skein

Bubbles Scarf

Tada!

Pattern:  Bubbles Scarf

Start/finsih:  9/12/12 to 22/3/13 It didn't take this long, I was ambushed by the Groovyghan!

Yarn: Kauni Special Effects EQ (the bright one) and EJ

Needles: 3mm

What a fun project!  Double knitting is slow and when it goes wrong is a real pain to fix.  Several times I've just tinked (dare not frog as I might not be able to pick up the stitches again). 

The yarn is, thankfully, a sticky yarn, so less runs from dropped stitches as there could have been.

I opted for the tubular cast off but put alternate stitches onto two separate needles to do the grafting, just dare not do it from one needle!

I managed to get out this morning before work and take a few photos, unfortunately I was in a rush, so some have the ends chopped off! 

Here's the EQ side of the scarf, goes from blue-green to red.

The lighter side

The bubbles are stuffed.  I must say, I never developed the art of stuffing evenly.  My bubbles are pretty inconsistently stuffed!   

In hindsight I should have possibly chosen a lighter or solid lighter colour for one side, it would have made the bubbles pop all the way through the scarf.  

I normally hate knitting scarves.  Too short rows, too long scarf.  This was fun, however!  Still slow, as it's double knitting.  Lucy Neatby has several other double knit scarves, plus hats and mittens. I have quite a few of them to get through!

 

And just like the teaspoon which is always left int he washing up bowl, I have found an end which needs to be darned in!

New project alert - Chivalry Mitts

This is finished, the Bubble Scarf, double knit with stuffed bubbles.

I really tried to get a proper photo yesterday, but  the wind was too cold and there was a dusting of snow on the grass, which messes with the exposure.  I'm hoping that over Easter we will have at least one day when I can get outdoors and take a photo of the scarf. Even one morning this week before work!

This is also finished, my Groovyghan!

That's the indoor-by-the-window shot.  I have darned in ALL ends, and finished the border, which has taken me just as long, it seems, as the blanket itself. More to do with dithering and not knowing what I wanted to do.  In the end I went for bobbles.  Started with a foundation round of dc to even things up and get an idea of stitch count, then alternated bobble round with treble round, ending on a treble round.  Changed colour, did another foundation round of dc before doing Attic24's bobble shell edging, which I really like - expect this on other non balnket htings in the future!

So the bubbles and bobbles are done.  Leaving me with a pair of boring socks (which I MUST finish) and nothing else on the needles.

Time to cast on

The hearts are more red than pink I think (must check in daylight) and the background is a sea green or possibly a greeny turquoise.  I've never been any good at colour names.  Unfortunately I've done it again, wound up the yarn and lost the labels.  I think the background is EKL but  not sure of the red, think it might be a Yarn Yard merino.  I used to stuff the labels in my knitting bag, but ended up with so many that I stopped doing this. 

I may cast on something else this week if I get bored. Wiht the weather so arctic I won't feel unseasonal knitting more woolly accessories.  

 

Catch up

A quick progress post, no photos, I'm too close to finishing a few things!

Really, not much going on at all here,  just three WIPs and one of those is socks which have been ignored for several weeks.

It's been all about my other two WIPs, the Bubbles DK scarf and the Groovyghan, and will be the whole weekend.  No casting on of any other stuff until they're done!

The double knit scarf is very nearly done.  Just four ends and the tubular cast off to go.  I've set up the stitches for the cast off (no way can I accomplish this as per the pattern, with the stitches for front and back on one needle,  dropping them off and putting them back on the needles as I graft, so they're separated onto two needles).  

I'll finish this tonight, and give it a good wash to even out the stitches somewhat;  double knitting and kauni yarn leads to very uneven stitches!

The Groovyhan. Well, let's hope I can finish this over the weekend.  A LOT of ends to darn in and the border to finish. I seem to have got a grip on the border, still takes forever but it's easier to do the bobbles and work out placement now that they're set up.  I thnk I shall do another few rounds of bobble,s and maybe finish with a final round of mini-bobbles every other stitch (or a picot type edging).

