Can you handle my Glittens? They can HANDle you!

Early this year I found myself with some personal knitting time - time devoted to sitting and knitting stuff to Freddie, from Freddie. In general, I don't mind not regularly having the time to knit things for my own use though - 9 times out of 10 I don't like the colour, it doesn't fit EXACTLY how I'd like it to, I'm fed up of looking at the colour, whatever. Besides, it's more special if I'm not doing it constantly like I used to once upon a time.

I pretty much knit a pair of socks every weekend at my fiancés house. There - I admit it! Hi, my name is Freddie and I'm a sockaholic.

He's incredibly passionate about film and after nearly 10 years of enjoying each other's company I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you that it's rubbed off on me a bit. We watch several films a weekend in surround sound with lights off in mini home cinema style - and my itchy restless knitter's hands won't sit still for hours at a time. Socks are a mindless knit for me - plain ones and Jaywalkers I can pretty much do from memory, and the needles don't 'clink' and irritate us while we're watching a movie. ...I'm addicted to sockahol...

Jaywalkers I knitted over Christmas. Cosy toesies.

...But even they get a bit repetitive after a while.

So heck, where to go from there? Whenever I buy yarn, I just buy sock yarn in sock quantities. It's easy. It's cheaper than buying huge garment lots and I can have a bigger selection of yummier stuff for my money (well, sort of - you know what I mean). So I need a pattern that will work for those, but for something different - something fun - something less socky.

I knitted this sweater back in 2008 and used the leftovers to design and knit myself a pair of armwarmers. No, I don't have a picture of the armwarmers, you'll have to use your imagination - sorry. But I wear them whenever it's cold, which is pretty much half the year here in London. 2008 was a long time ago and they are looking a bit battered to say the least soI decided it was high time for a new hand-warming accessory of some description.

As a treat to myself I picked out one of my prettiest skeins of Wollmeise and found myself a pattern. A pattern, which had abruptly been made available for free in a frustrated reponse to VATMOSS by designer Julia Mueller. I'm ashamed to say that I still don't really understand what VATMOSS entails, but I understand that more tax (and more complicated tax by reigon) is now charged on downloadable products (such as PDF knitting and crochet patterns) and far more expensive a business to run for independent designers than it used to be.  Julia took the decision to leave her patterns up for free, withdrew her offer of pattern support and gave up on it all to avoid the hassle because of time constraints.

I know I'm late to the party here - you all probably already know this story!

Anyway, I'm very thankful that Julia's designs are still available - they are exquisite and an excellent alternative use of your posh stashed sock yarns. I highly recommend her patterns, they are like Cookie A's socks, but for hands. Intricate, fun to knit and amazing finished projects guaranteed to draw a few compliments.

I didn't quite choose  mittens, nor did I choose gloves. Instead I went for something in between. Allow me to introduce you to the concept of Glittens!! Drumroll please..

They are one of the few Mueller designs to use a thick yarn. Thick by my standards - an aranweight. I went along with the other Ravelry users who knitted theirs using a 4-ply Wollmeise held double. Clever, eh? And you get the hard-wearingness of a sock yarn with the thickness of a posh swishy soft aran!

So that's it, right? There you go. That's what I made. There's the picture. End of story.

Well it's not, really. Unfortunately.

The allure of knitting for me is it's freedom - the freedom to create anything you like. Anything you can imagine. Freedom which you earn by accumulating knowledge, which comes with practice and experience. It's the incentive to become a better knitter - to eventually be free to create anything you want - 3D printing from your brain. That's what drew me to the glittens even more. Julia printed them out of her brain, a totally freaky-cool accessory. Nobody else has them (well, very few people - it's not just like you can rock up to John Lewis and buy a pair, is it?).

...so is that why people stare at me on the train when I wear them? Is it because they think I've had them specially made because of a physical deformity? ...and if the latter is true, isn't it even WORSE that people are staring? Sheesh!

