, which were suitably elven in design to fit with my character, but modern and warm enough to keep my hands properly warm in the sometimes sub-zero temperatures.

They were the leafy fingerless gloves and I made them from Knit Picks Palette in a lovely deep green shade called Ivy. I have worn these gloves at every event I've attended since (even the ones in midsummer, as it still gets cold in the evenings). I had no qualms about throwing them in the washing machine; they survived every time when I washed them in the machine in our old house. So when we came back from the last event, I didn't even really think about it when I chucked them in the brand new washing machine in our new house.

Which was a mistake. My beautiful gloves, that have served me so faithfully, are a shrunken felted mess.

After moping about for a bit about this self made disaster (this is the first time I've ever ruined anything I've made!) I decided that the only thing for it would be to knit a replacement pair. I've not got long until the next event, and while I've got speedier with my knitting since I made these, they took me four months last time and I only have a few weeks. So I went on the hunt for a new pattern, one that would knit up quickly.

That meant heavier yarn, and losing the fingers. But I wanted to keep the green, and the leaves. And of course, for the new gloves to be made from definitely machine washable yarn!

These fit the bill perfectly. The pattern is a free pattern, found here. The yarn I have used is Cascade 220 Superwash, in the Lichen colourway. So quick and easy to knit up, I made these gloves in two days over the Easter weekend. They are warm and comfortable, and most importantly, should be machine washable!

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to rustle up another FO for this week's update, especially after the success of a pair of socks in a week last week. With the socks off the needles, the only YoP projects I had on the go were all long term affairs. Pogona is progressing well, but hasn't changed enough to be worthy of having more photos taken. My test knit of my Star Trek charts for my nerdy sofa cushions hasn't got to an interesting stage yet, consisting mostly of a large rectangle of black stocking stitch, so there's no pictures of that either. And Chunari is still hibernating, although I did briefly get it out and look at it the other day. I really do need to be in the right mood for laceweight knitting!

The other night, however, I decided to cast on something else from my queue, something which would hopefully be a nice quick knit. The Jayne Cobb hat. Unfortunately, I didn't have a circular needle of the right length, so I had to cast on with DPNs, which made for a very awkward knitting process and rather slow progress.

However, I went to Unravel at the weekend (where I spent a lovely couple of hours wandering about the place with Sarah from Crafts from the Cwtch and Wink of A Creative Being). I only made a few purchases (which completely blew my budget out of the water).

Among all the yarn pretties, you will have noticed a new cable for my interchangeable needles. I now have a 16" cable, which means knitting hats of any size just became a whole lot easier! As soon as I got home, I fixed up the cable with my 7mm needles, and transferred the stitches across. Needless to say, the hat got knit a whole lot quicker after that!

More on the hat in a moment while I digress slightly to talk about the yarns I purchased. Despite not having yet knit a single stitch on the three Easyknits skeins I already own, I picked up two more. The first was definitely on my list of things to buy, a sushi sock roll to knit Jon's Orbit shawl with. I bought the pattern at Unravel last year, and have been holding off knitting it until I had the perfect gradiated skein of yarn to use. I spent a long time debating colours, but settled on Killer Queen, which is a gorgeous combination of electric blue, purple and pink. Of course, I spent so long at Jon's stand that I couldn't help myself, and another skein of Deeply Wicked sort of fell into my hands as well. Another electric blue, as I've grown fond of the colour since knitting my Arctic socks last week!

The third skein I picked up is something I've been wanting to get my hands on for a while. Indigodragonfly yarns have been on my want list for many years, and it's all Keri's fault. I've been reading about all the indigodragonfly yarns she uses for years, and long lamented its lack of availability in this country. But at Unravel last year I discovered that Aragon Yarns are the only UK stockist of this gorgeous yarn, so when I saw their name on the exhibitor list again this year I decided I was definitely going to walk away from the show with something. Not only is the yarn gorgeously soft (it's merino/cashmere/nylon - way too nice for socks if you ask me, I shall be using it for a shawl) and dyed in fantastic colours, it's the names of the colourways which really makes this yarn stand out. Each colour is named after a fabulously geeky quote. The colour I chose is My name is Indigo Montoya, which is a play on words on a quote from The Princess Bride. I'm not adding any of these yarns to my list this year, but I guarantee you that when July rolls around this year, this skein will be top of my list!

Anyhoo, back to my FO for the week. Once I'd switched to the circulars, I flew through the rest of the hat and finished it on Sunday morning.

