First post of 2009

Happy New Year everyone! My year has been low-key so far although I have been suffering from a mean case of startitis since just before Christmas. I've started a pair of socks, 2 sweaters and 2 scarves since then, plus I have project on the needles, cast aside in favour of all the fickleness, which is really quite near completion and which I should probably try to work on. Anyhoo, the socks have been ripped out to be restarted at a later date, 1 of the sweaters is on hold (having knitted about 3 inches worth) - the other sweater is no more, 1 of the scarves bit the dust after only a few rows and the nearly completed project awaits seaming (I hate seaming)... only 1 of the projects from the bout of startitis has stuck...

here is the currect state of the one that endured:

Of course you can probably tell what it is... the ubiquitous Clapotis. I've never made one of these before but something inspired me (maybe a project that I saw in the random faves pages on Ravelry?) and I just decided it would be good to cast one on ... the Kauni yarn was a bit of whim too but is working out beautifully. Anyway, the project, despite being only a week old is somewhere around 75% finished so I reckon I'll be posting an FO here before the month is out.

In the meantime I'm posting a little (actually maybe not so little) review of my day to day life in 2008 - more as a little aide memoire to myself, but if you are at all interested then feel free to have a nose around!

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Tried to walk up a mountain (Snowdon) – maybe in 2009 I’ll get to the top.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s Resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn’t make any specific resolutions for last year, this year I’d like to lose a fair amount of weight (and finish my godforsaken thesis).

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No – a friend and his partner had a baby just after Christmas 2008 and another friend is pregnant with her first child and my cousin with her third child. That’s as close as I can get!

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Fortunately, no.

5. What countries did you visit?

Spain, Wales.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

A job that doesn’t depress me, more guilt-free leisure time.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

I’m not good with days and dates – the only event which I can correlate with the correct date is the US elections on Nov 4 – I stayed up way past my bedtime (until Ohio was called) watching the results shows with the boyf. Cheesy, oder?

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Finally got offered a new job, hopefully I might be able to start it soon!

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not finishing my thesis, plus too many minor failures for me to want to list!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Sprained ankle.

11. What was the best thing someone bought you?

A Nintendo Wii (for Christmas – wonder why there hasn’t been any knitting content for a little while?.....)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

The fabulous Richard who finally made it all the way to being Dr Dick.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Mine sometimes (not so much appalled, a little ashamed and depressed though).

14. Where did most of your money go?

Bills, biggest purchases were a new tent and a new camera.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Too many silly little things to mention – what can I say, I’m an excitable type…

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

Kids – MGMT – at least it was surely the catchiest tune of the year.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

Fatter or thinner? Fatter.

Happier or sadder? About the same.

Richer or poorer? Poorer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Saving up. Working on my thesis.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Disappointing people. Feeling guilty and ashamed because I felt I wasn’t working hard enough (even when I was working my arse off! – can you tell this is issue is a thorny one for me?)

20. How do you plan to spend Christmas?

In 2009 we would like it to just be the two of us with a couple of side visits to the respective families.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?

It has been a good year for our relationship despite a lot of rubbishness going on our little world.

22. How many one night stands?

-

23. What was your favorite TV program?

House, Waking the Dead.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Not that I can think of – which I would say is a good thing.

25. What was the best book you read?

I don’t think I managed to read a whole book that I hadn’t already read before – so it’ll have to be The Secret History even though I’ve read it loads of times.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Seasick Steve, and the rediscovery of Manu Chao – great music for working on the thesis.

27. What did you want and get?

In a childish way: a Nintendo Wii, in a serious way: a job offer.

28. What did you want and not get?

Lots of jobs I applied for, the perfect pair of black boots.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?

All my old favourites, I can’t think what stuff I saw at the cinema – Sex and the City, Burn After Reading – they were both OK.


30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Went to the greyhound track in Hall Green and lost a lot of money! I turned 27.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Working less.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
The year of the skirt (relatively speaking).

33. What kept you sane?

The boyf, friends, taking breaks even if that was hard and left with me with difficult emotions to deal with.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Daniel Craig maybe, but he’s a bit of a perennial.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?

Not sure.

36. Who do you miss?

My family, especially my brother, didn’t see much of him this year.

37. Who was the best new person you met?

I didn’t really meet anyone new. Except fleetingly.

38. What was the best thing you ate?

Probably something from the restaurant where my brother works.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008?
If you can handle the guilt it’s always worth taking time for yourself to relax and be you.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I’ll have to think about that and get back to you!!

