Technical Stuff

Just sticking my head above the book mountain to add to what most of you probably know already about Google Reader disappearing. :( I haven’t had much time to examine possible replacements yet, but so far I quite like Bloglovin. You can follow me here:

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I shall miss Reader, though. I switched over to Reader from Bloglines a few years back, because that was closing; though it appears to actually still exist. But I loved the fact I can click on “Next” in the Firefox toolbar to see new blog posts with Reader and that’s the one function that I want to find in a replacement. At least I have til July to do that, though. Right now, it’s back to comparing and contrasting the use of humour to deflect from the reality of war in two World War One plays. ;-)

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Snowed Under

toomuch_studying1

To start with the good news, my essay is done and has been handed in! In not-so-good news, it’s less than two months until my final exam, and I also have a 1,500 word essay to write in the next three weeks. So no knitting for me until it’s all finished. Then I’ll be free until September to cram in all the yarny goodness I can before it’s back to the books. There’s a chance next year will be Shakespeare, though, which makes World War I a doddle..! ;-)

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WIP Wednesday

Can’t believe it’s nearly a month since I last blogged. Time is just speeding by. I’m on half term now, have half an essay to write and so really shouldn’t be knitting, but there you go. :-)

Cables

And I had a craving for cables. Not surprising, really, after miles and miles of garter stitch (currently having a bit of a holiday in the cupboard). A small project makes sense, too, because it’ll be finished quicker and I could possibly knit on the six minute train journey to college each week… But Rose needs new sweaters. Even though spring is looming, if we have another rubbish summer this year, jumpers and cardigans will be needed.

The pattern is Killeany from Aran Knitting. It would be nice, after having this book for over two years, if I actually knitted one pattern from it. St Brigid never got more than a few rows knitted, you see, because shortly after starting, I decided to become vegan. Which is a complete, hundred-and-eighty degree turnaround from being a meat eating, animal wearing person. And after a lot of questioning myself, I decided that I didn’t want to knit a sweater from animal fibre because I knew I wouldn’t feel comfortable wearing it. And sod knitting a ridiculously fiddly sweater for a year to stick it in a cupboard! So I frogged my meagre progress and have been thinking about trying to find an alternative yarn ever since. :-)

So Rose gets to be first to have a sweater from the book. It’s not a particularly difficult pattern. There’s a lot going on with the different cable panels, though after a few rows it became easy to read. Other than the snakey cable which I’ve missed twisting or twisted too early a couple of times. I now have a list of all the rows I need to work it on. ;-) The saddle shoulders will be a new challenge, too, though none of it is particularly “hard”, it needs concentration.

I’m using Sirdar Supersoft Aran, which feels and knits up very similar to Stylecraft Special Aran; maybe a bit more “woolly”. It’s cabling beautifully, anyway, and will be a breeze to wash. In boring, domestic mode, acrylic is a lifesaver for knitting sweaters than can withstand all manner of spills and just be machine washed with everything else. I look back at the mad woman I was, who knitted tiny silk hats for a newborn baby, and want to smack her round the head. ;-) Anyway, the shade – “Poppy” – is a true red-red; less orange than the photo (it proved a PITA to photograph and this was the best of the bunch) and less pink than Special Aran in “Lipstick”.

I will try to blog before another month passes. It’s my birthday in a couple of weeks, anyway, so I’ll have cake to (virtually) share!

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Snow!

Snow!

I had literally just finished telling Kai on Twitter that we hadn’t had any snow yet, and it started. It’s like a very bad case of dandruff at the moment, rather than big, chunky flakes, but even so the schools have gone into panic mode and are shutting at lunchtime. Hope it’s not too bad wherever you are. I recommend staying indoors with a very large blanket to knit. ;-)

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WIP Wednesday

Who’d have thought that 132 rows of garter stitch over 132 stitches would take so. very. long.

Bigger Blanket

I have finished the light blue section and am now about a third of the way through a very big navy section. This is going to be a lovely blanket. Eventually!

