While josiekitten's away, Henrycat will play!

Hello there, Henrycat here. I'm taking this opportunity to have a little chat with you because my Mum is a bit busy at the moment. She set herself this mammoth holiday knitting list, and just between you and me, I think that she's bitten off a bit more than she can chew! At the moment, she's making samples of lots of easy projects to start off her school knitting club next term. I snuck upstairs to take a peep, and found the bed covered in balls of wool. Pussycat heaven! A lovely, super-squishy place to sleep. OK, so it may have been acrylic, and I prefer alpaca and cashmere, but a pussycat can't have the best all of the time. It made a comfy pillow regardless. I settled down for a snooze, as you can see.

I'll get her to post some pictures of what she's been making some time soon. I think that I might put in a request for a cat blankie, now that I'm a gentleman of more mature years. (Snoopydog came to help me celebrate my 14th birthday last week.)

I must just tell you how proud I am of my Mum. She entered a couple of classes in our local horticultural show. Just look at how she did!

My Dad (Mr Josiekitten) got a 1st for his spuds again, and a 2nd place for his beetroot! I'm letting him bask in the glory, but I will just tell you that it's all down to me - I made sure that I kept that potato plot nicely fertilised!

Well, I'd better be off. All this typing has quite worn me out. I'm ready for another snooze. Miaow for now!

Coming over all innocent

Snoopydog came for the day yesterday, armed with yarn and gifts! A jar of her delicious blackcurrant jam, some gooseberry chutney and some chard and kale. Yum! We spent the day knitting little hats for The Big Knit 2009. It's a great way to raise money for the elderly. Snoopydog seemed to go out of her way to choose the most difficult of yarns to knit with - boucle, eyelash - whilst I stuck more or less to good old double knitting. There were one or two mishaps on the way - dropped stitches, inside out i-cords, wrong ends snipped off (check out snoopydog's blog for tips on how to do this! LOL), but by the end of the day, we had a good number of hats to get us underway. Belinda Bear and Betty Bear helped with the hat modelling!

We're aiming to have another day together to make some more. I don't think they need to be sent in until sometime in October, so there's still plenty of time!

Can't stop here any longer, as I have a zillion and one things to do. Entries for our local show need to be in tomorrow, so I'm going to enter a few bits and pieces. Hopefully I'll do better than last year! I shall report back at the weekend!

A severe case of S.A.S!

I'm suffering this week - in fact, for the last couple of weeks - from a very bad bout of Sock Avoidance Syndrome! (S.A.S.) I have failed to complete my July Sock Challenge socks! Each pattern I've tried knitting with the beautiful Lorna's Laces yarn just hasn't looked right. And then, when I thought I'd found the perfect pattern - Fantastic Ribbed Socks - they have knitted up too big (and pooled terribly on the foot!) So I am ignoring them for the moment, and have been busy getting on with other projects.

I finished my Lizzy cardigan and am fairly pleased with it. I love the ruffles on the cuffs and front edges, but don't like the way the bottom rolls up. I also wish that I was better at sewing things up. I've decided that I don't much like knitting garments, because I'm never satisfied with the finishing off. I much prefer the instant gratification of a sock or scarf! Anyway, here is my 2nd time lucky Lizzy cardigan.....

You can see what I mean about the bottom edges curling up. I'm tempted to add a ruffle around the bottom, but am worried that it might be a frilly overdose! I think that I will wear it a bit and see how it goes. It is definitely going to get more wear this time round anyway.

I've just made a couple of felted piggies for the pub that we go knitting in each week. The pub is called The Pigs, and it is crammed full of pig memorabilia. Sounds a bit tacky, but it isn't, at all. The porky pair can sit alongside our sign 'Pigs in Knits'! I used an odd ball of Noro Kureyon left over from my Booga bag, and just managed to squeeze 2 pigs out of it. The pattern was a freebie from here. The pigs were stuffed and then felted, and even though they have been in the washing machine three times now, they aren't felted as much as I'd hoped. But they still look very cute, so I'm leaving them as they are. Oink Oink!

