skein

moaning minny

What a crap day this has been!

Not a good weekend either. Chris started having toothache about a month ago. It went away, so wise man that he is, he didn't make a dental appointment. It came back again after a week and he was the most miserable paracemetol-taking old git that you can imagine. His dentist gave him anti-biotics, told him to come back in 10 days. So he went back on Thursday to have some root canal work done on his tooth. No probs Friday. No probs Saturday. Sunday the pain is back. He has toothache, jawache, earache. He is miserable and uncommunicative. I spent Sunday sitting here all day knitting (bliss normally, but not with a Sick Man).

We had a dreadful nights sleep, lots of tossing and turning. I woke up early for work, threw my book down (bed is one of these IKEA double bunk beds) and heard something smash. It's Chris's glasses, his best ones. His second best ones broke last week and are unrepairable. So the money I've been saving up is now his to buy some more glasses. (And we have the Knitting & Stitching show at Ally Pally next week!).

Went off to work, and my trousers felt funny. I've only put them on back to front (side zip, on wrong side) and althought they LOOK symmetrical, they definitely aren't when you've got them on back to front. Then the bloody district line is not working due to a signal failure somewhere. So I was 45 mins late to work.

Oh well. Chris went off drinking with his pals tonight, and has arrived home tiddly and talkative. He's discovered that the dentist has done the root canal work on the wrong tooth (which is probably why it was relatively pain-free and quick!) so we've got that to go through tomorrow. He managed to superglue his old glasses back together, so at least he could spot his mates. Good outcome, we've been invited to a 50th b'day at the end of October (she's boring, but the 50th b'day guy is good fun)

On the knitting front, I've started a pair of dk ribbed socks, first C'mas knitting. It's the Stahl Mexiko DK which I bought last week. I've also finished the main body of the Peacock Feathers Shawl and am now on the border. We've opened the red wine tonight, so I've only knitted 2 rows. 24 to go!

Still no sign of the Elann order from months ago. Any day now I'll get the email telling me it's gone back to Elann as the postman couldn't deliver.

Finished socks!

As part of the six sock kal I've just finished a pair of CIC socks (and it only took a couple of hours, oh, if only all knitting was this quick!)

They're knitted in Jaeger Matchmaker DK, in cream.  I'll probably dye these though, I have a problem with white or cream socks (reminds me too much of the seventies, along with those awful plastic knee length pull on boots that I had!)

*And* the birthday socks for John M. Just got to sew in the ends after Chris has tried them on. I'm good at casting off toe-up socks, not too tight, not too loose, but I still like confirmation that they'll fit!

Boring ribbed ones.  Not even a striped pattern to alleviate the boredom!

Toe up, with the eclectic heel.  I've only ever tried this heel with toe-ups, that little gusset gives the extra bit of space needed to accommodate the heel and instep.

I've also worn my cloverleaf socks, here's a piccy to prove it. But IGNORE the white leg shown. I look like I've got some weird skin disease!  Awkward photo pose, pointed and clicked! I'm surprised that I got my foot into the frame!

I've been slowly knitting away on the peacock feathers shawl - I'm 6 rows off starting the border!  It's painful now.  Each row seems to take forever, I can really only knit it in daylight (i.e. w/ends) and I'd rather be starting new projects!  I've sort of promised to finish this before I do any more lace or shawl knitting.  With christmas round the corner (yeah, I'm obsessed with it!) this might make me get a move on. 

Nearly finished the capelet from Rowan! Just need some ribbon (or do I do I-cord?). This was meant for me, to warm my shoulders, but it's so bloody short that it's purely decorative, I think. I'll probably put it in the reserve pile for unexpected presents. 

I've just done a 'preview' on this post, to check the links and photos and it's much shorter than I thought!  Either I waffle on or post more often. How on earth do other bloggers manage to fill their blogs?  I don't do housework, I get in and knit, but I don't have enough to post about!  Maybe I'll start doing wip photos.

