busy busy busy
Things have been pretty hectic over here. 2 birthdays in the same weekend (a big scary one for me!), loads of gift knitting, finishing up my teaching assistant assignments and all the usual kid stuff and before you know it it’s over 2 weeks since my last post!
The purple knit up there is destined to be a gift. It’s ‘Young Miss’ and will hopefully be just right for my niece, although I have some concerns about size. The pattern is well-written if slightly unconventional but I’m on the home stretch now so more on that later. I am itching to get it off the needles so that I can have a play with all the gorgeous yarn I received as birthday gifts – it’s killing me letting it sit there untouched.
And that comment post? It was really interesting to read the varying opinions and I had a ton of naughty fun replying to people who had instructed me not to. 
Seriously though. Blogging is different to everyone. My main reason for starting Joli House was that I was in a knit-free zone friendwise and I wanted someone to drone on to. Dave tried to be enthusiastic about my new-found hobby but he does tend to glaze over after about 10 minutes yarn talk. Anyway, the plan worked and I’ve made lots of fantastic on-line friends via blogging, and of course I now have my knitting fairy. 
From your comments it sounds like you’re all pretty chilled about whether you get a reply but lots of you do like the occasional interaction of some kind. I can’t ever see myself wanting to abandon the replies completely and I’ll certainly never going to kick the blog-reading habit, but I’m going to be pretty realistic because if things go to plan I’ll find a full-time position in a school soon. So. Thanks again for all your comments. They made interesting reading and I look forward to hearing again from those who de-lurked for the occasion – even if I’m not allowed to reply.
Filed under: family, knitting | 25 Comments
Tags: blogging, knitting
comments
Ok…I need your input here. The Joli House readership is steadily growing. Conversely I actually have a lot less time on my hands now that I’m out of the house such a lot. In fact, if it wasn’t for Lily there’d be an absolute dearth of FOs to show you.
This is where you come in. I need to know how you deal with comments on your blogs or indeed how you like other bloggers to deal with them if you are blogless. When I first started Joli House I was lucky to get 2 comments a week. I had plenty time on my hands and all comments had a reply straight away. Well things have changed a little, and whilst the Yarn Harlot has nothing to worry about we do get a lot more comments these days.
I am still of the opinion that I should at least try to respond to all comments. This however has been a challenge of late and not because of comment volume either. The WordPress comment reply system means that replies get posted on the blog. I’ve searched the forums and have been unable to establish whether or not the commenter is notified of my reply so if you can clarify this then please do let me know.
If I’m honest this method of comment reply really doesn’t work for me. I comment on dozens of blogs and rarely check back with them for replies. There are also occasions when I don’t want all of my replies to be completely public. Some of you will already know about the sweater I have been secretly knitting for Lily’s birthday – well so does she now. It’s my own fault as I inadvertently hit ‘reply’ to a couple of comments and they got posted on the blog. Of course Lily was quick to spot them in the brief 30 minutes before deletion. AAAGGH!
I have been replying to comments via e-mail and using cut and paste creatively so that you have some idea what on earth I am replying about – or even who I am! Of course this all takes even more time and I am quite sure that I’m not keeping track of everything and that some comments are going unanswered. I’m realistic enough to accept that neither me nor any other blogger can answer every single comment on every single post, but I think it’s so off-putting to regularly comment on a blog and never get a reply or any other interaction with the blogger. Happens a lot and I honestly don’t see the point in blogging that way. I like the blogging experience to be a bit more sociable. My personal preference for acknowledgement of a comment is a return blog visit/comment because that’s how I’ve found some fantastic blogs. Do I sound like a control freak now?
Anyway, have a little think and let me know which you prefer?
- a reply on my blog
- a reply via e-mail
- a return blog visit/comment
- or do you not even want or expect a reply?
Enough waffling now. Back to my outed secret knitting!
Filed under: family, home, knitting | 52 Comments
Tags: blogging, knitting
Overfaced? Us?
