skein

Another hat (and another NaKniSweMoDo progress report)

The hat is a bit of a disaster!

Pattern: Kat, by Kim Hargreaves, from her Precious book.

Yarn: Kid Classic

Started: 24th October

Finished:24th October - yes, I knitted it in one day!  I was away over the weekend and had lots of knitting time on Saturday.

Looks wonderful, great fun to knit (though it's knitted back and fro, and seamed, and the ribbing doesn't match at the seam, grrr!) but it looks awful!  I tried it on straight off the needles and I looked like some sort of alien, so I blocked it into a beret shape over a dinner plate.

It looks better, but still awful!  I thought I might give it away but no, if our weather gets cold I can pull it right down over my ears!

 

or even lower

Lessons learnt.  I didn't do a tension square,, but honestly, sitting there it looks ok, not too huge.  If only I had Big Hair to fill it out!

And onto NaKniSweMoDo #13.  Nearly finished. Nearly.  I've ran out of yarn!!  I switched from Rialto to Cashmerino, as John Lewis didn't have enough of the colour I wanted, but had plenty in a similar shade of cashmerino.  As the yardage is better, I worked out that I needed one ball less. Great. Then I decided I'd do medium roather than large, which seemed like it might be a bit too big.  Even better, I might have some yarn left for a  matching hat or pair of wristers.  Except I forgot that I lengthened the body by 2".  I have seven rows to go on the collar. Seven.  Oh well. I've managed to seam and darn in most ends, and even sew on the buttons.  It's soooo close to finishing!

The Mystery blanket is the only other big thing on the needles at the moment.  Still waiting for the needles, which were despatched on 13th October. I so want to finish these two things off!  November will be small things, and I've signed up for another month of daily postings for NaBloPoMo - anyone else doing this? I thought that smaller things would be better if I have to post each day, and a great way to catch up with new Winter warmers and gifts for Christmas. 

I've already started the first of the gifts, a pair of plain dk socks. Mr C chose this yarn whilst we were in Germany last year.

A few small FOs

I've been a bit bored with my knitting this week.  Whilst waiting for my needles to arrive so that I can finish the Mystery Blanket, I've been working solely on the Grey Cabled Cardigan, and I'm not such a monogamous knitter.  So I cast on a few little extras to keep me busy.

First FO

Please ignore the dopey look, it was a bit too much to hope for, that I could look at the camera and take the photo.

Pattern:  Mondo Cable Hat by Chicknits

Yarn: Cashmerino Aran

Needles: 4.5mm

It should be more slouchy!  I didn't do a tension square and should have stuck with 5mms.  But it's such a quick knit that I can easily knit another one in no time, at the correct tension :)

 

Love the colour!

Second FO are a couple of pairs of wristers.

 

Pattern: Wristers

Needles: 3.25mm

Yarn: Biggan Wool

Modifications: I knitted a few more rounds for the top ribbing, and knitted five rows on the thumb (the pattern has you knitting a gusset but then casting off).

This is written for a worsted weight yarn, but I wanted a slightly smaller wrister, so I've used dk weight.  

Grey Cabled Cardigan is coming along.

 

If you look closely you can see that the back, both sleeves, right front and buttonhole band are complete.  The left front's been frogged. I forgot to do the cross cable every pattern repeat!

Hopefully I'll finish the other front this weekend, and then I'm having a break from garments!  It'll be accessories for the next month!

Maggie

My 12th garment for NaKniSweMoDo is finished!

 

Pattern: Maggie by Kim Hargreaves, from her latest book Precious

Started: 1st September

Finished: 15th October (when the buttons were finally added, though the knitting was done a while before)

Needles:3.25mm

Yarn: Felted Tweed, Dragon (a green-grey), 7 balls

Modifications: shortened sleeve by a few inches - I don't have short arms, but I think that the problem lies in my narrow (for my size) shoulders, so the sleeves start lower down the arms!

The edgings are knitted first, in garter stitch, then stitches are picked up for the body. 

 

I admit I was pig sick of short garter strips by the end of the garment!  You can see it's also gently ruffled.

Love the buttons, too.  In real life they have a green tinge to them which matches the yarn so well.

 

Love the neckline.

 

The collar is just a few ros of garter stitch, continued from the front borders (which I, ahem, pressed so they'd stay down!)

Overall it's a winner.  I like the lightness of the Felted Tweed.  Warm and light.

Mystery blanket progress

Nope, not finished, but getting there!

Due to Royal Mail strikes, my package was delayed by two weeks, so my plan to knit the squares and have the seams sewn together by last week didn't happen.  I managed to knit two squares (of four) from the yarn here, but I ran out of green on the third square and had to put it down until the package arrived this past Thursday.

All squares are now knitted!

Square 28, beads, bobbles, button, intarsia.

 

Square 27, beads, intarsia, swiss darning.

 

Square 26, intarsia, swiss darning

 

Finally, the centre square.  It's great, and ties in nicely with the rest of the blanket.

 

I took these photos on a sunny day, so everything looks a little washed out.  I also see I've not quite finished the swiss darning on this square, oops!

Knitting these four squares was one of my seven knitting goals this month.  The second goal was to join all strips and darn in ends.  I have more ends to darn in but the blanket is joined up.

 

That's the wrong side, but I couldn't resist the right side!  

 

The edging is delayed - not enough 2.75mm circulars! So close to the finishing post! I can't wait!  I've just realised that Chris is holding it on its side...

NaKniSweMoDo progress on Maggie

Maggie, my 12th NaKniSweMoDo is going well.  I've opted not to knit socks for the moment, so this has been my carry-along knitting.

