Zyle Knits » knitting

Cookies, Cloths and Crochet

Zyle — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:05:33 +0000

I thoroughly enjoyed my little forray into baking last weekend so have decided to try and make it a semi-regular thing! I’d make it outright regular but damn, there’s a lot of sugar in this stuff huh?! Anyway I decided to go for chocolate chip cookies this weekend and I have to say, I was mighty impressed with the results!

Here is the recipe I used:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 large egg,beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5

Mix together all the ingredients except the flour and chocolate chips. Stir the flour in slowly, it will form a thick dough. Stir the chocolate chips in until they are evenly distributed through the dough. This might take a bit of doing, the dough will be really stiff!

Drop the dough onto a greased baking tray in little balls – mine were about the size of an egg. I dropped them about 2 inches apart and they expanded so much that they were just touching when they finished baking. If, like me, you are a novice baker, you might need to experiment a bit to see how much they grow. I was really surprised how much they did! Pop them in the oven for about 8-10 minutes, then wait until they cool and then use a fishslice/spatula to remove them from the tray.

And here they are! Not too crunchy, not too squishy – they came out perfectly, although the edge of the cookies that was all the way in the back got a little crispy. I think next time I’d use more chocolate chips though, the dough really spreads when it bakes and the ratio of chips to dough seems to look a lot more in dough form. I’m going round for dinner with some of my girlfriends tomorrow night and can’t wait to see the look on their face when I produce a box of homemade cookies! (They know me very well… cookies is the last thing they’ll expect. Bwaha!) How cute is this tin, by the way? I saw it in M&S the other day and had to buy it – although I’ll definitely be using it for cookies now that the crackers are finished!

I’ve also been busy with my peaches and creme – the need for more dishcloths has been outweighting the lure of the blanket this week. I know I could just buy some but when they knit up in an hour and look so pretty, and work so much better, I can’t resist just cracking on with them. So I’ve managed to get three cheery little wipes finished over the weekend and have started on the next one.

I also felt the need, now that I’ve got the basics of crochet sussed, to try following an actual pattern rather than a tutorial, and decided to have a go at a quick little project I wanted to make for my mum last christmas. I had no idea what I was doing and couldn’t even start it, so ended up knitting one for her. I’ve been holding a quiet grudge against this particular pattern ever since. I wasn’t going to let this little blighter that everyone was rating as “piece o’ cake” on Ravelry beat me! And I’m really pleased I decided to try it, here’s the result!

I added a little scallopy edge around the top for prettys. I love the way it’s pooled – or “puddled” as mum calls it! These are definitely puddles. The back kind of mirrors the front colours, I think it’s really cool. I’ve popped in a bar of my favourite soap and now it hangs there in the shower, waiting for me cheerfully in the morning!

Peaches and Creme

Zyle — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:18:04 +0000

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve become rather addicted to knitted dishcloths. If you’d said this to me two years ago, I’d have looked at you as if your head had fallen off. Much the way most people look at me when I mention it, I suppose. But if you’ve ever used one, you understand! They’re so sturdy, and the texture is a fantastic scrubber without being abhrasive (depending on your pattern of course.) Today, after my first day back at work following a lovely week of lounging at home, the perfect surprise was waiting for me on my door mat. Ok, it wasn’t that big a surprise considering I just ordered it on Friday, but I’d temporarily forgotten about it, so it was technically a surprise!

4 balls of delicious Peaches & Creme!! It’s just the best cotton for dishcloths. Look at it, the colours are amaaaazing. I could just eat it up! So, now I have plenty of cloths to knit during my lunch-breaks. Double whammy! Lunchtime was becoming problematic – I can’t cope with just sitting chatting after finishing my sandwich any more, my hands need to be busy! I’ve become good enough at socks that I can try adventurous patterns, but not so good that I can hold a conversation whilst knitting them, and the blanket has way too much faffing with different colours to be considered a portable project, so I’m thoroughly delighted to have something to rattle on with mindlessly. Should keep me going for a few weeks!

