Whoosh..

I’ve mainly photos today.  Things have got even busier here recently, but I’m hoping that after next week I’ll be able to get a handle on most of the stuff that’s been keeping me away, for a while anyway.

First up is a F.O.  The only knitted item I seem to have finished in so long.  I’m listing it first so that, as this is a picture heavy post, if you’re looking for the knitting it’s at the top and you don’t need to look at all the others if you don’t want to.

This is Mandalay Medalions by Norah Gaughan knitted in Hip Knits silk aran.  This yarn had been sitting in a basket for years.  Really.  One of those times when you know that there is a perfect pattern for a yarn, you just can’t find it.  When I saw this pattern on Interweave as a downloadable I knew it was just the thing I’d been looking for.

The only drawback with this was that the yoke is crochet and crochet and me aren’t the best of friends.  We sort of stand at each end of the room, staring each other out for a while and then give it our best shot, which never quite makes it if I’m honest.  Granny squares and blankets in trebbles I can manage but anything more and I start to go wrong.  I blame it on the fact that I’m left handed.  I knit right handed because that was the way my Mother taught me.  She couldn’t get her head around how to even start teaching left-handed knitting, so I learnt right-handed and never had too much trouble with it to be honest.  In fact over the years, I’m sure that learning to use my right hand with knitting has helped me overcome many of the problems left handed people meet.  Crochet is another matter though.  I have to hold the hook in my left hand, so right from the off  I’m sort of facing the wrong way.

Anyway,  if you don’t look too closely at the crochet I won’t mention it again.  When it’s being worn and moving around any mistakes don’t really show (don’t tell me if you see them, I’m in denial).

This photo shows the actual colour slightly better, although in this one it’s a little pale.  I took loads of pictures but I suppose it’s just one of those colours that doesn’t come right easily.

If you’ve seen this pattern in the wild then you will have noticed that I cut the length of the sleeves; the original had long sleeves.  I did have enough yarn, probably, but when I tried it on to check the body length it was agreed that the sleeves looked great as they were.  I simply added a few rows to each of them beyond the point of dividing for the body and cast off.  I also felt that as the sleeves were short and so near the yoke, adding the crochet edging to them as well would probably be too much.

I knitted this in about 9 days.  The medallions make up the whole yoke except for a few rows, the body is plain st.st on 5 mm needles and I left the sleeves short.  If you need a quick knit, and can crochet better than me, I can recommend this pattern.

That’s the knitting.  I’ve not managed to do a great deal else.  In the evenings to relax I am knitting on the Auburn Camp Shirt,( it is slow going on 3 mm needles but I just love fine knits.  They’re a real process knit) or the cotton Henley.  Just easy things really.

I have a scarf on the loom.

Again just an easy, mindless project- more theraputic than having to think too much.

The garden looks good -  in some places.

Tom Thumb Lettuce.  I took a chance on these a couple of weeks ago or so and planted a few straight into the garden.  Luckily we haven’t had a frost.  Plenty of rain and wind but no frost!

These Marigolds have been ready to go out for a while to be honest, but unlike a few lettuce, I wasn’t prepared to loose a whole load of these to a frost so they’re only just outside now hardening off.  The majority of them are destined for the veg patch for companion planting as usual but a few will go into the flower garden, eventually!

It looks to be another good year for Blueberry’s,  so far anyway.  This bush is packed with buds and young fruit.  I managed to get some cuttings from this plant to take (root) last autumn.  It will be some time until they grow to the size this one has, but I’m hoping in a couple of years I’ll have a few more like this.

A quick question.  What happens if you don’t tend your vegetables properly and your winter cabbages go to seed?

Answer.  This..

Beautiful eh? They’re a good 4-5 ft tall.

I’ve left them so far as I didn’t need the space, (it was still early) and the bees were having a great time.  Must feed the bees early in the year!  But, it’s time for them to be pulled now. Shame though.

Peas are doing well too.  I kept these covered with plastic sheeting held up with hoops.  Partly because the weather and partly to keep the cat off.  Seems to have paid off as they’re budding up nicely.

The courgettes are budding too.  Only trouble is, they’re still in the greenhouse in pots!  Something else I need to see to urgently.

I know it looks good, but if you could only see the overgrown parts of the garden you would see that it’s chaos really.

Oh, you can!

Can’t leave with that picture showing!  So here are a few of my favourite flowers at the moment.

Now I’m off to eat one of these rolls.

Whatever I’m doing, I can almost always find time to bake bread.  It sees to itself most of the time and all you’ve got to do is pop by now and again to either prod it, roll it or throw it into the oven.  The ultimate easy meal!

I’ve been knitting!

I know it’s been a while since I last posted (didn’t I say that last time?) but I’ve become a bit tied up recently (no not like that!).  I like to be able to concentrate on a post; I’ve never been a one picture two lines sort of person, although I’m considering giving it a go, but I can’t honestly see it getting much better in the foreseeable future.

