Gush!

I'm in love! I've started the CAL blanket I've had in my ravelry queue for ever & I'm in love with the Drops Karisma yarn I'm using, it's all soft & squishy & silky & mmmmmmm! +, unusually for me, I'm very taken with the slightly orangey bright red colour that was first out of the bag. Honestly, I'm not normally a big fan of reds but this is making my little <3 leap!!
And I'm sooooo grateful to the Utter GENIUS who invented the foundation hdc as not having to chain, & count, 194 has made starting this project even more wonderful. To be fair, it took me a couple of goes to master it, not helped by the fact I was trying to do an online child safeguarding course at the same time, but it's infinitely better than the wobbly old chain I would've produced and the miserable time I would've had trying to hdc into said chain.

Gush gush gush!

-x-

Best laid plans / hey, where'd Monday go? / a couple of FOs

I had such glorious plans for this bank holiday weekend. I made A List. Here it is:

[ ] Finish makeup pads [ ] Basin [ ] Bathroom floor [ ] Laundry: towels [ ] Loads of Reiki [ ] Nails [ ] Shower (clean!) [ ] Sort out bathroom cabinet [ ] Toilet [V] Finish cardigan [V] Look at size 16 jeans for fat betches & equivalent in men's [V] Buy 2 more baseball caps [V] Order more Argan Oil [V] Laundry: cottons [V] Laundry: delicates [V] Cleanse Amazon wishlist [V] Change bed [V] Finish 1st long sock [V] Hoover [V] Tidy room

The 'v's are ticked items. Except for 'finish cardigan', which I think I thumb-ticked by accident. Or maybe I was trying to make myself feel better because last night I 'finished' the first sleeve of said cardigan and It Don't Look Right, not at all. It's only elbow-length, not 3/4, and it's just, well, kinda short & goofy & not right at all and I'm very depressed about the whole thing. As with all projects that start to go wrong in mysterious ways, the whole thing's now sulking in a bag down by the side of my desk until I've mulled (obsessed?) over it long enough to think of a plan to fix it. At the moment I can only think of finish it & donate it to a charity shop, in a town I'll never visit again, but I think I'll be able to feel more +ve about it & come up with a better solution once I've had a bit of time away from it. 

It's Monday evening and I feel like I haven't achieved anything. I had these lovely plans that I would feel like I'd cleared through some of the backlog of half-finished WIPS and all I've got to show for it is a sock and a bunch of WIPs. Of course, this is because I was over-ambitious with the original plan, as always, but I still feel a bit down right now.

So. 'Finish cardigan' NOT achieved. And I was so determined not to start another new project, even though it'd make me feel better, that I went back to the reusable makeup pads. These will never be 'finished' as a girl can never have too many reusable makeup pads and the more I have the longer I can hold out between laundry days but I decided to stop at 24 (6 each of 4 colours) and call that done for now. No. 24 will be finished tonight then it's just 24x2 ends to weave in, pop them thru the washing machine (gives me the heebies that, what if they shrink / fall apart / turn into chocolate Easter bunnies & melt?) & I can declare another FO.

I have a couple of FOs to show off though.

1st: from a couple of weekends ago & this is a lousy photo but I need to record that I've achieved SOMETHING, the nested baskets:

I'm actually dead chuffed with these as I've loved making them & seeing how the structure of the stitches fits together to make something 3D. I have Absolutely No Idea what I'm going to do with them or who's problem I'm going to make them by giving them away. But apart from that I'm pleased with this FO.

2nd: the 1st Long Sock! YAYYYYYY! I'm so pleased with this, very very pleased. It's held together brilliantly, the wool makes me happy, especially the colours. Knitted up the fabric feels a bit scratchy but I'm sure a couple of washes will put paid to that. And it fits and it looks like a real sock & I'm generally chuffed! 

