skein

March knitting and April knitting goals

Inspired by Polly's success last month,  I've managed all of my March knitting goals!

1) Finish dad's waistcoat. Done!

2) Finish the Modern Stole. Done!

3) Finish my plain ribbed CTH Sockittome! socks. Done!

4) Finish Autumn Cardigan.  Done!  (Well, no buttons, but everything else is done).

5) Finish the FIRST Mingus sock. These were far too small, so instead of knitting the rest of the first sock (foot only), I knitted a pair of fluffy socks. They may have been plain socks, but the process was akin to pulling teeth!  Fluffy yarns (even the expensive ones, like Colinette's Silky Chic) are not for me. But they're done!

6) Knit my Mystery Blanket squares for March. Done!

7) Picnic blanket - 8 squares this month (which will see the first two strips done). Done!

This is a first for me, completing all of my goals.  I love a challenge, I love lists. 

Now for the April goals.
1) Knit another 8 squares on the Picnic blanket. This will mean I'll finish the third strip.
2) Knit the April Debbie Abrahams' Mystery squares. 
3) Finish Neutral Tailoring 1 which I've not even blogged about yet!  It's in Calmer, just started this week.  It'll be my WIP of the week next week.  This is a challenge, it's mainly stocking stitch!
4) Knit some socks for one of my brothers.
5) Start and finish a small shawl (I have the yarn right here next to me, all wound up).
6) Start another shawl.  This is the Norwegian Woods shawl by Syvia Harding.  I've actually cast on already, but there's going to be a knitalong mid April, which will help keep me going.
7) Baby things!  For my niece. I'll be a great aunt, I feel very old!

Tough April Challenge.  I'm sure March was helped by the Easter break. 

Fluffy!

The Regia Soft socks are done.  Considering that this is a dk weight (I think, hard to tell under all that fluffiness) and are destined for someone with a small shoe size, they've taken quite a while.

I suspect it's because I've been too embarrassed to knit in public.  I'm not sure if that's the fluffiness or the pinkness.

Yarn: Regia Softy
Needles: 2.75mm dpns
Pattern: Plain, top down socks with heel flap and gusset, on 52 sts.
Size: UK4.

This yarn is in 50g balls, and each sock took 40g of yarn. These are for a small foot, but I've made them wider as the recipient is an elderly person who doesn't want anything tight around her ankles or feet.  I bought 3 balls, and the really bad news is that a work colleague asked me if I'd knit her some baby bootees for her new granddaughter if I had any spare.  Oh well, shouldn't take too long.

I finished the knitting, seaming, darning in ends on my Autumn Kauni cardigan on Monday and have spent the whole week deliberating over what to do next.  Out came the patterns.  The problem is the weather - so cold that I don't want to start anything summery.  But I don't want to be knitting for weeks on a cold weather garment if the weather suddenly warms up. 

Until Thursday night I'd been obsessed with Dream in Color Classy, a worsted weight yarn (I preferred it at 20sts rather than 18sts /10cm) but couldn't decide on which pattern to knit.  Then on Thursday I changed tack and have started a Calmer cardigan.  It's Neutral Tailoring 1 from Studio 9.  I had some purple Calmer in stash, dating back to when it first came out.  This is going to be a real pain to photograph, I just know it! 

I've still buttons to buy for the Autumn Kauni.  I'm having real problems finding buttons to match the button band. 

WIP of the week

Last week's WIP of the week was the Picnic Blanket, and my March goal was to knit eight squares.  This blanket is 9x9 squares.  I've knitted the bottom three squares on each strip, and now I'm working my way, left to right, completing the remaining six on each strip.

My eight squares this month meant that I finished the first two strips.

Stip 2 (I seem to have lost the photo of strip 1!)

Yesterday I managed to escape from the chocolate and briefly went outside in the wintry weather to take a photo of the two strips, laid out side by side (on damp grass).

You can see that the second strip (on the right) is much longer than the first. Some of those squares were a few inches longer! 
I decided to sew up the strips last night, just to see how they fitted together.  Most of the squares are 59-60 rows long, though there's a few which have more or less rows.  I checked the number of rows for each square before I started seaming, so I could accommodate the extra stitches evenly.