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WIP Wednesday

Just before going back to college I have of course started a mammoth project, because my logic works like that. :-) But it’s mindless enough that my brain can stop concentrating on what I’m knitting and wander onto the essay that I should really start writing once I have an idea what it’s actually going to be about…

Log Cabin closeup

Anyway, my wee sister has moved into a new flat and needs a throw for her sofa (she just doesn’t know it yet). After the last blanket I knitted, I knew it couldn’t be something that involved casting on a million stitches and knitting a pattern straight for several miles. I thought about knitting squares but knew that would involve a lot of ends to sew in and seaming and that I’d be put off. So after a good search on Ravelry, I settled on the Moderne Log Cabin Blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting. It’s knitted in pieces which are joined-as-you-go, so there’s variety, but also a good deal of mindless knitting. The sofa is a medium blue, so my planned colour scheme is denim, navy, cream and brown:


However, as I’m using aran-weight yarn rather than DK-weight, I might not bother with the last two squares (which are done with intarsia so that also saves me tangly yarn trauma) and have eight squares like this:

by which point, it’ll probably definitely be big enough! Then I’ll finish it off with an applied i-cord edging in whichever colour I have the most of leftover.

I’m using a bit of a mixture of yarns. I had the cream Cygnet Aran in my stash already, as well as the brown Wendy Aran with Wool, which I bought in late 2008 (!) to knit a Hemlock Ring Blanket for my own sofa. I did actually start it early in 2009 but it was one of the (many) projects that got frogged when I discovered that I needed to start baby knits. ;-) All that I needed to buy was some Stylecraft Special Aran in Midnight and Denim to get some actual blue in the pattern. It’ll be so easy to wash and dry which, if my sister does get an army of cats as she’s threatening to do, is a must. :-P

Log Cabin progress

I’m on the third section after a week, so a few evenings of intensive knitting are called for, I think!

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2012 Review

A little late, but time for a crafty review of 2012!

With just twenty finished projects, it’s been my least productive year since 2005. However, in 2012 I finally conquered my crochet issues and finished three whole cushions. Still haven’t started on a crochet throw, but the yarn is ready and waiting…

I can’t see my productivity increasing this year; I suspect it’ll get worse with essays to write and exams to cram for. But when I do pick up the needles or hook, it’ll mean there is something I really, really want! Happy new year, everyone. :mrgreen:

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FO: Last Minute Stocking

Xmas Stocking

Pattern: Last Minute Stockings by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Cygnet Aran, 1 x 100g in colour: #6964 Crimson and 1 x 100g in colour: #288 Cream
Needles: 6mm dpns

A couple of years ago, I knitted the boys a stocking each to fill with sweets “from Santa”. They proved to be totally useless for the task as they stretched as soon as anything heavier than a penny chew was put inside. So they were added to the box of decorations and last year were hung from the fireplace, completely empty but nicely decorative.

So this year I thought it would be nice for Rose to her her own one added to the fireplace. I wanted a different colour for the main stocking, and the only yarn I had to hand was some Cygnet Aran which is called crimson, but is really magenta. Crimson makes me think of rich, deep, red, but it was different enough from the other stockings at least. And now I have a little family of stockings:

Stocking Collection

Perhaps next year, MrB and I will also get our own stockings to admire and leave empty. ;-)

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FO: Annual Christmas Socks 2012

Manly Christmas Socks 2012

Pattern: Basic Manly Sock with Priscilla Gibson-Roberts’ short-row heel
Yarn: Schoeller+Stahl Fortissima Colori Socka Color, 2 x 50g in colour: #2416
Needles: 2.5mm circs for Magic Looping

To mis-quote Jo March, “Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without any socks.” :-) So I whipped up a very basic pair of manly socks using my favourite method of knitting until the leg was long enough, brief pause for the heel and then more knitting until the foot was long enough to begin the toe. Not very snazzy, but it keeps up the sock-giving tradition, which is the most important thing.

