skein

May knitting and June knitting goals

OK,  it's still May, but I double I can accomplish any  more goals in an evening!

This wasn't as successful as I thought it would be!  I'm not too worried though, as I did plenty of knitting, just not some of the smaller stuff.

So, how did I do?

1) Blog - the finished plain socks post  - done! 

2) Finish Blue Hands gloves, just the fingers and thumb to go. Done!

3) Finish my fourth shawl for 11shawls2011, the Andrea shawl.   Done!  It's blocked but not blogged yet.

4) continue with the mitreed crosses squares. Done! On the fourth square now,  not as many as I'd have liked to do, but Other Things got in the way! 

5) continue with In Dreams Mystery shawl.  I think I shall try to knit clues 4-6 - done!  I knitted clue 6 in two days, which was remarkable, for me.  Plenty of times I had to tink back because I'd dropped a stitch - very frustrating and time consuming.

6) Start and finish my fifth pair of mittens for 11mittens for 2011 kal.   Fail!  i started a mitten pattern but had no enthusiam for it.  I thnk my mitten mojo has disappeared over summer!

7) Start and finish my sixth pair of finglerless mittens.  Not done. I started some Andrea mitts this past weekend, working my way up the thumb gusset,

8) Start a garment.  Done!  It's Cameo, from the latest Kim Hargreaves book.  Not only started, but the knitting is finished! I need to sew it together. 

9) Start my sixth pair of mittens. Nope, no mitten mojo!

10) This one was left blank.  I've started some plain socks, in an old Regia yarn.  Just started them on Saturday, but they're my carry along knitting now, so should grow quite quickly. 

So, not bad.  I fell at the post with the mittens, and the fingerless gloves, but on the other hand I did knit a (short) cardigan. 

Now for June

1) Blog Andrea shawl.  I've blocked it quite severely as I was worried about it being small, which it now isn't !

2)  Finish Cameo.  Seams and  a lot of ends to darn in, due to tiny balls of yarn reclaimed from a mitred garment. 

3) Finish Andrea mitts, my sixth for fgf 11 in 2011.

4) Finish In Dreams.  I only have one moer clue to go, but this is a big clue, the rows are long and there's a million (or so) beads  to add.  I will have to pace myself, do some each week!

5) Finish my regia stretch khaki socks.  Gift for my brther, in some old stashed sock yarn.

6) Continue with the mitred crosses.  See if I can get up to 7 knitted.

now for the new stuff!

7)  Start my fifth (or sixth, if I finish In Dreams first) shawl for 11 in 2011. Haven't a clue which one, which yarn. I normally sort these things out at the end of the previous month, but didn't even get to look at the stash this weekend, too busy knitting on In Dreams!

8) Start my seventh fingerless gloves.  I have an idea, it involves beads and yarn.

9) Start another garment. I  have my eyes on either another Kim Hargreaves one, or a Twist Collective one.  It depends on my stash!

10)  Let's leave this blank ...

Now I just have to try to resist casting on, and try to finish a few things first!

 

In Dreams Clue 5

This is what's been eating into my knitting time!  This clue was 34 rows long, but there's beads, and the rows are getting longer.   At the beginning of the clue my time was spent on the beading rows, by the end of the clue it was just the numbere of stitches which was taking time. 

 

It's completely scrunched up on the needles, so the best way of showing progress is to hold it up against the window (outdoors doesn't work, think it's too windy!) and Mr C standing behind me snapping photos.

I've started on clue 6 now, that's 30 rows, no beads, but long rows.  I'm going to spend all of today knitting  on this with breaks for blocking my Andrea shawl (soaking as I type) and cooking. I'm hoping to knit 10 rows, but I'd be ecstatic if it was 20!

More Cameo

I've not blogged much this week, because I've been concentrating on In Dreams, clue five.  Four or six rows per night does not make good blogging fodder, and I can't really take a photo of the work in progress unless Mr C is there, helping. 

 

Cameo's been my carry along knitting, for the short commute into work.  It seems as if it's been on the needles forever.

I have finished the back, the fronts and one sleeve.

Not at all a true colour; I've had to brighten it up considerably,  as it was a gloomy indoors photo.  See how wide that sleeve is!