When my eldest started college and only having one to teach not two, I thought I’d have lots more time, and to begin with I suppose I did for a while.  But life has a way of filling in the gaps and although my Mothers health had been failing for a while; she hasn’t been able to leave the house without me for a year or two now, she has become even more frail over this past winter and is now unable to manage anything more than a bit of cooking and some light dusting.  So, I’ve taken up looking after her house and garden as well as getting her out for a bit of a break each week and doing the shopping.  I’m happy to do all this and more, but it takes a large chunk of my week.  Business paperwork of which there seems to be more and more each year and teaching (my youngest is now approaching his last year before going to college) as well as my own cleaning, gardening and of course cooking, take up all the rest.  I’m not complaining, and I know lots of people who are easily as busy, but I felt I’d just explain.

But, in my case anyway and I suspect in yours too, life would not be the same without knitting.  Even if it’s pretty straightforward knitting it’s still knitting and sometimes simple knitting is the best. It’s nice to be able to just knit and relax and not think for a while.

Now, I had some great (for me anyway) pictures of two of my recent FO’s, but, because I was a bit low on disk space (how does that happen?) my computer ate them.  And before you ask, yes I’d already deleted them from my camera.  I usually keep copies on my camera until I’ve finished editing just in case but, well, if I had this time we all know the computer would not have eaten them and I wouldn’t have needed the copies!

So I do have photos but not so good ones.

The Victoria Yoke Pullover.  As you can probably see by the cuff, it’s already seen a bit of wear.

VICTORIA YOKE PULLOVER

by Jennifer Lang printed in IK winter 08

Yarn: Sublime Merino DK

I ended up modifying this a bit.  I know it was one of the design elements of the original but after wearing it a bit, I just couldn’t get on with the neck, it was too high and just didn’t look right on me.  I folded it over as you would sometimes on a crew neck and sewed it down.  I also changed the bottom edge and cuffs from a rib to a turned edge and knitted the button band on the opening to match.

Even though I changed it a bit, this is a great pattern.  Top down sweaters are fast becoming my favourite at the moment.  The Sublime is next to the skin soft and although it seems to stretch a bit when washed, it does bounce back once it’s dry.  This is a very simple but effective knit and so comfortable it is fast becoming a wardrobe staple.

Another recent FO is the Slinky Ribs by Wendy Bernard.

SLINKY RIBS

by Wendy Bernard from her book Custom Knits

Yarn: Stylecraft Kon-Tiki  cotton/acrylic mix

Another top down, this was a very quick knit.  The cotton mix I used for this, although lighter than all cotton, is still a bit heavier than the original design, which was knitted in a silk /wool mix, but it still came out really wearable.

This has come in really handy for putting over a long sleeve T, what with our changeable spring weather!  I wouldn’t mind knitting another in a lighter yarn with more drape though.

I did knit a pair of socks for my LYS but failed to take a picture before I dropped them off! Imagine here a pair of pretty Alpaca socks in teal, white and terracotta stripes!

I’ve started another couple of projects since finishing these, though I’ve not managed to get all that far with them yet.  The first is another of Wendy Bernards’ patterns, the Saddle A-Line also from Custom Knits.  I’m knitting it in another of Sublime’s yarns, this time their Merino/Silk/Cashmere DK in a lovely raspberry colour.  I’m finding it a bit finer than the pure Merino yarn and have gone down to 3.5 mm needles to give me 6 sts/inch. I want the sweater to be squishy and warm for my Mother to wear though not too stiff and this gauge seems to work so far, though I’ll be able to tell better when I’ve got a bit more of it kitted up.

The other project was to be a cotton cardigan.  I’d come across a picture of one which had several design elements that I quite liked and decided to put together one of my own.  I worked it all out for a seamless knit and started knitting it in the same yarn as I used for the Slinky Ribs.  The only thing I failed to take into account was all the purling in the cotton yarn practically killed my hands.  Slinky Ribs was knitted mostly in the round and the parts that were knitted flat were the k2,p2 rib so it didn’t have any areas with miles of purl stitches.  I must be getting old (Shhh!) because all I seemed to be able to manage was a few rows a night before my hands ached and I had to switch projects to something with a bit of give in it.

After giving it a good try, I decided that it could, at this rate, take me all year to complete so I looked around for something else and came across the Organic Cotton Henley by Micki Hair in the book Simple Style by Interweave. It’s knitted entirely in the round, perfect, as for some reason knit stitches in the cotton don’t give me the same trouble.

There is a bit of a seamless theme going on here I know but it just  seems to feel right knitting them at the moment.  More of an organic process.

Talking of organic….which leads to.. gardening (sorry!)

Spring is always a busy time in the garden and I’ve been trying to prioritise.  Some areas are looking rather neglected but I figure I can clear and plant in one go rather than clear, then plant.  I don’t suppose in reality there’s any difference between the two courses of action but needing to plant something then realising that I need to clear an area for it somehow gets it done more quickly!

So as not to bore you too much with various photos, I have put together a bit of a collage of what’s going on.

I have the first lot of peas in, but under cover, they’re doing well and I’m aiming to start another lot off this weekend.  I’ve also been lucky with the weather and have a few lettuces in the ground but I do cover them over at night just in case.  All the chillies, tomatoes, peppers and courgettes are up and will need potting on soon as will the kale, which although I won’t have room for to begin with, I’m hoping to grow them on in larger pots until I do.

