Never-Ending Tunic

Finally finished the back of mum’s tunic!  The shaping is a bit odd as you can see, it’s completely straight then about six rows worth of casting off stitches at the beginning of each row and then…. that’s it!No wonder I was getting bored!  The front is a bit more interesting though.  It’s split half way up so it’s worked straight for about 14 inches then each side is worked on it’s own. I think that’s about as interesting as it gets, so this might be a long project!

I’ve also added to my queue Na Craga  from Alice Starmore’s “Aran Knitting”.  This is for my dad, but I’ve yet to find the right wool yarn for it.  You can’t have a fisherman’s sweater that’s not made out of wool!  And there’s a new addition to the extended family due in September so I’m thinking of knitting some cute baby things too!

Calculations

Ok so I confess I’m still on the back of this damn tunic.  I’ve just started my fourth ball and my fifteenth pattern repeat.  I’ve made some calculations, which are as follows:

• Each repeat is about an inch long
• Each repeat takes about an hour
• The ribbing was about five and a half inches

Therefore:

• For twenty eight and a half inches I need twenty three pattern repeats (including ribbing)
• The remaining eight I have to finish should take me eight hours solid knitting

I’d like to say this only takes me to the shoulder shaping, but at that point the end is in sight.  So technically if I knit all today without pause, I should get it finished!  Watch this space….

Freedom Spirit Tunic

As promised, this is the tunic I’m knitting for mum!  When I bought this pattern, I made the same mistake you probably are right now – ooo, it’s cabled!  But no, that’s not cabling, it’s actually unblocked lace!  Lesson learned – read the pattern before paying for it, or you really will pay for it later!

The yarn is Freedom Spirit by Twilleys, and is 100% wool in a colour which is a loosely spun mix of caramel, brown and red plies that  stripes subtly over a few rows.  I had to cut a small amount out because of a rather unattractive slub, but that didn’t seem to make a difference to the stripe.  It was actually discontinued when we bought it, and on sale at half price – absolute bargain!

So far I’ve done 42 rows of rib and 48 rows of pattern, which is about twelve inches, really slow going for over a fortnights worth of work!  There’s another sixteen inches worth before I even start the shoulder shaping (I don’t think there’s any sleeve shaping, but I might be wrong – at least I hope I am because sewing it together is going to be a nightmare!) which is going to be a bit of a faff – I’m intending to butcher the pattern a bit so I can use a three-needle bind-off for the shoulder seem, I always think that looks a lot neater and much more solid than I can manage with a yarn needle!

Super Secret Projects

So the nights are drawing in (already) and I’m dog walking in wellies again.  Out comes the autumn knitting that I started in may and gave up on (I think it may have been the grafting).  I made it official by frogging and winding it all up into balls, and after chasing the dogs down the garden and fighting to get it back – winding it all up into balls again.  Note to self – ignore that moment of madness that says grafting cables will be easy!

I’m planning something much simpler, with some ribbing and a nice collar.  If it turns out well, I may even publish the pattern…

Sleepyhead, and a Finished Object

I went to a really good gig last night, my significant other was doing some filming for a band called Freaky Age who were headlining at the Mello Mello in Liverpool (look them up, they’re huge in Belgium!), so me and some friends tagged along. The trouble is we didn’t get back home until the small hours and now I’m utterly exhausted! I’m not used to being out so late any more!
Anyway I promised some finished objects so here they are.
Pattern: Baby Sophisticate by Linden Down
Yarn: “Jarol Baby Rambler Aran” in pale blue
Techniques involved: Some short rows, increasing and picking up stitches
Comments: I was asked to knit two of these, one for a baby boy born about a fortnight ago, and another for a boy due next April (nothing like getting ahead of the game!). The pattern was really quick to knit – both took a total of two days! I think what made it a little quicker is that garter stitch is substituted for the usual ribbing, but ultimately there is no making up to do - just a few loose ends to weave in and the addition of some buttons and it’s all done!

Back Again!

