Tutorial: Key Charm for Cable key on interchangeable knitting needles

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Regular viewers will remember my new love of interchangeable knitting needles. Although I adore them, I have a tendency to frequently drop the little cable key you need to attach the needles to the cables. On Ravelry I saw someone use a beaded charm to help locate them, brilliant idea! So I’ve added my own twist to the project by adding a bell (so you notice when you drop it, and can find it in the depths of a knitting bag, and also adding a lobster clasp to make it easy to change the design of charm, if you wish to.

Don’t loose you cable key, just make this simple charm so you can easily find it.

You Will Need

Items needed to create the key charm/ stitch marker.

• 1 cable key from interchangeable needles
• 1 set of basic jewellery making tools as shown in picture: (1) Chain nose pliers, (2) Side cutter pliers, (3)Round nose pliers.
• 1 small bell (optional but will help you find they key if its hiding) (no: 4 in picture)
• a selection of beads of you choice. (no: 5 in picture)
• 1 eye pin. (no: 6 in picture)
• 1 lobster clasp (optional but this gives you a simple way to change your charms at will) (no: 7 in picture)
• 2 small jump rings. (no: 8 in picture)
• Bead mat (not essential but VERY helpful, unless you enjoy playing tag with your beads )

Method

The picture shows the order beads etc are added to the project:

Key charm tutorial

• Open one of the jump rings. Onto this ring; place the bell and the eye of the eye pin. Close the jump ring.
• Thread a selection of beads on to your eye pin. Leave about 1cm of pin without any beads, or trim the eye pin back to leave 1cm of exposed wire, if you have used smaller beads.
• Form a loop with the remaining eye pin wire. Do this by using round nose pliers to bend the remaining eye pin wire to 90 degrees to the line of beads. Place your round nose pliers at the very end of the wire and gradually curl the wire by rotating the pliers until you have formed a loop. Make sure you completely close the loop to prevent the piece coming apart.
• Open the second jump ring. Drop the loop you just formed on the end of the eye pin onto the jump ring. Drop the loop on the lobster clasp onto the same jump ring. Close the jump ring, ensuring that it is completely closed so nothing will fall off.

You can now use the lobster clasp to attach the charm to the cable key. With the little bell you will now hear if you drop your key, or by shaking the bag, discover if its hiding at the bottom of your knitting bag

If you find it awkward to use the key with the charm in place, by having the lobster clap on there, its easy to remove while you attach needles to a cable. Remember to put the charm back on afterwards tho, or it will get you playing hide n seek again!

Options/Added Extras

Make a collection of these charms with different beads, and you can change them at will. The charms can also be attached to small key ring loops to create stitch markers, though I’d leave off the bell or it will probably drive you and those around you to go nuts every time you knit

Links

New to beading? Here are a selection of videos from Beaders Companion, for how to achieve some of the techniques mentioned in the tutorial above.

• Opening/closing a jump ring
• Forming a loop
• Original post of Ravelry that inspired me to create this project.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and will give these charms a go. I’d love to see your results.

Best wishes and thanks for reading see you soon

Billie

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Mother’s Day Gift: Hot Water Bottle Cover

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Today I’d like to share a picture of the knitted hot water bottle cover I made for my mother in law for Mothers Day.

Hand knitted hot water bottle cover from ‘The Little Knitting Company’ kit.

The project was from a kit I saw on C&C, lucky I bought it a while ago as it took ages to work out what I was doing. Luckily after getting in touch with the company, there was a revision in the pattern which helped it make more sence and they also linked to a tutorial for how to do the tie for the top,which I got a bit stuck on.

Sure hope she likes it, I seem to have an allergy to wool and sneezed like I had a cold throughout the project. No more wool for me! The yarn was called Geko and is 85% wool, 15% alpaca. It shed a lot of fibres as I knitted it, so maybe that’s what made me sneeze so much.

Have since found some more hot water bottle cover designs on Ravelry so I’d make MIL another one, but out of different yarn MIL is never far from a hot water bottle cover and these covers look like a much more cozy option to cuddle up to.