I made a few modifications to the pattern as written, because I was working with a chunkier yarn and Jamie has a big head. I cast on 64 stitches, did 2x2 rib instead of 1x1 (mainly because I hate doing 1x1), and made the whole thing longer. It's got about 4 inches of orange after the inch of rib, and then 4 inches of yellow before the very sharp decreases. I also added a couple of rows of icord on the ear flaps before casting off.

Jamie claimed it didn't need a pom pom, but I wanted to stay true to the original hat as seen in Firefly. So he got a red and orange pom pom, but it's not particularly bulky. I'm pleased with the finished hat, and he loves it too. And more importantly, I can cross another FO off my list!

As mentioned previously I have been doing a lot of sewing lately. One of the things I have been making is project bags for my knitting and crochet projects. I usually have so many WIPs on the go, and they tend to be chucked in baskets or left lying around on the sofa, to become comfy beds for the cat. So making sure each one has a home when I'm not working on it is important.

It started out rather innocently, to be fair. I found a pattern, bought a couple of fat quarters on eBay because I liked the patterns, and chose lining fabric from my leftovers of coloured cotton from the shield banner I'd made earlier in the year.

The pattern is the No Guts Boxie Pouch and it is so simple and quick to make. I didn't use interfacing in my first attempt, as the fabric is a fairly sturdy cotton to begin with. I just love the cats and yarn print!

The second fat quarter was owls. I think, on reflection, these owls are a little too big for this size of project, but what I love about this one is the bright blue fabric I used for the lining. Sadly, I don't appear to have taken a picture of it! But it matches the very bright blue you can see in the owls.

It kind of set me off on a road, though, as I found myself buying fat quarter bundles in Fabric Land and Hobbycraft, and a selection of contrasting zips from eBay...

I now have nine more bags I can make! I am going to experiment with some other patterns, and not make 9 more identical bags. But most of them will be of a similar style I think. I found a set of fat quarters featuring slightly smaller owls so hopefully they will look more sensible on a small project like these bags.

It's no secret that I love stationery. My husband knows this well, and so every Christmas I get something interesting in my stocking. This year was no exception, as I got the Happy Jackson notebook you see above, as well as quite possibly the coolest gadget I have ever owned - an electric pencil sharpener! I spent a good portion of Christmas Day/Boxing Day sat cross legged on my living room floor, merrily sharpening all of my coloured pencils.

I decided straight away that I would indeed use this notebook to keep track of my ideas and plans, so it has become my place for noting down ideas for patterns, new ways to organise my craft spaces etc. I've been going a bit crazy on Pinterest of late, particularly my Sewing board. I was looking for a pattern for a DPN roll, and an interchangeable needle roll, and nothing I found was quite right. So, I picked tutorials which were roughly what I was after, and got out my notebook and pencil to sketch out my cunning plans.

I started with the DPN roll, as that seemed the more straightforward of the two. I had picked up a gorgeous set of fat quarters while shopping for fabric for costumes, and decided straight away that this was the project to use it in.

I have three different height pockets, so there is space for the longest, shortest and inbetweenist needles in my collection.

The only thing I forgot to do was add the ribbon to tie it shut before I did my side seam! I'm not too bothered, as the weight of the needles inside holds it shut when it's rolled up and sitting on the shelf with the rest of my needles. This roll has more space in it than the one I was using previously, which had been a free gift in a magazine, and is now being used to house my straight needles.

The interchangeable needle case was a little trickier. I looked at tutorial after tutorial, and in the end decided I would just have to decide exactly what I needed my roll to be, and figure it out myself. And that is exactly what I did.

The new and exciting technique used for this project was piping. I'd never done piping before, but happened to have a load of left over black bias binding and some old string kicking about from previous projects. I found a tutorial on Pinterest and just cracked on with it. The end result is, I am pleased to say, not that bad. The bit where the piping crosses over itself and dives into the seam is hidden by the ribbon when the roll is done up.

Inside, there are pockets for each pair of needles I got with my set of Knit Pro interchangeable needles, three pockets for the three different lengths of cable and a closeable pocked which houses the tightening keys and cable ends. So much nicer than the clear plastic case that came with the set!

I have to say, now that I have the space to sew, I am remembering how much I love doing it! And all of the non-clothing projects I have done so far have been so quick and easy, with brilliant results. I am also already developing something of a fat quarter habit, which is dangerous!

A day late with an update this week, but I couldn't not stop by and share my sock progress! Last week I shared a photo of my red and white stripey socks, and I am pleased to report that I actually finished them later on that day.

