Weekend with crochet hook

Look what all the crafted-toy blogging made me do:

Cale to pisanie o szydelkowych zabawkach, skończylo się tym:

Meet my Guy- Amigurumi – free pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

Crochet hook: 4mm,

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in red, peach and cream and some unknown leftover black sock yarn.

Stared and finished: March 16th.

Fun, fun, fun….

Poznajcie Amigurumi - wzór do ściągnięcia za darmo na stronie Lian Brand Yarn (po angielsku, ale jak ktoś ma choć nikle pojęcie o szydekowaniu, spokojnie da radę wszystko rozszyfrować)
Do zrobienia tego koleżki, użylam 4mm szydelka i wlóczki Baby Cashmerino - marki Debbie Bliss, oraz odrobinę czarnej wóczki na oczka.
Zaczęte i skończone 16-go marca.

After finishing this one, I made two additions to my toy-Q:

Chuck the Monkey by Paola Navarro (Ravelry link) from DeliciousCrochet (ETSY link)

Dwa nowe wzory:

Malpka - Czak

and Lazy days by Kristie's Kreations (Ravelry link) from Kristieskids (ETSY link)

i Leniwe dni. Czyż nie są slodkie??

How cute are these ??

I really should not browse the patterns anymore. My Q should be getting shorter not longer ;o/

Naprawde nie powinnam już ogadać nowych wzorów... Moja kolejka rzeczy do zrobienia powinna sie kurczyć a nie wydlużać ;o/

One more crochet project is on the way – if I figure out the pattern (probably with a help of an experience crocheter(s))

Jeszcze jeden projekcik jest w planach - jeśli uda mi się kiedykowiek wymyśleć dobry wzór (pewnie nie obejdzie się bez pomocy doświadczonych szydelkujacych koleżanek).
Tego pana - moje nowe szydelkowe wyzwanie - przedstawiać nie muszę:

My BF loves this cartoon – Wlatcy moch. He especially loves one of the main characters – Czesio.

Yes, he’s a zombie ;o)

Last Sunday I was asked to crochet Czesio. Hmmm…

I don’t think it will be a very difficult thing to crochet, but coming up with a pattern is a totally different story. I even found an exapmle, but no pattern for Czesio.

Znalazlam nawet gdzieś w sieci gotowy szydelkowy brelok. Niestety bez wzoru - ktośnajwyraźniej chce sprzedawać gotowe breloczki ;o(

Any words of wisdom?

In the meantime, the Jaywalkers are growing slowly:

W międzyczasie, moje Jaywalkers rosną powoli:

I am only hoping that I will not run out of yarn.

I may have just enough to finish if I'm lucky.

Mam tylko nadzieję, że nie zabraknie mi wóczki.

Niestety z Aleita Shell mialam pecha. Skończya mi sie wóczka ;o( wiedzialam, że tak bedzie wiec za wczasu zamówilam troche więcej z Loop. Już ponad dwa tygodnie a ja ciągle czekam. Pojęcia nie mam czemu tym razem realizacja zamówienia trwa tak dlugo. Ech...

jedynym pocieszeniem jest to, że w międzyczasie mogę popracować nad szydelkowymi zabawkami ;o)

Unfortunately I wan not lucky with Aleita Shell and I ran out of yarn. I knew it would happen and so I had ordered more GGH Scarlett from Loop over two weeks ago. The most annoying thing is to wait for your order to arrive. I have no idea why it takes so long this time. I used Loop in past and never had to wait for so long. ughhhh .... I really doubt I will get the yarn before Easter. That is not cool at all ;o/

The good thing is - I will have time to work on my cute crochet friends ;o)

Are you kidding me??? / Jaja sobie robicie???

No, just in case you're wondering, this picture was not taken in Poland. Nor was it taken last winter. Ladies and gentleman, the world is standing on its head. It's a picture of todays crazy weather in Galway. I love snow! But isn't it time for SPRING now? We had zero snowfalls during the winter, plenty of rain though. I'm telling you, we're all doomed. Global warming is going to get us all!

W razie gdybyście się zastanawiali, te zdjęcia nie zostaly zrobione ani w Polsce, ani nawet nie w środku zimy. Panie i Panowie, świat stanąl na glowie. Taki widok za oknem mam dziś. Zwariowana pogoda w Galway. A ja kocham śnieg! Ale czyż nie jest już czas na WIOSNĘ? (Tak swoją drogą to w Irlandii o ile dobrze pamiętam to mamy już wiosnę, tu lato zaczyna się w maju). Przez calą zimę w Galway nie spadl ani jeden platek śniegu, za to caly ocean deszczu. Mówię wam, świat się kończy. Efekt cieplarniany nas wykończy!

Anyways, inside my house we definitely feel more springish then winterish. I even have a small garden with blooming flowers. And as new leaves keep appearing, I'm pretty sure there'll be more flowers too!