The challenge now is to make the 2nd Long Sock the same size as the first one. Mm-hm, that's a challenge. I've made what I hope are precise and detailed notes of the round-counts etc so I'm feeling confident but still slightly trepidatious.
+ I'm not allowing myself to start The 2nd Long Sock until I've cleared the current project list a bit more. Sigh.

OK, I feel slightly better about my lack of productivity and anyway it's nearly time for ebd or I'll be all grumpy and tired tomorrow! 

-x-

gloves - argh!

I decided to crochet something for Stepmother (who isn't wicked, much) for Xmas. I haven't been brave &/or organised enough to crochet anything for anyone else, not this year anyway. Mum & Stepfather would be very difficult as I'm living with them and they'd see me crocheting it + Mum's had a baktus, that she knew about, so it's not as if I've never crocheted for her. Dad doesn't wear scarves, gloves - the handmade woolly kind at least - and doesn't wear socks at all so I honestly don't know what I could make for him. Cousins' children and step-nieces &-nephews could have hats/scarves/etc but I would've had to have started back in, oh, January 2013. 

[Note to self - start crocheting in January 2014 for next Christmas]

Anyhoo, I faffed about a bit, as is my wont, and found a scalloped cowl pattern using wool I've already got - not because I'm a cheapskate but because my opportunities to buy wool specially for her were extremely limited, there not being a wool shop anywhere that I can get to unassisted, which would mean roping Mum in, which feels a bit weird: "can you drive me 20miles to the wool shop so I can buy some wool for your ex-husband's wife's Xmas present?" She's cool and all but I think that's a bit much, no? I think also in the back of my mind was "use wool you've already got and then, if it turns out a total sh*tstorm that you wouldn't give to your neighbour's annoying barky dog to chew, you won't feel like you've wasted too much."
The cowl has worked out brilliantly, even though I eventually realised I'd read the first round of the pattern wrong. Twice (you do half the cowl then go back to the foundation row and work in the opposite direction so the beginning's in the middle - not rocket science but pretty nifty). So, it looks a bit handmade, but then it is and I predict (hope, I hope!) she'll be impressed with the handmade-with-love-i-ness more than anything else.


(extended nautical metaphor alert) 
So buoyed was I by this success, finished days ago (i.e. before even the slightest bit of can-I-get-this-done-in-time-will-she-accept-an-i.o.u. panic had set in) that I decided to push the boat out and make a matching set of long, pretty wristwarmers/fingerless gloves. (Despite the fact Stepmother really feels the cold in the ends of her skinny fingers, I am not even going to think about fingery gloves, forget it.). 
I looked on ravelry.com, I found lots of patterns, I narrowed my choice down, I paid for and downloaded the pattern. 
I tried, and tried, and tried to follow the pattern, which says this:

"ch1
pull up loop,"

What loop? From where? 
Apparently "By doing the ch1, pull up loop, you create a more seamless looking join. This makes it so you could wear the gloves on either hand (no left or right designated glove)"
THIS DOESN'T HELP AT ALL!
Neither, depressingly, do the pictures on the .pdf, which I think are supposed to show how to do the above but I can't make it out at all :(
Nor can I find any reference to this on the Interweb.
Reader, I gave up.

I had another look on the Interweb and found a free (yay!) pattern for similar gloves. it's for worsted, not aran weight but I figured it'd be alright. 
Last night I tried, and tried, and tried to make it work. The pattern decreases are difficult to follow, I'm not sure exactly where I'm supposed to slip st into and the pattern repeats were difficult to keep track of. I made it past the first few rounds on the third (fourth? I'd lost count - we were watching Die Hard and Bruce Willis was still wearing a shirt, that's all I know) attempt and although I wasn't at all confident that I was following the pattern right, I kept counting my stitches and it was the right number so I battled on. 
One of the reasons I was worried about following the pattern was because the glove was getting smaller, and smaller, and, you get the idea! I got so worried about this that I tried pulling it over my own wrist a few times to check (Stepmother is generally skinnier than I am but I've kept my girlish skinny wrists). At 16 stitches/round, I could only just tug it over my hand, with a lot of effort.

