skein

Preppy 2 - garment six in IntSweMoDo2010

I thought I'd try to get in another cooler weather garment before our hot summer starts (as if!) and so far, it's going well.

It's Preppy 2 from Rowan's Studio Nine.  I didn't take much to the photographed garment, but saw fellow knitter Jill's version, with buttons all the way down rather than just at the top and loved it. She's since knitted another one!

I started this on 16th May, and in two weeks I've managed to finish the back and the fronts. That's despite knitting the right front nearly to the armholes before remembering buttonholes!  That had to be frogged and reknitted. 

B ack

 

Two fronts

 

I love the stripes!

And the start of two sleeves.

 

The Jury's still out on knitting one sleeve at a time or two sleeves at the same time.  What I do like is finishing them at the same time, so I shall see how it goes, how long I can cope with all those bits of yarn. 

Marvels of the Sunless Sea - progress

Now that I've finished Foolish Virgins I can concentrate on this project, which is also nearing completion!  The centre section is 83 rows to knit, then it's grafting the two pieces together (it's worked bottom to centre and top to centre) and then the dreaded, boring side edging. I am not looking forward to that!  It's a 12 row repeat and although I can just about memorise it, I do keep having to check the chart.  I think I'm going to try to finish the main body this month and allow myself the whole of June to knit the side edgings.  As this is only four of ten shawls for 10shawls2010 I need to get a move on with the other six!  This was taken Saturday afternoon, after I'd knitted the first 10 rows of the centre panel.

I've reached row 57 now, only another 26 rows to go!

It feels so weird, I have a pair of socks and Preppy 2 on the needles and that's it.  It ought to mean that I get through stuff quicker, but I find I get bored and waste evenings lookng for new things to knit.  I shall see if I can, at least, stick to three project for the rest of May.  Another problem is that when I near the end of a project (or think it's near the end) then I start hunting new patterns and projects. So far, I'm ok. I haven't any strong urges to cast on something new, yet!

Foolish Virgins

Note - this is not a progress post!  I've finished Foolish Virgins! Yes, finished!

Project: Foolish Virgins scarf by Kaffe Fasset

Started: 12th January 2010

Finished: 20th May 2010

Yarn: lots of balls of Rowan Scottish Tweed 4ply plus and extra ball of the navy, which was needed. I very nearly ran out of the apple colour too.

Modifications: none.  There's a tiny error on one of the chart 5 - one of the top left colours is incorrect, as the colours follow a pattern, but it's hardly noticeable as it's one of the browns.

I gave up on darning in ends and ended up knotting them instead. That meant that I would back the scarf, and I did - with a striped version, in the remaining yarn.

Guess which side Mr C prefers?  This was the first modelled photo.

This was never meant to be a quick project for me.  I haven't really done much intarsia since the eighties, and knew I'd go mad knitting on this all the time. Some of the colours were very similar in artificial light, which meant most of the knitting was completed on weekend days.

I dithered on how to join the front intarsia to the back stripes.  I tried picking up stitches along the sides with wrong sides together, but this meant that there was a ridge on the striped side.  I tried crocheting the edges together but it looked messy (this yarn is a bit uneven and tweedy). I tried sewing them together, again, messy.  So I picked up stitches along each of the four sides, right side facing. Tried I-cord - too slow and too thick.  Attempted a 3 needle cast off, but the knitting bulged a bit at the seams. I nearly gave up then and resigned myself to buying some material and making two scarves, then thought about the 3 needle cast off - what if I knitted a few rows and then cast off?  It's still a bit bulky at the sides, but it's not as noticeable. 

Another thought was to join the pieces together near the centre so that they didn't fall apart, but I've decided not to do that, I like the movements of the front and back, it makes it a bit less two dimensional. 

This frees up some weekend knitting, so I shall (try to) get going on the Marvels of the Sunless Sea stole. I'm committed to 10 shawls this year and this is only number four!

A new wip (and the process of Choosing)

After finishing Erin, I thought that I might treat myself to a new project over the weekend.  I know, I have socks, a lace stole  and Foolish Virgins on the needles, but I have several packs of yarn under the table tempting me to start my sixth garment!   Instead, I spent the entire weekend trying to decide on how to finish Foolish Virgins scarf, lots of picking up stitches, trying various techniques, abandoning each one!  I've now decided what to do, more later when it's done :)

So, next garment.  I had four choices (from under the table!)