My fave hot water bottle cover pattern (design-wise I haven’t tried it yet!) is; All you Need – a classic.

Make Mum smile, make her something special with time and love. You know she will treasure it, and prob show all her friends too

Thoughts and prayers for everyone (like me) whose Mothers are no longer with them.

Links

• The Little Knitting Company
• Hot Water bottle Kit

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

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Adventures in Crochet

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One of the things I promised myself I’d like to try this year, has been crochet. I kept seeing such nice projects made with it, that I wanted to try it. I’d seen Wendy Poole on C&C recently, with a DVD on how to crochet, then just after Christmas there was a series of collectable magazines; Knit & stitch, which included knitting & crochet, so I gave the first couple of issues a try.

The DVD that came with issue one of Knit & Stitch magazine was excellent and covered (albeit a little too quickly) the key stitches and about increases and decreases. Issue 2 came with a crochet hook so I gave bought that too and decided to give crochet a go.

My First attempt at crochet

As you can see, I managed the first square but due to RSI issues, I had a lot of trouble with using the metal hook. Now on the knitting front, the right needle made all the difference, so the search began for hooks suitable for people with dexterity issues. My short list of hooks to try was as follows;

• Clover Soft Touch
• Tulip Etimo
• Cushion grips to use with normal hooks

In the past, I learned with knitting that plastic needles gave too much drag on yarn, so other than the one Tunisian hook that was in my late mother’s collection, I didn’t try any more plastic ones. Metal needles and hooks made my hands lock up because they are so cold. Because of the poor dexterity, I really needed something with a thicker handle, which led me to the options above. On to Ravelry, the font of knowledge on all such things and I had a good read of what others were saying about their experiences of those brands of hooks. A quick trawl through You Tube, for possible demos and the flat nature of the Clover soft touch, finally put me off. After trying a totally unsuitable pencil gripper (NOT suitable as it’s designed to put your fingers in a writing position, which was wrong angle for crochet). I ordered a Tulip Etimo hook from a seller on Ebay, who beat even Amazon prices!

The Tulip Etimo hook has a metal area where the hook is, but the handle is made of a special cushion grip, which is smooth and rubbery so not cold and not slippery. I’m posting a full review of it on a later date.

Tulip; Etimo Crochet Hook

Results

To try to limit the amount of twisting I needed to do, I used the knife style of grip on my hook. Also to reduce the twisting and bending on the wrist, I tried rotating the hook just in my fingers, instead of using my whole hand. This worked on not having to twist my hand around but sadly it seems crochet is not for me. I feared it would come under the heading of self harm with the dexterity issues I have, and at least in the winter this turns out to be the case, it was always going to be a long-shot. Even with the soft and lovely handle of the Tulip Etimo, the way I was spinning the hook, made not just my hand lock up, there was a lot of pain across the back of my hand and up my forearm to my elbow, I learned the hard way in the past NOT to ignore this kind of pain and it took over a week to settle back down, so sadly it looks like crochet isn’t for me.

Learning Curve

I’m quite sad that I couldn’t crack this, as I’d love to have made some snowflakes and some granny squares but its not worth the pain it caused and after over ten years of recovery after two operations on my wrists, to get even some of my dexterity back, I’m certainly not going to risk further tendon damage, again.

What all this has taught me, is to be wary of people who say; ‘This is suitable for people with dexterity problems’. I am guilty of making that remark myself too. Everyone’s dexterity problems are unique to them, it could be that your hands don’t function well but that fact doesn’t cause you pain, so you just need a tool that you can get hold of easily. In my case my dexterity issues not only make gripping and fine motor skills difficult, but also very painful so different tools can help but not every time.

