Monday 31 October 2005

And another one..



Another Xmas gift is finished! We're on a roll here. This time it's the Ribbed Collar, again from the 1st issue of the
knit.1 magazine. It's a great alternative to a scarf, and I think I'll be making one for myself too.
This took about 3 hours to make. There's no shaping - it's all done by reducing the needle size from bottom to top. Nifty eh?!

I couldn't let Halloween go by without showing you this fabulous pic of my 2 girls in full gothic vampiress fancy dress, ready for the Halloween party. Scary eh?!

Saturday 29 October 2005

1st Xmas pressie done!

The Felted Lopi Bag is a success! Wohoo! That's the 1st Xmas pressie in the bag - or rather it is a bag.
I kinda made up my own pattern based on a combination of the
Booga Bag and the Fulled Lopi Tote patterns. I used a 7mm circular as that's all I had of that was the right length, and some of my stash (careful of the halo glare!) of Lopi that has sat in my garage for months.
Here it is pre-felted, with the latest couple of Sandra magazines as a size gauge:

And here it is after felting in the washing machine last night:Much smaller as you can see, and a lovely fluffy sturdy fabric, perfect for all manner of uses. Here's a close-up:

Yum! I'm tempted to keep this for myself, but I can make another as I still have enough Lopi left. Fab! I'm a happy bunny. :-)

Thursday 27 October 2005

Enjoying my week off

Last night we went to Cineworld to see Nanny McPhee - and what a great film it is! DH and I were nearly in tears at the end (a happy sad), and the girls thoroughly enjoyed it too. I would absolutely recommend it.

As DH and I both have Orange mobile phones we were both able to take advantage of the
Orange Wednesdays 2 for 1 ticket offer, meaning that we got the girls in for free and saved over £8 - fab. :-)

I'm still waiting for my long Addi Turbos to arrive to complete my Textured Cardigan, so in the meantime my Lopi bag is roaring along. I'm finding it quite addictive, and it's been past midnight every night this week before I've convinced myself that I really ought to stop knitting and go to bed.

I tried felting a square of the Wendy Sarto yarn, with limited success. It does felt, but in a patchy kind of way, with a messy and thin result. I'm changing my plans for this, and will probably use to to knit a ribbed collar from the first issue of the knit.1 magazine. That's after I finish off the Lopi bag - I'm dying to get it into the washing machine and see the results!

Tuesday 25 October 2005

A New Love

I bought this side-zip skirt recently from Debenhams; it's a lovely shape in chocolate brown suedette with a stranded belt finished off with gorgeous teal and dark brown beads and a large teal clasp. I don't have any teal coloured tops so I had a browse around to find some yarn to knit something. Well a girl has to be co-ordinated!

I finally found the Debbie Bliss Cathay in Teal (shade 07) and this morning succumbed to the temptation.



I've bought the yarn and pattern book to make this beautiful beaded sweater. Angel Yarns get my order as they have 10% offer this yarn atm - bonus!

To make up for my spending, I'm currently making a bag with a load of Icelandic Lopi I purchased from a charity shop around 2 years ago for £2 (we all love a bargain, right?!) I'm planning on felting it and giving it as a Christmas pressie (after showing it here of course) as long as it turns out ok.

I also have a decent amount of Wendy Sarto from a similar source, which is 80% wool, 20% bri-nylon. Do you think this would felt? I may have to knit up a small square to try it out. If it does, that's destined for another bag too.

Saturday 22 October 2005

Clearing the decks

Look! The Clover Silk Top is finished! I seamed it effortlessly last night with some mercerised white cotton yarn, and have worn it today. It fits absolutely beautifully - as if it were made to measure - oh yes, it was. ;-)

I'm just not looking forward to washing it. Fiona's beatiful silk top has stretched after careful handwashing and flat drying so much that she has thrown it away. I'm hoping that doesn't happen to mine; £24 is fantastic for a silk top but not if it turns out to be a disposable one.