Buoyed by my socky success, I immediately wound another skein of sock yarn and cast on another pair of socks. This time using a skein of Candy Skein yarn I bought back in January 2012. It's the sock club colourway from that month, Arctic Mint. If memory serves, this was one of the earliest sock club colours that Tami did.

I took the above picture yesterday morning, in preparation for writing a post then about how amazed I was that I'd knit a sock and a half in a week. However, the rugby kicked off before I managed to get the photos onto the computer, and by the time the game was over...

I knit a pair of socks in a week! I'm so pleased with myself. The pattern is Bandwagon Socks by Phreadde Davis, which is more of a recipe for the socks than a pattern per se, as most of the elements for the pattern come from other patterns. So I didn't feel so bad about making my own modifications.

First up, I have tried and failed on numerous occasions to get to grips with Judy's magic cast on, and therefore replaced the toe with my now standard short row toe. Second, I looked at the instructions in the pattern for the toe up gusseted heel, but didn't feel confident enough about them to try to follow them. So I stuck with what I know, and substituted a short row heel as well.

The rest then became second nature, as I know exactly how many rows I need to knit for the foot to fit me, when I've got fingering weight yarn, 2.5mm needles and have cast on for 64 stitches! The only other modification I made was to adjust where in the chart I started when I got to the second sock, as I wanted them to be matching. So I started the chart halfway through on foot 2, so that when I wore the socks the zig zag of the yarn overs would be mirror opposites.

I'm incredibly pleased with these socks, and the surprising realisation that it was actually quicker to knit patterned socks than it was to knit plain ones! I plan to wear them to Unravel on Saturday, if I make it.

It's been a while since I updated on my progress of my fourth Year of Projects (in fact, I haven't updated at all since I posted my list and first post back in July... ooops!). While I've been pretty busy over the summer/autumn, and haven't had much time to blog, I have been working on things and making some progress towards my goals.

Firstly, the outstanding WIPs that needed finishing. I still haven't got around to blocking Peerie Flooers, which is quite frankly becoming embarrassing. It has now been two years since this hat came off my needles. Two years! I simply must get round to it soon - I don't want to be carrying this forward to the fifth Year of Projects in July.

Chunari is currently hibernating. With no firm due date in mind, and no real idea as to when I will ever wear it once it is finished, there really is no incentive to get it finished. Which is something of a shame, as I am sure it will be stunning once completed.

However, I do have one completed WIP from last year's list! My Knotty Gloves were started in February 2014, and I knit all but the thumb of the first glove before losing interest and moving on to something else. At Christmas, I was inspired to pick them back up again (the influence of one of my knitterly friends, who was staying with us over the holiday) and in less than two days I finished off the first glove, and successfully completed the second!

The yarn is Knit Picks Palette in Serrano, and I used less than one ball. If I'd been paying more attention, I would have reversed the cables on the second glove so they were a matching pair. As it was, I had to rip them back and start over due to not paying enough attention, so I think if I'd been trying to reverse the chart as well I would have made a lot more mistakes!

There were a lot of socks and shawls on my list this year, probably more than I will now have time to finish, since we are less than six months away from the end of this challenge and we are only a few months away from a new LARP season! So far, though, I have managed to complete one shawl, and a hat (which replaces one of the shawls on the list), and have started on the first pair of socks!

Andalusia is another fabulous shawl from the wonderful Mimi Codd. After knitting Mrs Tumnus in 2013 I knew I would enjoy knitting another of Mimi's horseshoe shaped shawls. I used Zauberball for this one, in a rather vibrant pink colourway. Frustratingly, I ran out of yarn about four rows from the end, and had to order another ball. So instead of using up a ball from my stash, this shawl has actually had zero impact on the amount of yarn left on the shelves!

I had originally put the Spring Leaves scarf on my list with plans to use my Madeleinetosh Tosh Merino Light. However, the colouring in this yarn really doesn't match up well with lace patterns, and is much better suited to plain stocking stitch. So out went the scarf idea, and in came the Sockhead Hat. I've seen several of my knitting friends make this hat before, so I knew it would be a winner. The colours look amazing and it's incredibly warm for such a light yarn. I haven't blocked it, as I don't think it needs it. It is the perfect pattern for mindless knitting. No need to count rows or stitches till you get to the decreases; just row after row of effortless stocking stitch in the round. Perfect for knitting during a James Bond film marathon!

Starting on the endless list of socks (I think there are at least five pairs on the list!), I have opted for simple vanilla socks in this striking England colourway from Regia. I have plain white which I am using for the toes and heels, so the stripes stay consistent, as this is something I didn't do with my knee high socks and I don't like the way self-striping yarn goes a bit funny over the short row heel. So far, I am making good progress, as I only cast on yesterday and am already almost at the heel. The first time I made Wendy's Generic Toe Up Socks it took me ten days, so I'm hoping to knock these out in the next couple of weeks.

