FOs: Three Pairs of Gloves

Another post in the Finished Object parade - it's all helping me to Knit My Queue. As we rolled into autumn, I became aware that I needed to crack on with the challenge I had set myself, and knitting gloves means that the number of projects reduces, without needing a massive increase in knitting time. And I've really enjoyed knitting these three.

First up are my Waterhouse Mitts [rav link], a p/hop pattern. I loved the pattern, though I tweaked it to use it with DK yarn I think I almost certainly made it worse. The yarn [Debbie Bliss Cashmerino] was great, and it's the first time I've used it and I cannot wait to use it again. I really enjoyed doing colourwork for what feels like the first time in ages! Fair isle might feel fiddly but it gave these mitts just the right amount of interest, but the pattern was intuitive and I found it very morish. The mitts are also really cosy for the tough, Aberdonian mornings I now regularly face - as a city, it does seem to have perfected the combination of wind and cold so that they both permeate straight through to my skin while I innocently wait at the bus stop.

Secondly, these cabled mitts, a well-written free pattern [rav link] if somewhat unimaginatively named the One-Cable Mitts. If I were knitting for Christmas, I would almost certainly knit them again; making them in Aran weight yarn meant they flew off the needles in a single evening. I went down a needle size as they seemed a bit big, and I had to forget the ribbing at the top of the hand as I ran out of yarn. I like the result so on balance, I really enjoyed this project!

Finally, I have knitted one Christmas present. These are for a long-time friend of the family, after she admired my fingerless mittens when we were on a walk in the Dales. Apologies for the low-quality phone photo; there was not a lot of time to snap these! The pattern is the Nalu Mittens [rav link], which I modified to remove the tiny amount of seed stitch. The yarn is Artesano Superwash Merino in Teal (5167), which a Google Image Search shows (certainly better than the photo!) is a sort of deep aquamarine - deeply fabulous, too! It seemed like it would be lovely and cost but not itchy, fingers crossed that comes true!

FO: One Mystery Shawl

I'm going to come straight out with it: I knitted my wedding shawl. That needs clarification: I knitted one of my wedding shawls. Call me crazy, but I knew I wanted to make a super-special shawl with this yarn, because I love it - the fibre, the colour, the saturation,... - plus it came to me via some people who are very special to me (hi guys!). However, I'm not dead set on having such a striking colour wrapped around my shoulders when the other colour I'm wearing is more-or-less white:

One trip to Yarndale with former housemate and first-class enabler Hannah meant I also have some beautiful laceweight, that is more of a traditional colour for a wedding shawl. I plan to knit that into something too (pattern yet to be determined!) and then make a decision nearer the big day. Either way, I'm not particularly happy showing the projects off in such a public arena, so I will leave you with a photo of my leftover yarn from the shawl I've just finished, to whet your appetite.

Yarn: Wollmeise "Pure" 100% Merino Superwash [rav link] 150g/575yds. Colourway: Der letzte Versuch = 'the last attempt'. I can only guess how that day of yarn dying was going!
Pattern: Tornved by Karina Westermann [rav link]. Loved it, well-written and easy to modify - I did five repeats of the main chart, instead of the three recommended, as I had lots of yarn. Though as you can tell from the above, that did cut it rather fine on the yarn front!

FOs: Two hats

Oh dear, blogging fell off the end of my to-do list this week! It has been a helluva week - travelling the length and breadth of the country on top of the usual thesis writing. All that travelling did mean I saw lots of lovely people though :)

Anyway, back to catching up on my FOs. I finished a couple of hats that were part of my knitting the queue 2013 plans. Actually, since I last blogged regularly, I started them too - though the yarn featured in an earlier post. It was going to become a hat, but we were fighting about the pattern. Fortunately, we found the ideal solution...

I am really happy with this project - it fits really well and the garter border is really snuggly, and covers my ears which is always a plus. It could probably be a bit more beret-style too, I just prefer my hats further back on my head.

Pattern: Mayrose by Woolly Wormhead, queen of hats [rav link]. Not the first WW pattern I've knitted, and like the others, well written, well laid out and easy to follow.
Yarn: Sublime Extra Fine Merino DK, from the sale bin at Wool for Ewe.

Now, Hat The Second:

A good, solid hat - possibly a little big on me so I might see if anyone would like it for Christmas.

Pattern: Cafe au Lait Tam by Kathryn C [rav link]. A well-written pattern, easy to pick up and quick to knit.
Yarn: King Cole Merino Blend DK in Petrol (Blue/Teal). Bought at baa ram ewe in Harrogate, just because the shop and staff were so lovely.

FO: Dunkerton Sweet and Vorticity

Despite my absence, worry not: I have been knitting. It has been quite a productive month in terms of knit the queue - first off, I have finished four socks. So I don't overwhelm you all, that's all you're going to hear about today.

Pattern: Dunkerton Sweet by Jen Arnall-Culliford [rav link]. Really well-written pattern; I found the lace logical and pretty easy to learn, and the nearly-new thing to me was that they had 'footedness' - I've only done that once before and frankly, I was worrying about other things with that project. 

Yarn: Skein Queen Entwist in Beauty Berry (cranberryish red), the last of the three skeins of sock yarn I got at Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show 2012. Delicious stuff to knit with, high twist and beautifully semisolid, perfect for socks.

If I had my time again, I might make the leg longer as I had plenty of yarn left - but it would only be by half a pattern repeat and, as they're top-down, that would mean I'd have to think about it. Generally loved the whole project though :)

And here's the second pair...

Pattern: Vorticity by Alice Yu [rav link]. I will admit, it did stretch my brainpower in places, but once I'd got my head around it, not too bad. Delighted with the result.
Yarn: High Twist BFL/Nylon by Wharfedale Woolworks. The inimitable Steph had it custom dyed for me in a colourway called 'A Typical British Summer's Day', so of course it is the colour of the sky just before a thunderstorm kicks off. Fabulous stuff to knit with; I heartily recommend it.