Back and fronts are done, and I'm now knitting the first sleeve.  I'm now bored.  All of this stocking stitch!  And the sideways borders are not my favourite piece of knitting, either.  Thankfully there's just the cuff of the second sleeve and the back neck.

 

Not sure if this is a great representation of the colour - it's a grey green colour, the Dragon is a good name for this colour!

Now then.  I ought to be getting along with the final installment of the Mystery blanket - but I've stalled!  I've knitted two of the four squares, but my yarn package hasn't arrived (we have a terrible time with postal strikes, and our local sorting office is the worst) and I've ran out of one of the colours in the third square!  I shall wait until the end of the week and email.  What a pain.

Does this mean that I've started one of the smaller projects that I planned to knit in October?  No!  I'm still bitten by the garment bug so another project has been cast on!

It's the Grey Cabled Cardigan, by Debbie Bliss, from her Rialto Classics book.  I'm using cashmerino as John Lewis didn't have the similar shade I wanted in the Rialto.  Started Sunday evening, and I'm up to the armhole shaping on the back (which I've had to frog back a few times, too short, error in cabling).   The colour is a bit darker than shown, with today's dire weather and overcast sky, it was impossible to get it just right.

It makes a refreshing change from colourwork, or plain stocking stitch. I can't believe that it's garment #13!

Nesta, NaKniSweMoDo #11

Pattern: Nesta from Rowan Classic Heartland (ravelry link)

Yarn: Rowan's Silky Tweed

Needles:5mm

Started: August 23rd

Finished: September 29th

This is the 11th garment for NaKniSweMoDo!

The actual knitting was done quite quickly, in fits and starts, but it was the modifications, and reknitting which took time. Then I lost the buttons, these ones are smaller (so I may replace them).

Notes (lengthy!)

The chart is crap. It's tiny, and symbols, very hard to see.  I did a colour spreadsheet chart. 

There are two colours which are used in just one row of the 20 row pattern, and I don't think it's worth buying two (or more for the larger sizes) skeins of yarn.  It's the pink and black in the central row of the blue pattern.

 

I also had several skeins left over (and I've lost the receipt!) so anyone knitting this might consider buying as they go.

I knitted this in one piece up to the armholes, then separated for front and back.  It eliminated a lot of ends.  I tried to carry colours up the side (after knitting half the body) to eliminate more.

One thing I didn't take into consideration is the edge stitch - really not worth knitting this in a different shade if the chart dictates this; better to knit it in the same shade as the next stitch - after all, it's hidden in either a seam or border.  I will have to go and sew down the border, if I pull it I can see the gap!

And finally, the stripes matching on sleeves and body. In the photo in the pattern book they don't match (this happens a lot with Rowan!). I provisionally cast on just before the start of the sleeve cap, knitted the top of the sleeve and sewed it in to make sure the stripes lined up  I could have just started the underarm shaping at the same point and it would have worked out!  Then I worked each sleeve down to the wrist (not in the round, that messed up my tension, on small circulars) and then did the cuff in the round (in case I wanted to turn it up, no need to worry about the seam). 

Lots of reknitting too, mainly my fault not working out the row tension!
Just as the cardigan had to be reknitted a few times, we had to take two lots of photos. I really didn't think, just put it on over a long t-shirt, Chris said it looked fine, but it didn't!  It wasn't even lined up on the neck, see?

 

I'm now on #12. Back and fronts are done, now on Sleeve Island, and really fed up with those garter stitch cuffs!

ETA: and I've also managed to post it TWICE to my blog!

September round up and October knitting plans

How did I do?  Very well!

1) Knit the penultimate squares for the Mystery blanket. Done!

2) Seam strips 5-7 together. Done!

3) Finish Nesta.  Done!  But not blogged yet.  I put the buttons on a few days ago, and hope to get some photos soon.  This was the state last weekend:

4) Finish the Lorna's Laces Laendler socks. Done!

5) Start and finish some socks for SKA (ravelry group) September challenge. Done!

6) Start and make progress on NaKniSweMoDo #12.  Done!  It's Maggie, from Precious by Kim Hargreaves.  Last photo is of the back, but I'm now on the second front!

7) Start something small. Done!  In fact, finished.  It's Jerrold's scarf.

I managed all of my goals, amazing!

I thought I'd be knitting lots of small stuff for October, but I've still my 12th NaKniSweMoDo to finish, as well as the Mysstery Blanket, so that plan will be postponed until November.

October knitting plans.

1) Mystery blanket - knit the last four squares.  I've already started these, but I've ran out of green yarn and haven't yet had my yarn package, so it's stalled for the moment.

2) Mystery blanket - seam the middle strip to the other strips and weave in all ends (a job on its own)

3) Mystery blanket - knit the border!  We have two options. The tasselled option looks fab, but I think I'll go for the garter stitch option as I want to keep the remnants for a cushion cover.

4) NaKniSweMoDo #12, Maggie.  Finish.   I've knitted the back and 1.5 fronts. Just have to keep the momentum going. It's quite boring knitting, and although I love the grey green colour, it's not very interesting to knit with!

Now onto the small stuff:

5) Knit a hat.  I don't wear them but enjoy knitting them!

6) Knit some fingerless gloves.

7) Start something new.  Not sure what.  I have this mad desire to knit a 13th garment, and the current obsession is a Debbie Bliss cabled cardigan, in blue cashmerino aran.

That's all!  Mind you, finishing the blanket will leave a hole in my monthly plans.  Just in time for Christmas knitting!