Swatching! Who needs to?

Found out to my cost that swatching is really important.  I had found a pattern done in Aran yarn for a Union Jack cushion - it supposed to be done in a King Cole (acrylic uck!) yarn and I needed it to be 100% English wool.  I was fortunate enough to find some lovely natural Jacobs yarn (not cheap, but very nice) in an Aran weight and I dyed it.  Great cast on and knitted the front - then I thought that does look a little on the large size - it was supposed to come up 18 inches and I was working with a size smaller needles to get it down to 16 inches - the requirement for the Woolsack project - give or take an inch!

Its come out a whopping 25 inches square and it hasn't been sewn properly or blocked yet!   And unsurprisingly I have run out of yarn!!  So do I frog it or buy more yarn?  Guess I buy and dye up some more yarn and finish it off, but that means that I still have to make a proper Union Jack cushion for the project - I did promise it and I can't welch on a promise......

The good news is I have a reprieve - cushions for the Paralympians can be stuff at Fibre East in July - dramtically wipes beads of sweat from forehead - and this cushion is for our top tennis star!

On the tennis theme I have got tickets for Wimbledon - three days!  Centre Court for Ladies Quarter Finals, really wanted the Wednesday for the Men's!  Also got tickets for the Friday and Sunday so that I can see the Wheelchair event..

This Friday I am off to London for more training as a Games Maker and the Test Event for the Wheelchair Tennis at Eton Manor over the Bank Holiday weekend.  I am a Sport Statistician and I get training for my role this coming weekend so should have more idea what I am expected to do then! By the way the shift hours are 8.30am to 7pm - hope that I get a break at some time!!!!!!!    

I think that I get to collect my uniform as well, we get a jacket, polo shirt, trousers, trainers, socks, cap, bag, water bottle and an umbrella which we get to keep if we complete the games - but if they think that I am wearing a cap......................

 

Hooked, but not on Crochet

I have become hopelessly hooked on designing patterns for shawls. I did have a 'go' last year and found that it wasn't as easy as I had thought, but a friend suggested rather than writing out a pattern, to just start knitting and see what happens - well I did and found that it is very addictive - sounds silly but I can't wait to see how an idea turns out..

First I knitted lots of little swatches with lots of YO and K2tog in a variety of combinations and as you can see just a slight alteration and the pattern is quite different - honest!















The first design is now blocking and I am delighted with the outcome and am currently knitting the second April Showers Shawl, this time from the charts that I created from my knitting.














Question - If its your own pattern how come you still make silly mistakes? I don't have an answer, but I did have to unpick several rows because I had missed a yarn over!

Got in front of myself

Been frantically rushing around to get everything together for the Craft Fair on Saturday - only to find yesterday that I am ahead of myself! Set up a mock table and only managed to squeeze about half of the items into the space which means that I can now relax a bit.....

Mr S bought me this instead of an Easter Egg! It was to cheer me up as I won't be able to go to Wonderwool this year..... because I shall be at Elton Manor as a Games Maker for the Wheelchair Tennis Test Event in preparation for the Paralympics in September. The Wheelchair Tennis runs from September 1st until the 8th so you might get to see me on the TV!





















That meant that my sheep collection grew by two in the last week as my friend's daughter gave me this lovely back pack.
















All this reminds me that I still have Peter Norfolk's cushion to knit for the Woolsack project - he wants a Union Jack cushion and I have found a pattern in Aran, for which I have dyed up the red and blue, so it shouldn't take too long - especially if I get it cast-on!