skein

Not much knitting knitted

over the weekend.

We went to a 50th birthday party

Dracula at 50.

This meant very little knitting time.

We drank far too much, were deafened by music and crawled into bed at nearly 5am. Up at 9, out to breakfast.  I couldn't possibly take a picture of 20 old timers hungover the morning after, so here's a view of the beach, lashed with rain and wind.

Then onto the pub for 3 more hours of drinking before catching the train back to London.

I've started the mysteryshawl2 kal border.

And worked some more on Chris's birthday socks

and started my stashbuster November project, which also fits in nicely with the warm hands knitalong!

These are just such fun to knit - and very moreish.  I can't help but work another row, then another, then another. I will have to steel myself to put these down and get on with Suzette. Not tonight though, I can hardly keep my eyes open let alone juggle with the colours and increases on Suzette.  Maybe some more mitten knitting.

In for a penny...

I've now joined an international scarf exchange.  This sounds like a great exchange. We have three months to knit the scarf, and there's a blog set up to post progress pictures and info. Get right over there and join! It won't interfere with any planned christmas knitting (completion date is in February) and will happily fill the post christmas knitting void.

Another yahoo groups to join is the  vintage socks knitalong, where we'll be knitting one of the sock patterns from Nancy Bush's new sock book, every few months.  I love this book. If you adore her first two books, and haven't bought this book yet, why not?  There's an introductory chapter on Weldon's Practical Needlecraft and how she's adapted the patterns. Then some heels and toes stuff. For men, women and children, including bedsocks.

Bad News
My October Stashbuster (Suzette) will not be finished in October. I've still got the second sleeve to knit, then the fun top bit.

Good News
My November Stashbuster will incorporate my Warm Hands Mitten KAL.  I'm using some black and red wool from stash. 

Pattern tba!

And the Birthday socks are moving along nicely.  This is the third attempt at a heel though. I initially tried the German heel in the Vintage Socks book, but the heel turn is horrible.  Then I tried a stocking stitch dutch heel.  Not really a great fit on Chris, who has skinny feet and a high instep, so I'm back to a heel flap and round heel shaping.

I've got stacks of socks and scarves to knit.  I thought that I'd start them today, but I'm trying to finish clue 4 of the mysteryshawl2 kal, ready for clue 5 tomorrow. I see the number of people who are trying to knit each clue before the next one comes out is getting smaller.  I'm still enjoying this Jamieson's Ultra.

 

Knitalongs

As Christmas looms, I realise that I've not started any Christmas knitting, again.  I thought that I'd start in October and have it all finished in November.  Instead, I find myself browsing the www looking around for KALs to join.  Yes, I've found another one!  Warm hands is a mitten kal. Hop over and join in. 72 members so far! 

One kal (of sorts) which has fallen by the wayside is the stashbusters kal, originally running for 3 months, but it's been extended and a blog's been set up to showcase participant's FOs.  One garment per month, from stash.  I managed the initial three months and then life new stash got in the way. This may all change, however, as I've allocated Suzette as October's stashbuster, and will do small stuff for November's stashbuster; scarves, socks, mittens all from stash. Taking care of Christmas at the same time. (No-one gets large items, such as blankets or jumpers, scarves and socks are enough).

Sooooo,
mysteryshawl2 kal is progressing, clue 4 was released last Friday. Just when I thought that I had is sussed, we change direction!  Now we're knitting along the sides of the triangle, thus:

I've knitted about a quarter of clue 4, and as you can see, it's not going to make a huge difference to the size.  I can't wait to see what the final clue brings.  The yardage given was 1200yds, and I'm about 250yds in, so far.

And stashbusters kal (aka Suzette) is going slowly.  I've frogged the sleeve several times.  My idea of knitting a tube drove me potty.  I couldn't find spare dpns in the size I needed, and I have very few 40cm circulars, so I started with the magic loop method and one circular needle.   Too many colour changes and tangled yarn meant stressful knitting.  I'm now knitting to and fro, and enjoying it much more. Not much progress though!  72 rows knitted, another 72 to the armholes!

New book alert!  Yes, another one.   It's the new Nancy Bush Knitting Vintage Socks!  From Needleart Books.

