skein

Socks, gauntlets and a to-be-frogged cowl

A quick post before the end of t he month,

I've finished my socks!

These are top down, with a short row garter stitch heel (which needs tweaking, ahem)  and a few inches of twisted ribbing at the cuff, followed by a few rows of purling to make a little ridge. 

The yarn is stashed Lorna's Laces, in Envy.  

I had a few attempts at this sock, firstly trying a textured pattern which was lost in the colour (a slight pattern, best for solids) and then the heel. It started off as a heel flap but the yarn was pooling.  I nromally wouldn't even mind about that, these are for me, but in this instance it bothered me so was restarted.  Garter stitch short row heels don't  need a w&t, so I was happier to do this sort of heel.

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Next, another finished project. Which will be frogged!  Itwas a mystery KAL, but I really ought to have checked it for width (enormous) before I carried on. The pattern is adaptable for width.  I was working on a circular, never bothered to stretch it out to see just how wide it was.  The final clue has your working a lace repeat, as many times as you want. I was constrained by yardage, and ended up working just one repeat. Even thin I had to omit two plain rows. Hence it's wide and short!  It might have  been redeemable with lots of repeats, but not as it is. Oh well, Love the colour. This will be reknit - probably a pair of fingerless mitts.

Finally a new project, started on Saturday. Part of myt April goals but they won't be finished tonight, as I've nearly done one!  I was a bit surprisd by the length. No idea why, the clue was in the pattern name, Troubadour gauntlets!  

Outdoor shot

Indoor shot

Not really soemthing but I'm enjoying knitting these. I will wear, but if not these will go in the Christmas bag, I sent off a load of mitts to my nieces for Christmas, and before they went Mr C took them along when he saw his son and girlfriend (his son's!) - she had first choise of mitts and mittens!

 

More Audrey progress

And I've finished the body!

The fronts were so easy, the Unst lace pattern is quick and gives a break from mindless stocking stitch.  However the back is back to plain knitting. For some reason I thought the whole fo the top bit, past the start of the armhole shaping, was in pattern.

I've worked less rows for the upper body as my row tension was a bit off, so I'm going to pick up stitches for one of the smaller sizes. I don't mind, I like smaller sleeve caps!

I'm thining I may start this next bit of knitting over the weekend. But I want to sort out some summer yarns, so we'll see just how much knitting gets done.  I wouldn't be surpriesed if I waste an entire rediscovering that part of my stash which has been packed away for seven months!

As predicted, my plans to go outside and take a few photos before leaving for work this morning were thwarted by a dark drizzly morning. So we have indoor with lights and lamp on instead.

 

I'm still keeping up with my ravelry kal too. Penultimate clue done.

It's a ghastly shot, but that means it'll be all the better to look at once it's finished and blocked.  Ive said it before, this can only be a cowl! (It's a mystery kal)

 I'm hoping that the last clue is a short clue, as that little ball of yarn next to the cowl is pretty small! 

Audrey in Unst progessnd

I went home to visit my parents this weekend (and siblings plus families, they all live fairly close to each other) and took three lots of knitting. I nearly took all four of my wips but thought that a bit excessive ... except I very nearly ran out of knitting! 

My first wip was the Mystery220 April KAL. One clue, which was pretty short - I finished this in an hour or so, if that.

My second (emergency) wip was a pair of socks. I'm now past th heel fo the second sock, hopefully these will be done by the end of the month.

And the third wip, which was my main knitting this weekend, was Audrey - but I only took down one spare ball of yarn!  Mind you, it went well. Mindless stocking stitch up to the armholes. 

Getting there ....

And up to the armholes!

I've worked another 2.5" in length, just hope this is long enough for me. 

No photos, but I've now knitted the right front and nearly finished iwht the left front.  It only took an evening, and it's super easy lace.

I have more boring stocking stitch to do for the upper back, and I may leave this till the weekend, have a break and finish those socks!

What's tempting me now is yet another garment. I haz the yarn. Rowan 4ply wool cotton in Butter, which is not as orange as this.

I have never knitted or worn anything yellow or lemony. Not since I was eight, when I had a wonderful bright yellow crimplene dress which I lived in all summer.  I wonder if this might be a mistake??? I'm just so fed up with our long winter and want to knit somehting in a summery shade!

But first, I must finish Audrey!

 

Audrey in Unst progess

I tend not to do much knitting in the evenings so there's not much progress on Audrey.  I have, however finished the twisted ribbing!  I'm now on the plain stocking stitch, currently doing decreases for the waist shaping (not that I have a waist..).  I've added about 1.5" before starting the decreaes as I want a longer cardigan. As it stands, the measurement from bottom to the beginning of the armhole is 12.5", with a fairly short armhole (which suits this fitted cardigan) so I'm probably going to do 14.5" or so. 

