Ain’t it lovely?
I’m thinking of calling myself, well actually I can’t tell you exactly what came to mind first as it was a little rude, but how about Woolly Woman? To be fair the head is often best described as ‘woolly’, so it’s an appropriate alias in more ways than one.
When I posted the other day, I had great plans to publish again the day after. That was Sunday and it’s Wednesday already, what’s happened? It’s not like I’ve been stuck under a pile of chocolate eggs or something, anyway, better late than never I guess….
It’s been 17 days since I last wrote a blog post, which is blooming terrible, especially as I’ve actually made a rough plan for the next few too. How do I know it’s been 17 days exactly? Well the last one was on New Years Eve (seems like ages ago now) and because I’m currently keeping track of some of the things I do regularly, in order to see the places areas of my life than ‘need work’. More about that in a minute.
Did you think about a One Little word for your 2016?
Despite my concerns about ‘putting it out there’, several friends have mentioned how positive they found my last post. How it made them think about their 2016 and have picked words too, including CONFIDENCE, RESTORE, STRONG and HAPPY. Each word definitely reflects the individual that chose it and I can’t wait to see how it impacts their year ahead.
I’ve been busy test knitting a garment for the next issue of the magazine, due for release on the 26th January – eek! Deirdre and I have also been swatching samples for the Yarn Review feature, but I’ve spent the best part of the last fortnight stuck in front of my pc or unpacking and sorting out craft supplies, in order to begin scrapbooking my One Little Word.
Nearly forgot to mention that I made Deirdre a hat. It’s the Orbitus Hat by and I love it. Hopefully she does too 🙂
This pile of ends is also an indication of things completed…
I’m happy to report that I’ve finished the granny square blanket I had been making for my youngest, Kye.
He was thoroughly chuffed when I told him it was for him and he loves it. I might add another couple of rounds to it some time in the future, but for now I think the 75″ square is the perfect size for that extra bit of warmth. Much needed at this time of year, especially if you live in an old farmhouse that seems to eat the heat.
Talking of cold, it really has been rather chilly of late. I finally gave in on Thursday and broke out the thermals, unable to take the sensation of numb legs anymore. It’s lovely to get out for a walk in the Winter sun, but I’m finding no amount of layers are keeping my hands or ears (?) warm.
Today the sun hasn’t even been able to poke it’s way through the grey overcast cloudy sky, but I’m happy to see the fog lifted after last night. It was so thick that I found driving home in it close to terrifying and I would never think of myself as a nervous driver. I took my dogs out for a walk on the farm at 10pm last night, because I hadn’t had time earlier in the day and I couldn’t even see two fence posts ahead along the track with my torch.
We’re in full ‘getting ready to publish mode’ and we keep getting messages from people telling us they can’t wait for the next issue. It’s easy when you’re so busy to forget to look after yourself and I’m extremely guilty of doing this, part of my hopes for the year ahead was to try and stem the chaos a little and have faith in myself. Putting this plan into action late again as per usual (but better late than never), I’ve started to keep a track of some of my daily routines and habits so I can see where I’m falling down.
The table is basic a diary of sorts, there’s plenty of lines to fill in the things you want to monitor and the boxes on the right represents the days of the month. By checking or colouring in the boxes for the things you’ve achieved that day, you can see at a glance what’s happening. I only really started it on the 9th of this month, but it was easy to back fill some of the boxes.
For me personally, I’m trying to establish a ‘baseline’ in some areas of my life, so I can work on them in the coming months. In no particular order I’ve tried to include things that I like doing, things that need doing, social media is there to ensure I remember, things I have to watch and things I’m aiming for.
Knitting & crochet is there at the top as this is my sanity, meditation and mindfulness time all wrapped up in one. A day without even a little time spent with my needles or hook can be too long for my head. As you can see, I haven’t spun or wove since the beginning of the year. I have worked on other crafty pursuits which is great, but I desperately want to try and make spinning and or weaving part of my daily routine, in order to improve my technique. I also find I totally switch off whilst doing either, which equals a happy head too.
The next section is all dedicated to the magazine, Leftfootdaisy stuff, social media and blog posts, which is why I know it’s been 17 days and having the chart hanging next to my desk has been a constant reminder.
The next group of items are areas that I want to or should be watching. Walk the dogs, is so I do just that, it would be rare that I wouldn’t and if I couldn’t someone else would. Keeping tabs on it, just gives me that little extra nudge to do it myself. Washing (clothes not myself) is listed because it seems like my washing pile is never ending and I’m hoping that by seeing ‘washing free days’ it will help me to realise this just isn’t the case.
