Giving up (but not giving in)

It's been a traumatic week. I gave up smoking on Wednesday (1st Feb) and managed to time it immaculately to coincide with the start of a spectacular bout of PMT. No doubt the two situations were feeding off each other. I'm taking turns at feeling elated and manically depressed; not a pretty sight. The GI diet is struggling on - I'm craving either oatcakes with cheese or more chocolate.

On Friday youngest DD came down with the infamous flu bug doing the rounds atm and had to come home from school early looking and feeling decidedly poorly. At least her asthma seems ok and she is on the mend now.

Last night we went out to a Murder Mystery meal which was so completely cryptic to me that I hadn't the foggiest what was going on all night. I think my brain had actually disconnected for the whole evening. DH drank plenty (I was driving), managed to work some of it out, and then was very ill when we got home (it was the subtle mix of red wine and Jack Daniels in large quantity that did it). I was really impressed.

Today we were all munching away happily through our yummy roast beef and yorkshire puds dinner when I discovered a cavernous hole in another tooth (well it's mainly filling already) on the other side of my mouth (see not-so-long-ago post), so it's back to the dentist for me this week.

AAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Knitting, thankfully, is the one thing that has remained on an even keel.

The Rain Dance Shawl now stands at 322 stitches wide and is ready for the edging.

That's 16 lots of zigzags with 20 stitches each - hopefully much more manageable. I know it doesn't add up - there is 1 extra stitch to be incorporated each side. And yes that is part of the pattern.

One Broadstreet Mitten is complete and thankfully it fits. I still need to sew on a button to fasten down the shell when it's open though.

It fits! And not a seam in sight (apart from the 2 tiny bits of ribbing at the sides of the shell).

I do have to admit that I got slightly overwhelmed with the small-circular-needle syndrome, and just HAD to start something else on big straight needles as some form of respite.

Hence the (hopefully) classic fitted sweater using my beloved Colinette Giotto yarn in shade "Caramel".

The front's nearly done too.

That's your lot for now. I feel the need for an oatcake - to be chewed carefully to avoid the hole in my tooth of course.. :-/

What does it all mean?

The latest issue of Sandra knitting magazine arrived today.

It's got some nice designs, although most of the ones I like are only in small sizes. I don't think I'll be renewing my subscription because of this, but it's still good for inspiration.

This caught my eye with one design I like - obviously the last symbol on this chart was too complicated for the Sandra design team to work out! Click on the pic to see for yourself. ;-)

My projects have been progressing slowly this week. I worked on the Broadstreet Mittens at today's Knit Chat, only to find when I got home that I needed to undo most of the progress I'd made. I was working on the shell (the thingy that pops over your fingertips to keep them warm) , but realised that I'd only done 4 of the 17 straight rows before shaping the top. No wonder it was turning out very short!

The Rain Dance Shawl is now up to 258 stitches across, and looks rather like a huge blob of colour on my Addi circular neeedle. It rather reminds me of endurance knitting atm!

Side tracked - again

How could I receive such gorgeous yarn yesterday without trying it out? Well I couldn't, and I started on the Broadstreet Mittens last night. Here's the progress so far.

The Knit Chat group is going to have a 4-needle knitting session soon, so in the meantime I decided to go for the Magic Loop technique again using a long circular needle. It's working well so far.



Here's a close-up of those lovely colours.

I'm really pleased with the way they're turning out - i.e. not striping. I love the way the colours are blending together without getting lost.

I may well have to buy more of this yarn in a different colourway. It's so lovely and soft, and very even. It's even tempting me into wanting to try a pair of Jaywalker socks - especially after seeing the ones that Tracy knitted - although I said I'd never knit socks!

I walked up to the Knit Chat today, only to find that nobody else turned up - Fi where were you; I took the knitting mag with me that we spoke about last week for you?

Anyway on my walk back home I called in to my local newsagent to see if they'd got my copy of the latest VK yet.

They hadn't but they had this copy of the new KnitSimple mag for me - and I hadn't even ordered it! I didn't mind, as I wanted to take a peek anyway.

It's a nice mag, very VK-like, and the patterns are pretty good although nothing grabbed me by the throat and yelled "Knit Me!".