It feels very strange to blog again. After so long, I had a million updates to do in WordPress, couldn’t remember my Flickr password and Ravelry seems to have new widgets on the project pages that I know nothing about! I broke up from college for the holidays on Friday, so now I can get into full festive mode and bake for England. So far there’ll be nine of us for Christmas dinner, and that means A LOT of food.

Going back to learning has been interesting. We are studying World War I literature and poetry which, unsurprisingly, is not a barrel of laughs and as a topic doesn’t fill me with excitement. But it’s going well and having those few hours each week to be “me” again is wonderful for my self-esteem and confidence. I have tried to keep up with my blog reading, but I apologise for not commenting very often! I don’t really have the luxury of spending time twiddling my thumbs for a few weeks, either, because I have a 1,500 word essay to make a start on. But a bit of pre-Christmas blogging won’t hurt anyone. ;-)

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A New Direction

I am going back to school! This is entirely because I want to buy a pencil case and a shiny brown satchel, of course. ;-)

This is something I have wanted to do for a while, but now Rose is almost three (yes, really – it’s gone that fast!) it’s the perfect time to dust off my brain. I am starting off with AS Level English Literature, which is three hours of classes a week and then a mountain of reading and writing. But it’s something I’ve longed to do for ages. I left school at sixteen and feel like having a handful of GCSEs doesn’t really count for anything, when I still have thirty odd years left of being employable. I am not sure what direction to go in afterwards, but I am hoping this will give me the confidence to do Other Things.

All this means that I doubt I will be blogging very much from now on. I have been finishing up outstanding projects these past few weeks and have also resigned myself to not starting anything new; maybe not even the Annual Festive Socks. 8-O

I will still pop up from time to time with updates, like Rose’s birthday cake (she wants a hedgehog-shaped one!) and perhaps if the workload doesn’t completely wear me out, a bit of crafty stuff as well. Plus much squeeing when Tudor Roses is finally reprinted! I don’t intend to abandon the blog; it’s been a huge part of my life for seven years and given me plenty of opportunities that I might not otherwise have had. I seriously love everyone who takes the time to comment on the blog, and will miss the interaction very much. I hope that you all have a brilliant and yarn-filled rest of the year. :mrgreen:

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FO: Icing Swirl Hat

Icing Swirl Hat

Pattern: Icing Swirl Hat by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Stylecraft Special Chunky, 1 x 100g in colour: #1023 Raspberry
Needles: 6mm dpns and circs

Hurrah for quick projects! :-D I finished off this hat in less than a day and now I’m all set for the winter, possibly.

I chose this pattern purely because after a Ravelry search for chunky hats, this was on the first page of results and also in my library and I liked it! It’s a fun pattern to knit, started off with an i-cord and then increased downwards, a bit of shaping at the back and then cast off.

I’m not entirely sure it suits me, though. MrB was a bit :-? about it, and though it looks cute on everyone else, I’m not sure about me.

Icing Swirl Hat

But it will do for cold winter days, and I will find something more stylish to knit as well. ;-)

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FO: Owlet Sweater

Owlet

Pattern: Owlet by Kate Davies
Yarn: Stylecraft Special Chunky, 2 x 100g in colour: #1023 Raspberry
Needles: 5½mm and 6mm circs and dpns

I figured it would be quicker to just sew the underarms and add buttons to this sweater than to do a WIP post first. :-) It’s been a hectic week, and I apologise for being horribly behind on responding to all your comments. I will get around to it!

For now, let me rave about the Owlet pattern, because it is adorable. I knew it would knit up quickly in chunky yarn, but didn’t reckon on it being such a quick project. To save time while on holiday, I cast on and knitted the ribbing, and then with nothing to occupy my hands during the Olympics opening ceremony, I finished the entire body and ribbing for the first sleeve! So although I did do a fair bit of knitting while away, I had a pretty good head start.

