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.

Knit The Queue 2013

This month, I have technically only finished one project from Knitting the Queue. I did additionally make some grey socks for my Grandpa, but as they weren't in the plan I'm not sure if they count - equally, him getting ill wasn't in the plan either :(

On a brighter note, we are down to ten things in the queue! Woohoo! I'm glad to be at this landmark, even if it seems a bit insurmountable at this point (particularly given how many WIPs I have - more on that story later).

Four things I know exactly what they're going to be: the three in the photo are [l-r] Waterhouse mitts, Dunkerton Sweet socks, and Susie's Reading mitts. I also have the yarn and pattern ready to go for the Spoke jumper, but feel like I need something else off the needles first.

Three things I know what they're going to be ([l-r] gloves, hat and hat), but haven't totally settled on a pattern yet. I'm pretty sure the hats are going to be one Rylands Cabled Hat and one Cafe au Lait Tam, but don't know which way round yet - opinions welcome.

There are also a few things in my queue that I'm definitely going to make, but don't have the yarrn yet:

1. the Bandana Cowl means I have to buy yarn, and don't know what brand/colour to go for. A trip to the yarn shop for a little contemplation is clearly needed ;)
2. the Star Tea Cosy is something I intend to design myself, in order to make it match my teapot. Needs a little research and time for the ideas to form properly. I know the colours so could probably go yarn shopping tomorrow, but otherwise I have no idea where I'm going with it!
3. the little knitted stars I plan on making for Christmas need me to finish with some white/cream yarn, from (1) the navy blue mittens I'm making for my OH, (2) the Waterhouse mitts above, (3) the star tea cosy.... alternatively, I might have some standard acrylic white DK in my stash somewhere, so I could just go digging. Though that would defeat the object a tad, of getting rid of scrappy little bits of yarn. 

That all seems fairly under control, right? And not at all impossible by New Year's Eve.....?

What I've been doing lately... again.

It has been a while, hasn't it? I apologise. I've been under the weather. Had a ton of work to do. The ususal. A lot has happened, but sadly it is getting to that time of year when I have to be a bit careful and not tell you about any Christmas presents I'm making.

First up in things that have progressed is Lauriel. Look, she's almost there! Cardigan-shaped! Sleeves! Can actually try it on!

Sadly, the next thing is picking up for the button bands when there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth so I have been procrastinating that.

Next on the list is some gloves to match a hat (Woolly Wormhead's QL Slouch) from the remaining yarn. Since I loved knitting the hat and I generally love knitting mittlets, they knit up a treat.

Don't get too attached though. They're being frogged as I'm a) 1g short of yarn to do the second one and b) they're a little tight. Attempts to acquire more yarn have so far failed. A G&T tonight and they will be frogged, to wait for a day with more decisive-ness.

I also had a minor disaster with a sock (the fab self-striping ones photographed poorly here). Just turned the heel, popped it in my handbag to do on the bus and horror of horrors- one dpn has pulled out completely. The one with all the heel stitches on. So now I need to rescue that and crack on with it.

So, after having a few minor knitting disasters this week, I knitted a hat for this poor fellow over the weekend.

It is a very basic hat and I knit it in under 24 hours from stash yarn (from the Box of Yarn That Doesn't Exist i.e. is full of low-grade DK or odds & ends). Clearly I did something odd with the decrease rate but I like the result given that I made it up as I went along. And the recipient has been suitably grateful which makes the whole endeavor worthwhile.

Trying to Kick the Funk

So, I have been in a bit of a knitting funk of late. Starting things and partway through, deciding they're not the right yarn/pattern combo, so ripping back. Making mistakes and ripping back. Having things not work and ripping back. Realising something is not the right size and ripping back. Running out of yarn and ripping back. It's not been a good month.

So far, I've only had knitting blips for days or maybe a week, but as you can tell it has been going on for a while. Maybe I've been working hard. Maybe I've been having too much non-knitting fun. But this week I have had to face the music: I am in a knitting funk.

I have tried several things to get out of it, and none of them have worked.... yet!

1. Soldier on

The first is a hat where the ribbed band was way too loose. I have knit the Grace Lace Beret before but in acrylic so wasn't expecting the ribbing to be tight (featured as part of Blog Week), but this yarn had enough wool content that it should have worked. It got this far and was frogged.

The next is the lovely angora mittens. I have knitted these until I have run out of yarn, and have just decided they are too big. Frogged, to be reborn when I can face the maths.