I’ve also managed to get some flowers going this year.  Marigolds I always grow as I companion plant them among the vegetables but they seem to be doing especially well this year. I also have cosmos, antirrhinums and Pansy’s all doing well with Californian poppies, tobacco plants and something else whose name escapes me at the moment bringing up the rear.  In the ground the hostas and sweet peas are growing daily and the clematis have so many buds on we should be in for a pretty good show.  Not bad for April.  Let’s just hope it carries on!

Passing through

I’ve been a little busy with life things recently, and to be honest, enjoying taking a little break from finding things to write about.  But, by special request (you know who you are!) here are the things I’ve been working on while away.  There are a few.

In no particular order,

This baby cardigan was a dream to knit.  It certainly brought back memories, not that I’ve ever knitted very many baby girl clothes having had two boys but I did just a few for friends.

So soft.

The pattern is Sirdar S1842 knitted in their Kisses DK.  I knitted it for my LYS as a sample (which reminds me, must return the pattern, sorry!) and it took me just a few hours.  It was knitted flat on straight needles and I always thinks it’s a shame that a great deal of British pattern makers insist on patterns for flat knitting and not circular as this would have been so much better knitted in the round.  I did put in some short rows on the front though.  The pattern had you cast off the stitches in steps to shape the yoke and then pick them back up again, such a waste of time and not the neatest way either. Oh well, maybe one day. End of rant!

Next up is some Shetland top I spun and plied into a fine fingering weight.

Here it is plied but still on the bobbin.  This is about 50 g and was intended for an aran sock but didn’t hold the stitch definition well, I should have made a three ply!

It will be some sort of sock eventually and I may even spin the next 50 g to go with it!

Passing a quilting shop recently I came across some fabric covered in cats and couldn’t resist.  I bought some plain brown and some check material to go with it and turned it into a huge knitting bag.

This is big enough to put all, well almost all, my projects in it with all the notions and patterns needed to go with them.

The cat material made the pockets, the brown is the body of the bag and I used the check as a lining for the pockets and inside.  It’s all backed with the stiffest interfacing I could find so it holds itself up pretty well.  The three materials together made it a bit expensive but still nowhere near what you would pay for one.  I used to do a great deal of sewing, back in the old days! I even made my own wedding dress but it’s been years since I did more than turn up trousers or mend something so this made quite a change.

What’s next? Oh, I’m still working on this,

The Victoria yoke pullover from Knits.

I did the crochet edging while I was waiting to pick up some more yarn.  Originally I put some lovely heart shaped wooden buttons on it but wasn’t sure if I liked the look so I made some crochet ones and put them on roughly just to see.  I still can’t decide.

This orangy blob is the Auburn camp shirt from Spring 08 Knits magazine.

It’s been in the making for a while using some merino 4ply from the stash that was laying around.  I’m not particularly knitting seriously on it, just picking it up from time to time when I feel like it.

You’ve got to love the waist shaping on this, in fact the details are what really make it a special knit.

This is taking a while, as things do on 3 mm needles knitted flat, but as I said I’m in no hurry with this one.  It’s more of a process knit than anything else I suppose.

Next up are some socks that I’ve been knitting for a while.  I’m sure I mentioned them before, they’re from some merino and nylon sliver that I brought a while ago and dyed myself.  Not the softest merino, if that is what it is, but they should be hard wearing.

After dying, I split the sliver in half for two socks, then each half lengthwise and then each one, one more time giving me four pieces for each sock.  I spun up two pieces on each of two bobbins and plied them.  As you can see, the sock I’m working on at the moment has many more colour matches where one bobbins colour matched the other than the first sock but that’s the charm I suppose.

The construction for these is toe up with a Widdershins heel.  I must say that after I managed to get my head round the widdershins heel construction ( I needed a different set of figures from the original and the maths for this heel is hard, well for me it was!) I fell in love.  It’s got to be just about the best toe up heel there is IMHO.  These fit perfectly and all I have left to do is the leg of the second so they shouldn’t be too long to the finish now.

Are you bored yet?

Last but not least then is this.

It is the beginning of Slinky Ribs from Custom Knits.  I’m knitting it in a cotton/acrylic mix which has a great stitch definition.

I didn’t intend to start this just yet but was left alone to browse in my LYS for a while and the rest as they say is history!  It’s actually a really quick knit.  I’m down under the arms already and only knit on it while recovering from being in the garden on Saturday and Sunday evening.

Oh.  I thought that was the last but I’ve forgotten one.  With so many things suddenly on the go I’ve lost track.

A week or so back while doing science with my youngest I suddenly got the itch to start some colour work again and before I knew it I’d started the Celtic Lattice from Folk Vests.  Sometimes it’s not a good thing to have so many books!

I’m knitting it in Kauni yarn, and yes I did take apart the Autumn cardigan but I’m trying not to mention it as it was a bit of a sore point with DH!  So far it’s looking pretty good.  This is the front where the steek is.

In between those panels are little scrolls.

Forgive the blurry picture but I was in the garden taking these and just realised that a neighbours grand daughter was leaning over the fence watching me!  Still they know I’m strange.