Peace kit from Kim Hargreaves, in Rowan handknit cotton, teal.

Rowan wool cotton in lime green

Louise Harding Aimee in lime green, to knit a Marion Foale cardigan from a knitting magazine.

Rowan Calmer in a very pale green, to knit Preppy from Studio Nine.

This is how I spent an entire Monday evening:

* browse ravelry for a project for the wool cotton. Two choices, Cheer, from Rowan 32, or Bea from Kim Hargreave's Precious. 

* hunt down Rowan 32.

* spend an hour deliberating between the two.  I decide on Bea, as it's a more summery design for a very summer colour.

* hunt for 3.5mm lace needles (I have plenty of 3.5 addis, and interchangeables, but wanted lace addis)

* frog barely started shawl to get the 3.5mm lace addis (where have the rest disappeared to?)

* knit a tensions square.

* decide to work on Bea later on, when the weather's a bit warmer.

* opt for Preppy 2 instead.  I've already done a tension square.

* spend another hour working out buttonhole placement, as I want to put buttons all the way down, and I want to knit the garment in one piece up to the armholes, to avoid having to seam striped garter stitch.  See how not to seam!

* decide it's too risky. If my row tension changes I might have oddly spaced buttons, especially as I get near the top of the band!

* get the tension square and seam that.  Looks fine (ignore the pale seaming, I kept forgetting to knit all the edge stiches, so some were purled instead)

 

* cast on the back. 

This is how it looked this morning. Colours aren't true, this was inside, no flash, early morning.  The garter stitch isn't perfect, I had to tink back where i split the yarn, or knitted two rows, but it's not as bad as in this photo!  I thnk it's the shadows! 

 

I'll try to get a better outdoor shot over the weekend. The colours aren't pale blue and pink-red at all; they're pale green and red! 

Erin Cardigan

Pattern: Erin by Kim Hargreaves, ravelry link here.

Started: April 20th 2010

Finished: May 16th 2010

Yarn: Calmer, nearly 10 balls (should have been 9, but I lengthened it by about 6cm)

Needles: 4,5mm

Modifications:  I lengthened it by about 6cm.  I added 1cm to the bottom bit, and did an extra cable repeat before the start of armhole shaping.  Having looked through the ravelry projects I knew this would be wide, so I went down two sizes to 36".  I think this is one of those garments which would look ok both wider or narrower, but I knew I wanted to lengthen it, so knitted a smaller size. Calmer is so stretchy that it still stretches even with cabling.

The pattern is very easy - it's a cable crossing every 12 rows.

I had a few hiccups in the finishing!  When I came to knit the collar and re-read the buttonhole instructions I realised that I'd made a mistake, and the top buttonhole was to be knitted 2 rows after neck shaping (i.e. in the collar knitting) NOT 2 rows before collar shaping. I ripped back to the last two buttonholes and spaced them out a bit more. Didn't rip the whole front, decided to just rip the end six stitches on the band, so I had a row of loops which needed reknitting.  Wish I'd taken a photo!

I hadn't realised the sleeves were reverse stocking stitch until I came to knit them.  I always think it looks as if I'm wearing something inside out!  But it goes with the cabling and purl stitches. Mine's a bit messy, but a few washes in might even things out a bit.   The sleeve caps are dreadful too, I just can't make reverse st st look good!  Oh well, lesson learnt. I do like the garment and will try to get a few weeks wear before summer starts.

This is garment number five for IntSweMoDo2010.  Seven to go (and seven shawls for 10 shawls in 2010! Must keep knitting! 

I have a line up for number seven, but I think I may fit another Calmer in before summer!

Foolish Virgins progress

Getting there!

I went home this weekend, and only took the striped scarf and Erin to work on.  I fully intended working on the striped backing for FV, wtih Erin as standby knitting. Am I the only one who thinks I can knit far more than I do over a weekend? 

As it was, Erin is starting to bore me, so I knitted on the second front Friday evening and Saturday morning, then cast on both sleeves, knitted the cuffs.  Then I picked up the stripes and worked on those.  This photo was taken on Sunday afternoon

...

