skein

A quick pair of socks

Still coughing but miles better.  I've scrapped my knitting goals for the month and instead worked on some socks, for a friend who's worn out one of her two pairs of handknitted socks.

Opal Rainforest, Rosa die Susse (some sort of picture of a butterfly).
Started 26th February

Finished 27th February, on the train back to London!

That's a day and a half to knit a pair of size 6 women's socks. Brilliant. I think the Harmony dpns are really great for sock knitting.

In fact, I've also cast on with some Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome! This has nylon content.  I was a little worried about the yarn as it looks quite soft and not as twisted as their merino.   Apart from a very fluffy bit right near the beginning I'm really liking the feel of the yarn.  (Again, this might be down to the harmony needles!).

This is commuting knitting, no rush, and they're for me.

The colour is gorgeous and not fully representative in this photo - it's Spanish Moss, a lovely blend of pinks, blues, greens and greys. 

I'm now off to knit on dad's waistcoat.  He likes the colour!

Sock knittting

(I just had to change this title - for some reason I'd titled this post 'New Season's Yarns'!

I still have the lurgy, 10 days later!  Now that my temperature has gone, I'm whinging about the less important stuff, such as no sense of smell and taste.  I can't wait for things to get back to normal.  I might sound like I've got a really bad cold (cough, rough voice) but my energy levels seem to be back to normal. I've started going to bed much later again.  The knitting hasn't been so sucessful yet though.

I've been trying to knit on my Picnic blanket and hated it.  Last night I put it down and picked up a sock which I'd started before becoming ill.  I thought that a bit of wool might solve the problem.

This will take a bit of concentration, so it'll be slow going. It's the Mingus sock pattern from Cookie A.   I think my tension may be out a little, but it's a sock and it will stretch!

I've given up on knitting goals for the month, indeed for the next month as well.  I'm going to just knit what I want, when I want, and if I want to have a dozen things on the needles, so be it.

I'm going to pick a wip each week from the 'old' pile and see if I can work my way through stuff this way.

So next week's wip of the week will be my dad's waistcoat.  I have the back and one front knitted, and as I'm going home for a few days, it seems appropriate to work on this when I see him.  I'll also be packing some sock yarn for plain sock knitting, and maybe a hat or two for the journey.  Sounds like I might be getting a bit of knitting mojo back!!

Waistcoat

Oops!  I seem to have disappeared off the blog radar.  That's because I've caught some nasty lurgy, and haven't done any knitting since Friday!  That's 5 days now.  If you think that's scary then consider that I'm also not eating much and I've more than doubled my sleeping hours!   Not nice. I now have this cough  and we're meant to be going to see the Pirates of Penzance on Friday. Aaargh!

So, the only knitting photos I have are of the waistcoat.

I finished the back.  It was meant to be 27", but the short rows at the shoulders added another inch.  I took the bull by the horns and cut at a row about 7 rows up from the ribbing, then ripped out 6 rows, amounting to an inch off the length.

Then I grafted it together again.

I was already suffering from the lurgy when I did this, so I may need to rearrange the grafted stitches to even them out a bit - I  haven't looked at this since Saturday.

One front is done.  The other front is started. 
Needless to say my knitting plans for February are cancelled and I'm going to just pick up whatever takes my fancy for the rest of the month!

Debbie Abrahams' Mystery Blanket

I've finished this month's squares.

My favourite to look at is the Pig.

My least favourite to knit is the Wheatfields (so boring and the one which was tinked back more than any other square; even its mirror image Wheatfields was easier).

(it even looks manky here, doesn't it?)

My favourite to knit is the Country Cables 1

I've left a few ends and not blocked or steamed the last few squares, but  I'm considering these done. Damn, just noticed the missing butterfly's antennae!

Halfway through February already.  I've  still five knitting things to do. I'm keeping up with dad's waistcoat - about 40 - 45% done now, nearly finished the back.

On course for a February FO.  This is lunchtime knitting for the moment, so it's slow going.

I'm keeping up with Picnic squares to. No photos. Hey, I'll surprise you at the end of the month with the same old pics.  I've finished the bottom 3 tiers, and am now working the first strip.

That leaves 3 more February goals
1) start something new - definitely do-able, it only needs an evening  and then it's officialy started.
2) socks - yarn is chosen, pattern is chosen, though it seems a bit complicated at the moment. I'm hoping it's because I'm only on the second row and can't see the pattern emerging.
3) finish that Autumn cardigan sleeve! The armhole steek is cut, now I need to knit!

Just in case I run out of yarn, I've bought some great cheap wool, which my knitting pal Jill told me about.  It's here and the cost is a mere £1 per ball of dk weight and £1.80 for aran weight.  I've got me some already (one day delivery too!):

Aran weight wool, colour Bramble.  This is in the top five for my New February Something!                                                                                           

Stash organisation

is very much on my mind at the moment. 

There's the new season books, new yarns, new shades, all tempting. 

But I'm also trying to keep the stash under control:

* knit from the stash
* two in-one out rule
* only buy for current project or if I'm casting on immediately
* clubs don't count (I'm in four, including the Debbie Abrahams Mystery Blanket club).

We went over to see Sheelagh at the Yarn House in Caterham on Saturday.  I bought some Rowan Tape and Rowan Denim, all for current projects.  My downfall was this - isn't it luscious?

And just look how they arrive, all sheafed together!

I spent Sunday trying to sort out some of the stash.  I have a horrible habit of bringing home purchases which are piled up in bags all over the bedroom. 