Time to go and read!

 

Another pair of socks finished

Limbo socks are finished!  From now on, any socks for Chris go into the Birthday and Christmas Box so these are his last pair for a while. 

I left them out this morning, and had an email from him in my inbox when I arrived at work:

'I've got... some new favourite socks!!! They are great, thanks', to which I asked him if they looked bright, and his response?  'I consider the socks to be very subtle - I only have 3 pairs which I consider bright'.

Now I'm wondering which socks are bright, if these ones aren't!

Stahl Limbo, DK weight, 3mm circular, and an afterthought heel.  It look a bit odd but it's fine when it's worn, isn't it?  And replaceable. 

I've started another commuting pair  (shhh, for his birthday in December)

Oops!  What's that in the photo?   Debbie Bliss Home and Interweave's knitscene from Get Knitted, just arrived today!  knitscene's the latest interweave baby, featuring easy, quick, stylish projects, a lot of which are web based. Go look!

And Stashbusters has its own blog now!  I have been verrry bad at stashbusting, but will certainly get through some oddball skeins for Christmas quick knitting projects.

Suzette is languishing again. 
This is the body worked up to the armholes whilst I ponder over the sleeves. 

I think I'll go and knit for a few hours on the sleeve.  Keep the votes rolling in!

Mysteryshawl2

This kal is broken down into five weekly clues. 

I frogged the Jagger spun (I didn't like the fine, hairy yarn) and started again with Jamieson's Ultra, spoils from Ally Pally.

Clue 1

Clue 2 (looking scraggy)

And tonight I've finished clue 3.

I really like this Ultra. It's very pleasant to knit with, with a slightly fuzzy look. Two more clues to go!

This is a break from Suzette. I'm up to the armholes, and have just started a sleeve.  Photos coming soon (I just need to knit a bit of sleeve first...)

Suzette

is coming along nicely.  I've been desperately trying to stay on track, and not add Suzette (or in fact any current WIPS) to the UFO pile.  So much temptation after Ally Pally. Thank god I didn't buy loads of kits for garments, just have the Louisa Harding stuff! 

I've knitted 104 rows, out of a possible 230 rows for the body.  Only another 40 rows to the armholes, when I have to made a decision. 

The pattern is for a set in sleeve.
This means that I start working the back and fronts separately and hence, more ends to darn in. Not nice!  And the sleeves will be sewn in (more sewing, also not nice).

I've decided already to change this to either raglan or a yoke design.
I'd knit up to the armholes, put on hold whilst I knit two sleeve tubes up to the armholes, join everything up, and then knit either a yoke or raglan decreases.

I just have to decide which one to do!

I like both raglan and yokes, though it's been donkeys years since I knitted a yoked cardigan.

Which to knit?

For raglan, I'd keep the v-neck
For yoke, I'd change the v-neck for a crew neck.

So folks

You decide

Which is it to be?  Raglan or yoke?

Here's a progress pic to help you with the decision

Ally Pally Spoils

Warning!  This post is photo heavy and I've not put any links in!

This year I decided to wing it with the planning.  I even arrived a little later, so that I had no rush hour stress.  Imagine my surprise to board a bus at Wood Green and meet up with Mary! As usual, a good time was had and a lot of £££ spent. 

10 pairs of socks, 5 shawls, 1 jumper, 2 shawlettes, 5 smaller neck scarves/mini shawls, and one item which will morph into either a shawlette or a pair of socks. Plus a couple of accessories.

More buttons

More accessories

Isn't this needle gauge cute? They had a sterling silver one going for £40.  I opted for the plastic ones.

And more knitting beads.

Now for the yarn!

Shawl yarn.  This is the newish Ultra from Jamiesons. I bought 3 shawls worth.  I've restarted the MysteryShawl2 KAL with the rose coloured yarn. It's a laceweight mix of shetland and merino (I think) and is softer than J&S laceweight, but not as crisp; it's a bit like felted tweed, slightly fuzzy.   I found the Jagger Spun to be a bit too fine for me.

The top right is a dark blue cone of merino laceweight from Uppingham Yarns.