I love the silk; the buttery softness, the sheen, the drape, etc, but I doubt very much that I will use it again. It breaks during regular knitting way too easily for my taste, and is very "fluffy" atm. It seems like it's just not quite spun enough, but then I am no spinning expert so I may be totally wrong. Still a fabulous experience though, and I'm delighted (atm) with the results.

I finally managed to spend my Sirdar vouchers whilst on my way to the Knit-Chat this afternoon. I bought 2 balls of
Sirdar Curly Wurly in the blue/green colourway for a scarf (of course).

I was also impressed with Fiona's current project of a fake cable scarf in
Patons Symphony. It's gorgeous yarn that looks like variegated chenille. I may well be tempted to make a sweater with this, even though it's mainly acrylic.

Not yet though. I need to get seaming on the
Lacewing Bolero, whilst waiting for my Addi Turbos to arrive. (Daisy - the link is to the seller who I bought the needles from, as you asked.)

Friday 21 October 2005

Intermission

Where are these weeks going to? I only seem to blink and another day has passed. Is it the time of year, or is it just me I wonder?

I am feeling extremely tired and lethargic every day, which I think probably has a lot to do with the shorter daylight hours combined with my youngest daughter waking me up several times a night, every night, for the past 5 weeks plus. She can't help it, and I do love to snuggle up to sleep with her, but I still have to get up at 7am each morning so I don't catch up.

I guess I sound like most Mums - past, present, and future. Shut up and get on with it woman.

This post it titled "Intermission" because that's where I'm at:

1) It's the Half Term school holiday this coming week, and I've booked the week off work so I can get a break from those early morning starts.

2) I have finished knitting all the main pieces of the Textured Cardigan (huge fanfare!) and now have to wait for my 150cm 3.75mm Addi Turbos to arrive via
eBay (of course) before I can knit the edging. This means that I can officially work on Other WIPs - wow! This is a strangely liberating feeling, and I'm actually enjoying finishing some WIPs. Must be the Full Moon.

BTW, no pics today as DH has taken the camera to work. Well it is his after all.

Here's what I did (knitting-wise; you really don't want to here the full list!) last night:
1) Seamed the right shoulder of the Textured Cardigan ready for the front edging.
2) Unpicked the
incorrectly seamed sleeve of the Lacewing Bolero (remember that one?).
3) Seamed the left side and sleeve of the
silk Clover Top (remember that one too?!) with some of an odd ball of white mercerised cotton yarn - incredibly easy and fast compared to trying to use the silk to seam with.
4) Finished - yes finished the
replacement Sirdar Fizz scarf - woo hoo!!!

I'm feeling pretty good about all this. I'm even looking forward to seaming the other side of the Clover Top. Better go and do it before I come to my senses. :-)

Saturday 15 October 2005

Time flies

Almost another week gone, and the Textured Cardigan is still a WIP. OK I have to admit I've getting a little tired of working on the same project now, but I know that working on something else will make this one take even longer.

The right front is done, and the right sleeve is done approximately to the elbow. With all the current redecorating work, I'm thinking of possibly knitting a cushion cover next. I could pick a stitch pattern I like from one of my stitch dictionaries and use stash yarn, and it should be a quick knit - or crochet maybe.

Or I could just finish off those other WIPS just requiring seaming... We'll see...

I still can't get this blog to appear correctly in IE. The sidebar has slipped to the bottom of all my current posts although I haven't intentionally changed the template. Anyone know how to fix it?

Monday 10 October 2005

Half a Textured Cardigan

Several weeks in and the halfway point reached. I've spent this evening seaming the left shoulder, side, and sleeve seams, and this is what the Textured Cardigan looks like so far. Pretty good I reckon.
She's going to be a snug fit; good job I'm after the fitted look atm!

