Free shipping just died

 I nearly fell off my chair when I read through the new Royal Mail postage costs.

Let me explain it in numbers.

I sell a vintage pattern for £2.25 that should include P&P. So for each sold pattern I receive £1.66. Yes, eBay charges me £0.59 in fees. If I list on those 80% fees reduced days of course I get more.

Postage use to be £1.15

cardboard backed envelope £0.25

A4 punched pockets £0.04

Total £1.44

I earn 22p per pattern. Yippee! (sarcasm)

If I carried on selling patterns for £2.25

It'll work out as a loss of £0.18

I will have no choice but to reduce the pattern price and charge P&P instead.

I'm sorry, but I want to make some money. I know I will not be a millionaire one day selling vintage patterns but I don't want to make a loss either.

Yarn Packs on eBay

 If you are in the UK and are looking for some Attic24 and other Stylectaft yarn packs then please head over to my eBay shop. Just use the link at the top.

The price is what you pay for at Wool Warehouse and you get free shipping as well.

I have atm 6 yarn packs listed, five are Stylecraft and one Bluprint.

Attic24 - Sweet Pea CAL (Stylecraft Yarn Pack) £31.50

Stylecraft 2016 CAL - Carousel Blanket (Yarn Pack) £36.99

Janie Crow - Eastern Jewels Blanket (Stylecraft Yarn Pack) £38.50

Attic24 - Dune Blanket (Stylecraft Yarn Pack)   £31.50

Attic24 - Woodland Blanket CAL (Stylecraft Yarn Pack)  £31.50

Bluprint Pulsing Prism Afghan Crochet Kit   £49.50

I am doing a massive stash reduction and will list more yarn, either as singles or as bulk.

So keep an eye out. It might take me a while to list everything but I have about 6 massive bags of yarn waiting to be listed and there will be even more.

Cable Raglan Sweater

 I saw this pattern during a Debbie Bliss promotion and I had the urge to knit it.

Thankfully I had suitable yarn lying around so I didn't have to splash out.

I knitted it with Paintbox Wool Blend Worsted.

Now, when I ready through the pattern and looked at the measurements and the amount of stitches I was supposed to cast on, I looked rather puzzled. Or flabbergasted. The first thing I said was bloody hell, this is a tent. 😱 I mean, I like my sweaters a little loose but not like that.

I cast on the size I first thought I was going to knit. I help up what I cast on and nope! Size down, nope, size down, still nope. Another size down and OK that looks about right. 2 weeks later I was finished and put it on the first time and it fits perfectly. Still a little loose but certainly not a tent.

Interlaken Pullover

 I had this pattern planned with a different yarn but it didn't work. The yarn was too slippery and the twisted stitches became all tiny and I had ladders on both sides. 

I still had some WYS Aire Valley Essential DK, funny enough grey as the pattern, so I tried that and it worked perfectly. I even had more left over than expected.

Big shout to Anne Hanson for creating this great sweater and the well written pattern. I really enjoyed making it. You can buy it from Ravelry.

PS: It looks a bit wonky because I haven't blocked it yet.

I am versus Arthritis Challenge

 In March I will start will my "I am versus Arthritis" Challenge.

I have never tried Brioche knitting. So this is my challenge. I found a "simple" scarf pattern. I hope I will get it. But my guess is there will be some swearing included. 😆

I bought some lovely Malabrigo Rios as suggested in the pattern.

If you would like to donate please go here

If you want to support my challenge please go here

For Hubby

 I've gone all vintage on this. I bought quite a while ago a bag of yarn from the charity shop. That was actually before I started with all the vintage knitting patterns. I stored it away in a box. I didn't forget it. When I bought a job lot of vintage knitting patterns, it included a few patterns that were made for the yarn I have. I have enough for two garments, a slipover and a pullover. The slip over is finished.

And then hubby asked for red socks. Who could deny such a request? Nobody! I added a simple pattern to make the look less boring and it helped me count.

Sock Intermission

 I knitted a few socks not because I needed them but more because I know I finish a pair in a short amount of time and that's rather a good feeling when you knitted something that took an annoying long time.

I mean the cowl. It's finished but somehow didn't make it on a photo. LOL

I actually made a pair with this yarn and when I wanted to wear them I realised the pattern made them impossible to get them on. So unravel and new plain socks.

These have been stored away in a cute bag for the past probably 12 month and now they finally made it. I bought this yarn and more shades on holiday a few years back.

This yarn I bought last year if I remember right. They are very soft. But in the beginning you can smell the vinegar. I don't know how long lasting they will be because they are just merino yarn.

And something bright. I love this Schoppel yarn. It knits up so well.

WIP Sirdar Cowl

 Not being a big fan of doing Fairisle work straight, but still thought it looked a nice and the some of the colours of the yarn was 50% off, I thought OK I'll got for it.

Oddly enough the colours work really well together. And I am getting better along as I was expecting. But I still prefer Fairisle work knitted in rounds.

Customer Gift

 I received a gift from a customer who was over the moon about a cardigan she bought of me. She was insistent to send me a gift. She is also a crafter. She make pottery.

I love it. I won't use it for tea or coffee, but it will work perfectly as stitch marker storage.

If you look for a gift why not visit her store. 😉

Cable Crazy

 I saw this Debbie Bliss Sweater pattern and I immediately thought, I have to knit this. Now Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK isn't the cheapest yarn, so the hunt began. After 2 days of trying to figure out which yarn could work and wouldn't cost an arm and a leg, I suddenly had a light bulb moment. I remembered I had 20 balls of Bergere de France Ideal DK lying around for 5 + years. I always knew it would one day serve a purpose.

Up the ladder, find the right box, read the label and yippee! it would work.

And I started. After half of the back done, I suddenly realized my brain did an autocorrect and twisted all the cables in the same direction. It never occurred to me that half are left twisted and half are right twisted. And I honestly didn't care. I preferred it my way.

I had to redo one sleeve because I miscounted on the first row, which cause a 2 day delay. But it's done and it looks great. 

From Cowl to Hat

 This yarn used to be a cowl that wasn't too useful so I turned it into a hat and it will make a second one and maybe some wrist warmers too.

It's a Lang Yarns pattern slightly adapted.

Sock Yarn Crazy

 I've gone a bit sock yarn nuts during the sales. 😂

Well, I can't blame myself, some of the stuff was dead cheap.

I also bought yarn for a fairisle sweater and a cardigan directly from Sirdar 50% off. Also some Hayfield Aran and a few other just smaller lots from Sirdar. I bought some Emu Aran as well.

I bought some yarn from the Knitting Network that was really cheap. One of it I realised why. I started to knit a sleeveless chunky sweater and the yarn stunk like it was soaked in diesel oil. 😬 It's now on top of my wardrobe hoping it will lose the smell over the next 5-10 years.