The pattern is very simple, as it’s mainly a stocking stitch sweater. It’s only when the sleeves and body are joined that any kind of concentration is really needed for the owl cables. They were great fun to work and it’s amazing how just two types of cable can be arranged to look exactly like an owl. I wonder if it would work with otters? ;-)

Unfortunately, despite swatching and measuring and believing it to be fine, my tension was off and I ended up with 14 stitches to 4 inches rather than 13. As I was knitting the 3 to 4 year size, I hoped this wouldn’t matter too much and the sweater does indeed fit. However, it’s not going to last much past this winter, I’d think! I noticed from the other finished Owlets on Ravelry that it seems to be worn with minimum ease, but I did want a baggier look (not too baggy like a Debbie Bliss sweater, but with a bit of wriggle room!). But it was such a quick knit that I can easily make a bigger one next year.

Owlet

I didn’t have enough buttons of any type to give all the owls eyes, so went for a minimalist look. I may get more buttons to do the rest of them, but if I do, I will also get some contrasting yarn to sew them on. I split the chunky yarn to sew on the two buttons I did add, which I though was clever, but it ended up being pretty weak and pulling apart if I tugged on the needle too hard.

Special Chunky is lovely to knit with, like its DK weight sibling, and will be great for chucking into the washing machine when it gets various things spilt on it. Because my tension was off, I ended up with one whole ball of yarn leftover, so I’m snaffling it to knit myself an Icing Swirl Hat.

Most importantly of all, Rose approves of her pink (grrr!) sweater. :mrgreen:

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FO: Square Cushion

Square Cushion

Pattern: Square Cushion from Granny Square Love by Sarah London
Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK, 1 x 100g in each of: #1246 Lipstick, #1241 Fondant and #1084 Magenta (varying amounts of each left over!)
Hook: 4mm Clover Soft Touch

Before I start – remember just before I went away, when I bemoaned the lack of a green in Stylecraft Special Aran and Chunky? There is now a green (and silver grey) in both, and the 4ply. :mrgreen: Clearly I have complete influence over Stylecraft’s yarn colours. :-P

But back to today’s FO. The cushion pad I ordered finally arrived today, so I took the opportunity to photograph an actual FO. Cushion covers are much better when they’re all plumped out than flat as a pancake! I finished the cover just before I went away on my jollies, but didn’t bother getting the insert before I came back because there wasn’t enough time, and it would have ended up sitting on the doorstep, tempting thieves with its polyester goodness. :-P

This is actually the easiest of all the cushions that I have crocheted this year as it it’s just two squares joined together along three sides. However, I loved the colour scheme when I first saw the book and knew I wanted to make it. The fact it will coordinate nicely with Rose’s curtains is a bonus.

I deviated from the pattern for the back. The cover in the book has a plain creamy yellow back with a final round of mauve, but I decided to continue with the three colours, working alternate rounds of each.

Square Cushion

I slightly regretted this when it came to weaving in the numerous ends, but I like the effect and it makes either side suitable for public viewing.

I also made button loops for the first time with this pattern, which makes it easier to clean, something I hadn’t considered when making the previous cushions, although I imagine the whole thing can be machine washed. The buttons were freebies with a past issue of Mollie Makes and look perfect.

Square Cushion

I am a bit worried that the square is slightly wonky. I don’t know whether it’s just my eyes, but it doesn’t look quite right. If it is actually wonky, then this is completely a design feature and absolutely intended…

It’s also getting to the time of year again when I am sunk into nametape sewing-on misery, so next week might be a bit of a washout knitting-wise, depending how motivated I am to get them done! Think of me, please, surrounded by shirts and trousers and trying to sew the right name into each!

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New Things I Love

I still need to do a holiday WIP post, I know, but my internet died on Tuesday night and has only just come back to life. Virgin Media are completely and utterly rubbish, and I am counting the days until we can stick two fingers up at them and change to a reliable service. There is no point in having super-fast broadband if it only works once in a blue moon. :-x

Anyway, as I’m here online and haven’t taken any photos, I will post about something else. Coming back from holiday, I found that there were heaps of new patterns to test my resolve at not buying any patterns at all. (Note: I haven’t done very well on this.) Firstly, Rebecca Dangers’ new book, Knit a Monster Nursery, is available for pre-order! (The price apparently has been added to Amazon incorrectly and will be changed asap, before everyone faints!)