I opted for the warmth of mittens, freedom of movement that you'd get with regular gloves except without the clunky between-finger-bulk you usually get with a four-fingered handknitted pair (If you've ever knitted some, you'll know what I'm talking about). If you haven't, trust me - it happens. Feels like toe separators between your fingers.
...DEAL WITH IT, WORLD!

I emplore each and every one of you to knit yourself a pair of Glittens IMMEDIATELY if just so that they become a fashionable norm. Then I can keep Julia's brain prints and wear them with pride instead of shyness. I'm proud of them, I think they're beautiful.

Live long and prosper.

Guest Blog on Yarn and Pointy Sticks

Needless to say (that's Need-less, not 'needles'!) that I'm over the moon to have been invited by the lovely Clare Devine to write a guest blog for Yarn and Pointy Sticks . I'm talking double-pointed needles and thrown in various other bit's and bobs, right here. Hope you like it.

Hand Creams: I've reviewed my top five for you to try

Apologies for my prolonged absence, all. 2014 was a busy year. I'm back with a bang though, and with all this chilly UK weather, I've decided it's about time you and I talked hand creams.

Whether or you are a knitter, a nurse, or someone who just likes being outdoors - hands are easly forgotten in skincare regimes. They shouldn't be - neglecting them will leave you with poor cuticles, rough skin and weak nails. So we should all invest in a good hand cream - I've tried and tested my favourite 5 to get you started and narrow it down a bit.

1. Salcura Four Seasons Winter Skin Warming Hand Therapy £12.99/85ml (4/5)

I first came across Salcura's products at a London Allergy Show some years ago where I bought some skin sprays to try [and now swear by them]. I suffer with intermittent nasty eczema - and very sensitive skin, all the time. Salcura pride themselves on producing natural, soothing products that people like me (as well as everyone else) can enjoy. So when they bring out a new product to try, I am always excited.

Salcura Winter Skin Warming Hand Therapy samples are currently availble free with any purchase (at the time I wrote this) and I must say the cute little sample tins are perfect for keeping in your bags for emergencies where the full-sized tub is a bit on the bulky side.
 The cream itself is very light and absorbs quickly so it's perfect for any time of day. It leaves skin feeling soft and soothed with a gentle and pleasant tingling sensation. Tthe scent isn't for me - it's a blend of ginger and vanilla (both I LOVE) I just found it a little on the strong side and slightly over-sweet. Excellent value for money though and perfect on sensetive skins.

2. Eve Lom Hand Cream SPF 10 £22.10/50ml (5/5)

Don't worry, I realise the price is steep. I probably would never have tried this hand cream if it weren't for the fact that I recieved it as a gift, but I'm glad I did! Lots of people give me hand creams as gifts, which is really thoughtful. Us knitters need to keep hands smooth to stop snags and discomfort while we work, and it's nice to see my friends and family think of me that way.

I keep the tube on my desk at work so I use Eve Lom hand cream quite frequently. Much like the Salcura, it's very light and has a luxurious viscosity. It carries a very subtle almond aroma which is gorgeous. If I'm going to be knitting, however - I'll apply it no less than an hour before I whip out the needles because it can feel a little greasy and the lotion takes a little while to absorb completely. Leaves hands feeling healthy and protected.

3. Norweigan Formula Unscented Hand Cream £3.69/100ml (2/5)

I used to really love this one - it's probably one of the first ones I ever tried, but that's going back a great many years now. I've only fallen out of love with Neutrogena Norweigan Formula Unscented Hand Cream because of how greasy it is.

It's very very thick because of a rich glycerine content. I now only use it as an intensive night treatment, massaging a healthy pea-sized amount into hands, cuticles and wrists before putting on cotton gloves and going to sleep. In the morning you will find hands feel nourished, but still a bit on the greasy/sticky side. I do think however that my hands perhaps don't need such an intensive hand cream and therefore don't absorb a great deal - this cream would be far better suited to very severe dry, cracked hands with flaky skin.

