Communication Breakdown

I wrote a brilliant and detailed post yesterday about how deviating from a pattern can really get your creative juices flowing, but somewhere between my phone and the blogosphere it has disappeared into the ether, so you'll just have to imagine how wonderfully witty and instructive it was. 
The object of the post though was to update you on my progress with the Aeolian.  I had a slight mishap because of a confusion between two double decreases - SK2P and S2KP, basically I've used centred decreases all through the bits which should have been left slanting. I only worked this out when I actually came to do a centred double decrease and had that "oh god" moment way too late to actually do anything about it.  After much discussion over on the Ravelry Lace Knitter’s forum, it's now a "pattern modification"!  That aside, I'm plugging along with the transition chart and am planning my attack with the two agave repeats. The edging looks far too complicated to worry about just yet!

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The dog ate my knitting

Did I tell you I’ve started an Aeolian? I ordered the yarn and beads with my birthday money – 2,500 seed beads and 200g of Patons Pure Wool 2ply. The only colour I could find for sale this side of the pond was white, but there were projects on Ravelry of the same yarn in all the different colours of the rainbow! I eventually (after a lot of searching) found the beads on the bead store, which is a shop based in Cornwall, so the postage wasn’t too extortionate! You’d be amazed how difficult it is to find size 8/o seed beads! I bought 2,500 TOHO round beads in Ceylon Aqua and it came to about £13.00, which wasn't bad – though their hexagonal seed beads were half price, I wasn’t sure if they’d look right.

Returning to the title of this post, she actually only got caught up in it, but she still managed to pull about half a dozen tiny beaded laceweight stitches off the needle. I caught what I thought was all of them and stopped the laddering but realised a few rows later that I'd dropped a yarn-over as well and not picked it up with the others.

You may wonder why I'm not having a breakdown at this point, after all these rows are getting quite long and the thought of tinking back all those stitches AND searching out the beads that have pinged off into a corner of the room is disheartening to say the least. I'll admit my first panicky solution was to undo the lot and start again, but thankfully common sense prevailed. Quite simply put, I dropped the offending stitches and reknit them, with all the other stitches safely on the needle, now you can't even tell the difference! The silver lining to this cloud is that as well as re-affirming my confidence in my own abilities as a knitter, I'm also able to bring to you (as soon as I've finished editing the photos) a step-by-step photo tutorial of how I did it!

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Hurray!

I passed my AAT exam tonight!

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!

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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!