Good job really, with the list of projects-in-waiting I already have.. ;-)

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Ok, so it's out of sequence, but first up we have the Bad:

This morning I had to go to the dentist to have a filling re-done.

Part of a tooth had chipped off a while back on the side of a large filling, and it had to be all taken out and re-done as apparently there was some decay underneath the remaining filling. Maybe I should have had it seen to as soon as it happened, but that's life!

The result was as you see in the pic - my cup of coffee with a straw to drink it from. Not my usual drinking method, but it worked until the feeling came back to my face. ;-)

Now the Good:

To balance that, this morning I received this exciting package.

Wanna see what was inside?

OK!

Wait for it...

It was this gorgeous variegated hand dyed merino sock wool, which I bought from this ebay seller. Isn't it just fab?!

I won the auction on Monday, paid on Tuesday, and received the yarn from the USA today (Friday). That's what I call great service!

I'm hoping to make the Broad Street Mittens from Knitty with it.

As for the Ugly - that has to be the smell from DH's oven chips cooking under the grill this lunchtime. They smelled of a cow farm - which is not what I would expect from any kind of chips - ugh! Needless to say I didn't pinch one.

Spring Clean Fever

It may be a little early, but I've been grabbed by the throat by Spring Clean Fever. I've been clearing out the garage and house, and even sorting through my yarns - some are destined for eBay and others for the charity shop.

This mad activity is due to several things really:
1) I have time to do this now that my girls are both at school all day
2) DH is due to take delivery this weekend of his new electronic drum kit, which needs a home whilst we sell the other "real" drum kit (have you seen how much space these things take up?!)
3) We're thinking of moving to the south west, so some serious de-cluttering is required (although I'll be amazed if we actually move this year - it takes us ages to do anything)

I've even ditched a project - the round yoke navy school cardigan. It's a lovely pattern, but was looking a little on the small size for my youngest - she's growing at an amazing rate atm. I had finished the right sleeve, and it was 2 inches too short for her!

The main problem, though, was the yarn. I was using Wendy Capri, which is a boucle cotton/acrylic mix. A nice enough yarn, and easy care for school, but somehow it just didn't look right when knitted up. It was kind of.. well.. holey. Having a crisp white school shirt underneath was the final straw really, as it highlighted those little holes far more than any other colour would have.

It ended up just looking cheap in my eyes, and I wasn't happy with it. So the half-finished cardigan has gone in the bin (gasp!) - no I didn't even feel like frogging it. The rest of the yarn is destined for the charity shop. At least I learned the magic loop knitting method anyway.

Whilst going through my yarns, I've realised that my yarn buying habits have changed so much and yet so subtlely that over time I've completely reversed my attitude without even realising.

I used to see yarn and grab it, then start thinking of how I could use it later.
Now I either see projects that I love and buy yarn for those, or I see fantastic yarn but have to make sure I know what I could use it for before I splurge on it.

I think this may be partly because I'm buying more expensive items as I get older (that's food, clothing, everything really, not just yarn) so I want to really justify the cost.

Weird what happens over time without you even noticing!

On a more creative note, the Rain Dance Shawl is progressing nicely. I received the circular Addi on Tuesday, and now I'm up to row 94 with 196 stitches and now on the 2nd ball of my yarn. Looking good!

Quote of the day: My youngest DD asked me tonight "mommy, when we move to a new house, can I take my teddy with me?"!

Happy Birthday DH!

Today is my dear hubby's birthday - Happy Birthday darling! We both had the afternoon off work and went for a lovely (and very filling) pub lunch. This evening we've enjoyed a family party at our house - more food!

I haven't had chance to upload the pic of DH about to scoff his great pub food, but here's one of my gorgeous nephew, James, who's now 6.5 months old. It's a lovely pic of him with his Dad - my brother.

James appeared to thoroughly enjoy the party, and gave us lots of beautiful smiles and chuckles. He also let me feed him a huge amount of his favourite food - mashed banana!

Time to go knit, now they've all gone home. ;-)

I'm rain dancing!

New Year = new type of project i.e. that Rain Dance Shawl. I've never attempted a half-circle shawl before, or any shape of lacy type shawl really. Well now's as good a time as any!
Here's the progress so far.

