skein

Persian Poppy Waistcoat.

The Swatch.

3mm needles.  This is shetland wool either in stash or recycled from a failed Hoxbro kit (the latter, I think).  I'm a loose knitter, and I'm getting about 27.5 sts/10cm , but the fabric feels fine to me so I'll stick with these needles and this tension.
Of course I'll vary the background and poppy colours, but for tension purposes I only need to knit with two colours. I think we'll go for corrugated ribbing, as shown (but on smaller needles).
All I need to do now is measure Chris and discuss things like length and armhole shaping and depth. He intends wearing this over a t-shirt so we don't have to go with loads of ease and baggy armholes.   The swatch was knitted with floats woven in every 5th or sometimes 4th stitch, so I'll stick with this.
A close up

Inspiration and motivation. 

Forest Path Stole update

My second update on the Forest Path Stole knitalong. This is going slowly, as I've other things on the needles and my knitting time is spread out amongst the various wips.

If I can knit a tier or two each week I'll be happy. This means it will take months to knit, but I'm sure it will be lovely once done.  The cashmere is very fine, especially as it's on the cone and oiled.  I'm being very careful as I knit it, with the cone tucked safely at the side of the sofa (my wip yarns frequently attach themselves to my ankles and follow me to the kitchen when I get up to make coffee, dragging the wip with them, they need to be tough!).

Colourmart laceweight yarn (2/28)

And another one just because it looks nice!  I'm using one circular, so normally I can't see the progress so well as in these photos.

Yesterday I went to a Peter Jones coffee morning, where they show the new books and yarns, and we get to knit for several hours, a lovely day, make lovlier by a 10% discount on yarns.   I did buy.
Some RYC natural silk aran.

Some Debbie Bliss Rialto, a very nice merino on par with Jaeger extra fine merino)

I thought it high time that I bought some green yarn. That and the fact that Jill pipped me to the post with the lovely teal colour.

I don't have plans for these yet, I have a Persian Poppies waistcoat to start next week, and once this is out of the way I might try for one more thing before the cotton yarns come out.  I've finished Ali, by the way (says she, casually) but it was 2am last Thursday night / Friday morning, and the photos were too dark and blurred.  I'll try to get a daylight shot in the next week.  It's lovely, well worth the curse of the basketweave.  I've been looking at her Spring collection and a few have caught my attention, especially the Peace, another v-neck cardigan! 

More acquisitions

I've not managed much knitting since my last post, so there's no knitting progress here today, just a few links and photos of more books I've received.  We were out last night having a chuckle at Spamalot.  I'm not a huge Monty Python fan, but know enough about the Holy Grail to enjoy the jokes (and the extra bits). A thoroughly enjoyable evening.

I intend to wrap up Ali tonight. Only the sleeve cap to knit, then the sewing of seams and ends. Hopefully it's just an evening's work (or am I being very optimistic?).  Because I've had an email today from Kim Hargreaves to say that her Spring Collection, Shades of Pale, is to be launched tomorrow!  Better get a move on with her kits!  I have a kid silk haze beaded, ruffled scarf, a denim cardigan and a baby cardigan still to knit!

My Fyberspates sock club yarn has arrived.  It's 90% merino / 10% nylon sock yarn, in shades of reds, pinks and purples. As usual, this shot doesn't capture the true colour.

Must catch up with the sock knitting!

I've also put my name down for the fourth round of the International Scarf Exchange (ISE for short).  This will be my third time and I've enjoyed it so much. Plenty of time to knit the scarf (over two months) and it's a one-off exchange, my favourite sort, no long term commitments, just one box to despatch. Places are limited, so hop over to sign up now if you're interested.

Last, but certainly not least, I've been book buying again. These ones are special, they've come from Japan - my first time ordering from Amazon in Japan.  These are stitch dictionaries and are super.  They are completely charted, so there's no need to know any Japanese.  At first glance the symbols uses seem pretty self explanatory and are explained, in diagram form, at the back of each book. 

 

 

I had a despatch email (well it was in Japanese but I think that's what it was) on Saturday, and it was here on Monday - fast service!  You can opt for the slower mail service too, which I suppose is the usual 3-6 weeks surface. The book on the left (in the central photo) is one which I've seen on a few blogs, but the one on the right was an impulse buy and I'm pleased with it.

