skein

And now on to the Holiday Knitting

Remember the stuff which went with me on holiday?
This   became this   one of the baby bibs from Mason Dixon Knitting. The rest of the cotton is untouched.

This also wasn't started - Fleece Artist Seasock and Lorna's Laces.  At least they're wound up ready for knitting.

This is halfway to becoming Marietta ribbed socks . I had to pull out the whole foot, as I decreased an extra 10 stitches too many!

This became a washcloth (again, Mason Dixon Knitting)
(and there's another half done)  and a baby hat

This (Mystery Stole) is ongoing - I've just finished half of clue 4 but have another week to knit the other half before clue 5 is finished.

Finally my second pair of sockapaloozer socks are finished, for my second pal. Monkey socks in Lorna's Laces Mixed Berries.  I kept to the pattern, but changed the heel from plain to heel stitch.

From this to this . 

I'm quite pleased with the progress, and glad to get back to socks.  I know it's the end of July now, and August looms, with the temptation of new yarns and books, so I'm trying to finish off as much as possible tonight!

Back from the beachhut

And what weather we had!  Rain, rain, more rain, a little sunshine, lots of windy weather!

The hut was a different one this year, though, and much more agreeable for those days when we are stuck inside.  This hut has front and back doors, taps just outside front and back (a real luxury), toilets and showers 4 huts away. Bliss!  Of course I didn't get a photo of the actual hut, just the views out of each door.

Rain

Very big puddles

A few days of cloudy weather where I sat outside and knitted

(note Harry Potter, which has been a beach hut tradition,now sadly over)

View from the back:

That's the sea and beach.

The boys reading. Billy hardly ever reads, so this is a rare photo.

I've knitting photos, too, but these will be posted later on. Suffice to say that I did not accomplish all of my holiday knitting!  But a girl needs back up wips just in case.

Off on my hols (and here's the knitting I'm taking)

Off on holidays today, and look at the weather!  It's not going to be much fun living in a beach hut!

In anticipation of dreadful weather I have packed a month's worth of knitting.
If the Mystery Stole KAL clues 4 and 5 are posted, I will be taking this with me

And I've missed my sock knitting, so this is what's going with me:
1) sockapaloozer Monkey socks in Lorna's Laces Mixed Berries

2) Lucy Neatby's Marietta socks with a scalloped edge, Lorna's Laces Bittersweet.

3) Extra sock yarn,  just in case! Fleece Artist Seascok in Vintage, and Lorna's Laces Bee Stripe

In case I do a lot of reading, I need some quick and plain knitting, so we have some dishcloth knitting!
This is one of the frogged Mission Fall Cotton baby cardigans. It will make a fab washcloth (from Mason Dixon Knitting book)

And more, Rowan DK cotton (I have loads and rather than save it for the blanket which most likely will never be, I thought I'd start using it up)

I think that's enough!

See you in about 11 days time! 

Mystery Stole Clue 3

I had a narrow escape when about 30 stitches fell off the needle - I hadn't realised just how quickly the stitches can ladder with zephyr!  I had to t i n k back slowly to recover them all.

I'm still very much enjoying knitting this. I think it's because I usually knit triangular shawls, where each row brings more stitches, until the rows get really long, so this is a nice surprise, I'm on the maximum number of stitches and they can only decrease.

You've heard of the Knitting for Boyfriend Curse, haven't you?  Well, I feel that there's another curse which I ought to mention. It's the your-knitting-is-doomed-if-you-don't-blog-about-it curse (not applicable to knitters who don't blog, of course).  I have started no less than four baby cardigans this month, blogged about none, and they've all ended up being frogged. At this rate I won't reach my July goals! 

So to avoid being jinxed, I'll show you photos of two recently started projects. Both socks (I've really missed knitting socks whilst attempting to knit baby garments).

Sockapaloozer socks for my second sock pal, at last.

The famous Monkey socks, knitted in Lorna's laces, Mixed Berries.

And more socks,

This is the scalloped top from Lucy Neatby's book, in Lorna's Laces bittersweet, picked up from Stash on Saturday.  I'm especially proud of these, as they were cast on and knitted in the cinema!  In the semi darkness! 

Tonight I'm going to re-think my Forest Path Stole - I'm not happy with the top triangles, the top edge isn't as stretchy as the bottom edge.  I may frog what I've already done, and re-knit.