Winter Knitty has a lot to answer for!

Overall I didn't find the latest Knitty that exciting - there are only 2 patterns in there that really caught my eye. First off there is Amelia which I think is a lovely little cardi, which hopefully I will get a chance to knit one day. Secondly there is the front cover pattern Bijouterie which had an unexpected impact: it broke my resolve regarding not doing any Christmas knitting. I find Christmas quite stressful enough generally and this year has been my "year of stress" so far, so I certainly wasn't planning on adding to it by setting myself lots of deadlines I'd be unlikely to meet (I'd wanted to knit a shawl for a good friend who was very taken with my Adamas but steadfastly and with a heavy heart decided not to go for it). Then Bijouterie came along... well, knitting some earrings ought to be faster than a shawl and my friend will still get a knitted gift... it's not too bad. I ordered some materials and decided to start with a test run straight away. Here are the results of said test run:

I tried out all three of the patterns included in the collection - I couldn't quite seem to get the second style to look quite right so I discarded my scrappy efforts and moved on knowing I wouldn't have time to refine the results. I'll be keeping these trial versions of styles 1 (on the left) and 3 (on the right) for myself (although I'll probably undo the style 1 attempt and reuse the findings). I'm currently working on the second versions of each of these styles and these will be the ones that will actually go to my friend - I'm going to use coloured wooden beads in style 3 and clear seed beads on style 1, I also need to be more careful to make my stitches nice and even on that pair, the trial version is a little sloppy looking... these are very quick to make so expect to see the results soon!

The other thing that Winter Knitty has to answer for is the fact that it made me spend money not just on materials for the knitted earrings but on a little gift for myself as well. I've been looking for a nice needle storage case for a while so when I saw the listing for a circular needle holder in the cool stuff section I thought I'd check out the etsy store listed. You can do the same thing by looking here. It's a bit risky though, because, like me, you might be instantly smitten and find yourself clicking 'buy'. I bought myself this lovely needle case:

It's a lot more stylish than most of the mass-produced ones I've seen in the shops and has plenty of space for my (currently) relatively modest collection of needles:

A reasonable price for a lovely hand-made item as well, and it arrived really quickly, especially given that it came all the way from the States during the dreaded Christmas postal rush period.

So, there you go, Winter Knitty has a lot to answer for - but nothing that I'll hold a grudge about!!

Anticipation

I am on tenterhooks waiting to find out how my Adamas Shawl will turn out. It's currently blocking and looks a bit like this (but less wonky - once I saw the photo I moved some of the pins around to try and straighten the diagonal edges):

I am quietly confident that it will turn out well (at least I certainly hope it will). I couldn't seem to quite get it to stretch to the measurements given in the pattern - mine is just over 5' wide at the top and about 2'6" down the middle - I think that should be a good size though - I would expect I'll mostly be wearing it as a big cuddly scarf anyway.

There was a slight delay in beginning the blocking process when I realised I didn't have any pins that were up to the job; that meant I had to wait a few days while the 'T' pins that I ordered online turned up.

I haven't been slacking off in the meantime though, I have not one but two finished projects to show you from the intervening period. These two go together with my Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf (as blogged here) to complete a little garter stitch trilogy.

I give you without further ado my Zeebee hat:

Knitted in James C. Brett Marble DK - 5mm needles - I messed up my gauge measurements so I knitted 5 segments instead of the 4 stated in the pattern. Pattern here; Ravelry page here. This pattern is genius - the fit of the hat that it produces is really nice - covers the tops of my ears well which I like in a hat! I, sadly, am not a genius hence the reason I miscalculated the gauge and ended up knitting 5 segments instead of the stated 4 - it doesn't seem to have harmed the finished product at all though.

Next up are my garter stitch mittens:

Knitted in James C. Brett Marble DK - 4mm needles (magic loop method). Pattern here; Ravelry page here. This pattern is also simple but effective - I had a couple of false starts with these but that's because I didn't bother to make measurements of my hands before I started and just worked on a trial-and-error basis - they still only took a few evenings worth of knitting to finish though.

I'm very pleased with my little garter stitch collection - I only hope the jacket that kick-started the whole process still fits me this winter!

I've just been swatching for my next planned project as well - news of that to follow when there is something worth reporting on! All I can say for now is that I have managed to get the correct gauge without too much trouble - phew!