I’ve added ‘eat’ and ‘pain’ and have included a traffic light system for keeping check because these are two areas in my life that are a interconnected, a bit of a priority and in need of work. I’m planning to use this months results to make changes in the coming months. (more about in another post)
The next few entries refer to actually getting in the car and leaving my house, it’s rural so you have to drive and although I’ll invariably have gotten out to walk the dogs it’s not really the same. Looking back at the last post, in which I mentioned trying to create some more ‘joy’ in my life, I thought it would be good to note how often I see my friends, even if it’s for the briefest moment.
Bed before 12 – the X’s are because I haven’t achieved it. It doesn’t even mean bed and sleep, I’m just working on trying to train myself to actually go upstairs to bed before 12.
Last item for this month says ‘read or listened to’, because I always enjoyed reading a book and can’t remember the last one I actually completely read. I started listening to audio books about a year ago as a way to fill this need, but even that has begun to fall by the wayside now I’m not driving backwards and forwards to Midleton several times a week.
I’m currently listening to The Way of the Kings by Brandon Sanderson, all 76 chapters, 0r 45 hours and 34 minutes of it. I’ve a little over 33 hours left, but am getting a little confused with the names of the characters.
I’m trying to read Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, but I haven’t managed to get that much read. The basic principle of the book is doing less, but better, which kind of ties in with some of the things I’m trying to fix.
I’ve made my ‘Daily Habit’ chart available to download as a pdf if you’d like to try keeping a check on your daily routines here.
For now I’m dreaming of knitting this yarn up into an Orbitus Hat for myself and working on my first prompt of the Ali Edwards One Little Word workshop. and thinking about my word FAITH.
Doesn’t she and the view look lovely?
Look a little closer and you can see it’s ice in the tyre tracks because it was freezing and bless her, she was sitting because she was tired (she only has 3 legs).
Happy 🙂
A few weeks back when I was sorting out the discontinued shades of Sirdar Supersoft Aran for the now de-funked Green Bin, I noticed how lovely some of the colours looked together. As Supersoft Aran is 100% acrylic, I knew I’d be able to work with it whilst suffering from my hayfever induced wool allergy, but didn’t know what to make with the 5 shades.
Cushions?
I’m definitely not short of them for my sofa and whilst some of them could probably do with a bit of a refurb, I’ve already bought some fun, funky material that will brighten up my dark sofa.
A chilly Sunday lead me to conclude that we don’t have enough blankets in my house. Being old enough to remember what it was like to have sheets, blankets and a bedspread on your bed and if it was cold, an extra blanket or two, I find it quite amazing that you never see ‘proper’ blankets any more. There’s no shortage of duvets in my house, but when you’re trying to convince yourself that it’s only forty winks on the sofa, a duvet can seem like too much of a commitment (or is it just me that thinks that?).
So a blanket it is.
As much as I love the blankets you see on Pinterest and Instagram, with all the lovely little granny squares, I’m just not up for sewing in all those ends.
Conclusion – Big Granny Square (nearly typed knickers, aka Bridget Jones).
I started with 2 balls of each colour and knowing I wouldn’t have enough to complete three repeats of each of the five shade, I opted to only repeat the first three shades a third time. As it turns out, I needed an extra ball of the mustard colour to complete the last side of the round.
I love it, but I want it a bit bigger and there’s no more green. Luckily, I’d put by a couple of balls of the dark grey, which I think will work really well to frame the rest of the colours and finish of my blanket.
Now all I have to decide, is how many rounds of the grey to do, all suggestions would be much appreciated.
I was hoping to be able to hang the blanket up on the washing line, so you’d see it better, but it was awful in Lismore yesterday evening. Instead I promise to photograph the finished blanket when the ends are sewn in and it’s washed.
Nearly forgot, I’ve been using a 5mm crochet hook.
Happy Crochet!
One of our friends has recently had a little baby girl so my needles have been smoking a little with shades of pink and oatmeal.
True, I could have been sensible and just knitted up a few different garments in gender neutral shades and themes and been ahead of the game, but where’s the fun in that?
I’d spotted the Gidday baby cardigan by Tikkiknits on Ravelry a little while ago and have been looking for an excuse to knit it up. You might remember I popped the link up on the shops Facebook page? If you missed it you can find it here.
It’s a fantastic little double knit pattern and this free version has instructions for 2 sizes, newborn and 3 months. If you’d like to make larger sizes the full pattern contains 15 sizes from newborn to 12 years and costs $6AUD or a little over €4, which is a bit of a bargain. Find the full pattern here.
I love the way the yarn overs that make the increased stitches on the yoke add a little extra interest. You can always increase your stitches with a M1 if you’d prefer not to have the little lacy holes in your garment.
I’m rather pleased with the finished cardi, although when knitting it again I think I’ll knit an extra 2 rows of the garter stitch yoke in the main body colour in order to try and overcome the ‘jog’ that happens when knitting stripes.
