socherryknits

Not an awful lot to write about as the WIPs are top secret. I will say this though; post-it notes don't have enough stick and now I've lost my place in a lace pattern and am sad. And also this; Noro is beautiful - I have only ever used it for armwarmers or hats though, and have discovered that joining Noro 'seamlessly' involves lots of cutting of yarn and teeny tiny balls.... Perhaps I can use them to make a rug similar to the one pictured below, on Both Textile Constructions . Found by the boy, the rug (they also make bags and cushions) is constructed using felt balls all stitched together. Me - I would have had the patience to make perhaps a necklace at most. An entire rug though?! It is very pretty though,and the bags are cool too. I imagine quite sturdy. The mural above is from this guy - also found by the boy. I'm not sure that the boy actually does 'work', rather just surfs the web for YouTube videos of stupid people blowing up petrol stations and the...

Teami Daisuki Teh-ah-mee -> hand knitting Dah-e-suk-e -> like very much I like hand knitting very much! I have been going to Japanese lessons with the boy for the past couple of months as we are planning a trip next year. Obviously I am getting my priorities right and trying to locate the biggest and best craft and yarn shops in Japan. Our sensei doesn't seem to be touching knitting at all so far ... maybe next week. In the meantime, the latest Interweave Knits magazine (Winter 2006) I ordered last week arrived containing a fantastic article by Amy Singer ( knitty.com editor) It explained that Japanese knitting patterns basically follow a chart - which I am familiar with now. I'm working on a secret WIP using a chart. The only problem is that Japanese patterns tend to use Kanji. There are 3 types of character sets in Japanese - I have got Hiragana, and Katakana is the same 'alphabet' but with different characters. Hiragana and Katakana follow a kind of alphabet -...

It's the weekend - and to celebrate I ordered the latest Interweave Knits from Angel Yarns . I was in there buying Addi Turbo metal straights to try out and felt I should make the postal charges worthwhile ... That is if I don't receive a sodden magazine. I checked the Royal Mail's complaints page after last weekend's sodden yarn parcel . Their complaints page basically says tough pants stupid sucker we so sorry to you valuable customer! In the course of my work I occasionally very rarely come across an official publication of interest to me. It was the publication of the Responses to a consultation on a Review of the British Wool Marketing Board . If you are interested take a look, there are some interesting points made. Supporting local industry is important for Scotland in my opinion. I'd rather spend more and support local industry, than buy cheap and support corporations. Unavoidable in today's society, but every little helps in my opinion. The boy sent ...

If you're around Glasgow this weekend please stop the Hillhead Library, Byres Road between 10am and 4pm for the Miso Funky market - so much professional crafty goodness - get some inspiration for Christmas and something really personal for those you love! And Etsy has a whole new look - with shop sections, shopping carts, individual shipping and all kinds of lovely new goodness! Go there!

The Hat-Shaped Hat! It is indeed hat-shaped! Or head-shaped... anyways - I'm particularly pleased with the top - it's exactly the icicly-snowy vision I had in mind. (See below post for pre-knitted up hat kit.) And below ... yet more magazines [since this picture was taken I bought Simply Knitting... - I have a problem and I admit it. I, Elaine, am addicted to buying knitting magazines and cannot stop. There! I said it! ... and in other knitting news ... the project with the prettiest yarn that I cannot speak of is hard going well. Thanks to Rosie and my granny for their help explaining what happens when 2 strands of DK are knit together - chunky yarn. Too thick for what I have in mind, and so it is being knit in DK after all. About 2 inches into it and I realised that the emergency metal needles [circa 1960s probably] that I had impatiently grabbed to cast on were leaving black marks on the prettiest yarn! Gah! Bamboo needles and take 2. The Harry Potter hoodie has been put d...

I got my delicious hat kit - made to order by Lilith and some extra yarn. See above for finished hat. I love it - such pretty packaging! Look what happened to my extra yarn though! Standing outside in the pouring rain, pacing and waiting for my driving lesson and the Postie man arrives... With a sodden packet, delivered exactly as photographed! I screeched 'Aah! My yarn!' in his face ... which made him think I was a raving lunatic and he turned on his heel; " sorry hen " drifting over his shoulders! *humpf* I didn't have time to pursue the matter as my driving instructor arrived. I'm still uncertain about whether to tell the Post Office. I mean it was torrential ... and the yarn was OK once it dried. Still ... we should be able to write 'contains yarn' on a parcel and it should be assigned to 'Yarn delivery' which would involve arriving in a waterproof backpack worn by a fluffy tame alpaca.

Me and the boy were at Loch Lomond this weekend so not much knitting content. I bought some stunning yarn online that I can neither photograph, nor rave about as the intended recipient is a reader of my blog. I do have a couple of questions though - if a DK yarn is doubled up is it then an aran weight? If the suggested needle size is 3.75 for the DK is there a formula for knowing what the suggested needle size of 2 strands of DK? Or do I need to gauge and stop trying to find the lazy route out? So I did do a bit of ballwinding as it arrived in 3 skeins - 350 yards per skein! I really really need a swift [hint hint!] as, although my ball winder has been described by a member of Glasgow Stitch n Bitch as the 'Rolls Royce of ballwinders', it is still sometimes hard going. The problem is that a device such as a ball winder makes me want to go fast, but sitting with an opened out skein on my knees and winding from there forces a slow progress. Any attempt at speeding up results in...