This is me blogging again after quite a holiday. Although I’ve still been knitting throughout, we had a double bereavement (my uncle and my horse), which was tough. But I'm back and (hopefully if it works!) blogging to you from my new Blackberry! I love new gadgets! Talking of new, for my birthday I was bought a “knitpro symphonie” starter set and I love it to bits! For Christmas I'm going to be asking for lots of the expansion sets! I've got a whirlwind of finished objects to share, like this little item:

but more about that next time!

I'd lastly like to thank Josiekitten and SnoopyDog for the lovely comments on my last post, and congratulations to Josiekitten for having her blog featured in Yarn Forward Magazine!

Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone from Virgin Media

Knitting Stormclouds

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted properly, and I’ve been knitting up a storm between now and when I finished my Blood Shawl, so I’ll fill you in on what I’ve been up to.
Firstly I’ve been trying to make headway on my Great American Aran Afghan.  I remember when I first started this project (January 2009) I estimated it would take me maybe a few months, six at the outside.  Well I’ve got about 10 squares and an edging to go and in about 5 months it will be two years old.  I hope the saying “Terrible Twos” doesn’t apply to knitting like it does to toddlers!
My second project, and the one that is currently taking up all my time, is a jumper for my other half.  About a week ago I bought 800g of Hayfield/Sirdar Bonus Aran in “stormcloud” which is a sort of off-white with short black fibres spun into it.  It’s sort of like a mohair effect, but hopefully without the itchiness!   It’s the same yarn as I used for the jacket I knit for my mum at the end of last year, so I know it wears well and is  quite soft once it’s washed.  Given that he wanted just a plain polar-neck jumper, I cast on the “incredible custom-fit raglan” pattern, and it’s going great guns.  I’m about 10 inches past the arm holes, with about another 8 inches to go.  2 inches of two by two ribbing and then I’ll be onto the sleeves!

On a Roll

Ta-Da!  I’m on a real roll with finishing stuff, and this is the latest to breeze off my needles.  I think I was right in my decision to change the collar, and it’s worked out pretty well.  It’s quite loose so I shouldn’t have worried that it wouldn’t fit over my head!  After a good wash, the whole jumper relaxed a little and now even the cabled waist isn’t quite so tight.  I’m quite proud of this one - I played around with the sweater recipe I found and then added the pattern, so it’s now technically my pattern!

Swatching for my dad’s scarf ground to a halt shortly after I started.  The logo I was going to have at each end didn’t turn out well in colour work so that idea got scrapped.  My other plan was to use cabling instead, but I hit on some problems:

1. I’m using Double-knit not Aran or Worsted like I intend on using
   
2. I don’t want the curleyness of  stockinette/reverse stockinette so I’m trying to use garter stitch with two stitches either side of the cable in reverse stockinette. complicated isn’t the word
   
3. The pattern for the logo is too big, and finding/making something smaller is far too much brainwork for me right now!
   

I’m sure it’ll get done soon, and I know i keep saying that but it will!  I’ll just have to sort the logo out, and then there will be an excuse to buy more yarn.  I have after all just finished TWO new things, so it’s not like I’m not using it up as I go!

Not much to say on mum’s knitting front except that she’s working methodically if not particularly quickly.  She’s done about two inches so far, but each to their own.

Remember that yarn I bought ages ago that was on offer, the pink, purple, blue and white “denim” cotton mix that had me in a twist about this?  Well I’ve finally found a use for it! I’m knitting a Ten-stitch Blanket (link to PDF File) which happens to look relatively ok with a variegated yarn.  Mine is certainly turning out less like pink camouflage so it’s all good.  Pictures when it’s a bit bigger!

Knitting discipline

You may notice that my cream jumper is getting nearer completion – this is because I have been disciplined!  As soon as mum’s jacket was finished and sewn up, I set to and finished both sleeves. Now all I need to do is sew in the ends and the small underarm holes.  I’ve worn the jumper around a bit and have realised it’s actually really warm, so I think a big polar neck is going to be just too much.  I’m going to do something like an extended crew neck which hopefully won’t be as bulky either.  I’ve also decided to use plain ribbing as the cabled affect is going to be too tight to go over my head!

My mum is getting on with her toasty arm warmers as I write this and so far so good.  She cast on,  although I knit the first two rounds to show her what to do (she’s never knitted on DPNs before) and she’s done about an inch so far.  I’ll take pictures as soon as there’s something more to show!