This isn't all new stuff, I swapped over some of my bins, so that the warmer weather yarns are more accessible. This was taken when I started sorting, believe me it got a lot worse!

This is the year when I log my stash. I've put a lot on flickr, but have loads more to do.   I'd love to  know the total number of skeins, total weight, total yardage. I'm always amazed when people know how many miles of yarn they have!

I've two more Mystery Blanket squares to knit, and seven more Picnic squares before the end of the month. NOT counting the waistcoat, Autumn Cardigan, pair of socks and something new!

Modern Quilt February squares

One week into the month (which is a short month!) and I've finished the 12 squares for the Modern Quilt.  I'm not really enjoying knitting these squares, it seems that every 5 minutes I'm weaving in ends.

This square is the worst culprit; it's made up of four smaller mitred squares.

The fuzziness of the yarn is confusing my digital autofocus (especially as I haven't the opportunity to take daylight photos).

This one (without flash, under my bedside lamp!) shows a truer colour than the others.

Only another nine squares to go!  That'll be one of my March goals.

For the second week of February I'm going to concentrate on finishing my five Mystery Blanket squares (two down, three to go) and more Picnic squares (three down, nine to go).  I'll be all squared out by the end of the week!

January Stash Figures

This year I'm keeping a total of stash in and stash out.  I'm trying to diminish the stash.

I have a few simple rules:
Club subscriptions are exempt. I'm in a couple of sock clubs, a glove club and now a mystery blanket club.
I can buy if I'm going to cast on immediately.
Gifts/swaps are exempt.
Major yarn store expeditions are exempt.

I'm not really on a yarn diet, but I'm trying to resist purchasing yarn just because it's on sale!

January Stash Summary

                                                                             

Details	Ydage	Wt g
Stash In
swaps and gifts	1880	200
clubs / kals	3640	1205
cast on now	1116	600
adding to a project	500	230
rule breakers!	2000	730
	9136	2965
Stash Out
swaps and gifts	7646	2950
knitted	2420.5	1165
	10066.5	4115

I've managed to decrease the stash and have knitted over a mile for January.
The clubs/kals stash in is rather large this month as I've had two sock clubs, a glove club and two lots of the Mystery Blanket club.  Mind you, I gave away a lot this month too which has been the saving grace.  As my garment knitting overlaps the months, I'm only going to include garments when they are FOs, when I'll weigh them and include them in that month's stash figures.

So my stash movement this year is  -930.50 yards  and  -1150g.   A grand start to the year.

Autumn Cardigan

I really want to finish this in February!  It's been on the needles for far too long.  I have two other long term projects, the Debbie Abrahams Picnic blanket, which will be finished June/July, and her Mystery Blanket which will be finished in October/November (if I keep up the knitting!), so it would be fantastic to finish this cardigan.

The first sleeve is done.

The front and neck steeks are cut, and i-cord is knitted (that's because I was a little worried about running out of the burgundy colour).

All I have to do for February is knit the second sleeve, sew in a lot of ends and sew down the flaps. I'm having a(nother) break for a few weeks whilst I concentrate on my blanket squares.

January knitting and February goals

I've done fine, though I didn't manage all seven goals.

January goals

1) keep up with the Mystery Blanket knit, from Debbie Abrahams (yarn due any day!) which involves 5 squares per month. Done!

 

2) knit at 6 squares on the Picnic blanket (69 to go!) - this way I might finish it this year. Surpassed!  I knitted 12 squares!

3) knit a pair of socks.  This month's socks will be plain and for me.

Done! 

4) I've started the Modern Quilt using Kid Silk Haze. This consists of 36 large mitred squares (and roughly 12 of these large mitred squares are made up of 4 smaller ones). I want this knitted up before the summer, so I'm including this in my monthly goals, wi
th a steep knitting  goal: knit 12 large mitred squares per month.

Done!

5) sew in ends and find buttons for Isola. Done!

6) Knit on my WIP of the month:  Autumn Leaves Cardigan.  Really, I'm going to try to finish this.

This is the one failure!

I have managed to work on this a little bit. Sleeve 1 is now finished, the steeks have been cut, the i'cord is done. Just one more sleeve and its i'cord edging, lots of ends to sew in, steeks to be sewn down (or cut).  Photos soon!

7) Start something new.  Problably something small, as I've got loads to do for January!  Done!  Dads's waistcoat, in Rowan's washable aran. 

Not bad, this might be the closest I've come to completing monthly knitting goals.  It's that Autumn cardigan which is holding things up.

Now for the FEBRUARY KNITTING GOALS!

1) keep up with the Mystery Blanket knit, from Debbie Abrahams, 5 squares for February.

2) knit 12 squares on the Picnic blanket, again by Debbie Abrahams.  This will take me to the 36 out of 81 squares knitted.

3) knit another 12 squares on the Modern Quilt. I want to finish this before the weather warms up.

4) knit another pair of socks. I'm thinking of one of Cookie A's designs.

5) finish dad's waistcoat.

6) finish the Autumn cardigan (have you noticed that I keep calling it the Autumn Leaves cardigan? A mental block)

7) start something new.  No ideas yet, but I have some Dream in Color Classy sitting in the next-to-be-knitted box.  Or, if I can't manage to finish Autumn Leaves cardigan, I may knit something quick and small.

Another tough challenge!  And the month is nearly half a week shorter!  Off to knit.