Illness and knitting.

I have recently been quite unwell and as normal when I am sick I take great comfort in my knitting.

 There seems to be a lot of talk on the internet about the things that you do with your hands like knitting and crochet (Nothing rude) being strongly linked to helping mental health. I find that you end up concentrating so hard on the knitting I am doing that I forget any problems.

Also before I started knitting I had no friends, I had hidden away from the world and had nothing to do with it. My husband started me knitting he said I need something to do in the evenings and too stop me drinking so much.

 I had knitted as a child and for some reason compelled to take this craft back up, so I bought a book Stitch 'n' Bitch and off I went. I have taken to it like a duck to water, but I have failed in all attempts to knit a jumper or such garment. I joined a knitting group and my husband basically pushed me through the door on the first meeting, it's been good to have the routine of going out once a week and meeting people.

If you want some more information on knitting and crafts help your health there is a lovely charity called Stitchlinks which offer a wide range of advice and tips.

Crafty Crocodile!

Can't believe I didn't blog about this earlier as it one of the best things I have done in ages!

I am rather fond of crocodiles and have a small collection of them and decided some time ago that I wanted to create my own design for one. There is a small number of good knitted crocodile patterns out there so I started from scratch. I first wanted my crocodile to be about 15" in length but that quickly went out the window! 

No self respecting croc is without bobbles so mine has to rows down his back 24 in total. The body is made in one long piece knitted flat with the jaws knitted in as well. It looks a bit weird but makes more sense as you go along. Sew the side parts of the jaw at the very front together ( the left and right side) then knit the inside of the mouth inside and sew in. 

If you are making this it very important to add the stitch through the low jaw to keep the whole mouth in place! 

I sewed along the bottom of the head, added eyes continued sewing till half way, stop sewing and stuffed. 

Then started sew up at the tail so you meet in the middle, add the rest of the stuffing and sew up.

The legs and feet are a bit fiddly and I am sorry about that. 

Add felt teeth and you have a crocodile. 

He measures it at a impressive 2 foot/60cm! But is fantastic!

I used Araucania Ulmo solid cotton in green but this has be discontinued, I recommend that you use

Rico Design Essentials Cotton DK grass green and red, it good and cheap!

I would think you need 3 balls of the green and one of red, but any good Double Knit will do!

You can buy the pattern on Etsy

Knitting Pattern Crocodile Toy - PDF file

or Ravelry.

Chunky Chicken by Sue Stratford

Just a quick update of all the new things since my last blog, I will put them up as indiviual posts so the google search will be easier. 

I knitted the Chunky Chicken pattern by Sue Stratford with I bought in kit form at the stitch and knit show, which I talked about in my last blog. 

I made some changes as I was not to impressed with some of the design. In the pattern in calls to make to wings in Stocking stitch but I continued with the moss stitch design to keep it all the same. I also did not add legs but put a bag of rice inside to make into a doorstop not the tea cosy version. 

In review of the item my Mum loved it as her Christmas present but I the design is a bit strange. 

The Knitting and Stitching Show 2012

In early October myself and a friend decided to go to the The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace, London. We booked on a coach trip and headed off with a whole bus load of knitters to a manic day of yarn and needles. 

I don't think I have ever seen such a busy place with so many knitter related things. I was very lucky and was given a rather large budget for the day out, so my main aim was to come away with as much stuff as I could carry (and I did). We spent quite a lot of time there but once spent out we went to the pub to survey our purchases. 

I got a  Alpaca knitted toy kit from Purl Alpaca Designs 

This looks rather complicated and I fear I may have bitten off more than I can chew. 

A ankylosaurus knitting kit by Patons 

This thing is big!! Looks amazing when finished as we saw it at the show and I fell in love with it! (note: husband does not know about this one due to the size of the finished item -lol)

I also acquired my first set of knit pro curricular needles and some Aracania Ulmo yarn

To finish my final item was a Chunky Chicken Kit by Sue Stratford.

This I have already knitted and will be my next blog.

Superhero's all round!

After completing my Ninja Knitting project, I went feverishly into a phase of making superhero related items.

It start with my husband who noticed a pattern for a Superhero in Simply Knitting 92, Spring 2012 by Alan Dart. 

I loved the pattern and set about make him his very own Superman by adjusting all the colours to match the famous superhero. There are always lot's of pieces when creating an Alan Dart creation but it's always worth it in the end. He is my Superman:

So after that a friend asked me to create some Golf Club covers so inspired by my recent creation and set about creating my own justice league golf clubs. I had seen someone else who had created them but I did make these up myself.

I created Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. I was very please with the way they turned out and so was my friend. 

Finally after seeing my Superman a work friend also asked me if I could make a Spiderman for her little boy. I said yes without thinking about it, but the project was quite epic and lasted a lot longer than I thought it would! I had to do intarsia knitting and adjust again this time the shape of the head, but I completed last week!

 Front

Back

Shocking yarn bombing in Norwich

Oky, so I haven't blogged since March and this is totally shocking!

 I had almost forgot that I had created it! 

I apologise For my lack of commitment to the cause and will now over the next few days update you on the many knitted thing that have been completed since my last blog!  

I believe that I mainly got distracted by a very large project that reached it's completion in May, and other projects went on hold when I took this on. I believe now is the correct time to discuss this amazing feet that a small group of little knitter created. 

On 11th of May 2012  I became a Yarn Bomber!

Looking back my project did start at the beginning of April so this might be why it all went quite on the blog front. A small group of ladies so I knew and some I didn't came together through the power of social networking. We selected our target, the front of Norwich city hall and set about creating as much knitting and crochet that was possible in time to cover as much as possible. 

I decided to create a lamp post cover and using Entrelac in Norwich City Colours.

I had never done Entrelac before and what looks a really hard thing to do was really very easy, though I would have to consult the book again when I decided to do another piece. 

On May 11th we made our attack for the start of the Norwich Arts festival. It took many hours in the cold but it was completed we covered lamp posts, bins and even the main Norwich Lions. Here are some pictures!

It was the most exciting thing I think I have ever done! We even made the papers

Thank you to everyone who made it happen! 

Mother's Day gift

This Mother's Day we found ourselves very strapped for cash (like many people), so being a thrifty minded I decide to make something on the Saturday. It needed to be a small a quick project that was very cute and I have had my eye on a little knitted critter for sometime.

Toerag the Tube Mouse

by Whodunnknit from the Stitch London Book

I have been wanting to knit him for ages but haven't found a person to give him too or found the time to complete him. I got the stitch London book seen left from the library but you can download the Toerag pattern here for free so have a go and knit one yourself. When you complete him/her you can upload you pictures at Planet Whodunnknit and show off your mouse on the site. 

Here is my mouse, I sadly forgot to add front paws : / but he looks just as nice on two legs rather than four. Plus my mum really loved him !