Although I don’t really have a need for nursery knits, this book makes me want to find the nearest baby and adopt them with knitting. :-D The patterns are adorable; I particularly love the Stack O’ Monsters:

Also, the new Twist Collective is simply beautiful. My favourites have grown considerably thanks to patterns like Horatio and Oren and Barberry:

I really do need to finish off the current WIPs so that I can think about maybe knitting some of these patterns. :-D

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And Back Again

Lake

On a scale of one to ten, just how keen do you think I was to get back home? ;-) It’s lovely to come back to a familiar bed and a shower that actually has hot water sometimes, but I don’t quite feel mentally ready to give up the peace and quiet and no TV/PC/PlayStation that we’ve had for the past ten days. We arrived back on Thursday, but I don’t feel really here, even with the eight loads of washing I’ve done in the past few days (or maybe that’s why I don’t want to really be here..!).

And yes, there was knitting. An almost-finished sweater and half a hat to share, plus the cushion cover that was finished just before I went away. It’ll take a little while to get myself together, but photos are coming. :-D

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Packing the Important Stuff

I’m currently in my normal, pre-holiday mode of trying to ignore the fact that nothing has been done, apart from washing every item of clothing I can lay my hands on. I have A List, though, and having A List makes me feel certain that it will all get done in time and we won’t leave on Monday without packing something vital. *suddenly remembers to add passports to the list*

But being away from my yarn stash for two weeks means that I need to make sure I have something lovely to knit that won’t be finished too quickly and won’t bore me. (I am also going to pack some books and might actually get some reading done for the first time in ages!)

I loved all the suggestions I was given for holiday knits the other week, but in the end my decision was made when I got a surprise gift of the Owlet sweater from Tina. I had been planning to knit the adult version this autumn, and a wee one definitely counts as portable travel knitting. I had a hasty search for suitable yarn, and soon had three balls of Stylecraft Special Chunky in “Raspberry” to swatch with.

Ribbing

This is as far as I’ve got, as I’m saving it for the actual holiday. I wish I’d planned this sooner, as I could have bought a nice project bag to put it in. It’s just a bit too big for the ones I have, and I don’t want to take my whole knitting bag with me. I think a last minute emergency bag hunt is needed tomorrow. :-)

The colour is almost identical to the Raspberry shade of Rowan Pure Wool DK I used for Rose’s Queenie Hat, and as I seem to be losing the battle to avoid pink clothes, I may as well chose shades of pink that I can live with.

Conversation with Rose the other day:
“Which cardigan do you want to wear? The blue one or the yellow one?”
“Pink!”
“You don’t have a pink cardigan.”
“Make me pink one now!”
:-?

Special Chunky is just as nice as Special DK, and possibly even softer. I wish the colour palette was as wide for the the 4ply, Aran and Chunky yarns as for the DK, though. Just a nice charcoal grey and olive green would do. *adds email to Stylecraft to the To-Do List*

This is going to be my last blog post for a while. I hope that when I get back I’ll have lots of knitting progress to show off! Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, I’m going to be away for my blogiversary. It’s seven years this year, so I think that when I get back, there needs to be a little give away of some sort to celebrate. Until then, see you all in two weeks’ time! :-D

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WIP Wednesday

I needed to cheer myself up at the weekend after my cardigan catastrophe, so I decided to finally delve into my Stylecraft Colour Pack. Saturday afternoon was bliss. The weather was lovely, so I sat in the garden with a cup of tea and a giant bag of yarn, and played around with all the crochet patterns I had wanted to try. Most of them were frogged because I didn’t fancy starting something huge, but I have sussed out how to do a granny stripe blanket which is now winning over the ripple at the moment.