I've finished the stripes, now!  I have the same number of rows on front and back, but when I hold them up together, the striped side is at least six inches shorter!  I'm putting it down to the steaming I;ve done as I've knitted the front; bet it's narrower and longer (well I hope that's so!).

My plan now is to pick up stitches for the exact number of rows on each side of each half (so I have two sets of stitches on each side) and then do either i-cord up the edges or a 3 needle cast off.  I need daylight to pick up stitches on the FV side as some of the edge stitches are a bit wonky.  So I may do that at the weekend.  The end is in sight!

I'm working on Erin's sleeves now. Easy, but boring.  I need something good to watch or read!

Election day! I can't believe that it's only been 82 years since women won the right to vote on equal terms to men, and that was a hard fought battle.
So go and vote, we're lucky enough to live in a country where we have this right. I do postal, ever since I made it to the polling station with a few minutes to spare!
Back to knitting :)

Marvels of the Sunless Sea progress

Oh my post titles are so unoriginal!

After my last blast of knitting on this, when I managed nearly half of the border (the designer's name for the first part of the stole, not the edging), I've had a day and half of knitting on this, and have finished the border!  Now just the central bit to knit, 79 rows.  Then the dreaded edging on the long sides.  That'll take time!

Of course, we went out in between showers, and just as Chris held it up so that I could take a photo, the wind started gusting!

 

oops

 

Looking forward to the central bit! 

Of course, with a long weekend, with the two big projects over halfway, my mind has been turning to new projects.  I've been a busy girl and have found five shawl patterns I wish to knit, All at once!

All ravelry links here:  abrazo, herbivore, daybreak, beach glass and hamamelis!  

Love them all!

Foolish Virgins progress

We're now onto the back!  It's pretty boring though.  Originally I thought I might knit stripes to some sort of pattern, but that involves a bit of planning (and I'm the world's worst colour selector) so I put all of the balls into a bag and picked one out randomly.  The only rule was to try to avoid a bunch of similar colours or shades.  Once I'd done one repeat of all the colours I started all over again. There are a few colours which are running short (apple, for example might only be enough for one stripe) so I'm not including those colours in each sequence.

The stripes appear brighter than the front of the scarf, but that's because several of the bright colours were used sparingly on the front and really pop in the stripes.

 

Mr C took one look at this and said that he wants one!  We'll see. He may be able to borrow FV next winter...

This took me a bout a day and an evening, so not bad going  I've counted the rows on the front and need to work about 109 stripes plus two garter stripes at each end.  40 stripes done, 69 to go!  Will I manage to finish it this month, I wonder?

April knitting and May goals

Happy May Day!  I can't believe another month has flown by already! How did I do?

1) Finish Ulmus - done! 
. 

2) Finish the neck down wrap cardigan - done!

3) Finish some self patterning socks for Chris - done!

4) Carry on with the Creatures of the Sunless Sea shawl - I managed to fit in two days and nearly reach the halfway point fof the border pattern, very pleased to do this as it was sitting around for a whole month, untouched.

5) Work my way down the charts of Foolish Virgins.  I may even try to finish the intarsia!  Then it's just the backing to knit. Done, finished the front!!

6) Start the fifth garment for IntSweMoDo2010.  Yes, it's Erin and the backs done already!

7) My usual get out of jail free card - start something new - yes some socks for me, just plain ones.

A very successful month!

Now for May.

1) Foolish Virgins striped backing.  This should be easy (boring) knitting, so I'm going to try to get the back done in one month!  I need a book to read..

2) Marvels of the Sunless Sea (yes, I keep calling it Creatures of the Sunless Sea) finish the border and start the central panel.

3) Finish Erin, which is the fifth garment for IntSweMoDo2010.

4) Finish my Opal Zebra socks.

5) Start the sixth garment for IntSweMoDo2010

6) Start another shawl for 10shawlsin2010.  I've finished three so far.

7) The usual, don't know what but I'll start something else!

Another busy month ahead.  We have a bank holiday this Monday, another one at the end of the month and at least once this month I'll go and visit the family, which means a good knitting weekend. Should manage it with luck!