skein

November knitting and December knitting plans (again)

I've not managed all of my goals, but feel like I've done quite well this month,.

Blog:

1) Every day for NaBloPoMo.  With this post I've succeeded!  It's not as hard as I think it will be, I always managed to find some knitting stuff to blog about.  I just need to stay organised and fit in a blog post earlier on in the day. So pleased to have done this.  Mind you, i have a stack of blogs to read, that's fallen ebehind!

2) Block and blog the 10th shawl for 11shawls2011.  Semele.  Done!

3) Wash and blog Chickadee. Done!

Finish:

4) Baby hat for Mr T.  Done!

5) Baby jacket for Mr T.  Done!

6) My final shawl for 11shawls2011 - it's Shaelyn. Done!  Need to block it. 

7) SKA October socks - Winter's Eve. One sock to knit. Fail!  I've abandoned these.  The yarn wasn't right for the pattern, it needs a yar which shows off the stitches.  It took me a whole sock  before I acknowledged this!

8) SKA October socks - Little Child's Sock  Done!

Start and finish:

9) Baby bootees for Mr T. Done!

10) Socks for Miss E.   Done!

11) Cardigan for Miss E. Done! 

12) Hat for Miss E.  Done!

13) WoollyWormhead's Mystery Hat KAL.  Done!

14) SolidSocks November socks  Fail!  I would have liked to do this too, as the theme was Autumn and I have some lovely autumnal colours in my sock yarn stash.  Too busy on baby things this month.

Start (but possibly not finish):

15) This month's offering from IKL (not just) sock club.   Fail!  I have ust received the yarn today, but I think I will wait and cast on next month as I have Christmas and baby knitting to do first. It could be something I start after Christmas for myself, as a reward for all this gift knitting!

 

Overall very pleased.  Now if December goes to plan I shall be very leaed again, as there's lots of knitting to do.  I'm going to copy and paste December goals as a reminder to myself!  I've already started the pink bab cardigan.  Babt;s de in a week and it's hovering above ffreezing, with a little bit of snow in Moscow at the moment.  Not too harsh weather yet!

1) Early December  birth day - a baby ensemble for a baby girl due early December, needs to get to Moscow!

2) By 10th December - Mr C's other birthday present (socks already knitted) - either felted clogs or a voyageur's hat.

3) By 14th (parcel) or 20th (first class) - Christmas presents for Mr C's father (scarf or hat), Miss E (cardigan and hat), new baby T (not yet here! - baby cardigan and hat)

4) By 24th Mr C's Christmas presents (socks and whatever I didn't knit for his birthday)

5) Knitting for ME.  A knitting kit to open and start on Christmas day.  We always have a very quiet day, just pottering around.  All I do is cook the turkey and imbibe,  so plenty of time to knit,

n other words

Newborn:  one pair of bootees, two cardigans, two hats

Toddler: hat and cardigan

Man: socks, felted clogs,  voyaguer's hat, one hat or scarf

Dawn: knitting kit. It's a shoulder cowl :)

That's twelve things.  And I bet I cast on a few more!

Corby

A very quick project.  Very much enjoying this hat knitting malarky!

Pattern: Corby

Started: 24th November

Finishd: 26th November

Needles: 3.25mm (but I used 3mm for the brim)

Yarn: Leftover Artesano Superwash Merino, in pink and purple, under half a skein each

Mods: I probably worked about an inch less for the body. I wanted a less slouchy hat, though there's still slouch!  I worked with the two colours I had, and did random length stripes (or tried to - my brain fights this!
This hat really needs a modelled shot to show it off but I've had to make do with a held up shot!

Lovely!  And just in the nick of time.  My niece gave birth to her son yesterday!  Six days past due date, but I've spent the whole pregnancy saying it was due on 28th and only found out a few weeks ago when I saw my niece that he was due on 22nd.  I was right all along!  He took the family by surprise, D was fine yesterday morning and by 2.30pm he was out!  All doing very well, and the cutest photo EVER of Miss E holding her brother baby T.   Anyone who knows me on facebook could probably find it via my friends .... dannii's  wall.   The first brother, son, grandson, great gandson, nephew, great nephew.

 

December knitting

I'll post my November knitting stuff at the end of the month.  December knitting is being posted early, as I've just realised that I'm on such a tight schedule that I need to start - now!  Shaelyn shawl is off the needles, and with just my long term wip, the Beekeeper's Quilt in my knitting bag I might as well start now.

It's always a busy month.  Yes, Christmas has sneaked up on me again, it's Mr C's birthday on the 10th, and a friend's daughter is due to give birth early on in the month.  I also forget about last postal dates for Christmas, which means a lot of stuff needs to be knitted well in advance. Oops.