Edited to add:  I have Snap preview on the blog now - see that little icon next to each link? You can hover your mouse over the icon and the page pops up, all being well and Snap up to date. 

 

Knitting progress

On Saturday afternoon at Stash  I managed to knit the leg of Speed Demon Sock #1 and started Speed Demon Sock #2 on the outward train journey on Sunday to visit Chris's parents.

Very quick knitting, as this is a sport/dk weight yarn. It's lovely (I know, I keep mentioning this) and I may knit the second skein in stash into a scarf, it's certainly soft enough for wearing around one's neck.

The Sunday return train trip's knitting didn't go according to plan. I started on the second scalloped sock,  only to find, after knitting half the sock, that I've cast on a different number of stitches - 8 more!  No photo, and back to the  frogpond for this sock.

The cardigan is too big for baby O, which is good news, I have another kit waiting in the wings.  She just has a big head and double chin which make her look bigger than she is. She's only 12 lbs and quite petite. She's still in baby pink, but the next cardigan will be bright pink, let's see if we can't bring a little more colour into her life.

NO progress on my Forest Path Stole, I'm afraid.  My knitting lamp has broken, and it's too gloomy to knit with such fine cashmere in the dark.  It doesn't help that I've gone back to circulars, and the only circulars I have in this size are grey. Grey metal and light blue thin yarn don't go too well together. I'm thinking of taking these over to the stashflat, where the lighting's better, and I have time on my own to concentrate on the lace.  Chris chatting to me all evening isn't helping with progress!

Mystery shawl is progressing, slowly.  I'm onto the last clue, which is a 12 row repeat. I've worked out that each row takes about 20mins (I can get it down to 15, but that's if I just sit and knit and don't do other stuff, such as making coffee or doing a little computer surfing).  Maximum repeats, should I choose to knit this many, is 8 before the shawl needs another increase, and as I'm only on Row 7 of the first repeat, that's another 90 rows to go, 30 hours work!  I will probably either not work as many rows or knit faster.  We'll see if I can't finish this in February!

And finally, Ali.
This has languished in the knitting bag for far too long. With just another 48 rows to the cap shaping on the second sleeve, it's definitely do-able for February.  I bit the bullet and ironed the first set in sleeve (it seemed to have a pucker in the sleeve cap after I'd sewn it in for the millionth time) and it worked - it's fine, the pucker has gone, I'm happy.

Just like the photo that I posted of the first sleeve.

Next up, Persian Poppy waistcoat for Chris, he's been inspired by  Brigid's progress and has started asking me when I can start knitting his!

Cloud Nine

Pattern/kit from Kim Hargreaves. 

This is the largest size, 3 months, and it used just over 2 balls of Rowan's 4 ply soft. 
I knitted most of the cardigan over the weekend, but it's taken me five lunch hours and one evening to knit two vertical button bands and the neck band.  Why?  Because I just loathe knitting vertical moss stitch bands on 5 stitches, until slightly stretched, and then sewing them on neatly and identically.   Last night, after a whole week of trying to sew the borders on, I gave in and just picked up stitches to knit the borders.  Much easier, even if the moss stitch goes in a different direction and I had to join the free 5 stitches in the bottom band with my live stitches at the end of the row. Not noticeable from a galloping horse, so I'm happy.  The buttons aren't sewn on yet, I'll do this tonight.

I'm not that fussed that the baby kits only go up to 3 months; if I'm knitting for a new baby I quite like to knit a new born or 0-3 months size, and most of the baby  patterns start at 3 months or even 6 months.  With this particular pattern I have 45g of yarn left over, plenty for up-sizing. 

We should meet up with baby O this weekend, hope if fits!

Multi-tasking

I must have caught the same bug as Amelia this weekend: let's grab a million wips and finish 50% of them, in the space of 50 hours (including sleeping, shopping, cooking time).

Seriously, I made another list on Friday night.

