Louie

Catch Up

I've recently been diagnosed with a stomach infection (Helicobacter Pylori) and was prescribed antibiotics last week, that made me horribly ill and four days in I had to give up. I'm almost completely recovered now but it meant a LOT of TV, absolutely no work and very little knitting!

Despite that I have been working on a two pieces of knitting. These are essentially cylindrical covers for containers, which I've used to store my knitting and crochet needles, as well as scissors, pens and pencils. I used an empty Tetley Earl Grey pot and a similar one (slightly wider) that held those long cigar-type biscuits you have with ice cream (all suggestions on what these are called welcome!). The pattern is VERY simple; I just knitted a square that went all the way around these pots and sewed it together when finished. Here's one that's just been cast off:

I don't know if you can see, but I've managed to knit a diagonal pattern. Okay, so it may be zig-zag in places, but being a beginner I tend to make mistakes. What was odd was that the mistake turned out to be a blessing as I was trying to knit double moss stitch, but got it wrong and discovered something completely new! I later worked out that I'd simply picked up one stitch somewhere, resulting in this....

Instructions:
CO 61 stitches (or any multiple of 6 stitches + 1). You could choose 7, 13, 19, 25, 31, 37, 43, 49, 55, 61 etc. depending on how wide the pot is. Try to use circular needles, so that once you've cast on you can measure the length against the pot itself. Don't make it too long or the cover will be loose (like mine on the right).

R1 - *K2, P2. Repeat from * to end.
R2 - Repeat R1
R3 - *P2, K2. Repeat from * to end.
R4 - Repeat R3.

Simple!

DON'T try this at home!

Over the past three weeks I've been collecting ingredients to make James Wong's Viola Eczema cream. I won't link to it, for reasons you're about to discover.

In total they almost £15 but I was willing to try it, having heard the good reviews it got on the 'Grow Your Own Drugs' programme. Also, I've tried one of James' recipes before and found it works really well. However, this morning I've spend 3 hours stirring what I can only describe as oily, brown water in a desperate attempt to turn it into cream. Wong, your recipe is WRONG.

Furious is not quite the word to use regarding my mood, but the less said about that the better. Unfortunately I've missed out on the opportunity to guest post on a great eczema website about it, but I'd rather this post was read and eczema sufferers don't waste their time and money on another remedy that doesn't work. Okay perhaps the actual cream does help, but how on earth are we meant to make it?

Anyway, enough of the ranting. I'm almost getting to the bottom of the eczema, nausea and anxiety mystery as I'm seeing a pattern in symptoms after I eat wheat. It could be IBS, it could be an H.Pylori infection but either way I'm sticking to snacking on raisins and I have lots of time for knitting; so keep reading!


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Another recommendation

It's been a while since I last wrote and I apologise for that. It's mainly because I'm in Swansea with no phone (long and boring story = lack of a charger), which means no photographs and I'm reluctant to update what's happening without letting you see it too!

Also, what IS happening isn't much to write home about. I've almost finished one more square and have done diddly squat with the patterns because I've been writing so much. So there you are, a blog post with no real purpose. How exciting.

So to liven things up a bit I thought I'd let you know about one of the inspirations behind my pattern adventure. It's the Knitting Daily website and e-newsletter that gets posted to my inbox every day. It's one of the few emails I really look forward to reading and there are often free patterns included within it. If you're interested in knitting, crocheting or felting in any way I highly recommend it!

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Monday Monday

NOTE: Comments are working again now! Just click the link at the bottom of the post that says '0 comments' or hopefully more than 0...

Despite working from home and often taking a Wednesday and Thursday off instead of the weekend a Monday morning still feels more hectic than any other. In terms of knitting I've set my sights a bit higher this week. Once I've finished the square I started last night I'll be looking seriously at starting to write some patterns.

They're going to [have to] be incredibly simple to begin with. I'm giving a friend a choice between patterns as she'll be keeping the finished articles and obviously I want them to be of use or enjoyment. So far I'm thinking that a moss stitch sleeveless pullover or a set of knitted and stuffed skittles and a ball would be the simplest yet nicest ideas. Otherwise I was thinking some simple mittens tied together with iCord or a tube from a Knitting Nancy so that they can be threaded through a jacket.