So here's a list, with order of priority!

1) Early December  birth day - a baby ensemble for a baby girl due early December, needs to get to Moscow!

2) By 10th December - Mr C's other birthday present (socks already knitted) - either felted clogs or a voyageur's hat.

3) By 14th (parcel) or 20th (first class) - Christmas presents for Mr C's father (scarf or hat), Miss E (cardigan and hat), new baby T (not yet here! - baby cardigan and hat)

4) By 24th Mr C's Christmas presents (socks and whatever I didn't knit for his birthday)

5) Knitting for ME.  A knitting kit to open and start on Christmas day.  We always have a very quiet day, just pottering around.  All I do is cook the turkey and imbibe,  so plenty of time to knit,

In other words

Newborn:  one pair of bootees, two cardigans, two hats

Toddler: hat and cardigan

Man: socks, felted clogs,  voyaguer's hat, one hat or scarf

Dawn: knitting kit. It's a shoulder cowl :)

That's twelve things.  And I bet I cast on a few more!

 

Pepper

Finished!

 

Pattern: Pepper

Started: November 13th

Finished: November 26th

Needles: 3.75mm, and 3.25mm for the waist belt.

Yarn: Artesano Superwash Merino, 3 balls each of pink and purple. I used all of the pruple and most of the pink, so cutting it fine! (But I had four balls each anyway, just if anyone else is knitting this...)

Size: 2-3 years.  Miss E is now three, but she is small in the body and a bit short! 

Mods: Hardly any, the pattern was well thought out and written.  I had to knit a few more rows to the division of the armholes as my row tension was out.  I didn't think through buttonhole placements, and had to frog a bit, as the pattern takes rows into account when placing buttonholes.  I worked two extra rows before placing the second body buttonhole; it's not noticeable, whereas it might have been on the waist band where it's centred. 

I had a few issues with the collar though!  It's worked in garter stitch, then the lining is reverse st st.  I knitted this, didn't like it, frogged back and worked regular st st.   After sewing the sides of the collar together, and darning in ends, I went to tack it down - and the st st lining was too long.  It took me ages to undo and frog a few rows  so it was shorter.  You'd think I would learn my lesson, and not darn in ends until I was absolutely sure it was right. Not so.  Friday evening I finished the whole garment, slept on it and decided on Saturday to frog the collar again.  I wasn't sure about it being double thickness and long.  Not for a 3yo. I could see that top button being left undone!  Several hours later it was reknitted  Just garter stitch. Shorter.  I did five garter stitch ridges, and cast off knitwise onthe ws for a sixth ridge.  I am much happier with it now. 

I opted for the floating pockets.  Not sure if this shows the details well

 I love it!  There's options for longer sleeves, and you can lengthen the skirt of the jacket as ell, or even knit it in one colour.  I think it would make a great coat in one colour. 

A thoroughly enjoyable knit. Hope Miss E. likes it as mch as I do!

 

Corella hat

I do enjoy a small kal!

Pattern: Corella  by Woolly Wormhead.

Started: November 6th

Finished: November 21st

Yarn: Quince & Co, Chickadee, red, one skein exactly.

Needles: 3.25mm, used 3mm for the brim.

 

 

I'll probably wear this hat pulled a bit further down, but this shot shows off the pattern and shape well.    All photos had to be taken with my phone as the camera seems to have given up the ghost today.

The pattern was published in three parts - brim, body and crown.  I really like it!  Love the way the ribbing morphs into the body pattern, and then the body pattern morphs into the crown decreases.   One of these days I'll knit these as  Christmas gifts, but they keep ending up as hats for ME!

 

More on Pepper

Not finished yet, but the knitting part is all done!

I've knitted pink pocket flaps, floating pockets, unpicked the collar whihc I'd sewn down (took me hours) nand reknitted the last few rows.  All done, except for a lot of ends, collar and pocket sewing and buttons on.  I am still thinking about which colour to sew the buttons on with. I don't have any thread in purple, so was going to use the wool.  Purple yarn with purple buttons on a pink background means that the back of the button band is looking a bit messy.  Not sure if I fancy pink yarn on purple buttons though.  I shall test it out tonight.

The photo's a bit horrible.  Late night, mobile shot on an orange background!  I was tired!

Tired or not, I immediately cast on a hat for Miss E with the remaining yarn!  I don't have enough of one colour for the hat, so I'm going to knit Corby, with just the two colours.  I may make it less slouchy by knitting less length on the hat bit.  I'm not a hat expert, so I'm hoping this is what I have to do!  I presume the crown shaping will be the same.   I think a less slouchy hat is in order for a 3yo; I think her way of putting on hats might be to just pull it on and pull it right down, so a very slouchy hat would be covering her face!

