skein

April round-up and May knitting plans

How did I do?

April goals

knitting Clubs:

1) Knit my Socktopus socks.  I love the yarn, but didn't like the pattern.  I may try the pattern at a future date, because it's intriguing, but not with this yarn.  Failure!

2) knit April squares for Mystery Blanket.  Success!

   

NaKniSweMoDo projects:

3) finish Twist, garment 3 of 12.  Success!  But no finished blog photos yet.    - buttons are now sewn on.

4) finish Ingenue, garment 4.  Success!

 

5) start garment 5. Success! It's Primrose Path from Twist Collective.

ravelry knitalongs:

6) another combinatin of SKA and SolidSocks April knitalongs. Success!  I didn't do a SKA pattern this month, (but see below, I might do two in May) and went with purple socks for the SolidSocks kal.

other knitting and stuff:

7) Seriousy think about a crochet blanket.  Er, no!  This one was left by the wayside. Completely. 

I did manage to start some plain socks from Opal vintage yarn.  I've a few inches of foot left now, but here's the last photo I took.  These are great for boat knitting, where I might read and knit in the evening.

 

Overall, not bad.

May knitting goals

Knitting clubs:

1) Knit May's Mystery Blanket squares.  I haven't had the kit nor the patterns yet, so this will be a surprise.

NaKniSweMoDo projects:

2) Blog Twist.  It's finished, I just need a bright day and a camera. 

3) Finish Primrose Path.  I've a couple more pattern repeats until I reach the armholes, then I divide for the top bit.  It's still a pleasant knit, nearly plain knitting except for the lace pattern which is very simple.

4) Start garment #6.  I keep changing my mind.  When it's cold and damp I think I might get away with a long sleeved garment (not wool, but a cotton blend) and then when we have sunny days I want to start a short sleeved cardigan!  Oh, decisions!

ravelry knitalongs

5) SKA - Knitspot pattern. 

6) SKA - mystery socks with Yarnissima.

SolidSocks is pastels, and I've set aside some pale blue regia silk, which I'll use for either 5 or 6.

Other knitting

7) Finish Opal vintage plain socks. One to go

8) Get off my backside and knit some single socks for Natalie at the YarnYard.  I've been trying all month, but I think the colour I've been carrying along with me is a bit too  pale and pink for me, so I've gone back and wound up a different colour. I have a few patterns (free ones) in mind.

That's one blog post (2), five mystery squares (1), one fiinished garment (3), one new garment started (4), two pairs of socks (5 and 6) and two odd socks (7 and 8).

 I do love a challenge!  We have two holidays in May which adds on knitting time, and I may take a few days off to catch up with holidays.

Anniversary Socks

 

The colour is darker, and more purple!
Pattern: Anniversary socks from Favorite socks
Started: 5th April
Finished: 25th April
Needles: 2.25mm circular
Yarn: Yarn Yard Bonnie in purple - as part of the SolidSocks knitalong for April (ravelry)
Modifications: none, except for knitting the leg for an extra 1/2 inch. These are longer than usual legs - I think about 9.5" before starting the heel!  Although the instructions don't tell you to end at a certain row, I like to finish on the completion of a pattern repeat, just so it's easier for the second sock. I don't take great notes, and have to rely on my memory and being able to easily read the knitting.

The pattern is best seen on the foot:

and the toe was different too.  Instead of usual toe decreases, at the sides, this one was done in three places, so you can see two of the decreases on top  of the toe (if you look hard) and the third one is underneath.

There's a flurry of posts this week, trying to get everything blogged before the end of the month. As it is, I don't think I'll be getting photos of Twist just yet, this might have to wait until the weekend, and let's hope we have fine weather.  The buttons are on though!

Garment #5 for NaKniSweMoDo

Out of the blue, it's Primrose Path!  I've had my eye on this pattern since it was  published.  Even better, this is more stash yarn, lots of Cathay in a lovely teal colour, which has been maturing for several years, since Cathay first hit the yarn scene.