In the end, I returned to cushions, and the Square Cushion on the cover of Granny Square Love by Sarah London, as my subscription gift copy finally arrived last week. :-D

Granny Square

Certainly not the most challenging item to crochet, but I loved the colours and it will match the curtains in Rose’s room perfectly (when she finally moves in…). The patterns in the book use Cascade 220 throughout, but Stylecraft Special DK in Lipstick, Fondant and Magenta are almost perfect matches for the cover cushion. (Fondant is maybe just a bit too bright.) Of course,mine is going to end up a bit smaller, possibly, but cushion pads come in several sizes. ;-)

This book was what spurred me on to subscribe to Mollie Makes because it was a few months back when the crochet bug was new and I didn’t have any crochet books (I do now, and will do a blog post sometime!), plus the free crochet hooks included were pretty. Now it’s three months later, I am glued to my unexciting Clover Soft Touch hook which doesn’t hurt my middle finger, and the initial excitement has worn off a bit.

But it’s still a lovely book. All the patterns are based on granny squares so there’s no real shaping to worry about and the colours are bright and inspiring for someone like me who has colour fear. The one problem is that the yarn is the same throughout and there are two or three of the patterns that really would not be A Good Idea if you were to actually use Cascade 220, namely towel and bedsheet edgings and a bathmat, which clearly would all end up in a felted disaster when you washed them at a decent, germ-killing temperature. :-D

When I started out on the Big Crochet Adventure, too, I didn’t appreciate how many ways there were just to make a granny square. And the method in the book feels cumbersome, so I replaced it with my current favourite.

I have also sorted out my holiday knitting, which I will blog about before I leave. Right now, I do need to start getting organised with other, non-knitting holiday stuff, because I don’t suppose we can go away without clean underwear. :-P

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FO: Little Girls Shrug

Little Girl's Shrug

Pattern: #288 Little Girl’s Shrug by Diane Soucy, bought from Patternfish
Yarn: Red Heart Soft Baby Steps, approx. two-thirds x 100g in colour: White (the version I found in Sainsbury’s comes in 100g balls rather than 113g balls)
Needles: 4mm and 3¼mm circs, and 3½mm dpns (because apparently I don’t have any 3¼mm dpns)

Firstly, a quick thank you for all the sympathetic comments on my too-wide cardigan. I really appreciated all the advice and will try a) tumble drying then b) finding a wide-shouldered person and finally c) donating it to charity. :-D But I did enjoy then knitting, love making leafy patterns and that’s what I should concentrate on.

But now to a FO that is simply perfect because all small people look splendid in whatever they wear.

I’ve knitted this shrug before, anyway, but even so it is such an easy and quick knit. However, I had the same problem as last time in that I had the wrong stitch count after dividing for the sleeves. I imagine I had the wrong stitch count beforehand, but one absolutely tiny complaint I have with this pattern is that none are given other than the number of stitches across the back at each stage. When you’re increasing all over the place and then casting on stitches for the front bands, there’s lots of scope of error and though its only a couple of stitches, it’s a bit annoying.

I knitted the ribbed edging this time because I didn’t do it before and fancied a change. I think I actually prefer it; it ties with the sleeve and neck edging and looks rather sophisticated. The wee daisy button was from my stash and hopefully looks cute but not too babyish. It makes a change from sticking wooden buttons on everything. :-P

Because it is (FINALLY!) such a gorgeous day, we had a little photoshoot in the garden:

Little Girl's Shrug
“I won’t get out of bed for less than ten bags of chocolate buttons a day.”

"What do you think of my new shrug?"
“What do you think of my new shrug?”

though it’s already getting too hot to spend much time out of the shade. I am NOT complaining, though, absolutely not! :-D

The yarn was really nice to knit with. I did knit it at a tighter tension than recommended for this pattern; ideally it should have been a DK-weight yarn. But it isn’t stiff. Helpfully, it will be a breeze to wash, as I’m not under any illusions that a white cardigan will stay pristine for very long.

This time next week I will be halfway out of the door as I leave for a couple of weeks. About time I sorted out the holiday knits!

