Wibbo's Words

New for February

New stitchmarker sets in my Folksy shop: Love Hearts and Hearts & Flowers in both knitting and crochet versions. All stitchmarker sets  are in stock and have free postage.

Total apathy

Here we are still in lockdown. I must admit that my Lockdown Lethargy has morphed into more or less Total Apathy and I'm not really getting anything creative under way.  One thing that's almost finished this week is this:

Cardigan with short sleeves knitted in two strands of Regia sock yarn (frogged from an unworn garment - can't remember what it was) which is blocked, yarn ends trimmed and ready for buttons.  Buttons are black btw - rather rubbish photo.

On the go is a crochet shawl in Wollmeise Lacegarn, colourway Barisa (from stash). Nice simple stitch pattern but I'm not happy with the way the colours are working. They're too patchy for my taste so I'll overdye the shawl once it's finished. Not sure yet what colour dye to use, probably some shade of blue which will turn the green into turquoise. On the other hand, I could go for a 'nice serviceable purple'...

I'm slowly adding more items to my Folksy shop when I can summon up the energy to sit at the laptop. Quick preview of this week's additions which will go live by Friday - sets of six twisted ring stitchmarkers and two progress keepers.

New things

There's not much happening at Wibbo Towers these days. I'm immensely fed up with Lockdown Three and I do miss seeing my friends. I'm also slightly bored with my own four walls, lovely though they are, so I'm planning to move furniture round in the living room, starting tomorrow. I'm not sure whether this will work visually until I've done it even though all the measurements work. So I might end up having to move everything back...

On the other hand, there are new stitchmarker sets for sale in my Folksy shop.

Clockwise from top left: Owls, Big Cats, Happy Sheep and Favourite Things. All are available in both knitting and crochet versions.

Folksy shop

I have a shiny new Folksy shop!

Christmas themed sets of stitchmarkers for both knitting and crochet are for sale in my shop, all with free postage. I have non-Christmas stitchmarker sets and some gorgeous hand-embroidered jewellery almost ready to upload, so watch this space!

Opera in the kitchen and crochet

I love the free Nightly Met Opera Streams from their archives. Each opera streams for 23 hours and because of the time difference, I'm off to catch up with Wednesday's offering after I finish this blog post. It's Puccini's La Rondine starring Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna from January, 2009. Pic is from one of  last week's operas - Gounod's Romeo et Juliette - which had fabulous costumes.

There's been some crochet going on. This is my variation of Katya Novikova's Summer Memories shawl pattern. The body is worked in Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash, colourway Ooohm, with stripes in Amazonas and Campari Piccolo. 

That's about all I have to report. Life goes on much the same day after day and I'm doing my best to stay cheerful and keep busy.  

 

Staying at home

i don't really mind staying at home (I'm over 70, so being very cautious about Covid-19). Self-isolation feels rather like working freelance from home which I did for many years but this time it's without the work! 

My studio table is tidy and today's plan is to get out the pdf sewing patterns that I've printed on paper and stick the pages together. I'm in need of new clothes and have lots of fabric washed and ready to cut out.

Apart from sewing clothes, I have plenty here to keep me occupied and happy. Music, books, audiobooks are all essential to my mood (thank goodness for Spotify, Kindle, Audible and library apps) and there's a sizeable yarn stash to keep my fingers busy.

Taking up where I left off

I thought I would take up blogging again where I left off in 2018. It's hard to believe that more than a year has gone past since my last post, in spite of lots of good intentions on my part. I'm a bit of an expert at putting-off-stuff-until-tomorrow.

So, what's been happening here? Nothing of note really - it's been one of those fallow years where I've felt as if I've been marking time rather than forging ahead. I've read a lot of books and listened to countless audiobooks while despairing about the state of this country and the government. And I feel it's only going to get worse after January 31.

In other news, I'm beavering away on several new knitting and crochet designs. There has been much swatching.

The models are now finished but instructions still need bashing into shape before the patterns are tech edited and tested. Why does everything take an age?

The greens are done...

In situ

Almost done! I still have a couple of small cushions to cover with crochet (you can see one of the cushion pads below the lamp) then I'm back to my Big Knitting Project, Celestarium (Rav link). 