That really is that.  As you can see, although I haven’t been blogging, I’ve still been busy knitting/crafting wise.  I suddenly decided last month to just go with the flow and start whatever I felt like and see where it led.  So far I’m having a ball.

Even though this has been a pretty picture heavy post, I have to add a few pictures from the garden.  Last time I was here we had snow everywhere.  How things have changed now,

I have a tulip.  Yes, just the one so far but I’m hoping for many more.

I have seedlings sprouting all over the house and greenhouse.

And I have beautiful cauliflowers.  I’m ignoring the fact that these probably should have been here for the winter but better late than never!  If I can keep the slugs off these I have another eleven just like this one to enjoy over the next few weeks.

Oh and just for you (again, you know who you are!) a picture of our largest tortoise.

This is Bentley.  He’s a leopard tortoise and roams freely in the house with us.  We have seven more but they’re all pretty small compared with this monster.  Bentley is about 11 yrs old and his shell is just over 14 inches long .  He’s big and heavy weighing in at about 9 lb.  I put him on the deck to take this, but he always has his own ideas.

This is him straight after, retreating back into the house!

Back soon!

It’s going to have to go.

After finishing Anne-Evilla I still have two fairly long standing UFO’s left (well three if you count the Autumn Cardigan that’s sleeping away somewhere but I’m not counting that for now).  One is the Lace Tank which I’ll finish, although it may have to wait until spring now, my motivation for lacy summer clothes is at a bit of a low ebb!

And the other is the Cabled Yoke Cardi.

Now this one is going to have to go.

I could write a long explanation about row gauge and fitting the pieces together and how, really, this pattern would have been far better if it was a seamless knit, but all that aside, at the end of the day,  I’ve pretty much fallen out of love with this.  I’ve found that knitting this yarn at this gauge is making the cardigan heavy and stiff and I’m just not keen at all.  I have seen one or two other patterns that would be perfect with this yarn and I’ve decided that I stand more chance of ending up with something I’ll love if I switch patterns.  One, as they say, for the frog pond then.  It’s a shame but it happens, which is what I was getting at when I wrote about trying to choose what I’m going to knit more carefully.  Only thing is, as a single, I have a feeling this yarn isn’t going to take well to being ripped back but I’ll give it a try and if it looses too much twist perhaps I can run it through one of my wheels and save it.

In an attempt to cut down on the stash, I’ve spent a bit of time recently looking carefully through patterns and if I have a yarn that I think will work, I’m putting the pattern and yarn together.  It may not end up being what I’ve chosen but it’s giving me a good idea of what I’ve got.  It’s proving to be a pretty good exercise.  I’ve found that I have more sweater amounts than I thought and some yarn that looked pretty uninteresting, when put with the right pattern, begins to hold new promise.  I’ve also found that I’m getting a bit short on sock yarn, not the outcome I wanted, but I suppose as they say, sock yarn doesn’t count as stash.  What I have most of though are groups of several balls, not enough for a sweater on their own but too many to disregard.  I’ve been giving these some thought and can perhaps see some fair isle type projects or quite a few vests in my future!

At the moment though I’ve started knitting the Victoria Yoke Pullover by Jennifer Lang from winter 08 Knits magazine.

It’s flying by, you’ve got to love seamless sweaters! (Well, I do anyway.)

I’m knitting this in Sublime pure merino DK in teal.  With the neckline on this I didn’t want to take any chances with something that may be even a little irritating in any way.  The yarn is soft and bouncy, as you would expect from merino, and I’m getting gauge on 3.75 mm circulars.  The original pattern has short sleeves but I’ll probably make mine long.  In merino with a high neck this is definitely a cold weather garment and as such I don’t see the point in short sleeves really.

Talking of cold, we’ve had a bit of snow recently.  I know that you can buy cards with robins on in the snow, but in reality, here, it just hardly ever happens so this picture is a keeper! It’s a little dark but I hope you can see his colouring.

This is a black bird that the Boys have named Arthur ( it’s a long story!) he’s here almost all day every day and has become so tame he sits in the garden waiting for you to feed him.  He doesn’t even bother to fly away if you go near him.

When this picture was taken he had just finished chasing some of the other birds away.  The colder it gets the more possessive about the food he becomes.  Blackbird numbers here have decreased by as much as 32% with the recent wet summers and so who can blame him if he’s a little touchy!  I make sure the others have some too though by putting up several hanging feeders that, as he cannot feed from them, he’s not interested in.

I’ve a bit of a run of bird pictures today, but I couldn’t resist including this one.  This cock pheasant is now free to roam as the shooting season ended a few weeks back.

I tried to get closer to get a better shot but I didn’t want to chase him away.  He’s living in the wooded area at the back of the field and ventures out every now and again to look for food.

In the garden, my cabbages are fairing pretty well.  At least the cold weather keeps the slugs at bay!

I did get out in the garden before the snow arrived and did a few, much needed jobs, but once the snow arrived what else was there to do but some indulgent baking.

Profiteroles with lashings of whipped cream and chocolate.  I’ll need to get back out in the garden and work some of the calories off at this rate!