I'm fairly sure that unless something drastic changes, I will focus on the things on my list where a yarn and pattern have already been assigned. So socks, and probably one other shawl. I'm leaning towards Pogona at the moment, as a nice excuse to knit with Wollmeise again.

With respect to the nerdy section of my list, I have made relatively good progress there too. Of the four Doctor Who themed cross stitch charts I designed, two are now completed and just waiting for frames.

I've also finished the third of the Game of Thrones charts and am now deciding which one to tackle next. Something with a less complicated chart, I think, as this lion was tricky.

Finally, I got around to designing the chart for my Star Trek cushions, and started knitting the first one the other day. There is endless black stocking stitch to go before I get to the interesting bit though, so no progress pics of this one until it gets to the good stuff!

I was worried that I would come to review my progress so far and find I had done nothing at all, but considering everything else I've been up to, I don't think my progress is too disappointing. I just need to keep up the momentum now I've regained some of my urge to knit, and hopefully will have more to update with in the coming weeks.

I'm reaching back a few months with today's FO Friday, to a small project I completed just after Christmas. It was a birthday present for a good friend of mine.

My friend Kate has a very special horse. His name is Leo. He's almost 20, and has had a very checkered history, suffering from several injuries through his career and being almost written off more than once. When Kate met him, he was in very bad shape. Together, they have brought him back to good health, to the point where she has been able to ride him in various competitions. You can read more about them on their Facebook page.

Isn't he beautiful? He's wearing a disabled badge in his coat because both Leo and Kate are a little wonky. She jokes that between them, they have four working legs.

I got it into my head that I wanted to make her a miniature version of Leo for her birthday. I hunted round Ravelry until I found a pattern that was perfect. It's a free pattern called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic School Age Ponies by Knit One Awe Some. I thought I had enough yarn in my stash for it, but ended up buying more as I didn't quite have as much as I thought.

I customised the pattern a little bit, to match as closely as I could to Leo's colouring. It's Hobbycraft's own brand value DK black yarn, and Sirdar Country Style DK for the brown, which makes him an interesting mix of acrylic and wool. I had a lot of fun with the mane and tail, but my favourite part has to be the felt pieces I attached afterwards. The eyes are cute enough, but in order to make My Little Leo as close to the original as possible, I cut out a felt disabled sign to sew to his bum.

Not pictured is the little red felt saddle I made, with the name Leo embroidered (probably quite badly) across the top. By the time I finished that I was in quite a rush to get the horse into the parcel and send it off to Kate! But you can kind of see it in the photo below, when My Little Leo met his namesake for the first time.

Before you dash off to Tami's to read another few FO Friday posts, I do wonder if I can ask you a quick favour. Kate is currently in the middle of a fundraising attempt, which will either get her enough cash to sort out her new saddle, or at the very least help fund training and transport costs as she and Leo pursue a new para-equestrian career in endurance riding. I'm not asking you for money, but just a couple of minutes of your time. You see, Kate is a contender for this month's Mars Milk Sports Fund, and if she wins the public vote she will be awarded a prize of £1,000! All it takes is to click on THIS LINK, read Kate's story in her own words, then click the big blue vote button and enter your email address. In order for your vote to count, you do then have to open the email Mars will send you and click on the link in it to verify your vote. If you don't do that, your vote won't count. Sadly, only one vote per email address (otherwise I'd have been sat here for days repeatedly voting for her).

Kate would love you all forever if you did her this teeny tiny favour! You can follow her and Leo's journey by liking their Facebook page, or by following them on Twitter @FourGoodLegs.

Hey everyone! I knew that I hadn't posted in a while, but it wasn't until a friend visited last weekend and pointed out that I hadn't posted in ages that I realised it has been about two months since my last post! Unfortunately, life has got in the way of crafting, or doing particularly interesting things, so I haven't had all that much to post about. There are a few things I've made/done/worked on in these last few months that haven't made it onto the blog, however, so I'm going to try and catch up over the next few weeks. The new Year of Projects starts next week as well, which will be an extra kick to get me back into my good habits.

So, as it's Friday, I'll start things off by linking up with Tami and sharing a finished project.