Przynajmniej w środku domu bardziej już wiosennie niż zimowo. Nawet udalo mi się dorobić kwitnącego ogrodu. A że nowe listki pojawiają się co chwila, pewna jestem że będę miala jeszcze więcej kolorowych kwiatuszków!

I have no time for big projects at the moment. Aleita Shell is snoozing and so is the GreenGable. Socks are slowly coming along, but I'm not in a hurry to finish them. My drawer at the moment is full of hand knitted socks.

Nie mam ostatnio czasu na duże, czasochlonne projekty. Aleita Shell pochrapuje w kącie razem z GreenGable. Skarpetki dziergają się powoli, ale i nie spieszy mi się z ich skonczeniem. Mam calą szufladę welnianych skarpet.

I recycled some soft merino, my first ever handspun. I used some of it to finish off this hat, but since I wasn't a big fan of it, I ripped it and will use the yarn for something else. The white merino was needle felted yesterday into this:

Zrobilam wczoraj wiosenne porządki (w jednym pokoju), bo mi dziewczyny na ambicje weszly. Efektem tego jest recycling bielej merino i wlóczki którą zużylam kiedyś na zrobienie tej czapki. Merino poklulam wczoraj igielką i tak powstalo:

It's not finished yet. I will felt a bit more and embroider it. Not sure what can it be used for though. Maybe as a window decoration? Hmmm...

Nie jest skończone. Będę kluc dalej a później trochę poozdabiam. Jeszcze nie wiem do czego to coś może slużyć. Heh, nie ma to jak spontaniczny projekt. Może jako dekoracja w oknie?

You know what... maybe I should pick up the GreenGalbe again. It is snowing outside. Winter is not giving up without a fight. Neither will I!

Tak się wlaśnie zastanawiam... może powinnam jednak wygospodarować trochę czasu na GreenGable. W końcu na zewnątrz wlaśnie spadl śnieg. Najwyraźniej zima się nie poddaję. Nie poddam się i ja!

Raz na wozie, raz pod wozem ...

Well... the wheel of fortune turned ...
After finishing few nice items, I frogged the Aleita Shell and the Herring Rib Socks...

I'm starting over ....

again...

;o/

Sprulam wczoraj Aleita Shell i skarpetki Herringbone Rib ...

zaczynam od nowa ....

po raz kolejny ...

;o/

Put your feet up ...

I've been busy getting the next thesis chapter ready, thus the sudden silence on the blog. There has, however been some knitting (mostly while watching CSI at 11pm).

I was happily working on the GreenGable and finished the lower body when the disaster stroke. Remembering that many knitters complained about the very snug fit of the sweater I was aiming for the size 40" (normally I would go for size 36/38 for the lower body and 40 for my wide shoulders) doubling the yarn and following directions for the second smallest size in pattern. With the lower body finished I tried it on ...

Cisza na blogu to wina mojej pracy doktorskiej i kolejnego rozdzialu, który wlaśnie kończę pisać. W tak zwanym międzyczasie (czyt. oglądając Kryminalne zagadki Las Vegas o 23.00), na tapecia byly robótki.
Zadowolona z siebie dziergalam GreenGable i skończylam dól, kiedy skończylo się moje szczęście. Pamiętalam, że niejedna osoba skarżyla się na bardzo obcisly krój swetra i zalecala robienie o jeden rozmiar większy. Normalnie zabralabym się za 36/38 na dolną część i 40 na ramiona (bo mam szerokie bary). Dla GreenGable postanowilam użyć podwójnej wlóczki i przerobić mniejszy rozmiar, który (ze względu na różnice w próbce) dalby mi porządany rozmiar 40. I wszystko bylo pięknie dopóki nie zalożylam dziada na grzbiet:

Two things: not only this sweater is waaaaayyy too big it is also too short. While the second problem can easily be fixed by knitting few more rows of the pattern, there's nothing I can do to shrink the sweater. I could keep knittng and then felt the whole thing, but it would make the sweater not only narrower but also shorter. Moreover, as I'm knittng with 2 strands of yarn, the weight of this thing is double the original. The finished sweater would weight about a kilo (!).
I am determined to frog the whole thing and start over again. With single strand of yarn. I'll go for directions for the bigger size and keep my fingers crossed.

Dwie uwagi: nie tylko sweter jest o wiele za duży, jest też za krótki. O ile ten drugi problem można latwo naprawić przerabiając kolejnych kilka rzędów wzoru, o tyle za diabla nie da się go teraz zwęzić. Chyba żeby go sfilcować po skończeniu. Tyle że przerabiam podwójne nitki, co powoduje że sweter robi się ciężki. Jak go sfilcuje będzie ciężki, sztywny i pewnie znowu za krótki.
Jestem zdeterminowana spruć licho i zacząć od nowa. Tym razem pojedynczą nitką, przerabiając wedlug opisu dla większego rozmiaru i zaciskając kciuki żeby się udalo trafić w rozmiar.

