A flying visit

Just a quick check-in to show you the progress.

First up is my lovely first-ever Jaywalker sock - nearly at the heel!

Oooh - I just lurve those colour chevrons.. ;-)

Also the first of my butter-soft lilac beaded Mrs Beetons.
It really is a good job that I love this so much otherwise this would be in the frog pile. The Kidsilk Haze is beautiful but I find it a pig to knit with, especially on metal needles. I've heard others say that they find bamboo needles much better to control the slippiness of the yarn - I can well believe it now. I find it rather like knitting with furry sewing thread.

As for the Cashsoft DK - well, if I could only ever knit with this I wouldn't be unhappy..

I can't begin to describe how luxurious this little item feels on my wrist. It really has inspired me to make the second one - that should get rid of this cold weather!

That's your lot for tonight - well I did say it was a flying visit!

Oops – I bought some stuff!

I know this is not in the Lent-along spirit but I’m still not smoking and I’m sticking to that excuse.

A few days ago I received my first order from Laughing Hens – two Addi Turbo circular needles in small sizes for… yes, socks. One circular was delayed and I have to say that the communication from the staff was prompt, friendly, and helpful. Their prices were excellent and I reckon I’ll be using them again.

The other package that arrived came all the way over from the USA – from Little Knits actually. I heard about this online yarn store from UKHandKnitters and promptly leapt over there and ended up ordering this little lot.

Isn’t it yummy! There are 3 balls of cotton mix Regia Surf and 1 hank of the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Potluck – apparently this is the same yarn as is used for Koigu loveliness.

Once again, the service was excellent as were the prices, so I can thoroughly recommend Little Knits to you all. The online system resulted in a higher shipping price than required so the shop owner refunded the required PayPal amount. Apparently if you pay by credit card Sue sends you an invoice showing the correct amount first. I will definitely be ordering from them again.

And my final confession of the day – yes I started the Jaywalkers. How could I resist? In my defence I can say that I have now mastered the art of 5dpn knitting (finally) – hooray!

OK so now I’ll go back to my vintage UFOs - at least for a little while each evening anyway…

Blitzing the vintage UFOs

Ahaha! Another vintage UFO bites the dust!

Here is my eldest modelling the ribby hat and another version of My So Called Scarf, both knitted in Rowan Biggy Print. I was trying to do wristwarmers to go with the hat, but I'd almost finished one and then given up - over a year ago. So frogged it was, and the scarf was born.

Another change of plan too - the set was going to be for DH but our daughters have claimed them instead. I'm just happy to know that my handknits are appreciated.

As for the rest of the vintage list, it's almost gone!
The chevron crochet tunic has been sent off to the charity shop as I wasn't keen on the yarn anyway.

The coral crochet cardigan is now fully re-seamed and looks much better than before. I changed my mind (again!) about the yarn for the edging and after much comparing I bought two balls of Rowan Cotton Glace today - one each of "In The Pink" and "Oyster". Keep watching..

Sneak preview

Here you go.. a little taste of what's happening with the Coral Crochet Cardigan.

The chocolate consumption has decreased and the seaming is still progressing well. I'm much happier with the seams done this way - thank goodness!

Fingers crossed it'll keep looking this good...

Chocolate does funny things to me

First up I'd like to say a huge THANX! to all you folks who've left lovely comments about my Lacewing Bolero. That's the most positive praise I've ever received about one of my handknits, and I'm chuffed to bits. You've made my day(s). :-)

So here we have another FO. Woohoo! It's "My So Called Scarf" worked up in 2 balls of Patons Symphony in shade "Fruit Crush", costing me £6.60 in total. It measures 6" wide by 70" long - perfect to wrap up in.

I'm blown away by this. It's an acrylic yarn that feels like a luxurious chenille, resulting in a scarf that is incredibly warm and already my favourite yet. It was going to be a gift but not now - it's all mine!

I do intend to make up a couple of these for Christmas gifts though. I shall use the same yarn in different colourways for each one. The stitch pattern and colour changes are enough to keep my interest right to the end, and it doesn't actually take long to do.

So what next? well yesterday and most of today I spent resting as I had a bout of dizziness whenever I turned my head to a certain position. We're not talking a little gentle spin type dizziness here, more of a knock you off your feet in a split second type of thing. Not pleasant.

I went to the docs today as it was still the same, and was diagnosed with "Benign Positional Vertigo" i.e. when you put your head in a certain position you go dizzy. Useful that. Luckily it does seem to be easing off a fair bit now, otherwise I would not be sitting here typing right now.

This evening, feeling a fair bit better, I indulged in a bar of Bournville chocolate again (bought by DH to cheer me up and cuz it's turning into his favourite too!) and picked up the Coral Crochet Cardigan. Yes, the one that I started 3 years ago!