Bother.

I have now paid for and downloaded a third pattern. I really really really hope this one's the charm.

It feels churlish, but I'm miffed that I've paid for these patterns & I haven't been able to follow one of them / may not be able to follow the other. They're only a couple of £'s and I'm sure it's my own incompetence rather than a fault with the pattern. But there's no way to say "hey, I'm not going to make these after all - can I have my £2.56 back?", except my actually complaining to the author that I couldn't follow the pattern and I don't want to be That Woman, no thank you.

All this for a pair of gloves I wasn't even thinking of making 48hrs ago. Definitely need to chalk this up to experience, when I've stopped weeping/swearing. And the third pattern has worked. And I've made 2 of 'em. Tomorrow.

-x-

Mood knitting

Sometimes I get a new project in my head and it just sticks there, until I realise I'm not going to get anything else done so I start it, thereby adding to my list of WIPs.

The most recent example of this is a new sock using the DROPS Fabel wool I bought a while ago. I really really really really should be cracking on with the blue baby blanket and the two beanies and the large-gauge sock in the same wool and the nesting baskets and the owl (yeah, remember that one?) but....

I'm using my favourite sock needles and some pretty wool and I'm happy!

-x-

Saturday blues, but in a good way!

-x-

blue baby blanket

My friend is expecting a little boy at the end of January and she's not having the easiest time of it so I thought I'd surprise her with a crocheted blanket for him and crochet as much love as possible into it so he'll be a lovely happy peaceful baby! Cos that's how it works, right?
I've been looking forward to starting this blanket for months. This last payday just gone I finally treated myself to the wool for it - I've got 7 shades of blue!!!! I decided to make a granny squares blanket as I enjoyed making them so much last time and it's sort of traditional crochet but the blue shades should make it a bit more contemporary. The mum-to-be isn't exactly the mumsy, crochety type, tbh! So I want the blanket to be really nice and not look too arts-n-craft-y or homemade.
My first real plan, after much hmming and hahing, was to make a squillion different granny squares; there are soooo many different patterns out there. I figured that way I could practice lots of different crochet as well, I was a bit worried that granny squares would get a bit repetitive and I want to challenge myself - I can make a basic granny square already.
See, now, reading this back I can already see there's starting to be too much riding on this poor little blanket - but I couldn't see that until just now.
So.
Wool arrived and for the first time I allowed myself to head off into the interwebsphere to look for pattern ideas.
I found a crochet-a-long with about 100 granny square patterns. "Great," thinks I, "I'll just work my way through them, I won't need the whole hundred for a little baby blanket, after all."
At this stage I did have a couple of niggles: 
1 - a lot of the granny squares are: a) flowery - it's a blanket for an un-mumsy mum and her baby BOY so hmmmm... & b) 3-dimensional, not great for a baby blanket, no?
2 - what about TENSION? (my favourite thing in the whole world) I really didn't want to end up with a bunch of different-sized squares that I couldn't fit together.
I dealt with (2) by deciding to join the grannys as I went, although I wasn't massively confident that it's a robust way to join squares together for a blanket to wrap a wriggly baby in (if his behaviour in the womb is anything to go by, this baby is gonna wriggle!)

I began.

I played with different hook sizes

3mm

3.5mm

And decided to go with the 3.5mm, mostly because it's a much nicer hook to work with.

I made my first granny - a plain old granny square. It's lovely, all softy poffs and nice. I haven't got a picture of it so you'll have to take my word for it.

I made the second square from the CAL. It's supposed to have a heart shape in the middle of it, I hmm'd and haah'd a bit about the heart (see above about un-mumsiness) and eventually decided to give it a go. 

