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

GAAA Wordless Wednesday: Pat Tanton Hewitt Square

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!

GAAA Wordless Wednesday: Dana Hurt Square

100% Pure Organic Spinning!

 

I know everyone’s mad about organic at the moment, but this made me laugh – I saw it on another blog but it’s good enough to repost.  Hope it makes you laugh as much as it made me!

FO: Blood Shawl

It’s finally finished! I cheated slightly because I knit it shorter than it was meant to be, I think I’ve got about 75g of yarn left and I can’t be sure that would have been enough for the full length version. Still it’s a really nice length for me – the point skims my bottom (I'm quite short!).

Photofest!

Pre-blocking. I also hadn’t sewn in the ends, I was that excited for it to be finally “finished”!

I blocked it on the futon mattress thingy, which is a small double. It wouldn’t fit length-ways and only barely diagonally, it looks a bit wonky and if I had more room the points would be pointier, but it looks ok now it’s dry. I think if I start knitting more shawls I’ll at least need something decent to block stuff on!

Finished! Sorry for the bad lighting but it was late evening by the time I had taken all the pins out and finished parading around in it! Once I get a photo of it in action I’ll post it here.

Vital Statistics:

The Pattern: Garden Path Shawl by shui kuen kozinski

Yarn was: Rowan Pure Wool Aran in “Blood”

Needles needed: 5mm (pattern called for 5.5mm

Other stuff needed: Stitch markers – I used 8 bits of knotted yarn, which I think are just as good as anything you can buy!

Knitting Time: About a month

Amount of sewing up to do: none except for sewing in ends!