Lynton

A flying post as I rush out of the door - I'm taking a half day's holiday to do a few chores.

Lynton was finished on Sunday. A record, a week from start to finish. Hooray for a knitting machine!  I didn't have enough yarn to finish the collar, but discovered a stray ball which had escaped its packaging in one of the stash boxes, so I was able to finish this off on Sunday.

Lynton, from RYC Coast.

Please do take a look at the link for Lynton, as you will see the fronts are sloped, overlapping at the neck and gaping at the bottom. My door photo doesn't show this; I think that I was in enamoured by the neckline and failed to notice at the time that the garment was hanging oddly.

Started: Monday 2nd July
Finished: Sunday 8th July
Pattern: Lynton from RYC Coast
Yarn: 17 balls of RYC Cotton Jeans, in Jute.

I recalculated the pattern as my row tension on the knitting machine was out by about 2 rows/10cm. I also added an inch or so of length to the body, and deducted an inch or so of sleeve length.

I love it.  I think I may have to add a button on the inside to keep one side from dropping down. I tried to wear it into work this week, but it's a little hot for trains! 

One July project completed!  I'm going to work on the Forest Path Stole tonight. I'm on tier 23 and have only 3 more lace rectangles to knit then it's seed stitch triangles and borders!  Oh, I do hope that I can finish the knitting bit before my holidays next week!

Mystery Stole 3. Clue 2

I'm keeping up to date, as are most of the people whom I know on Flickr, judging by the Mystery Stole photos just uploaded.

Looking good!

I've just remembered (tried very hard to put it to the back of my mind what, with our dreadful weather at the moment) that we're going to live in a beach hut for a week this month. This means that I will have to get a move on with my July knitting - I'd very much like to take new projects with me. I always take far too many wips with me - usually several pairs of socks, and a couple of lace projects - and finish none. This week I'm going to try to knit more tiers on the Forest Path Stole. I'd love to finish the body before I go away.

Machine knitting

The knitting machine came out this week, first attempt at using it for a proper garment.  I've only tried knitting baby garments (small babies, too) with no joy. The knitting was quick, but the finishing (hems, borders, ends) took far too long and it would have been quicker to handknit the whole garment. 

A short while ago a fellow knitter, Jacinta,  was wearing  Lynton, from RYC Coast, and it looked great. I'd had my eye on this for a few months, even had the yarn (there are several designs in this book which I love; I just hadn't made my mind up about which design to knit), so this month I decided that Lynton would be first garment on the knitting machine. 

Monday evening I sat down and reworked the pattern for my difference in row tension. Of all the garments, I'd chosen one with sloped fronts! I knitted the back and two fronts, which took longer than it ought to - my yarn is RYC Cotton Jeans, a nice yarn to handknit with, but probably not the greatest choice for a first project on a knitting machine, it's quite splitty.    Tuesday evening I knitted the sleeves and sewed them into the body of the garment. Thursday evening I knitted the bottom border and front edgings (ok, hardly any knitting time!).  I only have to knit the huge collar and the sleeve ends, which I'm doing last so that I can alter the length of the sleeve as it's looking a little too long for me at the moment.

 
Not a great photo, it's always a rush before work, and with our weather at the moment, I'm lucky to see daylight before I leave for work, it's so gloomy in the mornings. 
I think that I'll run out of yarn though, only two balls left for a ginormous collar!  I'm going to risk it and see if I can pick up some of the same dye lot.

I've finished one cardigan for Brigid.  The yarn is called Aspen Moon yarn, and I'm 99% certain that I did not order this colour.  It's difficult selecting colours online, but my fellow knitters at Stash also thought it was Not Me.  Very soft though, so it's been put to good use as I'm sure babies will love this bright colour. 
This is the skein

This is the first garment, an EZ Surprise Jacket, which looked horrible (the sleeves could have been a bit wider in retrospect)

And this is the final cardigan, much improved, I think.  It's just a made up as I go pattern, plain knitting (what pattern could compete with these colours?) with simple buttons.

I have the weekend free as Chris is decorating. I'd be in the way and more of a hindrance than a help, it involves the furniture being moved all over the place, and he doesn't really need an extra pair of hands to help paint, so I'm off to the stash flat, where I'll immerse myself in yarn and patterns all weekend. I intend working on the Mystery Stole, a little bit on my Forest Path, and knitting the collar on Lynton (unless I run out of yarn).  It'll be weird though, I don't think I've had a weekend on my own for decades! 

