Surprises!

Two surprises for people this week.

Surprise No 1.

I finished the Ruffly Shrug at last!!!!!!

This has taken 6 months, it was started in July.

It should never have taken this long but it has spent quite a long time in the naughty corner.

I dragged it out and had a final bit of a push with it.

Poor B, every time I've seen her of late she's hopefully looked at me and said "Shrug?" I've looked at me feet and felt guilty.

So here you go B.

Ta-Dah.

Modelled by DD, as obviously it doesn't fit me.

Surprise No 2.

The Girly Shawl I've made for Mum.

It is a bit of a surprise because I didn't tell her I'd started it.

I had to take DS to Rugby Training on Wednesday Evening. Did I get out to watch on the muddy pitch in the rain under the floodlights? No, and nor would you I suspect. I sat in the car and knitted with the lights on.

This has taken a week to make ~ nothing else on the go.

Another colourway of that lovely Drops Fabel Sock Yarn.

I'm writing up the pattern it will hopefully be up soon.

I went to Crochet and Chatter at Along Came Polly on Friday morning. I only managed the last three rows on the Ripple It All Up Blanket, so probably a bit too much chatter but it was nice to relax in sofas surrounded by yarn and good company.

I am however, hopeful that the blanket will be finished soon.

I'm also hopeful of a quiet day at work tomorrow ~ we have the builders in and the drone of diggers is just about driving me crazy. There's a mantra we're all chanting "It'll be great when it's done...."

Have a good week.

Bye for now.............Clicky Needles.

Girly Shawl Pattern

Girly Shawl Pattern

A few people have asked for the pattern for my Girly Shawl. It is based on this pattern from Anne Carroll Gilmour, I changed it a bit and she's happy for me to share it.

100g of Sock Yarn. I used Drops Fabel in Candy Mix 2 x 50g balls.

3.75mm Needles (either long straight or circular needles) I used 35cm straights.

kf+b ~ Knit forward and back into same stitch.

yo ~Yarn over needle.

The shawl is knit from the neck down.

Set up rows.

Long tail or stretchy cast on 5sts.

Row 1. Knit.

Row 2. Knit.

Row 3. k1 kf+b, k1, kf+b, k1 (7sts)

Row 4. Knit.

End of set up.

Main Pattern Section.

Row 1 (right side) k2, yo, k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, yo, k2. (11sts)

Row 2. k2 purl until last 2 sts, k2.

Row 3. k2 yo, (border) k3, yo k1 yo (centre), k3, yo k2 (border) (15sts)

Row 4. k2 purl until last 2 sts, k2.

Carry on increasing 4sts on a right side row at the borders and centre as set.

Eyelet Section.

When you decide you want an eyelet row ~ I made mine every 4 rows ~

Wrong side row knit all sts except the centre which will be a purl.

Keeping borders correct (k2 yo k1) *yo k2tog* until centre st yo k1 yo k1 *yo k2tog*

(border) yo k2.

Next row (wrong side) knit all sts except centre st purl.

Work 4 rows of Stocking Stitch keeping Border and Centre Stitches the same as before.

Carry on with eyelet section.

Carry on in this manner until you have used up nearly all of your yarn.

After 4 rows of plain stocking stitch decide how you want your border to be.

I did a crochet border on the pink shawl but a picot cast off on the orange.

Dampen and block to bring out the pattern. I didn't block mine too much because I wanted the 'bumps' of the Eyelet Section.

My eventual size was 110cm x 50cm (down centre row.)

Thanks very much to my pal M for test knitting.

You can also download the pattern here.

Another Week Gone.

Hello Peeps.

Another week has flown by.

I'm not sure where time goes.

The first thing to show you are the squares that I've received in the Friendship Blanket Swap I'm taking in part in on the Phoenix Forum. I've decided that I'm going for a blue blanket and these lovely squares arrived this week.

We're making 2 squares a month for a specific person. These are the ones I sent, also this week.