IF I finish these off I may cast on something else - for March goals I still have some mitts and a cowl to knit, plus finish the socks currently otn.  Do-able?  Probably not, but we do ahve a long weekend for Easter, so I'll give it a good go. 

 

 

Groovyghan progress #CAL13

Today would have been Jill's 76th birthday, still sorely missed by her friends and her family. There'll be several knitters out there with empty knitting needles, who would normally have kntted her a birthday present. She's in my thoughts today as I write this post, especially as she was never one to procrastinate or be indecisive.  She'd be rolling her eyes, and muttering JUST FINSIH THE BORDER! :)

****

Well no news, really!  I have minimal progress this weekend.  Most of Saturday was spent dithering. Do I do a ripple edging, as in the pattern?  Do I do a bobble edging?  If I do a ripple edging how do I cope with the corners? 

I quite fancied a bobble edging, though wasn't sure how it would look, if my bobbles would look like bobbles, as I've never tried crocheting them.

First attempt.  It took me FOREVER to do that first long round of trebles.  I usually go thought the top toops and that one just berore a chain stitch is tricky. 

Sunday I started the bobble round.  The pattern is a multiple of 6 plus 5 (you could do any multiple of course, but my bobbles will be every sixth stitch) and I had to count and try to make sure that each square had a similar amount of picked up stitches.  Then disaster struck.  With 18 of the 24 squares to go I realised that my yarn would run out.  What a pain!  56g!

Back to the drawing board.  This second attempt involved a different colour and a round of dc rather than tr, followed by the tr/bobble round.  Made it!  

It's that row of crochet under the red!  Far too lazy to spread out the balnket and take a decent photo.

This colour had 60g remaining, and some of the colouris don't have as much, especially the ones I like. So I tried doing another bobble round with a different colour, and it didn't look right. It would look better with that round of dc.  My next plan (and one which I'm sticking to) is to alternate bobbles with a plain roudn of treble.  AND work the plain round with rs facing, bobble round iwth ws facing, rather than working the whole border with ws facing (you need to do that with bobbles). 

I have managed that plain treble round!

The plain round is the red one..

I'm going to leave this one my chair, and might try to get in an hour or two each evening. I'm thinking of doing another three or four rounds of bobbles and trebles and then some sort of picot or tiny bobble edging. I'm presuming there is something out there in the crochet world.

 

Bubbles Scarf progress

One day soon there'll be a post entitled 'Bubbles Scarf' rather than 'Bubbles Scarf progress'; then end is in sight!  Just another 20 rows of bubbles and 30 tows of alternating colour.  Oh, and mastering the tubular cast off, looks complicated.  I've done this before, on socks, hopefully it's the same process.

With sunrise at 06.16 today, I managed to get out before work and take a few quick photos (it's cold and damp today).

The colours merge a bit in the middle of the scarf, so the bubbles aren't as obvious. If I were to make this again, I'd either use a lighter kauni variable (how about the one used in the pattern?!) or a solid light colour.   Thankfully the rainbow kauni is in a dark phase for the end, so at least the two tails look better.

Lilghter side

Darker side

It's not perfect.  There's a lot of uneven knitting (usually where i tried to tink back and stretched stitches) and unevenly stuffed bubbles, but it's not a gift and I can live with it.

In other knitting I've decided to abandon the Christmas ornament, Smitten mitten. I obviously didn't learn from last year, when I attempted to knit the Hexipuffs.  Small multiple knitting does not appeal to me, and I get very bored with it very quickly.  Oh well, one less wip means I can cast on something new soon!

Little Ms Mae baby hat

A baby hat.

Didn't block it yet, will wait until I have a recipient and then give it a wash!

Pattern:: Little Ms Mae

Start/finsih: 6-9th March

Needles: 3.25mm

Yarn: Lorna's Laces sock, about 40g if that.

This was part of the ravelry group Project a Month.  Each month they have a KAL, sometimes more, and this was the donated pattern fo the month.  By donated, I mean a pattern which you usually have to buy, but are given a code for ravelry checkout, so it's free.  The only condistion is that you knit it up in that month.

