Addicted to Socks!

So between a short shopping trip, some housework and some cooking all I really did the weekend was knit my sock!

I had great fun and it's looking really good - much further along now!

Here are a few photos of the progress:

My first socks!

I've read a lot of posts on Ravely about how addictive sock knitting is, and so I had to give it a try for myself.

I got some Austermann Steppe yarn on sale in a local store that recently closed down, and although it's not the nicest colours, or shades I'd normally wear, for the low price I thought it was worth getting to make my first pair with.

There's a great pattern by Silver that is recommended a lot on Ravelry, and although it's for DPNs I decided to give it a try with magic loop.

So far it's going well. :) Although I think I may get a bit confused when I get to the heel, so I've found a magic loop sock pattern that also casted on with 64 sts to refer to if need be.

Here are my photos so far (notice how I had to change needles as I snapped my 2mm KnitPro by leaning on it!!) I didn't think the Pony metal needles would be very nice to work with, but I'm actually not finding them unpleasant at all.

The Big Baby Blanket!

Sorry for the delay in posting! Work has gotten so hectic, and when I get home I just want to knit! Which means after dinner and housework there hasn't been a lot of blogging time left.

But I'm back!

I got an amazing book for my birthday, another by Nicki Trench:

I love so many of the different squares, so have started a baby blanket....

....well....

I say "started"...

I did a "B" for baby on my 4mm circulars, but I found working with a couple of colours quite awkward with the different yarns and the cable, so I went out and bought some straight needles....only to get home and find they were 4.5mm.

So I started a second square and the 0.5 made a big difference, and I much prefer it, so I'm pretty much starting from scratch.

I've got the luxury of time, and it's nice to have a project which can be on going. But I've bought my yarn and have my straight needles now, so expect a lot of blanket square updates!

It's going to be a challenge making it unisex, I think. But hopefully I'll be pleased with how it turns out.

My Yarn craft up until now.

I started to crochet a couple of years ago, mainly as I fancied a new hobby and up until that point I'd tried (and failed) knitting a couple of times and lost heart with it. Then I was discussing this with Mr B's Aunt and she said "Why not try crochet" and gave me a needle.

I took to it pretty quickly, and soon learned about Amigurumi bought myself a couple of books and away I went. Here are some of my projects from the past couple of years (sadly I didn't think to photograph ones I made as gifts before I gave them, so most aren't documented.)

[A Pony I made from Super Cute Crochet by Nicki Trench]

Incidentally my first ever Amigurumi was from that book - here she is!

[If I can make my first attempt at something look this not-awful then you can too!]

[An adorable Halloween cat from a pattern by the amazing Ana Paula Rimoli]

Her book Amigurumi World is amazing and I've made most of the cuties from it.

I've also crocheted some blankets, and cushion covers, I mainly choose projects like those to learn new techniques and stitches.

Which is exactly what I did with my first proper knitting project. I made a basket weave baby blanket from this pattern. In retrospect it was maybe a bit large for a first project, but it sure gave me lots of practice at Knitting and Purling, as well as teaching me how to do different types of increase and decrease. I think it came out OK for a first attempt!

Once I had my stitches perfected and was more confident that I could read patterns (the most challenging part of Knitting and Crochet) I was ready to tackle something that wasn't square!

My love of baby stuff made me choose a cute little nappy (diaper) wrap. I figured it was small enough to get completed over a weekend (probably in an hour for experienced knitters) and it had some new techniques in it.

I want for grey yarn, as I figured if I did ever want to use it I can make it girly or boy...y with my choice of buttons. So here it is:

I'm really happy with the stitching and how it looks, also learning the ribbing was fun. I think I'll eventually make some more in other sizes and colours as they'll be adorable on boys with a little t-shirt, or on girls under dresses.

Finally for today, I'm rather proud of myself as I have one Christmas present finished already! A pair of slippers that I crocheted from a pattern by Nicki Trench. They crocheted up really quickly and I think they're really cute. I used some puffy paint on the soles to give them some grip.

I will be getting some light pink ribbon for around the top of the slippers to shape them a bit.

I'm currently in the process of knitting a cowl with some gorgeous wool and crocheting a stripy baby blanket so I will update on those over the weekend.

A few of my favourite things

As everyone knows there are a couple of things you can't knit or crochet without:

• Knitting Needles or a Crochet Hook
• Yarn

And....well.....that's basically it!

If you're anything like me then you'll have noticed that not all yarn, needles and hooks are made equal, and I certainly have my favourites!

For knitting I LOVE KnitPro Symfonie Interchangable needles (KnitPicks in the States) - They look awesome (very important!) and are so lovely to hold and work with. Also being interchangable and circular you'll never need double pointed needles or straight needles. They can do everything!

I buy mine from Art of Yarn online as the wonderful Trish has the whole selection at great prices and the customer service is amazing.

My love for my Knit Pros is making me tempted to try their Crochet Hook range, even though I love my Clover Soft touch hooks, and have a big selection of them! I find them really comfortable to hold as the handle is flat and wide and has a nice rubbery bit! I have loads of hooks, most are the smaller metal type, and when I use them I find the raised lettering that says the needle size hurts my finger after a while. Clover hooks solve any problems like that.

There are SO many yarns on the market that I'm not sure I'll ever find a favourite as I get through SO many.

But for Amigurumi I ten to stick to basic Acrylic in DK weight. The colours available are great, it's hard wearing yet feels quite soft and is really affordable. Hayfield Bonus DK is what I have the most of in my stash, although for UK readers Wilkinson do lots of different colours too!

If you;re new to knitting or crochet then I'd say the best thing to do is go for cheap and basic in needles, hooks and yarn, you'll soon find out what it is you like/dislike about what you have and can go from there when you're ready to invest more in your new hobby!

The first post!

Hello and welcome to my brand new blog!

I’m Mrs B, I love to crochet and have recently taken up knitting and am falling in love with it too!

I’ve always wanted to have a blog, but until now couldn’t think what on earth I could blog about.

I look forward to documenting the things I make, techniques I learn and the awesome (and plentiful) knitting and crochet stuff I come across and buy.

I maily crochet Amigurumi and knit baby stuff. Mr B and I aren't going to have a baby for a while, but I love babies, and their adorable clothes and accessories so I figure why not get a headstart? Also - baby things are small and I'm not one to keep on at one pattern for a long time! Also, knitting baby stuff stops me getting tempted to start buying it - which I think would be a little more weird and much mroe expensive! As any baby item I see I instantly want!

If you’re reading this post then it’s probably because I’ve sent you the link, but hopefully the blog will be a bit more exciting soon, and others who are new to knitting and crochet, or who want to see lots of cute stuff will find it too!