I'm on the final sleeve, raglan shaping. 

And I'm down to the scraps of yarn!

Once this is knitted it's just seaming and ends (lots of) and then onto the next one. i have plenty lined up!

Cameo update

I went away this weekend to visit the family, and took Cameo as my knitting (with a sock and mitred cross square as back up).   I find the knitting a bit boring, all that 3/1 ribbing, and the endless raglans.  It's a good think to take with me as I can't be distracted by other projects!

 

So, this is Cameo from Kim Hargreaves latest book, Whisper. I chose this garmnet as the first one I wanted to knit as it's short, knitted in All Seasons Cotton so grows quickly, and has minumum finishing. There's no button band.  It's a bit of a quirky (to me) design. 

1) it's cropped. I normally don't do cropped.

2) It's a short body and sleeves, then you knit really deep raglans, Really deep.

3) The fronts are narrower than the back. The idea is that this hangs open. Not a feature I like, I always feel as if I'm wearing a cardigan which is too small!

4) The sleeves are wide! 

So this is a plunge in the dark. It's one thing for a thin, tall model to wear this style (and who knows how many clips and pins hold it in place?), quite another for a short stumpy person to wear it!   I'm curious to knit it up though, it's using stash yarn which I wouldn't have used, it's a quick knit, so not much knitting time 'wasted' if it turns out to be a disaster, and I'm intrigued to see how such an unworkable knit might work after all. If it is a disaster, I can wear it at home on chilly evenings (in the summer, winter calls for proper full sleeved woolly jumpers).

I've knitted a back, two fronts and now this sleeve. (It's not dappled, that's the sun).

Knitted in an evening and a day. It's an achievement, believe me, it's as wide as the back!  This short cardigan is the equivalent of knitting two fronts and three backs!  The marker is 19cm, about 7.5", so you can see just how deep that raglan is.  One friend has finished hers, and says it's ok on, so I'm persevering!

Andrea shawl, knitted not blocked

The Andrea shawl is finished.  I just need to block it.  This was planned for Sunday, but my little illness meant no blocking (bed was for snoozing on, not blocking shawls on!).

This is a great little knit.  It's knitted bottom up, starting with a sideways knitted bottom lace border, stitches are picked up for the 16 row lace pattern,  then the plain striped body of the shawl (decreasing all of the time). Finally, stitches are picked up along the top of the shawl for a few rows of garter stitch, then eyelets, then more garter stitch, before doing a picot bind off. busy enough to keep me occupied, but some easy knitting on the striped section. 

Once blocked this will be my fourth shawl for 11shawls2011.  Considering it's May I'd better get a move on!

In Dreams clue 4

It's starting to look a bit scrunched up and pretty much the same as clue 3!  But it's another 39 rows bigger.  This clue had a lot of beads, which slowed me down considerably.  I've been adding the beads with a needle and thread, until I lost the last suitably sized needle and have had to go onto sharp needles, which have an annoying habit of splitting either the lace yarn or the button thread hlding the beads.  I've gone back to adding them with a crochet hook,  Though I've already lost my 0.75mm and am having to use the 0.6mm!   Where do these items go to?

I had high hopes of working on clue 5 this weekend, but spent Saturday working on the Andrea Shawl and Sunday being ill with something gastric - no food and no knitting at all, unheard of here!   I tried to start clue 5, but kept dropping stitches and had to give up before i lost the lot!

Happily, whatever I had lasted less than 48 hours, and last night I worked seven rows of the next clue, which has beads, but also increases on the ws rows, must concentrate!  I really thought on Sunday that I wouldn't manage to knit clues 5 and 6 before the end of the month, as I'm busy next weekend, but think I may manage this now, if I work a few rows each weekday evening.  Seven down, 27 to go.

Andrea Shawl progress

Finished the lace bottom, and am now working my way up the striped section.  I've even brought it into work today as my commuting knitting, I have the finishing bug! 

There are three stages in my knitting, Stage one, the beginning, is when I'm full of enthusiasm. Stage two, the middle, is the bit where I flag.  How quickly I hit stage two, and how long this stage lastss depends very much on what the project is, and how much it interests me. If it's really interesting, I may have a very long first stage, and hardly any second stage, but if it's a bit tedious I may quickly get disillusioned and go straight into second stage mode. The third and final stage is when I'm close to finishing, as in this project. It's a very quick knit.  I knitted the sideways edging in a day, and then the lace edging is a mere 16 rows.  I swear that I'm enthused because every owther row is four stitches less!