That’s it.  I’ll leave you with one of my favourite pictures of our recent rare weather.

FO: Anne – Evilla

Anne – Evilla by Ruth Sorensen

I finally finished this.  I’m pleased with the way it turned out, the blue on blue doesn’t look too bad and it fits perfectly, which is always a bonus.

I love the mixture of lace and colour.  The Evilla yarn is just like kauni, not soft but good for colour work.

The colours in the photos are as accurate as I could get them, the light hasn’t been good around here lately.  I did wait around for a few days to see if it improved but in the end decided it could be a long time and just took them.

Knitted seamlessly in the round this is just such a great knit, I love Ruth’s patterns.  This really wasn’t difficult to knit but looks very effective.

I’ve found I like seamless knits so much that my next main project will be seamless too.  I’ve seen several other patterns recently that I’ve liked but at the moment I have no desire, however nice something looks, to knit flat and sew seams.

That’s my lot.  I’ve been to the dentist this morning, 45 minutes in the chair,  £ 151 lighter in the bank.  At this rate it’s becoming a toss up between heating or teeth.   I plan on having them removed – soon!

Oh, Anne-Evilla how I missed you!

With the socks out of the way (I’ve had them back since as they don’t fit.  Always knew that short row heel didn’t afford the extra width I needed for the instep, still,  I don’t mind at all as I’ve just got myself a new pair of socks and Mum can have the zig zag ones ) I picked up Anne-Evilla and started to put in the final few rows of colour work.

I’ve missed working on this.  Some projects, by the time I’m nearing the end, I am done and can’t wait to get them off the needles.  Others, not many but a few, I really enjoy knitting and am in no rush to finish.  This one is like that.  It is such an interesting knit with just enough lace and just enough colour work that you don’t get fed up with either.  It’s taken a bit of thinking about too.  The colours I chose to knit this with have taken some thought and playing around with to get to run right (or as right as I can make them) and I’ve had to wind off part balls of yarn and try to match colours here and there.  This is mainly because I chose to make all the lace sections in the blue yarn.  I probably wouldn’t have had half the trouble if I had just let the colours do what they wanted.

I’ve now reached the lace collar section and obviously want that section in blue too.  The last stripe on the body section is also blue.  I contemplated putting in an extra brown stripe for proper contrast but the raglan decreases are also in this part and that would leave me with either too few stitches to work the correct lace repeats for the collar, or too many rows without any decreases, which wouldn’t lay flat.  I decided to leave it as a blue stripe into blue lace.  So far it’s looking OK.  You can let me know when I’m done what you think

Although there is only a small amount of knitting left to do, the finishing will take a while.  The  sleeve and back stitches are knitted onto spare yarn and the collar is then knitted from the front stitches as a square with a hole in the centre for the neck opening. This is then grafted onto the top of the sleeves and across the back so it is seamless.  I can see this taking some time.

Last week, (I think it was last week.  Perhaps it’s my age but time seems to be speeding up!) I finished the Houndstooth scarf.

It’s roughly 5 feet long and 7″ wide, woven from only two balls of sock yarn.  It turned out to be quite fine and lightweight and ideal for tucking into my coat without too much bulk.

The sun came out for a moment so I quickly took a couple of photos before it disappeared again!

I’ve had some fine, slubby cotton/wool/silk  mix yarn for sometime tucked away at the back of a cupboard.  One of those purchases that seemed a good idea at the time but never came to anything!  I put some of it onto the loom to weave a cushion cover but it’s not working out so I’m going to cut it off and put it down to experience.  Some day I’ll find a use for that yarn!  So, I’m looking around for another project, something not too big that I can play with for half an hour each evening.   I’ve promised myself no stash of weaving yarn, not yet anyway.  I used some of my savings to help buy this, so I’m on a diet!  I have lots of old yarns around that could become something while I learn so I’m going to use them all up first.

With one knitting project coming to an end, I always find myself looking around for the next.  This year I decided to try and be more choosy over what I knit.  Before deciding on anything I’m going to ask questions that I suppose I should ask all the time, but don’t.  For instance – Does that shape and style suit me?  Will I really wear that once I’ve knitted it? And one of the major ones for me if I’m going to get a lot of wear from something – Is it practical?  I tend to look at a picture, fall in love and dive right in.  This quite often results in a UFO or falling out of love before I should.   I’ve found that if I leave the pattern on the table for a few days or more and really look at it, I can find reasons why I probably shouldn’t knit it.  A most recent example was a lovely cable number in a soft merino that I was itching to start, but after sitting on the idea for a week and going over the pattern and pictures, I could see design details such as the arm hole shaping and waist shaping that wouldn’t be right for me.  I’m still looking around.

First is Last…. or should that be Last is First.

Oh, never mind!

I finished the balaclava and sent it away just as the weather here is warming up a little.  Still, I’m sure it will come in handy at some point over the next couple of months.  As you can see, the slit in the front is pretty small.  This version, the Quick and Easy Balaclava by Helen Fleischer from Homespun Handknit covers all of the head, neck and face except the eyes.