Warm weather knitting

We've had cold weather here (Chris is too tight to put on the heating) and it's been freezing here in the flat, especially with the window open (fresh air!), so last night I gave into temptation and started another project, a quick knit with some chunky rowan wool. It's the small capelet in their new book Riboon Twist Collection, a design called Lissa.

We're very short staffed at work, two of the staff are away (one on a cruise from St Petersburg, another accompanying a visually impaired diabetic to have her revolutionary eye treatment in UFA) so I've been helping out and it's been chaotic and very busy, so I was shattered last night, and only managed a few rows of Lissa. I'm not a fan of thick wool and huge needles, but these things grow quickly, and I was after something warm to put over my shoulders. I quite like the ribbon twist, but the tuft is bloody awful! It looks like something the dog chewed up and regurgitated, with tufts all over the place. I'll try to get on with it tonight and see if I can have TWO fos this weekend!

Other than that, slooowww going on Donna, but I do like this yarn to knit with, that little bit of lycra has the same effect as acrylic in the popular cotton / acrylic yarns (ASC).

I went on another spending spree today - ordered a couple of books from Needlearts - the Ginger Luters book on modular knitting, another fiddlesticks pattern, c'est la vie, and a cabin fever top down raglans for children. Oh, and the new Lavold book. Looks GREAT!

Just over 13 weeks to Christmas and my thoughts are turning to pressies for everyone. Chris's parents were down today, and were amazed by his felted moccasins. These are definitely the best felted slippers that I've made (from the Felted Knits book by Beverly with-the-funny-surname) and took 3 skeins of Rowan Magpie exactly! And this stuff felts up well. Good job I bought a couple of packs in the Liberty sales! They may get a pair each for Christmas, instead of the scarves and socks! Chris's b'day is 10th Dec, and he always gets socks, just a case of knitting them whilst I commute so they're a surprise!

Yvonne and I went to a knitting and stitching show on Saturday, not much knitting stuff, but I had a good day out, seeing Tess and her angoras. I came away with some more sock yarn (the new dk weight mexico and a ball of bright yellow / black striped patterning sock yarn), a fabulous bag of purple mohairs to be knitted together to make a jacket for beebee yarns, and some nice basket type bags for stash. Not much knitting done (I get a bit hyper at these events) but a welcome day out!

LARA KAL is due to start in 8 days time, but wendy from wendyknits has already finished hers, and any doubt that I've got about this pattern is gone - it looks great! Good st.st. knitting!

New Rowan yarn

Instead of going to Libertys yesterday (and missing Wendy's son Seth and Jane's son Hugo) I went shopping...  hiked up to Marble Arch and bought a Palm Zire 72 (maybe one day my phone will be bluetooth; meanwhile, I'll use Billy's!). Then I hiked back to John Lewis and bought some Rowan yarns

I want to knit lissa from the ribbon twist collection, a small capelet, but instead of the chocolate brown colours, mine will be red with black trimming.

Why?  I don't like thick chunky jumpers, but I want to try out the yarn. This is something which I can wear in the office with the window open!  And it should be an evening's work at most!

I've finished the first sock for John's b'day

I was up until 4am last night, playing with the palm!  Not good when I have to be up at 7am for a hectic day at work. Got in tonight, crashed in the bath for an hour, and it's now 12.30 and I'm wide awake, on the wine!  (Forgot, I was hitting the vodka last night, it always livens me up)

Donna progress

I'm struggling with so few wips! 

Here's the progress of donna (and those asymmetrical looking orange blobs at the bottom of the photo are my breasts!  I can only presume that they look so uneven because of the way that I was holding the camera!  (Breasts covered in Colinette Giotto!)

You can't really see any definition as the yarn is a dark blue colour, but it's looking good. I'll take it along to Libertys tomorrow night.