With any luck the next post from me will be one which is full of pride for a successfully completed shawl. Fingers crossed!

Much news on the knitting front!

Hello again - look, look - this is my second post in the month of October! Amazing! Say hello to Mr (or Ms) Sheepie up the top of the page there!

I have lots of knitting goings on to report back on. I decided it was time for a good shake up of projects planned and projects languishing half finished and a metaphorical (and literal in some cases) spring clean of my knitting cupboard seems to have done me the power of good. I can tell because I have in fact got a finished object to show you!

Let's hear it for my latest socks:

(As Kath noted in her last comment I have gone crazy for making photo mosaics in Flickr - they do make everything look great!)

So these beauties are knitted from the Hourglass pattern in autumn Knitty, the yarn is Regia Kaffe Fassett in the Mirage Fire colourway knitted on my favourite 2.5mm bamboo DPNs. If you'd like to have a look at the Ravelry version of this info you can find it here.

I do think this pattern deserves its Knitty rating of extra spicy - it is certainly the trickiest sock pattern I've managed to complete so far. This makes me wonder whether I might have another try at Pomatomus some time as they are rated at the easier piquant level - maybe my knitting has reached a suitable level now to be able to manage them.

That's not to say that I didn't make any booboos on these socks - the first one had to be frogged twice whilst I was knitting the leg but I found that once I stopped trying to second guess the pattern and 'make sense of it' in my head but instead just put my faith in the pattern and followed the instructions everything turned out fine. A valuable lesson to learn indeed. Needless to say I am really pleased with these socks and I love the colours in the yarn too (they are slightly more subdued in real life than in the pictures) - an all round success I think!

The day after I finished the socks I cast on for my next project - one that I am very excited about:

The Adamas Shawl! Free pattern here; Ravelry pattern page here. I decided I really wanted to knit something lacy and warm and cosy that I would be able to get a decent amount of wear out of - Muir wasn't cutting it, I should have known when the yarn didn't turn out to be the colour I expected of it that the project was doomed to failure. So this is a plain brown shawl - no flowery bits (to suit my conservative tastes) - it's been really fun to knit so far. I'm using a very lightweight 100% merino wool from Adriafil for this project - I started off using it single stranded but it was just too flimsy for my liking when it was knit up and so I've started again holding the yarn double. So far so good - I like the way it is looking so far, it's going quite quickly and I am so enthusiastic about the project at the moment that I am hoping for rapid results - I'm not sure how I'll feel once the rows are lo-o-ong - but hopefully it won't put me off too much. Watch this space...

Lastly, a few other bits and bobs that seem worth mentioning... the yarn that I salvaged from Muir will be repurposed and become Firestarter socks; Thermal is no more - the yarn ended up in the bin too, it was already on its third incarnation and once I'd unravelled it again it was so pilled and tangled I decided to put it out of its misery - Thermal is still a favourite pattern of mine though so it make a comeback in a different yarn one of these days; I'm tinkering with knitting a Brea bag at the moment but might start again in a colour other than black so that the cabling shows up better; my Ravelry queue is sort of manageable at the moment - let's hope I can tick off some of those projects to make way for some new ones before the winter is out.

I'll try and keep the updates coming as well...

The incipient springing of spring

Ah... what joy! The weather here in Birmingham at least has been decidedly pleasant and warm for the last two days - I've been longing for it (I feel the cold - a lot!). All of a sudden I am noticing the leaves starting to appear on the trees (especially the horse chestnuts) and daisies and forget-me-nots are back in bloom in the park - yay!

What better way to celebrate all this seasonal cheeriness than with a fitting FO? Here is my version of Elfine's Socks at last:



Details:

Elfine's Socks from My Fashionable Life (Ravelry page here)
Piece of Beauty sock yarn in beautiful, beautiful 'Sweetgrass'
2.25m needles (sock number 1 on Brittany birch DPNs, sock number 2 done using Magic Loop method)

They've actually been finished (and up on my Ravelry project page) for a little while but with their leafy lacy-ness and zingy green yarn now feels like a very good time to post them on the blog at last! As you'll see I've been practicing my techniques by Magic Looping on the second sock (necessity being the impetus here after I lost a second DPN from my set of 5) - I have to say I was quite pleased with how I got along with that way of working, I may well try it again in future. The socks are just a teeny bit tight - but wearable - which I consider a good development in my toe-up sock skills - I've had issues with my cast off being too tight in the past. These socks are definitely a step in the right direction.

