Spring clean and conundrum

I know the weather is distinctly wintry right now, but something is inspiring me to clean out. I'm not destashing as such, but I feel the need to clear the decks a little.

Not only have I been finishing off all my WIPs, but I actually want to use up a good deal of my stash yarn too. A strange concept, I know, but I would like to be able to buy some new yarn and start knitting with it soon after purchase, without feeling immensely guilty about the enormous stash occupying our small bedroom.

The other weird thing that's happening is that I'm getting around to knitting up some of my more longstanding stash and finding that the pattern I originally bought it for is no longer what I want to wear. So then it's back to pattern hunting, and finding that I don't have enough of that yarn for the patterns I do want to make... which comes back to the first idea of buying yarn and using it soon after.

So as part of the clean-up, I finished the aran lace cardigan. Not a huge task, as all I had to do was sew on the beads, sew in the ends, and block it. Now it's done, and I'm disappointed to say the least.

The knitting is lovely - I adore the stitch patterns and the colour and feel of the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran yarn, and even the glass beads which co-ordinate with it beautifully.

But I hate the fit. The sleeves are too long and wide. The body is too short. The front neckline is too high - a fastener at the top corner would sit on my throat. Not what you would expect from a knit-to-fit pattern. Sigh.

I'm not sure what to do with it right now. I don't really want to banish it as I love the yarn, but I know that I won't wear it. So what to do?

As it was a top-down knit, I could unpick the lower part of each sleeve and rework them narrower and shorter. Part of that problem was I only had a short circular needle in the right size, so couldn't so magic loop to decrease them further. So why didn't I buy another needle? Doh!

I could also unpick all the ends and remove the glass beads (ouch!) and lengthen the body - assuming I recouped enough yarn from the sleeves. I think I would probably cast off with a straight hem, as others have done (thanks Ravelry!). The beaded pointy hem is great, but looks way too dramatic and bat-like to get much wear.

But what can I do about the neck? I would prefer to have some kind of fastening, but I think it would have to be lower down. Would that make the neckline sit weird? If I undo it to the neckline I'll have frogged the lot. Maybe that's the only answer!

Any ideas?

Lucky FO and New socky project

Lucky is done - woohoo!

Still 3 weeks to go before the new owner is expected, so I went for a white button.

I love this pattern - so quick and easy, resulting in such a practical and cute little cardigan.

Hoefully it'll get a lot of wear soon. :-)

I have 1 more project to seam (remember the bamboo top?) and 1 secret project to felt, so time for a new occupant on those needles!

It's the turn of the Tidal Wave socks, using the vivid pink cashmere sock yarn I bought from Kerrie at the HipKnits stand at the last knitting show I went to before we moved to Cornwall.

The pattern is very easy, and this is the first time I've tried using 2 circulars as opposed to magic loop. Not sure which technique I prefer yet.

The yarn is yummy, although the pattern definition isn't too good atm - hopefully that we will improve as the sock progresses...

Lucky pieces

I do love knitting baby garments. They're so quick!

Just 5 days after finding out the needles and yarn (stash = halo) I have all the pieces of Lucky finished.

Now comes the part I love (excuse me?) the best. Seaming. Still, at least that should be pretty quick too.

As for finding the right button... Well that could take some time.

Happy Mother's Day!

May we all get our knitting time in today!

How to fix a bad hair day

I've recently taken to wearing my DDs' hairbands - what a revelation! I prefer to wear my hair down but don't want it hanging over my face making my eyes really sore, so a hairband is the perfect solution.

I do have one hairband that I knitted but it's rather wide - I'm finding that thin ones work best for me. The thin plastic ones with "teeth" stay put and hold my hair in place great, but I end up with grooves behind my ears (I do have a large head!) and a headache by the end of the day.

Hence the need for some more handmade hairbands. I searched online but none of the free patterns took my fancy.

I am really into crocheted loops, circles, ovals, etc right now - goodness knows where that's come from! Anyway when I was playing with some of my boutone yarn recently I was inspired to come up with this hairband. It's simply made from crocheted ovals sewn together, so you can make it whatever length you need.

It's exactly what I wanted - slim, soft, decorative, doesn't slip. The only problem I found is that the boutone yarn makes my scalp itch - it does have quite a harsh wool element to it. So I'm going to make this again using a cotton blend - and try out some alternative designs too.

Before that though, I need to get the second baby project finished.
This time it's for DH's cousin, whose first baby is due on 1st April. I have a good size stash of Rowan All Seasons Cotton, so I'm knitting Lucky from Pipsqueaks in shade Tapestry. Looks like it should be called Buttermilk to me.