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FO: Sirdar 9428

Leaf Cable Cardigan

Pattern: Sirdar 9428
Yarn: James C Brett Kool Kotton, 7¼ x 50g balls in colour: #KK12
Needles: 3mm and 375mm circs

Done, although no modelled photo for this one as I hate it. :-( I know that cardigans that button at the top and hang downwards look dreadful on me, but with all the excitement about leaves and knitting a cardigan in just over a week, I didn’t stop to think about whether I’d actually like the end product.

It doesn’t help that what is a wide collar becomes even wider after being worn all day. By the end of yesterday, I was sporting an off-the-shoulder, come-hither look because I got fed up with adjusting the shoulders every five minutes. I would blame the yarn, but as the original pattern was designed for Sirdar Simply Recycled DK which has the exact same fibre content, I’d have expected someone to take into account the fact that it will grow through being worn… :-?

Leaf Cable Cardigan

Also, the body of the cardigan is just a bit too short on me to balance out the illusion of width caused by the shoulders, so I look something like this:

I am 5’8″ – not willowy tall but not tiny, either. I just look like a square leafy blob and it makes me sad. So I’ll stick this cardigan on a shelf until I can find someone with very wide shoulders to palm it off on.

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WIP Wednesday

It’s been a productive couple of days. The Leaf Panel Cardigan is blocked and awaiting a button. I was going to order something from Textile Garden, but I have heaps of suitable buttons and it means I can wear the cardigan today. *ignores rain clouds* And in speedy knitting news, the Little Girl’s Shrug is blocking. It must be one of the quickest garments ever to knit. I started it Monday evening and it was finished Tuesday afternoon. So lots of FO posts to follow!

And I can’t possibly exist without something on the needles, so I cast on for the Hearty Stripy Socks.

Stripy sock

Initially, I didn’t think I had any yarn I could use to knit these for me. Plenty of yarn that I could use to knit for giving them away, but that’s not very selfish. :-P Then I remembered a couple of balls of Sirdar Snuggly 4ply that I bought last year with the idea of knitting a stranded hat for Rose. The pattern didn’t work out, so the yarn has languished ever since. It’s not a yarn that makes you immediately think “Socks!” but the fibre content is actually almost identical to Berroco Comfort Sock (which seems to be 50/50 hate/love, but I’ll risk it!).

I haven’t knitted much of the actual heart pattern yet, so there’s not much sock to see, and the colours remind me of a watermelon, but I’m looking forward to finally knitting some socks all for myself! :-D

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Does it count if you also bought cat food?

Thank you for all the suggestions for holiday projects. I’ve had a busy few days with not much chance to spend hours browsing Ravelry, so I will go through them all and see what tickles my fancy. :-)

Now, despite intending to avoid yarn buying until after my holidays, I momentarily forgot myself when I found a whole yarn section in Sainsbury’s. Of all the places to sell yarn! It’s Red Heart, too, which I’ve never seen anywhere else in the UK, online or in “real life”. I should have taken a photo of the yarns, but from memory they were all acrylic of various sorts. There was a smooth, silky one, one with sparkles, a standard DK-weight yarn and the one I bought, Soft Baby Steps.

Red Heart Soft Baby Steps

It’s an aran-weight baby yarn, which feels nicely soft and cuddly. It’s going to be another Little Girl’s Shrug for Rose to go over a dress and will take five minutes to knit before we go away. :-) It cost £3.49 for a 100g ball which I suppose is roughly on a level with Sirdar Supersoft Aran, and the other yarns were of a similar price.

Sainsbury’s also had metal straight needles and random widgets like pompom makers, which I didn’t buy. I imagine it’s only the larger stores will be selling yarn, as my proper local one has never had a whisker of anything knitting related – not even a magazine. I think being able to pick up an odd ball of yarn with some cat food is a novelty, but will be interesting to see how long it lasts!

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Holiday Knitting

Also known as spam me with lovely patterns, please!

