skein

Still no knitting!

I'm forever the optimist.

hat's the knitting me.

I didn't get around to washing my lastest Quick Sand. It's still lying on the back of the sofa.

I did cast on a 3 Color Cowl.  I've tried this pattern before, but the three colours (which I'd bought together as a bundle, years ago) weren't really me,  so I frogged.  I'm the world's worst at selecting colours. I can just manage to find two colours (usually I go for contrast) but more than two colours and I'm stuck. I have no sense of colour combinations.   How on earth can you get three colours to go together??  The only way my brain can compute this is to go with two similar colours (light and dark) and a third contrasting colour.  I'm pretty pleased with the colours I've chosen (in the ball!) and hopefully they'll knit up well... I just have to restart this AGAIN.   The knitting was going well, considering that we were hitting the fruit cider (so moreish, like drinking pop), until I trimmed a yarn end - which turned out to be the working yarn.  That's when the effect of the cider kicked in.  I was too kak handed to tink this too-short yarn without dropping a dozen stitches and attempting a messy pick up.  In the cold light of morning I abandoned it.  Then spent the rest of the day looking at cardigan patterns, cowl patterns, a few shawls....

Time to cast on a shawl.  I've gone for Stripe Study for the third time!  This time I'e chosen some Easy Knits Big Boy. I have a very samll stash so not much choice in colours.  This time around the fabric is a lot different. This is a thick 4ply, more like a Sport weight, and I'm going with the same sized needles, to create a more dense fabric, and it's harier than the merino I've used in the two previous failed projects.  Now I have had to restart this.  Knitting along merrily on the short wors section, on 60cm circulars (that should be a clue) and somehow managed to join into the round (without twisting),  That's a new one!

So, this weekend I'll wash Quick Sand,  continue working on Stripe Studym cast on 3 Color Cowl, and possible start another cardigan.  I'm steering clear of alcohol!  If I feel like a long cold drink I'll get some iced water...

I'm back!

oops,  Nearly two weeks since I blogged.  That might be because I've not done any knitting in two weeks.  Well, only a little bit of knitting.

Two weeks ago I finished the knitting on my current Quicksand cardigan.  That was a friday evening, so I was looking forward to casting on a new project over the weekend. Except that didn't happen.  We hhad decided to try Tesco online that week instead of Ocado.  Just for a change, thinking that Tesco would have a borader range of groceries.  Not so, a fairly limited range of other brands in comparison with Ocado.  Tesco app is not nearly as good, and communication once an order is placed and on its way is just non existant.  Tesco customer service is pretty incompetent, with conflicting tales, a lying driver, and unbelievably, they asked me if I wanted to rearrange another slot for the next day... never again.   Anyway, this took up a morning and afternoon, and i was in no mood to knit.  The rest of thw weekend was spent stash rummaging, pattern browsing and soriing out teh knitting chair (again).

Last weekend I cast on a Confetti jumper.  I have some bubblegum pink yarn, not a favourtie colour, but I thought it would make a lovely summery jumper.  I've been working on this all week, but last night I put it down and think it will be frogged. Timing's not right. I'm not going to wear a wool jumper mid summer, even if it's 4 ply.  It's too summery for Autumn, when I'm ready to swap colours, and too think ofr Winter, but ideal (in these colours) for Spring, so I may put it aside until Spring, or knit it in other colours. 

Or I may cast on something else!

Still no progress!

I knitted quite a bit last Saturday evening.  Unfortunately I also drank quite a bit.   This has resulted in zero knitting.

The leg and heel fo new socks cast on has had to be frogged.  Admittedly I realised that I'd dropped a stitch and wisely decided to put it down until Sunday.  But on Sunday I saw not one dropped stitch but some knitted together, a few yarnovers and more dropped stitches. 

I had better luck on my Quick Sand cardigan.  I finished off the first sleeve and started the second.  That's qhat I've been knitting on this week.  Finally cast off last night - only to discover a knot right at the top of the sleeve (they're knitted top down).  I even remember spotting the knot and deciding to just knit it because I couldn't be bothered to stop and look for scissors to cut the yarn!  If this was an elastic wool it might not be so visible, but it's a cotton silk blend.  So this is the weekend's work. reknit the sleeve (once I pick up the sprinting dropped stitches!)

 

If I do manage to get this done I have NOTHING ON THE NEEDLES (I'm still not speaking to hte Stripe Study shawl).  A dangerous time. I'll need to get nto ravelry,  Then I'll need to stash dive. Maybe I'll just cast on that pair of frogged socks, again. 

Weekly goals?

Ahem.  Two weeks ago I set a weekly goal for my knitting, thinking that that would motivate me.  Such easy goals, too.

Check out a few boxes of stash

Knit half a leg and a heel on a plain sock

Work on my cardigan, just one 100g ball of aran weight yarn

Finish my Stripe Study shawl - about 50g of 4ply in garter stitch.

Now i don't usually do much knitting during the week, not much time and I'm usually too tired and busy doing domestic stuff, like cooking and eating, but with this being a long weekend I had LOAS of time to knit.

Sock knitting?  Frogged.  Yes, The yarn used had partially been knitted into a sock for MrC, which turned out to be too small,  Instead of froggins his sock to start this sock, I started knitting from the partial ball.  And have lost that sock, so don't have enough yarn.  Harumph.

Shawl knitting?  Abandoned, I found a dropped stitch right near the edge, and another and another about 40 stitches in. Rather than frog the entire border (the stitches had ran!) I opted to tink back 40 stiches a tthe edge, right the way down, so that I had long loops to reknit.  That took a while and when casting off (that clost to finishing!) Iit looked terrible at the 'join',  I had loops mixed up, and on some rows I had too much yarn left, so big holes,, other rows I had too little yarn to knit with and had to slip stitches.  I'm just crap at keeping the same tension when attemting this sort of thing.  I have not given up, but the hsawl is in hibernation until a time when I can bear to look at it again!

Cardigan knitting?  100g of aran weight is not that much, but I only managed abut 70g.  Too bus trying to find missing sock yarn and repairing the shawl!  I've still not finished that ball!

Stash rummaging?  That went well!  OWhen the sun came out I was outside with boxes and one bin of cottons.  I didn't do much, just sorted through stuff, reacquainting myself with yarn I haven't seen for several months.  I've pulled out some Debbie Bliss baby cCashmerino stash, jsut a few whole balls and partials, really, and am thinking of either baby garments, hats or cowls.   A great weay of using up thoddments is using three colours and using that Helix method of knitting, whern you work half a round in colour 1, drop it and pick up colour 2, work half a round in colour 2, drop it and pick up colour 3, repeat.  No having to twist yarns at colour changes.  I suppose you could work this in more colours and not work half a round each time, but this suits me fine and is, as I said, a great stashbuter.  The yarn is soft enough for next to neck skin wear (I can't wear even mildly scratchy yarns here, unless I'm wearing a polo neck)

II'm not making plans for this weekend! 

The thrird round of The Shawl Society is out and I'm mightily tempted by this.  I joined the first TSS, but decided not to do the second, purely because I thought I'd like a break from shawl knitting for months.  I'd like to knit a large shawl (just one!) and am veering between TSS or just one of the myriad of individual shawl patterns out there on ravelry,  I might jsut might do a little ravelry surfing this weekend too.