I tried on the cardigan. Great, still fits well, looks neat and smart. Just a little seaming to do on the sleeves, then some edging. No problem.

I opened the chocolate and started eating it, threaded my needle and started seaming. Hmm, it looked better than the other seams which I'd crocheted together.

If something's worth doing, it's worth doing well, right? Well look at this seam. Holes, a strong ridge, etc.

Not good.

I think it actually looked better inside, but I don't want to put the seams on the outside. This is a smart cardigan, not a fashion thingy.

So.... I found the ends and unzipped all those seams. Every one. They came out as quick as a flash too. Scary, that.

I've decided to seam them all in my regular lace-up way that I now do knitted seams. It's gonna look a whole load better.

See, I said chocolate does weird things to me. Now let's see how many more bars I need to actually seam this baby up again.. ;-)

By Jove she's done it!

Ta da!!!
Presenting (at long last) my Lacewing Bolero. It must have been the chocolate that did it. ;-)

I'm soooo pleased with this. You'll have to believe me for now, but this looks lovely on - much better than just laid flat and it fits really well.

I used a Lacewing pattern from my Vogue Dictionary of Knitting Stitches and then my trusty Knitware Sweaters program to design the basic pattern. I modified the fronts to get the curved shaping.

I used 200g (400metres) of Morocco yarn (which I acquired on eBay back in Jan '05) which is an equal blend of linen and acrylic, roughly double knitting weight. I worked the pattern using 5mm needles throughout as I wanted a nice open effect.

Finally I firmed up the front/neck/hem edge with 2 rounds of double crochet on a 4.5mm hook. The sleeves needed no edging as they don't curl and are very slightly scalloped which I like. Oh and I only had about 5 metres of yarn left. ;-)

I love this stitch. It was easy to knit and looks gorgeous. I'm quite tempted to make an entire sweater out of it.

The clasp is one of my favourites, so you have to see it close up.

I'm off to do some knitting. :-)

Making a start

Do you remember this? It's the Lacewing Bolero that I managed to seam completely incorrectly i.e. sewed in the set-in sleeve as if it were a raglan!

Well posting that list of WIPs and UFOs yesterday spurred me into action, and I started on the bolero again. I've got all the right accessories this time see?

There's a mug of coffee, a bar of Cadbury's Bourneville chocolate, plus some of my beloved little tools for the job - my angled Clover Chibi seaming needle and my latest acquisition, a set of spiral stitch markers. These work great for holding together the edges to be seamed.

And can you see what else is different? Yes, I actually pressed the garment pieces first. Goodness, I can even tell which piece is which now. Fancy not doing that before. ;-)

Time for a Spring Clean

The Rain Dance Shawl is finished but as yet unblocked. I like the look of it spread out, but I do admit to feeling rather granny-ish when wearing it!

I've not dared to pin it out knowing that I’ll be out at work the next day and unable to supervise it. Not that I'm expecting it to run off, but youngest DD has been off school poorly, and little hands tend to be very inquisitive.. ;-)

Goodness knows what the camera has done to the colours this time. It looks like the first ball of yarn was a different dyelot (it wasn't) but it doesn't look like this in real life. Weird!

The Textured Cardigan is also finished as in it has buttons. These are too small for the buttonholes though, and tend to keep slipping open.

Even with bigger buttons it’s still not going to fit me properly. I think it should fit a tall size UK 12 girlie beautifully – unfortunately I’m a large size UK 14.

I don’t know whether to try washing it - which may also stop some of the dreadful shedding from the yarn. Anyone got any flashes of inspiration?

The Giotto Sweater is partly seamed. I’m not finding this very easy going as my skin is so dry atm that the yarn keeps snagging on my hands.

I really need to crack on with it though so that I can get a crochet edging on there and maybe even wear it..


My So Called Scarf is on the 2nd (and final) ball of Patons Symphony and growing nicely.

Mrs Beetons wristwarmers are started but the Kidsilk Haze edging looks awfully baggy to me. I keep checking the pattern but it does say to use the larger needles first. Weird. Maybe it’ll sort itself out as it grows.

My stash of blue-green Wendy Jazz has been restarted (again!) as a Magic Scarf (hopefully). Watch this space!

I have so many projects “hanging on” that have been ongoing for far too long, such as:
Coral Crochet Cardigan – started Feb-03
Chevron Tunic - started May-03
His Hat & Wristies - started Nov-04
Lacewing Shrug - started Aug-05

I’m feeling rather weighed down by these now. I must get them finished or ditched before I start anything else. Kind of a Project Spring Clean I guess! Those socks will have to wait for now..

Checking in

Rain Dance Shawl:
I’ve done 10 of the 16 edging pieces - wahay!
It feels like it’s on the home straight now as there is more of the shawl off the needle and finished than there is remaining on there.

