Back again

Its an age since I last wrote. The summer got the better of me. We decided to grow some veggies in our back garden in pots, in case we moved. What was supposed to be a couple of bags of potatoes and some lettuce for the tortoise ended up also being tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, courgettes, cucumbers, broad beans, peas, and so much else I can't remember. We ended up with about 13 fruit bushes and I realised things were getting out of hand. We now are the proud owners of an allotment plot. Its a decent size bu hadn't been worked for about 20 years which means Mr Husbeast had to get to work clearing it. He's done a fantastic job and a few bits and pieces have gone in the ground already which is greatm
The house is on the market as well for the second time. The first estate agents were a bit useless and didn't seem bothered about selling it. This second lot seem better so fingers crossed. I've seen loads of houses I want to move into and things drag on and on and they get sold so I try not to get my hopes up too much.
I have been doing some interesting bits and pieces with furniture so more on that next time.

Patterns!

My first ever published pattern dropped through the door onto the (slightly tatty - needs to be replaced down on the list of DIY jobs to do) doormat the other day. That's right Lisa Cardi has been published - find a preview of it here:

I have to say that all the people at KALMedia have been lovely to work with and I really hope to be able to publish again with them soon.

So now its published here's why its called Lisa!

My lovely DH knew me for several years before we got together, we would speak to each other several times a week and meet up several times a month, so he knew me quite well. Whilst we were friends he would text me frequently at the same time as he text a couple of his other friends one of whom was called Lisa.

When we went to his works Xmas party - about 3 months after we started seeing each other he managed to introduce me not once but twice to people as Lisa! (He blamed it on nerves).

To add to that the children who played across the road from where he lived at the time used to call out hello to me sometimes when I went to visit. I'm sure they were saying Hi Liz but it sounded suspiciously like Hi Lisa.

Added to that our best friend Sally who he lived with at the time also had a friend called Lisa who she text on a frequent basis. But I hadn't met my DH's Lisa, and Sally's DH hadn't met her Lisa....

So the name Lisa became a running joke between us with her being his "other woman". Occasionally he also sent texts to me which were meant for her which also made me laugh (but thereby proving he'd be useless at having an affair!)

So when I asked him what I should call my pattern, of course he suggested Lisa.

(Who now knows she has a pattern named after her and was very lovely and thrilled about it).

Good job I'm not the possesive jealous type.

Pattern submissions

I've just had my second pattern accepted for submission by a magazine. Which is very exciting but a little bit of me does think "why on earth did I submit an idea of a laceweight tunic!!"

But still I'm looking forward to knitting it, it's an idea I've had floating around my head for 3-4 months now and so it'll be fun to see it finally worked up.

But still I'm off to write up a pattern, I may be some time....

New patterns

I've been a bit quiet recently, both here and on Ravelry. Part of that is house DIY, a new job and the fact that the computer is now out of the living room and I feel a bit antisocial if I don't spend some time in the same room as my other half in the evening! The other is because I've been busy with some new designs. One of them is hopefully going to be published soon and then there are some laceweight patterns I'm working on at the moment.

I don't know why but in summer I feel like knitting thick yarn and in winter I end up with laceweight! Still at least its handy when planning ahead with my wardrobe.

I have an idea in my head for five laceweight cardi/sweaters. The kind of thing you can throw in a bag and they scrunch up to nothing. Then when the sun starts to set you can put them on over a vest top.

Of course I live in the UK so I'll probably only get to wear each one once in what we call "summer time"!

But still its fun. The idea is to have as little seaming as possible, and I'm trying to play around with the construction a bit and trying out a few new techniques.

When they are finished I should be publishing them on Ravelry, but it might take me some time, five sweaters in laceweight..... I must be mad!

Previous knitting patterns

I previously published patterns on another blog and I've just got around to bringing them over here. They are available by clicking the links on the right hand side of the page. They are all simple free patterns for accessories.

My new years knitting resolutions

1. To finish some of my 2010 WIPs (after all there are so many of them to choose from)

2. To blog more often and try to keep my Ravelry stash and projects up to date including photographs

3. To get more of my pattern published. I've now designed several patterns myself but I tend to write them down on scraps of paper and then forget about them when I've finished knitting. I need to organise a more coherent method of writing my patterns and then do something with them when I have finished knitting.

4. To try not to finish 2011 with as many unfinished projects as 2010.....

I'm not going to bother putting on in about not buying as much yarn as I just know I'll never keep it!

Freewheeling

Well so much for my plan to knit my cardigan out of 2 skeins! As I was nearing the end of the first skein I realised I was going to run out of yarn way before I reached the end. This was for several reasons:

1. I made the cardigan longer than it needed to be - but I like longer cardigans, I can't stand my back getting cold

2. It was a bit looser than it needed to be. This was for two reasons - I should have blocked a bigger swatch as it blocks out more than expected. And two because my weight keeps fluctuating and I think I've lost some - yay! So I can handle the cardigan being a little loose!

So thanks to the kindness of knitters, the wonder of Ravelry and the extra special loveliness of Posh knitters I managed to snag and extra skein in the same colourway.

So now its finished, and seamed. I bought the buttons at the weekend which will be sewn on some time this week and then it needs a final wash and block. (Which might take some times, moving/decorating and blocking do not go together!).

With the extra yarn I also had enough to lengthen the sleeves to 3/4 length which is more me. I ended up with about 10g of yarn left, plenty to sew on buttons.

The only trouble is this is where I tend to lose interest and end up with a nearly finished project lying around for months...