I have regretfully given up on the crazy idea of taking my entire Stylecraft Colour Pack in the car with me when we go away at the end of the month. ;-) So I need ideas for small projects that I can take with me that won’t take up much room and will fill up a fortnight. So probably two or three projects in case I am ultra-efficient or get bored.

Right now I have a couple of pairs of socks in my queue for Mr B:


Earl Grey by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee


Fa Fa Fa Socks by Lois Leong

As well as some for me, but I don’t think I have any suitable yarn in my stash and I’m on a no-yarn-buying-before-holiday thing :-( :


Hearty-Stripey Socks by Polly McEldowney

But I am very much open to new sock ideas for solid-ish yarns or shawls that would work with variegated yarn, as I have some lovely Araucania Lonco Multy in my stash that I was gifted in a recent swap.

Araucania Lonco Multy

Please help me and I will be eternally grateful! :-D

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WIP Wednesday

Leafy Cables

Well, clearly the leaves won. :-D I had a feeling they might, so I cast on for Sirdar 9428 last Thursday evening and, thanks to a couple of very long tennis matches, had the back done by Sunday evening. I think if I hadn’t had such engrossing viewing, I would have died from stocking stitch-induced boredom!

But now I’m on to the good bit with the leaves. It’s such a lovely pattern to knit. You know sometimes there are patterns that are quite fiddlesome to knit, but are still lots of fun and you don’t actually mind if it doesn’t end for a bit? Eriskay was like that and these leaves are just the same. The only cabling is the twisted cables at each end of the leaf panel. The travelling stitches are made by decreasing and increasing. The leaves pouf out for a three dimensional look, and I can’t stop patting them as they emerge after each pattern repeat. :-)

Almost all of a cardigan

One thing I particularly love about the pattern is that the leaf panels are mirrored. When I knitted Sirdar 1236 I rewrote the pattern myself to mirror the panels, and I am pleased that whomever designed this pattern did the same and saved me a job.

I am knitting the sleeveless version of the pattern to save time, which it appears I have a lot of as there’s only the remainder of the right front to knit before I have the button bands, collar and sleeve ribbings to add. I’ll seam the sides and knit the armholes in the round because that’s just what I do. I will have another cardigan for my holidays! :-D

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FO: Lamour Slipover

Lamour

Pattern: Lamour Slipover by Sarah Hatton from Rowan 44
Yarn: Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Gorgeous DK, pretty much 6 x 50g in colour: #713 Iris
Needles: 3mm and 3½mm circs

Lamour, how much do I love you? Let me count the ways. I love your leafy lace which was so easy to memorise but looks ever so pretty.

Lamour Lace

I love your fancy little collar tag, topped with a wee wooden button.

Lamour

I love that you fit first time, unlike the last vest I knitted, and are neither too tight around the arms, nor too long in the armpit, and that your lace stretches enough across the bust to allow me to knit a smaller size that wouldn’t be too baggy everywhere else.

Lamour

I must confess that I didn’t love seaming your sides, and if I ever need to replace you (perish the thought!), I will knit your body in the round, like I did with your neckband and around your armholes.

And the yarn I made you with was a huge pain in the bum to sew up with as it unravelled into a million strands. I had to make sure I sewed the ends in very firmly and just hope they don’t unravel as I wear you. It’s a lovely yarn, despite this, and is soft and a little bit silky. A shame it’s been discontinued, apparently. I seem to have a habit of finding yarns I like just a bit too late!

Lamour

All in all, you are a brilliant vest and I hope that we will have many happy hours together. :-D

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One Of Life’s Great Mysteries

Needles

How on earth did I end up with three identical 3mm, 60cm long Addi Lace circular needles? :-?

Lamour is dry! *pause for fanfare* However, my personal photographer isn’t available today to take FO pictures, so I will have to wait until after the weekend. It looks gorgeous, though..!

I saw which way yesterday’s poll was going, so it looks as if leaves win the day. So I’m planning an afternoon of Wimbledon watching, knitting and entertaining a small child. Hope I’m not arrested for not focussing entirely on the tennis. :-P

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