Welcome!

Welcome to Likac's Blog. I have been knitting for 20+ years and now I have to face up to the fact that I am an addict. Here is a place for me to show what's on my needles.

Friday 24 February 2012

Testing, testing!

I am still here! It's taken me ages to reset my password and account and I hope to post on here more regularly again. Can't remember how to do anything on here, but I'll play around with it again this weekend.

I am currently test knitting a pattern for a boy's sweater. It's knitted in the round and I'm knitting it in a forest green with oatmeal and dark red stripes over the yoke.

I have a picture on my camera and I'm wondering the easiest way to get the picture on here...?

Saturday 5 June 2010

Oh the irony!!


I have spent the last 10 days desperately knitting a stole that I really really wanted to wear to a wedding today. It was an outdoor wedding (very unusal in the UK) and the dress code was "wear any party clothes that you feel comfortable in". Well, I bought a pretty summer cotton white dress for the possibility of a warm day but felt I needed a shawl/wrap to go with it. In the event of a wet/cold day I knew jeans and wellies were a distinct possibility.

Anyway, I found the perfect pattern and the perfect yarn: Seascape Stole by Kieran Foley with a mohair blend from a new yarn retailer - ribbons and purls. The laceweight yarn has little sequin flowers randomly woven in. So I spent the last ten days dedicated to the project.

Anyway, the irony? It was so hot today at the wedding that I couldn't wear it! I walked into the beautiful venue - a gorgeous pine glade with wooden gazebo for the wedding party - wearing my lilac stole, but within 30 minutes I had to admit defeat and fold the stole and put it away in my oversized bag. Never fear, I thought, the evening chill will require something soft and gentle across my shoulders. But no, even as we left at 10pm the temperature was still 21 deg C (70+F), and a warm stole really wan't needed. I wore it in protest though as the forked lightning split across the sky and we got into our car, ready for the journey home.

A beautiful wedding - and a brave and yet somehow incredibly traditional occasion in the UK, to have an outdoor ceremony, tea and cakes and a full hog roast. A wonderful, wonderful day. :)

Monday 3 May 2010

May Day Hey Day

Had an extra day this weekend. I was very good and didn't use it just to knit, but had a good sort out of my patterns. I now have them (nearly) all organised into A4 folders, all in clear plastic wallets and organised by type - baby, child, ladies, toys and "everything else", which basically means socks, hats, scarves, mens, hats... I even went through my knitting magazines and cut out all the patterns. I still have about 5 magazines left to do this with. I am very proud of myself and even reorganised the shelves in the spare room to accomodate the folders.

The photo is of my youngest modelling her red cardi that she has been DESPERATE for me to knit since Christmas. It is knitted in Sirdar Baby Bamboo - a lovely yarn of 80% bamboo, 20% wool. Very soft and with a beautiful sheen. I am going to attempt to link this now to my project page on Ravelry. (Crosses fingers!!)

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Knit, knit, knit and knit...











I have lots of things on the needles at the moment, but not much getting completed! I have finished two spring berets in bamboo blends. One for me, and one for a swap partner. The pink one is a bamboo/wool blend and the turquoise is bamboo/nylon blend. I kept the turquoise and have worn it practically every day for the last ten days.

Saturday 27 March 2010

Here comes the sun!


So I finished the cotton dress for Eloise. It is knitted in Samba Katia - a 100% cotton yarn from Spain. It was the only pure cotton yarn I could find with long colour changes. It hasn't got the same effect as I wanted but the ramdomness of the colours actually has its own appeal and I've decided the overall effect is quite pretty. Eloise certainly likes it, and despite the weather still being cool, refused to wear leggings or jeans underneath!

I knitted this in the round and had to modify the pattern to take account of the tiny chest size but tall height of my 7yr old.

Saturday 20 March 2010

Spring dresses


So now that Spring actually feels like it might really be here (my daffodils have grown 12" in the last week and my crocuses have been blooming) I decided to knit pretty dresses for my girls.

Firstly I have knitted for my youngest, Amelia, who isn't the girliest of girls, but was very excited to watch her dress grow on the needles. I desperately wanted to knit this in the very yarn suggested as it is such a pretty yarn. The pattern called for Elle Escapade, but a bit of research showed that this same yarn was now manufactured under a different name, Creative Yarns Rainbow. I had to scale down the pattern as the smallest size is 26" and Amelia's chest size is only 22" despite being 5yrs old! It wasn't too difficult, and I deliberately kept it short so it would be nice for summer and can also be worn over leggings and T-shirt.

I have started the same pattern for Eloise, but in cotton. Her eczema simply would not stand up to an acrylic yarn. I am knitting hers in the round as the pattern in the yarn is so random. I don't like it as much but when I was knitting at the dance studios this morning I received lots of compliments and most importantly, Eloise is very excited by it. I'm knitting hers in the smallest size (she also only has 22" chest and she's 7 and a half!!) but I am lengthening it by spreading out the decreases further.

Thursday 11 March 2010

Gayle has arrived!


Yes, she's finally done. And I'm so pleased with her. I don't think the photos are over flattering... but I love this jacket and can see me wearing it a lot over the coming months. I think it will be a favourite to wear at the weekends and we're planning a day trip to London in April to visit the Natural History Museum and I'm already thinking I will be wearing this.