WIP Wednesday

Left it a while again before blogging. It's been a difficult few weeks. There are a lot of draft posts knocking around, I've just not felt that they've been 'good enough' (whatever that means). So, let's just dive in with what I've been working on:

1. I knitted a sleeve on Spoke.

This is my long-term garment project; a pattern from Knitty that I'm knitting in [now discontinued] KnitPicks Wool of the Andes Tonal that I bought when I went to the US in 2012. I've been enjoying knitting it (though not photographing it, the yarn is difficult to capture), but there were a few things I wanted to change about the pattern. The sleeves were knit flat and I didn't want them flared at the bottom, so I've done a provisional cast on at the top of the flared part, knit them up to the shoulder. Plan is to knit a second one to the same point, attach them to the body and then see what I should do to finish the bottom end of the sleeve.

2. Simplicity cardigan

Loving this one! This pattern is one I've heard a lot about [rav link], but my brain went 'pssh! when are you going to have time to knit a laceweight cardigan?'. I bought a skein of Easyknit's Slink in the colourway 'Viola' when I didn't get to go to Woolfest last year, thinking I'd make a shawl. I tried a few things and didn't get on with any of them, then after a few hours on Ravelry I decided I'd try this. I'm a tiny bit worried about yardage as I've only got the one skein which might be a bit short, so I've put the body on hold and started on a sleeve.

3. Green seagrass socks

These have been a bit of a slog, but I've only got to sew up the toes and block them. The pattern is the Hourglass socks from Knitty, and the yarn is Spirit by sparkleduck in the colour Sea Quine, bought at Woolfest 2013. This has been a slow knit, especially the last little bit. I have had some brilliant yarn from sparkleduck and this is also great, but it does dye my hands blue as I knit with it. I'll do a citric acid soak as part of the blocking process, as described here by Jasmine from the Knitmore Girls, but there is nowhere from which to buy a small amount of citric acid round here, so I'm waiting until I go to my parents' in July. This has not given me much motivation to kitchener stitch the toes!

4. Trillian

And finally, my most recent cast on is Trillian by Martina Behm [pattern on Ravelry], in Deeply Wicked by Easyknits (yes them again), in the colourway Killer Queen. Loving this, it's perfect for going to work, taking to knit night, etc. I'm a tad worried it might go through a phase of pooling too much, in which case I'll rip it out and do a Hitchhiker instead, but for now - loving it. 

WIP: Purple Thermal

Oopsy! This post has been a bit of a long time coming, hasn't it? I've been really busy and have so much to tell you, but I've decided that the best way to get back on the horse with blogging is to just start with where I am today, and I'll fill in the gaps sometime.

I've been thinking about knitting Thermal for quite a while now, and in need of a big project to get me through watching the World Cup, Wimbledon, Tour de France, and the Commonwealth Games I decided to cast it on when the World Cup started about two weeks ago.

Pattern: Thermal by Laura Chau, pattern from Knitty Winter 2006 [rav link]
Yarn: Jarol Wool Rich Heritage 4ply, bought at Wool for Ewe Aberdeen

At first, it was not true love: 200+ stitches of 1x1 twisted rib ain't my bag. However, now I'm into the main pattern it's racing along and I do love it. Progress has sped up and I feel like I might manage my target of casting off by the end of the Commonwealth Games. Fingers crossed.

The yarn is nice, not a 'particular treat' yarn but something that will be hard-wearing. I love the colour but I'm struggling to capture it - it's really quite a reddy purple. It's great yarn though, and a very apt colour for me :)

PS. Sorry about the quality of the photos; for reasons I will explain, for now and the foreseeable future I will be using my phone camera.

WIP Walk of Shame*

The number of WIPs is getting a bit out of control (for me) these days. Officially, there are ten (!!) things that are not totally finished, or that I'm not totally happy with.

Back in the fold for the past few weeks has been Lauriel. I've been putting off reinforcing the button band for months now, but have finally bitten the bullet and started sewing (using this Knitmore Girls video). The saga of this cardigan has been much-chronicled over the past 2 years, with problem after problem, so was condemned to the naughty corner. Now back in the fold, and fingers crossed I can get it finished before we lose the light evenings.