Awful. The heart looked cute as a (heart-shaped) button until I attached the square around it, which pulled it out of shape, so it looks like a lumpy butterfly.

Bother.

Unpicking it wasn't worthwhile as I'd already fastened off all the rounds. So I decided not to attach it but to keep it as a backup and see if I fell in love with it later on (or got more desperate!) 

Square #3 was a sunburst with puff-stitches - worked really well and came out the same size as the first one, albeit with 1 round fewer, so I joined it on the final round.

I have a strip of two joined squares - woop!

Square #4 is a sorta hexagon thing with a flower attached to it which I decided to do without the flower (see above, etc., etc.). I must've read the pattern wrong because it's all bunchy. AND it was the same size as the other 2 squares and I hadn't attached it yet - damn!

By this point I'm starting to feel slightly despondent about the whole deal. Plus, having to have the webpage open all the time and keep checking instructions, although formative, isn't exactly relaxing.

Rethink.

I want a really good quality blanket that looks proper professional like. I want to make it with minimal stress. 

I hereby abandon the plan to make a squillion different squares.

Which is good, except now I need a new plan.

Ho hum.

Trawled t'internet. Couldn't make a decision.

Popular options:
(here's my pinterest board, if you're pinterested)

One Giant Granny
comme ça:

Hexagons
e.g.

....

Eventually I hit upon this square pattern,

which I think is cute and, best of all, nice and solid. I've abandoned plans to join as I go, having been inspired and reassured by Little Tin Bird and Attic 24 (my crochet heroines, as always) that slip-stitching together at the end will be unchallenging and give a nice professional, robust finish to the blanket. 

Let's see how long this plan lasts, eh?

It's ok to start a project and then rethink it and start again, isn't it? 

I think I'm going to call it A Creative Process, it makes me feel better anyway!

-x-

PS I stumbled upon this tutorial from Little Tin Bird, which shows how to weave ends in to a square which is a lot like the square I've chosen to do - yaaaaaaay! That's another niggle put to bed, Little Tin Bird, you are my shining crochet star!

PPS my ravelry entry for this project is here.

ta-ta!

-x-

PPPS yes, yes, I know the square I've ended up choosing isn't really a granny square. But it ticks so many other boxes I hope you'll forgive me ... 

-x-

Tension stresses me out! (>_<)

I've started a new pair of socks - I love knitting socks, I love the challenge of juggling the double pointed needles and I love seeing the sock magically grow from them! 

I normally knit/crochet stuff that doesn't have to be a particular size - blankets, scarves, etc. because I find getting the tension right is such a headache (pardon the pun!)

It's not so much the faffing about, I'm not entirely opposed to a bit of faffing, it's the nagging fear that I've got it wrong and I'm going to end up frogging something I've spent ages on because it's the wrong size. This fear has its roots in some bad experiences I've had in the past; I seem to be capable of knitting completely different tension in the tension swatch to the actual project - eek! 

Sometimes I just think "f*&k it", make the project with the suggested needle size, and everything turns out fine. Other times ...

... Actually, I can't think of a time when that's gone wrong, except the slouchy beanie I tried to make the other day which was big enough for a tiny tears doll (that likes pain!) but my spidey sense tells me that I followed the pattern wrong on that occasion.

But

butbutbut

the tension square for the long socks with the suggested needles was too small, with the next size up still too small, 1mm larger and it's pretty much bang on. Now, I'm fairly sure I knit looser when I knit in the round, but I don't know how much looser. What to do? What to do? What to do?

I have decided to go with the larger, correct-in-the-tension-swatch, needles, telling myself that at worst I'll have a pair of slouchy baggy socks, which as I'm planning to wear them inside boots won't be such a bad thing. It'd be worse, I tell myself, to end up with a too-small sock. Also, the size options in the pattern are 38-40 or 41-42 - I'm a 40 so I'm making the 38-40 with needles that might turn out to be too big.

Makes sense, right?

Please say yes!