You’d be forgiven for thinking that our blog silence meant lack of material. Er, no.
We have been casting on something crazy over here. Up there is Lily’s Vine yoke cardigan.
And next up we have her Veronique cardigan which she has artfully posed as a mini person for the photograph!
And here’s my version….
Both our Veroniques have been cast aside for a little while as they are such a boring knit. Trying to ignore them actually. Especially since casting on these stripy lovelies. I’m finding the Zauberball addictive.
Obviously not quite addictive enough though as I was talked into test-knitting an Aira for Lily!
Lily has managed to keep up with the TTL KAL during this period of knitting madness too. Alas, mine were ripped out in disgust at the flabby fabric I was creating. I will have another crack at them later when I have made a dent in my WIP list.
Another smaller project of Lily’s next. The mitten is her own design but she has yet to knit its mate. Not sure if this will ever get written up properly as the pattern looks awful complicated to me. I think some designs are just meant to be one-offs. Never say never though!
So as you can see. We are not short of knitting at Joli House. And this isn’t the half of it! There is also secret gift knitting that we can’t show you yet.
I actually have a lot less knitting time these days as I help out in a school every weekday morning whilst I get my Teaching Assistant qualification sorted. Thankfully it is the half-term break at the minute so hopefully we will get caught up a little by next week. I may even manage to post without a 3 week gap
Before I sign off I need to say a big thank you to everyone for being so supportive of Lily’s venture into designing! Thank you to Aira test-knitters, Rav-queuers and commenters – you really make her day!
Lily’s turn to be photographer/photo processor for this post - can you tell she just loves a vignette!
Filed under: family, home, knitting | 16 Comments
Tags: knitting
aira
Lily has had her designing head on again. This beret will be known as Aira but we’ve yet to decide if it’s a success or not.
As the yarn overs and their corresponding decreases do not sit side-by-side, the resulting fabric has a tendency to pucker. In fact, pre-blocking it had more than a hint of the hedgehog about it! It was difficult to know how much to try and flatten it whilst wet, but in the end we decided to be fairly gentle and allow the fabric to do just do it’s own thing. She’s ended up with a rather pretty pleated effect which we really like, but I suspect you’ll love it or hate it.
I love how Lily did the crown decreases on Aira. The design makes me think of seashells, especially in the pinky cream yarn. Talking of yarn, this is The Natural Dye Studio Alpaca merino 4-ply. It feels quite dense and very warm, especially the hemmed picot edging which is of course double thickness.
I’ll probably have a go at her pattern myself pretty soon, but in the meantime if you fancy having a crack at it before Lily has decided whether it’s fit for Ravelry, then let me know in the comments and I’ll get it e-mailed to you. The pattern should be written up in the next day or two.
Oh and the name? Another one of our favourite Cumbrian spots.
Filed under: family, knitting | 42 Comments
Tags: beret, knitting
molly
Pattern: Molly by Alana at Never not Knitting.
Yarn: 4-ply shetland in grey and Artesano 4 ply alpaca in Ecuador.
Needles: 2.25mm and 3.25mm circs and DPNs.
Modifications: none.
My first autumn knit. This is a snuggly stashbuster if ever I knew one. The grey yarn is leftover from Clouds and I have enough of the gold colour to make another Molly.
I very nearly gave up on this when I realised I’d made the most novice of mistakes and twisted the cast on row. Can you believe I didn’t notice until I’d nearly finished the lace portion? Rip, rip, rip.
It’s a lovely little pattern and I see Alana has posted a single colour version now that is equally cute so you never know – I may well knit more.
The photos show Molly unblocked as we wanted to shoot it before we lost the light, but I think it will benefit from at least a light dampening to even out those stitches.
Now I’m trying to decide whether I should knit a few more accessories or get on with the autumn project that’s been hibernating since Christmas. As I’m sure you all know Kirsten is starting another Mystery Sock KAL on Thursday and Lily and I both intend to join in. Anyone else having a go?
