skein

NaKniSweMoDo catch up

The knitting part of Hey Teach is done. This is number 7 of 12.  Just buttons and seaming and it's finished!  I'll probably do that next weekend.  It's been more knitting than anticipated,  the back has been knitted twice (i.e. frogged and reknitted) and the sleeves were partially frogged too.  I thought I'd knit 3/4 sleeves, had a change of heart and went for elbow length instead, had another change of heart and went shorter, about 2.5" longer than the short sleeves in the pattern.

The colour is purple!  Not as blue as in this photo. Blame it on the evening light.

Now onto number 8. It's cast on and it's Tide, by Louise Harding, knitted in her Glisten yarn which is a type of ribbon yarn, not my favourite to knit with.  It unravels madly, it's slow knitting and my tension is to pot!  I could of course put it in a bag, or in a pop sock, but I can't be bothered.

 

One more thing about this yarn ... ... ... it's sparkly!  I don't know if it's that obvious in this close up.

It's been on my list for ages, so I'm pleased that it's finally on the needles.  At the moment I'm liking the knitting, but this may change, once the novelty has worn off, and I'm on the boring stocking stitch bit! 

Current Knitting

I don't know how long I'll keep this up, but I quite like blogging a weekly post about my knitting progress and plans. 

Last week I gave myself a few targets - all met except one, knitting a baby garment.  I thought I'd leave it until Autumn.  I've discovered that I quite like having just 3 or 4 things on the needles, I seem to get more done!  I expect that the baby will have lots of first sizes, and with our upcoming hot summer (allegedly) I might be better off knitting something in the 3-6 months range, in a few months.

Finish Ishbel - done and post is here.

Finish Dawn - done and post is later on the week :)

Knit sock 1 of Taking Turns -  done.

Knit the leg of New England socks- done.  It speeds up when the back patterning is finished, a bit like knitting a foot of a sock with the plain sole.

And finally, an unexpected extra bit of knitting.  Having finished Dawn I needed to start the next NaKniSweMoDo (number seven!).  It's Hey Teach!, a free pattern on knitty, and I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.  I've had five balls maturing in stash for several years.  Initially I didn't like Cotton Fleece at all.  My idea of a wool/cotton blend is Rowan's Wool Cotton, and this is nothing like it. It's rougher and very splitty. However, now that I'm used to knitting with it, it's quite a pleasant knit.
I thought I'd better blog about it now as I'm racing through it!
Here's the back, started on Sunday. Stocking stitch and ribbing section done Sunday, and the lace pattern knitted last night. 

It's Prosperous Plum.  A very quick, relaxing knit.  If I have enough I'll knit longer sleeves.

This week's list:
Finish Taking Turns socks (you can see I've not made much progress!)
Finish sock #1 of New England Socks
Finish back of Hey Teach! (I'll probably start the front as well)

Dawn update

 Not much blogging this week, because I've only been working on two things.  Dawn has been my carry along knitting.  It's slow going, considering it's a short cardigan with short sleeves!  It's the stitch pattern - yon, p2tog, in cotton. I have to make an effort to knit tighter, so I knit slowly.

The sleeves are incorporated into the fronts by increases, then the fronts are joined and you work your way down the back. 
This photo was taken earlier today.  34 more rows of stitch pattern, then the back ribbing and the garter fronts extended around the neck.

and a close up of the pattern.

This is a lovely deep red, more blue than yellow as seen here.  It's my sixth garment for NaKniSweMoDo, and if I stick to it should be finished next week, ready to cast on my seventh!
I'm getting fed up of lugging this around with me so I may cast on some plain socks tomorrow.

Next post - Mystery blanket!  This is the other thing I've been working on this week, squares are knitted and I'm halfway through sewing two strips together.

New wips!

I should be writing a post about finishing Primrose Path, but I need to take decent photos. It's a bit snug, but I'm sure a proper blocking will make it grow more!  I've managed to dip the sleeve in the washing up and then my tea, so it needs a wash!

Meanwhile ,,, NaKniSweMoDo number 6 is on the needles!  It's Dawn, from Kim Hargreaves. Now this style is not my usual cup of tea, but I cannot not knit my namesake!  It'll be useful as a cover up in the early morning or if it turns chilly in the summer. 
It's handknit cotton, and the pattern is killing me - a yarnover, p2tog pattern. Very lacy. I'm going to put the start date as yesterday, though I knitted the ribbing last year.  Look how much I've done in an evening!

 

Very openwork!

Over the weekend I've been rummaging in the lace/shawl stash. It was meant to be a quick rummage, but six hours later (!) I emerged from the bedroom with yarn for four shawls. I don't do things by half!