I'm up to row 64 with 130 stitches on the needles. I've used straights so far, but I'm going to switch to an Addi circular which I've just ordered from this ebay seller. The straights are too heavy as they are so long, and they're making my shoulders ache, as I discovered last night.

The pattern does have a couple of.. erm.. idiosyncracies. The stitch count after row 39 should be 122 (31,30,30,31 in each panel) not 82. Not a big problem, and pretty obvious when you get there.

The second "feature" is that the first chart is not consistent with the others. Which has led to the couple of raindrops highlighted being out of sequence.

The first chart does both the shaping and eyelet pattern on the odd rows. All the subsequent charts do just the shaping on the odd rows, and the eyelet pattern switches to the even rows.

This isn't pointed out anywhere, but it means that you need to read the pattern rows from right to left on the first chart and then left to right thereafter.

I can live with it. :-)

Birthday Celebrations

I nearly forgot - Six Skeins Under is now 1 year old. Happy Birthday blog! To mark the occasion, we have a FO:

Woohooo! Martha is done! As you can see, it fits, and is lightweight, cuddly, and cosy. The colour is "Chilly" but the finished item is far from that, the yarn being Rowan Cork which is almost all merino wool.

I used 8 balls (400g) as stated in the pattern for the medium size, and I used every last inch. So much so that I had to use a stash yarn to finish off the side seaming tonight. Thanks to the lovely lace-up seaming technique I used last year, the substitute yarn isn't visible at all. I'm chuffed!

It would have been finished earlier this week, but my 2 doughters and I have all been smitten by a horrible heavy cold, so I didn't even feel like knitting much. (That's my excuse for the dishevelled look in the photo too - not that my mind-of-its-own hair ever looks much neater than that!) My 2 "free" (i.e. non-work) days this week were taken up with looking after my 2 little ones as they were off school feeling so poorly. I think we're all on the mend now though, thankfully.

So.... what next? I know I have various other projects still on the needles, but as usual my eye has been taken by a newbie - namely this Rain Dance Shawl which is a free pattern from Elann. I have 500g of DK wool/acrylic blend yarn in my stash which is unallocated project-wise, which I'm thinking of trying out. I don't know the yardage of it, but maybe I should just suck it and see! it's a bit brighter than the colours I usually go for, but hey, summer's on the way!

The question is, should I try to measure a 50g ball first to determine the yardage (after checking the tension of course)? What do you reckon?

Dream Seam

It has to be a record - for me at least.

Four raglan seams completed with minimum fuss in less than 1 hour! This Rowan Cork is a dream to seam with; it almost laces itself up, especially with the way the pattern is written for this Martha. I'm impressed!

Now to continue with the collar, which is knitted sideways until it's long enough to fit around the neck. Watch out for a modeled Martha real soon!

New Year, New Routine, New FO!

Hope you're all enjoying 2006 so far; I am! I have a new routine, new plans, etc - we just need to see how long they last. ;-) Here's a taster: Yesterday I treated myself to a foot spa (I've had the machine for several years and hardly used it!) and did my first 90 minute karate lesson last night.

School time:
My youngest DD started full-time school this week (i.e. all day rather than mornings only) so we had to get her kitted out in her uniform. She's so proud of it, and seems to have grown up a little more overnight.

Can you tell from this pic that she loves going to school atm?! Long may it last.

Of course this has implications for me too. It means that I get Thursdays and Fridays to myself from 9am to 3pm - wahay! This is the first time ever, that I've had such a decent length of free time to do whatever I please.

I have all sorts of things on the cards, as well as being able to get the ironing, etc out of the way before the evening (who on earth feels like doing it then?). This week I spent a total of 5.5 ours shopping - which is a good amount of exercise as I walked home with the heavy shopping too (see the Intermission below).

I could even find out my Pilates DVD and actually spend time doing some of it instead of just staring at the cover. And of course there's a load more knitting time. :-)

First FO of 2006:
It's the mini clapotis, although I did modify the pattern slightly to make it a little bigger. Here it is pre-blocked.