Cosy cashmere

The cashmere scarf is finished - 3 months after starting - phew! To be fair though it was my work lunch-break knitting for most of its duration, so progress was slow.

The FO is very long - 100 inches long to be exact (that's over 8 feet long, or 2.5 metres!), and 6.5 inches wide.

I didn't really intend it to be quite this long, but didn't want to waste any of the yummy yarn either.

I used one skein (75g, 700m) of The Knitting Goddess hand-dyed fingering weight cashmere in the Heather colourway.

On 4mm needles I cast on 58 stitches, followed Wendy's (very easy) Feather and Fan stitch until the yarn almost ran out, cast off, sewed the two ends in, and voila!
One fabulously soft and scrummy scarf. Just in time for spring. ;-)

Cornish Anniversary

Today is the 1st anniversary of us moving to Cornwall! It's gone so quickly and yet it seems like we've been here for ages.

It's been a year of highs and lows; I wouldn't want to repeat it but I know that moving here was the right decision.

Our lives have changed so much and our DDs now get to grow up in a beautiful part of England, with lots of opportunities that they didn't have access to before.

Although Cornwall is a large county it somehow feels sheltered from the rest of the country, and we love it. Every journey we make reminds us of how lucky we are to be living here, and every trip to the beach puts life's little niggles into perspective. :-)

Of course I can't feel annoyed about anything when I have beautiful flowers like this one at home, in full bloom from DH on Valentine's Day. :-)

Good job seeing as my car's developed random intermittent problems so I never know when it's going to start, and I have the blasted cold that's doing the rounds here.

More good news - the raspberry ripple babyghan is finished after only 8 days of crochet. I used just over 400g of the Sirdar Denim Sport Aran - Della, the shade is "Redcurrant", and I do think it's rather lovely.

It's finished off with a crab stitch (reverse dc) edging just to neaten it up. I'm going to wash it in Fairy and then wrap it up in a white tissue paper bound with a broad pink ribbon and large bow, ready to send when the baby arrives. Let's hope that scan wasn't wrong about it being a girl!

Feelin' the lurve

Look what DH brought home from work with him! A beautiful bouquet of roses and liles, just for me. They smell divine. :-)

Tonight we're cooking a tasty meal together after the girls have gone to bed - fillet steak, chips, onion rings, peas & grilled tomato, followed by meringue nests with fresh raspberries, double cream, and grated dark chocolate sprinkled over. Yum!

Here's what I've been working on since Saturday - the raspberry ripple babyghan for my expected new niece.

She's due on 12th April, but seeing as her brother arrived 5 weeks early (nearly 3 years ago now!), I thought I'd better get this blanket done now!

I'm using Sirdar Denim Sport Aran - a baby-friendly machine-washable soft yarn which is very quick to crochet in the Peephole Chevron Stitch from my stitch dictionary. It's three-quarters done already!

Twisted!

Yes, the moment has come. The Twister is finished.

What a great day to show it off - glorious sunshine but definately cold enough for a merino wool sweater.

I am in love with this yarn. It's so buttery soft that it feels more like angora than merino. I just wish I could get hold of more, but that's not going to happen. It's a one-off.

I'm so pleased with this sweater.
I love the way the design (alternating twist cables with ribs in between) came out.
I love that the pattern matches up around the side seams.
I love the way the colours of the hand-dyed yarn blend together.
I love the fit. OK, it could be a smidge longer, but it will be when I lose weight. ;-)

This was a long project - it ended up as 3 months from initial idea to trying on the FO - but it was so worthwile. The seaming, usually my most hated task, went like a dream thanks to that butter-soft yarn.

And the amount of yarn left over? 22grams! Enough for a small project I think - maybe a headband or similar.


I mentioned some lessons I'd learned along the way - here goes:

1) When planning a stretchy (ribby) design, make sure you add extra to the length; remember that the sideways stretch pulls the garment up shorter when worn.

2) Sketch out the design (as in schematics with stitch pattern in place) in the planning stage - you might find that you want the stitch pattern to match up at the sides/sleeve seams, or you want a cable to split around neckline, etc.

3) Sounds so obvious, but cables and ribs take quite a lot longer to knit in finer yarns, so try to remember this when embarking on a cable sweater knit in DK weight yarn!

4) Bear in mind that highly-patterned designs may look different over a larger area than they do in your swatch - so knit a bigger swatch to make sure you're getting the effect you want.

Ahhh, I'm happy. It was a great challenge and I loved every stitch. I'm off to bask in FO glory.. and wash my hair.