This wa a quick knit, it's a turned up brim hat which narrows into a long strip which you then  knit. I have no idea who I've knitted it for - the only candidate is the work colleague's baby, for early winter wear.  The other 'babies' I have been knitting for turn two this year.  Noi signs of any on the horizon either!

It ticks several boxes - used stash yarn, part of my sigma13 list, a hat, a baby garmnet, a KAL, probably a Christmas present too.  

 

Groovyghan progress #CAL13

More crochet!

I'm determined to finish this off in March.  This weekedn I finished the ripple strip (such fun) and then spent a little while dithering over an edge (to the strip) or not.  

I tried sewing the strip straight onto the other stipes and it wasn't too bad at all, but looked a little unfinished, so I thought I'd crochet somc dcs along each side, and then sew them together.  Mr C chose yellow and red, but I opted for yellow and orange.   

First the yellow.  No way was I going to crochet both sides and then find it looked terrible, so I started off with the yellow edge.  What a pain using a hook to pierce the side chains and trebles!  I thoguth I'd try to pick up the same amount as I did for the long shell stripe, which works out at 28-29 sts per square's worth of ripple  - twelve rows.  Then joined them together.

Tada!

and a close up

On the other side, orange, which was joined to the other three strips. 

All joined!

Now this does not mean that the blnaket is nearly done - I have so many ends to darn in and then the big decision on the border.  I'm not sure yet if I shall crochet the ripple border ro do a simple straight border.  I must go and look at other ravelry project sfor inspiration!

 

 

 

Straighforward Mitts

Pattern: Straightforward Mitts

Start/finish: 18th - 21st February

Yarn: Yarn Yard SSS1 35g

Needles@ 2.75 mm

This is a very quick knit, once you get started. This is the pattern I tried a few weeks previously. with lots of frogging and reknitting. I spent as much time failing to knit these first time around as I did the second time around!  They're plain with some ribbing extending from the outer side of the hand towards the index finger, similar to the Herbivore pattern.  It's not as obvious here but they;re slightly longer at the little finger than the index finger (the pattern causes this to happen), a quirky feature.

 

 

Groovyghan progress #CAL13

After a few weeks off I'm back to the final strip of Groovyghan,  This does not of course mean that I'm nearly finished. There's the sewing of this strip (once it's done) to the others, a million ends to darn in and the borders to do.  I didn't make such great progress on Saturday either, but that was down to indecision on my part!

First decision - straight stripes or wavy stripes.

Wavy.

Second decision - how wide?  

Wider than the others (42 not 28 so I get more ripples in the row).

Third decsion -how will I do the colour secquence?

Completely random?  I'm drawn to ones which aren't so random.

Two rows of colour or graduated colour - 2r A. 1r B, 1rA, 2rB, 1rC, 1rB etc

This is what I chose and I really like this way of placing colours.

I really like this way of going from one colour to another.  However, it means an extra two ends for every four rows.  And I decided I wanted a narrow stripe after all, so it was abandoned.  

Plan B - narrow stripe, with two row colour sequence.  Not that I don't love the way I did it before, but for a narrow strip it's too many ends!  I might at some stage consider a ripple blanket using this way of merging the colours.

Then I spent the whole day looking at ravelry and which ones I liked, which I didn't. I like a gradual change of colour, rainbow like (Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain!) but some of the colours didn't quite fit into this scheme.  Second idea was to do two or three similar colours grouped together, so it's still random but looks better to me. 

A whole day crocheting and this is what I managed

It's always a relief to look at it in daylight!

After another couple of hours we have all the yarn colours used, plus a few of them twice. I've tried to 'fill out' the troughs and peaks on the bottom row, not very successfully. It would have stressed me out if I hadn't (even it if's not quite right) in case I couldn't do it afterwards when applying the border.  Note to self though - the width is slightly less in a wavy row!  I'm sure it will not be noticeable overall,

So here we have the progress for this week

Can't wait for next weekend!  I must try to get up earlier, so I can do it in daylight!  My living room sees the sun in the mornings, but I'm not a morning person, usually takes me ages to get my act together on a weekend.