I didn’t wash or block it but I’m sure the recipient won’t mind.  I did, however, put in a little note about not going into the bank with it on though, just to be on the safe side!

I decided to spend the first part of this year finishing off some of the WIP’s from last year.  I thought the mystery yarn socks, ( or as I later found out thanks to jamie12 from Ravelry, Austermann Step) aka Nutkin  by Beth LaPensee deserved to be the first.

Remember these?  Well,  I’d knitted the first one and then just stalled.  They were supposed to be finished in time to go in with Mums’ cardigan but just never made it.

These do bias quite a bit.  I’ve read that it can be due to not having knitted the cuff together exactly stitch for stitch when you turn it over.  I made sure that everything was exact but they still twisted.  It didn’t matter though as I didn’t extend the pattern down the feet and for all that said, it’s a great pattern so I can completely forgive it this small thing.  The only changes I made was to limit the pattern to the leg and replace the three needle bind off on the short row toe with a grafting so they are seamless.  It will be hard to let these go, they’re so comfortable.

I’ve started a quick, plain pair of socks in King Cole Zig Zag sock yarn.  I need to replace a few pairs this year as several of mine have been lost recently through wear and tear or various washing errors!

Aptly named!  I just hope the other one does the same.  The yarn is quite thin so these are on 2 mm dpn’s.  At first I wasn’t sure if I liked them but they have a funny feel good thing going on and are growing on me fast.

Next up for finishing will be Anne Evilla.

I put this aside just before Christmas to concentrate on knitting gifts.  When I left it, I had only a few stripes left to do before knitting the lace yoke or collar.  I’ve read over the pattern again to try and remember things and the instructions don’t seem to be as clear as they were somehow; one of the problems with putting knitting aside is re-acquainting yourself with the pattern each time.  Still, I’m hoping to get to grips with it soon, probably not this weekend though unless it rains as the jobs in the garden are mounting up.

I always fall into the trap of believing that in winter there is very little to do but this is rarely the case.  There is a hedge that needs sorting pretty soon and I have just received 10 bare rooted strawberry plants that must be put in within the next couple of days at the latest.  Also, I didn’t put in any garlic again this autumn.  Last years’ was a success from a January planting so I had planned to get that done this month too.  The only spare time I have this weekend will be Sunday afternoon so it looks like it will be a busy one!

These beauties keep visiting the blueberry bush on the deck.  They are   Long Tail Tits looking for insects and check back here regularly.

There are about half a dozen in total and are so full of character I can’t help but stop and watch every time I see them.  This one is hanging on a bay that was badly burnt in the cold.

Oh, and I’ve been spinning.  More of my plan to finish things up, so hopefully I’ll have that to show next week.

May we all have a peaceful but productive weekend!

I don’t mean to moan, so perhaps I won’t.

I was going to have a moan about it being  -5 deg. C this morning, (it was when I started this post, it’s now milder and pouring with rain.  I’m not sure what I prefer!) that our fuel prices are so high  I’m trying to use as little as possible and that the Tax Man is giving me a headache this year but then I decided that we are all aware of the problems facing, well.. all of us at the moment and things could be worse so the best thing is probably to move on swiftly.

So without further ado..

This is the new addition to my fibre room.  We’re having to call it a fibre room now because my ’stuff’ is taking up so much space in there that it would be silly to continue to try and pretend it’s anything else.

Obviously, it’s a loom.  This was no quick decision.  I’d been seriously mulling the idea over since sometime back in the summer and vaguely for a while before that but couldn’t make up my mind whether to take the plunge or not.  If you had asked me a few years ago whether or not I would ever weave the answer would have been a definite no, but then I wasn’t keen on spinning at one time, so I guess things change.

There were many reasons why I finally decided to learn.  Making things that I either can’t or don’t like to knit was amongst them, but really, honestly, the main reason was the challenge -  you use fibre, it can be complicated and I can’t do it.

My first attempt was a sampler scarf in fine 4ply pure wool from cones that I had in the stash.  The white was used as a blank for sock wool that I dyed a fair bit of before finding out that although good for plain socks, it didn’t have that good a stitch definition and the tweedy blue was going (some day) to be a fine knit sweater, still may be as I have quite a bit of it.

It’s pretty long.  Long enough to wrap around my neck and reach down past my waist.  I tried various different weaves throughout and ended up really liking how it changes pattern constantly.

Working everything out and setting this up made my head hurt, but that I suppose, was what I’m after, a learning curve.  And this weaving thing is quite a curve.  At the moment I feel like a beginning knitter that has been taught knit and purl and then given a stitch dictionary and told to go off and knit something.

I’ve set the loom up for another scarf (start simple!) but this time in a type of hounds tooth.  I think that’s what it’s called, it’s all new to me!

This time it’s some sock yarn, the same as the fair isle socks from a while ago.  I’m not sure this will be right as it looks a little open to me.  The last one I fulled a little after taking if off the loom but this sock yarn is machine washable so that won’t happen.  Well, I’ll find out at some point!