The little wooden flower buttons add that little bit of extra charm, buttons are so important, at least that’s what I keep telling myself to explain away the tins of them I’ve amassed 😉
I used Sirdar Snuggly DK because I love the feel of the finished fabric, it’s machine washable and the range of colours is vast. The cardigan used a little over one ball of the oatmeal (344) and barely any of the rose pink (Lolly 420) so I thought I’d be proactive and try and use up a little more of the yarn rather than just pop it straight into my ever growing stash.
The pattern I used for the hat is from Stylecraft Yarns number 8794 , but I still have yarn left. Maybe some booties too?
Trouble is I’ve already started this for the baby (oops!)
Happy Knitting!
Before I start this post, I should warn you it’ll be quite lengthy, so I’ve decided to split it into three. The first two discuss the concept of the mood blanket and the third gives the pattern.
Some of you may have seen the link I posted on the shop’s Facebook page with regards to the ‘My year in temperature’ concept scarf by Kristen Cooper, but for those of you that haven’t, here’s the link.
http://400squareftliving.blogspot.ca/2013/01/knitting-my-year-in-temperatures-scarf.html
Kristen’s idea is to select shades of yarn to represent the temperature that day. In her case she is using 15 shades with each one equating to a 5 degree jump in temperature. She then intends to work a row of her scarf a day with the colour that she has previously chosen for the temperature of that day. The end result will be a scarf that represents the year’s temperatures a stripe/day at a time.
OK, as ideas go it’s great and I love the concept, so why haven’t I reached for my ever bulging stash crates and needles and cast on?
Two reasons really:
The first, and most obvious to my fellow citizens of this very Emerald Isle, is the weather. To be honest the temperature, whilst prone to fluctuation, doesn’t have the obvious highs and lows of British Columbia in Canada, where Kristen is from, more’s the pity. Which led me to think about other things that happen on a daily basis that could be used to create the effect. The most obvious to me being our mood, which can be changeable from a day-to-day basis = Design Element Sorted, lovely.
The second reason is because it’s a scarf, not that I have anything against scarves. In fact I can usually be found wearing one in all but the very hottest of temperatures, which to be fair I don’t get to see much (second dig at the Irish weather, sorry). I suppose I’m not really that big into multi-coloured clothing and yes I do know I could keep the palette of colours very similar, but I still feel it’s not for me.
So after much pondering, well not really that much as I’ve always wanted to knit one, I decided a blanket would be a more my kind of thing. Having seen one years ago, worked in two strands of yarn with one always the same shade, I set to the planning.
I knew I wanted the blanket to be a big one; much more than a throw for the sofa. If I’m going to make one it’s got to be big enough to use as extra insulation on the bed in the winter months, so it’s going to take a lot of yarn. I also want it to be chunky and squishy, but the yarn, if it’s going to be held double, doesn’t need to be too thick. Aran weight should do.
The initial decision is always what yarn to use. It has to be gorgeous and not too expensive (yes I do have a wool shop, but you still have to pay for the stock you use, even if it is at cost+vat). Having moved away from the pure merino staring lovingly at me from the shop shelves, I was drawn to the Bonus Aran from Sirdar, particularly the lovely new shade of blue that I’ve been coveting since it came in.
There is a good selection of shades available in the range, especially when combined with the Bonus Aran Tweed colours too. Yes, it’s not pure wool, or even 50%, in fact it’s only 20% wool with 80% acrylic. It is however, machine washable, which is definitely a bonus in a blanket, and it also comes in massive 400g balls each containing approximately 840 metres. I want my blanket to be utilitarian rather than something I’m petrified to throw over the bed and I’d rather the moths weren’t interested either.
OK, so which colour for which moods and how many moods do I really have?
The honest answer is not many. I’m lucky to be a glass is half full kind of person (sickening at times according to my husband) and truthfully very rarely have bad days. That’s not to say there haven’t been the odd truly horrific days in my life like we all sadly experience; fortunately though they’re very few and far between. So my base mood is for the most part OK: I then have good days and some that could be classed as really good.
That’s really it – three moods?
So……….. on Saturday I played with colour combinations. As the royal was the shade I was drawn to I experimented with it first. It’s too bright to use as my base shade (the constant one) but I figured that if I could find the correct combination to go with it the other two shades would be easier to work out.
These look much better in the photo than they do in reality, the royal just wasn’t sitting with anything else properly. So back to the drawing board. Of the four samples, the one I liked the most was the one knitted with the cream tweed yarn – shade 929. Using this as my base shade I looked at the other options available to me in the range, focusing on the blues predominantly, as blue is my favourite colour
So I decided to go for these:-
Read Moody Blanket part 2 to get the rest of the blurb about the blanket and part 3 for the pattern.
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 