And a FO!  This is a baby top using the cotton/lycra mix from Elann.  It's been finished for a month or so, but I just couldn't find any buttons that matched the yarn colour.

And last, but certainly not least, a non-knitting piccy of Chris with my nephews Ryan and Joe, in happier times, at Crystal Palace park (before their mother cracked up)

Future projects are building up again! 
I've the the next six sock kal due out this week (must finish the socks I'm doing at the moment), the Lara kal (all ready!) and today brought the IK crochet magazine (not much, a couple of bags, maybe a few hats, but quite disappointing), I MUST knit a poncho!  I hate coats, too hot, and used to wear a wrap a dozen years or so ago. Loved the wrap, but it kept falling off, so I might try a poncho for mindless knitting, and if I don't like it, give it to a younger person who might be able to get away with it!

Ribbed Cardigan Disaster / Wips

Lots of things started, nothing really finished!!

Ribbed Cardy disaster (1000 sweaters)

Finished the body on Saturday. I've been knitting blindly, following the instructions with nooooo thought to the finished product.
1) layout of 2x2 rib pattern : fine at the side seams and raglans (checked that as I went) but the division for the neck ends in 2 purl NOT ideal.
2) raglans don't decrease at the front neck to ONE stitch, but to TEN stitches. This messes up the neckline. (I had put these 10 sts, both front and back on holders, for 3 needle cast off, as if I was doing usual shoulders, not raglan DOH!)
The v-neck should go smoothly from the front v to the back neck, but I have a jog at the top with these 10 extra stitches.

Put the cardigan away yesterday in disgust. Posted to UKhandknitters, and one response suggested saddle shoulders, extending the raglan sleeve tops, but there will be a jog with this too (and it will also lengthen the sleeve depth.

I picked it up today, and had a brainwave. The v-neck shaping is a dec every other row for 10 decs, then every 4th row for 6 decs. I unpicked the front raglans, and frogged to where the slower neck decs start, just carried on with the every other row neck decs. It worked well, same number of rows and I ended up with 1 stitch :)

Now for the neckline. The un-bordered neckline is wide and low (back and front) so I've decided to knit a wide ribbed neckline, knitted vertically and then sewn onto the jumper. Sewing as I go, I can never figure out what 'slightly stretched' means! THe needles are smaller, so that will suffice.

Peacock feathers shawl
I managed to knit another 16 rows yesterday during Johnathon Ross show on r2. I'm on the final chart before the edging, another 29 rows to go! I would have liked to have worked on this today, but this bloody ribbed jumper is calling to be finished!

Socks for John M
These are for his b'day on 2nd October. They're fortissimo and a nice dark colour for him, dark blue with burgendy. The odd bit of colour means that it's more pleasant for me to look at as I knit! Usual for his size - toe up, with short row toe and the eclectic heel shaping (a real find; Chris likes this for his socks, and his father has similar feet). Past the heel, am a few inches up the leg in 3x1 rib.
I see that the SIX SOCK KAL is due to post the next sock later on next week, so must get a move on with these!

Agnes
Boring this is, but because it's got a striped texture pattern (7 st.st / 5 moss st.) it means I can't read whilst knitting this (aka mindless knitting) as I keep knitting past the next pattern repeat! It's 4ply too, so slow going. Lucky if I knit 5 rows per day!

Donna (Magknits)
Love this pattern (not sure about the sleeves though, so I'll leave those till last) and the yarn is nice to knit with - it's cotton/lycra, not as stretchy as Fixation, but enough give to make knitting with cotton a pleasure - similar to ASC in this aspect. I've knitted about 6 inches so far. The pattern's shaping, such as, is in 10 ribbed sts each side for front and back. Easy knitting, and with markers to mark the start of the ribbing, I can knit and read.

I love starting new things, but it always seems to be a couple of new ones at a time. So progress-wise, the only thing near completion is the ribbed jumper!