My tension seems a bit loose, sometimes. Depends on how I measure it!!  But as I've accidently cast on a smaller size than I thought that's no big deal!

In artificial light

In natural light (but not much of it). This is a truer Beetroot colour. 

I've not looked at any other garment patterns. I wonder how long I;ll resist!

Knitting catch up

 A few things on the needles which I haven't blogged about yet.

 

First up is a Mystery 220 KAL,  Each month this ravelry group has a KAL and a CAL, using 220 yards or less.  I've not joined any KALs yet, as I thought they were designed each month by one or two of the group moderators.  I thought that it was pushing it a bit to expect them to design a project each month!  It turns out (when I checked the previous KALs) that they use free patterns from the web, with the designer's permission. As it's just 220 yards I thought I'd try it out this month, as part of my NY resolutions, to do 12 ravelry KALs in 2013.

 

I'm doing the Mystery KAL 2 for April.  It's 4ply.  I'm using The Yarn Yard's SSS2 yarn (it's a montly opt out at any time club, a 50g skein of yarn each month),  

 A murky late night shot again!  it's looking very much like a cowl!  Three more clues to go,

 

The second thing I have to show is ,,,, a garment!  It's been 10 months since I knitted anyting and I really felt like casting on something.  I have three that I wish to knit (as of pre-Twist Spring/Summer)

Audry in Ungst (whish this is), Honeybee Cardigan and Brookline (from Summer 12's Twist),

Now I have two more!  Floriston and Lyssia!  I'll never knit them all this summer.

Audry in Unst is cast on. I hope that I'm not tempting fate by blogging about it when I only started it this weekend.

It's knit bottom up in one piece to the armholes.  That's the bit I don't like, just a small error in the tension means I might have to rip out the whole width. It's also in twisted 1x1 ribbing.  So one side is k1tb, p1 and the other side is p1tb and k1!  I'm now 31 rows done, 5 to go.  Here's last night's photo.  

The colour is called BEETROOT.  It looks BEETROOT not this lighter, redder colour. Rowan 4ply soft.  I'm concentrating on this for the next few evenings, see if I can get this ribbing done and a bit of the back. I shall probably be lengthening it by a few inches, as it's a bit too short for what I want.  

Trekking XXL socks

The final FO for March, which needed blogging.

Just plain socks,  These are for my youngest brother who has very skinny legs and fett.

56sts, 2.25mm needles, top down, heel flap and gusset.  I knitted a 3x1 ribbing on the leg part.

He really feels the cold and appreciates the socks.  So much so that I've been asked before now to rescue a pair that had worn out (badly!) and even though I knitted a replacement I suspect the worn socks havn't been thrown out! (Did I mention that some of my family have a touch of hoarding about them??)

I'm trying to use up some of the boring sock yarns now.  Boring as in not very bright for Mr C! 

Groovghan!

The photos aren't that great, but I'm having to use my mobile camera as I need to find the lead to recharge the camera (and download the photos via work computer - laptop has the dreadful Windows 8 which is diabolically user un-friendly).

The colours are brighter in real life!

I blame Nickerjac for this - I spotted lots of tweets about a CAL and was hooked!  Another tweeter. Y. was considering the Groovyghan (and indeed she is in the process of crocheting it) and that was it, decision made!

Pattern Groovyghan

Start/finish Jan 13th to March 24th

Hook size 4.5mm

Yarn Stylecraft Special DK, an acrylic yarn in bright colours (to say the least), about 11.5 100g bakks. You can buy a Lucy pack at a very cheap rate (and have lots left over)

 

I worked on this at weekends, but had a few setbacks (which is why it took so long). I started with a smaller hook and didn't like the size, though the acrylic yarn didn't mind small or large hooks, it still looked fine. One strip done, sewn up and too small. That was pretty gruesome unpicking the squares!

 

I worked in strips. One week the dots stirip, then the flower strip and granny square strip.  The patter has a striped strip, but I fancied a ripple strip.

 

Not a ripply edging!  Just the grass!

I decided not to do the border as specified and went for a bobble border instead.  This took a while, not only long rounds but trial and error - what looked ok and what didn't.  I finally alternated a round of trebles, details on my ravelry project page, 

Proper groovy!

