Parrot - Or how to stop traffic...

Twice in a week? What has gotten into Gothy I hear you cry. Nothing, just I am doing smaller projects rather than huge floor length over sized shawls!

Now I am sure you recall my first Bird of Paradise scarf. That of course was not knitted for myself, but for someone else, in their yarn, and I got a serious case of the covets and wantsies. So there was nothing for it. I had to stalk the updates to get myself a sushi roll all of my very own. There it is above, and the colour name... Ready, Set, Go.

Lovely and bright isn't it? And unrolled it looked like this:

Now I wanted the colours to run just a bit differently, so I took my scissors, ad bravely snipped a stitch at over the half way mark of the green, unravelled the smaller piece of resulting knit fabric and balled it for later. Then started knitting at the red. At almost the end of the lace I ran out of yarn, and joined in the second ball, again at the red. And voila:



Yes, yes, I haven't woven the ends in there. I know, and I actually still need to do it. This scarf is intended for the walks to and from preschool with my son that start next month. Mummy has a huge mid calf length Jaeger coat she lives and dies in that is a wall of black, and I fancy some colour to brighten it up. If nothing else... I'll stop traffic.

A Little Splendour

Ooof I have been bad at updating lately. I blame baby brain and pregnancy fatigue! That's my excuse and I am sticking to it. Well being honest its because I have been self imposing deadlines on myself - no idea why, I just have - and its been keeping me busy. And there has been a fair bit of fatigue, but its all normal of course.

This is a project that's taken a while since conception to fruition. I started something approaching a year ago, when I made the decision that I wanted to make the layering shrug on Ravelry. I had some spare money, so I approached Patricia, the dyer and owner of the Etsy shop Yummy Yarns UK. I had a specific idea of what I wanted. I wanted to create a yarn that was next to skin soft so I could specifically wear it over vest tops, one of my favourite things in the world to wear. And I really wanted, after seeing a pairing of wool and silk plies done by someone else in her fibres, to do just that. One wool ply, one silk, for softness and drape. So we decided on a merino sparkle braid, and a mulberry silk brick, and I gave her my colours.

The fibres arrived and were perfect, so very pretty, and were more than I could have hoped for. You can see what I mean above. Now for the long task of spinning them, and for the first time, with the intention of making lace weight yarn when plied.

It took a long time and in the end I used last year's Tour De Fleece to kick my behind into gear and get the yarn finished.




So, the pattern was written for a contrast colour, and I had no idea what I was going to do about that. Probably skip it all together.But while in the process of spinning the fibres, Patricia listed an overstock of  these batts:

They go by the name of Mermaid, and the moment I saw them, I knew they had to be mine.I knew I wanted to use the small amount of the yarn I spun from these as a contrast. So I spun these as lace weight also:

Now I always knew I would have most of this yarn left over. I have yet to decide to do with it, but I will figure it out at some point.

So, onto the knitting. I finished the shrug a few days ago and its everything I hoped it would be. 






I have been wearing it a lot since I finished it, so pleased with the fit, and the fact I knit extra pattern repeats for the sleeves. Its come out just as I had hoped. And obviously this is a big, big thumbs up for Yummy Yarns UK.

So I have the perfect shrug in just my colours. Which is good, given that when I sport a bump, vest tops are exactly what I will be wearing, and I will need it. And the very best part? I spun nearly 1100m of this yarn, and I have well over 400 left, enough to make myself a small shawl. So that will come at some point in the future too.

Well that's me for now, till next time!

Capey Cape

Okay, okay, I know I have been quiet, far too quiet on this blog, but I have been busy, honest I have! Mainly on that beast you see there. That be Capey Cape as it is affectionately known. The story behind the name is a very long one, but its new owner knows why.

This is basically an oversized shawl. Its the Revontuli pattern on Ravelry, and I simply kept going in pattern until it was big enough. Its been knit in Knit Picks gloss fingering, and I got mine from Great British Yarns, though the red and gold are from DyeForYarn on Etsy. At a total of 2430m of yarn and after having the stink blocked out of it, it is huge. The only way I could get a picture of it laid out in all its glory was to hang it on  the line because even folded in half it was the width of the king sized bed.

