Good Hooking gets a squashed new home
Err, well, since I have singularly failed to update poor old Good Hooking for quite some time, I thought I should just consolidate my personal blogging empire into ONE unkempt blog, rather than scattering them all about the internet like pizza menus.
As those of you who follow my Good Hooking exploits will know (hi Will! Still not entirely sure what you doing on there, but you knock yourself out), I have been promising to update with a full inventory of all the self-crafted items I have lovingly produced over the past… however long it is, but I have yet to make good on that promise.
Well, today I plan to change all that!
Here, for your viewing pleasure, I can exclusively reveal my a/w 2010-2012 collection.
Sirdar Red Bamboo jumper
I love this jumper. It looks a bit wobbly now from washing (some of the bamboo shrivelled and went wirey even though it’s machine washable. The cheek!) but it has to be the best thing I’ve ever made. I love the yarn, I love the pattern and I love the colour. In fact it looks like I bought it from a shop. But as we all know, if I’d bought it from a shop it would have cost a LOT less money. And that’s what counts. Or something.
I learned about three new cast off techniques for this one. The neckline kept coming out too tight, so I had to keep re-doing it (leaving it a little bit wibbly after the 20th attempt). I now try to only ever cast off using a crochet hook. What sane human would do it any other way, I ask you?
Also, I actually used the right yarn with the right pattern, which I think is only the second time I’ve done that. It’s a thrilling experience, I don’t mind telling you.
Pullover with round or v neck pattern on Ravelry.
Last year’s winter hat
I was going to finish this off with some neat neck ties. And then I didn’t. And then winter finished.
Toe up socks!
Very fun, very quick. I learned many things.
1. I like knitting using the magic loop method so much I want to lick it.
2. I do not like knitting two socks at once using two sets of cables or one set of cables for that matter. What faffery!
3. I love Judy and her magic cast on.
4. The Lifestyle toe up socks pattern will give you a lot of confidence in just winging it a bit with patterns.
5. The short row heel is very clever, but takes practice. I pulled the heel a bit tighter after taking this photo.
6. The quest for the perfect cast-off may never be over, but by golly people have turned it into a science. I love the innovation, and I loved trying out different ones. I can’t actually remember which one I used in the end though, dangnabbit. Weebleknits has an assortment of stretchy bind offs she’s helpfully herded into one blog post.
Too-small cardie
I took too long to make this one. I used lovely Rooster Almerino I got from RKM Wools in a huge sale they were having (I started sweating when I walked in and saw all the lovely yarn on sale). But by the time I’d finished Cecily had outgrown it. Ungrateful child.
I then spent two evenings unpicking it all and getting the wool tangled up.
Ribbed baby jacket pattern on Ravelry.
Three Christmas hats
I made Cecily a lovely warm hat (using the frogged yarn from the Too-Small Cardie) and then I rushed to make two more for her two cousins who are staying with us. I finished the last one at about midnight on Christmas Eve.
I made up the pattern based on a hat my mother made me when I was a toddler. I remember loving the hat, which probably explains why I still own it all these years later.
Yarn Stash!
I gave all my teeth-jangling acrylics to Deadly Knitshade – so she could go and create pigeon pullovers and scarves for telephone boxes – and upgraded to real wools, bamboos and cottons. I am now one of those smug crafters whose whole lives are tinted with a “retro” filter. Plus, my yarn stash is now one of the most valuable things in my house.
I will be the person stuffing wool into bags while the house burns down.
Most of it was bought in a state of feverish excitement from two massive yarn sales from RKM Wools and House of Linens round the corner from me (which I only just discovered – a bloody wool shop round the corner from where I live ALL THESE YEARS!)
And breathe
There are a few bits and pieces still missing. Where, for example, is the masterpiece that is the blue and pink Alpaca motif cardie? And where, pray tell, is the not-quite-enough-buttons chunky knit cardigan?
Patience my friends, patience.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Always busy making stuff
It’s not that I don’t love you — I do, honest I do — it’s just that since moving house and having a baby I seem to find it impossible to actually locate things I’ve made, photograph them and then remember which SD card they’re on.
Such simple tasks in theory, and yet I fail consistently.
This is not helped by the fact that my brain likes things filed neatly, and so even if I locate a few items on a memory card, they get rejected for not being the thing I made after the last thing I blogged about.
Anyway, I’m just going to have to let it go and show you what craft-related items I have on my laptop right now (oh, and the death of a laptop has not been helpful in my quest to locate and file).
:: :: :: :: ::
OK, after a long search, I’ve found… some baby booties.