I used just under 100g of Phildar Brasil yarn on 5mm bamboo needles. The yarn is a viscose/cotton/acrylic/polyester/nylon mix with 103m to 50g, with the recommended needles being 3.5 - 4.5mm, so it's around DK weight.

I repeated section 2 (increases) twice to get to 47 stitches, and then worked section 3 (straight) 11 times, before working section 4 (decreases) twice to mirror the increases.
I like it - it fits snugly around my shoulders when stretched out, so I can pin it around me at work.

Of course we have to have a close-up, to highlight the lovely sparkles in this yummy yarn.

I still have just over 100g left, so another scrummy scarf will be on the needles at some point I think!

Knitting Intermission:
I felt compelled to photograph these veg; namely carrots and parsnips, with a sweet potato hiding in the top corner. They are not just any veg, they are real veg, i.e. they have dirt on, and I bought them from our local farmers market. This is one of my main aims for this year - to buy as much as possible of our food from local (and if possible organic) sources. They're fresher so they taste far better, and we're keeping our local businesses, well, in business! What other reasons does anyone need?
End of Intermission.

Martha in Cork:
I wanted to point out the Cork element as this is not the Martha that Tracy is knitting. Rowan have very confusingly named 2 of their current projects the same, although they are quite different (but I love both of them!).

Anyway, this Martha (of the Cork Collection) now has the back and front complete. Please note the delicately waving cables along the raglan shaping. I had to sweat over the front right edge cable as I twisted it the wrong way, and 10 rows later decided I couldn't live with it.

So I grabbed a crochet hook and bit the bullet. I dropped the 4 cable stitches down 10 rows, and very slowly and painstakingly picked them up again, twisting them the right way in the process. I think I was 1 row out somewhere, but I can't tell, so I'm pleased with the result.

BTW, the shaping on the right front raglan is done using K2togtbl with the left front shaping done using a standard K2tog. Does anyone know why the tbl version shows up as a series of diagonal lines whereas the standard version just diappears into the knitting? I'd rather not see those lines on one side, but I'll be darned if I can get rid of them. Is it just me, or does that happen to everyone?

Finally here's the left sleeve.

Actually, it's finished now, and I'm part-way up the right sleeve, but they look pretty much the same. They have to be marked "left" and "right" as the shaping at the top of the arm is different for each side; very weird but let's hope it all works out.

Watch this space!

Bringing in the New Year

DH went out last night for a (very infrequent) night out with the lads (the lads being the lead singer and guitarist from the group they were all in together; DH was the drummer). This meant I had to spend all evening knitting - oh dear. ;-)

Firstly I finished edging & seaming the Textured Cardigan! It's beautiful. You'll just have to believe me for now; no pics as yet as I haven't chosen the buttons.
However there is one slight problem; it's very tight on me. Rose, at the Knit Chat today, suggested that it was in need of some persuasion (i.e. blocking) to give a little, which I will try. If all else fails, it will soon be for sale. I love it, and I don't know why it has turned out small; all I can come up with is something to do with the textured stitch itself, which is very pretty but not at all stretchy. Ho hum, you live and learn.

After that diappointment, I tried to decide which project to continue with whilst waiting for DH to return home - the round yoke school cardigan for youngest DD or Martha for me? I didn't feel like either, and realised that my gloom could only be lifted by a New Project.

SO, just in time for the New Year, a mini clapotis is born using a gorgeous ebay yarn acquisition from a while back - as yet unphotographed. You'll just have to wait for the New Year to see this beauty which I cannot put down. I wonder if I could sneak it in to tonight's New Year's Eve party? :-)

Happy New Year to all, and may 2006 be full of knitting achievements!

Finally.. it's magic!

I've been working on the navy round yoke school cardigan for youngest DD, and it's progressing nicely.

I'd finished the body and garter stitch hem on Boxing Day evening, during our Christmas stay at my in-laws place in the gorgeous Clee Hills. I attempted a sleeve on my circular needle last night without any success, so gave up and knitted the garter stitch collar instead.

I'd seen Annette using the "Magic Loop" method (using 1 long circular needle to knit a small circumference) on her many gorgeous socks and mittens, but obviously couldn't manage it without some assistance. So after a little googling (what would I do without them?!) I found some great illustrated instructions - a picture says a thousand words, it's true.

