Dalek Illusion Knit

My friend and I, when we were 12, developed a joint crush on Jamie McCrimmon in Dr Who, aka Frazer Hines. A week before my 13th birthday, it was my friend’s 13th birthday and her grandfather managed to arrange for us to go to a Dr Who rehearsal, where we met the Dr Who actors - Patrick Troughton (Dr Who), Wendy Padbury (Zoe) and of course Frazer Hines (Jamie). Meeting Frazer Hines in person killed the crush for me. Well, it was really Jamie I liked, who is obviously not a real person, whereas Frazer Hines definitely is. He seemed like a nice person, but was definitely not actually Jamie!

In honour of that long-ago day, and because I have fancied doing an illusion knit (see note below) for some time, I decided to do the illusion Dalek for her for the Facebook 2013 Crafty Pass it on thingummy.

There were no Daleks in the episode we saw the rehearsal of, but as one knitting friend said, it is symbolic.

This one is knitted in DK acrylic, but it could be done in other materials and thicknesses of yarn, which would obviously change the size. I used black and grey from my stash, so still on yarn diet!

I did think of making it as a wall hanging, but then to see the effect properly, you would have to be looking at it from below or above, not directly at it. So I decided against that and made it a kind of runner instead by putting a fringe on each end.

The top photo shows the effect when seen at an angle. The picture is supposed to disappear when viewed straight on as in the left smaller photo. It pretty much did in real life, so I guess the camera can lie a bit! The right hand small photo is what is looks like on the reverse.

(1) Illusion knitting: In case you are interested in how this is done, I was going to try to explain it but thought it best to direct you to Woolly Thoughts website, as it is explained far better there than I could do - and you can explore the rest of the website, if you fancy doing an illusion knit yourself, or just for interest.

http://www.illusionknitting.woollythoughts.com/introduction.html

Refuge blanket

I made a hair band for a friend in the Facebook pay-it-forward craft thingy. I made three crochet flowers like the first crochet flower I made (see post of 26 June 2012) and attached them to an i-cord band. Unfortunately the only photo I have is really rather rubbish, so you'll just have to imagine it.

I also made another hat for another friend in the same Facebook thingy, using Woolly Wormhead's Ruislip pattern, which I used for the Valentine hat I made for a swap (see post of 29 March 2013) but as it is identical, there is not much point in putting a photo here.

However, I did say back in my post about mitred squares (see post of 16 March 2014) that I had incorporated them into the last of our blankets for Refuge, so here is the finished item. I crocheted the blanket together and made a few other of the squares in addition to the multi-coloured mitred squares (the brown and cream diagonal one is one of mine). The rest were knitted/crocheted by DD, DM and various other members of the Croydon Knitting Group. I had hoped that someone else would offer to put together squares for future blankets, as I would be happy to do some more squares, but feel I have 'done my bit' as far as putting them together is concerned. It hasn't happened as yet...

Pink Lacy Cardigan

Whole thing

I got another Sirdar knitting pattern from ebay to keep up the variety of the cardigans I make for the Special Care Baby Unit. I actually had some Sirdar Snuggly (apt name) 4-ply so I was using the yarn recommended in the pattern for once! It is quite an easy pattern. The insetting of the sleeves is a bit different from others I have done lately.

 I already had the yarn - it was left over from the multi-colour cardigan I made DD some years back (see post of 11 May 2011), so I was keeping to my yarn diet, but I didn't have any pink buttons, so I got some cheap from ebay.

Lace detail

When I took it to the hospital, I saw a different lady and she commented that parents really appreciate having something to clothe their babies in, which is nice to know.

(By the way, what happened to April and May - I was going to blog at least once a month, but they keep going past too fast for me!)