I keep eyeing up this little fella here with a view to knitting him.  He’s by Jean Greenhowe from her “MacScarecrow Clan” collection, and he’s called Scamp.  I acquired a number of her pattern collections quite a while ago, but apart from Blue Teddy I’ve not used them yet and I’m looking forward to having a go.  FunkyKnitter over on Ravelry came up with a bigger version by both doubling the stitches and the rows, which looks like it has turned out well so i may try that.  This I think will be one of my “no purpose” knits, but with Christmas coming up i don’t think it’ll stay that way for long!

Progress Report

This is just a quick one to let you all know that I’ve not dropped off the face of the planet, and that I’ve now finished the back of my mum’s cardy/jacket thingy and I’ve picked up for the hood and knitted about an inch!  Hoping it’ll speed along as it’s just stockinette stitch.  Strangely I have to cast it off and then pick up these same stitches for the border, I can’t quite work out why.  If someone could enlighten me on that point I’d be delighted!  Can’t upload pictures again and this time it doesn’t seem to be a size problem, otherwise I’d impress you all with my very neat and almost invisible seaming!

Knitting for Mothers

Remember me telling you about the Cardigan/jacket that i was knitting for my Mum? Well, I give you the Left Front! 

I cast on the two sleeves together using the side-by-side method, not the fancy one behind/inside the other technique that you can use for socks.  I should have done this for the fronts too – hindsight can be a wonderful thing!  I’m about half way done with the sleeves – another set of increases to go which takes me up to the elbow, and then it’s just back and forth for a while without having to worry!  I’m beginning to think it may have been a bad idea to knit this in pieces as my experience with Kaiden’s jumper (read about that here, here and here) is coming back to haunt me!


The pattern is relatively simple - a diamond with moss stitch inner, and bobbles at each end which I’ve memorised already.
After the sleeves, and not including the mountain of sewing I’ll have to do, I still need to cast on for the back, right front, and hood (which is picked up from the back and fronts, rather than cast on).  I keep telling myself it won’t take long at all, but I think I might be wrong!

It’s Picture Time!

Well hopefully I have that weird photo problem sorted out, so now I would like to present to you my Cream Jumper!

It still has no sleeves, which will be quick and plain with plain ribbing (famous last words!) and no collar to match the cables at the bottom.  I’m concerned that I’ll need to add a few stitches to the collar so I can get it over my head, I’d forgotten how much cables pull the fabric together – much more than ribbing does!  Still, I love the way that it pulls in and shows off my figure! 

The cables made my fingers ache by the end so it stops just above my hips but even then I had to add little flares at each side so that it didn’t ride up so much.

Knitting on this has paused while I try and get the jacket done for my mum.  I’ve done the left front before (of course) realising I should have done both at the same time to get them equal.  I’ve learn my lesson though and I’m about a quarter of the way through knitting both sleeves together!

A strange one

Strange because, well, windows live writer appears to not want me to show you the 6 inches of cabling I’ve done on my jumper, so unfortunately you’ll just have to take my word on it until it’s fixed!  I’ve got roughly another 6 inches left of cabling and ribbing to do, and then I have to start the sleeves and collar.  The sleeves should be pretty straight forward as they’re just vanilla stocking stitch and ribbing cuffs, but the collar will have the same cabled design.  Hopefully with less stitches it wont take so long though!

I took my mum shopping on Tuesday, and on a rare visitation to an actual Yarn Shop (instead of just the online variety), she actually found a pattern she liked!  It is pattern number 8259 from the “Stylecraft Life Aran” range – it has a hood, can be used as a jacket or a cardigan, and it has a zip.  I’ve just ordered two 400g balls of Sirdar/Hayfield Bonus in Granite Tweed (tweed is very fashionable this winter!) so fingers crossed they should arrive on Monday.

