Knitted Snooker Tea Cosy

I am a big sports fan and my idea of a perfect afternoon is knitting in front of the sport.  The World Snooker Tournament starts this weekend and I intend to spend the following 17 days knitting. 

A couple of years ago I came up with some sports themed tea cosies.  It seems an appropriate time to show you my snooker tea cosy.  Three images of it are shown below:

The reds look a bit odd in the photos – in reality they look better.  The basic tea cosy is a square green shape with a brown trim.  I then knitted the 15 reds for the top – the baulk colours on one side and the blue, red and black on the other.

Colinette Arizona Dreams Throw – Sonoran Design - Finishing Touches

At the weekend, I did manage to finish knitting the main part of the Colinette Arizona Dreams Sonoran throw.  I then needed to do the finishing touches.  This included the triangles that I needed to knit along the side edges.

I also had to sew in all the ends and  then lastly I made 8 curly ques to finish off the long edges of the throw.

This is a close-up of one of the curly ques.  For some reason – they never seem to turn out exactly the same.  I suppose I must twist some more than others.

The photo below shows two curly ques sewn onto the throw.

The throw is now finished and has been posted off to Colinette.  I am thinking about what to knit next and I think will make a start on another strip of the multi-coloured throw that I started last month.

Colinette Arizona Dreams Throw – Sonoran Design

At the moment I am knitting a third Colinette Arizona Dreams throw in the Sonoran design.  This time it is in a colour-way called Lone Star – which is mainly mauves and blues.

I actually knitted this first diamond last Thursday and since then I have set aside my odd ball throw and have knitted a lot more.

I am glad that I spread it out to take some photos because I noticed a mistake I had made!  I have now done some unravelling and am in the process of reknitting a few diamonds.

I am still pleased with my progress, but I will have to pay more attention.  I am very careful when I start - to make sure I am using the right yarn for each diamond, but then I tend to get a bit blasé! 

I hope to finish this throw over Easter weekend and then I can get back to my unfinished projects.

Odd Ball Throw – First Strip

I have completed the first strip of my new odd ball throw.

It was very easy to knit.  I didn’t really notice I was doing it whilst I was watching TV.

In looking for some more shades of purple – I found lots of yarn that I didn’t know I had got.  I looked in a drawer that I haven’t opened for a couple of years!  I found some ribbon yarn which I think I will donate to charity.  I like what it looks like in the ball -  but I don’t like knitting with it.

Using Odd Balls

I am still thinking about de-cluttering and looking for things to throw out.  I have found a few very odd balls of yarn to donate to charity.  I have had them for years and not done anything with them.

This afternoon I have sorted through 2 large plastic boxes of yarn and grouped together all the very small balls. I am not going to throw them out – I am going to knit another throw (which I will probably donate to Oxfam for them to sell at a festival).

I have knitted a sample square.

This is knitted in 6 shades of blue.  I intend to knit other squares in 6 shades of green, 6 shades of yellow etc – using up all the odd balls that I have left over from other projects. 

I am hoping to use this as a background project that I can pick up and put down again while I am doing other things.  Unfortunately it won’t be very portable because I intend to knit it together as I go along rather than doing any sewing at all.

Knitting Poppies

I was asked if I would have time to knit some poppies for the local British Legion.  I was provided with the pattern, the yarn and the needles!

I have knitted the whole ball of red yarn (100g) and it made 17 poppies – 16 of which are shown below!  I have still got the leaves to make and a bit of finishing off to do – I hope to finish them today if I don’t spend too long on the computer.

Seeing them laid out like this reminds me of that wonderful installation at the Tower of London last year.  I do love poppies despite their sad connotations.  I remember when I was a child  - I was always pleased to see one when it appeared in the garden.

Spring Cleaning and De-cluttering

This week I have been thinking about spring cleaning and de-cluttering - but have not actually done any of either yet.  The photos below show the current state of my office.  It could seem organised but I have no idea what is in some of those plastic boxes.

I have been reading James Wallman’s book called Stuffocation which discusses whether having  experiences is more fulfilling than acquiring possessions.  I have got too much stuff but I find it hard to get rid of  - particularly yarn. I remember reading an article in Slipknot – the Knitting and Crochet Guild magazine – about someone who carefully stored her yarn and even had a box labelled something like “yarn that is too short to do anything with!”  I am not that bad – I do throw away odd bits of yarn – but I suppose they could be used for stuffing!!

At the moment I am consoling myself with the fact that so far this year I haven’t bought any yarn.  This state of affairs will not continue for much longer as I am in the process of planning another project which will require new yarn. 

I will try to use up some of my yarn stash this year – but I agree with what the knitwear designer, Sally Melville said about using up odd balls – the first thing you need to do is go out and buy some new yarn to pull the design together!