It is of course intended to be worn as a cape with a shawl pin and I am sure my dearest friend will look fabulous wearing it. Her intention is to bead it some first, to add to the shine from the silk in the blend of yarn. I am going to miss this keeping my lap warm! Now onto other projects, and try to not cast on baby things for a few more weeks yet... trying hard.

We also have potatoes chitting in the utility room, and tomatoes sprouting on the windowsill. Hopefully the chilies will take too, they did last yea. For now I am working on a lovely shrug, which I will probably use a lot once I get to living in only vest tops again like I did last pregnancy. Just the second cuff and the collar to go.

So here we are a properly big picture of the beastie!





Till next time!

Arrrrrr! There be priates on the starboard bough!

The past couple of weeks the craftiness in this house has been focused on getting our son's new room ready. He's old enough to be moving into his first bed, and getting far too big for the nursery. We cogitated on what theme we wanted, and right up until the last minute had no idea, just knew what furniture we wanted. Then all of a sudden we came across the perfect thing with which to decorate his room. And we went into overdrive. Furniture was ordered, the paint was fetched from the loft, and more sourced in the correct colour. Then one evening, all hands to the pump, we got painting the room a lovely sky blue.



But that's boring on its own. I mean any boy can have a blue bedroom. So time for some extra details. First were two coats of white paint and yours truly free handing some cloud shapes.




Yes the shapes are not your typical clouds. They actually hearken to a video game series that the hubby and I enjoyed as teens. It certainly amused us both. But they looked far better after they were finished and detailed.




Then hubby got to do what he loves best... not. Building flat pack furniture. I got out our secret weapon when he was done. Pre printed and pre pasted die cut wallpaper sheets. In the theme of... pirates. Well like you hadn't guessed already! Last night we spent an evening soaking the die cuts and getting them on the walls, starting with getting out the masking tape and working out where we wanted what, hubby soaking one piece while I put another up. We finished late last night.









And beneath this ship is his ginormous train set! Seems every male I know loves playing with that thing....

Now all we need to do is wait for the sheets for the bed (its a junior sized bed and mattress so need the right sheets), and move him and his belongings in.

There are shelves to come to be added to the right hand wall when my parents visit next month, and my dear father will put them up for us, on which is books will go. But hardly critical for getting him moved in.

So there we are, project finished, and we're really happy. Now to find out what the small one thinks.

Odds and ends

Ooof I have been busy, too busy to settle down and blog really, but making an effort now! I have been up to all sorts of crafty stuff.

I had hoped to show you pictures of the new bedroom we are getting together for our son, but circumstances beyond our control have delayed us a little there. Such is life, but pictures to come this week at least. I am so happy with the clouds that I painted in there, all done free hand. Took two coats of white, and one of detailing to get them done. They are funky and should add to the theme. Hubby has been building furniture like a made thing. If only I could get him to put the things in the loft that he needs to. I am already tired of half falling over them in our bedroom. Time to start nagging, he leaves me no choice.

I have been working on the huge oversized shawl a lot, and making great progress. It is so big though that it takes an age to get through a row. Still, I have discovered this weekend that audiobooks are a great help in allowing me something to enjoy and allow me to focus on my knitting, rather than getting distracted by every little thing, so some really great progress over the weekend. Its been really nice. I want to get it finished so I can start looking forward to projects for me and the little one on the way.

On that note, although I am valiantly resisting the urge to cast on an knit baby things. Its too early and I have things to finish. The oversized shawl, the gold lace shawl, and also on the needles a layering shrug. The last will probably get a lot of use in the coming months if I live and die in vests again this pregnancy. Our son was truly a little central heating unit so in the dead of winter I was in vests. That said, when I started to dabble in crochet, I dug out my cheap acrylic yarn that I had in several colours. I bought it when I first started knitting again with grand designs which never materialized. But it was great to start granny style hexagons with.

I had done a few, and I find myself picking up the hook and making about one a day at the moment and joining them together. I am under now illusions, this will not make a cuddly blanket for baby, but the bright colours and high contrast could be great for a play blanket, or a bed throw for our son's bed. So I will keep going despite how early it is because I enjoying it and can find a use for the finished blanket. its really rather fun.