My actual reason for going into the yarn shop was for something entirely different.  I’ve settled on a shawl to knit – Shipwrecked from Spring ‘09 Knitty.  Luckily I wont be starting this project soon because not only is the yarn eluding me but so are the beads!  Firstly I can’t decide on what colour yarn to buy - I’d like to knit it in turquoise, or possibly a sea green, but I need beads that will either accent or contrast the yarn.  I’ve spent days just looking for the right sized beads, let alone the right colours!

Finally, I have a little project up my sleeve that may bring in a few pennies but it remains a secret still for a few weeks until I get some other projects out of the way!

The Incident

Today I was going to post a picture of two or three inches of cables and ribbing.  That is how much I’d gotten done in the two days since taming those stitches!  I’d devoted a whole afternoon to counting and recounting my stitches, making calculations, recalculating, test knitting and convincing myself that it was going to work.  That was before I picked up my needles today and found a large, gaping and slightly damp hole just above the lifeline I’d added to save myself from my OWN mistakes.  This is the price I pay for having a small puppy. So today I spent the afternoon ripping back yarn with a small mohair content (there is fluff everywhere), not fun.  I got it back to the lifeline, and tried it on as I hadn’t done before “The Incident” and have now decided it needs another two inches (ish) of plain stockinette stitch before i start the ribbing up again.  I can’t complain, stockinettte is easier than cabling and 2x2 ribbing and by the time most of you have read this I’ll have already started cabling again!

Which cable should I cable?

I'm at that stage now where not only have I seperated for the sleeves (yay!) but I need to decide on what cable to include in my ribbing.  I was digging through some of my books and decided that as pretty as some of the designs were, I was going to have to do this over and over across many rows.  Some of the designs would have taken YEARS to finish!
So I have opted for a mock cable, which basicly looks like a cable but is made my cleverly increasing and decreasing in the right places.  I've picked the mock cable pattern from a pattern in Stefanie Japel's "Fitted Knits" called "Saturday in the Park Perfect Dress".  My idea is to have the "cable" alternate with a plain rib, hopefully it will look a little less busy and be a little quicker to knit!

I've actually added a lifeline before i start the cables and ribbing, which is a peice of yarn threaded through all of the stitches on my needle and means if I need to rip back to where I started, those stitches with the yarn threaded through won't undo and I can reinsert my needle without having to worry too much about dropping stitches.  It takes the pressure off, worrying that this might not be the right combination of cables, and means i can go back and pick another if I need to.

Summer Hiatus

So I've not updated this in a while, do we see a theme emerging?

That baby jumper, although it was well received, was a bugger to sew up because of that blue stripe - took two of us to do it!  Must find a baby raglan pattern for future projects, any ideas?

I've not really been knitting over the summer (hence the silence), it's just been far too hot!  Instead I devoted most of my time to my horse, my new puppy and my other hobby - Family History.  Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll get my act together and start blogging about that too.  I finally picked the needles back up when I went for a weekend of relaxation in Sunny Suffolk, and I knitted away at my Great American Aran Afgan.  I Promise I'll go into it in more detail in a future post, hell - I could devote and entire blog to it!

While knitting squares for my afgan, I was also cruising for ideas for a new winter jumper (preferably one I could wear away from the farm!). The idea for my current project was born when I came across "The incredible Custom-Fit Raglan Sweater".  Now as anyone who knows me will agree, I'm quite skinny and I find it hard to find patterns that include my size, so i thought I'd have a bash at this one.  My plan is to knit a plain yoke, but start the ribbing a lot higher than normal, and intersperse cabling within the ribbing, similar to the Palindrome Scarf I finished last year.  I'm also going to add a polarneck using that pattern, so lets hope I have enough yarn!  Speaking of yarn, I've decided to use Patons Caressa DK in Cream (4550) which I found at http://www.kempswoolshop.com/ for 59p per 50g Ball - a huge bargain given it retails for about £3.50!  Keep your fingers crossed for me on this one though, it's the first time I've mashed patterns together like this so I'm in completely new territory.

My tip for using up your leftovers...

Find a baby, and knit it a jumper!  Seriously, baby jumpers are tiny and if you have a range of colours and a bog-standard jumper pattern, then the world is your mollusc!