It’ll be interesting to see what blocking does to it – although I’ll have to be careful, as the yarn I’ve used is 70% acrylic. Let’s hope I don’t kill it before wearing it!

Smoking cessation:
I’ve been a non-smoker for 3 weeks now and it is getting easier.

For the last few days I’ve been having panic attack type sensations and tingles in 2 fingers of my left hand. Pippa (our resident Tuesday Knit Chat nurse!) assures me that this is a side effect of giving up smoking, as my blood flow and oxygen levels increase, and it shouldn’t last too long.

Thanks for all your messages of support too! They really do help to keep my spirits up. :-) I can’t really spend the money I’ve saved on yarn as DH always used to buy the cigs (and still does, although he is now talking of giving up in the future too, which is an amazing leap). Even so, I’m still treating myself as it’s a great incentive.

Socks!
I have received my first ever ball of Opal Rain Forest Flamingo sock yarn!

Yes yes, I know that I said I’d never ever knit socks, but life changes and flows like a river n’est pas?!

Anyway, I blame Magknits for that wonderful Jaywalker pattern. ;-)



Surprise!
A few weeks back I lent Yuca my KnitSimple mag during a Tuesday Knit Chat session.

She hadn’t been able to get it back to me until this week, and was worried that I might need it so she bought me a thank you gift!

I unwrapped it to find a gorgeous skein of Colinette Silky chic in the “Summer Berries” colourway.

Yuca, you’re too kind; you really shouldn’t have but I’m very grateful for this totally gorgeous yarn. :-) I feel a curly whirlie scarf coming on – this time for me…

Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow

Yesterday I took my daughters to a family event at our local art gallery entitled "Wool". It was very popular, and there were lots of children having a go at regular hand knitting, french knitting, making wool collages, felting, and weaving.

I reckon the most successful for us was the felting - and this necklace is what my 4yo daughter made!
The two balls are felted wool, made from coloured fleece wound round and then wetted and rubbed vigorously between the palms into ball shapes. OK I had to help out here when her hands got tired, but she did most of it herself.
The balls go so hard that you have to knock a nail through with a hammer to get the hole for stringing it onto the elastic - an amazing process to literally watch it felting in your hands!

We'll be trying more of this at home I think..

As promised, here's the Rain Dance Shawl getting its edging. It's a slow process as each edging piece has 40 rows.

It doesn't help that the chart from Elann had an error - it started off with 20 stitches but suddenly jumped to 21 stitches from row 3 onwards. The chart has now been corrected.

Starting at the finish post

Is it half-term week for you? It is for us. I've taken the week off work and I'm staying at home refereeing, I mean having fun with, my girls. ;-)

I spent today recovering from my daughter's 7yo friend having a sleepover with us last night (much giggling and silliness until late into the night) and look what I just finished!

The Broadstreet Mittens are knitted and buttoned and I adore them.
The buttons actually match very nicely but refuse to do anything other than glare at the camera.
I'm looking forward to the cold spell we're being promised later this week so that I can try out my new toasty fingerwarmers. ;-)

On Sunday I took my girls to Hobbycraft to spend their pocket money - the £3 off voucher in our local paper was too much of a temptation for us. The girls bought various crafty kits, and I spotted some beads I'd been looking for.
I've been putting together the ingredients for my next small project - Mrs Beetons wristwarmers.

See the beads? They're actually all various shades of lilac but again the camera is playing tricks.

I'd already got the Kidsilk Haze left over from the beaded edging of my mohair wrap, so I grabbed a ball of the Cashsoft DK whilst at the Knit Chat last Saturday (with 4yo DD in tow - she took her plastic canvas sewing and chatted to everyone else a lot!). How soft is that yarn? Words fail me.

Luckily I can't start this project until the Rain Dance Shawl is complete as I need to use that particular Addi circular. It's getting there, honest.

Whilst at Hobbycraft I spied some Patons Symphony yarn which I have admired for some time. It's an acrylic yarn but very plush and feels more like chenille. There on the shelf was this gorgeous "Fruit Crush" colourway so I felt another no-smoking reward coming on (2 weeks tomorrow!).

You see I've been itching to have a go at "My So Called Scarf" for months, but needed the right yarn for it.

I think I've found it. :-)

A welcome sight

What a fabulous day! Incredibly blue sky, spring flowers starting to emerge, and sunshine all day. Still very cold, but a mood-lifter nevertheless.

Another welcome sight was handed to my by the postie this morning - my latest ebay win!

It's 550g of Garnstudio's Silke-Tweed yarn in a beautiful dusky pink (shade 15). It's my gift to myself for being a non-smoker for 9 days now. :-)

Have you checked out the amazing number of free patterns at the Garnstudio/Drops website? Brilliant!

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!