Tonight I tried again - eh voila! It's magic! The sleeve's looking great, without any saggy bits at the "sides", so I'm a happy knitter. :-)

The contrast yarn holding the original sleeve stitches is staying there for the time being - it's nice to know I have a lifeline in place in case it goes horribly wrong somewhere along the way.

I still want to learn how to knit with 4 dpns - that's definately on the resolution list for 2006, but I'm so pleased at achieving this method too. Who knows, maybe the 4dpn method will turn out to be ok too? Time will tell..

Merry Christmas!

So here we are on Christmas Eve.. The girls are in bed but VERY excited.

This is our tree, which the girls decorated by themselves this year. There are two sets of lovely sparkling lights on there too, but the camera flash has managed to cancel them out.

I found time to take some photos of the current (and new) projects today; first up the Textured Cardigan:


I was hoping somehow for this to be finished in time for tomorrow - without actually spending any time on it that is. Hmm, no chance of that, even with a Christmas miracle.

Here's the current progress with the edging anyway. It's going fairly quickly despite being worked in groups of 4 stitches over a total of 320 stitches all the way around. I do love the finished look - it really sets off the rest of the garment.

Here's a close-up for you, set against a lovely bright pink carrier bag to show off the edging!



Next is one of the new projects, Martha, being done in Rowan Cork.

I stayed up to a silly time last night finishing off the back - those cabled raglan edges really grabbed me!

On to the second new project - the round yoke navy school cardigan for youngest DD, worked top-down in the round, using the Wendy Capri yarn stash.

The contrast yarn you can see is holding the sleeve stitches, to be worked in the same way once the body is finished. I may need to swap to 4 dpns to finish them off - aaarrrggghhhh! Wish me luck!

I couldn't resist showing you this one - youngest DD modelling her cardigan in it's current state. This method is great for checking the fit.

The front edges are straight, but I couldn't get them to stop rolling for the picture without pinning them to DD, which she wasn't too keen on.

They will need to have the button band knitted on afterwards, so they will meet in the middle finally!

Time to knit! Have a great Christmas!

Gremlins and New Projects

Well I've recovered from the stolen goodies incident; it did knock me sick for a wee while, but I'm getting on with some normal (as in non-Xmas) knitting now to put me back on track. The incident is being investigated by Royal Mail and I've also put in my claim for compensation - thankfully I always obtain the free Certificate of Posting when I sent parcels.

No pics as yet, but I've started a couple of new projects. I know I have lots of UFOs to finish off, but I needed something fresh to take my attention.

Firstly, I got frustrated with trying to find a navy school cardigan for my youngest DD, who is starting full-time school in January, so decided to knit one. I have a small stash of navy Wendy Capri yarn (a cotton/acrylic mix boucle yarn) from eons ago, and I've created a pattern using my Knitware Sweaters program for a round yoke top-down cardigan. It's my first time trying out this type of construction, and I'm loving it. No seaming at the end - wahay! It also means that DD can try it on as it progresses; I've reached the point just under the armholes, and it fits great so far. :-)

The other new project is Martha from the Rowan Cork Collection - a lovely quick knit cosy sweater for me which is flying along on 7mm needles. I am desperately in need of sweaters, having got rid of most mine in a frenzied wardrobe clear-out a couple of months ago as they were distinctly tired-looking. Of course I had to buy a new set of 7mms the other day as I couldn't find mine - and then discovered them right by my knitting chair this evening. No matter.

I am being bugged now by the disappearance of DH's present from my DDs - I've searched the house to no avail. It seems I need to go shopping again. Just like I visited my mom yesterday to take her Xmas pressie over - and left it at home. Those gremlins are sure playing me up atm. Still, my mom did cheer me up by saying that she was wearing her bias knit scarf a lot that I gave her last Mother's Day - a success!

Sharon wanted to know where the pattern came from for the toddler's hooded scarf - it was from "Baby Knits for Beginners" by Debbie Bliss. Not my usual selection for a knitting book, but it was all our local library had to offer at the time. I still haven't got round to giving them the list of books they asked for last May(!); it'll happen one day. ;-)

Bah! Humbug!

