Blog – Nicolew

May 23, 2021

Sailor Sammie of the Seven Seas

When your sister-in-law is a sailor who travels the globe, what do you do?

Well, you make a doll version of her as a pirate to be a mascot and accompany her on adventures of course!

Sam showed me a picture of a pirate doll that she found, and I instantly fell in love and knew she had become real in our household.

We commenced the search for the pattern and found her!

She’s a Croc’s Betty pattern called Pearl the Pirate and can be found on Ravelry here or directly from her website here.

We worked out a colour scheme, and I began to buy our chosen colours in Scheepjes Catona.

The instructions on the pattern were very clear. When I started the hair, I wasn’t sure how it was going to work or look, but I followed the instructions as written, and ended up with a full set of curls for our Sammie Doll.

As I move through creating the legs, torso, arms and head, we realised how much we underestimated the size of this doll. She’s a really decent size, and has a bit of heft to her when she’s done.

I haven’t use moveable arms and legs often in the past, as I find them too fiddly to implement, but again, the instructions were clear and I followed them to the last letter. I ended up with a well made doll who has posable arms and legs.

Inside the doll, I used wooden skewers (trimmed and sanded down) to support her hefty head, as well as trimmed plastic discs made from the lids of pringles, in the soles of her shoes.

The doll came together fast, and this is a designer that I won’t be afraid to purchase from again in the future.

A side note about the pattern format.

When you purchase a pattern, it will be in a PDF format that are images, and are heavily watermarked with your name.

There are two reason why this irked me:

I usually use Adobe Acrobat Reader app to highlight lines that I’ve completed. As an image, it is unable to recognise the text lines.
The watermark is invasive, and makes the text difficult to read. Not impossible, just a little annoying.

I understand the need to protect designers copyrights, and that there are a lot of Russian sites filled with stolen designs. However, there is a balance between protecting your rights, and impeding on the experience of those who choose to purchase from you. There is a line between the two, and unfortunately, this isn’t it.

Is it still worth buying the pattern? Yes, I think so, but if you have screereaders or have difficulty reading text, you may have to contact the designer to provide a more readable version.

August 16, 2020

Mini Technicolour Dreamcoats

I wanted to make a couple of little cardigans for my two gorgeous nieces – aged 2 and 5. I went through Ravelry and looked at a myriad of standard knit cardigans for little girls. I saved a few designs, but none jumped out at me enough to go all in and purchase the yarn required. I wanted something unique.

As I was mindlessly scrolling through Facebook (as you do), one of the crochet groups I was following popped up with a post of a little girl wearing a fantastic rainbow coat! I hadn’t considered crochet for a coat, and I loved how bright and childlike the coat was, with texture and patterns everywhere. I knew instantly the girls would love it, as they gravitate towards anything rainbow.

I hunted down the pattern to be Mini Technicolor Dream Coat by Earth Tricks – and purchased it from Ravelry.

My first challenge was that the pattern uses Knit Picks yarn. I don’t have an issue with Knit Picks, but with the pandemic still causing chaos around the globe, I didn’t want to order from the USA. I wanted to use acrylic so it would be soft and not irritate the girls’ skin. The coats use 17 different colours – so I needed a brand with a wide range of shades – and a reasonable price tag.

I wanted to match the colours as close as possible to the original design, so using the same technique I used to match the colours for Peter Rabbit and Friends, I set to work.

I ended up using half Paintbox Yarns Simply Aran and half Stylecraft Special Aran. I had heard the two brands were very similar – I had used Stylecraft before, though not Paintbox. I matched the colours as close as I could – though there were a handful I had pick that were significantly different.

Here is an image of the reference sheet I made to remember which colours to use in the pattern.

For those that cannot read my writing, here is the reference typed:

SC = stylcraft special aran
PB = Paintbox simply aran
**replace with emporer, purple was too close to plum

Lady slipper	SC Pale Rose
Freesia	SC Wisteria
Mulberry	SC Purple**
Celestial	SC Royal
Cornflower	SC Aspen
Cornflower	SC Storm Blue
Marina	PB Marine Blue
Grass	PB Grass Green
Alfalfa	PB Spearmint Green
Avocado	PB Lime Green
Custard	PB Banana Cream
Canary	PB Buttercup Yellow
Caution	SC Saffron
Orange	SC Spice
Coral	SC Raspberry
Paprika	SC Copper
Red	PB Rose Red
Wine	PB Red Wine

After my order was delivered, I set to work. I started on Saturday, 12th of July, and managed to make good progress within the first weekend.

I did however, run into a few challenges (which I didn’t expect).