I am having great fun with weaving and enjoying the learning process, however much I stand and stare and scratch my head, but knitting and spinning are my main loves and will always be.  For me, weaving is more of an active thing.  Measuring warp, threading everything up and even the actual weaving, takes not only concentration but is a very active thing.  I know knitting takes varying degrees of concentration, but mostly I find it calming and relaxing.  I love the constant finger movement of knitting,  I can’t explain why and spinning is almost meditation.  They are all yarn but in a way so very different.  Perhaps it’s a good thing, this way they will never compete with each other.

I am finding time to do almost everything I want to each day, so far.  I get up early and move a bit quicker!  Don’t know how long it will last, I’ll let you know

As for knitting.  Of course I’m still knitting!  I’ve had a special request for a balaclava.  One that covers all of the face with just a slit for the eyes -  for keeping warm whilst dog walking.

The pattern is the Quick and easy Balaclava from Home spun, hand knit.  I chose a baby aran acrylic yarn so it would be really soft, I couldn’t stand the thought of anything remotely harsh against the face.  I’m not a fan of  k1,p1 rib but it is knitting up quickly.  I’m using a 3.75 mm circular and getting a lovely squishy fabric.  I always end up going down needle sizes with this kind of yarn,  I knit quite loosely, (although it never feels it to me) and I always feel that acrylic needs to be tighter somehow.

January is when I start seed shopping.  I love sitting indoors working out what to buy for the coming season and dreaming of better weather (perhaps!).  I still have quite a few seeds left over from last year but I like to pick something new each year and find other varieties for things that maybe didn’t do as well as they should.  Each year I try to find types of chillies that I haven’t tried before and this year I’ve managed to find some chocolate coloured chillies so I’m looking forward to starting those off soon.  Must go and get the rest of my order in quickly though as I want to try some very popular salad potatoes this year and they’re selling fast!

Sorry!- A belated Happy New Year and a 2nd Blogiversary to me!

and for that matter, a Merry Christmas.

You may, (or may not!) have noticed that I’ve been missing over the past few weeks.  Partly because I’ve been busy, as we all have been, with Christmassy things etc. and partly because I’ve been sitting thinking a lot about this blog and blog reading in general, my knitting and spinning and how it seems to take up so much of my time.

This was all made perhaps more poignant as the beginning of the year is also my Blogiversary.  January 3rd 2007 was my first entry I think, and as the second anniversary was looming, one which when I started I had no visions of ever reaching, it made me think, as I presume many of us do, what’s it all about and why do I do this?

I spend quite a good deal of time sitting at the computer, for one reason or another, and probably far too much time reading blogs, writing mine and trying to keep up with Ravelry (which I do badly).  We all know how the internet seems to eat time, we sit down with a cup of tea and a promise to just spend a few minutes surfing and before we know it the natives are staging a revolution because nobody has been fed, well, perhaps that’s just here, but I’m sure you have done something similar!

So, over the holidays I had a kind of self imposed ban on all things internet related and I kept away.  Some days the computer sat quiet, not even switched on to check the news or weather (the boys each have their own).  By the way, if you contacted me and I haven’t replied, I’m sorry.  Anyway, the days passed and I didn’t seem to miss it at all.  My mind was almost made up not to blog any more myself and just read a few favourites at lunch time, after all it would free up so much more time for other things.

BUT.  Then I finished a pair of fingerless mittens and when I showed them around the house to everyone, who were all similarly unimpressed, after all, what’s another pair of mittens!  I remembered why we read and write blogs and spend time on Ravelry.  I had forgotten how important the community is.  How much fun it is to read about what everyone else is doing, whatever that may be.  I read the email with my blog stats. on and felt a little twinge of guilt at being away for so long.  I realised that, however short of time I may be, these things are an important part of my life, not frivolous, but time well spent.  The friends I have online that I talk to via email are just as important to me than all my other friends, perhaps more as we have far more in common and I realised I wasn’t prepared to give all that up.

So, for the time being, you’re stuck with me!

I have some catching up to do, so bear please with me.  I know it’s past, but here are a few more things that I managed to get done over the last month.

First up.  The Cable jacket for my Mum, finished a couple of days before Christmas.  I didn’t have time to wash and block it before wrapping it up and the photo is pretty poor, but well I was pressed for time!

It fits well too, so that was a bonus!  Knitted in Sirdar Click chunky with wool on 5mm needles.  I went down a size on the needles to get a much tighter knit.  This yarn was very soft and I had visions of it stretching madly with the weight of this if knitted on anything larger.  This jacket took about 15 balls.

This blob turned into a hat for my brother.  It’s the Seaman’s Cap by Brenda Zuk, pattern available for free on Ravelry.  The yarn is Wendy Velvet Touch, another stash buster, which knits into a fleece fabric, just right for someone who wears very little else!

It was a bit of nightmare to knit with to be honest.  Black and fluffy didn’t make it easy to see the stitches.

And finally…

A pair of Main Morning Mitts for my eldest who leaves home early in the morning and is suffering in this very cold (for us) winter.  I used two strands of merino held together on fairly small needles to make them thick and virtually wind proof.  As you can see, they’ve had a bit of use already.

Well, I think that just about rounds up the rest of the gift knitting for this year.