At this rate, the backlog could take a while to get through…
Anyway, I made these ages ago (last summer) from a lovely Japanese pattern book. They were extremely quick and easy. The downside being that Cecily left them on her feet for about 20 seconds before pulling them off.
After that, I actually altered the pattern and added a little extra row which made them less inclined to give into the merest tug from a curious infant. Unfortunately, this meant that they stayed on for a lot longer until Cecily decided enough was enough and ripped the entire strap off.
After that, I put them in my craft bag where they make me smile and where a baby can’t seek and destroy.
Look at her ickle chubby feet!
Popularity: 1% [?]
Things I’ve made recently…
Well, I say “recently” but given the parlous state of this blog, what I actually mean is “in the really quite considerable amount of time since I last blogged”.
I’m going to whip through them all, keeping my usual hilarious commentary to a minimum as I don’t have as much time to play with these days.
That’s because one of the main things I’ve made since I last wrote was this:
Cecily May Milway. Born 30th November 2009, 6lbs 6oz
Aren’t I clever!
A girl’s got to have something to wear:
For her friend, baby Noah, born 2 weeks after her.
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted that I’ve been knitting again (shocking, I know). All patterns are from the Erika Knight baby Natural Knits book.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Dork Adore: Lovely Things for Geeks (including craftsters)
So, not only have I been busy knitting, growing a human from scratch and packing up to move house, I’ve also been working away at a brand new pet project: Dork Adore.
It’s basically a geek haven, designed to have a category for nearly every area of the internet that dorks adore. And, of course, it goes without saying that there’s a craft section.
Recent posts include:
I’m very proud of my new site, and I’m also blown away by the number of lovely writers who have given their time to what is basically a labour of love.
Lots of ex-Shiny writers are on board, including Susi Weaser (my successor as editor of Shiny Shiny), Gemma Cartwright, Robyn Wilder and Anna Waits.
I’ve also had world-famous children’s author, Alex Milway (he’s my husband, I’m allowed to be biased. Buy his books!) and Gemma’s other half, Charles, who has written a hotly debated piece about Twilight and how rubbish it is.
And last but by no means least, my wondrous editorial assistant who works for my company, Miramus – Emma Cossey.
Anyway, have a look at the site, and let me know what you think. And if you’re a crafty person and have any tips (or want to write!) you can get in touch over on Dork Adore.
Popularity: 1% [?]
International Crochet Day at Shiny Towers
It’s amazing what I’ll do to try to win one of Jimbo’s beautiful handmade crochet hooks. Quite how I found myself trundling into work with a bag full of wool and an almighty hangover the other Friday is a mystery to me – but I’d made a promise to teach anyone in the office who wanted to learn how to crochet, and my word is my bond.
All this was in honour of World Crochet Day, something that I read about on Jimbo’s Front Porch, and which inspired me to have a crafty day in the office, much like they do over at Fruit Towers in the Innocent offices.
But while I was having these romantic thoughts of a bonding, crafting session with my staff, at the back of my mind was the knowledge that not all Shiny people are given to folksy crafting experiences, and – as expected – many of them scoffed at the very notion of spending a lunch break learning to crochet.
Luckily, I know how to win them round, and once I’d bribed them all with pizzas (bit of free advice: carrying 10 boxes of steaming pizzas is not easy), six of them stayed seated (presumably, the carb coma kept them grounded) in order to learn crochet skills.
Susi, Gemma, (who is already a wonder-knitter), Abi, Kelly, Lucy and Duncan all sat and listened patiently while I tried to talk through the hangover. Gemma proved (unsurprisingly) to be teacher’s pet, and was soon helping the others. Lucy and Kelly eventually got fed up after about half an hour of valiant persistence (they were just getting the hang of it as well!), Abi finally got the hang of it (she’s tried to learn before), Duncan was a natural, and Susi surprised me (and possibly herself) by not only having the patience to sit there and learn, but also by quite enjoying herself.
In the end, my initial promise to teach them to make Innocent Smoothie hats proved a bit ambitious, but the rows of trebles (US DC) they produced were still pretty impressive! In fact, there was enough enthusiasm for people to get Gemma promising to do a knitting session, so maybe this is the start of something beautiful at Shiny Towers.
You can read Abi’s piece about the day over on Crafty Crafty.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Why I’m not making any more presents for anyone ever again… maybe.
It’s been a long time, I know, but it’s been a busy old year and although the crafting has continued, the blogging has gone sadly astray. We have been having our flat done up, and it’s been a much bigger upheaval than we expected (thanks, lady project manager!!!! We *loved* being homeless). Because of that, my wool has been put into storage and I only have one size 6 crochet hook that somehow missed being boxed away. I haven’t managed to fulfil my usual ambition of making everyone a present for Christmas, but I don’t think anyone’s too cut up about it, since my sister’s tea cosy sits unused and unloved in her spare bedroom, Al’s grandma has hidden the cosy I made her in her kitchen drawer and uses a different one, and I’ve never seen any evidence of the little bag I made my niece being put to use (in fact, I’ve never seen it since that fateful day it was unwrapped with much false glee.) As for Lia and her various gifts. Well, the least said about those the better.