I had quite a lot of white yarn left over from knitting a blanket, and some sparkley white from some other baby clothes, and some blue from knitting that teddy.  All Acryllic and all DoubleKnit, so I've started knitting my friend's 7-month old nepphew a jumper.  The pattern I'm using is for the jumper in leaflet number 4273 by Stylecraft, which is plain stockinette stitch and is already intended to be knit using different colours.  I cast on both sleeves at once, so I could be certain they matched, but I have cast on the front and back seperately, since I don't have straight needles long enough to cast on both!



The plan for the body of the jumper is blue cuffs and neckline, and two blue stripes starting below the sleeves with the white sparkley stuff between them.  I've even drawn it all out on graph paper!

And for my next trick...

I have finished Pioneer!  It is lovely, and whilst quite a lot more revealing than I'd hoped for, actually looks quite sweet over a vest top.


I actually had a bit of an accident casting off the main body - instead of using a good lace castoff (k1 *k1 ssk*) I did some sort of variation on knit two together, it was only until i was in bed that i realised what I'd done wrong, so whilst watching an episode of "Girls of the Playboy Mansion" I undone and re-cast-off.  Now I can get it on over my head!

Even though most of the detail is on the back and sleeves (which everyone else can see because I'm not so tall)  The Sleeve edges and bottom edge are knit in double moss-stitch, which i hate knitting but like the fact that it breaks up the rather plain front.



       

I won't win any awards for my crochet however, as for the life of me all those crochet stitches it listed looked completely the same and so i just crocheted 5-stitch chains and joined them to each stitch on the neckline.  It sort of folds inwards, but to be honest it doesn't look that bad.



Vital Statistics:

Pattern:  "Pioneer" by Kbomb, Featured in Knitty

Yarn:  Stylecraft Life 4ply in Mint Green.  Used about 108 grams.

Needle size: 5.5mm

Size: Extra Small

Time Taken: Roughly about 7 days of assorted knitting time.  One of these days I will time myself!

Too much yarn, not enough knitting

It's quite possible I've overbought on yarn, especially since I'm 6 inches from the underarm with about 9 to go, with 50g left from my first ball. I'm tempted to knit the last 100g up as socks, but I started some "meida's socks" (Favourite socks, interweave press), got three rows in and then decided that they were going to be entirely the wrong shape. Might have to delve into ravelry to find an easier pattern!

A few months ago i tried my hand at teddy knitting. I knit a traditional bear from Jean Greenhowe's "Traditional Favourites" in blue acryllic. Although the baby for whom it was intended was still a little small to really understand it, mum on the other hand was thrilled, and has asked for some more! I'm now debating the football mascot doll from "Mascot Dolls" also by Jean Greenhowe, knit in their favourite team colours.



Between (and sometimes during) knitting, I've had a manic week. I met a lovely bloke on friday night wihlst at a friend's house - is picking up an escaping ball of wool the modern equivalent of picking up a lady's hankerchief? Sunday was spent at a horse show, sitting mostly in the sun watching the ponies go round. Took plenty of photographs but I will only bore you with them on request. Oh, and i might be getting a puppy...

Pioneer of Tomorrow

Well, it's been a busy weekend.  On Saturday afternoon my yarn was delivered for my Pioneer top.  Saturday night was spent not in some swanky club being plied with expensive drinks by cute boys, but infact sat on my friends couch watching the golden compass and swatching like mad (and also curling my hair).  Turns out to even come close to the right gauge, i need to use 5.5mm needles, compared to the 3.75 it says!  Why oh why can UK yarn people not make and sell a cheap sportweight yarn? Come on people, there must be money in it!  Needless to say it's coming out quite loose, almost lacy, as you can see here:

 

Still, nice to wear over vest-tops in the summer.

In other news, Kita (my horse) has lost about 25kg so far on her diet and exercise regime.  This is great because I've found a really good dressage instructor but in order to get lessons I need to take my horse to her yard and (to put it bluntly) I'd be embarassed by the state she's in at the moment.

I've got 3 days left of working this week, and then on sunday I'll be stewarding at a show at Abram Hall Riding Club.  Can't wait!

By the way, if anyone knows of something i can put in my hair to use with curling tongs to make curls stay in for more than 5 minutes, let me know!