So what is everyone else working on?

Till next time.

Happy Valentines Day!

I know I have been a touch quiet here after a bit of a flurry of  a start in my blog posts. I have had good reason mind, feeling rather unwell doesn't really incline you towards blogging. That said, I have also been avoiding places I can talk about news before we were ready, even if I was dying to tell someone.


Well dying I have been, of a bevvy of pregnancy symptoms. That's right, yours truly is pregnant again. Very early days, and babe looks set to be due around the 22nd of October. So yay! Time to start planning the baby projects! I have a skein of yarn set aside just for this eventuality!


Its lovely to know that I was right, I have suspected since somewhere around three weeks pregnant, and of course, you cannot detect a pregnancy till about four or so. So been sitting twiddling my thumbs and trying not to blab. But I have the perfect Valentines Day gift for my husband, and his face when I revealed was a picture. He's going to be a dad again and he loves it.


In other crafty news we are working on our first child's new bedroom. Here he is in his Christmas hat, You can't tell he put it on himself can you?

Coincidence really that we were getting ready to move Patrick out of the nursery. All being well, we will be needing the nursery. I spent an hour and a half helping the husband paint the new room sky blue. It needs some touch ups, and then I need to paint some swirly clouds in there. We are going to use wall mural stickers, and he is getting pirates in his room!


The man of the house will be building the new furniture for in there at the weekend, and pictures will follow when we have a finished room.


So that's our current craftiness, you'll have to wait till October to see the project I am baking in my belly. If it turns out as pretty and as evenly tempered as our first, we are going to be very spoiled parents!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Valentines Day!

The Noble Art of making Drop Scones

Drop scones are an absolute favourite of mine. I have such lovely fond memories of making them when I was a child with my mother, with one of those now very rare beasts, a proper cast iron griddle. The kind of thing so solid that should you brain someone over the head with it (if you've managed to pick it up and swing it in the first place) that they will most certainly not survive the encounter. My beloved mother has assured me that she will leave it to me in her will.


And everyone has their own way of making them. Some put raisins in them, others lemon, some have them with jam or syrup, and some scottish folk I have met use them as part of a fried breakfast to mop up all the runny egg and tomato that's running around the plate. Personally, I like them warm or even cold with a smear of butter on, just as I had them as a child.

I am sure everyone who has ever made them knows, there is no art to the recipe of these little delights, the art comes in the cooking. Especially as we no longer have the old fashioned cast iron griddles to hand as we used to. However, with some trial and error, I am back making them once again. And here is my tried and tested batter mix:


4 oz of self raising flour
2 oz sugar
1 egg
just enough milk to make a thick batter. 
blend together


Now here comes the trial and error. Do NOT think you can get away with adding baking powder to plain flour as a substitute for self raising. It does NOT work. What I wound up with when I tried it was inedible. So don't go there. 


Purists like my Grandmother would swear that it is impossible to make good drop scones without an old fashioned griddle. She would grudgingly admit it might just be possible with a heavy based saucepan. Its a myth, once you get the feel for it, you can make them in any pan you like. I have moved to making them in my cheap as chips IKEA non stick we picked up because they were on sale. Admittedly it would be easier if the pan bottom was completely flat, but it works just fine with some practice. 


A note if using nonstick. You will still want oil in the pan - oil, not butter, I use sunflower, but the bare minimum. I find a little on a piece of kitchen towel wiped around the pan periodically does the job nicely. And a good sized spoon for dropping your batter into your hot pan is a must. Which reminds me, I really need to buy some proper tablespoons instead of using the measuring spoon set that came in a Christmas cracker. Functional, but not quite cricket...


One discovery for me also came with trying to use up whatever was in the house. And it occurred to me that one challenge of getting a smooth batter with so little liquid in it, is the size of the sugar granules. And I had a box of icing sugar in the cupboard and I wasn't icing anything for the foreseeable future... makes for great drop scone batter I can tell you.


Other than that its just a case of getting the temperature of the pan right, which is purely a case of practise, and flipping your scones to the second side when there are lots of bubbles at the top. So go, have fun, and what do you like to have your drop scones with?