With those out of the way I picked up this blue aran yarn. It was given to me in a swap quite some time ago but I really didn't know what to do with it. It's Lorna's Laces Bullfrogs and Butterflies, a wool and mohair mix.

I cast on last night...............

............and finished this afternoon. It probably took 3 hours all in all. The yarn really is lovely and although described as solid you can see it has variations in the blue. DD is modelling it and may be keeping it ~ I'm not sure.

It certainly won't be for me because (as you can see from my pic) I've curly hair and hats and me do not mix (and I don't need them because I'm so well insulated with the hair!)

I have finished another project which has been on the needles for far too long because I decided I didn't like the pattern and oh, it didn't fit me :-( (I'm keeping somebody in suspense over this one) ~ it's blocking right now so no pics at the moment but I will get some on asap.

DS had another lovely day at rugby ~ I'm not sure if the team won or lost but he certainly needed a shower when he got in!

Mr Clicky Needles and me went out on Saturday!

I know this is an unusual occurrence but as the kids are getting bigger we can leave them for a bit and indulge in the company of good friends. We went to a local pub called the Weighbridge Inn where they make a

2 in 1 pie.

On one side you get cauliflower cheese and on the other whatever filling you like. I had beef and mushroom, it's topped off with melt-in-the-mouth pastry which I have no idea how they make but is sheer heaven.

Yummy, yummy, yummy.

I don't quite know how this very small pie can be sooooo filling but it is.

Anyway I need to have a bit of a think about what I'm going to cast on next for the 'big' project, my Flip-Top Gloves being the 'small' thing.

Hope your week is a good one.

Bye for now......Clicky Needles.

P.S. I have just read this post back and found loads of grammatical errors. The fingers aren't typing what the brain says.

Let me apologise I think I've changed them all now.

Flowers

Hi Everyone!

Look! I've fiddled around a bit and managed another mosaic!

Last Summer's lovely flowers.

Hope you like it!

That's all I have to say really.

Bye.......Clicky Needles.

Woopsy!!!!!!

Hello All.

Life has been ticking on as usual here.

Butterfly Knitting Group was yesterday ~ it was great to see everyone again ~ we had a good natter and a bit of a rummage through each other's Christmas presents!

I've lots of things to show you this week.

I finished crocheting the scarf from roving. It looked pretty good before felting ~ I liked the way the colours blended into each other.

But daft old me ~ I put it into the washing machine.

It's only roving.

Why did I do that?

I'm not sure.

When I got it out it was a over-felted mess, as you can see.

Should have felted it by hand.

Woopsy ~ we live and learn.

So with the scarf in the bin I've been looking at some purchases I've made recently, to cheer myself up.

Another order from Scandinavian Knitting Design (!) ~ I've promised my Mum a triangular shawl in the same pattern as my Girly Shawl so yarn was needed.

She's chosen the orange one in the top right corner............and I've chosen the rest!

I got the plain yarn to make socks with other yarn oddments ~ stripy feet and plain up the leg as it's never seen.

You remember I was unsure about what to get for my birthday pressie before Christmas?

Well I decided.

I'm going to have a go at some yarn dyeing so I visited a nice little site called Wingham Wool Work. They mainly sell fibre and spinning equipment but they also have dyes.

I got this starter dye set.

It has some lovely 'strong' colours in.

I also got some merino tops. The colour isn't showing that well ~ the red is more pink.

The reason that the tops fell into my basket (as things do!) was the lovely postie gave me this book last week.

It shows you how to wet felt, needle felt and knitting and felting ~ we all can see how good I am at the latter.

Anyhoo a lovely book with lovely pictures.

I'm not sure I'll mange these fish....

..but the flower....

..and tea cosy should be do-able.

The other thing that the postie had was....

....with some really good patterns in. The designers are mostly bloggers and have patterns published on Ravelry.

A cardi by Shannon Oakey.

Jacket by Mari Muinonen

Stephanie Japel top.

Jared Flood Scarf ~ I really like this.

26 patterns in all with garments, hats, scarves, gloves, socks etc ~ I would recommend it, a great book.

