I made a hat! For the pussyhatproject – I used this pattern because I wanted to be able to knit in the round. The yarn is Cleckheaton Country Aran 10ply in Colour 4016 (magenta).
Now I just have to make another one, and another one because I am confounded and distressed about what the election in the US and Brexit means for the rest of the world (and what it says about people in general).
Finished Nowhere Cowl
I finished my Nowhere Cowl. This was a great pattern – easy, but interesting. In the end I did seven repeats of the pattern.
It is a fabulous squishy soft yarn – Misti Alpaca Tonis Carnival (colour is symphony blue) – perfect for a cowl.
Filed under Knitting
Swatch for my Blank Canvas
I have lost track of the number of times I have started to knit this yarn! It is Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Dk in Tease. My latest effort is here – I just seem to lose concentration and it all goes pear-shaped.
I decided to knit something without a pattern/texture/stitch design to see if I could get the basic jumper shaping thing sorted.
I did what I am calling a cheat’s swatch in the round (instructions were here) – I managed to get gauge (both stitch and number of rounds – miraculous! I am sure my swatch is lying to me) with the second set of needles I tried, so now I just need to get on with it.
One further concern is the volume of yarn required – I stashed 1394m and the pattern tells me I need 870m, but I have lost a bit of yarn in all of my previous attempts.
Filed under Knitting, Yarn Stash
Little Houses, Favourite Scarf and Nowhere Cowl
I finished my favourite scarf – it is currently blocking on my outdoor table. I am not too happy with the kitchener join – I think I should have had the pieces abutting each other rather than wrong sides together when I did it.
On the left of the image is the start of one of my Little Houses – I have to say working on the plastic canvas is surprisingly fun.
On the right of the image is my Nowhere Cowl – I don’t know if you can read it in the image, but there is quite a nice message about how the chart seems daunting, but is really quite easy. So far that does seem to be the case – it is quite easy to remember each row as I am doing it.
Craftsy – In the Hoop Gifts
I have also been watching my In the Hoop Gifts craftsy class – just the lesson on making zipper pouches. I do like the instructor – Sue O’Very -I am going to have to go and buy labels! I like how she has constructed her zipper bag and there a lots of little hints and tips I can use for other projects. Now to just get onto making one.
Filed under Canvas Work, Christmas Decorations, Machine Embroidery
I am going backwards
It all went horribly wrong! I just could not get the neck and armhole shaping to work (and the lace went pear-shaped).
As you can see, I am unravelling! (I can only face one ball at a time).
I have decided I need to get head my head around the shaping without any pattern issues. I’ve downloaded Blank Canvas, which I believe was designed for this very purpose (get on top of shaping before trying a more complicated pattern).
A bit more progress…
I have been away to somewhere warm and sunny (here). There was quite a bit of sitting by the pool – reading and knitting.
The above was taken early on – I haven’t made much progress since the previous photo, however, I have probably knitted those few rows a million times (only a slight exaggeration).
I am a bit loathe to write this, but I think I have the hang of it now.
Some success!
I have even managed to fix some mistakes…
Start of my ‘Favourite Scarf Ever’
I wanted an easy project – something that was portable and that doesn’t require concentration. Favourite Scarf Ever from Lisa Bruce (sunshinewalks) seemed perfect.
Here’s the pattern page in ravelry
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/favorite-scarf-ever
It uses one ball of (extremely beautiful) misti alpaca sock yarn – perfect (I have quite a few of those on my stash). This one is colourway 46.
What you see above is my third attempt (maybe fourth – I am losing track). It is an easy project, but I get to the end of a row and realise I haven’t done the double decrease properly and my attempts to undo one row always end in disaster. Or I forget to P2Tog at the end and get half-way through the next row before I realise everything is slightly out of alignment. I need to learn how to fix mistakes – is there any course on that?
Filed under Knitting, Yarn Stash
Finished Gibson Mitts
I finished! As I mentioned before, I lost four rounds in the arm section of the right one, so the cable patterns don’t exactly match, but overall I’m pretty happy with them. Just a quick reminder – the pattern is Gibson Mitts by Kate Atherley, yarn is Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Dewberry – from the Wool Shack.
Now for my next challenge I thought I would knit Kate Davies Braid Hills. In an effort to use my stash I’m going to use this yarn – in the tease colour-way.
Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK – Tease
I have never knit a grown-up sized cardigan, but I have quite a few movies and TV series to watch (like this one), so I think I will manage.
Filed under Knitting
Working on the thumb on the second one – the end is in sight!
I finished the first mitt quite successfully. And then, I think I must have been a bit too confident because the second one has not gone smoothly. At all. I almost got to the point where you put the thumb stitches on waste yarn and it all went pear-shaped – unravel, start again. The second time around I started on the thumb gusset only to release I was four rounds short – needless to say I’m pretty sure my cables aren’t going to match.
Now I have to decide if it’s worth having another go (a whole new pair) or just cut my losses and move on. My plan is to wait and see if I wear them and if I do wear them, to make another pair.
I really want to knit something bigger – something like this
What Eilis is wearing – the one on the right
I have been making the effort to do a little bit each day – currently I am at 30 mins, but hoping to increase that (maybe more than one session?)
Progress
I have been working on my Gibson Mitts (by Kate Atherley). I got a little a bit confused with the instructions and made the arm/wrist part too long. I thought it said do 6 repeats of the cable chart, but it meant 6 repeats in each round and I only needed to do 3 whole repeats – oops!
I’m enjoying knitting this although I suspect it is going to have the same issue as socks – that is you need to knit a second one (and I need to make the same mistake with the second one!).
The yarn is Malabrigo Sock yarn in dewberry – it is a fabulous deep purple colour.
Filed under Knitting