I found out today that 2 of the knitted Christmas gifts that I posted to relatives in Manchester (UK) have been stolen en route.

The package was found in a field 100yards from it's intended destination today, 1 week after posting, ripped open, soggy, and empty. Inside should have been the ribbed collar and picot edged gauntlets that I had knitted. They were quick knits, but I don't have time now to replace them before Christmas, so I'll have to go and buy some replacement presents instead.

Some festive spirit, eh?

Bug Invasion

Yeuch! I've had a revolting 36 hours. Yesterday morning at 4:30am I woke with that horrible "belly full of gravel" feeling, and a stomach bug ensued in full force for the next 4 hours. I spent the rest of the day asleep in bed, and got up at 4:30pm feeling totally washed out. I felt so rotton I couldn't even face my knitting, and went to bed again at 10:30pm last night, without a stitch knitted.

Today I woke up feeling much better (although soaked; I think I had sweated most of the bug out in the night) - until I got dressed, and then realised how completely energy-less I was. Not surprising really; I needed sugar, water, anything! Anyway I braved it into our annual work's IT Staff Conference (what a heroine!) and managed to last out the day.

Prior to that, I had managed to photograph the hooded toddler scarf I'd knitted before packing it up to begin it's journey to its small recipient in Scotland.

I do like it, but as I said before, I'll not be knitting another. Far too much plain double rib for me. It was fun making the pompom with the gadget I picked up in the summer though, with youngest DD "helping"! I hope it's well received.

Right, I'm off to wash my disgusting hair (no, you're not getting a "bad hair" shot!) and drink lots of honey and lemon - being low seems to have exposed me to more bugs and I now have a very sore throat and ears. The joys of winter!

Knit 1 Crochet 3

It's been a while, but things have been (and still are) hectic round here. Still, I thought I'd better show off my FOs before they are packaged up to go to their recipients.

First up, we have Andy - the Andalusian Stitch Baby Jacket, knitted up using 4 balls of Rowan All Seasons Cotton from my stash. I'm really pleased with this one. I don't know why, but the stitch refuses to show up well on any photos - never mind.

Then we have the trio of Curly Whirly scarves. I crocheted all 3 of these, using stash yarn together with an edging of eyelash yarn which I bought from my LYS. This one is for one of my eldest daughter's school friends.


The second one is also for another school friend, this time in a blue and metallic gold colourway..

And finally the third, more luxurious one, done in a Jaeger vicose/cotton blend yarn with almost 2 full balls of Stylecraft Gypsy worked in throughout, for a friend of mine. The Gypsy yarn is sooo soft - it feels like silk. I love it!

Finally, I wanted to show off my latest stash acquisition - well I have to add more yarn seeing as I've been using up (a tiny amount of) my stash!

Ever since I knitted up my Moebius Scarf which incorporated 1 ball of Rowan Linen Print in the colourway Smoky, I've wanted to get my hands on a decent amount of it to knit a sweater up for myself. Well I finally found it on sale at Kangaroo for £3.25 per ball, so I grabbed 12 balls of it.
I just love how the colours blend together when it's knitted up, and I just know the FO will look great with my blue jeans, my pink cords, or my khaki skirt. There's versatility for you. ;-)

So what's next on the needles? Well the Christmas pressie knitting is almost done. I have a toddler's hooded scarf with pocket drying on the radiator as I type - never again will I be tempted to knit another of these. 126cm of double rib is not an exciting prospect, especially with the posting date looming ever closer. There's just one more felted bag to knit up now, which should go pretty quickly.

After that, I should be able to get back to my Textured Cardigan, which is just waiting for it's oh-so-long edging. I'm amazed to find that I haven't touched this since October!

Sooo busy..

I'm still here, still knitting - well mainly crocheting atm. Just don't have much time for anything craft or blog-related right now. Will post lots of pics soon, hopefully!

Spot the Difference

We interrupt this blog with a weather alert.. in a word.. bbrrrrrr!!!

I guess the current cold spell has caught us all out - including the roses. This one is shivering by itself in our front garden, poor thing. It still looks beautiful though. :-)

Personally I'm pleased to have such chilly weather in November. I mean it's supposed to be cold now isn't it?