My next project is also of the socky variety, but I am going for something a little bit different to keep my interest levels up:



This colourful but bizarre thing is a Sidewinder sock (Ravelry link) using my Opal Hundertwasser yarn. Ever since I saw that yarn I knew I wanted vertical stripes as suggested in the promo pictures. The yarn came with a free pattern (in German) which I could decipher easily enough but it sounded a bit too simplistic to offer a good fit - and the comments on Ravelry confirmed that that seems to be the case in practice and so I turned to Sidewinders. They are really ingenious I must say but there is one major sticking point for me... the grafting... so so so so much grafting - and that is something I'm not terribly good at! The picture here was taken at the end of March and shows almost all of the knitting complete for the first sock, I completed the rest of the knitting quickly enough but I still haven't completed all of the grafting so that I can try the thing on!! Soon, soon.

I have faced an obstacle in the last week though:



I was attacked by a hot griddle pan which has hampered my knitting (and general hand-moving abilities) but I am well on the mend now and if I can get this first sock done I should be able to start the second one over the weekend.

Send good grafting vibes!!

Fits of fickleness

Gosh! It would seem time has flown by recently; its passing has been concealed by a flurry of activity - festive preparations, visits from friends and to the Christmas market, concerted efforts to work on my thesis (still not quite there yet) and even (shock! horror!) some knitting.

In actual fact there has been really quite a lot of knitting, but there is little to show for it and this is because I have been so very fickle when it comes to project loyalty/decisiveness recently. I was working away on Muir quite happily and in a very dedicated way - but perhaps I overdid it a bit and worked too much on only the one project because I had to put it aside for a break when I was just over 50% done (and that was a good while ago now). Elfine's socks are still on the needles too but I didn't really feel like going back to them at the moment. But I needed to knit. What to do?

First of all I allowed myself to be tempted by some pretty yarn - Cascade 220 Hand-dyed which I bought from Get Knitted:



I decided I wanted to make a nice warm scarf and either a hat or mittens and, having made my first forays into making and using a makeshift nostepinne, started playing around with patterns, unsure what look I was really going for. Eventually I settled on My So Called Scarf and even found a pattern suggestion for a coordinating hat on Ravelry and so I began my scarf:



And the above picture demonstrates precisely how much I have knit so far, for I have stalled on this project too. I have gone for all out monogamy with a different project instead and I seem to be getting results. I cast on for the Rayne Wrap Cardigan designed by cosmicpluto on 4th December and am already past the placement for the first armhole. At this rate I could be finished by the end of the week! Here is a picture which is now very much rendered obsolete by how far I have come in the interim:



The photo does show the colours of my yarn fairly well (considering it was taken in artificial light). I liked the idea of this cardi when I first saw it on cosmicpluto's blog but I knew I certainly wouldn't be able to make it using Noro (for financial reasons!). As it is such a simple pattern though I think it needs a yarn with some interest in terms of colour and after some searching I came up with an affordable option which I think looks good - the yarn is James C Brett Marble in a DK weight (meaning I did have to recalculate the pattern for my different gauge, but given that the cardigan is essentially a rectangle this wasn't too tricky). I managed to pick up 10 balls of this yarn from Dianne's Knitting Yarns for £14.50 (postage on top) which is what made this design an affordable and feasible possibility for me. Fair enough the yarn is 100% acrylic but it feels quite pleasantly soft and I'm sure I will have quite a bit left over which could possibly result in some more scarf/hat/mitten-knitting.

Anyhow, that's about the size of things round here at the moment. Stay tuned - there should be an FO very soon!

I May Be Knitting A Mountain Range

See:

This intriguing structure is, of course, actually Muir in its current state. I'm hovering around half-way there - 6 repeats of the chart completed (I think) and into the seventh. It's going a lot quicker than I thought it would, this here project - I figured I'd still be knitting this at Christmas, now I'm not so sure at all that that will be the case (whether I'll have blocked it by then is another matter altogether but that's by the by).

The long and the short of it is I am enjoying this kind of lace knitting and am even thinking of casting on for a similar project after this one. Alas, I find that my pattern options are somewhat limited by my own fussiness. I'm not really a girly girl, but maybe it is intrinsic to lace that so many of the patterns are very girly (flowers and leaves and twiddles and things) and hence not really to my taste - I'd far rather knit something geometric. Muir has been an exception because the leaves are very stylised and the pattern is nice and repetitive, but it has taken a long time for a suitable pattern to come up (Sivia Harding's Diamond Fantasy Shawl is a good one but I also favour rectangular designs so that one is still on the back burner).