No puckering at all.
Here's a few photos of the first two strips sewn up.  Grass was wet, and it's terribly difficult to get them all in the frame!

I still have the ends to sew in, but in future I will leave these until after seaming, as they interfered with the seams.

Sewing these two strips up has really got my motivation going.  Next month's eight squares will mean strip #3 will be finished and can be sewn onto these two.

Now onto WIP of the week for this week.
It's the Autumn Kauni Cardigan.  So close to completion!  Not much to do on this.

Darn in the ends
Re-crochet the second armhole steek (so that I can trim it right down)
Re-knit the button bands. It's not obvious from the pattern, but under the attached i-cord are tiny button bands, in st.st.  I'm goint to reknit these as ribbed bands, an inch wide. 
Sew down the front steek bands. I'm going to keep these quite wide, to add a bit of stability to the fronts.

Then there's only the fluffy socks to finish for March!  I can't believe I've nearly cleared my WIPs.  I have one UFO from several years ago, but that's MIA in the stash.   This is giving me the incentive to finish the Autumn cardigan and then I'll probably cast on a dozen projects! 

Sockittome! socks

I finished these last week and forgot to take a photo.

Yarn:  Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome!, shade Spanish Moss
Needles: 2.50dpns
Stitches: 64
Pattern: Top down, 3x1 ribbed socks with a heel flap and gusset.

I love this colour, and loved knitting with this yarn, which is a wool/nylon mix (the Supersock is just wool).  However, it's more loosely spun than the Supersock so we will wait and see how it wears. 

Now to the bad/sad sock news.

Remember that I had to frog the Mingus sock, and had decided to use some lovely Dream in Color Smooshy to knit a pair of bed socks for a friend's mum?
Well these are now 'on hold' while I reconsider my options.  I know that she wants loose socks but these might be a little too wide.

Now these socks are for someone who will wear them as bedsocks or with slippers.  She uses a wheelchair so there won't be a lot of wear and tear on the socks.  So when I saw a new-to-me Regia sock yarn called Softy, I thought I'd hit the jackpot, and ordered a lovely pink colour for friend's mum, and even bought myself some, in a bright cherry colour, for wearing around the house.

Then the yarn arrived.  A hybrid of Snowflake and Colinette's Silky Chic. 

Pros: 
It's soft and should make good bed socks.
It knits up quickly.

Cons:
It's hard to see the stitches (short row heels were impossible as I couldn't see the stitches).
It's frightenly similar to Snowflake, which I loathe.
It's embarrassing to Knit in Public.  (The colour doesn't help).

Your mileage may vary; a work colleague loves this stuff and has requested bootees for her newest grandchild.  Mind you, I knitted a jumper for her first grandchild, bright red with a snowman made of ... Snowflake.

I leave you with the evidence. Here's a photo at the rail station this afternoon, taken with the phone camera.

'nuff said.  Look out for the cherry ones!

WIP of the week

Last week's WIP of the week was the Autumn Kauni Cardigan.   Well I didn't finish it.  Knowing it's going to be too small has taken away some of the knitting motivation.  By Saturday I'd only knitted on this one evening!  So late Saturday afternoon I picked it up, gritted my teeth and worked on it for the rest of the day, into the small hours.  Sunday I picked it up again. And finished the sleeve! 

First sleeve

Second sleeve

Both sleeves

Front

I've decided to trim the steeks; this yarn is quite sticky, so I'm crossing my fingers and triming it right down, I don't like the bulky seams.  I may leave the steek facings on the front, that will be decided at a later date.  I have ends to sew in, a new button band to knit (wider, to add an inch!) and buttons to find.  I'll have a break this week and come back to it next week.  If I don't get side tracked then it won't take  more than a few evenings work (except for those buttons, must shop!).

The WIP of the week this week is the Picnic blanket.

I'm hoping to finish the 8 squares in a week, which will mean another March goal down.  I've three to do: the Autumn Kauni cardigan, 8 Picnic squares and a pair of socks.

Mingus socks

aren't going to happen.
These were one of my March knitting goals (to finish one sock, not the pair), and would have been a fairly easy goal, as I'd knitted the leg and was working on the heel.  They looked very narrow.  I kept on knitting, without trying them on. No excuse, I was using a circular needle, which means it's very easy to just pop them on your feet.