The first challenge, was that I had never come across a pattern with so many errors in it. I have occasionally come across typos and even more rarely, errors with stitch counts, but it became clear early on, that this pattern had not been tested.

This pattern comes in multiple sizes, and when you purchase it, you will receive 2 PDF’s. The one I was using had three sizes included in it – nothing unusual to begin with.

However, within the first few rows, it was clear that the original pattern draft was made following the smallest size, with the larger sizes added as an afterthought. I initially thought it was just a minor error at the beginning – but it does continue with similar errors throughout the whole pattern. Although I was able to muddle my way through – comparing my work to the pictures, then undoing and redoing sections – it is a little frustrating to have to do this – especially considering I paid for the pattern… and it wasn’t cheap.

The first error I stumbled upon was that it doesn’t account for extra rows when going up a size. This means that with the extra rows added in as advised, it guides you to go through the ‘back loops only’ on the wrong row. Most of the time this happened, I realised half way through and had to redo two rows – there are even a few where I’ve just left the error in, because it was too time consuming to go back.

This also happened on the Katherine wheels – which are repeated later with the same omission – where it forgets to tell you to go through the back loops only. The image shown clearly has done this. I had already gone through the both loops, and redid a couple of rows with BLO. I decided I like both loops better, as I found the BLO was not tight enough and was pulling on my stitches too much. The instructions for the Katherine wheels were also a little sketchy, with no real indication of how to do a ‘half wheel’ and maintain stitch count. Again, I fudged my way through – sometimes having to redo the rows a few times to get it right – but this section is not for the faint hearted, easily frustrated, or beginner crocheters. I’d suggest that if you don’t want to faff around, replace the Katherine wheel rows with squiggly or other decorative options.

Even after making my way through the minefield that was the Katherine wheels, my stitches were entirely too tight. Luckily, the green ones are at the waist, and the cinching looks almost intentional. I made a mental note to go up a hook size when these bad boys made a return later on in the pattern.

I work full time during the day, so I worked on the coats in the evenings and tried to add a couple of rows each night. I progressed fairly quickly, now that I had worked through understanding what each row should look like, and to make adjustments as I went.

By the end of the next weekend, I had completed the sleeves. Which left me to work on the hood throughout the week and adding the final border.

By the following weekend, I had put the hood and the border on the larger coat, but wasn’t happy with the result of the border. If you notice in the image below, the top crochet linning stitch in the lighter purple, doesn’t cover the underneath dark purple border neatly, it was sticking out and looked messy. It was something I didn’t like, so I spent the weekend undoing the border and starting again.

When I did it the first time, I went in between the stitches on the side, and between multiple strands to make sure it was strong, and wouldn’t pull off or stretch. When I redid it, I ensure to only go through one or two strands, and not in between stitches. I used the very edge of the last stitch from the row I was attaching to.You can see the tidy up went as planned, and I made sure to do it the same way on the smaller one.

I got there in the end. There was a lot of trial and error, and a lot of rework that shouldn’t have been necessary with correct and precise instructions. So my warning to you if you decide to complete this project, is to look at the photos on the instructions first to figure out where/if the following rows require BLO or not. There are also a couple of spots with incorrect stitch counts listed – though it is fairly obvious it is a typo. I’m a little annoyed at how much I paid for a pattern that clearly has not been tested, but I also came out (after a lot of perseverance) with a couple of beautiful coats to send to my nieces – so I can’t stay too mad.

Enjoy the gallery of the finished pieces below, whilst I tick one more project off my list!

August 2, 2020

Reality adjustment

The pandemic has caused us all to adjust the way we live and operate on a day to day basis, and I’m no exception. Myself and my partner are some of the lucky ones, where our jobs give us the ability to work from home – being that we both work in IT. This has meant that my daily schedule now involves going from my bed to the couch, and the couch back to my bed again. The monotony caused me to look for things to entertain myself that didn’t involve leaving the house. As you saw from my previous post, I turned to crochet for my ‘staycation’ – and things haven’t really changed much. I’ve been experimenting with my new camera and lenses, and crafting in between. As the lockdown started to ease, I’ve also bee out and about with my camera and taking walks around my neighbourhood.

Since lockdown began, I went on a little project frenzy – where I was purchasing wool and patterns at an exponential rate, When I noticed I had over 10 projects on the go. I realised I was starting to develop a borderline obsession, and needed to reasses my purchasing habits. I enforced upon myself a yarn buying ban – until I have completed all the projects that I currently have in progress. My last purchase of yarn was to be 17 balls to make the Technicolour Coats for me neices. My first step was to assess what yarn I actually have in my stash, and what projects I have on the go. I turned to ravelry and start completing all my project information, and photographing my stash. I still haven’t finished my stash catalogue, but my planned projects are all now being tracked.