The pair of mitts in the corner of the photo are the same pattern on smaller needles, knitted with Noro again from the stash.  I knitted the first one before realising that they were a bit too girlie for my eldest, so put it to one side and finished the pair just last night.

I’ve just realised that I’ve been sitting here far too long and that the floors will not wash themselves.  Nothing changes eh!

Next time, as there now will be a next time!  I’ll show you what yarn related present I received this year.  Oh, last year now isn’t it!

Happy New Year, I do hope you all had a happy time and Happy Blogiversary to me!

More hats than I think I’ve ever knitted..

in one go anyway.

It’s been a little cold here.  Looks a little like snow, if you squint a bit anyway.  We don’t often get snow here and none that stays if we ever do, we are too far south and west, and too close to the sea.  Frost is about as close as it usually gets to being white around here, but it can stay most of the day.

Actually, as I write it’s raining, but still cold.   It keeps raining then freezing, a bad combination.  I’m just hoping that the weather settles down and becomes cold, frosty and bright or warm but wet, the two combinations we most commonly get here in the winter, not this all at once thing that’s going on, it’s making getting about a bit treacherous.

I’ve been gift knitting.  Hats mainly.  For some reason everyone wants hats this year.  I don’t often knit hats, not several one after the other anyway but thankfully they only take a couple of hours or so each.

Christmas hats

You’ll have to forgive the photos.  Each one has been taken and then edited to make them lighter, it’s just so dark at the moment. I was waiting for a better day to take them but the sun just doesn’t seem to want to make an appearance at the moment and the flash is just washing these out for some reason.

These are all knitted using the pattern, Turn a Square by Jarred Flood.  I changed needle size and yarn but basically it’s the same.

The two at the back were knitted using Sirdar Escape DK.  It’s a 51%/49% Wool/Acrylic but behaves and feels very woolly.  It isn’t too soft and has a decent amount of substance to it, a nice hand if you will, something most of these acrylic mixes lack, IMHO   I wanted to be able to give these hats without having to pass on strict washing instructions as I often find it puts some people off, so this yarn seemed a perfect trade off.  I also think, having now knitted with it, that it would make a great sweater, just saying!

The front hat, the multicoloured bright one, is for my youngest, who after seeing the others, decided he would like one with red in it.  The yarn is Twilleys Freedom spirit, a 100% hand wash only wool.  I’ll be washing this one so the content didn’t matter and this was one of the few yarns I could find with all three requirements; colour changing, red, and not too girly!  I hope this fits the bill, if not it won’t go to waste as someone else in the house has tried to pinch it already. You know who you are!

The mittens are also done.

These are so warm.  Knitted with the alpaca/wool  left-overs from my raglan cardigan.  I actually had four balls, or there about, left and these took the lot.  It was all the looping inside that took the majority of it and oh, did it take a long time to do.  I’m pleased and sure the recipient will be too but to be honest I’m not in a hurry to knit another pair soon.  In the pattern the designer does give an estimate of approx. 15 minutes per rib for the looping and actually I found this was pretty accurate, but just look at how many ribs there are, and the 15 minutes didn’t take into account the fiddling and threading and messing about.

Don’t let all this put you off though if you were thinking of making these as they are worth the effort.  They are very warm and feel like they’ll last for years, so on a time to make vs. length of use they win, just don’t try to make them in a hurry like I did!

Something else I put together quickly was a tea cosy for my Mum.  It was a special request as hers had given out recently and her kitchen is so cold the tea was going cold in the pot.

Something else knitted with left-overs.  This time two strands of DK held together and knitted with 4mm needles to make it nice and thick.  I used up all my scraps of Shetland I had left over from the fair isle patterned vest (was that this year, or last?) so it made for some interesting colour combinations.

Traditionally, my mother and grandmother would not have dreamed of knitting a tea cosy in anything else but left-overs, thrift was the thing, (unless it was to be a special gift and this was not exactly a gift as such! It is already in use and doing very well!) and whilst I was knitting this I had one of those strange knitters connection feelings going on.

Both my Mum and her Mum knitted, first out of necessity and then just because they always had. They knitted for most of their lives from small girls right up until their hands would just not allow them to do it any more.  My Grandmother never bought anything she could make herself (probably where I get it from) and she was also a beautiful seamstress and embroiderer.  Before she was married, in the 1920’s, she sewed skirts and other things for Harrods.  I was lucky enough to inherit her treadle sewing machine, and although I have an electric one now, I still prefer the treadle.  One of my memories of her is watching while she sides to middled sheets.  This, done to make bed sheets last longer, involved taking a worn out sheet and cutting it down the middle where it had worn thin and stitching the sides together, which were not so worn, to make a new one.  Thankfully now we don’t have to do that any more, at least not at the moment anyway!

I’m working hard on finishing the Cable Girl Cardigan for Mum.  I really would like to finish this and be able to give it to her for Christmas.  As it stands, I have a back and one and a half fronts.  I have no idea if I can knit the other half a front, two sleeves and a large collar over the next 15 days but I’ll give it a try.  Pictures will be forthcoming either when the sun shines or when I get fed up with waiting again!

You may have noticed that there are no socks as gifts this year, so far.  Last year I think there were two pairs at least.  I need more time…