These are a bit of a geeky project, given my love of the weather, particularly storms and wind. Vorticity is a quantity that measures how much 'spinniness' something has - if you can imagine a tornado, it has a lot of vorticity! There is quite a lot of it knocking about in thunderstorms and the sort of things I work on. It seemed like a perfect match.

Both great patterns, both great yarns, and how I have more cosy socks! Hope you stop by again soon to hear more of my knitting exploits.

Yarndale Part 2

I know it was a while ago, but I've been dying to tell you all about what I actually bought at Yarndale [after telling you about the atmosphere and things a while back]. And I promise I'll explain the hiatus, all in good time. On with the show!

My first purchase was the eponymous bag - the stall was right in the lobby, and very busy, even though we got there about 10:15. Sadly, it did get screwed up under everything else I bought, so now it's in the ironing basket...

I scooped up a second mug from Herdy - in both senses, i.e. it's slightly imperfect and I already own one. This time in the purple, of course:

On to the woolly goodness! I got some fibre for my mum. It's a merino/silk in greys - Mum seems to like that sort of thing:

I was only allowed to buy yarn for myself, as I own plenty of fibre but cannot spin it [yet]. First up was 100g of DK in some of my favourite colours, probably destined to be a hat for me (hopefully gloves too, yardage willing!). I bought this partially because the fibre is interesting - 100% llama - and I'm curious to see how it knits up.

Then I got a little Eden Cottage, since their star seems to be rising, people love the yarn, and they had this gorgeous colour - 'Plum'. ,It's 100% superwash merino and it was bought with my bridesmaid in mind, so it will probably become a scarf/ shawly thing for her. 

Finally, I saw a really beautiful shawl on display at Artisan Yarns [whose website isn't playing nicely for me, but they were definitely there!]. I managed to be persuaded that I might want to turn this yarn into a wedding shawl for myself. It is gorgeous, but in my genius I've mislaid the card with the fibre blend written on, and the website seems to have migrated to here where the shop is down. Looking at their yarns on ravelry, I suspect it is a alpaca / cashmere / silk blend; whatever it is, it is delicious and highly strokeable.

Not a bad haul. but not a huge amount of stuff either! Stayed within budget and got some stuff that I'm really looking forward to knitting. Now to just finish off knitting the queue...

A Beautiful Thing

Apologies for the hiatus, there will be more on that story later. Meanwhile, here's a post I pretty much had written before things kicked off....

Someone has been kind enough to make me a Beautiful Thing:

I'll start at the beginning. I often knit at work, when my computer is working through something and I need to keep an eye on it. Knitting on DPNs is particularly good for desk knitting, as there are more points you can put it down at if the computer finishes up or fails in its task. However, as is always the case with balls of yarn, it tends to run away from me. This is not great at work, as the yarn tends to end up rolling under someone else's desk, under the desk chairs where it gets caught up in the legs, and heaven defend us when it heads for the cable runs.

Fortunately for everyone, the guy who sits next to me is a problem solver. He speculated whether I could keep the yarn is a bowl to stop it bimbling off everywhere, and when we tried it with a standard cereal bowl, it didn't work. I mentioned the idea of a yarn bowl, and it turns out my neighbour's dad turns wood as a hobby. He accepted the challenge of turning a yarn bowl, but cutting a slot in it made it too weak. Enter the Yarn Tub. So far I have used it without the lid, because I haven't started a project since owning it, but it works very well just like that.

Of course, this was a very lovely thing for someone to do - and someone I'd never met! Enter some vanilla sock knitting, to turn this into a bit of a skills swap.

I guess I'd better get cracking on them!

When Knitting (and life) Attack!

This post comes with a massive caveat that things round here have got a little too busy. I'm getting a little stressed as I watch all of the plates spinning, just waiting to drop one. Knitting has been used for stress relief in the past, notably towards the end of my Masters and just as I started my PhD. I will try to avoid this turning into The Blog Of A Crazy Lady but let's just say - you've been warned! It's probably better to not ask how I'm doing.

It has not been a great week knitting-wise either: my main story is definitely a When Knitting Attacks. I tried to knit a hat - a simple enough task in theory, but in practice not so much. I have had to frog it completely, twice. The yarn is some red Sublime Merino DK, which I love as it's more or less the same as what I knitted Lauriel with (less wool content, different colour). First, I had a go at the Rylands Cabled Hat [rav link] and didn't get past the brim as I got muddled at the transition. Then, I tried another pattern called Haywire [rav link] and got past the brim, but the hat was just turning out the wrong shape. The yarn went into the naughty corner, but might not have spent long enough there. I've started the Godric's Hollow Hat [rav link] but I fear it is a little on the large side; I've knitted for maybe an inch since the brim, and the brim is a bit slippy. I've not got far enough to check my gauge, but I think it's heading back to the naughty corner for a little cooling off time.

And an extra bit of bad news is that I've been meaning to design and knit a cosy for a teapot, bought for me by my other half. This week, I have totally failed to find this teapot anywhere :( not only am I sad because the teapot has sentimental value and I'm really worried it's been left somewhere in a housemove, I was really looking forward to having a go at designing, too.

Let's end with a positive! What I've mostly been knitting since I last wrote to you has been socks. These socks have been going like a dream, and like the oasis in the desert I have been devouring them. The lace pattern is a bit complicated for it to be 'brainless' knitting, but in all honesty that isn't what I need at the moment. When I knit, what I need is something that absorbs me enough that I don't think about all of the other things I'm supposed to be doing. These socks are doing just that, and they're flying off the needles!