Twister teaser

The talented TutleyMutley dropped by and asked where we had moved from - it was from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, on 19th Feb 2007. Nearly time to celebrate the first anniversary of starting our new life!

In the meantime, here's a welcome bright patch in our rather grim wintry back garden at the moment - our lovely camellia, coming into full bloom.

The garden resembles more of a building site - and will do for a good while this year - as we're not landscaping it until our extension is completed. And that's not even started yet. ;-)

I had to show you the beautiful sunrises we get here - this one from this morning.

The lefthand picture is from upstairs (we're in a dormer bungalow) - great view across the rooftops of the surrounding bungalows and out over the countryside.

The righthand picture is from our bedroom, which is downstairs, so we get to see the palm trees in the front garden. I never thought I'd live somewhere with palm trees in the garden! :-)

Oh yes, and the knitting i.e the Twister sweater. The knitting is all done! I've seamed the shoulders and sewn in the sleeves; just the side and sleeve seams to do. Hopefully in a couple of evenings I'll have a FO to show you. I even have enough yarn left to sew the seams, and a little more - maybe for a hairband or similar.

I'm starting to compile a list of lessons learned, which I'll share with the FO. Watch this space!

Skating round Eden

Wow - what a difference weather-wise to last weekend!

We decided to still make the most of the weekend and went ice-skating at The Eden Project - another first in 25 years for me!

We got free admission thanks to the locals annual passes that we bought on our last visit.

Then it was on to the ice for 40 minutes ice-skating - great fun! It was a first for youngest DD and she loved it.

We followed that with a walk around the biomes and a tasty lunch in the main cafe, then tissue flower-making and a local ice-cream. FInally it was time to jump onto the landtrain and the bendy-bus back to the car to avoid the torrential rain.

We're home - no injuries, well-exercised, and ready for a lovely Sunday dinner. Perfect!

Summer in winter

Yesterday was the most glorious day - clear blue sky, warm sunshine, very still and calm. So we made the most of our wonderful location to nip down to Perranporth beach for an hour. I have to show you some of the fabulous photos DH took:








We're so lucky. We've been living here almost a year now, and it still doesn't seem real on days like that. Sigh. :-)

7 tinks on a Friday night

I don't know why, but I've always liked the number 7. I don't have the number anywhere in my date of birth and I've never lived at house number 7. Maybe it's just a comfortable familiar number, there being 7 days in the week. Maybe it's to do with the number supposedly being the amount of things we can remember readily. I don't know.

So what's this got to do with knitting? Well as I was working on the front neck and armhole decreases on the Twister tonight (whilst watching Jonathan Ross on TV - great show!) I realised that each side seemed to be pretty close to the number of stitches I needed for the shoulders. Which was a bit odd as I still had another 20-odd decrease rows left to do.

That's when I checked my decrease notes. (I had noted down each row number with a mark for the neck/armhole decrease where required right up to the shoulder shaping - its' the only way I can keep track when the decreases are at different rates). Of course I should have checked them when I first wrote them down, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, right?

It came as no surprise to find that I'd carried on the armhole decreases way further than I should have done in my notes, and I needed to undo 7 (there's that number again!) rows of work on both sides of the front. Thankfully they were only rows of 30-odd stitches each side.

Of course it was irksome to undo what I had spent time creating, and to be regressing rather than going forwards. But as I worked the slow, deliberate tinking movements, I realised that it was actually quite satisfying. I wasn't going to fudge around the problem and always know it was there, even if others didn't notice. I was carefully peeling it back to the point where I could make the error disappear. Magically erased. Vanished.

Now the offending 7 rows of decreases have gone. The shaping is as it should be. The problem never existed. :-)

Oh and Della - my confidence is slowly growing that I will have enough yarn left for the remaining sleeve. But I've still got my fingers crossed.

Go baby!

The Twister is rockin' on - front nearly done - woohoo!

Resisting temptation

Aaaarrrggghhh!!!

Why is it that I have a yarn mountain like this, and yet still find it nearly impossible to resist buying more yarn?

I know it's the same for all knitters, but I just don't understand it.

Twice yesterday I got to the point of adding the current yarn of my desire to the shopping basket. Twice I was overcome with guilt when I remembered the yarn I already have in waiting and the amount of money we need to spend on our extension this year!

The yarn in question is the SWTC soy silk currently on sale at Get Knitted. I am really intrigued by all the new non-wool yarns (have you seen A-MAIZing and Craft?!) and want to try them all!

Throughout the night I was awake as my eldest DD has had a tummy bug and had to keep getting up, so she spent the night in with me. Whenever I woke up I found myself thinking about which shades I could justify buying as I hadn't got anything similar to go with certain tops... Obsessed.

