I finished my Bixbite Shawl this past August. The design is by Veera Välimäki. The pink and grey skeins are from Sugarplum Circus, the navy blue is from Gynx Yarns. It is super cosy and soft and I loved knitting it. The thick blocks of striping were done with short rows; it was my favourite part of knitting this shawl.
Perhaps I was being a little hard on myself last time I wrote here. I’ve since worn my Rose cardigan a few (many) more times, and I discovered that a loose fitting cardigan can conceal or over emphasise a mistake. The longer front end is an inch longer, if that, and can easily be overcome by wearing it with some give at the back of the neck. I mean, have the back neck of the cardigan loosely at the top of my shoulders, not tightly up against the back of my neck. If that makes sense. Plus, I use a shawl pin to keep it closed. I think it fits great, though the breezy open style means that it can’t wear it open without it falling off. The end result was definitely worth all the knitting on those repetitive pieces.
I also finished a thing! Stephen West’s Baby Vertices Unite Blanket. This was knit up with DK yarn, so it was a fast and fun project and actually a good size, not too big nor too small. The baby I knit this for isn’t here yet, so it wasn’t even a last minute up against the deadline thing. Yeah me!
So, today the sunset was a lovely blend of peachy pinks and lavender with swirling clouds. But of course it all changed while I went inside to get my phone / camera. I’ve been finding time to work on Xanthe this week. My two year old just started daycare, so this project was hibernating a little bit because knitting lace with toddlers running around is no. Just no. I’m half way through the final lace panel, then there’s the picot bind off and I’m done!
Snape Mitts
Pattern: A mash up of Frankenfingers and Estonian Double Mitts
Yarn: Knitting Goddess 4ply British Wool and Nylon, Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4ply
Needles: 2.5 mm
Yardage: 36 g / 157 yards Knitting Goddess 6 / 30 yards Rowan Yorkshire Tweed
This is my very first skein of Knitting Goddess. It arrived in early January, and I was enthralled by it from the moment it arrived. It was shiny and silky but, not at all like silk, if that makes any sense. It feels very strong and robust and there is a definite sheep-y smell. So I jumped at the first opportunity to knit something with this yarn. This is also the first time I’ve used self-striping yarn. I always assumed that I would be driven nuts by the colour change not happening exactly at the end of a row; that it would be to obvious or stilted. I was wrong. Self-striping is so much fun. And these mitts were 52 stitches wide, not the the standard 64 stitches sock width. And the self-striping still works!! Magic.
Speaking of magic, I wanted to make a pair of mitts in remembrance of Snape / Alan Rickman. This colourway was perfectly Slytherin so off I went. I started with the picot cuff, knit up to the end, then I felt that it needed a little extra detail, so I picked up stitches on the inside of the palm, about 3 or 4 cm down from the bind off, using some extra Rowan yarn I had. I then did a tubular bind off to preserve the ribbing on both sides.
I have been wearing them a lot. I was a little worried that my skin (which is disagreeable) might not like such a sheep-y wool. Wrong again! The wool is very nicely co-existing with my eczema prone skin. Can’t wait to knit up more stuff with this yarn. So glad I signed up for a year-long club. It is a wonderful thing to know I will be getting more and more of this yarn.
Why yes, green is one of my favourite colours. I’ve only been working on a couple of projects recently, not for lack of knitting but one them is a demanding knit. I’ll let you guess which one.
Snape Fingerless Mitts – These are coming along nicely. I really love the yarn, Knitting Goddess 4 ply British Wool and Nylon. It is soft and supple, yet strong. I can’t wait to see how it wears. I’m not following a particular pattern for these; I’m consulting one for the gusset and another for the picot edging. I think I will also do a little fringe with some leftover Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift in Mooskit.
In Dreams Shawl – I’m happy to finally pick this up. I haven’t worked on it at all since autumn 2014. It’s slow going, which I find very frustrating. But the elation when I finally finish a chart is what is going to keep me on track. I have set a goal with myself to finish this by the end of the month. I have 3.5 charts to go, but one of the charts is so big it’s split into two pages. I’m more than a little worried about getting it done on time, but I will try my best. It really is lovely, just very hard to photograph on the needles have it not look like a lumpy mess.
So the weather is finally changing. It feels wonderful as long as I’m inside. I caved and turned on the heating last week. Everything is brand new, so lots of fiddling by me to a) figure out how the system actually works and b) find the temperature setting that doesn’t leave the house either an icebox or a sauna. Since my husband has crazy work hours and I wake up early and stay home, there is no point to programming the system to turn low at nights or during week days, I’ve had to find a slightly frigid balance between survival and an enormous hydro bill.
I’ve only been working on a pair of socks this month, but given that my average completion time for socks is about 2 years, I’m very happy to report that I’m 80% done. I’m not following any pattern. I just watched some how-tos on YouTube, and winged it. They are turning out really well, except for the heel. I either mangled the instructions (very probable) or this a heel method that has a lot working out left to do. I like that it is st st all the way, though. My heels look very frankenstein, but I’m not going back to fiddle with them because a) I have to finish them before the 30th, b) the socks that I have made get used on cold nights, not fancy dress parties, c) I have a deadline and d) I want to break my sock curse. The actual colour of the yarn is between these 2 pictures. It’s Sundara Sock in Candied Chrome, acquired about 6 years ago. It’s very soft and fun to knit with. The pattern is a twisted stitch pattern from Barbara Walker’s 2nd Treasury, called Rapunzel.
I finished this hat a few weeks ago, and promptly cast on for a second one since I have enough yarn leftover. It will be red hat with a grey dragon, though, since the yardage might be a little tight.
This hat is for my son, and I have been working (slowly) on his neckwarmer, I should be done before the snow arrives. If I actually get all the the winter stuff done before winter begins, that will a first for me!
It’s been my baby daughter’s turn at being sick, so I’ve been playing at baby velcro for the past few days. I haven’t gotten much of anything done, but I did take stock of our winter necessities. It looks like my husband lost his hat, so I’ll have 3 hats to make this season. Plus, my son needs a sweater so I’m making Ryuu-ko with some old Galway from my stash. I’m making a BSJ and a Tomten for my daughter with some Noro Kureyon from a sweater I frogged. I’m also still waiting on my Knitpicks order so that I can properly wash & block my Idlewood and take pictures to post here. Today I have no pictures, sorry, it seems that this post is more to keep me in the habit of posting rather than mesmerising you, dear reader, with fascinatingly bad photos documenting my attempts at knitting. My apologies.
