Category Archives: knitting

ohai

Posted on 26 July 2010 | 4 comments

Right now we are on holiday in Ireland, visiting Rob’s family. It takes about 10 hours to get here, by car and ferry, so I decided to see if that’s enough time to knit a new summer beret. Turns out, it is.

pattern: improvised; yarn: James C Brett Kool Kotton shade KK9; needles: 3.25 mm & 4 mm; rav project page
26/07 – edited to add some better photos, taken on the beach with a real camera rather than in the bathroom on an ancient phone

and a gratuitous pic of my menfolk on the beach

4 Comments

Posted in knitting

Tagged FOs 2010, hats

progress

Posted on 5 July 2010 | 4 comments

the knitting goddesses have decided to start being kinder to me, and I have been able to make some progress. As Suse suggested I did some charity knitting, pressing on with a project for a fundraising raffle. I love how lace looks all ‘meh’ when you’re knitting it but is transformed by blocking into a thing of beauty. Here is project so far, still very much in the ‘meh’ phase

One more pattern repeat and it will be finished and ready to block.

I’ve finally joined the round on DrM’s fair isle jumper and made some progress. Corrugated rib looks lovely but I hates knitting it. Happily I am now on to the fair isle pattern proper. I loves knitting fair isle.

More blues, I know, but it’s DrM’s favourite. The colours are a little muted for my taste, but perfect for DrM.

As for my other WiPs, I need to cast on for new sleeves for the bamboo lacy thing if I am to have any hope of it being ready for my holidays. I have given up on the idea of wearing a new cotton cardigan this summer.

4 Comments

Posted in knitting

Tagged jumpers, shawls, WiP

does anyone know how to placate the knitting goddesses?

Posted on 21 June 2010 | 4 comments

I got over confident and they decided to teach me some humility

I finished my bamboo jumper and had a whole long post written about it, just awaiting the photos once it dried. Only, I then realised the sleeves were Way Too Long and, after attempting a shortcut to fix them and making things worse, I am going to have to knit them again
on a camping trip I needed a simple knit, so I cast on for a stocking stitch cardigan. When we got home, with about a third of it knitted, I realised my tension square had lied to me and I had to frog it all
it took me so many attempts to join a round of 264 stitches for a fair isle jumper, I was on the verge of deciding to knit the damn thing flat (and yes you can knit fair isle flat, I did it many times before discovering these new fangled circular needles)

I have acknowledged the error of my ways. The bamboo jumper is set to one side for now, until I can face re-knitting the sleeves. The cardigan has been started over, and this time should bear some relation to the size I want it to be. The fair isle jumper is now cast on in an non-Mobius stylee and a few rounds knit.

4 Comments

Posted in knitting

Tagged WiP

finished at last

Posted on 2 June 2010 | 8 comments

The Never Ending Crochet Blanket of DOOM, it has ended

pattern: Wavy Blanky by Stephanie Gage; yarn: Creative Yarns Style DK; hook: 4 mm

I do love this pattern, it was just a bad decision to make a single bed sized blanket in dk yarn. If I ever decided to make another blanket, remind me not to use anything thinner than aran weight. Oh except for the sock yarn squares blanket but that is a loooong term project.

Anyway I had much of the blue yarns left over so I made son a matching Manchester City cushion cover. The pattern for a patchwork cushion is from a book, and I used Rhonda White‘s charts for the letters.

pattern: Patchwork Cushion by Jane Crowfoot; letters charted by Rhonda White; yarn: Creative Yarns Style DK; needles: 4 mm

Looking at the flickr bar on the right, I see that all my recent projects have been blue. And so is my main WiP, a lacy(ish) jumper in bamboo tape which I am making up as a I go along based on a jumper I already have.

It’s been a bit stop-start because I don’t always feel up to calculating shapings, so I put it aside and knit something with a pattern instead. It’s not the actual calculations that put me off but the decision making process. With a pattern, someone else has decided where to place the sleeves and what size the neck should be and so on, so I can blame them if I don’t like the end result. But with this jumper I will only have myself to blame. Eep.

8 Comments

Posted in crochet, knitting

Tagged blankets, FOs 2010, jumpers, misc makes, WiP

vote early, vote often

Posted on 6 May 2010 | 2 comments

It’s UK election day, which means I’ll be staying up long into the night as the results come in. It won’t be fun but it should be interesting. I have made up my mind on the most important decision of the day, what to knit as the results roll in. It needs to be something simple and mindless; my current wip is a lacy jumper, and although the lace is simple and I have the pattern memorised, I don’t think it will cope with the tiredness and gloom and shouting at the telly and tweeting and endless cups of tea. I going to get on with the Never Ending Crochet Blanket of DOOM, it is mind numbingly simple and will keep me warm too.

More posting soon, hopefully. I have been knitting, as you can see from the flickr stream over there —->, and will get round to writing a bit about it sometime. In the mean time, if you have a vote in the UK election, use it and use it wisely.

2 Comments

Posted in knitting

Tagged life, WiP

early to bed, early to rise

Posted on 21 March 2010 | 8 comments

Now that my Open University course is in full swing¹, I need to try and balance my desire to knit with my need to study. One possible solution is to get up earlier so I can study in the mornings, leaving evenings free(er) to continue indulging myself in bad tv and knitting. So I’ve signed up for this lifehack challenge. If nothing else it’ll break me in for when the clocks change next weekend.