-x-

woolly updates!

Long time, no blog, soz. I've been up & down a bit with work but I've found my Zen again (it was underneath something - who knew?!?!?) 
I haven't really stopped crocheting & knitting, just haven't got around to taking any photos or blogging about it but that's all about to change ...

The baby blanket for cousin Chris and his wife Kate's (hereafter known as Kiss and Crate) second baby, due in mid Dec, started as a garter stitch blanket with cables, which I really enjoyed knitting, the needles were lovely to work with and the pattern juuuust complicated enough to keep me interested but still watching TV! BUT I wasn't pleased with the product, it looked lumpy and the ickle cables were all bunchy. 

This made me feel a bit miserable so I had a stab at a crochet shells blanket with the same wool and it's much better so I've now officially abandoned and frogged the cable blanket and the crochet one is almost done - yay!

It took me a while to get the hang of the shell stitch, my first efforts were too tight and looked angry (no photos!). I ended up going back to basics and re-learning to hold the wool for crochet, partly because I wasn't happy with the shell stitch and partly because I was getting pain in my middle finger from holding the work. I was holding the work between middle finger and thumb and using my first finger to life the wool and get tension but now I'm using the middle finger for that and holding the work between first finger and thumb. Maintaining tension is a bit trickier but I get nicer-looking stitches and my hand doesn't ache as much which must be a good thing!

Here's the almost-finished baby blanket:

I've also nearly finished mum's blue baktus:

There are soooo many things I want to crochet right now!!! I've bought the wool for a cardigan and for make-up remover pads (of which I've calculated I need about 50!) and I really really want to get started on my friend Kate's (not married to any of my cousins) baby blanket, though I haven't got the wool for that yet AND I've started some nesting baskets and I've got a silly Cath Kidston cushion cover kit to make up and a snowflake kit and, ANNNNDDDD....

oof!

I WILL finish the projects I've got on the go before I start anything else, I will! 

-x-

PS. Here's the largest (& first) of the nesting baskets, rather dramatically lit thanks to my over-enthusiastic phone:

-x-

PPS. I'VE GOT A NEW PHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a Samsung so I've optimistically named it Samwise The Brave Phone and so far it's been miraculous. I love it. And I have so much free time now I'm not spending two hours a day waiting for the stoopid old fone to do ... something ... anything!

-x-

*sigh*

Didn't 'fast' today and just felt horrible & bloated instead :(

Finished crochet baktus scarf Sunday but can't wear it as it needs a wash first. Started garter stitch cable baby blanket last night and, after googling 'provisional cast-on' for ages had to frog what I'd done cos I hadn't followed the pattern accurately enough - AND I don't know how I cast on 88 stitches and ended up with 89, not like me to miscount stitches. So a whole evening of knitting and absolutely nada to show for it. 

blurgh

have now spent a couple of hours on ravelry sorting out my library and stash - feeling a teensy bit better now ...

-x-

crochet update

(this post is from aaaages ago but it was sitting in my drafts folder. don't think I can blame the stoopid fone this time either!)

My First Crochet is finished: 

(it's a washcloth, in case you're wondering!)
I made it from some bamboo DK I've had forever - I think it was the first wool I ever bought & I use it as practice wool for all new stitches, etc. It's a lovely texture & I actually like the neutral browny colour + it has a pretty sheen which you can't see in the picture; but I've never seen it 'make up' so nicely as this DC stitch. Which is why I've decided to keep it, rather than unpicking it. I wonder how it will hold up to being used as a washcloth & thrown in the washing machine ... ?

My Difficult 2nd Project was the 1st crocheted square of the horrible Knit&Stitch patchwork (there will be a post about that soon!). I proudly showed it to Mum who said, "oh, you've made another dishcloth!" (see above). Thanks Mum!
Still, I've mastered what Knit&Stitch call a half-treble stitch.