I made a pair of Fetchings on Saturday, whilst watching a fabulous BBC Proms concert on TV. It was celebrating 75 years of Classic MGM Film Musicals, and it was absolutely fantastic. It's been several years since I went to the Proms (with my good friend snoopydog), but at the end of the evening, Mr Josiekitten and I decided that we may well try to go next year. I used one ball of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, and just managed to get a pair out of it! They are for a friend, Brigitte, who is a farmer in Brittany, France. I thought they might keep her hands warm next winter. I have another ball in the same colourway, so may try to make a neck warmer to match.

I love the picot cast off edging. The yarn really does feel very luxurious and velvety. I want a pair for myself now! (just a bit bigger!)

I dug out of hibernation my KittyCat, started way back in April. (Can you see how serious my S.A.S. is?!) I was making it for baby Ida, but found it very fiddly, and was worried that my sewing skills weren't up to the grasp of a baby! I had visions of an ear or a paw coming loose. Anyway, I persisted with it, and here she is! Meet KittyCat.

Here she is from the back - I added a tail to the pattern!

And here she is saying 'good morning' to Henrycat. He wasn't very impressed at having his sleep disturbed to meet his new friend!

Well, I think you're up to date now. Snoopydog is coming to play tomorrow, so call back soon to see what we've been getting up to! Bye for now.

Sock news

I've finished two pairs of socks this week. Firstly, my Spinning Around pair I was making from the fuschia Zauberball. I used a pattern from Knitty, RPM. It was a very easy pattern, and gives the knitter a choice of heels and toes. I had another go at the short row heel, but I'm still not that tidy, especially at the very edges of the heel where it joins the main body of the sock. Whilst I love the colours of the yarn, I'm not a big fan of its splitty nature, or the unspun bits. I shall be very interested to see how well it wears - I have a sneaky feeling that it may go very fluffy with use. Once it gets to being sock-wearing weather again, I'll report back.

I've also finished a plain vanilla pair for Wolfgang, using the Violet Green sock generator pattern. I like this pattern - it always gives me a well-fitting pair of socks. The yarn is a Regia Kaffe Fassett one, given the manly seal of approval by Mr Josiekitten. We'll be hand delivering them on our travels round Germany during August.

I feel duty bound to give you an update on the progress of my July sock challenge sock. Take a look........

I was hoping to make Jaywalkers. Well, this yarn just did not want to be Jaywalkers. The pooling looked awful and I just couldn't get the size right. So I have abandoned that idea for this month, and today cast on for Rib Fantastic from a great sock book - Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn by Carol Sulcoski. I gave snoopydog a copy for her birthday recently, and liked it so much that I bought myself a copy too! The pattern tells you to cast on 66 stitches on 2.75mm needles, so I dutifully followed the pattern, only to find that the socks were way too big, even for my huge feet! Luckily I'd only done one pattern repeat, so ripped it off the needles. I'm going to make myself a nice cup of tea and settle down to try once more. And no, I'm not panicking yet. I know that there are only 9 days left in July, but I'm feeling confident! Watch this space.

PS The sock yarn blankie rocks!

The tale of the sock yarn blankie

Once upon a time there was a knitter who was addicted to knitting socks. But this knitter had a problem - she didn't know what to do with all the left over sock yarn. So one day, she searched high and low through Ravelry, looking for inspiration. The first pattern she found needed too much yarn for each square. The second pattern was really for a baby's blanket. But the third pattern she found was just perfect. So she printed off the pattern, sorted out all her little balls of spare sock yarn and went to see her friend snoopydog for a sock yarn blankie knitting day.

The first square was an easy choice, as she used the yarn from her first ever sock - the start of a very slippery slope indeed.

The second square was knit, followed by a third to join them together, and so the blankie was born.

All day long, the knitter and her friend sat knitting, chatting, unpicking and reknitting little squares. They feasted well and quenched their thirst with mugs of steaming tea. They wound little balls of yarn to share with each other.

