skein

Another hat (and another NaKniSweMoDo progress report)

The hat is a bit of a disaster!

Pattern: Kat, by Kim Hargreaves, from her Precious book.

Yarn: Kid Classic

Started: 24th October

Finished:24th October - yes, I knitted it in one day!  I was away over the weekend and had lots of knitting time on Saturday.

Looks wonderful, great fun to knit (though it's knitted back and fro, and seamed, and the ribbing doesn't match at the seam, grrr!) but it looks awful!  I tried it on straight off the needles and I looked like some sort of alien, so I blocked it into a beret shape over a dinner plate.

It looks better, but still awful!  I thought I might give it away but no, if our weather gets cold I can pull it right down over my ears!

 

or even lower

Lessons learnt.  I didn't do a tension square,, but honestly, sitting there it looks ok, not too huge.  If only I had Big Hair to fill it out!

And onto NaKniSweMoDo #13.  Nearly finished. Nearly.  I've ran out of yarn!!  I switched from Rialto to Cashmerino, as John Lewis didn't have enough of the colour I wanted, but had plenty in a similar shade of cashmerino.  As the yardage is better, I worked out that I needed one ball less. Great. Then I decided I'd do medium roather than large, which seemed like it might be a bit too big.  Even better, I might have some yarn left for a  matching hat or pair of wristers.  Except I forgot that I lengthened the body by 2".  I have seven rows to go on the collar. Seven.  Oh well. I've managed to seam and darn in most ends, and even sew on the buttons.  It's soooo close to finishing!

The Mystery blanket is the only other big thing on the needles at the moment.  Still waiting for the needles, which were despatched on 13th October. I so want to finish these two things off!  November will be small things, and I've signed up for another month of daily postings for NaBloPoMo - anyone else doing this? I thought that smaller things would be better if I have to post each day, and a great way to catch up with new Winter warmers and gifts for Christmas. 

I've already started the first of the gifts, a pair of plain dk socks. Mr C chose this yarn whilst we were in Germany last year.

A few small FOs

I've been a bit bored with my knitting this week.  Whilst waiting for my needles to arrive so that I can finish the Mystery Blanket, I've been working solely on the Grey Cabled Cardigan, and I'm not such a monogamous knitter.  So I cast on a few little extras to keep me busy.

First FO

Please ignore the dopey look, it was a bit too much to hope for, that I could look at the camera and take the photo.

Pattern:  Mondo Cable Hat by Chicknits

Yarn: Cashmerino Aran

Needles: 4.5mm

It should be more slouchy!  I didn't do a tension square and should have stuck with 5mms.  But it's such a quick knit that I can easily knit another one in no time, at the correct tension :)

 

Love the colour!

Second FO are a couple of pairs of wristers.

 

Pattern: Wristers

Needles: 3.25mm

Yarn: Biggan Wool

Modifications: I knitted a few more rounds for the top ribbing, and knitted five rows on the thumb (the pattern has you knitting a gusset but then casting off).

This is written for a worsted weight yarn, but I wanted a slightly smaller wrister, so I've used dk weight.  

Grey Cabled Cardigan is coming along.

 

If you look closely you can see that the back, both sleeves, right front and buttonhole band are complete.  The left front's been frogged. I forgot to do the cross cable every pattern repeat!

Hopefully I'll finish the other front this weekend, and then I'm having a break from garments!  It'll be accessories for the next month!

Maggie

My 12th garment for NaKniSweMoDo is finished!

 

Pattern: Maggie by Kim Hargreaves, from her latest book Precious

Started: 1st September

Finished: 15th October (when the buttons were finally added, though the knitting was done a while before)

Needles:3.25mm

Yarn: Felted Tweed, Dragon (a green-grey), 7 balls

Modifications: shortened sleeve by a few inches - I don't have short arms, but I think that the problem lies in my narrow (for my size) shoulders, so the sleeves start lower down the arms!

The edgings are knitted first, in garter stitch, then stitches are picked up for the body. 

 

I admit I was pig sick of short garter strips by the end of the garment!  You can see it's also gently ruffled.

Love the buttons, too.  In real life they have a green tinge to them which matches the yarn so well.

 

Love the neckline.

 

The collar is just a few ros of garter stitch, continued from the front borders (which I, ahem, pressed so they'd stay down!)

Overall it's a winner.  I like the lightness of the Felted Tweed.  Warm and light.

NaKniSweMoDo progress on Maggie

Maggie, my 12th NaKniSweMoDo is going well.  I've opted not to knit socks for the moment, so this has been my carry-along knitting.