Summer Swap

Zyle — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:05:14 +0000

We on the Phoenix Knitting Forums recently decided to do a summer themed swap! The rules were simple; make something summery based on the questionnaire answers given by your swappee, and add goodies to the parcel to make the total value of the parcel up to £10. What fun!! I do love swaps, this was only the second one I have done – the first being a little dishcloth swap which has got me well and truly hooked on peaches & creme dischloths – and it was great fun trying to come up with ideas. I eventually decided on a bag from knitty called Itsy Bitsy, a little Flourish bookmark made from left over merino sock yarn, some stitch markers that I made and a little box of choccies. Itsy Bitsy is a great pattern, I learnt a few new techniques and stitches while making it, including crochet cast on which I had been meaning to learn for ages!

And I received the most wonderful package from Clicky Needles, with a beautiful crocheted bag – I’m so impressed by how neat it is – a fab little notebook and pencil which is made from an actual stick, two baileys truffles and some pompom makers! (The cat was not included, Zara just likes poking her nose in when I’m trying to take photos!)

While I’m posting swap pics, here’s the lovely package I received from Phantom Knitter for the dishcloth swap.

And the cloth I sent – I didn’t take a picture with the goodies unfortunately, but I sent a lovely soap from Lush and some white Thorntons choccies.

I do love swaps, I can’t wait for the next one!

Why we Stash

Zyle — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:55:45 +0000

Non knitters often look at me like I’m whacko when I start discussing knitting. It’s usually right around the time I start describing The Stash. My own Stash – and it deserves enough respect to be made into a proper noun, I think – is, sadly, not yet the fearsome beast I wish it was. I have amassed a few skeins of lovely sock yarn, and the odd ball of this and that, and whilst it now fills a 4 drawer unit and two large ziplock bags, I’m sad to say it pales in comparison to many of the beautiful Stashes I’ve seen out there. I get very jealous and whistful flicking through Ravelry.

I find it difficult, bringing myself to take a skein from my stash and winding it into a ball. Particularly when it is a single skein of beautiful sock yarn. I know once it’s knitted, it’s going to turn into something even more wonderful, and the joy of it running through my fingers and enjoying it “become” will be better than the skein just sitting there looking at me. Once it’s finished I even get to wrap it all around myself (well, my feet!) and enjoy its squishy goodness, and even better, show it off to the rest of the world! But there’s just something about skeins, curled up, all pretty and tempting…

They’re so full of promise and anticipation, waiting to burst into something even more beautiful. I love to just sit smooshing a skein, taking in the colours and the textures, so full of promise. What could it become?! That’s one of the many things I love about knitting, as much as the therapeutic movements of the needles, and watching the stitches slowly work their way into fabric, I love the possibilities. The planning, plotting, scheming… I spend many an excitable hour poring over my stash and then poring over patterns trying to form the perfect marriage of yarn and pattern. Mind you, once it’s unskeined, it gives me a good excuse to go and buy more. If it’s on the needles it doesn’t count as Stash any more – never mind how much of the garment has actually been knitted!

I think the best thing about The Stash is though, you can plot and scheme about your next project whilst doing completely boring, non-knitting related tasks (like that housework thing people talk about. I never really understood the concept myself, but do try to participate in it, at least occasionally). Letting my mind wander back to The Stash always makes all the crap in life far easier to handle!

A Little Bit of Lace

Zyle — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:17:20 +0000

I’m a huge admirer of people who knit lace. I’ve seen so many beautiful shawls and wraps and I wish I would ever have anywhere to go in such an item. Unfortunately, were I to make such a thing it would just end up languishing in a cupboard somewhere, because even if I did ever have occassion to wear a shawl, I think I’d look a right turkey in one! So I can’t stand the idea of putting such a huge amount of effort into making something that would never get used. However, after a bit of a disaster with the Great American Aran Afghan which had put me off charts a few months ago, I wanted to overcome my chart-phobia so I decided I needed to find something lacey that I could actually wear. In the process, I discovered that half the battle with charts is understanding which end to start from, and the other half is keeping track of where you are in the pattern… So once I had grasped the concept of starting at the end with the number next to it, and prepared mysef with a little whiteboard and magnetic rulers to cover the row above the one I was on (thus forcing me to remember to move the marker up every row – you can’t carry on without forgetting to mark your place if you can’t see the next row!) I was ready for action.