 

Chivalry Mitts

Pattern - Chivalry Mitts

Start/finish: 24-30th March

Needles: 2.5mm

Yarn: EKM  in a green/blue colour, about .16 skeins and an unknown red, about .2 skeins (I think this might be a Yarn Yard merino)

Loved knitting these. I knitted one less heart repeat, plenty long for me. I also knitted the 1x1 ribbing as a twisted ribbing, seems to be a phase I'm going through as all of my socks are like this at the moment too!

Love the thumb gussets.  There's an option of knitting initials in place of the hearts (or anything you want which would fit in that space) but I like the hearts.

Love the way you decrease for the thumb and finger cuffs, for a tidier fit. 

Present Cowl

Pattern: Present Cowl

Started/finished: 31-31st March

Needles: 4.5mm

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere, 3.8 skeins

Mods: Cast on 10 less sts, and decreased another 10.  You can't really tell!  I like a cowl to cover my neck, not hang down as decoration.  

A very quick and easy knit, cast on, join, work mindless knit and purl rows (for the ridged pattern) and instant gratification.  I love the fact that I can sit down on a Saturday evening wanting a new cowl, and knit one there and then. Me Want, Me Knit!

This is another of my Sigma13 knits. Another six cowls to knit this year, but if the weather wrams up I might leave them till the Autumn!

There was  such an icy wind blowing when we went out to take photos (quickly!),  I was freezing, even though I'm wearing a couple of thick jumpers! Just the right sort of thing for this weather, I've been wearing it all week to work!

March knitting and April knitting goals

3rd of April already and I haven't done my monthly goals yet, and that with four days off for Easter, doing nothing but lazing around!

March was fairly productive, with just one goal not met, and that was abandoned.

1) Continue with the CAL Groovyghan. I have one more strip, plus borders and a million ends.  Not sure if I can say FINISH it but, oh well, let's say FINISH IT!   And I did!  I just haven't blogged about it yet. Need photos! Very chuffed to get it done. 

2) Continue with the double knit Bubbles scarf,. I have 120 rows or so plus the 3" end to do. Shall I say FINISH.  In for a penny ... so I'll say FINISH IT!  Yippee! Done!  

3) Finish the socks I'm currently knitting in Trekking XXL.  Done! That second sock was only a quarter done until Good Friday..  need to blog them now. 

4) Join another ravelry kal #3 of my Sigma13. Done!  Recluse Slippers, a very quick nit, easy and a stashbuster.

5) knit another five mittens for my Smitten ornament This was the failure.  I'm afraid that I got bored!

6) Knit either a hat.cowl, or baby/child.  Done!  It was the Present Cowl, in aran weight yarn.  Started over the weekend, so it's not even been mentioned on the blog yet. 

7) More  mitts.  Done!  The Chivalry  Mitts, finished over the weekend. 

So, March was pretty successful!  I finished three things over Easter, so need to get those blogged about, and need to see if I can get better photos of the Groovyghan too.  I went outside on Easter Monday to take photos (with Mr C's help, haven't managed to get photos of mitts or cowls being worn), but it was bitterly cold, the wind was whipping up my hair, the blanket was being blown off the ground!  I took very quick photos, but C had to stand on the blanket to keep it flat!  I will try again, fingers crossed the it's a calm weekend with no rain!

And the stash is in the negative!

Stash in for March:  1420 yards

Stash out for March: 3790 yards

Stash totals for 2013 -1632 yards. 

 

So for April knitting. 

Blog:

1) Groovyghan

2) Chivalry Mitts

3) Present Cowl

4) Trekking socks

Start and finish:

5) Ravelry KAL #4.  Not sure yet which one to do, nothing is grabbing me. I think it may possibly be a Mystery kal!

6) Socks for me. I pulled out some Lorna's Laces sock yarn in Envy at the beginning of the year, and it's still untouched. 

7) Troubadour gauntlets. I bought this kit a while ago, time to get it knitted up!

Start (no promises to finish though)

8) Start some socks for Mr C. Although he has quite a few, he wants more. he reckons that some are not play socks (bright) and they are divided between the boat and flat, so his choice is 'limited' (ha!)

9) A biggie, this one. Start a garment. I've been obsessing over the weekend, with the thought of summer and warmer weather. I don't want to knit a thick, woolly jumper. I fancy a Spring jumper. Still thinking about it - the yarn, the pattern.  My summer yarns are packed away, but I do have some 4ply and some wool cotton and even dk weight yarn, not too wintery.   I bet I spend three weeks deliberating and cast on at the end of April!
I am trying to resist reknitting patterns which I like!

 

That's it.  Nine goals but four ar just blog posts.   Should keep me busy though!