Needless to say I have temporarly lost all interest in GreenGable. I put my feet up and casted on for socks. Using my basic sock pattern, adjusted for a bit thicker yarn, on 3mm needles, I made these:

Nie muszę więc chyba dodawać, że mam chwilowo dość GreenGable. Wywalilam nogi na stól i narzucilam oczka na skarpetki. Jadąc ściegiem gladkim, wedlug mojego podstawowego wzoru na skarpetki (dostosowanego do nieco grubszej niż zwykle wlóczki i 3mm drutów), zrobilam:

They're knitted in stockinette stitch, a simple 2x2 ribbing and simple toe shaping. I tried new technique for the heel - short rows without YOs or wraps. I used this video to learn about it. It worked great. My problem with short row heels was that usually I was getting ugly holes. This time I think it looks neat. Maybe not as neat as it should be, I will definitelly practice more.

Ścieg gladki plus prosty ściągacz 2x2 i podstawowe wykończenie palców. Nic skomplikowanego. Spróbowalam nowej techniki zrobienia pięty: rzędy skrócone bez narzutów, okręcania oczek itp. Obejrzalam filmik instruktażowy na YouTube i poszlam na żywiol. Z rzędami skróconymi mialam problemy wcześniej, bo zawsze robily mi się dziury. Ta metoda jak narazie wychodzi mi najlepiej. Może nie jest to najpiękniejsza pięta robiona rzędami skróconymi, ale jeszcze poćwiczę.

I only used 1.5 skeins of Mondial Ischia (approximately 240y), so there is enough leftover yarn to knit another pair of short socks.

Zużylam tylko 1.5 klębka Mondial Ischia (jakieś 220m), mam więc wystaczająco wlóczki na zrobienie jeszcze jednej pary krótkich skarpet.

Now on the needles is a pair of VERY BUSY socks. They're not busy because of the pattern. I'm knittning them in stockinette again. But just look at this yarn and its crazy colours! I am knittng these guys long enough so that I could wear them with my 10-hole Dr.Martnes shoes. And just for fun I added a pickot edge ;o) One down, the second one is half done...

Obecnie na drutach mam parę bardzo wzorzystych skarpet. I nie mam na myśli jakiś fikuśnych wzorów w opisie bo robię je znowu sciegiem gadkim. Mam na myśli samą wlóczkę. Szalone polączenia kolorów(!). Tą parę robie dluższą, żebym mogla je zalożyć do wysokich martensów. A dla zabawy (i ozdoby) machnęlam w nich jeszcze pikotowy ściągacz.

Then I am planing on resurecting Aleita Shell. remember, I started it ages ago and almost finished. Almost as I ran out of yarn. Took me ages to find the same colour and even though I don't have the same dye lot (and the colours differ somewhat) I am going to knit it again. The first version was frogged and now I will start over alternating the sheins to blend the colours together. And this time I definitelly have enough to finish.

Natępnie chcę wskrzesić Aleita Shell. Pamiętacie, zaczęlam ją i prawie skonczylam jakiś czas temu. Prawie skończylam, bo na ostatniej prostej zabraklo mi wóczki. Później mialam problem ze znalezieniem tego koloru, że już o partii nie wspomnę. Na szczęście udalo mi się zdobyć kilka dodatkowych motków w tym kolorze (ale inny numer partii z czym wiąże się nieco inny odcień). Starą Aleitę sprulam i mam zamiar zacząć od nowa, przerabiając na przemian dwa motki, żeby zgubić różnicę w odcieniach. Jedno jest pewne. Tym razem nie zabraknie mi wlóczki.

So I guess the GreenGable will be put on hold for a while. But I'm not putting a cross on it yet. I like the sweater and want to make one. But not now... Now I will put my feet up and try on my new socks...

GreenGable będzie więc musial poczekać aż przestanę się na niego gniewać i skończę inne robótki. Ale nie stawiam na nim krzyżyka. Podoba mi się i kiedyś go zrobię. Ale nie teraz...Teraz ide wywalić nogi na stól i przymierzyć nowe skarpetki...


ETA: Your yarns will be mailed soon. I hope ;o)

Wasza wlóczka będzie wyslana niebawem. Mam nadzieję ;o)

Reasons to start ...

I was not really planning on starting yet another knitting blog. I think there is enough of them on the internet. So why have I started one?

I am not a very organised person. No, I am organised, just not all the time. There are moments that I simply can not be bothered, but then a day comes when I feel this urge to organize, clean and sort everything. I guess this blog is one of the attempts to keep my work and life organized and under control. We’ll see how it goes.