My mum found a beautiful pattern called the Essential Tank from a great book called Lace Style. Instead of doubling laceweight as the pattern suggested, she tried it with a dk cotton/bamboo blend and it worked out great! Luckily for me, she had 2 balls left over when she was done in the most gorgeous, summery bright pink colour, so I decided to give it a go too as my first proper lace project. I’m pretty thrilled with the result! And even happier that today was warm enough to wear it to work, hoorah!

I made a bit of a modification to it, because I saw a few project photos on Ravelry which had a rather drapey neck and I wanted it to sit flat instead of gaping forwards. I was also not too keen on how it changes to the “small lace pattern” at the top, so I just carried on with the main large petal pattern, and began decreasing sooner than it asked for and just made the straps longer. Seems to have worked rather well! The colour is much brighter than in either of the pictures below – I really must learn how to use my camera properly one of these days so that it can capture the proper colour of things.

Pattern: Essential Tank from Lace Style
Yarn: King Cole Bamboo Cotton – Shade: 63916

Introductions and a Knitting Meme!

Zyle — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:09:34 +0000

Hello! I’m Zyle, I’m 25 and I’ve been knitting for a little over a year now. I host the forums for the wonderful community over at Phoenix Knitting Forums. It’s a lovely place, and if you’re looking for some knitterly friends you should come and meet the ladies! Besides knitting, I also enjoy music and play cello and guitar, and a little piano. I’m also a quite a gamer and enjoy PC and Xbox gaming, although that’s taken a back seat since I started knitting! I studied law at university, but now work in Search Engine Marketing which I’m really enjoying. I have a lovely boyfriend who I have been with for about 7 and a half years, and a beautiful kitty called Zara, whom we rescued from the RSPCA about 18 months ago. She enjoys helping me knit!

So that’s me in a very small nutshell – on to more interesting, yarn related things! I’ve forgotten where I first saw the Knitting Meme but it looks like a brilliant way to track progress, and I thought it would be a good way to introduce myself. So here goes! Bold means I’ve done it, Italics means I plan to do it at some point and plain means I have no plans to try, but you never know!

Afghan/Blanket

American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)

Baby items

Bobbles

Button holes

Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)

Cardigan

Charity knitting

Continental knitting

Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers

Darning

Designing knitted garments

Domino knitting (modular knitting)

Drop stitch patterns

Dyeing with plant colors

Dyeing yarn

Entrelac

Fair Isle knitting

Freeform knitting

Fulling/felting

Garter stitch

Gloves

Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)

Hair accessories

Hat

Holiday related knitting

Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)

I-cord

Intarsia

Jewelry

Kitchener BO

Knitting a gift

Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine

Knitting and purling backwards

Knitting art

Knitting for a living

Knitting for pets

Knitting for preemies

Knitting in public

Knitting items for a wedding

Knitting on a loom

Knitting smocking

Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars

Knitting to make money

Knitting with alpaca

Knitting with bamboo yarn

Knitting with banana fiber yarn

Knitting with beads

Knitting with camel yarn

Knitting with cashmere

Knitting with circular needles

Knitting with cotton

Knitting with dog/cat hair

Knitting with DPNs

Knitting with linen

Knitting with metal wire

Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn

Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn

Knitting with silk

Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn

Knitting with soy yarn

Knitting with synthetic yarn

Knitting with wool

Knitting with your own handspun yarn

Lace patterns

Long Tail CO

Machine knitting

Mittens: Cuff-up

Mittens: Tip-down

Moebius band knitting

Norwegian knitting

Olympic knitting/Ravelympic knitting

Participating in a KAL

Pillows

Publishing a knitting book (you never know…)

Purses/bags

Reminding someone how to knit

Rug

Scarf

Shawl

Short rows

Shrug/bolero/poncho

Slip stitch patterns

Slippers

Socks: toe-up

Socks: top-down

Steeks

Stockinette stitch

Stuffed toys

Swatching

Sweater

Teaching a child to knit

Teaching a female how to knit

Teaching a male how to knit

Textured knitting

Thrummed knitting

Toy/doll clothing

Tubular CO

Twisted stitch patterns

Two end knitting

Writing a pattern