So, what are all these projects that I need to finish? Here is my list – not in any particular order:

Mystery Sock ’09 by Kirsten Kapur
Whiskey Glass Shawl by Janka Sipiczki
Technicolor Dream Coat by Earth Tricks
Elsa and Anna from frozen by EpicKawaii
Persian Tile Blanket by Jane Crowfoot (Eastern Jewels colourway)
Kipper Coat by Maria Olson
Tolve Mock Rib Jumper
Long socks with cables by Minna Metsänen
Lorelei Cardigan by Deni Sharpe (and matching beanie)
Dustland Hat by Stephen West
A myriad of caterpillers, bugs and butterflies by Lalylala

Since implementing my yarn buying ban, I haven’t purchased any yarn for 6 weeks! That’s a pretty good accomplishment for me – and on top of that, I’ve been completing projects at a completely unheard of rate! (For me anyway!)

I’ll share progree in separate posts – stay tuned!

June 22, 2020

Review: Knit Picks Caspian Interchangeable Knitting Set

When you’re looking to buy your first set of knitting needles, the choices out there can be overwhelming. Depending on your experience, budget and material reference – there is a very large market out there.

When I first decided to go all in for an interchangeable set (April 2015) – after spending months researching and digging through reviews and forums – I decided to purchase the Knit Picks Options Caspian interchangeable set. I had spent weeks trying to find the rainbow set – which Knit Pro were calling the Symphony – which was either out of stock or discontinued. Then Knit Picks released a new colour – the Caspian. I loved the colours instantly and placed my order.

The set being reviewed today came with the following:

Needle Sizes: US Sizes: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10.5 and 11 (3.50mm, 3.75mm, 4.00mm, 4.50mm, 5.00mm, 5.50mm, 6.00mm, 6.50mm, and 8mm)

Cables: 2 each of 24″ and 32″ lengths

Accessories: 9″ x 5″ snapped clear vinyl needle case, 8 end caps and 2 cable keys

Note: for the image below that I purchased US 15, 17, 10.75, & 13 (7mm, 9mm, 10mm and 12mm) needles separately.

Shipping

At the time of placing my order, I was living in Australia, and my delivery was around a week to arrive. I was very surprised at the fast shipping and expected it to take 2-3 weeks. I initially had issues with an old address in PayPal rearing it’s ugly head – but customer service were quick to respond and had the correct address updated straight away.

Aesthetics and Feel

The first thing I noticed when opening the packaging, is that these needles are as stunning in real life as they are in the images. The colours are vibrant, and the wood is smooth to the touch. The sizes are etched into the metal with both US and mm sizing. Because they are etched, the sizes won’t rub off over time – though they are hard to read in certain light, as it is not reinforced with any paint or other material. The needles are warm in the hand – so are comfortable to hold for extended period and during the winter. The case that they come in is a type of vinyl sleeve with snap closures – I ended up making my own case, as I thoroughly disliked the vinyl. It looks like store packaging, and the vinyl tends to stick together making it difficult to take out put back the needles. Being that most other brands sets come with cloth cases, I would like to see an improvement here.

Construction and Joins

In terms of functionality, the wood is a perfect blend of smoothness where the yarn glides across and off the tip when required, but grippy enough that you don’t have to fight to keep your stitches on your needles. The joins to the cable are smooth and mostly unnoticeable. They are quiet when knitting with a small clicking sound as the tips come together.

They do not make these in sizes smaller than 3.5mm, as they would break too easily. I haven’t had any of my interchangeables snap in the course of 5 years of use. However, I did have an issue with a split at the tip of a 7mm needle that caught on the yarn and progressively got worse – I reported the issue to Knit Picks who promptly replaced the pair. Another issue I experenced, was one of my needles wooden section came loose and fell out of the metal end – I repaired it with superglue and it has been fine since – though I’m sure if I reported it to Knit Picks they would have replaced it for me.

The final issue I have seen is with my most commonly used sizes. The wood on the tips are starting to wear. The yarn didn’t slide as easily, and when you run your fingers over them, you can feel the rough surface. I tried to take an image of this phenomenon – my 7mm pair with the issue on the left – and my 6.5mm pair which are still perfectly smooth (mostly unused) are on the right. You’ll notice that the two on the right have light reflection, whereas the two on the left do not, and if you look closely, you can see the bumps that have formed on the surface. Although it is difficult to see in an image, it is easy to feel the difference. Although it may seem minor, it is distracting when you’re using them. My next task will be to attempt to sand them down with fine sandpaper to see if it resolves the issue.