Mystery Stole 3

For anyone who hasn't read about this (Martians, perhaps?) there's a new Knitalong starting up. It's the Mystery Stole 3 knitalong, with 3880 members!  The sign ups close on July 6th, so hurry if you want to sign up. It's free!

Last week I knitted a swatch, to see how the fabric and needles looked together.

It's Zephyr wool/silk laceweight, in Pewter, with 3.25mm Addi Lace needles. Gorgeous stuff (and needles). There's only one bead on this swatch (bottom rhs) as I didn't have my crochet hook with me at the time (0.75mm for size 8/0 beads).

Clue 1 was published on Friday.

and I had it knitted by Sunday morning.  This I can keep up with, I'm waiting for the clue which has you knit the whole body!
This looks similar in shade to my Forest Path Stole, but it's grey and my FPS is blue.  Next lace will be a darker or vibrant shade!

Anyone on Ravelry yet? This is where it gets exciting, seeing everyone's pictures. I'm Dawn on ravelry, if you need any friends!  I'm not sure about the etiquette of making friends, and so far I've stuck to people that I know or that I've had email conversations with.  It's difficult to search by location, as I don't know the locations of most of the bloggers I know!

June knitting and July goals

I see that Polly is posting her June/July knitting, so that means it's time for me to do the same.  Lots of people can't understand why I want to put myself under pressure to accomplish fierce (to a full time employed person) knitting goals, but I love making lists, and what you see on the blog is the tip of the iceberg, as far as lists go!
I like the idea of seven goals. 

June's knitting goals

1) finish the Embossed Leaves socks for my Sockapaloozer. I managed to knit the whole leg last night, so these can be finished quite quickly (that's if no other knitting beckons).
SUCCESS!

2) another four tiers on the Forest Path Stole.  Much easier now, I hope, since buying some Addi Lace needles - they're fantastic!  Smooth join, pointy needles and they're slightly scuffed on the surface so not as slippery as Addi Turbos.

SUCCESS!

3) my sockapaloozer pal #2 socks. I'm a sock saviour, which means a second pair for pal #2. No ideas yet of which socks to knit.

FAILURE! The ones which I started, Go with the Flow, just didn't do it for me (love that pattern though)

4) finish Summer Braids. Should be pretty easy if I can find a decent book to knit to.

SUCCESS!

5) some plain sock knitting - socks # 12 for the year.

FAILURE! Not even cast on!

6) start another garment. I've been looking through the stash and have quite a lot of spring and summer yarns at the top of the stash pile waiting to be knitted up.

FAILURE!  Not even cast on!

7) baby knitting!  I've been trying to knit a baby garment for two months now, with no luck, so this month I'll try to achieve this!  Baby O hasn't had a new cardigan in two months, she's outgrown most of the other ones.

SUCCESS!

So that's two pairs of socks, and one garment not knitted.  To be fair, I've been knitting baby cardigans - three on the needles, none finished, one frogged,which has been detracting from the sock knitting. This will continue through July, as I have a few baby gifts which need knitting up. 

Now for JULY. I think I'm going to stick with lace and small stuff this month. Seven goals, as usual.

1) Wait for it ... Finish the remaining four tiers of the Forest Path Stole, and the top triangles and seed stitch border.  This will leave seed stitch edges, but I'm not going to push myself on this!

2) Keep up to date on the Mystery Stole 3 Knitalong.  Clue 1 was posted last Friday, and I'll have a blog update on Wednesday. So far, so good, but if the next clue is to knit several feet of stole, I may lag behind.

3) Finish 3 jumpers/cardigans for Brigid's  Kisiizi  knitting.  I do have these on the needles, so they should be quick to finish.  These are in lieu of June's socks.

4) Start and finish a garment for me, should have been June's goal.  I'm going to try to mix handknitting with machine knitting. First trial tonight at the stash flat!

5) Knit my sockapaloozer #2's socks.  This is a priority, they have to be ready this month!

6) Knit a baby garment as a gift. This will be instead of my second July sock. Secret knitting, not bloggable!

7) Knit another baby garment as a gift.  A newcomer to the blog will think I only knit baby stuff!   I still have another two baby cardigans to do after this as well.

The knitting needles are hot!