Thanks to Ravelry though I have found my next wrap pattern! It's this Lattice Lace Wrap pattern and I'd really like to have a go at this one very soon - it might even be more perfect than Muir as this one is completely geometric! I think I can safely say that without Ravelry I'd never have found the pattern so yay for Ravelry :o) (Incidentally I still had to click through many a page of girly, twirly patterns before I found this one, but perseverance paid off.)

My my, this has turned into rather a waffly post. To recap in a somewhat more succinct style the three main points are: I'm doing good on my current main WIP, I'm growing to like Ravelry a lot and I've found the next project that I'm itching to try. That is all!

(Oh, except to say enjoy the festivities to anyone who is participating in Bonfire Night events over the weekend. I've already been to my local fireworks display for this year - very nice it was too - perhaps I'll even post a few of the many photos I took if any of them turn out to be OK...)

Back home again

In fact I've been back home again for a week, slowly reacclimatising to the chill here after sunny Spain - sigh!

It was a lovely (as you can hopefully see from the pix) and much needed holiday.

Things here Nicola-wise are still much the same - no new job as yet, thesis still not done, the usual - I am still feeling relaxed enough post-hols though to just let everything wash over me, ahh! Things aren't 100% the same though - I have enjoyed a slight change in status...

I am now officially a Raveler ;) Yup that's right my invite arrived while I was away (and got eaten by the spam filter) and I am all set up. My profile isn't exactly thrilling at present as I haven't had time to add things but I have put on the details of the two WIPs I am working on most at the moment plus my most recent FO. If you want to find me I go by 'nicolamk'.

The second of my two WIPs is a new one. I mentioned before I think that I was thinking of working a variation of the Muir shawl from Knitty... In the end I figured that variations only mean extra work so I just cast on for the pattern as it stands. In fact I've cast on for it three times now - so the sum total of my holiday knitting has now been ripped out twice :) I've cast on again since being at home and, looky looky, we have progress:



OK it doesn't look like much in the above state but straigtened out I am quite pleased with how it is coming together so far:



This still isn't even one repeat of the chart (I haven't made it that far yet in any of my attempts) but this is the furthest I've got with no mistakes and I am inordinately proud :) I think perhaps it is time for me to figure out how to use a lifeline though...

Anyway, there we go, it is even sort of good to be back from holiday - I've enjoyed a few evenings curled up on the sofa knitting since we got back and I'm sure there will be many more this autumn - let's hope this means there will soon be more progress on Muir to share.

Playing catch-up

I'm sure people are starting to get bored of hearing how busy life has been for me between posts and how that prevents me from posting more often... I'm afraid, though, that that's just how things are around these parts at the moment. The usual demands on my time are the culprits with the added addition of a job interview (playing the waiting game at the moment) and the associated shopping (I am now the proud owner of not one, but two suits - sure I will need them at some point in the future!).

In the midst of all this I have managed to come up with an FO and buy more yarn (the latter of those never seems to be very difficult though!).





Here are my Broad Spiral Rib socks at last - who would have thought something so simple would take so long?! Nonetheless they are lovely warm socks and nice and snug because of the ribbed pattern so that's all good. I much prefer the way the striping worked out on one of the pair but the second sock is not bad either :)

So that's another WIP out of the way... Elfine's Unfinished Socks will be accompanying me off on holiday this week as will this new addition to my stash:



This is two out of the three skeins of Socrates Sock Yarn I ordered from Violet Green in the colourway Dusty Answer. I've never ordered yarn before that has turned out to look quite so unlike its website photograph... the photo I am posting here is really quite a good representation of how the yarn looks in real life - do you think it looks much like its photo on the website? Fortunately enough I actually quite like the yarn in the flesh, purples and teals/turquoises being colours I'm into at the moment so I'm prepared to let it slide, although I think I would have been happier if the yarn actually looked how I thought it would! This is destined to become some sort of lace scarf or stole, I'm not 100% sure exactly what will happen, although I will admit that I am very taken with Muir from Knitty so it might become an adapted version of that. We shall see. I plan to just pack the yarn and some needles and have a play, whether what I come back from holiday with is more than just a swatch or a tangle remains to be seen!