Overall, their construction is sturdy, but are not made to last for many years.

Tips

I tend to push my needles with my fingers, so I don’t like the tips to be too sharp – but at the same time, I don’t like blunt tips. These offer the perfect balance between sharp enough to be able to get into the stitches without hassle, but not so sharp as to be uncomfortable on my fingertips.

Cables

All the needles use the same size cables, so you do not need two seperate sets (large and small) as with some other brands. Putting them together is easy – simply screw them in, then insert the little key to tighten. If you lose the keys, you could replace them simple T-Pins. I’ve only had issues with cables coming unscrewed twice – which is stellar considering how often I’ve used them over the years. If you don’t use the key to tighten firmly, do not expect them to stay together.

The main thing that I did not like about this set is the cables themselves. They are made of plastic and retain a lot of memory – meaning when you uncoil them from storage, they remain curled up. The issue with memory, is that it forces your needles into different directions and causes your projects to lie at odd angles on your lap – causing you to almost have to fight your knitting to sit comfortably. If you are attempting to do a magic loop, the cables can get in the way and cause more frustration than necessary. Honestly, I didn’t think it was a major problem for a few years (being my first circular knitting needle experience), and I hear that if you put them in hot water, they become more malleable – though I haven’t tried it. As time went on, the cables started to really annoy me, and I couldn’t say if it’s because they have gotten worse or whether I just started to notice it more. It wasn’t until I upgraded to a new set (ChiaoGoo) that I realised just how bad these were. They were putting unnecessary strain on my wrists and fingers that was obvious when the problem was removed.

I see these advertised as low/no memory cables – so I do wonder if they have changed their construction since I purchased my set in 2015 – though I’ve searched and cannot find any mention of this in any reviews or blogs. I would consider that if you stored the cables in a flat or hanging position, it is likely you would not experience any issues. I store mine coiled up.

Customer Service

In terms of customer service, Knit Picks are brilliant. I had an issue with an unrelated order where PayPal had defaulted to an old address (even though I’d selected my new one). Knit Picks went to a lot of trouble getting the address updated with their supplier. In the end, the supplier said the parcel was missing, and KnitPicks resent the entire package without any questions asked. A few days later, the original package turned up – I messaged them to ask where I should send the second parcel back to when it turned up (it was a sizable order) – they advised me to keep it, as it would cost them more to have it returned. Also as previously mentioned in the above headings, I had a couple of faults that they quickly rectified by sending out replacements. They are quick to respond and are always polite and helpful;

Summary

Overall, I love knitting with wooden needles – my only wish is that they stayed smooth, and had cables without memory. If these two issues had been resolved, I don’t think I ever would have changed brands.

Pro’s

Attractive colours
Smooth wood that yarn glides over – though not slippery
Comes in a large variation of sizes
Cables and accessories are interchangeable with all sizes and other products
Comes with enough stoppers and tightening pins
Usually cable does not come undone
Excellent Customer Service
Quick shipping and delivery

Con’s

Cables hold memory
Wood texture becomes rough and bumpy with use
Cables can unscrew when knitting (rare)
Wood section of needle can come loose or fall out of metal end (easily fixed with glue)
Comes with Vinyl ‘case’ with snap closure – unappealing – looks like store packaging and sticks together

June 16, 2020

Holiday at Home

Before the COVID-19 epidemic happened, I had a trip home to Australia and NZ planned – we had planned it 6 months in advance. Unfortunately, our trip was planned for April. We watched with bated breath and disbelief, as the virus started to spread outside of Wuhan. Travel was ill advised, and flights started to be cancelled. The first cases started appearing abroad.

The weeks leading up to our trip was touch and go, but it soon became apparent that we wouldn’t be able to complete our pilgrimage. Our flights were cancelled, as we had expected, and we proceeded to cancel our other arrangements such as hotels and car hire. We were unable to contact any of the airlines, due to the amount of people calling for the same issue. They had issued us with credits, which is not what we wanted. We wanted our money back – and are still waiting. A few weeks later, the UK went into full lockdown – we were no longer able to leave our homes without good reason.

So, our plans cancelled and we’re on forced lockdown, what to do now? Unfortunately, I had saved my leave from the previous year specifically for this trip. Which meant that if I didn’t use it by April 30, I would lose it without compensation. I decided it was better to sit at home not working, than to lose my leave all together. I made plans – more mental lists – of all the things I wanted to achieve in those three weeks. I wanted to spring clean, rearrange cupboard contents and craft to my heart’s content.

