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Let's get the April FOs out fo the way before the end of the month!
This is Naiada, which I knitted as part of the Countess Ablaze KAL inspired by Odyssey.
The yarn's CA (of course) Lord of Silk Aran, in a colour called 'he will not long be absent'. Such a vibrant colour and lovely to work with.
The pattern's great too. A super simple shawl pattern, you knit until you run out of yarn (well, have enough for a cast off).
Very pleased.
Apologies for the absence. I usually post from work, but I had a major computer failure last week! I'm sort of up and running now, but still trying to play catch-up.
Here's something I finished in April! It's the Puerperium baby cardigan. Only in newborn size, it's a quick and easy seamless knit. I used Rico cotton/acrylic dk. It's quite a fine dk, but very easy to work with and soft. I prefer it to pure cotton for very new babies. Not so sure about the design though. I didn't realise that the buttons were up the side! I prefer knitting first time mothers a cardigan with just a few buttons... but it's cute anyway.
*** and - I've frogged Booknits MKAL :( ***
After 17 days of frustration (yarn, me, needles, not the pattern though I did adjust some things) the final straw came last Saturday, when I accidently picked up the ball of yarn with stuff I was taking into the bedroom. Pulled shawl partially off needles, and lots of unravelling. I'd finished clues one to three too, was looking forward to getting clue four done over the bank holiday weekend. I just didn't want to cast on AGAIN, or try to sort out the unravelled parts. So I've frogged, retrieved most of the beads (still picking them up off the carptet!) and put the yarn away. I am pig sick of light green!
So, pastures new for June!
The good news - a finished Niagara cowl.
This was finished weeks ago, and only needed a photo. I tried last week, and the bright sun made the purple yarn look brown! The hazards of mobile photos. This morning I took one at work under strip lighting and miraculously, it looks purple! The yarn is Countess Ablaze Madame Smooshy Singles,. I've acquired a bit of a CA stash. Love her yarn and colour names, and the mad variegated. I have a few sock blanks, she does not do gradual colour changes. There's splashes of colour dotted around,. as if she's knotted the blank, or dripped dye on it. This is a solid colour though, Still trying to think of projects for some of the variegated!
The pattern's a textured lace, very easy and intuitive. I'v left it unblocked, like it as is too much.
And the Booknits MKAL calamity continues! I've knitted and reknitted clue one several more times. I've now settled on inceasing with a combination of kfb, pfb, kp and kyok! I still get holes but they're at least a bit more even. This yarn (Handmaiden Lino) HATES dropped stitches. Laddres are terrible. So much so that the last clue one was abandoned and a new one started. Saturday saw me starting clue two! That wa all going well - until I was careless with a few SSKs and tried to reknit a couple of lace sections. The gaps! And I don't mean the YOs! Back to the frogpond. There are now a few holes in the stocking stitch section, but they're staying, and I will sew them cloesd if I can't live with them! . This has consumed far too much of my knitting time. I'm not a one WIP person and am desperate to do a little cardigan knitting or look for another shawl project! But I'll stick to this for now. I'm on the lace bit, have added a row of beads. LOVE the beads.
I spent the May Bank Holiday getting reacquainted with my summer cottons, which have been put away for the past six months. These are the packs of cotton blends, set aside for garments. Except I haven't been using it up much! I did a quick count and I have enough for 25 garments, and that's after years of destashing. And doesn't include any lightweight but not cotton yarns.
So I'm knitting a cardigan. It's not from the old stash though. It's a recent purchase. This is Stylecraft Malabar, an aran weight cotton silk blend, nice to knit with and less than a fiver for 100g.
The pattern is Quick Sand, a top down seamless and buttonless cardigan. I do hope I like it when finished, as I've bought several more of her patterns, and they're all like this!
This was taken over the weekend, I'm now on the body of the cardigan, Easy knittng so far, but I see there are short rows later on (not that they're difficult, but may require counting instead of mindless knitting).