To make it worse, last night I found the most beautiful pattern that Kim Hargreaves has come up with to date (for me anyway) - Elizabeth. I always objected to buying the kits although this one seems to be quite reasonably priced - but she's brought it out in a pattern book too! Aaaarrrggghhh, more temptation!!! Why is it not my birthday until August?!

As a diversion I made this necklace last night. I just love the colours and have lots of clothes that it will go well with. :-)

Can you have a slow twister?

Oh yes you can. The Twister sweater is progressing very slowly right now.

I've not had much time to knit over the last week or so, apart from doing a single 6-row pattern repeat a few evenings back.

That was not a good evening - just before I put the knitting down I realised that I'd made a big mistake. Can you spot it?

Well there are supposed to be 5 rows inbetween each cable row - but not in this photo!

Having worked a further 5 rows of 138 stitches since the offending mis-placed cable row, there was no other option. Tonight I ripped the front and started it over again... Grrr!

Anyway, I received a weird shape parcel this week. It was something I'd bid for on ebay and then completely forgotten about. (It's been a very intense week at work!)


Look - it's my very own niddy-noddy at last, and with a mound of free fleece too!

I guess I'd better get that drop spindle out sometime soon and actually try some spinning.

Right now is probably a really good time as the weather is awful - high winds and almost constant rain - and it's forecast to carry on for a good few days yet. Bleugh!

Happy Birthday DH!

DH is 41 today - still BMXing, and now surfing and PHP programming too. All that and a great husband and dad - guess that makes me very lucky! Love ya hubsta!

Red-iscovered

When I was a student at Polytechnic, I wore my favourite pointy stiletto knee-high red suede boots virtually every day for the first couple of years. They became my trademark. How I loved them!

I wore them out eventually, and over the years my clothing colours started to gradually fade out through pinks and blues to very dusky shades. I was headed towards the beige years.

Until we moved to Cornwall that is. Now I seem to be rediscovering colour, and red is one of the current favourites.

I realised last week when wearing a new bright red top that I only had a deep red "evening-y" necklace that went with it. Not for long! Today I made this:

Hmm, I wonder if I can find some more red suede boots?!

Colour on a grey day

Wool Buttons
Look - I found the other button yarn that I already had in my stash!

I can't get the colours to show properly though - it's very overcast today. I may well use them separately; they are all brown bases but so look fairly different in real life.

Della asked what I have in mind for them - erm, I have no idea! I'm going to knit and crochet a sample of each colour and see what comes to mind.

I can't help wondering how this would felt up as it's apparently 100% wool with an outer cotton thread. I may try it with the single skein colour - maybe it would give a funky crunchy texture? Any thoughts or experiences?

I ended up skeining them last night; I couldn't knit during Bill Bailey's show on TV as I was laughing too much..

Cashmere scarf
I realised that I hadn't shown off my cashmere scarf for a while, so here it is.

I usually knit one pattern repeat per (short) lunch break at work, so it's taking a while. I reckon it's just over halfway through at the moment.

Do you like the arty shot on the right? The was a brief glimpse of sunshine this morning while I had the camera out. The pattern shows up beautifully in shadow.


And finally..
The back of the cable sweater is finished!

This is the largest piece, and a little scary with how much yarn it's used. It is beautifully soft, squishy, and stretchy.

I do hope I have enough of the merino to finish the design as I adore it. Only time will tell..!

Thank you postie!

Our lovely postie (Arron - he sent us a Christmas card!) managed to squeeze a fab package through our letterbox yesterday.

It was none other than the beautiful brown fleck button yarn (originally from handpaintedyarn.com) that I purchased in the Lime and Violet Destash sale!

The package also contained a couple of packs of Wonka sweeties - which I munched happily at work today. :-)

I already have 1 skein of this in a similar colourway, gifted to me a while ago by the generous Fiona. Of course I can't actually find it right now to get a pic of the new yarn family, so you'll have to belive me.

Maybe a stash tidy-up is needed - but I do have to get the ironing done first. Sad eh?!

(I really absolutely do not want to do the ironing, but unless I do it every other day it eats up my precious weekend time and that is Not On. So I grit my teeth and get on with it, safe in the knowledge that DH has the daily sandwich-making chore for now.)

Back to front

Firstly, a couple of answers to questions left in the comments:

1) Della - Yes I'm on Ravelry but strangely enough have not been bitten by the bug. I've logged in once, and it all just seems like too much duplication of putting images into galleries in Flickr. I guess I should try again and have more of a look around.

2) Scarlet Princess - Those aren't my feet in the pic - just what I wished for at the time to soothe that achy all-shopped-out feeling!