Screw them, that’s what I say. If they can’t appreciate the genius of my ugly creations, then I’m just going to keep all that crafty crochet goodness to myself. Ungrateful wretches. Apart from the hat I made my niece (same as my Petrol hat – this is now the third time I’ve made this hat since I lost my first one), the two hats I’ve made for my new baby niece-in-law (which I will get round to posting about some day… when I’ve found the pictures), and the skull and cross bone placemat I made for my skull-loving friend (post about this one coming imminently). Apart from all those gifts, I’m not making gifts any more… OK, that’s probably a lie – making things for other people is more fun. Even if they do just quietly secrete them into a bottom drawer for the moths to enjoy. The buggers.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Do you speak American?
So then:
UK Past Participle: Got
US Past Participle: Gotten
UK Past Participle: Knitted
US Past Participle: Knit (“Name three places you’ve knit”)
UK Past Participle: Spat
US Past Participle: Spit
I’m not about to launch off into some rant or start picking apart the different grammatical reasons why one nation does it one way and one does it another (after all, not only do I have lots of extremely attractive and intelligent US readers, I also know that we’ll all be speaking American in 50 years so it doesn’t really matter), it’s merely something that I’ve wanted to note down for a while – ever since I started this blog, in fact, and kept reading blogs where someone has “knit” something. Not only does that sound entirely bizarre to me, it also leaves me puzzled as to why you American readers out there are happy to leave some past participles in the present tense (knit, spit, shit etc), but feel overwhelmed by the urge to make “got” look more past tensey. What’s all that about?
Probably there’s some logical explanation, something to do with the great vowel shift, or the state of the language when those religious extremists hopped on a boat to the new world, but really I just felt the urge to note it down.
I’ve also been known to sit down and list the entire weasel genus (ferret, stoat, pole cat, pine martin, otter, I could go on), the complete set of Greek gods along with their Roman equivalents, and all my best friends in order. It’s only a matter of time before I start naming nuts.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Crochet Necklace
Just pottering about the internet looking for gadgets for girls stories when I came across this Crochet Necklace on Sensory Impact. I haven’t really got anything to say about it, but for some reason I just can’t help getting over-excited when I see something that’s been crocheted. Not a great time for me when shopping right now, as you can probably imagine. Everything seems to be crocheted, so I spend my time flitting excitably about each shop, prattling like a fool about how I could probably make something similar given a year or so, while my friends slowly back away towards the door in the hope of making a run for it.
By the way, the reason I haven’t been blogging lately is because I haven’t made anything new for a while. But I’ve got a shrug on the go at the moment, so hopefully I’ll get a chance to finish it off this weekend.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Tank Top Alert
In case you were wondering where I got such awful taste from, you need wonder no more. This is a tank top that my mother made for my dad back in the day. Apologies to anyone currently being blinded by the combination of 70s tank toppery and parental bedspread, but she took the pic not me.
I feel like I’ve been sucked into clothes making against my will. I always said I’d only make bits of crap to fill up the flat and to foist on other people – tea pot cosies, blankets, and the odd hat – but suddenly I find myself making clothes. And now, staring at this mesmerising tank top, I’m beginning to think “hmm, looks relatively straightforward, maybe I’ll pick the pattern up next time I’m home..”
I think there may be chemicals in the wool.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Craftster Pariah
I’ve noted that I have a knack for killing a topic stone dead when I respond to it on Craftster. I’m thinking that maybe I’ve committed some hideous faux pas somewhere along the line and now I’m being politely ignored in the hopes that I’ll go away.
Ah, how little they know of my tenacious ability to hang around long after I’m welcome. I’m not going away – it’s too good over there. They’ve got all kinds of clever people with nifty ideas and access to patterns I could never dream of. If I hang around long enough, maybe they’ll get used to me – just like that person in your school gang who you didn’t really like, but who could afford to buy all the CDs you wanted.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Latest from Good Hooking- What Katie Wrote
- The virtues of cyberstalking – Telegraph Blogs
- Turns out, old technology isn't always obsolete – Telegraph Blogs
- "I’ve known for a while, of course, but I’ve just been suppressing the truth. Now it’s time to come..."
- Talking about death
- "Ever hanker for the days when mobile phone batteries lasted all week and calls were never randomly..."