Tuesday 2 June 2015

Mum's curling stone

This is my Mum's pattern for a crocheted curling stone (originally published in March 2013).


Curling stone uses a bulky weight wool (about 1-3g of main colour and 1-3 g of colour for handle) and a 4 mm hook.

Uses UK crochet terms.

Base of curling stone:
Using main colour, start with magic loop.
First round - 3 chain (ch) then 12 trebles (tr), join together with slip stitch (sl).
Next 3 rounds - 3 ch then 1 tr in every previous tr, increasing 1 every 3rd st to make piece lie flat, join with sl.
Next round - 3 ch then 1 tr in every previous tr, join with sl.
Next 2 rounds - 3 ch then 1 tr in every previous tr, decreasing (tr2tog) every 3rd st to make piece curve in at top. Join with sl.
Fasten off, pull magic loop closed and tie off, you should have a flat bottomed bowl.

Top of curling stone:
Using second colour, start with magic loop.
First round - 12 tr, join with sl.
Next 2 rounds - 1 tr in every previous tr, increasing every 3rd st to make piece lie flatish. Join with sl.
Fasten off, pull magic loop closed and tie off.

Handle:
Using second colour, do 16 chain.
First row - 1 double (db) in 2nd chain from hook then 1 db in every chain.
Next 3 rows - db in every previous db.
Fasten off.

To make up:
Stitch the two long edges of the handle together to form a tube. Sew one end closed then sew the other end of it to one side of the lid (spreading it open slightly as you sew it on).
About a third of the way along the handle put a gathering stitch in underneath it to pull it into shape.

Measure and cut out a piece of cardboard about 2-2.5cm by about 30cm (may vary depending on size of stone). Join the narrow ends together with tape and slip the circle inside the base (this slightly stretches and shapes the base).

Sew lid on about two-thirds of the way around and stuff with toy stuffing. Finish sewing the lid in place then shape the finished curling stone to the desired shape. Spray with starch if you want.

You can find the ravelry page here or download a PDF of the pattern here.


Monday 20 April 2015

Knitting to stay sane...


Semester two has hit hard, not helped by the prolonged bout of illness that spread through the whole class, and despite just having my Easter break (also known as working from home), I'm exhausted. At this point it's at least another six weeks until I can take a couple of days off and then work from home for the remainder of the course.

Joy O Joy.

So the blog has to go on the back burner (officially now), and more than likely it will stay that way until the beginning of September when I hand in my dissertation. I'm trying not to be too annoyed with myself, but pushing myself further is a Bad Idea, and I'm reassuring myself with the thought I am actually doing quite well with my studies.

In the meantime, I've been trying to keep at least my Ravelry pages up to date - you can see most of my stash from the Edinburgh Yarn Festival (which was blooming fantastic by the way), and I'm also trying to keep my projects updated, even though it's only small progress that I'm making on them at the moment.

If I'm reading at all for pleasure, it's being recorded on my Goodreads page so feel free to follow me there if you want. I'm on a Twitter break at the moment, but I am tending to browse my Instagram feed of an evening, probably because pictures are easier for my brain to parse.

So in short, I'm still alive, just extremely busy and knackered. And speaking of busy, it's time to get back to the assignments for me. Roll on September!

Tuesday 6 January 2015

This way, that way, forwards and backwards

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's the sixth of January already, and that my last post was in September. I'm loving my course, but it's a huge effort for me and everything else has sort of fallen by the wayside.

This is pretty much how I've spent my time when I haven't been in classes:

Chocolate labrador wrapped up in a plain duvet


I'd like to say that is going to change this semester but it's probably not.

However, I managed to take a couple of weeks off from uni, and I've emerged from my knitting nest long enough to reflect and think about the coming year (well, that and I couldn't resist the Singing Kettle reference) before I start studying again in earnest.

At the beginning of 2014 I had seven specific goals:
1. Knit a pair of socks - done!
2. Knit something with fair isle - also done! Well, all bar the photos but that can wait a day or two.
3. Knit one of the jumpers I have everything for - I'm mostly done on the simple jumper so I'm counting that as a win.
4. Move beyond chain stitch in crochet - facecloths, blanket motifs, snowflakes and mini stockings all achieved to I'm definitely calling this one done!
5. Improve my photography skills - I've been reading a lot of photography posts and books, and I definitely feel like I understand a lot of the concepts more. I'm not entirely sure it has transferred across in physical skill yet, but then it was kind of a vague goal to start with.
6. Learn to Spin yarn - I took a workshop and read up a little so it doesn't seem so overwhelming a topic, but I would have liked to have practised more on my own.
7. Write more - I definitely wrote a lot more original fiction in 2014, and though I'm not ready to share it, I'm happy with the progress that I made.

Overall, between reaching most of my goals and finally making the decision to go back to uni, it's been a better year than the previous couple and I'm hoping the trend continues.

Looking forward, by the end of 2015 I would like to:
1. Get back into sewing - I did a little when I was younger and it's definitely a skill I want to improve on. I think my first project is going to be a needle roll for my DPN's.
2. Carry on improving my photography skills - I'm going to give this a more concrete goal of being happy with the majority of my photos by the end of the year.
3. Knit a pair of toe-up socks - I think I've been bitten by the sock bug, and I've love to try this technique.
4. Graduate - I think this one is fairly self explanatory!
5. Practise spinning - I have some lovely fibre calling to me from my stash that I would love to use.
6. Work with beads - ideally I would to work with them in both knitting and with wire, but I will settle for one of them.
7. Comment and interact more - I definitely have a tendency to lurk given half the chance and I would like to change that.
8. Manage my time better - ie less time spent faffing about. Again it's a bit vague, but if I can look back at the end of the year and be happy with my balance of time spent productively, than I'll consider it a win.
9. End the year lighter and fitter - I've been attending Scottish Slimmers for a while now, and getting down to my target weight is certainly doable by the end of the year.
10. Finish the original fiction piece - it's sort of fallen by the wayside with all the coursework, but I'm still excited by it, and even if I never show it to anyone, I would like to get at least the first draft finished this year.