A cowl, This is Niagara, for the May Stitchnerds KAL. The yarn is Countess Ablaze Madame Smoosh Singles, in Haze. Lovely to knit with.
And finally ... not on the needles yet, but I have the yarn... Boo! MKAL, Be with You.
I knew the KAL was imminent (May 4th) but it didn't twig until the weekend that the KAL was starting on Monday. I had already decided to work this shawl in one yarn only, and a laceweight at that, and only have one box of laceweight. But still... it took me a whole day to decide on the yarn (Handmaiden Silk Lace) in Topaz and order the beads. After all of this, I had a change of mind, and ordered some Handmaiden Lino instead. Very slightly thicker and less slippery! That arrived yesterday and is all wound up now.
I'm still not sure about the beads. I usually go for coordingating, or silver lined, or clear beads. I'm not someone who goes for contrasting ones, worry about them looking like spots! But just in case I feel like being a bit daring, I've ordered some silver/smokey amethyst ones. I shall see what they look like when they arrive. Clue 2 was released this morning, so I need to get a move on!
The yarn's colour is Mint, but I think of mint as being more blue than this. Coincidentally Word of Mouth on R4 this week was all about colour words and their etymology. Very interesting. Who knew that pink used to be yellow, or that maroon was a chestnut brown Worth a listen.
How did April go?
1) block and blog Ribs to Go. Done!
2) finish Simply Rippled cowl. Done!
3) Lacy Ribs to Go for Stitchnerds Spring KAL. Done!
4) YOLO scarf for Stitchnerds Spring KAL. Done!
5) Odyss3ey KAL. Done! Irt's Naiada shawl, knitted in an aran weight Countess Ablaze yarn. I need to blog!
6) For the Stash Knit Down Group's April KAL, knit a gift. Done!
It's a Puerperium cardgian, for a colleague's baby to be. Need to put buttons on and blog!
7) Antoher gift for the SKD KAL. This is the Garter Squish blanket. Done!
I can't believe that I did everything I planned, I do believe it's a first this year! Let's see if May is as successful!
So, for May
Blog
1) Naiada shawl.
2) Puerperium cardigan
Finish (started already for May!)
3) Stitchnerd's May KAL (purple or lace) AND SKD's May KAL (lace) - Niagara cowl
4) Quick Sand cardigan
Start
5) Boo Knits MKAL, Be With You (I think all of the clues will be done by the end of month, if not I'll KEEP UP!)
6) Antoher SN and/or SKD KAL item. Possibly a small shawl. No plans, yet.
7) Another cardigan, Don't keel over, this might be a baby cardigan or one for me. I haven't decided yet!
That's it! Quite a steep one, this month. Good job that there's a bank holiday at the end of the month!
Here's Garter Squish, and very squishy it is too!
For some reason the colour is coming out all wrong! I took photos at 7.30 am and 7.30 pm (work day!) and both are very dark. The actual colour is baby green:
The pattern's designed to use up leftovers, and most ravelry projects are striped blankets. I cast on half the stitches and knitted half the garter rows, and it's a handy baby sized blanket.
I'm still dithering over what to knit for May I'll most likely join the May Stitchnerds KAL, purple and/or lace. Maybe two projects? One purple and not necessarily lace, and one lace. There's the ongoing Countess Ablaze Odyssey KAL (must take photos of my finished first project!) and, of course, cardigans! Still no decision about what to knit and with what. I really need to decide on either a pattern or a yarn. Too many combinations! Despite culling the stash over the years, I'm left with about 20 packs of summery yarns. They haven't even had a look in for seveal years, my last cardigan was new stash. So I'm planning on picking one yarn from old stash and one yarn from new stash and casting on a few cardigans. Possibly one at a time, possibly concurrently.
I've chosen a yarn from the new stash. the thickest is Stylecraft Malabar, a cotton silk aran weight, I only have 900 yards, but that means I have less pattern options! I knitted up a tension square last night, The yarn's easy on the hands, soft, drapes well and great for texture. And it's lime green! Three days to play!