2. Buy yarn for the next project, as an incentive.

This is destined to be a Snowbaby Hat by eskimimi (rav link). It involves colourwork and I have never done that before. So, as everything seemed to be going wrong so far, I have not cast it on -- I was just hoping that a little temptation of future work might make me work harder and so things would go right again.

3. Buy stunning artisan yarn with no project in mind.

Both from The Yarn Yard in Making Mischief (above) and Hare (below). Probably both going to become lacework shawls for myself, unless I am feeling very generous. Though they are both stunning, I still haven't quite pinned down a project for either of them, yet. Though there are a lot of 4ply shawls on my waiting list.

4. Buy a random ball of yarn and then fail to knit anything with it.

Though not for want of trying. This has often inspired me in the past, but all I wanted to make some vanilla socks for some quick gratification. It turns out bamboo yarn was not the answer - the ribbing had no grip. Then I tried to make a lovely lace shawl - the yarn was too busy and obscured the pattern (I did have three attempts at the shawl before giving up). Then some mittlets - they just didn't work at all. They were supposed to be doing some scrunching up on the wrist but, whether it was the yarn, the pattern, or the knitter, it just plain didn't happen. Frogged and this ball of yarn is condemned to the Box Of Yarn That Doesn't Exist.

5. Go to a knitting event with knitting friends

Though I think that is a tale for another day...

All Quiet on the Knitting Front

Well, not really. Things have been rather hectic in all other aspects of my life; on the rubbish side, deadlines loom at work and I've been under the weather. On the more fun side, I've been on holiday to Prague (lovely) and planning trips to Woolfest, a separate holiday to the Lakes, a trip to a festival in Scotland to attend and various trips to Edinburgh. However, all this Stuff To Do means I can't concentrate on any one thing: always flitting between the bits I need to do at work, evenings spent researching holidays and transport. And this has infected my knitting too. Currently, four projects on the needles, with apologies for the dodgy photos as I was losing the light.

My favourite first: Ysolda's Orchid Thief, from Brave New Knits. Despite some initial twinges of a bipolar relationship of loving the outcome but finding the whole thing rather hard work, I've grown to find the pattern intuitive and the result satisfying.

The second is a pair of Fishnet Anklets by The Purl Bee, mainly making use of a single ball of Regia I bought as a rookie knitter because I liked the colours, not knowing that it makes two to make a pair of proper socks. Fortunately, these are mainly holes!

The third thing is angora mittlets, a pattern based on the stitch pattern from the Darkside Cowl (ravelry link) but the shape of cupcake mittlets (ravelry link). I'm not quite sure I have enough yarn left, plus some sniffles mean I didn't fancy knitting angora *atchoo, so these have stalled. However, looking forward to wearing them with my lovely cowl (a gift along with the yarn from Stephcuddles).

The final thing is a soon-to-be-frogged hat. The band around the head is really loose, and it's irritated me to wear it when I've just been wearing it round the house [for testing, it's not that cold!] and I figure the wool is nice enough that it should be liberated and saved for a better day.

Now all I need is to finish some of 'em!

Where are they now? 2KCBWDay4

Whatever happened to your __________? Write about the fate of a past knitting project. Whether it be something that you crocheted or knitted for yourself or to give to another person.

This topic I almost wimped out of. As soon as I saw it, I thought, 'I'm not sure I want to know'.

I knit a lot of things for other people (occasionally forgetting to photograph them), and I get lovely thank you texts, cards, and hugs. People usually seem genuinely touched about getting something handmade, in my experience at least. Even my mum, who requested I knit a white acrylic 2x2 rib hat one Thursday, was really chuffed when I presented it to her the following Monday after a weekend away (memorably exclaiming, 'I knew Inverness was a long train ride away, but I didn't think it was that far!!').

However, I normally get a little paranoid when I see the person over the following weeks and months, and they're not wearing the knitted item - or worse, wearing a different hat / scarf / etc. Did they really like it? Or was that beautiful thank you card given out of pure politeness?

Fortunately, my faith has been restored. I knitted this hat and gloves for an old friend, Hannah. She requested mustard yellow and I went as close as I could without gagging...

When I gave them to her, she let me take a face of how they made her feel. A week later, she sent me a little text saying she still loved them and was wearing them every day.

But then, when I saw her over Christmas, another pair of gloves was being worn, and I thought another one bites the dust. Then, when I saw her on Sunday night for pizza and G&T (yes, that's how we roll), the hat and gloves were on when she appeared on my doorstep. And my heart glowed with pride.