At the end of the day, I am glad I tried crochet. It might not have worked but I am still very lucky that, at least for short periods, with long breaks between sessions and with the right materials, at least I can still knit occasionally. In future, I will try to make sure I use comments like; ‘If you have dexterity issues, these are worth looking into’. Rather than, ‘Are great for people with dexterity issues’. I’ve still got a bundle of Knitting magazines that gave details for making a blanket. So maybe over a lot of time, we still will get our hand-made blanket. Ten years DH & I have been married and only recently when we were talking about crochet, did he say he’d always liked the idea of a blanket like that Who knew?

Links

For those who would like to find out more about the hooks from my shortlist, here are links to the manufacturers.

• Clover (USA)
• Clover; Soft-touch
• Tulip Etimo

For those wanting more information on getting started with Crochet, check out these sites.

• Ravelry. An online community for those who love to; Knit, Crochet, & Spin with yarns and wools.
• Coats Crafts UK Have some great tutorials for Getting started with Crochet
• Nerdigurumi Has great tutorials, this one is all about choosing hooks
• Wendy Poole, as seen on Create and Craft has a tutorial DVD out on crochet too.
• Knit & Stitch My review of the recent knit & crochet magazine, includes links to the makers.

Amazon is a good place to look for feedback others have left about these brands and joining Ravelry is not only a great way to meet fellow yarn-a-hollics but also find out more about knitting & crochet, share patterns and discuss your questions too.

For others who find this article for research, have you found any hooks that work great for you? If so do leave a comment so others can find them too.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

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February Challenge: Try Something New

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Here we are already in February, the winter seems to be going on forever but still January has sped past. For this month’s challenge: Try Something New.

This month I’ll be sharing my recent adventure into crochet and be trying something totally different, but exactly what this is, is a secret for now.

How about you, what have you promised yourself you want to try this year? Now’s a good time to start

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

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Product Review: Knit Picks; Options; Sunstruck wood. Interchangeable needles

Welcome Back

In today’s post I will be reviewing;

Knit Picks: Options; Sunstruck Wood. Interchangeable circular knitting needles

Knit Picks: Sunstruck; Options. Interchangeable Circular Knitting Needles

Product Details

• Manufacturer/Brand; Knit Picks: Options; Sunstruck wood
• Item number: 90613
• RRP at time of writing: $84.99

Contents

• Needles: These are the sizes in US measurements and mm rather than the old UK sizing but there are lots of charts that will convert the numbers for you
• UK: 3.50, 3.75, 4.00, 5.00, 5.50, 6.00, 6.50, 8.00
• US: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10.5, 11
• Cables: 2 each of the following sizes; 24″ (60 cm), 32″ (80 cm)
• End Caps: 8.
• Cable keys: 2

The case they come in can be used to store the needles and has a separate pocket style case, for the cables and end caps. This smaller case will easily fit inside the main one and there are plenty of extra pockets in the walls of the case, to add extra needles as you collect them over time.

Knit Picks: Sunstruck; Options. Interchangeable Circular Knitting Needles

Reason For Buying

I find metal needles too cold and because of RSI issues this makes my hands lock up. Plastic needles gave too much drag with the yarn, so the search began for wooden needles. I have enjoyed knitting with light coloured birch wood needles (straight ones) in the past  but REALLY wanted to get an interchangeable set of cirular needles.

Circulars were a good plan because the weight of the project is in your lap, rather than on the needles but all the ones available in the UK were bright swirling colours (Harmonies/Symfonies depending on the branding). These too were unsuitable because of vision issues, which makes bright colours strobe like optical illusions.

I continued my search and found these Options in Sunstruck wood, on the Knit Picks website and fell in love with them.

Pros/Cons

Pros

• Birch wood
• Light coloured, no more optical illusions from multi-coloured laminates
• Smooth finish to wood and metal joints
• The metal connectors between needle and cable are super smooth and because they are in constant contact with your hand, warm up and have given me none of the chilling factor that I get from metal needles.
• Versatility. Wide range of sizes to cover many yarn types. You can also get cable connectors seperatly that will join more than one cable to another, to add even more length options, if you need to.
• End caps, so you can take the needles off when you travel or to store a project.
• The needles are small in size which makes them easy to store.
• Very light and comfortable to use

Cons

At the time of writing I have found no suppliers or importers are bringing them into the UK   Knit Picks only deliver to USA and Canada. It was only because someone I knew was going on a trip to the USA that I was able to get these. {You know who you are and that I am eternally grateful}.