• Mystery Shawl knitalong - finish clue 3 and knit clue 4 (remember that this is an ever increasing circular shawl, and at the end of clue 3 we're doubling the number of stitches again)
• Finish the first of the scalloped socks, which should have been finished on Wednesday the 7th, if I'm to stick to my 2 pairs a month.
• Because I left the instructions for the scallop edged sock at work, start sock #1 of pair #2. For me! As time is of the essence, I've chosen  Speed Demon Sock yarn (sportweight/dk) and as the yardage is 280 yds or so I'm knitting toe up socks.  This is 100% merino wool and so soft.  A real delight to knit with.  As they're quite thick I'll probably save these for indoor wear with slippers.
• Start a pair of felted moccasins for Chris out of Lamb's Pride. He's wearing some shop bought slippers which are ghastly (and too big for him).
• Get knitting on Cloud Nine for Baby O, whom we shall see on Sunday (she's been on foreign travels to visit some German relatives).
• Knit another tier of the Forest Path Stole.
• Finish that sleeve on Ali.

Over-optimistic?

This is the state of play at 2pm on Sunday.

The only things that have been touched are the Forest Path Stole and Cloud Nine baby cardigan. What happened to the knitting time? I think it got sucked into some sort of knitting black hole!

I have managed to do a little knitting.

Cloud Nine on Sunday evening.   

Cloud Nine today, just the button bands to go.

Speed demon socks - these should be a really fast knit.  The colour's Black Orchid.

Over the next few nights I'm going to try and finish off Cloud Nine (but it's the boring bit, where I have to knit moss stitch on five stitches, for miles, or at the very least until 'when slightly stretched' <shudder>, it fits up to the neck shaping. Yuck. And try to break the back on the Mystery shawl.  It's cramping my Forest Path style.

What's on your must-knit list?

What a surprise!  Last night when I arrived at the stashflat there was the Spring 07 issue of Interweave Knits sitting patiently on the doormat.  That's what I call speedy delivery (I subscribe via P&M Woolcraft).

They've changed the format, so now you have the photos and summary of each design at the beginning, with the actual patterns at the back.  It's not the best IK I've seen, but there are several great designs in this issue. 
Two pairs of socks which are now on the ever increasing to-do list. The knee-high entrelac socks look fantastic in the magazine - a lot to do with that lovely nearly-solid koigu yarn.
I'm also interested in the Green Tea Raglan, the Bonsai Tunic (though placing some of those nupps at breast level isn't a great idea), the Clementine Shawlette (I need a few more shoulder shawls in this chilly weather), the Keyhole Top (not that I'd wear this, but I like the look of it, must find a recipient, preferably slim and flat chested), and, top of the list, the Cable Down Raglan by Stephanie Japel.  Definitely in the top 5 designs of things to knit for Spring.

Which brings me nicely to my next surprise delivery - Stephanie Japel's fitted knits, which arrived this morning at work. I'd ordered it a week ago, but hadn't realised that it was published yet. I bought mine through the marketplace at Amazon.co.uk - Aprohead books rather than direct with Amazon, who have delivery as 1-3 weeks (and we know what that means!). I've not had time to do more than glance through the book and look at the photographs. It's very Glampyre, so if you love her designs, you'll love the book. I think I'll have to knit that Cable down raglan first though!

Here's a few more books which have tweaked my knitting radar. Loop d loop crochet, twinkle's big city knits and No Sheep for you.  Just to keep you on your toes.

MoBair Scarf

My first FO for February, fourth for 2007 and step 6 of my 8 step February plan is this Mobair scarf.

This is Mobair's baby alpaca and silk yarn, probably about aran weight. I used 5mm for a slightly drapier look.  The design is from Stahman's Shawls and Scarves (but I don't remember the name of the pattern) and is a very easy lace pattern.  It's a four row pattern, but two of those rows are purling rows, so only a 2 row pattern to memorise.  Shhhh, I've not blocked it at all, off the needles and on the neck, in this cold weather.  It looks a little wobbly in this photo, but it's just fine in real life. The yarn was a birthday present from Yvonne - thanks Yvonne!

Other knitting news:
I've scrapped the mystery sock knitalong - didn't like the yarn (wildfoote) nor the pattern, so my 8 step is now a 7 step.

Ali is still stalled.  To get myself motivated I decided to set in the first sleeve and sew the sleeve and body seams (you know, so there's less work to do at the end) and it's a disaster.  My sleeve cap just doesn't look right. My tension if fine. There's only a little bit of adjusting as regards gathering the sleeve to set it into the armhole. I've tried top gathering, bottom gathering, all round gathering and still the sleeve has a little crease as if there's too much fabric  just where the top of the sleep cap is.  I think I'll carry on with the second sleeve (as it's only 4" done) until I'm nearer the top of the sleeve cap, then have another go. 