It's proving quite difficult to come up with some truly unique ideas that I won't be stealing from anyone else and the real challenge will be writing the pattern but I'm excited to do it, make the mistakes and make it perfect again. In the end I'll have a nice collection of .PDF patterns for you all to download :)

Oh by the way, I know I go on about the Vogue Knitting book all the time so I thought I'd make it more accessible to you - here's a link to the Vogue Knitting website that has a selection of the stitches and techniques for you to follow:
Vogue Knitting Stitch Library

Lucy x

Pearls of Potential

I need your help! Do you have any ideas on what I can make with these strings of beads? They're pearlescent white, made of plastic, held together with string and intended to be used as a Christmas tree decoration.


My Brother asked me if I wanted them just after Christmas and a light immediately went on in my head saying 'I can make something with them'. Yet they've been sitting abandoned on the top shelf of my bookcase for 3 months and now I'm feeling like a hoarder.

So let me know! Do you have any ideas or is it time to give/throw them away?

Knitting Nannie

This is Lillian, my Nan. She's been knitting since she was a child, which seems to be a hereditary thing as she taught my Mum and my Mum taught me. Somehow making knots in bits of sheep to make pretty things is something my family (on both sides) are pretty good at. Now at the age of 84 and having lost her sight completely she's still going! For quite a few years now she's been knitting squares in garter stitch (50 stitches wide) to make patchwork blankets. Once she has knitted enough squares my Mum sews them together and knits a decorative edge so they're ready to be used.

Now you might be thinking 'why on earth does their family need so many blankets?'.

We don't keep them. All the blankets that my Nan knits (which she estimates to be around 60 in the past 10 years or so) go to charity, and more specifically Naomi House in Hampshire. Naomi House is a hospice for terminally ill children and they're opening a new department soon to provide the service for teenagers too.
The staff, children and parents are really glad to receive my Nan's blankets and they've even offered for her and some other ladies who knit for them to go and visit, to see what the hospice is all about. If you want to know more about it then go HERE. They've also got charity shops in Andover, Boscombe, Cosham, Eastleigh, Fareham, Southampton and Winchester so look out for those too.


Anyway, I just wanted to show you how clever and kind my Nan is to knit so many blankets for the children at Naomi House. She's showing no signs of slowing down and is working on another square right now; there's pretty much no stopping her!

Fruity Face

Yesterday I watched the first episode of James Wong's 'Grow Your Own Drugs' series. One of his recipes was a Kiwi and Papaya face mask which may sound like any old natural recipe but this one had a difference - the fruits both contain an enzyme that breaks down proteins, and they do it very well. Meaning that the facemask *should* remove all the dead and dying cells and leave you with a fresh layer of skin.

I suffer from eczema, which was described as 'really quite bad' by my doctor (I wasn't too happy about that) and it's on my face so I'm always on the look out for something completely natural to make my skin look fresher. No harm in giving this one a go. Here's how James recommends you do it...


Ingredients
1/2 a kiwi
1/2 a papaya
Juice from 1/2 a lime
1 sachet of vegetable gelatin



Method
- Cut kiwi in half. Peel the half you're going to use.
- Mash kiwi using a sieve into bowl. Add juice from half a lime.
- Cut papaya in half, scoop seeds out of half you will use and peel.
- Mash papaya on chopping board with fork, then with sieve into a different bowl.
- Mix in veg. gelatin and heat over saucepan of boiling water. Stir constantly.
- Heat for 3 minutes and remove, still stirring.
- SLOWLY add lime and kiwi juice, stirring until mixed.
- Leave to cool (or until warm) and apply to face, leave for 10 minutes to 1 hour.

So here I am, about 40 minutes on with a stiff face, looking like I've had a fight with a tube of St. Tropez. No sign of the eczema disapproving although my eyes have been stinging a bit from the lime juice. Time to wash it off...

Verdict
Very impressive! As I hoped my skin feels soft, fresh and not at all irritated. Just half a papaya, half a lime and half a kiwi made enough mask for about 3 applications, so considering all the ingredients cost around just £1.75 I'll definitely, definitely be making it again. It's much less messy than my usual porridge oats, banana and milk concoction and frankly it works a lot better. Mum saw my skin afterwards and said she's noticed a difference, so she's off to use it too!




