Thursday 18 October 2007

Working for a Living....

....sure gets in the way of knitting!

Work has suddenly become really busy- which I'm not complaining about because I love work best when the day flies by and I've got good, interesting stuff to get my teeth into. The downside is that knitting has to take a back seat as the work day gets a lot longer.


But all is not lost. Last Sunday I watched a bit of afternoon television and tackled tea cosy number 1 while enjoying (not for the first time) The Princess Bride. It was a fun knit, and I love the loopy sheep I ended up with.

Well, except for the fact that he's WAY TOO BIG for any teapot I own.

I pondered my lovely creation a while, and then decided action was needed. I threw it into the washing machine, and 35 minutes later I had a smaller, less loopy, more sort of 'bobbly' sheep tea cosy. Which I also love. AND which fits my teapot!
So - alls well that ends well. It was knit on 4mm needles using some brandless wool I bought last week using the pattern from The Tea Cosies book. Although the fact that I used 100% wool meant I could felt the result, it does make the cosy a little - well, ummm - impractical. Oh well!

The sheep cosy made it into the office to be shown to a few colleagues and I can confirm that, if you want to impress non-knitting type people, forget the Nieblings -- go for a sheep tea cosy (or an iPod sock). There was much oohing and aahing and immediate requests for tea cosies from many corners. (The Caked Crusader in fact was so enthusiastic that she's already named her yet to be cast on tea cosy.)

I also managed to finish these socks for my gorgeous goddaughter G. She thought that were 'very cool' which is high praise from a 13 year old. They are modified Monkeys knit using Middle Earth Yarns 'Captain Jack' colourway. Captain Jack yarn contains the many colours of the dapper Johnny Depp character from Pirates of the Carribbean. It creates a great spiral swirl of colours as it is knit up in this pattern.

The Monkey modification is one I've used before -- simply replacing the purl stitches with knit stitches. I also replaced the heel flap with an afterthought heel to keep the colours swirling......
This leaves me pondering my next project....but that will have to wait for now as a little more work calls.....

22 comments:

Adrienne said...

How cute and I love your socks!!!!

Anonymous said...

The sheep cozy is just wayyyyy too cute! Can't wait to make one myself!

fleegle said...

I think both of then are too oool! I'd make a tea cozy, but I don't have a teapot. Looking forward to the Caked Crusaderr--whatever that is!

fleegle said...

oool==cool
I am so bad a typist!

Anonymous said...

HEHEHE! That's a fabulous sheepie.

z's momma said...

I love the tea cozy. Especially felted version.

Angelika said...

That sheep is to cute. I think I've seen it before, but I don't have a tea or a coffee pot. Too bad.

susubee said...

Cutest.Thing.Ever...Really! It's adorable. I actually think I like the felted version better - maybe fate came along and shrunk your teapots on purpose to lead to your bobbly-sheep revelation!

Linda said...

I really like the tea cosy, was he from the book you showed us a while ago?

LittleBerry said...

love the tea cosy.... I drink quite a bit of tea during the day and it usually gets brewed in the cup... if I had one of these I would be using my teapot!!!!!

The socks look great too, the pattern is very effective with the colourway....

& have earmarked the caked crusaders blog now.... that lemon cake looks great but not good for my waistline ;)

Viknits said...

Fantastic tea cosy!!! Love it!! Will have to start drinking brews from a pot instead of straight into the mug! Love the socks too!
I'm wondering Soo, do you think I'll be able to get the Tea Cosy book at the Knitting & Stitching Show at all?? If not I'll tactfully send my OH the link to it ;)

Viknits said...

I'm compiling a list you see of stuff to get at the show, because at Woolfest I didn't know what to get so ended up making poor choices!!
Added you on Ravelry, what an inspiring site it is! I wonder if there's a group for doilies or Nieblings.. not that I can get started yet but y'know!

mimiasovitch said...

I love your sheep sooooooo much. Especially as we're a household with a deep love of tea, teapots and other tea related accessories (that would be the cosy).

LittleBerry said...

soo you'd have a swallowtail knit up in a couple of days easily!!!!

Unknown said...

Now I need to buy the Tea Cosies book.......

Holly said...

Your cozy is so cute! And I think the Princess Bride would be a great movie to knit to - I'll have to remember that when Christmas is drawing near and I need to put in some serious knitting time!

Anonymous said...

The tea cozy is awesome! I like the bobbly felted effect.
The socks are pretty too, that's a smart idea, replacing the purls for knits, I'll have to remember that!

cpurl17 said...

It's adorable!!!

Batty said...

For somebody with loads of work, you still do incredible amounts of knitting. Love the cute little sheep cozy, and the socks are very pretty too.

Fiona Reynolds said...

Great socks - have a skein of Captain Jack winging its way to me. Love your sheep cosy. That is very cool.

The Caked Crusader said...

Less talk, more action! Where's my tea cosy???

www.best-essays.co.uk said...

Sheep are so cute! Wonderful stuff! They make me smile))