Not going well.

Hmm. Cast on 17 stitches. Done. Knit every row. Done, except I'm only halfway to the final length and I just don't see this working. I know my head. There is no way that narrow little flap will cover more than half of it, no matter how I fold it. I'm going to frog it and start with more stitches. The worst that could happen is I'm going to have a roomier hood. I can handle that. If it turns out to be worse than this thin little strip, I'll frog that too.

*puzzled* But the gauge is correct! Whaaaa!

At least this is mindless enough that I can watch tv at the same time. I was watching a fascinating program about insects, they showed bees killing a wasp (I think) scout by piling on top of it and vibrating to generate heat. The wasp can't handle as much heat as bees can, so they almost kill themselves in order to save the nest. It's AMAZING! Ok, off to frog...

My warped reality

I just completed another square - the Reverse Stocking Stitch Ridge Square:


I must be living in a whole different world, because when I finished it, it looked great! The square is actually square, and flat and straight and it feels wonderfully stretchy: (this is me stretching it)


...but when I saw the pictures, it looked like a really boring and wonky square. If the camera doesn't lie, then I must be seeing my knitting through rose-coloured...eyes. I don't wear glasses. I could only take three pictures, because my camera batteries died, but I think I will try again, once I have some battery power, and daylight. I'll also block the other squares that I haven't gotten round to, so that they will all look neat and square-like. I'll do my squares proud, I will!

The mustard is growing on me

While I appreciate the beauty in all colours, there are a few that really disagree with me. I don't think anyone should wear orange, and yet they do. I like orange on pumpkins, flowers, sunsets. Just not on clothing. Look, in some instances, it looks good. A fellow knitter on KnittingHelp made some Halloween hats for her children, they were mostly black with some orange accents. She chose a pretty orange and it looked really good. But for the most part, I tend to stay away from that side of the colour spectrum.

I can't wear yellow, although I think it's a lovely colour. It makes me look ill.

The yarn I got with The Art of Knitting for the next square I made, chose to combine a touch of orange with yellow to get MUSTARD. Initially I disliked it a lot, but I have to say, now that I've knitted the square, it's really grown on me. Looking at the yarn that is left over, I would even go as far as saying it's quite pretty. I still couldn't wear that colour though. Probably.

Reverse Stocking Stitch and Star square:

Another Throw Square

Seed Stitch Square:


This was a very quick knit, even though I had to frog three or four rows, because I was paying more attention to the tv. I noticed, even while knitting it, that the pattern isn't very obvious, especially in the light pink colour. I hoped it would be clearer once done, but it's still not very easy to spot. I haven't blocked it yet, I'll do that tomorrow. I just pinned it to a cushion to take a photo. I couldn't find enough pins, so I used needles, including a darning needle. That's why the whole thing looks terribly skew. This square rolls up more than any other square I've done, I hope I can curb that with some steam tomorrow.

The First Square

Here it is, finally:
The square has been done for ages now, but I never finished the embroidered heart on it. I started, but left it after a couple of stitches and it has been bugging me ever since. This is the first square you get to knit in The Art of Knitting, and will join all the others, eventually, to become this throw:


I'm going to go knit the next square now. Thank goodness this one is done! It's really been weighing heavily on my mind. Dear Carlien did hers a long time ago and we agreed that her heart resembled an apple a bit more than a heart, so I was nervous about doing mine. I marked it out with basting stitches first, and then blanket stitched along the lines. It's still not perfect, but heck, it's close enough!

Yes, There Are Sharp Items In My Luggage

I've been unable to post to my blog for a while, since I've been travelling. I've been hauling my knitting with me, which is not so easy nowadays. I would love to be able to knit while I fly, but oh well.

The floor cushion is coming along fine, if slowly. I'm not spending as much time on it as I'd like to, so my initial goal of finishing it in three weeks is long gone. Now I am pleased if I can knit a row now and then. So far, I have the bottom part done, and three of the sides.

I am busy with the top panel now, which consists of 93 stitches, knitted in a rib pattern. At the end, I am going to use smocking stitch and pull the ribs into a honeycomb pattern. Against the bright blue of the cushion I used as a background, the yarn looks faded and grey, but it's actually a very nice denim blue. Because there are so many stitches on my needle, the knitting is bunched up. I can't wait for the final result, I'm sure it's going to be lovely. And the cats will love it too.



Knitting the little squares for my throw has been a pleasure. I find that I can't wait for my next issue of The Art of Knitting. The magazines are in great demand and aren't even displayed in stores anymore. There simply aren't enough copies, so you have to put your name on a list and even then it's first come, first served. So apparently many people are knitting. I suppose even seasoned knitters would appreciate the magazines, because of the pretty patterns and the stitch library in each issue.

Here is my Mock Rib with Garter Stitch Ridges square:


And this is my Little Ladders square - curling up a bit, but it will behave once I'm done with it.


A close-up of the Little Ladders pattern.

My final piece of knitting news is that my boyfriend has also started knitting. He's using a chunky yarn on 10mm needles and is knitting a scarf in garter stitch. He's knitting 20 stitches, but regularly splits the yarn to end up with 21. Then I have to fix it, for some reason, and then I also tend to knit one or three rows - "just to get him started". This way every fourth row will be his and the rest will be mine. Next time I'll show him how to fix it himself.

I'm going on a rowing trip this weekend and I definitely can't take my knitting along on that one! I also want to sew a dress this week, so I'll likely only get back to knitting next week. As much as I enjoy the act of knitting, I can hardly wait to see my final results. But before I get there, I'll have to fly all my knitting back to Cape Town, yet again. Oh, and I'm also going to be moving house...hopefully by then my floor cushion will be ready for use, because I absolutely refuse to take my old couch into my new apartment! Until I can afford a new one, I guess I'll be sitting on the floor.

