Quick fix cat toy

If like me you've got multiple ends of yarn that are just too small to justify keeping, here's a tip.

My cat Posie is very laid back but even she gets fed up on these wet, cold, winter days. She will leave my yarn alone but I have made her round toys in the past. I've been so busy lately that I haven't got the time to crochet another thing. Hence I have a limitless supply of yarn ends.

Take a section and tie the ends together.

Scrunch them up. With the end of the yarn ball knot it around to make sure all the ends are safe.

Here's Posie checking one I made earlier before picking it up in her mouth and running away with it.
No better endorsment than that!

Deep, hot water

Five shades of Wendy Merino 4 ply and 3mm knitting needles  - a story of unravelling disintegration.
or
What started as an experiment in adding texture to knitting nearly ended in plagiarism.

I wanted a way to add pleats or folds. Slip stitches that pulled up the starting row seemed the way to go. It was intended to look like rolling waves and it worked.

After writing up the pattern I came across a video on YouTube for rolling pleats. It's for a stitch pattern published in the May 2008 issue of Simply knitting and yes, it was almost the same as mine. So it was back to the drawing board.

One thing you might not know about me is that I listen to The Cure while I work. It's appropriate that I found my inspiration while listening to Disintegration.

I stripped it back to the bare stitches. What's the point of slipping stitches on every row when you don't need them? Got rid of them and bring them back when you actually want to work them.

The result was a crisper, sharper fold and much easier to write up. It's original and now I'm not in The Same Deep Water as Robert Smith.

Daisies and forget me nots

It's been a late spring this year. The lawn is full of self-seeded flowers so a cut will have to wait until they fade. The inspiration is right outside the window for this classic turquoise, yellow and white sphere with a pretty daisy chain trim. 

The yarn is Rico Essentials cotton with a 2.75 crochet hook. It will be surface embroidered with, of course, lazy daisy stitch.

My neighbours might have bowling green lawns but if the primroses, forget me nots and bluebells have decided to sprout I will not cut them down. It looks like a flower meadow at the moment. You can't spoil that!

Layered flower

I wanted a multilayered flower and had tweaked the base most of yesterday. I decided to scrap the idea and went for a water lily theme. It rests on blue which takes the heat out of the coral and yellow. The white looks brilliant white but it's there to make the other colours pop.

The cotton is Rico Essentials with a 3mm hook.

I would have loved to have created the sharpness of the lilies in my garden pond but there's only so much you can do in a three round crochet pattern.

Instead of structure I've gone for the tones in another of Design Seeds palettes.

Inspiration

I've decided to keep a record of my work. You won't see the finished projects just yet but this is my way of remembering colours, yarn and hook size. No matter how many notes and patterns I write it's always an image that sparks my memory.

I love these bright colours from Lion Brand. They are called Bonbons. At just 10g each they're perfect for small projects.

The colour combination was inspired by Design Seeds

Wonderwool 2012

Yarn fanatics brought a huge crowd to Builth Wells last month for the annual Wonderwool.  The best part of it for me is an insight of the process from animal to garment. This year we had Blue Texels, alpacas and Shetlands. There were beautiful angora bunnies too but I stayed away from them for fear of wheezing. It's not a good look to be hugging on an inhaler. Not a good advert for them either.

I'm very focused when I go to these events. My only purchase was an Aran weight, organic wool and alpaca from Uppingham Yarns. It will make a great cowl for next winter. Although the way the weather has been I might start making it now.

The reason for this year's visit was to try my hand at dyeing. It's great fun getting messing but I'm sure that was not intended. We had plenty of time and space to try out different methods.

The final stages were carried out at home with a microwave. These wrapped up like a sausage hanks had to be cooked, then rinsed and put out to dry.

All the wools are organic. The pink and purple nearest are 4 ply Wensleydale. I love the way they shimmer and can't wait to knit them up. Any suggestions for one skein patterns?

I leave you with the real stars. In no particular order; Shetlands, alpaca (who look perpetually bored) and the lovely Blue Texel. Ahww!

Summer sales

I love a good bargain and this week I've had some real bargains. I also love shopping in Cardiff. It's always has been good but with the new extension to St David's we've also got a John Lewis. I like to wonder around and go Ooooh Ahhhh but rarely buy. I'm still a Howells fan but I miss David Morgan's so much.

Enough of that. I want to show you my best buys.

Half price! Yes. half price in John Lewis. Actually more than half price.

I've still got to decide what I'm going to do with all this yummy yarness. I was so happy I made a bow.