It's a lovely pattern, just 3x2 ribbing with a travelling, very simple lace pattern.  I was a bit worried about my row tension, the pattern clearly states it's crucial if you want the lace to travel and hit the underarms/shoulder just so, and my tension is out a litte.  But I have a Plan.  i know that by the time I reach the start of the underarm shaping I will need to knit another pattern repeat. The underarm is reached after row 91. When I reach row 91 I will note where the side markers are in relation to the pattern, then work my extra rows, moving the markers to take the extra pattern repeat into account. Hope it works!  If I get time I want to look at all sizes to see how she's calculated the pattern placement before I go ahead and knit another repeat.

This is another one where you're advised to do negative ease, and if I were using the correct yarn the design would hang nicely, not cling.  I'm using Cathay which seems like it might be great as well, though it looks worryingly narrow!

You can't really see the lace pattern well here - it's all scrunched up and not blocked, but it should stretch out beautifully, I hope. This is about 6" of knitting. Lots done, because I went home this weekend, and couldn't have chosen a nicer weekend, lots of Spring sunshine!

We sat in my brother's garden enjoying the sunshine and the newest family addition, little (well not so!) baby E, now 7 1/2 months old.

She's becoming quite the character, I can't believe she's nearly 8 months old now, it's gone so fast!

Ingenue

Finished - garment 4 of NaKniSweMoDo.

Pattern: Ingenue from Custom Knits
Started: 29th March
Finished:18th April
Needles - need to check my notes!
Yarn: Coldspring Mill - a cone of yarn.  Allegedly like Debbie Bliss' cotton angora.  Although the tension was the same, it didn't really feel like some cotton angora I'd worked with before.

Right. Shots.  Taken today because I had to go home for something and couldn't forego the opportunity to take photos on a sunny day.  Not posed though. I'd like to say it's because I was on my own (which will happen more and more frequently as the weather warms up and C has to do boat diy ) but in fact ... the garment was knitted for a snug fit,  with just a little ease. My big plan was to have something wearable now, but would also be wearable should I decide to tackle the extra packing-up-smoking weight (from years ago, it might now be middle age spread).  Great, fits fine, until I washed it. It seems to have shrunk a little bit.  It still fits, but the ease factor is probably zero now.  I'll happily wear things with no ease, usually cardigans, but the bottom band hits my tummy and I look like a little sausage!  I will wear it around the house and I'm sure it will loosen up a bit as it's mainly cotton. 

Close up of the cuff and bottom - this is far more representative of the colour, a bright red, than the more orange one taken in bright sunlight.

in shade

and in sunlight (so orange!)

overall I'm pleased with the garment and pattern, just wish it was a little wider (or I narrower).

More good news - Twist buttons have arrived and just need to be sewn on.
Even better news - garment #5 is started - it's Primrose Path from Twist Collective.  I'm knitting it in Cathay, colour teal, from years old stash.  Now this one calls for negative ease!  I'm hoping it fits!

NaKniSweMoDo

I thought I'd do a quick catch up on my NaKniSweMoDo progress for the year.  The plan is to knit 12 garments in 2009.   I've bought 3 garment's worth of yarn this year, but I'm really enjoying knitting from stash, so I'm going to continue working my garments from stash.  These three new packs of yarn might be knitted, but as an aside from NaKniSweMoDo.

Twist - garment #3 is finished bar buttons. I found some buttons which match in colour but are a tad small.  I wore in a green cardigan this morning, took one look at the Rowan metal buttons and thought 'these will do for my Twist'.  I'll see if I have any in my buttons stash, if not I can easily order more online. Then Twist will be finished. 
A view of the back pattern (and the collar)

A view from the front

the colour is much deeper. It's called Maroon, and is Jaeger Matchmaker Aran from stash. Buttons, soon!

Ingenue, garment #4 was finished on Saturday. 
An easy, top down pattern with interesting patterning on the 3/4 sleeves and neck.  Normally I'd just steam press to finish, but my stiches are so uneven that I gave it a wash.  This is coned yarn, and that red dye runs!

Now that Chris is spending weekends on the boat, I tried to take a photo of myself - well the collar and sleeve. Not too great!  This is before the wash, so ignore any irregular knitting! I'll try to get some photos over the weekend.

Now onto garment five. Possibly six as well!

I think my next garment will be Dawn, from Kim Hargreaves Nectar.  It's not the best shape for me to wear - short and fitted below the bust, but I have to knit my namesake!  And it will make a good cover up for sleeveless vests.  If it's really dreadful I will stick to wearing it at home! I cast on late summer last year.  Unfortunately it's another red shade!  I do like lots of colours, but seem to be knitting the reds from my stash. 