Writing this small online journal could also help me improve my communication skills and my knowledge of the English language. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that English is not my first language, didn’t I? Heh, well, you probably have already noticed my not-so-correct grammar or misspelled word. Get used to it, there will be more. Hopefully with time you'll notice less and less of mistakes here.

So now you know everything. My selfish reasons for starting this blog.

Hope you’ll stick around and leave your comment from time to time.

As for me, I will try to tell you a little bit about what keeps me occupied after work, what caught my attention recently and maybe even share a photo of an finished object once in a while ;o)

… speaking of projects…

I’m currently working on Aleita Shell (Ravelry link)– a lovely sleeveless top (a vest?) designed by Bonne Marie Burns from chic knits. Pattern was published in latest Interweave Knits issue and recommend to use Plymouth Linen Isle (50% cotton, 30% rayon, 20% linen) which I really like. The fact that I have not worked with it before, makes it even more interesting but (yeah, there’s always something) I am trying to KNIT FROM MY OWN STASH and I do not own a single Plymouth Linen Isle skein.

I do, however own a good few balls of GGH Scarlett, that I was itching to use for an elegant garment. Scarlett is 100% cotton, but looks and feels like silk.

My swatch on 4mm needles gave 23sts x 30 rows to 10cm (4”). Plymouth Linen Isle swatches to 21 sts and 28 rows.

I would normally knit the top in a medium size but due to the swatch difference I am knitting a second largest size (42”).

I did, after the size change, stick to the original pattern. The lower body part, knitted in round is finished, stitches for the front overlap were picked and now I am happily working my way through the upper body.

Hopefully this weekend, if I don’t run out of yarn, I will finish this one.

I really don’t know why, but I always have a pair of socks in progress. Maybe because socks are so small and therefore mobile, maybe because they are relatively fast to knit, maybe because I adore knitting tiny stitches, maybe because I can not stop buying sock yarns.

On my needles now, I have Jaywalker socks by Grumperina. Everyone knows Jaywalkers, most of sock knitters made them at least once. Pattern is easy enough for a movie watching night (as long as you don’t lose to many stitches) and the yarn can make this project extremely interesting.

I am delighted to work with Scout’s 100% merino that I received as a part of the Scout’s Indie Swag Club. (Go check her website for the ROUND 3 - sign up on MONDAY). For a long time I was looking at this yarn asking myself: what shall you become? I tried few patterns, none of them made a good impression, until I went back to good old Jaywalkers.

I don’t have enough yarn to knit a pair of Jaywalkers but I found leftovers from another socks (that I may blog about one day) in matching colour which I am using for ribbing and toes. This should let me finish my second pair of Jaywalkers soon.

I am leaving you with this:

Happy Women’s Day!

Śmingus-dyngus and zigzags.

I'm a bit early here...
Today, Easter Monday, is what we call in Poland Śmingus-dyngus or Lany Poniedzialek (Wet Monday). It’s an old custom, from the pagan times, where people sprinkle each other with water using this. It symbolizes the nature’s awakening in Spring and start of the new life cycle. Sprinkled person would be successful that year as all evil and sickness is washed away with water. Nowadays it is often more than just a symbolic sprinkle and the poor girls are drenched with water.

I wonder what is it like this year...

I guess there’s nothing else for me to do but to virtually sprinkle you with water (wink) - for good luck of course!

Ok, now back to knitting.

Neither the GGH nor Habu yarn arrived – apparently An Post does not work on Good Friday (WTF?) and I was really hoping to receive the Habu so that I could cast on for the Frock Camisole. Guys from the shop said that GGH was not in stock (although it was when I clicked the purchase button, echhhh…) and I have to wait, wait, wait… I hate waiting…

So due to a yarn shortage, the Aleita Shell project is stalled. All I have to knit is the front, so as soon as I get the yarn (hopefully this year) I will try to finish this one.

The bunny is finished and happily snoozing in the living room together with Bubby and Amigurumi.

I’m currently zigzaging through jaywalkers. The first sock is finished and 25% into the second one. Boy, oh, boy, this project turned out to be more challenging and time consuming that I’ve ever imagine.

I started with 2mm needles and 76 sts. After maybe 10cm in the leg, I tried the sock on and could not pull it through my instep so I frogged leaving only the ribbing. I then Increased to 84 stitches and changed the needles to 2,5mm. Knitted few centimeters and tried the sock on. It fitted this time. Continued knitting until the heel was turned and the instep stitches picked up. Few more cm and I noticed that the instep is big, but fits but the foot looks and is way too big. Yghh… frogged the foot and instep. Changed needles back to 2mm and prayed that this time there will be no more fitting issues. There were none.

There was also one casualty – one of my 2mm bamboo needles snapped in half.

I'm using the broken needle as my cake tester. There's nothing like recycling ;)

I changed the needles to metal for the second sock – metal does not break, does it?