skein

NaKniSweMoDo09 progress

Nesta is still not finished!  The knitting has been long done, most of the ends are darned in, but... now, the buttons are lost!  I waited until the weekend to see if they surfaced in daylight, and no such luck, so I'll have to go out and get some more, blast it!

There's only one lot of ends left to darn in.

This, when finished, will be the 11th garment for NaKniSweMoDo.  Meanwhile, number 12 is on the needles and the back's done!

It's Maggie, from Kim Hargreaves' Precious book,  felted tweed.  Going well!

Fox Faces Mystery Socks

Pattern: Fox Faces SKA Mystery socks, September 09.

Started: 1st September

Finished: 24th September

Yarn: Opal Uni

Needles: 2.25mm

This was a weekly mystery sock, designed by Nancy Bush.  A great knit, and very bright!

Jerrold's basketweave scarf

Pattern: Jerrold's Basketweave Seaman's scarf from Stahman's Shawls & Scarves.

Started: 18th September

Finished: 25th September

Yarn: Artesano Aran, in grey. 2 skeins.

Needles: 5mm

I love the way this type of scarf is worn, with a ribbed central section to hug the back of your neck.

A lovely warm scarf just in time for winter!

 

Socks progress

Another pair of socks is off the needles.

These were part of Get Knitted Lorna's Laces sock club which has now finished.  This shade is Laendler.  I like my LL's to stripe, so it's just plain knitting, top down, with a garter stitch short row heel.

Started: August 27th

Finished: September 18th

Needles: 2.25mm

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock, Laendler.

A lovely quick knit.

The mystery socks for SKA are going well. Clue three is done, and I'm thinking that the next clue will be the final one, and will entail knitting the foot and toe.

The yellow's ... yellow!  Quite bright! This has the Eye of Partridge heel, not sure if it's obvious in the photo (but it clickable to enlarge).

A couple of new WIPs.

Nesta knitting is hopefully done.  The only cloud on the horizon is the scoop neckline - it looks a little baggy to me, but I've not sewn the second sleeve in, nor put the buttons on, so it may be ok when complete.  If not, I have a few options - either try tightening up the neckband with crochet stitches or sewing, or unpick the last row and cast off a little more tightly. Another option is to unpick the front bands (again!) and then the neckband and reknit.  Not one I want to do!

Meanwhile, we have the final NaKniSweMoDo on the needles!  It's been cast on since 1st September, but I haven't worked on it much, more emergency plain knitting should I run out of plain socks to knit.

It's Maggie, by Kim Hargreaves, knitted in Rowan's Felted Tweed.  The bottom bands (and possibly the sleeve cuffs, I haven't looked yet) are composed of a garter stitch band knitted sideways, then stitches are picked up and knitted for the rest of the body.  I've finally finshed those garter stitch rows for the back and have started some plain knitting.

The colour is Dragon, grey tinged with green, slightly more darker than in this photo.  There's a little hint of ruffle on the bottom.

Second new WIP is a late birthday present which I need to finish by the end of September. 

It's Jerrold's basketweave seaman's scarf, from Stahman's Shawls and Scarves, knitted in Artesano Aran.  This is the second time I've knitted this scarf, Chris has one from a few years ago, which he loves. The yarn is lovely and warm, a blend of wool and alpace, but not too itchy. I must say, for an Aran, it's quite thick and fluffy.

This is the colour

and this shows the pattern a little better

It's such an easy pattern too.  This is going to be my commuting knitting for the next few weeks, hopefully that'll mean it will be finished in time!

Nesta progress

Is slow.  Very slow!  I had a great August bank holiday knitting weekend, managed to knit the whole body and the borders!  Then I had a little break.  I wanted to ponder over how to make the stripes match for the sleeve caps. 

My plan was to provisionally cast on stitches for the width of the sleeve, near the start of the armhole shaping,  work the sleeve cap, see if it fitted, then work downwards to the cuff.   In fact, the only thing to worry about for matching the patterns was to ensure I started the shaping in the same place as the body shaping.  There might be fiddling around near the top of the sleeve cap, but that wouldn't entail frogging the whole sleeve, I could have knitted it bottom up after all. Any sleeve shortening would have to be on the cuff, as the pattern really needs to start on row 1, so it goes well with the cuff.