When I did try them on, they were a pretty tight fit over the heel/instep!  So they are going to the frogpond. If I knit this pattern again I'll have to use larger needles.

RIP Mingus

I'm replacing this knitting goal with another one; to knit a plain pair of socks for a friend's mum.  I've knitted a few for this friend, and she practically asked me if I'd knit some for her mum, as the tops are much looser than shop bought socks and I can knit them a little wider.  She's tiny feet, but I'll make them an inch or so wider than usual. Yarn is the same yarn as my failed Mingus (which never made it to ravelry) but in a different colour.

Smooshy Into the Mystic bought at Stash on Saturday.

Mystery Blanket March squares

Another March knitting goal done!

Furrows

Country stripe (a new one)

Harvest Cable

Farmhouse (a new one)

Old stone wall (a new one)

All five squares

Best for knitting: Country Cables (bottom right)
Best for looking at: Old Stone Wall (top right) though I'm taken with the Country Stripe (bottom left).
I'm going to do some stranding on the Farmhouse, when it next appears. I did total intarsia, and it's fiddly for for door, windows and chimney.  A bit of a mess, but the beading was fun!

WIP of the week

Autumn Cardigan!  I just checked ravelry to see when I started this: August 2007. Seven months ago.  With one sleeve to go I need to get this off the needles, this month.  I'm not going to look at starting anything until this is done (except socks). 

It's definitely going to be too small.  I gave it a little steam tonight and tried it on. Still no good.  Yet when I took a photo it looked as if it would be big enough, so out came the tape measure. Whichever way you look at it it's too small, but only by a few inches at bust and hips. I think it's the waist shaping which is the problem.  I really should have twigged that reducing from a 3x3 ribbing to a 3x1 ribbing would be too drastic for me.   

It's past 11pm and I haven't knitted one stitch on this yet, I'm sure it's because there won't be any excitement when it's done (apart from being glad I can free up the needles).  Nevertheless I will finish this sleeve!   

This is the state of play at the moment.  I'm about to do a few hours knitting on it after I post this blog.

It's so pretty that I don't think I can give it away! It might go into hibernation until Autumn, or I might have to do something drastic like eat less!

Modern Quilt - finished!

This WIP of the week really is working!  Last week I finished dad's waistcoat, this week  it's the Modern Quilt, which is a free pattern from Interweave's Knitting Daily.

Started: January 08
Completed: March 08
Yarn: Kid silk haze - most of it from stash, this would cost a bomb to knit, I think it's nine balls!

Late last night, the final stitch cast off, and only 8 ends to sew in, due to all the weaving I've been doing.

I wore it to work today (unblocked!  unwashed!)  and it's fine without an edging. In fact, as it's been sitting in a knitting bag whilst on the needles and it's garter stitch, I do believe that I'm not even going to block it!   When it's worn, it's fine. 

It's lovely to wear. Very soft and floaty. I was a little worried about the bits flying around, as I've had prickly eyes when knitting this, but they aren't bothering me at all.

This means that I have a whole weekend NOT working on a WOTW (Wip of the week).  I've delegated the Autumn Cardigan as WOTW next week, and the Picnic squares for the following week.  So this weekend I may try to knit most of the Mystery Blanket squares, and finish off the plain ribbed socks that I'm knitting.  Oh, the choice!  Of course I'm itching to cast on something new, so I'll just have to keep away from the stash and the bookcase!

Stash figures for February

As you know, my knitting mojo disappeared for nearly half of February, so my stash out was going to be depleted.  Fortunately I remembered this morning that I'd sold/given away a few packs of yarn! Not quite as successful as January, but not as bad as it could be.  I knitted most of my dad's waistcoat in February, but my rules are that garments are included when they are finished.
FEBRUARY STASH FIGURES

                                                           

Details	Yardage	Weight g
Stash in
clubs / kals	1752	530
adding to a project	490	250
rule breakers	3912	1800
	6154	2580
Stash out
knitted	1400	435
sold/given away	3736	1500
	5136	1935

So I've increased the stash by 1018yds and 645g.  Oops!

Yearly totals are increase of 88yds and decrease of 505g!

I have a few Elann orders which should arrive in March so it's not looking too good!  I will have to get a move on with the knitting!  This even might mean ... getting the knitting machine out!