And now I'm working on this:

It's the 2nd patchwork square and it's in 'treble'. Although the wool looks ghastly up close it's actually nice to crochet with as it's very smooth and the 'fabric' feels nice.
I'm dead excited about this because when I've finished it I'm going to allow myself to try a granny square. And then ... blankets!!!!!

-x-

crochet updates

The first side of Alice the Owl:

And I've finished the edging on the Granny Squares blanket. Just need to weave in the ends, which I plan to do today. Photo to follow ...

-x-

crochet + roses

It was, of course, only a matter of time before this crochet-beginner and rose-lover started crocheting roses!

I started with this pattern, can't remember why this one in particular. All went well til I reached the part where it says:
"Thread yarn needle with yarn end from beginning chain. With right side facing and beginning with first petal made, refer to photo to roll Rose; sew to secure as you roll. Then thread needle with ending yarn and sew to secure."
which makes as much sense to me as 
"osmruf820ttfh789Q23(9&yhr$gkitr$"! 
So I've got this far:

and stopped.

BUT! I also found this pattern for crochet roses, which has step-by-step instructions - with photos! - for the sewing up part.
I got this far:

dug out a needle, wove in the ends and ...

... deep breath ...

... here we go!

Several F-bombs later I have this:

Then I tried a more instinctive approach, figuring the holes in the pattern must be there for a reason. It went much better but what I got was this:

which looked like this at the back:

Ho hum, the trial continues. I think I'm onto something with using the holes and a kind of running stitch but it needs some tweaking. If only it weren't so hard to unpick it every time ...

...

to be continued ...

-x-

Update: I resorted to youtube (always a last resort for me) and found several videos that basically say 'just sew it up so it looks right' so I'm going to try that next ...

-x-

success, and not-so-much

Success: I managed to work out what size hook I need for the cotton thread in Mum's prehistoric crochet stuff, by looking on ravelry - yay! and I've ordered the hook (I figure at less that £4 - just! - it doesn't break my no-spending-money-on-knitting-or-crochet-til-after-first-payday rule, especially as the thread is free!).

Not-so-much: I'm bo-red with all my WIP's, so I've spent all day faffing about sorting my 'stash' and trawling ravelry for ideas. My 'stash' consists of lots of Bergere de France wool that I was getting through a subscription to Knit&Stitch, which I've cancelled. I've sorted it into weights/thicknesses, which is a big help, the most I've got is chunky/aran weight stuff. And I remembered a pattern I've been wanting to try of a crochet shell stitch baby blanket. I'm a bit wary of baby blankets - what the hell am I going to do with a collection of baby blankets? But I really wanted to try the shell stitch. 
I did a practice swatch, thank heavens, because although some of the wool is 'normal'; some of it is fluffy, which it transpires is pure hell to crochet and even worse to unpick!! And it doesn't look fabulous in shell stitch. There's also some stuff called 'Pompons' which has lumpy bits of foam sticking out of it - the texture put my teeth on edge, it's like polystyrene - ugh! And it looks horrid in shell stitch. 
During all this unpleasantness I worked out that I don't have enough wool for the baby blanket (my wool-maths is really bad/slow) and I really really don't want to end up with a UFO baby blanket. 
So, project cancelled. Day mostly wasted. The normal DK wool I will use for granny squares, the fluffy stuff I might use for jewellery or decorations, the polystyrene stuff is going, I'm not sure where, but it's going. Is there a Big Stash in the Sky for wool nobody could love, I wonder?

-x-

butterfly rescue and a new knitting project

This morning I went into the living room and saw a large black butterfly flappng around. I thought it was the Vicarage's resident red admiral (which I've named Nelson, of course) but on close inspection it turned out to be this peacock butterfly:

I had to dodge it to open the window, which made me giggle :)

I've just started my version of this micro scarf, which I've been wanting to try for ages. I'm using my old faithful bamboo wool (see 1st Crochet Project!) and I've reduced the number of stitches to 12, to appease my obsession with 6's. 