To compensate for the reds, my sixth garment might be Honey, again from Nectar.  I'm hesitating for two reasons.  One, it's another cabled design, like Twist, with cables on the fronts and backs. Two, it's All Season's Cotton, and might make a warm garment just when I want to start knitting summer stuff.  However, the big motivating factor is that it will be from stash, but not just yarn stash - it's garment stash!  A mitred jumper which I never wore.
I've wound the sleeves, just have to find the ends for the body.

It's not as grey, more blue, than this.  I'm hoping I knitted on as I went, and won't have too many small balls of recycled yarn!

Sunday on the boat

How could we not go, with sunny weather forecast?  With no garment knitting on the needles (more in the next blog post) I thought it wise to take some sock knitting with me.  Socks have taken a back seat with NaKniSweMoDo, and I'm lucky if I knit 2 pairs each month.

I finished my first Anniversary sock over the weekend

modelled on my new ebay sock blockers!

I took the second one, plus my first Opal vintage one, over to the boat.

My plans for this week - finish Opal sock #1 and Anniversary sock #2.  Look at what to knit for NaKniSweMoDo. Next is number 5!

We decided to felt our moccasins and clogs as well.  But wowee!  The washing machine, at a 60 degree wash, shrunk them first time!  Usually we need several washes before they are truly felted down to size.  They're not perfect.  We usually chuck them into a duvet cover and put a pair of jeans and some tennis balls into the same wash.  We only had spare pillow cases and I think that there wasn't much room to ensure even felting. When we opened the washing machine there were squashed up little balls of felted wool in each pillow case.  We dare not put them back in the machine, so we will do with crumpled up slippers. Chris has managed to acquire two pairs as the felted clogs were a bit big for me.

The best bit of staying over on the boat is the commute into work. Less than five minutes walk to the Thames Clipper and a 15 minute ride (uncrowded) to London Bridge.  Chris keeps telling me to take photos for the blog, but it's so misty when I leave for work. This is the view from the end of the marina.  To get perspective, Canary Wharf is just out of the picture, on the other side of the river, to the left.

A civilised way to start the week!

Socks

My NaKniSweMoDo progress is going well. Twist is finished, I just need buttons.  Ingenue has one 3/4 sleeve to go.  However.  I am not lugging whole jumpers into work just to take an a progress photo, so I'll be hoping for a nice sunny weekend and a bit more knitting time.

Meanwhile we have sock photos.  I haven't mentioned to finish a pair of socks yet for April.

We have the plain socks, vintage Opal. 
From this

to this

The yarn was such a mess that I had to untangle and rewind.  I'm halfway down the heel now. Love the way the colour works up.

Anniversary socks:

Since this was taken I'm halfway down the foot.  I'll have to get a much better photo of the pattern and the colour - it's a lovely purple colouor, with subtle variations in the colour.

My list for the remaining two weeks:
Finish Twist - just buttons to go.
Finish Ingenue - one sleeve, 8 ends (hooray for top down garments worked from a cone)
Knit one patterned sock for Natalie at the Yarn Yard, who's currently developing her solid yarn selection. One sock, smallish!
Finish Anniversary socks (1.25 to go)
Finish the vintage Opal socks (1.5 to go)
Start another garment. Spoilt for choice, I may have to do a list and have a vote!

A lovely Easter weekend.

I'm blogging from the boat!  We brought over our laptops on Friday, but when I plugged in, the wifi signal was abysmal.  Chris has a dongle, but that was as slow as dial up so I turned off the computer and have spent the weekend knitting and reading.  It's only today, the last day of the holiday weekend, when Chris managed to get online that I realised it might have been where we had the computers on the boat which accounted for a poor signal!  The boat has 3 'rooms', the central living area, when you get onto the boat, then down some steps to the kitchen/dining area at the front (which is the obvious place for plugging in and working on laptops) and the back bedroom.  Working in the central room gives a much better signal than down in the front. 