Back and fronts are done, and I'm now knitting the first sleeve.  I'm now bored.  All of this stocking stitch!  And the sideways borders are not my favourite piece of knitting, either.  Thankfully there's just the cuff of the second sleeve and the back neck.

 

Not sure if this is a great representation of the colour - it's a grey green colour, the Dragon is a good name for this colour!

Now then.  I ought to be getting along with the final installment of the Mystery blanket - but I've stalled!  I've knitted two of the four squares, but my yarn package hasn't arrived (we have a terrible time with postal strikes, and our local sorting office is the worst) and I've ran out of one of the colours in the third square!  I shall wait until the end of the week and email.  What a pain.

Does this mean that I've started one of the smaller projects that I planned to knit in October?  No!  I'm still bitten by the garment bug so another project has been cast on!

It's the Grey Cabled Cardigan, by Debbie Bliss, from her Rialto Classics book.  I'm using cashmerino as John Lewis didn't have the similar shade I wanted in the Rialto.  Started Sunday evening, and I'm up to the armhole shaping on the back (which I've had to frog back a few times, too short, error in cabling).   The colour is a bit darker than shown, with today's dire weather and overcast sky, it was impossible to get it just right.

It makes a refreshing change from colourwork, or plain stocking stitch. I can't believe that it's garment #13!

Nesta, NaKniSweMoDo #11

Pattern: Nesta from Rowan Classic Heartland (ravelry link)

Yarn: Rowan's Silky Tweed

Needles:5mm

Started: August 23rd

Finished: September 29th

This is the 11th garment for NaKniSweMoDo!

The actual knitting was done quite quickly, in fits and starts, but it was the modifications, and reknitting which took time. Then I lost the buttons, these ones are smaller (so I may replace them).

Notes (lengthy!)

The chart is crap. It's tiny, and symbols, very hard to see.  I did a colour spreadsheet chart. 

There are two colours which are used in just one row of the 20 row pattern, and I don't think it's worth buying two (or more for the larger sizes) skeins of yarn.  It's the pink and black in the central row of the blue pattern.

 

I also had several skeins left over (and I've lost the receipt!) so anyone knitting this might consider buying as they go.

I knitted this in one piece up to the armholes, then separated for front and back.  It eliminated a lot of ends.  I tried to carry colours up the side (after knitting half the body) to eliminate more.

One thing I didn't take into consideration is the edge stitch - really not worth knitting this in a different shade if the chart dictates this; better to knit it in the same shade as the next stitch - after all, it's hidden in either a seam or border.  I will have to go and sew down the border, if I pull it I can see the gap!

And finally, the stripes matching on sleeves and body. In the photo in the pattern book they don't match (this happens a lot with Rowan!). I provisionally cast on just before the start of the sleeve cap, knitted the top of the sleeve and sewed it in to make sure the stripes lined up  I could have just started the underarm shaping at the same point and it would have worked out!  Then I worked each sleeve down to the wrist (not in the round, that messed up my tension, on small circulars) and then did the cuff in the round (in case I wanted to turn it up, no need to worry about the seam). 

Lots of reknitting too, mainly my fault not working out the row tension!
Just as the cardigan had to be reknitted a few times, we had to take two lots of photos. I really didn't think, just put it on over a long t-shirt, Chris said it looked fine, but it didn't!  It wasn't even lined up on the neck, see?

 

I'm now on #12. Back and fronts are done, now on Sleeve Island, and really fed up with those garter stitch cuffs!

ETA: and I've also managed to post it TWICE to my blog!

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!

A few new projects before the end of the month

OK first the easy knitting.

I started my 11th NaKniSweMoDo last Sunday. It's a stranded cardigan, but has nearly 4" of ribbing.  That tided me over for a while, but when I hit the stranded knitting it was no long a portable project, so I've started some plain socks.  From the Get Knitted Lorna's Laces sock club, this colour's called Laendler, blues and pink. As usual, they're striping!  I lurve LL colours, especially as, so far, they always knit up for me as narrow stripes, no surprises.

 

And the next garment for NaKniSweMoDo!  It's #11!

I fell in love with Rowan's silky tweed when we were in Peter Jones a few weeks ago.  Unfortunately, I did not have my knitting thinking head on at the time.  I chose to knit a Rowan stranded cardigan.  I do not get on with Rowan when it comes to stranded colourwork.  Their patterns are worked in pieces. Their colour patterns often mean odd rows of colours which are then broken and rejoined at the other end.  Their charts are dismal. And silky tweed is nearly aran weight. Give me 4ply and steeks!  This pattern has increases at the sides, which mean the pattern is disrupted. Set in sleeves mean the pattern isn't matched exactly either, another bug bear.