Skelf has also had a few stumbles on the way; nothing big enough for the naughty corner, but a few time-outs were needed. It's getting big enough that it's difficult to take out and about (where most of the knitting happens these days), and is large enough that it can get a bit too warm to knit in the summer.... excuses, excuses, I know! A slightly cooler week just gone means I've progressed it,  doing the neckline (again) and hoping that we will be ready to do the cast off at the shoulders before too long! [Apologies for the focus on this photo - proper photos when it's finished!].

I've made some good progress on the Vorticity socks I cast on on holiday, though progress has stalled a bit as I don't have enough brainpower at the moment. I am really enjoying the pattern and the yarn, and the two work brilliantly together.

I've also been knitting a shawl, accidentally, as it is not part of the my Knit The Queue plans - oops! I'll tell you the story from beginning to end in a future post. It is very compelling knitting, and progress is good.

I'm also knitting some grey man socks - more on why another day. They are standard vanilla socks in Regia 4ply, that I got with a whole load of other 'man sock yarn' in the Hobbycraft sale. Some excellent mindless knitting, though not currently my favourite project.

The navy and white gloves for OH are not merely on a go-slow as I said in July, but have actually stopped moving at all. Hopefully, taking them away with me this weekend to see said OH will bring back the magic.

Then, there are a few things that are in actual hibernation. First up, we have The Socks With No More Yarn, which I'm still gutted about. However, this week I have actually managed to face them, and get myself stash surfing on ravelry. Fingers crossed, I might actually be able to finish them before too long!

Next up, a glove in yarn that was a present, of which there is only one and I'm not sure I have enough yarn to knit a second one. I'm going to have a bit of an assess (and time with the kitchen scales), and see if we can manage it. Else maybe rip back and turn it into a headband-type thing. 

A hat that I made up the pattern for, but is too short for me. I have more yarn, I just have to rip back to before the decreases. However, it was knitted to match my seriously cold-weather-only coat, which didn't wear at all last year. I reckon that might change this year as I might be further north, so guess I'd better sort this one out as well.

And finally, mittens that are too short at the cuffs. These are waiting on me to finish with some white/cream DK, either from the navy gloves above or from last post's Waterhouse Mitts [rav pattern link]. I then intend to use that to pick up stitches, knit a little stripe and then return to purple. Don't worry, it will sort of match the hat.

So there we have my WIP walk of shame. A lot of it is psychological problems of not being able to face picking up a project that I thought I'd finished, but if I actually want to be able to use the stuff I guess I'd better get cracking!

*With thanks to Steph for the title of this post.

Holiday Knitting Plans

Dear readers, I have a quandary. I am going away for a few days but none of my projects are ideal. Let me review for you:

First up, Skelf. This is on hiatus until this warm weather ends - it's just too hot to sit with most of a worsted-weight jumper on your lap! [Yes I will keep thinking of excuses not to knit it.] Even if it were cooler, it is not sensible to take an entire jumper away for a week - unless I'd have a lot of knitting time. We're flying to a city break. Next!

The gloves I'm knitting for OH are also on a go-slow. I'm not enjoying these at all at the moment; scared of running out of yarn and keep having to rip back every time I knitted a finger, he tried it on and it was too small. Lost the loving feeling, but at least OH will be on the holiday to keep trying them on - though as I said, it is quite warm at the moment and whether he will want to try them on is another matter!

My blue criss-cross socks are definitely in time-out. I was doing so well and going great guns...

...and then, disaster struck:

Oh yes, that is how much yarn I have left to finish the second sock. A real moment for curse words. Shoved them into time-out until I work out what to do with them.


So what am I actually knitting at the moment, since everything is too rubbish / too hard / too big? The answer is some lovely socks, in a pattern called Kalajoki [rav pattern link] in Yarn Yard Yarn I bought two years ago. The colour is called Haar, named after the sea mist that affects the east coast of Scotland [according to Wikipedia] and it is beautiful to knit with. I'm racing through these with their just-addictive-enough pattern and slightly-larger-than-normal needles.