OK, now progress on the Andalusian Baby Jacket aka Andy (much less of a mouthful!).

Andy is steaming along at top speed. The fronts, back, and one sleeve are done. I cast on for the second sleeve at 11pm last night and starting the edging. Then I realised The Error of My Ways. Can you spot the difference in the photo.....?



I guess that took you about 3 milliseconds. Doh! I have designed this cardigan. I have produced the pattern in my Knitware Sweaters program. I have been knitting it. I have blatantly ignored the words in front of me. Stupid woman.

Yes the edgings are supposed to be done in moss stitch, to complement the Andalusian Stitch of the body. The right front is done this way. No other pieces are. Guess what's going to be frogged? Yep, the right front. The pattern is now officially changed to a garter stitch edging. What can I say? Life is hard.

Smokin' needles

Tada! I present to you a toddler size (hopefully!) Bowtie Scarf. I quite fancy one myself actually, as it's turned out better than I expected. :-)









On the needles now is.. yet another Christmas present. I had some leftover (yes, stash!) Rowan All Seasons Cotton which I'm using to make an Andalusian Baby Jacket for a friend's 1yo daughter - ah, how sweet. ;-)

I love the Andalusian Stitch which is very easy but gives almost a woven look and texture to the knitting. Very satisfying.

This is the right front, which was completed very shortly after casting on..
And this is the back which is obviously on the needles right now. Not for long though - I'm almost up the the shoulder shaping.

I love quick projects, especially at this time of year.

Finally, the 12 balls of Debbie Bliss Cathay in Teal that I ordered from Angel Yarns showed up last week - 2 weeks after ordering. Phew, I was getting worried. How yummy is this yarn? I'll let you guess.

I looked at the pattern in more detail, and it wants another 480g of beads! What?! Hmm, that would be one heavy sweater, just asking to stretch IMO.

Instead, I'm going to knit a swatch using a purl stitch wherever the pattern asks for a bead. Watch this space..

The elves are busy knitting!

Well this elf is busy knitting and felting anyway. I seem to have a felted bag fetish going on atm, but hopefully the intended recipients won't complain too much.

I made this one using the Fulled Lopi Tote pattern and 2 large balls of lopi wool from my stash (again!). I added 2 little flower type shapes and an inner press stud fastener. It's turned out to be a cute little handbag size, and I'm really pleased with it.
It's going to be a present for my friend Amy who will become the wonderful age of 21 this Friday. Happy 21st Amy!

On the needles now is another Christmas present - this time a Bowtie Scarf for a 3yo niece of mine in Scotland, using some variegated DK acrylic yarn from my stash. It's lovely mindless knitting, and should hopefully stay on during those gale-force winds up there.

That craze

OK, so I have succumbed to the current Curly Wurly scarf craze that is sweeping UK knitters. I knitted this one using 2 balls of Jaeger Wolga metallic mix yarn from my stash, and I think it looks like knitted curly tinsel! It is, of course, destined to be another Christmas present.

I have crocheted one of these scarves before, and I like both ways of doing it. The crochet version gives a more instant fix as you can see the curls appearing as you go, and it's also better IMO if you want to use every possible inch of the yarn you have as you can literally keep going until you run out of yarn. Both methods are just as portable as the knitted one uses a long circular needle.

Andrea asked previously what kind of yarn I used for the Ribbed Collar. It was an unlabelled yarn from my stash, but I think it was Wendy Sarto - an age old yarn which is an 80% chunky wool mix. I still have lots of this left, so I'm hoping to find a few more projects for it too.

Fuzzy hands

The last of the quick knit Xmas pressies for now. These are the Picot Edged Gauntlets from the 1st issue of knit.1 magazine, knitted in 60g of stash mohair mix yarn (don't worry, the halo is scheduled to slip very soon).

They were extremely quick to knit - about 1 evening each, plus a little to seam them.

They're very warm as the fuzzy mohair part has gravitated to the reverse side of the stocking stitch - i.e. next to the skin! Of course I planned it that way.. ;-)

I do hope the intended recipient will like them, otherwise I may well ask for them back..