The Industrial Revolution was bound to happen.

I realised, while knitting row after row for the bottom of my cushion, that knitting machines are a good thing. Smart thing. But while allowing a machine to do the work would have had me resting my feet on a cushion a week ago, this slow-moving hand-knitting offers other pleasures.


I enjoy sewing my own clothes and knitting takes this one step further - I am making my own fabric. To see the neat and even fabric I'm creating so tediously by forming intricate loops - well, it's damn satisfying! It's also relaxing, doing something at a slower pace. And I don't feel as though I am wasting time when I watch tv, because I'm doing two things at once. Hand-made looks and feels different. As neat as my work is, it's still obviously not machine-made. And I like it. It looks cosy and feels, to my biased hand, better than machine knitting.

Not many people take the time nowadays to create things from scratch. We buy ready-made pastry and sauces in packets and hobby kits with pre-cut bits that you only have to glue or sew together and decorate. I'm probably going to cause some jaws to drop if I tell people that I made the whole thing by myself. With two pointy sticks. And some blue string.

And then there were two

I completed the second side-panel of the floor cushion. I'm bored with knitting the long bits now, I think I will now attempt the bottom.



My fingers are used to hours of typing or even better, hours of mashing buttons on the PlayStation, but this is a whole new kind of pain. I experienced soreness and stiffness for the first time today and the fact that it is winter and cold doesn't help at all. I feel quite pleased with my dedication, as illustrated by the fact that I knitted through the pain!

Apparently we should expect bucketloads of rain this weekend, starting tomorrow. Guess I'll stay in and knit, then.

One panel done

I finished the first panel of my floor cushion, mostly while watching Heroes. And my friend Carlien, once a mocker of knitters, has purchased chunky needles and is knitting a scarf. I'm so proud! I've recruited someone! We're well on our way to becoming Perfect Grannies. All grannies should knit, or at least be able to, as far as I'm concerned. And bake yummy crunchies with oatmeal!


On the photo it looks like the one end is considerably wider than the other, but I just checked it again and it's fine. Weird. I'll get started on number 2 now.

Harry Potter down, floor cushion to go.

My weekend has gone by in a blur. I finished knitting the square for my blanket this weekend, I just have to embroider a heart on it now. I include a picture of the corner of the square - I have started the embroidery and didn't want to capture a couple of stitches that don't form anything yet.


I started reading the last Harry Potter book early this morning, around 4 or 5 in the morning! It was excellent, although I am sad to see the last of Harry. With that out of the way, I can get back to knitting. I shall start on the floor cushion today and I hope to have it completed within two to three weeks. I have no idea how long it will take to knit nine 50g balls of yarn into something useful, so I hope that is a reasonable goal.

During the knitting of my square, the first thing I have knitted since junior school, I had a question. I searched for the answer online and apparently it was such a stupid question, almost no one had thought to answer it. I did find my answer, though, so I will repeat it here. I wanted to know how to count knitted rows. Not how to keep track, but what actually constituted a row. The answer is to count the ridges on the knitting and multiply that number by two. If you stretch your knitting out a bit, you will see ridges and indented rows (these form ridges on the wrong side of the knitting). Now I know.

Calm down, all is well

Oh thank goodness, my magically tranforming yarn has stopped acting up. Maybe I was too tired last night, or hallucinating, because without changing my technique, my knitting is suddenly fine again. What a relief.

Maybe I really should blame it on the cats - last night I was knitting with two cats on my lap, tonight there was only one. I have to add that these cats aren't mine. I am not a crazy knitting cat lady. But give me a couple of years.

What I've learnt: Avoid pretty plum-coloured yarn

I have two balls of nearly identical yarn. They are small (10g) balls, one is cream and one is plum. Apart from the colour, they are identical.

I knitted a tension swatch with the cream, so as to not handle the plum too much. The cream knitting came out beautifully. When I attempted to knit with the plum, it resulted in an unholy mess. (By the way, my tension was almost perfect, my rows were spot on target, 32 rows in 10cm, and my stitches were just a little too loose - I was quite chuffed with myself.)

Time and time again my plum knitting looks, for lack of a better word, holey. I tried three times and finally gave up. I will try again later tonight, and if it doesn't look better this time, I will use other yarn. It can't be me. My cream swatch was fine, neat and delicate and stretchy and soft. I'm using the same needles. I'm going to knit past any holes and ignore the whole thing if it looks like a lace doily. And blame a cat.

Cats. Yarn. Oh Darn.

Why on earth do cats love knitting so much?

We have three cats, but only two are worth mentioning. The third is an emo cat who hates the world and everyone in it. If it could grow its fur long and wear eyeliner and be very very angry all the time, I think it would.

The other two cats generally ignore me. If I want to pet something, I have to go find them and dig them out and they always do the dead weight trick to try and discourage you from picking up their heavy and stretchy bodies.

Since I've started knitting, they are all over me. I mean, they climb on top of me, and my knitting, and sit on top of it. If I dare move, they take a swipe at my yarn. What's the attraction? As soon as those two needles slide against each other, the cats are there.

The only explanation I can come up with is the 'hard to get' theory. When you call a cat, they won't come unless there is something in it for them. Like food. Cats aren't petted when you want to pet. They are petted when they want to be petted. As soon as a cat is unwanted, like when you are reading a paper, the previously cold and distant cat will make itself comfortable on top of your paper. If I have to guess, the cats don't appreciate the amount of time I spend doing things other than trying to convince them to come out and play.

I left my knitting on the table - let's hope it's still in one piece when I get there...

Glad I got that Burda

I forgot to mention that when I paged through my Burda to see the patterns I'd like to make, I noticed that they had some very nice knitwear in there too. That looks a lot more advanced, though, so give me a year...