So now I need to decide whether to start something for the holiday. It's times like these I am glad of my approach to Knitting The Queue this year; to have a selection of projects I can choose from. I've narrowed it down to two options:

First, vorticity. This pattern and this yarn (from Wharfedale Woolworks) have been wedded together for some time. Things have been holding me back, sadly: the pattern is on 2mm needles (teeny tiny!); plus, I've mostly been going down one needle size on the sock body and two for the ribbing, which I don't own. However, now my gauge seems to have evened itself out a bit more, and so I could probably knit the body on 2mm and just slightly reduce the number of stitches in the ribbing. Ready to go!

Second, daffodil. I will admit that this yarn has been giving my pause for thought when looking at my queue. I thought I would make a classic, symmetric triangular shawl but then the pooling bugged me; it was random and chaotic (good) then pooled for ~12 rows (fine), but the two together were a bit funny-looking. Instead, we're going to try knitting a cowl with it, and hope that it doesn't flip between pooling and not, but at least picks one and sticks with it! I've got a slightly odd yardage (339yds/310m) so I've gone with the Irish Mesh Cowl [rav link], which takes 220yds/201m. So this one is ready to go, too!

What say you? Should I take two new projects away with me? Or should I be a good girl and take an old project to finish? 

False Starts

There has been a bit of a lull, which I regret; things have been getting busy, both in life and at work. I'll tell you about it all in good time; first to show you what I've been working on.

My two main current projects are my Wanida socks and my Magrathea Shawl. More on Magrathea another day. Wanida is a Cookie A pattern from Sock Innovation (kindly lent by Steph though I love the book so I will buy my own copy. Soon.). I saw the pattern and in a fit of ardour cast on with the nearest skein of yarn. However, once I'd boshed my way through the first sock, I took a step back and realised it was not the best yarn for the job.

Such a shame, as it is from The Yarn Yard, my yarn store du jour. It is a 75% superwash wool / 25% nylon designed-for-socks blend called Bonny in the colurway Making Mischief. And boy did it live up to its name!!

However, I never say die with such things, and after a bit of moaning (and maybe a G&T) I cast on the same pattern but with a different skein of yarn, also from The Yarn Yard, also Bonny, but in a very different colour*.
*apologies, I do not know the colour name. There was a sale and some quick purchasing of two skeins of the same price, and with names a53 and a44. It's deffo one of those, though which I have no idea.

And now I love it! I think this is the best combination I could come up with from my sock yarn stash and very much enjoying knitting them (apart from picking up the stitches along the side of the heel, with thanks again to Steph for doing that). First green sock done, and just turned the heel on the second. Just not enough hours in the day to make more progress!

PS. I know I have made two socks, I just don't do odd socks. It was my genius play for the game 'I have never' - until this photo was taken that is!

On The Needles

Just thought I would let you know what I've been up to in the past week. Have mainly been cracking on with my owls jumper - which is now owl-ready, how exciting! - but mostly looks like a huge green knitted headless monster.

Just me? Ah well. The other one is the Magrathea shawl, which I was getting along with nicely but I've lost my direction somewhat and it needs Brainpower. It is in the Malabrigo I bought during that desperately needed trip to Loop, London, and I love love love it. You start and one corner which is a new construction for me, interesting once I'd got started.

The title of the pattern [ravlink] is a reference to the planet Magrathea in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where they custom-build planets. One desginer, Slartibartfast, was responsible for Norway, and did the coastline in those lovely fjords. The shawls's edging is inspired by this. Being something of a Hitchiker geek I of course bought the pattern the second I saw it, but even still the geometric edging is very very lovely.

"WIP Wednesday" - Lauriel

Today I am doing a (belated) WIP Wednesday because at the moment I only have one thing on my needles, and that is an Exciting Thing. It's belated because I passed out on the sofa about 9pm, woke up an hour later and decided nothing was coming between me and my bed!