FO: Humanity Mittens

Apologies for the quality of the picture, it was late at night and there was a birthday deadline the next day!

Pattern: Humanity Mittlets. (ravelry link(

Yarn: King Cold Merino Blend Chunky in Navy

Needles: 4mm bamboo dpns.

Generally please with my cabling skills (first time for everything!), but I'd used a bit of the yarn for another project, so ran out and made the thumbs shorter. Turns out, this is a good thing, as it's useful in some guitar-playing way.

This project was made for my housemate, who I've been stressing about (and probably being fairly passive-aggressive to), in a kind of I-cannot-believe-he-thinks-it's-acceptable-to (for example) leave a panful of curry on the oven uncovered overnight, use my baking things for cooking, or use my kitchen scissors to cut his hair. However, while making this project, I thought about this. Maybe I do have high standards but, even if that's OK, I cannot possibly pull him up on everything and I definitely cannot change his whole attitude. So, I'm just going to do it all; clean up what I can, when I can, because if you do it regularly it doesn't get so bad. And maybe just buy new scissors when he moves out...

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!!

Roll up for the magical mystery tour...

So, this post may be a little late. It has been a horrifically busy week, if a little Piglety (Lots of 'so much to do, so little time!' and 'I'm late! I'm late!'). I have managed to take some halfway decent knitting photos, though depressingly mainly at work. A couple of presents I will put on soon enough, but a proper photo of Gherty,

some mittlets for my Mum, using a pattern I made for myself:

some mittlets for me which may turn into flip-top mitts as the weather gets colder

So far, so normal. Generally a blue phase I'll admit, and this made me think: perhaps in a little more than knitting? However, languishing in such things is not allowed, so I decided to turn the corner, took hold of my knitting needles and dove headfirst into a pile of yarn:

to make my very first garment - a bolero from Let's Knit - September called Falling Leaves. Not got hugely far but given that I only decided to make it on Wednesday I thought it wasn't too bad. I love the colour too, it's just what I need to get me out of my funk. I may have made a couple of bits for a friend with the same yarn, and fallen for it! My shoddy lighting does not do it justice:

And what brought about the Carpe Diem moment? The final turn in the road: my exciting acquisition from my Auntie Maggie, formerly owned by my Auntie Min, and very much beloved by all my [female] relatives.

And boy, do I not know what I'm doing with it! However, it is lovingly set up on [the surface formerly known as] my desk, and I keep taking the lid off for peaks. I can almost hear it aching to be used, but it's so pretty and has so much history that at the moment, I am happy just to look at it.

Turn and Face the Strain

It would seem I have been dealing with thesis/ presentation/ living arrangement/ money stress by knitting rather a lot. I've made several presents which are not on here because you never know who may find this, but here are the best bits of what I've made for me.

So my favourite projects that I've finished lately are my Gehry hat, made with Sirdar Escape Chunky, bought for me by my lovely former housemate. I adapted the pattern a bit, as I have a small head but like floppy hats, so instead of doing the initial rib in 5.5mm and the rest in 6.5mm, I swapped to 5mm and 7mm. And I think it turned out rather well (though it was mainly the lovely lovely yarn!), and it's really easy, only took me a weekend (when I was also writing that presentation).

I've also done my matching-ish wavy mits - the pattern was also free on Ravelry, and it's called Hands of Blue. I used Sirdar Snuggly DK as I'm having a phase of eczema between my fingers :( It was a bit of a mission but I'm really pleased with the result. I have a great need for such things, as I spend a lot of my days sitting at a computer at work and I find my hands get a little chilly, and at home of an evening I'm usually on the computer of knitting, which have the same problems. I've done a few similar things but these were a challenge for me so I'm a little bit proud of myself.

And now for the one you've all been waiting for....

(Apologies for the desk mess, this was taken very near the end of the Masters...)

I've been having a break from it as I was on a bit of a mission with it, but had another session this week. I need to do the appendages, stuff it and do the base, but I'm getting into all sorts of mess doing the i-cord for the `eye', so I'm hoping for some help soon :S

I'll probably blog about presents soon, there are a spate of birthdays coming up including some of my little cousins so hopefully I can take photos then (I feel a bit weird wearing other people's presents, even if it is just for a photo). And the next project? Glittens! For me - because I'm designing the pattern myself and my friend wants some, I thought it best to have a dry run first. Honest!!