I'm finishing some bits and pieces off before I decide on my next project and I also had a go at my Ripple It All Up Blanket so a few more rows done ~ looking back the last time I did any work on it was September!

Right I'm off to read some more of Brave New Knits ~ I'll be adding more projects to the queue though. *groan*

Have fun whatever you get up to this week.......

Clicky Needles.

Sunny Sunday

Hi there.

A normal sort of Sunday in the Clicky Needles household today.

DS ~ despite his reluctance to get out of bed ~ had a great time playing his first rugby match of the year. He came home caked in mud and a huge grin on his face.

After lunch Mr CK and me went for a wander around and about. DS went on his bike and whooshed ahead and kept coming back a bit like a dog!

Despite the warm look it was quite chilly, so we wrapped up well in various scarves, hats and gloves.

If only it was July and not January ~ this would be a lovely warm day!

On the knitting front I'm taking part in a Friendship Blanket Swap with the lovely folks on the Phoenix Forum. We are knitting two 8 inch squares a month and sending them on to someone else and they will eventually be a whole blanket. I've finished my squares ~ they're blocking at the moment so I'll show you when they're dry.

My crochet scarf for felting is now about 1.5m long and I'm nearing the end of the ball so might be finished soon!

I'll be making more mosaics soon ~ Big Huge Labs and Flickr what a minefield!!!!

Have fun whatever you do this week.

Bye for now..........Clicky Needles.

I've managed something!

Hello folks.

After much swearing and cursing I've managed a bit of a mosaic, I say bit because I really wanted these pictures to be bigger but for now................TA DAH......

Isn't it amazing what a bit of dust in the atmosphere can do?

I will not let this defeat me and WILL make better mosaics.

Anyhoo I thought you might like to see this lurvely bag that I found in Tesco this week. I couldn't resist as I'm a girl and it's a bag. It cost £4.00 with some of the money going to Clic Sargent which cares for children with cancer ~ it's designed by Orla Keily. Yummy.

Do you remember that sock yarn I got thinking I'd make a Baktus? Well I cast it on but I'm not impressed with how it's going. It just didn't seem to looking that good, so I've frogged it. Maybe it'll just be a pair of socks!

I need to cast on for the other flip-top glove now.

See you soon..............Clicky Needles.

P.S. Hello to new followers great to have you!!!!!!

Nearly Back

Hiya.

My last day!

Yep I'm back to school tomorrow.

That snow I mentioned yesterday has dusted us.

Mr Clicky Needles' car (BMW) refuses to drive on anything slightly slippy and our drive does have a small slope, which for his car is impossible. Luckily my trusty 4x4 has no such sensitivities so knitting group was on!

I picked up my pal M on the way.

I forgot to tell you about the spinning session with drop spindles that M and myself had last week.

It was not that good.

We tried to spin for about 10 minutes with fluff going in all directions but the way it should be and then resorted to talking about yarn, needles, patterns, books etc, etc and decided that spinning could wait for another day!

I have a few things to show.

Firstly this bag made with two balls of Rowan Ribbon Twist that I got in a bargain bin. The pattern is from Rachel Henderson's book I Love Knitting which is a fun funky book.

These two balls have been hanging around for longer than I care to remember and I'm soooo pleased to be able to use them up. Now I know they do clash a bit but I think the end result is OK.

Just to show you how much I like it I've EVEN LINED IT with some old cord fabric that was a skirt in it's heyday.

Lining this bag has made me realise that sewing isn't so awful after all (I can do it, I just don't) so maybe I'll do some more.

My other project at the mo' are Flip-Top gloves.

Something ELSE made in the lovely Drops Delight sock yarn (this may have dropped into my basket whilst getting green for Northern Monkey's shawl.)

As you can see it has a fluffiness to it, which makes it perfect for gloves IMHO.

The flip-top bit is a bit of a funny shape but I'm cobbling together several patterns and making it up a bit.

One down, one more to go.

And so there it is, holidays gone.

Back to the grindstone.

Bye for now.................Clicky Needles.