4. L'OCCITANE Shea Butter Hand Cream £8.00/30ml (3/5)

I came accross this hand cream as a free sample with a magazine and must admit, I only bought the magazine so that I could try the hand cream. I'm not overly familiar with L'OCCITANE hand creams but I love looking after my hands and nails and as soon as I saw that it contained Shea Butter, I was sold and keen to try it.

I keep this one in my contingency knitting bag - at my Fiance's house. His house gets very cold so this thick, luxurious cream does come in handy. It takes a while to absorb so it's really more of an after-knitting treatment (if you swing that way!) but it's the best out of all these creams for cuticle protection - and the aroma is delicious, sweet coconut-shea scent which smells good enough to eat.

5. Vaseline Healthy Hand & Stronger Nails Hand Cream £3.99/200ml (1/5)

I used to use this one when I was working in healthcare - when you wash your hands every thirty seconds, they dry out very quickly, so the big size is useful and very cost effective.

Vaseline Healthy Hand & Stronger Nails Hand Cream is really more a lotion than a cream with a very light and runny consistency. It's pink where all the above creams don't appear to contain any artificial colourings, and has a habit of drying up around the top in unsighly thick pink lumps.

The aroma itself I can't place, it's quite heavily perfumed which I find unpleasant. But it's fine for general care and frequent applications if you don't mind the smell.

Buy yarn 'til you drop - Wollmeise confessions of a yarn addict!

It's a sombre Friday afternoon in the office, and everyone's busy working away at what they're meant to be doing. Then there's me; working on worky stuff on Ravelry, cracking out the knitting projects to sew some buttons on ready for photography, so i put on knitting TV to run in the background. 'Knitting TV?' I hear you ask, why yes friends, you've all watched it, it's the Ravelry Radar. The Ravelry radar scrolls recent posts as and when they happen, from anywhere in the world. You're reading what's being posted of the moment, like Twitter I guess.

If I'm being really indulgent I'll stick my headphones on and listen to Absolute Radio 60s, my new favourite station.

So with the world around me busying away, typing, whispered muttering in the distance, there's me with the darning needle out stitching away, lining up my buttons to buttonholes etc. Then it started: I glanced up, to see this for sale:

Now to any 'muggle' out there, these just look like two twisty things. To a basic knitter, it's 'probably yarn'. A more experienced knitter might describe this as 'very beautiful yarn'. Me, I go for screaming at the top of my lungs: 'IHAVETOHAVETHISNOWTHISISTHEBESTYARNINTHEWORLD!!!!!STOPEVERYTHING!!!!!' which in my mind sounded more like 'What beautiful skeins of Wollmeise Pure Merino, I rather like those'.

*cough*

...So let's all take a moment and think about why this is. When I described to co-workers what I had just seen jumping out of my computer screen at me (probably whilst dribbling), I got a look that definitely said 'YOU ARE CRAZY'. One described me as an 'impatient capricorn', which is a new one on me, I have to say!

In justifying my actions in buying said yarn immediately (now now now!), I was completely stuck!!!! How do I make non-knitters understand what this means to me? Why did I buy it? I think in the end, I eventually mumbled my way around to 'because they're rare as hen's teeth and sooo beautiful - I don't know when I'll get the chance to get one like this again'. But the feeling is much stronger than that, I'm really having trouble putting it into words and accurately conveying the hunger and urgency(!!!).

It was after this moment of reflectiont that Ravelry TV flashed this up on my screen, for sale from the same lady;

...I as good as fainted at this point. We're talking cartoon 'swoon' here. I had to have it, and for once I was 'on the Radar'. Any of you who have bought Wollmeise skeins will know that they disappear impossibly quickly brand new, and second-hand get snapped up pretty quick. But they're universally loved in the knitting world; a check just now (15 Jul 2014) showed 97,000+ stashed balls advertised on Ravelry. Just think about how many people don't bother taking photos and putting all the info out there. Thats A LOT.

£42 and three days later, they landed on my desk. Thud.

I'm the first to admit that I don't like Mondays, so much the same as having my lava lamp on my workdesk at home which MUST always be on when I'm working, I laid these guys next to each other just in the corner of my eye. The colours were soothing. I love colour.