Ravelry as usual has been a huge source of inspiration, though I'm beginning to suspect I might be one of those knitters who wants to replicate not only the pattern but the same colour of yarn.  All of these links are in ravelry, apologies to anyone who isn't a member, if any of the knitters has a blog post I'll post that link too.

First option
Kauni multieffekt in a gray/purple shade.  Found the best pattern - feather and fan from Folk Shawls.  And it's in the same colours!

Second option
Ishbel's shawl in wollmeise. In the exact shade!

Third option
Baltic Blossoms lace shawl (non ravelry link here) in Malabrigo lace - a pink colour which I wound ages ago and have lost the label.  Checked on ravelry and the three projects using malabrigo lace aren't in the same colour!

Fourth option
Violets by the river (non ravelry link here) using knitwitches silk lace in a beautful bright green.

I narrowed it down to two - Ishbel and Baltic Blossoms.  After a few hours knitting I'm going to scrap Baltic Blossoms

It's lovely, I know, but it's coming out too small. I've only one skein, and so I'm knitting the smaller shawl, but it's going to be very small, even with blocking I think.  I need to either use larger needles or thicker yarn!  Having started this pattern though it's still goiing to remain at the top of the to-do list. 

Ishbel is goiing well - it's stocking stitch.  Believe it or not, I keep making mistakes and forgetting yarnovers!  How can I do this on a (so far) mindless knit?) I love this colour!

Of course, sitting out in sunshine today my mind kept wandering to restarting Baltic Blossoms in a silk laceweight! 

Primrose Path progress

With me I have four stages (hopefully) when knitting a garment.

1) Cast on and knit like mad, filled with motivation and excitement at the newness of the project. 

2) Get a bit bored and start knitting other things. This usually happens after I've finished the back and possibly half the front.

3) Grit my teeth and pick it up again.  This is the hardest bit.

4) Nearing the finish my wip usually gets a new lease of life and I'm full of enthusiasm again.

With Primrose Path, stage 1 lasted up to the armholes of the body of the garment (knitted in the round).

Stage 2 lasted a week, where I've been knitting single socks and other socks.

I'm now on Stage 3, the difficult bit.  I've gritted my teeth today, finished the whole body and have cast on for sleeve 1.  It's awkward, knitted in the round. I've tried to do magic loop as I loathe those 40cm circulars, but it's too fiddly, so I'm using a 40cm needle, just for the first few inches, then I'll switch to a longer circular.

The pattern instructions say row tension is vital, as the pattern swirls up and around the body, but my cunning plan has worked - I knitted two extra pattern repeats (12 rows in total) before dividing for the armholes, and moved the side seam markers by 10 stitches (each pattern repeat moves the pattern 5 stitches to the left).

Front

Back

Not too obvious here, but it's very narrow!

I tried it on as is and it's, ahem, form fitting.  I'm presuming I can steam it open a bit more.  I'm doing 3" of negative ease as per pattern instructions, just hope Cathay opens up! 

This is my fifth garment for NaKniSweMoDo.    I had a little stash sorting last weekend and put a lot of more summery yarns in the front bins.  Of course this action has increased my list of possible projects, but I'll wait a few more weeks, see if the weather heats up a bit.

Plans for this week -

Finish the first sleeve of Primrose path (I'm halfway through, on the easy ribbing only bit).

Knit my May Debbie Abrahams Mystery Squares.

Finish my plain vintage Opal socks and blog about them.

If I accomplish this I'll have finished 3 of my 8 May goals. 

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!

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!

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.

Twist progress

Still not finished.  This is my third garment for NaKniSweMoDo and my plans are to have it finished in March, with #4 on the needles as we go into April.

To join the back we now have fronts and a sleeve.

Both of these photos were taken before I left for work, in a rush as I was running late, so they're a little blurred.

The true colour is maroon - similar to this photo, it's amazing the difference.

This weekend I'm going to try to finish my second green sock, and try to make good progress on Twist. That's a lot of knitting!  No knitting tonight, so I'll have to fit my knitting in between weekend housework (not that I do much!).

NaKniSweMoDo garment 3 progress

It's Twist, by Chicknits. Ravelry link here.

This is the third attempt at garment #3.  The first two attempts didn't work out.  It's the second attempt with the yarn. This was originally going to be for Ingenue, but the tension was a bit too small. I didn't like it on larger needles.  Even with Twist I may have to stretch it out a bit (or lose some weight!)

It's a cherry burgundy, not this bright red!  I wonder if it's the early morning light? I've taken advantage of it a couple of times this week, it's so fantastic being able to take photos before I leave for work. Looks a bit blurred, though, probably down to my bleary early morning eyes!

 

Great pattern for beginner cablers.  Just enough cable to keep you occupied, with lots of st st. I'm managing to read my book whilst knitting this.

I'm hoping to finish the fronts this weekend - left front is half done.  Mind you, I want to cast on some socks too...