I cast this on back at the end of March, when I was ill with a virus and not keen on knitting complicated lace-and-beads or intarsia. The yarn is Stylecraft Harlequin Chunky and the pattern I chose to use was the Sulka Scarflette. It was incredibly quick and easy to knit up (only a couple of hours in total) but it took me almost a week because I was so ill I couldn't knit many rows before having to put it down again. It also took me a while to decide where to put the buttons!

I haven't worn it yet because the weather warmed up considerably after I made this, and I think it would be best suited to the really cold days in January and February. So for now it is resting on the shelf in the hallway, waiting for winter to roll back around.

With the new LARP season rapidly approaching (our first event is only a few weeks away!) I decided to take a break from my usual crafty pursuits and learn something new. I've been planning to make myself an in character diary for some time now, but it would involve skills that I've never tried before.

Firstly, I had to write the damn thing! I'm not usually all that interested in writing fiction, but thankfully the act of writing up my character's thoughts and experiences from the four years that I've now been playing her was easy, as I was actually recording memories of events rather than having to make it all up from scratch! I started writing it after getting back from an event, so I was still very much inside my character's head at the time. Before I knew it, I'd written over 30,000 words.

To turn my words into an actual, physical book proved to be more of a challenge. I spent a lot of time on the internet, researching bookbinding techniques and trying to decide what I wanted my finished diary to look like. I eventually settled on the long stitch technique, after seeing this tutorial for a leather bound journal. I had in my sewing chest a suede skirt that I've been holding on to for a long time, waiting for the right project, which I decided would be perfect to use as the material for my book cover.

Printing the pages to create the signatures for my book proved to be another challenge. More research online unearthed this fabulous guide to printing Word documents in book format, and after a few trial and error attempts I finally had my pages printed.



I did a test of the bookbinding techniques on a set of signatures that hadn't printed out right, and then launched straight into stitching my actual pages into my actual book. It was really straightforward, although I did manage to stab myself quite a few times with the needle as the suede was quite thick, particularly where there was more than one layer.


I deliberately left the flap that will close the book quite long, as this is going to be a living document that will grow with each LRP event. I have bound in some empty pages so I can jot down notes during the event, and then afterwards I will type up the diary entry and replace the handwritten signatures with a printed version. The more events I survive, the longer my book will get, but there is room for at least twice as many pages before this one gets full.


To close the book, I have added two ribbons, and attached a gorgeous bead I picked up in my local haberdashery. I'm really really pleased with the finished article, and can't wait to show it off at the event in a couple of weeks.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a new experiment I was undertaking, learning to do English Paper Piecing.

I chose to make a pincushion because I thought a small project would give me a chance to see if I enjoyed the technique enough to do it again, without running the risk of starting a project that I wouldn't finish if I didn't enjoy it after all. I'm pleased to say that I did enjoy it, and the end results are fabulous.

The only real issue I had was when I got to sewing the two halves together and then turning it right side around. But to be fair, I have issues doing that whatever I am sewing, so not a problem unique to EPP!

I love the incredibly neat edge between the hexagons. It's a relatively simple (if fiddly) technique but it produces wonderful results. I've already been nosing about on the web to see what else I could do with it. I'm not quite close to wanting to make a full quilt or anything, but I've already started pinning some great ideas to my Sewing board.

I will have to find another project that uses hexagons, though, as I still have plenty left from the selection I was given last year.

I can't believe it's been nine months since I flew out to America. Where has the time gone! You may recall I popped into Imagiknit while I was in San Fransisco and bought four wonderfully blue skeins of Cascade 220, with plans to knit $5 in Paris from them.


With the jumper finished, I found myself with leftovers. Now, I love my jumper, and I'd wear it every day if I could. But of course that is not really possible, so I started thinking about things I could do with the leftovers that meant I could carry this little piece of San Fransisco around with me more often. My default setting is gloves, so gloves it was!

The pattern is Cwtchy Cable Armwarmers by my lovely friend Sarah over at Crafts from the Cwtch. At first, I thought I only had enough yarn for the short version, but as it turned out my maths was appalling, and I had enough for almost full length ones.

I made a slight modification to the pattern as written (I don't seem to be able to knit gloves without making changes these days!). The pattern transitions from the cable back to rib at the end of the cable repeat, the row before the next cable row. I worked three additional rows, so that the cable twist sits right up against the ribbing, as it does at the other end. I also didn't have quite enough yarn for 9 full repeats of the cable, so I did 8 instead.

I love them already. The blue is as bright as the blue sky we eventually saw once we'd crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and pulled out of the fog. Between these and my Odessa hat, I now have two very portable and wearable reminders of my honeymoon to keep me smiling during this atrocious winter we're having.