The hours passed, and the blankie grew bigger (although not as big as the knitter hoped!), and the knitter returned home happy at a day well spent.

And she is still knitting the blankie to this very day.

A summer of great expectations!

Yesterday evening was one of my most favourite times of the year. School broke up for the summer holidays, and Mr Josiekitten and I celebrated the end of the school year with our traditional Chinese takeaway! I'm a creature of habit so I had my usual beef with green pepper and blackbean sauce (which was extremely garlicky, so I have been told by Mr JK this morning!!), along with some rather yummy chow mein. We had a total blot-out in front of the TV for once, and I relished the weeks ahead - 6 weeks of glorious knitting time! I have been planning my holiday knitting for some time, and have come up with a list, so I thought that I'd share it with you at the start of the holidays, and then look at it again at the beginning of September. OK then, here goes! Deep breath........................... in no particular order we have.........

1. Wolfgang's stripy socks
2. Spinning Around Zauberball socks
3. July sock challenge socks (not yet started - yikes!)
4. Lizzy cardigan
5. Secret Phoenix Knitting Forum project
6. Felted pig for the pub that we knit in each week (The Pigs)
7. August sock challenge socks
8. Cotton crochet bag
9. Sock yarn blanket to start
10. Lizard Ridge blanket to start
11. Innocent Smoothie hats to make for this year's Big Knit
12. Various knits for school knitting club inspiration
13. More socks for Michael
14. Baby Yeti hoodie for Gabriella
15. Socks for Isabelle
16. Fetchings for Brigitte
17. Scarf for Catherine
18. Scarf for Beryl
19. Manos del Uruguay shawl
20. Ishbel number 2
21. Natural Dye Studio mini-skein crochet scarf
22. Swallowtail shawl
23. Feather and fan scarf to finish (currently hibernating)
24. Kitty cat to finish (ditto)
25. Wormy scarf to finish (ditto)

Phew! I'm exhausted just reading this list! You'll have to pop back soon to see how I'm getting on. I'll be posting regular updates. I'm off to snoopydog's this Tuesday so that we can both make a start on our sock yarn blankies! So that'll be one thing ticked off! Anyone care to suggest how many things I'll be able to tick off by the end of the holidays?

No knitting related photos today. Instead, a bunch of sweetpeas. They've been growing in abundance this year, and we have vases and jugs all around the house. I love them!

An odd pair of socks

I thought that I'd better bring you up to date with my sock knitting. I've finished a 'pair' of socks this week, but they don't go together! I've knit one from each of my current pairs. Firstly, my Spinning Around socks using the Zauberball yarn. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this yarn. I love the colours, but am not so keen on the splitty nature of it, or the unspun bits. I had a couple of big tangles whilst knitting. The way that the ball is wound - in colour chunks - looks lovely, but can be a real pain if you're not paying attention to what's going on in your knitting bag! A whole section of one colour came off the ball, and got in a huge knot! And becaues the yarn has a bit of a halo on it, I ended up with a big tangled mess. The only way to sort it was to bring out the scissors! So I'll be on the lookout when I'm knitting sock 2.

The other sock in the 'pair' is the first of Wolfgang's stripy Kaffe Fassett socks. I never tire of knitting simple plain vanilla socks, especially when there's a pattern in the yarn. The colours in this sock are really earthy. Mr Josiekitten (he of the 'only ever wears black socks' fame) was even heard to mention that he liked the colours and would wear a pair of socks knitted in said yarn!

Finally, a glimpse of my Noro Silk Garden reknit. Remember my frogged Sea Breeze cardigan? Well, I'm reknitting it as Lizzy, another Jane Ellison design. It's a simple cardigan with frills round the cuffs and up the fronts. Doesn't sound simple when I describe it like that, but it is, honest! I haven't got very far with it yet as you can see!

It's only two weeks now until the end of term, and I can't wait! I'm busy compiling a 'short-list' of holiday projects, and I think I've reached 20 already!!! I'll let you know what's in the offing next time.