And from Touche, just a couple of little packs of laceweight

Kaalund

Some Lorna's Heaven and Lion&Lamb

Some Louisa Harding's new yarn, Impressions (not sure what I'm knitting yet)

Chris's new sock stash

Dawn's new sock stash

That's opal, celestial merino, lorna's laces sock yarn, and cherry tree hill supersock!

And finally, the most expensive purchase from yesterday, some Alchemy yarn

From left to right, silk, bamboo, wool & silk.  Absolutely gorgeous stuff.  I can't wait to knit with it. It's not just the yarn itself but the wonderful colours.

All packed away

 

Sockapal-2-za!

Yippee!! My sock pal has really come through with my sockapal-2-za socks!

Yesterday, this little package arrived
...

Notelets, post-its and two balls of Fixation yarn!

And the socks!

Ta da!

My very own koigu socks.  I've not knitted koigu socks yet, and they are so soft!
Thank you Nicole!  They're a great fit too, and so neat.   
I tried to take some action shots... not very sucessfully!  Last time around, I lay on the floor (at work) and took a photo with my legs in the air.  (Which is not what I'm doing in shot #1)

Thank you!  I've been sooo lucky with my sock exchanges, both #1 and #2!

Whilst there's daylight

I've been working on Suzette. As usual, my anticipated 14 or so hours of daylight over the weekend to work on Suzette dwindled right down to not even half of that time. I always forget about the tasks that I have to do at weekends - food shopping, washing, cooking. And late mornings as the body clock resets to a more reasonable getting up time.

Progress so far is 48 rows (out of 230) of the body.  Not bad.  I've had a good look at the knitting, and I think that the camera flash makes the patterns stand out much more than in real life.  Hey, but it looks better. The heart pattern, for example, is not as obvious as in the photo.

And a close up of the pattern:

I'm pleased to be knitting this, though after next week it might get put on the back burner!

Clapotis

In the end Clapotis had a very light blocking. I've lost my blocking pins, so I used wires and gently stretched these out and used a few safety pins to keep it pinned out.  Very nice.

MysteryShawl2

Looking inside the cone, I read the label. 'Waxed'.  Oh dear. I'm using 3mm needles because the yarn looks quite fine. 
So into the sink went the shawl.

Hot water and soap.  A bit of a blocking and we have this:

Looks nice, but it's terribly small.  There's a lifeline after the first clue was knitted and it's only 3 inches of knitting.  I've seen posts from people who have 10 inches of knitting after clue 1! So it's on hold until I think about whether I ought to start again, with larger needles.   

And Chris's new socks are a very tight squeeze to get on his feet (over his instep). I'm a couple of inches past the heel and they're fine when on, but it's getting them on that's the problem. Again, I may restart these, and increase to 56 from 52 sts.  Not a great knitting weekend (but I love Suzette!)

 

Mysteryshawlalong2 & Suzette

There's still time to catch up!  Here's the yahoo group link!

Clue 1 was posted last friday, and clue 2 is posted later today.  Now I freaked out a bit when members started posting about finishing clue 1 and I was still at work and hadn't even looked at the file, but the first clue is a very quick knit. It's the bottom of the shawl (I think) and starts with 3 sts.

Unblocked, trying to hold it with one hand and photograph it with the other. This is a cone of laceweight wool which was bought a few years ago from Elann. It's Jagger spun, and I have about 5,200 yds of the stuff.  I hope I like it!

I'm finding that Suzette, alas, is not the sort of project that I can work on in the evenings. Our light's too dim.  The chart is USELESS! It's a colour chart rather than symbols, tiny squares, similar colours (similar enough in dim light). I find myself having to sit by the desk light to knit. Not productive tv knitting. So this might be relegated to weekend daylight hours - means I can get a good bit done this weekend, I hope.

As I don't have a photo of my progress (only 2 inches, but it's the fronts and back), here's a photo of the tension square.  I normally don't do tension squares, but in this case I wanted to see how my choice of colours looked. I didn't like the choice of colours in the actual design (nothing like the book photos, I assure you) so I made up my own.

And the best bit of knitting news ...

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