 

The photo's a bit rubbish, I took it early this morning, indoors, and have had to brighten it up, so it's looking a bit over exposed, but you can see how the shawl is developing. 
I do believe I may finish it this weekend!  That, and clue five of In Dreams, which has less beads, but rather a lot of increasing and decreasing manouvres on the ws rows, so I'd better watch out!

Mitered Crosses progress

Nope, not finished!   I finished the first square a few weeks ago,  but needed to block it out a bit, as the thicker Noro cross was making the centre of the square all wonky!

 

I'm using Kureyon in the centre (which will all be the same colour) and Cascade 220 for the borders, in Lavender.  Very pleased with the results.

Of course, this means progress posts will be rather similar!  So I may just blog about his once a month, to show the growing blanket!

Blue Hands

 

Pattern: Blue Hands, ravelry link here.

Started:    March 27th

Finished: May 4th

Needles: 2mm

Size : xs.  I don't have tiny hands, but I like really tight gloves!  And my tension tends to loosen up as I knit.

Yarn: Wollmeise, natural and Jultomte, a lovely burgundy red.

 

I really enjoyed knitting these.  It's just st st and rev st st for the cream bands.  A fun project and now officially my favourite gloves!  I am through knitting gloves now, might make some at the end of the year, but shall concenreate on fingerless gloves and mittens , for my 2011 knitalongs. 

 

 

Andrea's shawl progress and ... a new wip!

We've had two long weekends in a row - four day weekends - so you'd think that I'd have LOADS of stuff to show you.  But it's been a bit slow! I've done a teeny tiny bit of cleaning and have had a very short cold, which have eaten into the knitting time!

First, Andrea's shawl.   Started on 24th April, this will be my fourth shawl for 11shawls2011.  I'm slacking a bit, especially when I read on the ravelry goup that some knitters are nearly done. 

It's knitted bottom up, starting with a sideways knitted edging. Something I hate doing, but it wa a very easy four row pattern, and didn't take long at all.

I'm knitting the larger size, as I'm using 4ply wool instead of a sportweight or dk weight yarn.  I'm hoping this will make for an average sized shawl.

Photos are rubbish, it was too sunny!  But you get the drift.

I'm now on the easy, striped section.  I originally tried this with some dark pink yarn, but it didn't contrast well (though the colours looked good together in the skein) so I've gone with black.  Yarns are 21st Century botany I think. She isn't great at labelling her products!

Onto the next, newest wip!

I love Kim Hargreaves Whisper. I would surely love it much more if I was 3 stone lighter, as  a lot of the designs will look fabulous on slimmer, less busty people.   That won't stop me though.
I've cast on Cameo, which is a cropped cardigan/  It's in All Seasons Cotton, and I happen to have some in stash.  It's a pale grey blue.  The down side is that this is rescued yarn from a frogged project, which happened to be a mitred jumper, so there are LOTS of small balls!  I'm hoping that I will not have to use many of those, or will use them for the smaller areas such as the tops of the raglans.  It ought to be a quick knit, I'm saving the Rowan Glace projects till later!

Currently my carry-along knitting.  This is the ribbed pattern i like to use in scarves which lie flat, a 3x1 ribbing.  I've had to go right down from 4.50mm to 3.50mm.  Juts couldn't get tension. If this was wool I wouldn't worry, as the woolliness would pull in the ribbing, but his is a cotton/acrylic blend with no memory.   I'm knitting a smaller sized back, but will knit the next size up for the fronts, keeping armholes and shoulders int he smaller sizes.  Let's hope it works out ok.
Oh, and if anyone has this book and despairs of the lack of good photographic detail, it might be worth hopping over to ravelry and looking at some of the projects. There are at least a few designs which I thought were plain which have nice details to them.

This weekend's goals - knit clue 4 of In Dreams (I am so impatient to start!), finish the back of Cameo and knit my second mitred cross square.  Cast on some mittens ...