The stitch pattern is not the easiest to seam. For some reason it's easier to find the double bar (for Jane Crowfoot's wonderful lace-up seaming method) at the end of the rows than the beginning. I don't think I'll ever win any titles for the world's fastest seamstress. ;-)

The current phase of decorating is more than half done, I'm happy to say. This is my lounge, with my wonderful new mother-and-child floor lamp which I bought from Ikea last Friday for just £7.99! What a bargain.

DH was suitably impressed, so we're definately in for a few more trips there.

Note the beautiful Bisque wall without any trace of interior brick mantlepiece. I'm a happy bunny. Now for the curtains..

Thursday 6 October 2005

Wot no blogging?

Hmm, first post in over a week – what’s happened? Well nothing to be precise. That’s the problem – I find myself utterly uninspired in the blogging department. From what I’ve read from other knitterly blogs, this happens occasionally. It’s just never happened to me before.

For quite a few days, I found myself completely apathetic to new projects and yarn. Instead I am yearning to make up the projects for which I already have stash – and you’ve sent the pics and read the words for these already.

As an example, a few days ago I received the October issue of Sandra knitting magazine. It has some “nice” (yukky word alert!) projects but nothing that grabs me by the throat and yells “KNIT ME!”



Rose has now tempted me in the stash enhancement area though. She’s de-stashing, which means the rest of the Beatties Knit-Chat Club members are buying lots of yarn from her – including me. ;-)

I’ve purchased a pack of Rowan All Seasons Cotton which I think will become the cover cardigan from the "Textured Knits" book.








A pack of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK in a gorgeous burgundy/plum colour also crept into my heart; not sure what this will become yet so it will wait patiently in my stash until The Right Pattern reveals itself.



But back to the Project Of The Moment - the forever-project that is the Jaeger Luxury Tweed Textured Cardigan (aka JaLuTTeC). She’s a strange one. I can’t describe how dull it is to think about being on the same project for so long, especially after several months of alluring quick summer projects. But actually working on it is strangely compelling. It seems to take forever, and yet I love the stitch pattern, shaping, and yarn so much that I can’t contemplate giving up on it. I’ve never felt like this before. It must be love. ;-)

So where has all this adoration got me to? Well the back is seamed to the left front, and the left sleeve is now finished, which amazingly seems to be long enough for my gibbon arms. (I said that. Nobody else is allowed to, ok?)

Knitting that sleeve reminded me of the Disney film "Dumbo". You know, the part where the circus train is struggling up the hill puffing "I think I can, I think I can, I.. think.. I.. can.. I… think… I… can…" getting slower and slower towards the top? That was me working on the sleeve as the rows got longer and longer. Then the train reaches the top and races down the other side of the hill puffing "I thought I could, I thought I could". That was from the armhole and upwards, with rows rapidly reducing in length. :-)

I am going to seam that left sleeve and side before starting the right front. If I say it often enough it may even happen. Well ok, I admit I have started the right front, cuz I wasn’t going to sit at the Tuesday Knit-Chat seaming for goodness sake! Since then I've only had chance to do a few rows knitting. So seaming night is soon, honest!

Then it’s right front, seam shoulder, right sleeve, seam sleeve and right side, front edging (billions of stitches and a forever-triangle edging), and maybe, just maybe, (please whisper this part) wear it before Christmas (thank you!).

BTW many thanks to
Annette for her encouraging remarks at the Knit-Chat Club meeting recently. It all helps. :-)

Finally, for those of you desperate to know the state of our decorating – the main lounge wall is now a glorious shade of Bisque and we adore it.
It is truly the first time we have expected a chosen paint shade to look like it does once actually on the wall.
We have no woodchip. We have no exposed brick. We have clean smooth walls painted in modern soothing shades. (Big contented sigh.) It’s only taken 11 years of living in our house to reach this stage. ;-)

Tomorrow I’m hopefully off to Ikea with my SIL (well she will be if they finally get round to getting married!) to hopefully find the perfect mother-and-child floor light, and maybe textiles. Oh dear, I seem to be in a money-spending phase. Better get selling my unwanted items on eBay again. ;-)