-x-

6-er

That's much better!

-x-

Granny Squares

Yesterday I taught myself granny squares. With HUGE thanks to Little Tin Bird for the basic pattern, and Bunny Mummy for how to join a new colour.

The first square was easy peasy:

The second one, not so much!

Then I sat in the Vicarage garden in the ridiculous heat, listened to TMS, and crocheted granny squares!

My original plan to photograph every square as I finish it is clearly going to be overload so I'm not going to do it any more ;)

I woke up this morning with a head full of "and I could ..." ideas for other things to do with granny squares. I've already seen 2 other patterns, Bunny Mummy doesn't put chain stitches down the sides of her squares, so they're a bit more solid, and Little Tin Bird has patterns for a solid granny square and other variations AND I've been thinking that 3 colours + 3 rounds /  square is a bit dull and maybe I could try 6 rounds, or more colours (I've got other accrued, acrylic DK in my knitting box) or ... !

(gasps for breath)

I am reminded of when I started knitting and suffered, quite soon after, from eyes-bigger-than-hands/needles/bankaccount syndrome. I had to learn restraint, and to make myself finish 1 project before moving on to the next. If I don't carry on with the squares I've started & finish them, I'll end up with another box full of WIPs & UFOs.

Ooh, I could use the other DK to join all the silly little squares together.

I might try one 6 rounder, just to see what it looks like ...

-x-

Granny Square Colour Randomiser - what to do, what to do?

I have all these 25g balls of DK acrylic in different colours that I've accrued from 'The Art of Knitting' subscription. In a fit of irony, I've decided to use them to make a zillion granny squares - The Art of Knitting Crochet!!

I thought I'd just pull 3 balls out of the bag, use them in the order they come to hand for 1 square, then start again. If I try & think about what colours to use I'll tie myself in awful knots. 

Now I've done Granny Square #1, I realise that they don't take very long and I'll probably be forever running back & forth to get new balls (please!)
Plus I have this slight OCD thing about 6. So now I'm thinking to use the colours for 2 granny squares, starting the second square with the last colour of the first one.

Or ... 

I dunno!

-x-

meanwhile ... knitting!

Here are my current knitting projects:

I'm calling this 'Beachy Waves Blanket'. The blue's come out a bit brighter in these pictures than it is in real life. I'm about halfway through - it'll be 13 stripes when I've finished! I had to take a break from this recently as it was too hot to sit under it & knit but I'm back on it now. 

This is a k3, p1, ribbed sock, the first of a pair. I'm nearly at the toe now.

-x-

Half-treble headache

(this written on my fone but without photo, let's see if it posts...)
The Voyage of Crochet Discovery continues with, after purchasing the right size hook yesterday, the first crocheted square in my Knit&Stitch patchwork collection. It's in half-treble, which is a new stitch for me after mastering single crochet over the last few days (I suspect I'm muddling up UK & US terms here). The photo instructions were fine for the half-treble itself but I don't quite get what I should be doing at the end of the rows, for which, of course, there aren't any pictures! My first attempt, already unpicked, was clearly wrong as the rows seemed to be getting shorter. The instructions say to work "the last half treble into the top of the 2 chain" (from the beginning of the previous row) but I can quite see where that is.
Also, the wool is BEASTLY! I don't hate the very dull grey colour but it's acrylic and really scratchy and splits all the time.
And the weather is what mum described as 'very close'.
So my head, neck & shoulders are stiff & sore but I don't really know why...

-x-

Disaster!!!

Again, this was supposed to post yesterday from my stupid fone, but never arrived.
Sigh.

The good news is, I found the same size hook in some of mum's never-used, prehistoric crochet stuff (another post there, methinks!) and today I bought a nice bamboo one to replace it.
Also, I didn't actually fail to post yesterday, just the technology let me down ;)

-x-