As my partner was still working, I couldn’t bash away on my piano keys (they make quite a significant ‘thud’), so I looked through old patterns, facebook groups and ravelry to figure out what I could make.

As a child – and an adult – I’ve always loved Beatrix Potter. something about the simple yet beautiful watercolours always drew me to the books. I also tried to copy the watercolours with limited success. As I grew older, they became objects of reminiscence of my childhood when I idolised the images and adored the stories. They hold a place close to my heart. So naturally, when Peter Rabbit and friends popped up on my facebook feed, I knew I had to have the pattern.

I found they were from the Simply Crochet magazine. I waded through countless websites trying to find the issue number. Then upon finding the issue number, tracking down a digital copy of it. With luck and a little help from my other half, we managed to find the correct issue. Just after getting the magazine, I realised I could have saved myself the search, as they were also available for purchase on Ravelry! Never mind, my search was over, and I had my hands on the pattern (metaphorically so to speak).

The yarn used in the pattern is an expensive West York Spinners wool. Whilst I love expensive wool yarns, I don’t so much for amigurumi – especially when you need so many different colours. So I spent an evening comparing the recommended yarn colour, to a DK acrylic substitute, and loaded my virtual shopping cart with multiple brands of acrylic DK yarn and clicked checkout.

Now what to do whilst the wool arrives? It popped into my head that my amazing mother had bought me a Llama making kit. I pulled it out of my yarn stash and set to work! I ran short on the fluffy yarn, but adjusted the length of the legs by shortening the fluff one row, and managed to compromise on what would have been a yarn chicken loss. And he’s adorable. Unfortunately you can’t get the llama kit in the UK. If you’re in Australia, they were available from Spotlight. For those wanting to make a llama, there are a few other free designs online – usually called ‘No Drama Llama’. I know the crochet crowd had one of their own patterns for one.

After finishing my llama, a couple of days later my mismatched order of acrylic turned up. The colours were perfect in my opinion. Although the different brands had the same gauge listed on the wrappers, some were definitely different. The green for Benjamin Bunny’s hat, and the red for his pom pom, were a lot softer than the other brands, and tended to come up in larger proportions. For me this was perfect, as I wanted the hat bigger than the one shown in the original pattern. The books always had a gigantic hat that dwarfed Benjamin, so I wanted something closer to that image. For Mrs Tiggywinkle, the pattern called for a charcoal type colour, but in the books she’s a brown/brindle. so I chose a colour closer to the book colouring. I had to do a bit of searching to also purchase tiny buttons for Peter’s coat. Overall, I am very pleased with the yarn I purchased, and am thoroughly overjoyed with how they turned out.

June 7, 2020

A New Adventure

Welcome to my first blog post as I set out on this digital adventure.

My first port of call, is to talk about why I made this blog, and what my intentions are for it going forward.

If you know me, you would know that I have a lot of hobbies. These range from playing video games to knitting and crochet, to learning to play the piano – or at least attempting to! The list doesn’t end here, and I won’t bore you with a complete list of ‘things I do to entertain myself’. I do however, want to share some of these passions with the world – in the hopes that they might help others to pick up a new hobby, or find like minded people who can relate to my personal experiences, At the very least, some of it should be entertaining.

My biggest challenge here, is trying not to stray too far from the intended path. So, to try to restrict my wandering personality, I have chosen three main ‘catergories’.

1. Crafts

I am choosing the overall main focus of my site to be crafts. I chose the word crafts with intention, as I switch between knitting and crochet frequently, with a spattering of embroidery. By calling this ‘Crafts’ I can add any of these to the site without leaving my overall theme.

2. Photography

That’s a bit random… I hear you say. Well when it comes to photography, I am definitely not a professional. I recently upgraded my DSLR to a mirrorless, and have reignited my passion for photgraphy. That being said, I’m hoping to learn more, and want to include my learning journey here – it also makes for a handy tool to be able to take nice photos of my work and instructions as I start to build the database of knowledge and blog my crafting creations.

3. Travel

Travel was not initially on my list of things to talk about. I was going to limit it to the above two. However, I travel a few times a year (when there isn’t a Global Epidemic!), and love to take photos when I do. In saying this, you can see that it will relate back into the photography topic quite nicely over time as well as provide me with a place to document my adventures.

This site is going to take some time to build up and document everything, though I’m hoping to use some past emails and images to help me get things off the ground. I will start adding more specific posts in the coming days.

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