Mystery Shawl is going well, but clue 5 is about to be published and I'm still on clue 3!

This is what happens when you try to take photos at work, without extra circulars to spread out the design.  You can see the third clue developing, it's a wavy lace pattern, another 15 rows to go, then onto clue 4, which is shorter repeat. I think clue 5 is the border, will find out tomorrow. Not that I'll be working on this over the weekend, I want to take advantage of daylight to knit some more on the Forest Path Stole, which hasn't been looked at since Sunday.

Sock #1 of the first pair of February socks.

To keep up with my two-pairs-a-month target, I should have finished these yesterday, and as you can see, I've still some foot to knit.  Never fear, these are for a small footed person!  I plan to knit myself a pair of sport weight socks, Demon Sock yarn, for the second pair of February socks. Quick knitting and all that good stuff.

And this is the urgent knitting, another cardigan for Baby O. It's Kim Hargreaves' Cloud Nine, in Rowan 4-ply Soft, one of my favourite yarns.   I can't hang around with this, or she'll be too big to wear it!  I want to finish this by next weekend, as we'll probably be seeing them for Sunday lunch.

Lovely colours, don't you agree?  Lovely knitting ... wrong tension!  Arrgh!  I automatically drop down a needle size to get tension,  but in this case it's not necessary. Back to the frog pond.

Forest Path Stole

Prepare for a long knit! At the rate I'm going it's going to be months in the knitting.

First of all, a change of heart in yarn choice.

Initially I was going to use Colourmart's heavy laceweight cashmere in a cornflower blue. It's 1550 yards / 150g cone, and the yarn is oiled.
I knitted a swatch, washed it in hot water to remove the yarn, and this is the result.

Wonderfully soft and gorgeous once it's bloomed, but I wanted something a little thinner for the shawl, so off to Colourmart I go, and find myself a finer laceweight cashmere - 2300 yds per 150g cone, and a lighter shade of blue (convenient for February and March Project Spectrum)

A bit scary; it's like thread! 

Remember I said that it's a long knit?  Well, after a whole evening and a whole morning knitting on this, I'd knitted the moss stitch border and a row of base triangles (moss stitch). 
 
It's looking a bit scraggy, but this is the nature of unblocked, oiled yarn - I'm certain it will look a million times better once it's had a wash and a stretch!
I couldn't resist knitting the first rectangle, so here it is

With something like another 99 rectangles to go, as well as a border, side and top edge triangles, this is going to take me ages.  Thank goodness for the Knitalong blog!

January FOs and February plans

January
Two pairs of socks

and a cardigan

Not bad, I've managed to meet my monthly goals of two pairs of socks and a garment per month, but I suppose spending so much time on Ali and not finishing it makes me feel like I've not accomplished much.

February is a dangerous month for weak willed knitters, we have all of the new magazines coming out. I think the latest Rowan magazine is fairly good, though I'm more impressed with the Promenade section than the other two sections.  I'm going to skip on the two other Rowan books (for Summer Tweed and the new Bamboo tape) but I quite like the look of the RYC magazines.  Vogue is so-so, though that cover design looks interesting.  I like all three Debbie Bliss books, especially the new Rialto book and the Summer Essentials.   Then we have IK due at the end of the month!  Oh dear!

My 8 step programme for February:

1) Finish the Mystery Sock knitalong (which is do-able, as the last clue will be published this month).

2) Finish a second pair of socks (oops, on the needle already, some ribbed Lorna's Laces socks)

3) Finish Ali - I'll work on that second sleeve this weekend!

4) Finish the Mystery Shawl knitalong.  We've just had clue 4 posted, so I'd better get a move on as I've just started clue 3!

5) Get a chunk of the Forest Path Stole Knitalong done.  More on this in a few days, so far it's very new and not much to photograph.

6) Finish my MoBair alpaca silk Seaman's scarf

7) Start and finish my latest Kim Hargreaves kit - this has priority as her sizing is only up to 3 months!  Did I mention that I'd bought a kit??

8) Start a Persian Poppy waistcoat for Chris.  I'm not looking forward to this, as I'll have to do a big swatch before I can start working out the shape. It will be far easier to just knit one from scratch rather than using a pattern - I'd probably have to alter a pattern quite a lot anyway, so I may as well just do all of the maths myself.

Wow!  A lot to do in a short month!  Better get off the computer and start knitting!