Build Quality

Fantastic. The needles are superbly finished, totally smooth wood. They feel silky in the hand without having a high gloss finish that could be distracting. To describe the colouring, I’d call them standard birch colour with visible but not raised ginger in the grain.

Value for Money

Excellent. If you are lucky and live in the places they are delivered to, you have the option of buying individual needles so you can try them out to see if you like them before you get the whole set. That option also means that should you suffer any breakages you could get extra ones. I love the full set as all the sizes are so useful, now I can choose whatever yarn I fancy rather than having to remember which needles I have and only buy yarn that I could use with those.

Would I buy it Again?

YES YES YES. I desperately want to get another set as I’ve got on so well with these. I haven’t got the hang of magic loop and prefer to use the two circulars method for smaller projects.

Summing up

I know I was in love with my Brittany needles and if you want a comparison for coloring and smoothness these would be very similar. I ADORE these Options in the Sunstruck wood, because of the type of dyslexia that I have the highly coloured woods of Symfonies/Harmonies were never going to work for me. Also because there is such low light here in the winter or if you knit in the evening, the lighter coloured wood is so much easier to see to knit with.

Each needles is 4.5″ in length and the sizing listed on the cable is the final length with the needles attached to the cable.

These needles have been pure joy to knit with, so far I have used them with acrylic yarn and half acrylic / half wool both of which have been wonderful with no negatives. Fantastic with cotton which is another favorite  material.

An important point also, is that although they are intended for circular knitting because of the cable styles, there is no reason why you can’t do regular straight knitting on them. Instead of joining the work in the round, when you get to the end of the row, pass the needle to the other hand just as you would with straight pins and continue knitting. If you wanted to, because you have two of each of the cables you could attach one cable to the needle and add a cap to the other end of the cable if you still want to preserve totally separate needles for each hand.

Knit Picks: Options Sunstruck Wood. Needle attached to cable & end-cap

Links

• Knit Picks
• Options; Sunstruck Wood. Set

Please, please Knit Picks send these to UK importers. UK importers of Knit Picks, please bring these to the UK – they are amazing. I ain’t too proud to beg

Horray! Found a supplier that will ship to the UK. Check out Happy Knits from Portland OR

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

PS: Another option for lighter coloured needles that are available as fixed circulars are Knit Pro Basix. These are also pale in colour but so far they have only been available as fixed length circulars not interchangeable needles.

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Product Review: Knit & Stitch by Bergere de France. Issue 1

Welcome Back

In today’s post I will be reviewing;

Issue 1 of Knit & Sitch magazine by Bergere De France.

Bergere De France: Knit & Stich, Issue 1

Product Details

• Manufacturer/Brand; Bergere De France
• Item number; ISBN: 2049-8004
• RRP at time of writing: 99p

Reason For Buying

Having seen lots of crochet projects online and on TV I really wanted to learn to crochet. I spent so long looking into hooks that might help with my limited dexterity that the Wendy Poole DVD that I was going to buy from C&C sold out. When I saw this magazine on TV with a DVD I jumped at the chance to learn and have some patterns too.

Bergere De France: Knit & Stich, Issue 1

Contents

This first issue is an amazing price and if you want to get started in knitting & crochet GET it quick as it was out last week.

• Issue 1 of Knit & Stitch magazine
• 1 pr 3.5mm metal knitting needles 25cm long
• 2 25g balls of Bergere De France yarn
• Leaflet telling you yarn that will be used in the series
• Details of freebies offered to subscribers
• DVD

DVD run time 26 minutes, this covers the following

• Knitting:

The slip loop, cast on, knit and purl stitches, Basic stitches: Garter Stitch, Stocking Stitch, Reverse Stocking stitch, Moss stitch, Casting off. Tips section covers; Changing ball of yarn/change colour, Pick up dropped stitch, Unravel to correct a mistake.