Chart problem - I reworked it in excel, so it's now a very much larger colour chart.

Aran weight stranded colour work - I'm doing it with a heavy heart.  That's another thing about knitting with finer yarns - you can knit more stitches before having to catch up the strand. I've decided to weave in every 4th stitch if I need to, which isn't often, there's only 3 out of 20 rows where there's more than 3 stitches.

Pieces - I'm knitting the body in one piece up the armholes, which means each row takes a long time.  I think I'll knit the rest of the body in pieces.  The nearest I can think of to match sleeve pattern with body is to ensure that when I cast off the sleeves for the start of the armhole shaping, I am on the exact same row as I was for the body.  The very top of the set in sleeve cap won't match of course, but it will look a lot better.  I'll be able to measure the body for a very good length estimate for the sleeves, to see whereabouts in the pattern I cast on. I will have leeway - the sleeves have about 4" of ribbing, which I can adjust.

I've been dragging out this knitting, didn't like the look of the pattern, the colours together, but it's amazing what a quick steam press can do!  The pattern shows up more, and it looks quite even.

 

I like it now, even the row with three colours!

 

I'm tempted to cast on another cardigan in Felted Tweed - stop me!

Muse - NaKniSweMoDo #9

Pattern: Muse from Rowan Classic Reminiscence.

Yarn: Rowan Pima Cotton dk, colour Skipper, 11.5 skeins

Needles: 3.5mm

Started: 30th July

Finished: 22nd August

Modifications:  I knitted about 1.5" less on the sleeve length, and they're still long!

 

I don't think that I added length to the body, but it seems a bit longer than the modelled pose in the book. 

Border:  I picked up far less stitches than specified in the book. This is a garter stitch border, and good old Martin Storey wanted me to pick up pracically a stitch per row. I originally tried 4 sts/5 rows on the straight bit, and 5 sts/6 rows on the sloped bit, but I thought it was a bit baggy so went back and picked up 3sts/4rows and 4sts/5rows on smaller needles, much better.

 

Buttons - three smaller instead of two larger. 

The yarn is easy on the hands, but splitty. The cardigan is surprisingly very comfortable to wear, despite having long, floppy sleeves.  I thought they'd drive me mad, but I don't notice at all.

I'm now on #10, and it's going well, though the pooling is rather alarming!  What to start next?  I was going to start a woolly one, either one for me in the new Rowan Silky Tweed, or one for a friend, in some Cascade 220, but our summer has returned, so I may put it off for a week, instead concentrate on a little something (socks, baby or scarf). We shall see how the day progresses!

NaKniSweMoDo progress

Nothing finished!   I'm quietly knitting away on number 9 (Muse) and have started number 10 (Scoop neck t-shirt).  It's weird not having a portable small thing to carry around with me, but I'm determined to have a go at finishing both of these this month, and starting on number 11!

So, new one.  Number 10.  It's the Top Down Scoop Neck T-shirt (ravelry link) from Knitting Pure & Simple.  I've knitted this pattern before, in Rowan Damask, and loved it.  The yarn is ... busy.  Variegated black, pink, mushroom and white.   Really, this has to be knitted in st.st. Nothing else would show up!  It's Elann's sonata, a mercerised cotton.  It's a nice change from Rowan's Pima cotton, which, although easier on the hands, is splitty.

This photo was taken on Sunday, 4 balls in. I've not worked on it since (trying to finish Muse!)

I've knitted the crew neck top down t-shirt in Elann Sonata too, black and white, so I know what to expect with the patterning.  I'm hoping to work on this over the weekend, see if I can get the body done (though that's a tall order!)

Now for Muse.

I've knitted back, two fronts, using short rows to shape the shoulders and joining with a three needle cast off.  I finished the first sleeve last weekend, but thought it looked a little long, so I tacked it into place and it is too long.  So I'm going to frog back and start the armhole shaping an inch earlier.   I always have this problem!  I don't have short arms, but I suspect that a lot of the Rowan models have monkey arms :).  Although I ought to have checked out the photo.

 

Well past her wrist and there's that excess material by her elbow!  I don't really do very long sleeves, can't abide them on my hands (and they interfere with dpns).  I've shortened them by a good 5cm.

Not the greatest photo. It was 7am this morning, I was in a hurry, and the concrete 'grabs' the knitting, so they aren't really as different in length as shown here.

Unless something seriously distracts me from my knitting this evening I'm hoping to finish both sleeves tonight. Then it's border, buttons, seaming and ends.  So close to finishing #9.