Now, what was I thinking about? Oh yes..

Most bloggers have been looking back on 2007 as the year drew to an end, and then looking forward to new challenges and projects. I've already done the looking forward bit, but wasn't going to bother dwelling on the past year with it's massive amount of events and changes, both good and bad.

That was before I starting copying the birthdays and anniversaries into my 2008 diary. As I did this annual task, I realised that last year wasn't just about moving my whole family's life from central to south-west England, with it's obvious lows and highs. There had been many achievements along the way that I'd forgotten about.

1) For the first time in my life, I became the owner of a new wetsuit and started bodyboarding

2) I swam in the sea (in my bikini - yes it was cold) for the first time in about 25 years

3) Moving to Cornwall soon made me realise that I love living by the coast - something I'd never bothered about before

4) After attending some local classes I started making (and selling) beaded jewellery, and was also inspired by a visit to Llama Lland to buy some llama fibre and a spindle (but I've not tried spinning with it yet!)

5) I went to a few cardio cycling classes at my local leisure centre and actually enjoyed working hard at exercising (after the knee pain subsided)

6) Finally I recognised that I detest confrontations, but still had to stand up and say my piece on several occasions. I hated it but I did it - and should have done it at various times in the past

7) Christmas flourished - I actually enjoyed having the decorations up (I usually relish clearing them away), and even bought some beautiful new ones including some small exterior icicle LED lights and a door wreath. Must be the community spirit in our new small village home. :-)

Where's that foot spa?

Ahh, this is what I could do with right now.

Today my DDs and I headed off to wonderful Truro for a glorious girly shopping day. Poor deluded DH thought we'd be back by lunchtime - but we only got there just before 11am!

We managed a 6-hour trek around Lush (first port of call as my DDs are both Lush fanatics already!), TK Maxx (girls party clothes and a new coat for me), WH Smith (big stock-up of half-price thick watercolour paper for the girls' art sessions and a 2008 diary for me), BHS (girls' boots and lunch), Marks and Spencer (Per Una jeans for me and more girly clothes bought with DD's birthday vouchers), Woolworths (Led Zep's "Mothership" CD for me and toys bought with vouchers for the girls), and various other local shops.

The haul contained absolutely nothing to do with knitting or crochet though, as we didn't even make it into Truro Fabrics!

New Year hangover

This was our fence at 9am yesterday morning - blown over by the wind, taking part of the low wall it was attached to with it. By teatime there wasn't a breath of wind.

I guess that takes care of the first job on the property for 2008!

Happy New Year!

2008.. wow, how time flies. It's been very interesting to read other bloggers' aspirations for the new year, so now it's time to make a note of my own.

1) I MUST lose a few inches off my belly by the summertime - I do not want to be revealing tyres of excess flesh on the beach when the weather warms up. Some may be perfectly happy with that - I'm not.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the feast of food and drink that comes with the seasonal celebrations, but I don't need to carry it around with me all year.
I don't care what numbers come up on the weighing scales, as long as my belly looks acceptable to me! Plus I have a wetsuit to squeeze into.
BTW, do you like the 3 wise men I found in our local half-price xmas decoration sale? I couldn't resist them.

2) I WILL try to stay cool, calm, and collected this year. Our lives should be more settled after last year's big move, but we have big plans for extending and changing our bungalow this year.
That will mean an awful lot of mess, inconvenience, and cost, but hopefully it'll be well worth it. We'll see how far we've got by this time next year!
This should also help healthwise - 2007 was not a great year as it included tachycardia and shingles for me.
These new candle holders are encouraging me to be more relaxed in the evening at home. :-)

3) I HOPE to reduce my stash mountain which currently takes up an entire corner of our bedroom (almost to the ceiling) and some wardrobe space too.
I am finding it increasingly frustrating to go through my stash and remember how long ago I bought some of it. I still have specific patterns in mind for a lot of it, but as time goes on my preferences are changing.

Thankfully I still adore the merino yarn which I'm currently using to knit the chocolate orange twister sweater. The sleeve (in pattern version 2) is done, and the body is coming along nicely..

4) Finally I WILL knit or crochet baby items for the 2 new members of our family expected this April - both due to fairly close family members. The spring season will be an exciting time!

Before that I would like to knit DH a felted earflap hat to wear on the beach - he hasn't asked for one but did express an interest in wearing one! Anybody know of any felted earflap hat patterns?

Although maybe I should be knitting him some footwear atm - he managed to break a bone in his left foot whilst jumping his BMX at the local skate park on New Year's Eve. Yes he's a 40yo boy who loves his toys. ;-)