I actually want to start so many things at the moment (do I sound like a parrot?). I have the yarn for Suzette (again 4 ply) but having looked at the pattern, it's st. st (no border) and then dc one row for finishing. I tried that with the tension square and it rolled. OK a good wash and press will solve that, but from past experience, it'll start to roll after it's been worn and chucked around a bit and I hate rolling edges that aren't mean to be.
Also, the colour changes are a real pain, lots of ends. Even the TS had me in fits. I cast on yesterday with a provisional cast on the fronts and backs. Unfortunately, after half a dozen rows, I could see that my tension was really way out. Although I'm knitting the same as per, the short circular, and pulling and pushing seems to affect tension. It may be just initially, as it's a provisional cast on, but I'm not prepared to knit and see, especially with so many stitches, so that's binned until I finish a couple of things off and start it Officially. If I weave in as I go, maybe, maybe I can knit it in pieces. I'll certainly have knitting incentive if it's growing quickly!

Fitted rib sweater

Not a lot of knitting done tonight.
The weather here in London is hot and stuffy, although there's a bit of a breeze outside (should I wish to stand outside!)

I got in tonight from work and Chris is ill, lying on the couch snoozing, feeling sorry for himself. He's got his usual problem - not sure if it's teeth (abscess)/head/sinuses. He had toothache last thursday evening, sat there getting snappy with me, but would he go to the dentist on friday? Nope. Pain had gone, he was alright. It's come back again with a vengeance, he's eating sinutabs.

So instead of the usual routine tonight (chris washes up then cooks dinner) there's a stack of washing up to do and dinner to cook. I now know why men can't have babies. I've also been bitten to death by mosquitos (yes, I spotted one, and it ain't a gnat!). I have a big bite on my neck, right next to my jugular, and four bites on my back, which I can't get to very well. Wearing a bra is intolerable (but I just couldn't go to work without one, I'd be arrested!). I'm sitting here itching all over, covered in insect repellant.

Knitting. Fitted rib sweater from 1000 sweaters. Final piece, the front. I've made it to the raglan decreases at last! And now divided for the v neck. I've got post-it notes all over the place, I'm paranoid in case there's an error in the pattern. Must have the correct number of rows as per the back!. Looks like the row count is ok. I hopefully will finish this tomorrow and then start seaming.

I don't block prior to seaming, hate to. If I need to press the seams, that's as far as it goes. Blocking stopped happening in this household when I realised that my garments had to be blocked again after each wash. Why block twice? The shawl knitting confirmed this for me. I do like to wash my FOs though before they're worn, it evens out the stitches much more thoroughly than a quick press.

STARTED another pair of socks. Whilst sorting out some dark colours of sock yarn for Polly, I came across some dark blue-grey sock yarn which is ideal for Chris's dad. It's his b'day in October (not sure when, but it's the same day as Otways, so Chris will have to look it up on his website!). As I've finished making waves socks, I do need some commuter knitting (when I get a seat and don't fall asleep immediately). I took in Agnes this morning, but didn't enjoy knitting this on the tube. I'm used to my sock knitting!

Off to bed, once I've reapplied the insect repellant and the anti-histamine cream. Funny, Piriteze hasn't worked at all tonight!

Making waves

I finished Socks #2 in the Six Socks KAL - making waves socks.

I used db baby cashmerino, pale blue, about 2 1/4 balls for my feet, on 2.75mm - a quick knit, but I wanted to catch up with everyone else!

No socks on the needles!

One more thing off the wips list!  Speaking of wips, I'm abandoning the baby cardigan. It looks long and skinny. Baby would have to have monkey arms to fit into it!

I've been knitting away on my peacock feathers shawl this weekend. I find it easier in natural light, so I've been trying to knit this at weekends (the only time I see daylight!).  I'm finding it a chore, largely because I know it's many more hours work and I want to knit so many winter things now.  The pattern increases 4 sts every other row, I'm on row 178 and have to go to 250 (this includes the border). At the moment, it's taking me 10 mins to knit one row, so I've got at least 10 hours work to go. It will be beautiful when it's done, I just love washing and stretching lace!