Pattern: Lauriel, from Little Red in the City.
Yarn: Subline Extra Fine Merino DK, from Baa Ram Ewe (shop link) in 138 (Reefer)

I have been dying to make garments for a long while now, and I had a good introduction with the bolero, but to be honest, that was so easy it hardly counted. Lauriel is a different beast - I need to think about fit and sizing and guage a lot more. After trying on the sample at the Ysolda event at my LYS and it fitting perfectly, size 34 was clearly the way forward. I measured and I'm a 35 - all good so far. There is increasing to do and that doesn't look too bad. I'm warned there is going to be some maths for bust darts, so we shall have to see how I get on with that. But the little bit I have done has been enjoyable knitting, a well-written pattern though required some brain power (and several frogging episodes when my brain stopped!) The yarn is brilliant to work with; I have a slight tendency to go through it especially on 'tbl' stitches but is so soft gives lovely stitch definition.

Though there is a long way to go....

Second Opinion Required

I just need to know - do you think these socks look stupid?

They're the lovely fan and feather toe-up socks (rav link) but I'm worried that the yarn is too busy for them, and maybe I should rip back to my trusty lifeline and do them plain. however, my knitting mojo is in such tatters lately that I am having an indecisive moment. And I really need this sock knitting this week, with all the travelling I'm planning on doing.

So please give your honest opinion. I can handle it.

New Year Confession

It would seem I'm addicted top starting things at the moment. I haven't finished a project - like properly finished - in a very long time. There are some many of them, I've categorised them. So, my knitting resolution for the week: I Will Finish One Of These Things For FO Friday.

1. Going along nicely

My heart scarf is going along OK. It is large wool which is easy and satisfying, so this is the first piece and I'm three out of eleven repeats into the second. Then they just need grafting together. However, I would like some matching gloves that I cannot find a pattern for, so I'm going to desgin it - scary! But there is a first time for everything. And at least I have the wool:

2. Stopped due to lack of brainpower

First, my Spring Ishbel. It went up to Edinburgh, and I really enjoyed it all the way there and all the way back. But, when I got home, I'd started the lace pattern and the concentration and long rows do not fit very well with my knitting at home (do little bits between tidying / eating, while watching TV or listening to the radio). So this shall be deemed my Journey Project.

Then there is a Christmas card that didn't get finished. It's perfectly lovely, but I need some good light to tell the shades of brown apart and brainpower to put a branch in the right place, relative to the robin. So, this shall I shall finish in my lunchbreaks this week.

3. Stopped because it went wrong

I'm making myself some properly warm flip-top mitts, because Yorkshire is cold and so are my fingers. Especially when I start walking to work. But as I'm walking, my fingers warm up and so I pull off my gloves. Then they get cold, so I dig them out of my handbag and put them on again. And then the whole sorry saga starts again. And this is especially sad because this is the reason I started knitting, really. Someone got me some for Christmas some years back, and I loved them and wore them until they were mostly holes. I hoped someone would buy me some for the upcoming Christmas, but no-one did (despite hints). So, I went to my high street to get some for myself, and then I understood why no-one had taken the hint: Prohibitive Cost. But then I thought surely I can make some for myself for less than that!! Hence, I learned to knit. And I started them, and made the mitts bit. The flap I made was too small though, and while this is not the end of the world, the mitts do work at keeping my hands warm almost well enough that I can't be faffed making the flaps. I just need to bite the bullet.

And then there is the long-hibernating dalek. I have tried and failed to make the appendages several times, to no avail. And also, I have something that looks a lot like a dalek anyway. I need to bite this bullet too, but I might do it at a knitting night, since I can't run away from it there!!

4. Stopped due to lack of resources / knowledge

I have finished knitting the cranberry bolero, but it needs blocking. I have only ever blocked hats. There is a blocking party on this afternoon though, so I can use the skills of the excellet Steph.

Cross stitch kits I'm going to turn into cards, but I left my card-making stuff at my Mum's.

A kit I got for Christmas and am determined to finish (unlike so many of these things I've had in the past), but I cannot find my white thread. The shop awaits.

And then worst of all, I really need to do things about two birthdays. And not ones I can wriggle out of: my Mum and my housemate. I have the stuff for the projects (socks and mitts, respectively), except some of it is at my Mum's house (awkward when it's for her present!!) and I need to print off the patterns. And, should I really start anything new this week? I'll need to make a list of 'Current Knitting Projects' as well as that list of Future Knitting Projects in my head. I'd best not think about that too much though!!

Hope you've been enjoying your FOs!!