Queen Of The Froggers

2010

2010-08-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

I no longer blog but you can find my photographs here on Flickr.

My handspun yarns are available for sale here on Etsy.

I put my free knitting patterns here for personal and charity use.

I also have knitting patterns for sale on Ravelry where you can find me as loopfrogs.

You can contact me on leafgreenhandknit (at) googlemail (dot) com

Blog moving!

2010-02-21T06:48:00.000-08:00

I have moved my blog!

I have loved this blog so much but its time it was a bit fresher and spruced up a bit, so I have moved to Wordpress as Leafgreenknits.

I don't feel that I am such a frogging knitter as I once was ... although I still advocate frogging as the best ever way to sort out and dodgyness in knits!

I feel that I want to just start afresh and also to blog about my other life plans such as gardening, (I have so much to learn!) and pursuing more of an outdoor life.

Of course knitting is the main priority.

Please subscribe to my new blog and join me over there. (and enter the competition!)

Blogging is nothing without you guys to read and visit.
Thank you to everyone who has been with me here over the last three and a half years.

I thought ...

2010-02-16T10:54:00.000-08:00

... that spring was coming and bought some flowers and bits from the market all ready to get out to my garden, so neglected.

Its been foul weather though. So the sock knit has finally taken off. I tried about four stitch patterns and then found this one which I love. It looks like little owls and is from a Japanese stitch dictionary I have.
Has anyone seen a sock like this before? If not I could try and write up the pattern when I have finished.

The Narcissus smell lovely and are so tiny, little mini daffodils.
I walk past them and take a moment to centre myself in the madness that is rainy day school holidays!

Thank you ...

2010-02-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

... to all of you who commented on my previous post. Words can bring you really down and also bring you right back up again, which your comments really did for me. A few days stomping around, thinking, and evaluating life and I think that I am back to my usual self.

I have thrown myself into essays (yuck!), work, resurecting my etsy shop and knitting. I have got on with my sock, and decided what I will do for the Ravelympics. I am in the Wildcraft team so I will spin this lovely fibre, English wool blend.

I am also going to try my hand at designing and knitting a sock, in proper sock yarn!
I have a couple of stitch dictionarys to look through for ideas.

I have also finally got around to writing up this pattern. The Rippled Cable gloves are in my Etsy (US dollars) and Online (UK pounds)shops. Edited to add ... also in my ravelry store

Deciding to sell a pattern is a bit scarey but I had a lovely test knitter whos version is gorgeous.

Confidence.

2010-02-07T05:30:00.000-08:00

I don't normally vent about life on my blog but I am going to today.

Why do people, as in relatives, have to critisise the choices I have made in my work and personal life?
I chose to give up my career to make things easier for my husband and son, and for family life. No stress for picking up from childcare, I am here for them in the evenings and day, I don't ask for anything in return. I enjoy doing what I do (I have my own little cleaning business), I earn very little but it makes for a much less stressful life all round, I am doing a degree so that one day my husband can retire and I can earn the money.
I am furious that the relative should have any right to insinuate that what I do is worthless and that I should contribute more to the household than I do.

A simple comment has totally bashed my confidence in what I am doing with my life. I wish that I could just ignore it and say poo to them!

I am designing a sock, cosy cables in aran weight yarn for lounging around in.

I need to frog back to the start of the heel as its too big.

Thank goodness for knitting and blogs that inspire to distract me from thoughtless people.

I might knit a punchbag.

Mojos back!

2010-02-01T11:38:00.000-08:00

These hands have been knitting! The odd ball knit challenge is going well.

These are made from 2 balls of Rowan felted Tweed, both different colours so I held the two strands together. I thought the yarn was a bit itchy until I washed them and they softened up really well.

This triangle neck-kerchief thingy was knitted with 2 balls of merino, I think it was Lana grossa double knit but lost the labels. I started with 3 stitches and increased using yarn overs on one side only. When the first ball of yarn ran out I decreased down until the last 3 stitches were left.

The litte gift bag was knitted using the one ball of Rowan felted tweed aran that I bought in a bargain bin.
I will write up the "recipe" for it and pop it over here. Great use of a little bit of yarn and I am thinking of using up some of the little bits of handspun I have collected.

I have survived one month of daily photos for project 365, so will carry on with that.

Next to think about is the Ravelympics!

Magic yarn ball swap.

2010-01-25T11:02:00.000-08:00

I took part in Theresas magic yarn ball swap in which we wound little bits and bobs into a ball of yarn and then as you knit you come across them!

Sam was my partner and she sent me a ball of Sublime Organic wool in a lovely green.

I resisted the urge to instantly unwind the ball to find the treasures! I knitted these wrist warmers which were based on this Cafe au Lait mitts pattern.

The treasures inside are lovely, buttons, Chocolate, coffee, fabric and a gorgeous bird pendant.

Thank you Sam, they are just perfect!

Tunic, mojo, odd balls and old ways.

2010-01-19T10:52:00.000-08:00

I have finished something! It took me so long to make but a friend wanted a plain tunic for her baby so I made one. She lent me one of the childs tops to measure it against which made sizing easier.

It took just over 2 balls of Rowan DK pure wool. I was left with a couple more balls so made another one for my shop.

I think that it would look nice in a tweedy yarn too.

At the moment though I am totally uninspired by my knitting, I think my knitting mojo has gone.
I have ideas for my shop in my head but can't be bothered to get started with them. I have a lovely cabled sweater on the go but feel daunted by it and I have a few odd balls of yarn that I don't want to get rid off but haven't a clue what to make with them.

So I have decided to set myself the odd ball challenge!

I am going to knit all the odd balls in my stash up and have started with some felted tweed fingerless gloves. (Holding 2 strands together for the DK as seen above)

But I do have some really small yardage balls (as seen above, aran felted tweed, 1 ball in pink) and not a clue what to do with them. Any good book suggestions would be gratefully recieved or ideas that I could work out a pattern for.

Oh, and I went back to my old ways the other day. I threw a whole knit away in disgust. I haven't done that for a long time but it took me so long to make and turned out rubbish and the yarn wasn't worth frogging. I think that it is because I didn't blog it, blogging helps keep me on track!

Handspun reds.

2010-01-11T11:23:00.000-08:00

I know, it took me so long to spin this. I still have 2/3rds more of the fibre to spin as well!

130 metres of Gorgeous Wildcraft superwash Bluefaced Leicester, navajo plied and spun semi-worsted on my Ashford Traveller.

I haven't spun for ages so will get back to it as it is so relaxing, almost meditative ... especially after a week of school being shut, husband working from home and not getting anything I should be doing done!

The street still looks like this although it is slowly starting to thaw a little.

Secret knitting.

2010-01-05T11:35:00.000-08:00

The trouble with secret knitting is that it is totally unblogable if the person it is for reads the blog!

Thats a bit boring for blogging too.

Here is a snippet.

And here are the cookies we made yesterday. Yum!

As well as baking cookies I am trying to learn a bit more about photography by participating in Project 365 this year. The idea is to post a picture a day for 365 days. My photos are here so hopefully I will get to see an improvement!

I am a bit behind with my blog reading, spinning and Lillian knitting too so maybe this is catch up week!