Craft imitating life

Well it looks like its been a while... life has been busy and not always that much fun recently. My thesis is proving tricky at the moment, every small change I want to make seems to necessitate six more changes somehow until I don't know what I'm dealing with anymore - I am working on trying to tame the thing though :o). I was rejected for another job (which I was sort of prepared for but it made me feel a bit sad nonetheless) and was treated to the delightful news that the PhD proposal which I worked so hard on for so long earlier in the year was not even considered (nobody even looked at it!) because of an administrative error that wasn't even my fault - what a waste of time that was! I'm not that upset about not being able to do a PhD this year as I had my doubts anyway but what does bother me (and I know this sounds odd) is how many choices this leaves open to me - try and get funded again next year, walk away from academia forever, stay in my current job, look for a new job (but what?) - I just hate having to be decisive! I would describe my current state of mind as somewhat scattered and I think my knitting projects reflect that to a certain degree...

I was working away quite happily on Elfine's Socks - to the point where the first one was very nearly finished:





(Incidentally the detailed shot of the lace is a pretty good representation of the actual colour of my Piece of Beauty Sweetgrass yarn). But as soon as all the serious making of life decisions wormed its way to the forefront of my mind (against my wishes!) I started making mistakes in the lace and having to rip back all the time - I don't want to ruin these socks so I put them aside and cast on for something a little simpler...



Yes, socks again (of course) but this time a mere 4 row repeat for these Broad Spiral Rib Socks in Trekking XXL shade 100. I'm not really following a pattern; I think I've knit enough socks now that I ought to be able to cobble one together as I go along... so I decided to challenge myself to do just that. I allowed myself to be inspired by Adam Knits!, searched around the Internet for the stitch pattern and just cast on. I've got down to the heel once realised that the stitch count I'd chosen was wrong and ripped all the way back, what you see above is my second attempt with slightly more stitches and which will hopefully make for a better looking and more functional heel. I'll carry on with these for the time being until my brain is in a place where it can cope with something trickier again.

Never fear though, I plan on giving my brain a helping hand to reach that place - I decided I deserved a rest so me and the boyf have arranged to head off on holiday to Spain at the beginning of October - anything academia-related will be banned (thoughts included) so I think I'll be reserving a place in my luggage for the Elfine's Socks - they ought to be safe :)

Of course there are more immediate things that can be done to cheer yourself up in times of crisis and indecisiveness and, hence, cake:



It certainly did the trick ;) - even if only temporarily... I predict more cake in my future!

Has anyone seen a weekend?

What happened to the weekend? It seemed to flash by so quickly I barely noticed its presence! Anyway, although it is a day late, here is the promised knitting update:



I now have one complete Falling in Love sock for Sockapalooza 4 as well as one sock knitted up as far as the heel. I haven't worked on these since I was in Croatia but I shouldn't have any trouble finishing the second sock before the deadline.

I added 2x2 ribbing to the cuff of the first sock and used the sewn bind off as inspired by Knit-Nurse but I'm still a bit concerned about the sock being difficult to get on to the foot. It did fit over my heel (my feet are not that dissimilar in size to my pal's barring foot length) but with a fair bit of tugging - what if it doesn't fit my pal? Eeek! I'm trying to think of ways to lessen the problem but I'm not sure what to do for the best... should I undo the ribbing and just knit another lace repeat and then bind off? Or how about 1x1 ribbing - would that be any stretchier? Or will a damn good blocking sort the problem out? Anyone have any thoughts on a possible solution? It's not the worst problem in the world, it doesn't render the socks completely unwearable but perhaps it would be better if things were a little less tight...



The Lombard Street socks didn't see any action until I got home from Croatia but I've been quite enjoying knitting them so far and they are getting along quite quickly. I will probably finish this first one and then return to the Sockapalooza socks before starting the second Lombard Street.

Things have already progressed since the photo I'm posting here, I have finished the gusset decreases and am heading for the toe. The Lombard Streets have a flap heel and I think I have managed to make my personal best heel on the first sock, it looks so neat and tidy and with not much in the way of unsightly holes - in the pattern the designer notes that it is better to put the instep stitches on hold on waste yarn whilst working the heel flap (as opposed to leaving them on one or two spare DPNs) as this will mean less of a hole at the corners of the heel. I'm certainly impressed with the way that tip seems to have paid off - who would have thought something so simple could make such a difference? I'll have to try it on some other socks and see if it yields the same results.