• Crochet:

Slip knot, chain stitch, Basic Stitches; Single Crochet, Double Crochet, Half Treble, Treble, Double Treble. Increases and Decreases, Finishing.

Pros/Cons

Pros

• The needles are metal so they feel a better quality than usual cheap plastic ones often offered in such kits
• The magazine lists a website that gives lots of information about the series such as number of issues and a preview of the first issue.
• Knit & stitch guide gives details of yarns that will be used across the series and a preview of some of the patterns too
• Different sections for all levels including; Patchwork collection (knitted & crocheted squares to create the throw), Fashion makes, Easy Does it, For the Family, Home Comforts and Know How

DVD

• Run time 26 minutes
• Excellent DVD, showing lots of stitches and get you started techniques
• Clearly explained and filmed from over the shoulder of the demonstrator so easier to learn
• Narrator has a reassuring but not annoying patronising voice as on some DVDs
• No background music to distract you
• Good contrast between demo yarn and surroundings so easy to see how stitches are formed

Cons

• On the DVD  everything is very well explained but from a total novice point of view, had the stitches been shown for the entire row rather than just a couple of times, it would have helped the new skill sink in better. That said, being a DVD I can just replay a particular section over and over again till I get it.

Build Quality

Excellent. The metal needles make for a more quality thought about product than the usual cheap n sometimes nasty plastic ones often found on such magazines. The yarns are sealed in boxes, which keeps them clean and protected.

Value for Money

Excellent

Would I buy it Again?

Yes

Summing up

If you have promised yourself this is the year you want to learn to knit or crochet, get to the shops QUICK, this issue was out last week and issue two is already in store. You don’t want to miss this one as it has the instructional DVD in it. I like these kind of things for the fact that you get practice yarn, some patterns for all levels which inspires you to keep learning so you can make the harder stuff.

This particular magazine covers a range of crafts; Knitting, Crochet, Tapestry, Crewelwork, felting. Over the series it will give you the chance to try out a selection of yarn types and also collect a number of tools for your new hobby.

Will I buy them all, in real honesty, no. This is a weekly publication and although it offers a lot, the regular price will be £4.50 which I just don’t have spare on a weekly basis. Had it been fortnightly, I would have bought more of them. That said it is a wonderful quality product and if you want to try these hobbies grab it while you can, its superb.

Links

Check out the dedicated website to the Knit & Stitch magazine, it has a lot of useful info and a preview of this weeks issue.

• Knit & Stitch Collection website.
• Preview of the magazine
• Frequently asked Questions

I’m very impressed by this publication, they seem to have given a lot of thought to the presentation and the things people want to know upfront. Check out the links for more information from their website.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

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Long Winter Slipper socks

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In today’s post I’d like to share a picture of some LONG slipper socks I recently made. I picked this yarn coz I liked the colour way, I’ve since found out that Tweed is all the rage at the moment. Coo get me, cozy and in fashion, that’s a first! Just in time for the cold snap, weather people say snow is on its way! {Update came down this morning & there is a ducting of snow on the ground and more forcast for this afternoon}

Long winter slipper socks

• Yarn: Sirdar Connemara, Tweed effect chunky, Colour 355 Hornpipe. These slippers took 3 balls total 150g
• Needles: Knit Picks Sunstruck Options; 5.5 mm

The original pattern was Non Felted Slippers from Ravelry by Yuko Nakamura,  which I loved and have made as the pattern suggested before but I get very cold in the winter and have previously added a few rows of 2×2 rib to make them into ankle boots. This time I went OTT and added 50 rows of the 2 x 2 rib to give almost knee-high slipper socks.

Perfect for curling up on sofa in the evening, no more gap between slippers and ends of my trousers

Links

• Sirdar Connemara Colours currently made
• Non-felted Slippers by Yuko Nakamura

How about you, have you had chance to create yet in the new year? What new craft will you be trying in 2013.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

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