skein

Picnic progress

January goal completed! Another 12 squares of the Picnic Blanket, by Debbie Abrahams. That's 24 out of 81 squares completed.  Another set of three and I'll have knitted 1/3 of the squares, the bottom three rows. Then I'm going to complete each strip, starting from the left hand side. Six squares left on each strip to knit.  I'm going to sew in the ends as soon as I finish a strip, and join the strips as I go.  I hope this doesn't slow down the knitting!

Yes, much the same as the last 12 squares!

Dad's waistcoat

Another of my January goals is to start something new - done!
My father asked me to knit a waistcoat, he wanted one a few inches longer than the usual length.

I've chosen Rowan's Pure Aran, which is aran weight and therefore quick, and washable.  Shame about the colour - it's called Paper. I'd call it horrible.
First attempt:

My tension square was spot on, and was at least 6x6". The actual knitting wasn't! 
So here's the second attempt on the correct size needles.  I usually go down a needle size, but I'm wondering if it's these Knitpicks Options, I may be knitting closer to the points than usual.
Second attempt (which seems ok, so far!)

The sun has washed out the beige in these photos, so here's a close up of the colour.

Not my usual colour, but it's by request.  This will be a plain waistcoat with pockets, edged in 2x2 ribbing. 

Isola

Finished!  This was a very quick knit; Ca'd'Oro is a chunky yarn which isn't too bad to knit with. I normally stick to Aran or DK weight.
Knitting time: less than a week
Ends sewn in and buying buttons: more like a month.

This is a lovely cardigan/jacket, with 3/4 flared sleeves.  I think it'll look nicer over a long sleeved garment. Good Spring wear.
The worst part was the fiddly button loops; just a crocheted chain, but it's more ends to sew in. Scroll down to the last photo to see the wonderful buttons which match so well.

Pattern: Isola from Louisa Harding's Una Volta book.
Started: December 07
Finished: January 08
Yarn:  Louisa Harding's Ca'd'Oro, 12.5 balls.
Needles:6mm (pattern recommends 7mm)

Buttons:  Look!!  They match exactly!  I bought these in Libertys, can't believe my luck as this was the first shop I tried. Very pleased. 

Modern Quilt

Another of my January goals is done.  That's 12 mitred squares in kid silk haze. A bit of a pain knitting this up, but I love the knitted product.
    

Each tier has two larger mitred squares, and one made up with four smaller mitred squares. I'm better with the larger ones, less fussing and weaving in ends. 

I've another twenty one squares, or seven tiers to go. At least, if I stick to twelve per month, I ought to see another FO before the weather warms up.  I've taken these photos in the evening, just laying the scarf on the bed.  I think, though, that even with blocking, I might prefer an edging to tidy up the scarf.  One option is a sideways border (so the scarf still has a lot of stretch along the edge), maybe just a sawtooth garter border.  I don't know. I may be pig sick of this by March, and just try a little blocking. Wish I'd been a tad tidier with those edgings!

That means I have just four things to do for January
1) finish the Picnic squares for the month. I have just two to do, and as I try to do this on the short commuter run, and a little at lunchtime, I know this will be accomplished.
2) finish the Autumn Leaves cardigan - let's have a laff!  I have hardly looked at this recently, I've been knitting squares!
3) Sew in the ends on Isola and find buttons.  If I can find some matching buttons I know I can finish this off.
4) Start something new.  I've already knitted the tension square. This is for my dad, a waistcoat with pockets.   I know the width and length, but I've got to guess at the pockes.  So I'll knit this in pieces and start on the back first, in case I get the opportunity to visit and look at an old waistcoat. The problem for me is that this is in Rowan's washable aran (which is ok to knit with) but in a horrible (to me!) colour, Paper. A sort of dirty light beige colour.  Right up dad's street. Not mine.  I've nothing against neutral colours, just this one. Give me a cream colour any day.   At least there's no sleeves and it's stocking stitch, so I can catch up on some reading. Apologies to anyone who loves this shade!

Mega Boots Stretch socks

My first FO for 2008.  Otherwise, my knitting is squares, squares and more squares. 

I'm having camera issues.  Normally my daylight photos show true colours, but this is today's shot:

NOT pink and bright blue!

I've managed to take some photos tonight (with Chris holding two lights over the work, and me resorting to a sheet for background, to get the camera to focus!)

Much better colour representation.
Pattern:  Top down 3x1 ribbed socks, with a plain Dutch Heel
Yarn: Mega Boots Stretch
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony dpns 2.25mm
Started 5th January, finished 19th January

The second of my seven January goals completed.  11 days to finish the other five goals!

I love these Harmony needles.   My new favourite dpns.  I enjoyed knitting with this yarn, but can't tell if it's the needles or the yarn.

Right, I'm off the finish the ninth mitred square on my Modern Quilt, and the ninth January Picnic square. 

Picnic progress

When I posted my January monthly knitting goals I originally intended to knit six squares on this project.  This is an 81 square project and that means that I'd still be knitting this in December!  So I've upped the goal to 12 squares per month. The squares should be finished in June now!
So that's roughly 3 squares per week.

My last two week's progress:

and the total to date (while it fits in the camera frame!)

Another six squares to knit for January!

Modern Quilt

I'm just about keeping up with the squares for the  month! I didn't do as much knitting on Saturday as I usually do, because we went over to the boat.  It was such a lovely sunny day here in London that it seemed a waste not to go over there.  Here's Chris cleaning and re-varnishing the cupboards.

Modern Quilt is a free pattern from IK. It's from the book Folk Style, and it's the one which I would have bought the book for. 
It's also andy that I have kid silk haze in stash.  I thought that I had 4 plus 1 substitute (out of 9) balls in stash.  It turns out that I have 6 plus 1 substitute in stash.  That's what happens when the stash isn't logged properly!