THe only other thing that's near completion is the ribbed Calmer jumper (1000 sweaters pattern).  I have about another 40 rows of the front up to the (raglan) armholes. 

Once this is done, I'll start Donna  - the yarn is on its way over from Germany.  Hurry! Hurry!

Of course, now that I'm thinking of future projects I have Startitis!!   Agnes, from Rowan Vintage is started, but only a  few inches done. 

Let's not forget 17 weeks until christmas!  Yikes.

Beautiful day in London today, 28 degrees, but the September sun is more tolerable than in midsummer. Sort of makes me wish I hadn't abandoned Summer Knitting so early!

WIPS

I think I need a lot of things on the go at one time. At the moment, discounting UFOs, I've only got 4 things on the needles.

A second sock in the 6 sock KAL (making waves). This is in DB baby cashmerino, and should be knitting up quickly, but I'm bored with it. The yarn is too slippery and splits too readily for cabling without a needle (although of course, I've ended up doing this by grabbing those little stitches and holding on for dear life). It's a chore. However ... the first sock is finished and feels luscious! This feels a heavier sock than the dk ones I've knitted previously, and I doubt that it will wear well, but I can always wear them in the house in my felted clogs. So luxurious!

A baby jacket in some joslyn's fiberfarm yarn. I have no idea what it is, it seems to be a thick 4ply (I'm knitting on 3mm needles and it's about 26 st /10cm). I used sweater wizard, smallest size, fitted fit, and it looks ok widthwise, but the sleeves aren't as boxy as I like them. Of course, how it will look on a baby I do not know! I also edged in 2 x 2 ribbing, slightly decreased the stitches, and yuck! it reminds me of the eighties. I have one sleeve and the button band to do. I spent most of yesterday evening trying to knit 1 row buttonholes in 2 x 2 rib. They don't look as good as I'd like. I've only attempted these on garter or moss stitch. I'll have another break until the weekend!

The Peacock feathers shhawl from Fiddlesticks. Lovely pattern GORGEOUS yarn, but the lace isn't flowing. I'm trying to knit a dozen rows a week or so, please god, there must be an end! Also, this isn't the sort of thing that I can knit sitting in front of the computer or reading a book (only the purl rows!) so I tend to only get it out if there's a crappy old film on, or if I'm listening to the radio.

Ribbed calmer ...... This is great to read by, but as it's been sitting around for so long, I'm bored with it. Only the front to go, about another 12 inches to the armholes, then it's raglan shaping (hurray!) and a v-neck (hurray!).

It's difficult with so few things on the needles, especially as I have the db alpaca silk sitting on the printer, and two pattern's worth of yarn for two of the vintage designs here also! I have started one design, but it's really only about an hour's worth, not official yet. Must finish the calmer top first!!

And now I hear about the new db yarn maya from Jill! I had a look at get knitted site, gritted my teeth and didn't order. Iw ill pop into JL tomorrow and check it out!

Also in the offing for winter projects are a couple of noro things, not sure what yet. I have several patterns on the way, from elann and one fine yarn! All attractive. Forgot about the IK crochet magazine, ordered unseen, hope it's worth it! IK is my favourite magazine. I'd rather buy books and individual patterns, and I don't think that I'm missing out by not re-newing my knitters subscription. The past few year's content has been crap! They still feature a few designers whose work I usually always like (Norah Gaughan comes to mine) but I cannot stand the manipulative tone of the magazine, it's far too Knit-U for my liking.

I've decided to not renew the uk knitting magazine either. Signed up unseen for a year, but in that year it's not much improved. I will miss the adverts and some articles, but none of the patterns (nor the metric bust measurements either: we may be in Europe and decimalized, but NO-ONE, not even the youth of today, thinks of their bust measurement in cm!

Off to rib some calmer.