Filed under: family, knitting | 22 Comments
lala
Pattern: La-la by Kat Coyle from ’Greetings from the Knit Cafe’.
Yarn: Rowan kid silk haze. Less than half a skein each of Grace and Cocoa.
Needles: 6mm.
Modifications: Only used 2 colours.
What a quick knit this was. Lily decided to make it as a gift for my friend Carol’s 40th birthday. The main body of the shawl took about half a day and the edging about the same again.
I did actually knit myself a La-la in a time pre-blog, but I used a thicker mohair yarn and it’s nowhere near as lovely as Lily’s version. You just can’t beat KSH for this project.
I think this would make a perfect Christmas gift for any girly teacher who would appreciation it’s frillyness. There’s more than enough yarn left to make at least one more so it’s an excellent project for those odd skeins of kid silk.
And it can be finished much quicker than socks!
Filed under: family, knitting | 14 Comments
Tags: knitting, scarf
Aestlight
Pattern: Aestlight by Gudrun Johnston at The Shetland Trader.
Yarn: Opal base hand-dyed by Indigo yarns of Penrith.
Needles: 4mm.
Modifications: None.
Not the best photographs of this FO, but it’s a struggle to fit in a daylight photo shoot these days. We had to get these done in about 5 minutes before dashing off to dance class tonight. Lily really enjoyed knitting this pattern, and I agree with her that it has a beautiful shape. It sure took me by surprise how wide it was after blocking!
The yarn was the ‘fee’ that I paid Lily for seaming my cardigan a few weeks ago. The Opal isn’t the softest of yarns but what it lacks in texture it more than makes up for in shade. So many of the shawls we’ve made are objects of beauty but not entirely wearable colour-wise. Not this one. This one will sit well with lots of things – hers and mine.
Filed under: family, knitting | 24 Comments
Tags: knitting
Aeolian
Pattern: Aeolian by Elizabeth Freeman at Knitty.
Yarn: BFL lace from in Marine by Krafty Koala .
Needles: 3.75mm
Modifications: None
Well now I know why any sentence with the word “nupp” in it so often contains an expletive or 6 too! These little blighters tested me, they really did. I made the same mistake so many times I lost count. I’m no good at fixing screw-ups in lace but luckily Lily came to the rescue on more than one occasion (I’m beginning to treat her like my personal knitting fairy!)
I’ve been drooling over this pattern since it was released but hadn’t found the perfect yarn until a few weeks ago when Gemma turned up at knit night with bags and bags of gorgeous yarn. It was exactly the colour I’d been searching for so I snapped it up. My favourite thing about the shawl is how the edging has an almost outlined look and I think the deep blue really shows this off.
It took 2 of us about 90 minutes to pin this out for blocking – a very frustrating process, especially as other knitters seem to have found it so easy. In fact, the blocking is possibly the only thing that would put me off knitting another Aeolian because I really love the finished item. I’ve noticed a stockinette version on Ravelry that is just beautiful – the edging stands out even more against all that smooth stockinette. I’ll maybe have a little lace break first though!
Filed under: family, knitting | 34 Comments
Tags: knitting, lace
vilai
Pattern: Vilai from Sock Innovation by Cookie A.
Yarn: Panda Silk. Approx 1.5 skeins.
Needles: 2.25mm for rib. 2.5mm for leg and foot.
Modifications: continued ribbing and cable into toe.
Lily finished these just in time for the KAL on Ravelry. We’ve had plenty of knitting time this week as the weather has been absolutely foul in Ambleside. Luckily we took a stack of yarn away with us!
I love the way she’s continued the pattern onto the toe, although it does accentuate her pixie pointy toes a little. These socks definitely wouldn’t have suited my stubby little toes!
…btw….the girly evening was a massive success! By the end of the evening you’d have sworn I’d been spiking their drinks though, as they ended up in the garden singing Taylor Swift songs at the top of their voices – a real ‘pink’ bonding exercise if ever I knew one!
Filed under: family, knitting | 30 Comments
Tags: knitting, socks
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