My January goal is to knit 12 of the mitred squares, excluding the 3 already knitted.

I'm aiming for 3 per week. 

So here's my two week's progress.

Yum.   

Tomorrow is the start of another week.  I'm aiming for 3 more of these squares, plus 3 more Picnic squares, half a sock and maybe a little bit of Autumn Leaves!

Debbie Abrahams' Mystery Blanket

For those of you who are knitting this and don't want to see what the January squares are, please don't read any further as there's photos!

Five squares per month, these are the January squares.
We're getting enough yarn to knit five squares per month, plus any extras.  And we're to keep the remnants for further squares.
This month we received 7 balls of wool cotton,  1 ball of kid silk aura, 5 beads (though I used just 2 - please tell me I haven't missed any other bead placements!), a shade card, colour photos of the squares and square instructions.

The squares are all knitted (that's one of my seven January goals finished. Just six more to go in just over two weeks!)

The ends are all sewn in, and I've roughly steamed the squares just so that I can take a snapshot. I hope to pin them out at some stage to the correct dimensions, once I've found the sprayer for the spray bottle (lost in move to stash flat; you'd be surprised what we have packed and can't find!)
ETA: ignore the colours here!  I need to get out into the daylight more...

Autumn Leaves cardigan

A miniscule update today. Because I'm all into squares and haven't felt inclined to pick up the Autumn Leaves cardigan at all. 

I managed to finish the body last month

and have only managed a tiny bit of knitting this year.

I had to steek the armholes, and decided to do a crochet steek. This is the first time that I've tried this so I was a little nervous.  I started crocheting up the middle of the front first, then decided that I will not cut this just yet, it's going to be a lot easier to knit the sleeves with the body intact, not flapping around.

So I did the armhole crochet steek first.

I used the same yarn, just a contrasting colour (so that I can see where to cut!).

and then the scissors came out

See how neat it is? Though I wish that I'd thought about the steeks before I started knitting, and knitted fewer steek sts. I think that there's 13, and this kauni is sticky yarn, so as few as 5 would have sufficed. Or no crochet, this yarn will not be running anywhere fast.

I've had a slow start to the armhole, just because I've been dithering between which circulars or even which dpns.  I found an 80cm circular in the size I need and used that for a few inches, until I'd decreased the underarm gusset.  Now I'm back to my favourite 60cm circular.  All I need to do now is get some Autumn Leaves motivation.

 

Unfortunately it seems it's squares, squares and more squares these days.   I've the ongoing Picnic blanket, the Debbie Abrahams Mystery blanket (on the fifth square at the moment, update over the weekend) and the Modern Quilt Wrap.  I think that my next 3 posts will be about these projects!  Though now that I've pulled the Autumn Leaves out, it's rather tempting to knit an inch or two!

Many thanks for the birthday wishes.  I won't reply to any comments so that I don't give the game away!  I'll announce the winner either Sunday or Monday, so if you haven't left a comment please do so!

The question: what Chinese sign of the zodiac am I?

The prize: some lace yarn (enough for a small shawl) and a nice skein of sock yarn.  I haven't decided just what the yarns will be yet, might be 4ply/fingering and not lace.

Birthday celebtrations

Yesterday was my birthday.  I had a wonderful time.

I had a cup of tea in bed, and then opened my presents. Lots of lovely presents, including two knitting books.

I finished off 3 more Picnic Blanket squares (half of one of my January goals)

Chris cooked bacon and eggs, to line our stomachs for later.  We then set off for the boat, which is now moored in London!  A 10 minute train ride to New Cross Gate, and then a replacement bus service to Surrey Quays.  Billy managed to surface before noon and joined us on the boat for Champagne and Birthday cake!  Chris had cannily hidden the champagne, cake and glasses in a cupboard, and waited for me to discover them whilst checking out the boat!

The boat needs lots of work, especially tarting up the outside, which will have to wait until Spring.  A good scrub indoors is needed to, but we need to sort out power and water first. 

The front cabin has been converted into a kitchen, but there's a hidden bed at the very front (which Billy thought was cool).  I'm amazed that this fits into a boat!

What you can't see is the fridge freezer which is at the very bottom of the photo!
Cap'n Chris!

And First Mate Dawnie!

(I'm peeping out and just visible!). LOOK how high it is from the pontoon!  I had to climb up!  There is a ladder at the back of the boat, leading to the aft deck but no way could I jump onto that, I'd have fallen in!
It will be better when we have the electricity connected and the boat warmed up a bit.  Poor Billy didn't dress for the weather and spent a few hours freezing.

We decided to try out the local amenities at Surrey Quays, so we went to the local cinema (I am Legend, great but nothing like the book), a local diner (good cheap grub) and a local pub (nice and quiet, great for us oldies) and then back home, very happy, but very tired.
I cast on a sock to knit in the cinema, just a plain 3x1 rib, in Mega Boots Stretch, which goes nicely with my new Knitpicks wooden dpns.  I can't decide if these should be my January socks, or if I should save them for cinema knitting. 

I love these Work in Progress tubes, as I'm terrible for losing dpns in the bottom of my bag.  I bought these ones from Knit 'n' Caboodle.

Now for a  friendly competition, in celebration of my birthday.
What Chinese Astrological symbol am I?  Hint: my birth year is between 1955 and 1965!  If more than one person is correct, I'll put names into a hat for the winner. A nice skein of sock yarn and a nice skein of lace yarn (enough for a small shawl, I thinki) are on offer.  I'll announce the winner on Monday 12th January.