Anyhow, that's quite enough rambling for now, but, regardless of rambling, yay for knitting content! Hopefully my next post will be just as on-topic!

Lovestruck

I decided in the end that I couldn't wait to start the Sockapalooza 4 socks, so I dived straight in after I had finished the first toe-up cotton sock for my boyfriend (so nothing to cross off on the manifesto yet).

As much as I liked the Seduction sock pattern it needed resizing for my sockpal's foot measurements and I wasn't in a fit mental state to work out the maths required. So first of all I tried the Simply Lovely Lace Socks from Interweave Knits Spring 2006. But the twisted stitches did nothing for my lovely yarn so I ripped it out after an inch or so.

I've picked a new pattern though and I've been going well over the weekend, look:



Doesn't the yarn work up well, just plain stockinette looks great and no pooling or any weird effects at all. The front of the sock is yet more exciting and I'm quite pleased with it even though I have made one mistake with the lace chart which I decided not to go back and fix (hope sock pal won't mind!)



Here again (with flash - yuck!) so that you can see the stitch pattern:



The pattern is Falling in Love from Magknits. Haven't changed anything yet but I will be putting some ribbing at the top of the leg as has been done here. I'm definitely loving this pattern and the yarn is knitting up beautifully. I'm excited to keep working on these which is good. The toe of this, my second ever toe-up sock, was much more successful than the first attempt. I used Knitty's Magic Cast-On and remembered to twist my M1 stitches so as not to leave holes when I increased. I must make sure that I can whichever heel option it is I choose turns out just as neatly. There are a couple more lace repeats on the foot before I get to that though...

Under the radar...

... that's where I've been. Stress levels are riding high around here, moving house over the coming weekend and the associated preparations being the major culprit, throw in some trips to research libraries I've had to make for uni, and my general background levels of hassle and it all seems to add up.

So I've been up for some mindless, calming knitting - of course a stockinette sock is just perfect for that, but doesn't make for great photos. Here we go nevertheless:

But wait! The photo tells us that this isn't as mindless a sock as it might be. It is in fact My-First-Toe-Up-Sock (TM)! Inspired to no small extent by My Knitting Manifesto (I've decided to be good, only once I finish the second sock will I cross off the item on the manifesto) I decided to give toe-up a go, and it makes the stockinette a bit more interesting to have new construction techniques to think about as well, especially when the person you are knitting for has size 11 feet (that'd be the boyfriend then). I've found it's gone quite quickly but I'm not entirely happy with this first sock of the pair. I used Toe Method 2 from this pattern by Wendy for the cast on, the cast on was fiddly but actually looks OK on the sock. I used the wrong kind of increases for the toe which doesn't look so good but I will remedy it on the second sock (I know they won't match then but the boyfriend is into function over form when it comes to his socks). I didn't want to do the gusset heel from Wendy's pattern so I used the short row heel from this Knitty worksheet. I've wanted to improve my short row heels since I knit the first one for my first RPM sock (yes the second RPM sock is still stuck in the second sock hinterland). This current short row heel turned out rather holey, so that is another thing I will try to improve on with the second sock of the pair I remember having read about this tutorial from misocrafty so I think I will try to follow it for the heel of the second sock. So there you go that's what I've been up to and what I will be doing in the immediate future.

As for further in the future I am still vacillating over both my summer holiday project and my Sockapalooza socks. Who knows, maybe they will in fact turn out to be one and the same thing - perhaps this is the sensible course (no wonder I didn't consider it before!)

Bandwagon jumping

This weekend I did this:

I'm seeing so many people working on these Monkey socks at the moment and Knit-Nurse finally pushed me over the edge. That and the fact that I needed something other than unpicking Thermal to work on over the long weekend. Why not look here and here for two other examples of Monkey-knitters (that sounds a bit weird!) from my blogroll. I love this pattern and would heartily echo everything that Cara at January One has to say in that respect. The yarn is Regia Bamboo which I originally bought to knit Pomatomus (an attempt that ended in failure and a sulk big enough to prevent me from blogging about it) but I guess working another Cookie A pattern instead is a fair substitute. The yarn has a white thread plied into it which seems to make lace patterns get blurred quite easily but it is just about OK for this pattern. I do like the feel of this yarn though, nice and soft and more comfortable to wear than a cotton blend I think, we shall see how durable it turns out to be.