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Back Online but still knitting

Well the 'Gods' of Virgin Media bowed down, apologised and gave my Dad a good offer so I'm back with speedy Internet and no excuse not to do work anymore.

Meanwhile, I've been averaging a square a day for my patchwork blanket, so I'm up to 10 squares now. I'm basically going through the 'Vogue Knitting' book this Simon bought me and learning all the new knitting stitches (so far simple texture stitch and flying geese are hits).

I'm not sure how much longer I'll carry on with that though as my Nan has just been given what must be about 5000g of bright red wool. Along with the two 700g balls of pink wool she was given she said it was all a little intimidating and has given the red monster to me, so I'm thinking a big knitted red car with moving wheels or a thick hooded coat with sewn-in mittens may be coming up. This will be my very first attempt at writing my own knitting pattern so bear with me while I try to get it perfect. I'm aiming to have quite a few baby clothes knitting patterns on this blog over about 6 months. I might also include some video tutorials and photo tutorials of free knitting patterns and knitting stitches for beginners (which I consider myself to be too, so we'll be learning together). In the meantime, here's a picture of my cat Louie enjoying the patchwork blanket so far...

Internet problems

We're having some severe internet problems here with no idea of when they'll be rectified. While I'm connected via wireless dongle with no images and limited data usage, but it's not very enjoyable and I'd rather work offline. This mean I get more work done, therefore have more free time and free time means knitting, hooray!

So while internet problems usually spell bad news for blogs it would seem that this one will come in fruition much quicker, providing I'm not spending all my free time shouting at Dad, who's shouting at someone down the phone.

A quick note to knitters: Simon bought me a book called 'Vogue Knitting' for my birthday and it's my new bible. I highly recommend it if you're a beginner or only know the basics. It's mostly a guide to wool, tension and different knitting techniques (how to knit pockets, different styles of collar, ways to cast on/off etc.) but there are 3 or 4 patterns by some well known designers in there that are worth tackling.

Oh, and follow me on Twitter: LucyAnnabel

x

Useful Links

Things are coming along nicely with preparing content to upload here. I forgot to mention another project I'm working (I've got my fingers in all the pies) at the moment; a knitted flying spaghetti monster. If you don't know what on earth I'm talking about then go HERE and get acquainted with his noodlyness. I'll be uploading a tutorial on how to make this toy once it's finished (I'm about half way through).

On another note, this is the very beginning of what I hope to be quite a large blog that spans a huge range of crafts, so I thought I'd give you an insight into the rest of my world, whilst doing some shameless plugging at the same time :)

I'm a freelance writer, working mainly on press releases for clients online, so here's a link to my blog of sample articles, reviews, releases, etc.

I also got into the blogosphere via HubPages; a wonderful community of bloggers with a very unique way of blogging...I highly recommend you join and become my fan - I'll return the favour! Click Here

Last but not least, if you're a female blogger too then there's a great forum and social networking site dedicated to you...


Right, I'd best get back to work so that I can finish early and get on with some knitting. I've recently finished a square for one of the patchwork quilts that my Nan knits for charity. More on Nan another day as she deserves a post of her own!

xx

Patterns, Recipes and Tutorials Coming Soon!

This blog isn't looking too hot at the moment, is it?

Don't worry - we'll be up and running very soon once I've managed to upload some photographs and draw up some knitting patterns. I'll be showing you pictures of my latest projects (a ribbed, striped boyfriend scarf and how I'm using up scraps of wool to make a patchwork blanket) and hopefully some half decent cooking recipes too. I'm making minted Welsh lamb burgers from scratch tonight so I'll take some pictures ready to upload.

For now, here's a picture of the Sackboy plush that my Mum and I made for my boyfriend's 2008 Christmas present (modeled by the lovely man himself).

Sackboy is made from:
- soft hessian (burlap) material
- cut up black tshirt for the mouth
- cut up pair of red underwear (!) for the tongue
- a 9inch zip
- toy stuffing
- navy blue knitting thread.

Boyfriend is made from:
- slugs
- snails
- puppy dog's tails.

Between my Mum and I the Sackboy only took about 2-3 days to complete although after all the sewing my fingers were red raw. This project calls for a thimble! Anyway, I need to get back to work so stay tuned, I promise to be back very soon with some project ideas.

Lucy x