From WIP to FO

I started making this blanket in August 2008 and finished working the edging yesterday. That's an awfully long time from being a WIP (Work in Progress) to an FO (Finished Object). Here it is today:

Usual Saturday stuff

Washing socks,

blocking a shawl,

and answering a pattern query on Ravelry.

We have lift-off...

It's that amaryllis time of year again; this bulb was a Christmas present from Julie. Two buds have appeared so far - more photos when the flowers arrive.

I'm finally getting my teeth into a Ravelry KAL (knit-a-long for those of you who haven't come across the term KAL before). It's the 2014 Advent Calender Scarf (Rav link) and you got one clue/chart every day during Advent. What with one thing and another, I didn't start knitting until January. The photo shows days 4, 5, 6 and 7; the scarf is knitted in Wollmeise Lace-Garn, colourway Flaschenpost.

This is Jackie with her lovely granny square blanket in the Jubilee Library, Brighton. The Knitting Group meets at the library every Tuesday from 10am to 12 noon. If you knit or crochet, do come along and join us!

An early Christmas present...

...for the Faithful Companion. She approves.

Square count now up to 380; I think I'll stop at 400. A nice round number.

This, that and a Christmas elf

David, the Christmas elf, on my stall at Saturday's Christmas Market. Lovely sunny weather and plenty of people wandering round made for a good day.

This is the one tidy corner of my living room; off camera, everywhere else is, er, rather cluttered and needs a good tidy but I've run out of steam with housework. Possibly I've been sidetracked by making these...

Crochet squares for a blanket - they're 7cm square and so far I've made 240 (and sewn the ends in as they were made). The coloured threads secure them in stacks of ten for easy counting and I reckon I'll need to make another 160 or so...

Book stuff

I've finally got round to listing the known corrections for my crochet and knitting books on a new blog, Jan Eaton's Book Errata.

The titles include 200 Crochet Blocks, 200 Knitted Blocks and 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns. The books have been reprinted several times and as I always pass errata on to the publisher, you may own a newer edition without errata. Please be aware that the titles are available in both UK and US Editions.

What's on the needles?

I've knitted several stripy TGV's this year, mainly as gifts so not bloggable until after Christmas. This TGV is for me using Dream in Color Smooshy leftovers in Happy Forest (Thanks, Jutta!) and Knitting Goddess mini skeins in shades of violet. 

I usually have a crochet blanket on the go - this one may take some time because the squares are only 7.5cm (3 in) across. I'm using superwash DK oddments mixed with two strands of sock yarn in pink, red, blue, purple, turquoise and grey.

These are my only WIPs, apart from a couple of pairs of socks. But I do have plans!

This and that

I'm still looking for my knitting mojo but I have started a new crochet blanket.

DK oddments and sock-yarn-used-double, 4mm hook; pattern is Gary's Ripple from 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns  which looks like it's out of print these days.

Planted up several containers on the balcony - sage, lemon thyme, flat leaf parsley and Morrocan mint. Since I took this photo, I've added clumps of Lobelia String of Pearls to the containers. The bay tree on the left is one of the few plants to survive last winter's waterlogging although the lower leaves are brown-edged due to wind and salt damage.

Flossie has been sitting in the sunshine, prowling around the flat and being a general nuisance. Nothing new there then...

Bank holiday...

...and it's a sunny one for a change!

I have socks to knit, a new pattern to crochet and a pile of audiobooks from the library to keep me happy.

I also have a living room to tidy and stuff to put away but they can wait....

Flossie's soaking up the rays and making a cat-shaped shadow.

There's bread in the breadmaker and butternut squash soup on the hob. Hope you're all having a lovely day whatever you're doing!

Just the way not to start the day

This really, really pisses me off.  Thanks to ravelry for the heads up...

It came back

The cold, that is. I felt better for about four days then the sore throat started again. And the rest. I'm bored now but starting to feel better. Spring has sprung and we're hurtling towards when the clocks go forward so life's not all bad.

The shawl is now finished and blocked as is this crochet one, made for and modelled by my knitting friend Valerie (she loves orange).

As ever when the right weather occasion arises, Flossie is on the carpet roasting her ribs in a patch of sunlight.

 

Another...

Another crochet blanket and

another knitted shawl and

another sunset...