My two seekrit projects from the ravelympics can now be revealed …

Curling Mitts, for mum for Mother’s Day

so-named not because she’s going to curl in them but because they were mainly knit at silly a.m. watching curling matches
pattern: improvised, to match her Christmas beret (
yarn: Sublime Yarns Cashmere Merino Silk Aran shade0133 cardamom & Noro Kureyon shade 183

Lennard-Jones socks, for Karl

so-named because the stitch pattern reminds me of a Lennard-Jones plot

pattern: improvised, because I couldn’t find a man-friendly pattern than worked with the yarn
yarn: Violet Green Solemate shade B5

I’m pretty happy with how both of these improvised patterns turned out, and will maybe get around to writing up the patterns one day.

Now I am twiddling my thumbs, yarn-wise, waiting for the colours I need for my fair isle jumper project to be re-stocked. In the mean time I am grinding out a few rows of the never ending crochet blanket of doom. Why I ever decided it was a good idea to make it full single-duvet size I have no idea. Still having thoughts of stopping now and calling it a lapghan ….

1. and if you happen to be a chitosan chemist, do say hai; that’s what I’ve opted to spend the next 6 months studying. Yes it is just a co-incidence that one of its many applications is to make yarns

8 Comments

Posted in knitting

Tagged chemistry, FOs 2010, mittens, socks, WiP

finish line

Posted on 7 March 2010 | 4 comments

ravthlete I won a nice batch of medals for my winter olympics projects, pictures to follow once the pre-gifting embargo is past. I had to withdraw hurt from my main event, the WiP Dancing, when I discovered one of my contrasting colours for fair isle was insuffiently contrasting. However I have now finished the WiP in question, my Bohus cardigan. After the steeking, doing the button bands and spending 3 days waiting for it to dry, at last I get to try it on

pattern: Bountiful Bohus by Chrissy Gardiner (from ‘More Big Girl Knits’ or available free online)
yarn: Jamieson & Smith Shetland Aran, shades BSS15, BSS16, SS3

I’m happy with it, but I’m not sure yet whether I love it. It’s a bit too big, and also the neck line is too wide (despite my adding extra short rows to bring it in. I’ve decided I don’t like short row neck lines). I think it’s going to be more of a jacket than a cardigan.

This year is going to be the year of the jumpers, I think. My next big project is a fair isle jumper for Rob. I have half the yarn (Dale Garn Falk) and have been knitting fair isle hats to check my tension

I’d forgotten how much I love knitting fair isle. Looking forward to buying the rest of the wool next pay day so I can get it cast on.

4 Comments

Posted in knitting

Tagged FOs 2010, hats, jumpers

cutting up my knitting: a blow-by-blow account

Posted on 1 March 2010 | 5 comments

Finally the long-dreaded day arrives. Today is the day I am going to steek my cardigan.

1. This is my proto-cardigan (that extra fabric is where my bewbs will go)

2. That line of red stitching is where I’m going to cut

3. Machine sewing to reinforce the steeks before cutting.

4. Preparing to cut

5. OMB I’M CUTTING MY KNITTING

6. It’s done.

Now just the soul-destroying grind of the button bands to go. After a stiff drink.

5 Comments

Posted in knitting

Tagged jumpers, techniques

competetive knitting

Posted on 18 February 2010 | Leave a comment

The Winter Olympics are here and so with them, another Ravelympics. Yay. I’m hoping to complete two projects during the games to get my medals. I’ve entered my bohus cardigan (aka the never ending cardigan of doooom) in the WiP Dancing event in the hopes of getting it finished, but it’s looking touch and go. I was making OK progress and got as far as the colour work on the yoke. And then realised that one of my contrasting colours is insufficiently contrasting. I’ve ordered a differnt colour, fingers crossed it arrives from Shetland soon. In the mean time I have been fretting about the inevitable steeking that lies ahead, fretting about it on the J&S ravelry group and getting some expert guidance. Still terrified.

My other ravelypics project is a pair of socks, entered in multiple events – Sock Hockey (obv), Stash Compulsory Dance (using long-neglected stash) and now also the Designer Original Dance (having tried and failed to find an existing pattern that doesn’t fight with my chosen yarn). I’m pretty hopeful of getting these done, at least (but photos will have to wait as they are a gift).

So You Think You Can Knit?

Posted on 14 February 2010 | 1 comment

Absolutely loving Harry Hill’s search for Britain’s next top knitter on The K Factor: So You Think You Can Knit?

As soon as the first one went out I started getting texts from friends & relations demanding to know if I was going to enter. So far I’ve submitted two entries, Cephalopoda & a ladybird, but no luck.

Perhaps knitted arthropods are not telegenic enough? I have one last entry to send in this week so fingers crossed I can make it to the not-live final …

1 Comment

Posted in knitting

Tagged toys

Category Archives: knitting

ohai

progress

does anyone know how to placate the knitting goddesses?

finished at last

vote early, vote often

early to bed, early to rise

finish line

cutting up my knitting: a blow-by-blow account

competetive knitting

So You Think You Can Knit?

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