Never mind.  I knitted a sleeve cap, started sewing it in place.  Realised I'd make a major cock up in the armhole depth on the body!  This stranded knitted needs a steam press to even it out and get tension.  I'm spot on with the row tension, and ought to have counted rows from the start of  the armhole shaping, rather than measuring my knitting on the needles.  Subsequently my armhole depth went from 22cm unblocked to 26cm blocked!  I'm aiming for a short armhole depth as this is a fitted cardigan, so I had to frog back and reknit the the shoulders to the shorter length. That entailed cuttong off the borders (ends darned into the border seam!) and unravelling the body by a few inches. 

Then, my sleeve cap wasn't right, so that had to be reknitted! 

Eventually done, I knitted the second one, and started knitting the sleeve in the round, down towards the cuff.  It's not over yet.  I had to frog that too, my tension was a bit tight (I think it was the method of knitting, rather than the fact that I was knitting in the round; I tend to knit tighter when the round is smaller).

It's enough to try the patience of a saint! 

Here's the progress on Sunday afternoon.  I've done ok with the sleeve cap, not perfect, but ok.  At least the stripes match!

 

 

Phew!  This is the 11th NaKniSweMoDo and I can't believe how much frogging I've done!

SKA September Mystery sock

I seem to be drowning in Nesta at the moment, but I do have other things on the needles!

SKA's September challenge is either a Wendy Johnson design in any colour, or yellow socks, or a mystery sock in yellow yarn.  I'm doing the mystery sock (designer is Nancy Bush!) and we've had two clues so far.

Clue one was the cuffs, ending with a cool braid.

 

This is the real colour, the following photos are looking a bit washed out, but it was cold and gloomy outside when I took them!

I had to reknit the braid, mine was a little loose.

Backs - just 1x1 ribbing and then stocking stitch.

 

Fronts - a pretty lace pattern, very easy to memorise, so great for carry along knitting.

 

Very sunny yellow!

 

I Knit London Weekender

Before anyone gets excited I didn't take any photos, or (shock! horror!) buy much yarn! Spoils ere 3 kits from Biggan Wool and one skein of Seriously Gorgeous Cashmere and Silk from Knitwitches (I've knitted a scarf in this yarn, just had to buy more), and Starmore's republished Fairisle Knitting book.  The yarn market was great, and I've just read Rooknits, Alltangledup and Knitting on the Green - there are spoils there which I wish I'd bought!

I went to the Debbie New Presentation and her Ouroborous workshop.  Until late the night before I thought my workshop would be this:

 

but this is Labyrinth knitting!

I didn't take any photos of Ourorobous knitting, but I did take some other photos of

swirl knitting

 

and cellular automation (I think!)

I met lots of ravellers or virtual friends, did lots of knitting, ate some very nice cake (though I wonder what happened to the lemon curd cake?) and had a brilliant time.  I'm not dwelling too much on what I wish I'd bought!

Mystery Blanket September squares

The penultimate month!  Next month we get four squares plus the border instructions.  This knitalong has sped by.

So, here are the five squares.

Square 35 - beads, lots of, swiss darning.

 

Square 42 - beads, bobbles and button.

 

Square 47, more beads and swiss darning.

 

Square 48 (square 42 on its side)

 

Square 49 - beads and sequins.

 

Two more strips sewn together gives us this:

 

 

I'm so excited!  This will replace the one on the back of the sofa, and I fully intend knitting matching cushion covers out of the remnants.

Nesta progress

I'm having a little break from Nesta, I had a mammoth knitting session last weekend.

This was the progress last Saturday mid-afternoon:

 

And this is the progress 48 hours later, on Monday afternoon (thanks to the Bank holiday)

 

Back, and front

 

You could say I was on a roll! 

Monday evening I finished the front bands (the buttons were added today)

 

A close up

 

I'm so pleased with the progress, but needed a week's break from this knitting. I am so not a one project person!  I now need to sit down and work out the sleeves - I'm not happy with the way that Rowan patterns never line up, and will attempt to fugde the pattern placement so the stripes match up - it will be a real pain as the sleeves are set in!

This week I've started several new things - some mystery socks, a new NaKniSweMoDo  and have been working on the penultimate squares for the Mystery Blanket. Just have to sew those strips together now, and it'll really start looking like a blanket. 

Oops!  Forgot to say, it's my great niece Evie's birthday today, she's one! Happy birthday Evie!