Right, what have I accomplished this weekend?  Not a huge amount of knitting.  Friday was spent packing, travelling over, unpacking, shopping.  Saturday I went to Peter Jones to a Rowan coffee morning with my knitting friends.  Great day, and a good opportunity to try out Rowan yarns.  They provide refreshments and sample garments - a sure way to tempt me to purchase!

I loved the new Rowan Lenpur, but once I'd tried it I realised it's not nice (for me) to knit with.  Then it was Rowan Milk Cotton - lovely.  So I bought the book, and some of the fine MC - a fine 4ply.

As my current garment knitting seems to be red or burgundy, I've gone with a lightish teal colour. I love this cardigan, though I do like the jumper version too.

and this cardigan, in dk weight.

Another pleasant surprise was the Pima Cotton - I liked working with this one too.
I've chosen this design in a blue shade (how could I resist a colour called Skipper?)

I may change my mind and knit a proper (ie long sleeved) cardigan though.  If it's warm enough for short sleeves I may not want a cabled knit!

I'm very excited about new stuff, especially as Twist just needs one sleeve and side seams (and buttons) and Ingenue is coming along nicely; this is what I've been working on this weekend.  The body is done!

I'm a tad concerned about the lower body edge, it's a little wavy, but I think a steaming might sort it out.

The massive collar

which is folded down,and should look like this:

That, and sewing in the ends, is the only finishing I have to do with this one. It helps that the yarn is on a cone!

What's funny is that I thought I'd struggle to find 12 garments to knit for NaKniSweMoDo, but (once I finish Twist and Ingenue) I need to find another 8 to knit, and without even thinking about it I have seven!

Needless to say, I'll be working on the sleeves today, and my socks (I thought I'd manage to knit 4 socks this weekend!) are languising, unloved.

April's Mystery Blanket

One (of seven!) knitting goals accomplished for the month.

No new squares this month, but a few variations.  I think that this is my favourite month so far.

The same - square 30.  This is problably the easiest for the month, just a bit of moss stitch, stocking stitch and one row with two colours.

Oo-er - look at how wobbly it looks!  Didn't notice that before!

Different colour - square 29.  Beading, a tiny bit of texture and some swiss darning.

Same colours, different orientation - squares 2 and 24. 
Squqre 2 had intarsia, bobbles, texture, swiss darning, but isn't at all bad.  Square 24 (aka the breast square, am I the only one who thinks this??) is my least favourite, though only because of that swiss darning, it does not like the vertical rows!

Different colour and orientation - square 3. Beads, swiss darning, but very easy, as long as you thread the beads on in the correct order. A few people have fallen by the wayside!

 

My favourite square this month is probably square 2, the navy and cream square with beads, bobbles, swiss darning and intarsia.  It's interesting enough to keep my attention, but the pattern is very simple, and I love the colours together.

We've 20 squares now, another 29 to go.  I do like this blanket, love the beading, who knew that I'd enjoy beading so much.  I'm sure I can remember a cardigan (rowan 4 ply cotton) which is fully beaded. Must dig out the old Rowan magazines.

Anniversary socks

by Nancy Bush, found in IK's Favorite Socks book.

These are my SolidSock's April offering. The colour this month is purple.  Love the colour, but it's so difficult to capture with my camera!

There are sock designers who I just love, and Nancy Bush is one of them. I've overlooked this pattern, thinking, mistakingly, that it might not be a great carry-along project. But I'm wrong.  The pattern is very easy to remember.  The lace panels are easy-peasy, as is the twisted 2 stitch cable (I'm never sure what to call this - I think of it as a fake cable) every 4th row.

This is purple. It looks (to me) quite blue but it's definitely purple!

Last night I managed to buy a copy of Cookie A's Sock Innovation at IKL.  I love it!  There's lots I want to knit, right now!  I'm going to hold off and finish these ones first, I suspect that next month's SolidSocks pattern  (and for several more months) might be from this book.   

Other knitting -

Twist - still not seamed

Ingenue - haven't picked this up all week, but I will work on it over Easter weekend

Mystery Blanket April squares - stay tuned, I have 1.5 squares left, and hope to do these in the next few days.

Plain socks - couldn't resist, I do like a pair of plain socks on the go. I'm using vintage Opal sock yarn.

I can see I've upped my number of WIPS, but a few are nearly done.  Must Knit Faster!