Just started, Still can't believe that I am knitting the size down from my own head, and she's three!

I feel as if I have lots of WIPs but in fact I just have four!  These two, Shaelyn and my neglected Bee Keeper's hexigons.  I think it's because I have stuff to knit for Christmas and Mr C's birthday, and my brain is including them in the WIPs list!

I am going to finish Shaelyn, Pepper and Corby this weekend.  I am.  And  if I do it will eave just one long time WIP on the needles, so I may, just may, have to cast on another small project on Sunday evening!

Pepper progress

It's progressing!

The body is knitted.

The pink yarn at the pockets is waste yarn - I will be doing afterthough pockets here.  I'll unpick the waste yarn, pick up the live stitches, at bottom and top, and knit pink pocket tops, and (probably) just one layer for the pocket lining and sew it in place.  The pattern gives options for a floating pocket (my words - I mean one which is not sewn in place, knitting in the round).

I sent a message via Facebook to my niece, and she prefers the short sleeved version (phew!).

Sleeves worked on Tuesday evening:

Very quick, just ten rows of garter stitch!

And the collar is a WIP.  It's knitted in garter stitch for about 14 or so rows (making the top buttonhole halfway through) then it's worked in reverse stocking stitch, which is folded over (making another buttonhole on the inner side),

I decided I preferred a stocking stitch inner bit. I've done the fiddly bit, of sewing the buttonhole together, and the ends of the collar.  But when I went to sew the collar down I realised I possibly have too many rows on the inside, so I want to frog a few. I haven't actually sat down to do this yet, it may involve me unpicking the edges to do that.  If it's going to be too fiddly (i.e. ends are too stitched in and hidden) I may just tack down the collar but two stitches up, so it doesn't look as baggy on the inside. 

Here it is before I've attempted anything!

I'm still enjoying this knitting though!  Any frogging and reknitting has been down to me - my row tension is out, I've not thought through the pattern before adjusting it (what I mean is read the pattern!).  It's a great pattern and I'm impressed by Artesano Superwash Merino too.   I expect it'll be finished soon!!

 

 

Shaelyn shawl progress

Well, none really!

I haven't picked this up for about a week.  I'm still working on the fourth repeat. 

On the train into work this morning I thought I should count the stitches, as I'm getting ready for another feather and fan section, so they ought to be nearly a multiple of 11. 

One side has 95 sttiches and the other side has 99 stitches.  Both should have 97 stitches.  A sinking feeling.  I may have moved the centre stttch (it has happened before),  Yes, that's what's happened. 

Now if it were just a matter of having to fudge stitch counts I wouldn't mind at all, I've been doing that since I first started knitting.  But the displaced centre stitch stuck out like a sore thumb.

So it's tink time, hopefully just the centre stitches.

This is one of the four things I want to finish this week.  I've finsihed two - the toddler socks and the hat (which is now dry, just need a day of light to take photos), and the other thign to finish (blogging tomorrow I think!) is Pepper, which is progressing well.  Keep knitting!  No sign of new great nephew yet.  His mother is still fairly active for one day past due date. They're going to ive her 12 days over and then take her in....

Miss E's toddler socks

Pattern: Cast on 44 sts, work 1x1 ribbing for 10 rows, then 34 rows of stocking stitch for the leg; work the heel flap over 22 stitches, work gusset decreases then another 22 rows to start of toe shaping.

Started on 18th and fininshed on 21st November

Needles: 2mm

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock yarn 31g

I had no idea how many stitches to use for a toddler - then remembered that I have a very handy Handy Book of Kniting Patterns!  For mittens, socks, gloves, hats, berets, scarves and jumpers!  I amy well use the oddments form Pepper (and a hat) to make some mittens.  IF I can find that last ball of purple which has strayed from my knitting bag beside my knitting chair!

 

Oh, and it's teh due date for my new great nephew today!  No sign of him wanting to appear though... soon!

Mystery Hat KAL progress II

It's finsihed, just blocking to do. 

At the moment it looks too small.  I do tend to tighten up my tension whenknitting in pattern, but I'm cofident that it will block out well.

 

Side view:

Top view:

 

and on the head:

 

The yarn is Quince & Co Chickadee, a lovely springy sportweight yarn.  I'd certainly consider this for a garment.

One project done, three more to finish this week before I even consider casting anything on.  Toddler socks are next to be finished.  It's not helped by the fact that this yarn for new projects is sitting next to my knitting chair!