It didn't take a second glance from the Friday doubters to identify 'that yarn'. One decided that the blue/ochre/purple skein was about to become a pair of socks for her for Christmas to which I smiled and nodded - it's a NO though! Another deeply mezmerized by the colours.

So that got me thinking even more - are there drugs in this yarn? Is it a sensory sensation which can and must be enjoyed by all? Who knows. But finding a common frame of reference about this stuff with non-knitters is impossible! If you have any suggestions, I'd like to hear 'em!

Lace is about to get Irished!

Like, I never even learned to crochet until about 8(?) years ago. I'd already started working for a knitting company as a demonstrator and teacher type person, but crochet was not a skill I posessed. I wasn't the only one, at that time less than half of the people working for that company in that role, were confident enough in crochet to teach customers. It's weird how knitting is more 'fashionable' or whatever, at the moment, which has basically flipped over the last 80 years, or so I am told.

In the office today it was mentioned that Woman's weekly magazine, who have been going for over 100 years, didn't publish any knitting patterns at all until near the 2nd World War. Just crochet up until then. I was proper gobsmacked by that, I mean, really? I don't picture the suffragettes and stuff crocheting, it had always, always been knitting in my mind.

I had heard about how Queen Victoria had re-invigorated the fashionability of crochet after her husband's death. One rumour I'd also heard is that she felt it looked more 'dainty' than knitting, but I can't find any actual solid details of that anywhere. I may have dreamt that one.

The article I read earlier (see above link) talked about starving peasants taking up the craft to make some money and feed themselves. It then was over-abundant and such crocheted 'Irish' lace was seen as being common and cheap. It took gifting some to Queen Victoria, who loved it enough to wear it with pride, to really make it fashionable.

The above is an example of Irish lace, a series of motifs joined together at the very end with a series of chains and treble-type stitches to form a background mesh.

I am probably the least feminie girl you will ever know, I'm a huge tomboy, an ex-kickboxer with blue hair - this stuff SHOULDN'T appeal to me. But I tell you why it does;

1. So the eventual wedding dress thing comes up from time-to-time. Ideas for what to do with mine are a never-ending sketch, and yeah, I'm thinking some panels in this Irish awesomeness. That gives me two or three years to become a ninja master at creating those delicate small motifs. Whenever I fancy a bit of teeny crochet, I can whip one up, throw it on a pile, and move on to knit some socks or whatever. My Pinterest boards kinda explain it better than my words can.
2. THE THRILL IS IN THE CHASE! It is definitely proof that crochet is nowhere near as popular as knitting at the moment, by the fact that I have to hunt high and low to find the crochet threads and hooks I like. My favourite shop for crochet stuff overall, is hands-down, PurpleLindaCrafts. She's just got a cracking range, but I still had to go to some obscure stockist for something that she didn't have. It shouldn't have to be this hard! Takes me frikking hours to find stuff sometimes.
3. Well lastly but not leastly, it's a challenge, ain't it?I do get bored with plain and repetitive projects quite easily unless I picked said project intentionally as something comatose to do in front of the TV. Irish crochet is not one of these things. It will keep me busy and challenged no end. Plus, I'll be learning!

Elanor King is going to lend me a book with some cool motifs in for me to try (thanks, Eleanor), and I've bought some crochet thread in 12, 16, 30 and 40 count to try out. I may have gone overboard there, but I still think it'll be worth it in the end with all this experimentation.

Plus I had to invest in some of these:

 If you have been living under a rock for the last few months, you may not have seen the new Amour crochet hook range from Clover. I bought the 2.00mm - 6.5(?)mm set to self-congratulate on the new job landing a couple of months back, but now I'm on the thread lace binge, I thought I'd better get the smaller ones, so they are on their way! They are worth what you pay, they are really comfortable. Feels really odd going from one of them back to a regular metal hook. Reeeeally weird.

So watch this space, basically. Lace is about to get Irished-up. Just gotta endure the withdrawal-like mail order wait for stuff to turn up. I hate that bit, don't you hate that bit?!!