Of course the other purpose for knitting these is as a warm-up for Sockapalooza 4. The main areas I've noticed in this sock that I'd like to get better on are to have a neater looking gusset - in respect of both the picked up stitches and the decreases (my toe decreases look fine so I would like to achieve a similar look for the gusset decreases) and a neater join at the cuff of the sock. I will work on these aspects in the second Monkey sock and hopefully they will be remedied before I start work on my pal's socks. A few more ideas are coming on that front and I have now been in contact with my pals in both directions, this is getting very exciting!

One down

I have finished the first sleeve of Thermal - let's celebrate with an exceptionally dull photo! Woo hoo!

I was going to post another equally enthralling photo of how I have decided to make my next task unravelling the bottom ribbing and reknitting it - kinda scary (I will not be pleased if I mess it up; I am using a lifeline though so hopefully it will be alright) - but the batteries in my camera died so you are spared more boredom!

Perseverence is key at this stage I feel! Send good vibes...

Farewell lovely weekend

Easter weekend was so nice! How fortuitous that the weather decided to be so lovely.

There was much walking - on Friday to the country park at Woodgate, and on Sunday to the Lickey Hills, see:

In addition there was chocolate and ice cream (the first 99 of the season was enjoyed at the top of Beacon Hill whilst surveying the scene you see pictured above), delicious grilled salmon with hollandaise, the boy's bestest roast potatoes, courgettes and french beans for Easter Sunday lunch, seeing friends (inclusive of silly dancing in Reflex) and a blessed break from work.

There was also a fair amount of knitting on Thermal... I am just about to start the sleeve cap of sleeve number 1 - I seem to have been working on that bloomin' sleeve for ages. I do plan to persevere and get Thermal finished now, even though I don't suppose I'll get to wear it until autumn. Even though I still have (bound-to-be-interminable) sleeve number 2 + seaming + the neckband + correcting my messed up ribbing to get through my mind is turning to what I might knit next.

I have two projects in particular in mind, but am unsure about them - what does anyone think who might read this...?

I am thinking of Knitty's Convertible in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Camouflage - but will that merely resemble what the name suggests - a piece of camouflage netting? I'm also keen on the idea of Knitty's Eyelet but what do we think about knitted skirts people? Are they doomed to be unflattering or can they be OK?

Unusually...

... everything seems to be going to plan.

A sweet-smelling package has just arrived in the post:



My ebay seller has come up with the goods in plenty of time. That's 100g of dried lavender flowers, which certainly looks like way more than I thought it would. So I will be able, I would have thought, to finish the Heart Sachets very soon.

I'm also keeping my word as far as Thermal goes, my progress on sleeve number 1 looks something like this:



Fair enough, there is still a long way to go, but headway is at least being made.

Hopefully next time I post it will be with news of an FO or three!

So... do you like my new tank top?

I am fairly pleased with this so far, I think.

The misgivings: I am worried it is a little bit too tight - I followed the instructions in the pattern to round down the bust measurement, but really I think it wouldn't have been too bad if I'd rounded up (my measurement came out, as usual, squarely between two sizes), that said it might grow a bit when it is blocked and it doesn't look too bad. All will be revealed, in the time honoured and mystical way of knitting, I guess. My other misgiving is the ribbing - I don't know what I've done to it but the first three rows after the cast on look awful, the rest of the ribbing looks very neat and tidy though - it will bug me if I leave it how it is, so I think when I have done the sleeves I will undo all the ribbing and knit it back on again in the opposite direction. I hope this is a jumper which I really am going to wear so I'm sure it will be worth the effort.

Maybe tonight I will manage to cast on a sleeve...

Temporarily thwarted

Yes, well... my plans of finishing the Heart Sachets over the weekend are categorically not going to be fulfilled (this sort of thing seems to be a recurrent problem for me!).

The spanner in the works this time is the complete lack of lavender flowers available for purchase in Birmingham (although I have not searched all that exhaustively - no time). The way around this problem is of course to turn to ebay; I have ordered 100g of very reasonably priced lavender flowers from this seller, hopefully these will turn up speedily and then I can get on with filling and finishing the sachets in time for my friend's birthday celebrations.

Here's hoping!

ETA: One thing has gone according to plan: I've started working on Thermal again. The back neckline is now finished I am whizzing up the left front, so soon I will have a rather interesting looking tank top I would think ;)

By the way, Happy St. Patrick's Day to all who might be celebrating.

(Why not have a play with this: Catalog Card Generator)